TRANSLATED BY WILLIAM L. R. CATES, JOINT AUTHOR OF WOODWARD AND CATES'S 'ENCYCLOPÆDIA OF CHRONOLOGY,' EDITOR OF 'THE DICTIONARY OF GENERAL BIOGRAPHY,' ETC. 'Les choses de petite durée ont coutume de devenir fanées, quand elles ont passé leur temps. 'Au règne de Christ, il n'y a que le nouvel homme qui soit florissant, qui ait de la vigueur, et dont il faille faire cas.' CALVIN. VOL. VIII. HUNGARY, POLAND, BOHEMIA. NETHERLANDS. GENEVA. DENMARK, SWEDEN, NORWAY. NEW YORK: ROBERT CARTER AND BROTHERS, 530 BROADWAY. 1879. CAMBRIDGE: PRESS OF JOHN WILSON AND SON. ST. JOHNLAND STEREOTYPE FOUNDRY, SUFFOLK CO., N. Y. PREFACE. [Illustration] With this volume we complete the publication of the work of M. Merle d'Aubigné on the history of the Reformation. The ten volumes published by the author himself and the three posthumous volumes are the fruit of his long labors, begun in 1817, and continued almost uninterruptedly until 1872. It was in 1817, immediately after his ordination to the ministry, and in the course of a visit to Germany undertaken to perfect his theological studies, that M. Merle d'Aubigné conceived the project of writing this history. Germany was at that time celebrating at Eisenach the third centenary of the Reformation. The people were in a state of great excitement. Humiliated by long-continued oppression and irritated by severe suffering, Germany, which had so long been the theatre and the victim of the sanguinary wars of the Empire, had at length risen with an impetuous energy and a fervor of feeling which were irresistible, and had powerfully contributed to the overthrow of the imperial warrior who had appeared to be invincible. Rescued thus from foreign rule, she had fallen again under the equally heavy yoke of her former masters; and she was now turning her eyes towards Luther, the spiritual liberator of modern times. The reformer's name was on every tongue; and Merle d'Aubigné encountered on his way the crowds of young German students who were journeying to the Wartburg. On the eve of the celebration he felt an overpowering desire to take part in it. He therefore followed the throng, and after travelling all night came at daybreak within sight of the castle famous as the scene of Luther's confinement. A novel spectacle here presented itself. The squares and streets of Eisenach were filled with a motley crowd, chiefly composed of young men. Their long hair falling upon their shoulders, their