the Emperour and all his Court. At length in August following the peace was concluded at Passau the Landgrave of Hesse was enlarged liberty of Conscience granted to all the banished Ministers recalled and the Interim was abolished THE HISTORY OF THE Council of TRENT BOOK V. JULIUS III. THE Pope finding himself eased of a Burthen that had lain heavy upon him by the breaking up of the Council resolved with himself to keep out of the Briars The Pope has enough of Councils neither does the Emperour care for them and not to run into such straits again Nevertheless to perswade the world that he was concerned at that Rupture or rather to convince them what a useless thing a Council was he himself undertook the Reformation of the Church and for that end appointed a numerous Congregation of Cardinals but this as all the other designs of Reformation presently vanished it produced nothing but a great many Debates so that within a few Months it was wholly laid aside Nor was there any more talk of reassembling the Council which was at this time interrupted for almost ten Years Charles the V. who had been the great stickler for the Convocation of the Council had not now the same interests to prompt him his main design was the greatness of his Family and he had made it his business to render the Empire hereditary as the Kingdom of Spain and his other Dominions were He thought to have accomplished his ends by depressing the Protestant Princes and the Pope and that the Council of Trent was the fittest instrument for that purpose And indeed this Emperour had got so great an Ascendant over the minds of all of his Family that he could perswade them to any thing even contrary to their own interests his Brother Ferdinand was King of the Romans and by consequence apparent Emperour and he had prevailed with him that the Empire should be shared betwixt him and his Son Philip as the Antonins had done heretofore Mary Queen of Hungary their Sister who was wholly at Charles his Devotion for reasons perhaps not fit to be named had perswaded Ferdinand to admit of that partnership but Maximilian Ferdinand's Son perceiving that by that design he was like to be frustrated of the hopes of succeeding his Father in the Empire defeated all the intrigues So that the Prospects of Charles being at an end with his hopes the Council was no more in his thoughts and Julius cared far less for it than he It is true the Rupture of the Council and the peace of Passau had quite exstinguished the Pope's hopes of ever seeing the revolted Germans reduced again to the obedience of the holy See But to comfort himself for the loss of the Germans he drew from a remote Corner of the World I know not what a kind of subjects who submitted themselves to the Authority of his See Sultacan who call'd himself Patriarch of the People which inhabit betwixt Euphrates and the Indies comes to Rome to render homage to the Pope The same course had been taken by Pope Eugenius IV. who whilst they were undermining the Foundations of his Dominions in the Council of Basil on the other hand fed his vanity and underpropt his tottering Dignity by the vain homages of the Greeks who in the Council of Florence came to submit to him and by a counterfeit Pomp of pretended Armenians who desired instruction from him this is a kind of Comedy that takes mightily at Rome Paul III. during his Pontificate had also with great Solemnity and Ceremonies received the homages of one Stephen who had taken the name of Patriarch of Armenia the greater and who came to Rome attended by an Archbishop and two Bishops upon design of recognising the Pope for head of the Church and now under Julius a certain man named Simon Sultacan who called himself Patriarch of all the People that inhabit betwixt the River Euphrates and the Indies came to demand the Confirmation of his Patriarchship from the Pope as from the Vicar of Jesus Christ The Pope made him a Bishop and then gave him the Patriarchal Pall that happy accident was loudly proclaimed abroad and the great encrease that the holy See received by the submission of so many People who owned its Authority was made a matter of great triumph but to these Apparitions of Grandure there succeeded somewhat more substantial for the Glory of the See of Rome year 1553 Edward VI. King of England died the sixth of July 1553. His Father Henry VIII had shaken off the Yoke of the Pope's Power without any innovation in Religion Edward King of England dies his Sister Mary succeeds to him and restores the Catholick Religion 1553. And Edward under the Regence of the Duke of Sommerset had compleated what his Father began and introduced a Reformation into the Church of England But he lived not long enough to establish and confirm that great Work by his last Will he had disinherited his two Sisters Mary and Elizabeth the Daughters of his Father Henry the former Daughter of Catharine of Aragon who was divorced and the second Daughter of Anne Bullen whom Henry had caused to be beheaded He had appointed the