CRISTO RAUL.ORG

READING HALL

THE DOORS OF WISDOM

CHAPTER XVI.

The Religious Divisions in Germany.

The grave political complications with which the first six years of the Pontificate of Clement VII. were filled reacted with decisive influence on the spread of the Lutheran heresy throughout Germany.

Immediately after his election Clement received disquieting reports on the subject; the adherents of the new belief were steadily increasing in numbers, and, the decentralization of the Empire having made great strides, it was practically impossible to put the Edict of Worms into execution. Consequently, in his first consistory, held on the 2nd of December 1523, Clement spoke of the dangers menacing Christendom, quite as much from the side of the Lutherans as from that of the Turks. In accordance with his own proposal, a commission of Cardinals, which soon included the names of Egidio Canisio and Numai, was appointed to deal with both aspects of the question. The immediate result of their deliberations was, that the commission, on the 14th of December, recommended the despatch of two Nuncios, one to Germany and a second to Switzerland.

Clement, in his anxiety concerning the advance of Lutheranism, also invited men thoroughly acquainted with German affairs, such as Eck and Aleander, to furnish him with reports as to what should be done with regard to the heretical movement While Eck laid before him what was substantially a summary of his conversations with Adrian VI, Aleander composed a special memorandum on the means to be employed to suppress heresy in Germany. In this he requested the Pope to remove the abuses in the Curia, and to punish unworthy priests with the extreme penalty of deprivation; he further advised him not merely to summon the Emperor and the other temporal princes to take steps against the heretics, but also to exhort, under pain of censure, the negligent German bishops to the performance of their duties. The concordats should be strictly observed, and diocesan and provincial synods held under the presidency only of men of approved loyalty to the Holy See. The Inquisition Aleander wished to see transferred, not to princes or monks, who were objects of popular hatred, but to the bishops. He deprecated the total abolition of indulgences, but urged that they should be issued sparingly and with caution. The Nuncios in Germany should narrowly watch the monks, the men of learning, and the printers, since with these classes they would have to reckon before all others if they wished to provide an effectual antidote to the diffusion of poisonous doctrine. He then made very detailed proposals for dealing with the above-named classes of persons in order to foster the good in them and counter­act the evil. In cases of contumacious heresy, Aleander counselled, with a reference to the procedure of a Gregory VII and an Innocent III, the application of the severest penalties: the interdict and an embargo on trade for the cities of the Empire, withdrawal of privileges from the University of Wittenberg, and the proclamation of the Ban of the Empire and deposition against the Elector of Saxony. Since all the good-will of Leo X and Adrian VI had proved fruitless, lenient measures were no longer of any avail; they only helped to spread the evil, until it had at length reached Rome itself. For the sins of Christendom God had permitted this affliction to fall upon the Church; therefore the only real and lasting succour must be sought in the revival of her ancient virtues.

The report of an anonymous writer is occupied with a thorough examination of the complaints of the German nation presented to the Diet of Nuremberg in the year 1523. The author, evidently a member of the Curia, seeks to throw the responsibility, for the most part, on the German Bishops. With a strange hallucination, he will admit no guilt on the part of the Roman Curia, and only recommends an improvement of the existing system in a few points. The report comes to a point in the proposal to send a Nuncio of unimpeachable character and eminent learning, with the powers of a Legate a latere, to the German Empire, there to use his authority with moderation and firmness towards the patrons of the erroneous teaching.

Clement VII followed the advice given in this document, but it was not easy to find the personage fully qualified for the German legation. The Pope’s choice fell at last on Cardinal Campeggio, who had proved himself to be an experienced diplomatist and to have a knowledge of German affairs; a staunch Churchman, he was yet profoundly convinced of the necessity of thorough reforms. At the same time, at the end of December 1523, Clement VII. determined to send his chamberlain, Girolamo Rorario, as a Nuncio to Germany, to be Campeggio’s forerunner and to prepare the way.

For the instruction of the Legate, Aleander prepared a memorandum on the measures to be adopted in dealing with Luther. He here lays great stress on the necessity of the Legate and those with him being conspicuous for their good reputation and observance of all the laws and customs of the Church. The Legate himself must use his faculties with moderation and circumspection; all benefices are to be conferred only on good and learned men of German birth; in his demeanour he must show the utmost modesty, friendliness, seriousness, and dignity, and, above all, discretion; he is not to be drawn into disputations concerning truths of the Faith ; he must be thoroughly acquainted with the points of controversy, and draw his proofs from the Scriptures and the Fathers rather than from the scholastic system, then in great odium in Germany; and especially he must avoid sophistries and paradoxes. Aleander examines in close detail the grievances of the German nation, declaring them to be only in part justifiable; for these redress should be promised; but he complains of the superfluous trouble caused to the Holy See by the manufacture of gravamina. For the refutation of unfounded complaints he gives full and thorough recommendations. He does the same with regard to dealings with the bishops and the mendicant Orders. On no account whatever is the Legate to show his instructions to anyone, so that he may not undergo experiences similar to those of Chieregati at Nuremberg. He is neither to promise nor refuse a Council; if he calls attention to the difficulties standing in the way of one, let him point out, in that connection, that, in the meantime, the laws against heresy must be put in force. Aleander tries to refute in detail the objections made to the collection of annates, and then concludes by once more imparting counsels to the Nuncio concerning his behaviour: he is not to be arrogant or violent, neither is he to show timidity, but to maintain a steady courage and, above all, a wise discretion. Especially must he and his personal following avoid all cause of scandal or offence, adapt themselves as much as possible to the customs of Germany, and with unbiassed minds recognize the existing good in that nation.

