In his time lived 〈◊〉 Bishop of 〈◊〉 who 〈◊〉 twelve Books 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 and one against 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not long 〈◊〉 he 〈◊〉 at 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 also an 〈◊〉 who had 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 old Age so great a Proficient in those Arts which most require the assistance of sight particularly in Logick and Geometry that he wrote some excellent Treatises in the Mathematicks He published also Commentaries on the Psalms and the Gospels of Matthew and John and was a great opposer of the Arians Moreover Optatus an African Bishop of Mela compiled six Books against the 〈◊〉 and Severus Aquilius a Spaniard who was kinsman to that Severus to whom Lactantius penn'd two Books of Epistles wrote one Volume called 〈◊〉 As for our Siricius having setled the Affairs of the Church and at five Ordinations made twenty six Presbyters sixteen Deacons thirty two Bishops he died and was buried in the Coemetery of Priscilla in the Via Salaria Febr. 22. He was in the Chair fifteen years eleven months twenty days and by his death the See was vacant twenty days ANASTASIUS I. ANASTASIUS a Roman the Son of Maximus was made Bishop of Rome in the time of Gratian. This Gratian was a young Prince of eminent Piety and so good a Soldier that in an Expedition against the Germans that were now harrassing the Roman Borders he did in one Battel at Argentaria cut off thirty thousand of them with very little loss on his own side Returning from thence to Italy he expelled all those of the Arian Faction and admitted none but the Orthodox to the execution of any Ecclesiastical Office But apprehending the Publick-weal to be in great danger from the attempts of the Goths he associated to himself as a Partner in the Government Theodosius a Spaniard a person eminent for his Valour and Conduct who vanquishing the Alans Hunns and Goths re-establish'd the Empire of the East and entred into a League with Athanaricus King of the Goths after whose Death and magnificent Burial at Constantinople his whole Army repaired to Theodosius and declared they would serve under no other Commander but that good Emperour In the mean time Maximus usurped the Empire in Britain and passing over into Gaul slew Gratian at Lions whose death so 〈◊〉 his younger Brother Valentinian that he forthwith fled for refuge to Theodosius in the East Some are of opinion that those two Brethren owed the Calamities which befell them to their Mother Justina whose great Zeal for the Arian Heresie made her a fierce Persecutor of the Orthodox and especially of S. Ambrose whom against his will the people of Milain had at this time chosen their Bishop For Auxentius an Arian their late Bishop being dead a great Sedition arose in the City about chusing his Successour Now Ambrose who was a man of Consular dignity and their Governour endeavouring all he could to quell that disorder and to that end going into the Church where the people were in a tumultuary manner assembled he there makes an excellent Speech tending to persuade them to Peace and Unity among themselves which so wrought upon them that they all with one consent cryed out that they would have no other Bishop but Ambrose himself And the event answered their desires for being as yet but a Catechumen he was forthwith baptized and then admitted into holy Orders and constituted Bishop 〈◊〉 Milain That he was a person of great Learning and extraordinary Sanctity the account which we have of his Life and the many excellent Books which he wrote do abundantly testifie Our Anastasius decreed that the Clergy should by no means sit at the singing or reading of the holy Gospel in the Church but stand bowed and in a posture of 〈◊〉 and that no Strangers especially those that came from the parts beyond the Seas should be receiv'd into holy Orders unless they could produce Testimonials under the hands of five Bishops Which latter Ordinance is suppos'd to have been occasioned by the practice of the Manichees who having gained a great esteem and Authority in Africa were wont to send their Missionaries abroad into all parts to corrupt the Orthodox Doctrine by the infusion of their Errours He ordained likewise that no person 〈◊〉 of body or maimed or defective of any Limb or Member should be admitted into holy Orders Moreover he dedicated the Crescentian Church which stands in the second Region of the City in the Via Marurtina The Pontificate of this Anastasius as also that of Damasus and Siricius his Predecessors were signaliz'd not only by those excellent Emperours Jovinian 〈◊〉 Gratian and Theodosius but also by those many holy and worthy Doctors both Greek and Latin that were famous in all kinds of Learning Cappadocia as Eusebius tells us brought forth 〈◊〉 Nazianzen and Bazil the Great both extraordinary Persons and both brought up at Athens Basil was a Bishop of 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 a City formerly called Mazaca He wrote divers excellent Books against Eunomius one concerning the Holy Ghost and the Orders of a Monastick life He had two Brethren Gregory and Peter both very learned Men of the former of which some Books were extant in the time of Eusebius Gregory Nazianzen who was Master to S. Hierom wrote also many things particularly in praise of Cyprian Athanasius and Maximus the Philosopher two Books against Eunomius and one against the Emperour Julian besides an Encomium of Marriage and single Life in Hexameter Verse By the strength of his reasoning and the power of his Rhetorick in which he was an imitatour of Polemon a man of admirable Eloquence he brought off the Citizens of Constantinople from the Errours with which they had been infected At length being very aged he chose his own Successour and led a private life in the Countrey Basil died in the Reign of Gratian Gregory of Theodosius About the same time 〈◊〉 Epiphanius Bishop of Salamine in Cyprus a strenuous oppugner of all kinds of Heresies as did also Ephrem a Deacon of the Church of Edessa who composed divers Treatises in the 〈◊〉 Language which gained him so great a Veneration that in some Churches his Books were publickly read after the Holy Scriptures 〈◊〉 having at two Decembrian Ordinations made eight Presbyters five Deacons ten Bishops died and was buried April 28. He was in the Chair three years ten days and by his death the See was vacant twenty one days INNOCENTIUS I. INNOCENTIUS an Alban Son of Innocentius was Bishop in part of the Reign of Theodosius Who with great Conduct and singular Dispatch overcame the Usurper Maximus and at Aquileia whither he had fled retaliated upon him the Death of Gratian. A
and therefore he preferr'd his Son-in-law before his Father-in-law And gaining the Victory over the French in a very important Battel he recovers Gascoigne and undertakes the present Government of it till Almaric the son of Alaric should come to Age. The same Theodoric to his Conquest of Italy added that of Sicily Dalmatia Liburnia Illyricum Gallia Narbonensis and Burgundy He also walled round the City of Trent and to secure Italy from a forein Invasion upon the Frontiers of it near Aost placed the Heruli whose King being yet a Minor he made his adopted Son Gelasius in the mean time condemns to banishment all the Manichees that should be found in the City and causes their books to be publickly burnt near S. Mary's Church And being satisfied of the repentance of Messenus who had given in his Retractation in Writing at the request of the Synod he absolved him and restored him to his Bishoprick But having intelligence that several murthers and other notorious outrages were committed in the Greek Churches by the factious followers of Peter Mog and Acacius he forthwith sends his Legates thither with Commission to Excommunicate for ever all those who did not immediately recant their Errours a new and unusual severity whereas the Primitive Church was wont to wait long in hopes that Separatists would at length return to her Bosom At this time John Bishop of Alexandria an Orthodox Prelate and who had been very much persecuted by these seditious people fled for resuge to the Bishop of Rome who very kindly and courteously received him The Churches which Gelasius consecrated were that of S. Euphemia the Martyr in Tivoli that of S. Nicander and Eleutherius in the Via Labicana and that of S. Mary in the Via Laurentina twenty miles from Rome He had a great love and honour for the Clergy and was very liberal and charitable to the poor He delivered the City of Rome from many dangers and particularly from that of dearth and scarcity He composed Hymns in imitation of S. Ambrose published five Books against Eutyches and Nestorius and two against Arius made very elegant and grave Orations and wrote weighty and learned Epistles to his Friends of the houshold of Faith all which Works of his are at this time to be seen in the publick Libraries Some tell us that he Excommunicated Anastasius successour to Zeno in the Eastern Empire for favouring Acacius and other Hereticks which is an argument as clear as the Sun that the Bishop of Rome has power to Excommunicate any Prince who is erroneous in the Faith if he continue refractary after Admonition The same course likewise he took with the Vandals and their King who being infected with the Arian Heresie proved now very cruel and barbarous persecutours of the Orthodox At the beginning of his Pontificate lived Germanus and Epiphanius the latter Bishop of Pavia the former of Capua men who by the authority which the Sanctity of their Lives had gain'd them and by their humble and obliging deportment wrought so much upon the minds of the barbarous Invadors that afflicted Italy fared the better for their sakes At the same time also Lannociatus Abbat of Chartres with Aurelianus and Mezentius of Poictiers persons of great Piety and Learning gain'd so much ground in Gaul that they persuaded Clodoveus the French King and his Queen Crocildis to become Christians and to undertake the protection of the Catholick Faith throughout their Dominions though some attribute this honour to Remigius as hath been already said Gelasius having ordained thirty two Presbyters two Deacons sixty seven Bishops died and was buried in S. Peter's Church November 21. He was in the Chair four years eight months seventeen days and by his death the See was vacant seven days ANASTASIUS II. ANASTASIUS the second a Roman Son of Fortunatus was Contemporary with the Emperour Anastasius At which time Transamund King of the Vandals shut up the Churches of the Orthodox Clergy and banished one hundred and twenty Bishops into the Island of Sardinia 'T is reported also that one Olympius an Arian Bishop having publickly in the Baths at Carthage declared his detestation of the Doctrine of the Trinity was immediately smitten and his body burnt with three flashes of Lightning And when Barbas another Bishop of the same Faction was going to baptize a certain person in this form of words Barbas baptizeth thee in the name of the Father by the Son and in the Holy Ghost 't is said the Water disappeared which Miracle so wrought upon the man who was to be baptized that he immediately came over to the Orthodox It was this Bishop Anastasius as some Writers tell us who Excommunicated the Emperour Anastasius for favouring Acacius though afterwards being himself seduced by the same Heretick and endeavouring privately to recall him from Exile he thereby very much alienated the minds of his Clergy who for that reason and also because without the consent of the Catholicks he communicated with Photinus a Deacon of Thessalonica and an assertour of the Acacian 〈◊〉 withdrew themselves from him 'T is generally reported that the divine vengeance pursuing him for this Apostacy he died suddenly and some say that the particular manner of his death was that going to ease Nature he purg'd out his Bowels into the Privy In his time Fulgentius an African Bishop of Ruspoe though he were among the other Orthodox Bishops of Africa banish'd into Sardinia by Transamund yet neglected nothing that might contribute to the propagating of the Catholick Faith whether by Exhortation Preaching or Admonition He likewise published several Books of the Trinity of Free-will and the Rule of Faith and besides the several elegant and grave Homilies he made to the people he wrote against the Pelagian Heresie The Learned Egesippus also who composed Monastical Constitutions and in an elegant style wrote the Life of S. Severinus the Abbat was at this time very serviceable to the Church Moreover Faustus a Gallican Bishop was now a considerable Writer but among all his Works the most in esteem was his Tract against Arius wherein he maintains the persons in the Trinity to be Co-essential He wrote also against those who asserted any created Being to be incorporeal demonstrating both by the Judgment of the Fathers and from the Testimonies of holy Writ that God only is purely and properly incorporeal But I shall here conclude the Pontificate of Anastasius who at one Decembrian Ordination having made twelve Presbyters and sixteen Bishops was buried in S. Peter's Church November 19. He sat in the Chair one year ten months twenty four days and by his death the See was vacant four days SYMMACHUS I. SYMMACHUS a Sardinian Son of Fortunatus succeeded Anastasius though not without great Controversie and after a long bandying of two contrary Factions For while one part of the Clergy chuse Symmachus in the Church of S. John 〈◊〉 another part of them in S. Maria Maggiore make choice of one Laurence
Salutations and Respects having pass'd on both sides they entred the Church and being come up to the Altar Charles and the Pope the Romans and the French took a mutual Oath to maintain a perpetual Friendship and to be Enemies to the Enemies of each other After which Charles making his Entrance into the City devoutly visited all the Churches and made several Presents to them Four days after his being there he by Oath confirmed and amply enlarged the Donation of his Father Pipin to Gregory the third containing according to Anastasius in 〈◊〉 all that reaches from the long since demolished City Luna to the Alpes the Isle of Corfica and the whole Tract between Luca and Parma together with Friuli the Exarchate of Ravenna and the Dukedoms of Spoleto and Benevent These Affairs being thus setled Charles taking his leave of Adrian returns into Lombardy and becomes Master of Pavia on the sixth month after the investing of it Towards Desiderius however he was so favourable as that though he berest him of his Kingdom yet he spared his Life and only confined him with his Wife and Children to Lyons Advancing thence again Arachis Duke of Benevent who was Son-in-law to Desiderius and had been an Abettour of his rash Proceedings he soon forced him to sue for a Peace and received his two Sons for Hostages After this in his Passage farther he religiously visited Mount Cassino and confirmed all the Grants which had been made by other Princes to the Monastery of S. Benedict And so the Affairs of all Italy being composed and strong Guards left in the most important places of Lombardy he returns with great Spoil and mighty Glory into his Kingdom or France carrying with him his Brother Caroloman's Relict and Sons whom he always treated with Respect and Honour and also Paul a Deacon of the Church of Aquileia a Person for his Parts and Learning highly belov'd by Desiderius to whom he gave his Freedom and had for some time a great Esteem for him But understanding afterwards that the man was assisting to a Design of Desiderius's his Flight he banish'd him into the Island of Tremiti from whence after some years making his Escape and coming to Arachis at the Request of Adelperga Daughter to Desiderius and the Wife of Arachis he added two Books to the History of Eutropius giving an account of what passed from the time of the Emperour Julian to that of Justinian the first After the Death of Arachis he betook himself to the Monastery of Cassino where leading the remainder of his life very devoutly he oftentimes wrote elegant and obliging Letters to Charles and received again the like from that King who had preserved him for the sake of his Learning Thus ended the Kingdom of the Lombards in the two hundred and fourth year after their coming into Italy and in the year of our Lord seven hundred seventy six Charles now without any delay marches against the idolatrous Saxons who during his absence in Italy had rebelled uttterly subdues that People with whom he had been engaged in War for thirty years before and compells them to receive Christianity Then turning his Army against the Spaniards who were also fallen away from the Faith he took the Cities of Pampelona and Saragoza and permitted his Souldiers to plunder them not granting a Peace to these Spaniards but upon condition they would entirely embrace the Christian Doctrine After this returning into France matters having went according to his mind as he passed the Pyrenean Hills he fell into an Ambuscade of the Gascons in engaging with whom though he gallantly defended himself yet he lost Anselmus and Egibardus two brave Commanders Some tell us that in this Encounter Rolandus Charles's Sister's Son perished after he had made a great slaughter of the Enemy though whether he died of Thirst as is commonly said or of the wounds he received is uncertain At length these Gascons were vanquished by Charles and received from him the deserved Punishment of their Revolt and Perfidy At this time Taxillo Duke of Bojaria Desiderius's Son-in-law having gained the Huns to be on his side made an Attempt of War against the French which yet Charles by his great Expedition almost made an end of before it was quite begun and to him also upon Hostages given he granted a Peace While these things were transacting in France Constantine Emperour of the East was seized with a Leprosy from whence perhaps arose the groundless Opinion of the Leprosy of Constantine the Great through the confusion of their Names and dying left Leo the fourth his Successour who so strangely doated upon precious Stones that robbing the Church of S. Sophia of its Jewels he made with them a Crown of a vast weight and value which he wore so often that either through the Weight or from the coldness of the Stones in it he shortly fell sick and died The same I believe to have happened in our Time to Paul the Second who so effeminately prided himself in such Ornaments almost exhausting the Treasury of the 〈◊〉 to purchase Jewels at any rate that as often as he appeared publickly instead of wearing a plain Mitre he looked like the Picture of Cybele with Turrets on her Head from whence what with the weight of the Jewels and the sweat of his gross Body I am apt to think arose that Apoplexy of which he died suddenly After the Death of Leo his Relict Irene and his Son Constantine managing the Empire in a Council of three 〈◊〉 and fifty Bishops held the second time at Nice it was 〈◊〉 that whosoever mantained that the Images of the Saints were to be destroyed should be censured with perpetual Excommunication But young Constantine through the persuasion of some ill men about him treading in the Footsteps of his Father soon after revoked this Constitution and wholly deprived his Mother of any share in the Administration of Affairs Then putting away his Wife he received to his Bed and caused to be crowned Empress Theodora one of her Maids Moreover he gave Order to those Commanders he had in Italy to give disturbance to their Neighbours but they were at the first Message terrified from any Attempts by the prevailing Authority of Charles who at this time was advancing with his Forces against the Sclaves and Hunns or we may call them Hungarians because by their Incursions they had molested all the Countrey about the Danow whom having vanquished he marched into Franconia the Countrey of his Ancestours from whence the Franks or French derive their Name which Province he having with ease brought to his Devotion two years after Theophylact and Stephen two Bishops of great Note held a Synod of Frank and German Bishops wherein that which the Greeks called the Seventh Synod and the Felician Heresie touching the Destruction of Images was condemned Adrian being now by the Interest and Power of Charles secured from the fear of any warlike Incursions applies himself to the repairing the City
manner of filthiness The tidings of which mov'd Innocent to urge King Lewis to hasten his march towards Asia with those Forces he had already got together for that intent He complied and arriv'd at Cyprus but it was at so unseasonable a time of the year that he was forc'd to take up his Winter quarters there but as soon as Spring came on he sail'd to Damiata where he got the better of the Soldan's Navy and defeated his Land-forces who would have hindred his coming on Shore where he pitch'd his Camp for so long as till the rest of his Troops could arrive from Italy But these were very much retarded by the fury of Frederic who weaning himself after a while from the pleasures in which he had been immers'd takes up his Arms again and fills the whole Country with confusion and compells several Cities in which were many factious Persons to throw off their subjection to the Pope the chief of which were the Inhabitants of Forli Arimino Vrbin and all the Marca di Ancona In Vmbria none stood to their Allegiance but those of Todi Perugia and Assisi and in Tuscany onely the Florentines were on the Pope's side who therefore were so harass'd by the Army of Frederic that they were forc'd at last to banish so many of their fellow-Citizens as were of the Guelphs Faction The Bologneses had better luck for giving Battel to Henry one of Frederic's Generals they overthrew him and cut him to pieces Some write that 't was at this time that Frederic passing into Sicily died at Palermo while others affirm that he was taken desperately sick in Puglia and when he began to recover he was smother'd to death with a Pillow by one Manfred who was his natural Son begotten upon a Noble-Woman his Concubine Howsoever this was 't is certain that some time before his death he had made Manfred Prince of Tarento and had bestow'd upon him beside that Principality many other Towns and Territories He left Conrade whom he had by his Wife Jole Daughter to John King of Jerusalem Heir of all his Estates but he was afterwards taken off by Poison as was manifest by the means of Manfred having before seiz'd upon Naples and Aquino and sack'd them much against the mind of the Pope who vigorously opposed these proceedings though in vain in order to procure the peace of Italy that he might have liberty to transport the Italian Soldiers to recruit the Army of King Lewis then lying before Damiata But Damiata was now taken and Robert Earl of Poitiers coming with fresh supplies from France he marches from thence with his Army towards the City of Pharamia whither the Soldan apprehending his design was already come with great Forces There happen'd to be a River betwixt the two Armies by reason whereof they could not join Battel but they had frequent light Skirmishes both Generals keeping themselves within their Camps in one of which Robert rashly venturing too far was taken Prisoner by the Enemy By this time Innocent had almost extinguish'd those flames of War with which Italy had so long been consum'd and intended to have return'd to Rome having first canoniz'd Edmund Arch-bishop of Canterbury but when he came to Perugia he thought good to decline his journey to Rome understanding the Senate there arrogated to themselves more Power than stood with the dignity of the Pope and Court of Rome and there he canoniz'd and enroll'd among the holy Martyrs Peter of Verona a preaching Frier who had been murthered by some Hereticks between Milan and Como and the same honour he gave to S. Stanislaus Bishop of Cracow who in his life-time was very famous for working Miracles Hence he was invited by the Noblemen of the Kingdom of Sicily and immediately departed for Naples then newly repair'd where he died and was buried in S. Laurence's Church when he had been Pope fourteen years six months twelve days just in the nick of time when he had hopes to have brought into his possession all that Kingdom It was by the Decree of this excellent Pope Innocent that the Octave of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin was commanded to be observ'd yearly in the Church of God as a Festival He with good advice fill'd up the places in the College of Cardinals which had long been vacant with very worthy personages and ordain'd that when they rode abroad they should always wear a red Hat for an honourable distinction of the degree they held Moreover this learned Pope though raised to the highest dignity in the Church compil'd and publish'd several things for he composed the Apparatus or Glosses to the Decretals which are of great use to the Canonists because they contain many nice disquisitions which render the Text wonderfully plain and he put forth another upon the Councils which Hostiensis in his Summa calls the Authenticks He wrote also a Book concerning the Jurisdiction of the Emperour and the Authority of the Pope in answer to one Peter surnam'd Vinea who asserted that the Empire and every person and thing thereunto belonging were absolutely subject to the Emperour to which Book Innocent afterwards gave the Title of his Apologetick He was extremely delighted with the conversation of learned Men whom also he remembred to prefer to dignities in the Church particularly one Hugo who wrote Comments and Concordances upon the holy Bible a Person famous for his learning and good life he advanc'd to be Cardinal of S. Sabina which great promotion yet did not make him leave his former course of life being a Frier of the Order of S. Dominic In this Pope's Reign and by his Order Alexander of the Order of Friers Minors who was well in years when he took upon him a religious Habit wrote a very copious sum of Theology by the procurement also of this Pope and enabled by his bounty Bernardus Parmensis and Compostellanus two very learned Men at this time made publick their Works upon the Decretals which they call'd Apparatus Innocent had not long been dead when he was follow'd by his Nephew William whose Tomb is yet to be seen in the Church of S. Laurence without the Walls ALEXANDER IV. ALEXANDER the Fourth a Campanian born at Anagni was chosen Pope in the room of Innocent and streight sends monitory Letters to Manfred that he should not at his peril attempt any thing that might be a diminution of the honour of holy Church for he calling to his aid the Saracens from Nocera had surprised the Church-Forces utterly unprepared that were in Foggia and either put 'em to the Sword or took 'em Prisoners and pretending that Conradine was dead and that himself was his rightful Heir he had taken upon him to rule as King In the mean while the Christians who we told you had encamp'd near the City of Pharamia were very much visited with sickness and press'd with want of Provisions that part of Nile being prepossess'd by the Enemy by which they were wont to be
their blow at the same time make themselves Masters of the Monastery of S. Saba which they demolish'd The Genoeses rather enrag'd than terrified at this disaster fit out another Fleet to encounter the Venetians at Tyre but they industriously avoiding a Battel sail towards the Euxine and take Selymbria from the Saracens and plunder it after which both Nations recruiting their Forces they steer for Tyre the common Seat of War The Pope fearful of the fatal consequences of this Contention sends for the Ambassadours of both Countries and makes himself a Mediator of Peace which was welnigh agreed to when news comes that the Venetians with their Allies the Pisans had between Tyre and Ptolemais routed the Genoeses taking and sinking twenty five of their Ships that thereupon the Victors were retreated to Ptolemais and the vanquish'd were sled to Tyre that all the Edifices of the Genoeses at Ptolemais were pull'd down all their Merchandizes seiz'd as spoil and the Citizens of that Nation expell'd the place This havock made by the Venetians so highly displeased the Pope that he would not admit their Ambassadour to Audience till they had set free all the Genoese Prisoners they had taken Neither did this Calamity come alone to be the subject of the Pope's care for Baldwin Emperour of Constantinople during whose prosperity there seem'd yet to be some hopes left of recovering the holy Land was about to quit that City for Michael Palaeologus who by the last Will of Theodore Lascari was left Guardian to his two Sons did the Latins all the mischief that lay in his power driving out of Achaia William a Frenchman and teizing Baldwin with Seditions at home and open War abroad who afterward going toward the Euxine Shore in order to secure it from the Enemy the Citizens of Constantinople in the mean time at midnight let Michael Palaeologus into the City upon news whereof Baldwin and the Patriarch Pantaleo retire from Pontus into Europe and lay by all thoughts of War Palaeologus having thus rid himself of his Competitor and Enemy murders his two Pupils and assumes the Empire which after having been possess'd by the Latins forty eight years now was transferred to the Greeks In the mean time Octavian Cardinal Vbaldino return'd to the Pope without having had any great luck in his negotiation at Naples and the Pope having first at Anagni canoniz'd S. Clara a Franciscan Nun went to Viterbo to endeavour a Peace between the Venetians and Genoeses in which Affair he met so much trouble and so many delays that he died for grief in the seventh year of his Pontificate and was honourably interred in St. Laurence's Church The Sea was then vacant three months and four days The life of this Pope is certainly much commended by all Writers he being said to have been bountiful and kind to all but especially to the poor Religious to whom the great love he bore caus'd him to comdemn by a perpetual Edict some Books written by William de sancto Amore against that sort of Poverty wherein the wicked Fellow asserted that those who took upon them religious Habits to live by the Alms of other Men were not capable of Salvation He also publickly burnt another abominable Book in which the Author affirm'd that a State of Grace was not to be obtain'd by the Law of the Gospel but by the Law of the Spirit which Opinion he said was taken out of the Writings of Abbat Joachim This Book was call'd by those of that Sect the Eternal Gospel It was Alexander's custom when he got leisure from publick Affairs to busie himself about somewhat that savour'd of Learning for he compil'd Decretal Epistles and gave such countenance to learned Men that he promoted several of them to Cardinalates particularly Henry Cardinal of Ostia a good Divine and an excellent Lawyer He was also very liberal and munificent to Bartholomew a Canonist of Brescia who wrote much upon the Decretals by which and by his extraordinary abilities and sanctity he got great renown By this means moreover the vaulted Church near that of S. Agnes which had in old time been dedicated to Bacchus was made capable of Divine Worship and the Inscription in the Porch of the Church of S. Constance shews that the Altar there was consecrated by him VRBAN IV. URBAN the fourth born at Troyes in France Patriarch of Jerusalem was made Pope and immediately listed French Soldiers to assist him against Manfredus who infested the Patrimony of S. Peter for fear of whom Jordanes General of Manfredus his forces in Tuscany against the Guelphs was recall'd to Naples which gave some breathing time to the Guelphs especially those of Florence and Lucca who had been by the Gibellines mark'd out for destruction Lombardy was also plagu'd with the like Seditions Hubert Pallavicino carrying on now the Interests of the Gibelline faction and persecuting the adverse party though before by his Policy and moderate behaviour to both sides he had got the Command of Brescia by an universal consent But the Citizens of Modena and Reggio instigated by those of Ferrara and Bononia fearing lest Pallavicino should over-pour them all at last revolted to the Popes side and turn'd the Gibellines out of their Cities giving their goods and effects to the Florentines who had been banish'd for Guelphism by this means adding great strength to their faction And thus went matters in Lombardy the Pope still earnestly endeavouring a Peace At Constantinople the Venetians attempted to dethrone Palaeologus and had done it but for his Friends and Associates the Genoese this gave him the greater Power so that having taken Malvasia he easily made resistance against the Venetians and William Prince of Achaia The Pope was now intent upon sending a Legate to procure a Peace betwixt the Venetians and Genoese when Manfredus with a new body of Saracens seizes la Marca the Inhabitants being before inclin'd to a Rebellion The Pope therefore sends the same Legate to France with order to make use of all manner of Promises and Intreaties to persuade those French who had taken upon them the Croisado who had been inform'd of the thing before-hand to hasten their march thither they presently under the conduct of Guy Bishop of Auxerre descend into Italy and vanquishing Pallavicino at Brescia without meeting any resistance they come to Viterbo from whence a little while after having first receiv'd the Popes blessing continuing their march through Vmbria and the Countrey of Tagliacozzo they beat the Saracens who had fled thither and pursu'd them as far as the Garigliano At the same time the Romans though they medled not with the Patrimony of the Church yet they threw off obedience to the Pope making what Magistrates they pleased particularly contrary to custom by which they were to chuse for Senator a Roman onely they elected one Brancaleon of Bononia a man of a great spirit and very politick to this high dignity and promised him great advantages but this humour held not
