safe conduct through France, and was splendidly entertained at Paris.
Yet so low was the honour of the French, that Francis scarcely withstood
the temptation of extorting the duchy of Milan from him when in his
power, and gave so many broad hints that Charles was glad to be past the
frontier. The war was soon renewed. Francis set up a claim to Savoy, as
the key of Italy, allied himself with the Turks and Moors, and slaves
taken by them on the coasts of Italy and Spain were actually brought
into Marseilles. Nice was burnt; but the citadel held out, and as Henry
VIII. had allied himself with the Emperor, and had taken Boulogne,
Francis made a final peace at Crespy in 1545. He died only two years
later, in 1547.


7. Henry II.--His only surviving son, _Henry II._, followed the same
policy. The rise of Protestantism was now dividing the Empire in
Germany; and Henry took advantage of the strife which broke out between
Charles and the Protestant princes to attack the Emperor, and make
conquests across the German border. He called himself Protector of the
Liberties of the Germans, and leagued himself with them, seizing Metz,
which the Duke of Guise bravely defended when the Emperor tried to
retake it. This seizure of Metz was the first attempt of France to make
conquests in Germany, and the beginning of a contest between the French
and German peoples which has gone on to the present day. After the siege
a five years' truce was made, during which Charles V. resigned his
crowns. His brother had been already elected to the Empire, but his son
Philip II. became King of Spain and Naples, and also inherited the Low
Countries. The Pope, Paul IV., who was a Neapolitan, and hated the
Spanish rule, incited Henry, a vain, weak man, to break the truce and
send one army to Italy, under the Duke of Guise, while another attacked
the frontier of the Netherlands. Philip, assisted by the forces of his