, who was the last man in Europe likely to give him any
aid in the prosecution of his vast tyrannical schemes. Besides, there
was a sort of coolness between the two branches of the great family,
that was not without its effect on the world's politics. Seldom has it
happened that a more important event has occurred than the election of
Ferdinand as King of the Romans. We are not to measure what might have
been done by Philip II. as Emperor, by what was done by Charles V.; for
Charles was a statesman, a politician, and, down to his latter years,
when his health was utterly gone, he was no fanatic; but Phillip was a
fanatic only, and a fierce one too, with a power of concentration such
as his father never possessed. Then the contest between the Catholics
and the Protestants was a far more serious one in Philip's time than it
had been in that of Charles, which alone would have sufficed to make his
occupation of the imperial throne, had he occupied it, a matter of the
last importance.
[29] The main line of the German Hapsburgs ended in 1619, with the death
of the Emperor Matthias. He was succeeded by Ferdinand II., grandson of
Ferdinand I., and son of that Archduke Charles who was sometimes spoken
of in connection with the possible marriage of Elizabeth of England.
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