XI.
GROTIUS.--AS AMBASSADOR FROM THE KINGDOM OF SWEDEN TO THE COURT OF
FRANCE.
1634--1645.
The embassy of Grotius is connected with an important period in the
history of the War of Thirty years.
This celebrated war was principally caused by the religious disputes of
the sixteenth century. Very soon after Luther's first attack on the See
of Rome, the Reformation was established in Saxony, Livonia, Prussia,
and Hesse-cassell; in many imperial towns; in Friezland and Holland; in
several of the Swiss Cantons; in Pomerania, Mecklenburgh, Anhalt;
Sweden, Denmark, Norway; England, and Scotland. Its progress in Germany
is particularly connected with the subject of these pages.
[Sidenote: Embassy of Grotius in the Court of France.]
At the diet of Augsburgh, in 1530, the Protestant princes of Germany
delivered to the emperor their Confession of Faith; they afterwards, at
Smalcald, entered into an offensive and defensive league against the
emperor. Being sensible that they were unable to resist him, they
engaged the French monarch in their cause.
Pages:
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189