Italy indeed suffered terribly. At no date was the selfishness of nations more flagrantly exhibited than in these Italian wars. The peninsula became the spoil of the foreigner, never to regain her independence till our own day. Yet in the midst of her supreme agony, she had bestowed a priceless gift on Europe. The revived knowledge of Greek art and literature, the highest perfection of painting, the new style of architecture, the knowledge of man, and the spirit of criticism—these were to be her final legacies to Europe in the movement of the Renaissance, which was so peculiarly Italian.
Henceforth the main interest of European history will no longer lie in Italy. The struggle for her fair plains is not indeed over. The papacy will still demand our attention, in its relations to the Reformation and to the Empire. But Italy falls back into a subordinate position. The Mediterranean ceases to be the highway of commerce between east and west. Our gaze is directed north of the Alps to follow the great struggle between the Hapsburg and Valois houses, and the momentous issues which were involved in the Reformation.
[27] For a description of the constitution of Castile and Aragon, cf. Cambridge Mod. Hist., vol. i. 348 ff.
[28] These supposed visits to Genoa and Venice are very doubtful.
[29] On this point cf. Ruge, Geschichte des Zeitalters der Entdeckungen, p. 458 ff.
[30] The madness of Joanna has been denied by Bergenroth, State Papers, London 1868, supplement to vol. i. II. But cf. Gachard, Sur Jeanne La Folle, Brussels, 1869; Rösler, Johanna die Wahnsinnige, Vienna, 1870; Ranke, Latin and Teutonic Nations, Bk. II. ch. ii., note.
[31] Isabella had left Castile to Joanna, and after her to Charles, and Ferdinand did the same with Aragon. But Ximenes proclaimed Charles king conjointly with his mother; and her madness made Charles practically sole king.
[32] On election he assumed the title ‘The King of the Romans.’ But coronation by the Pope was then held necessary for the assumption of the title ‘Holy Roman Emperor.’ Frederick III. was, however, the last Emperor crowned at Rome; Maximilian in 1508, assumed the title of ‘Roman Emperor elect’ with the assent of the Pope; and after Charles V., who was crowned at Bologna (1529), no Emperor sought for coronation from the Pope.
[33] Besides the Princes who enjoyed an individual vote (Virilstimme), there were three collective votes (Curiatstimmen)—that of the Prelates who were not princes, and those of the Suabian and Wetterabian Graves and Barons.