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fected the French monarchy. Charles and his ministers now perceived that they were over reached in the recent negociation; the Italian states triumphed in the emperor's mortification; Francis procured absolution for the sin of perjury; and the pope, the kings of France and England, the Swiss, the Venetians, the Florentines, and the duke of Milan, entered into an alliance, which was called the " Holy League," in order to oblige Charles to deliver up the royal hostages on the payment of a reasonable ransom, and to re-establish Sforza in possession of the Milanese.

The confederate army took the field with san guine expectations; but their ardour was quickly damped, and they had the mortification to witness the reduction of Milan, and the sacking of Rome by the Imperialists. Italy was now become the theatre of a most bloody war, and the calamities which Rome had frequently suffered from the irrups tion of Huns, Goths, and Vandals, were now exceeded by the outrages of the emperor's army. The charms of beauty, the sacredness of religion, and the forcible appeals of infant innocence, were alike disregarded by the revengeful Spaniards. Venerable matrons and defenceless virgins were indiscriminately sacrificed to lust or rage; prelates were dragged from their altars to a dungeon, and tortured with unrelenting severity, in order to make them discover their treasures; and Clement himself was confined till he should pay

an enormous ransom.

The news of these transactions was received with inexpressible pleasure by the emperor: but, as his Spanish subjects were filled with horror at the captivity of his holiness, and as all parts of Europe

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Europe expressed the utmost indignation upen the same account, he professed the deepest son row for the success which had crowned his arms; stopped the public rejoicings which had been bew gun for the birth of his son Philip; put himself and his court into mourning; and even ordered prayers to be put up in all the churches for the pope's liberation, which he could immediately have effected by an order to his generals in Italy.

Alarmed at the augmenting power and rapid ́successes of the emperor, Henry and Francis de termined on sending a powerful army into Italy, and adopting such other measures as might facilitate the deliverance of the sovereign pontiff. Ac cordingly Henry sent over a considerable sum of money, and a French army entered Italy, under the command of marshal Lautre, who soon changed the aspect of affairs, and procured the release of Clement. In the spring of 1529 a treaty was concluded between Charles and the pope at Barcelona; and in the autumn of the same year two illustrious ladies were permitted to restore peace to Europe. Margaret of Austria, Charles's aunt; and Louisa, Francis's mother; met at Cambray, and concluded a definitive treaty, by which Francis was to pay two mil lions of crowns, as a ransom for his sons, to renounce all his pretensions to Italy, and to resign the sovereignty of Flanders and Artois; and Charles laid aside his claim to Burgundy.

After having received the imperial diadem from the hands of Clement, at Bologna; indulged Francis Sforza with the investiture of Milan; and concluded a treaty of commerce with the Vene tians; Charles set out for Germany, and in his passage

passage was magnificently entertained by the marquis of Mantua. The keys were presented to him in all the cities belonging to the Venetians, by an express order from the senate; and his brother Ferdinand, who had been elected to fill the throne of Hungary, met him at Inspruck in Tirol: but, as the consequences of his journey will be narrated in the history of Ger many, we must return to the affairs of Spain.

In consequence of several bulls, which seemed rather incompatible with the existing laws, the Spanish ministers found themselves involved in great perplexity, and some of the inferior clergy began to preach in a very seditious strain: but cardinal Tavera, president of the council, and the rest of the ministers, exerted themselves so successfully, that the public tranquillity was preserved. Andrew Doria, about the same time, defeated the Turkish fleet, which had long threatened desolation to the Spanish and Italian coasts, and made himself master of Coron, and some other places in the Morea.

Shortly after his return from Germany, the emperor held an assembly of the Castilian states at Madrid, and obtained an ample subsidy for prosecuting the war against the infidels: but it was deemed expedient to evacuate the new con→ quest of Coron, as the possession of that place! was of small importance to the interests of Spain, and would require a considerable sum of money for the maintenance of a garrison.

Solyman, the Magnificent, ardently desired to revenge himself upon the Spaniards for the enterprise of Coron, and offered the command of the Turkish fleet to Barbarossa, who had suc«^ ceeded his brother in the kingdom of Algiers.

Proud

Proud of this distinction, the corsair ravaged the Italian and Sicilian coasts with impunity, menaced the city of Rome, and returned in triumph to Tunis, which he had contrived to add to his former dominions. Charles was no sooner ap prised of this expedition, than he sent a Genoese, named Lewis Presendes, in character of a merchant, to Tunis, in order to examine the strength of that place: but Barbarossa was acquainted with the scheme by the treachery of one of Presendes's servants, and the unfortunate adventurer was sentenced to a cruel death. This year was, also, marked by the accession of Alexander Farnese, afterward called Paul III. to the papal throne; and by the first establishment of the order of Jesuits.

As daily complaints were made of Barbarossa's cruel piracies, and Muley Hascen, the deposed king of Tunis, applied to the court of Madrid for assistance, Charles resolved to humble the pride of the Mahometans, and to undertake the restoration of his royal petitioner. This de sign coincided exactly with the wishes of his neighbours, and the voluntary assistances which he received, greatly surpassed his expectation. At length he set sail with a formidable armament, and soon reduced the fortress of Goletta, which was defended by six thousand Turks, and three hundred pieces of cannon. He then proceeded to Tunis, where he found that most of the inhabitants had retired to the mountains, and that ten thousand Christian slaves had made themselves masters of the citadel. He therefore exerted him: self to prevent his followers from committing any acts of violence; but their rage could only be satiated with the blood of the infidels, and

thirty thousand persons were massacred without pity or distinction. Ten thousand Turks were also taken prisoners; and Muley-Hascen was reestablished in the sovereignty, on condition that he should do homage to the crown of Spain, pay an annual subsidy for the maintenance of a Spanish garrison at Goletta, and put into the emperor's hands all the fortified ports in the kingdom of Tunis. Having settled these important concerns, and acquired great fame by his suc cessful expedition, Charles returned into Europe; while Barbarossa, who had retired to Bona, recovered new strength, and resumed his cruel depredations.

Upon the demise of Francis Sforza, which happened shortly after the termination of the African war, the French monarch renewed his pretensions to Milan; but Charles delayed granting the investiture under various pretences, and, at length, avowed his intention of refusing the claim. War was accordingly declared between the competitors; and the emperor, having chased the French forces out of Piedmont and Savoy, marched, at the head of fifty thousand men, to invade the southern provinces of France, while two other armies were ordered to penetrate into Champagne and Picardy: but after he had spent à considerable time in fruitless attacks, and lost one half of his troops by disease or famine, he was compelled to retreat with disorder, and precipitation. The Imperialists met with similar misfortunes in Picardy, and were eventually obliged to retire without obtaining any advantages.

In the space of a few months, the emperor's affairs became extremely embarrassing. The

French,

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