Campeggio, whose appointment as Legate a latere for the whole of Germany, Bohemia, Hungary, Poland, and the three northern kingdoms was ratified in a consistory held on the 8th of January 1524, was primarily and before all other considerations to represent the Catholic interests in the forthcoming Diet at Nuremberg, but also to urge on the support of Hungary against the Turks. In order to make fitting preparation for Campeggio’s mission, and in support of it, Clement VII. undertook a series of steps the success of which had at first to be waited for. For this reason the Legate did not leave Rome until the 1st of February, and then travelled slowly; on the 26th of February he was at Trent, on the 3rd of March at Innsbruck, on the 9th at Augsburg, and on the 14th he reached Nuremberg. In the course of this journey he had already an opportunity of realizing the critical and increasing alteration in popular feeling, due to the unscrupulous agitation conducted against Catholic institutions from the pulpit and the printing press, at the instigation of the Lutheran leaders. In Augsburg he was made the object of popular derision. At Nuremberg the ecclesiastical ceremonies of his reception were omitted, while the preacher Osiander was allowed to discourse on the Roman Antichrist.

In the presence of these hostile dispositions towards the Holy See, which were almost general throughout the Empire, and were specially dominant in Nuremberg, Campeggio thought it wise to proceed with great caution. His first speech in the Diet, on the 17th of March, was therefore conciliatory in tone; nevertheless he spoke quite distinctly of the task assigned to him, for he called for the execution of the Edict of Worms. To the question of the Princes concerning the joint complaints of the German nation presented at the Diet of the previous year, Campeggio explained that the Pope had no official knowledge of the document, which had been transmitted to Rome only in a private manner; he, Campeggio, had seen a copy, but did not believe that a document of such “exceeding impropriety” could have been agreed to by the Estates. If he had no present instructions concerning this particular missive, yet he had full powers to treat with the Estates on the question of the national grievances; in his opinion, it was to be recommended that the Germans, like the Spaniards, should send envoys to Rome; he did not doubt that the Pope would meet the just demands of their nation. Thereupon the old complaints, with some fresh ones added, were presented.

Although Campeggio, supported by learned Italians and Germans, such as Cochlaus and Nausea, was zealously active in the Diet, the negotiations over the new doctrines entered upon a new phase which was, to him, highly unacceptable. The Estates did not, indeed, deny their obligation to carry out the Edict of Worms, but at the same time they demanded a National Council empowered to deal, not merely with the complaints against the Curia and the complaints of the laity against the clergy, but with the controversies on religious doctrine. This proposal, full of danger to the Catholic cause, if not directly put forward by Bavaria, was at any rate supported by that Catholic country.

The Cardinal-Legate, who represented the view that the reformation of the Church would be better carried out in any other way than by a General Council, must have been still more averse to an independent authoritative National Council. In consequence of his opposition, concessions were so far made that, in the resolutions presented at the recess of the Diet, only a provisional settlement of controversial questions was assigned to the National Council, the final ruling being reserved for the General Council; also the expression “National Council” was dropped, and “General assembly of the German nation”—to meet at Spires in November—substituted for it. To this also the Legate objected, but without result. The Lutheran towns and nobles protested, on their side, against the renewal of the Edict of Worms in the final decree, although to please the Estates the execution of the Edict was qualified by the significant phrase “as far as is possible.” Campeggio disclosed his attitude towards the decree of the Diet by promising to use his influence with the Pope in favour of a General Council, and declaring himself ready to enter into negotiations over the German grievances and the reform of the clergy; to the assembly at Spires he refused to give his approval. His stand­point seems to have been, so far, the correct one; for, if the Edict of Worms held good, a fresh investigation of the doctrines therein repudiated was an absurdity.

