The greatest story in the world, period 3 (of 3)

by Horace G. Hutchinson

The "Cloth of Gold"

It was in the year 1516 that Charles succeeded to the throne of Spain and to the possession of all the wealth that the Spanish ships had begun to bring in from the New World. Three years later he was elected Emperor, giving offence thereby to Henry VIII. of England, as well as to Francis, since both had sought to be Emperor. Their common cause of offence led to their famous meeting known as the "Field of the Cloth of Gold" by reason of the magnificence of the decorations, the gay and splendid tents, and so on. But it all ended in nothing, or indeed less than nothing, except an exchange of compliments, for almost immediately afterwards we find Henry, under the influence of the great Cardinal Wolsey, pledged to support Charles. In the shifting alliances of the time it was nearly always against France that England was engaged, notwithstanding that Henry's sister had married Francis' predecessor on the throne of France. Charles, on the other hand, was Henry's nephew. But France was constantly giving aid to Scotland, whether secretly or openly, in her continual fight with England. Scotland, however, had just been beaten to her very knees in the battle of Flodden, and had little fighting left in her for the moment. With such forces as these opposed to France the wonder really is that she maintained her power undiminished. It is yet more wonderful that, under Francis, she should have been ready for still further adventures in Italy. Yet she did so adventure, and though she and her king met with grievous disaster there—especially at the battle of Pavia where Francis was made prisoner and whence he was taken to Madrid—we have to notice that at the death of Francis, shortly before the middle of the century, France was in possession of the provinces of Savoy and Piedmont, both on the Italian side of the Alps—and this, although Charles had been crowned "King of Italy" by the Pope nearly twenty years earlier. Probably the explanation lies chiefly in the fact that the territories over which Charles ruled were so extensive, and also so scattered, that it was impossible for him to bring any great force together at any one place. Moreover, on his south-eastern border, in and around Austria, he was constantly menaced by the Turks ever pressing up from Constantinople. He seems to have tried to rid himself of the Turkish trouble by handing over to his brother some of the provinces on the side which lay most dangerously exposed; but even so their defence must have remained practically on his hands.

He never made good his claim to Burgundy—in which matter again it is rather wonderful that Francis should have been able to resist him. And, not having Burgundy in his possession, he was obliged to maintain a fleet able to command the seas on the west of France in order to go to and fro between Spain and the Netherlands. He must also have a second fleet of ships for bringing treasure from the East; and, since Spain had a long sea-coast on the Mediterranean where the Turks and pirates swarmed, he must have yet a third fleet there for the protection of his trade. Besides, he had a claim of sovereignty over Naples and Sicily.

Therefore, with these, and other less important, calls upon his power it is really not surprising, great although that power was, that it did not prove equal to all he would have liked to demand of it. And further, in those states over which he had been elected Emperor, with the rather vague authority and duties belonging to that title, another cause arose of great and increasing trouble, the Reformation.

Luther

For the last few pages we have been occupied with kings and emperors: it is time that our story concerned itself with the cleric of low degree. I put this phrase in place of that which was on my pen's tip to write, namely, "humble cleric," because, however we may think of Luther, "humble" he certainly does not appear. Humble before God he may indeed, as a good Christian, have been. It was perhaps the most striking feature in his character that he would not humble himself before men—not even before that great man whom he had been taught to look on as endowed with a quite special grace and blessing, the Pope of Rome. His origin was humble enough. He was the son of a miner in the German state of Saxony. He had the education of a monk, was made Professor of Philosophy at the University of Wittenberg, in Saxony, and took the degree of Doctor of Divinity. He went on a pilgrimage to Rome and came back grieving sorely over what he saw there.

The way in which the Pope and his council, called the Curia, had been governing, or misgoverning, the Church, had given great offence for many years. The monasteries and the convents, that is to say, the establishments of the monks and the nuns, had done much useful work in acquiring learning and in educating the people throughout Christendom in religious and other knowledge. Many of them were doing good work still. But the condition of most of them appears to have become very bad, both monks and nuns being lazy, gluttonous, and worse—setting the worst possible example to the common people. They were careful perhaps about the performance of the religious ceremonies in the churches, but their religion had little or no influence on the conduct of their lives.

Against Rome itself the complaint of Christendom was not only that it did not exercise its authority to amend these ill practices, and that the very same practices were followed in Rome itself, but also that the Pope and his council exacted money, from the people generally and even from the clergy themselves, and did not apply the money to the purposes for which it had been demanded. For the demand was made on the plea that the money was needed to equip armies to fight the Turk, and those armies were never summoned or put in movement. The money was diverted to increase the private wealth and pomp of Pope and Cardinals and high church dignitaries at Rome.

So there was sufficient cause of offence, both at the centre and in every part of the world over which the Pope claimed authority. We saw in the last volume how our own Wycliffe, and how Huss, in Bohemia, had raised furious protests against these evils in the Church. The fire of those fierce protests was still smouldering. The people understood the protests better. The knowledge of the Bible was not so entirely the possession of the clerics as it had been. The printing press had made many copies. Moreover, the Greeks and the knowledge of the Greek language, in which the New Testament was written, had been widely dispersed when the Turks took Constantinople—the headquarters of the Greek Church.

Luther's first act of protest against the action of Rome was directed against the sale of "Indulgences," as they were called. These "indulgences" were written pardons for sin. They were even credited with power to bring out of Purgatory a soul that was there already. And they—that is to say, the parchments or papers with the pardon written on them—could be bought. They could be bought from people called "pardoners" who sold them on behalf of Rome, and the Pope's explanation was that the money was needed for the building at Rome of the Cathedral of St. Peter.