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
quitting all hopes of gaining the City 〈◊〉 the Siege and returns to Milain Mauritius now began to treat Gregory more respectfully but it proceeded not from a voluntary but forc'd Repentance he having heard that a certain person in the habit of a Monk with a drawn Sword in his hand had proclaim'd aloud in the Market-place of Constantinople that the Emperour should in a short time die by the Sword The same was confirmed to him by a Dream of his own in which he saw himself his Empress and their Children murdered And accordingly not long after the Soldiers being discontented for want of Pay create Phocas who was a Centurion in the Army Emperour and Assassine Mauritius in the nineteenth year of his Reign But Gregory having added what Ornaments he could to the Churches in Rome and dedicated by the name of S. Agatha the Martyr the Church of the Goths in Suburra built by 〈◊〉 Ricimerius a man of Consular Dignity converted his Father's House into a Monastery wherein he received and entertained Strangers and supplyed with meat and drink the poor which from all parts slocked to it He was certainly a person every way praise-worthy whether we regard his Life and Conversation or his Learning or his Abilities in things both Divine and Humane Nor ought we to suffer him to be censured by a few ignorant men as if the ancient 〈◊〉 Buildings were demolish'd by his Order upon this pretence which they make for him lest Strangers coming out of Devotion to Rome should less regard the consecrated places and spend all their Gaze upon Triumphal Arches and Monuments of Antiquity No such reproach can justly be fastned upon this great Bishop especially considering that he was a Native of the City and one to whom next after God his Countrey was most dear even above his Life 'T is certain that many of those ruin'd Structures were devour'd by Time and many might as we daily see be pull'd down to build new Houses and for the rest 't is probable that for the sake of the Brass used in the concavity of the Arches and the conjunctures of the Marble or other square stones they might be battered and defaced not only by the barbarous Nations but by the Romans too if Epirotes Dalmatians Pannonians and other sorry people who from all parts of the World resorted hither may be called Romans Now Gregory having used all means to establish the Church of God died in the second year of the Emperour Phocas having been in the Chair thirteen years six months ten days and the loss of him being lamented by all men was buried in S. Peter's March 12. By his Death the See was vacant five months nineteen days SABINIANUS I. SABINIAN Gregorie's Successour deserv'd not to have the place of his Nativity remembred being a person of mean Birth and meaner Reputation and one who violently opposed the great things which his Predecessour had done Particularly there being a great 〈◊〉 during his Pontificate and the poor pressing him hard to imitate the pious Charity of Gregory he made them no other Answer but this That Gregory was a man who design'd to make himself popular and to that end had profusely wasted the Revenues of the Church Nay the ill-natured wretch arrived to such a degree of Rage and Envy against Gregory that he was within a very little of causing his Books to be burn'd Some tell us that Sabinian was at the instigation of some Romans thus highly incensed against Gregory because he had mutilated and thrown down the Statues of the Antients which had been set up throughout the City but this is a Charge as dissonant from truth as that of his demolishing the old Fabricks concerning which we have spoken in his Life and considering the Antiquity of these Statues and the casualties which might 〈◊〉 them and the designs which mens Covetousness or Curiosity might have upon them 't is fairly probable that they might be mangled or lost without Gregorie's being at all concern'd therein But to go on with Sabinian it was he who instituted the 〈◊〉 of Canonical hours for Prayer in the Church and who ordained that Tapers should be kept continually burning especially in the Church of S. Peter Some tell us that with the consent of Phocas a Peace was now made with the Lombards and their King Agilulphus's Daughter who had been taken Captive in the War restored to him At this time appeared divers Prodigies portending the Calamities which ensued A bright Comet was seen in the Air at Constantinople a Child was born with four feet and at the Island 〈◊〉 were seen two Sea-monsters in humane shape Some write that in the Pontificate of Sabinian John Patriarch of Alexandria and 〈◊〉 Bishop of Carthage both persons famous for Piety and Learning did wonderfully improve the Dignity of those Churches Moreover 〈◊〉 a very learned man and an intimate Friend of 〈◊〉 wrote very much against Vincent Bishop of Saragoza who had sallen off to the Arian Heresie he also wrote to his Sister a Book concerning Virginity entituled Aureolus But Sabinian having been in the Chair one year five months nine days died and was buried in the Church of S Peter By his Death the See was vacant eleven months twenty six days BONIFACE III. BONIFACE the