receiv'd the Sacraments of the Church and then died in the eighth month of his Pontificate and was buried at Viterbo He was a Man as I said before of great Learning but little Prudence For he wrote many Tracts in his life especially certain Rules relating to Physick for he was counted a very good Physician He wrote also another Book and called it Thesaurus Pauperum or the Poors Treasure and set out Problems in imitation of Aristotle But 't is certain however it comes to be so that many very learned Men are not at all fit for business Yet I need not doubt how it comes to pass but take it rather for a greater Wonder if he that takes pleasure in Contemplation should apply his mind to Wordly Affairs too NICOLAS III. NICOLAS the Third a Roman of the Family of the Vrsini formerly called John Cajetan was made Pope at last after the Election had been six months in suspence by reason of a great Contest that was among the Cardinals Now the King of Sicily as Senator had the guard of the Conclave at that time and was very urgent with 'em to chuse a French-man But Nicolas assoon as he began his Reign in the year 1278 resolv'd to restrain Charles's Power and took from him the Lieutenancy of Tuscany because he said that Rodulphus took it ill and would not perform his promise of going upon the Expedition into the holy Land upon any other terms since Tuscany was reckon'd to belong to the jurisdiction of the Empire Though the Pope gain'd this point yet he reduced Romagna and Bologna it self together with the Exarchate of Ravenna which at that time were under the Emperor and made 'em subject to himself And thither he sent Bertholdus his Nephew who was declared Earl of Romagna He sent also another Nephew of his that was a Cardinal called Latinus Legat into Tuscany who restored the Gibellins in all places and imposed what Officers he pleased upon the Citizens at Florence and in other parts of Tuscany But the Office of Senator which used to be granted or committed to Kings and Princes he discharg'd himself alone He would not see the Embassadors from the Venetians who at that time harass'd the Anconeses with War and so they departed But he called 'em back and chid 'em severely nay he threaten'd to ruin their City if they did not desist from besieging or storming Ancona At length when both parties had suffer'd great inconveniencies they made a Peace upon equal terms But this Pope had a mind to create two Kings both of the Vrsini one of Tuscany and the other of Lombardy to keep those Germans on the one side that inhabit part of the Alps and the French on the other side that lived in Sicily and Naples within their bounds And to bring it about he persuaded Peter King of Aragon to endeavour the recovery of the Kingdom of Sicily upon the title of his Wife Constantia who was heir to it And he took the Honour of Senator from Charles and conferr'd it upon himself and made an everlasting Edict that no King or Prince should dare to sue for or bear that Office This Nicolas as Authors say was a man of great courage and conduct and so perfect in his life and conversation that in Italian he was commonly called il Composto or Composto He was a lover and admirer of learned men especially of those who had Learning mingled with prudence and Religion But he was reckon'd impartial to all in the distribution of honours and dignities For at his first Ordination he chose a Bishop for Alba out of the Order of Minors for Ostia and Porto out of the Preachers The Bishops of Palestrina and Trescat were Seculars He created besides these two Cardinal-Priests that is to say Gerard with the Title of the Twelve Apostles and Jerome of the Order of Minors with the Title of S. Pudentiana To them he added two Deacons that is to say Jordan his Brother Cardinal of S. Eustachius a man of much Learning and innocence and James Colonna of S. Maries in Via lata a person of great Religion and gravity He adorn'd and enlarged the Papal Palace with other Buildings which he added For he built a convenient house nigh S Peters part of which is yet to be seen which Nicolas the fifth afterward repair'd to his great cost and charge He also walled S. Peter's Garden which now they call Belvedere Then he repair'd S. Peter's Church when it was ready to fall with age and adorn'd it with the Pictures of the Popes The same he did in S. Pauls More than all this he advanced divine Worship most wonderfully by encreasing the number of Canons and the provision that had been made for those who serv'd in Churches Again he divided the Ecclesiastick Orders and appointed to each their Offices He likewise assigned every one his Lodging that even Strangers might know where every Officer especially the chief Officer was to be found He finish'd the Lateran Palace which was begun before by Adrian the fifth He built the Sancta Sanctorum from the ground after the first Chappel was ruin'd with age and beautified the Church it self with Mosaic work as it is now to be seen and with plaister of Marble And thither he removed the Apostles heads till he had reqair'd St. John's Church at his own Charge But when it was finish'd he presently brought 'em back again in Silver Cases made by his Order and attended by all the People he laid 'em up in the Chappel which was built for the purpose The same day he consecrated the Church that is upon the eighth of July Some Historians say that no one ever said Mass with more Devotion than he for during the performance of that Divine Office he constantly wept He was very godly and such a Lover of the Friers Minors for that they contemn'd the World that he has explain'd many doubts relating to that Order in a decretal Epistle When Churches were void there never was a Pope that took care sooner or more deliberately giving them to the best and the fittest Men he could find For he first look'd into a mans life and his Learning and then gave immediately the vacant Seas to those that he thought worthy For he used to say Delays were dangerous because there were such men in the World as would commit Sacriledg with all their hearts He could not endure Proctors and Attornies because they liv'd upon the bloud of the Poor and those that went to Law but hated them as a Plague in which he imitated Gregory X. and John XXI But because there were great corruptions among Magistrates in all places he ordain'd that all Offices should be annual only and if any one durst to hold 'em longer he was liable to an Anathema from which he could not be absolv'd but by the Pope himself Besides these things he did a great many more for the good of the Clergy and all Christian People as it
Consultations held upon the point of the Regale At length by the Arch-bishop of Paris they offered these several Proposals by way of accommodation between his Majesty and the Pope That those on whom the King in Right of his Regality bestows any Ecclesiastical Benefices shall in the vacancy of the Sees have their approbation and Mission from the Vicars General That the Chapters which are in possession of bestowing Prebends and other Dignities shall continue to dispose of them whilst the See is vacant That in the Churches where the collation is alternative between the Bishops and the Chapters the same shall be observed during the vacancy of the Sees that are under the Regality the King having the turn which the Bishop should have had That where the Bishops dispose of the Prebends jointly with the Chapter the King shall in the vacancy of the See appoint a Commissioner who shall have the same power and place in the Chapter as the Bishop had Howsoever no farther proceedings were made in this matter because the Pope appeared resolute to maintain his priviledg and jurisdiction and the Cardinal d' Estrée who had ever since the beginning of this year been at Rome to try and bend the mind of the Pope gave little hopes to prevail with him wherefore it was thought fit that the Controversie should remain in suspence rather than be farther pressed to the breach of that amity which interceded between the common Father and the eldest Son of his Church so the King holds his Right and the Pope hath not relinquished his Claim but remains still in a capacity to reassume the same when either he or his Successours are strengthened with circumstances of time and force to make good their Demands It is known to all the World that in the Church of Rome vain and superstitious Opinions have been ever growing for divers Centuries of years some of the most wild and extravagant of which certain Popes have been weeding out but with that negligence and inattention that where one hath been destroyed twenty have arisen Hereof the present Pope Innocent the XI being sensible who is certainly one of the most understanding and most worthy of those that ever sate in the Papal Chair hath suppressed an Office called The Office of the Immaculate conception of the most Holy Virgin approved by Paul V. who granted unto whosoever should devoutly recite the same an hundred days Indulgence as may appear by his Bull of July 10th 1615. printed at Milan This Office he entirely abolished Decreeing That no person of what Order Degree or Condition soever should dare to keep read print or cause to be printed the said Book and requiring that whosoever should have the said Office in his keeping should forthwith deliver the same to the Ordinary or to the Inquisitors of the place The which Decree was published Feb. 19. 1678. Moreover this Pope in his Wisdom hath suppressed a multitude of idle and foolish Indulgences which many cheating Priests carried into remote Countries and raised Money thereupon from the ignorant people Of which kind were those Indulgences granted by John II. and Sixtus IV. to those who should recite the Prayer of Charity of our Lord Jesus Christ By Eugenius the 3d. to the Revelation made to St. Bernard of a blow or stroak on the shoulder of our Lord Jesus Christ By John the 22th to those who kiss the measure of the Soal of the foot of the Blessed Virgin By Leo the 10th to those who wear the Cord of St. Francis printted first at Rome and then at Milan Anno 1665. To them that shall say the Angelical Prayer when the Clock strikes to the Image of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary printed in a Circle with the Moon under her feet By Paul V. and Gregory XV. to those who say Blessed be the Holy Sacrament Likewise those Indulgences for fourscore thousand years copied out of the Antient Table which is said to be kept in the Lateran Church to those who say this truly pious Prayer O God who for the Redemption of the World c. Besides which this Pope suppressed a multitude of other Indulgences as vain and idle as the foregoing and declared that though according to the Doctrine of the Council of Trent the use of Indulgences may be useful to the people and doth Anathematize such as shall deny that there is not a power in the Church to grant them yet he is desirous that the Doctrine thereof be rightly understood and a moderation used in the granting of them lest by a too great facility or easiness the discipline of the Church be corrupted and enfeebled This Doctrine of Indulgences hath been a prickly and a contentious point and the Original cause of the present divisions and separations amongst Christians for from thence Luther began his quarrel and took the first rise and ground for a Reformation and indeed the matter on the part of the Church of Rome was so scandalous and abusive that the very common people in all their ignorance were able to discover the fraud and Cheat that was in them so that the wise and Learned Men at the Council of Trent knowing that this Doctrine was not solid and would not hold water they slightly touched thereupon and though it was the chief matter for which that Council was assembled yet nothing was farther determined therein than onely that Indulgences be used with such moderation as was approved by the Antient Custom of the Church of God Now it is a most certain and an undeniable truth that Indulgences were never in use with any Nation of the Eastern Churches either in the Primitive times or afterwards And indeed neither were they in practice in the Western Churches from times of Ancient date that is from before the time of Vrban II which was about the year of Christ 1095. and then also they were not very common and granted onely to remit the rigour and severity of Penance enjoined by the Confessour which reasons this Pope Innocent XI wisely considering and the many abuses of this Doctrine did attempt the means to regulate the extravagance thereof Besides the suppression of these Indulgences this Pope condemned sixty five Propositions about Cases of Morality which were scandalous and divers of them maintained by the subtle distinctions of the Jesuits the preamble to which condemnation saith that this present Innocent XI in pursuance of the same work commenced by his Predecessour Alexander VII did by and with the advice concurrence and assistance of the most Reverend and Eminent the Cardinals as also of the Inquisitors General and many other Divines gather and weed out from several Books Theses and other Papers lately written a great number of scandalous and pernicious Doctrines in Morality tending to the debauchery of Manners and to the encouragement of a loose and a dissolute life in Mankind But in nothing more hath the Vertue Piety and care of this Pope been conspicuous than in those large
Convert from the Cerinthian Heresie should at his reception into the Church be baptized At the request of Praxedes a devout Woman he dedicated a Church at the Baths of Novatus to her Sister S. Pudentiana to which himself made several donations oftentimes celebrated Mass in it and built a Font which he blessed and consecrated and at which he baptized a great number of Proselytes He also appointed a punishment upon those who were negligent in handling the body and blood of Christ. If through the Priests carelesness any of the Cup had fallen upon the ground he was to undergo a Penance of forty days if it fell upon the Altar of three days if upon the Altar-cloth of four days it upon any other Cloth of nine days Whithersoever it fell he was to lick it up if he could if not the board or stone to be wash'd or scraped and what of it could be recovered thereby either burnt or laid up in the Sacrary In his time Apollinaris Bishop of Hierapolis in Asia was much esteem'd who wrote an excellent Apology for Christianity and presented it to Antoninus the second He wrote also against the Montanists who with their two fanatick Prophetesses Priscillia and Maximilla pretended that the descent of the Holy Ghost was not upon the Apostles but themselves an opinion which they had learn'd from their Leader Montanus At this time also the learned Tatianus was in good reputation so long as he swerved not from the Doctrine of his Master Justin Martyr but afterwards being puff'd up with a great conceit of himself he became the Author of a new Heresie which being propagated by one Severus the followers of it were from him called Severians They drank no Wine ate no Flesh rejected the Old Testament and believed not the Resurrection Moreover Philip Bishop of Crete now published an excellent book against Marcion and his followers whose Errours were the same with those of Cerdo Musanus also wrote a book against the Hereticks called Encratitoe or the Abstemious who agreed in opinion with the Severians looking upon all carnal copulation as filthy and unclean and condemning those Meats which God hath given for the use of mankind But to return to Pius having at five Decembrian Ordinations made nineteen Presbyters twenty one Deacons ten Bishops he died and was buried in the Vatican near S. Peter July 11. He was in the Chair eleven years four months three days and by his death the See was vacant thirteen days S. ANICETUS ANICETUS a Syrian the son of one John de Vicomurco lived in the time of Antoninus Verus concerning whom we have spoken in the Life of Pius Which Antoninus though he were a great Phisopher yet neglected not the pursuit of Military glory For together with his Son Commodus Antoninus he did with great courage and success gain a Victory and a Triumph over the Germans Marcomanni Quadi and Sarmatoe At his first enterprizing this War his Exchequer being so low that he had not money to pay his Soldiers he expos'd to publick sale in the Forum Trajani all the furniture of his Palace and all the Jewels of his Empress But afterwards returning home victoriously to those who were willing to restore the Goods they had bought he refunded what they paid for them but used no force against those who refus'd to relinquish their bargains Upon this Victory he was very liberal to all who had done any good service to the publick to some Provinces he remitted their accustomed Tribute he caused to be publickly burnt in the Forum the Writings by which any man was made a Debtor to the Exchequer and by new Constitutions moderated the severity of the old Laws By this means he became so much the darling of the People that any man had a particular brand of infamy set upon him who had not Antoninus his Effigies in his House Anicetus that the reputation of the Church might not suffer by the extravagancy of a few men ordained that no Clergyman should upon any pretence wear long hair and that no Bishop should be consecrated by fewer than three of the same Order a Constitution which was afterwards confirmed by the Council of Nice and that at the Consecration of a Metropolitan all the Bishops of the Province should be present Moreover he ordained as Ptolomy tells us that no Bishop should implead his Metropolitan but before the Primate or the See Apostolick this being also a Constitution which was afterwards confirm'd by the Council of Nice and several succeeding Bishops of Rome and that all Arch-bishops should not be called Primates but only those of them who have a particular title to that denomination the Primates having also the 〈…〉 of Patriarchs whereas the others are simply Arch-bishops or Metropolitans In his time Egestippus was a great propugner of the Christian 〈…〉 who as an imitator of their manner of speaking of whose lives he had been a diligent observer in a very plain unaffected style wrote a History of Ecclesiastical affairs from the Passion of our Lord to the Age in which he lived He says of himself that he came to Rome in the time of Anicetus whom he calls the tenth Bishop from St. Peter and that he staid there to the time of Ele 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who had been Deacon to Anicetus He inveighed much against Idolators for building sumptuous Monuments and Temples to the Dead as particularly Adrian the Emperour who in honour to his darling Antinous had instituted solemn Games and Prizes at the City which he built and called by his name Antinoe and also erected a Temple and appointed priests for his Worship Some say that Dionysius lived in the Pontificat of Anicetus but Writers are in this place very confused in their Chronology some placing Pius first others Anicetus and so they are in their 〈…〉 too However in an History of things so remote and of which through the negligence of the Ancients we have so slender an account it will be better to say something of the matters themselves though it be some time before or after they were transacted than altogether to pass them by in silence As for Anicetus having at five Decembrian Ordinations made nineteen Presbyters four Deacons nine Bishops he received a Crown of Martyrdom and was buried in the Sepulchre of 〈◊〉 in the Via Appia April the seventeenth He was in the Chair eleven years four months and three days and by his Death the See was vacant seventeen days S. SOTER SOTER a Campanian of Fundi Son of Concordius lived in the time of L. Antoninus Commodus This Commodus was as Lampridius plays upon his name very 〈◊〉 and hurtful to all his Subjects being in nothing like his Father save that he also thanks to the Christian Soldiers for it fought successfully against the Germans In that War when the Army of Commodus was in great straits for want of Water 't is said that at the Prayers of the Christian Legion God supplied and refreshed
the Romans with rain from Heaven and at the same time destroyed the Germans with Thundershot The truth of which the Emperour himself testified by his Letters But at his return to Rome he utterly renounced all Virtue and goodness and shamefully gave himself up to all manner of Luxury and uncleanness He used in imitation of Nero to combat with the Gladiators and oftentimes encountred with wild beasts in the Amphitheatre many of the Senatours he put to death and those especially whom he observed to be more conspicuous for extraction or merit Soter diverting his mind from the contemplation of this wretched Scene of things to the care of Ecclesiastical affairs decreed That no Deaconess should touch the Altar-cloth or put the Incense upon the Censer at the time of celebration There is extant an Epistle of his concerning that matter written to the Bishops of Italy He ordained likewise that no Woman should be accounted a lawful Wife but she whom the Priest had formally blessed and whom her Parents had with the usual Christian solemnities given to her Husband This Constitution he made to remove the danger and scandal that was incident to new-married persons from the jugling Magical tricks of lewd Fellows Indeed Gratian ascribes this Decree to Euaristus but whose due it is I leave the Reader to judg for it matters not much whether it be attributed to the one or the other During the Pontificat of Soter as Eusebius tells us lived Dionysius Bishop of Corinth a person of so great parts and Industry that he instructed not only the people of his own City and Province but also by his Epistles the Bishops of other Cities and Provinces For being throughly acquainted with the Writings of St. Paul he could the more easily keep others within the bounds of their duty by the Authority which his Learning and Sanctity had gained him 〈◊〉 also an Asian Scholar to Tatianus wrote several things in defence of our Religion and in particular he very handsomly exposed Apelles the Heretick for worshipping a God whom he professed he did not know for he denied Christ to be truly a God and affirmed him to be only in appearance a Man Some say that the Cataphrygian Heresie was at this time set on foot by Montanus Moreover Clemens a Presbyter of Alexandria and Master to Origen was now a great Writer among other things he was Author of Strom. lib. 9. 〈◊〉 lib. 8. and one book against the Gentiles There are some who make Pinytus a person of admirable Eloquence 〈◊〉 a famous Poet who wrote the Halieutics or books concerning Fishes and Herodian the Grammarian Contemporaries to our Bishop Soter who having at five Decembrian Ordinations made eight Presbyters nine Deacons eleven Bishops he died and was buried in the Via Appia in the Sepulchre of Calistus He was in the Chair nine years three months twenty one days And the See was vacant twenty one days S. ELEUTHERIUS ELEUTHERIUS a Grecian of Nicopolis Son of Habundius lived also in the Reign of L. Antoninus Commodus For whose flagitious Life the City of Rome smarted sorely for in his time the Capitol being fired with Lightning together with the famous Library which had cost the Ancients so much care in collecting were consumed nor did the Neighbouring Houses escape the same calamity Not long after another Fire brake forth in which the Temple of Vesta the Palace and a good part of the City were burnt to the ground He was of so rash and freakish a humour that he caused the Head of a vast Colosse to be taken off and that of his own Statue to be placed in the room of it and in imitation of Augustus he would needs have a month of his own name ordering December to be called Commodus But these things were soon changed after his Death and himself adjudged an Enemy to mankind such an hatred and detestation did all men entertain of his Villanies He was strangled in the twelfth year and seventh month of his Reign Eleutherius soon after his entrance upon the Pontificate received a Message from Lucius King of Britain wherein he expressed a desire that 〈◊〉 and his Subjects might become Christians Hereupon Eleutherius sends Fugatius and Damianus two very religious men to that Island to baptize the King and his People there were at that time in Britain twenty five Heathen Priests called Flamens and among them three styled Arch-flamens in the place of which as Ptolomy says were constituted three Arch-bishops the ancient Church being wont to fix Patriarchs there where in the time of Gentilism Proto-flamens had been seated Furthermore Eleutherius ordained that no person should superstitiously abstain from any sort of meat which was commonly eaten and that no Clergy-man should be degraded before he were legally found guilty of the Crime laid to his Charge following herein the Example of our Saviour who so patiently bore the fault of Judas being not yet convicted though really guilty that whatsoever he acted in the mean time by virtue of his Apostleship remained firm and valid He also prohibited the passing sentence against any person accused unless he were present to make his defence which was afterwards confirmed by Damasus and the Pontifical Laws In his Pontificate the Church enjoy'd peace and tranquility and Christianity was wonderfully propagated in the World but especially at Rome where many of the best quality with their Wives and Children received the Faith and were baptized Only Apollonius a great Oratour was now a Martyr having first in the Senate made an excellent Speech in favour of Christianity the doing of which was then a capital Crime Apollonius being dead several Heresies very much prevailed For the Sect of the Marcionites was divided into several Parties some of them owning but one Principle or God others two others three thereby utterly undermining the credit of the Prophets and other discoverers of revealed Religion Moreover Florinus and Blastus set up new Figments against the Truth asserting God to be the Author of all kinds of evil in contradiction to that Text that every thing which God made was good Opposite to these were the Quotiliani who denied God to be the author of any kind of evil in equal contradiction to that other Text I the Lord create evil Some are of Opinion that Galen of Pergamus the famous Physician and Julian the great Lawyer and Fronto the Rhetorician lived at this time though whether they did or no in so great a confusion of time and Story I shall neither affirm nor deny But I dare be confident concerning Modestus and Bardesanes the former of which wrote against Marcion the latter against Valentinus being now as strenuous an opposer as he had been formerly a zealous follower of that Heretick S. 〈◊〉 upon the perusal of his books translated out of the Syriack language into Greek affirms this Bardesanes to have been a wonderfully brisk ingenious Writer And if says he there be
whom the Zenobian Family in Rome derives its Original and Tetricus being saved was afterwards made Governour of the Lucani The Emperour now applying himself to works of peace repaired the Temple of Apollo and the Walls of the City with great Magnificence But not long after raising the ninth Persecution against the Christians the divine Vengeance meeting with him he was slain at a small Fort between Constantinople and Heraclea called Zenophrurium Felix out of the great regard he had to the honour of the Martyrs ordained that upon their account Masses should be celebrated yearly and that the Sacrifice of the Mass should be celebrated by no other persons but such as were in holy Orders and in no places but such as were consecrated cases of necessity being always excepted But if through the age or loss of Records it were doubtsul concerning any Church whether it had been consecrated or no he commanded that it should be consecrated anew saying that nothing could properly be said to be repeated of which it is uncertain whether ever it were once done at all During his Pontificate one Manes a Persian had the Impudence to profess himself to be the Christ and that he might gain the greater credit to his Imposture he associated to himself twelve Disciples But as that Manes was detested and abhorred for his pride and blasphemy so Anatolius the Bishop of Laodicoea was as much extolled and magnified for his Religion and Learning At the same time also Saturninus relying upon the assistance of his Army enterpriz'd the building of a new Antioch but when it appeared that he designed to invade the Empire too he was slain at Apemoea Felix after that at several Decembrian Ordinations he had made nine Presbyters seven Deacons five Bishops suffered Martyrdom and was buried in the Via Aurelia May the 30th in a Church which he had built two miles distant from the City He sat in the Chair four years three months 〈◊〉 days and the See was vacant seven days S. EUTYCHIANUS EUTYCHIANUS a Tuscan his Fathers name Maximus was in the time of the Emperour Aurelianus Who being slain was succeeded by Tacitus a man who both for his Valour and Justice was certainly very fit for Government but he was slain in Pontus in the sixth month after he came to the Empire as was also his Successour Florianus in Tarsus before he had reigned three months Eutychianus ordained that the fruits of the Earth as Beans and Grapes c. should be blessed upon the Altar and also that no persons should bury the Martyrs in any but Purple Vestments unless with his knowledg and leave Some write that in his time Dorotheus the Eunuch flourished a man questionless of very great skill in the Greek and Hebrew Language and with whose Learning 't is said the Emperour Aurelianus was wonderfully delighted For in the beginning of his Reign he was such a Favourer of the Christians that he severely censured the Sect of Paulus Samosatenus But being afterwards corrupted by evil Counsels and as hath been said raising a Persecution against the Christians having sent Dispatches concerning that Affair to the several Governours of Provinces he was cut off by the Divine Hand Eusebius when he was young was an Auditor of Dorotheus at his Expositions of Scripture At this time also Anatolius an Alexandrian Bishop of Laodicea a man of great Learning wrote several excellent things in Mathematicks and Divinity and was very severe against the Manichoean Heresie which then very much prevailed These Manichees to their other Errours brought in two Substances the one good the other evil and held that Souls flowed from God as from a Fountain The Old Testament they all together disown'd and receiv'd but some parts of the New Eutychianus after that at several Ordinations he had consecrated fourteen Presbyters five Deacons nine Bishops was crowned with Martyrdom and buried in the Coemetery of Calistus July the 25th He sat in the Chair one year one month one day and by his death theSee was vacant eight days There are some who say he lived in the Pontificate eight years ten months but I rather give credit to Damasus who is the author of the former Assertion S. CAIUS CAIUS a Dalmatian the Son of Caius a kinsman of the Emperour Diocletian lived in the times of Probus Carus and Carinus 〈◊〉 a person renowned for Military skill having undertaken the Government was very successful in recovering 〈◊〉 that had been possess'd by the Barbarians He also vanquish'd Saturninus who was attempting to usurp the Empire in the East and Proculus and Bonosus at 〈◊〉 But this Valiant and Just man was notwithstanding slain in a Tumult of the Soldiers at 〈◊〉 in the sixth year of his Reign After whom Carus Narbonensis entred upon the Empire and held it two years He having admitted his two Sons Carinus and Numerianus to a thare in the Government and having in the Parthian War taken 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 two famous Cities was in the Camp slain by a Thunderbolt Numerianus who was returning with his Father was murthered by the fraud of his Father-in-law Arrius Aper But Carinus a person most dissolutely lewd was overcome after a sharp and doubtful Engagement by 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 and at length suffered the just punishment of his Villanies Caius stated the several Orders in the Church by which as by certain steps and degrees the Clergy were to rise to the Episcopal Dignity These were the Door-keeper the Reader the Exorcist the Acolythus the Sub-deacon the Deacon the Presbyter and the Bishop He also as 〈◊〉 had done before him allotted several Regions to the Deacons who were to Register and compile the Acts of the Martyrs He ordained likewise that no Laick should commence a Suit of Law against a 〈◊〉 man and that no Pagan or Heretick should have power to accuse a Christian. In his time lived Victorinus Bishop of Poictiers who 〈◊〉 divers Commentaries on the Scriptures and was very sharp and severe against the Heresies then prevailing though he had greater skill in the Latin than the Greek Tongue as Hierom will have it who tells us that the sense of his Writings was great but the style mean Pamphilus also a Presbyter and the intimate Friend of Eusebius Bishop of Coesarea was so eagerly greedy of divine Learning that with his own hand he transcribed a great part of Origen's Books which Books Eusebius affirms himself to have seen in the Library of Coesarea with as great satisfaction as if he had gained the Riches of Croesus The same Pamphilus wrote the Defence of Origen as Eusebius himself also did not long after But in the Reign of Diocletian there arising against the Christians a Persecution sharper than ever was before Caius lay a long time concealed in certain Grotts and Vaults underground but being at length discovered and taken from thence by the Persecutors together with his Brother Gabinius and his Niece Susanna he was crowned
died and was buried in S. Peter's Church October the 12th He was in the Chair four years two months thirteen days and by his death the See was vacant three days BONIFACE II. BONIFACE the second a Roman Son of Sigismund was also in the time of Justinian A Prince whose vast Parts and Learning qualified him for that great Work which for the publick Good he undertook of collecting and methodizing the scattered Roman Laws and retrenching those which were useless and superfluous Yet herein he made use of the Advice and assistance of John a Patrician Trebonianus Theophilus and Dorotheus men of great Learning and Authority With their help an immense number of near two thousand Volumes of Decrees made from the building of the City to this time confusedly heaped together were digested under their respective Titles into fifty Books which are sometimes called Digests and sometimes Pandects because they contain the whole Civil Law He made also an Epitome of the Laws in four Books which go under the name of Institutes or Justinian's Code Moreover some tell us that Justinian wrote certain Books concerning the Incarnation of our Lord and that at his own charge he built the Temple of S. Sophia than which there is not a more noble and magnificent Pile of Buildings in the World In his Reign 〈◊〉 was made Bishop of Rome though not without some opposition for the Clergy being divided one Party of them chose Dioscorus into the place of Felix deceased The Contention about this matter lasted twenty eight days but the death of Dioscorus put an end to the Controversie Things being quiet Boniface applyed himself to the setling of the Church and decreed that no Bishop should appoint his own successour which was afterwards confirm'd by several following Bishops of Rome He decreed also that upon the decease of any Bishop of Rome another should be chosen to succeed him if it might be within three days to prevent any bandying or dissention which might be occasioned by delay He ordained likewise that the Clergy should be seperated and placed distinct from the Laity at the time of Celebration At the same time many of the Roman Nobility were so wrought upon by the Sanctity of Benedict that they retired to Mount Cassino and became Monks there among whom the more eminent were Maurus and Placidius Other men of Note and esteem were Dionysius the Abbat famous for the extraordinary Skill and Judgment which he shewed in his Paschal Cycle Famundus whose writings against certain Eutychians then springing up were very much commended and Martin who by his Preaching and Writings converted the People of Soissons from the Arian Heresie to the Truth But Boniface having sat in the Pontifical Chair two years two days died and was buried in S. Peter's Church The See was then vacant two months JOHN II. 〈◊〉 the second a Roman Son of Projectus lived in the time of Justinian and soon after his entrance upon the Pontificate condemned Anthemius an Arian Bishop some say that he had been Bishop of Constantinople Justinian to shew his 〈◊〉 to the Roman See sent Hypatius and Demetrius two Bishops to 〈◊〉 both to complement John in his name and to make to S. Peter's Church several rich Presents During this Embassie Mundus Justinian's General took the strong City of Salona and gain'd a Victory over the Goths though not without great loss on the Conquering side For Mundus himself together with his Son a Valiant and brave young Gentleman was slain in that Engagement the news of which misforfortune was extreamly laid to heart by Justinian he having always had a great value for that Leaders Courage and Fidelity Our Bishop John of whom Historians say very little having at one Ordination made 〈◊〉 Presbyters twenty one Bishops died and was buried in S. Peter's Church May 27. He sat in the Chair two years four months and by his death the See was vacant six days AGAPETUS I. AGAPETUS a Roman Son of Gordianus a Presbyter of the Church of S. John and S. Paul being created Bishop by Theodatus who was by him forthwith sent to the Emperour Justinian was highly incens'd against that King for his having first banish'd Amalasuntha the Mother of Athalaric into the Island of the Lake of Bolsena and afterwards caused her to be put to death there For she was a Woman so well acquainted with Greek and Latin Learning that she durst engage in Disputation with any profess'd Scholar Moreover she was so throughly skilled in the Languages of all the barbarous Invadors of the Roman Empire that she could discourse any of them without an Interpreter Her Death Justinian so highly resented that he threatned to make War upon Theodatus for that reason Hereupon Agapetus was sent to him who being receiv'd with great honour and affection and having obtain'd the peace he was sent to sue for he was then practis'd with to confirm the Eutychian Opinions But Justinian finding that the good man utterly detested any such proposal from desiring and 〈◊〉 he fell to Threats and Menaces Upon which Agapetus told him that he should have been glad to be sent to Justinian a Christian Prince but that he found a Diocletian an Enemy and Persecutor of Christians By this boldness of Speech and Gods appointment Justinian was so wrought upon that he embraced the Catholick Faith and having despos'd Anthemius Bishop of Constantinople who patroniz'd the Eutychian Heresie put into his place Menas one of the Orthodox who was consecrated by Agapetus himself But not long after Agapetus died at Constantinople and his body being wrap'd up in Lead was convey'd to Rome and buried in S. Peter's Church He sat in the Chair eleven months twenty one days and by his death the See was vacant one month twenty nine days SYLVERIUS SYLVERIUS a Campanian Son of Bishop Hormisda was chosen Bishop of Rome at the command of Theodatus though till this time the Emperours only not the Kings had interposed their Authority in that matter But the Menaces of Theodatus prevailed who had threatned to put to death every man of the Clergy who would not subscribe his name to the choice of Sylverius For this reason and that he might also revenge the death of Amala suntha Justinian sends Belisarius a Patrician with an Army into Italy In his passage thither he first put in at Sicily and brought that Island to the Emperours devotion In the mean time Theodatus dying and the Goths having chosen themselves a King against the will of Justinian Belisarius quits Sicily that he might deliver Italy from the Tyranny of the Goths Coming into Campania and the City of Naples refusing to obey the Emperours Summons he took it by Storm and plundered it putting to the Sword all the Goths that were in Garrison there and a great part of the Citizens carrying away their Children and what other spoil they could lay their hands on The Soldiers pillaged the very Churches violated the chastity of Cloystered Virgins