During his stay in Nuremberg, Campeggio was kept closely informed of the serious defects of the German Church by men who had the Catholic cause deeply at heart; he had also convinced himself of the pressing necessity for that reform of the German clergy demanded by so many of the princes, if Lutheranism was to be successfully encountered. On the receipt of his report at Rome, Clement VII, on the 14th of April 1524, gave him full authority to hold a convention in Germany for the reform of the national clergy. This Assembly, in which the Archduke Ferdinand, the Bavarian Dukes, many bishops of South Germany, and the most important literary champions of German Catholicism (Cochlaus, Eck, Johann Faber, and Nausea) took part, opened in June at Ratisbon. A scheme of clergy reform prepared by Campeggio and already produced at Nuremberg was here discussed, accepted, and published for the whole of Germany in a legatine decree with full apostolic authority on the 7th of July. The ordinances formed a first and important step towards a reformation of the Church from within; in carrying them out she would be freed from many defects, and many grievances would be removed. At the same time Campeggio succeeded at Ratisbon in combining for the first time the forces of at least the South German Catholics (the Archduke Ferdinand, the Bavarian Dukes, and twelve bishops) by an act of union. The above-named pledged themselves to uphold the Edict of Worms, and to resist all religious innovations.

At Rome the proceedings at Nuremberg had been followed attentively. The fatal delusion that only Saxony was on the side of Luther had soon to give way in the face of facts. In the beginning of May, Clement and the Cardinals consulted as to the measures to be taken to meet the resolutions of the Diet, and Cardinals Monte and Numai drew up special reports. It was determined not to refuse the demand for a General Council absolutely; attention, of course, was to be drawn to the hindrances in the way arising from the warlike complications in Europe, but at the same time the prospect of negotiations was to be held out. With regard to the grievances, redress was promised by the suspension of the regulations of the Lateran Council, and the appointment of a commission of Cardinals to investigate further. If on these two important questions an understanding was come to with the German opposition, the execution of the Edict of Worms was all the more strongly insisted on, and the National Council at Spires was not the less strongly opposed. Not merely the Emperor, but even foreign sovereigns, such as the kings of England, France, and Portugal, were asked to protest, and a series of briefs, couched in this sense, was despatched in May. At the same time also the Nuncios were ordered to take action; especially full instructions were sent to the Papal representatives at the Emperor’s court.

This action of Clement had as its result that Charles V. repeatedly and in sharp and peremptory terms prohibited the National Council of Spires, and ordered the observance of the Edict of Worms and the avoidance of all religious innovation. If Charles directed his envoys at Rome to acquaint the Pope with these measures, he made it plain at the same time that he considered that it would be of advantage to summon a General Council; he recom­mended Trent, a place which was practically a German town, although within Italian territory; but the Pope would be at liberty to transfer the Council to Italy at some later date.

The union of Ratisbon and the reforms undertaken there, the Emperor’s strict insistence on the observance of the Edict of Worms, and the obstruction of the National Council at Spires were undoubtedly remarkable successes. Campeggio, who remained in Vienna until the 8th of December, actively engaged from thence in his campaign against the Lutherans in Germany and in his reconciliation of the Bohemian Utraquists, might well be proud of them ; he believed that half of his principal task had been achieved. But the great social revolution so soon to break out in Germany brought all his fair hopes again to an end.

Clement VII was thoroughly informed by the reports of Girolamo Rorario, Nuncio to Ferdinand I., and through various private persons, of the bloodshed which was turning Germany into a second Bohemia. Campeggio also, who remained in Ofen till well on in June, sent him numerous communications. The Pope was greatly alarmed, and informed Ferdinand on the 29th of May of the despatch of a subsidy to the amount of 20,000 ducats; the Emperor, who, unfortunately, was still lingering in Spain, he exhorted to more strenuous action in order to avert yet greater dangers. The disorders in Germany and the enmity between France and Spain were adduced by the Pope as reasons which prohibited him from convening a Council.

Notwithstanding the detailed reports received in Rome, as in foreign countries generally, of the peasants’ insurrection, there was no correct conception of the real state of affairs. The accounts that came in were fatally misleading, and men were under the delusion that Lutheranism had, to all intents and purposes, been suppressed simultaneously with the sanguinary extinction of the social revolution, in which both friends and foes of the new teaching had co-operated. The only person who did not share in this delusion, Campeggio, was recalled because, in the opinion of many, his mission had not been sufficiently successful, and also, as is most probable, because his sympathies were too Imperialist.

The functions of the Nunciature were now concentrated in the person of Rorario, the Nuncio to Ferdinand. And yet, in face of the difficult and complicated situation, not merely was the presence of a permanent Cardinal-Legate necessary, but also the despatch of a fresh Nuncio in the interests of accurate information. How defective information was as to the real state of affairs in Germany is best shown from the fact that, when Clement VII on the 23rd of August 1525 wrote numerous letters of congratulation to the German princes on their victory over the Lutherans, one of those thus addressed was the Landgrave Philip of Hesse. The Pope, and the Cardinals appointed to sit as a commission on Lutheran affairs had evidently not the slightest notion that since the end of 1523 Philip had been a patron of the new teaching. The affairs of Bohemia also had been grossly misrepresented in Rome. The sanguine hopes fostered by Campeggio of the return of the Utraquists to the Church and of the defeat of Lutheranism were soon shown to be entirely futile.

