DEATH OF ZWINGLE.

155 fessed in the lower cantons, should be tolerated in the upper, and that persecution should cease there. But the question was whether even these demands would be enforced. Zwingle was in favor of overpowering the enemy by a direct attack, and of extorting from them just concessions. But he was overruled, and half measures were resorted to. The attempt was made to coerce the Catholic cantons by non-intercourse, by thus cutting off their supplies. The effect was that the Catholics were enabled to collect their strength, while the Protestant cities were divided by jealousies and by disagreement as to what might be the best policy to adopt. Zurich was left without help, to confront, with hasty and inadequate preparation, the combined strength of the Catholic party. The Zurich force was defeated at Cappel, on the 11th of October, 1531, and Zwingle, who had gone forth as a chaplain with his people to battle, fell. He had anticipated defeat from the time when his counsels were disregarded, and he had found it impossible to bring the magistrates of Berne to a resolution to act with decision. In the thick of the fight, he raised his voice to encourage his companions, but made no use of his weapons. As he received his mortal wound, he exclaimed: "What evil is this? they can kill the body, but not the soul!" As he lay, still breathing, on the field, with his hands folded and his eyes directed to heaven, one or more brutal soldiers asked him to confess to a priest, or to call on Mary and the saints. He shook his head in token of refusal. They knew not to whom they were speaking, but only that he was a heretic, and with a single sword-thrust put an end to his life. Notwithstanding this defeat, the party of the reformed might have retrieved their cause. But they lacked union and energy. Zurich and Berne

1 Mörikofer, ii. 417.

2 Myconius, xii.

8 The death of Zwingle is described with touching simplicity by his successor at Zurich, Bullinger, Reformationsgeschichte (Zurich ed., 1838), iii. 136.

concluded a humiliating peace, the effect of which was to inflict a serious check upon the Protestant interest and to enable the Catholics to repossess themselves of portions of the ground which they had lost.

The menace addressed by the Catholic majority at the Diet of Augsburg to the Protestants, led to the formation of the Protestant Defensive League of Smalcald, to which the four imperial cities of South Germany that held the Zwinglian opinions, but were now disconnected from the confederacy of their Swiss brethren, were admitted in 1531. The Imperial Chamber had been purged by the exclusion of all who were supposed to sympathize with the new opinions. This tribunal was to be made the instrument of a legal persecution. The Emperor procured the election of his brother as Roman King, in a manner which involved a violation of the rights of the Electors, and was adapted to excite the apprehensions of the Protestants.1 The Wittenberg theologians waived their opposition to the project of withstanding the Emperor. Luther took the ground that, while as Christians, they ought not to resort to force, yet the rights and duties of the princes in reference to the Emperor were a political question for jurists to determine, and that Christians, as members of the state, were bound to take up arms in defense of their princes, when these are unlawfully assaulted. The political situation for ten years after the Diet of Augsburg was such as not only to disable Charles from the forcible execution of its decree, but also such as to favor the progress of the Reformation. The League of Smalcald, strengthened by a temporary alliance with 'the Dukes of Bavaria and by treaties with France and Denmark, was too formidable to be attacked. The irrup

1 Ranke, iii. 220 seq. The "King of the Romans" was the title of the successor of the Emperor during the lifetime of the latter, and of the latter prior to his coronation at Rome. See Bryce, Holy Roman Empire, p. 404.

PROTESTANT AND CATHOLIC LEAGUES.

157

tion of the Turks under Soliman was another insuperable obstacle in the way of the repressive policy. Hence, in 1532, "the peace of Nuremberg" provided that religious affairs should be left unchanged, until they could be adjusted by a new Diet, or by a new Council. Such a Council the Protestants had demanded at Augsburg and Charles had promised to procure. Notwithstanding the disturbance produced by the Anabaptist communists at Münster, the Reformation advanced with rapid strides. The Protestant Duke of Würtemburg was reestablished in his possessions by the Landgrave of Hesse, in 1534. Brandenburg and ducal Saxony, by the death of the Elector and of the Duke, became Protestant. Catholic princes were beginning to grant religious liberty to their subjects. The war with France, which broke out in 1536, rendered it impossible for the Emperor to hinder this progress. The Smalcald League was extended by the accession of more princes and cities. The Protestants refused to comply with the summons to a Council, in which, by the terms of the invitation, their condemnation was a foregone conclusion. Alarmed at the growing strength of Protestantism, the leading Catholic estates united in a Holy League at Nuremberg, in 1538, which, like the League of Smalcald, was ostensibly for defense.1 The next three years are marked by efforts to secure peace, of which the Conference and Diet of Ratisbon, in