Rosimund to drink out of a Cup which he had made of her own Fathers Skull whom he himself had slain Now there was in Alboinus's Army one Helmechild a very handsom young Gentleman and an excellent Soldier and who was Rosimund's particular Favourite Him she discourses privately and by proposing to him the hopes of succeeding in the Kingdom prevailed with him to murder Alboinus But they were both so hated for the Fact by the Lombards that they not only failed of their hopes but were glad to fly for protection to Longinus the Exarch of Ravenna where not long after they poisoned each other and died together At this time Italy by reason of the Incursions which the barbarous Nations made into it was in a very calamitous state which had been portended by Prodigies and Apparitions of flaming Armies in the Air and also by an extraordinary inundation of the River Tyber which had very much damaged the City of Rome In the mean time our John repaired the Coemeteries of the Saints and finished the Church of SS Philip and James which had been begun by Vigilius and drew Narses who had been an avowed Enemy to the Romans for their ill opinion of him and their misrepresenting him to the Empress Sophia from Naples to Rome where he not long after died and his Body was conveyed in a Coffin of Lead to Constantinople In such a consusion of things the State of Italy must needs certainly have been utterly ruined if some eminently holy men had not supported and prop'd up the tottering Nation Among others Paul Patriarch of Aquileia and Felix Bishop of Treviso interceded successfully with Alboinus when he first entred Italy in the behalf of the Inhabitants Moreover Fortunatus a person of extraordinary Learning and Eloquence very much civiliz'd and polish'd the Gauls by his Books and Example compiling a Treatise of Government inscribed to their King Sigebert and writing in an elegant style the Life of S. Martin Some write that at this time lived Germanus Bishop of Paris a person of wonderful Piety who kept the Kings of France within the bounds of their duty to such a Degree that each strove to excel the other in Religion and Piety in Goodness and Clemency So prevalent is the Example of a good Pastour such an one as Germanus was in whom they saw nothing but what was worthy of their imitation After this one farther Remark that in our John's time the Armenians were converted to Christianity I shall say no more of him but that having been in the Chair twelve years eleven months twenty six days he died and was 〈◊〉 in S. Peters Upon his death the See was vacant ten months three days BENEDICT I. BENEDICT a Roman the Son of Boniface lived in the time of Tiberius the Second whom Justine had adopted and appointed his Heir to the Empire An Honour which he well deserved as being a Person adorn'd with all the Princely Accomplishments of Clemency Justice Piety Religion Wisdom Resolution and unshaken Fortitude Among his other Vertues he was eminent for his Bounty and Liberality towards all especially the poor and God supplied him in an extraordinary manner for it For walking once hastily in his Palace and spying the figure of the Cross upon one of the Marble stones in the Pavement that it might not be trampled under foot he devoutly caused it to be removed from thence and laid up in a more decent and honourable place At it's taking up there was found under it another stone with the same figure on it and then a third under which he discovered such a vast heap of Gold and Silver as was requisite to furnish and maintain his large Bounty a great part of which Treasure he distributed to the poor 'T is said also that he had brought to him out of Italy a great Estate which Narses had got there which in like manner he employed in Liberality and Munificence To Sigebert the French King who had sent Embassadours to him besides the other Presents that he made which were very considerable he sent certain Medals of Gold of very great weight on the one side of which was the Effigies of the Emperour with this Inscription Tiberii Constantini perpetuo Augusti on the other side was a Charriot with its Driver and this Inscription Romanorum Gloria And to complete his Successes the Army which he had sent against the Persians returning victoriously brought away with twenty Elephants so vast a Booty as no Army had ever done in any Expedition before Thus signally was he rewarded for his good services to mankind in general for his Religion towards God our Saviour and for his Beneficence particularly to the people of Rome whom he not only protected and desended from their Enemies as much as could be by his Arms but also at the Prayers and Intercession of our Bishop Benedict whom he had a wonderful Love and Esteem for he delivered them from Dearth and Famine by sending a supply of Corn out of Egypt For the Lombards by a long and tedious War had so harrassed Italy far and wide that from their devastations there arose a great want and 〈◊〉 of all things While things went thus in Italy John Bishop 〈◊〉 Constan inople by Reading Disputing Writing Admonishing and Teaching kept the Oriental Church as much as might be right in the Faith though he met with many opposers therein The same did also the equally Learned and Eloquent Leander Bishop of Toledo or as others think of Sevil who wrote several Treatises both to confirm the Orthodox Doctrine and to confute the Arian Heresie which like a contagious Pestilence the Vandals driven out of Africa by Belisarius had brought with them into Spain As for Benedict some write that he laying sadly to heart the 〈◊〉 which now befell Rome and all Italy died of grief after he had been in the Chair four years one month twenty eight days The See was then vacant two months ten days PELAGIUS II. PELAGIUS a Roman Son of Vinigildus was from the time of Tiberius to that of his Son-in-law the Emperour Mauritius To whom though he were a Cappadocian yet the Empire was committed upon the account of his great Courage and Ability in the management of Affairs At this time the Lombards having after the Death of Alboinus for twenty years 〈◊〉 govern'd by Dukes make Autharis their King whom they also called 〈◊〉 a Name which was afterwards used by all the Kings of Lombardy But Mauritius endeavouring to drive the Lombards out of Italy hires Sigebert the French King to engage in a War against them who forthwith raising a great Army of Gauls and Germans fights Autharis but with great loss is discomfited The Lombards being flush'd and heightened by this Victory march'd on as far as to the Streights of Sicily possessing themselves all along of the Cities of Italy and at length besieging for a long time Rome it self of which certainly they had made themselves Masters had they
not been driven from its Walls by the great Rains which sell so violently and incessantly and made such an Inundation that men look'd upon it as a second Noah's Floud This was the only cause why Pelagius was made Bishop of Rome without the consent of the Emperour the City being so closely besieged that none could pass to know his pleasure therein For at this time the Roman Clergie's Election of a Bishop was not valid unless they had the Emperour's Approbation Hereupon Gregory a Deacon a man of great Piety and Learning was sent to Constantinople to appease the Emperour where having effected what he came for he neglected not to employ his time and parts but both wrote Books of Morals upon Job and also at a Disputation in the presence of the Emperour himself he so basfled Eutychius Bishop of Constantinople that he was forced to retract what he had written in a Book of his concerning the Resurrection in which he asserted that our Bodies in that glory of the Resurrection should become more thin and subtile than the Wind or Air and so not tangible Which is contrary to that of our Saviour Handle me and see for a Spirit hath not flesh and bones as you see me have As for Pelagius having at the request of the Citizens of Rome recalled Gregory turned his Fathers House into an Hospital for poor old men and entirely built the Coemetery of Hermes the Martyr and the Church of Laurence the Martyr he died of the Pestilence which at that time was very epidemical throughout Europe after he had been in the Chair ten years two months ten days and was buried in S. Peter's in the 〈◊〉 The See was then vacant six months twenty eight days GREGORY I. GREGORT a Roman Son of Gordianus one of the Senato rian Order was against his will unanimously chosen Bishop of Rome Anno Dom. 590. Now because as I have already said the consent of the Emperour was required herein he dispatches Messengers with Letters 〈◊〉 Mauritius that he would not suffer this Election of the Clergy and People of Rome to stand good These Letters were intercepted and torn by the 〈◊〉 and others written by which the Emperour was requested to confirm him who was by universal suffrage thus chosen There could nothing be more pleasing and acceptable to the Emperour than the News of this Choice for the conversation of Gregory while he was at Constantinople had been very grateful to him and moreover he had Christned his Son Mauritius therefore speedily sends word back to Rome that he did confirm the Election of Gregory and that in such a 〈◊〉 state of things they should compel that holy man to undertake the Government of the Church He therefore not consulting his own inclination but the 〈◊〉 of Mankind and the honour of God which as he was a most devout and religious man he had ever preferred before all other things without any regard to Riches or Pleasures or Ambition or Power takes the burden of the Pontificate upon him And he behaved himself so well in it that no one of his Successours down to our times has been his Equal much less Superiour either for Sanctity of Life or for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in managing Affairs or for his Learning and Writings He composed a Book of the Sacraments wrote Commentaries upon 〈◊〉 and as I have already said upon Job and Homilies upon the Gospels four Books in Dialogue and that which he called the Pastoral to 〈◊〉 Bishop of Ravenna concerning the way of governing the Church Moreover he introduced several Rites and made several Additions to the Offices of the Roman Church and particularly he first instituted the greater Litanies or 〈◊〉 and appointed a great part of the Stations And that the good man might not in any thing be wanting to the Church he held in S. Peter's a Synod of twenty four Bishops wherein he took away many things which might prove pernicious and added many which might be beneficial to Religion He also 〈◊〉 into England Auguscine Melitus and John and with these divers other Monks all persons of approved lives by whose Preaching the 〈◊〉 were then first entirely converted to Christianity By his means likewise the Goths returned to the Union of the Catholick Church We are told by some Writers that Gregory sent his Dialogues concerning Morals to Theudelinda Queen of the Lombards by the reading of which she might smooth and polish the rugged temper of her Husband 〈◊〉 and bring him to a better sense of Religion and Morality She was an excellent Lady and a zealous Christian and not only built the Church of S. John Baptist at Monza a Town ten miles distant from Milain but also furnished it with Vessels of Gold and liberally endowed it T is said that at the time when 〈◊〉 was put to death by his Father Levigild King of the Goths because he professed the Catholick Faith the 〈◊〉 Coat of Christ which fell by Lot to one of the Soldiers was found in the City Zaphat laid up in a Marble Chest there Thomas being then Bishop of Jerusalem John Bishop of Constantinople and Gregory Bishop of Antioch In the mean time Mauritius having in 〈◊〉 and Terra di Lavoro by his General Romanus the Exarch gain'd the better of the Lombards who from a confidence grounded upon their former successes were now degenerated into all manner of Vice makes a Law that no person who had listed himself in the Roman Army should be at liberty to withdraw and take upon him a Religious life till either the War were ended or the man himself 〈◊〉 or disabled Gregory being moved hereat admonishes him not to oppose the Religion of that God by whose bounty he had been raised from a very mean condition to the highest Degree of Dignity Moreover John Bishop of Constantinople having in a Synod which he held procured himself to be styled the Oecumenical i. e. Universal Bishop and Mauritius hereupon requiring Gregory to yield obedience to John He being a person of great Courage and Constancy returns answer That the Power of binding and loosing was committed to Peter and his Successours not to the Bishops of Constantinople and therefore warns him to desist from provoking the wrath of God against himself by being too 〈◊〉 in sowing Dissention in the Church But Mauritius not content with the mischief he had done already re-calls his Soldiers which were in Italy and encourages the Lombards to assault the Romans without any regard to the League they had entred into with them Hereupon Agilulphus moving from Lombardy and laying waste all Tuscany through which he passed invests and very much annoys the City of Rome one whole year in which time Severus Bishop of Aquileia becoming Heretical was the occasion of many Evils For after his Death the Patriarchate of Aquileia was divided into two Agilulphus King of the Lombards constituting John of Aquileia and our Gregory Candianus of Grado Bishops to the people of Friuli But Agilulphus
person was deposed and Ignatius restor'd who had been wrongfully turn'd out before In this Council a long debate was held whether the Bulgarians whose Embassadors were present should be subject to the Roman or Constantinopolitan Sea And by the favour of the Emperor Basilius they were adjudged to the Sea of Rome whereupon the Bulgarians making their 〈◊〉 to Hadrian that some man of good life and ability might be sent into their Countrey by whose authority and example they might be retain'd in the Christian Faith he sent three most religious men with plenary power to settle the Churches there as they should see fit They were Sylvester the Sub-deacon Leopardus of Ancona and Dominic of Trevisa who soon composed the whole Affair to the Popes mind though 't was not long ere the Bulgarians corrupted with gifts and promises by the Constantinopolitans expel'd the Latin Priests and receiv'd the Greeks and this Sedition gave occasion to many quarrels betwixt the Greeks and Latins Hadrian still opposing himself to all the Enemies of the Church as much as was possible when he was about to anoint Charles Emperor in the room of Lewis now deceased died himself in the fifth year ninth month and twelfth day of his Popedom A little before his death it rain'd bloud for three days together at Brescia and France was miserably wasted with Locusts both certain presages of his much lamented death JOHN IX JOHN the ninth a Roman Son of Gundo as soon as he was made Pope declared Charles surnamed the Bald who came to Rome for that purpose Emperor which so enraged the Sons of his elder Brother Lewis King of Germany Charles surnam'd the Gross and Caroloman that levying an Army they invade Italy resolving to deprive their Uncle of his Crown and Life Charles hereupon makes haste towards Verona with his forces intending to cut off the passage of his Nephews by Trent but was taken ill at Mantua and there poisoned as 't was thought by one Zedechias a Jew whom he made use of for a Physician Upon this news Pope John used his utmost endeavour that Charles his Son Lewis surnamed the Stammerer King of France might be made Emperor but the great men of Rome opposed it desiring rather that Charles III. King of Germany might succeed who with his Brother Caroloman had now over-run a great part of Italy So great was the Sedition that though many favour'd Lewis yet they took the Pope and clap'd him in prison But by the help of some Friends he soon made his escape into France to Lewis where he slaid a year anointed him King and ended some Controversies depending between the Ecclesiastics For Gibertus Bishop of Nismes had by force turn'd Leo an Abbot out of his Monastery This Monastery was dedicated to S. Peter and in it lay buried the body of S. Giles it is situate in a place call'd Flaviano from a Valley of that name given to S. Giles by a certain King nam'd Flavius and he built there a Monastery to the honour of SS Peter and Paul The Pope in the presence of many Bishops and Judges heard the Cause and adjudg'd the Monastery to Leo. This was done at Arles from whence John departing with the approbation of Lewis he held a Council at Troyes where he made several Decrees about religious affairs and appointed a Bishop for the Flemings who having left their Woods and fastnesses now betook themselves to an orderly way of living But Italy all this while being harrass'd by the Saracens who had taken and plundered the Monastery of Monte-Cassino John was call'd home to Rome and with the help of some Christian Princes drave the greatest part of them out of Italy and Sicily and at last that he might live the more quietly in the City he plac'd the Imperial Crown on the head of Charles III. who quickly after marching against the Normans then infesting the borders of France and Lorain defeated them so that their King Rothifredus was forc'd to sue for peace and to become a Christian the Emperour himself being his Godfather and taking him into favour This writes Anastasius the Roman Library-keeper who was then highly in vogue being so skilful in both Tongues that by the persuasion of the Emperor Charles he translated out of Greek into elegant Latin the seventh General Council and Dionysius the Areopagite's Book de Hierarchiâ with the lives of several Saints Some say that this Charles built many Monasteries and was liberal to the Church but 't is certain that it was his particular commendation that he put many learned men upon writing for Milo a Monk of S. Amand wrote the Life of that Saint very exactly and Joannes Scotus did very solidly and acutely handle many points of our Religion nor was our Pope John without desert in the same way having while he was Deacon excellently composed the Life of Gregory I. in four Books When he had sate ten years and two days he died and was buried in S. Peter's Church MARTIN II. MARTIN the second a Frenchman Son of Palumbus succeeded John Some perhaps deceiv'd by the likeness of the names call him Marinus This Martin the story of whose Life is so short because of the small time he held the Chair was Pope at the time when the Sons of Basilius Leo and Alexander were Emperors in the East and Charles III. in the West who we told you was crowned by John VIII and who broke the forces of the Normans infesting France in so many Battels that he forced them to submit to him and receive the Christian Faith Some write that 't was this Martin that with his tricks of which somewhat will be said in the Life of Formosus did so plague Pope John with Seditions as to get him thrown into prison and force him to fly But having by ill means gotten the Popedom he soon died having sate but one year and five days and in that time doing nothing remarkable either because his time was short or because no occasion offered it self from whence he could acquire repute except we may suppose it to be the Will of God that those who attain to Power by indirect means should lose that true glory which is the chief aim of every good Prince HADRIAN III. HADRIAN the third a Roman Son of Benedict was a man of so great a Spirit that immediately upon his entrance on the Popedom An. Dom. 895. he proposed to the Senate and People that a Law should pass that no regard should hereafter be given to the Authority of the Emperor in the creation of any Pope but that the Election of the Clergy and People should be free this Institution was rather attempted than begun before by Nicolas I. as was said but I believe Hadrian took now the opportunity when the Emperor Charles was march'd with his Army out of Italy against the Rebellious Normans He went with a design utterly to extirpate that unquiet people but perceiving that would be difficult and not to be
long for they soon altered their minds and clap'd him in Prison This affront gave great offence to the Bononians who seizing several Romans protested they would never release them but upon the delivery of their Brancaleon which so wrought upon the cautious Romans that they not onely released him but restor'd him to his former dignity setting up also another Court of men chosen out of every Ward in the City whom they called Banderese to whom they committed the Power of life and death The Pope plainly found the reason of this insolence of the Romans to be that they observ'd how Manfredus had plagu'd him and that he was not able to help himself That he might therefore at last free the Church from the tyranny of these men he sent Legates to Lewis King of France to exhort him that he would assoon as possible send his Cousin and Son-in-law Charles Earl of Provence and Anjou with an Army into Italy he intending upon the expulsion of Manfredus to create him King of both Sicilies And this no doubt he had done so high were his resentments of the Ingratitude of Manfredus if sickness had not taken him off from business Which yet was brought to pass as is supposed by the following Pope To the times of this Pope is ascribed Albertus a High German of the Order of Friers Predicant who for the vastness of his learning got the Surname of Magnus He Commented upon all the Works of Aristotle and explain'd the Christian Religion with great acuteness beside he wrought very accurately concerning the secrets of Nature He also put forth a Book de Coaequaevis wherein he endeavours to shew the little difference that is between Theology and Natural Philosophy He expounded a great part of the Holy Bible and illustrated the Gospels and S. Paul's Epistles with excellent Notes He began also a Body of Divinity but liv'd not to perfect it He was a man so modest and so much given to Study that he refused the Bishoprick of Ratisbon because it could not be manag'd without trouble and force of Arms sometimes as the Bishops of Germany are wont to do He liv'd therefore in private at Cologn reading onely some publick Lectures At length he died there in the eightieth year of his age leaving behind him many Scholars for the good of Posterity especially Thomas Aquinas who leaving his Countrey and his noble kinred for he deriv'd his pedigree from the Counts of Apulia and going to Cologn he made such progress in learning that after a few years he was made Professor at Paris where he published four Books upon the Sentences and wrote a Book against William de St. Amour a pernicious Fellow Beside he put forth two Books one de qualitate essentiis the other de principiis naturae At last he was sent for to Rome by Vrban but refusing those promotions that were offered him he gave himself wholly to Reading and Writing He set up a School at Rome and at the desire of Vrban he wrote several Pieces and ran through almost all Natural and Moral Philosophy with Commentaries and set forth a Book contra Gentiles He expounded the Book of Job and compiled the Catena aurea He composed also an Office for the Sacrament in which most of the Types of the old Testament are explained But to return to Vrban he died at Perugia in the third year first month and fourth day of his Pontificate and was buried in the Cathedral Church The Sea then was vacant five months CLEMENT IV. CLEMENT the fourth formerly called Guidodi Fulcodio a Narbonnese of S. Giles's deserv'd to be made Pope upon the account of his Holiness and Learning For he being without question the best Lawyer in France and pleading with great integrity in the Kings Court was created after the death of his Wife by whom he had several Children first of all Bishop of Pois and then of Harbonne and last of all a Cardinal by universal consent and afterward was chosen out as the onely Person whose sincerity and Authority had qualified him to compose the Differences between Henry King of England and Simon Earl of Montford As soon as he was chosen Pope some say he put on the Habit of a Religious Mendicant and went incognito to Perugia Thither immediately went the Cardinals who having chosen him Pope though in his absence attended upon him pompously to Viterbo In the mean time Charles whom we said Pope Vrban sent for to bestow a Kingdom upon him set out from Marseilles with thirty Ships and coming up the Tiber arriv'd at Rome Where he lived as a Senator so long by the Popes order till certain Cardinals sent from his Holiness came and declared him King of Jerusalem and Sicily in the Palace of St. Giovanni Laterano upon this condition that Charles should take an Oath to pay the Sea of Rome a yearly acknowledgment of forty thousand Crowns and should not accept of the Roman Empire though it were freely offer'd to him For there was at that time a great contest for the Empire between Alphonsus King of Castile who sought to procure it by Power and bribery too and the Earl of Corâ—wall the King of Englands Brother whom the Electors had no great thoughts of Therefore lest Manfred should hope to make use of any quarrels between Alphonsus and Charles to whom many people said the Empire was justly due though he could not challenge it the Pope animated Charles against Manfred as one that stood in Contempt of the Roman Church For Charles's Army was already gotten over the Alpes into Italy and marching through Romagnia had brought all the Soldiers of the Guelphs Party as far as Rome From whence Charles removed and took not onely Ceperane having beaten out Manfred's men but posted himself in a Forest near Cassino which Manfred himself had undertaken to defend although his mind was soon alter'd and he resolv'd to march for Benevento to expect the Enemy in plain and spacious places because his forces consisted most of Cavalry Thither also did Charles move and assoon as he had an opportunity to fight did not decline it though his Soldiers were very weary with travelling Each of them encouraged their men to engage But Charles coming to relieve a Troop of his Soldiers that were like to be worsted more eagerly than usually as in such cases Military Men will do he was knock'd down from his Horse at which the Enemy was so transported that Manfred fought carelesly out of rank and file and was kill'd which when Charles appeared again straight turn'd the fortune of the Day For many of his men that ran away were kill'd and a great many others taken Prisoners Charles having obtain'd so great a Victory removes to Benevento and marches into it upon a voluntary surrender of the Citizens From thence he went to storm Nocera de Pagani where both the modern and the ancient Saracens lived but sent his Mareschal into Tuscany with five hundred Horse to restore
the Cardinals the Hymn is sung He hath put down the mighty from their Seats and hath exalted the humble and meek he hath raised the needy from the dust that he may set him amongst the Princes of his People After which several other Ceremonies being performed and the Pope receiving again the Adoration of the Cardinals and Prelats returns towards the Evening to his Palace of Monte-cavallo This is in short the sum of those Ceremonies practised at the Coronation of Popes which we have extracted from the Book entitled the Sacred Ceremonies used in the Roman Church The Popes Elected and Crowned as we have said are for the most part old and decrepit with age or of a weak and tender constitution that so they may not live long to the disappointment of others who live and breath passionate desires after this Sublime exaltation and being thus decayed with years and unable to support the weight of Government have commonly called to their aid some Nephew or near Relation with the Title of Cardinal-Nephew or Cardinal-Patron on whose Wit and dexterous management of Affairs the fortune and success of the Papal Dominion doth depend And indeed a person under such circumstances had need to be qualified with great endowments of Mind and Body for being always obliged to afford his personal attendance on the Pope who is to see and hear with his Eyes and Ears he can never be at leisure or free from thoughts and business either relating to the Palace within or direction of Affairs without He is ever the Chief or President of Councils he assists at all Congregations he appoints the days for Consistories of Chappels Visits Audiences and regulates every thing which relates to the Spiritual or Temporal Government The Pope being established in his Throne begins at first to cast about by what way and means to raise and establish his Family by strong Alliances with Princes and Noble Houses He also divides the great Offices of the Church amongst his Kindred one is made Governour in one place and an other in another The chief Favourite is made General of the Forces of the Church an other General of the Gallies a third Governour of the Castle of St. Angelo and in like manner all the preferments are dispensed amongst the Relations according to that degree and quality that every one possesses in the good will and esteem of the Pope But the great Atlas of State is the Cardinal-Nephew whofe Wisdom is most exerted in his comportment towards the Ministers of forein Princes and especially in taking true measures of Interest between France and Spain which is of such great concernment that in a Book called il Livello Politico it is affirmed That the Glory and happiness of the Popedom the security and honour of the Cardinal-Nephew the Grandieur and prosperity of the City of Rome consists in this one point of a happy correspondence with forein Ambassadours the failure in which hath produced many unhappy Events witness the Government of the Barberini who for not knowing the true means and Methods how and in what manner to maintain a right and good understanding with Christian Princes and especially with those of Italy reduced as is notorious to all the World the Church unto a most unhappy and turbulent Estate And farther in case we reflect with serious thoughts on the Reigns of divers Popes in these latter Ages we shall find the truth of this assertion proved by plain and manifest experience We shall find the Reigns of some Popes full of Lustre and Glory as those of Paul the 2d and Clement the 8th others buried in obscurity and abased with sordid meanness as those of Adrian the 6th and Gregory the 13th Others have passed away in a quiet silent and smooth currant of affairs as those of Celestine and Clement the 9th Others have been engulfed in a thousand troubles and intrigues as were the Reigns of Alexander the 6th Clement the 7th of Paul the 3d and 4th and Urban the 8th And if we will search into the depth hereof we shall find that the Ambition covetousness and exorbitances of the Cardinal-Nephews to be the original cause of all the troubles and misfortunes which have rendered the Lives of some Popes inglorious or perhaps infamous Though indeed to speak true it is almost impossible for a Cardinal-Nephew to hold the ballance of his deportment towards foreign Representatives residing in the Court of Rome so equal as not to give a cause or occasion of offence to some one or other considering that what is pleasing and acceptable to one dissatisfies and interferes with the interest of an other Howsoever there are some Men so dexterous and happy in their Negotiations that they carry all with a good Air and if they are enforced to disoblige some it is done with such circumstances and in such manner as takes off much of the anger and acrimony of the person offended Most Princes of Christendom who are of the Roman Religion maintain their Ambassadours Residents or Agents at the Court of Rome and though many of these Princes have no great zeal or kindness for that Court being disobliged perhaps by some action of the Cardinal-Nephew or some other prejudice taken against the Pope yet it may be that on some score of Interest of State or of their Clergy or for the sake or support of Monasteries or for the determination of differences which arise between them and their Subjects which are to be decided at the Spiritual Judicatures it is necessary for them to conserve an Agent or Resident at Rome The Emperour hath seldom maintained an Ambassadour at that Court because he ordinarily makes use of a Protector of the German Nation to manage his Affairs and in case any matter of great importance occurs which is to be addressed unto the Pope it is performed by some Cardinal in whom his Imperial Majesty reposes a great confidence unless he dispatches an Express The King of Poland follows almost the same Maxim but yet professes a profound Obedience to the Papal See and exercises the power and interest he hath there with such modesty and caution that though like other Kings he might pretend to a Right of nominating Cardinals of his own Nation yet he seldom imposes any but such as the Pope shall offer of his own accord unto him Portugal for the most part maintains a Resident at Rome The State of Venice and the G. Duke of Tuscany make greater applications than the other Princes of Italy to that Court perhaps from a sence of the Pope's temporal power whose Dominions border upon theirs rather than out of an affection to his Spiritual capacity But it is certain that amongst all the Christian Princes none so warmly interest themselves in the Affairs of the Roman Court as France and Spain the Kings of which do always maintain and keep up the honour of their respective Embassies with splendid Equipage And yet these two Kings do
