to act in any thing without the counsel and advice of them and consent of the people and that he would examine the Causes and the merits thereof in their presence and moreover he reproves certain Priests for their irregular proceedings in cases of judgment threatning to give an account thereof unto the people This charity and plain dealings of the Bishops gained them such reputation that their advice and sentence was almost in all matters followed and admitted by the people whose charity in after-Ages growing cold and careless of the mutual good and benefit each of other came by degrees to cast off this burdensom Office of Judgment and to remit it solely to the Incumbence of the Bishop who also degenerating from the primitive humility easily gave way to the allurements of ambition and under the disguise of Charity and Vertue embraced the Authority of passing sentence without the assistance or consultation with co-ordinate Judges So soon as the persecutions ceased great loads of business Cases and Trials at Law devolved upon the Bishop so that then he was forced to erect a Tribunal of Justice and contrive Methods and rules for Judicial proceedings howsoever in those times of simplicity and innocence things were not so wholly corrupted but that though the antient Discipline of remitting matters to the determination of the Church did cease yet sincerity and uprightness in passing Sentence still continued The which when Constantine the Emperour observed and considered the great difference there was between the captious and litigious proceedings of secular Advocats and Proctors who made Law-suits and wranglings their benefit and Trade and the honest and conscientious Methods and determinations of the Clergy he ordained that the Sentence of the Bishop should be definitive and without appeal with power to grant an injunction to all proceedings at Common Law in case the party agrieved should desire to have recourse to the Episcopal judgment and jurisdiction in his case Hence it came to pass that the Sentence of the Bishop was made a judgment of Court and put in execution by the hands of the secular Magistrate and this jurisdiction was farther amplified and increased in the year 365. by the Decree of the Emperour Valens But the extent of this Authority established by the Law of Constantine being afterwards abused by the corruption of succeeding Bishops was recalled by the Emperours Arcadius and Honorius and confined to causes purely religious without Courts or formal processes of Law and without power to intermeddle in civil differences unless the parties concerned should on both sides agree to remit their case by way of Arbitration or compromise to the Sentence of the Bishop But in regard the Bishops of Rome had for a long time been powerful in that City little notice was taken of this Injunction until in the year 452. it was again enforced and renewed by Valentinian the Emperour But not long afterwards the succeeding Emperours restored part of that Authority which had been taken from them and Justinian again erected their Courts of Judicature to which he assigned all Causes about Religion complaints and differences between the Clergy Ecclesiastical Fines and forfeitures with power to determine Cases between Lay-persons who should by way of Umpirage or Arbitration refer themselves to the Episcopal Court and in this manner did that charitable correction and that plain and sincere way of ending and composing differences between Brethren instituted by Christ Jesus begin to degenerate into that Dominion which our Saviour had forbidden to his Apostles And farther to strengthen and confirm this Episcopal Authority so soon as the Empire was divided and that the Western Provinces were separated from the Eastern Dominions then were many of the Bishops taken into the Councils of Princes whereby the Secular Power being annexed to their Spiritual capacity served much to advance and raise the reputation and Authority of the Episcopal Dignity so that two hundred years had not passed in this manner before the Bishops arrogated to themselves a Power to judg the Clergy in all Cases both Criminal and Civil And to extend their Jurisdiction farther they framed a Term called Mixed Actions in which the Bishop as well as the Secular Magistrate might grant Process that is in matters where the Judg had not been diligent or cold and remiss or dilatory in his proceedings then the Bishop might take the Causes out of his hands by which pretence and usurpation little business remained for the Secular Courts And farther by vertue hereof they established a general standing Rule as unalterable as a fundamental of Faith that in Cases where the Magistrate was remiss or delayed to do Justice those Causes did ipso facto devolve to the cognizance of the Bishop Had the Prelats stuck at this point and not proceeded farther it had been pretty tolerable for then a Power might have remained still in the hands of the Civil Magistrate to moderate and retrench the excesses of Ecclesiastical encroachments as occasion served but those who had imposed this yoak on the people thought fit for their own security to rivet it in such manner about their necks that it could never be shaken off again having to that purpose forged a principle in their own Shops under the Title of a fundamental point of Faith That the Bishops power of judging in Causes as well temporal as spiritual took not its Original and Authority from the Decrees or connivence of Emperours or from the will and pleasure of the people or by custom or prescription but from a right inherent in the Episcopal Dignity and conferred thereupon by the institution of Christ himself As appears in the History of the Council of Trent wrote by Father Paul Sarpi This was certainly a bold and a hardy Assertion which could so easily have been refuted by those who had read the Codes of Theodosius and Justinian with the Capitularies of Charles the Great and Concessions and Ordinances of succeeding Princes both of the Eastern and Western Empire in reading and considering which a Man must be strangely blind or stupid who cannot observe by what ways and Methods the excess and exorbitance of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction was introduced into the World And indeed it is strange to consider that on the bare foundation of that Spiritual Power to bind and loose given by Christ to his Church and by that Ordinance of St. Paul to compose differences between the Brethren and prevent their going to Law before Infidels should by a long tract of time and by several Artifices and subtil contrivances be erected a Temporal Tribunal the most extensive and most considerable of any that ever was in the World and that in the midst of divers Kingdoms and Principalities of Europe there should be an other State established independent on the Publick which is such a Model and form of Political Government as never any of the Antient Legislators could ever fansie or imagine to be consistent with the Sovereignty of a Temporal Prince
and monstrous cruelties to him making him the Author of all those Calamities and Miseries which in his Reign over-whelmed Italy rendering its condition slavish and contemptible to Forein Nations Howsoever his temper was not so altogether flagitious but that it admitted of some alloy and mixture of Virtue for he with great care attended to the government of the City and regulation of the Courts of Justice to which end he ordained Visitors of the Prisons to examin and know the causes for which persons were imprisoned and created four Judges for the tryal of all criminal matters so that Justice was the more punctually executed than in former times But not to remain too long on his personal qualities let us proceed to the important affairs of his Government And in the first place being created Pope he was according to custom saluted and congratulated in his Papal Dignity by the Ambassadors of Kings Princes and States whom he respectively treated with affability and respect persuading them to peace and concord amongst themselves and by the virtue of such union and confederacy to joyn and employ their Arms against the Turk who was the common Enemy of Christendom And at that time being about the year 1493. in honor to Ferdinand King of Spain he gave him the Title of Catholick in acknowledgment and memory of the many Victories he had obtained over the Moors and gave him a Title to all those Lands and Countries in America which were or should be discovered there And thus as he was civil to Kings so he was kind and more affectionate to his Family For in the first Consistory that he held he created John Borgia his Sisters Son Arch-Bishop of Montreat Valentine Borgia his Natural Son Arch-Bishop of Valentia At this time the Emperor Frederick died having reigned for the space of 54 years Likewise Ferdinand King of Naples being dead he sent his Legat with power to confirm his Son Alonso in the succession to the Kingdom and having contracted an Alliance with him he ordered him to be Crowned and invested with the Regalities At this time being the year 1494. Charles the Eighth King of France who was of a martial and ambitious spirit laid claim to the Kingdom of Naples by virtue of the last Will and Testament of René Duke of Anjou and Lorain and being encouraged in that enterprise by Lodowick Sforza the Guardian of John Galeas Duke of Milan he entered Italy with a puissant Army consisting of 25000 Foot and 5000 Horse with a great train of Artillery The Pope apprehending the great ruine and damage which this incursion of the French would bring upon Italy entered into League with the City of Florence and both agreed and resolved to leavy Soldiers and joyn in a defensive League with the King of Naples but the Venetians and Ferdinand King of Spain who were likewise moved to enter into the League did positively refuse to accept the proposals being more inclinable to be unconcerned and Spectators than Actors in that hazardous War Charles being entered into Italy marched victorious thro Lombardy and having overthrown the Army of Florence soon after became Master Of the City it self thence he proceeded towards Rome where he entered on the first of January 1494. without any opposition it being agreed that in case the Romans would peaceably open their Gates and give free admission to the French that no hurt or violence should be offered by them to the Inhabitants but that on the contrary if they made opposition they would put all into flame and confusion The Romans therefore finding themselves in no condition to resist readily gave a reception to the French affording them plenty of Victuals and Provisions and they on the other side performed their conditions severely punishing such as were guilty of Riots or Tumults The Pope at first being affrighted with the approach of the French fled for security into the Castle but at length finding all things quiet and secure from the outrages of their Ghests adventured abroad and much against his will and inclinations entered into a League with them But Charles not much confiding in the Faith which the Pope had given required for better security thereof and by way of Hostage that Cesar Borgia who was called Cardinal Valentino should under colour of being the Popes Legat accompany him in the War together with Zizimé the Brother of the Grand Seignior on pretence that having overcome the Kingdom of Naples he would make use of him in the War which he intended to make upon Constantinople but he died soon after of a Bloody-Flux at Capua Upon approach of the French near to Naples King Alonso being conscious of his ill government whereby he had contracted the hatred of his people and despairing of the success of his Affairs surrendred up the Kingdom into the hands of his Son Ferdinand and with great fear and ignominy embarked himself with the best part of his wealth and fled into the Island of Sicily and soon after Ferdinand considering the weakness of his Force and the inequality of the Match between him and the French betook himself also to the Island of Ischia Charles following the favourable course of his good and victorious fortune with great expedition made himself Master of all the Kingdom of Naples the which success giving an alarm to all the Christian Princes a general confederacy was agreed amongst them for intercepting the French on their return out of Italy so that the Pope the Emperor Maximilian the King of Spain Lodowick Sforza Duke of Milan and the Venetians uniting their Forces for the common safety of Italy composed an Army of forty thousand men Notwithstanding which Charles boldly returned out of Italy and with great difficulty having passed the Apenine Mountains with sixteen pieces of weighty Cannons which were drawn over by 300 Swissers and having by the greater error and neglect of the Enemy passed all the narrow and inaccessible ways about Zerzana and Petra Santa at length descended into the Plains of Lombardy The Confederate Army to hinder the Kings farther passage had encamped themselves at Fornovo near Tarro and at no far distance from Parma and there both Armies were engaged The French did not consist of more than 9000 men and the Confederates of 40000 and yet the French had the advantage and won the Field and as Philip de Comines saith the King entered triumphant into Asti tho Panvinio and other Italian Writers relate the Battel to have been bloody but the success and advantage doubtful Howsoever the news hereof being reported at Naples to the great advantage of the Confederates King Ferdinand re-assumed his courage and adventured out of his retirement at Ischia and then the French Forces being grown weak and all Recruits failing them he recovered his Kingdom with the assistance of the Catholick King Not long after Charles the Eighth died and Lewis the Twelfth Duke of Orleans succeeded in his Throne Likewise Ferdinand dying without Issue Frederick his
