J. H. Merle D'Aubigné - History of the Reformation in Europe in the Time of Calvin (Vol. 1-8)

=UNION TO ASSIST WURTEMBERG.=

The Austrian commissioners, finding their position rather embarrassing, began to temporise, and proposed that Christopher should accept as compensation some town of small importance. He refused, saying: 'I will never cease to claim simply and firmly the country of my fathers.' 530But Austria, fearing the preponderance of protestantism in Germany, closed her ears to his just request. At this point France intervened strongly in favour of the two protestant princes. Du Bellay, after reminding the diet that Ulrich had confessed his faults, and that he was much altered by age, long exile, and great trials, continued thus: 'Must the duke see his only son, a young and innocent prince, who ought to be the support of his declining years, for ever bearing the weight of his misfortunes? Will you take into consideration neither the calamitous old age of the one, nor the unhappy youth of the other? Will you avenge the sins of the father upon the child who was then in the cradle? The dukes of Wurtemberg are of high descent. Their punishment has been permitted, but not their destruction. Help this innocent youth (Christopher), receive this penitent (Ulrich), and reestablish them both in their former dignity.' 531

The Austrians, who were annoyed at seeing the ambassador of the King of France intermeddling in their affairs, held firm. The deputies of Saxony, Hesse, Prussia, Mecklenburg, and the other states, now made up their minds to oppose Austria; they told the young duke that they were ready to cast their swords in the balance, and Christopher himself requested Du Bellay 'to change his congratulatory oration into a comminatory one.' 532

=DU BELLAY PLEADS AND MENACES.=

When the French envoy was admitted again before the diet, he assumed a higher tone: 'My lords,' he said, 'will you lend your hands to the ruin of an innocent person?... If you do so ... I tell you that you will bring a stain upon your reputation that all the water in the sea will not be able to wash out. This prince, in heart so proud, in origin so illustrious, will not endure to live miserably in the country whose sovereign he is by birth; he will go into a foreign land. And in what part soever of the world he may be, what will he carry with him?... The shame of the emperor, the shame of King Ferdinand, the shame of all of you. Every man, pointing to him, will say: That is he who formerly.... That is he who now.... That is he who through no fault of his own.... That is he who, being compelled to leave Germany.... You understand, my lords, what is omitted in these sentences; I willingly excuse myself from completing them ... you will do it yourselves. No! you will not be insensible to such great misery.... I see your hearts are touched already.... I see by your gestures and your looks that you feel the truth of my words.'

Then, making a direct attack upon the emperor and his brother, he said: 'There are people who, very erroneously in my opinion, consult only their wicked ambition and unbridled covetousness, and who think that, by oppressing now one and now another, they will subdue all Germany.'

Turning next to the young Prince of Wurtemberg, the representative of Francis I. continued: 'Duke Christopher, rely upon it the Most Christian King will do all that he can in your behalf, without injury to his faith, his honour, and the duties of blood. The court of France has always been the most liberal of all—ever open to receive exiled and suffering princes. With greater reason, then, it will not be closed against you who are its ally ... you who, by the justice of your cause and by your innocence, appear even to your enemies worthy of pity and compassion.' 533

The members of the diet had listened attentively to this speech, and their countenances showed that they were convinced. 534The cause was won: the Swabian league, the creature of Austria and the enemy of the Reformation, was not to be renewed. Du Bellay left Augsburg, continued his journey through Germany, and endeavoured to form a new confederation there 535against Austria, which Francis I. and Henry VIII. could join. 'If any one should think of invading England,' the latter was told, 'we would send you soldiers by the Baltic sea .' 536It is to be feared that this succour by way of the Baltic would have arrived rather late in the waters of the Thames. But the main thing in Du Bellay's eyes was action, not diplomatic negotiations. His idea was to unite Francis I. and the protestants of Germany in a common movement which would lead France to throw off the ultramontane yoke; but there were only two men of sufficient energy to undertake it. The first was the king his master, to whom we now return.

Francis, after leaving Avignon, had gone into Dauphiny, thence to Lyons and other cities in the east of France. In January 1534, he reached Bar-le-Duc, thus gradually drawing nearer to the German frontier. The winter this year was exceedingly severe, but for that the king did not care: he thought only of uniting France and the protestants by means of Wurtemberg, as the marriage of Catherine had just united France and the pope.

=THE LANDGRAVE'S PROJECT.=

The second of the princes from whom an energetic course might be expected was the Landgrave of Hesse. Of all the protestant leaders of Germany he was the one whose heart had been least changed by the Gospel. Without equalling Francis I. in sensuality, he was yet far from being a pattern of chastity. But, on the other hand, none of the princes attached to the Reformation equalled him in talent, strength, and activity. By his character he was the most important man of the evangelical league, and more than once he exercised a decisive influence on the progress of the protestant work. Philip, cousin of the Duke of Wurtemberg, often had him at his court; Ulrich had even taken part in the famous conference of Marburg. Moved by the misfortunes of this prince, delighted at the trick Christopher had played the emperor, touched by the loyalty of the Wurtembergers, who claimed their dukes and their nationality, impatient to win this part of Germany to the evangelical faith, he desired to take it away from Austria. To find the men to do it was easy, if only he had the money ... but money he had none.

Du Bellay saw that there lay the knot of the affair, and he made haste to cut it. The clergy of France had just given the king a considerable sum: could a better use be made of it than this? The French envoy let Philip know that he might obtain from his master the subsidies he needed. But more must be done: he must take advantage of the opportunity to bring together the two most enterprising princes of the epoch. If they saw and heard one another, they would like each other and bind themselves in such a manner that the union of France and protestant Germany would be effected at last. Philip of Hesse received all these overtures with delight.

=LUTHER OPPOSES THE WAR.=

But fresh obstacles now intervened. The theologians of the Reformation detested these foreign alliances and wars, which, in their opinion, defiled the holiest of causes. Luther and Melanchthon waited upon the elector, conjuring him to oppose the landgrave's rash enterprise; and Du Bellay found the two reformers employing as much zeal to prevent the union of Francis and Philip as he to accomplish it. 'Go,' said the elector to Luther and Melanchthon, 'and prevail upon the landgrave to change his mind.'

The two doctors, on their way from Wittemberg to Weimar, where they would meet Philip, conversed about their mission and the landgrave: 'He is an intelligent prince,' said Luther, 'all animation and impulse, and of a joyous heart. He has been able to maintain order in his country, so that Hesse, which is full of forests and mountains where robbers might find shelter, sees its inhabitants travelling and roaming about, buying and selling without fear.... If one of them is attacked and robbed, forthwith the landgrave falls upon the bandits and punishes them. He is a true man of war—an Arminius. His star never deceives him, and he is much dreaded by all his adversaries.' 537'And I too,' said Melanchthon, 'love the Macedonian ' (for so he called Philip of Hesse, because, in his opinion, that prince had all the shrewdness and courage of his namesake of Macedon); 'for that reason,' he added, 'I am unwilling that, being so high, he should risk so great a fall.' 538The two theologians had no doubt that a war undertaken against the powerful house of Austria would end in a frightful catastrophe to the protestants.