LINUS LINUS by Nation a Tuscan his Father's name Herculeanus was in the Chair from the last year of Nero to the times of Vespasian and from the Consulship of Saturninus and Scipio to that of Capito and Rufus In this space of time there were no less than three Emperours Galba Otho and Vitellius each of them reigning but a very little while Galba a Person descended of the most ancient Nobility being created Emperour by the Soldiers in Spain assoon as he heard of the death of Nero came immediatey to Rome But rendring himself obnoxious to all men by his Avarice and Sloth through the treachery of Otho he was slain at Rome near Curtius's Lake in the seventh month of his Reign together with Piso a Noble Youth whom he had adopted for his Son He was doubtless a man who before he came to the Empire was very eminent in the management both of Military and Civil affairs being often Consul often Proconsul and several times General in the most important Wars That which makes me speak this in his praise is the Learning of M. Fabius Quintilianus whom Galba brought with him out of Spain to Rome Otho a man of better extraction by his Mother 's than by his Father's side who while he led a private life was very loose and effeminate as being a great and intimate Friend of Nero's in the midst of tumults and slaughters as I hinted before invaded the Empire But being ingaged in a Civil War against Vitellius who had been created Emperour in Germany though he got the better in three small Skirmishes one at the Alps another at Placentia the third at Castor yet losing the day in the last and most considerable which was at Bebriacum he thereupon fell into so deep a melancholly that in the third month of his Empire he stab'd himself Vitellius concerning whose Extraction there are different Opinions coming to Rome and obtaining the Empire soon degenerated into all manner of lewdness cruelty and gluttony being used to make several Meals in a day and some of them to such an height of Luxury that there have been at one Supper no less than two thousand Fishes and seven thousand Fowl serv'd up to his Table But having intelligence that Vespasian who had been created Emperour by the Army in Judoea was advancing with his Legions he at first determin'd to quit the Empire yet being afterwards encouraged by those about him he took up Arms and forc'd Sabinus Vespasian's Brother with his Flavian Soldiers into the Capitol which being set on fire they were all burnt Hereupon being surpriz'd by Vespasian and having no hope of pardon left him he hid himself in a private Chamber in the Palace from whence he was most ignominiously drag'd and carried naked through the Via Sacra to the Scaloe Gemonioe where being quartered he was thrown into the River Tyber During this time Linus was Successor to St. Peter though there are some who place Clemens here and wholly leave out Linus and Cletus who yet are sufficiently confuted not only by History but also by the authority of S. Hierom who tells us that Clemens was the fourth Bishop of Rome after Peter for Linus was accounted the second and Cletus the third notwithstanding that most of the Romans immediately after Peter reckon Clemens To whom though St. Peter had as it were by Will bequeath'd the Right of Succession yet his modesty was so great that he compelled Linus and Cletus to take upon them the Pontifical Dignity before him lest any ambition of preheminence might be of ill example to after Ages This Linus by Commission from St. Peter ordained that no Woman should enter the Church but with her Head veiled Moreover at two Ordinations which he held in the City he made eighteen Presbyters and eleven Bishops He wrote also the Memoirs of St. Peter and particularly the Contention he had with Sinion Magus In his time lived Philo a Jew by Nation of Alexandria in whose Writings there is so much Wit and Judgment that from the likeness there appears between them he deserv'd to have it proverbially said Either Plato does Philonize or Philo does Platonize By his Learning and Eloquence he corrected the rashness of Appion who had been sent Ambassadour from the Alexandrians with Complaints against the Jews While he was at Rome in Claudius his time he contracted an acquaintance with St. Peter and thereupon wrote several things in praise of the Christians Josephus also the son of Matathias a Priest at Hierusalem being taken Prisoner by Vespasian and committed to the custody of his son Titus till that City was taken coming to Rome during the Pontificate of Linus presented to the Father and the Son seven Books of the Jewish War which were laid up in the publick Library and the Author himself as a reward for that performance had most deservedly a Statue erected to him He wrote likewise twenty four other Books of Antiquities from the beginning of the World to the fourteenth year of the Emperour Domitian As for Linus himself though he had gain'd a mighty reputation by the sanctity of his Life by his Power of casting out Devils and raising the Dead yet was he put to Death by Saturninus the Consul whose very Daughter he had dispossess'd and was buried in the Vatican near the Body of St. Peter on the twenty first day of September when he had sat in the Pontifical See eleven years three months and twelve days There are some who affirm that Gregory Bishop of Ostia did according to a Vow which he had made remove the Body of this holy Bishop to that place and solemnly interr it in the Church of St. Laurence S. CLETUS CLETUS born in Rome in the Vicopatrician Region Son of Aemilianus through the persuasion of Clemens unwillingly took upon him the burden of the Pontificate though for his Learning Life and Quality he was a Person of very great esteem and Authority among all that knew him He lived in the time of Vespasian and Titus from the seventh Consulship of Vespasian and the fifth of Domitian to Domitian and Rufus Coss according to Damasus Vespasian as I said before succeeding Vitellius committed the management of the Jewish War which had been carrying on two years before to his Son Titus which he within two years after with great resolution finished For all Judoea being conquer'd the City Hierusalem destroyed and the Temple levelled to the ground it is reported that no less than six hundred thousand Jews were slain nay Josephus a Jew who was a Captive in that War and had his life given him because he foretold the death of Nero and that Vespasian should in a short time be Emperor relates that eleven hundred thousand perished therein by sword and famine and that a hundred thousand were taken Prisoners and publickly exposed to sale Nor will it seem improbable if we consider that he tells us this happened at the time
presence of several Brethren taking hold of my hand This says he is the person whom having been my assistant in all affairs since I came to Rome I constitute Bishop of that City and when I shewed my willingness eo decline so great a Burden he exposulated with me in this manner Wilt thou consult only thine own convenience and deny thy assistance to the poor fluctuating Church of God when it is in thy power to steer it But he being a person of wonderful modesty did freely prefer Linus and Cletus to that dignity before himself undertook it He wrote in the name of the Roman Church a very useful Epistle to the Corinthians not differing in style from that of the Hebrews which is said to be St. Pauls This Epistle was formerly read publickly in several Churches there is another bearing his name which the Ancients did not thing authentick and Eufebius in the third Book of his History does find fault with a long Disputation between St. Peter and Appion said to be written by our Clement 'T is certain that John the Apostle son of Zebedee and Brother of James lived till this time who was the last Penman of the Gospel and confirmed what had been before written by Matthew Mark and Luke The reason why he wrote last is said to be that he might confront and defeat the Heresie of the Ebionites who impudently denied Christ to have had a being before his Birth of the Blessed Virgin and accordingly we find him very particular in demonstrating the Divinity of our Saviour He wrote several other things and among the rest his Revelation during his banishment into the Island Patmos by Domitian who being afterwards slain and his Acts for their excessive severity rescinded by the Senate he returned to Ephesus in the time of Nerva where he continued till the Reign of Trajan supporting the Churches of Asia by his Counsel and Writings till at last being worn out with Age he rested in the Lord the sixty eighth year after the Passion of Christ. Our Clemens by his Piety Religion and Learning made daily many Proselytes to Christianity whereupon P. Tarquinius the High Priest and Mamertinus the City Praefect stir'd up the Emperour against the Christians at whose command Clement was banish'd to an Island where he found near two thousand Christians condemn'd to hew Marble in the Quarries In this Island there being at that time a great scarcity of water which they were forced to fetch at six miles distance Clement going going to the top of a little Hill hard by sees there a Lamb under whose right foot flowed miraculously a plentiful Spring with which all the Islanders were refresh'd and many of them thereupon converted to the Christian faith At which Trajan being enraged sent some of his Guards who threw Clement into the Sea with an Anchor tied about his neck But his blessed Body was not long after cast on the shore and being buried at the place where this miraculous fountain had sprung up a Temple was built over it This is said to have happened September the fourteenth in the third year of the Emperor Trajan He was in the Chair nine years two months and ten days he divided the Wards of the City among seven Notaries who were to register the Acts of the Martyrs and at the Ordinations which he held according to Custom in the Month of December he made ten Presbyters two Deacons and fifteen Bishops By his death the See was vacant two and twenty days S. ANACLETUS ANACLETUS an Athenian son of Antiochus was successor to Clement in the time of Trajanus This Trajans Predecessor Nerva Cocceius was an excellent person both in his private and publick capacity just and equal in all his proceedings and one whose Government was very advantageous to the Republick Through his procurement the Acts of Domitian being repeal'd by Decree of the Senate multitudes thereupon return'd from banishment and several by his bounty had the Goods of which they had before been plundered restor'd to them But being now very old and drawing near to the time of his Death out of his care of the Publick Weal he adopted Trajan and then died in the sixteenth Month of his Reign and of his Age the seventy second year Trajan himself a Spaniard surnamed Ulpius Crinitus coming to the Empire surpassed the best of Princes in in the glory of his Arms the the Goodness of his Temper and the moderation of his Government He extended the bounds of the Empire far and wide reduced that part of Getmany beyond the Rhine to its former state subdued Dacia and several other Nations beyond the Danow recovered Parthia gave a King to the Albanians made Provinces beyond Euphrates and Tygris overcame and kept Armenia Assyria Mesopotamia Seleucia Ctesiphon and Babylon and proceeded as far as the borders of India and the Red Sea where he left a Fleet to infest those Borders The Ecclesiastical Laws and Constitutions of Anacletus were as followeth viz. That no Prelate or other Clerk should suffer his beard or hair to grow long that no Bishop should be ordained by less than three other Bishops that the Clergy should be admitted into holy Orders in publick only and that all the faithful should after Consecration communicate or be put out of the Church By this means the Christian interest encreas'd that Trajan fearing lest the Roman State might be impaired thereby gave allowance to a third Persecution of the Christians in which multitudes were put to Death and particularly Ignatius the third Bishop of the Church of Antioch after St. Peter Who being taken and condemn'd to suffer by wild beasts as he was carried to Rome by his Guards whom he called his Ten Leopards he all along in his passage encourag'd and confirm'd the Christians by Discourse with some and by Epistle to others declaring his readiness to suffer in this manner Come Cross come Beasts come Wrack come the torture of my whole body and the torments of the Devil upon me so I may enjoy Christ. And upon the occasion of his hearing the Lions roar Corn says he I am let me be ground by the teeth of these beasts that I may be found fine bread He died in Trajan's eleventh year and his bones were afterwards buried in the Suburbs of Antioch But Plinius Secundus who was then Governour of that Province being moved with compassion to see so many executed wrote to the Emperour Trajan informing him that incredible numbers of men were daily put to Death who were persons of an unblameable life and who in no point transgressed the Roman Laws save only that before day-break they would sing Hymns to Christ their God but that Adulteries and the like Crimes were disallowed and abominated by them Hereupon Trajan gave order that the Magistrates should not make search after the Christians but only punish those who voluntarily offered themselves During this Persecution Simeon the kinsman of our Lord son of
mix'd with Salt and consecrated by Prayer should be kept in Churches and in private Houses as a guard against evil Spirits Moreover he instituted that Water should be mingled with the Wine at the consecration of the Elements to signifie the Union of Christ with his Church and that the Host should not be of leavened bread as was formerly used but of unleavened only as being the more pure and by which all occasion of cavilling would be taken away from the Ebionite Hereticks who were very much addicted to Judaism In his time lived Agrippa Castor who learnedly and effectually confuted the books which Basilides the Heretick wrote against the Holy Gospel exposing to derision his Prophets Barcabas and Barthecab and his great God Abraxas names invented by him to amuse and terrifie the ignorant This Basilides died at that time when the Christians were very much perfecuted and tormented by Cochebas the Head of the Jewish Faction But Adrian soon repress'd the pertinacy of this Rebel and the whole Nation of the Jews by an almost incredible slaughter of them and then commanded that no Jew should be suffered to enter Jerusalem permitting only Christians to inhabit that City and having repaired the Walls and buildings of it he called it after his own name Aelia Marcus being after the expulsion of the Jews chosen the first Gentile Bishop of it In the time of this Bishop also Sapphira of Antioch and Sabina a Roman Lady suffer'd martyrdom for the faith of Christ and Favorinus Palaemon Herodes Atheniensis and Marcus Byzantius were famous Rhetoricians Our Alexander having at three Decembrian Ordinations made five Presbyters three Deacons five Bishops was together with his Deacons Euentius and Theodulus crowned with Martyrdom on the third day of May and buried in the Via Nomentana where he suffered seven miles from the City He was in the Chair ten years seven months two days After his Death the See was vacant twenty five days S. SIXTUS I. SIXTUS a Roman the Son of Pastor or as others will have it of Helvidius held the Pontificate in the time of Adrian to the Consulship of Verus and Anniculus Which Adrian is reckoned in the number of the good Emperours upon the account of his Liberality Splendour Magnificence and Clemency an eminent instance of the last of which good qualities was this That when a Servant run madly upon him with his Sword he took no farther notice of the Action than to order him a Physician to cure his Phrenzy He visited the Sick twice or thrice in a day at his own charge he repair'd Alexandria when it had been ruined by the Romans he rebuilt the Pantheon in Rome and made Aromatick Presents to the People Being at the point of Death he is said to have uttered these Verses Animula vagula blandula Hospes comesque corporis Quae nunc abibis in loca Pallidula rigida nudula Nec ut soles dabis jocos He died of a Dropsy in the two and twentieth year of his Reign and was buried at Puteoli in Cicero's Villa Sixtus out of his care of the Church ordained that the Elements and Vessels of the Altar should not be touched by any but the Ministers but especially not by Women and that the Corporal as it is called should be made of Linnen-cloth only and that of the finest sort That no Bishop who had been cited to appear before the Apostolick See should at his return be received by his Flock unless he brought with him Letters Communicatory to the People At the Celebration he instituted the Hymn Holy holy holy Lord God of Sabaoth Anciently the Office of the Communion was performed in a plain manner and unclog'd with humane mixtures St. Peter after Consecration used the Paternoster James Bishop of Jerusalem added some Rites Bazil more and others more still For Celestine brought in the Introitus of the Mass Gregory the Kyrie Eleyson Telesphorus The Glory be to God on High Gelasius the first the Collects and Hierom the Epistle and Gospel The Alelujah was taken from the Church of Jerusalem the Creed was instituted by the Council of Nice Pelagius introduced the Commemoration of the Dead Leo the third the Incense Innocent the first the Kiss of Peace and Sergius ordered the Agnus Dei to be sung During the time of Sixtus the Persecution being so sharp that few had courage enough to own the Profession of Christianity and the Christian Gauls desiring a Bishop to them he sends Peregrine a Citizen of Rome who having confirmed them in the Faith at his return suffered Martyrdom in the Via Appia at the place where Christ appeared to Peter as he was leaving the City His body was by the faithful carried into the Vatican and buried near S. Peter Aquila also by birth a Jew of Pontus who with his Wife Priscilla had been banish'd by the Edict of Claudius is said by some to have lived till this time he was the second Translatour of the Old Testament after the Seventy who lived in the time of Ptolomey Philadelphus As for Sixtus having at three Decembrian Ordinations made eleven Presbyters eleven Deacons and four Bishops he was crowned with Martyrdom and buried in the Vatican near St. Peter having been in the Chair ten years three months and one and twenty days Upon his Death the See was vacant only two days S. TELESPHORUS TELEPHORUS a Grecian the Son of an Anchorete lived in the time of Antoninus Pius This Emperour was by his Fathers side a Cisalpine Gaul and together with his Sons Aurelius and Verus he ruled twenty two years and three months with so much moderation and Clemency that he deservedly gain'd the name of Pius and Father of his Countrey He was never severe or rigorous towards any man in the recovery of his own private Debts or the exaction of publick Taxes but would sometimes wholly remit them by burning the Bonds of his Debtors What shall I need say more of this Prince who in the opinion of all good men was for Religion Devotion Humanity Clemency Justice and Modesty equal to Numa Pompilius himself When the River Tiber had by an inundation much impaired many private and publick buildings he was at vast expence to assist the Citizens in restoring the City to its former state again Moreover it was he who carried on those prodigious Works which appear to this day for improving the Havens of Tarracina and Cajeta and I believe that the famous winding Pillar from which the principal Ward of the City is denominated was built at his charge As for our Telesphorus he ordained that a Quadragesimal Fast should be observed before Easter and that on the Feast of the Nativity of our Lord there should be three Masses one at Midnight at which time Christ was born in Bethelehem another at break of Day when he was discovered to the Shepherds the third at that hour wherein the light of Truth and our Redemption shone in the World i. e. when
our Saviour was crucified whereas at other times the celebration of the Mass was forbidden till the third hour or between the hours of nine and twelve a Clock the time when as St. Mark tells us he was fastned to the Cross. He also appointed that the Hymn Glory be to God on High should be sung before the Sacrifice In his time Justinus a Philosopher of Neapolis a City of Palestine labour'd successfully in the defending Christianity presented to Antoninus and his Sons a book which he had written against the Gentiles and held a Dialogue with Tryphon a principal Jew He wrote also very warmly against Marcion who adhering to the Heresie of Cerdo affirmed that there were two Gods the one good the other just as two contrary principles of Creation and Goodness He opposed likewise Crescens the Cynick as a person gluttonous fearful of Death given over to Luxury and lust and a blasphemer of Christ. But being at length by this mans treacherous practices betray'd he suffered in the cause of Christianity Eusebius writing of this Cynick allows him only to have been a vain-glorious Pretender but not a Philosopher At the same time the Valentinian Hereticks prevail'd who were the followers of one Valentinus a Platonist and held that Christ took nothing of the body of the Virgin but passed clean through her as through a Pipe Now also Photinus Bishop of Lyons a man of singular Learning and Piety as Isidore tells us suffered Martyrdom with great resolution being ninety years old Telesphorus having at four Decembrian Ordinations made fifteen Presbyters eight Deacons thirteen Bishops died a Martyr and was buried in the Vatican near Saint Peter He was in the Chair eleven years three months twenty two days By his Death the See was vacant seven days S. HYGINUS HYGINUS an Athenian Son of a Philosopher succeeded Telesphorus during the Empire of Antoninus Pius Wâ—â—â—se extraordinary merit compels me to add something farther in his praise 〈…〉 I come to give an account of Hyginus He was so far from the vanity of valuing himself upon the glory of his Arms that he made it his business rather to defend the Provinces of the Empire than to encrease them and had often that saying of Scipio in his mouth that he had rather save one Citizen than destroy a thousand Enemies being herein of a quite contrary temper to that of Domitian who from a consciousness of his own cruelty did so hate and fear a multitude that he would expose the Roman Army to the fury of its Enemies on purpose that it might return home thinner and less formidable Moreover Pius was so famous for his Justice that several Princes and Nations did at his Command cease their Hostilities making him the Arbitratour of their differences and standing to his determination as to the Justice of their Pretensions For these admirable qualities the Romans after his much lamented death in honor to his memory appointed Cirque-shews built a Temple and 〈…〉 a Flamen with an Order called by his name At this time Hyginus prudently setled and confirm'd the several Orders and Degrees of the Clergy and ordain'd the Solemn Consecration of Churches the number of which he would not have encreas'd or diminish'd without leave of the Metropolitan or Bishop He forbad also that the Timber or other Materials prepared for the building any Church should be converted to prophane uses yet allowing that with the Bishop's consent they might be made use of towards the erecting any other Church or Religious House He likewise ordained that at least one Godfather or one Godmother should be present at Baptism and that no Metropolitan should condemn or censure any Bishop of his Province until the cause were first heard and discussed by the other Bishops of the Province though some make this latter an Institution of Pelagius not Hyginus In his time lived Polycarp a Disciple of St. John the Apostle and by him made Bishop of Smyrna the most celebrated man for Religion and learning in all Asia He coming to Rome reduc'd to the Orthodox Faith multitudes who had been seduc'd into the Errours of Marcion and Valentinus the former of which by chance meeting him and asking whether he knew him Polycarp answered that he knew him to be the first-born of the Devil For this Heretick denied the Father of our blessed Saviour to be God the Creatour who by his Son made the World But afterwards in the time of M. Antoninus and L. Aurclius Commodus who raised the fourth Persecution Polycarp was burnt at Smyrna by order of the Proconsul Melito also an Asian Bishop of Sardis and a Disciple of Fronto the Oratour presented to M. Antoninus a book written in desence of the Christian Doctrine Tertullian highly extols his Parts and says that most of the Christians look'd upon him as a Prophet Moreover Theophilus Bishop of Antioch wrote a book against the Heresie of Hermogenes who asserted an uncreated eternal matter co-eval to God himself As for Hyginus himself having deserved well of the Church and at three Decembrian Ordinations made fifteen Presbyters five Deacons six Bishops he died and was buried in the Vatican by S. Peter January 11. He was in the Chair four years three months four days The See was then vacant four days S. PIUS I. PIUS an Italian of Aquileia son of Ruffinus lived to the time of M. Antoninus Verus who together with his Brother L. Aurelius Commodus jointly exercis'd the Government nineteen years These two Princes undertook a War against the Parthians and manag'd it with such admirable courage and success that they had the honour of a Triumph decreed to them But not long after Commodus dying of an Apoplexy Antoninus was sole Emperour a person who so excell'd in all good qualities that it is more easie to admire than to describe him for both because from his very youth no change of his Fortune made any alteration in his mind or his countenance and because it is hard to determine whether the sweetness of his natural temper or the knowledg he learnt from Cornelius Fronto were more conspicuous in him he deservedly gain'd the surname of Philosopher And indeed as Capitolinus tells us he was often wont to use that saying of Plato That then the World would be happy when either Philosophers were Princes or Princes would be Philosophers He was so great a lover of Learning that even when he was Emperour he would be present at the Lectures of Apollonius the Philosopher and Sextus Plutarch's Nephew and he set up the Statue of his Tutour Fronto in the Senate-house as a Testimony of the Honour he had for him At this time Pius maintain'd a strict friendship and familiarity with Hermes who wrote the book called Pastor in which book he introduces an Angel in the form of a Shepherd who commanded him to persuade all Christians to keep the Feast of Easter on a Sunday which Pius accordingly did Moreover he ordained that every
Philosophers acknowledging 〈◊〉 he was prosoundly skill'd in Platonism and finding no fault in him but his 〈◊〉 a Christian. S. Hierom himself says that he wrote six thousand Volumes though that Father and S. Austin too tell us that he was erroneous in most 〈◊〉 them and particularly in his book of Government entituled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet Pamphilus the Martyr and Eusebius and Russinus a Priest of Aquileia appear very much in his Praise and Defence As for Calistus having at five Decembrian Ordinations made sixteen Presbyters four Deacons eight Bishops he was crown'd with Martyrdom and was buried in the Coemetery of Calepodius in the Via Aurelia three miles distant from the City October 14th He was in the Chair six years ten months ten days The See was then vacant six days S. URBANUS I. VRBANUS a Roman Son of Pontianus was Bishop of Rome in the time of the Emperour M. Aurelius Antoninus Anno Dom. 226. U. C. 970. This Antoninus supposed to be the base Son of 〈◊〉 coming to Rome and being advanced to the Empire not without an universal expectation of good from him took the name of Heliogabalus from the Sun so called by the Phoenicians to which he built a Temple and was himself a Priest of it But he led a life so contrary to the hopes and opinion men had entertain'd of him that he has left no other memory of himself than that of his exorbitant Villanies and all kinds of debauchery For he violated the chastity of the Vestal Virgins made his Palace no better than a Stews and in a rage commanded Sabinus a man of consular dignity and to whom Ulpian the famous Civilian wrote to be immediately put to death He conferred all places of trust and honour upon the vilest of men with whom he was wont sometimes to make himself sport after this manner he would make them lie down with him at Supper but it should be upon large bellows which being raised and distended they would all of a sudden tumble down under the Table He had such a loud and undecent way of laughing that in a full Theatre his Voice might be heard above all the Company He was the first among the Romans who wore Velvet and used Tables and other Utensils of Silver When some of his Friends advised him to beware that by his luxury he did not reduce himself to want Can I do better says he than to make my self my own and my Wives Heir He was once so extravagantly freakish as to cause a Collection to be made of ten thousand pound weight of Spiders from whence he pretended an estimate might be taken of the bigness of the City of Rome and to get together ten thousand Mice and as many Weazels and Rats These mad pranks by degrees rendred him so contemptible in the eyes of all men that himself and his Mother were both slain in a Military Tumult 'T is said that some Syrian Priests having told him that he should undergo a violent death he 〈◊〉 fairly provided himself of a decent Scarlet Silken Halter to do his own work withal He died in the fourth year of his Reign at the same time when the City of Nicopolis in Palestine formerly called Emmaus was built Africanus the Historian and Chronologer undertaking an Embassie to promote that Affair Urban who lived in the time of this Monster not of Dioclesian as some would have it by his eminent Piety and Learning proselyted multitudes to the Christian Faith and among others particularly Valerianus an excelient Person and contracted to S. Cecilia with his Brother Tiburtius both which afterwards suffered Martyrdom with great constancy of mind as did also the espoused Virgin her self in her Fathers house which was at her request consecrated and made a Church by Urban The same Urban also ordained that the Church might receive Estates in Land or Houses given and bequeathed to her by any of the Faithful but that the Revenues of them should not be any ones property but for the common good be distributed among the whole Clergy to every one his share a Constitution long since antiquated through the coverousness and rapacity of following Ages Some attribute to him the distinction of the four stated annual Times of Fasting or Ember-weeks which through mens ignorance were before kept very confusedly In his time lived Tryphon one of Origen's Disciples remarkable markable for the book he composed concerning the red Heiser in Deuteronomy Minutius Felix also a famous Pleader at Rome wrote a Dialogue in which he introduces a Christian and an Heathen disputing besides another book against the Mathematicians of which Lactantius makes mention Moreover Alexander Bishop of Hierusalem at this time founded the famous Library there by which he has gained so great a reputation As for Urban himself having at five Decembrian Ordinations made nine Presbyters five Deacons nine Bishops he received a Crown of Martyrdom and was buried in the Coemetery of Pretexatus in the Via Tiburtina having been in the Chair four years ten months twelve days And the See was vacant thirty days S. PONTIANUS PONTIANUS a Roman Son of Calphurnius lived in the time of the Emperour Alexander in the Year nine hundred seventy four from the building of Rome and the Year of our Lord two hundred forty five But between the Reign of Heliogabalus and Alexander there are reckoned three other Emperours Macrinus Diadumenus and Albinus whose Names I intended to have left out not only because they governed but a very little while but chiefly because they did nothing memorable only Albinus became notorious to Posterity for his Gluttony eating if we may believe the Authority of Cordus an hundred large Peaches ten choice Melons five hundred dryed Figs and four hundred Oysters at one Meal But to pass by these Monsters of men I come to Alexander a singular pattern of Virtue who being created Emperour by the favour of the Senate and the Army immediately applyed himself to the setling of the Commonwealth which had been very much impaired by the miscarriages of former Princes To which end he made use of Julius Frontinus a vert learned Man and Ulpian and Paul two excellent Civilians as Assistants and Coadjutors in that Affair He was so upright in all his dealings that no man could ever complain of any Injury receiv'd from him and so far removed from any kind of Vanity or Ostentation that he appear'd but once in the costly Robes belonging to his Office while he was Consul All those who in their Addresses to him were sneakingly obsequious in their carriage or affectedly complaisant in their words he would reject as fawning Fellows for he was so wise and discerning that no man could impose upon him one instance of which was his proceeding with Turinus to whom for his taking Bribes upon the appearance of his being the Emperours mighty Favourite he allotted this remarkable punishment that being bound to a Stake in the Transitory
a remote People were brought to the knowledg and Belief Christianity a certain Captive Woman through the Assistance and Persuasion of their King Bacurius At this time likewise the Authority of Antony the holy Hermite did much towards the Reformation of Mankind Helena did oftentimes both by Letter and Messengers recommend her self and her Sons to his Prayers he was by Countrey an Egyptian his manner of living severe and abstemious eating only Bread and drinking nothing but Water and never making any Meal but about Sun-set a man wholly rapt up in Contemplation His Life was written at large by Athanasius Bishop of Alexandria As for Sylvester himself having at seven Decembrian Ordinations made forty two Presbyters thirty six Deacons sixty five Bishops he dyed and was buried in the Coemetery of Priscilla in the Via Salaria three miles distant from the City on the last day of December He was in the Chair twenty three years ten months eleven days and by his death the See was vacant fifteen days MARCUS I. MARCUS a Roman Son of Priscus lived also in the Reign of Constantine the Great concerning whom Historians differ in their Writings For some affirm that Constantine towards the latter end of his Reign recalled Arius from banishment and became a favourer of his Heresy through the persuasion of his Sister who always insisted that it was nothing but Envy that had caused his Condemnation These I believe to be deceiv'd by the nearness of their names and so to ascribe that to the Father which was the act of the Son For it is not probable that that wise Prince who had all along before disapprov'd of the Arian opinion should now begin to incline to it in that part of his Age wherein men are usually most judicious and discerning They write moreover that Constantine was baptized by Eusebius an Arian Bishop of Nicomedia But that this is a mistake appears both from the Emperours great bounty towards the Orthodox and also from that stately Font upon that occasion erected with wonderful Magnificence at Rome at which after he had been successful in expelling the Tyrants he with his Son Crispus were instructed in the Faith and baptized by Sylvester They who are of the other opinion tell us that Constantine deferred so great an Affair till the time that he might come to the River Jordan in which he had a great desire to be baptized in imitation of our Saviour but that in an Expedition against the Parthians making Inroads upon Mesopotamia in the thirty first year of his Reign and of his Age the sixty sixth he died on the way at Nicomedia before he could reach the River Jordan for the purpose he design'd and was there baptized at the point of Death But let these men confound and perplex the matter as they please we have reason to believe according to the general opinion that Constantine who had so often overcome his Enemies under the Standard of the Cross who had built so many Churches to the honour of God who had been present at holy Councils and who had so often joyned in Devotion with the holy Fathers would desire to be fortified against the Enemy of mankind by the Character of Baptism as soon as ever he came to understand the excellency of our Religion I am not ignorant what Socrates and Zozomen and most other Writers say concerning it but I follow the Truth and that which is most agreeable to the Religion and Piety of this excellent Prince The vulgar story of his having been overspread with Leprosie and cured of it by Baptism with a previous fiction concerning a Bath of the blood of Infants before prescribed for his Cure I can by no means give credit to having herein the Authority of Socrates on my side who affirms that Constantine being now sixty five years of Age fell sick and left the City of Constantinople to go to the hot Baths for the recovery of his health but speaks not a word concerning any Leprosie Besides there is no mention made of it by any Writer either Heathen or Christian and certainly had there been any such thing Orosius Eutropius and others who have most accurately written the Memoirs of Constantine would not have omitted it One thing more concerning this great Prince is certain viz. That a Blazing Star or Comet of extraordinary magnitude appear'd some time before his Death Marcus applying himself to the care of Religion ordained that the Bishop of Ostia whose place it is to consecrate the Bishop of Rome might use a Pall. He appointed likewise that upon solemn days immediately after the Gospel the Nicene Creed should be rehears'd with a loud voice both by the Clergy and People He built also two Churches at Rome one in the Via Ardeatina in which he was buried the other within the City these Churches Constantine presented and endowed very liberally In the time of this Emperour and Bishop lived Juvencus a Spaniard of Noble birth and a Presbyter who in four Books translated almost verbatim into hexametre Verse the four Gospels he wrote also something concerning the Sacraments in the same kind of Metre Our Marcus having at two Decembrian Ordinations made twenty five Presbyters six Deacons twenty eight Bishops died and was buried in the Coemetery of Balbina in the Via Ardeatina Octob. the fifth He was in the Chair two years eight months twenty days and by his death the See was vacant twenty days IULIUS I. IULIUS a Roman the Son of Rusticus lived in the time of Constantius who sharing the Empire with his two Brethren Constantine and Constans reigned twenty four years Among the Successours of Constantine the Great is sometimes reckoned Delmatius Caesar his Nephew who was certainly a very hopeful young Gentleman but was soon cut off in a Tumult of the Soldiers though by the Permission rather than at the Command of Constantius In the mean time the Arian Heresie mightily prevailed being abetted by Constantius who compelled the Orthodox to receive Arius In the second year of his Reign therefore a Council was called at Laodicea a City of Syria or as others have it at Tyre Thither resort both the Catholicks and Arians and their daily debate was whether Christ should be styled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the same substance with the Father or no. Athanasius Bishop of Alexandria asserted it and press'd hard upon them with his Reasons and Arguments for it which when Arius found himself not able to answer he betook himself to Reproach and Calumny accusing the holy Man of Sorcery and to procure credit to his Charge producing out of a Box the pretended Arm of Arsenius whom he falsly asserted that Athanasius had kill'd and was wont to make use of that dead Arm in his Incantations Hereupon Athanasius was violently run down and condemned by the Emperour but making his escape he lay concealed in a dry Cistern for six years together without seeing the Sun but being at length
