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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	bishop_n	church_n	rome_n	6,168	5	7.0527	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A33698	An account of the court of Portugal, under the reign of the present king, Dom Pedro II with some discourses on the interests of Portugal, with regard to other sovereigns : containing a relation of the most considerable transactions that have pass'd of late between that court, and those of Rome, Spain, France, Vienna, England, &c.	Colbatch, John, 1664-1748.	1700 (1700)	Wing C4991; ESTC R20800	212,299	370

Devotion which the Catholick Kings above all other Princes have ever born in mind and testify'd by their Actions towards the Apostolical See Their meaning was understood well enough at Rome and this Intimation of what they should do gave a strange force to their Arguments and so confirm'd the wavering Pope that he remained ever after steady to their Interest The Portugueses had apparently all the Right on their side but the Spaniards were Masters of Milan Naples and Sicily From this time forward Pope Innocent turned a deaf Ear to all that could be said in Favour of King John of Portugal and could never be brought to grant him that which was never deny'd to an Usurper That Prince had his Agents continually soliciting for him at Rome in his own Name and in behalf of the Clergy and of the three Estates of the Kingdom but all to no purpose The French made the most pressing Instances in his behalf but the Pope did not mind them at that time for France being embroil'd with intestine Dissentions He was sure they could do him no harm Great Court and Application was made to Donna Olympia as we are told by the Conde da Ericeyra who observes that she seldom used to fail in any Temporal Business that she undertook alluding I suppose to a Saying to that purpose which was current at that time in the Courts of Popish Princes where upon any Disappointment of their Affairs at Rome the Nuncio's were sure to be told That if the Business had been solicited by Donna Olympia it had never miscarried But on this occasion Donna Olympia her self could do no good for either she did not heartily espouse the King of Portugal's cause or if she did all her Artifices were ineffectual upon the obdurate Pontiff All the answer that could be got from this and the former Pope besides those frivolous Complaints before mention'd for which satisfaction was still offered was that the Pope as the common Father of Christendom thought himself bound to carry it equally between Castille and Portugal and not acknowledge or oblige one Son when it could not be done without offence to the other but the Portugueses could not perswade themselves that in this case He in any sort acted the part of a common Father whilst to gratify the unreasonable Ambition of the one he did not stick wholly to cast off the other and to use him in a more barbarous manner than he could have done an Infidel But in short the Spaniards were very rugged in their Threats and that stood them in stead of Right and Merit the Portugueses valuing themselves upon their blind Obedience to the Holy See kept within the terms of Respect which instead of gaining ought upon those of Rome gave encouragement to their Insolence Had King John but follow'd the Spaniards Example or come to any vigorous Resolution he had doubtless soon brought his Holiness to a compliance or he might have had a fair opportunity to vindicate his Country's Liberty in a yet more glorious manner than he had done already by shaking off the Spanish Yoke For we must know that all these Applications to the Court of Rome were not made to the end only that his Title might be acknowledged there but in order to have the vacant Sees in his Dominions supplied with Bishops for in a few years after the Revolution there was but one Bishop remaining in Portugal and he not Resident upon his Diocess being obliged to attend the Court and there was a like want of them in the East and West-Indies in the Madera and Cap Verde Islands and upon the Coasts of Africa the Portugueses therefore laboured all they could to make his Holiness sensible of the miserable state of their Churches thus destitute of Pastors petitioning for a supply the King according to the Practice of his Ancestors proposing the Persons for that end and to remove all Objections he agreed that his Nomination of the Bishops should be admitted with the Clause sine Praejudicio Tertij notwithstanding its being a clear Maxim in the Rota and confirmed by the practice of the Roman Church That the simple possession of an Inheritance City or Territory that has Jus Patronatus annext to it gives the right of Presentation to the Possessor but neither the reason of the thing nor the desolate condition of the Orphan Churches could have any weight upon the obstinate Pope He was more apprehensive of the Spanish Threats than the loss of Millions of Souls all that could be got from him was that He would appoint Bishops for Portugal on condition that he might name them de motu proprio he offered indeed another very strange Concession which was that the Bishops he chose of his own mere motion should be the very same Persons that the King had named But the Portugueses could not agree to this Proposal for this among other Reasons that the Popes might make it a Precedent for assuming to themselves a Right of nominating Bishops in after times which would prove