Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 20.djvu/346

Rh 328 REFORMATION we meet with the first indications of a reformation of doctrine. During the years 1511-14 Erasmus had filled the post of Lady Margaret professor of divinity at Cam- bridge, and the publication of his Novum Instrumentum in 1516 was directly the outcome of his labours during that period. Thomas Bilney, the martyr, a member of Trinity Hall and one of the most eminent of the Reformers, expressly attributes his conversion to the influence of Erasmus's New Testament. Around Bilney there gathered a little band of Cambridge scholars, Shaxton, Crome, Skip, Rogers, Lambert, Heynes, Taverner, Parker, and others. It was their custom to meet together at an inn known by the sign of the " White Horse." In the first instance, their attention was chiefly given to the Scriptures themselves, but subsequently to the writings of Luther. The inn then began to be styled "Germany" by their enemies ; and such would appear to be the first commencement of the Reformation in England. That commencement was illustrated by an incident which not a little resembles the better-known incident associated with the career of Luther. On the appearance of the papal proclamation of indulgences in 1517 a copy had been affixed to the gate of the common schools in the university. The same night a young Norman student, of the name of Peter de Valence, wrote over the proclamation a few Latin words denouncing the theory of indulgences as a supersti- tion. He was forthwith summoned to appear before the vice-chancellor in order to account for his conduct, and on failing to do so was formally excommunicated. Eenry In the month of January 1519 the emperor Maximilian I. VIII., died, and the imperial dignity, declined by Frederick of ^ T&ac ^ Saxony, descended to Charles V. Of the three monarchs aspired to this supreme honour Henry VIII. was now in his twenty-ninth year, Francis I. in his twenty-sixth, and Charles V. in his nineteenth. The English monarch, at this time both zealous and devout, was eager to give some proof of his loyalty to the Catholic Church, and had he occupied the place of Charles the career of Luther would probably have been soon arrested. The great Reformer owed his safety at this critical period mainly to the armed chivalry of Germany, which rallied ominously to his support. On no occasion was its presence more sensibly felt than at the diet of Worms (May 1521). The memorable edict (see LUTHER), signed on the same day as that on which the pope and the young emperor concluded their compact for the reconquest of Milan from the French, marks the crown- ing triumph of the policy of Leo and Alexander. But Charles, who looked upon Luther as a means of bringing pressure to bear upon the pontiff which might prove useful in a future emergency, was determined not to surrender the bold professor, for the present, to his enemies. To Henry, who was influenced by no such secular considera- tions, Luther's contumacy appeared to call for authorita- tive rebuke in every land; and in July 1521 he produced, in reply to the treatise on The Babylonian Captivity, his Defence of the Sacraments. The book passed rapidly through several editions, was translated into German, and, to quote the expression of Cochlaeus, " filled the whole Christian world with joy and admiration." Such an effort from such a quarter called for distinguished recognition. Francis was already styled the eldest son of the church. The imperial dignity presupposed a not less conspicuous fidelity. The titles of " Most Christian " or " Most Catho- lic " could not accordingly be vouchsafed to the English monarch. He was therefore rewarded with the newly- coined title of " Defender of the Faith." Sir Thomas More and Bishop Fisher both imitated their royal master's example by also compiling a tractate in reply to Luther ; but the Reformer, in his rejoinder to the royal polemic, called its author a fool and designated him the "Pharaoh of England." The death of Leo X. in 1521 was coincident with an im- portant crisis in Italian history. Milan had been wrested Ital 7i from the French by the allied papal and imperial forces, and the realization of that scheme of national unity and independence for which he and his predecessor had laboured seemed no longer a dream of the future. In the midst of his exultation partly, it is said, as the result of it Leo died, and seldom in the annals of the papacy had an elec- tion to the office been attended with equal interest and excitement. Wolsey eventually was out-manceuvred by the imperial party, and the emperor's former preceptor, the irreproachable, austere, and rigidly devout Adrian (VI.) of Utrecht (1522-1523) succeeded to the papal chair. After a few months' tenure of the office he too gave place to another, and the house of Medici was again represented in the person of Clement VII. (1523-1534). In this election Wolsey was again a candidate, and a second time he had reason to believe that he owed his defeat to the emperor, an injury which he never forgave. In not a few respects Clement was admirably qualified to cope with the diffi- culties by which he found himself surrounded. He had been at once the most trusted and the ablest of Leo's advisers ; his attainments and experience were such as in every way corresponded to the requirements of his office, for, while well versed in philosophy and theology, he had also mastered the political and ecclesiastical questions of the day, and his clear perception enabled him to grasp the essential features of his policy with remarkable skill and promptitude. His position, however, was one of extreme perplexity, alike in its diplomatic and its theological rela- tions. To no power had he and his house rendered greater services than to Spain ; ever since, indeed, the pontificate of Alexander VI., the papacy had, often without designing it, been the instrument of imperial aggrandizement. With the accession of Clement, however, these relations are to be seen assuming a new phase. The election of Charles V. as emperor awoke in the proud representative of the great house of the Medici the sense of a new danger ; and the prospect of Milan, Naples, and the empire being concentrated in a single hand was one which no Italian potentate could be expected to contemplate with equa- nimity. The retreat of Bourbon from Italy, on the other hand, had caused the Curia to look with altered sentiments on the policy of France ; and if Clement's advice and good wishes could have availed aught the great disaster at Pavia would have been averted. The emperor was far from unaware how little he had throughout been indebted to Clement's good offices, and before he led his army into Italy had been heard to avow his intention of avenging himself " on that poltroon the pope." " Some day or other," he added, "perhaps Martin Luther may become a man of worth." The battle of Pavia (February 1525) followed, and its results seemed to threaten the overthrow of that balance of power which it was the aim of the chief leaders of the new nationalities to maintain ; both Wolsey and Clement VII. alike now regarded with dismay the proportions which the power of Spain was assuming. " It is no trivial question, no single state, that is concerned in the coming contest," exclaimed Clement's minister; "this war will decide the freedom or the eternal slavery of Italy." In July 1526 the papal troops had already entered Lombardy. Such were the circumstances under which the Clement- ine League (22d May 1526) was formed, with the general assent of the Italian states, but with the usual disregard of the state of opinion north of the Alps. But it was hardly reasonable to expect that Ferdinand of Austria would be solicitous to uphold the papal interests in Germany when the imperial interests were being thus vigorously assailed in Italy. Three months before, the sanction of the