Conferences that the Pope seemed to refuse nothing which might engage and oblige the Cardinal having at his instance granted an alienation from the Church of three hundred thousand Livers a year to the King of France which Bene had formerly been demanded and sollicited with great importunity but could never be obtained until this endearment happened between the Cardinal and the Pope For now their mutual intimacy and friendship began to be so great that the Pope opened his bosom and heart to him giving him to understand that the Council being become a burden to him which he could not support he had therefore sent a private Bull to his Legats either to prorogue or adjourn it to some other place as should be most agreeable to the state of Affairs but the Cardinal who professed to have the same Interest for that his occasions required his presence in France yet could not concur in Opinion either to have the Council prorogued or adjourned to an other place but rather to dispose matters in order to a Conclusion which might easily be effected by laying aside all those Points which might administer matter or cause of Dispute promising to contribute to this Design all the Power and Interest he had with the Ambassadours and Bishops that so every thing might terminate happily and to the satisfaction of the Court of Rome The Pope being overjoyed with these Promises was comforted in the highest degree by the consolatory expressions of the Cardinal in return for which he promised to use all his endeavours to create him his Successour by engaging such a number of Cardinals in his favour as should secure his Election promising in the mean time to make him the chief Instrument of all his grand Designs Thus was the one elevated in his hopes and expectations of high preferments and the other encouraged against the refractory opposition of the French Prelats who were now grown mutinous and the Papal Authority rendered contemptible to them For at that time Chatillion had voluntarily renounced his character of Cardinal and called himself by the title of Count de Beauvais and in contempt of that Dignity was married in the habit of a Cardinal as if he intended by that action to have rendered that Honour ridiculous The French Prelats also being disgusted five of them retired from Trent having easily obtained their license from the Legats whose chief endeavours and labour was now to appease the Sedition and mutinies of the Bishops who were come to that unbridled usurpation and entrenchments on the temporal jurisdiction of Princes and Magistrates that they constrained the Legats to read in the Congregation that Model of a Decree which they had projected for Reformation of Secular Magistrates the particulars of which were so licentious and extravagant as deserve to be noted for discovery of that Pride which reigned amongst the Clergy of those days the contents of which were these That a Clergy-man was not liable to the Sentence of a Secular Court nor could he be tryed at that Bar though he himself should consent thereunto that the Secular Judges should not intermedle with causes relating to Matrimony to Heresie to Tenths Advowsons or rights of Patronage nor with any other causes whether civil or criminal wherein the Ecclesiastical Censure was or might be concerned That no Injunction be issued out of a Secular Court to hinder the proceedings of the Ecclesiastical in points of Excommunication though taken out against the Emperor himself or against Kings Nor shall the Civil Law contradict or interfere with the Ecclesiastical in matters which relate to the Affairs Goods or possessions of the Church which is endued with a Power of constituting its own Courts and Officers of several degrees ranks and qualities That the Clergy shall be exempt from Taxes Imposts Tithes or Subsidies whatsoever That Princes or Magistrates shall not have Power to quarter Soldiers Officers or Horse within the Houses or on the possessions of the Clergy with several other Articles of like tenure which were so repugnant to the Power of Kings that is seemed to shake their Authority and set up an other Soveraignty within their own Kingdoms independant of the Regal Jurisdiction for which reason the French Ambassadours having made their Protest against these Articles in the space of fifteen days afterwards retired from Trent to Venice according to the Orders which they had received from France The news of this retreat of the Ambassadours was very unwelcome to the Court of Rome and especially to the Cardinal of Lorain who apprehended that this unexpected accident would much eclipse his Credit and Reputation with the Pope and defeat the hopes he had conceived of his new preferment which that he might still keep up he promised the Pope to write and accordingly did write unto the King in such terms as plainly evidenced how far he had abandoned the Principles he brought from France and sacrificed them to a new aad strange Interest which he had acquired at Rome After which the Pope wrote to the Legats to prepare for the following Session according to the time appointed and to commence immediately after the return of the Cardinal to Trent and then speedily to wind all things up so as to put a final conclusion to the Council in which there seemed no great difficulty for that the French and Germans being drawn off they had none to deal with but onely with the Spaniards Howsoever the Pope resenting highly the retirement of the five French Bishops accused them of Heresie and cited them to make their defence before the Tribunal of Inquisition at Rome in like manner he issued out Process against Jane Queen of Navarre Widow of Anthony of Bourbon upon an accusation of Heresie in order to depose her from her Crown and Dignity the which Decrees were divulged and affixed on all publick places And though the Cardinal did in dislike thereof represent unto the Pope that this manner of proceeding was contrary to the received Maxims of France and the liberties of the Gallican Church and that it was not seasonable to proceed with such rigour against a Queen who was an Ally of France and the Relict of one lately slain in Battel against the Hugenots and that it was too early to summon Bishops to receive judgment at Rome against which the Council of France had so lately protested yet the Cardinal having performed this Office in a cold and perfunctory manner as if he intended rather to acquit himself with his Master than gain his Point gave no satisfaction to the Government of France which therefore making use of the Ambassadour Monsieur d' Oisel in this Negotiation his endeavours succeeded so well that the Process against the Queen of Navarre and the five Bishops was superseded and the whole matter buried in silence And that the King might shew how little he regarded the Decrees of the Council he proceeded actually to alienate the Lands of the Church before the License and Grant of the Pope
in the mean time it was the discourse of the Town that the Pope resolved to sequester her Estate and imprison her Person But whilst Affairs went on in this manner a dreadful Visitation of Pestilence in the year 1656. fell upon Rome which so afflicted the City that not onely Trade and Commerce was interrupted but the common Courts of Justice were shut up so that the farther prosecution of Donna Olympia ceased but the Justice of God took up the Cause against her and the divine Vengeance reached this guilty Wretch by a stroak of the Plague of which she died at Orvieto some few months after her persecution It was computed that she left more than two millions of Crowns in ready Money besides Land and moveables inestimable and what she had already bestowed on her kinred After her death there was nothing more done and not much more talk'd of her for the Prince Pamfilio as Heir to her Estate quietly possessed himself of all taking his Habitation in her Palace in the Piazza of Navona which is the fairest in all Rome onely it is said she left some few Legacies amongst her other kindred which did not exceed three hundred thousand Crowns When Alexander came first to the Papal Chair he publickly declared against Nepotism and with some direful asseverations that he would never rule by his Kinred nor enrich his Family with the spoils of the Church whilst he continued in this humour he prosecuted Donna Olympia with as much severity and rigour as the methods and course of Law would allow so that after her death it was believed he would have confiscated all her Estate to the use of St. Peter but it seems the detestation of her Crimes and his anger for all her evils died and vanished with her person only 't is said that he drew away about a million of Crowns from Prince Pamfilio her Heir to bestow on his own Kindred robbing Peter as we say to pay Paul But this sturdy humour against his Kindred continued not long before he suffered himself to be overcome by the yerning of his own bowels towards them and by the persuasion of some Cardinals his Confidents who observing a desire in him to break his late protestation met his wishes with their arguments of love towards his own Bloud and Relations for why should he be singular and less kind to himself and Family than other Popes or why should the House of Chigi remain onely obscure and mean whilest the Barberini and Pamfilii were opulent and exalted and all the Princes of Rome derived their Riches and greatness from the favour and benefice of Popes who had been their Predecessours These considerations melted the tender heart of Alexander in such manner that towards the end of the first year of his Pontificate he called his Brother Don Mario with his Son Flavio and Don Augustino the Son of his Brother Augusto unto the Court and being now provided with a Brother and two Nephews he used them with as much indulgence as other Popes had shewn to their kindred giving the World to understand how little Men are acquainted with their own hearts and how easily they change their resolutions and affections with the alteration of their fortunes and encrease of their honours but lest it should seem strange to the World that after such solemn protestations against Nepotism he should without other methods introduce his Nephews into Offices and the principal benefits and profits of the Church he with much formality in a publick Consistory demanded the Opinion of the Cardinals whether the admittance of such faithful friends as his Brother and Nephews might not rather be useful than detrimental to the Church The Cardinals who are always civil to the Pope and ready to concur with his desires every one entertaning an expectancy of being Pope himself when it might be his own case and might feel the like warm inclinations towards his own bloud would not be so rude as to exclude his Family from their share in the Government but rather encouraged him to indulg his own Family and be as kind to his as his Predecessours had been to their Relations and lest the World should by this admittance of a new Nepotism imagine or suspect that the Revenues of the Church should be employed to the raising of the Family of Chigi and that the times of Vrban VIII and Innocent X. were returned he ordered Briefs to be issued against Simony and other corruptions with more severe terms and under other more execrable maledictions than had formerly been used He renewed also antient Decrees against Pensions and Gifts and farther Ordained that several vacant Benefices should not be supplied but that the Revenue of them being received into the Apostolical Chamber should be employed towards extinguishing the vast Debts of the Church And that he might farther engage and insinuate himself into the minds and good will of the People who conceived high thoughts of him and demonstrated unusual expressions of joy at the beginning of his Inauguration he exercised his paternal Love and Charity towards them in three several calamities which befel the people of Rome and followed one as it were on the neck of the other In the year 1656. the City as we have said was visited with such a raging Pestilence which continued for two years as rendered it almost desolate during which time the Famine had been as destructive and made an end of those which the Plague had left had not the Poor been relieved and comforted by the generous care and pious charity of this Pope No sooner was the Pestilence ceased but the Tyber swelling with inordinate Rains surpassed its banks with such a deluge as drowned all the Campagne and lower Villages of Rome but those which were seated on higher elevations of Hills were environed so with the Waters on all sides that for the space of fifteen days they could have no communication with their Neighbours for relief and sustenance onely the Pope taking compassion on his People employed great numbers of flat-bottomed Boats laden with Provisions to pass from one Village to another for the succour and sustenance of the Inhabitants after which he took all the courses and expedients possible to moderate the price of Wheat that the People might be supported and not die with Famine After two such extream Calamities many of those who escaped the Pestilence and the Deluge perished by a fatal Earthquake which overturned almost all the Villages in the Country of Romagne to repair which and rebuild their Towns the Pope like a common Father was highly liberal and bountiful in his Contributions Soon after the enstalment of Pope Alexander the Christian Princes sent their respective Ambassadours to Rome after the usual custom to pay as they call it their Acts of Obedience and homage to the Pope Those who were most conspicuous and eminent were the Duke de Crequi sent from the Crown of France and the Cardinal of Aragon from his Catholick Majesty
From him they passed to Cardinal Pio and then to Odescalchi against which last were not many exceptions only that the French Party esteemed him too much inclined to the Spanish Interest and though the reputation of Odescalchi was high and his merits great yet his time being not yet come all endeavours for him vanished into Air he also himself beseeched Chigi as it were upon his knees to desist from farther actions in his favour howsoever the Conclave being impatient of farther delay seemed generally inclined to make choice of Odescalchi yet some esteemed him too young others too morose and austere and Chigi himself freely discoursing with Celsi taxed him for want of practice in business and that having addicted himself much to speculation and study imagined that he would prove unpleasant in his humour and that Abbat Marc Antonio being his Brother it was more than probable he would be created Cardinal and Favourite who also being a Person of an austere life and severe Vertue might concur with the Pope in designs to reform the Vices and luxury of the Clergy Which considerations being weighty and prevalent with the Conclave his exclusion was publickly declared After which every one was at a stand and in expectation of what time and the power of Barberino and others would produce Chigi had laboured to the utmost of his power to advance one of his Friends but all proving ineffectual he gave them at least the satisfaction that nothing had been wanting on his part Medici was well contented with the exclusion of Nerli who was a Creature of Rospigliosi because Altieri who was under the same notion of a Friend and dependant on that Family was still in nomination In the mean time the aged Cardinals zealous for the honour and sanctity of the Conclave exclaimed against the delatory proceedings which gave scandal to the World and cause of complaint to the People who by reason thereof were impoverished by a deadness of Trade and oppressed by the extortions of the Mons Pietatis which during the vacancy of the Sea exacted four times more from indigent Persons than the known rates allowed by Law and the justice of the Popes The Ambassadour of Spain more concerned than any other for these delays having Audience in the Conclave requested the Cardinals in the name of his Master to agree in their Election for whereas they had an Authority free and independent of temporal Crowns and secular considerations they were obliged to proceed in the speedy choice of a Successour to St. Peter and of a Pastor to the Universal Church and not suffer the same to become subservient to Intrigues and private Interests which as they were daily more scandalous they gave occasion to the World of discourse as if the inspirations of the Holy Ghost were banished the Conclave the divine Illuminations damped and eclipsed by the interposition of Secular designs It was strange to observe how on a sudden after this discourse the humour of the Conclave was altered the old Cardinals weary of their restraint would yield to the Election of any provided they might gain their liberty and the young Men were ready to give their suffrages for whomsoever the Leaders of their Party and Interest should direct so that now merit and Vertue and experience in Government were laid aside and a Pope