CHARLES
626
of his country. The constitution especially needed
improvement; the finances were so disordered and
the debt so large that the monarch was hampered in
whatever he did, and could provide for the foreign
ment eSt Owi " T P * "^ H ^ Careful ~g- ment. Cmmg to the primitive development of means of communication he could not Sep watch over the whole empire, which he therefore decided to divide into districts. Already convinced that he must make Spain the centre of his dominions and the £ ™l%°l hm P0hti ?> he for that r "ason determined sunTme oMS^O ' ch ? r ^, ™* ™ t thitherTn"he ~™ er ,°'J 5 P' Once m Spam, remote from Ger- many and his hereditary Hapsburg estates he at first purposed to make them almost entirely independent ennYv' a,t ^ ou g h 1 he was more dissatisfi Twith the conditions there than with those of any otheTpartof his empire Reserving to himself only the genera policy of the empire as a whole, he gave hfa fflan
luTnko-W 1 es , abHshed a Permanent regency for them fin ^.selecting f °r this function two able .and thoroughly loyal women: first (till 1530) the fafthful Margaret, and next his sister Maria of Wary ho
Hie .tCll.^ himSelf * bd ^ i^ipies nad been ruled by viceroys under his m-anri
father nn d he continued this policy. ' ^^
he became mvolvT' COm P letin g th ese dispositions, MavS h?At "V *, grea , t - war - 0n the 8th of May, 1521, the date of the edict against Luther in offensive alliance against France was signed by repre" sentat ives of the pope and the emperor. Charles had desired only a defensive alliance, but LeoX „„ ally of Francis I, was now bent upon war •,. ,mJt him, because Francis had prevented an exten ?,' , the papal territory which Leo desired War w, assuredly have broken out between Francis and Ch- on the score of Navarre and Burgundy A'en if Leo had not hastened the conflict; though ft probably have In 1 ? i*^ attained SUch dimensfons, nor vvo d w^an^rkLilnn^ Tu actua!1 y did ; for Francis I was an irritable and fickle prince, not a man of strong will, and cared more for pleasure than for war But as a matter of fact, the main issue to be decided in the ensuing struggle (1521-29) was the extent of the papal power m Italy-the question, that is whether the papacy or some foreign dynasty should be the dominant political power in the Peninsula In the first year of this war Charles' generals won only a few nnnor victories in Spain and the Ne?herlarfds rL» * ^ey took Milan from the French. To com-
CHARLES
^ 1 geLl i te t r h e%^Z?to d D r Ve V ntended ' bllt
gereus pos Sn She fTV"? placed in a da - Rome and then'besieieWles i£" need . to relieve ship, however the imn/n'r, % superior general-
political sSon If Western EnS^f™ B f t ^ d the especially that of Italy Pe f ° r a Ion S time -
each other irfhS' rJST* ■ C ?™* ries resembled
central bureaus in Spain t 1 Y%\ a ^organizing the (l^n »,,-„ „ • -P am (152.J) and the Netherlands
en ation of these authorities and this system of laws
i i • v ""- °"-s<- u ' miiaii, am
succeeded in again invading Lombardv MeanwM Clement VII, who had succeeded Leo X f ,
short pontificate of Adrian VI, feared that Charles might become too powerful in Italy, and when he t'th em" 1 Bu ( t' d i r Pa f d *° tran * r W friendship
bH " ,i t.-fl tl ' l " Sa, 'V| ' : ",»"lt:.l.v. Charles
en VI , . "V """•'1 W "»!:».cis„ 'recommence was the frightful sack of Rom^by^hnp ^ Kg
expl-SV^-^—^^t
SIS?**-*!?
ing tiiem why they should contribute revenue With individual Charles dealt rfil V *
trohTtt T' th r ef0re IesS °PPrSK 1, trolled the clergy by transferring to them an almost
beenl ant by SS d^^ene&eTwhichTad
or te g himse1f y H P P *° pe8 e ' ther - to his Predecessors
P^^lnduSar^enST & ^M
I Snghsh competition; under Charles 'the in .is of he Netherlands were effectually protected b7^
tire change in system which may b, ,, ,,i, ,, ',;'/"
step towards capitalistic industry. Amv' ,t
the words great centre of commerce a, , ' '
The Cloth industry was strengthened by thfK ducton ., factory methods, the linen in'dus !y f,, ly developed. \\ hile furthering this progress Char el used i to give political influence in th? c ties of the Low Countries to the progressive classes who
