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 ROME, THE ESCORIAL, AND VERSAILLES

times more Frenchman and royal minister than priest and cardinal, determined the conduct of both state and Church in France. He sub* dued the particularistic nobles and likewise put an end to the political power of the Huguenots. Then he combed the lands and the seas for rivals of the Habsburgs and therewith also servants of his own country. Among these were the German Protestants. In so far as was compatible with his fear lest a North German and Scandinavian alliance constitute a great political power, he supported Gustavus Adol- phus against the Emperor. When the Swedish monarch died on the battlefield, Richelieu himself took the leadership of the anti-Imperial party. The Pope endeavoured to bring about an understanding be- tween Habsburgs and Bourbons; but out of deference to France he defined his neutrality ail too strictly. Concerning this his own Curia said indignantly that the King of Sweden displayed more zeal for Lutheranism than did the Holy Father for the faith which alone can save. Thus nothing was really done to stave off the last phase of the struggle the Franco-Swedish war, which had such dire con- sequences for Germany and the Church. None of the millions which Sixtus V had hoarded in San Angelo's reached the Catholic party.

The Pope in question was Urban VIII (1623-1644), a Barberini, whom the splendour and riches of his princely house interested all too greatly. On his study table there were peacefully assembled plans of fortifications, designs for new cannon, sketches for further Roman buildings, poems he himself had written, and Christian hymns of the early Church to which he had given classical forms modelled on his beloved Roman authors. Under his management the Papal States embraced more territory than ever previously, but the most powerful manorial estates in his jurisdiction were soon in the hands of the Barberini. It would seem that war was that with which he most loved to concern himself; and he entertained a veritable passion for armour, fortifications and moulding cannon (unfortunately out of antique bronzes). In Tivoli a firearms factoiy was erected. The rooms of the Vatican Library were turned into arsenals. Neverthe- less when he tried to cany his theories into effect during a war with Parma, which had been forced on him by relatives, he lost. The soul of this man who loved to call himself the Padre Commune was com-

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