Charles now entered Wittemberg in triumph. The great reformer had just
died. The emperor visited the grave of Luther, and when urged to
dishonor his remains, replied--
"I war not with the dead, but with the living. Let him repose in peace;
he is already before his Judge."
The Landgrave of Hesse Cassel, now the only member of the Protestant
league remaining in arms, was in a condition utterly hopeless, and was
compelled to make an unconditional submission.
The landgrave, ruined in fortune, and crushed in spirit, was led a
captive into the imperial camp at Halle, in Saxony, the 19th of June,
1547. He knelt before the throne, and made an humble confession of his
crime in resisting the emperor; he resigned himself and all his
dominions to the clemency of his sovereign. As he rose to kiss the hand
of the emperor, Charles turned contemptuously from him and ordered him
to be conveyed to one of the apartments of the palace as a prisoner.
Most ignobly the emperor led his two illustrious captives, the Elector
of Saxony and the Landgrave of Hesse Cassel, as captives from city to
city, exhibiting them as proofs of his triumph, and as a warning to all
others to avoid their fate.
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