force and vigour; that none of the confederates shall be liable to any action on account of what had happened during the course of the war; that the consideration of those encroachments which had been made, as Maurice pretended, upon the constitution and liberties of the empire, shall be remitted to the approaching diet; that Albert of Brandenburg shall be comprehended in the treaty, provided he shall accede to it and disband his forces before the twelfth of August.43

Such was the memorable treaty of Passau, that overturned the vast fabric in erecting which Charles had employed so many years and had exerted the utmost efforts of his power and policy; that annulled all his regulations with regard to religion, defeated all his hopes of rendering the imperial authority absolute and hereditary in his family, and established the Protestant Church, which had hitherto subsisted precariously in Germany, through connivance or by expedients, upon a firm and secure basis. Maurice reaped all the glory of having concerted and completed this unexpected revolution. It is a singular circumstance that the Reformation should be indebted for its security and full establishment in Germany to the same hand which had brought it to the brink of destruction, and that both events should have been accomplished by the same arts of dissimulation. The ends, however, which Maurice had in view at those different junctures seem to have been more attended to than the means by which he attained them; and he was now as universally extolled for his zeal and public spirit as he had lately been condemned for his indifference and interested policy. It is no less worthy of observation that the French king, a monarch zealous for the Catholic faith, should employ his power in order to protect and maintain the Reformation in the empire, at the very time when he was persecuting his own Protestant subjects with all the fierceness of bigotry, and that the league for this purpose, which proved so fatal to the Romish Church, should be negotiated and signed by a Roman Catholit bishop. So wonderfully doth the wisdom of God superintend and regulate the caprice of human passions and render them subservient towards the accomplishment of his own purposes.

Little attention was paid to the interests of the French king during the negotiations at Passau. Maurice and his associates, having gained what they had in view, discovered no great solicitude about an ally whom perhaps they reckoned to be overpaid for the assistance which he had given them by his acquisitions in Lorraine. A short clause which they procured to be inserted in the treaty, importing that the king of France might communicate to the confederates his particular pretensions or causes of hostility, which they would lay before the emperor, was the only sign that they gave of their remembering how much they had been indebted to him for their success. Henry experi enced the same treatment which every prince who lends his aid to the authors of a civil war may expect. As soon as the rage of faction began to subside, and any prospect of accommodation to open, his services were forgotten, and his associates made a merit with their sovereign of the ingratitude with which they abandoned their protector. But how much soever Henry might be enraged at the perfidy of his allies, or at the impatience with which they hastened to make their peace with the emperor at his expense, he was perfectly sensible that it was more his interest to keep well with the Germanic body than to resent the indignities offered him by any particular members of it. For that reason he dismissed the hostages which he had received from Maurice and his associates, and affected to talk in the same strain as formerly concerning his zeal for maintaining the ancient constitution and liberties of the empire.

43 Recueil des Traités, ii. 261.

BOOK XI.

Maurice marches against the Turks-The Landgrave and the Elector recover their LibertyThe Emperor makes War upon France-The Siege of Metz-Losses of the Emperor in Italy-Descent of the Turks upon the Kingdom of Naples-Confederacy under the Lead of Maurice against Albert of Brandenburg-Maurice is slain in Battle, but Albert is defeated, and afterwards driven out of Germany-Success of the Emperor in the Netherlands-His Losses in Hungary and Italy-The Family Troubles of Solyman-The Ambition of his Mistress Roxalana, and the Fate of his Son Mustapha-Marriage of Philip with Mary of England-Efforts of Mary to overthrow Protestantism-Henry conducts a vigorous Campaign against the Emperor-Cosmo de' Medici's Schemes-The French under Strozzi defeated-Siege of Siena-Retreat of the Duke of Alva from Piedmont-Conspiracy to betray Metz discovered-Diet at Augsburg-Death of Pope Julius-Charles endeavours anew to acquire the Imperial Crown for his Son Philip-The Peace of Religion established -Pope Marcellus II.-Pope Paul IV., and the ambitious Schemes of his Nephews-The Emperor abdicates in favour of his Son Philip-Peace between France and Spain-The Pope attempts to rekindle War-The Duke of Alva takes the Field against him-A Truce between the Pope and Philip.