chosen by those who were most obstinate and tenacious of their Opinion and could hold out longest Thus different Interests began to agree and Chigi and Medici to entertain discourse with Barberino proposing to pitch upon the Creature or favourite of the House of Rospigliosi to which both these leading Factions were well inclined the Person nominated was Cardinal Emilio Altieri generally grateful to the whole Conclave for his great Age having passed the years of eighty Chigi took occasion hereupon to complement Barberino declaring that rather by divine Inspiration than humane fansie he had fixed on the sole Person of the World whom he had reserved in his breast as the most worthy of this Dignity for that he was a Man who never concerned himself in embroils and Intrigues of different Parties never was a Pensioner of France or Spain or depended on the favour of Italian Princes or was obliged by any of the Roman Families Barberino on the other side vowed that the nomination he had made of Altieri was rather an effect of his good wishes towards Chigi than to his own Family for that he was not ignorant of the great Obligations which Cardinal Paluzzi the Creature of Emilio Altieri had unto him by whose means onely he was first preferred to be Auditor of the Camera then to be a Prelate and lastly to be a Cardinal all which were such good Offices as would certainly oblige Altieri in case that to the preceding kindnesses which he had performed towards his Favourite he should add that also of being an Instrument to advance himself unto the Papacy In the mean time great Interests were made for Odescalchi and his Party was so earnest thereupon that they designed secretly to elect him by Accession as a more ready way than by Treaties or making Parties But Barberino was zealous for Altieri and instant to have his Election passed without other dispute or consideration Howsoever Chigi was a little wavering because he doubted whither Paluzzi would prove constant to him and bear him the same respect in the time of his prosperity and under the circumstances of the Pope's favour as he had testified to him in his former condition of fortune wherefore that he might secure him the better he addressed himself to Paluzzi persuading him to believe that his endeavours for the promotion of Altieri were in a great measure founded on that friendship and good will which he owed to him and for that reason before he would engage his Party and Interest in his Election he would be assured that Altieri should promise to adopt Paluzzi and create him Cardinal Nephew than which nothing could be more just and due to a Person of his Wisdom and Talents and practised in all Affairs of the Court of Rome Having said thus much Chigi conducted Paluzzi to Medici and they together with Buglion and Barberino went to the lodging of Altieri to whom the Dean Cardinal Barberino with a loud Voice and profound reverence made the same Complements as were accustomary to Popes elect with which Altieri being surpriz'd made Answer with tears in his Eyes That he was unfit for the performance of so great a function which might more easily be sustained by any of their Eminencies than by himself and pointing to Cardinal Brancacci Behold said he the Man whose Virtues Godliness and Abilities have rendered worthy of this high Exaltation By this time the Cell or Lodging was filled with Cardinals who with one Voice two onely excepted proclaimed Altieri Pope on the twenty eighth day of April and having performed the usual Ceremonies of Adoration and other matters practised at the Election of Popes he
THE LIVES OF THE POPES From the time of our Saviour Jesus Christ TO THE REIGN OF SIXTUS IV. Written Originally in Latine by BAPTISTA PLATINA Native of Cremona And Translated into ENGLISH And the same History continued from the Year 1471. to this present time wherein the most remarkable Passages of Christendom both in Church and State are Treated of and Described By PAUL RYCAUT Esq LONDON Printed for Christopher Wilkinson at the Black Boy over against S. Dunstan's Church in Fleetstreet 1685. TO THE READER THE History of Platina of the Lives of the Popes being rendred into English by an unknown hand was delivered to me by the Bookseller and considering that Platina was an Author of good Reputation and Authority in the World I often wished that he had lived in that Age in which he might have deduced his History from ancient to the present times or that some other of our learned men would have continued the same in the Language of our own Country for since our Tongue is so well refined and so copious it ought justly to comprehend all those Histories Sciences and Arts which are related and made known in forreign Languages But observing that this Work was neglected and not thought worthy the labour of better Pens I essayed to do it in my own rude and plain Style without affectation or ornament more than what the simplicity of naked truth would afford me in search of which I have always had recourse to the best and to the most impartial Authors who have neither disguised the Vices of Men by flattery nor out of prejudice branded those Actions with shame and obloquy which might have admitted of a fairer character Nor have I mixed any thing of Religion in this History but where the nature of the relation could not subsist without it for in regard the Court and not the Church of Rome is the subject on which I treat I have made the Points of Religion accidental only to the following Discourses But as to Platina himself Trithemius in his Treatise of Ecclesiastical Writers gives him this Character He was born sayes he at Cremona was Breviary to the Pope and a man learned in all Sciences he was an excellent Philosopher and a famous Orator of an acute and ready wit and perswasive eloquence he was couragious and so constant to his principles that under Pope Paul II. he was deprived of his Estate and Preferments and after having endured the wrack or torture he was cruelly cast into Prison where he remained during the Reign of this Paul II. afterwards he was set at liberty by Sixtus IV. to whom he dedicated this following History of the Popes He died at Rome of the Plague Aged 60 years A. D. 1481. Frederick III. being Emperour and Sixtus IV. being Pope AN INTRODUCTION To the following HISTORY THIS continuation of Plaetina the subject of which is the Lives and Reigns of the Popes is a Treatise purely historical collected from feveral Latin French and Italian Authors whose design being solely to transmit matter of Fact to posterity did not intermeddle with points of Religion but as they accidentally occurred in the connexion of History there being a vast difference between the Church of Rome and the Court of Rome To this latter Notion which consists of a Pope who is Sovereign and of seventy Cardinals or more who are his Counsellours besides a great number of Prelats we shall confine our Discourse And whereas the Pope is a Prince who hath a Temporal Dominion under his Government and Jurisdiction it is no wonder if he and the Creatures and Confidents who attend him in all his Counsels should act by Maximes purely civil and political whence it is that Popes are approached with so much more awe and profound Reverence than is performed towards Kings and Emperours because the Spiritual comes in to maintain and uphold the Authority of the Temporal and both being united do mutually support each other hence proceed all the flatteries used in that Court all the contrivances which Ambition can suggest to raise Families and make those great who are in Authority And in short nothing is omitted which the Wit of Man and the Artifices of the most refined Heads in the World such as those are at Rome can devise to conserve and exalt the Interest and Authority of that Court. The Original of this Jurisdiction which is encreased to such a degree of Power and Greatness as is become suspected by Kings and formidable to its people sprang at first from those words of our Saviour to his Apostles Whose sins ye shall forgive on Earth shall be forgiven in Heaven and whose sins ye shall bind on Earth shall be bound in Heaven the which large and extensive priviledg was attended with a Commission to feed Christs Flock to preach the Gospel and to administer the Sacraments and with an exhortation to all the faithful to love one the other and to pardon and forgive each other their offences The Primitive Church which was always zealous to reconcile the Brethren and procure pardon of the Offender from the person offended did ordain according to the Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians that the Saints or Christians should not maintain a process of Law one against the other at the Bar or Tribunals of Infidels but that they should rather appoint and constitute some of the Faithful who were Men of approved wisdom and integrity to hear and examine and determine all their differences This manner of trial was certainly submitted unto with great charity of the both parties and with an unbiassed sentence of the Judg for the first had no power over them to enforce execution unless the constraint of their own Consciences which bore witness that the adjudgment was from God Nor did the Ecclesiastical Judg pronounce sentence without regret sorrow and grief for the Delinquent as appears by the words of St. Paul 2 Cor. chap. 2. where the sorrow of the Offender is said to be so great as to require comfort and that the Judg also did partake in the like affliction and anguish of heart with him This dispensation of the Ecclesiastical Censures being a work of great Charity was an Office onely proper for such as had attained to a good esteem for piety and to the degree and dignity of a Bishop But as the Faithful encreased and the Churches became numerous so the deliberations on Causes were too heavy and burdensom for the Bishop alone and therefore though the Bills and Processes at Law were received by the hands of the Bishop they were yet afterwards transferred to the consideration of the Ancients who were called Presbyters which being digested by them received their ultimate determination and sentence from the General Assembly of the Church the which practice was in use in the year of our Lord 250. as appears by the Epistles of St. Cyprian wherein he writes to the Presbyters of his Diocese of Carthage that he intended not
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
imaginations which Men conceive of Reliques Pilgrimages and Indulgences That the Doctrine and practice of Penance should be again renewed and established according to the custom of the Primitive Church All or most of which Articles were ungrateful to the Legats both for the substance of them and circumstances with which they were delivered the Ambassadours at the same time declaring that in case they were not granted such provisions would be made in France by a National Council as were agreeable to the State of their Affairs Howsoever the Legats seemed favourably to accept them and dispatched them to the Pope by the Bishops of Viterbo And now by this time the Pope was ready to make a return of the conclusions he had made in the Point about Residencies dispatched from Trent by the Bishop of Ventimille the matter of which though couched with great Art and in such ambiguous terms as might admit of various interpretations yet that artificial fraud could not pass on such subtil Heads who for their Learning and experience were chosen out of the wisest Men of Europe for they easily discovered the Pope's intent to advance himself above an Universal Council they could have been contented to have admitted him the Chief super Ecclesias Vniversas but not super Ecclesiam Vniversalem that is over all Churches in particular but not over the Universal Church as it was aggregated into one body in a General Council Hereupon great Contests arose the Pensioners of Rome produced in favour of the Pope's Authority a Canon made by the Council of Florence which having been received by the Spaniards gave them some trouble in what manner to make an Answer thereunto But the French who had never received the Articles of that Council for Canonical opposed the Councils of Constance and Basil against it which had determined that General Councils were superiour to the Pope but the Italians who maintained that the Council of Basil was Schismatical and that the Canons of Constance were partly received and partly rejected so heated their French Opponents that Reasons and Arguments being on both sides declined the Dispute ended with high words and reproaches of one against the other Which the Legats well observing and that there could be no good issue of such high Contests desired time to remit these matters to the Pope's Censures and so proceeded again to the Point about Residencies the which having already caused inextricable difficulties for the Pope's words did not please the Council the Cardinal of Lorain proposed something by way of Accommodation putting in some gentler terms which might serve the turn of both Parties but the Legats penetrating with their accustomary Acuteness into the words found that the sense would bear an Interpretation which might be expounded in favour of the Opinion that Residencies were constituted by Divine Right Wherefore slighting or laying aside the words which the Cardinal had projected they framed another according to their own humour and presented it to the Congregation the which so incensed the Cardinal of Lorain that from thence forward he began to deal plainly and express himself in free and high terms protesting that for the future he would meddle no farther for that he observed a secret Combination which in Cabinet Consults assumed to its self an Authority to dispose matters differing from the Sentiments of the General Council That the Legats sought nothing more than occasions to break up the Council in discontent That nothing was acted but according to the will of the Legats who moved by such measures only as they received from the Pope whose resolution in every thing they expected from Rome according to that old saying That the Holy Ghost was brought every week from Rome to Trent in the Courriers Portmantle That he for his part was resolved to have patience until the next Session at which if matters were not managed with more fair proceedings he was resolved to retire into France with his French Nation then at the Council where renouncing all farther applications to Rome or Trent they were resolved to assemble a National Council by which they would establish such a form of Concordat as should be agreeable to the present state of their Country and which might secure the safety of the King and the quiet of his People To the same purpose the French Ambassadour expressed himself at Rome but the Pope who had been long used to such kind of Menaces and a noise about National Councils little regarded their Censures or Threats but briskly answered That the Council was free even to a licentiousness that if there were Parties and Factions they were unknown to him and were only made by the Vltramontane Bishops whose design was to trample on the Authority of the Papal Chair And in this manner such distractions and Disputes arose at Trent occasioned by the Power and Interest which the Cardinal of Lorain had there with the greatest part of the Clergy that the Congregations were for some time suspended until the Cardinal of Ventimille returned from Rome freighted with abundance of Complements and Salutes and especially with supplies of Mony for the Pope's Pensioners and then the Congregations being again commenced and with them the Discords renewed it was agreed that the next Session should be deferred until the 22th of April which was presently after Easter The Cardinal of Lorain though he seemed outwardly to consent hereunto with some reluctancy and onely in compliance with the rest of the Council yet in reality he was well enough pleased hoping that a short time would put an end to the life of this Pope who was very aged and infirm when he imagined that his Greatness and Authority would be very instrumental in promoting such a Person to the Papacy as would be facil and easie in granting every thing agreeable to his desires And now to allay a little the heats about the Divine Right of Episcopacy and Residencies the Council diverted their thoughts and Discourse to eight several Points relating to Marriage During which time and the Interval between that and the next Session the Cardinal of Lorain took the opportunity to visit the Emperor's Court at Inspruck which administred great cause of jealousie to the Pope who not onely observed the Cardinal's dissaffection from his proceedings in the Council but likewise from his Letter wherein complaining of the many Factions and Intrigues which his Italian Bishops had caused he concludes that if matters were carried on with the same Measures there would remain nothing more for him either to consider or act than onely to pray unto God to direct the Council with his Holy Inspiration The Cardinal of Lorain being arrived at Inspruck where he remained five days had frequent Conferences with the Emperor and his Son the King of the Romans touching the many disorders and corruptions of the Council at Trent as also of the means how and in what manner the Cup might be restored to the Laiety how Marriage might be granted and dispensed
