There was, however, no such combination of circumstances to diminish the power of France. Within a few years after the beginning of the century the French, by the capture of Genoa, had established themselves in a strong position to menace the whole of Italy. The French king Louis XII. had some pretext for the menace, for he could produce a kind of hereditary claim on the sovereignty both of Naples and of Milan. He had served the Pope against Venice, and after rendering this assistance he was not disposed to withdraw his claims. The Pope therefore arranged a new league against his late ally. Spain, the Emperor, and England were parties to this, which was called the Holy League--England under Henry VIII., who was not always to prove himself so close a friend of the Pope! The result was the speedy expulsion from Italy of the French, chiefly by the Spanish armies. Very shortly afterwards the French king died and was succeeded on the throne by his cousin Francis I. in 1515. It has been my aim, through all the course of this Greatest Story, to encumber it with as few names as possible, in order that the names of the most {38} important actors may stand out the more clearly and be remembered the more easily. But just at the moment which the story has now reached the names of four men, three being powerful kings and one a humble cleric, stand out pre-eminently. We might almost say that the story of those four is the story of all Europe, so large is their part in it. Luther is the name of the cleric. He was the leader in that great schism, or cleaving off, of the Protestant Church--the Church which "protested"--from the ancient Church of Rome. It is that cleaving off from the old and founding of the new, the reformed, Church, which is called the Reformation. The three great kings were Francis I. of France, above mentioned, our own King Henry VIII., and--by far the greatest of the three--Charles V. It was the greatness of Charles V., the accident, as we may perhaps call it, that he held, in his own person and by rightful succession, the sovereignty of so many and extensive countries so far apart from each other, which was one of the chief factors of the story at this time. For he was of the ancient house of the Habsburgs. He was the ruler of Austria. He became Emperor. He became King of Spain. He was Duke of Brabant and Count of Flanders and Holland. He had a claim of sovereignty over Burgundy. The Pope purchased his help against the Reformation movement of Luther by giving up to him such sovereignty as he was able to enforce over the greater part of Italy.