g his appointment as emperor, and
imploring the benediction of the holy father and the reception of the
crown from his hands. The haughty and disdainful reply of the pope was
characteristic of the times and of the man. It was in brief, as follows:

"The Emperor Charles has behaved like a madman; and his acts are no more
to be respected than the ravings of insanity. Charles V. received the
imperial crown from the head of the Church; in abdicating, that crown
could only return to the sacred hands which conferred it. The nomination
of Ferdinand as his successor we pronounce to be null and void. The
alleged ratification of the electors is a mockery, dishonored and
vitiated as it is by the votes of electors polluted with heresy. We
therefore command Ferdinand to relinquish all claim to the imperial
crown."

The irascible old pontiff, buried beneath the senseless pomps of the
Vatican, was not at all aware of the change which Protestant preaching
and writing had effected in the public mind of Germany. Italy was still
slumbering in the gloom of the dark ages; but light was beginning to
dawn upon the hills of the empire. One half of the population of the
German empire would rally only the more enthusiastically around
Ferdinand, if he would repel all papal assumptions with defiance and
contempt. Ferdinand was the wiser and the better informed man of the
two. He conducted with dignity and firmness which make us almost forget
his crimes. A diet was summoned, and it was quietly decreed that a
_papal coronation was no longer necessary_. That one short line was the
heaviest blow the papal throne had yet received. From it, it never
recovered and never can recover.

Paul IV. was astounded at such effrontery, and as soon as he had
recovered a little from his astonishment, alarmed in view of such a
declaration of independence, he took counsel of discretion, and
humiliating as it was, made advances for a reconciliation. Ferdinand was
also anxious to be on good terms with the pope. While negotiations were
pending, Paul died, his death being perhaps hastened by chagrin. Pius
IV. succeeded him, and pressed still more earnestly overtures for
reconciliation Ferdinand, through his ambassador, expressed his
willingness to pledge the accustomed _devotion_ and _reverence_ to the
head of the Church, omitting the word _obedience_. But the pope was
anxious, above all things, to have that emphatic word _obey_ introduced
into the ritual of subjection