Julius II., under peculiar circumstances, allowed Maximilian to
assume the title of _emperor elect_ while he postponed his visit to Rome
for coronation; but the want of the papal sanction, by the imposition of
the crown upon his brow by those _sacred hands_, thwarted Maximilian in
some of his most fondly-cherished measures.
Paul IV. was now pontiff, an old man, jealous of his prerogatives,
intolerant in the extreme, and cherishing the most exorbitant sense of
his spiritual power. He execrated the Protestants, and was indignant
with Ferdinand that he had shown them any mercy at all. But Ferdinand,
conscious of the importance of a papal coronation, sent a very
obsequious embassy to Rome, announcing his appointment as emperor, and
imploring the benediction of the holy father and the reception of the
crown from his hands. The haughty and disdainful reply of the pope was
characteristic of the times and of the man. It was in brief, as follows:
"The Emperor Charles has behaved like a madman; and his acts are no more
to be respected than the ravings of insanity. Charles V. received the
imperial crown from the head of the Church; in abdicating, that crown
could only return to the sacred hands which conferred it.
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