What random and, in some instances, nonsensical reports obtained credence in the Curia, is illustrated by the circumstance that in the consistory of the 6th of September 1525 it was stated that Catholic worship had been restored at Wittenberg and that Luther had narrowly escaped capture. It was excusable that the sentiments of the Grand Master of the Teutonic Order should long have deceived the Roman court; for this prince had allayed with consummate ability the early awakened distrust of Clement VII. The first certain intelligence of the apostasy of Albert of Brandenburg was brought to Rome in letters from German bishops in the latter half of March 1525. Of the alliance of the Grand Master with King Sigismund of Poland so little was known that the Pope intended to present the latter with the consecrated sword on the 27th of March. It was not known until the beginning of May that Albert had broken his oath to the Church, the Order, and the Empire, that he had constituted himself secular lord of the territory of the Order, and had received the latter as a fief from the Polish king. The consternation of the Pope and his advisers was very great on the subsequent receipt of a letter from King Sigismund, in which he tried to justify his behaviour and made protestation of his Catholic zeal. Clement comforted himself with the assurance that the king, whose intentions were so good, would, if he could once more gain the ascendancy over Prussia, make amends for his faults and again help on the ancient faith to victory. In a Brief of the 20th of July 1525 he urgently appealed to Sigismund to this effect. On the 31st of January 1526 the Pope approached Charles with the entreaty that he would not give his sanction to Albert’s alteration of the constitution of the Order. A commission of Cardinals examined the whole case thoroughly, whereon Clement, on the 21st of January 1527, empowered the loyal remnant of the Teutonic knights to elect a new Grand Master.

Although the Bishop of Trent and the Nuncio Rorario himself had asked in August 1525 for the despatch of a special representative of the Holy See to Germany, this had not been done. Consequently the final decrees of the Diets of Augsburg and Spires (9th of January and 27th of August 1526) were framed in a sense unfavourable to Catholic interests. The resolution of the Diet of Spires, that in the matter of the Edict of Worms each Estate, pending the summons of a General Council, should act in such a way as they could answer for before God and the Emperor, did not certainly afford a legal basis for the self-development of the Protestant system of State Churches, but it was used as a starting-point for their formation. A change was in process of accomplishment, the vast scope of which was hardly understood in Rome, where purely political concerns were more and more absorbing men’s attention. Luther conceded to the princely and civic authorities a power over their territories far greater than that hitherto possessed by the Pope. Not merely the constitution and government, but the worship and doctrine of the Church were surrendered to the princes and civic magistrates as State bishops; the latter forthwith determined what their subjects had to believe as their “Evangelium.” From this absolute episcopate of the rulers of the State was reached, as a logical conclusion, the application of the axiom which flouts all freedom of conscience: “Cujus regio illius religio”.

The development of the Lutheran State Church system and the forcible suppression of the Catholic Church, first in Hesse and the Saxon Electorate, and then in many of the territories belonging to the princes and cities of Germany, were singularly favoured by the unhappy strife between Emperor and Pope; while they were alternately checkmating one another, the half-political, half-religious opposition unfriendly to them was securing a firm footing in Germany. The Protestants rejoiced to see the heads of Christendom at warlike variance with each other, and made full use of this circumstance to spread their doctrines and apply coercive measures against Catholics. The conflict between Emperor and Pope weakened also the resistance of the Catholics, and checked the progress of the reform of the Church from within begun by the latter in 1524, and thus the fruits of Campeggio’s labours were, for the most part, again wasted. In consequence of the same struggle, the activity of the Catholic scholars in defence of the ancient faith, so zealously encouraged by the Cardinal, and the significant action of Erasmus in taking part openly against Luther, failed to have the anticipated effect. Political troubles made such claims on the attention of the Curia that the affairs of Germany gradually passed out of sight. It was a sign of the times that the Papal briefs dealing with Germany became fewer and fewer; for a considerable length of time the relations between Germany and the Roman Curia were practically broken off.

At last, in 1529, the regular representation of the Holy See in Germany was resumed by the mission of Gian Tommaso Pico della Mirandola, a layman, to the Diet of Spires. This nobleman announced on the 13th of April that the Pope was prepared to give hearty support to Germany against the Turks, to make efforts for the restoration of peace, and, finally, to summon a Council for the ensuing summer. But this declaration made no impression on the Estates. To what an extraordinary extent things had altered to the disadvantage of Catholics was shown in the deliberations on the recess of the Diet. Although the latter confirmed to the Protestant States the retention of the new forms of doctrine and Church order within their own boundaries, and only asked for toleration towards the Catholics among them, a protest was raised on the 19th of April by the Elector of Saxony, the Margrave George of Brandenburg-Kulmbach, the Landgrave Philip of Hesse, the Dukes Ernest and Francis of Lüneberg, and Prince Wolfgang of Anhalt. On the 25th of April the protesting party appealed from all existing and future grievances to the Emperor and the forthcoming free council. This set the seal on the religious severance of the German nation.