Lady Jane Gray his Cosin and Daughter to a Sister of Henry to be Heir of the Crown Jane was proclaimed Queen but her Reign was of short continuance and cost her her Life Mary was advanced to the Crown both by the Privilege of her Birth and by the Will of her Father who had appointed that if Edward should die without Children Mary should succeed and that Elizabeth should succeed to Mary Mary being in the Throne pretended at first that she would alter nothing in Religion though she professed herself to be a Catholick but great hopes were conceived at Rome that this Queen might be usefull in reducing that Kingdom to its ancient Obedience And therefore Julius presently named Cardinal Pool for the Legation of England But the Cardinal durst not undertake the Journey without great Circumspection because he had been banished the Kingdom and degraded of his honour and therefore he wrote to the Queen and negotiated his return by Giovanni Francisco Commendone and having received a favourable answer he set out on his Journey The Parliament of England being called declared the Marriage of Henry VIII with Catharine of Aragon the Queens Mother valid and by consequence pronounced the Divorce unlawfull And the Acts made in the Reign of Edward were Repealed and Religion reinstated in the same condition it was in when Henry died The confirmation of the Marriage of Henry was a great step towards an accommodation with Rome seeing the Marriage of Henry and Catharine could not be declared lawfull without admitting the Dispensation of Julius II. who had dispensed with Henry to Marry his Brother's Widow So that the Parliament by that procedure owned that the Pope has Power to dispence with the Laws of God and by consequence acknowledged him Head of the
Church A motion was made of Marrying the Queen who was already forty years old and three Matches were proposed Cardinal Pool who was of the Bloud Royal the Lord Courtenay Cozin to Henry VIII and Philip Prince of Spain Mary chose Philip and the Emperour fearing lest Cardinal Pool who had been his Son's Competitor might by his presence cross his Marriage with Mary did all he could not make him delay his Journey and not being able to perswade him sent Don Diego de Mendoza to stop him in the Palatinate by Force and Authority The Cardinal complained of this as of an action that did violate the Majesty of the holy See and an affront done to the Pope and his Legates So that Charles having detained him sometime was forced to give him his liberty and sent him to Brussels But he found a means to amuse him in Brabant under colour of engaging him in a negotiation of Peace betwixt the King of France and himself untill the Marriage was accomplished In the beginning of the year 1554. The Emperour sent four Ambassadours into England for concluding the Treaty betwixt the Queen of England his Son and himself Mary in the mean while who with much prudence went gradually on in the re-establishment of Religion made new Proclamations restored the use of the Latin Tongue in Divine Service renounced the Supremacy in the Church gave it back to the Pope and so annulled the Acts of her Father The matter was brought before the Parliament where it met with opposition amongst the Lords because of the Church Lands possessed by the Nobles which they must be obliged to give back again So that the Pope's Supremacy past not at that time Prince Philip that he might not seem inferiour to Mary in Dignity took the Title of King of Naples and consummated his Marriage at London the twenty fifth of July being St. James his day the Patron of Spain The Parliament met again in the month of November following and Cardinal Pool was therein restored to all his rights and honours Two Members of Parliament were sent to bring him over into England and he arrived at London the twenty third of November with the Silver Cross carried before him Being brought into the House of Lords where the King and Queen were present he made a Speech to that Illustrious Assembly thanking them for the favour they had done him in restoring him to his Honours and Countrey He earnestly exhorted them to return again to the obedience of the holy See wherein he prevailed and the Ceremony of Reconciliation was performed the last day of November for the Authority of the King and Queen had obliged all the dissatisfied Members to silence which silence was taken as a consent The Queen caused a Petition to be framed wherein the Parliament begg'd Pardon of the Pope for having withdrawn themselves from under his obedience This Petition was presented to the King and Queen who rising immediately from their Chairs of State went to the Legate and besought him to grant the Parliament the Pardon which they begg'd The Legate standing up and all the Members of Parliament kneeling before him made a Speech concerning the Joy that the repentance of sinners causes in Heaven and then having prayed over them he gave them absolution The Members rose up and the whole Parliament went in body to the Church