The history of the popes, from the close of the middle ages : drawn ...

THE pope's difficulties. 329
The longer the mission of Avila, from which a favourable
turn in the matter of the Council was hoped for in Rome,
was delayed, the greater was the impatience with which the
arrival of Philip's representative was awaited. In the middle
of February, 1563, his appearance was thought to be imminent,
but a full month had to elapse before Avila made his entry
into Rome on March 14th, 1563. It was in keeping with the
honourable reception accorded to him that he was assigned
lodgings in the Vatican, in the apartments of Federigo
Borromeo. Negotiations were begun two days later, and
if they were at first of a somewhat excited character, this
was to be explained by the disappointment which Pius IV.
experienced when Avila presented the numerous and im-
portant demands cf his sovereign. ^ In order to understand
the attitude of the Pope, one must realize the dangers which
confronted him on all sides. At Trent, where the proceedings
were at a standstill, the Bishop of Fiinfkirchen, who was
in high favour with the Emperor, was declaring quite openly
that the power of the Pope was no greater than that of any
other patriarch, and the Archbishop of Granada expressed
himself in similar terms. ^ At Innsbruck the Imperial com-
mission of theologians was holding its sessions, and was very
similar to a Council ; no one could foretell what success
the impending mission of Morone to the court of Ferdinand I.
was hkely to have.^ In France, the most important cham-
pions of the Catholic Church, Marshal St. Andre, and Fran9ois
de Guise, had fallen, while Montmorency was a prisoner.
It was only too well known to Pius IV. that the government
of Catherine de' Medici considered that, faced as they were
by the Huguenots, the only way to safety lay in compliance.
The queen had, in fact, granted to them on March 12th, at
the Peace of Amboise, religious liberty, even though it was
to some extent limited, accepting at the same time the monstrous
proposal that a new Council should be summoned
^ See SusTA, III., 239, 286, 531, 538, where there is a further
bibhography.
2 C/. Baluze-Mansi, III., 454; SusTA, III., 282.
^ See SiCKEL, Beitrage, II., 57.