a great grievance to the Nation since the Benefices that were already at his Disposal were generally the worst supply'd Things being thus at a stand the Gallicane Church undertook the cause of her Sister of Portugal and took the liberty to mind the Holy Father of his Duty in a Letter written by the Prelates assembled in a Synod which was presented in their Name by Cardinal Francisco Barbarini but the Pope at that time had as little regard to the French Church as he had to the French Coutt The Clergy of that Kingdom sent their Agent to Rome to take care of the concerns of the Portuguese Church as well as their own the Bishops whom King John had nominated sent their humble Petition to his Holiness that they might be admitted to the Exercise of their Charge and their Petition was rejected with scorn the Cardinals of the French Faction did all the good Offices they could but to no purpose Este signalized himself in a very particular manner on this occasion the Pope taking notice that he loytered about the City more than became him ordered him one day to his Diocess saying That it went against his Conscience to see him absent from it so long the Cardinal who was Young and Resolute answered That his Holiness had a great deal of reason to be thus scrupulous but being so much concerned as he was for one single Church he ought not wholly to neglect so many as there were in Portugal unprovided of Bishops and therefore he conjur'd him before God and in the Name of the King of France from whom he had Commission so to do that he would speedily grant Bishops to that Kingdom The Pope not a little surpriz'd at so brisk an Attack was going away without making any other reply than saying I shall pluck the Cap from off that Boy 's Head Este turns to him again and crys If you do I shall put on another of Iron and thereupon retires

Duke of Cadaval was sent to give the Infante an Account how things stood and nothing was further done till towards the Evening which as it is pretended was to give the King time to change his mind but as 't is more likely to perswade the Infante to finish what they had begun He at last Night drawing on accompanied by the Magistrates of Lisbon the Nobility of the Party and a great Concourse of the People went to the Palace where he was received by the Council of State and at the Head of this Company went and lock'd up the King in his Chamber securing all the Passages through which he might escape A Form of Resignation was then drawn up read and approved of by the Council which before they broke up was sent to the King for him to Sign and accordingly it was brought back sign'd by him but it is not known by what Means he was prevailed upon to do it The Prince takes up his Lodgings that Night in the Palace he had no sooner thrown himself upon the Bed it being very late but a Message came to him from Alfonso to desire that John the Dog-Keeper might be sent to keep him Company the Message drew Tears from the Prince's Eyes 't is pretended that he wept in commiseration of his Brothers weakness and little sense of his Condition tho' 't is not improbable but the Dethroned King took this way to make his Brother sensible of the ill Usage he had met with perhaps from their hands that had been sent to make him Sign the Resignation which but the same Morning as hath been shown the most Brutal Menaces could not extort from him The King being thus Deposed the Prince Signs the Writs that had been prepared for Summoning the Cortes before they assembled it was debated Whether it might be convenient for him to take the Title of King but it pass'd in the Negative in a Committee of Judges and other Ministers to whom the Matter was referred and it was carried that he should content himself with the Title he then used viz. that of Curator of the King's Person and Governor of the Kingdom The same Question was afterwards long debated in the Cortes which met on the 27th of January 1668 but in the end it was concluded That he should have the Kingly Power with the Title of Prince Regent In the mean time the Queen having commenc'd her Process against Alfonso the day before he was deposed upon his Confinement was at liberty to prosecute the same with the utmost vigour There being no Bishops at this time in Portugal the Cause as hath been said was brought before the Chapter of Lisbon I shall for many reasons forbear giving a particular account of the Proceedings tho' there be no want of Materials but in short Alfonso after a few Days Confinement was as 't is pretended brought to sign an Acknowledgment of what the Queen had declared concerning the Nullity of their Marriage contrary to what he had asserted to the Infante when he signify'd her Declaration to him the Day after her Retreat while he was yet at liberty It fell out happily for the Queen as she thought at least that her Uncle the Duke of Vendome lately made a Cardinal-Deacon was at this very time commissioned by the Pope to represent the Person of his Holiness as Godfather to the Dauphin then seven Years old at that Formality of a Christning which is used for the Children of France For this end the Cardinal-Duke had the Title and Patent given him of Legat a Latere To him as invested with the Plenitude of the Pope's Power Monsieur Verjus who was sent as hath been said into France upon the Queen's first leaving her Husband applied himself for a Dispensation that the Queen might marry with the Infante The Cardinal was no doubt willing