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diff --git a/4803.txt b/4803.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2f0a06b --- /dev/null +++ b/4803.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1405 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Rise of the Dutch Republic, 1555, by Motley +#3 in our series by John Lothrop Motley + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers***** + + +Title: The Rise of the Dutch Republic, 1555 + +Author: John Lothrop Motley + +Release Date: January, 2004 [EBook #4803] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on March 12, 2002] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + + + + + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DUTCH REPUBLIC, 1555 *** + + + + +This etext was produced by David Widger + + + + +[NOTE: There is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the +file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an +entire meal of them. D.W.] + + + + +MOTLEY'S HISTORY OF THE NETHERLANDS, PG EDITION, VOLUME 3. + +THE RISE OF THE DUTCH REPUBLIC + +JOHN LOTHROP MOTLEY, D.C.L., LL.D. + +1855 + + + +PHILIP THE SECOND IN THE NETHERLANDS + +1555 [CHAPTER I.] + + Abdication of Charles resolved upon--Brussels in the sixteenth + century--Hall of the palace described--Portraits of prominent + individuals present at the ceremony--Formalities of the abdication-- + Universal emotion--Remarks upon the character and career of Charles + --His retirement at Juste. + +On the twenty-fifth day of October, 1555, the estates of the Netherlands +were assembled in the great hall of the palace at Brussels. They had +been summoned to be the witnesses and the guarantees of the abdication +which Charles V. had long before resolved upon, and which he was that day +to execute. The emperor, like many potentates before and since, was fond +of great political spectacles. He knew their influence upon the masses +of mankind. Although plain, even to shabbiness, in his own costume, and +usually attired in black, no one ever understood better than he how to +arrange such exhibitions in a striking and artistic style. We have seen +the theatrical and imposing manner in which he quelled the insurrection +at Ghent, and nearly crushed the life forever out of that vigorous and +turbulent little commonwealth. The closing scene of his long and +energetic reign he had now arranged with profound study, and with an +accurate knowledge of the manner in which the requisite effects were to +be produced. The termination of his own career, the opening of his +beloved Philip's, were to be dramatized in a manner worthy the august +character of the actors, and the importance of the great stage where they +played their parts. The eyes of the whole world were directed upon that +day towards Brussels; for an imperial abdication was an event which had +not, in the sixteenth century, been staled by custom. + +The gay capital of Brabant--of that province which rejoiced in the +liberal constitution known by the cheerful title of the "joyful +entrance," was worthy to be the scene of the imposing show. Brussels had +been a city for more than five centuries, and, at that day, numbered +about one hundred thousand inhabitants. Its walls, six miles in +circumference, were already two hundred years old. Unlike most +Netherland cities, lying usually upon extensive plains, it was built +along the sides of an abrupt promontory. A wide expanse of living +verdure, cultivated gardens, shady groves, fertile cornfields, flowed +round it like a sea. The foot of the town was washed by the little river +Senne, while the irregular but picturesque streets rose up the steep +sides of the hill like the semicircles and stairways of an amphitheatre. +Nearly in the heart of the place rose the audacious and exquisitely +embroidered tower of the townhouse, three hundred and sixty-six feet in +height, a miracle of needlework in stone, rivalling in its intricate +carving the cobweb tracery of that lace which has for centuries been +synonymous with the city, and rearing itself above a facade of profusely +decorated and brocaded architecture. The crest of the elevation was +crowned by the towers of the old ducal palace of Brabant, with its +extensive and thickly-wooded park on the left, and by the stately +mansions of Orange, Egmont, Aremberg, Culemburg, and other Flemish +grandees, on the right.. The great forest of Soignies, dotted with +monasteries and convents, swarming with every variety of game, whither +the citizens made their summer pilgrimages, and where the nobles chased +the wild boar and the stag, extended to within a quarter of a mile of the +city walls. The population, as thrifty, as intelligent, as prosperous as +that of any city in Europe, was divided into fifty-two guilds of +artisans, among which the most important were the armorers, whose suits +of mail would turn a musket-ball; the gardeners, upon whose gentler +creations incredible sums were annually lavished; and the tapestry- +workers, whose gorgeous fabrics were the wonder of the world. Seven +principal churches, of which the most striking was that of St. Gudule, +with its twin towers, its charming facade, and its magnificently painted +windows, adorned the upper part of the city. The number seven was a +magic number in Brussels, and was supposed at that epoch, during which +astronomy was in its infancy and astrology in its prime, to denote the +seven planets which governed all things terrestrial by their aspects and +influences. Seven noble families, springing from seven ancient castles, +supplied the stock from which the seven senators were selected who +composed the upper council of the city. There were seven great squares, +seven city gates, and upon the occasion of the present ceremony, it was +observed by the lovers of wonderful coincidences, that seven crowned +heads would be congregated under a single roof in the liberty-loving +city. + +The palace where the states-general were upon this occasion convened, +had been the residence of the Dukes of Brabant since the days of John +the Second, who had built it about the year 1300. It was a spacious and +convenient building, but not distinguished for the beauty of its +architecture. In front was a large open square, enclosed by an iron +railing; in the rear an extensive and beautiful park, filled with forest +trees, and containing gardens and labyrinths, fish-ponds and game +preserves, fountains and promenades, race-courses and archery grounds. +The main entrance to this edifice opened upon a spacious hall, connected +with a beautiful and symmetrical chapel. The hall was celebrated for its +size, harmonious proportions, and the richness of its decorations. It +was the place where the chapters of the famous order of the Golden Fleece +were held. Its walls were hung with a magnificent tapestry of Arran, +representing the life and achievements of Gideon, the Midianite, and +giving particular prominence to the miracle of the "fleece of wool," +vouchsafed to that renowned champion, the great patron of the Knights of +the Fleece. On the present occasion there were various additional +embellishments of flowers and votive garlands. At the western end a +spacious platform or stage, with six or seven steps, had been +constructed, below which was a range of benches for the deputies of the +seventeen provinces. Upon the stage itself there were rows of seats, +covered with tapestry, upon the right hand and upon the left. These were +respectively to accommodate the knights of the order and the guests of +high distinction. In the rear of these were other benches, for the +members of the three great councils. In the centre of the stage was a +splendid canopy, decorated with the arms of Burgundy, beneath which were +placed three gilded arm-chairs. + +All the seats upon the platform were vacant, but the benches below, +assigned to the deputies of the provinces, were already filled. Numerous +representatives from all the states but two--Gelderland and Overyssel-- +had already taken their places. Grave magistrates, in chain and gown, +and executive officers in the splendid civic uniforms for which the +Netherlands were celebrated, already filled every seat within the apace +allotted. The remainder of the hall was crowded with the more favored +portion of the multitude which had been fortunate enough to procure +admission to the exhibition. The archers and hallebardiers of the body- +guard kept watch at all the doors. The theatre was filled--the audience +was eager with expectation--the actors were yet to arrive. As the clock +struck three, the hero of the scene appeared. Caesar, as