where Te Deum was Sung Next day three Ambassadours were named to goe render homage to the Pope in name of the whole Nation and this success caused so great Joy at Rome that the Pope proclaimed a Jubile the twenty fourth of December to render thanks to God for so great a blessing The Parliament of England sitting till the middle of the next year Philip and Mary got all the Ancient Laws against Here-ticks to be revived All Acts to the contrary year 1554 made in the time of Henry and his Son Edward were Repealed and afterward the rigour of the Laws that were now again in force was put in execution against the Protestants One hundred threescore and sixteen persons of Quality besides inferiour people were by Mary's Order that year put to death amongst whom Cranmer Archbishop of Canterbury and the rest of the Bishops who had been the Authors of the Reformation were burnt It was put to their choice either to dye or to recant but none of them would save their Lives by a Recantation This persecution extended to the very Graves and the ashes of the dead the bodies of Bucer and Paulus Fagius who had been dead some four years were taken up and burnt So that the Protestants went to pot in all places for at the same time Henry the II. caused a great many of the reformed Religion to be burnt in France not so much out of Zeal as to satisfie the insatiable avarice of Diana of Poictiers Dutchess of Valentinois his Mistress to whom he had given the forfeitures of all that should be condemned for Heresie On the other hand Ferdinand King of the Romans published an Edict whereby he strictly charged all his Subjects not to make any innovation in matters of Religion and banished above two hundred Ministers out of Bohemia Several of his most considerable Nobility prayed him that he would at least permit the use of the Cup but he refused it and caused a Catechism to be made according to which all School masters should instruct their Scholars But this Edict did not altogether please the Pope who complained that a Prince should have undertaken to make a Formulary of Faith year 1555 The same year being 1555. a Diet was called at Ausbourg for composing the troubles of Religion Ferdinand made a long Speech in it 1555. A Diet at Ausbourg during which the Pope dies wherein he reckoned up the mischiefs that had been occasioned in Germany by those controversies in Religion and the horrid corruption of manners that these debates had drawn after them Divers means were proposed for taking up these differences and amongst others a conference of the learned of both sides but the Pope who had an aversion to any thing that bore the name of conference approved not that expedient he caused Cardinal Morone his Legate in Germany to represent to the Diet that all conferences ought to be avoided and that the onely way to put an end to controversies was that which was taken in England to wit to return again to the obedience of the holy See But Cardinal Morone was not long at Ausbourg before he heard of the death of Julius which happened in February 1555. He therefore returned to Rome to assist at the Election of a new Pope and found the business done before he came MARCEL II. Marcello Cervino Cardinal of Santa Croce was created Pope on the eighth of April 1555. It is observed as a thing singular in him that he would not change his name as others do This custome of changing of names upon promotion to the Papacy came from the Germans whose names
under both kinds the third that Priests might be allowed to Mary and the fourth that they might pay no more Annats and that a national Synod might be called in Poland for adjusting the Differences about Religion He broke forth into a rage when the Proposals were made to him and all these things concurring together made him resolve to call a Council at Rome He ordered the Ambassadours to acquaint their Masters that he intended to celebrate a Council in the Church of Lateran and declared the same in a Congregation of Cardinals On his Coronation-day being the six and twentieth of May a great many Cardinals with the Ambassadours of Princes being with him at Table he said that he had acquainted Princes with his design merely out of form and civility that he would make them sensible what the Holy See can doe when it is possest by a resolute and couragious Pope that he well foresaw that his Proposal would displease them because of the Place that he had pitcht upon but that though they should not send one Prelate to his Council he would not be much concerned and that he well knew how far his Authority reached Whilst matters went thus at Rome news came that by the mediation of Cardinal Pool the Emperour and the King of France had made a Truce for five Years Peace is made betwixt the Emperour and the King of France the Pope breaks it off this News vexed the Pope to the heart because it broke all his measures and suited not at all with the design he had of engaging the King of France in the War of Naples and of making use of the Arms of that Prince