enough to oblige his Niece and to do for her whatever was in his Power but then he question'd much whether it was in his Power to help her out in this Case as well he might For who cou'd think that a Proxy to be Godfather to a Child in France should enable him to make it lawful for a Woman in Portugal to marry with her living Husband's Brother But Monsieur Verjus having satisfied the French King about what the Queen of Portugal had been doing the Dispensation was obtain'd without much difficulty for he and Monsieur de Lionne reading the Cardinal's Bull of Legate found out that it contain'd some Clauses that did as it were point to the very Case in Hand and to give the Cardinal as ample Powers as they could wish and so the Dispensation was granted without more a-do And in truth they in France were a little too hasty in this Business for the Dispensation was obtain'd there before they were ready for it in Portugal it bears Date the 17 Calends of April i. e. the 16th Day of March and in it 't is supposed and affirmed that the former Marriage had been declared null by Course of Law But the Chapter of Lisbon were not so very hasty for they did not pronounce Sentence 'till the 24th of March tho' considering how long Causes of Divorce between Royal Persons used to depend which we in England have good Cause to remember none will accuse them of dilatory Proceedings They at last by their Delegates appointed to examine and determine the Matter pronounc'd the former Marriage to be null by reason of Alfonso's incurable Inability to consummate it occasion'd by his Sickness during the time of his Childhood of which Inability as 't is affirm'd in the Sentence there was more than sufficient Proof and at least a Moral Certainty so that as they said there was no need of Inspection of Trial for 3 Years or any other limited time The Queen was now talking of nothing but returning into France by the Fleet that lay in the River to carry off the French Troops that had been in the Portuguese Service with this Design she made the three Estates of the Kingdom acquainted desiring that the Portion which she had brought with her might be return'd her The doleful News of her intended Departure saith the Writer employ'd to give the World an account of these Transactions was with great Grief heard by the States and they entring into politick Considerations in the midst of their Affliction find that this Princess on account of all the Conveniencies of State all the Endowments of Mind and all the Perfections of Nature was the most ready most convenient most worthy and most lovely Spouse that a Prince could wish for went all in a Body to the Nunnery saith another Writer of the same Stamp to supplicate her Majesty with Tears in their Eyes That she would not abandon them but stay and marry with the Prince because they were neither able nor willing to return her Portion But the Queen would give them no positive Answer then they went in a Body to the Prince begging of him to save

Predecessor in his Respect and Deference to the Holy See for he gave the Pope an uncontroulable kind of Soveraignty within his Dominions granting that his Bulls should be Publish'd for the future without being examin'd by the Chancellor or any other of the King's Ministers which was the former practice of this and is still observed with great exactness in other Kingdoms to prevent incroachments upon the Civil Power When that Magnanimous Prince John the 3d. had been treated with the utmost Indignities by those of Rome and they conscious to themselves of their Offences were apprehensive of his Resentments Inigo Loyola Founder of the Jesuits could assure them that he knew the King of Portugal to be so good a Catholick that he would suffer his very Beard to be trampled under feet by his Holiness without showing the least sign of Disobedience The Brave Sebastian when the Pope to flatter his desire of Glory bid him choose what Title he pleased answered That he was ambitious of no other but that which his Ancestors had so well deserved viz. That of The most obedient Son of the Church This great Devotion of the Portuguese Kings toward the Romish See hath given the Pope the advantage to establish an Absolute Dominion within their Kingdom It s true his Holiness hath the Title of Soveraign only in Spirituals but he so manages the matter that Temporals fall in of course in Ordine ad Spiritualia he is not indeed at the trouble nor the charge of maintaining the Civil Government but then he has the Power and the Emoluments of a Temporal Soveraignty He has his Nuncio always residing at Lisbon with a Legantine Power and wanting only the Title of Vice-Roy exercising his Jurisdiction in his own Courts whence there is no appeal but to Rome over the whole Body of the Clergy who with their Dependents may well be reckon'd one half of the Kingdom They are commonly supposed to have much above two thirds of the Wealth the secular Clergy who are more exempt than the rest from his Dominion are yet his Tributarys great summs are extorted from them for Collations to Benefices and Bulls for Bishops There goes to Rome as I have been informed no less than 90 Thousand Crowns before an Archbishop of Evora can be setled in his Chair and all the rest may be supposed to pay in their Proportion As for the Regulars they are his more immediate Vassals or Soldiers rather its true they are not in his Pay for they live upon free Quarter and keep the Country under Contribution