Two months later came the conclusion, at Barcelona, of the treaty of peace between Charles V and Clement VII, coupled, in the February of the following year, with the meeting of the Emperor and the Pope at Bologna. At this conference, Charles, who had never lost sight of the conciliar question even during the recent troubles, obtained Clement’s consent to a General Council, to be held as soon as this means of overcoming heresy and restoring the unity of the Church should be proved to be necessary. It was the Emperor’s object to induce the Protestants to submit temporarily to the authority of the Church, so that on this basis some reasonable expectation might be founded that the Council would terminate once for all the religious divisions of Germany. In the hope of attaining this end with the co-operation of the States of the Empire, Charles wrote from Bologna, on the 21st of January 1530, appointing a Diet to be held at Augsburg on the 8th of April.

Charles left Bologna on the 22nd of March on his journey to Germany. He was accompanied by Cardinal Lorenzo Campeggio, who had been appointed Legate to Germany in the Consistory of the 16th of March 1530. At Innsbruck, where the Emperor arrived on the 3rd of May with the intention, at first, of staying a few days in order to acquaint himself more fully with the state of affairs in Germany, his halt lasted until the 6th of June. Here Charles was awaited by his brother Ferdinand and the Cardinals of Salzburg and Trent, while the Dukes of Bavaria and George of Saxony came later. Charles found special gratification in the reconciliation to the Church of his brother-in-law, Christian of Denmark, which took place in the capital of the Tyrol. On the other hand, the reports brought in from the States of the Empire as to the religious conditions there existing were disquieting. On the ground of the information then received, Campeggio wrote on the 4th of May to Rome, to the Pope’s private secretary, Jacopo Salviati, that Germany was, as he had supposed, in great disorder. A principal difficulty concerning the Council wished for by both parties was whether it should now be a General Council of the Church or a council of the nation; the Dukes of Bavaria, prominent Catholic princes, especially looked upon the council as the most effectual means of salvation. There were weighty reasons for opposing a national council; as regards a General Council, he would do his duty. On the 8th of May the Emperor asked Campeggio to lay before him a written opinion on the most suitable means to be resorted to for the removal of the religious contentions—a request which was complied with on that or the following day.

Campeggio did not expect much from the good-will of the Protestant princes; he was much more in favour of decisive measures against the innovators. He advised, in the case of failure to restore unity by measures of kindness, the use of force, especially by the execution of the terms of the Edict of Worms. He also expressed himself in the same sense a few days later in conversation with the Emperor and King Ferdinand. He was particularly opposed to negotiations on the subject of the Council; the Protestants, in demanding one, were not actuated by an honourable intention of submitting to its decisions, but only of keeping the Emperor in check so that, during his sojourn in Germany, he could take no serious measures against them. Thereupon the Emperor himself explained to him that he had come to an agreement with the Pope at Bologna that the Council should be held at a time of general peace and quiet in Christendom; but he hoped that, despite the many difficulties, all would yet go well, if the Kings of England and France did not encourage the Protestants in their opposition. Campeggio also discussed the circumstances with the other Catholic princes in Innsbruck, who were in favour of a council being held; he was successful in convincing Duke George of Saxony of the dangers therein involved.

On the 15th of June the Emperor entered Augsburg, and on the 20th the Diet was opened. After the Mass of the Holy Ghost the Papal Nuncio, Vincenzo Pimpinella, who had accompanied Campeggio, delivered an oration on the war against the Turks, and the unity of belief which that undertaking demanded. In the second session, on the 24th of June, Campeggio made a speech on the removal of disunion, in which he avoided any expression likely to offend the Protestants. On the 25th of June the Augsburg Confession, as it came to be afterwards called, was read to the Diet. It began with a demand on the part of the Protestants that a “general free Christian council” should be held in the event of their failing to come to an agreement in the present Diet. The document, which was signed by the protesting princes of the Diet of Spires, and on behalf of the cities of Nuremberg and Reutlingen, attempted to mitigate and disguise, as much as possible, the deeply rooted points of controversy, in order to keep up the delusion that the innovators only formed a party within the Church, which could easily be reconciled by means of a mutual understanding. Immediately after the presentation of the Confession the Emperor had written to Rome declaring that it afforded an excellent beginning for the return of the Protestants to the Church. In Papal circles the arrival of the Emperor in Germany and his accord with Campeggio on the religious question had given great satisfaction. As early as the 3rd of June, Clement, in a letter addressed to the Emperor, had expressed the hope that the latter, after the expected fall of Florence, would devote himself without interruption to the Turkish war and the cleansing of Germany from heresies. With reference to the reconciliation of Christian of Denmark through Charles’s influence, the Pope remarked that already, on his first appearance, his resplendent virtue had begun to scatter the darkness. Christian’s example would have an incalculable influence; he hoped in God that Charles would bring to a glorious conclusion an undertaking so happily begun for the welfare of Christendom and the Apostolic See.