Master Order and command all the Prelats of the French Nation to retire unto their respective Dioceses until such time as a more free and lawful Council were convened To this high pitch and degree of Dissention were both Parties transported that no other event or issue thereof was expected than a speedy and rash dissolution of the Council of which every one growing weary wished to see an end of their fruitless labours but the Spanish Ambassadour remitting something of his former heat desired time to acquaint his Master with all the preceding passages in which Interval these Heats abated and the Council proceeded to other matters And now after all these Stirs and Combustions and the many Protestations which the Cardinal of Lorain made against the Pope and his complaints against the abuses and corruptions of the Court of Rome on a sudden his humour and affections changed without any visible causes which might move him thereunto so that now instead of inveighing against the Pope or being the Chief in private Cabals against him he with wonderful address applyed himself to the Legats and received the flatteries of Cardinal Moron with a pleasing rellish contenting himself to hear the Legats tell him that they desired to act nothing without his privity wishing that he would bear a share of the burthen with them being infinitely satisfied to have all their Affairs guided by his direction But this dearness between them lasted not long before the Queen Regent wrote a Letter to the Cardinal in which she required his speedy return into France where his presence would be much more serviceable to the Crown than it could be at Trent from whence no good effect either towards Peace or Reformation could be expected That having now concluded a Peace with her Protestant Subjects which seemed to be well established and permanent there was no farther necessity of giving them other satisfaction from Acts of the Council or concessions of the Pope and therefore that for the future he should give Order to the French Clergy not to combat with the Papal Authority but rather to be concurring in whatsoever might fortifie and confirm the same To which part and action the Cardinal seemed easily to incline in regard that standing on ill terms with the Protestants who were mortal Enemies to the House of Guise he found it necessary to support himself with the favour of the Court of Rome to which notwithstanding all former quarrels and Piques he professed himself a true Friend and an obedient Servant And now a new Ambassadour called Birague arrived at Trent from the Court of France with Letters rendering an account unto the Council of the Peace lately concluded with the Protestants for which and for the Articles granted to them in the free exercise of their Religion there was such a necessity that without such an accord the Crown and welfare of France would have been exposed to utmost extremity the which being performed with design of reducing the straying and wandering Sheep into the path and fold of the Church it was hoped that the Council would put a good Interpretation on this transaction and approve of this Cure and remedy which was unavoidable The Council being doubtful what Answer to make unto this Letter desired time to consider thereof intending to dispeed it by the Ambassadour Lansac who was preparing for his return into France Birague having in the mean time Commission to pass unto the Court of the Emperor And now the Congregation proceeded to examine the Point about Ecclesiastical Ordinations in the discussing of which the Bishops did not so strictly adhere to the matter in hand but that they made frequent excursions into the abuses of the Court of Rome and thence descended to the old controverted Points about the Divine Right of Episcopacy and Residences which were never mentioned without Heats and Quarrels In the treating of which Lainez General of the Jesuits undertook to give a more home-blow than any had done before him which he did with so much heat and vehemence as if the salvation of mankind had depended thereupon He took that occasion also to excuse Dispensations the Impositions and Taxes laid by the Church the Riches of the Court of Rome and all those things which are commonly termed Abuses thence he proceeded to exalt the Papal Authority above the Council above all the Church nay above the Clouds and higher than we can imagine the which Discourse tho displeasing both to the Spaniards and French and all but the Pensioners of Rome was highly applauded by the Legats to whom his long Orations did never seem tedious as if they had chosen him for the Interpreter and Explainer of all their thoughts and designs to which end when his turn came to speak he was commanded to take his place in the middle of the Assembly and heard always with patience and applause of the Legats when the Chiefes of other Orders were ordered to speak in their places and were brow-beaten and discouraged Howsoever a certain Benedictin Monk offered to confute Lainez and prove that the Position maintained by him namely That the Tribunal of the Pope is the same with that of Jesus Christ was impious and scandalous But the Cardinal of Lorain who had now changed his Designs and Interests moderated the zeal and heats of both Parties and the Legats laboured to pen such a Determination of that matter as might by the subtilty and ambiguity of those words seem to content all Parties which Instrument though the Cardinal of Lorain seemed to remain satisfied yet the Canonists of Trent and Pensioners of Rome made a thousand difficulties imagining that the words did not screw or strain up the Papal Authority to its true Note and degree About this time Maximilian who was no great Friend to the Pope having been lately chosen King of the Romans sent his Ambassadour to Rome to give him notice of his Election but not in the same method which his Predecessours had practised who promised and swore to whatsoever the Popes imposed upon them for before he would pass that Point he desired first to know what terms the Pope would require of him to which answer was made by the Cardinals That he should acknowledg his confirmation to the Pope's Authority and swear Obedience to him in such manner as his Predecessours had formerly practised which though the Ambassadour in the name of his Master refused to do in such strict sense as the Pope required and would onely promise Devotion Reverence and compliance with the Apostolical Chair yet the Pope was pleased to accept thereof and interpret those Expressions to be equivalent to the term of Obedeince and accordingly granted the Confirmation which was never demanded and accepted the Obedience which was never offered At a Congregation held on the 21th of June all things were preparing against the Session appointed for the 15th of July following that nothing might then obstruct the proceedings or give occasion to defer the time as
the Oar in the Gallies of the Turks Of the Christians after the fight was ended upon the numbers wanting in every Vessel the account of the slain amounted to seven thousand six hundred fifty six This signal Victory was attributed as much to the devout Prayers and Benediction of the Pope as to the valour of the Soldiers and conduct of the Captains the report of which as it filled all Europe with joy so it made way for the glories of Don John who was received into Messina with all the Triumphs and Festivals which that City could express also Antonio Colonna was with the like honour and triumph received at Rome Nor did the Venetian General want such encouragements and honours as that Republick commonly bestows in reward of Valour and Merit In memory of which signal Victory they stamped divers Medals with this Inscription Anno Magnae Navalis Victoriae Dei gratiâ contra Turcas This memorable Victory was obtained in the time of this Pius V. who was certainly one of the best of the Popes and therefore I know not why we may not say without offence to any that this happy success might be given in reward of the Devotion and Piety of this Pope for I am persuaded that God hath a particular care of godly Kings and Princes for whose sake as he often blesseth their people so he bestows some memorable blessings on them of signal Remark in their Reign On which persuasion I am apt to believe that as God bestowed this Victory on the Christians in the time of this Pius V. against that great Sultan Selim II. So now in these our days he hath given Victory and unexpected success to the Christians before the Walls of Vienna against Mahomet IV. in reward of the great Piety and Devotion of Leopold the Emperour whose Devotion and Prayers joyned to the Arms of the King of Poland and of other Princes have operated Miracles and delivered Germany in a wonderful manner from the power of the Turk And yet notwithstanding the religious temper of this Pope we find that he excommunicated Queen Elizabeth as far as his Bull would operate he deposed her from Royal Dignities and conferred her Crown on Mary Queen of Scots and persuaded Philip King of Spain to seize on the effects of the English Merchants at Antwerp and other parts of the Low-Countries and to assist the Catholick Subjects in England in their godly and religious Conspiracies as Gabutius calls them against the Queen their natural Sovereign Pius oblatam occasionem haud contemnendam esse ratus efflatigabat ab Rege ut Anglorum in Elizabetham pie conspirantium studia foveret Thus we see how far a mistaken zeal may transport good Men which though it may in some measure excuse from the aggravation of a Crime yet it cannot prove sufficient to set Men entirely upright at the great day of the just Ballance This Pope added also to his other Excellencies the Virtue of loving wife and learned Men and such as were endued with a vivacity and acuteness of parts for he scarce preferred any to considerable Dignity but such as were excellent in some degree or other and of the twenty one Cardinals which he created at three several times there were five of them at least who were Men of extraordinary Abilities and famous in their Generation He founded certain publick places for Learning and Piety amongst which he endowed a College in the University of Pavia for the Education of Youth and affixed over it the Arms of the Ghislers at Boschi the place of his Birth he built a Monastery for Dominican Friers and endowed it with a competent Revenue and to demonstrate his gratitude to his Antient Benefactors he created a Magnificent Sepulcre in memory of Paul V. by whom he was created Cardinal and in short he made many new Buildings and repaired several that were decayed in the Vatican and both within and without the City of Rome After all which about the middle of March 1572. he became indisposed by a stoppage of Urin of which he commonly had a fit in that Month the which illness encreasing upon him gave him notice that his end approached from which time converting all his thoughts to holy and pious meditations he spent the short remainder of his time in the preparation of his Soul for death which happened on the first of May following the same day he died his Body was embowel'd and three little stones found at the neck of his bladder which the Physitians declared to be the cause of his death He was generally lamented by all and especially by vertuous Men for considering his principles his Enemies had nothing worse to object than that he gave a Dispensation to Philip King of Spain to marry with the Daughter of his Sister and of Maximilian his near Kinsman and yet would never be induced to consent unto the Marriage of Margaret of Valois Sister of the King of France with Henry King of Navarre making the difference of Religion a greater bar to Marriage than the degrees of consanguinity forbidden by the Levitical Law The day after his death his Body being clothed in the habit of a Jacobin was carried into the Church of St. Peter where the people assembled in great numbers to render him Honour and Veneration every one touching their Beads and Rosaries at his Body in the same manner as was their practice at the Reliques of Saints and afterwards he was honourably buried in the same Church where his Body lay deposited until afterwards Sixtus V. in grateful remembrance of the benefits he had received from him transported it to the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore and erected a stately Monument over it in a Chappel built for that purpose with this Epitaph inscribed upon it Pio V. Pont. Max ex Ordine Praedicatorum Sixtus V. Pont. Max. ex Ordine Minorum grati animi monumentum posuit GREGORY XIII PIVS the Fifth being dead and his Funeral Rites after the accustomed manner being performed the Cardinals entred the Conclave and with common consent elected Hugo Buoncompagno who was Priest and Cardinal of S. Sixtus to the dignity of Pope he was born at Bologna of the antient Family of the Buoncompagni his Father was called Christopher and his Mother Agnola Marascalchi by whom he was at first educated in the Studies of the Civil Law in which having made great proficiency he took his degree of Doctor in the University of Bologna at the age of twenty eight years and in a short time was made Judg of the Court of Trade erected in that City for tryal of Mercantile Causes afterwards in hopes of better preferment he went to Rome where he was constituted an Assistant to the Senator who was Judg of the Court held in the Capitol and the year following he was made Clerk of the Signet for Dispensasations and other Beneficences In the time of Paul III. he was employed at the Council of Trent and made Vice-Auditor of the
