most of the states of the
Peninsula became united under one common rule; and in 1516, the sceptre
of Spain, with its dependencies both in the Old and the New World,
passed into the hands of their grandson, Charles the Fifth, who, though
he shared the throne nominally with his mother, Joanna, became, in
consequence of her incapacity, the real sovereign of this vast empire.
He had before inherited, through his father, Philip the Handsome, that
fair portion of the ducal realm of Burgundy which comprehended Franche
Comte and the Netherlands. In 1519, he was elected to the imperial crown
of Germany. Not many years elapsed before his domain was still further
enlarged by the barbaric empires of Mexico and Peru; and Spain then
first realized the magnificent vaunt, since so often repeated, that the
sun never set within the borders of her dominions.

Yet the importance of Spain did not rise with the importance of her
acquisitions. She was, in a manner, lost in the magnitude of these
acquisitions. Some of the rival nations which owned the sway of Charles,
in Europe, were of much greater importance than Spain, and attracted
much more attention from their contemporaries. In the earlier period of
that monarch's reign, there was a moment when a contest was going
forward in Castile, of the deepest interest to mankind. Unfortunately,
the "War of the _Comunidades_," as it was termed, was soon closed by
the ruin of the patriots; and, on the memorable field of Villalar, the
liberties of Spain received a blow from which they were destined not to
recover for centuries. From that fatal hour,--the bitter fruit of the
jealousy of castes and the passions of the populace,--an unbroken
tranquillity reigned throughout the country; such a tranquillity as
naturally flows not from a free and well-conducted government, but from
a despotic one. In this political tranquillity, however, the intellect
of Spain did not slumber. Sheltered from invasion by the barrier of the
Pyrenees, her people were allowed to cultivate the arts of peace, so
long as they did not meddle with politics or religion,--in other words,
with the great interests of humanity; while the more adventurous found a
scope for their prowess in European wars, or in exploring the boundless
regions of the Western world.

While there was so little passing in Spain to attract the eye of the
historian, Germany became the theatre of one of those momentous
struggles which have had a permanent infl