suppression of revolution had naturally relapsed. But for this momentary
conversion the Inquisition would have had no hold upon them. The edict
of persecution was cruel and unnecessary, and all expert opinion in
Valencia was against it. It was not, however, actually enforced until
after the victory of Pavia. It seems likely that Charles in a fit of
religious exaltation regarded the persecution as a sacrificial
thank-offering for his miraculous preservation. It is characteristic
that, when in the following year he was brought into personal contact
with the Moors of Granada, he allowed them to buy themselves off from
the more obnoxious measures of the Inquisition. Henceforth the reign was
marked by extreme leniency. Spain enjoyed a long lull in the activity of
her Inquisition. At Naples in 1547 a rumour that the Spanish Inquisition
was to be introduced to check the growth of heresy in influential
quarters produced a dangerous revolt. The briefs were, however, issued
by Paul III., no friend of Charles, and when a Neapolitan deputation
visited the emperor he disclaimed any intention of making innovations.
Of a different type to all the above was the persecution in the
Netherlands. Here it was deliberate, chronic, and on an ascending scale.
It is not a sufficient explanation that heresy also was persistent,
ubiquitous and increasing, for this was also the case in Germany where
Charles's methods were neither uniform nor drastic. But in the
Netherlands the heretics were his immediate subjects, and as in every
other state, Catholic or Lutheran, they must conform to their prince's
religion. But there was more than this. After the suppression of the
German peasant revolt in 1525 many of the refugees found shelter in the
teeming Netherland cities, and heresy took the form, not of Lutheranism,
but of Anabaptism, which was believed to be perilous to society and the
state. The government put down Anabaptism, as a modern government might
stamp out Anarchism. The edicts were, indeed, directed against heresy in
general, and were as harsh as they could be--at least on paper. Yet when
Charles was assured that they were embarrassing foreign trade he let it
be understood that they should not affect the foreign mercantile
communities. Prudential considerations proved frequently a drag upon
religious zeal.

The relations of Charles to heresy must be judged in the main by his
treatment of German Lutheranism. Here he had to deal, not with
draw