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
Princes he thought it would be more magnificent to buy or purchase Palaces for them in the Capital Cities and Courts rather than to rent Houses which appeared mean and low in the Eyes of the World The Venetians so soon as they understood the Pope's Design herein which they were extreamly forward to gratifie immediately wrote to their Ambassadour residing at Rome ordering him to acquaint the Pope that the Senate out of their good will and affection to the Papal Sea had resolved to bestow on the Nuntios Apostolical a Palace wherein to reside at Venice and to remain to them and their Successours for ever And accordingly gave possession to Matteucci the Pope's Nuntio then residing of a magnificent Palace in the square of St. Francis at Venice and by Deeds and conveyances under the Seal of St. Mark passed over the right and title thereof unto the present Nuntio and his Successours for ever The Pope having received the news hereof confirmed by the authentick Copy of the Deed was so greatly pleased that with a Letter full of kind Expressions he returned his thanks to the Republick for their generous Present and lest he should seem to be backward or defective in the like liberal returns he assigned to the Minister of Venice an other Palace at Rome in lieu of that which they had presented to his Nuntio at Venice Other Princes according to this Example were inclined to accommodate the Papal Minister with a Habitation in expectation of a like exchange at Rome but the truth was the Pope began to grow sensible of an inconvenience in this sort of Presents for that he could neither find Palaces in Rome sufficient to receive so many Ministers as were sent him from forein Princes in lieu of those which were allotted to his Nuntios in the respective Courts nor situation of places so fitted to the humour and rank of each Representative but that the condition of the Palace being more or less magnificent might administer cause of exception and quarrel to the respective Ministers for which reason the Pope considering better of this matter refused after the Present made him by Venice to accept the like from any other Prince declining the Obligation with a Complement and an Excuse and that rather than put the Prince to so great an Expence he was resolved to purchase Houses for the convenience of his Nuntios with his own Money Thus as Sixtus was haughty in his nature and affected high and glorious matters so he was severe and morose judging every criminal action or misbehaviour in Men to proceed from a contempt or want of fear which Men ought to bear towards his Government Several instances of which might be given but because we would not enlarge into many particulars we shall only mention one Story not unpleasant to be related which was this The Statue of Pasquine into the hand of which all Libels are put at Rome from whence they are called Pasquils was one day covered with a very dirty Shirt and that other Statue called Marforio asking the reason of it Pasquine answered because his Landress had left him to be made a Princess alluding to the Lady Camilla the Pope's Sister who from a Landress was promoted to be a great Lady The report of this Pasquil was immediately brought to the Pope who conceiving thereat a secret indignation endeavoured by his Spies to detect the Author of it but this being a secret known only to the Party himself the discovery seemed impossible by other means than the Confession of the Author to procure which the Pope published an Edict wherein he promised upon the word of a Pope to give two thousand Pistols together with the safety of his life to any person who should reveal the matter and confess himself to be the Author of this Pasquil and on the contrary threatned the Gallows and Torments to whomsoever should be discovered and by sufficient testimony be proved guilty The Author being more covetous of the two thousand Pistols than wise went directly to the Pope and confessed and acknowledged himself to be the Person who made the Pasquil which when the Pope heard he admired not a little at the boldness of the Man and earnestly looking on him gave him this Answer We are obliged to maintain the word and faith we have given you and therefore we order that the Money promised you shall be paid which being performed and a Receipt given for it the Pope farther added It is true said he We promised you the Money and your life both which we have performed but howsoever we have reserved another Reward for you in our breast which is a Sentence that both your Hands and Tongue be cut off that so you may not be able to speak or write more Satyrs of this kind In pursuance of this intention of the Pope this person was taken into custody and immediately his Confession produced as a testimony against him before the Judges by which being convicted immediately without delay his Hands were cut off and his Tongue bored through which sort of severe poceedings affrighted all Rome which was not accustomed to such Cruelties the which action with several others of the like nature strook an awe and fear into the minds of all Men so that generally people walk'd with great circumspection lest they should fall into the merciless and unrelenting hands of Sixtus Cardinal Buoncompagno who was constituted Gran Penitentiary by Gregory XIII dying this year with great Riches that Office by his decease becoming vacant it was expected that the Pope would have conferred the place on Cardinal Montalto his Nephew but to convince the World that merit and not affection prevailed in his mind he readily conferred that Office on Cardinal Aldobrandino a person of singular prudence and Learning and one whom he gladly found an occasion to gratifie the services he had performed to the Church the choice of a person so deserving was acceptable to all Men and of whom the Pope conceived such an esteem that he communicated to him all the secrets of his Counsels being confidently assured of the prudence sincerity and profoundness of his judgment The year 1587. being the third year of the Pontificate of Sixtus was now entered when the People of Rome reflecting on the great plenty and abundance of all provisions within the City caused by the care and wise contrivance of the Pope whilest all the neighbouring Dominions laboured under want and scarcity And also beholding the City of Rome by the munificence of this Pope adorned with stately Edifices the Citizens received so much satisfaction thereby that they erected a Statue of Brass to him in the Capitol with this Inscription Sixto V. Pont. Max. ob quietem publicam compressâ Sicariorum Exulumque licentiâ restitutam Annonae inopiam sublevatam urbem Edificiis Viis Aquaeductu illustratam S.P.Q.R. Sixtus for his divertisement did often use to walk about the City Incognito or in disguise in which kind of perambulation
humbly to beseech his Holiness to pardon what was past and as a testimony and evidence of his reconciliation to send him his Blessing But Sixtus having neither by these reasons nor yet by the gentle and submissive terms of the Ambassadours abated the fury and anger which appeared in his countenance Replyed with a loud Voice That he was well assured that Gondi was dispatched on an other Errand than this and that by any thing they had said there was no judgment to be made of sorrow or repentance in the King for the Crimes he had committed or of such obedience which they professed to the Apostolical Sea so long as contrary to the priviledges thereof he detained the Prelates in Prison and that in case he expected absolution he was to seek it with tears and by a Person express and employed to no other purpose and that there ought to be a Session of Prelates thereupon to consider whether such repentance were real and unfeigned And at last concluded with these sharp words You said he think you have to do with some poor simple Frier that is unacquainted with Men and the World but you shall find that you have to do with Sixtus who is ready to expend blood in defence of the Dignity of the Holy See After which he dismissed the two Ambassadours and the next day called a Consistory in which he appeared with a countenance full of Choler which boiled in his breast and then began to exclaim against his Legat Morosini residing at Paris as if he had consented to the death of the Cardinal or at least might have prevented both that and the imprisonment of the Prelats in case he had vigorously appeared against such indirect Counsels In the next place he railed against some Cardinals who had the boldness to excuse the murther which the King had committed wondering that Cardinals should so little esteem their Dignity and degree as to expose the sanctity of their purple to be profaned by the unhallowed violences of an usurped jurisdiction As to us said he it concerns little what affronts are put on the Cardinals dignity but we are sure that it is of a high consequence to you for we cannot believe that you would readily consent to be dispoiled of their Authority your liberties prerogatives and other priviledges with which you are adorned of which you will certainly be if this murther of a Cardinal be connived at or passed by without any resentment We therefore are resolved to perform our duty and do that which God and his Laws require at Our hands and if from thence as you may possibly object ill consequences ensue to the Kingdom of France we shall remain acquitted in the sight of God for justice must be done though the World should be ruined and dissolved thereby The Cardinals remaining all silent none daring to make a Reply The Pope proceeded and said We shall depute a Congregation of Cardinals to examine this case and search farther into this matter and accordingly the persons nominated were Anthony Sorbellone the Arch bishop of Santa Severina Facchinetto Lancilotto Sastagna and others the which Deputation was now the common Discourse and filled all the World with high expectation of the success and issue thereof The King being informed of these proceedings redoubled his Guards and cautions in the Court of Rome to which place he dispatched the Bishop of Mans a person of singular probity and eloquence to make his defence and having received his Instructions and being fully informed of all the reasons and arguments which might be produced in behalf of the King he arrived at Rome where having first consulted the Ambassadours he was with them admitted unto Audience with the Pope to whom he began with most profound humility to argue and plead That the King had not incurred the punishment of any Ecclesiastical Censure having in no manner violated or infringed the Liberties or Immunities of the Church For that the Cardinal having been found guilty of high Treason against the King was by the fundamental Laws and constitutions of France subjected to the Secular Power and in regard he was a Peer of that Realm his Cause was more immediately triable in the Parliament of Paris and in a grand Assembly of all the Princes and Officers of the Crown so that if the King had trespassed against any Laws it was against the priviledges of his own Parliaments and not against the jurisdiction of the Ecclesiastical State In the next place he argued that a King of France according to the priviledges of the Gallican Church could not incur the Censure of Excommunication But these Arguments and ways of reasonings were in no wise pleasing to the humour of Sixtus being against the Idea and Scheme that he had figured to himself of the Power of the Church and Keys but rather served to inflame his passion and therefore setting aside all those Arguments as not worth an Answer he declared and sentenced That in case within a certain time limited the King did not free and set at liberty the Cardinal of Bourbon and the Arch-bishop of Lions and that in case within the space of sixty days after such releasement the assurance thereof were not intimated to himself and the Apostolical See by writings under the King 's own hand and the Royal Signet That then in such case the King remained actually Excommunicated and incurred all the Ecclesiastical Censures as expressed in the Sacred Canons and Constitutions of the Church Farther The Pope cited the King to appear at Rome either in person or by his Proxy within the space of sixty days after intimation of these Summons should be given him to render an account and to give answer to the accusation charged upon him for having murthered the Cardinal of Guise and imprisoned the Cardinal of Bourbon and the Arch-bishop of Lions and for default of such appearance that then the King did actually incur the pain of Excommunication from which he could not be absolved by any other person whatsoever than onely by the Pope himself unless at the point of death nor then neither unless upon a confident and faithful assurance and Vows to act and obey all matters and Injunctions whatsoever which should be enjoyned and commanded by the Holy Church Two Months and some few days after the Pope had issued out this Excommunication it happened that the King being at the Head of a great Army near St. Clou about two Leagues from Paris was on the first day of August 1589. stabbed in the Belly by a Dominican Frier who was a youth of about twenty three years of age and with him ended his quarrel with the Pope Such being the fate of Henry III. the news thereof flew speedily to Rome where the Spaniards caused a report to be spread that the Affairs of the King of Navarre were reduced to a mean and a low condition and almost desperate and that not onely those of the League but also the whole Kingdom
