Freed from the presence of any Mussulman states, Spain was enabled to begin a grand European career in the latter years of the fifteenth century, the conquest of Granada and the discovery of America having given her a degree of power that gained for her the world’s profoundest respect.  Partly by success in war, and partly through a series of fortunate marriages, she became the first member of the European commonwealth in a quarter of a century after the overthrow of the Moors.  The first of her Austro-Burgundian kings was made Emperor of Germany, and by birth he was lord of the Netherlands.  In a few years, and after the conquest of Mexico, he had a French king among his captives, and the Pope was shut up by one of his armies in the Castle of St. Angelo.  Yet a few years more, and Peru was added to the dominions of Spain.  The position and principles of the Emperor-King made him the champion of the old order of things in Europe as against the Reformation, which added immensely to his power.  Spain was then, as she is now, and as probably she ever will be, intensely Catholic, and as Papal as any country valuing its independence well could be.  How she regarded Protestantism, and all other forms of “heresy,” we know from the fiery energy—­it was literally of a fiery character—­with which she disposed of all the Reformers, of every degree, upon whom her iron hand could be laid.  Had Charles V. been inclined to favor the Reformation, from his position as Emperor of Germany, he would soon have been diverted from any such thought by considerations drawn from his position as King of the Spains.  A Mussulman, or a Hebrew, or an avowed atheist would have had a better chance of being a powerful and popular sovereign at Valladolid than a pious man who should have been inclined to look with favor upon Dr. Luther.  It may be doubted if even a king could have been safe from the inquiries of the Inquisition.  Thus Spain was not only at the head of Europe because of her military superiority and the extent of her home territory and foreign dominion, but, as the champion of the Church, she had a moral power such as no other country has ever possessed, her championship of the Pope being something very different from Napoleon III.’s championship of the Pope of to-day.  The German aristocracy might be after the loaves and fishes of the Church, when they professed readiness to aid in warfare against the Reformers; but no one could doubt the zeal of the Spanish patricians, when they dedicated their swords and lances to the work of extirpating all enemies of the faith.  An Englishman of 1857 could not have been more hostile to a Sepoy than a Spaniard of 1557 was to a Protestant.  Religious power, political power, military power, and long-continued success in the cabinet and in the field, all combined to place Spain in a position such as no other nation had ever known, such as no other nation ever will know.  Even the failures of Charles V.—­his flight before Maurice of Saxony, and his defeat at Metz—­did not sensibly abate the power of Spain, for they concerned Germany more than they did the Peninsular subjects of the disappointed monarch.