he was always +designated in the classic language of the day, entered, leaning on the +shoulder of William of Orange. They came from the chapel, and were +immediately followed by Philip the Second and Queen Mary of Hungary. The +Archduke Maximilian the Duke of Savoy, and other great personages came +afterwards, accompanied by a glittering throng of warriors, councillors, +governors, and Knights of the Fleece. + +Many individuals of existing or future historic celebrity in the +Netherlands, whose names are so familiar to the student of the epoch, +seemed to have been grouped, as if by premeditated design, upon this +imposing platform, where the curtain was to fall forever upon the +mightiest emperor since Charlemagne, and where the opening scene of the +long and tremendous tragedy of Philip's reign was to be simultaneously +enacted. There was the Bishop of Arras, soon to be known throughout +Christendom by the more celebrated title of Cardinal Granvelle, the +serene and smiling priest whose subtle influence over the destinies of so +many individuals then present, and over the fortunes of the whole land, +was to be so extensive and so deadly. There was that flower of Flemish +chivalry, the, lineal descendant of ancient Frisian kings, already +distinguished for his bravery in many fields, but not having yet won +those two remarkable victories which were soon to make the name of Egmont +like the sound of a trumpet throughout the whole country. Tall, +magnificent in costume, with dark flowing hair, soft brown eye, smooth +cheek, a slight moustache, and features of almost feminine delicacy; such +was the gallant and ill-fated Lamoral Egmont. The Count of Horn; too, +with bold, sullen face, and fan-shaped beard-a brave, honest, +discontented, quarrelsome, unpopular man; those other twins in doom--the +Marquis Berghen and the Lord of Montigny; the Baron Berlaymont, brave, +intensely loyal, insatiably greedy for office and wages, but who, at +least, never served but one party; the Duke of Arschot, who was to serve +all, essay to rule all, and to betray all--a splendid seignor, +magnificent in cramoisy velvet, but a poor creature, who traced his +pedigree from Adam, according to the family monumental inscriptions at +Louvain, but who was better known as grand-nephew of the emperor's famous +tutor, Chiebres; the bold, debauched Brederode, with handsome, reckless +face and turbulent demeanor; the infamous Noircarmes, whose name was to +be covered with eternal execration, for aping towards his own compatriots +and kindred as much of Alva's atrocities and avarice, as he was permitted +to exercise; the distinguished soldiers Meghen and Aremberg--these, with +many others whose deeds of arms were to become celebrated throughout +Europe, were all conspicuous in the brilliant crowd. There, too, was +that learned Frisian, President Viglius, crafty, plausible, adroit, +eloquent--a small, brisk man, with long yellow hair, glittering green +eyes, round, tumid, rosy cheeks, and flowing beard. Foremost among the +Spanish grandees, and close to Philip, stood the famous favorite, Ruy +Gomez, or as he was familiarly called "Re y Gomez" (King and Gomez), a +man of meridional aspect, with coal-black hair and beard, gleaming eyes, +a face pallid with intense application, and slender but handsome figure; +while in immediate attendance upon the emperor, was the immortal Prince +of Orange. + +Such were a few only of the most prominent in that gay throng, whose +fortunes, in part, it will be our humble duty to narrate; how many of +them passing through all this glitter to a dark and mysterious doom!-- +some to perish on public scaffolds, some by midnight assassination; +others, more fortunate, to fall on the battle-field--nearly all, sooner +or later, to be laid in bloody graves! + +All the company present had risen to their feet as the emperor entered. +By his command, all immediately afterwards resumed their places. The +benches at either end of the platform were accordingly filled with the +royal and princely personages invited, with the Fleece Knights, wearing +the insignia of their order, with the members of the three great +councils, and with the governors. The Emperor, the King, and the Queen +of Hungary, were left conspicuous in the centre of the scene. As the +whole object of the ceremony was to present an impressive exhibition, it +is worth our while to examine minutely the appearance of the two +principal characters. + +Charles the Fifth was then fifty-five years and eight months old; but he +was already decrepit with premature old age. He was of about the middle +height, and had been athletic and well-proportioned. Broad in the +shoulders, deep in the chest, thin in the flank, very muscular in the +arms and legs, he had been able to match himself with all competitors in +the tourney and the ring, and to vanquish the bull with his own hand in +the favorite national amusement of Spain. He had been able in the field +to do the duty of captain and soldier, to endure fatigue and exposure, +and every privation except fasting. These personal advantages were now +departed. Crippled in hands, knees and legs, he supported himself with +difficulty upon a crutch, with the aid of, an attendant's shoulder. In +face he had always been extremely ugly, and time had certainly not +improved his physiognomy. His hair, once of a light color, was now white +with age, close-clipped and bristling; his beard was grey, coarse, and +shaggy. His forehead was spacious and commanding; the eye was dark blue, +with an expression both majestic and benignant. His nose was aquiline +but crooked. The lower part of his face was famous for its deformity. +The under lip, a Burgundian inheritance, as faithfully transmitted as the +duchy and county, was heavy and hanging; the lower jaw protruding so far +beyond the upper, that it was impossible for him to bring together the +few fragments of teeth which still remained, or to speak a whole sentence +in an intelligible voice. Eating and talking, occupations to which he +was always much addicted, were becoming daily more arduous, in +consequence of this original defect, which now seemed hardly human, +but rather an original deformity. + +So much for the father. The son, Philip the Second, was a small, meagre +man, much below the middle height, with thin legs, a narrow chest, and +the shrinking, timid air of an habitual invalid. He seemed so little, +upon his first visit to his aunts, the Queens Eleanor and Mary, +accustomed to look upon proper men in Flanders and Germany, that he was +fain to win their favor by making certain attempts in the tournament, in +which his success was sufficiently problematical. "His body," says his +professed panegyrist, "was but a human cage, in which, however brief and +narrow, dwelt a soul to whose flight the immeasurable expanse of heaven +was too contracted." [Cabrera] The same wholesale admirer adds, that +"his aspect was so reverend, that rustics who met him alone in a wood, +without knowing him, bowed down with instinctive veneration." In face, +he was the living image of his father, having the same broad forehead, +and blue eye, with the same aquiline, but better proportioned, nose. +In the lower part of the countenance, the remarkable Burgundian deformity +was likewise reproduced. He had the same heavy, hanging lip, with a +vast mouth, and monstrously protruding lower jaw. His complexion was +fair, his hair light and thin, his beard yellow, short, and pointed. +He had the aspect of a Fleming, but the loftiness of a Spaniard. His +demeanor in public was still, silent, almost sepulchral. He looked +habitually on the ground when he conversed, was chary of speech, +embarrassed, and even suffering in manner. This was ascribed partly to a +natural haughtiness which he had occasionally endeavored to overcome, and +partly to habitual pains in the stomach, occasioned by his inordinate +fondness for pastry. [Bodavaro] + +Such was the personal appearance of the man who was about to receive into +his single hand the destinies of half the world; whose single will was, +for the future, to shape the fortunes of every individual then present, +of many millions more in Europe, America, and at the ends of the earth, +and of countless millions yet unborn. + +The three royal personages being seated upon chairs placed triangularly +under the canopy, such of the audience as had seats provided for them, +now took their places, and the proceedings commenced. Philibert de +Bruxelles, a member of the privy council of the Netherlands, arose at the +emperor's command, and made a long oration. He spoke of the