any Tax or Imposition on Christian Princes and require from them whatsoever they judged for the common good and welfare of Christendom But the Pope did not think this ground to have sufficient foundation on which to build and commence a quarrel but rather on the matters which did more neerly relate to the Interest of the Papal Sea It was not long before an occasion of this nature offered it self by means of one Scipio Saraceno a Prebend of Vicenza who had contemptuously torn off and broken the Seals which the Magistrates had fixed on the Episcopal Chancery during the vacancy of that Office and likewise finding that he could not debauch a Lady of known Vertue whom he tempted in the Churches and Streets and in all places where he could have any convenience to meet her he became so enraged with lust and malice that he besmeared with filthiness and tar the Gate and front of her House which being a high affront and disgrace to the Lady she with the advice of her Friends cited this insolent Prebend before the Court of Justice at Venice who as readily and willingly appeared being encouraged and bolstred up by the Bishop of Citta Nuova a person of great esteem in Venice and one who was Director of the Affairs of all the Nuntios and Papal Ministers at that place The Nuntio who was desirous to obtain a licentious exemption of all Priests from the Secular Power embraced the cause of the Prebendary with all readiness imaginable and immediately dispatched the news hereof to the Pope and to the Bishop of Vicenza who was then at Rome where after divers Consultations it was resolved as an essential Point relating to the Ecclesiastical liberty that the Cause of the Prebend should be maintained and defended and therefore the Pope who was glad of this occasion to assert the Authority and Rites of the Churches stormed and raved with the Venetian Ambassadour telling him that he would not endure or suffer the imprisonment of an Ecclesiastical Person by the Precepts of a Secular Tribunal nor would he admit that a Judg of temporal matters should take cognisance of any Cause wherein a Priest or Churchman was concerned Of all which the Ambassadour gave advice to the Senate The Pope at an other Audience complained to the said Ambassadour that the Senate of Venice had since the death of Clement VIII made a Statute of Mortmain whereby Lay-persons were forbidden and restrained from bequeathing or bestowing their Estates on the Church which Statute though it were founded on an old Law yet the new one was more restrictive but both of them being against the antient Canons Councils and Imperial Laws were in themselves void and null being scandalous and impious in that they made the state and condition of Churchmen worse than that of infamous persons and therefore those who made these Laws did incur the Censures of the Church in the like terms the Nuntio at Venice explained the mind of the Pope unto the Senate and when the Ambassadours arrived at Rome to congratulate the Pope for his exaltation to that dignity he could not refrain even before the Ceremony was ended to make his resentments and complaints of those Laws made in derogation of the Rites and immunities belonging to the Church And thus we have laid down the true state of the quarrel between the Pope and the Venetians to which we shall add a third Point namely a Law made at Venice in the year 1603. prohibiting the building of Churches without consent and license for it obtained from the Senate which the Pope termed a piece of Heresie These being the three Points in Controversie the Senate for answer thereunto commanded their Ambassadour to represent in their name unto his Holiness That the just Right and Title they had to judg Ecclesiastical Persons in Secular Causes was founded in the natural Power of the Supreme Prince and confirmed by an uninterrupted course of a thousand years the which may be proved by the Pontifical Briefs extant in their publick Archives or Records That the Law of Mort-main or Statute restraining Laymen from alienation of their Estates to the Church was not onely enacted at Venice or peculiar to the Cities under that Metropolis but exercised in other Christian Kingdoms and States and that this Law was more conducing to the welfare of Venice than to any other people being that which could onely conserve its Forces entire against the common Enemy of Christendom which would otherwise be enfeebled by those daily Legacies and Endowments which were bequeathed and conferred on the Church The Pope was so netled with this way of reasoning that he sat all the time uneasie in his Seat shrugging his shoulders and turning his head which intimated the unquietness of his mind At length he replyed That those arguments were invalid and of no force for that there was no foundation to be made on the accustomed course of their Judicature which was so much the worse by how much more they pretended Antiquity And as to the Briefs there was no authentick Register or Record of them but what was found at Rome and that the others were forged Copies and cheats imposed on the Clergy And as to their Acts and Ordinances he was so well acquainted and versed in them since the time of his youthful Studies and that having passed the Offices of Vice-Legat Auditor of the Chamber and Vicar of the Pope he was sufficiently assured that that Law could not stand and that the old Act made in the year 1536. which takes from the Laiety a power of disposing of their own private Estates was in it self void and of no force and a tyrannical imposition on the Subject That the Senate themselves were so sensible of this injurious Law that they were ashamed to issue forth any Copies of it and if in case a Law of this nature were found in any other Country it was established by the Authority and with the concurrence of the Popes and then he concluded that he was resolved not to make a long work of it for that in case he were not obeyed he would make use of such Remedies as he thought convenient being so positive in this matter and zealous for the Church that he was ready to spill his blood in this righteous Cause and in the defence thereof That in case it were necessary to give a stop to the alienation of Lands or a restraint of building Churches he would always have been ready to have followed the sentiments of the State and to have concurred in just causes with the desires of the Secular Council but as to the point of drawing the Clergy to the Secular Tribunals he would never admit that such as were his Subjects should be liable to the sentence of an other Jurisdiction this in fine was his resolution on the three foregoing Cases in which he was resolved to be obeyed and make use of that Power which God had given him over all things and over all
gave Orders to all his People to treat the Ambassadour and his Retinue with all kindness and due respect and moreover wrote a Letter to the Pope complaining of the late design of his Nuntio attempting to publish Ecclesiastical Censures against forein Princes within his Kingdom which was a new and an unknown practice within his State and had been refused in the Case of Henry III. King of France and in the Cause of Cesare d' Este Duke of Ferrara much less could he be induced to allow of such proceedings against the State of Venice whose Cause was the same with that of his own Kingdom And considering that that State had merited well of Christendom by the opposition they made with their Arms against the common Enemy he exhorted his Holiness to supersede farther proceedings for Causes which ought to be stifled and which for better peace of the Church ought never to be brought into question or Dispute Francis Soranzo a Cavalier of Venice being at this time Ambassadour at the Emperor's Court did rightly inform the Imperial Ministers with the true state of the difference between the Pope and that Republick and in regard the Constitutions of all Germany were the same they could not do less than approve the Cause of the Venetians and condemn the Cause of the Pope which confirmed the Protestants in their reasons which they alledged for detaining Ecclesiastical Benefices in their own hands Howsoever the Great Chancellour and Marshal Prainer were of different Opinions taking part with the Pope against the affections sence and Interest of the whole Court When news came first to the Court of Spain of the differences between the Pope and the Venetians the constancy and firmness of that State to the Principles of their Government was highly applauded being the common Cause of all Secular Princes Howsoever the Nuntio made it his business to have the Venetian Ambassadour declared in all Pulpits to be under Excommunication The Genoeses also who were powerful in that Court being touched with envy on old grudges and for having lately yielded that Point of their liberty to the Pope which Venice still conserved did all the ill offices they were able against the Republick but above all the Ambassadour of Tuscany joyning with the Jesuits shewed himself an open Enemy and so prevailed with the King and Council that a Congregation of twelve Divines was held at Madrid in presence of the Cardinal of Toledo to consider whether the Ambassadour of Venice ought to be admitted into the Church at the time of Celebration of Divine Offices the result of which was that the Ambassadour should not be excluded every one concurring in that Opinion the Nuntio and Jesuits onely excepted So soon as the news came to Paris that the Monitory was published against Venice Barberino the Pope's Nuntio made urgent addresses to the King that Priuli the Venetian Ambassadour should be excluded from admission into the Church but his desire was positively rejected both because the King was willing to remain Neuter and because it was and is a Maxim of that Kingdom That Popes have no power over the Temporal Government of Princes and have no Authority on account for Secular matters to proceed against them or their Officers by Ecclesiastical Censures In England we may easily imagine what Opinion was conceived of these proceedings for when Giustiniano the Ambassadour of Venice had acquainted King James with the state of the difference between the Pope and the Republick the King did much applaud the Laws and Constitutions of Venice and the constancy and resolution of the Senate in the maintenance of them adding That he would gladly see a free Council established which was the onely means to reform the Church of God and put an end to all Controversies amongst Christians which had no other original or source than onely from the usurpation of Popes and ambition of the Clergy in which holy and sacred Design he did not doubt but that the French King and all other Christian Princes would readily concur and that perhaps a beginning thereof might arise from these troubles and labours of the Republick And farther the King added That the Popes exalting themselves above God were the ruin of the Church and that it was no wonder that their Pride admitted of no serious reflections or moderate advices being puffed up and elated by the common adulation and flattery which was used towards them The States of the Vnited Provinces wrote very obliging Letters to Venice proffering to assist them with Arms and Provisions in case they came to an open rupture and acts of hostility with the Pope In the mean time many effectual good Offices were performed both at Rome and Venice by the Dukes of Mantoua and Savoy and by Guicciardin Ambassadour of the Great Duke of Tuscany and more especially by Monsieur de Fresnes the French Ambassadour at Venice To all which instances and applications from several Princes the Senate thought fit to make this general Answer First they returned thanks for the good endeavours and labours towards a Mediation and then complained of the firm resolutions of the Pope which could not be shaken or made plyable by any reasonable terms which the Republick could offer That there could be no hopes of accommodation until the Pope by taking off his Censures did open a way to Treaties and terms of Peace That the Pope had proceeded so far in his injuries and affronts as were past all manner of reconciliation and yet the Republick which was truly Catholick would still bear their due respect to the Pope so far as was consistent with their liberty and with that right of Government which was committed to them by God But whilest matters were thus in Treaty at Venice and Rome and in the Courts of Princes the Jesuits who were vigilant and intent to do all the mischiefs they were able against the Republick did not cease to disperse Scandals and Libels as well without Italy as within and to preach and rail against them in their Pulpits and Schools endeavouring to possess their Auditories with the most malicious impressions they could beget or frame in minds of Men they also wrote Letters into all places defaming the Republick some who would not adventure into the Dominions of Venice treated on the Confines with their Disciples and Votaries and others in disguise entered within the Dominions sowing Division and Faction in all parts promising extraordinary Indulgences to all such as should observe the Interdict They also forged several Letters entitling one from the Republick of Genoua to the Senate of Venice another from the City of Verona to the City of Brescia which were most scandalous and abominable Papers Then in other Writings they justified themselves for having in their Sermons inveighed against the Republick calling it a Lutheran Heretical and tyrannical Government with infinite other abominable Epithets In fine it was proved that the Jesuits were the causes of all these disturbances having instigated the
secrecy on which the King might with confidence establish this his promise and assurance On this last Point the Cardinal insisted with more than ordinary pressures declaring that the season of the year which was now only proper for Consultations and Treaties was but short and that the time of War and action approached and therefore it was necessary to come to a determination and that the Senate would more especially declare themselves concerning the Laws for as the King did not desire nor approve that any Decree or Law should be made and recorded for suspension of these Laws nor any other thing which might prejudice the dignity of the State and the publick Liberty so he also did consider That as the Pope had passed these Censures openly and in the sight of the World so he could not take them off without some apparent reasons and causes which might salve his reputation and his honour And because the King his Master did well know that the Republick was extreamly averse to such suspension he was willing to touch that Point very tenderly and ease them therein by taking the whole burden on his own shoulders giving his word to the Pope that those Laws should be suspended during this Treaty without any Decree or Declaration on part of the Republick conditionally that as the Pope shall hereupon without farther delay take off the Censures so the Republick shall promise unto the King not to execute these Laws during the time of this Treaty the which being assented unto by the Senate he did not doubt but to give satisfaction unto the Pope and maintain and secure their Liberty and conclude all with a happy and blessed Peace As to that Article which concerned the Jesuits his Master's desire was that they should be restored it being an ordinary concession and grant in the conclusion of all Treaties that such as have been Parties Fomenters or Abettors on either side should be remitted and included in the Articles for that indeed it was not consistent with the honour of the Pope that those who had suffered for his Cause and for their Obedience to the Apostolical Sea should be excluded and suffer for the performance of their duty To this Speech of the Cardinal the Senate made this Answer That the expulsion of the Jesuits was resolved and decreed upon very sound and mature considerations and the Law against them so firmly established as could not be repealed and yet to salve the Pope's reputation herein all other Religious such as Friers and others who were Parties and Abettors of the Pope's Cause should be included and restored to their pristine state and condition but as to the Point of giving their word to the King for non-execution or suspension of the Laws during this Treaty they could not recede from the determination so often repeated which was That in the use of these Laws they will not depart from their antient Piety and Religion professed But the Cardinal insisted and desired to have had some thing more plain and agreeable to his Proposition but howsoever being well acquainted with the Pope's mind to agree almost on any terms he made this Reply to the Senate that though he expected to receive an Answer more satisfactory to his Demands yet considering that it was the King's pleasure that the Republick should have entire contentment he rested satisfied with this Answer which he desired might be kept as a Secret lest being divulged it might be interrupted by the contrivances of unquiet and malitious spirits Howsoever the Senate resolved to communicate all that passed to Don Francisco the Spanish