RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Charles V.
siastical administration, redress the grievances of the Protestants, and make possible the reunion of Christendom. His overtures to the
4. Efforts Lutheran princes for the settlement ' for a of differences by a free council were General repelled, and for the next few years Council, he had the mortification of seeing
Protestantism advancing more rapidly than ever before. In 1541 he conferred in person with Paul III. regarding a council, and Trent was selected as being outside of, but near Italy and in Catholic Austria (see Trent, Council of). Charles insisted that reformation should have precedence of doctrinal definition, while the pope and his advisers thought the latter the matter of supremo importance. As a compromise it was arranged that alternate sessions should be devoted to reformation and doctrine. Charles's interest in reformation was political rather than moral or religious. He thought efforts at coercion without antecedent reformation would result in war and render unification impossible. He repeatedly invited the Protestants to send representatives to the council, with promises of safe-conduct and fair treatment. At the Fourth Diet of Speyer (1544) a dispute between the duke of Brunswick and the elector of Saxony and the landgrave of Hesse that had resulted in the imprisonment of the former and the seizure of his estates, was settled by the emperor, and he secured the promise of a large German army for a campaign against the Turks. With the help of the English and the Germans Charles gained such advantages over the king of France as to be able to make a favorable peace (Crespy, Sept., 1544). The peace involved an agreement on the part of the two sovereigns to unite in promoting the council and in reunifying Christendom.
At the Diet of Worms (May, 1545) the impossibility of reconciling the Protestants became more manifest to the emperor than ever before, and he began to prepare for the inevitable
5. Renewal conflict. War was immediately reof Hostil- newed between the duke of Bruns-
ities; wick and the elector of Saxony and Failure to the landgrave of Hesse. It resulted dis- Secure astrously to the former. The elector Unity. of the Palatinate showed Protestant leanings early in 1546 and the death of the elector-archbishop of Mainz (Sept., 1545) precipitated a struggle for ascendency between supporters of the emperor and the Protestants. At the Diet of Regensburg (June, 1546) the Schmalkald allies protested against the council and petitioned for continuance of peace. The emperor treated their overtures with contempt and expressed his purpose to vindicate his imperial authority. In July he declared war against the allies as outlaws and rebels. The defection of Maurice of Saxony gave a marked advantage to the imperial cause, and by June, 1547, Charles had destroyed the Schmalkald League and had the Protestants at his mercy. Yet even now he was too prudent to attempt the sudden and violent extirpation of the Evangelical faith. He secured the concurrence of the Lutheran princes and theologians in the Augsburg and Leipsic Interims (see Interim) in a scheme for the partial III.— 2
and gradual restoration of Roman Catholicism. The return of Maurice to the support of the Lutheran cause, disagreement between the emperor and the pope, and the intervention of France deprived the imperial cause of the advantages that had been gained. In the Treaty of Passau (Aug., 1552) Charles felt obliged to grant amnesty and religious toleration to the Lutherans, and by 1554 the imperial authority had become so weakened that Charles allowed his brother Ferdinand to make peace (1555) with the Lutherans on terms recognizing complete equality of rights for Lutheran and Roman Catholic princes (see Augsburg, Religious Peace of).
Deeply humiliated and utterly discouraged, Charles abdicated (1556), leaving to his son Philip his hereditary possessions. He was
6. Abdi- succeeded in the imperial office by cation. his brother Ferdinand. He retired to the monastery of Yuste, where, broken in health and depressed in spirit, he spent the two remaining years of his life. Shortly before his death, seeing in Luther the cause of all his woes, he expressed regret that he had not burned the archheretic at the Diet of Worms. Charles was unquestionably a statesman of more than average ability, self-possessed, comparatively tolerant, free from fanatical zeal for the Roman Catholic faith, less treacherous than most of the rulers of his time, and supremely concerned to conserve and extend the Hapsburg possessions and power and to effect religious unification as a means to this end. Circumstances beyond his control made his position an extremely difficult one. From his point of view, it probably would have been advisable to crush Lutheranism in its infancy. A. H. Newman.
Bibliography: A very extensive bibliography may be found in the British Museum Catalogue under " Charles V. Emperor of Germany." Among the voluminous sources may be mentioned: K. Lanz, Correspondenz des Kaisers Karl V. aus dem kaiserlichen Archiv, 3 vols., Leipsic, 1844— 1846; Staatspapiere zur Geschichte des Kaisers Karl V., Stuttgart, 1845; Actenstilcke und Briefe zur Geschichte Karls v., Vienna, 1853-57; J. J. I. von Dollinger, Dokumente zur Geschichte Karls V., in Beitrage, vol. i., Regensburg, 1862. A French version of a Portuguese transl. of the lost autobiography of Charles was published by K. de Lettenhove, Commentaires de Charles- Quint, Brussels, 1862, Eng. transl.. Autobiography of the Emperor Charles V., London, 1862 (covers, 1516-48). Early lives are by: A. UUoa, Venice, 1560; Sandoval, Valladolid, 1606; Sepulveda, Madrid, 1780; A. de Musica, Leipsic, 1728. An English classic and standard authority is W. Robertson, Hist, of Charles V., ed. W. H. Prescott, best ed. Philadelphia, 1857, new ed. London, 1882. Consult further; D. G. van Male, Lettres sur la vie interieure de I'empereur Charles-Quint, Brussels, 1843; W. Bradford, Correspondence of Charles V. and his Ambassadors in England and France, London, 1850; J. J. Hannusch, Kaiser Karl V., seine Zeit und seine Zeitgenossen, Vienna, 1853; A. Pichot, Charles-Quint, Chronique de sa vie interieure et de sa vie politique, Paris, 1854; W. Maurenbrecher, Karl V. und die deutsche Protestanten, 1545-55, Dusseldorf, 1865; O. C. Krabbe, Kaiser Karl V und das Augsburger Interim, Rostock, 1872; A. von Druffel, Kaiser Karl V. und die romische Curie, 1544-46, 3 parts, Munich, 1877 sqq.; H. Baumgarten, Geschichte Karls V., Stuttgart, 1885; W. Stirling-Maxwell, Cloister Life of Charles V ., ed. J. Stirling-Maxwell, London, 1891; Baumgarten, Karl V. und die deutsche Reformation, Coburg, 1893- O. Walz, Die Denkwiirdigkeiten Kaiser Karls v., Bonn 1901; J. Bryce, The Holy Roman Empire, chap, xix., New York, 1904; E. Armstrong, The Emperor Charles
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