third a Roman with much ado obtained of the Emperour Phocas that the See of S. Peter the Apostle should by all be acknowledged and styled the Head of all the Churches A Title which had been stickled for by the Church of Constantinople through the encouragement of some former Princes who asserted that the Supremacy ought to reside there where the Seat of the Empire was But the Roman Bishops alledged that Rome of which Constantinople was but a Colony ought to be accounted the chief City of the Empire since the Greeks themselves in their Writings styled their Prince 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. the Emperour of the Romans and the Constantinopolitans even in that Age were called Romans not Greeks Not to mention that Peter the Chief of the Apostles bequeathed the Keyes of the Kingdom of Heaven to his Successours the Bishops of Rome and left the Power which God had given him not to Constantinople but to Rome This only I say that several Princes and particularly Constantine had granted to the Roman See only the priviledg of calling and dissolving Councils and of rejecting or confirming their Decrees And does not a Church which has with so much integrity and constancy bastled and 〈◊〉 all manner of Heresies as the Roman See hath done deserve think you the preference of others The same Boniface in a Synod of 〈◊〉 two Bishops thirty Presbyters and three Deacons ordained that upon pain of Excommunication no person should succeed in the place of any deceased Pope or other Bishop till at least the third day after the death of his Predecessour and that whoever should by Bribes or by making of Parties and Interests endeavour to raise themselves to the
our Saviour was crucified whereas at other times the celebration of the Mass was forbidden till the third hour or between the hours of nine and twelve a Clock the time when as St. Mark tells us he was fastned to the Cross. He also appointed that the Hymn Glory be to God on High should be sung before the Sacrifice In his time Justinus a Philosopher of Neapolis a City of Palestine labour'd successfully in the defending Christianity presented to Antoninus and his Sons a book which he had written against the Gentiles and held a Dialogue with Tryphon a principal Jew He wrote also very warmly against Marcion who adhering to the Heresie of Cerdo affirmed that there were two Gods the one good the other just as two contrary principles of Creation and Goodness He opposed likewise Crescens the Cynick as a person gluttonous fearful of Death given over to Luxury and lust and a blasphemer of Christ. But being at length by this mans treacherous practices betray'd he suffered in the cause of Christianity Eusebius writing of this Cynick allows him only to have been a vain-glorious Pretender but not a Philosopher At the same time the Valentinian Hereticks prevail'd who were the followers of one Valentinus a Platonist and held that Christ took nothing of the body of the Virgin but passed clean through her as through a Pipe Now also Photinus Bishop of Lyons a man of singular Learning and Piety as Isidore tells us suffered Martyrdom with great resolution being ninety years old Telesphorus having at four Decembrian Ordinations made fifteen Presbyters eight Deacons thirteen Bishops died a Martyr and was buried in the Vatican near Saint Peter He was in the Chair eleven years three months twenty two days By his Death the See was vacant seven days S. HYGINUS HYGINUS an Athenian Son of a Philosopher succeeded Telesphorus during the Empire of Antoninus Pius Wâ—â—â—se extraordinary merit compels me to add something farther in his praise 〈…〉 I come to give an account of Hyginus He was so far from the vanity of valuing himself upon the glory of his Arms that he made it his business rather to defend the Provinces of the Empire than to encrease them and had often that saying of Scipio in his mouth that he had rather save one Citizen than destroy a thousand Enemies being herein of a quite contrary temper to that of Domitian who from a consciousness of his own cruelty did so hate and fear a multitude that he would expose the Roman Army to the fury of its Enemies on purpose that it might return home thinner and less formidable Moreover Pius was so famous for his Justice that several Princes and Nations did at his Command cease their Hostilities making him the Arbitratour of their differences and standing to his determination as to the Justice of their Pretensions For these admirable qualities the Romans after his much lamented death in honor to his memory appointed Cirque-shews built a Temple and 〈…〉 a Flamen with an Order called by his name At this time Hyginus prudently setled and confirm'd the several Orders and Degrees of the Clergy and ordain'd the Solemn Consecration of Churches the number of which he would not have encreas'd or diminish'd without leave of the Metropolitan or Bishop He forbad also that the Timber or other Materials prepared for the building any Church should be converted to prophane uses yet allowing that with the Bishop's consent they might be made use of towards the erecting any other Church or Religious House He likewise ordained that at