CHAPTER VII.
CHARLES V.AND THE REFORMATION.
From 1519 to 1531.
Charles V.of Spain .-- His Election as Emperor of Germany .-- His Coronation .-- The first Constitution .-- Progress of the Reformation .-- The Pope's Bull against Luther .-- His Contempt for his Holiness .-- The Diet at Worms .-- Frederic's Objection to the Condemnation of Luther by the Diet .-- He obtains for Luther the Right of Defense .-- Luther's triumphal March to the Tribunal .-- Charles urged to violate his Safe Conduct .-- Luther's Patmos .-- Marriage of Sister Catharine Bora to Luther .-- Terrible Insurrection .-- The Holy League .-- The Protest of Spires .-- Confession of Augsburg .-- The two Confessions .-- Compulsory Measures.
Charles V.of Spain, as the nearest male heir, inherited from Maximilian the Austrian States.

He was the grandson of the late emperor, son of Philip and of Joanna, daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella, and was born on the 24th of February, 1500.

He had been carefully educated in the learning and accomplishments of the age, and particularly in the arts of war.

At the death of his grandfather, Ferdinand, Charles, though but sixteen years of age, assumed the title of King of Spain, and though strongly opposed for a time, he grasped firmly and held securely the reins of government.
Joanna, his mother, was legally the sovereign, both by the laws of united Castile and Arragon, and by the testaments of Isabella and Ferdinand.

But she was insane, and was sunk in such depths of melancholy as to be almost unconscious of the scenes which were transpiring around her.