Opinions Asterius a Philosopher of that Faction at the Command of Constantius compiled divers Commentaries upon the Epistle to the Romans the Gospels and the Psalms which were diligently read by those of that Party to confirm them in their Persuasion Moreover Luciser Bishop of Cagliari together with Pancratius the Presbyter and 〈◊〉 the Deacon were sent in an Embassie from the Bishop to the Emperour and being by him banished for refusing to renounce the Nicene under the name of the Athanasian Faith he wrote a Book against Constantius and sent it to him to read But notwithstanding this provocation he lived till the time of Valentinian 'T is said also that Fortunatus Bishop of Aquileia had been tampering with Liberius just before his 〈◊〉 and endeavouring to bring him over to the Arian Heresie 〈◊〉 likewise who for his great parts had 〈◊〉 given him the Surname of Scholasticus compiled an excellent Book against 〈◊〉 nor could all the menaces of the Emperour make him desist from the open Confession of the Truth but on the contrary hoping to have rendred Constantius more favourable to Athanasius the Great so called from the constant and unwearied Opposition which he always kept up against Pagans and Hereticks into his presence he boldly goes nor did the Threats of so great a Prince cause him to stir one step backward from his Constancy and Resolution As for Liberius having at two Ordinations held in the City of Rome made eighteen Presbyters five 〈◊〉 nineteen Bishops he died and was buried in the Coemetery of 〈◊〉 in the Via Salaria April the 23d He sat in the Chair six years three months four days and by his death the See was vacant six days FELIX II. FELIX the Second a Roman the Son of Anastasius was Bishop of 〈◊〉 in the Reign of Constantius Who by the death of Constans slain by Magnentius becoming now sole Emperour sent into Gallia to suppress a Sedition arisen there his Cosin German Julian whom he had created 〈◊〉 who in a short time by his great Valour and Conduct reduc'd both the Gauls and Germans whereby he gained so much the Affections of the Army that by universal 〈◊〉 they made him Emperour At the News of this Constantius who was engaged in a War with the Parthians suddenly strikes up a Truce with them and forthwith marches forward to oppose Julian but in his March being feiz'd with an Apoplexy he died between Cilicia and Cappadocia at a Town called Mopsocrene in the 24th year of his Reign and of his Age the 45th The Physicians were of Opinion that the excessive grief and anxiety of mind which the Rebellion of Julian had brought upon him was the occasion of that fatal distemper to him He was excepting always the Case of the Christians against whom he was unjust and cruel a Person of so great moderation and clemency that according to the Ancient custom he deserv'd an Apotheosis Upon his first undertaking the Government at his entring triumphantly by the Via Flaminia into the City of Rome in his golden Chariot he did with wonderful condescention take notice of and Salute the Citizens that went out to meet him affirming that of Cyneas the Ambassadour of Pyrrhus to be true that he saw at Rome as many Kings as there were Citizens In one thing only he was the occasion of laughter to the people viz. that as he passed through the lofty gates of the City and the stately Triumphal Arches though he were a man of a very little Stature yet as though he feared to hit his head against the tops of them he bow'd it-down low like a Goose stooping as she goes in at a Barn-door Being conducted to view the Rarities of the City and beholding with admiration the Campus Martius the Sepulchre of Augustus Coesar adorned with so many Statues of Marble and Brass the Forum Romanum the Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus the Baths the Porticoes enlarged like so many Provinces the Amphitheatre built with Tiburtine stone of so vast a height that a mans Eye could scarce reach to the top of it the Pantheon built with stately Arches of a wonderful Altitude the Temple of Peace Pompey's Theatre the great Cirque the Septizonium of Severus so many Triumphal Arches so many Aquaeducts so many statues erected here and there throughout the City for Ornament beholding all this I say he at first stood astonished and at length declared that certainly Nature had laid out all her stock upon one City At the sight of the famous Horse of Brass set up by Trajan he desired of Hormisda an excellent Workman whom he had brought along with him that he would make such another for him at Constantinople to whom Hormisda replyed that the Emperour ought then to build such another Stable meaning the City of Rome The same Hormisda being asked by Constantius what he thought of the City of Rome returned an Answer becoming a Philosopher That all which pleased him in it was That he understood that there also men were wont to die Felix who as we have said was put into the place of Liberius by the Orthodox though Eusebius and S. Hierom which I much wonder at affirm it to have been done by the Hereticks presently after his entrance upon the Pontificate pronounces Constantius the Son of Constantine the Great a Heretick and re-baptized by Eusebius Bishop of Nicomedia in a little Town called Aquilo not far from Nicomedia And hereby may be discovered the Errour of those who accuse Constantine the Great himself of this Heresie an Imputation which certainly as appears by History neither ought nor can be fastned upon that Great Prince and great favourer of the Christian Religion While this great Contention which we have spoken 〈◊〉 between Liberius and Felix lasted the Arian Heresie branched it self into two Factions For on the one side Eunomius from whom they were called Eunomians a man Leprous both in body and mind and who had a Falling 〈◊〉 as well within as without affirmed that in all things the Son was unequal to the Father and that the Holy Spirit had no Community of Essence with the Father or the Son On the other side Macedonius whom the Orthodox had made Bishop of Constantinople before he became erroneous in his Opinions was renounced by the Arians for holding the Son to be equal with the Father though he uttered the same blasphemies against the Holy Spirit that themselves did 'T is said that Felix held a Council of forty eight Bishops in which it was decreed that all Bishops should attend in person at every General Council or else by Letter give a good account why they could not which Decree was afterwards renewed in the Council of Carthage In his time lived Acacius for his having but one Eye called Monophthalmus Bishop of Coesarea in Palestine who wrote largely upon Ecclesiastes and who by his fair Speech and swimming carriage had gained such an Ascendant over Constantius that he himself
followers to inhabit had disturbance given him by one Saul an Hebrew by birth and Religion whom Stilico to the foul breach of Articles had sent with a Party for that purpose It was an easie matter to surprize and disorder the Goths who little suspected any such Practices and were peaceably celebrating the Feast of Easter But the day following Alaricus engaging with them slew Saul and made an universal slaughter of his men and then changing his former course towards Gaul moves against Stilico and the Roman Army These he overcame and then after a long and grievous Siege takes the City of Rome it self Anno U. C. MCLXIIII A. C. CCCCXII Notwithstanding this Success Alaricus exercised so much Moderation and Clemency that he commanded his Soldiers to put as few to the Sword as might be and particularly to spare all that should fly for refuge to the Churches of S. Peter and S. Paul After three days Plunder he leaves the City which had suffered less damage than was thought for very little of it being burnt and marches against the Lucani and Bruti and having taken and sacked Cosenza he there dies Whereupon the Goths with one consent made his kinsman Athaulphus his Successour who returning to Rome with his Army was so wrought upon by the Emperour Honorius's Sister Galla Placidia whom he had married that he restrained his Soldiers from committing any farther outrages and left the City to its own Government He had it certainly once in his purpose to have razed to the ground the then City of Rome and to have built a new one which he would have called Gotthia and have left to the ensuing Emperours his own Name so that they should not any longer have had the Title of Augusti but Athaulphi But Placidia not only brought his mind off from that project but also prevailed with him to enter into a League with Honorius and Theodosius the second the Son of Arcadius deceased Zosimus notwithstanding all these disturbances made several Ecclesiastical Constitutions allowed the blessing of Wax-Tapers on the Saturday before Easter in the several Parishes forbad the Clergy to frequent publick Drinking-houses though allowing them all innocent liberty among themselves or any Servant to be made a Clergy-man because that Order ought to consist of none but free and ingenuous persons Whereas now not only Servants and Bastards but the vile off-spring of the most flagitious Parents are admitted to that Dignity whose Enormities will certainly at long-run prove fatal to the Church 'T is said that Zosimus at this time sent Faustinus a Bishop and two Presbyters of the City to the Council of Carthage by them declaring that no Debates concerning Ecclesiastical Affairs ought to be managed any where without permission of the Church of Rome During his Pontificate lived Lucius a Bishop of the Arian Faction who wrote certain Books upon several Subjects Diodorus also Bishop of Tarsus during his being a Presbyter of Antioch was a great Writer following the sense of Eusebius but not able to reach his style for want of skill in secular Learning Tiberianus likewise who had been accused together with Priscillian wrote an Apology to free himself from the suspicion of Heresie Euagrius a man of smart and brisk parts translated into Latin the Life of S. Anthony written in Greek by Athanasius Ambrosius of Alexandria a Scholar of Didymus wrote a large Volume against Apollinarius At this time flourished those two famous Bishops Theophilus of Alexandria and John of Constantinople for the greatness of his Eloquence deservedly surnamed Chrysostom who so far prevailed upon Theodorus and Maximus two Condisciples of his that they left their Masters Libanius the Rhetorician and Andragatius the Philosopher and became Proselytes to Christianity This Libanius lying now at the point of death being asked whom he would leave sucsessour in his School made answer that he desired no other than Chrysosiom were he not a Christian. At this time the Decrees of the Council of Carthage being sent to Zosimus were by him confirmed and thereby the Pelagian Heresie condemned throughout the World Some tell us that Petronius Bishop of Bononia and Possidonius an African Bishop had now gain'd a mighty reputation for Sanctity that Primasius wrote largely against the Heresies to Bishop Fortunatus and that Proba Wife to Adelphus the Proconsul composed an Historical Poem of our Saviours Life consisting wholly of Virgilian Verse though others attribute the honour of this performance to Eudocia Empress of Theodosius the younger But certainly the most learned person of the Age he lived in was Augustinus Saint Ambrose his Convert Bishop of Hippo in Africa a most strenuous Defender of the Christian Faith both in Discourse and Writing As for Zosimus having ordained ten Presbyters three Deacons eight Bishops he died and was buried in the Via Tiburtina near the body of Saint Laurence the Martyr December 26th He sat in the Chair one year three months twelve days and by his death the See was vacant eleven days BONIFACIUS I. BONIFACE a Roman Son of Jucundus a Presbyter was Bishop in the time of Honorius At this time a great dissention 〈◊〉 among the Clergy for though Boniface was chosen Bishop in one Church of the City 〈◊〉 one Party yet Eulalius was elected and set up against him by a contrary Faction in another This when Honorius who was now at Milain came to understand at the Solicitation of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Placidia and her Son Valentiman they were both banish'd the City But about seven months after 〈◊〉 was re-call'd and confirmed in the Pontifical Dignity In the mean time Athaulphus dying Vallias was made King of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being terrified by the Judgments inflicted on his People restored Placidia whom he had always used very honourably to her Brother 〈◊〉 and entred into a League with him giving very good Hostages for the confirmation of it as did also the Alanes Vandals and 〈◊〉 This I lacidia Henorius gave in marriage to Constantius whom he had declared 〈◊〉 who had by her a Son named Valentinian but she being afterwards banish'd by her Brother went into the East with her Sons 〈◊〉 and Valentinian Our Bonisace ordained that no Woman though a Nun should touch the consecrated Pall or Incense and that no Servant or Debtor should be admitted into the Clergy Moreover he built an Oratory upon the ground where S. Felicitas the Martyr was buried and very much adorned her Tomb. During his Pontificate flourished divers famous men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Presbyter Son of Eusebius born at a Town called 〈◊〉 seated in the Confines of Dalmatia and Hungaria but demolished by the Goths It is not to my purpose to rehearse how great benefit the Church of God reaped from his Life and Writings since he is known to have been a person of extraordinary 〈◊〉 and his Works are had in so great honour and esteem that no Author is more read by learned Men than he He died at Bethlehem on the last day of
Father Zeno. In the mean time Odoacer invading Italy with a great Army of his Heruli and Turingians conquers and takes Prisoner Orestes a Noble Roman near Pavia and then causes him to be put to death in the sight of his whole Army at Placentia Hereupon Zeno pitying the calamitous state of Italy speedily sends Theodoric King of the Goths a man whom he had before very much esteem'd with a mighty force to oppose him who having in a pitch'd Battel not far from Aquileia near the River Sontio overcome Odoacer's Captains and having oftentimes the like success against Odoacer himself at length he besieg'd him three years together in Ravenna and reduc'd him to that extremity that with the advice of John the Bishop of that City he consented to admit Theodoric as his Partner in the Empire But the day following both Odoacer and his Son were contrary to promise and agreement slain by which means Theodorick possess'd himself of the Government of all Italy without any opposition In the mean time Simplicius dedicated the Churches of S. Stephen the Protomartyr on Mons Caolius and that of S. Andrew the Apostle not far from S. Maries the Great in which there appear to this day some footsteps of Antiquity which I have many a time beheld with sorrow for their neglect to whose charge such noble piles of building now ready to fall are committed That this Church was of his founding appears by certain Verses wrought in Mosaick work which I have seen in it He dedicated also another Church to S. Stephen near the Licinian Palace where the Virgins body had been buried He also appointed the Weekly-waitings of the Presbyters in their turns at the Churches of S. Peter S. Paul and S. Laurence the Martyr for the receiving of Penitents and baptizing of Proselytes Moreover he divided the City among the Presbyters into five Precincts or Regions the first of S. Peter 2. S. Paul 3. S. Laurence 4. S. John Lateran 5. S. Maria Maggiore He also ordained that no Clergy-man should hold a Benefice of any Lay-man a Constitution which was afterwards confirm'd by Gregory and other Popes At this time the Bishop of Rome's Primacy was countenanced by the Letters of Acacius Bishop of Constantinople and Timothy a learned man in which they beg him to censure Peter Mog Bishop of Alexandria an assertour of the Eutychian Heresie Which was accordingly done but with Proviso that he should be receiv'd into the Communion of the Church again if within a certain time prefix'd he retracted his Errours Some say that during his Pontificate lived Remigius Bishop of Reims who as History tells us baptized Clodoveus the French King Now also Theodorus Bishop 〈◊〉 Syria wrote largely against Eutyches and compiled ten Books of 〈◊〉 History in imitation of Eusebius Coesariensis At this time almost all Egypt was infected with the heretical Doctrine of Dioscorus concerning whom we have already spoken and Huneric King of the Vandals a Zealot 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 Faction raised a Persecution against the Orthodox Christians in Afrique Upon this Eudocia Niece to Theodosius a Catholick Lady and Wife to Huneric left her heretical Husband upon pretence of a Pilgrimage to Hierusalem to perform a Vow which she had made but upon so long a Journey the effect of which prov'd intolerable to the tenderness of her sex she there soon died 'T is said that at this time were found the bones of the Prophet Elisha which were carried into Alexandria as also the body of S. Barnabas the Apostle together with the Gospel of S. Matthew written with his own hand As for Simplicius himself having by his Constitutions and Donations very muchpromoted the interest of the Church of Rome and having at several Ordinations made fifty eight Presbyters eleven Deacons eighty six Bishops he died and was buried in S. Peter's Church on the second day of March He was inthe Chair fifteen years one month seven days and by his death the See was vacant twenty six days FELIX III. FELIX by birth a Roman Son of Felix a Presbyter was Bishop from the time of Odoacer whose power in Italy lasted fourteen years till the Reign of Theodoric Who though he made Ravenna the seat of the Empire yet the City of Rome was much indebted to his Bounty For he re-built the Sepulchre of Octavius exhibited shews to the people according to ancient custom repaired the publick Buildings and Churches and indeed neglected nothing that became a good and generous Prince And to confirm and establish the Empire he married Andefleda Daughter of Clodoveus King of France and gave in marriage his Sister to Huneric King of the Vandals and one of his Daughters to Alaric King of the Visigoths and the other to King Gondibate Felix now fully understanding that Peter Mog the Eutychian who had been banished for his heretical Opinions upon the complaint and at the desire of Acacius was by the same Acacius recall'd from Exile suspected that there was a private Agreement between them and therefore excommunicated them both by the authority of the Apostolick See which was confirm'd in a Synod of the Orthodox But three years after the Emperour Zeno testifying that they were penitent Felix sends two Bishops Messenus and Vitalis with full power upon enquiry into the truth of their repentance to absolve them These Legates arriving at the City Heraclea were soon corrupted with bribes and neglected to act according to their Commission Whereupon Felix out of a just indignation having first called a Council upon that occasion excommunicates them too as Simoniacks and betrayers of the trust reposed in them Though Messenus who confess'd his fault and begg'd time to evince the sincerity of his repentance had it accordingly granted him The same Felix also built the Church of S. Agapetus near that of S. Laurence and ordained that Churches should be consecrated by none but Bishops 'T is said that at this time Theodorus a Greek Presbyter wrote against the Hereticks a Book of the Harmony of the Old and new Testament and some reckon among the men of Note in this Age the Learned and famous Divine John Damascene who wrote the Book of Sentences imitating therein Gregory Nazianzene Gregory Nyssene and Didymus of Alexandria and compiled also certain Treatises of Medicin in which he gives an account of the Causes and Cure of Diseases Our Felix having at two Decembrian Ordinations made twenty eight Presbyters five Deacons thirty Bishops died and was buried in the Church of S. Paul He sat in the Chair eight years eleven months seventeen days and by his death the See was vacant five days GELASIUS I. GELASIUS an African Son of Valerius was Bishop of Rome at the time when Theodoric made War upon his Wives Father Clodoveus the French King for that he had slain his Daughter's Husband Alaric King of the Visigoths and seiz'd Gascoigne They were both allied to him by marriage but the cause of Alaric seem'd to him the more just
whereupon the Senate and people of Rome being divided into two Parties the dissention rose to such an heighth that to compromise the business a Council was by mutual consent called at Ravenna where the whole matter being discuss'd in the presence of Theodoric he at length determined on the side of Symmachus and confirmed him in the Pontificate who by a singular act of Grace made his very Competitour Laurence Bishop of Nocera Yet about four years after some busie and factious Clergy-men being countenanced and assisted by Festus and Probinus two of the Senatorian Order set up for Laurence again upon which King Theodoric was so highly displeas'd that he sends Peter Bishop of 〈◊〉 to Rome to depose them both and possess himself of the Chair But Symmachus called a Synod of an hundred and twenty Bishops wherein with great presence of mind he purg'd himself of all things 〈◊〉 to his Charge and by a general suffrage obtained the banishment of Laurence and Peter who had occasion'd all this mischief Hereupon so great a 〈◊〉 arose in the City that multitudes both of the Clergy and Laity were slain in all parts not so much as the Monastick Virgins escaping In this Tumult Gordianus a Presbyter and a very good man was kill'd in the Church of S. Peter ad Vincula nor had an end been put to slaughter here had not Faustus the Consul in compassion to the Clergy appear'd in Arms against Probinus the Author of so great a Calamity After this the Christians having some small respite Clodoveus banishing the Arian Hereticks restores the Orthodox and Constitutes Paris the Capital City of his Kingdom Symmachus at this time expell'd the Manichees out of the City and caused their Books to be burn'd before the Gates of S. John Lateran Several Churches he built from the ground and several others he repair'd and beautifi'd That of S. Andrew the Apostle near S. Peters he entirely built enriching it with divers Ornaments of Silver and Gold and he adorn'd S. Peters it self and its Portico with chequer'd Marble making the steps of Ascent into it more and larger than they were before Moreover he erected Episcopal Palaces He built also the Church of S. Agatha the Martyr in the Via Aurelia and that of S. Pancrace He repaired and adorn'd with painting the Cupola of S. Pauls and built from the foundations the Church of SS Silvester and Martin the Altars of which he very richly adorned He made also the steps that lead into the Church of S. John and S. Paul and enlarged S. Michaels He built from the ground the Oratories of Cosmus and Damianus being assisted in that work by Albinus and Glaphyras two men of principal Note Besides this near the Churches of S. Peter and S. Paul he builded two Hospitals making provision of all things necessary for the poor who should dwell in them For he was in all respects very charitable and sent supplies of Money and Cloaths to the Bishops and other Clergy in Africa and Sardinia who had suffered banishment for the profession of the true Religion He repaired the Church of S. Felicitas and the Cupola of that of S. Agnes which was decay'd and almost ready to fall He also at his own charge redeemed multitudes of Captives in several Provinces He ordained that on Sundays and the Birth-days of the Martyrs the Hymn Glory be to God on High should be sung and indeed left nothing undone which he thought might tend to the Glory of Almighty God In his time Gennadius Bishop of Marseille a great imitatour of S. Augustine did good service to the Church He wrote one Book against Heresies wherein he shews what is necessary to every man in order to his Salvation and another de viris illustribus in imitation of S. Hierom. As for Symmachus having at several Ordinations made ninety Presbyters sixteen Deacons one hundred twenty two Bishops he died and was buried in S. Peters Church July the 19th He sat in the Chair fifteen years six months twenty two days and by his death the See was vacant seven days HORMISDA I. HORMISDA the Son of Justus born at 〈◊〉 lived in the time of Theodoric and Anastasius as far as to the Consulship of Boethius and Symmachus These two upon suspicion of designing against his Government were by Theodoric at first banish'd and afterwards imprisoned Boethius during his confinement wrote several things extant to this day and translated and made Commentaries upon the greatest part of Aristotles Works He was throughly skill'd in the Mathematicks as his Books of Musick and Arithmetick clearly demonstrate But at length both he and Symmachus were put to death by the order of Theodoric Some tell us that the cause of Boethius his sufferings was the zeal he shewed in opposing the Arians who were favoured by Theodoric but I think the former Opinion to be more probable Hormisda with the advice of Theodoric held now a Provincial Synod at Rome in which the Eutychians were again condemn'd by universal consent He also sent Letters and Messengers to John Bishop of Constantinople admonishing him to renounce that Heresie and to believe there are two Natures in Christ the Divine and Humane But John continued refractory trusting to the interest he had with the Emperour Anastasius who not long after was struck dead by a Thunderbolt which was believ'd to be a just Judgment upon him both for his patronizing so pernicious an Heresie and especially for his ill usage of the Legates sent to him by Hormisda whom contrary to the Law of Nations he treated very contumeliously and sent them home in a shattered leaky Vessel ordering them to return directly into Italy without touching at any shore in Greece 'T is said that he bid them tell the Bishop that he must know it to be the part of an Emperour to Command not to obey the Dictates of the Bishop of Rome or any other These Legates were Euodius Bishop of Pavia Fortunatus Bishop of Catina Venantius a Presbyter of Rome and Vitalis a Deacon Anastasius dying in the twenty seventh year of his Reign Justine a Patron of the Catholick Faith succeeds him who forthwith sends Ambassadours to the Bishop of Rome to acknowledge the Authority of the Apostolick See and to desire the Bishop to interpose his Ecclesiastical Power for the setling the peace of the Church Whereupon Hormisda with the consent of Theodoric sends Germanus Bishop of Capua John and Blandus Presbyters and Felix and 〈◊〉 Deacons his Legates to Justine by whom they were receiv'd with all imaginable expressions and testimonies of Honour 〈◊〉 Respect John the Bishop of Constantinople with multitudes of the Orthodox Clergy and other Persons of principal Note going forth in Complement to meet them and congratulate their Arrival But the followers of Acacius dreading their coming had shut themselves up in a very strong Church and upon Consultation what to do sent Messengers to the Emperour declaring that they would by no means subscribe to
the determination of the Apostolick See unless an account were first given them why Acacius was Excommunicated But Justine soon forc'd them out of the Church and City too and Hormisda dealt in the same manner with the Manichees who began to spring up afresh in Rome whose Books he caused to be burn'd before the Gates of S. John Lateran About this time Transamund King of the Vandals dying in Afric his Son 〈◊〉 whom he had by the Captive Daughter of Valentinian succeeded him in the Kingdom He inherited none of his Fathers Errours but following the Counsel of his religious Mother re-call'd all the Catholicks whom Transamund had banish'd and permitted them the free exercise of their Religion At this time also several rich Presents were sent to Rome for the Ornament of the Churches there by Clodoveus King of France and Justine the Emperour King Theodoric also richly adorn'd the Church of S. Peter nor was Hormisda himself behind these Princes in bounty and munificence to the Church Having setled things according to his mind and ordained twenty one Presbyters fifty five Bishops he died and was buried in S. Peter's Church August the 6th in the Consulship of Maximus He sat in the Chair nine years eighteen days and by his death the See was vacant six days JOHN I. IOHN by birth a Tuscan Son of Constantius was in the Chair from the Consulship of Maximus to that of Olybrius in the time of King Theodoric and the Emperour Justine Who out of his great zeal for the Orthodox Faith and that he might utterly extinguish the name of Hereticks banish'd the Arians and gave their Churches to the Catholicks This was so highly resented by Theodoric that he sends John himself with Theodorus and the two Agapeti his Ambassadours to Justine to advise him to restore the Arians or upon his refusal to let him know that he would pull down all the Catholick Churches in Italy These Ambassadours were at first very kindly and honourably received But having given an account of their Embassie and finding Justine wholly averse to grant what they desired they betook themselves to Tears and Prayers humbly beseeching him to prevent the ruin of Italy and all the Orthodox Christians in it by which means the good Prince was prevailed upon to recall the Arians and to grant them a Toleration Some write that it was in this Bishops time that Symmachus and Boethius were brought back from Exile imprison'd and slain by the cruelty and rage of Theodoric However certain it is that they were put to death by Theodoric's order and it matters not much whether it were in the Pontificate of Hormisda or John Which John returning from Constantinople Theodoric was so highly incens'd against him for his agreement with the Emperour Justine both in Faith and manners that it was a chance that he had not taken away his life immediately but throw him into Prison he did at Ravenna where through stench and nastiness and want of necessary provision the good man at length died A Cruelty for which the divine Vengeance sorely punished Theodoric not long after for he died suddenly of a fit of an Apoplexy and his Soul if you will take the word of a devout Hermit who reported it was cast into the flames of the Island Lipara Theodoric was succeeded in the Kingdom by his Daughter Amalasuntha with her Son Athalaric whom she had by her Husband Eucherius A Woman who with a prudence above her Sex rectified her Fathers ill Decrees restored the confiscated Estates of Boethius and Symmachus to their Children and caused her Son to be instructed in all kinds of good Literature though she were herein opposed by the Goths who cried out that their King was not to be bred a Scholar but a Soldier Much about this time died Justine being very Aged leaving the Empire to his Sisters Son Justinian and Clodoveus King of France leaving four Sons his Successors in that Kingdon Persons of Note and esteem at this time were Benedict of Nursia who setled among the Italians the Rules and Canons of the Monastick life and Bridget a devout Virgin of Scotland and John Presbyter of Antioch who wrote much against those that held that Christ should be worshipped in one Nature only To these Isidore adds one Cyprignius a Spanish Bishop who wrote elegantly upon the Apocalypse Our John before he went to Constantinople had repaired three Coemeteries namely that of Nereus and Achilleus in the Via Ardeatina that of the Martyrs SS Felix and Adauctus and that of Priscilla He also adorn'd the Altar of S. Peters with Gold and Jewels He likewise brought with him from Constantinople a Paten of Gold and a Chalice of Gold set with precious stones the Presents of the Emperour Justine but these I suppose to have been lost together with his life At several Ordinations he consecrated fifteen Bishops 'T is said that his Body was brought from Ravenna to Rome and buried in S. Peter's Church July the 27th Olybrius being then Consul He sat in the Chair two years eight months and by his death the Seewas vacant fifty eight days FELIX IV. FELIX the fourth a Sammite the Son of Costorius lived in the time of the Emperour Justinian Whose General Belisarius was victorious over the Persians and passing into Afric by his singular courage and conduct subdued and almost quite rooted out the Vandals whose King Gilimer he took Prisoner and brought him home with him in Triumph About this time Amalasuntha having a long time lived very uneasily with her malecontented Goths and having buried her wayward and unruly Son Athalaric associates her kinsman Theodatus in the Government This Theodatus was so great a Proficient in Greek and Latin Learning that he wrote an elegant History of his own times and was throughly skilled in the Platonick Philosophy And though he were not naturally of an active Martial temper yet at the desire of Amalasuntha he undertook a War against the Burgundians and Alemanni and manag'd it very succcesfully Felix in the mean while being careful of the affairs of the Church excommunicated the Patriarch of Constantinople for Heresie and built in the Via Sacra near the Forum Romanum the Church of S. Cosmus and Damianus as appears from the Verses yet remaining wrought in Mosaick work He also re-built the Church of S. Saturninus in the Via Salaria which had been consumed by fire Some write that in this Age lived Cassiodorus who while he was a Senator wrote several things in Politicks and when he became a Monk composed a Comment upon the Psalms 'T is said also that Priscian of Caesarea the famous Grammarian now wrote his Book of Grammar Arator likewise a Sub-Deacon of Rome translated the Gospels into Hexameter Verse and Justinian Bishop of Valence was had in great esteem for what he preach'd and wrote concerning the Christian Faith As for Felix himself having ordained fifty five Presbyters four Deacons twenty nine Bishops he