least one Godfather or one Godmother should be present at Baptism and that no Metropolitan should condemn or censure any Bishop of his Province until the cause were first heard and discussed by the other Bishops of the Province though some make this latter an Institution of Pelagius not Hyginus In his time lived Polycarp a Disciple of St. John the Apostle and by him made Bishop of Smyrna the most celebrated man for Religion and learning in all Asia He coming to Rome reduc'd to the Orthodox Faith multitudes who had been seduc'd into the Errours of Marcion and Valentinus the former of which by chance meeting him and asking whether he knew him Polycarp answered that he knew him to be the first-born of the Devil For this Heretick denied the Father of our blessed Saviour to be God the Creatour who by his Son made the World But afterwards in the time of M. Antoninus and L. Aurclius Commodus who raised the fourth Persecution Polycarp was burnt at Smyrna by order of the Proconsul Melito also an Asian Bishop of Sardis and a Disciple of Fronto the Oratour presented to M. Antoninus a book written in desence of the Christian Doctrine Tertullian highly extols his Parts and says that most of the Christians look'd upon him as a Prophet Moreover Theophilus Bishop of Antioch wrote a book against the Heresie of Hermogenes who asserted an uncreated eternal matter co-eval to God himself As for Hyginus himself having deserved well of the Church and at three Decembrian Ordinations made fifteen Presbyters five Deacons six Bishops he died and was buried in the Vatican by S. Peter January 11. He was in the Chair four years three months four days The See was then vacant four days S. PIUS I. PIUS an Italian of Aquileia son of Ruffinus lived to the time of M. Antoninus Verus who together with his Brother L. Aurelius Commodus jointly exercis'd the Government nineteen years These two Princes undertook a War against the Parthians and manag'd it with such admirable courage and success that they had the honour of a Triumph decreed to them But not long after Commodus dying of an Apoplexy Antoninus was sole Emperour a person who so excell'd in all good qualities that it is more easie to admire than to describe him for both because from his very youth no change of his Fortune made any alteration in his mind or his countenance and because it is hard to determine whether the sweetness of his natural temper or the knowledg he learnt from Cornelius Fronto were more conspicuous in him he deservedly gain'd the surname of Philosopher And indeed as Capitolinus tells us he was often wont to use that saying of Plato That then the World would be happy when either Philosophers were Princes or Princes would be Philosophers He was so great a lover of Learning that even when he was Emperour he would be present at the Lectures of Apollonius the Philosopher and Sextus Plutarch's Nephew and he set up the Statue of his Tutour Fronto in the Senate-house as a Testimony of the Honour he had for him At this time Pius maintain'd a strict friendship and familiarity with Hermes who wrote the book called Pastor in which book he introduces an Angel in the form of a Shepherd who commanded him to persuade all Christians to keep the Feast of Easter on a Sunday which Pius accordingly did Moreover he ordained that every
C. 997. having brought home his Army out of Syria into Italy reigned together with his Son whom he joyned to him as a Partner in the Empire five years He was the first Christian Emperour and 't is said of him that he never presumed to go to the holy Mysteries before he had confessed After the third year of his Reign the thousandth year from the building of the City being compleated he caused to be celebrated the Secular Games which were wont to be repeated every hundredth year They were first instituted by Valerius 〈◊〉 after the expulsion of the Kings and had their name from the Latin word seculum which signifies the space of an hundred years But by the fraud of Decius both the Philips were slain though in divers places the Father being put to death at Verona the Son at Rome Fabianus distributed the several Regions of the City among the seven Deacons by whom the Acts of the Martyrs written by the Notaries were to be collected and digested for the example of others who professed the Faith of Christ. He also built Monuments in the Coemeteries for the honour of the Martyrs Further he ordained that every year at some Sacrament the Chrism or holy Oyl should be new consecrated and the old burnt in the Church In his time sprang up the Novatian Heresie For Novatianus a Presbyter of the City of Rome out of an eager desire of being Bishop put all things into a great disorder that the Pontificate might not come into the hands of Cornelius who was Successor to Fabianus Having separated himself from the Church he gave to himself and his Followers the Denomination of the Pure and denied that Apostates though truly penitent ought to be received into the Church Upon this occasion a Council of sixty Bishops as many Presbyters and several Deacons was held at Rome in which the opinion of Novatianus was condemned as false for that according to the example