1 The cause of the Reformation was weakened by the discord of Protestant princes, especially of the Elector and Duke Maurice. It suffered still more in consequence of the "dispensation" which Luther and Melancthon granted the Landgrave of Hesse, which allowed him to contract a second marriage without being divorced from his wife, who had become repugnant to him on account of her bodily disorders and personal habits. This "double marriage" brought reproach upon the reformers and carried with it political consequences that were disastrous. See Ranke, iv. 183 seq. Unfounded charges against Luther in connection with this unhappy event, by Protestant as well as Catholic writers — for example, that he was actuated by a selfish regard for the interests of the Protestant party; that he was in favor of polygamy, etc. are exposed by Hare, Vindication of Luther, etc., p. 225 seq. The transaction is fully narrated by Seckendorf, iii. sect. 21 § lxxix. See also, Rommel, Philip d. Grossmuthige, i. 436, ii. 40.).

1541, is the most remarkable. On this occasion the Pope was represented by his Legate, Contarini, who held at view of justification not dissimilar to that of the Protestants, and was ready to meet Melancthon half-way on the path of concession. In these negotiations an actual agreement was attained in the statement of four doctrinal points, which embraced the subjects of the nature of man, original sin, redemption, and justification; but upon the Church, sacraments, and kindred topics, it was found that no concord was attainable. The King of France, from the selfish purpose to thwart the effort for union, with others on the Catholic side who were actuated by different motives, complained of the concessions that had been made by the Catholic party; and Contarini was checked by orders from the Pope. The Elector of Saxony was equally dissatisfied with the proceedings of Melancthon, and together with Luther, who regarded the hope of a compromise as wholly futile, and as inspired by Satan, was gratified when the abortive conference was brought to an end. The necessity of getting help at once against the Turks compelled Charles once more to sanction the peace of Nuremberg with additional provisions to the advantage of the Protestants. His unsuccessful expedition against Algiers, in 1541, and the renewed war with France, together with the Turkish war in which his brother Ferdinand was involved, obliged the latter, at a Diet at Spires in 1542, to grant a continuance of the religious peace. The imperial declaration at Ratisbon was ratified by the Diet of Spires, held in 1544. The prospects of the Protestant cause had been bright. For a time it seemed probable that all Germany would adopt the new faith. But the League of Smalcald was grievously weakened by internal dissension. The cities complained of arbitrary proceedings of the Elector of Saxony and the Landgrave of Hesse; for example, in the expulsion of the Duke of Brunswick from his land, a

LAST DAYS OF LUTHER.

159

measure that brought them into conflict with the imperial court. But the fatal event was the hostility of Maurice, Duke of Saxony, to the Elector, which rested on various grounds, and which had once before brought them to the verge of war; and the abandonment of the League by Maurice, in 1542. The Elector of Brandenburg had not joined the League, and was followed in this course by the old Elector Palatine, who adopted the Reformation in 1545. The Emperor forced France to conclude the peace of Crespy, in 1544. At the Diet of Worms in March, 1545, the Protestants refused to take part in the Council of Trent. The hostility of the Elector to Maurice prevented the formation of a close alliance between the two Saxonies and Hesse. Maurice, an adroit and ambitious politician, loving power more than he loved his faith, at length made his bargain with Charles, and engaged to unite with him in making war upon the Elector, whose territories Maurice coveted, and upon the Landgrave, the two princes whom the Emperor professed to attack, not on religious grounds, but as offenders against the laws and peace of the Empire. While the Emperor was dallying with the Protestants that he might prepare to strike a more effective blow, Luther died at Eisleben, the place of his birth, on the 18th of February, 1546. His last days were not his best. His health was undermined, and he suffered grievously from various disorders, especially from severe, continuous headache. He was oppressed with a great variety of little employments relating to public and private affairs, so that going one day from his writing-table to the window he fancied that he saw Satan mocking him for having to consume his time in useless business.1 His intellectual powers were not enfeebled. His religious trust continued firm as a rock.

1 "Here to-day have I been pestered with the knaveries and lies of a baker, brought before me for using false weights; though such matters concern the magistrate rather than the divine. Yet, if no one were to check the thefts of these bakers, we should have a fine state of things." Tischreden.