CHAP. XI.] CHARACTER OF RODOLPH 11. 377 that he remained in that country a strictly Spanish education, superintended by the Jesuits. After the death of Don Carlos, Philip had, indeed, for a period designed to make Rodolph his successor on the Spanish throne, and to give him the hand of his then only daughter in marriage. But these plans came to nothing; Rodolph returned into Germany, and was invested successively, as already recorded, with the crowns of Hungary and Bohemia, as well as elected King of the Romans. At his father's death, besides the Imperial crown, he also succeeded to the sole possession of Austria; for Maximilian established the right of primogeniture in his hereditary dominions. Rodolph, however, intrusted the administration of Austria to his brother, the Archduke Ernest, and took up his own residence for the most part at Prague. His pursuits, indeed, indisposed him to take any active share in the affairs of state. Although of an indolent and phlegmatic temperament, and of a feeble will, that rendered him often the tool of others, Rodolph possessed considerable abilities and acquirements, which, however, were chiefly applied to the idle studies of alchemy and astrology. The latter, which was dignified with the name of astronomy, incidentally proved of some advantage, by leading him to patronise the eminent astronomers Kepler and Tycho Brahe. The bigotry of Rodolph II., and still more of his brother Ernest, formed a striking contrast to the tolerant spirit of their father Maximilian, and may be said to have laid the foundation of the war which in the next century desolated Germany during thirty years. The effects of the new reign were soon visible in Austria, then for the most part Protestant. Rodolph was zealous in performing all the ceremonies of the Roman Church; especially he was a constant attendant in the religious processions, in which he might be seen in the hardest weather bare-headed and with a torch in his hand. In 1578 he determined to celebrate Corpus Christi day at Vienna with more than usual solemnity. As the longdrawn procession was passing over the Peasants' Market, it was found necessary to remove a few stalls, when a tumult immediately arose, with cries of "To arms! we are betrayed!" At these menacing symptoms, the priests and choristers abandoned the Host and fled; they were followed by the guards and halberdiers, and Rodolph found himself in the midst of an infuriated mob, from which he was protected only by the princes and nobles, who drew their swords and closed around him. This incident made a deep impression on the Emperor, whose education had imbued him with a Spanish dignity and stateliness. The suppression of Protestantism at Vienna was immediately resolved on; and Joshua Opitz, a Lutheran of the 378 CATHOLIC REACTION IN GERMANY. [Book III. Flaccian schism, the most popular preacher in that metropolis, who had distinguished himself by his eloquent, but violent, sermons against the Papists, as well as his assistants in church and school, were ordered to leave Vienna that day, and the Austrian dominions within a fortnight. This measure was followed up by a close restriction of the Protestant worship throughout Austria; and in the following year (1579) it was ordained that none but Roman Catholic teachers and book should be allowed in Austrian schools. A rapid reaction in favour of the Roman Church also took place in Bavaria after the accession of Duke William, who succeeded his father Albert in 1579. William was a warm supporter of the Jesuits, and erected for them at Munich a college more splendid than his own palace. He employed for the furtherance of the Roman faith all that pomp and that love of art by which he was characterised; and in order to attract the public mind back to the ancient creed, those religious spectacles and processions were instituted which still continue to subsist in Bavaria. At the dedication of the Jesuits' College, a grand dramatic and musical entertainment was exhibited, representing the combat of the Archangel Michael. Nothing could exceed the magnificence of the scenery and costumes; a choir of 900 voices chanted the progress of the action; and the multitude shuddered with affright when they beheld the angels precipitated into the deep and undulating abyss of hell.13 Duke William also instituted the procession, which still takes place at Munich on Corpus Christi day, but with diminished splendour and less characteristic appliances. The original procession consisted of all the saints and heroes of the Old and New Testament. Adam and Eve led the train in that state of nakedness, if not innocence, proper to them before the fall; St. Augustine appeared with a large beard; and there were sixteen Maries, of whom the last and most beautiful was borne on a cloud and significantly supported her foot upon moonshine. Amid a strange and miscellaneous crowd of Apostles and Pharisees, shepherds and hangmen, Pharaohs and giants, angels, devils and heathen gods, the pious profaneness of the Jesuits did not scruple to introduce the Almighty himself and his Son Jesus Christ. To represent God the Father, it was directed that a tall, straight man should be chosen, strong and well-formed, with a long and thick gray beard, and a fine red complexion. He was to assume a stately and majestic walk and demeanour and a composed and steady aspect, so as to appear 13 Zschokke, Baierische Gesch. B. iii. S. 150 (ed. 1816). CHAP. XI.] THE ELECTOR OF COLOGNE DEPOSED. 379 neither sour nor ridiculous. By such false devices were the multitude lured back to a false religion. On the other hand an attempt to extend Protestantism in Germany proved a failure; and its origin merited no better fate. Gebhard Truchsess of Waldburg, who at the age of thirty had become Archbishop and Elector of Cologne, while walking in a procession during the congress in that city, beheld at a window the Countess Agnes of Mansfeld, a daughter of that noble house at Eisleben which had befriended Luther. Agnes was of extraordinary beauty, but her family had fallen into poverty: Truchsess, a practised seducer, sought her acquaintance, and prevailed on her to live with him as his mistress. The brothers of Agnes, having learnt their sister's shame, accompanied by some armed followers, surprised the Elector in his palace at Bonn, and compelled him, by threats of death if he refused, to promise that he would marry Agnes. The first thought of Truchsess after this occurrence was to resign his archbishopric; but from this he was diverted by Counts Nuenar and Solms, and other of the nobility, as well as by the exhortations of Agnes. In the autumn of 1582 he openly professed