only in Christ. But these Seducers at the Instance of Honorius who was very diligent to reclaim Heraclius were afterwards banished And Honorius having now some respite from other cares by his Learning and Example proved a great Reformer of the Clergy The Church of S. Peter he covered with Brass taken out of the Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus repaired that of S. Agnes in the Via Nomentana as appears by an Inscription in Verse therein and likewise that of S. Pancras in the Via Aurelia built those of S. Anastasius S. Cyriacus seven miles from Rome in the Via Ostiensis and S. Severinus in Tivoli all which he made very stately and adorn'd with Gold Silver Porphyry Marble and all manner of Ornamental workmanship He repaired also the Coemetery of SS Marcellinus and Peter in the Via Labicana and was at the charge of building other Churches besides those before-mentioned Moreover he ordained that every Saturday a Procession with Litanies should be made from S. Apollinaris to S. Peter's But having been in the Chair twelve years eleven months seventeen days he died and was buried in the Church of S. Peter October the 12th By his death the See was vacant one year seven months eighteen days SEVERINUS I. SEVERINUS a Roman Son of Labienus being chosen in the place of Honorius deceased was confirmed therein by Isaacius Exarch of Italy the Election of the Clergy and People being at this time reckoned null and void without the Assent of the Emperours or their Exarchs Now Isaacius having made a Journey to Rome upon the occasion of confirming this Pope that he might not lose his labour fairly sets himself to plunder the Lateran Treasury being assisted in that attempt by several Citizens though he were resisted for a time but in vain by the Clergy of that Church the principal of which he afterwards banished The ground of this Action was Isaacius's Resentment that the Clergy alone should grow rich without contributing to the Charge of the Wars especially at a time when the Soldiers were reduc'd to the greatest want and extremity Part of the spoil he distributed among the Soldiers part he carried away with him to Ravenna and of the rest he made a Present to the Emperour Those of the Saracens who had been listed by Heraclius being discontented for want of Pay march'd into Syria and made themselves Masters of Damascus a City subject to the Empire Then joyning with the other Arabians and being furnished with Provisions and Arms and heated by Mahomet's Zeal they over-run Phoenicia and Egypt and put to the Sword all those who refused to subscribe to their Government and Mahomet's Religion Advancing thence against the Persians and having slain Hormisda the Persian King they ceased not to commit all manner of outrages upon that People till they had entirely reduced them to subjection But Heraclius having intelligence of what work these Saracens made especially upon their taking of Antioch and searing that they might possess themselves of Jerusalem it self which they not long after did took care to have the Cross of our Saviour conveyed to Constantinople that it might not again come into the hands of the Agarens for so the Greeks in contempt call the Arabians as descending from Agar Abraham's Servant But Mahomet as we are told dying at Mecha was succeeded in the Command by Calipha and he by Hali who being laid aside for his being too superstitious the Egyptians make another Calipha their Commander 'T is said also that to complete the Calamities of the Roman Empire Sisebute King of the Goths did at this time recover out of the hands of the Romans all the Cities of Spain and so a period was put to the Roman Government in that Countrey As for 〈◊〉 who was a person of extraordinary Piety and Religion a Lover of the Poor kind to those in affliction liberal to all and in adorning of Churches very munificent having been in the Chair one year two months he died and was buried in S. Peter's Church August the 2d The See was then vacant four months twenty days JOHN IV. JOHN the fourth a Dalmatian Son of Venantius entring upon the Pontificate forthwith expressed a wonderful Compassion in employing the remainder of the Treasury of the Church which Isaacius had left behind him for the redemption of a multitude of Istrians and Dalmatians who had been taken Captive In the mean time Rhotaris who succeeded Arioaldus in the Kingdom of Lombardy though he were a person eminent for Justice and Piety yet became a Favourer of the Arians and permitted that in every City of his Kingdom there should be at the same time two Bishops of equal Authority the one a Catholick and the other an Arian He was a Prince of great Parts and reduc'd the Laws which Memory and Use alone had before retain'd methodically into a Book which he ordered to be called the Edict His Excellency in Military Skill appear'd in that he made himself Master of all Tuscany and Liguria with the Sea-coast as far as Marseille But in the sixth year of his Reign he died and 〈◊〉 the Kingdom to his Son Rhodoaldus 'T is reported that a certain Priest entring by night into the Church of S. John Baptist and there opening the Tomb in which the Body of Rhotaris lay rob'd it of all the things of value with which the Bodies of Kings are wont to be interred Hereupon John Baptist a Saint to whom Rhotaris had been in his life-time very much devoted appear'd to the Priest and threatned him with Death if he ever entred his Church again The like happened even in our times to Cardinal Luigi Patriarch of Aquileia whose Sepulchre was broke open and pillaged by those very men whom he himself had enriched and raised from a mean condition to the Sacerdotal Dignity Rhodoaldus entring upon the Government of the Kingdom marries Gundiberga the Daughter of Queen Theudelinda who imitating her Mother's Devotion built and richly adorned a Church in Honour to S. John Baptist at Terracina in like manner as Theudelinda had done at Monza But Rhodoaldus being taken in Adultery was slain by the Husband of the Adulteress Successour to him was Aripertus Son of Gudualdus and Brother of Queen Theudelinda he built our Saviour's Chappel at Pavia and very much beautified and plentifully endowed it Pope John fearing now lest the Bodies of Vincentius and Anastasius might sometime or other be violated by the barbarous Nations took care to have them safely conveyed to Rome and with great Solemnity reposited them in the Oratory of S. John Baptist near the Baptistery of the Lateran We are told that in his Pontificate Vincentius Bishop of Beauvais and Muardus Arch-bishop of Reims were in great esteem for their Learning and Sanctity Moreover Reginulpha a French Lady was very eminent for Piety and Renaldus Bishop of Trajetto famous for his Life and Miracles Jodocus also was not inferiour to any of these who though he were the Son of a King of the
Gregory having well discharged his Duty towards God and Men died in the tenth year eighth Month and twenty fourth day of his Pontificate and was with general lamentation buried in S. Peter's November the 28th The See was then vacant only eight days ZACHARIAS I. ZACHARIAS a Grecian the Son of Polychronius is reckoned in the number of the best Popes For he was a Person of a very mild Disposition and wonderfully sweet Conversation every way deserving a Lover of the Clergy and People of Rome slow to Anger but very forward to exercise Mercy and Clemency rendring to no man evil for evil but in Imitation of our Saviour overcoming evil with good and that to such a degree that after his arriving to the Papal Dignity he preferred and enriched those who had envied and hated him At the beginning of his Pontificate finding Italy enflamed in War in order to procure a Peace he forthwith sends Legates to Luithprandus King of the Lombards who now made War upon Transamundus Duke of Spoleto But these Legates not effecting the Design he himself goes in person accompanied with the Roman Clergy into Sabina and 't is said that in sign of honour the King met him eight miles from Narni and alighting off his Horse accompanied him on Foot into the City The day following while they were at Mass the Pope made publickly an Elegant Oration wherein he set forth the Duty of a Christian King both in the time of Peace and War and 't is reported that the King was so wrought upon by it that he presently put the sole Power of accommodating matters into the Pope's hands The King had already deposed Transamund and invested Agrandus his Nephew in the Dukedom Yet at the Pope's Intercession Transamund was received into favour but he quitting all Pretensions to the Dukedom entred into holy Orders All the Towns which had been taken in Sabina were restored as also Narni and Ancona and whatever places the Lombards had for thirty years past made themselves Masters of in Tuscany Moreover all who had been made Prisoners during the War were set at Liberty Luithprandus having been treated by the Pope with all imaginable expressions of Indearment and Respect marched thence peaceably with his Army and not long after died in the thirty second year of his Reign He was a person who deserved that Kingdom both for his extraordinary Wisdom and Prudence and also for his Valour and warlike Temper in which no man excell'd him so eminent also for Justice and Clemency that it is hard to judg whether of these two Vertues were more conspicuous in him His Nephew Aldeprandus succeeded him in the Kingdom which having held only six months he also died and Duke Rachis a Prince whose Piety and Integrity deserve the highest praise was unanimously chosen in his stead By him also a League was renewed with the Pope to whose Legates the devout and religious King graciously granted whatever they desired But having reigned four years he quitted his Government and betook himself to a Monastick Life encouraging his Wife and his Sons to do the like His Brother Aistulphus succeeded him whose crafty and fierce Temper threatned disturbance to all Italy but especially to the Pope and the Romans whom he designed by Force to bring under his Jurisdiction In the mean time Charles Martel being seiz'd with a violent sickness at the persuasion of his Friends divided his Acquests between his two Sons of whom Caroloman the elder had Austrasia and Suevia and 〈◊〉 Burgundy and part of France And so that valiant and wise man died at Cressey sur Serre in the thirty fifth year of his Office of Mayre of the Palace and was buried at Paris in the Church of S. Dennis He had had by a former Wife another Son named Grypho whose rapacious Temper suited with his Name he prevailed with the warlike Saxons to assist him in making War upon his Brethren But 〈◊〉 and Pipin entring Saxony with an Army force their Prince Theodoric to submission After this Expedition Caroloman comes to Rome and there renouncing the Pomp and Glory of Empire he goes to Mount Cassino and takes the habit of a Monk of S. Benedict But Pipin being of an aspiring Mind sends Ambassadours to the Pope desiring that by his Authority he would confirm to him the Kingdom of France The Pope upon the score of former good Services performed by his Family and the ancient Friendship which had been between them and the Popes his Predecessours yields to his Request and accordingly confirms him An. Dom. 753. and so from Mayre of the Palace who was the first Officer of the Kingdom Pipin was advanc'd to the Kingdom of France it self from whom the succeeding Kings derive their Original 'T is reported that Caroloman who as we have said had taken the habit of a Monk came now with others of the same Order from Mount Cassino to Pope Zachary desiring that by his mediation they might gain leave to remove the Body of S. Benedict which had by 〈◊〉 been carried away to the Abbey of Fleury in the Kingdom of France The Pope granted their Desire and thereupon sent a Message to King Pipin who upon Information in the matter freely gave way to it Zachary now enjoying Peace on every side set himself to the repairing of several decayed Churches The Tower and Portico before the Lateran Church he built from the ground made the Windows and Gates of Brass and upon the Frontispiece of the Portico caused a Map of the World to be delineated He renewed the defaced Images of the Saints enlarged and beautified the Lateran Palace repaired the Palatine Library and assigned to every Church a Revenue for the maintenance of Oyl for their Lamps He gave to S. Peter's an Altar-Cloth embroidered with Gold and set with Jewels having the Essigies of our Blessed Saviour wrought upon it He built the Church of S. George in Velabro and reposited the head of that Saint therein as also the Church of S. Coecilia in the Via Tiburtina six miles from the City and in it an Oratory in honour to S. Cyrus the Abbat setling a maintenance for the Priests that ministred in it He re-built the Roof of the Church of S. Eusebius which happened in his time to tumble down He also gave order that his Servants should daily distribute and give out at the Lateran Palace Alms to the Poor of all sorts Moreover he forbad the Venetians upon pain of Excommunication the selling of Christian Slaves to Saracens and Heathens which those Merchants were before wont to do Finally that we may not think that his Advancement to so great a Dignity made him neglect his Studies he translated out of Latin into Greek four Books of Gregory in Dialogue that so the Grecians might be instructed in the Rules of good living But having with such Integrity to the Satisfaction of all men governed the Church ten years three months he died and was buried in S. Peter's March the
had not the like fortune who retreated to the Sittizonio di Severo and wanting courage to defend it basely deliver'd it up But Henry hearing that Guiscard Duke of Puglia was coming to assist Gregory he thought it no time to dally and therefore contrived this stratagem He sent the Bishop of Clugny to Gregory in the Castle to offer him that if he would crown him in the Lateran he would return into Germany with his Army immediately and the Roman people requested him to do it too Gregory answer'd he would do it if Henry would amend his errors and beg pardon This he not only refused to do but hearing that Guiscard was near with his Army he crown'd Clement the Anti-Pope with the Pontifical Crown publickly in the Lateran the Bishops of Bologna of Cervia and Modena attending at the 〈◊〉 After which he went to Siena and took Clement along with him But Guiscard breaking in at the Porta del popolo burnt the City all along to Domitian's Triumphal Arch though the people did what they could to resist him The Citizens had fortified the Capitol and defended themselves briskly against Guiscard who had already taken the Lateran From whence there were a great many skirmishes and sallies made on both sides and that part of the City which lies between the Lateran and the Capitol was demolish'd and the Capitol it self at length taken by storm and laid almost even with the ground Having thus made himself Master of Rome and given the Citizens goods as plunder to his Soldiers he march'd to Castle St. Angelo where the Pope lay besieged and freeing the miserable man at last from all his foes he carried him along to Cassino and Salerno with him Where in a short time after he made a godly Exit after he had sate in S. Peter's Chair twelve years one month and three days He was a Man no question that God loved prudent just merciful a Patron of the poor the Widows and the fatherless and the only Champion of the Church against Hereticks and wicked Princes who strove to make themselves Masters of the Churches patrimony by Violence VICTOR III. VICTOR the Third before called Defiderius Abbat of Mount Cassino being chosen Pope immediately took example by Gregory And therefore I suppose it was that Henry and he were Enemies by whose contrivance he was taken off with Poison conveigh'd into the Chalice as he was administring the Eucharist as St. Martin writes though Vincentius says on the contrary that he died of a Dysentery which may possibly seem not altogether unlike poysoning since those that are poison'd do sometimes fall into a Dysentery by the corruption and relaxation of the Intestines But Guiscard would have revenged so great a Villany if he had not chanced to die too soon for when he had subdued the Greeks he went to Corfu and died to whom because Boemund was absent Roger his younger Son succeeded in the Dutchy of Puglia At that time there was a famine throughout most part of the World by means whereof the King of Gallitia took 〈◊〉 from the Saracens after he had besieged it many years and gave it to the Christians But Henry had ill success against the Saxons in Germany being defeated with the loss of four thousand Soldiers God permitting this calamity that he might at last desist from harassing the Church There are who say that there appeared a great many Prodigies at that time as that the domestick birds as Hens Geese Pigeons and Peacocks fled into the Mountains and grew wild that Fishes in general both in Rivers and in the Sea died and that some Cities were so shaken with Earth-quakes that the great Church at Syracuse fell down at Vespers and kill'd all those that were in it saving only the Deacon and Sub 〈◊〉 who were miraculously saved 'T is said the body of St Nicolas was translated to Bari by the Merchants about this time and there much honour'd as Martin Scotus a Man of great Learning and singular Morals tells us in his History But Victor by whose procurement Deusdedit reduced the book of Canons into method died in the first year and fourth month of his Pontificate not without suspicion of being poison'd URBAN II. URBAN the Second before called Otho or Oddo at first a Monk of Eboina and after that Cardinal of Ostia was at last deservedly made Pope about five months after Victor's death For he was a very learned and an holy Man and fit for any great Employment At that time Roger took his opportunity now Gregory was dead and a new Successor come into the place to take Capua and all places that belong'd to them betwixt that and Tiber from the Pope and the Romans Thereupon Urban who could hardly trust the Romans by reason of their former inclinations to Novelty went to Melfi Where being resolv'd to call a Synod it was convenient to secure all people in their passage to it and therefore he commanded Roger and Boemund who were at variance about the Dutchy of Puglia to quit their Arms upon this condition that Roger should let Boemund have part of Puglia and himself enjoy all the rest of his Father's Dominion And when he had thus settled the Italian affairs to his mind and put the Church in a good condition as far as was possible in such an hurry he went to Toia to enquire what the Clergy of that place did and to correct the errors of some ill-livers among ' em But in the mean time Boemund whilst his Brother Roger made War in Sicily against the Saracens took Melfi by surprise Whereupon Roger returning from Sicily besieged his Brother Boemund at Melfi with twenty thousand Saracens which he hired to come along with him though those within the City defended it very stoutly The Pope seeing he could have no quiet in Italy design'd a Journey into France but first held a Council at Piacenza in which he wonderfully curb'd the licentiousness of some Clergymen From thence he went into France and began a thing very memorable For he call'd a Council at Cleremont wherein he so far animated the Princes of France toward the retaking of Jerusalem which had been so long in the hands of the Sarazens that in the year 1484. three hundred thousand Men enrolled themselves as Soldiers under Christ's Banner After which he returned to Rome with an intention that when he had composed things in Italy he would excite the Italians also to the same end In the mean time King Henry wicked man ceased not to affront Robert Earl of Flanders and provoke him to Battel that he might divert him from the holy Expedition Notwithstanding many followed one Peter an Eremite who was a man of incomparable sanctity and travelling through Germany and Hungary arrived at Constantinople then the common Seat of War And they were not long after followed by Eustathius and Baldwin surnamed of Bulloign men famous for feats of Arms. But besides these there was the Bishop of Pois Raymund Earl
no time to dally but perceiving the People were displeased at that choice declares Lambert aforesaid for Pope with great acclamations of the Citizens the Clergy also approving it and that the People might not have time to change their minds he immediately clothes him with the Pontifical Vestments in the Scinie a place near S. Sylvester's Church He though it was not without slight that he got the Popedom yet was afterward universally saluted and own'd as such As soon as he was made Pope he created several worthy Persons Cardinals of whose assistance he constantly made use in all his difficult affairs being very much delighted with the conversation of excellent Men which was the reason that he detain'd at Rome with him Pontius Abbat of Clugni a very diligent person and shew'd great respect to the extraordinary parts of Hildebert Bishop of Mans whom for the sake of his skill at Heroic or Elegiac Verse he promoted afterward to the Archbishoprick of Tours This age was rendred also more illustrious by Hugo de Sancto Victore a famous Doctor of Paris who then flourish'd who lest behind him several lasting Monuments of his admirable Learning as his Book concerning the Sacraments his Book of Sentences another written by way of Dialogue entitled Didascalus another of care of the Soul and a Book entitled of Arts and Sciences All these learned Men Pope Honorius lov'd to that degree that he neglected no opportunity of preferring them One foul deed yet was acted in his time much to be abhorred for one Arnulphus an excellent Preacher of the Religion of Christ was murdered at Rome by the procurement of the Priests because he inveighed bitterly against their incontinence and sensuality and reprov'd their pompous living and insatiable appetite after Wealth proposing the Poverty and pure Integrity of our Saviour for their Imitation This Man the Roman Nobility and Gentry look'd upon as a true Prophet and Disciple of Christ and extoll'd him to the Skies which begat 〈◊〉 much envy and rage as cost the good Man his life Whether this holy Man was a Priest a Monk or a Hermit is not certain Historians write that Honorius was very much troubled at the fact but could never find the Authors of it He aster having reign'd well in S. Peter's Chair five years two months and a day died to the general grief and was buried with the greatest solemnity in the Lateran Church and the Sea was thereupon vacant one day His name is in an Inscription in Marble 〈◊〉 the Church of Praxede but I know not what it means INNOCENT II. INNOCENT the Second a Roman born in Trastevere being made Pope raises an Army and marches against Roger Son and heir of the former Roger Lord of Sicily who endeavour'd to possess himsess of Puglia upon the death of William the Duke thereof in whom the whole Family of Robert Guiscard was extinct In this expedition the Romans shew'd so much courage and fortitude that at the first onset they overthrew the Enemy then encamp'd at S. Germans and taking the Town they follow'd Roger to 〈◊〉 and there besieg'd him But in the mean time 〈◊〉 Duke of Calabria his Son with a good Army comes upon them and in one Battel defeats them not only delivering his Father from the Siege but taking the Pope Prisoner with all the Cardinals that then attended him all whom yet soon after Roger using wonderful moderation freely released For which reason the Pope afterwards was easily persuaded to grant any thing he desired except the Title of King which he earnestly solicited with great expence and large Promises During these actions one Peter Son of Peter Leone a potent Citizen of Rome by some seditious Fellows was set up for an Anti-Pope by the name of Anacletus who by spoiling several Churches in the City and rifling their Treasures particularly breaking into S. Peter's Church whence he took a Cross of Gold with its appendent Ornaments had rak'd together so much wealth that he was able with it to corrupt to his side any of the Citizens who were desirous of change So that Innocent upon his return to the City finding all places full of uproars and that these must needs end in the slaughter of many men he retir'd of his own accord and first sailing to Pisa from thence he went to Genoa and at last to France Anacletus then being rid of so considerable an Adversary endeavour'd as much as he could by liberal Pensions to bring over those who were for Innocent to his side and that he might more firmly oblige Roger then inclining to his party to his interest he created him King of both Sicilies Innocent in the mean while holds 〈◊〉 Council at Clermont in which the Anti-Pope and his followers were condemned from whence he went to Orleans and having visited King Philip by whom he was kindly receiv'd he pass'd into la Beausse where at Chartres he discours'd with Henry King of England who came to meet him whom he endeavour'd with many arguments to persuade to undertake an expedition against the Saracens Hence he took a turn into Lorain and finding Lotharius newly made King of the Germans at Liege who made him many large Promises of assistance towards his Restauration he made him take an Oath that he would make such sufficient preparations for the enterprise as that he should return to Rome with security After this having held another Council at Rhemes and upon his return into Italy one other at Piacenza he came to Pisa where he composed the animosities that had long been between the Pisans and Genoeses He also raised the Bishoprick of Genoa which before was in the Province of the Archbishop of Milan to an Arch-hishops Sea to which he subjected three Bishops of Corsica and the Bishop of Bebio The same he did by that of Pisa making it an Arch-Bishoprick with Jurisdiction over the other three Bishops of 〈◊〉 and the Bishop of Populonia Lotharius by this time was come into Italy with a great Army which having by the Pope's advice divided with two distinct Bodies he march'd to the City where making himself Master of Janicolo he entred that way while Innocent with another party by another way crossing the River Anien over Ponte Mamolo gets into the Lateran the Anti-Pope not appearing at all So that Lotharius with marvellously good fortune quash'd that Faction and as much as in him lay took care that Innocent should not thereafter be 〈◊〉 by them The Pope was so extreamly obliged by these great services of Lotharius that Henry being now dead he created him Emperour of the Romans and crown'd him with an Imperial Diadem Which done Lotharius return'd into Germany to reduce the Leutici then in Rebellion but while the Pope called a Council at Pisa to consider of the State of Christendom and of the preservation of Religion the Anti-Pope who was condemn'd in this Council also with the assistance of Roger and some factious People again bestirs himself against
he had receiv'd so many benefits of the Holy Sea he gave the Country of Fondi to the Church of Rome and what had before been given and afterward usurp'd from it he restor'd But the Pope taking notice of the increase of the Saracens Power in Asia call'd a full Council in the Lateran where were present the Patriarchs of Jerusalem and Constantinople seventy Arch-bishops four hundred Bishops twelve Abbats eight hundred Priors of Convents and the Ambassadors of the Greek and Roman Emperours with those of the Kings of Jerusalem France Spain England and Cyprus Many things here came under debate but nothing could be determin'd because the Pisans and Genoeses were then at War by Sea as those of Lombardy were among themselves at Land The Pope therefore took a journey thitherward to compose their differences but died in the way at Perugia when he had been Pope eighteen years seven months and sixteen days He was a Man most exact in his life a proof of which is that none of his Acts which approv'd or disanull'd any thing were by any of his Successors revers'd He decreed many things for the reformation of manners both in Clergy and Laity and wrote Books concerning the Sacrament of the Eucharist the Sacrament of Baptism and the unhappiness of Mans condition beside that he was wont to make Sermons upon remarkable occasions and solemn days He disallow'd a Book written by Abbat Joachim which contain'd some Heterodox Opinions and condemn'd the Errors of Almericus a Heretic that with some of his followers was burnt at Paris who among other false Notions maintain'd that those Idea's which are in the divine Mind were created and did create others whereas according to S. Augustin there is nothing in the Mind of God but what is Eternal and unchangeable beside he said that to one who was in a state of Grace no Sin is charged Great satisfaction this Pope took in observing the Virtue and Learning of S. Dominic who was Founder of the Order of Preaching Friers and of S. Francis of Assisi who was Author of the Order of Friers Minors 'T is said that in his time liv'd Gratian who compil'd the Decrees and Papias the Lombard who collected a Latin Alphabetical Dictionary and indeed of Papias we have no reason to doubt but for Gratian some Authors place him in the times of Pope Alexander III. Now lest you should think that Innocent in so long a Popedom neglected works of Piety I must tell you that at his charge the Hospital of the Holy Ghost was built and endow'd with so fair an Income as it is for the relief of Pilgrims and sick People and for the Education of Fatherless Children and Foundlings He adorn'd S. Peter's Altar with Mosaic Work as the representation of him and his Cipher in the Arch do testifie Moreover he gave to each Church in Rome a Pound weight in Silver to make Chalices for Divine Service and he repair'd the Church of S. Sixtus then almost falling with age The Enemies of his good Name indeed say that he did this only for fear Men should say that he laid out all his Mony in building of the Torre de Conti which he erected for the honour of his Family However that be 't is certain he shew'd himself in all the parts of his life an excellent Man and one worthy to be reckon'd among the best Popes HONORIVS III. HONORIVS the Third a Roman Son of one Almeric was by a general suffrage chosen Pope to whom Peter Emperour of Constantinople coming with his Wife Jole he was Crown'd in the Church of S. Laurence without the Walls and immediately John Colonna a Cardinal was pitch'd upon to go into Asia with those forces which Pope Innocent in his life-time had got together for that end The Christian Princes by the persuasion of Honorius now went to Acon particularly Andrew King of Hungary who to that purpose borrow'd the Venetian Shipping and by way of requital passed over to 'em the right to all that part of Dalmatia which had been in the possession of the Duke of Austria With Andrew went Henry Count of Nevers and Walter Chamberlain to the King of France All these holding a Council of War together with John King of Jerusalem they resolv'd to lay Siege to Damiata in Egypt and thither they went in the month of May 1218. This City was once call'd Aeliopolis from Aelius Pertinax who environ'd it with a trebble Wall and deriving a little stream of the Nile about it made it stand in an Island The Suburbs hereof were large and full of Merchandize which the Christian Soldiers plunder'd but soon after upon a West-wind the Nile rose so high that their Provisions were spoil'd and they began to be in great want of necessaries especially because the Soldan who was encamp'd not far off had beset all the passages to hinder any supplies coming to ' em The Christians under this difficulty march their Army against the Soldan who in great fear streight leaves his Camp stor'd with plenty of all things and retreats leaving them free to besiege the Town which he at first came to relieve Cordirius also Son to the great Soldan despairing of being able to defend Jerusalem if the Christians took Damiata broke down the Walls of the City and left nothing standing but the Tower of David and the Temple of God only he did not violate the Holy Sepulcre mov'd as we may suppose by the intreaties of the Christians that inhabited those places While our men attack'd Damiata the Soldan returns with a much greater Army and pitches his Camp between Cairo and Damiata from which he could not be provok'd to Battel by either the challenges or reproaches of our Men which so enrag'd the French that without any Order they set upon him and receiv'd great loss Notwithstanding all this the Siege was still push'd on till after fifteen months lying before it it was taken by the Christians and sack'd so that the Soldiery was wonderfully enrich'd with the spoil In the mean time Honorius had at Rome confirm'd the Order of S. Dominic upon his request and had Anathematiz'd Frederic II. because after his Mother Constantia was dead who was wont to restrain him within his duty he came to Rome and without right or reason laid wast the Pope's Territories These differences between the Pope and the Emperour being discover'd to the Soldan mov'd him to take the opportunity and accordingly he raises a greater Army than ever he had before thinking the Christians would not now shew their heads but Cardinal John Colonna roused them with his persuasions so that they took up Arms and went to meet the Enemy at the Nile where when they were come the Soldan feign'd himself afraid to cope with 'em putting it off till the time of the Increase of Nile which follow'd a little while after and the Cataracts of that River opened and so overflow'd the whole Country that it was in no place less than a