As soon as the treaty of Passau was signed, Maurice, in consequence of his engagements with Ferdinand, marched into Hungary at the head of twenty thousand men. But the great superiority of the Turkish armies, the frequent mutinies both of the Spanish and German soldiers, occasioned by their want of pay, together with the dissensions between Maurice and Castaldo, who was piqued at being obliged to resign the chief command to him, prevented his performing anything in that country suitable to his former fame, or of great benefit to the king of the Romans.1

When Maurice set out for Ilungary, the prince of Hesse parted from him with the forces under his command, and marched back into his own country, that he might be ready to receive his father upon his return and give up to him the reins of government which he had held during his absence. But fortune was not yet weary of persecuting the landgrave. A battalion of mercenary troops which had been in the pay of Hesse, being seduced by Reifenberg, their colonel, a soldier of fortune, ready to engage in any enterprise, secretly withdrew from the young prince as he was marching homewards, and joined Albert of Brandenburg, who still continued in arms against the emperor, refusing to be included in the treaty of Passau. Unhappily for the landgrave, an account of this reached the Netherlands just as he was dismissed from the citadel of Mechlin, where he had been confined, but before he had got beyond the frontiers of that country. The queen of Hungary, who governed there in her brother's name, incensed at such an open violation of the treaty to which he owed his liberty, issued orders to arrest him, and committed him again into the custody of the same Spanish captain who had guarded him for five years with the most severe vigilance. Philip beheld all the horrors of his imprisonment renewed; and, his spirits subsiding in the same proportion as they had risen during the short interval in which he had enjoyed liberty, he sunk into

'Istuanhaffii Hist. Hungar., 288.-Thuan., lib. x. 371.

despair, and believed himself to be doomed to perpetual captivity. But the matter being so explained to the emperor as fully satisfied him that the revolt of Reifenberg's mercenaries could be imputed neither to the landgrave nor to his son, he gave orders for his release; and Philip at last obtained the liberty for which he had so long languished. But, though he recovered his freedom and was reinstated in his dominions, his sufferings seem to have broken the vigour and to have extinguished the activity of his mind. From being the boldest as well as most enterprising prince in the empire, he became the most timid and cautious, and passed the remainder of his days in a pacific indolence.

The degraded elector of Saxony likewise procured his liberty in consequence of the treaty of Passau. The emperor, having been obliged to relinquish all his schemes for extirpating the Protestant religion, had no longer any motive for detaining him a prisoner; and, being extremely solicitous at that juncture to recover the confidence and good will of the Germans, whose assistance was essential to the success of the enterprise which he meditated against the king of France, he, among other expedients for that purpose, thought of releasing from imprisonment a prince whose merit entitled him no less to esteem than his sufferings rendered him the object of compassion. John Frederic took possession, accordingly, of that part of his territories which had been reserved for him when Maurice was invested with the electoral dignity. As in this situation he continued to display the same virtuous magnanimity for which he had been conspicuous in a more prosperous and splendid state, and which he had retained amidst all his sufferings, he maintained during the remainder of his life that high reputation to which he had so just a title.

The loss of Metz, Toul, and Verdun had made a deep impression on the emperor. Accustomed to terminate all his operations against France with advantage to himself, he thought that it nearly concerned his honour not to allow Henry the superiority in this war, or to suffer his own administration to be stained with the infamy of having permitted territories of such consequence to be dismembered from the empire. This was no less a point of interest than of honour. As the frontier of Champagne was more naked and lay more exposed than that of any province in France, Charles had frequently, during his wars with that kingdom, made inroads upon that quarter with great success and effect; but if Henry were allowed to retain his late conquests, France would gain such a formidable barrier on that side as to be altogether secure where formerly she had been weakest. On the other hand, the emperor had now lost as much, in point of security, as France had acquired, and, being stripped of the defence which those cities afforded it, lay open to be invaded on a quarter where all the towns, having been hitherto considered as interior and remote from an enemy, were but slightly fortified. These considerations determined Charles to attempt recovering the three towns of which Henry had made himself master; and the preparations which he had made against Maurice and his associates enabled him to carry his resolution into immediate execution.

As soon, then, as the peace was concluded at Passau, he left his inglorious retreat at Villach, and advanced to Augsburg, at the head of a considerable body of Germans which he had levied, together with all the troops which he had drawn out of Italy and Spain. To these he added several battalions, which, having been in the pay of the confederates, entered into his service when dismissed by them; and he prevailed likewise on some princes of the empire to join him with their vassals. In order to conceal the destination of

2 Sleid., 573.-Belcarii Comment., 834.

this formidable army, and to guard against alarming the French king so as to put him on preparing for the defence of his late conquests, he gave out that he was to march forthwith into Hungary, in order to second Maurice in his operations against the infidels. When he began to advance towards the Rhine, and could no longer employ that pretext, he tried a new artifice, and spread a report that he took this route in order to chastise Albert of Brandenburg, whose cruel exactions in that part of the empire called loudly for his interposition to check them.

