Page:Margaret of Angoulême, Queen of Navarre (Robinson 1886).djvu/197

182 when De Guzman demanded the suppression of heresy, we do not hear that she made any opposition. On her side she demanded: a court out of France and a princely revenue for her young champion the Duke of Orleans; a place for her to fly to and live in safety and brilliance when Francis should be dead. Let De Guzman settle this with his master, and she would answer for the scourging of the heretics.

Then each of these honourable negotiators went to his work; the monk to his Imperial penitent, the pretty Duchess to her King. Each carried the point, for each had bargained for a thing his master specially desired. The heretics were as odious to the Most Christian Charles as to the Dominican himself. Not many years were to elapse before the Emperor should take the cowl; and the monkish temper was already strong in him. Moreover, not only from motives of faith, but for reasons of policy he wished to subdue the Lutherans. Since the Treaty of Smalkald in 1530 the Protestants of Germany had grown too strong. Anxious to avert an open rebellion, Charles had granted the Treaty of Nuremburg, allowing liberty of conscience to the Lutherans; and the remembrance of this concession was a thorn in his flesh. Since then, also, the Protestants had gained in strength; they would be hard subjects to master. Yet, till he had them at his feet, Charles could not be absolutely sure of his tenure. The league of Lutheran cities was strong. It included Constance, Nuremburg, Ulm, Strasburg, and Heilbronn, with eight other rich Imperial towns, backed by the states of Saxony, Hesse, Brandenburg, Anhalt, and the two Luneburgs. Charles, ever long-sighted and keen, trembled lest the Kings of France and England should join this Protestant