Two great revolutions have happened in the political state, and in the manners of the European nations. The first was occasioned by the progress of the Roman power; the second by the subversion of it. When the spirit of conquest led the armies of Rome beyond the Alps, they found all the countries which they invaded, inhabited by people whom they denominated barbarians, but who were nevertheless brave and independent These defended their ancient possessions with obstinate valor. It was by the s

Such are the events and institutions which, by their powerful operation, contributed gradually to introduce regular government and polished manners into the various nations of Europe. When we survey the state of society, or the character of individuals, at the opening of the fifteenth century, and then turn back to view the condition of both at the time when the barbarous tribes, which overturned the Roman power, completed their settlement in their new conquests, the progress which mankind had m

HAVING thus enumerated the principal causes and events, the influence of which was felt in every part of Europe, and contributed either to improve internal order and police in its various states, or to enlarge the sphere of their activity, by giving them more entire command of the force with which foreign operations are carried on; nothing farther seems requisite for preparing my readers to enter, with full information, upon perusing the History of Charles V but to give a view of the political c

CHARLES V was born at Ghent on the twenty-fourth day of February, in the year one thousand five hundred. His father, Philip the Handsome, archduke of Austria, was the son of the emperor Maximilian, and of Mary the only child of Charles the Bold, the last prince of the house of Burgundy. His mother, Joanna, was the second daughter of Ferdinand king of Aragon, and of Isabella queen of Castile. A long train of fortunate events had opened the way for this young prince to the inheritance of more exte

MANY concurring circumstances not only called Charles’s thoughts towards the affairs of Germany (1520), but rendered his presence in that country necessary. The electors grew impatient of so long an interregnum, his hereditary dominions were disturbed by intestine commotions; and the new opinions concerning religion made such rapid progress as required the most serious consideration. But above all, the motions of the French king drew his attention, and convinced him that it was necessary to take

CHARLES, having had the satisfaction of seeing hostilities begun between France and England, took leave of Henry, and arrived in Spain on the seventeenth of June (1522). He found that country just beginning to recover order and strength after the miseries of a civil war, to which it had been exposed during his absence; an account of the rise and progress of which, as it was but little connected with the other events which happened in Europe, had been reserved to this place. No sooner was it know

  THE expulsion of the French, both out of the Milanese and the republic of Genoa, was considered by the Italians as the termination of the war between Charles and Francis; and as they began immediately to be apprehensive of the emperor, when they saw no power remaining in Italy capable either to control or oppose him, they longed ardently for the reestablishment of peace. Having procured the restoration of Sforza to his paternal dominions, which had been their chief motive for entering into con

THE account of the cruel manner in which the pope had been treated filled all Europe with astonishment or horror. To see a Christian emperor, who by possessing that dignity ought to have been the protector and advocate of the holy see, lay violent hands on him who represented Christ on earth, and detain his sacred person in a rigorous captivity, was considered as an impiety that merited the severest vengeance, and which called for the immediate interposition of every dutiful son of the Church. F

UNFORTUNATELY for the reputation of Francis I among his contemporaries, his conduct at this juncture appeared a perfect contrast to that of his rival, as he laid hold on the opportunity afforded him, by the emperor’s having turned his whole force against the common enemy of Christendom, to revive his pretensions in Italy, and to plunge Europe into a new war. The treaty of Cambray, as has been observed, did not remove the causes of enmity between the two contending princes; it covered up, but did

The calamities which the emperor suffered in his unfortunate enterprise against Algiers were great; and the account of these, which augmented in proportion as it spread at a greater distance from the scene of his disasters, encouraged Francis to begin hostilities, on which he had been for some time resolved. But he did not think it prudent to produce as the motives of this resolution either his ancient pretensions to the duchy of Milan or the emperor’s disingenuity in violating his repeated prom

WHILE appearances of danger daily increased, and the tempest which had been so long a gathering was ready to break forth in all its violence against the protestant church, Luther was saved, by a seasonable death, from feeling or beholding its destructive rage. Having gone, though in a declining state of health, and during a rigorous season, to his native city of Eysleben, in order to compose, by his authority, a dissension among the counts of Mansfield, he was seized with a violent inflammation

THE emperor’s dread of the hostile intentions of the pope and French king did not proceed from any imaginary or ill-grounded suspicion. Paul had already given the strongest proofs both of his jealousy and enmity. Charles could not hope that Francis, after a rivalship of so long continuance, would behold the great advantages which he had gained over the confederate protestants, without feeling his ancient emulation revive. He was not deceived in this conjecture. Francis had observed the rapid pro

While Charles labored, with such unwearied industry, to persuade or to force the protestants to adopt his regulations with respect to religion, the effects of his steadiness in the execution of his plan were rendered less considerable by his rupture with the pope, which daily increased. The firm resolution which the emperor seemed to have taken against restoring Placentia, together with his repeated encroachments on the ecclesiastical jurisdiction, not only by the regulations contained in the In

As soon as the treaty of Passau was signed, Maurice, in consequence of his engagements with Ferdinand, marched into Hungary with twenty thousand men [Aug. 3]. But the great superiority of the Turkish armies, the frequent mutinies both of the Spanish and German soldiers, occasioned by their want of pay, together with the dissensions between Maurice and Castaldo, who was piqued at being obliged of resign the chief command to him, prevented his performing anything in that country suitable to his fo

While these operations or intrigues kept the pope and Philip busy and attentive, the emperor disentangled himself finally from all the affairs of this world, and set out for the place of his retreat. He had hitherto retained the Imperial dignity, not from any unwillingness to relinquish it, for, after having resigned the real and extensive authority that he enjoyed in his hereditary dominions, to part with the limited and often ideal jurisdiction which belongs to an elective crown, was no great