his adherence to the Confession of Augsburg, and in the following February, in spite of an admonition from the Pope, he was married to Agnes by a Protestant minister. Gregory XIII. now fulminated against him a Bull of excommunication, depriving him of all his offices and dignities; and the Chapter of Cologne, who had viewed with displeasure the secession of their archbishop from the orthodox church, although he had promised not to interfere with the exercise of their religion, or to restrict them in the choice of his successor, proceeded to elect in place of Truchsess Prince Ernest of Bavaria, Bishop of Freisingen, who had formerly competed with him for the see. The troops of Ernest, assisted by some Spaniards lent to him by the Prince of Parma after the conquest of Zutphen, drove Truchsess from Cologne. He had in vain sought the assistance of the Protestant princes of Germany, of whom John Casimir of the Palatinate alone lent him some feeble aid. The deposed Elector retired into Westphalia, and sent his wife to England to implore the interference of Queen Elizabeth. Agnes, however, incurred the jealousy and anger of the Queen by her supposed familiarity with Leicester, and was dismissed from court. Truchsess then sought the protection of the Prince of Orange, and finally retired to Strasburg, where he lived sixteen years as dean, till his death in 1601, without renouncing his title "Zschokke, Baierische Gesch. B. iii. S. 159 (ed. 1816). 380 SIGISMUND III. ELECTED KING OF POLAND. [Book III. of Elector.15 For nearly two centuries after this event, the Chapter of Cologne continued to elect its archbishops from the Bavarian family. Germany, almost isolated at this period from the rest of Europe, was the scene of few political events of any importance. The Diets of the empire were chiefly occupied with matters of internal police. That held at Frankfort in 1577 published some regulations which exhibit in a curious light the manners of the higher classes of the Germans. The oaths and blasphemies of the nobles are denounced; the Electors and Princes of the empire, ecclesiastical as well as secular, are alone authorised to keep buffoons, and at the same time forbidden to get drunk themselves or to intoxicate others. These regulations are accompanied with many more, respecting dress, the table, the rate of interest, monopolies, &c. The death of Stephen Bathori in December 1586 having again rendered vacant the throne of Poland, Rodolph's brother, the Archduke Maximilian, proposed himself as a candidate. But the choice of the majority of the Electors fell upon the son of John, King of Sweden, whose mother Catherine was a sister of the last Jagellon; and that young prince ascended the throne with the title of Sigismund III. Maximilian, however, prepared to contest it with him, and entering Poland with a small body of troops, penetrated to Cracow, at that time the capital, to which he laid siege. But Zamoisky, Grand Chancellor of the crown, illustrious by his learning and researches as well as by his military exploits, who had embraced the party of Sigismund, compelled Maximilian to raise the siege; and in the following year (January 24th 1588) defeated him in a battle near Bitschin in Silesia. Maximilian was soon afterwards captured in that town, and was detained more than a twelvemonth prisoner in a castle near Lublin, till at length the Emperor Rodolph was obliged to obtain his liberation by paying a large ransom, and ceding to the Poles the county of Zips, which had been formerly pledged to them by the Emperor Sigismund. The Hungarians were at this time almost independent, though ostensibly Rodolph II. was represented in that country by his brother the Archduke Ernest. When, in 1592, Ernest was called by Philip II. to the government of the Netherlands, and Rodolph could not prevail upon himself to quit his retirement at Prague, the incompetent Matthias was sent into Hungary; as, of the other two brothers of the Emperor, Maximilian was employed in administering Inner Austria and the Tyrol, while Albert was in Spain. 15 Menzel, B. iii. cap. ii. CHAP. XI.] RETROSPECT OF TURKISH HISTORY. 381 The proceedings of the reactionary party and of the Jesuits, both in Hungary and Transylvania, occasioned the greatest discontent. After the election of Stephen Bathori to the Polish crown, the government of Transylvania had been conducted by his brother Christopher, and on Stephen's death he was succeeded by his youthful son Sigismund Bathori, a person of weak character, and the mere tool of the Jesuits, by whom he had been educated. Soon afterwards, however, the Protestant party gained the upper hand, and in 1588 the Jesuits were banished by the States of Transylvania, much against the inclination of Sigismund. On account of the constant border warfare with the Turks, the Emperor, the Pope, and the King of Spain naturally had much influence with Sigismund, as the only allies to whom he could look for assistance against the Osmanlis, whom he regarded with aversion, though he owed to them his throne. But these circumstances had not much effect on the state of parties in Transylvania till the breaking out of a regular war between the Turks and Hungarians in 1593, to which we must now advert; taking previously a retrospect of Turkish history. The affairs of Turkey have been brought down in a former chapter to the death of Sultan Selim II. in 1574.16 The GrandVizier, Mahomet Sokolli, concealed the death of the Sultan, as he had previously done that of Solyman II., till Selim's son and successor, Amurath III., arrived at Constantinople from his government of Magnesia, to take possession of the throne (December 22nd 1574). Amurath's first act was to cause five brothers, all mere children, to be strangled. The Janissaries had then to be conciliated by an augmented donative of fifty ducats a man, and costly gifts were distributed among the great officers of state. At the time of his accession Amurath III. was about twentyeight years of age. His person was small but agreeable, his features good, his complexion pale and yellow from the baneful effects of opium. In his youth a favourable estimate was taken of his character; for though of a studious and somewhat melancholy disposition, he had not shown himself averse from, or incapable of, military achievements. But from these good qualities he rapidly degenerated after his accession, becoming avaricious, addicted to women, fickle, mistrustful, cowardly; and at length he wholly secluded himself in the seraglio. The religious troubles in France tended to diminish the influence of that country with the Porte. The assistance of the Turks 16 Above, p. 195. |