much out of hopes of success that upon hearing this ill news of the misfortune of his Friends and Allies he began to think of retiring to Rome though his coming thither was opposed by one John Cincio a potent Citizen and Senator whose intolerable arrogance yet was so curb'd by James Capocio another Roman Citizen that the Pope was received into Rome with great splendor magnificence This was that James whose name is yet to be seen and read in the little Chappel of Mosaic Work which was built at his charge in the Church of S. Mary Maggiore in which also was buried Peter Capocio who was a Cardinal of the Church of Rome and while he liv'd a bitter Enemy of this Schismatical Emperour Frederic at whose expence the Hospital of S. Anthony not far from the aforesaid Church and the College for Scholars at Perugia now call'd la Sapientia was also erected Gregory having quieted the minds of Men in the City again pronounces an Anathema against Frederic and declares him to have forfeited his right to the Empire and deprives him of it then he sends for the Ambassadours of the States of Venice and Genoa between whom there was so great a quarrel as it was fear'd a War would ensue to mediate their differences which he did so effectually as that he procur'd an Agreement between 'em to a Peace upon condition that without mutual consent neither of the two States should make Peace with the Emperor of Constantinople that they should be Enemies to the Enemies of each other and join their Forces upon every occasion for the common defence and this Treaty to be in force and complied withal for nine years by them both under pain of Excommunication to be denounc'd by the Pope upon the Infractor About this time died Baldwin who upon the Death of John had succeeded to the Empire of Greece and made shift to hold it for two years but with so great difficulty by reason of his poor Treasury that he could hardly defend himself from his Enemies being forc'd to deliver his Son for a Pledg to the Venetian Merchants for Money that he had borrow'd of 'em and to make Money of the Lead that belong'd to the Churches beside he sold to the Venetians who were wealthy and able to purchase 'em the Spear with which our Saviour Christ's Body was pierc'd and the Sponge which was reach'd to him to drink out of Frederic had a great spight at these Venetians because they were on the Pope's side and drove them into their Marishes where their City stands for security and did them great damage but in the mean while happened a general revolt of the Cities of Lombardy by the Procurement and instigation of Gregory Monte-longo who was Legat at Bononia and Ferrara which had revolted before from the Pope to the Emperour was retaken by them though Salinguerra a valiant Commander was in it and made a brave defence As soon as it was taken it was put into the hands of Azo of the House of Este who was a considerable Person in this Enterprize to be govern'd by him in the name of the Church An. Dom. 1240. This so alarm'd the Emperour who was then at Pisa that being under great uncertainty whom to look upon as Friends to himself or Wellwishers to the Pope he divided first the Cities of Italy into two Factions giving the name of Guelphs to those who were for the Pope's Interest and that of Gibellines to them that were for the Imperial These most pernicious names of distinction invented surely for the mischief of mankind were first made use of at Pistoia where when the Magistrates expell'd the Panzatichi who were Gibellines out of the City there chanc'd to be two Brothers Germans the one of which whose name was Guelph was for the Pope the other for the Emperour and his name was Gibel from which these two Parties were discriminated by those different appellations On the other side those of Arezzo and Sienna drive out the Guelphs whose example being follow'd by many other Cities of Italy gave occasion and rise to a worse than Civil War Several Cities after this revolted from the Pope as well in Vmbria as in Tuscany and particularly the Citizens of Viterbo threw off their obedience The Romans also would fain have been doing the same thing but that the Pope carrying the heads of the Apostles SS Peter and Paul through the City in Procession moved the People to commiserate the State of the Church and then making a most excellent Oration in S. Peters Church he had the power and good fortune by it to persuade even the Seditious who were ready to mutiny to take his part and to list themselves under the holy Cross for the defence of the Church of God These when some time after Frederic came in hostile manner before the Walls of Rome gave him a repulse which so enrag'd him that whatsoever Prisoners he had taken he put to death with divers tortures and retir'd towards Beneventum which City he took by force sack'd and dismantled it Then returning by the Via Latina with his heart full of fury toward the City by the way he plunder'd the Monastery of Monte-Cassino and turn'd out the Monks he destroy'd also with fire and sword the City of Sora formerly belonging to the Samnites situate at the head of the River Garigliano and pillag'd any thing that belong'd to the Templers wherever he could meet with it He was so great a Lover of the Saracens that he made use of them rather than any other People in his Wars made Magistrates of them and gave them a City for themselves which is call'd to this day Nocera di Pagani He threaten'd the Brother of the King of Tunis because he was come as far as Palermo to receive the Sacrament of Baptism By a sudden Onset he also made himself Master of Ravenna which appertain'd to the Church All which Gregory well considering he appointed a Council to be holden in the Lateran there to find out means to depose Frederic but the Emperour had so beset all the ways that with the help of the Pisans he took several Cardinals and Prelates as they were travelling both by Sea and Land and cast them into Prison Which so griev'd the good Pope that he liv'd not long after dying when he had been Pope fourteen years and three months There happen'd an Eclipse of the Sun a little before his death greater than ever was seen Raymund of Barcelona flourish'd in his time and assisted him in compiling his Book of Decretals whom many Authors so commend that nothing can be added to his Praise CELESTINE IV. CELESTINE the Fourth a Milanese of the Family of the Castiglioni Bishop of Sabina famous in his time for his exemplary life and great Learning being very old and sickly was yet chosen Pope in the room of Gregory but died on the eighteenth day of his Pontificate and was buried in S. Peter's Church to the great
that the presence of two such great Kings would certainly move them as it did to make Theobald of Piacenza Arch-deacon of Liege Pope though he were absent But to return to Clement Whose life is to be commended in every part of it for his Learning Piety Religion Humanity Charity to his Neighbours and to all poor Christians As for the goods or the Church he distributed them at such a rate and with such discretion that he in all probability gave more to God than to his own Relations He had two Daughters by his Wife who died before his Popedom to one of which that liv'd in a Nunnery he gave thirty pounds of small Deniers Tournois and to the other who was married to a man of an equal fortune he ordered a portion of three hundred pounds Tournois upon condition she should never ask for one penny more He had besides a Nephew that was a Clergy-man whom when he found to have three Prebends for so they call Canonries he forced him to take his choice which of 'em he would keep and leave the other two But when his friends were urgent with him not onely to let his Nephew enjoy what he already had but give him more and greater preferments the Holy Man made answer I would the Popes in our time would follow his Example that he would obey God and not flesh and bloud That it was Gods pleasure what belong'd to the Church should be bestow'd to charitable uses nor was he worthy to be S. Peter's Successor who would give more to his Kindred than to Religion and to Christ But whilst he was at Viterbo and news was daily brought to him that Ednigeth a Dutchess of Poland who had been long dead was in very great esteem for her Miracles he canoniz'd her He was also wonderfully satisfied with the Doctrine of Bonaventure General of the Order of Friers Minors who at that time wrote gravely and copiously upon the first second third and fourth Books of the Sentences Now the Holy Man dying with such a Character was much lamented and miss'd by all men And hence arose the Controversie among the Cardinals to find out a fit Person to succeed Clement GREGORY X. GREGORY the tenth formerly called Theoâ—ald an Italian born at Piacâ—nza and Arch deacon of Liege was created Pope by the Colledg of Cardinals at Viterbo whilst he was in Asia For at that time when Lewis went into Africa Edward Son to the King of England sailed from England into Asia with a great Navy in order to regain the holy Land But staying so long at Ptolemais till Lewis King of France came out of Africa with Victory according to his promise he was stab'd in three places by one Arsacida a Companion of his as he was alone in his Bed chamber and by the assistance of another friend of his very hardly escaped his Death For that other person held the Russians hand so long till the People of the House came in who tare treacherous Arsacida to pieces and dragg'd him out of the Room But Edward when he was cured of his Wounds had a great esteem for his friend Theobald because he continually animated all Christian Kings and Princes against the Saracens and when he went to Rome in order to receive the Popedom being sent for by the Cardinals who had elected him he assisted him extraordinarily with a Ship with Money and a splendid equipage especially at that time when Henry a Youth and Son of Richard Earl of Cornwall who was lately dead came to Viterbo to see Clement After whose death staying there for some time he was unluckily kill'd For Guido Monford who went to the Cathedral Church along with Philip the French King to hear Divine Service stabbed him before the Altar because his Father Simon had been basely murther'd in England by Richard He having reveng'd his Fathers death in this manner he escaped with safety to Ruffus Governour of Tuscany Not long after Philip and Charles vexed at such an Indignity went from Viterbo the former into France the latter into Puglia For having made a Peace with the Saracens Charles went along with Theobald who was arrived at Siponto now call'd Manfredonia as far as Ceperano From thence his Holiness travell'd through Marsi and Sabini to Viterbo where he was receiv'd by the Cardinals with all Respect and Honour imaginable and being crown'd with the Pontifical Diadem he was invested with all the Power that Christ left Peter When that was done and that he had setled the Popedom for a time he was desirous to make Peace between the Genoeses and the Venetians For these two States had been engaged one with another in great and bloudy Conflicts for a long time Upon this account Philip King of France who tarried at Cremona was prevail'd upon by the Pope to send for the Genoese and Venetian Embassadors and made a Peace between 'em for five years that they might all go in one body against the Saracens Italy was now quiet when the beginning of an universal disorder rose from the Venetians now Exactions For they made a Law that no one should sail in the Adriatick especially from Pola to Venice unless they paid a Gabel according to the value of their goods But the Bologneses could not endure this as being at that time masters of a great part of Romagna and therefore for three years together they fought the Venetians with great variety of Fortune At last being tired out they accepted of a Peace upon this Condition that they should demolish a Castle which they had built upon the very mouth of Po that they should have free leave to carry out some goods that were there and then the Venetians should have the sole custody of the Mouth of the River Po. They also of Ancona were offended that the Venetians challenged the absolute dominion of the Adriatick Sea and exacted Custom from those that sailed there And hereof they complain'd to the Pope whose Duty it is to see that no new Taxes be imposed He therefore immediately commanded the Venetians to take off that Imposition who answered him in these very words That the Pope did not perfectly understand the matter and that when he did he would be able to judg better of it Gregory could not make an end of this matter to his mind because he was forced to go to the Council which he had called at Lyons Thither also went Paleologus Emperor of Constantinople with a great Retinue and made the Greeks comply and subscribe to the Opinion of the Church of Rome now the thirteenth time they having so often revolted Nay farther some Noblemen of Tartary were induced by his Authority to receive Baptism Mean time the Western Empire being vacant Rodolphus Earl of Assia is made Emperor by the Electors upon condition that he would go to Rome the next year to receive the Crown there But the Florentines who were Guelphs immediately turned out their Countrymen the Gibellins though they had been restored
them by right of inheritance which for many years they maintained against the power of the Turk who made many attempts to make seizure of it About the same time also Dabuson the Great Master of Rhodes valiantly defended his City against Mahomet causing him to raise his Siege and retire with disgrace The fear of the Turk by their Retreat out of Italy being extinguished Sixtus re-assumed his former designs and in order thereunto favoured the party of the Venetians who made War upon Hercules da Este Duke of Ferrara by these means all Italy was put into a new flame of War being divided into diverse Parties and Factions On one side were the Pope the Venetians Genoueses and those of Siena with other Cities allied in a Confederacy On the other were Ferdinand King of Naples the Florentines Lodowick Sforza Protector of the State of Milan during the minority of the young Duke The Pope in favour of his own Party managed his War with the Spiritual as well as with the Temporal Arms for in the year 1482. he Excommunicated all his Enemies and as many as took their part or favoured their Cause and encouraged René Duke of Lorain and Anjou to return into Italy and recover his Kingdom of Naples But René being otherwise employed could not make use of this opportunity which was offered and therewith Ferdinand being enraged entered the Dominions of the Pope with a great Army and approached to the Gates of Rome with which Sixtus being greatly incensed issued out an Army against him under the command of Robert Malatesta and both Armies joyning Battel in a place called Campo Morto near Velitri Sixtus had the fortune of the day and to overthrow his Enemy many were slain on the place many principal Officers taken and carried in triumph into Rome and Ferdinand himself narrowly escaped by flight Three days after which Victory Malatesta died not without some suspicion of being poisoned Not long after a Peace being concluded between Pope Sixtus and the King of Naples all the Prisoners were set at liberty amongst which were the Cardinals Colonna and Savelli who at the beginning of the War were as disaffected persons committed to custody This War being in this manner ended the Pope turned his Arms upon the Venetians in favour of Hercules Duke of Ferrara lest that State being too powerful for him should augment their Force by the addition of that Dukedom and in regard that State would not give ear to his admonitions and desist from prosecution of their War at his command the Pope made use of his spiritual Arms Excommunicating all the Subjects under the Dominions of Venice and entering into League with all the Confederate Princes of Italy waged the most dangerous War that ever the Venetians had sustained and certainly had proved fatal to them had not Lodowick Sâ—forza Duke of Milan made a separate Peace with them against the sense and opinion of all the other Confederates Sixtus having by these many Wars and several ways exhausted his Treasury contrived by sale of new Offices never before known to replenish his Coffers he also imposed new Taxes and raised the old ones but that which most reflected on his Reputation and blemished him with the character of a covetous person was that he decimated the Prelates and laid new impositions on the Clergy but to do this Pope justice and give him his due never was any more generous or munificent in his gifts or more delighted to do good offices than this for he freely and at his own charge maintain'd Andrew Paleologo Prince of the Morea with Leonard di Focco Despor of Albania who had been deposed and exterminated their Dominions by the Turk he likewise with great magnificence and courtesie treated the Queens of Cyprus and Bosna whom the Turk had forced to abandon their Dominions and fly for refuge under his protection Also when the Kings of Denmark Swedeland Norway and Gothland with the Dukes of Saxony and Calabria being moved and guided by their Devotion came to visit the Roman Sea he received them with great State and treated them with a magnificence becoming Kings And when in the year of Jubile Ferdinand of Aragon King of Naples came to gain Indulgences at Rome he remitted to him the yearly Tribute which he was obliged to pay for that Kingdom and in lieu thereof contented himself with the yearly acknowledgment of a White Horse with its Furniture which is continued to this day And farther to demonstrate his generous and great Soul he re-built the Hospital of S. Spirito for maintainance and education of young Children he built the Church of S. Mary of Peace he adorned the Basilicon of S. Peter with new Windows making the Church more lightsome and pleasant than before he repaired the Palace of Lateran as also the Churches of the Holy Apostles with several other Churches The Pons Janicularis or the Bridg of Janicula being ruined he took up all the Stones and built an other Bridg over Tybur in the place thereof which since that time is called by the name of Ponte Sesto or the Bridg of Sixtus He cleared all the Common sewers of Rome making conveyances for the sullage of the City to run into the Tybur he repaired many Aquaeducts and Fountains and brought the brazen Statue of M. Aurelius from an obscure place and erected it in the more open Area of the Capitol It was he that reduced the Vatican Library into such a condition as hath made it famous through all the world for he not only brought Books thither from all parts of Europe but left also certain Rents and Revenues for the increase of them with Pensions also to the Library-keepers and under-Officers On the Pedestal of his Statue in the Library these Verses are written Templa Domum expositis vicos fora maenia pontes Virgineam Trivii quod reparatis aquam Prisc a licet Nautis Statuas dare commoda Portus Et Vaticanum cingere Christe jugum Plus tamen urbs debet nam quae squalore latebat Cernitur in celebri Bibliotheca loco In short there was nothing which tended to the glory and ornament of the City which was neglected by him and such was his zeal and power in defence of the Privileges of the Church that he would never suffer them to be infringed nor did any Prince offer him an injury or indignity which he did not return with due revenge As for instance appears by the War he made in confederacy with Venice and Genoua against the Duke of Ferrara and his Allies the which he managed with so much heat that when the Venetians made a separate Peace without his consent or approbation he so highly resented it that it brought him to a fit of the Gout which increased on him with that violence that he died thereof on the 13th of August 1484. having held the Pontifical Sea for the space of 13 years and four days having arrived the age of 70 years and 22 days At
the Pope should send a Nuntio into Germany to advise the Diet which was to be held at Spira on the beginning of the next year following and assure them of his resolution to assemble a General Council at Vicenza at the time formerly prefixed But in regard this City was under the Dominion of the Venetians the Pope thought fit to intimate first this intention to the Senate before he signified this resolution at Spira the which was advisedly considered for the Venetians rejected the proposal being jealous of the ill consequences which the concourse of such multitudes might produce to their State and in regard they had lately made a Peace with the Sultan they apprehended that a Treaty and Consultation held in one of their Towns for uniting in a Confederacy against him and carrying on a War might be the occasion of a Rupture and breach of the Peace which lately they had with great charge and much labour concluded upon which answer from the Venetians the Pope was forced to take other measures In the mean time the Cardinal Coutarini lay under the severe censure of the Pope having been accused for behaving himself with too much easiness at Regensburg in matters which concerned the interest of the Church for that he seemed as if he had been a little shaken and staggered with the subtil Arguments against the Doctrin of Transubstantiation and heard with too much indifferency the discourses which tended to the diminution of the Papal Authority But the Cardinal Fregosa being his friend defended him in despight of all his enemies until such time as returning to the Pope at Luca he rendered such an account of all matters transacted in his Embassy as gave the Pope entire satisfaction This was the state of Affairs towards the end of the year 1541. when at the beginning of 1542. the Pope dispatched John Mora the Bishop of Modena to the Diet held at Spira under Ferdinand the Emperors brother giving them to understand that the Pope continued his resolution of holding a General Council which he had for some time deferred in expectation of that good issue which it was hoped the Diets and National Conventions would have produced in the settlement of Religion but seeing that those means had failed he now again re-assumed his former deliberation about a Council which he should gladly cause to be assembled in Germany were not the fatigues of so long a Journey and the alteration of Air dangerous to a person of his age and therefore after he had thought of Mantoua Vicenza Ferrara Bologna and Piacenza for places proper and convenient for such a Convention He did at length pitch upon Trent as a City without exception being situated on the Frontiers of Germany and therefore did now unalterably appoint a Council there to be opened on the 13th of August next ensuing desiring all those there present at this Diet that they would lay aside all Animosities and Factions and appear at this Council with clear and sincere souls to favour the cause of God and the truth of the Gospel Upon this proposal Ferdinand and the other Princes which favoured the Cause of the Roman Church returned their thanks to the Pope saying that since there was no City in Germany judged convenient for this Council that they were contented with this assignment of Trent where they promised to come and there to be assistant But the Protestants refused to accept of this intimation alledging that the Pope had neither Authority to indict a Council nor that Trent was a place convenient for it which was the cause that no farther resolution was taken hereupon at this Diet. Howsoever the Pope proceeded forward in his intention and published his Bull dated the two and twentieth of May for assembling a Council at Trent to meet on the first of November following the which was dispatched from Rome to all the Princes of Christendom but without any great success For in the month of July Francis the French King had denounced War against the Emperor having in a Manifesto published his reasons for it in such severe terms as greatly reflected on the honor of the Emperor and which so much provoked him to anger in that ill humor wherein he was newly returned from his unhappy adventure before Algier into Spain that when the Bull was delivered ro him he gave this answer that he was in no manner satisfied therewith in regard that it made no distinction in the terms and stile thereof between him and the King of France for tho he had refused no pains nor spared expence to compass the assembling of a Council and that the French King on the contrary had endeavoured by his Embassadors at Spira to nourish discords and so to embroil the affairs of Religion as to put them into a condition beyond all hopes or possibility of accommodation yet this Bull treated the disservices of the French with the same equality of merit as it did the unwearied zeal of Him the Emperor whose great incumbence it had always been to render faithful and effectual Offices of Duty to the Church And then rehearsing the many provocations the French King had given him he desired the Pope to consider if the Behaviour of that King towards him did correspond with a design or intention of advancing the interest of Christendom or did appear with such a face or guise of Peace and Reconciliation as was necessary at such a time when a General Council was to be convened of which we may then conceive the most promising assurances of success when it commences with Candor Friendship and Charity which are the best and most excellent dispositions towards the establishment of truth and peace But seeing that the French King hath ever countermined and disturbed this course some other way was to be found for the settlement of Religion besides a Council and in the mean time he desired that the Pope would attribute the disappointment thereof to the French King only to whom it was necessary that he should declare himself a publick enemy in case he ever hoped to expect good from a Council in the settlement of Peace and Religion in the world The French King being well assured that the War which he had commenced at this unseasonable time would certainly be interpreted as prejudicial to Religion and as if he favoured the Protestant cause did therefore to forestal such suggestions publish most severe Edicts against the Protestants forbidding them to assemble at any Meetings causing all their Books written in defence of their Doctrin to be burnt and enjoyning the Sorbonists to make severe inquisitions concerning such who observed not Fish days or days of Abstinence or said not their Prayers in Latin or in any manner contradicted or withstood the Principles or Doctrins of the Catholick Church Moreover he wrote an Apology for himself to the Pope in answer to what the Emperor had accused him of recalling to memory the hard and sacrilegious usage which he had practised against
soon as it was convenient revenged the blood of his Friend Starace in such a signal manner that the Pope changed his Note and began to applaud him and â—estow the Character on him of a most Excellent Governour These Commotions happened at Naples some few days after Sixtus was elected Pope and before he was scarce warm in his Chair for had he been well setled therein it may reasonably be collected from some sayings of his that he would rather have nourished and somented those broils then instigated the Vice-King to punish the Authors of them for having always had an ambition to convert the feud of that Kingdom into an actual possession he would have made use of those late disturbances to inflame the minds of the people and exasperate them against the Government as a means to introduce his own Authority into the place thereof and so much may be collected from his words one day to Cardinal Rusticucci when discoursing of the death of Starace This Man said he might have done us great Service had he lived at least one year longer Sixtus all this time would not suffer or endure any Counsellour to advise or direct him in his Affairs but affected to manage all by his own wisdom and conduct howsoever he was desirous of Confidents and familiar Acquaintance with whom he might discourse matters and use for Spies to inform him of all passages in the World amongst this sort of Creatures his Nephew Cardinal Montalto possessed a considerable share of his affection for though he was but a young Man yet he was of a mature judgment and for his years well practised in the Affairs of the World howsoever he gave him this caution that he should beware how the kindness he had for him did encourage him to a confidence of making any request for Benefits or favours either for himself or others the like Admonition he gave also to his Sister and his other Nephews whom he tenderly loved and laboured to make rich oftentimes forbidding them to ask any thing of him For said he I charge you never to make any motion to me in behalf of any for we resolve to do all our selves and consider that what bribes soever you take are but unlawful and ill-gotten goods but what Money you receive from us will be hallowed and blessed Notwithstanding this severity and morose humour of Sixtus he would sometimes divertise himself with more pleasant and delightful entertainments amongst which he took a particular contentment to read a Book of Memoirs or recital of several passages which in the time when he was a young Frier he had wrote for his own remembrance the which being now Pope he was much pleased to read and contemplate One whereof was That being at Macerata he had occasion to buy a pair of shooes for which the Shoo-maker demanded seven Giulios or three shillings and six pence English Frier Montalto desirous to get them cheaper offered him three shillings and assured him that some time or other he would bring him the other six pence Yes said the Shoo-maker and when when you are Pope I warrant you Yes said he stay but till then and I promise to pay you the Money with full Interest until that time The Shoo-maker laughing delivered him the shooes and said since I find you disposed to accept the Popedom be sure you remember to pay this Debt when you are exalted to that Dignity Sixtus as I say reading this passage in his Book immediately wrote to Macerata to know if this Shoo-maker were living which when he understood he ordered the Governour of the place to send him up by one of his Officers The poor Shoo-maker surprized and affrighted with the news that the Pope desired to see him in Rome for he neither remembred any thing either of the shooes or of the Giulio it being a matter of forty years standing so that at every step he made he was still thinking and wondring at these Summons recalling to mind all the sins he had committed in his life considering for which of them he was thither cited Being come to Rome and introduced to the Pope's presence He asked him whether he remembred ever to have seen him at Macerata the poor Shoo-maker trembling told him No. Nor do you remember ever to have sold me a pair of shooes No said the poor Fellow shrinking up his shoulders but said the Pope we well remember that we are your Debtor and have sent for you to pay you your Money for we owe you a Giulio on account of a pair of shooes which we are now to pay you with Interest according to agreement and so calling for the Steward of his House to pay him the Giulio with the Interest upon it for forty years which amounted to two Giulios more he then dismissed the Shoo-maker bidding him go in peace The Shoo-maker having received his three Giulios murmured and complained very much that the Pope should send for him and bring hâ—m from so remote a place and from his Trade and Employment which was above twenty Crowns charge and damage to him onely to give him three Giulios or eighteen pence which he always carried in his hand and complained to every one he met The news of the Shoo-maker's laments being brought to the Pope by his Spies he presently sent for him again and demanded of him if he had a Son the Shoo-maker answering yes and that he was an honest good Priest of the Order of the Servi whereupon the Pope caused him to be called to Rome and before the departure of his Father invested him in a small Bishoprick within the Kingdom of Naples and then bid the Shoo-maker make up his Account and see to what sum the Interest of his Giulio had amounted Many are the stories of this nature recounted of this Pope which we shall omit contenting our selves to have given the Reader this familiar Tale which seems too light and frivolous for History yet since it is our end and design to give a Character of the Popes their humour and disposition may some times be more clearly shewn by familiar passages than by the more profound transactions of business The Jesuits who formerly were in high esteem with Gregory XIII and influenced his Counsels in such manner as that he acted nothing but by their pleasure and direction were very studious to insinuate themselves in the like good Opinion of Sixtus and to that end courted Cardinal Montalto inviting him often to the Recreations and Exercises of their Schools that if possible they might prefer a Confessor to the Pope which motion when it was made to Sixtus he in great indignation answered That it were better that the Jesuits confessed to the Pope than the Pope to the Jesuits Howsoever they still continued their courtship towards him and invited him one day to hear Mass in the new Chappel built by Gregory and being introduced thereunto by way of the Cloisters he was detained a while by the young
endowed it with a plentiful Revenue But amongst all the magnificent structures which he hath raised there is none so famous and worthy of his Name as the Vatican Library being about three hundred and eighteen foot in length and sixty nine in breadth on the Walls are painted all the General Councils in Fresco with the famous Libraries mentioned by antient Authors as also the manner of raising the Guglia or Obelisque before St. Peters At the entry to this Library are two Statues of Marble that on the right hand represents Aristides an antient Philosopher of Smyrna that on the lest is Hypolitus who first invented the perpetual Kalendar he lived fourteen hundred years ago The Books are all kept in Presses containing twenty thousand Manuscripts and sixteen thousand Books which are printed round about thee first Chamber the Pictures are placed of all those who have been Library-keepers since Sixtus V. The Books commonly shewn here to Strangers are The antient Copy of the Septuagint a vast Bible in Hebrew a little Book written on the bark of a Tree certain Sermons with Annotations wrote by Thomas Aquinas and with his own hand an old Terence wrote one thousand two hundred years ago a Letter which Henry VIII of England wrote to Anne of Bolen with his own hand as also his Book against Luther hereunto is added the Duke of Vrbin's Library bequeathed to this place as also that of the Prince Palatine Frederick transported from Heidelberg to the Vatican after that Town was plundered by the Duke of Bavaria All which and many other rare Works of the like nature were performed at the charge of this Pope which are now extant at Rome and commonly seen and observed by Travellers Besides all which he built several other Colleges Monasteries and places of Charity at Bologna and in his own Country And at a vast expence he turned the poor Village of Montalto where he was born into a City encompassing it about with a Wall to perform which he was forced to cut through a Rock and threw down a high Hill to make it equal to the lower Level and to give some more esteem and honour to this place he made it a Bishoprick endowing it with a thousand Crowns of yearly Revenue besides many other priviledges and immunities which he bestowed both on the Diocese and the Government of the City during the time of which Work he built a Bridg at Rome over the Tybur which was of great use and benefit to the Trade and Commerce of the City called at this day il ponte Sisto tras Tevere Thus far have we discoursed concerning the humour and disposition of this Pope his Conduct and Wisdom in the management of Affairs relating to Rome and the Church together with his Munificence and greatness of his Soul in matters of building and stately Structures which have perpetuated his memory to these times Let us now proceed to other particulars which may demonstrate his dexterity and conduct of Affairs relating to Negotiations with forein Princes and in what manner he studied to fortifie the Ecclesiastical State as well with the Sword of St. Paul as the Keys of St. Peter In order whereunto in the first place he formed and setled the Militia of the Church in so good a method that he was able within the space of one Month to bring twenty thousand fighting Men into the Field and in the next place he consulted with the most knowing Enginiers in what manner the Ecclesiastical State might be most commodiously and with most advantage fortified the which was executed with most Labour and Art on that side which borders on the Kingdom of Naples which was a just cause of jealousie to the Spaniards who by the words and actions of this Pope had long suspected that his Intentions and Designs tended towards that Kingdom the possession of which he had for a long time swallowed in his thoughts resolving not longer to content himself with the bare feud or tribute for it the which jealousie was encreased when they found the Pope intent in building ten new Gallies for defraying the cost of which and of their maintenance he imposed a new Tax on the people of Rome and the whole Ecclesiastical State About this time the Cantons of Switzerland which continued firm to the Church of Rome sent their Ambassadours to the Pope not onely to make their acknowledgments of Obedience to the Papal Sea but likewise to inform his Holiness of the unhappy state and condition of their Country caused by the neighbourhood of the Protestant Cantons who daily sent Preachers into their Dominions who seducing many from the Catholick Doctrine their numbers and force did daily encrease For prevention of which and to confirm the doubtful in the Catholick Religion they desired that the Pope would be pleased to send his Nuntio into those parts which would be an encouragement to the people to continue in the way of truth as well as an honour to their Country The Pope with all readiness embracing the Proposition dispatched Baptista Santorio Bishop of Fricarico and Steward of his Houshold to be and remain his Nuntio within the Dominions of the Catholick Cantons Santorio being there arrived found all things in great disorder the people living without as it were any respect or dependance on the Roman Sea by reason that for many years the Popes had not thought this Country worthy the charge or maintenance of a Nuntio therein But now Santorio appearing there with the Character and in the quality of a Nuntio caused speedily a Diet to be convened in the Month of October 1586. at which two things were agreed and concluded highly advantageous to the Papal Authority The first was that all the Deputies which were present in great numbers received the Communion from the hand of the Nuntio and then entered into strict League and Confederacy together solemnly swearing before the Altar to maintain and uphold the Papal Authority and to sacrifice their lives and fortunes in the defence thereof In the second place they gave full power and Authority unto the Nuntio to exercise a free and Arbitrary Jurisdiction over all Ecclesiastical persons within their Dominions subjecting them to his Courts as well in criminal as in civil Causes which was a concession that the Wise Republick of Venice did never judge fit to grant notwithstanding all the bluster and noise with which the Popes required and challenged it from them But this Power given to the Nuntio was the cause soon after of some disturbance amongst the Cantons for it happened That one day the Nuntio having Complaints brought him against a certain Priest for scandal and misbehaviour he immediately issued out his Warrant to the chief Constable and his Officers to take and seize the person of that Priest and put him into safe custody the Priest hearing of this prosecution fled into the Dominions of the Protestant Cantons where the Officers pursuing him took him and by violence and force brought
