Having finished these directions the emperor observed that some of his attendants were in tears.  “Do you weep,” said he, “because you see a mortal die?  Such tears become women rather than men.”  The emperor was now dying.  As the ecclesiastics repeated the prayers of the Church, the emperor gave the responses until his voice failed, and then continued to give tokens of recognition and of faith, by making the sign of the cross.  At three o’clock in the morning of the 11th of January, 1519, the Emperor Maximilian breathed his last.  He was then in the sixtieth year of his age.

Maximilian is justly considered one of the most renowned of the descendants of Rhodolph of Hapsburg.  It is saying but little for his moral integrity, to affirm that he was one of the best of the rulers of his age.  According to his ideas of religion, he was a religious man.  According to his ideas of honesty and of honor, he was both an honest and an honorable man.  According to his idea of what is called moral conduct, he was irreproachable, being addicted to no ungenteel vices, or any sins which would be condemned by his associates.  His ambition was not to secure for himself ease or luxury, but to extend his imperial power, and to aggrandize his family.  For these objects he passed his life, ever tossed upon the billows of toil and trouble.  In industry and perseverance, he has rarely been surpassed.

Notwithstanding the innumerable interruptions and cares attendant upon his station, he still found time, one can hardly imagine when, to become a proficient in all the learning of the day.  He wrote and spoke four languages readily, Latin, French, German and Italian.  Few men have possessed more persuasive powers of eloquence.  All the arts and sciences he warmly patronized, and men of letters of every class found in him a protector.  But history must truthfully declare that there was no perfidy of which he would not be guilty, and no meanness to which he would not stoop, if he could only extend his hereditary domains and add to his family renown.

CHAPTER VII.

CHARLES V. AND THE REFORMATION.

From 1519 to 1531.

Charles V. of Spain.—­His Election as Emperor of Germany.—­His
Coronation.—­The first Constitution.—­Progress of the Reformation.—­The
Pope’s Bull against Luther.—­His Contempt for his Holiness.—­The Diet at
Worms.—­Frederic’s Objection to the Condemnation of Luther by the
Diet.—­He obtains for Luther the Right of Defense.—­Luther’s triumphal
March to the Tribunal.—­Charles urged to violate his Safe Conduct.—­
Luther’s Patmos.—­Marriage of Sister Catharine Bora to Luther.—­Terrible
Insurrection.—­The Holy League.—­The Protest of Spires.—­Confession of
Augsburg.—­The two Confessions.—­Compulsory Measures.