St. Paul in the Second Epistle to the Thessalonians, and asserting his
ability to prove that he who ruled at the Roman Court was worse than
the Turk.[18]

Several months passed and no further steps were taken by Rome to meet
the crisis. This delay was due in great measure to the death of
Maximilian I. (1519), and to the sharp contest that ensued. The two
strongest candidates were Charles I., King of Spain, who as son of
Philip the Handsome (son of Maximilian), and of Joanna of Castile
(daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella), was ruler of Spain, the
Netherlands, Austria, and Naples, and Francis I., King of France. For
centuries the Pope had striven to prevent the union of Naples and the
Empire, and with good reason, for such a union must prove almost of
necessity highly detrimental to the safety of the Papal States and the
independence of the Holy See. For this reason, if for no other, Leo X.
did not favour the candidature of Charles. Nor could he induce himself
to display any enthusiasm for the cause of Francis I., whose
intervention in Italian affairs the Pope had good grounds to dread. As
against the two the Pope endeavoured to induce the princes to elect
one of their own number, preferably the Elector of Saxony. But the
Elector showed no anxiety to accept such a responsible office, and in
the end Charles succeeded in winning over to his side the majority of
the princes. He was elected and proclaimed Emperor under the title of
Charles V. (1519).

While Rome remained inactive, and while the opponents of Luther in
Germany were handicapped by the crude diplomacy of Miltitz, Luther was
gaining ground with marvellous rapidity. His success was due partly to
his own great personal gifts as a popular demagogue, and partly also
to the fact that no man knew better than he how to make capital out of