and his Holiness comes in for a share of the Spoils by continually draining them of what they scrape from the People every Monastery having always some Business or other depending before the Nuncio or their Agents at Rome to procure Privileges or Indulgencies or Composition for unsaid Masses that have been paid for of which they will sometimes be behind hand for many thousands but upon Composition made at Rome one high Mass said at a privileged Altar will serve for all or to make the Ministers of that Court acquainted with their Squabbles among themselves And on all these occasions the Money of the Kingdom is carried to Rome to be dispos'd of there by underhand Conveyances as well as open Practices for when a Fryar is to pass the Mountains he is furnished with Bills for Secret as well as Publick Service and it is not impossible that the Holy See may by this means undergo greater Scandal than it deserves for the Fryars Account is allowed of upon his own word so that should he convert a considerable summ to his own use he cannot be discovered unless it be by a very rare Accident indeed and yet it is no unheard of thing at Lisbon for one to be found out in reckoning some Thousands of Crowns for Bribes which never were expended in the Service But these are not the only ways by which the Riches of Portugal are drawn to Rome his Holiness hath his Apostolical Collectors for so they are called to raise Tribute from the King's Subjects as well as his own and to receive his share of the Taxes which the King levys in his own Dominions by his Holiness's Permission Dispensations for Marriages must necessarily bring him in a very considerable and constant Revenue the forbidden Degrees being so very many in the Roman Church whether upon the account of Consanguinity or Spiritual Relation that one would think there could scarce be a Wedding among Neighbours or People that have for any time been acquainted without a Dispensation and it rarely if ever happens that a Match is broken off for want of one supposing the Parties will come up to the price of it if they apprehend any difficulty in it it is but beginning the Marriage at the wrong End and then the Dispensation is granted of course and the Price being rais'd according to the Quality of the Persons and nearness of the Relation great summs are continually drawn from Families of the better sort who commonly marry within themselves and some of them intrench so far upon the Laws of Nature that the House of Austria in the last Age was not more confounded by the various Relations of its several Branches to each other than some Noble Families in Portugal are at this day In fine Portugal is so beneficial a Province to his Holiness that could a just Computation be made there is no doubt but his Revenues from thence would be found to exceed the Kings by far the necessary Charges of the Government deducted They are so great that if some sudden stop be not put to them the Kingdom is like to be exhausted in a very short time which gives thinking People here a sad prospect of the approaching Ruin of their Country This may appear strange to the rest of Europe considering the vast advantages that must necessarily have accrued to this Kingdom from an undisturbed Peace of above Thirty Years continuance during which time all other parts of Christendom have been more than once engaged in Expensive Wars one would think that during the last War at least which among many other advantages brought hither so great and gainful a Trade with England as took off all the Commodities the Country could vent and that too at prodigious Rates I believe I may safely say above double to what they formerly sold for one would think I say by this time that Riches and Plenty should have abounded every where But they that have travelled the Country of late beheld another Face of Things and at the late Assembly of the Cortes the Mouths of the Deputies were full of complaints of an Universal Desolation and Poverty and I have been told that some of them were sensible enough of the cause of their Misery but I have not heard that any Motion was made in their Publick Meetings for a Redress to this their greatest Grievance Having given some Account of the State of Portugal with respect to Rome it

may be expected that I should say something of the reciprocal Benefits derived from the Holy See upon a People that hath done and suffers so much for its sake or at least of that Fatherly Tenderness which the Pope must needs have for a King of Portugal who purchases the favour of his Holiness by so constant and meritorious an Obedience His Holiness must by some very distinguishing marks of Affection put a Difference between this his Benjamin from whom he hath received so much comfort and those other Sons of his who by their untoward Behaviour have been always a crossing and tormenting him He that hath been so often worried by the head-strong Emperors in former Ages braved in Italy by the Spaniards in the last Age and more than once in his own Capital by the French in our Days and received so many Mortifications from the Italian Princes from whom he might expect that they should upon the Account of their Natural as well as their Spiritual Relation behave themselves more as becomes the Children of the Holy See He one would think should have reserved the greatest and best of his Blessings for this his most Obedient Son But the Holy Father seems to be affected with quite contrary Passions