This sanguine hope was stimulated by false reports of the decline of Lutheranism, as well as by the Catholic attitude of the Emperor, who was acting hand in hand with the Cardinal-Legate, and by the moderate terms of the Augsburg Confession. How great the optimism of the Roman Curia had become is shown by a report of the Venetian envoy on the 10th of July; it was hoped that the Emperor’s appearance on the scene would soon make short work of Lutheranism. Another noteworthy symptom of Roman opinion is apparent in a letter of Charles’s former confessor, Garcia de Loaysa, who relates that in a Consistory held on the 6th of July the Emperor was hailed by almost all the Cardinals as an angel sent from heaven for the salvation of Christendom. In this Consistory a despatch from Campeggio, dated the 26th of June, was read, containing the triumphant announcement that the Protestant princes had agreed to the Emperor’s prohibition of Protestant preaching in Augsburg. Campeggio, who saw in this a first and hopeful step towards the attainment of his object, reported further that the Emperor, in matters of religion, and in a scheme for confuting the Augsburg Confession, was acting on his, the Legate’s, advice. “I cannot write more today,” he added, “but this I can say: things are in a good way.” With regard to the Protestant demands, Campeggio in the same letter reports that they concern, apart from the Council, three points : communion under both kinds, the marriage of the clergy, and the reformation of the Canon of the Mass and many ecclesiastical ceremonies.

The concession of these demands was the subject of close deliberation in the Consistory of the 6th of July; the decision arrived at was a refusal. The demands were incompatible with faith and discipline, and in contradiction to the principles of the Church; they must therefore be rejected. It was decided further, however, to thank the Emperor for his zealous endeavours to bring back the adherents of error to the truth. In order to accomplish this there was a willingness to make concessions, but none so prejudicial as those just dealt with could be considered.

All other decisions would depend on the course of the negotiations at Augsburg, where the Cardinal-Legate was indefatigable in his exertions, not only with the Catholic members of the Diet and the theologians engaged on a rejoinder to the Confession, but with the Emperor.

Campeggio, to whom Charles had given a Latin copy of the Confession, wrote for him on the 28th of June an opinion in Italian and Latin on the treatment of the religious question. In this he opposed the Council in terms similar to those employed in his letter from Innsbruck of the 20th of May. On the receipt of this memorial from the Legate Charles summoned his council, who handed him a written opinion on the 30th of June or thereabouts. In this the Emperor was strongly advised to ask the signatories to the Confession if, in the first place, they would accept his adjudication on the religious questions. If they declined to do so, and if it appeared that a betterment could only be reached by means of a General Council, then the proposals for the latter would be made at the suitable time, but on condition that in the interval all innovations contrary to the belief and institutions of the Catholic Church should be put on one side and the Edict of Worms observed to the letter. Besides this, it seemed absolutely necessary, in order to gain the Lutherans more easily, that by means of the Papal and Legatine authority a stop should be put as soon as possible to the abuses in the Church and in the lives of the clergy. No public disputation was to be allowed; but the Legate might choose men of learning to examine the articles of the Confession. Not until the Protestants showed themselves unwilling to submit either to the authority of the Emperor or to that of the Council, and remained stubbornly contumacious, should forcible measures against them be considered, subject to the express opinion of the Legate.

Campeggio, with whom the Emperor had a long conversation as to this view of his advisers, gave a general assent, but declared himself decidedly against a Council, while the Emperor explained that he still held to the stand­point agreed upon at Bologna between himself and the Pope; namely, that a Council would be good and useful if Christendom were at peace, but not under present circumstances, and that the convening of such a synod might be effective for good, provided that there was a recurrence to the former state of things.

On the 4th of July, Campeggio handed to Charles V his written reply to the Imperial suggestions. In this he proceeded to show in detail that a Council would be of no avail to restore religious order, even if, at first sight, the contrary appeared to be the case. As the Lutherans had openly discarded previous Councils and their decisions, it was not probable that they had any serious intention of submitting themselves to a future synod. They persisted in their demand for one only in order to gain time in the meanwhile to push forward without hindrance their monstrous schemes, since they knew well that it would be a very long time before the Council itself could assemble. But the Emperor, if such were his pleasure, might consult the Pope further on the matter. Campeggio was in full agreement with the Emperor and the Catholic princes in their intention to insist on the observance of the Edict of Worms. As regards the removal of abuses, he recommended that men of approved virtue and pure life should be sent to Rome to report on these matters to the Pope; there was no doubt that the latter would prescribe remedies where proof of actual abuses was forthcoming, and he, as Legate, would not be wanting in his co-operation when cases were presented to him which, on due examination, were shown to be genuine abuses. To bring the religious division of Germany to an end, Campeggio held that the right and necessary way was to act with requisite firmness.