emperor's +warm affection for the provinces, as the land of his birth; of his deep +regret that his broken health and failing powers, both of body and mind, +compelled him to resign his sovereignty, and to seek relief for his +shattered frame in a more genial climate. Caesar's gout was then +depicted in energetic language, which must have cost him a twinge as he +sat there and listened to the councillor's eloquence. "'Tis a most +truculent executioner," said Philibert: "it invades the whole body, from +the crown of the head to the soles of the feet, leaving nothing +untouched. It contracts the nerves with intolerable anguish, it enters +the bones, it freezes the marrow, it converts the lubricating fluids of +the joints into chalk, it pauses not until, having exhausted and +debilitated the whole body, it has rendered all its necessary instruments +useless, and conquered the mind by immense torture." [Godelaevus] + + [The historian was present at the ceremony, and gives a very full + report of the speeches, all of which he heard. His imagination may + have assisted his memory in the task. The other reporters of the + councillor's harangue have reduced this pathological flight of + rhetoric to a very small compass.] + +Engaged in mortal struggle with such an enemy, Caesar felt himself +obliged, as the councillor proceeded to inform his audience, to change +the scene of the contest from the humid air of Flanders to the warmer +atmosphere of Spain. He rejoiced, however, that his son was both +vigorous and experienced, and that his recent marriage with the Queen of +England had furnished the provinces with a most valuable alliance. He +then again referred to the emperor's boundless love for his subjects, and +concluded with a tremendous, but superfluous, exhortation to Philip on +the necessity of maintaining the Catholic religion in its purity. After +this long harangue, which has been fully reported by several historians +who were present at the ceremony, the councillor proceeded to read the +deed of cession, by which Philip, already sovereign of Sicily, Naples, +Milan, and titular King of England, France, and Jerusalem, now received +all the duchies, marquisates, earldoms, baronies, cities, towns, and +castles of the Burgundian property, including, of course, the seventeen +Netherlands. + +As De Bruxelles finished, there was a buzz of admiration throughout the +assembly, mingled with murmurs of regret, that in the present great +danger upon the frontiers from the belligerent King of France and his +warlike and restless nation, the provinces should be left without their +ancient and puissant defender. The emperor then rose to his feet. +Leaning on his crutch, he beckoned from his seat the personage upon whose +arm he had leaned as he entered the hall. A tall, handsome youth of +twenty-two came forward--a man whose name from that time forward, and as +long as history shall endure, has been, and will be, more familiar than +any other in the mouths of Netherlanders. At that day he had rather a +southern than a German or Flemish appearance. He had a Spanish cast of +features, dark, well chiselled, and symmetrical. His head was small and +well placed upon his shoulders. His hair was dark brown, as were also +his moustache and peaked beard. His forehead was lofty, spacious, and +already prematurely engraved with the anxious lines of thought. His eyes +were full, brown, well opened, and expressive of profound reflection. +He was dressed in the magnificent apparel for which the Netherlanders +were celebrated above all other nations, and which the ceremony rendered +necessary. His presence being considered indispensable at this great +ceremony, he had been summoned but recently from the camp on the +frontier, where, notwithstanding his youth, the emperor had appointed him +to command his army in chief against such antagonists as Admiral Coligny +and the Due de Nevers. + +Thus supported upon his crutch and upon the shoulder of William of +Orange, the Emperor proceeded to address the states, by the aid of a +closely-written brief which he held in his hand. He reviewed rapidly the +progress of events from his seventeenth year up to that day. He spoke of +his nine expeditions into Germany, six to Spain, seven to Italy, four to +France, ten to the Netherlands, two to England, as many to Africa, and of +his eleven voyages by sea. He sketched his various wars, victories, and +treaties of peace, assuring his hearers that the welfare of his subjects +and the security of the Roman Catholic religion had ever been the leading +objects of his life. As long as God had granted him health, he +continued, only enemies could have regretted that Charles was living and +reigning, but now that his strength was but vanity, and life fast ebbing +away, his love for dominion, his affection for his subjects, and his +regard for their interests, required his departure. Instead of a +decrepit man with one foot in the grave, he presented them with a +sovereign in the prime of life and the vigor of health. Turning toward +Philip, he observed, that for a dying father to bequeath so magnificent +an empire to his son was a deed worthy of gratitude, but that when the +father thus descended to the grave before his time, and by an anticipated +and living burial sought to provide for the welfare of his realms and the +grandeur of his son, the benefit thus conferred was surely far greater. +He added, that the debt would be paid to him and with usury, should +Philip conduct himself in his administration of the province with a wise +and affectionate regard to their true interests. Posterity would applaud +his abdication, should his son Prove worthy of his bounty; and that could +only be by living in the fear of God, and by maintaining law, justice, +and the Catholic religion in all their purity, as the true foundation of +the realm. In conclusion, he entreated the estates, and through them the +nation, to render obedience to their new prince, to maintain concord and +to preserve inviolate the Catholic faith; begging them, at the same time, +to pardon him all errors or offences which he might have committed +towards them during his reign, and assuring them that he should +unceasingly remember their obedience and affection in his every prayer to +that Being to whom the remainder of his life was to be dedicated. + +Such brave words as these, so many vigorous asseverations of attempted +performance of duty, such fervent hopes expressed of a benign +administration in behalf of the son, could not but affect the +sensibilities of the audience, already excited and softened by the +impressive character of the whole display. Sobs were heard throughout +every portion of the hall, and tears poured profusely from every eye. +The Fleece Knights on the platform and the burghers in the background +were all melted with the same emotion. As for the Emperor himself, he +sank almost fainting upon his chair as he concluded his address. An ashy +paleness overspread his countenance, and he wept like a child. Even the +icy Philip was almost softened, as he rose to perform his part in the +ceremony. Dropping upon his knees before his father's feet, he +reverently kissed his hand. Charles placed his hands solemnly upon his +son's head, made the sign of the cross, and blessed him in the name of +the Holy Trinity. Then raising him in his arms he tenderly embraced him. +saying, as he did so, to the great potentates around him, that he felt a +sincere compassion for the son on whose shoulders so heavy a weight had +just devolved, and which only a life-long labor would enable him to +support. Philip now uttered a few words expressive of his duty to his +father and his affection for his people. Turning to the orders, he +signified his regret that he was unable to address them either in the +French or Flemish language, and was therefore obliged to ask their +attention to the Bishop of Arras, who would act as his interpreter. +Antony Perrenot accordingly arose, and in smooth, fluent, and well-turned +commonplaces, expressed at great length the gratitude of Philip towards +his father, with his firm determination to walk in the path of duty, and +to obey his father's counsels and example in the future administration of +the provinces. This long address of the prelate was responded to at +equal length by Jacob Maas, member of the Council of Brabant, a man of +great learning, eloquence and prolixity, who had been selected to reply +on behalf of the states-general, and who now, in the name of these; +bodies, accepted the abdication in an elegant and complimentary harangue. +Queen Mary of Hungary, the "Christian widow" of Erasmus, and Regent of +the Netherlands during the past twenty-five years, then rose to resign +her office, making a brief address expressive of her affection for the +people, her regrets at leaving them, and her hopes that all errors which +she might have committed during her long administration would be forgiven +her. Again the redundant Maas responded, asserting in terms of fresh +compliment and elegance the uniform satisfaction of the provinces with +her conduct during her whole career. + +The orations and replies having now been brought to a close, the ceremony +was terminated. The Emperor, leaning on the shoulders of the Prince of +Orange and of the Count de Buren, slowly left the hall, followed by +Philip, the Queen of Hungary, and the whole court; all in the same order +in which they had entered, and by the same passage into the chapel. + +It is obvious that the drama had been completely successful. It had been +a scene where heroic self-sacrifice, touching confidence, ingenuous love +of duty, patriotism, and paternal affection upon one side; filial +reverence, with a solemn regard for public duty and the highest interests +of the people on the other, were supposed to be the predominant +sentiments. The happiness of the Netherlands was apparently the only +object contemplated in the great transaction. All had played well their +parts in the past, all hoped the best in the times which were to follow. +The abdicating Emperor was looked upon as a hero and a prophet. The +stage was drowned in tears. There is not the least doubt as to the +genuine and universal emotion which was excited throughout the assembly. +"Caesar's oration," says Secretary Godelaevus, who was present at the +ceremony, "deeply moved the nobility and gentry, many of whom burst into +tears; even the illustrious Knights of the Fleece were melted." The +historian, Pontus Heuterus, who, then twenty years of age, was likewise +among the audience, attests that "most of the assembly were dissolved in +tears; uttering the while such sonorous sobs that they compelled his +Caesarean Majesty and the Queen to cry with them. My own face," he adds, +"was certainly quite wet." The English envoy, Sir John Mason, describing +in a despatch to his government the scene which he had just witnessed, +paints the same picture. "The Emperor," he said, "begged the forgiveness +of his subjects if he had ever unwittingly omitted the performance of any +of his duties towards them. And here," continues the envoy, "he broke +into a weeping, whereunto, besides the dolefulness of the matter, +I think, he was moche provoked by seeing the whole company to do the lyke +before; there beyng in myne opinion not one man in the whole assemblie, +stranger or another, that dewring the time of a good piece of his oration +poured not out as abundantly teares, some more, some lesse. And yet he +prayed them to beare with his imperfections, proceeding of his sickly +age, and of the mentioning of so tender a matter as the departing from +such a sort of dere and loving subjects." + +And yet what was the Emperor Charles to the inhabitants of the +Netherlands that they should weep for him? His conduct towards them +during his whole career had been one of unmitigated oppression. What to +them were all these forty voyages by sea and land, these journeyings back +and forth from Friesland to Tunis, from Madrid to Vienna. What was it to +them that the imperial shuttle was thus industriously flying to and fro? +The fabric wrought was but the daily growing grandeur and splendor of his +imperial house; the looms were kept moving at the expense of their +hardly-earned treasure, and the woof was often dyed red in the blood of +his bravest subjects. The interests of the Netherlands had never been +even a secondary consideration with their master. He had fulfilled no +duty towards them, he had committed the gravest crimes against them. He +had regarded them merely as a treasury upon which to draw; while the sums +which he extorted were spent upon ceaseless and senseless wars, which +were of no more interest to them than if they had been waged in another +planet. Of five millions of gold annually, which he derived from all his +realms, two millions came from these industrious and opulent provinces, +while but a half million came from Spain and another half from the +Indies. The mines of wealth which had been opened by the hand of +industry in that slender territory of ancient morass and thicket, +contributed four times as much income to the imperial exchequer as all +the boasted wealth of Mexico and Peru. Yet the artisans, the farmers and +the merchants, by whom these riches were produced, were consulted about +as much in the expenditure of the imposts upon their industry as were the +savages of America as to the distribution of the mineral treasures of +their soil. The rivalry of the houses of Habsburg and Valois, this was +the absorbing theme, during the greater part of the reign which had just +been so dramatically terminated. To gain the empire over Francis, to +leave to Don Philip a richer heritage than the Dauphin could expect, were +the great motives of the unparalleled energy displayed by Charles during +the longer and the more successful portion of his career. To crush the +Reformation throughout his dominions, was his occupation afterward, till +he abandoned the field in despair. It was certainly not desirable for +the Netherlanders that they should be thus controlled by a man who forced +them to contribute so largely to the success of schemes, some of which +were at best indifferent, and others entirely odious to them. They paid +1,200,000 crowns a year regularly; they paid in five years an +extraordinary subsidy of eight millions of ducats, and the States were +roundly rebuked by the courtly representatives of their despot, if they +presumed to inquire into the objects of the appropriations, or to express +an interest in their judicious administration. Yet it maybe supposed to +have been a matter of indifference to them whether Francis or Charles had +won the day at Pavia, and it certainly was not a cause of triumph to the +daily increasing thousands of religious reformers in Holland and Flanders +that their brethren had been crushed by the Emperor at Muhlberg. But it +was not alone that he drained their treasure, and hampered their +industry. He was in constant conflict with their ancient and dearly- +bought political liberties. Like his ancestor Charles the Bold, he was +desirous of constructing a kingdom out of the provinces. He was disposed +to place all their separate and individual charters on a procrustean bed, +and shape them all into uniformity simply by reducing the whole to a +nullity. The difficulties in the way, the stout opposition offered by +burghers, whose fathers had gained these charters with their blood, and +his want of leisure during the vast labors which devolved upon him as the +autocrat of so large a portion of the world, caused him to defer +indefinitely the execution of his plan. He found time only to crush some +of the foremost of the liberal institutions of the provinces, in detail. +He found the city of Tournay a happy, thriving, self-governed little +republic in all its local affairs; he destroyed its liberties, without a +tolerable pretext, and reduced it to the condition of a Spanish or +Italian provincial town. + +His memorable chastisement of Ghent for having dared to assert its +ancient rights of self-taxation, is sufficiently known to the world, and +has been already narrated at length. Many other instances might be +adduced, if it were not a superfluous task, to prove that Charles was not +only a political despot, but most arbitrary and cruel in the exercise of +his despotism. + +But if his sins against the Netherlands had been only those of financial +and political oppression, it would be at least conceivable, although +certainly not commendable, that the inhabitants should have regretted his +departure. But there are far darker crimes for which he stands arraigned +at the bar of history, and it is indeed strange that the man who had +committed them should have been permitted to speak his farewell amid +blended plaudits and tears. His hand planted the inquisition in the +Netherlands. Before his day it is idle to say that the diabolical +institution ever had a place there. The isolated cases in which +inquisitors had exercised functions proved the absence and not the +presence of the system, and will be discussed in a later chapter. +Charles introduced and organized a papal inquisition, side by side with +those terrible "placards" of