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placed upon his head, and Charles
formally accedes to the throne of
Charlemagne over Germany. But he
is not yet crowned emperor of the
Holy Roman Empire.
During the years of Charles the
Fifth, tbe empire takes on its para–
doxical nature:
It
is both inter–
national in scope and yet ceases to
greatly resemble the old Holy Ro–
man Empire. The empire of Charles
V is at once embued with phenome–
nal power and, strangely, is utterly
weak.
The nation-s tate is arising.
Charles finds himself in the role of
arbiter. He may be king of Spain,
but Spanish airns do not coincide
with Austria's. The idea of an impe–
rial Christendom is ending. Charles
cannot even gather Europe to fight
the Turkish menace.
Luther is demolishing the old or–
der. He is shattering the Catholic
church and with it the Holy Roman
Empire. The empire will be divided
- Catholic against Protestant.
Charles attempts to bridge the gap
but only earns the scorn of all sides.
At one time or another, the papacy,
the German Protestant princes, a
militant , political, Catholic party in
the empire and the king of France
are his enemies.
The North German Protestant
realm becomes a bulwark of the Lu–
theran faction. By the year
1546,
it
boasts a following which includes
more than half of Germany and
four of the seven Electors of the
empire.
But it is the king of France ,
Francis 1, who keeps the empire
from achieving universal domina–
tion. Charles must fight four wars
with him
(152 1-1526, 1527-1529,
1536-1538, 1542-1544).
The growing
power of France is clear. Su r–
rounded by states of the empire,
France nonetheless fights Charles to
a s tandsütt: Allied with both
England and Turkey, France is the
continental sore spot which turns
into a cancer. rotting out the heart
of the empire.
Year 1527: Rome Sacked
by
the
Emperor's Troops. On May 6, the
26
emperor's troops storm into Rome.
The Spanish and German-Lutheran
mercenaries roam at will; they plun–
der and kill. The pope, undecided in
the conflict between F rance and
Habsburg, flees, but falls into the
hands of the emperor, where he re–
mains captive for many months.
This is the famous
sacco di Roma.
It
illustrates the paradox of the age:
an emperor bent on restoring the
rights of the Holy Roman Empire
and yet obliged to be the antagonist
of the papacy.
Year 1530: Charles Crowned Em–
peror. A further irony in the em–
peror-pope struggle occurs on
Feb ruary
22, 1530.
Char les is
crowned witb the iron crown of the
Lombard kingdom. Two days later,
the pope crowns Charles V Roman
emperor at Bologna. It will be the
last time that an emperor is crowned
by a pope. In one sense, Charles'
reign marks both the epitome of the
Holy Roman Empire and its demise.
Charles' empire is universal. Am–
bassadors and heralds come from
many lands to witness the corona–
tion. The spectacle presented to the
world is one of unity. Yet only
short ly before the coronation the
pope was the emperor's prisoner.
And soon the pope wiU resume his
previous political tlirtation with
Francis
l.
In
1533,
Francis I will
open talks with the pope about an
alliance with the Turks
against
the
emperor. The aura of unity in the
empire is a chimera.
The popes of the sixteenth cen–
tury feel encircled by Charles V
much as they did in the days of
Frederick
IJ.
Charles, like Frederick,
believes the emperor must be su–
preme if there is to be world peace.
This frightens the papacy, which
sees itself pinched off by imperial
and Spanish forces from Sicily and
Naples on the south and from Milan
in the iiortli: Thís 'philosophy of the
empire also alarms the king of
France, the only other great conti–
nental power.
But Charles' empire is not merely
a continental empire; it is an empire
on which the sun never se ts.
Through Spain, Charles has charge
over a vast Holy Roman Empire.
While sorne Spaniards serve the em–
pire on the battlefields of Europe,
others are in the Americas, forming
a new concept of empire.
Cortez, conqueror of Mexico, tells
Charles V, "Your highness can call
yourself emperor under the new tille
of Emperor of New Spain, and with
no less right and profit than you call
yourself Emperor of Germany."
Spain has an empire stretching from
the Philippines to Mexico. The Holy
Roman Empire is the beneficiary.
The emperor is forced to rely on
American treasures for financing his
wars in Europe. There is a struggle
for colonial possessions among
Spain, a leading representative of
the Holy Roman Empire, England
striving for mastery of the seas, and
France seeking to break out of its
continental trap. The arena of
struggle is truly worldwide for the
first time in Europe's history.
Year 1556: Charles V Abdicates
His Throne. The religious peace of
Augsburg is signed on September
25, 1555.
The Holy Roman Empire
is now the one large política) entity
in which opposing Christian reli–
gions can live lawfully,
if
not peace–
fully, side by side. Lutheranism is
conceded equal footing with Roman
Catholicism.
But there is no peace for the em–
pire. France is viewed as an enemy.
The political needs of Spain and
Austria do not coincide. The Elec–
tors of Germany, sorne of whom are
now Protestant, continually try to
reassert their independence. Though
a religious peace has been con–
cluded, the political si tuation is
fraught with danger. The soon-com–
ing Thirty Years' War will demon–
strate how ephemeral the peace
really is.
After almost forty years of rule.
Charles V is tired. He relinquishes
the imperial crown on August
23.
1556
and retires to a monastery. He
gives the following formal account
of bis reign: " l sought the imperial
crown, not that l might rule over
more realms but to provide for the
PLAIN TRUTH June-July 1974