the success soon quieted their minds and the Great Duke to shew a confidence in his people put Arms into their hands which had not been accustomary for many years past Thus did matters pass with various successes but most commonly in favour of the Confederates until the season proper for action ended when the Winter approaching the Treaties interrupted by the War were again reassumed And indeed Vrban discovered not only an inclination but a desire of Peace for being burthened with years and weary of the cares which War carries with it was desirous to end his days in calmness and quiet and though his Nephews endeavoured to disguise matters which were the most tragical and sad yet the clamours of the people which had suffered under the devastations and pressures of War had come to his Ears wherefore he consented to a Treaty with the restitution of Castro entreating the Cardinal Bichi who was sent by the Court of France for the Office of Mediation to hasten the Peace that the short residue of his life might terminate in quietness The Congregation of State erected purposely for direction of the Military Affairs concurred in their desires with the Pope to which Cardinal Barberin though much against his will was forced to condescend knowing that with the restitution of Castro a dishonourable Peace was to be the consequence of an unhappy War With these dispositions towards a Peace Cardinal Bichi departed from Rome and in his way to Venice passed through Florence where in Discourse he understood from the Great Duke that saving his own Rights and Interests the Confederates would be satisfied with the full restoration of the Duke of Parma The Cardinal being arrived at Venice was followed by the Dukes of Modena and Parma Gondi and Testi were already there debating with Nani and Gussoni whom the Senate had deputed for that purpose It was now the beginning of the year 1644. when the Cardinal Bichi proposed That Absolution and Pardon should be demanded by France for Duke Edward and that Castro should be restored to him and that the rights of the Montists should remain as before and that the Confederates should restore that which they possessed belonging to the Church And to take off the diffidence which the Confederates conceived of non-performance of Articles by the Barberins he proposed the word of France for Guarantie upon declaration and promise that their Arms should be employed against him that should fail in execution of the Agreement Vrban falling extreamly sick whilst matters were in Treaty Bichi hastned the conclusion considering that his death would cause great alteration in the Treaty and as a preparation thereunto proposed a cessation of Arms to which the Confederates assented being sensible that such an accident could not happen without great revolutions in the Dominions of the Church and that with the death of the Pope the Authority of the Nephews ceasing those motives would vanish which had been the Original and cause of the War but the Pope's recovery altered all those Counsels which were contrived in case of his death and induced them to hasten a conclusion of the Peace The Articles therefore proposed by the Cardinal being debated in several Assemblies were at last concluded and agreed and subscribed at Venice by Cardinal Bichi for France by Giovanni Nani for Venice by Battista Gondi for the Great Duke and by the Marquis Fassoni for Modena and though the Duke of Parma refused to subscribe upon certain difficulties he made yet being over-ruled by the Confederates he was forced to concur The Cardinal with this Agreement posted in all hast to Rome being entertained in all places of the Ecclesiastical State with the Acclamations and Prayers of the People longing for Peace The Articles subscribed by the Confederates began with a Preamble and Declaration That they had entered into this War with no other Design than for the restoration of Prince Edward reserving in all other matters their most constant Obedience to the Pope and the Holy See That all acts of Hostility be suspended and that the Confederate Princes withdraw their Forces into their own Dominions That all Fortifications raised during this present War shall be demolished on one side and the other To the Persons and Places which had served or rendred themselves to any other Party Pardon was granted Prisoners were set at liberty the Religious Persons who had withdrawn themselves were permitted to return and the Sequestration was taken off from the Rents of the Knights of Malta and all Rights were clearly reserved to the Parties as aforesaid For execution of all which Hostages were given to the French King and the King for satisfaction of both Parties declared that he having become Guarantie for the Peace his Arms should be employed against those who observed not the Articles and in favour of those who executed the Accord Thus Castro was rendered and the Accord on all sides executed and Peace ensued to the satisfaction of the Pope and quiet of Italy but Vrban did not long enjoy the happiness of this Peace for being entered into the seventy seventh year of his age he died on the 29th of July in the year 1644. having reigned twenty one years wanting eight days He was certainly a Person of high prudence generosity and fit for Business in his youth he was esteemed a great Poet and excellently well versed in all the Books of Antient Poesie He was very munificent in his publick Buildings and in his own private Concernments he was no less splendid having in his life-time erected a stately Monument for himself in a corner of St. Peter's Church near the Sepulchre of Paul III. and adorned it with pillars of Marbles according to the contrivance and direction of Cavalier Bernini with this Inscription Vrbani VIII Barberini Florent Pont. Max. In Vaticano Tumulum Excitavit Ornavit Johannes Laurentius Berninus Eques His greatest fault was Nepotisme or too great a fondness for his Nephews and indulgence to his whole Family which he was resolved to make Rich and Great and indeed he had opportunity so to do in the long time of his Pontificate having reigned almost twenty one years during which at nine several Creations he made seventy four Cardinals of which number of seventy four three were his own Nephews viz. Francisco Barberino Antonio Barberino the Capuchin commonly known by the name of Cardinal Barberino to distinguish him from the other Cardinal Antonio the younger Brother of Cardinal Francisco who was Prior of the Order of Jerusalem and a Knight of the Great Cross of Malta and made General of the Ecclesiastical Army in the place of Taddeo Barberino the Prefect who for his cowardise and ill success was recalled from that Charge INNOCENT X. URBAN VIII having as is said breathed his last on the 29th of July the Cardinals then residing in Rome to the number of thirty nine assembled at a Congregation in order to dispose and settle matters for the more quiet and
punish those Crimes in them which savoured of partiality or corruption Examples hereof we have in many kinds and particularly it is not to be forgotten that a certain Nobleman of Rome having been guilty of many enormous Crimes could not be protected from his Justice by the Power and Interest of his Friends and Relations for having threatned one of the Judges to be revenged one day upon him in the vacancy of the Sea he was apprehended and accused upon those words which though they would bear no action in rigour yet they were so severely interpreted against him being aggravated by his former Offences that he was condemned to die and accordingly suffered in the publick face of all the City Another instance we have of his fortitude in the punishment of a Judg of the Court for Bribery whom he committed to Prison and afterwards condemned to the Gallies With the like impartiality and resolution he punished the people of Firma for having in a Mutiny and Sedition killed Viscount Vbert their Governour in prosecution of which justice he sent Count Vidman his chief Captain with some Troops against the City that those who were the principal leaders in this Sedition might without fear or favour be brought to condign punishment and accordingly some were imprisoned others banished others fined or sent to the Gallies or put to death and that he might attemper in some measure Clemency with his Justice he enclined a favourable Ear to the submissive petitions of that People and received them into his gracious favour and mercy Nor was his justice less eminent in the punishment of Mascambruno who was Sub datary of the Apostolical Chamber in which Office having behaved himself without regard to the faith and integrity required he forged many false Writings affixing the Pope's Seal to them and counterfeited his Hand besides many other accusations of bribery and corruption all which being proved against him he was devested of his Office and dignity of Priesthood and publickly executed in the face of the whole City It is also farther to be added in commendation of this Pope that he restored the Elogy which Alexander III had inscribed in the great Hall of the Vatican in memory of the assistances which the Venetians had given to the Church and which Vrban VIII without any just cause or reason had blotted out and defaced He was also munificent in publick Buildings and adornments of the City and according to the generous temper of his nature had been much more had not his Moneys been intercepted by Olympia Howsoever he enlarged the common Prisons of the City and built others which were before so narrow and streight as to be noisom and unhealthy to the Prisoners He also finished the Walls of the City on the other side of the Tyber which were begun by his Predecessour Vrban VIII He farther repaired and adorned the Church of St. John Lateran being much decayed since the time of Constantine the Great who had built it for a Chappel to his Palace and had been neglected by former Popes But more especially munificent was he towards the great Church of St. Peter for that a Memorial might remain of his Beneficence amongst other Popes to that place he added many and various Works and beautified those places which wanted Ornament but what the particulars were will best appear by this following Inscription which was engraven over the great Gate of this Church Basilicam Principis Apostolorum In hanc molis Amplitudinem Multiplici Romanorum Pontificum Aedificatione perductam Innocentius X. Pont. Max. Novo Caelaturae Opere Ornatis Sacellis Interjectis in utraque Templi Ala Marmoreis Columnis Strato è Vario lapide Pavimento Magnificentius Terminavit Besides all which publick Works many others are recorded of him by Ciconius in the life of this Pope to whom the Reader may be referred In the beginning of 1649. the year of Jubily approaching he caused great provisions to be made for entertainment of Pilgrims and that there should be no want of Bread and Wine in the City he sent Ofcers and Purveyors into all the neighbouring Countries to buy up the Corn and fill up the granaries of the City and lest in so general a concourse of people who flocked to enjoy the Indulgences and Pardons granted at that season Provisions should be raised to excessive Rates care was taken to moderate the prices and render every thing cheap and commodious for Pilgrims On the 24th of December 1649. the year of Jubily began when the Pope in presence of all the Cardinals Ambassadours and Magistrates of the City opened the Holy Gate which being again shut by him at the end of the following year this Inscription was engraven upon a Cross of stone over the portal of the Gate Innocentius X. Pont. Max. Portam Hanc Sanctam Reseratam Clausam AB Vrbano VIII Pont. Max. Anno Jubilei MDCXXV Aperuit Clausit Anno Jubilei MD.C.L. About this time a Book was published in France written by an unknown Author which aimed to subvert the Pope's Authority by proving that there was an equality in Order and Government between the Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul or that the Authority of St. Paul was not subordinate to that of St. Peter This Book falling under the examination and scrutiny of the Inquisition was condemned as heretical and the same Censure was passed thereupon by the Pope who caused a Brief against it to be affixed in all publick places of Rome But the Opinions of Jansenius Bishop of Ypres more successfully prevailed in France and Flanders for prevention whereof and to give a stop to the farther spreading of those Tenents which were five in number a Congregation composed of Cardinals and Divines was appointed by Innocent to examine the several Articles and to give their Opinion upon the same And to quicken the Pope and make him more zealous in the Work both the King of France and Queen Regent sent their Letters to the Pope desiring him in a matter of such importance the determination whereof would tend to the settlement and quiet of Mens minds and Consciences to interpose with the final Sentence of his Infallibility and Apostolical Doctrine In like manner most of the Bishops of France desired the Pope's distinct determination of every one of those five Propositions for though Vrban VIII of happy memory had in general terms published a Bull against the Book of Jansenius and had confirmed the Decrees of Pius V. and Gregory XIII against Michael Baius whose Doctrines concurred with those of Jansenius yet were not convincing to the multitude for want of a distinct explication and particular Sentence against every one of those five Propositions wherefore the Pope after discussion of all those Points by the aforesaid Congregation at which he was for the most part personally present he promulged these his determinations thereupon and affixed these distinct Notes and Censures to every Proposition which we have thought fit to deliver in Latin
Dominion should govern and transport them from whence great confusions and bloudy Wars have arisen as the Annals of our times are able to attest In the beginning of this year a quarrel arose at Rome between the Contestabile Colonna and the Cavalier Chiaia Captain of the Pope's Guards caused by a Dispute they had for a Bank or Seat at a Comedy An other quarrel this Colonna maintained with the Ambassadour of Toscany for not resigning to him the principal place at a Visit which they made to the Princess Farnese An other quarrel he created not long after at Milan with the Prince of Avellino on occasion of a Dispute about the Title of Excellency all which had proceeded farther than to words had they been to be managed by other measures than those of wise and cautious Italians About this time the Duke of Bracciano Father of the Cardinal of that name dying at Rome the Duke of Nerula his Brother a Person of great parts and abilities succeeded to the Estate and to the Inheritance taking on himself the Title of Highness which he caused his Subjects to inscribe in all the Memorials and Writings they made to him Howsoever such as were Foreiners and independent to the Duke refused to give him other Title than that of Excellency until the Cardinal de Retz was persuaded to pass that Complement upon him and then the Prince Pamfilio and all the Princes of Rome who were in any wise considerable for Birth Riches or Power began to assume the honour of Highness to prevent which and the many Controversies which might arise from these beginnings the Pope gave Order that Title of Highness should be given to no Prince who was Vassal or Feudatary of the Church unless to the Duke of Parma onely and as to all the Families descended from Popes as also to all the Roman Barons they were not to pretend to a Title above that of Colonna and Orsina which was no other than that of Excellency In the year 1661. one Francis Borri born at Milan vented strange and unheard of Heresies and Enthusiastical Doctrines at Rome drawing unto himself many followers and Disciples by a feigned Hypocrisie and disimulation tending to sublime Notions and elevations of a spiritual Life The Doctrines he taught which he pretended to have received from Divine Inspiration were That the Blessed Virgin was really a Goddess because she was Mother of the Word Eternal which was God And to express this Mystery to his Disciples he maintained that the Blessed Virgin was the Holy Ghost Incarnate in the Womb of St. Anne And for this reason he stiled the Blessed Virgin most Holy Goddess and onely Daughter of the Most High He taught farther That in the Holy Eucharist there was not only the Natural Body of Christ but that of the Virgin Mary joined with it That besides Hell and Purgatory and Limbo there was a fourth place appointed for the receptacle of Infidels That the Book of Ecclesiastes wrote by Solomon was not Scripture but a Treatise full of Errours composed by him at the time when he remained in Original Sin And that it was not necessary to make confession of secret sins in the Ear of a Priest These and many other wild Fancies being figments formed in the hot and disturbed brain of Borri the Inquisition had no sooner notice of but they sent out Warrants to take him of which he having notice fled first to Inspruck howsoever his Heresies were examined and condemned by the Inquisition and he who was the Author of them was burnt in Effigie of which when Borri had notice he went to Strasbourg where to be revenged of the Pope he burn'd him also in Effigie Thence passing through Holland he vented a thousand chimerical Opinions at Roterdam Thence he went to Coppenhagen in Denmark where he made profession of Chymistry and wherein ha was so excellent an Operator that he created a real belief in King Frederick III. that he had the Philosopher's Stone by which he was able to turn any metal into Gold but that King dying his Son Christian V. was far from such a belief and discovering him to be an Impostor gave him five hundred Crowns and a Passport and so dismissed him from his Dominions Borri afterwards designing to travel into Turky was in Moravia on his way thither seised by the Emperour's command and sent to Rome where being sentenced by the Inquisition he was in the year 1670. condemned to perpetual imprisonment The which Story I the more willingly mention because I remember in the year 1678. to have seen him at Rome a Prisoner in the Castle of St. Angelo The Duke of Crequi who as we have said resided at Rome with character of Ambassadour Extraordinary from his most Christian Majesty was at first received and caressed with all the ceremony and respect which that Court was able to express but afterwards the Duke in the greatness of his Spirit not being able to support the pride and disdain which he observed to be lodged in the breast of Don Mario the Brother and the Cardinal Ghigi Nephew to the Pope he retired to evidence the little esteem he had for them by preferring other Cardinals before them in his Visits The Pope highly resenting this neglect and want of due respect received the Ambassadour at all his Audiences with much coldness and indifferency refusing to grant him any thing which he demanded of favour to the King his Master or his Subjects The Pope also plainly told the Ambassadour that he had deferred to make the Complement which he owed to the Ambassadress his Lady until first he had done him right in performance of that honour which was due to his Kindred and Relations Whilest this ill correspondence continued between the Pope and the Ambassadour it happened that a quarrel arose between two French men and three Corsi who were of the Pope's Guard which had lately been recruited with one hundred and fifty Soldiers of the same Country of Corsica The cause of which was this Two French Men to shew their bravery undertook to disarm the Night Petrol of three Corsi which they easily effected because the Officer which was with them commanded them not to fire their Carbines or make resistance for which default he was cashiered the Service and declared uncapable of farther Office and the Soldiers also were punished for cowardise and neglect of their duty It is reported also that Don Mario upbraided the Corsi with ignominious terms saying that they knew not how to make use of their Arms and that upon any other default of this nature he would shave their heads and send them to the Gallies The Corsi to excuse themselves laid some fault on Cardinal Imperiale the Governour who to acquit himself and recover his honour ordered the Bailiffs and Officers which he had employed to make search for some persons in a House adjoyning to the Palace of Farnese where the French Ambassadour lodged to make farther search
of Damascus invading the territories of Jerusalem was met withal by Baldwin and totally routed so that in the pursuit the Christians were with much ado kept off from entring the City of Damascus pel-mel with the Enemy But to return to Pope Lucius he omitted no care nor pains in promoting that so considerable and necessary Expedition and I suppose he was much the more concern'd in his mind for it because before he was Pope he was Cardinal Priest of S. Cross in Jerusalem the Church whereof he almost wholly re-built By his approbation a national Council was held in France of several Bishops and Abbats against Peter Abelardus a Peripatetic Philosopher and a very learned Man who had maintain'd some heterodox Opinions but was in the presence of King Lewis so effectually convinc'd that he not only chang'd his mind but took upon him the life and order of a Monk and afterward together with some of his Scholars led a most holy life secluded from the World in a desert place Lucius after he had been Pope eleven months and four days died and was buried in the Lateran EVGENIVS III. EVGENIVS the Third a Pisan Abbat of S. Anastasius having been chosen a Monk by that holy Man Bernard was created Pope in the Church of S. Caesarius for when the Cardinals could not well agree whom to chuse out of their own number mov'd by an impulse from above they pitch'd upon this most religious Man Eugenius He finding the Romans would be urgent upon him with threats to procure his confirmation of their Senators he fled by night to Sabina accompanied by the College of Cardinals and was consecrated in the Monastery of Farfara and despising not onely the big words of the Romans but defying the worst they could do he drove those Senators to such a straight that he forc'd them to resign their Offices Hereupon he return'd to Rome but perceiving the Citizens were reconcil'd to him only out of design and not heartily and being afraid lest some trap should be laid for him he escap'd to Tivoli the Romans throwing at him Darts and other missile Weapons as he departed After this he went to Pisa and from thence by Sea to France where he persuaded King Lewis to engage in the holy War against the Turks and Saracens who arriving at Constantinople was no better used by the Emperour Emanuel than Conrade of Schwaben had been before him for Lewis taking his advice to pass through the deserts of Syria at a very unseasonable time was reduc'd to such extream necessity that he was compell'd to march his Army harrass'd with the bad way and want of all things to Antioch without entring upon any action This falsity of Emanuel procur'd him the enmity of Roger King of Sicily who mans out a Navy for Greece and seizes from him the Island of Corfu Corinth Thebes and Euboea and had gone up to Constantinople it self if the Venetians had not equipp'd a Fleet of sixty Gallies to hinder his design Roger therefore as God would have it turns to the coast of Asia where the Saracens Fleet had block'd up Lewis King of France then intending to set sail for Palestine from Porto di S. Simon and having got them at an advantage sets upon 'em and routs 'em delivering by this means this Christian King and his Army from destruction In the mean time the Venetian Fleet which was altogether on Emanuel's side retakes all those places which Roger had possest himself of but had been left by him unfortified and without Garisons Roger then leaving King Lewis at Joppa sets sail directly for Constantinople where he burnt the Suburbs in the very sight of the Emperour and carried his Victory so far that for some time he besieged even his Palace and with his own hand gather'd fruit out of his Garden But having got his Fleet together in order to return into Sicily he fell unawares upon the Venetian Navy which was ready prepar'd for a Battel and was by them defeated with the loss of twenty of his Gallies himself hardly escaping by flight While these things were doing Conrade Lewis and Baldwin with joint forces and courages attack'd Damascus which City was built by the Servants of Abraham in a Champain Country and naturally subject to drought but by Art rendred fertile and plentiful for the ground is watered by Channels and guts dug in the Earth and by that means made to abound with all things There is but one small River in that Country which running not far from the City Walls makes a little tongue of Land in which their Camp was pitch'd whereby they easily could hinder the Citizens from fetching Water but a certain Assyrian to whom in difficult matters Baldwin was wont to give great credit over-persuaded him to remove his Camp to the other side of the Town pretending that it might with more ease be there expugnable because the Walls were not so strong which was no sooner done but those of Damascus possess'd themselves of the place where our Men had encamp'd and having entrench'd themselves stop'd all the Water and Provisions that the Christians wanted So that being press'd with hunger and thirst they were forc'd dishonourably to raise the Siege from which Baldwin went to Jerusalem and Lewis and Conrade took their march to Europe whither they return'd An. Dom. 1152. with their Armies which by several accidents were very much shattered Eugenius after having as aforesaid stir'd up the Christians to this Expedition return'd to Rome where he was pompously and heartily entertain'd by the Citizens but having recover'd Terracina Sezza Norba and Rocca di Fumone places which had been seiz'd from the Church by several Lords of the adjacent Country he retir'd to Tivoli for his diversion where soon after he died having sate in the Papal Chair eight years four months and twenty days His body was carry'd to Rome and buried with great state as reason good in St. Peter's Church By his Order and at his charge the Portico of S. Mary Maggiore was built or rather re-edified as appears by the Inscription ANASTASIVS IV. ANASTASIVS the Fourth a Roman Son of Benedict was before Abbat of S. Ruffo in Velitro and now of a Cardinal was made Pope at that time when Alphonso K. of Spain died in his return from the Holy War to whom succeeded his Son Sanctius who soon after being slain in the Christian quarrel in a Battel in Arabia his Brother Ferdinand succeeded him in the Throne Anastasius having obtain'd the Popedom gave a Chalice of most excellent workmanship and vast price to the Lateran Church and in a short time raised a noble structure near the Pantheon now called S. Marca rotunda and many other things he design'd for the honour of the Church and the Ornament of the City if he had lived a little longer Great expectations Men had entertain'd concerning him and hopes that his goodness together with the learning of Richard de S. Victore his Cotemporary would
vindicate those times from obscurity and ignominy for Richard was then a famous Doctor and wrote many things gravely and copiously particularly a Book concerning the Trinity beside that he was an eloquent as well as profound Preacher At this time almost all Europe was afflicted with Famine which put our Pope upon acts of Charity which he perform'd liberally both openly and in secret but he died when he had been Pope one year four months and twenty four days and was buried in the Lateran in a Tomb of Porphyry HADRIAN IV. HADRIAN the Fourth an English man born near S. Albans in Hertfordshire having been sent into Norway to preach the Gospel he converted that Nation to the Christian faith and was therefore by Pope Eugenius made Bishop of Alba and Cardinal Upon the death of Anastasius being elected Pope he was applied to by the Romans both with Prayers and threats for an investiture of their Consuls in the absolute administration of the Government of the City but he positively refused and the Clergy of Rome desiring him to go to the Lateran to be consecrated he also denied so to do unless Arnold of Brescia who had been condemn'd for a Heretick by Eugenius were first expell'd the City This so enrag'd the People that they set upon the Cardinal of S. Pudentiana in the Via Sacra as he was going to the Pope and gave him a wound or two This the Pope took so ill that he set them under Excommunication till at last they chang'd their minds and both banish'd Arnold and forc'd their Consuls to lay down their Offices leaving to the Pope the absolute Power of governing the City Mean time William King of Sicily who succeeded Roger takes the Subburbs of Benevent and both Ceperano and Bauco from the Church which so enrag'd the Pope that he Anathematiz'd him and absolv'd all his Subjects of their Allegiance that so they might be at liberty to rebel But at this time the Emperour Frederick I. of Schwaben was entred into Lombardy with an Army and besieging Tortona which had revolted from the Empire he took it by force and thence with great speed he continued his march towards Rome The Pope was then at Viterbo from whence he went to visit Orvieto and Civita Castellana places belonging to the Church to confirm them in their Allegiance but finding himself unable to cope with the Imperial Army by his Nuntio's he struck up a Peace and met the Emperor near Sutri who alighting from his Horse address'd to him with all that Ceremony which was due to the true Vicar of Christ From hence they went to Rome where Frederick was to be Crown'd by the Pope in S. Peter's Church but the Gates being shut lest any tumult should happen between the Citizens and the Soldiers the Romans yet broke forth by Ponte S. Angelo and set upon the Germans whom they look'd upon as of the Pope's side and kill'd many This unsufferable riot angred the Emperour so that having brought his Army which was encamp'd in the prati di Nerone into the City he drove the Romans from the Vatican and slew and took Prisoners multitudes of them till being appeased by the intercession of the Pope he let those he had taken go free But when afterward according to custom the Pope and Emperour were to go together to the Lateran and found it would be unsafe because of the seditious humour of the Citizens they went first to Magliana and there crossing the River they pass'd by the way of Sabina and Ponte Lucano to the Lateran and perform'd the Coronation with the usual Solemnity While matters went thus at Rome those of Tivoli surrendred themselves to Frederick professing a perfect submission but when he understood that it was a part of S. Peter's Patrimony he restor'd it to Hadrian and without any long stay return'd into Germany The Pope also at the request of the great men of Puglia remov'd to Benevent where by his presence alone he regain'd from William to the Church a great part of his Kingdom In the mean time Paloeologus an illustrious personage came Ambassadour from Emanuel II. Emperour of Constantinople first by Sea to Ancona and then by Land to Benevent with an offer to the Pope of fifty thousand pounds in Gold and a Promise to chase William out of Sicily if upon the good success of the Expedition three maritime Cities of Puglia might be put into his possession which no sooner came to William's Ear but he sued for the Pope's mercy promising not onely to restore what he had taken from the Church but to add somewhat more and that he would employ his Force to constrain the rebellious Romans to their duty if he might be honour'd with the Title of King of both Sicilies The Pope could not grant this because several Cardinals opposed it Wherefore William getting a good Army together enters Puglia after an hostile manner destroying all with fire and sword and setting upon the Greeks and Apulians who were encamp'd near Brundusium he easily overcame them upon which those of Otranto and Puglia immediately made their submissions to him The Pope then was very angry with those Cardinals who had opposed the Peace before and took William into favour and gave him the Title of both Kingdoms he having first taken an Oath thereafter not to attempt to do any thing which might be a detriment to the Church of Rome Matters being thus composed to his mind the Pope taking his journey through the Countries of Cassino Marsi Reati Narin and Todi came at last to Orvieto which place he was the first Pope that made his habitation and beautified He was afterward by the earnest intreaties of the Romans persuaded to go to Rome but being here teiz'd by the Consuls who would be setting up for liberty he went to Arignano where not long after he died having been Pope four years and ten months leaving the Estates of the Church in a very good condition for he had built several Castles on the lake of S Christina and so fortified Radifano with a Wall and Citadel that it was almost inexpugnable The History of these times was written in an elegant style by Richard a Monk of Glugni much quoted by other Writers The body of Pope Hadrian being brought to Rome was buried in S. Peter's Church near the Sepulcre of Pope Eugenius ALEXANDER III. ALEXANDER the Third born at Siena his Father's name Ranuccio upon the death of Hadrian was by the suffrages of twenty two Cardinals chosen Pope though other three Cardinals set up Octavian a Roman Cardinal of S. Clement by the name of Victor which gave beginning to a Schism But Alexander lest the Church of Rome should suffer by the continuance thereof dispatch'd Legats to Frederick the Emperour then laying Siege to Cremona to desire him to interpose his Imperial Authority in extinguishing the Sedition He return'd for Answer that both Popes should betake themselves to Pavia whither he would come and hear their Case