his invention, which constituted a masked +inquisition even more cruel than that of Spain. The execution of the +system was never permitted to languish. The number of Netherlanders who +were burned, strangled, beheaded, or buried alive, in obedience to his +edicts, and for the offences of reading the Scriptures, of looking +askance at a graven image, or of ridiculing the actual presence of the +body and blood of Christ in a wafer, have been placed as high as one +hundred thousand by distinguished authorities, and have never been put at +a lower mark than fifty thousand. The Venetian envoy Navigero placed the +number of victims in the provinces of Holland and Friesland alone at +thirty thousand, and this in 1546, ten years before the abdication, and +five before the promulgation of the hideous edict of 1550! + +The edicts and the inquisition were the gift of Charles to the +Netherlands, in return for their wasted treasure and their constant +obedience. For this, his name deserves to be handed down to eternal +infamy, not only throughout the Netherlands, but in every land where a +single heart beats for political or religious freedom. To eradicate +these institutions after they had been watered and watched by the care of +his successor, was the work of an eighty years' war, in the course of +which millions of lives were sacrificed. Yet the abdicating Emperor had +summoned his faithful estates around him, and stood up before them in his +imperial robes for the last time, to tell them of the affectionate regard +which he had always borne them, and to mingle his tears with theirs. + +Could a single phantom have risen from one of the many thousand graves +where human beings had been thrust alive by his decree, perhaps there +might have been an answer to the question propounded by the Emperor amid +all that piteous weeping. Perhaps it might have told the man who asked +his hearers to be forgiven if he had ever unwittingly offended them, that +there was a world where it was deemed an offence to torture, strangle, +burn, and drown one's innocent fellow-creatures. The usual but trifling +excuse for such enormities can not be pleaded for the Emperor. Charles +was no fanatic. The man whose armies sacked Rome, who laid his +sacrilegious hands on Christ's vicegerent, and kept the infallible head +of the Church a prisoner to serve his own political ends, was then +no bigot. He believed in nothing; save that when the course of his +imperial will was impeded, and the interests of his imperial house in +jeopardy, pontiffs were to succumb as well as anabaptists. It was the +political heresy which lurked in the restiveness of the religious +reformers under dogma, tradition, and supernatural sanction to temporal +power, which he was disposed to combat to the death. He was too shrewd a +politician not to recognize the connection between aspirations for +religious and for political freedom. His hand was ever ready to crush +both heresies in one. Had he been a true son of the Church, a faithful +champion of her infallibility, he would not have submitted to the peace +of Passau, so long as he could bring a soldier to the field. Yet he +acquiesced in the Reformation for Germany, while the fires for burning +the reformers were ever blazing in the Netherlands, where it was death +even to allude to the existence of the peace of Passau. Nor did he +acquiesce only from compulsion, for long before his memorable defeat by +Maurice, he had permitted the German troops, with whose services he could +not dispense, regularly to attend Protestant worship performed by their +own Protestant chaplains. Lutheran preachers marched from city to city +of the Netherlands under the imperial banner, while the subjects of those +patrimonial provinces were daily suffering on the scaffold for their +nonconformity. The influence of this garrison-preaching upon the +progress of the Reformation in the Netherlands is well known. Charles +hated Lutherans, but he required soldiers, and he thus helped by his own +policy to disseminate what had he been the fanatic which he perhaps +became in retirement, he would have sacrificed his life to crush. It is +quite true that the growing Calvinism of the provinces was more dangerous +both religiously and politically, than the Protestantism of the German +princes, which had not yet been formally pronounced heresy, but it is +thus the more evident that it was political rather than religious +heterodoxy which the despot wished to suppress. + +No man, however, could have been more observant of religious rites. He +heard mass daily. He listened to a sermon every Sunday and holiday. He +confessed and received the sacrament four times a year. He was sometimes +to be seen in his tent at midnight, on his knees before a crucifix with +eyes and hands uplifted. He ate no meat in Lent, and used extraordinary +diligence to discover and to punish any man, whether courtier or +plebeian, who failed to fast during the whole forty days. He was too +good a politician not to know the value of broad phylacteries and long +prayers. He was too nice an observer of human nature not to know how +easily mint and cummin could still outweigh the "weightier matters of +law, judgment, mercy and faith;" as if the founder of the religion which +he professed, and to maintain which he had established the inquisition +and the edicts, had never cried woe upon the Pharisees. Yet there is no +doubt that the Emperor was at times almost popular in the Netherlands, +and that he was never as odious as his successor. There were some deep +reasons for this, and some superficial ones; among others, a singularly +fortunate manner. He spoke German, Spanish, Italian, French, and +Flemish, and could assume the characteristics of each country as easily +as he could use its language. He could be stately with Spaniards, +familiar with Flemings witty with Italians. He could strike down a bull +in the ring like a matador at Madrid, or win the prize in the tourney +like a knight of old; he could ride at the ring with the Flemish nobles, +hit the popinjay with his crossbow among Antwerp artisans, or drink beer +and exchange rude jests with the boors of Brabant. For virtues such as +these, his grave crimes against God and man, against religion and +chartered and solemnly-sworn rights have been palliated, as if oppression +became more tolerable because the oppressor was an accomplished linguist +and a good marksman. + +But the great reason for his popularity no doubt lay in his military +genius. Charles was inferior to no general of his age. "When he was +born into the world," said Alva, "he was born a soldier," and the Emperor +confirmed the statement and reciprocated the compliment, when he declared +that "the three first captains of the age were himself first, and then +the Duke of Alva and Constable Montmorency." It is quite true that all +his officers were not of the same opinion, and many were too apt to +complain that his constant presence in the field did more harm than good, +and "that his Majesty would do much better to stay at home." There is, +however, no doubt that he was both a good soldier and a good general. +He was constitutionally fearless, and he possessed great energy and +endurance. He was ever the first to arm when a battle was to be fought, +and the last to take off his harness. He commanded in person and in +chief, even when surrounded by veterans and crippled by the gout. He was +calm in great reverses. It was said that he was never known to change +color except upon two occasions: after the fatal destruction of his fleet +at Algiers, and in the memorable flight from Innspruck. He was of a +phlegmatic, stoical temperament, until shattered by age and disease; a +man without a sentiment and without a tear. It was said by Spaniards +that he was never seen to weep, even at the death of his nearest +relatives and friends, except on the solitary occasion of the departure +of Don Ferrante Gonzaga from court. Such a temperament was invaluable in +the stormy career to which he had devoted his life. He was essentially a +man of action, a military chieftain. "Pray only for my health and my +life," he was accustomed to say to the young officers who came to him +from every part of his dominions to serve under his banners, "for so, +long as I have these I will never leave you idle; at least in France. +I love peace no better than the rest of you. I was born and bred to +arms, and must of necessity keep on my harness till I can bear it no +longer." The restless energy and the magnificent tranquillity of his +character made him a hero among princes, an idol with his officers, a +popular favorite every where. The promptness with which, at much +personal hazard, he descended like a thunderbolt in the midst of the +Ghent insurrection; the juvenile ardor with which the almost bedridden +man arose from his sick-bed to smite the Protestants at Muhlberg; the +grim stoicism with which he saw sixty thousand of his own soldiers perish +in the wintry siege of Metz; all ensured him a large measure of that +applause which ever follows military distinction, especially when the man +who achieves it happens to wear a crown. He combined the personal +prowess of a knight of old with the more modern accomplishments of a +scientific tactician. He could charge the enemy in person like the most +brilliant cavalry officer, and he thoroughly understood the arrangements +of a campaign, the marshalling and victualling of troops, and the whole +art of setting and maintaining an army in the field. + +Yet, though brave and warlike as the most chivalrous of his ancestors, +Gothic, Burgundian, or Suabian, he was entirely without chivalry. +Fanaticism for the faith, protection for the oppressed, fidelity to +friend and foe, knightly loyalty to a cause deemed sacred, the sacrifice +of personal interests to great ideas, generosity of hand and heart; all +those qualities which unite with courage and constancy to make up the +ideal chevalier, Charles not only lacked but despised. He trampled on +the weak antagonist, whether burgher or petty potentate. He was false as +water. He inveigled his foes who trusted to imperial promises, by arts +unworthy an emperor or a gentleman. He led about the unfortunate John +Frederic of Saxony, in his own language, "like a bear in a chain," ready +to be slipped upon Maurice should "the boy" prove ungrateful. He +connived at the famous forgery of the prelate of Arras, to which the +Landgrave Philip owed his long imprisonment; a villany worse than many +for which humbler rogues have suffered by thousands upon the gallows. +The contemporary world knew well the history of his frauds, on scale both +colossal and minute, and called him familiarly "Charles qui triche." + +The absolute master of realms on which the sun perpetually shone, he was +not only greedy for additional dominion, but he was avaricious in small +matters, and hated to part with a hundred dollars. To the soldier who +brought him the sword and gauntlets of Francis the First, he gave a +hundred crowns, when ten thousand would have been less than the customary +present; so that the man left his presence full of desperation. The +three soldiers who swam the Elbe, with their swords in their mouths; to +bring him the boats with which he passed to the victory of Muhlberg, +received from his imperial bounty a doublet, a pair of stockings, and +four crowns apiece. His courtiers and ministers complained bitterly of +his habitual niggardliness, and were fain to eke out their slender +salaries by accepting bribes from every hand rich enough to bestow them. +In truth Charles was more than any thing else a politician, +notwithstanding his signal abilities as a soldier. If to have founded +institutions which could last, be the test of statesmanship, he was even +a statesman; for many of his institutions have resisted the pressure of +three centuries. But those of Charlemagne fell as soon as his hand was +cold, while the works of many ordinary legislators have attained to a +perpetuity denied to the statutes of Solon or Lycurgus. Durability is +not the test of merit in human institutions. Tried by the only +touchstone applicable to governments, their capacity to insure the +highest welfare of the governed, we shall not find his polity deserving +of much admiration. It is not merely that he was a despot by birth and +inclination, nor that he naturally substituted as far as was practicable, +the despotic for the republican element, wherever his hand can be traced. +There may be possible good in despotisms as there is often much tyranny +in democracy. Tried however according to the standard by which all +governments may be measured, those laws of truth and divine justice which +all Christian nations recognize, and which are perpetual, whether +recognized or not, we shall find little to venerate in the life work of +the Emperor. The interests of his family, the security of his dynasty, +these were his end and aim. The happiness or the progress of his people +never furnished even the indirect motives of his conduct, and the result +was a baffled policy and a crippled and bankrupt empire at last. + +He knew men, especially he knew their weaknesses, and he knew how to +turn them to account. He knew how much they would bear, and that little +grievances would sometimes inflame more than vast and deliberate +injustice. Therefore he employed natives mainly in the subordinate +offices of his various states, and he repeatedly warned his successor +that the haughtiness of Spaniards and the incompatibility of their +character with the Flemish, would be productive of great difficulties +and dangers. It was his opinion that men might be tyrannized more +intelligently by their own kindred, and in this perhaps he was right. +He was indefatigable in the discharge of business, and if it were +possible that half a world could be administered as if it were the +private property of an individual, the task would have been perhaps as +well accomplished by Charles as by any man. He had not the absurdity of +supposing it possible for him to attend to the details of every +individual affair in every one of his realms; and he therefore intrusted +the stewardship of all specialities to his various ministers and agents. +It was his business to know men and to deal with affairs on a large +scale, and in this he certainly was superior to his successor. His +correspondence was mainly in the hands of Granvelle the elder, who +analyzed letters received, and frequently wrote all but the signatures +of the answers. The same minister usually possessed the imperial ear, +and farmed it out for his own benefit. In all this there was of course +room for vast deception, but the Emperor was quite aware of what was +going on, and took a philosophic view of the matter as an inevitable part +of his system. Granvelle grew enormously rich under his eye by trading +on the imperial favor and sparing his majesty much trouble. Charles saw +it all, ridiculed his peculations, but called him his "bed of down." His +knowledge of human nature was however derived from a contemplation mainly +of its weaknesses, and was therefore one-sided. He was often deceived, +and made many a fatal blunder, shrewd politician though he was. He +involved himself often in enterprises which could not be honorable or +profitable, and which inflicted damage on his greatest interests. He +often offended men who might have been useful friends, and converted +allies into enemies. "His Majesty," said a keen observer who knew him +well, "has not in his career shown the prudence which was necessary to +him. He has often offended those whose love he might have conciliated, +converted friends into enemies, and let those perish who were his most +faithful partisans." Thus it must be acknowledged that even his boasted +knowledge of human nature and his power of dealing with men was rather +superficial and empirical than the real gift of genius. + +His personal habits during the greater part of his life were those of an +indefatigable soldier. He could remain in the saddle day and night, and +endure every hardship but hunger. He was addicted to vulgar and +miscellaneous incontinence. He was an enormous eater. He breakfasted at +five, on a fowl seethed in milk and dressed with sugar and spices. After +this he went to sleep again. He dined at twelve, partaking always of +twenty dishes. He supped twice; at first, soon after vespers, and the +second time at midnight or one o'clock, which meal was, perhaps, the most +solid of the four. After meat he ate a great quantity of pastry and +sweetmeats, and he irrigated every repast by vast draughts of beer and +wine. His stomach, originally a wonderful one, succumbed after forty +years of such labors. His taste, but not his appetite began to fail, and +he complained to his majordomo, that all his food was insipid. The reply +is, perhaps, among the most celebrated of facetia. The cook could do +nothing more unless he served his Majesty a pasty of watches. The +allusion to the Emperor's passion for horology was received with great +applause. Charles "laughed longer than he was ever known to laugh +before, and all the courtiers (of course) laughed as long as his +Majesty." [Badovaro] The success