I omit many other minor pretensions. Henry obtained a mitigation of a
number of them. In particular, he obtained the concession, although with
a great deal of difficulty, that the scourging should be inflicted only
by proxy, and by the hand of Aldobrandini himself.
You will perhaps tell me, that his holiness was obliged to require those
extravagant conditions by that old and inveterate demon of the South,
Philip II., who was more powerful at Rome than the pope himself. You
compare Aldobrandini to a contemptible poltroon of a soldier whom his
colonel forces forward to the trenches by caning him.
To this I answer, that Clement VIII. was indeed afraid of Philip II.,
but that he was not less attached to the rights of the tiara; and that
it was so exquisite a gratification for the grandson of a banker to
scourge a king of France, that Aldobrandini would not altogether have
conceded this point for the world.
You will reply, that should a pope at present renew such pretensions,
should he now attempt to apply the scourge to a king of France, or
Spain, or Naples, or to a duke of Parma, for having driven the reverend
fathers, the Jesuits, from their dominions, he would be in imminent
danger of incurring the same treatment as Clement VII. did from Charles
V., and even of experiencing still greater humiliations; that it is
necessary to sacrifice pretensions to interests; that men must yield to
times and circumstances; and that the sheriff of Mecca must proclaim Ali
Bey king of Egypt, if he is successful and firm upon the throne. To this
I answer, that you are perfectly right.
_Pretensions Of The Empire; Extracted From Glafey And Schwedar._
Upon Rome (none). Even Charles V., after he had taken Rome, claimed no
right of actual domain.
Upon the patrimony of St. Peter, from Viterbo to Civita Castellana, the
estates of the countess Mathilda, but solemnly ceded by Rudolph of
Hapsburg.
Upon Parma and Placentia, the supreme dominion as part of Lombardy,
invaded by Julius II., granted by Paul III., to his bastard Farnese:
homage always paid for them to the pope from that time; the sovereignty
always claimed by the seigneurs of Lombardy; the right of sovereignty
completely ceded to the emperor by the treaties of Cambray and of
London, at the peace of 1737.
Upon Tuscany, right of sovereignty exercised by Charles V.; an estate of
the empire, belonging now to the emperor's brother.
Upon the republic of Lucca, erected into a duchy by Louis of Bavaria, in
1328; the senators declared afterwards vicars of the empire by Charles
IV. The Emperor Charles VI., however, in the war of 1701, exercised in
it his right of sovereignty by levying upon it a large contribution.
Upon the duchy of Milan, ceded by the Emperor Wincenslaus to Galeas
Visconti, but considered as a fief of the empire.
Upon the duchy of Mirandola, reunited to the house of Austria in 1711 by
Joseph I.
Upon the duchy of Mantua, erected into a duchy by Charles V.; reunited
in like manner in 1708.