Neither was he successful in securing the Imperial crown for his son. Discord still agitated the public mind, and a new war broke out against him. Maurice of Saxony, whom he had invested with the electoral dignity, formed a league, which was joined by Henry II, King of France, the successor of Francis.
The preparations had been Made with the greatest secrecy. Charles was at Innsbruck superintending the deliberations of the Council of Trent, and meditating great plans against France and Turkey. He was expecting the aid of Maurice when this prince threw off the mask, appeared suddenly at the head of an army, and, in 1552, invaded the Tyrol while Henry II entered Lorraine. Charles was nearly surprised in Innsbruck. Maurice abandoned the. Imperial castle to plunder, the Council of Trent was dissolved, and the Protestants dictated the conditions of the Treaty of Passau in 1552. Charles was .not more successful in Lorraine. He was unable to recover Metz, which was defended by the Duke of Guise. In Italy he lost Siena by a revolt. He with drew to Brussels, where, hard pressed by his enemies, he became gloomy and dejected, and for several months concealed himself from the sight of every one, so that the report of his death was, spread through Europe. His last exertions were directed against France, which constantly repelled his assaults. The Diet of Augsburg in 1555 confirmed the Treaty of Passau, and gave the Protestants equal rights with the Roman Catholics.
Charles, seeing all his plans frustrated and the number of his enemies increasing, resolved to transfer his hereditary states to his son Philip. Having convened the Estates of the' Low Countries at Louvain, in 1555, he ex plained to them the grounds of his resolution, asserted that he had sacrificed himself for the interests of religion and of his subjects, but that his strength was inadequate to further exertion, and that he should devote to God the remainder of his days. At that time Charles conferred on Philip the sovereignty of the Netherlands alone. On 15 Jan. 1556 he con ferred upon him, in like manner, the Spanish kingdoms and Sicily, reserving for himself merely a pension of 100,000 ducats. He
selerted for his residence the monastery of Saint Justus, near Plasencia in Estremadura, and here he exchanged sovereignty, dominion.
and pomp for the quiet and solitude of a clois .
ter. His amusements were confined to short sides, the cultivation of a garden and to Mecanical labors. He attended religious serv ives• twice every day, read books of devotion and by degrees fell into such dejection that his faculties seemed almost impaired. He re nounced the most innocent pleasures, and ob served the rules of the monastic life in all their rigor.
Charles had a noble air and refined manners. He spoke little, and smiled seldom. Firm of purpose; slow to decide; prompt to execute; equally 'rich in resources and sagacious in the choice oT them ; gifted with a cool judgment, and always master of himself, circumstances• developed his genius and made him great. Al though he did not scruple to break his promises, he imposed, by the semblance of magnanimity and sincerity, even on those who had already experienced his perfidy. An acute judge of men, he knew how to use them for his purposes, In misfortune he appears greater than in pros perity. He protected and encouraged the arts and sciences, and is said to have-picked up a, brush which had fallen from the hand of Titian• with the words, "Titian is worthy of- being served by an emperor." By his .wife•Eleonora, daughter of Emanuel, King of Portugal, he had one son, afterward Philip II, and two daughters. He had also several natural children. No min ister ever exercised a decided influence over him. He was indefatigable in business, weigh ing the reasons on both sides of every case with great minuteness. Wherever he was he imi tated the customs of the country, and won the favor of all the peoples with whom he came into contact except the Germans. Consult Gachard, 'Correspondance de Charles (1859); 'Lives' by N. Robertson (Prescott's ed., 2 vols., London 1878) ; Armstrong (2 vols. London, with bibliographical introduction 1902) ; and Guntram (1865) ; Stirling, Maxwell, 'Cloister Life of the Emperor Charles V) (1852) ; Guntram, 'Kaiser Karl V' (1865).