A Child's History of the WorldHillyer, V. M. (Virgil Mores)
History
A Child's History of the World
Hillyer, V. M. (Virgil Mores)
World history -- Juvenile literature
The pope called on the king of Spain to help in this quarrel with
Luther. The reason he called on him was this: The king of Spain was
Charles V, the grandson of the Ferdinand and Isabella who had helped
Columbus. He was not only a good Catholic but the most powerful ruler
in Europe. The Spanish explorers had discovered different parts of
America, and so Charles was owner of a large part of the New World. But
he was emperor not only of these Spanish settlements in America but of
Austria and of Germany as well. So it was quite natural that the pope
should go to Charles for help.
Charles commanded Luther to come to a city named Worms to be tried. He
promised Luther that no harm would be done him, and so Luther went.
When Luther arrived at Worms, Charles ordered him to take back all he
had said. Luther refused to do so. Some of Charles’s nobles said Luther
should be burned at the stake. But Charles, as he had promised, let him
go and did not punish him for his belief. Luther’s friends were afraid,
though, that other Catholics might do him harm. They knew Luther would
take no care of himself, and so they themselves took him prisoner and
kept him shut up for over a year, so that no one could harm him. While
Luther was in prison he translated the Bible into German; it was the
first time that the Bible had been written in that language.
The people who protested against what the pope did were called
Protest-ants, and those Christians who are not Roman Catholics are
still called Protestants to-day. The time when these changes were made
in the Catholic form of worship was called the Re-form-ation, as the
old religion was _re-formed_.
Now, you may be a Catholic and your best friend may not be a Catholic,
but that makes no difference in your friendship. But at that time those
who were Catholics were deadly enemies of those who were not. Each side
was sure it alone was right and the other side was wrong. Each side
fought for the things it thought were right, fought the other side as
furiously and madly and bitterly as if the other side were scoundrels
and devils. Friends and relatives murdered each other because they
thought differently about religion, and yet all were supposed to be
Christians.
Charles was greatly worried and troubled by the religious quarrels
and other difficulties in his vast empire. He became sick and tired
of being emperor and of having to settle all the many problems he had
to solve. He wanted to be free to do other things that he was more
interested in. Being king did not mean being able to do whatever you
wanted, as some people think. So Charles did what few rulers have ever
done voluntarily: he resigned--“abdicated,” as it is called--and gave
up his throne to his son, who was named Philip II.
Then Charles, glad to be rid of all the cares of state, went to live in
a monastery. There he spent his time doing what he liked--what do you
suppose?--making mechanical toys and watches--until he died!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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