Against Lutheran Germany the Catholic emperor might
hope to rely upon the pope, and against France on England. But the
attitude of the popes was almost uniformly disagreeable, while from
Henry VIII. and Edward VI. Charles met with more unpleasantness than
favour.

The difficulty of Charles himself is also that of the historian and
reader of his reign. It is probably more instructive to treat it
according to the emperor's several problems than in strict chronological
order. Yet an attempt to distinguish the several periods of his career
may serve as a useful introduction. The two best dividing lines are,
perhaps, the coronation as emperor at Bologna in 1530, and the peace of
Crepy in 1544. Until his visit to Italy (1529) Charles remained in the
background of the European stage, except for his momentous meeting with
Luther at the diet of Worms (1521). This meeting in itself forms a
subdivision. Previously to this, during his nominal rule in the
Netherlands, his visit to Spain, and his candidature for the Empire, he
seemed, as it was said, spell-bound under the ferule of his minister
Chievres. Almost every report represented him as colourless, reserved
and weak. His dependence on his Flemish counsellors provoked the rising
in Castile, the feebleness of his government the social war in Aragon.
The religious question first gave him a living interest, and at this
moment Chievres died. Aleander, the papal nuncio at Worms, now
recognized that public opinion had been wrong in its estimate of
Charles. Never again was he under tutelage. The necessity, however, of
residence in Spain prevented his taking a personal part in the great
fight with Francis I. for Italy. He could claim no credit for the
capture of his rival at Pavia. When his army sacked Rome and held Pope
Clement VII. prisoner, he could not have known where this army was. And
when later the French overran Naples, and all but deprived him of his
hold on Italy, he had to instruct his generals that they must shift for
themselves. The world had become afraid of him, but knew little of his
character. In the second main division of his career Charles changed all
this. No monarch until Napoleon was so widely seen in Europe and in
Africa. Complexity of problems is the characteristic of this period. At
the head of his army Charles forced the Turks backwards down the Danube
(1532). He personally conquered Tunis (1535), and was only prevented by
"act of God" from winning Algiers (1