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

Xliv INTRODUCTION.
having been made by the Christian states upon the enemy
in the east. Even during this time, however, Spain and the
Knights of Malta had received valuable help from the Holy
See in their resistance to the pressure of the Turks in the
Mediterranean. Pius IV. shared in the successful repulse of
the dangerous Turkish advance on Malta in 1565. The saintly
Pius v., in spite of his advanced years, employed all his strength
with youthful vigour to secure a victory for the Cross over the
Crescent.^ While the French government maintained its
former friendly relations with the Porte, and Elizabeth of
England concluded a treaty with the infidels, in the interests
of commerce and for the sake of making common cause with
them in the struggle against Catholic Spain, the Pope, alone
in the midst of a Europe torn asunder by political rivalries and
religious hatred, unselfishly kept in view the great purpose of
protecting the west and its civilization against the might of
Islam. 2 As his ecclesiastical policy reminds us forcibly of
the days of the Middle Ages, so do his attempts at a Crusade, a
purpose to which he devoted himself with the same fiery zeal
as that which once armed the nations of Europe for the deliver-
ance of the Holy Sepulchre. Great as the difiiculties were he
never lost courage ; to reahze the dream of Pius II. was his
constant aspiration, and he was destined in the end to
attain a brilliant success, for, after overcoming indescribable
difiiculties, he succeeded in uniting such opposing elements
as the Spanish King and the Republic of St. Mark in a great
combined undertaking against the Turks, and became thereby
the saviour of Europe. The glorious victory of Lepanto,
which saved southern Europe from being overrun by Islam,
and the beautiful basin of the Mediterranean from bemg
transformed into a Turkish lake, and inaugurated the downfall
1 Fachinetti, the nuncio in Venice, says in his report of October
28, 1570 : "If thfc Pope had been a native of Venice, he could
not have done more." Valensise, II vescovo di Nicastro poi
papa Innocenzo IX. Nicastro, 1898, 88
2 See E. Pears in the Eng. Hist. Rev., 1893, No. 31, pp.
439 seq.