Chair of St. Peter its former splendor, and fixed the number of cardinals at seventy, in memory of the elders who aided Moses with their counsels. He improved the water supply of Rome, adorned the city with new edifices, drew the gigantic works of antiquity from their rubbish, and exterminated the banditti who had infested the Papal States during the inefficient pontificate of his predecessor. He died in 1590. St. His Able and Stern Rule. Erection of the Escurial Philip II. adorned Spain with splendid edifices, among which was the famous palace of the Escurial, the grandest monument of his reign. This magnificent palace was built in honor of St. Lawrence, to whom at Madrid. Philip II. ascribed his victory over the French at St. Quentin. Lawrence was martyred by being broiled on a gridiron, and the groundplan of the Escurial was made in imitation of the bars and handle of this implement. This elegant palace contained the mausoleum of the Spanish kings. Ambitious Schemes of Foiled. Rudolf II and His The gloomy and misanthropic Philip II., shutting himself up in the Escurial, planned the extermination of Protestantism and the establishment of a powerful Roman Catholic empire in Western Europe under the supremacy of Spain; but the destruction of the Invincible Philip II. Armada which he sent against England in 1588, and the gallant resistance of the Netherlanders to his tyranny, thwarted his schemes. Few events had transpired in Germany since the accession of the Emperor Emperor Rudolf II., in 1576. His Spanish education and the continued influence of the Jesuits induced him to expel all Lutherans from his hereditary dominions, Austria and Bohemia; and there was a strong Catholic reaction in Austria and Bavaria. The favorite studies of Rudolf II. were alchemy and astrology. His taste for astrology was of some service, as it led him to encourage the great astronomers, Kepler and Tycho Brahe, who were successively intrusted with the superintendence of his observatory at Prague. A singular circumstance, which promised to extend Protestantism in Germany, actually strengthened the power of the Roman Catholic Church. The Archbishop-Elector of Cologne, desiring to marry the beautiful Agnes von Mansfeld, renounced his allegiance to the Roman Church and openly adopted Lutheranism. He intended to secularize his province, as the Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights had done; but Prince Ernest of Bavaria, his former competitor for the archbishopric, was elected his successor. The Protestant German princes held aloof, and the deposed Archbishop-Elector passed the remainder of his life in retirement at Strassburg. Thenceforth for almost two centuries the Archbishop-Electors of Cologne were members of the Electoral dynasty of Bavaria, the House of Wittelsbach. The German and Ottoman Empires became involved in another war in 1593, commencing with the defeat of the Turkish governor of Catholic Bigotry. Kepler and Tycho Brahe. Conver sion of the ArchbishopElector of Cologne and His Deposi tion. War the German and Ottoman Bosnia near Sissek, in June of that year. Sultan AMURATH III., who between had sucoeeded Selim II. in 1574, immediately raised a large Turkish army, which captured Vesprim, but was afterward defeated by the Austrians. The next year, 1594, the principalities of Moldavia, WalEmpires. lachia and Transylvania revolted from the Sultan and formed an alliance with the Emperor Rudolf II. Struck with dismay, Sultan Amurath III. sent to Damascus for the holy standard which was supposed to insure victory over the enemies of Islam; but Amurath III. died in January, 1595, without having experienced its miraculous help. Sultan Amurath III, A. D. 15741595. Sultan Mohammed III., A. D. 1595 1603. Battle of Keresztes. Peace of Sitvatorok. Death of Philip II. Sultan MOHAMMED III., the son and successor of Amurath III., secured his throne with the usual Turkish barbarity by murdering his nineteen brothers. The campaign of 1595 was disastrous to the Turks, as the Austrian army under Count Mansfeld took the important town of Gran and received the submission of the towns of Wissegrad and Waitzen. The next year, 1596, Sultan Mohammed III. took the field in person, captured Erlau, in the North of Hungary, and defeated the Christians with a loss of fifty thousand men and one hundred cannon in a three days' battle at Keresztes. Vienna was seized with consternation, which spread throughout Europe; but as the Turks neglected to follow up their great victory they reaped no advantages therefrom. The war lasted ten years longer, and was ended by the Peace of Sitvatorok, January 1, 1607, which showed a great abatement in the pretensions of the Turks, whose power had begun to decline. The Sultan recognized the Emperor Rudolf II. with his full imperial titles instead of slightly alluding to him as "King of Vienna," and relieved him of the degrading annual tribute hitherto exacted by the Ottoman Porte, in consideration of a large immediate payment; while the frontiers of the two empires remained almost as they had been in 1597. Philip II. of Spain died September 13, 1598, after a disastrous of Spain. reign of forty-two years, which was the grave of Spain's greatness. No sovereign ever ascended a throne with more magnificent prospects. Had his wisdom and justice been equal to his diligence his vast inheritance would have made him by far the greatest monarch in Christendom. But he crushed Spain, ruined Portugal, lost the Northern Netherlands and drained the Southern Netherlands of their prosperity; and, although the treasures of Spanish America flowed into his coffers, he died a bankrupt. His eldest son, Don Carlos, a youth of unhappy disposition, became insane through his father's severity and died in imprisonment. His Dis astrous Reign. Philip III., A. D. 1598 1621. PHILIP III., the youngest and only surviving son of Philip II., succeeded his father as sovereign of Spain, Portugal, Naples, Sicily, Milan and Spanish America. The proud monarchy which under the father Decline. of Philip II. had held the balance of power in Christendom, and had Spain's been the leading Christian power, rapidly declined under Philip's insignificant successor. SECTION XIII.