THE news of the meeting of Francis I. and Henry VIII. alarmed Germany, Italy, and all Europe. 'The kings of France and England,' it was said, 'are going to take advantage of the emperor's campaign against the Turks, to unite their armies with those of the protestants and gain a signal victory.'[265] But nobody was more alarmed than the pope. Abruptly addressing the Bishop of Auxerre, the minister of France, he made the bitterest complaints to him.[266] Already he saw France, like England, shaking off the yoke of Rome. 'I have it from good authority,' says Brantôme, 'that the King of France was on the point of renouncing the pope, as the King of England had done.'[267]
On leaving Boulogne, Francis went to Paris, where he spent the winter and took his measures for 'the great effort' with which he threatened the pope. The priests were very uneasy, and began to dread a reform similar to that in England. Calling to mind that in Denmark, Sweden, and elsewhere, a great part of the ecclesiastical property had been transferred to the treasury of the State, they granted the king all he asked; and the prince thus obtained between five and six hundred thousand ducats, which put him in a condition to do 'the great things' with which the cardinals were to menace the pontiff.[268] An unexpected event furnished the opportunity of employing the priests' money in favour of the Reformation.
=CHARLES V. HASTENS TO ITALY.=
The haughty Soliman had invaded Hungary, in July 1532, at the head of numerous and terrible hordes. Displaying a luxury without precedent, he gave audience on a golden throne, with a crown of solid gold at his side, and the scabbards of his swords covered with pearls. But erelong the sickly Charles succeeded in terrifying this magnificent barbarian. Having raised an army which combined the order and strength of the German lansquenets with the lightness and impetuosity of the Italian bands and the pride and perseverance of the Spanish troops, he forced Soliman to retreat. The emperor was all the more delighted, as the conference between Henry and Francis made him impatient to settle with the Mussulmans. It was even said in the empire that it was this conference which brought Charles back, as he desired to join the pope in combating projects which threatened them both. The emperor passed the Alps in the autumn of 1532.[269]
Among the nobles and warriors who accompanied him, was a young prince of eighteen, Christopher, son of Duke Ulrich of Wurtemberg. He was only five years old when his father was expelled from his duchy by the Austrians; and the latter, wishing to make him forget Wurtemberg, resolved to separate him from his country and his parents. The little boy and his guardians having left Stuttgard, stopped to pass the night in a town near the frontier. A lamb was gambolling in the yard; the poor boy, delighted with the gentleness of the animal, ran and took it up in his arms, and began to play with it. In the morning, just as they were leaving, little Christopher, less distressed at their taking away his sceptre than at their separating him from his pet companion, kissed it with tears in his eyes, and said to the host: 'Pray take care of it, and when I return I will pay you for your trouble.'
Christopher was taken to Innsbruck, where his life was a hard one. The young prince who, in later times, filled his country with evangelical schools, had no one to cultivate his mind, and he who was one day to sit at the table of kings was often half-starved; his dress was neglected, and even the beggars, when they saw him, were moved with compassion. From Innsbruck he was transferred to Neustadt (Nagy-Banya) in Hungary, beyond the Theiss. One day a troop of Turkish horsemen, having crossed the Carpathians, scoured the country that lay between the mountains and the river, and, catching sight of the prince, rushed upon him to carry him off. But a faithful follower, who had observed their movements, shouted for help, and succeeded in saving Christopher from the hands of the Mussulmans. And thus the heir of Wurtemberg grew up in the bosom of adversity.
=THE PRINCE AND HIS GOVERNOR.=
The noble-hearted man who had saved him at the peril of his own life was Michael Tifernus. In his early childhood he had been carried off by the Turks, and, being abandoned by them, he had succeeded in reaching a village near Trieste, where some kind people took care of him. Tifernus (who derived this name from the place of his adoption, for his parents' name was never known) was sent to a school in Vienna, where he received a sound education. King Ferdinand, who was guilty of negligence towards Christopher rather than of ill-will, gave him Tifernus for tutor. The latter attached himself passionately to the prince, who, under his care, became an accomplished young man. In the midst of the splendours of the court of Austria and of the Roman worship, grew up one who was erelong to rescue Wurtemberg from both Austria and Rome. An important circumstance occurred to agitate the young prince deeply, and throw a bright light over his dark path.
Christopher accompanied the emperor in 1530 to the famous diet of Augsburg. He was struck by the noble sight of the fidelity and courage of the protestants. He heard them make their confession of faith; his elevated soul took the side of the oppressed Gospel; and when, at this very diet, Charles solemnly invested his brother Ferdinand with the duchy of Wurtemberg,—when Christopher saw the standard of his fathers and of his people in the hands of the Austrian archduke—the feeling of his rights came over him; he viewed the triumphant establishment of the evangelical faith in the country of his ancestors as a task appointed him. He would recover his inheritance, and, uniting with the noble confessors of Augsburg, would bring an unexpected support to the Reformation.
The emperor, after the war against the Turks, desired the prince to accompany him to Italy and Spain; perhaps it was his intention to leave him there; but Christopher made no objection. He had arranged his plans: two great ideas, the independence of Wurtemberg and the triumph of the Reformation, had taken possession of his mind, and while following the emperor and appearing to turn his back on the states of his fathers, he said significantly to his devoted friend Tifernus: 'I shall not abandon my rights in Germany.'[270]