designs which were maturing under that mask; nor that this boy was
planning to grasp all the threads of diplomacy in Europe, and to be
the master of kings.

In 1517 Maximilian died, leaving a vacant throne in Germany to be
contended for by the ambitious Francis I. of France and Maximilian's
grandson, Charles.

It was a question of supremacy in Europe. So the successful aspirant
must win to himself Leo X., Henry VIII. and his great minister Wolsey,
and after that the Electors of Germany. It required consummate skill.
Francis I. was an able player. The astute Wolsey made the moves for
his master Henry VIII., keeping a watchful eye on Charles, "that young
man who looks so modest, and soars so high"; while Leo X., unconscious
of the coming Reformation, was craftily aiding this side or that as
benefit to the Church seemed to be promised.

But that "modest young man" played the strongest game. Charles was, by
the unanimous vote of the Electors, raised to the imperial throne;
and the grandson of Isabella, as Charles I. of Spain and Charles V. of
Germany, possessed more power than had been exercised by any one man
since the reign of Augustus. The territory over which he had dominion
in the New World was practically without limit. Mexico surrendered to
Cortez (1521) and Peru to Pizarro (1532); Ponce de Leon was in Florida
and de Soto on the banks of the Mississippi; while wealth, fabulous in
amount, was pouring into Spain, and from thence into Flanders.

The history of Charles belongs, in fact, more to Europe than to Spain.
No slightest tenderness seems to have existed in his cold heart for
the land of Isabella, which he seemed to regard simply as a treasury
from which to draw money for the objects to which he was really
devoted. So, in fact, Spain was governed by an absolute despot who was
Emperor of Germany, where he resided, and she visibly declined from
the strength and prosperity which had been created by the wise and
personal administration of Ferdinand and Isabella.

The Cortes, where the deputies had never been allowed the privilege
of debate, had been at its best a very imperfect expression of popular
sentiment; and now was reduced to a mere empty form. Abuses which had
been corrected under the vigilant personal administration of two able
and patriotic sovereigns returned in aggravated form. Misrule and
disorder prevailed, while their King was absorbed in the larger field
of European politics and diplomacy.

Th