-PHILIP II. OF SPAIN AND RISE OF THE erlands. Ar the time of the accession of Philip II. to the sovereignty of Spain, The NethNaples, Sicily, Milan and the Netherlands, in 1555, the Netherlands comprised seventeen provinces-the four duchics of Brabant, Guelders, Luxemburg and Limburg; the seven countries of Artois, Flanders, Hainault, Namur, Zutphen, Holland and Zealand; the five baronies of Mechlin, Utrecht, Friesland, Overyssel and Groningen, and the margravate of Antwerp. These seventeen small but populous provinces contained over two hundred walled cities, one hundred and fifty chartered towns, six thousand three hundred small towns and villages, sixty strong fortresses and a large number of castles, hamlets and farms. The seventeen provinces differed from each other in language, customs and laws. A corrupt dialect of French was spoken in the four Walloon provinces which bordered on France. Flemish was spoken in the central provinces, and Dutch in the northern-both languages being derived from the German. But all the provinces were united by a common tie of industry and interest, and by their allegiance to the same sovereign, the King of Spain; while they also had a common legislative assembly, called the States-General, which convened at irregular intervals. Their Three Lan guages. The King of Spain and the StatesGeneral. Their Prosper The Netherlands were the most prosperous portion of Europe, and their inhabitants were the most industrious and enlightened, it being ity and a rare exception to find even a peasant among them who was unable to Industry. read and write. Agriculture was carried on to a high degree of perfection, and multitudes of skillful and industrious artisans were employed in manufactures; while the cities of Antwerp, Amsterdam and Rotterdam were the chief commercial centers of Europe. The people of the Netherlands, or Low Countries, had long been Their among the freest in Europe; and among their chartered rights and Freedom. liberties were the consent of their own Estates in the States-General to taxation, an independent judicature and the exclusion of Spanish troops and officials. These rights had been occasionally infringed during the reign of Charles V.; but hostilities were prevented by the love of the great Emperor for the Netherlanders, among whom he had Philip II been born. Philip II., on the contrary, was a haughty Spaniard, who looked upon the Netherlands as a conquered country, and who occasionally violated their hereditary privileges. Political Charles Progress of the Reforma tion in the Nether lands. Regency of It was among these free and intelligent people that the doctrines of the Reformation had met with an early and favorable reception and had obtained many adherents. This state of things gave great annoyance to the Emperor Charles V., and he endeavored by eleven successive edicts to check the growth of Protestantism. As his edicts failed, he finally introduced the Inquisition into the Netherlands, but greatly restricted its powers and sought to deprive it of many of the cruel features which had marked its course in Spain. Nevertheless, it was impossible to change the character of that infamous tribunal, and during the reign of Charles V. several thousand Protestant Netherlanders died the deaths of martyrs by its orders. When Philip II., in 1559, left the Netherlands for Spain he assigned the regency of those fair provinces to his half-sister Margaret, Duchess Margaret of Parma. of Parma. Her Council was composed of Granvelle, Bishop of Arrasafterward Archbishop of Mechlin and cardinal; Viglius, an experienced lawyer and statesman, and Count Barlaimont, an honest and loyal Flemish nobleman. William, Orange. The most important man in the Netherlands was William, Prince of Prince of Orange, a friend and favorite of the Emperor Charles V. and a Catholic, but then only known for his vast wealth and his powerful connections. He was a member of the famous family known as the House of Nassau, which had been of princely rank in Germany for five centuries and had given one Emperor, and which was older in the Netherlands than the Houses of Hapsburg and Burgundy, to both of which Philip II. belonged. His Principality. The House of Nassau had lost the principality of Orange during the wars between the Emperor Charles V. and Francis I. of France, but that principality was restored to William by the Peace of Cateau-Cambresis, in April, 1559. William was a hostage in Paris before the conSecret clusion of that peace, and King Henry II. of France then and there Treaty confidentially revealed to him the secret agreement between himself Extirpa- and King Philip II. of Spain for the extirpation of heresy in their for the tion of Heresy. Count Mission respective dominions. Although William of Orange was then a Roman Catholic, his just soul revolted from such a plot, and he was thus opportunely put on his guard. The first step which alarmed the more liberal party in the NetherEgmont's lands after the accession of Philip II. was the creation of many new to Spain. bishoprics. Count Egmont, a highly distinguished Flemish nobleman, also a Roman Catholic, was sent into Spain to inform Philip II. of the growing discontents of the Netherlanders and to ask redress. But Count Egmont was misled by the king's flatteries and gifts, and he returned to his anxious friends with extravagant views of the good intentions of Philip II. |