The persecution, indeed, had a decidedly class character, for the emperor well knew Protestant nobles whom he did not molest, while the poor seldom failed to suffer.

And yet Charles had accomplished something.

Even the Protestants were loyal, strange to say, to him personally.

The number of martyrs in his reign has been estimated at barely one thousand, {246} but it must be remembered that for every one put to death there were a number punished in other ways.

And the body of the people was still Catholic, even in the North.