The Catholic princes, to whom Charles presented the answer of the Legate on the 5th of July, approved, in their reply of the 7th, and also in a second communication on the 13th, of the Emperor’s proposal concerning the Council.

On the evening of the 13th of July, Campeggio once more stated his objections, in the sense of his former declarations, to Granvelle, who had been sent by the Emperor to inform him that he was on the point of writing to the Pope on the subject of the Council. Thereupon, on the 14th, the Emperor sent to Clement a full account of the state of the negotiations at Augsburg. As things then stood, the Protestants refused to accept the Emperor as judge in religious questions; on the contrary, they held out for the Council, and if their wishes were not granted in this respect they would grow yet more obdurate; therefore the Emperor, in agreement with the Catholic princes, was also of opinion that this should be promised them on the condition that, in the meanwhile, they returned to the obedience of the Church. Charles had also written shortly before to his Ambassador in Rome in similar terms. On the 24th of July he again had a long conversation with Campeggio, in which he gave his opinion on the seat of the Council, expressing his strong preference for an Italian city, in opposition to the view of the princes, who were desirous that it should be held in Germany. He mentioned Mantua in particular, that city having already been spoken of in his discussions with the Pope at Bologna.

On the 18th of July, immediately after the receipt of the Emperor’s letter to the Ambassador, Clement called together the twelve Cardinals specially commissioned to deal with German affairs to hear their views on the question of the Council; no final decision was come to, as the Cardinals held that the matter was one for the full Consistory to consider. “Although many of the Cardinals,” wrote Loaysa, one of the twelve, on the same day, in his report of the conference to the Emperor, “object to the Council for factitious reasons, yet the most of us in this congregation held it fitting that a Council should be promised, on the condition that the Protestants in the meanwhile abandon their errors and live as their forefathers lived before them. It would be much better, however, if the Protes­tants would accept the Emperor as their arbitrator, since the success of a Council is in itself doubtful, and even its meeting perhaps impossible, owing to the difficulties that other Christian princes may in some way raise, and to the dangers of the Turkish invasion.” Loaysa feared, however, that they would not accept the Emperor’s arbitration with a good will, and that in the end no other means would remain but to have recourse to force.

On the arrival of the Emperor’s letter of the 14th of July, Clement, at the end of the month, once more assembled the twelve Cardinals and acquainted them with its contents. Both the Pope and the Cardinals received it, as Loaysa wrote to the Emperor, with great satisfaction. Loaysa had not, indeed, been present at the meeting owing to illness, but he had a private interview with Clement afterwards, to whom he spoke in support of the Emperor’s opinion. Clement replied that Charles was right, the Council could not be avoided; it was Loaysa’s opinion, however, that Clement wished in his heart of hearts that it might not take place. He would certainly agree to one, and even go the length of convoking it, but in the meantime he would secretly use his influence with the Christian princes in order to put hindrances in the way. He was led to this presumption by the conduct of the French Cardinal, Gabriel de Gramont, Bishop of Tarbes, who in the first meeting of the Cardinals had spoken strongly in favour of a Council, while in the second conference he dwelt on all the difficulties, especially on those which had arisen on the part of the King of France; this inconsistency, Loaysa surmised, was due to the influence of the Pope. In spite of this “evil” suspicion, as he himself calls it, Loaysa was still in hopes that Clement, “on perceiving the truthfulness and uprightness of your Majesty’s behaviour in this matter, and how necessary a Council is for the quieting of his conscience and the avoidance of lasting dishonour,” would eventually control events in accordance with the Imperial wishes.

In two audiences held on the 28th and the 30th of July, Clement addressed Andrea da Burgo in terms favourable to the Council, provided that the conditions fixed by Charles should be fulfilled, namely, that until it assembled the Lutherans should desist from their innovations; Rome he considered suitable as the seat of the Council; but, if the Emperor objected, he would propose Mantua, Piacenza, or Bologna. In this sense Clement sent a reply to the Emperor on the 31st of July.

