=FEARS IN GERMANY.=
All was not, however, so near as he imagined. An old obstacle came up again, and seemed as if it would check the landgrave. The other evangelical princes and doctors did all they could to thwart an enterprise which would, in Philip's opinion, secure their triumph. 'The restoration of the Duke of Wurtemberg,' said the wise Melanchthon, 'will engender great troubles. Even the Church will be endangered by them. You know my forebodings.[593] All the kings of Europe will be mixed up in this war. It is a matter full of peril, not only to ourselves, but to the whole world.'[594] Astrology interfered in the matter, and spread terror among the people. Lichtenberg, a famous astrologer, published some predictions, to which he added certain 'monstrous pictures,'[595] and said: 'The Frenchman (Francis) will again fall into the emperor's hands;[596] and all who unite with him in making war will be destroyed. The lion will want help, and will be deceived by the lily.'[597] In such terms the German prophecy declared that France (the lily) would deceive Hesse (whose device is a lion): this shows how little confidence Germany had in the French monarch.
Ferdinand of Austria distrusted the prophecy, and thought the landgrave's attack close at hand. Sensible of his own weakness, he turned to the pope and said to him through his envoy Sanchez: 'The landgrave's expedition is a danger which threatens the Church and Italy ... the spirituality and the temporality.' The pope promised everything, but (as was his custom) with the determination to do nothing. A war that might weaken Charles was gratifying to him, even though protestantism should profit by it. Clement, however, convoked the consistory; described to them in very expressive language the danger of the empire and the Church; but of helping them, not a word.... Ferdinand, still more alarmed, became more importunate, and the matter was brought before a congregation: 'Alas!' said Clement to the cardinals, 'it is impossible to conceal from you the dangers that threaten King Ferdinand and the Austrian power. They are attacked by so severe a disease that a simple medicine would be insufficient to effect a cure.... It requires an energetic remedy ... but where can it be found?' The cardinals agreed with their chief; they thought that, as the danger threatened Austria alone, it was for Austria to get out of it as she could. The recollection of the sack of Rome by the imperialists in 1527 was not yet effaced from the hearts of these Roman priests, and they were not sorry to see the emperor punished by an heretical scourge. They resolved that as Rome could not give a subsidy sufficiently large, they would give none at all. 'This expedition,' said Clement VII. to Ferdinand's envoy, with a certain frankness, 'is only a private matter.... But if the landgrave touches the Church, you may reckon then upon my help.' Sanchez, seeing the pontiff's lukewarmness, and moved by sorrow and indignation,[598] forcibly replied: 'Be not deceived, holy father.... This matter is not so small as you suppose.... It will cost the Church of Rome dear ... and not the Church only, but the city and all Italy.'
=THE POPE AND AUSTRIA.=
Sanchez thought, like Francis and the politicians, that the protestants, victorious in Wurtemberg, would not stop in so glorious a career; that they would raise a large army; and that, aided by France, they would cross the Alps and go to Rome to dethrone the successor of St. Peter, and put an end to what they regarded as the power of antichrist. This suggestion exasperated Clement: he felt the tiara shaking on his head, and angrily exclaimed: 'And where is the emperor? What is he doing? Why does he not watch over his brother's states and the peace of Germany?' Charles V., quite unconcerned about a project which might, however, insure his rival's triumph, was calmly enjoying his repose beneath the smiling sky of Spain, reclining on the banks of its beautiful rivers, under the shade of its orange and citron trees and of its gigantic laurels. The pope took courage from his example to do the same. If he did nothing to stop the protestant army, the papacy might suffer; but if he did anything, he might turn aside from the house of Austria the terrible blow about to fall on it, and save from a reverse that imperial power which he detested. The pontiff sank back into his apostolic chair, and prepared for a luxurious slumber, thinking it would be time enough to wake up ... when danger was at his own door. 'Alas!' said sincere catholics, 'why are the successors of St. Peter, the fisherman and apostle, clothed in soft raiment, which is for those who are in kings' houses? Why do they covet these courtly pomps and effeminacies? Why do they imitate the princes of the Gentiles who exercise dominion over them? Christ bore the cross.' The political passions of Clement VII. extinguished his ecclesiastical zeal. The temporal power of the popes has never been other than a clog upon their spiritual power, preventing it from working freely. The judgments of God were about to be executed.
At the beginning of May everything was astir in Hesse, Pomerania, Mecklenburg, Brunswick, Westphalia, and on the banks of the Rhine; the landgrave was preparing to march against Austria. Omens threatened, indeed, to detain him. At Cassel, the chief town of Hesse, a monster was seen walking mysteriously and silently upon the water during the night.[599] 'It is a sure warning,' said the old crones and a few citizens, 'that the prince ought to stop.' But Philip replied coldly: 'These visions are not worthy of belief.' Without heeding the monster, Philip, mounted on horseback and carrying a lance in his hand, reviewed his army on Wednesday, the 6th of May, after midnight, and then gave the order to march. Almost all the officers and a great many of the soldiers belonged to the evangelical confession. It was, alas! the first politico-religious army of the sixteenth century, and this campaign was the first Germanico-European opposition to the house of Austria.[600] History shrouds herself beneath a veil of mourning as she points to this epoch; for the employment of human force in the interests of religion, the armed struggle between the new and the old times, began then.
=PHILIP DEFEATS THE AUSTRIAN.=
The Austrian government, deserted by the pope, saw that it must help itself, and had made great exertions on its part. All the convents, chapters, and towns of Wurtemberg had been forced to contribute large sums of money, and the most experienced generals of the Italian wars had been placed at the head of the imperial army. The soldiers of Austria marched to Laufen on the Neckar, and there waited for the enemy. The landgrave's army, full of hope and courage, uttered loud shouts of joy when they heard of it.
It was not so at Wittemberg. Melanchthon was more grieved than ever, and many persons sympathised with him. On the one hand, the theologians of the Reformation detested war; but on the other, they said to themselves at certain moments: 'Still ... if Philip takes up arms it is to restore legitimate princes to the throne of their fathers, and secure a free course to the Word of God!'—'Oh, what cruelties in the Roman Church,' added Melanchthon, 'what idolatries, and what obstinacy in defending them! Who knows but God desires to punish their defenders, if not utterly to destroy such notorious evils for ever?[601] Oh that the issue of this war may be beneficial to the Church of Christ!' Some time after, when Melanchthon was told of the advance of the army of Philip of Hesse, that peaceful christian gave way once more to his anguish: 'These movements are quite against our advice,' he said, and then shutting himself up in his closet, he exclaimed: 'In the midst of the dangers and sorrows to which God exposes us, we have nothing else to do but to call upon Christ and to feel his presence.'[602] He then fell upon his knees before God; and God, who saw him in secret, rewarded him openly. But while the christians were weeping and praying, the politicians were rejoicing and acting. Du Bellay, in particular, did not doubt that an early victory would cement the union of France with German protestantism; and perceiving the consequences that would follow from the enfranchisement of his country, he gave utterance to his joy.