But the French, having grown acquainted at last with arts by which they had been so often deceived, viewed all Charles's motions with distrust. Henry immediately discerned the true object of his vast preparations, and resolved to defend the important conquests which he had gained with vigour equal to that with which they were about to be attacked. As he foresaw that the whole weight of the war would be turned against Metz, by whose fate that of Toul and Verdun would be determined, he nominated Francis of Lorraine, duke of Guise, to take the command in that city during the siege, the issue of which would equally affect the honour and interest of his country. His choice could not have fallen upon any person more worthy of that trust. The duke of Guise possessed in a high degree all the talents of courage, sagacity, and presence of mind which render men eminent in military command. He was largely endowed with that magnanimity of soul which delights in bold enterprises and aspires to fame by splendid and extraordinary actions. He repaired with joy to the dangerous station assigned him, as to a theatre on which he might display his great qualities under the immediate eye of his countrymen, all ready to applaud him. The martial genius of the French nobility in that age, which considered it as the greatest reproach to remain inactive when there was any opportunity of signalizing their courage, prompted great numbers to follow a leader who was the darling as well as the pattern of every one that courted military fame. Several princes of the blood, many noblemen of the highest rank, and all the young officers who could obtain the king's permission, entered Metz as volunteers. By their presence they added spirit to the garrison, and enabled the duke of Guise to employ, on every emergency, persons eager to distinguish themselves and fit to conduct any service.

But, with whatever alacrity the duke of Guise undertook the defence of Metz, he found everything, upon his arrival there, in such a situation as might have induced any person of less intrepid courage to despair of defending it with success. The city was of great extent, with large suburbs; the walls were in many places feeble and without ramparts; the ditch narrow; and the old towers which projected instead of bastions were at too great distance from each other to defend the space between them. For all these defects he endeavoured to provide the best remedy which the time would permit. He ordered the suburbs, without sparing the monasteries or churches, not even that of St. Arnulph, in which several kings of France had been buried, to be levelled with the ground; but, in order to guard against the imputation of impiety to which such a violation of so many sacred edifices, as well as of the ashes of the dead, might expose him, he executed this with much religious ceremony. Having ordered all the holy vestments and utensils, together with the bones of the kings and other persons deposited in these churches, to be removed, they were carried in solemn procession to a church within the walls, he himself walking before them bareheaded, with a torch in his hand. He then pulled down such houses as stood near the walls, cleared and enlarged the ditch, repaired the ruinous fortifications, and erected new ones. As it was necessary that all these works should be finished with the utmost expedi

tion, he laboured at them with his own hands; the officers and volunteers imitated his example; and the soldiers submitted with cheerfulness to the most severe and fatiguing service, when they saw that their superiors did not decline to bear a part in it. At the same time, he compelled all useless persons to leave the place; he filled the magazines with provisions and military stores; he burnt the mills and destroyed the corn and forage for several miles round the town. Such were his popular talents, as well as his arts of acquiring an ascendant over the minds of men, that the citizens seconded him with no less ardour than the soldiers; and, every other passion being swallowed up in the zeal to repulse the enemy with which he inspired them, they beheld the ruin of their estates, together with the havoc which he made among their public and private buildings, without any emotion of resentment.

Meantime, the emperor, having collected all his forces, continued his march towards Metz. As he passed through the cities on the Rhine, he saw the dismal effects of that licentious and wasteful war which Albert had carried on in these parts. Upon his approach, that prince, though at the head of twenty thousand men, withdrew into Lorraine, as if he had intended to join the French king, whose arms he had quartered with his own in all his standards and ensigns. Albert was not in a condition to cope with the imperial troops,* which amounted at least to sixty thousand men, forming one of the most numerous and best-appointed armies which had been brought into the field during that age, in any of the wars among Christian princes.

The chief command, under the emperor, was committed to the duke of Alva, assisted by the marquis de Marignano, together with the most experienced of the Italian and Spanish generals. As it was now towards the end of October, these intelligent officers represented the great danger of beginning, at such an advanced season, a siege which could not fail to prove very tedious. But Charles adhered to his own opinion with his usual obstinacy, and, being confident that he had made such preparations and taken such precautions as would insure success, he ordered the city to be invested. As soon as the duke of Alva appeared, a large body of the French sallied out and attacked his vanguard with great vigour, put it in confusion, and killed or took prisoners a considerable number of men. By this early specimen which they gave of the conduct of their officers as well as the valour of their troops, they showed the imperialists what an enemy they had to encounter, and how dear every advantage must cost them. The place, however, was completely invested, the trenches were opened, and the other works begun.

The attention both of the besiegers and besieged was turned for some time towards Albert of Brandenburg, and they strove with emulation which should gain that prince, who still hovered in the neighbourhood, fluctuating in all the uncertainty of irresolution natural to a man who, being swayed by no principle, was allured different ways by contrary views of interest. The French tempted him with offers extremely beneficial; the imperialists scrupled at no promise which they thought might allure him. After much hesitation, he was gained by the emperor, from whom he expected to receive advantages which were both more immediate and more permanent. As the French king, who began to suspect his intentions, had appointed a body of troops, under the duke of Aumale, brother to the duke of Guise, to watch his motions, Albert fell upon them unexpectedly with such vigour that he routed them entirely, killed many of the officers, wounded Aumale himself, and took him prisoner. Immediately after this victory he marched in triumph to Metz and joined his army to that of the emperor. Charles, in reward for this service and the great * Thuan., xỉ. 387.

• Natal. Comitis Hist., 127.