He first of all went thoroughly into the reasons against a Council adduced by some of the Cardinals, but, trusting to the good sense and insight of the Emperor, whose sojourn in Germany had made him a better judge of the situation than those at a distance, he promised to convene the Council when he deemed it necessary, and under the conditions of which he had already written, namely, that the Protestants should renounce their errors and return immediately to the obedience of their Holy Mother the Church and the observance of her customs and doctrine, so long as it was not otherwise appointed by the Council, to the decisions of which in all points and unreservedly they were willingly to submit. Apart from these conditions, a Council could only cause scandal and set a most evil example. It was therefore absolutely necessary that the Emperor should insist on these conditions being accepted, so that there might also be certainty of their actual fulfilment; for otherwise, not the removal of error, but only pernicious and deadly effects, were to be expected. The Pope then promised that, as soon as the Emperor informed him of the acceptance and observance of these conditions by the Protestants, he would summon a Council at such time as appeared to him suitable; the Emperor might feel assured that the earliest possible date would be appointed, and that certainly no postponement would be allowed. Regarding the seat of the Council, since it was highly necessary that it should not be held anywhere else than in Italy, Rome had the first claim to consideration—a claim, moreover, favoured by the circumstance that, after all the misfortunes the city had undergone, another lengthened withdrawal of the Curia would involve total ruin. But if Rome were not acceptable, then the Pope proposed Bologna, Piacenza, or Mantua. Concerning abuses, Clement remarked in conclusion, he was waiting for the reply of the Legate, who would report wherein a reformation was called for; on receipt of this reply he would take such measures that everyone would acknowledge his intention to reform what was amiss, and to meet where it was possible the wise and charitable exhortations of the Emperor.

In the Curia the greatest difference of opinion on the question of the Council prevailed. Clement VII, partly from personal and partly from higher reasons, had such strong apprehensions that it seemed to him even less dangerous to tolerate the prolongation of the existing state of affairs in Germany than to summon a Council. That the Pope’s anxiety was to a certain extent justified was admitted by the Imperial envoy Mai himself. On this account many doubted whether the Council would be held; but others looked upon this as certain. It was not surprising that such an assembly, bound to take into consideration the question of reform, should be displeasing to the many prelates of a worldly type. The latter took comfort in the supposition that the Protestants were not in earnest in their demands for a General Council. The envoy of the Duke of Mantua had special satisfaction in knowing that his city was eligible as a meeting-place. “A reformation,” he said in closing his report, “is certainly necessary in view of the great corruption. God grant that it may not be brought about by the Turks instead of by the Council.”

The Papal letter of the 31st of July reached Augsburg on the 7th of August, where a few days before the refutation of the Augsburg Confession had been publicly read. This important document was presented by Campeggio to the Emperor on the 9th; but, in consequence no doubt of Loaysa’s letter of the 31st of July already mentioned, he found Charles biassed against the Pope and distrustful of his good intentions. The Emperor himself no longer held to his former tenacious insistence on the Protestant acceptance of the conditions, but now asked that, waiving the latter entirely, the Council so necessary for the general welfare of Christendom should, under any circumstances, be summoned as soon as possible, without prejudice to the objections and representations made by Campeggio in the sense of their former agreement. As regards the seat of the Council Charles avoided any definite pronouncement on the choice of Rome, as desired by Clement and recommended by the Legate, by calling attention to the Pope’s own alternative suggestion of Bologna, Mantua, or Piacenza.

Charles, meanwhile, was still possessed by the delusive hope that he might succeed in arriving at a temporary suspension of the religious strife until such time as a general synod should assemble. On the 7th of September he once more ordered the promise of the Council under the specified conditions to be tendered to the protesting Estates, who thanked him for his exertions and urged speedy action, but refused in round terms the abandonment for the time being of the innovations. On the 23rd of September Charles once more had a discussion with Campeggio on the Council; after his experience, during this very month of September, of the obstinacy of the Protestant princes, he again declared to the Legate that the Council, quite irrespective of the Lutheran situation, was absolutely necessary, or otherwise, within the space of ten years, there would be no obedience left in Germany. He added, however, that, if Clement nevertheless thought otherwise, he, as an obedient son, would submit; but in that case he hoped the Pope would inform him openly and as soon as possible, as this would be better than that the Council should be hindered by the King of France, when in the general opinion the blame would still be laid upon the Pope.

In the draft of the decree of the Diet which Charles laid before the protesting Estates on the 22nd and 23rd of September, he once more charged the latter “to discuss and consider among themselves, until the 15th of April of the forthcoming year, whether, as regards the articles on which there was still disagreement, they would reunite themselves with the Christian Church, the Pope, the Emperor’s Majesty, and the princes of the Empire and other heads and members of Christendom at large, until such time as the future Council should open its discussions.” The protesting princes rejected this message finally; their spokesman, the Elector of Saxony, at once left the Diet, from which the Landgrave of Hesse had already withdrawn on the 6th of August in precipitate haste. Duke Ernest of Lüneburg, Prince Wolfgang of Anhalt, the Chancellor Bruck, and the Saxon theologians also left Augsburg. They thus destroyed all further possibility of reconciliation.