CHARLES
027
CHARLES
loyal to himself. Judged by its results, Charles'
economic policy was successful in the Netherlands,
but it succeeded only indifferently in Spain, where
industrial progress, though much greater during this than ii had l>een, was generally slow and never so marked as to produce great political changes. In Spain the opposition to Charles' policies was found in the Cortes and in the city governments, but still more among the lesser nobility, the Hidalgneria, who resisted all agricultural progress as well as the em- peror's external policy. Most of the Castilians re- mained under Charles' rule the same frugal, con- tented, rustic people as before, in marked contrast to the people of the Netherlands. Yet by industrial improvement and political training. Charles was able to make of Spain the instrument by which his son Philip, in the time of the counter-Reformation, brought effective aid to the Catholics of Europe, and under the unfavourable circumstances this result is as remarkable as the prosperity which the Netherlands attained under his rule.
No less noteworthy were his services to the great empire rapidly springing up in America. Economical considerations being, in the early period of coloniza- tion, the most important, the management of Ameri- can affairs was confided to a bureau of commerce [casa de contrataddn) in Seville; but at the same time he established in Spain a special political "Council of the Indies". In the colonics two viceroyalties and twenty-nine governments, four archbishoprics, and twenty-four bishoprics were gradually organized. Already all those great problems had arisen which still vex colonial politics —the question, how far the mother country should monopolize the products of the colonies; the question of colonization; the ques- tion of the treatment of the natives, doubly difficult because on the one hand their labour was indispensa- ble and on the other it was most unwilling; the ques- tion, hiiu Christianity and civilization might best be established; finally the question, how science might be systematically promoted by the government that opened up these new countries. On account of the great distance separating Spain and her colonies, the unsatisfactory means of communication, and his lack of funds, Charles was unable to carry out the princi- ples laid down by his government. But he made the first, perhaps the only, attempt on a large scale to deal with colonial polities, in practical effect, from the double standpoint of political and economical inter- ests and with the realization of a duty to promote ( hristian civilization.
When Charles received news of the Peace of Cam- brai, he determined to go to Italy and settle Italian affairs by a personal interview with the pope. This difficult question, which had occupied him for almost de, was, as he thought, settled definitively. At Bologna he discussed with the pope principally two questions affecting all Christendom: the Turkish and the Lutheran. In 1.VJ1 the Turks had taken posses- sion of Belgrade, the key to Hungary; in 1522, of Rhodes, the bulwark which had hitherto barred their way westward of the .Egean Sea. In the following year the daring pirate, Chaireddin Barbarossa, an ally of
the sultan, placing himself at the head of the North African corsairs who were continually harassing the Italian and Spanish coasts, had built up a formidable
■i the small Mohammedan States of the North African coast. On land the Turks had defeated the Hungar cs, and taken possession of almost
the entire kingdom. Their way was thus opened to Vienna, which they entered in 1529. Equally great was the danger threatening < hristianity from within. Lutheranisin had boldly advanced when the edict against Luther remained unenforced, and it had been greatly stimulated by the social-revolutionary move- ments in Germany from 1522 to 1525. Since 1526 an independent State Church had been organized by the
Protestants in several provinces with the aid of their
sovereigns, and in 1529 these sovereigns declared at
the Diet of Spires that they would allow no attacks on
these organizations, nor tolerate any Catholic worship
in their states.
As early as 1526 Charles was aware- of these two growing dangers. He had thought that by the Peace of Madrid he would obtain freedom to carry on a war against the Turks, as well as to assume the regulation of religious affairs in Germany. But the new out- break of war in Italy prevented him from giving at- tention to this work till 1529. On 24 February, 1530, he received the imperial crown from Clement VII at Bologna. On 1 February he had concluded a general peace with the pope and most of the Christian states. The retreat of the Turks from Vienna enabled Charles, before beginning war against them, to make an effort towards religious unity in Germany. In the summer he appeared at the Diet of Augsburg, accompanied by a papal legate, to hear the Protestants. The adher- ents of the new creed were disposed to approach him in a submissive temper, though on German soil Charles did not possess all the power they ascribed to him. He had disbanded his troops, and the purely political resources at his command were not great. Holding the Duchy of Wurtemburg, he could thence exert pressure on several neighbouring princes, but his title to that duchy was not clear.
Having convinced himself that Catholics as well as Lutherans were irritated against Home, Charles in- formed the pope that only the immediate summoning of a general council could bring about peace. He had always desired this; henceforth it became one of his principal aims, of which he never lost sight. At Rome lie urged it with all his energy, using every effort to remove political obstacles. At the same time he was preparing to meet the next attack of the Turks. This came in 1532, on land. Charles was successful in forcing them back, and in recovering a large part, of Hungary, but without inflicting any decisive defeat on the Turks. He transferred the war to the Medi- terranean Sea. In 1530, by the advice of the pope, he had given to the Knights Hospitallers, the defend- ers of Rhodes, the island of Malta, which barred the approach of the Turkish fleet to the Tuscan Sea. In 1531 and 1532 Andrea Doria had sought the Turks in their own waters, but the Turkish fleet avoided a bat- tle. The sultan now sought to prevent the return of Doria by giving the chief command of his navy to Chairaddin, thus making the cause of the pirates his own. Charles thereupon decided to clear the Mediterranean Sea of piracy. In 1535 he personally took part in the campaign against 'Tunis under the leadership of Doria. He had the largest share in the victory, and urged an immediate advance on Algiers to complete his success. His commanders, however, opposed this plan, as the season was far advanced. This campaign established Charles' reputation throughout Europe.
While Charles delivered the first serious blow against Islam on the Mediterranean, Paul III, the successor of Clement VII, had summoned a general council. Hut new difficulties prevented both Un- assembling of the council and (he continuation of the war against the 'Turks. When Charles returned home from Africa it was evident that In- must again go to war with France. Francis I opposed the meeting of the council and, moreover, entered into relations both with the 'Turks and with the Stnalkaldic League of ( lerman I 'ml est. ant princes formed against Charles soon after the Diet of Augsburg, while, upon the death of I he last Sforza Duke of Milan, he renewed his claim to that
fief. Charles, eager to push the war against the Turks, as well as to restore the unity of Christendom, was ready to partly forego his strict rights both in the
Milanese and Burgundy, and to consider the question of the balance of power between his house and that