Ambassadour who had offered a like Equivolent and having been to make the Cardinal a Visit had desired to joyn with him in this Negotiation which the Cardinal refusing Don Francisco was very urgent to know all particulars which the Senate very readily communicated to him Thus were the Treaties so far proceeded as administred great hopes of Peace had not the great preparations made for War by the Count de Fuentes Governour of Milan and the disturbances amongst the Grisons rendered all things cloudy and tending to a storm howsoever the Cardinal Joyeuse with such Answer and Proposals as he had obtained from the Senate resolved for Rome and accordingly departed from Venice on the 17th of March The Cardinal was no sooner departed but the Marquess de Castiglione arrived at Venice with Character of Ambassadour from the Emperor to the Pope And though the Duke of Savoy was employed for the Emperour and then resided at Venice in quality of his Ambassadour yet Castiglione had Orders in his way to stop there and encline the Senate as well as he was able towards a Peace but this Marquess could obtain nothing more than what was delivered to the Ministers of France and Spain of which the Ambassadour Don Francisco made collections in writing with the proceedings of all the Treaty Copies of which he sent with diligence to Rome and were not onely shewed to the Pope but dispersed through all the Court to the intent that it might be made known to the World that the French were not able to procure or gain other terms from the Senate than such as had been already granted to the Ministers of Spain and other Princes Of which the Senate having information thought fit for prevention of false Reports to send authentick Copies of all proceedings to their Ministers in forein Courts and particularly that of their last resolution The arrival of the Cardinal at Rome filled all the Town with Discourse every one speaking variously as his passion guided some being of Opinion that the matters were all concluded others of different sentiments believed that they were impossible and indeed the Pope himself being distracted by both sides remained unresolved for the space of three or four days during which time he confessed himself to have been as it were tormented on the wrack For he considered that to yield unto the Venetians almost in every Point was a scandalous diminution to the Papal Power and to abandon the Jesuits his faithful Officers was yet more hard and intolerable for if for two Clergymen onely there had been such a clutter how much more ought he to be concerned for a whole Order and for the conservation and re-establishment of his most beloved Emissaries But in regard the Venetians seemed resolute in that Point the Cardinal Perron persuaded the Pope to wave the Dispute lest when all other Points were agreed it should be said that the particular Cause of the Jesuits should become the Universal Concernment of the whole Church and that it was necessary in the first place to establish the Papal Authority in Venice before he could hope to gain admission for the Jesuits and that herein he would do well to follow the Example of Clement VIII who in a Controversie he had with France on the same Subject was contented to wave the Point concerning the restoration of the Jesuits and in the time obtained
punish his Nephew for having directed his love to a Princess of equal quality with himself whilest he himself was so besotted as to be given up to the extravagancy of an aspiring Woman permitting her to govern his Person Church State and Court with an Imperious hand and yet at the same time not to indulge his Nephew the love of a young Noble and beautiful Lady who brought a considerable Patrimony to the House of Pamfilio Nor was Donna Olympia more kind or less jealous of Nicolo Ludovisio Prince of Piombino who was married to her second Daughter on hopes that as Nephew to the Pope he should enter into Offices and Affairs for this Prince having been Nephew to Gregory XV. and Brother to that Cardinal Patron who since the time of his Uncle absolutely disposed of all the Affairs of the Church did now hope to find the same fortune and reap the same benefit under this Innocent X. But Donna Olympia was too wise to admit a Nephew into the privacies of the Pope or a Partner with her in business for she entirely bestowed all Benefices whether great or small the Officers of the Datary being charged to keep them in hand till she had fully informed herself of the value whatsoever Bishoprick fell void they that pretended to it were to address themselves to her Abbeys Canons and all other Dignities and Governments Ecclesiastical or Civil were all conferred at the pleasure and command of Donna Olympia there was no appearing with empty hands before her The Rates of all Places were set an Office of one thousand Crowns a year for three years was valued at one years Revenue and for six years at double and so proportionably if for life then it was valued at twelve years and the moiety thereof to be paid in hand Cardinal Panzirolo who was then the great Favourite of the Pope and who transacted all Affairs durst yet act nothing without the consent of this Lady for such an absolute Ascendant she had over the Pope that his Soul seemed to be animated with hers and his Will subservient to her dictates and strange it was to see her sit in Council with the Pope with bundles of Memorials in her hands to receive his Assent for formally onely unto that which she had already determined so that it is believed she had charmed him with some strange diabolical Arts Histories having never given us an Example of the like nature And now to give farther instances and miracles of her Power she introduced into the place of Cardinal Pamfilio who had laid aside his Scarlet to marry with the Princess Rosana a certain Nephew of hers Son to her Brother a youth of about eighteen years of age who was afterwards called Cardinal Maldochino Olympia intended once to have made him Cardinal Patron but he was so great a Sot and so stupid a Fool that he was uncapable of Business abhorred by the Pope and a shame to the College and Dignity of Cardinals The Office of Cardinal Patron was ever esteemed of great Honour and importance and when managed by a Wise and dexterous Person was of great ease and relief to him who sate in the Papal Chair for if the Pope were sick or absent he gave Audience to Ambassadours and presided in the Council subscribed Letters to the Nuntios Legats and Governours of Provinces But this help being as yet wanting to Innocent for want of a Cardinal Nephew endued with some tolerable understanding Olympia contrived to adopt Camillo Astalli Brother of Marquis Astalli who had married her Niece into the Family of the Pope with whom she so prevailed that he created him Cardinal Patron and gave him the name of Pamfilio though not of the bloud nor allied to his Family It was wonderful to the Court to see a young Man of twenty seven years of age raised on a sudden to so important a preferment 'T was true he was endued with a gentile behaviour and good address and with qualities of mind sufficient to make himself acceptable but yet neither his years nor his practice in Affairs enabled him to support the great burden of Church and State In making of this Creature as well Panzirolo as Olympia was believed to concur she with a design to advance the Brother of him that had married her Niece but he to have an influence over all his actions being well assured that this young Man would act nothing without his direction But whilest Olympia thus governed all Affairs the Court of Rome became scandalous nothing but libellous Jests to the disparagement of the Pope were daily put into the hands of Pasquin at Rome In the Courts of the Emperour of France and Spain the Nuntios seemed to lose much of that Reverence which was formerly given them and when any of those Princes were refused the demands they made and expected from the Pope it was often said with raillery That if Donna Olympia had made the request it would readily have been granted It was the common Discourse in the Pulpits of Geneva that a Woman was Head of the Church and the Universal Bishop and that now the mystery of the Whore of Babylon was plainly discovered In the Protestant Countries the Comedies and Farces represented the Loves and Intrigues of Innocent X. and Donna Olympia upon the Stage all which the young Cardinal Patron at the instigation of Panzirolo made known to the Pope who being conscious of the truth thereof and inwardly ashamed resolved often to forbid Olympia the Court and all concernment or intermedling in Affairs but knowing not how to come out with it his inward grief suppressed his words but at length taking courage and resolution he burst out into tears and therewith into words Interdicting Olympia all farther communication with the Court. After this Cardinal Astalli I should have said Pamfilio gained ground in the affections of the Pope and being guided by Panzirolo took daily deeper root in his esteem Panzirolo likewise himself kept in great credit and unshaken by his Adversaries but being tired with the burden of business and continual watches until after midnight in consultations with the Pope he fell sick and died Nature effecting that which his Enemies endeavoured The Cardinal Patron above all lamented his loss presaging thereby the mischief which afterwards ensued for now Donna Olympia began though Incognita to frequent the Court and by degrees to repossess her first Station But we shall for a while leave this Lady weaving her Webbs and managing Intrigues and return again to the Barberins whose Cause was taken into the defence and protection of France In the month therefore of January 1746. Cardinal Barberin and Taddeo the Prefect in compliance with the Pope's Brief presented their accounts having had but fifteen days time allotted to bring them in and in failure thereof were to forfeit five hundred Crowns a day for every day until they were delivered The Accounts being given the Pope cast his eyes upon them with much indignation
and prejudice not allowing them for true and legal excepting against the sum with which they had charged themselves which the Auditors would have to be eight Millions But Counsel pleading in behalf of the Barberins desired for justification of them it might be permitted to examine the Books of Accounts which were remaining in the Apostolical Chamber to which for their own discharge they referred themselves But this Demand gave no satisfaction or stop to the proceedings of Court whereby in an extraordinary manner and without form of Law the Estate belonging to the Barberins in the Monte was sequestred with all the other Rents belonging to them within the City of Rome or any other place within the Ecclesiastical Dominions wherefore the Barberins being apprehensive of farther proceedings against their Persons after consideration held with their Friends both Cardinal Francisco and Taddeo the Prefect retired from Rome and other parts within the Dominions of the Church to places of Sanctuary and Refuge In the mean time proceedings of Court against them were carried on with greater rigour and severity so that the news of their arrival in France was the common Discourse of all Rome and their resolution therein greatly applauded by all indifferent persons to be prudent and agreeable to their present circumstances considering that the French King had espoused their quarrel and taken them into his care and protection But the little esteem and great neglect which the Pope seemed to shew to those instances which the King made in behalf of the Barberins were so highly resented by his Majesty that both the Senate of Venice and the Great Duke though an Enemy to them greatly fearing that this Cause might introduce the French Arms into Italy interceded with the Pope to moderate the anger he had conceived against the Barberins and to allow of some Conditions and expedients of Reconciliation but all their good Offices were not able to give any stop or arrest of judgment seisure being made of their Estates and Revenue without any other reason than quia hic placet The news hereof being extreamly ill resented at the Court of France it was judged fit to send the Bishop of Angiers to Rome to confer with Cardinal Grimaldi upon this matter that so a greater Authority might be given to his Negotiations The Ambassadour of Venice being recalled from Rome by the Senate before his departure thence consulted with Cardinal Grimaldi and the Bishop of Angiers in what manner to govern his Discourse at his last Audience and having taken his directions from them he warmly applied himself to the Pope representing the danger of a War with France and that it was not prudent for the Cause of a private Family and to gratifie some particular grudges to engage the Church and all Italy in publick calamities but the Pope seeming regardless of all those considerations replied That it became not his greatness to capitulate with his Subjects but in case the Barberins would voluntarily come in and throw themselves at the feet of his mercy he would shew them such favour as the World might take notice how much the instances of his most Christian Majesty and the Republick of Venice in their behalf had prevailed upon him But these general terms and uncertain expressions giving no satisfaction to the French Court the King wrote to his Ambassadours at Munster where the general Peace of Christendom was then in Treaty Ordering them to give that Assembly to understand the Passion he conceived for the Cause of the Barberins was such as would obstruct all proceedings unless some Expedients were contrived and some Conditions provided for their security and restoration by which the Pope was made sensible that the King resolved to carry these matters to the highest extremity The Abbot of St. Nicolas having now for some time remained at Rome and informed himself of the true state of the Controversie with the Barberins he demanded Audience and being thereunto admitted he presented his Letters of Credence which the Pope received with many obliging expressions letting fall a few tears from his Eyes when he declared how much he loved the French Interest and how affectionate he had shewed himself thereunto even to a Passion of which his Christian Majesty was so sensible that had the whole Power of the Conclave been in the King he was persuaded he would have created him Pope in exclusion of all others in the World But the Abbat was little surprised with those tears esteeming them no indications of his mind but his usual preparations to important Treaties proceeded to discourse in favour of the Barberins whom he beseeched to receive again into his grace and good will which though his Master might expect from him as a point of Justice yet he would take it as an act of kindness and Obligation to himself That the Barberins should make their submission in such humble terms as he should require and direct and all things ordered to the greater reputation and glory of his Holiness that the refusal hereof would disturb the quiet of Christendom obstruct the general Peace in Treaty at Munster and hinder the succours which were then preparing to give the Catholicks in England and in fine would be the cause of great confusion and disturbance in Europe In answer hereunto the Pope desired the Abbat to represent unto the Queen Regent how much the Barberins had ruined the Church by the expence of more than twenty Millions which they had charged upon the People by unsupportable Impositions to maintain a War against the Duke of Parma for which no justifiable account could be given that they had so abused the Authority and Government of the Church in the last years of their Uncle's Pontificate that all the World cryed out for justice and vengeance against them and if now after all these mischiefs they should find refuge and protection for their crimes in France the Nephews of Popes would for the future become licentious and not fear what they acted or designed when after the example of the Barberins they might hope to find a Sanctuary and impunity for their crimes if not in France yet at least in Spain or Germany or some other Prince where they were able to make an Interest or a friendship That the Avarice and ambition of the Barberins was beyond all example having purchased a Revenue of above two hundred and fifty thousand Crowns a year besides their many Benefices and immense Riches which they had concealed and the magnificent furniture of their Palaces which out of respect to their Majesties of France he had suffered to remain without seisure or confiscation With these and the like Arguments was the cause of the Barberins debated between the Pope and the Abbat without any effect and the Audience ending without satisfaction to either side the Cardinals of the French Interest concluded that nothing would be done until such time as that the success of the Siege of Orbetello were known and the Fate of