to other Men to have cast away his most endearing Favours where the utmost Rigour should be expected and where a Blessing was most lookt for to have entail'd his Curse The Royal House of Portugal hath certainly had great cause for Complaints of this kind as often as it hath been in distress and stood in need of his Protection When Philip the 2d while the Question concerning the Succession to Henry the Cardinal was depending was preparing by force of Arms to deprive the true Heiress of her Birthright Pope Gregory the 13th did his utmost indeed to divert him from the enterprize but it was to the end that he might seize upon the Crown for his own use as a Chattel of the Cardinals alledging that his Spoils among which he reckon'd the Kingdom were forfeitable to the Holy See and least this ridiculous Claim should be thought insufficient he added another Alphonso Henriquez the first King as hath been said would needs make his Kingdom Tributary to St. Peter and charged with the annual Payment of four Ounces of Gold and this was made a pretence by Pope Gregory for depriving the Posterity of that King of their Inheritance he pretending that Portugal was by this means become a Feif to St. Peter's Chair and as such by default of the Male-line was devolved to himself but his pretensions meeting with that contempt they deserved he still resolved to deprive the right Heiress at any rate and of all the Pretenders made Interest for him that had the worst Title that is for Dom Antonio the Bastard as if he had a mind to embroil a Kingdom that had deserved so well at his hands in perpetual Wars But it was for his convenience that King Philip should be diverted from troubling him in Italy and convenience at Rome is a just Excuse for the worst Actions However when Philip by force of Arms had baffled his Holiness as well as all the other Pretenders and had reduced the Kingdom to his Obedience the Pope made no scruple to acknowledge his Title and treat him as rightful King of Portugal Nor did he in this deviate from the practice of those that went before him the Popes having on many occasions found it Turn to account to approve the Titles of the most Illegal Usurpers ever since the extraordinary complaisance of Boniface the 3d. to the Emperour Phocas which gave Rise to the present Grandeur of the Holy See But John the 4th the present King's Father who had an undoubted Right to the Crown met with other usage at Rome of which I shall here give a short Account it being a most signal proof of the Portuguese Devotion to the Holy See but withal it has so far opened the eyes of this Court that the Ministers seem to be convinced at last of this truth that none are so hardly used by those of Rome as they that deserve best at their hands This is certain that the Memory of it is still fresh in their minds as the Nuncio's to their great Regret are frequently given to understand and is supposed to be in a great measure the cause why their Conduct in regard to Rome begins to vary so much as it does from that of their Predecessors After King John had been settled in the Throne of his Ancestors by the Universal Acclamation of his People and was possessed of all the Dominions belonging to the Crown the little Town of Ceuta excepted he began to think of sending a Solemn Embassy to pay his Obedience to the Pope which is a custom observ'd by all Princes of that Communion and was thought necessary by this King as well to satisfie his own Devotion as to establish his Authority among the People and he thought he had great reason to expect that this Embassy would be very kindly received for to say nothing of the merits of his Ancestors he relied much upon the Pope's great Partiality to the French who out of enmity to the Spaniards had espoused the Portuguese Interest and solicited their cause at Rome To render this Embassy the more acceptable he made choice of a Person that was of the first Quality and withal a Bishop Dom Miguel de Portugal Brother to the Conde de Vimioso But this Ambassador arriving at Rome found that he had been sent upon a fruitless Errand For the Pope as little as he cared for the Spaniards on all other occasions had so much respect for them at this time that for fear of displeasing them he was content to put the greatest Indignity in the World upon a King of Portugal This was Urban the 8th from whom better things might been expected than from those that usually fill the Holy Chair But his Holiness without having the least regard to the Ambassador's Character or Quality or the obliging Message he came upon refused to admit him into his Presence or suffer his Ministers to acknowledge him for an Ambassador so that after a whole years Solicitation for Audience he was fain to return as he came This the Portugueses thought to be an Indignity that could not have been put upon the Representative of any Idolatrous or Mahometan Prince without violating the Laws of Nations All the Favour that could be obtain'd at that time was That a Congregation should be appoinned on pretence of consulting what was fit to be done in the Case The Congregation consisted of the two Barbarini Cayetan and Pamphilio Cardinal Francisco the elder of the Barbarini was made Chair-man to take care that the result should be according to his Uncle's mind He obliged the Secretary of the Embassy to give him an account of the King his Master's Title and when nothing could be objected against that he began to pick Quarrels upon pretence