mask, and carrying with him the majority
of the diet, issued a decree of intolerance and menace, in which he
declared that all the ceremonies, doctrines and usages of the papal
church, without exception, were to be reestablished, married priests
deposed, suppressed convents restored, and every innovation, of whatever
kind, to be revoked. All who opposed this decree were to be exposed to
the ban of the empire, with all its pains and penalties.

This was indeed an appalling measure. Recantation or war was the only
alternative. Charles, being still much occupied by the affairs of his
vast kingdom of Spain, with all its ambitions and wars, needed a
coadjutor in the government of Germany, as serious trouble was evidently
near at hand. He therefore proposed the election of his brother
Ferdinand as coadjutor with him in administering the affairs of Germany.
Ferdinand, who had recently united to the Austrian territories the
crowns of Hungary and Bohemia, was consequently chosen, on the 5th of
January, 1531, King of the Romans. Charles was determined to enforce his
decrees, and both parties now prepared for war.

CHAPTER VIII.

CHARLES V. AND THE REFORMATION.

From 1531 to 1552.

Determination to crush Protestantism.--Incursion of the Turks.--Valor of
the Protestants.--Preparations for renewed Hostilities.--Augmentation of
the Protestant Forces.--The Council of Trent.--Mutual Consternation.--
Defeat of the Protestant Army.--Unlooked for Succor.--Revolt in the
Emperor's Army.--The Fluctuations of Fortune.--Ignoble Revenge.--Capture
of Wittemberg.--Protestantism Apparently Crushed.--Plot against
Charles.--Maurice of Saxony.--A Change of Scene.--The Biter Bit.--The
Emperor humbled.--His Flight.--His determined Will.

The intolerant decrees of the diet of Augsburg, and the evident
determination of the emperor unrelentingly to enforce them, spread the
greatest alarm among the Protestants. They immediately assembled at
Smalkalde in December, 1530, and entered into a league for mutual
protection. The emperor was resolved to crush the Protestants. The
Protestants were resolved not to be crushed. The sword of the Catholics
was drawn for the assault--the sword of the reformers for defense. Civil
war was just bursting forth in all its horrors, when the Turks, with an
army three hundred thousand strong, like ravening wolves rushed into
Hungary. This danger was appalling. The Turks in their bloody march had,
as yet, encounter