it was thought a convenient season in the heat of these Negotiations for the Pope to propose the restoration of the Jesuits to their possessions on the Dominions of Venice from whence they had been banished on occasion of the differences between Paul V. and the Venetians Carlo Carafa Bishop of Antwerp then Nuntio at Venice represented the Pope's desires herein at a full Senate laying before them the conveniences they might expect and benefits they might reap by closing with the Pope's demands in this Case which seemed to be much changed since the first Original Decree and bando against them for that those Jesuits who had fomented the divisions and Sedition were already dead and that those who were to supply their places would be more cautious and careful for the future in what manner they incurred the displeasure of the Republick these considerations being seconded by warm instances of the French Ambassadour to the same purpose the matter was carried in the Senate for restoration of the Jesuits and though the antient Decrees of the Senate in this case were positive and rigorous to the contrary and that Cavalier Soranzo greatly opposed the admission yet the pressure of Affairs and the necessity of gratifying the Pope was such that the former Decrees were repealed and the Laws against the Jesuits made void and in this manner and on this occasion in the year 1657. they again restored to their possessions within the Venetian Dominions the Church of the Crociferi being conferred upon them in the City of Venice The whole Court of Rome being gratified by this concession not onely the Pope but the Cardinals also concurred in their liberal contributions towards maintenance of the War against the Turk of which five especially were signally bountiful and munificent above the others namely Antonio Barberino who gave one hundred thousand Ducats in Gold Cardinal Mazarine gave two hundred thousand Francisco Barberino and Flavio Ghigi agreed to maintain three Gallies at their own expence and lastly Cardinal Nicholas who was a Count of the Bath not having sufficient Estate in ready Money to make such a contribution as he desired sold his Palace and Houshold-stuff and Vineyards that he might be registred amongst the Benefactors to this War At this time also the Ottoman Arms prevailed against the Emperour in the upper parts of Hungary so that Varadin was taken and the Turks became very formidable Wherefore that Pope Alexander might not seem less sollicitous for conservation of the Emperour than he was for the Venetians he issued considerable sums out of his Treasury and laid a Decimation on the Revenue of the Clergy over all Italy wherewith to assist the Imperial Arms and farther wrote Letters to the Kings of France and Spain then busily employed in a Treaty at the Pyreneans that having concluded a Peace amongst themselves and confirmed and strengthned the Alliance by the ties and Obligations of a Marriage they would have respect to the Wars in Hungary which were carried on by the Turk to the destruction and ruin of the Christian Cause But we are not here to omit that this Treaty of the Pyreneans which was held in the Island of Pheasants where the Marriage was concluded between the present King Lewis XIV and Maria Teresa Infanta of Spain was acted and carried on between Cardinal Mazarini and Don Luis d' Haro without the mediation and concurrence of this Pope Alexander which seems the more strange in regard that this very Pope was Nuntio at Munster and once managed that Treaty there in behalf of Innocent X. with great applause and proof of his abilities and integrity and was personally known to the Cardinal many therefore and various were the reflections on this Point by the Politicians of those times and many Writers on this Subject have assigned divers Causes and reasons for it Some would have it that during the time that Cardinal Mazarine and the Pope then in quality of Nuntio were together in Germany several differences had arisen between them not then reconciled and that the Nuntio had always shewn some partiality towards the Court of Spain for which cause Mazarine had opposed the election of him to be Pope and though afterwards he had been sweetned by the character and commendations which Sachetti had given of him yet still some acrimony remained on the spirits of the Pope because he observed an aversion in the Cardinal to treat the Peace in any part where the Pope did reside he also observed with what indignity to the Papal Sea he had treated the Cardinal of Retz and with what neglect and almost contempt he comported himself towards his Nuntio at Paris Moreover the Pope was not a little displeased to observe what backwardness and delay was used by the Court of France no onely in sending the Extraordinary Embassy of Obedience to Rome but the Ordinary also of Residency nor was the Pope ignorant of those slight and contemptible expressions which both the Cardinal and his Favourite the Bishop of Omodei publickly uttered with ill reflections on his Person On the other side the Cardinal complained of the Pope's Ingratitude for that after he had so freely concurred in his Election he always evidenced an aversness to comply with him in the most reasonable Demands and ever favoured that Party which interfered with the Interest of France so that the Cardinal would often say that the Pope offered him frequently injuries that so if at any time he did him right it might seem to proceed from favour rather than from the motives of Justice These matters and the like occasioning coldness of correspondence it is no wonder that Writers should attribute the reason of the Pope's exclusion from this Treaty of Peace to the preceding Causes Whenas the most reasonable Obstacle might be the Pope's incapacity to moderate and concur in the terms of this Peace for whereas the foundation of this Peace between the two Crowns was established on the Articles concluded and agreed at the Treaty of Munster which the Pope having condemned disanulled and protested against it could not be expected that the Pope should be called and made a Party to that Treaty unless they had resolved to raise difficulties by that opposition and obstructions which would have been made by the Pope and his Ministers In short the Marriage being celebrated between the most Christian King and the Infanta Maria Teresa the onely cause and Object of the Peace was afterwards the original of many quarrels and disorders in Christendom For the Spaniards not having been so strict and wary as the importance of the matter required did not take care to pen the Instrument of Renuntiation which the Infanta signed to the Dominions of her Father and all her Paternal Inheritance with such strict terms but that there was still a Gate open to pretensions nor was the form of the Oath so strict and expressive but that there was place left for evasions as the ambition of Men and their desire of
and wise Men who conceived hopes by an instance of this nature that Vertue and wisdom would return again into use and fashion and the Court of Rome in general rejoyced to find themselves freed from the pride insolence and covetousness of Nephews Howsoever the Family of Altieri was continued in their Military Employments and others confirmed in their respective Offices but because War was extrinsecal and not the Trade or profession of the Church which was now in peace with all the World he retrenched the pay or Pension belonging to the Officers of the Papal Army causing them to remain satisfied with the Name and Dignity without the benefit or profits of their respective Commands which proved of great ease to the Apostolical Chamber Howsoever knowing that Authority is not to be maintained without Power and force and resolving to become Master of Rome he encreased the number of his Archers in the listing of which he took not every fellow that came to offer his service but such onely as were sober Men not given to quarrels or to commit such insolences as the Corsi who were the cause of great disturbance to Alexander VII Howsoever on the other side not to receive insults from Ambassadours or other Representatives of Kings or Nobles and Princes of Rome in prejudice to Justice and the rules of severe Government he absolutely denied to them the priviledg to protect Miscreants and Criminals within the Precincts or certain limits assigned by themselves to be Sanctuaries for all Villains and Murtherers that should fly for refuge to those quarters and in pursuance of this resolution he seized a certain famous Bandito at Riccia where the Prince and Princess Chigi have a Seat and possession the which was admitted without any opposition made thereunto Farther the Pope confirmed the seventeen Articles which were signed as we have said in the Conclave by all the Cardinals being such as for the most part tended to a Reformation of manners and to an amendment of those abuses which were crept into the Church And farther to demonstrate his great zeal for the welfare and reputation of the Papal See he openly reproved the vanity of those Cardinals who pleased themselves with fine Coaches and rich Liveries giving them to understand the incongruity there was between those worldly Gayeties and the profession of those who had devoted themselves to that sober and serious life which becomes the gravity of a good and a holy Prelat And in regard that in times of preceding Popes many unworthy persons by the force of Money and Simonaical dealings were arisen to Episcopal Dignities the Pope appointed four Cardinals and four other Clergymen to examine the lives and manners of such who aspired to the degree of Bishops ordering them to admit none thereunto suspected or in the least blemished with an ill fame or taxed of ignorance as well as of a debauched conversation And in order to a thorough reformation the Pope drove out all the Courtesans and Strumpets from Rome and persons openly scandalous and dissolute in their manners and amongst others he banished a Gentleman of quality into Germany for having made a violent attempt on the chastity of a Lady of approved modesty All Houses of Play or gaming for Money were put down and all leud and unlawful Assemblies were fobridden And in regard the Barons of Rome had by the priviledg of their Nobility raised themselves above the reach of their Creditors The Pope ordered Cardinal Cibo to make a narrow inspection thereinto and to pay the Debts of the Barons out of the Money of the Chamber by which means these Debts being assigned over to the Chamber a payment of the same might more easily be forced by vigour of that Law which enforces the proceedings of the Exchequer To these Acts of Justice the Pope added one of great generosity towards Christina Queen of Sweden who having by the late Wars lost the greatest part of her Revenue in Sweden in recompence thereof he allowed unto her a Pension of twelve thousand Crowns a year And having laid these first foundations and beginnings of good Government the Pope's next work was to labour in the promotion of a Peace between the two Crowns and all other Christian Princes that laying aside all differences and quarrels amongst themselves they might unite their forces for the good and welfare of Christendom against the common Enemy the Turk to this effect he wrote Letters to the Emperour and to the Kings of France and Spain exhorting them to Peace and Concord of which he offered himself to be the Mediator and to be assistant thereunto in Person provided that the place appointed for the Treaty were assigned in some City of the Catholick Religion On the other side he animated the King of Poland to continue his War against the Turk and not to lay down his Arms until he had recovered Kaminiec and revenged himself of the Affront put upon him by the late Visier Kuperlee who had taken Contribution under the notion of Tribute from his City of Leopolis and to enable and encourage him thereunto he remitted to him the sum of fifty thousand Crowns But whilst the Pope laboured for Peace abroad he was not able to keep himself nor his Court free from disturbances at home for the Marquis del Carpio who resided at Rome in quality of Ambassadour for his Catholick Majesty being informed of the great want his Master had of Soldiers to send into Sicily adventured to make some levies of men in Rome pretending that the French on some occasions had practised the like but the People not being ignorant of the bad pay and ill treatment of the Spaniards came very slowly to enroll their names and moreover a report was rumoured abroad that many people were wanting who were hid in Cellars by the Spaniards till an opportunity presented to transport them into Sicily This report whether it were true or false yet served the turn of such who delighted in troubles and Seditions for being entertained with some malice in the minds of the people they conceived such an abhorrence of the Spanish Nation that they affronted them in all places which sometimes proceeded to fightings and scuffles in which several were killed and wounded but the Spaniards being few in number and the weaker side were at last forced to keep within their quarters for fear of the multitude The Pope to suppress these tumults and prevent disorders punished several persons who were guilty of the Riots with just severity but the Spanish Ambassadour not contented herewith pretended some higher and more exemplary satisfaction at which the Pope grew angry declaring that the Ambassadour was in arrear to him and obliged rather to give than to demand satisfaction upon which the Ambassadour to shew his resentment refused to appear at Court and at the same time the Vice-King of Naples without any cause or reason denied Audience to the Pope's Nuntio at that City This manner of proceeding was highly
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
and therefore he preferr'd his son-in-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