Charles V. Leo X. died soon after. Woolsey waited in
hourly expectation of the summons to Rome. But it never came!

Then Francis resolved to win by force what he had lost by diplomacy.
Charles succeeded in winning the pope to his side of the contest with
the purpose of driving the French out of Italy. The attempt quickly
ended in the defeat of the French, and for Francis capture, and a
year's imprisonment in Madrid; his release only obtained by abandoning
all claims upon Italy; and in 1547 the showy and ineffectual reign of
Francis I. was terminated by his death, which occurred almost
immediately after that of Henry VIII. in England.

While these events were taking place, a less conspicuous but vastly
more significant conflict had developed. In 1517, Martin Luther, the
obscure monk, had hurled defiance at the Church of Rome, arraigning Leo
X. for corrupt practices; especially the enrichment of the Church by
the sale of indulgences. Germany was shaken to its centre by
Protestantism, and the reign of Charles V. was to be spent in
ineffectual conflict with the Reformation, which would ultimately tear
the Empire asunder.

The new heresy had found congenial soil in France. England was openly
and avowedly Protestant, while Spain and Italy remained unchangeably
Catholic.

For Francis, destined to spend his life in fruitless contest with the
more able, wily, and astute Charles V., the religious question upon
which Europe was divided meant nothing except at he could use it in his
duel with the emperor. He was in turn the ally of Henry VIII. or the
willing tool of Charles V. If he needed the English king's friendship,
the Protestants had protection. If he desired to placate Charles V.,
the roastings and torturings commenced again.

In 1547 Francis and Henry VIII. each went to his reward, and a few
years later Charles V. had laid down his crown and carried his weary,
unsatisfied heart to St. Yuste. The brilliant pageant was over; but
Protestantism was expanding.

CHAPTER XI.

The conversion of Henry VIII., because the pope refused to annul his
marriage with Catharine, aunt of Charles V., was not the proudest, but
one of the most important triumphs of the new faith. Had Catharine's
charms been fresher, or Anne Boleyn less alluring, the course of
history would have been changed. Henry VIII., as persecutor of
heretics, would have found congenial occupation for his ferocious
instincts, and the triumph of P