for seizing that Kingdom however he pretended to be glad at it But he could not forgive Cardinal Pool to whom he owed so great obligations for having reduced England to the obedience of the Holy See for he sought a pretext to break with him he deprived him of his Legateship and put into the Inquisition his Friend Thomas de S. Felix Bishop Della Cava Immediately he dispatcht two Legates one into France and another into Germany under pretext of essaying to convert the Truce into a Peace But instead of endeavouring to make peace Caraffa his Legate in France perswaded the King to break the Truce and offered him absolution from his Oath The Princes of the house of Guise solicited him to that action but the rest of the Court looked upon that perfidiousness with abhorrence There was onely one thing that stuck with Henry II. and that was that the Pope being extremely old he could not hold out long that after him another would come who might take other measures and that so he would be left alone in the mire into which the Pope had plung'd him The Cardinal of Lorrain a man for expedients found out one presently he told the King that he must get the Pope to create so many Cardinals of the French faction that the King might always be sure of having in the holy See a man at his Devotion This was a cross ill laid trap however Henry was caught in it and did whatsoever they would have him doe But these Negotiations could not be kept so secret but that the Emperour began to suspect that the work that was preparing for him was of the Pope's cutting out for the Legate that was sent to him made but very small Journeys and when he came to Maestricht he had orders from Caraffa to come into France to stop there and not to goe to the Emperour though he was but two days Journey from him The Pope breaks with the Emperour and undertakes a War which prov'd fatal to him The Pope seeing his Train pretty well laid sought for no more but a fair pretext to break with the Emperour which he presently found in that Ascanio Colonna and Marco Antonio his Son were protected at Naples The Pope had excommunicated both deprived them of all their Lands and Estates and given their Forfeitures to his Nephew Montorio with the Title of Duke of Pagliano The Colonna's fled to Naples from whence they made frequent inrodes upon the Ecclesiastick State and especially upon the Lands that had been taken from them The Pope was mad with the Emperour because his Enemy had found refuge within the Territories of that Prince and spoke of Charles and Ferdinand in very outragious terms in presence of their Ambassadours and Friends In fine he resolved to make open War he secured all suspected Persons and shut up several Cardinals and Gentlemen in the Castle of St. Angelo Nay and year 1556 contrary to the Law of Nations he cast into Prison Garcillasso di Vega King Philip's Ambassadour and Postmaster of the Empire he gave protection to those that were banished out of Naples and broke open the Emperour's packets When the Duke of Alva who was then Viceroy of Naples expostulated with him for these injuries threatning that if he persisted in so doeing his Master would right himself by the Law of Arms the Pope made answer that he was a free Prince that as he was not to give account of his Actions to any so as Pope he might call all men to an account of theirs and that nothing could move him to fail in what he was obliged to doe for the maintenance of the Church At length the Duke of Alva finding that fair means could not prevail with him and that great preparations were making in the Pope's Territories thought it his part to take the start and declare War first which he did the fourth of September 1556. He seized almost that whole Countrey which is called Campania di Roma keeping it in name of the succeeding Pope and put Rome it self into a fright The Pope fell to fortifying the City and forced all even the Monks to labour at the Works There was a weak place at the end of the Street called Flaminia where stood a stately Church of our Lady that hindered the fortifications The Pope was about to demolish it but the Duke of Alva sent to entreat him not to doe it promising not to take advantage of that place In the mean time the Duke thinking it enough to have put Rome in a fright drew off and did not lay siege to the place This was the Year wherein Charles made a Resignation of all his Dignities and retreated to a solitary Life having first made over his hereditary Dominions to his Son The resignation of Charles the V. and the Empire to his Brother People hereupon made reflexions much to the disadvantage of the Pope for they compared his haughtiness with the humility of that great Prince who being born in the height of honour and having lived in so great Glory had freely renounced all the Pomps and Vanities of the World whereas on the other hand Paul having been first a Bishop and having afterwards betaken himself to a Monastery of Theatins came out again to be a Cardinal and at the age of 80 Years