of so sorry a jest would lead one to +suppose that the fooling was less admirable at the imperial court than +some of the recorded quips of Tribaulet would lead us to suppose. + +The transfer of the other crowns and dignitaries to Philip, was +accomplished a month afterwards, in a quiet manner. Spain, Sicily, the +Balearic Islands, America, and other portions of the globe, were made +over without more display than an ordinary 'donatio inter vivos'. The +Empire occasioned some difficulty. It had been already signified to +Ferdinand, that his brother was to resign the imperial crown in his +favor, and the symbols of sovereignty were accordingly transmitted to him +by the hands of William of Orange. A deputation, moreover, of which that +nobleman, Vice-Chancellor Seld, and Dr. Wolfgang Haller were the chiefs, +was despatched to signify to the electors of the Empire the step which +had been thus resolved upon. A delay of more than two years, however, +intervened, occasioned partly by the deaths of three electors, partly by +the war which so soon broke out in Europe, before the matter was formally +acted upon. In February, 1553, however, the electors, having been +assembled in Frankfort, received the abdication of Charles, and proceeded +to the election of Ferdinand. That Emperor was crowned in March, and +immediately despatched a legation to the Pope to apprize him of the fact. +Nothing was less expected than any opposition on the part of the pontiff. +The querulous dotard, however, who then sat in St. Peter's chair, hated +Charles and all his race. He accordingly denied the validity of the +whole transaction, without sanction previously obtained from the Pope, +to whom all crowns belonged. Ferdinand, after listening, through his +envoys, to much ridiculous dogmatism on the part of the Pope, at last +withdrew from the discussion, with a formal protest, and was first +recognized by Caraffa's successor, Pius IV. + +Charles had not deferred his retirement till the end of these disputes. +He occupied a private house in Brussels, near the gate of Louvain, until +August of the year 1556. On the 27th of that month, he addressed a +letter from Ghent to John of Osnabruck, president of the Chamber of +Spiers, stating his abdication in favor of Ferdinand, and requesting +that in the interim the same obedience might be rendered to Ferdinand, +as could have been yielded to himself. Ten days later; he addressed a +letter to the estates of the Empire, stating the same fact; and on the +17th September, 1556, he set sail from Zeland for Spain. These delays +and difficulties occasioned some misconceptions. Many persons who did +not admire an abdication, which others, on the contrary, esteemed as an +act of unexampled magnanimity, stoutly denied that it was the intention +of Charles to renounce the Empire. The Venetian envoy informed his +government that Ferdinand was only to be lieutenant for Charles, under +strict limitations, and that the Emperor was to resume the government so +soon as his health would allow. The Bishop of Arras and Don Juan de +Manrique had both assured him, he said, that Charles would not, on any +account, definitely abdicate. Manrique even asserted that it was a mere +farce to believe in any such intention. The Emperor ought to remain to +protect his son, by the resources of the Empire, against France, the +Turks, and the heretics. His very shadow was terrible to the Lutherans, +and his form might be expected to rise again in stern reality from its +temporary grave. Time has shown the falsity of all these imaginings, +but views thus maintained by those in the best condition to know the +truth, prove how difficult it was for men to believe in a transaction +which was then so extraordinary, and how little consonant it was in their +eyes with true propriety. It was necessary to ascend to the times of +Diocletian, to find an example of a similar abdication of empire, on so +deliberate and extensive a scale, and the great English historian of the +Roman Empire has compared the two acts with each other. But there seems +a vast difference between the cases. Both emperors were distinguished +soldiers; both were merciless persecutors of defenceless Christians; both +exchanged unbounded empire for absolute seclusion. But Diocletian was +born in the lowest abyss of human degradation--the slave and the son of +a slave. For such a man, after having reached the highest pinnacle of +human greatness, voluntarily to descend from power, seems an act of far +greater magnanimity than the retreat of Charles. Born in the purple, +having exercised unlimited authority from his boyhood, and having worn +from his cradle so many crowns and coronets, the German Emperor might +well be supposed to have learned to estimate them at their proper value. +Contemporary minds were busy, however, to discover the hidden motives +which could have influenced him, and the world, even yet, has hardly +ceased to wonder. Yet it would have been more wonderful, considering the +Emperor's character, had he remained. The end had not crowned the work; +it not unreasonably discrowned the workman. The earlier, and indeed the +greater part of his career had been one unbroken procession of triumphs. +The cherished dream of his grandfather, and of his own youth, to add the +Pope's triple crown to the rest of the hereditary possessions of his +family, he had indeed been obliged to resign. He had too much practical +Flemish sense to indulge long in chimeras, but he had achieved the Empire +over formidable rivals, and he had successively not only conquered, but +captured almost every potentate who had arrayed himself in arms against +him. Clement and Francis, the Dukes and Landgraves of, Clever, Hesse, +Saxony, and Brunswick, he had bound to his chariot wheels; forcing many +to eat the bread of humiliation and captivity, during long and weary +years. But the concluding portion of his reign had reversed all its +previous glories. His whole career had been a failure. He had been +defeated, after all, in most of his projects. He had humbled Francis, +but Henry had most signally avenged his father. He had trampled upon +Philip of Hesse and Frederic of Saxony, but it had been reserved for one +of that German race, which he characterized as "dreamy, drunken, and +incapable of intrigue," to outwit the man who had outwitted all the +world, and to drive before him, in ignominious flight, the conqueror of +the nations. The German lad who had learned both war and dissimulation +in the court and camp of him who was so profound a master of both arts, +was destined to eclipse his teacher on the most august theatre of +Christendom. Absorbed at Innspruck with the deliberations of the Trent +Council, Charles had not heeded the distant mutterings of the tempest +which was gathering around him. While he was preparing to crush, +forever, the Protestant Church, with the arms which a bench of bishops +were forging, lo! the rapid and desperate Maurice, with long red beard +streaming like a meteor in the wind, dashing through the mountain passes, +at the head of his lancers--arguments more convincing than all the dogmas +of Granvelle! Disguised as an old woman, the Emperor had attempted on +the 6th April, to escape in a peasant's wagon, from Innspruck into +Flanders. Saved for the time by the mediation of Ferdinand, he had, +a few weeks later, after his troops had been defeated by Maurice, +at Fussen, again fled at midnight of the 22nd May, almost unattended, +sick in body and soul, in the midst of thunder, lightning, and rain, +along the difficult Alpine passes from Innspruck into Carinthia. +His pupil had permitted his escape, only because in his own language, +"for such a bird he had no convenient cage." The imprisoned princes now +owed their liberation, not to the Emperor's clemency, but to his panic. +The peace of Passau, in the following August, crushed the whole fabric +of the Emperor's toil, and laid-the foundation of the Protestant Church. +He had smitten the Protestants at Muhlberg for the last time. On the +other hand, the man who had dealt with Rome, as if the Pope, not he, had +been the vassal, was compelled to witness, before he departed, the +insolence of a pontiff who took a special pride in insulting and humbling +his house, and trampling upon the pride of Charles, Philip and Ferdinand. +In France too, the disastrous siege of Metz had taught him that in the +imperial zodiac the fatal sign of Cancer had been reached. The figure of +a crab, with the words "plus citra," instead of his proud motto of "plus +ultra," scrawled on the walls where he had resided during that dismal +epoch, avenged more deeply, perhaps, than the jester thought, the +previous misfortunes of France. The Grand Turk, too, Solyman the +Magnificent, possessed most of Hungary, and held at that moment a fleet +ready to sail against Naples, in co-operation with the Pope and France. +Thus the Infidel, the Protestant, and the Holy Church were all combined +together to crush him. Towards all the great powers of the earth, he +stood not in the attitude of a conqueror, but of a disappointed, baffled, +defeated potentate. Moreover, he had been foiled long before in his +earnest attempts to secure the imperial throne for Philip. Ferdinand and +Maximilian had both stoutly resisted his arguments and his blandishments. +The father had represented the slender patrimony of their branch of the +family, compared with the enormous heritage of Philip; who, being after +all, but a man, and endowed with finite powers, might sink under so great +a pressure of empire as his father wished to provide for him. Maximilian, +also, assured his uncle that he had as good an appetite for the crown as +Philip, and could digest the dignity quite as easily. The son, too, for +whom the Emperor was thus solicitous, had already, before the abdication, +repaid his affection with ingratitude. He had turned out all his +father's old officials in Milan, and had refused to visit him at +Brussels, till assured as to the amount of ceremonial respect which the +new-made king was to receive at the hands of his father. + +Had the Emperor continued to live and reign, he would have found himself +likewise engaged in mortal combat with that great religious movement in +the Netherlands, which he would not have been able many years longer to +suppress, and which he left as a legacy of blood and fire to his +successor. Born in the same year with his century, Charles was a +decrepit, exhausted man at fifty-five, while that glorious age, in which +humanity was to burst forever the cerements in which it had so long been +buried, was but awakening to a consciousness of its strength. + +Disappointed in his schemes, broken in his fortunes, with income +anticipated, estates mortgaged, all his affairs in confusion; failing in +mental powers, and with a constitution hopelessly shattered; it was time +for him to retire. He showed his keenness in recognizing the fact that +neither his power nor his glory would be increased, should he lag +superfluous on the stage where mortification instead of applause was +likely to be his portion. His frame was indeed but a wreck. Forty years +of unexampled gluttony had done their work. He was a victim to gout, +asthma, dyspepsia, gravel. He was crippled in the neck, arms, knees, and +hands. He was troubled with chronic cutaneous eruptions. His appetite +remained, while his stomach, unable longer to perform the task still +imposed upon it, occasioned him constant suffering. Physiologists, +who know how important a part this organ plays in the affairs of life, +will perhaps see in this physical condition of the Emperor A sufficient +explanation, if explanation were required, of his descent from the +throne. Moreover, it is well known that the resolution to abdicate +before his death had been long a settled scheme with him. It had been +formally agreed between himself and the Empress that they should separate +at the approach of old age, and pass the remainder of their lives in a +convent and a monastery. He had, when comparatively a young man, been +struck by the reply made to him by an aged officer, whose reasons he had +asked for, earnestly soliciting permission to retire from the imperial +service. It was, said the veteran, that he might put a little space of +religious contemplation between the active portion of his life and the +grave. + +A similar determination, deferred from time to time, Charles had now +carried into execution. While he still lingered in Brussels, after his +abdication, a comet appeared, to warn him to the fulfilment of his +purpose. From first to last, comets and other heavenly bodies were much +connected with his evolutions and arrangements. There was no mistaking +the motives with which this luminary had presented itself. The Emperor +knew very well, says a contemporary German chronicler, that it portended +pestilence and war, together with the approaching death of mighty +princes. "My fates call out," he cried, and forthwith applied himself to +hasten the preparations for his departure. + +The romantic picture of his philosophical retirement at Juste, painted +originally by Sandoval and Siguenza, reproduced by the fascinating pencil +of Strada, and imitated in frequent succession by authors of every age +and country, is unfortunately but a sketch of fancy. The investigations +of modern writers have entirely thrown down the scaffolding on which +the airy fabric, so delightful to poets and moralists, reposed. The +departing Emperor stands no longer in a transparency robed in shining +garments. His transfiguration is at an end. Every action, almost every +moment of his retirement, accurately chronicled by those who shared his +solitude, have been placed before our eyes, in the most felicitous +manner, by able and brilliant writers. The Emperor, shorn of the +philosophical robe in which he had been conventionally arrayed for +three centuries, shivers now in the cold air of reality. + +So far from his having immersed himself in profound and pious +contemplation, below the current of the world's events, his thoughts, +on the contrary, never were for a moment diverted from the political +surface of the times. He read nothing but despatches; he wrote or +dictated interminable ones in reply, as dull and prolix as any which ever +came from his pen. He manifested a succession of emotions at the course +of contemporary affairs, as intense and as varied, as if the world still +rested in his palm. He was, in truth, essentially a man of action. He +had neither the taste nor talents which make a man great in retirement. +Not a lofty thought, not a generous sentiment, not a profound or acute +suggestion in his retreat has been recorded from his lips. The epigrams +which had been invented for him by fabulists have been all taken away, +and nothing has been substituted, save a few dull jests exchanged with +stupid friars. So far from having entertained and even expressed that +sentiment of religious toleration for which he was said to have been +condemned as a heretic by the inquisition, and for which Philip was +ridiculously reported to have ordered his father's body to be burned, +and his ashes scattered to the winds, he became in retreat the bigot +effectually, which during his reign he had only been conventionally. +Bitter regrets that he should have kept his word to Luther, as if he had +not broken faith enough to reflect upon in his retirement; stern self- +reproach for omitting to put to death, while he had him in his power, +the man who had caused all the mischief of the age; fierce instructions +thundered from his retreat to the inquisitors to hasten the execution of +all heretics, including particularly his ancient friends, preachers and +almoners, Cazalla and Constantine de Fuente; furious exhortations to +Philip--as if Philip needed a prompter in such a work--that he should +set himself to "cutting out the root of heresy with rigor and rude +chastisement;"--such explosions of savage bigotry as these, alternating +with exhibitions of revolting gluttony, with surfeits of sardine +omelettes, Estramadura sausages, eel pies, pickled partridges, fat +capons, quince syrups, iced beer, and flagons of Rhenish, relieved by +copious draughts of senna and rhubarb, to which his horror-stricken +doctor doomed him as he ate--compose a spectacle less attractive to the +imagination than the ancient portrait of the cloistered Charles. +Unfortunately it is the one which was painted from life. + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +Burned, strangled, beheaded, or buried alive (100,000) +Despot by birth and inclination (Charles V.) +Endure every hardship but hunger +Gallant and ill-fated Lamoral Egmont +He knew men, especially he knew their weaknesses +His imagination may have assisted his memory in the task +Little grievances would sometimes inflame more than vast +Often much tyranny in democracy +Planted the inquisition in the Netherlands + + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DUTCH REPUBLIC, 1555 *** +******* This file should be named 4803.txt or 4803.zip ****** + +This etext was produced by David Widger + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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