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

CARDINAL GUISE IN ROME. 35
the same time his hope of the speedy ending of the Council.^
When Guise left Rome on October 19th, ^ Pius IV. and
Borromeo sent letters to the legates at Trent, in which, amid
many words of praise, the firm conviction was expressed that
Guise would be true to his promises. " His interests," the
Pope said, " are so closely bound up with ours, that there is
no room for doubt." Consequently the legates were instructed
to treat the Cardinal on his return to Trent exactly as if he
were a legate ; the same honour was also to be shown to
Cardinal Madruzzo.^ Guise deserved this confidence, for he
indeed returned to Trent with the honest intention of giving
his help in the best interests of the Church, so as to bring the
Council to a speedy and honourable end.'*
The decisive turn as to this question, which had become
more and more heated, had taken place while Guise was still
absent in Rome.
However widely the views of the two supreme heads of
Christendom might differ on the subject of the Council and
reform, there was, nevertheless, one subject which was calcu-
lated to bring them together ;
this was the Papal confiimation
of Maximilian's election as King of the Romans, a matter in
which the Emperor, who was now growing old, had an extra-
ordinary interest.
Pius IV. had, on many occasions, proved himself to be an
exceedingly adroit politician, but never was his skill more
clearly shown than in this matter. As soon as Maximilian's
election had taken place, on November 24th, 1562, very
protracted negotiations had followed. The latest investigations
have thrown complete light on these, ^ and have shown
1 See Arco's report of October 9, 1563, in Sickel, Konzil, 609 ;
SusTA, IV., 570.
2 See the *report of G. Tarreghetti, dated Rome, October 20,
1563 (Gonzaga Archives, Mantua).
^ See SusTA, IV., 337 seq.
* See the Relazione sommaria in the Zeitschr. fiir Kirchengesch.,
III., 657-
5 Steinherz, in Vol. III., of the Nuntiaturberichte, to whose
excellent account in the Introduction p. xlii-xlviii, we must here
1