may probably be worth the money; but as the army has been just disbanded, I can with the value of this jewel send two hundred indigent soldiers to their families, each with a piece of gold in his pocket." He wrote several theological treatises; expended prodigious sums in printing the Complutensian edition of the holy scriptures, the Mozarabic liturgy, and the works of Tostatus; and settled an annual revenue of fourteen thousand ducats upon his university of Alcala. In short, his life was truly honourable, and the retrospect of his conduct afforded him indescribable satisfaction at the awful moment of dissolution.

A. D.

In the month of January, an assembly of the states was convened at Valla1518. dolid, where, after some warm debates, they took the usual oaths to their new sovereign, and granted him a free subsidy of six hundred thousand ducats, on condition of his promising to observe some popular laws which had been passed during the reign of his predecessor. Similar measures were soon after taken at Saragossa, and the queen Germana made a voluntary cession of her rights to the kingdom of Navarre, infavor of his catholic majesty. This year also the Spaniards triumphed over the corsair Barbarossa; and Charles was elected king of the Romans.

Early in the ensuing spring, the king took a journey to Catalonia, where he appeased the discontent of the principal inhabitants, and acquired some degree of popularity. Here also he received intelligence of the death of his grandfather Maximilian, and of his own election to the imperial dignity.

The pleasure resulting from this augmenta

tion of power, and a triumph over his * competitor Francis, was considerably allayed by the spirit of disaffection which broke out, about this time, in various parts of Spain. The city of Valencia was at once distracted by rebellion, and depopulated by a raging pestilence; the states were thrown into complete confusion by being convened in an extraordinary manner; and all ranks of people were overwhelmed with consternation when their sovereign proposed leaving them, in order to take possession of his new dominions. Charles, however, effected all his designs, either by persuasions or menaces, and obtained a subsidy of two hundred millions of maravedies, notwithstanding the spirited opposition of Toledo, Salamanca, and several other cities. He then invested cardinal Adrian with the regency of his dominions; and embarked, with a numerous train of attendants, for England, where he contrived to give Henry VIII. some very favourable impressions of his character and intentions; and also to fix cardinal Wolsey in his interests by some magnificent presents and more interesting promises. Charles had scarcely left his Spanish A. D. dominions, before the embers of discontent burst out into a general flame, and most of the great cities in Castile threw off their allegiance. Don Juan Padilla, at the request of his wife Maria Pacheco, put himself at the head of the malecontents, and made himself master of Tordesillas, on pretence of providing for the security of the queen. These proceedings occasioned such universal consternation, that the royal

1520.

Francis I. had declared himself a candidate for the empire and his pretensions were assisted by many powerful and eloquent partisans.

VOL. XV.

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council

council deemed it expedient to disperse as fast as possible, and the regent returned, with some difficulty, from the exasperated inhabitants of Valladolid. At length, however, a formidable body of troops was raised by the cardinal and his colleagues, and the rebels were defeated with prodigious slaughter. Similar commotions existed, about the same time, in Valencia, and Majorca: Fontarabia, in the bay of Biscay, fell into the hands of the French; and Italy was ravaged by a sanguinary war between the emperor and Francis I.

Upon the death of Leo X. and the election of Adrian, cardinal bishop of Tortosa, to the papal throne, the emperor resolved to return into Spain, and, accordingly, crossed over from Calais to port St. Andero, whence he proceeded to Valencia and Valladolid. After reposing himself a few days, and paying a visit to his unfortunate mother, he caused a magnificent theatre to be erected inthesquare of Valladolid, and published a general pardon, with some few exceptions, for all recent offences. When the council observed that too many rebels were spared, he replied, "Enough ofblood has been shed" and when a man informed him of the retreat of a powerful malecontent, he answered, "You would have done better to let this gentleman know that I am here, than to tell me where he is." This clemency of the emperor produced the happiest effect on the minds of the people, and Castile began to smile under the benign influence of returning tranquillity. Some time after this transaction, Charles went in person into the kingdom of Navarre, and used his utmost endeavours to persuade the prince of Orange to make an irruption into France. This

year,

year, also, Adrian VI. was succeeded in the papacy by Julius de Medicis, who assumed the name of Clement VII.; and count Pedro Navarro, who had long languished in confinement at Simencas, put a period to his mortal existence by an act of desperation.

The commencement of the year 1524 was marked by the reduction of Fontarabia by the Spaniards; an embassy from the shah of Persia; and an amicable termination of some disputes between the crowns of Castile and Portugal. After a few months, the Imperialists in Italy compelled the French to repass the Alps, and Francis I. was taken prisoner whilst attempting the reduction of Pavia.

The captivity of the French monarch excited an universal alarm in all the countries of Europe, and resolutions were formed, in every part, to curb the dangerous ambition of the emperor. Charles is said to have received the news of his unexpected success with the most hypocritical moderation, and to have forbid any public rejoicings upon that account; observing that he only rejoiced in it as an event which must facilitate the restoration of peace to Christendom. In consequence of these professions, the emperor's confessor intimated the expediency of liberating the royal prisoner without ransom, and observed that such generous treatment would certainly produce the happiest consequences: but Charles refused to listen to this advice, and, after some time, resolved on demanding the restoration of Burgundy and all the Flemish conquests, as the price of the king's liberty. Adrian de Croy was sent into Italy upon this occasion: but Francis was so violently enraged at the severity

Z 2

verity of the proposals, that he drew his dagger, and, pointing it to his breast, exclaimed, "It were better for a sovereign to perish thus !" The Spanish nobles who were about his person, wrested the instrument of death from his hands: and in his calmer moments, he requested a personal interview with the emperor.

Pursuant to his desire, Francis was removed to Madrid; and the emperor, dreading a general combination against him, or fearing that his prisoner might resign the French diadem to the dauphin, consented to moderate his former demands. Accordingly a treaty was concluded, by which Francis obtained his liberty on condition of restoring the duchy of Burgundy; of re-. nouncing all pretensions to Naples, Milan, Genoa, and several places in the Low Countries; of reinstating the duke of Bourbon in all his estates and dignities; and of delivering up his two eldest sons as hostages for the performance of these stipulations. Having witnessed the proclamation of peace, and solemnly espoused Leonora, queen dowager of Portugal, Francis returned to his own dominions, which he entered with repeated exclamations of "I am yet a king! I am yet a king!"

Francis had no sooner returned into his kingdom, than he resolved to break a treaty which threatened to affect the liberties of Europe, and which he considered as by no means binding. Accordingly he permitted the states of Burgundy to protest against the article relative to their province, and took an early opportunity of informing the imperial ambassadors, that he should be directed by the sense of the nation in executing or disavowing that part of the treaty which af fected