of our Saviour Pardon is to be denied to no man that repents At the same time Origen opposed the heretical Doctrine of certain persons who affirmed that the Souls of men died with their bodies and were both together to be raised again at the Resurrection as also that of the Helchesaites who altogether rejected the Apostle S. Paul and asserted that though a man in his Torments should outwardly deny Christ yet he might be free from Guilt provided his heart were upright The same Author wrote against Celsus an Epicurean who opposed the Christians and sent Letters concerning Religion to the Emperour Philip and his Wife Severa and wrote also many things concerning the order of Faith to Fabianus Alexander Bishop of Cappadocia having from a desire to see the holy Places made a Journey to Jerusalem was there compell'd by Narcissus Bishop of that City and now grown old to be his Assistant in the Administration of that Bishoprick But the Persecution under Decius growing hot at the same that Babylas suffered Martyrdom at Antioch he being carried to Coesarea was there put to death for the faith of Christ. As for Fabianus concerning whom it is commonly believed that when enquiry was made for a Successour to Anterus a Dove lighted upon his head in the same shape with that which descended upon the head of Jesus at Jordan he received a Crown of Martyrdom after that at five Ordinations which he held in the month of December he had ordained twenty two Presbyters seven Deacons eleven Bishops and was interr'd in the Coemetery of Calistus in the Via Appia Jan. the 19th He was in the Chair fourteen years eleven months eleven days and by his death the See was vacant six days S. CORNELIUS CORNELIUS a Romam the Son of Castinus lived in the times of the Emperour Decius Who being born at Buda in Hungary upon the death of the two Philips assumed the Empire proving a bitter Enemy to the Christians because those Philips had been favourers of their Religion But having with his Son Caesar reigned only two years he was so suddenly cut off by the Goths that not so much as his dead body was ever found A just Judgment upon him who raising the seventh Persecution had put to death a multitude of most holy Men. During the Pontificate of Cornelius whose Judgment was that Apostates upon their Repentance ought to be received Novatus irregularly ordained Novatianus and Nicostratus upon which occasion the Confessour's who had fallen off from Cornelius being of the same opinion with Maximus the Presbyter and Moyses reconciled themselves to the Church again and thereby gained the name of Confessours indeed But not long after these Hereticks pressing hard upon him Cornelius is banished to Centumcelioe to him Cyprian Bishop of Carthage being himself imprison'd wrote Letters by which he came to understand both the calamity of his Friend and the confirmation of his own Exile There are extant 〈◊〉 other Epistles of Cyprian to Cornelius full of Religion and Piety but the choicest of them is accounted to be that wherein he accuses and condemns Novatus a certain Disciple of his Concerning the same Heresie Dionysius B. of Alexandria who had once been Scholar to Origen wrote to Cornelius and in another Epislle reproves Novatianus for having deserted the Communion of the Roman Church and pretending that he was forced against his will to take the 〈◊〉 upon him to whom he thus replies That thou wert says he O Novatian chosen to that Dignity against thy Will will appear when thou dost voluntarily leave it Cornelius before he went into banishment at the Instance of Lucina a holy 〈◊〉 by night removed the bodies of S. 〈◊〉 and S. 〈◊〉 out 〈◊〉 the publick burial places where they seemed to be less secure that of S. Paul was by Lucina her self reposited in ground of her own in the 〈◊〉 Oxiensis near the place where he suffer'd and that of Peter was by 〈◊〉 laid near the place where he also was Martyr'd not far 〈◊〉 the Temple of Apollo But when Decius came to understand that 〈◊〉 had received Leters from Cyprian he caused him to be brought from Ceutumcelioe to Rome and in the Temple of Tellus the 〈◊〉 Praefect being 〈◊〉 he thus 〈◊〉 with him Are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to 〈◊〉 thus 〈◊〉 that neither regarding the gods nor fearing the commands and threatning of Princes you keep a 〈◊〉 tending to endanger the publick Weal To whom Cornelius replied That the Letters which he receiv'd and return'd were only concerning the Praises of Christ and the Design of the Redemption of Souls lut contain'd nothing in them tending to the Diminution of the Empire At this Decius being enraged gave order that the holy man should first be scourged with a kind of Whips that had small globes of Lead 〈◊〉 to the end of them that afterwards he should be carried to the Temple of Mars to pay Adoration to his Image and upon his refusal so to do that he should be put to death The good man
whom the Zenobian Family in Rome derives its Original and Tetricus being saved was afterwards made Governour of the Lucani The Emperour now applying himself to works of peace repaired the Temple of Apollo and the Walls of the City with great Magnificence But not long after raising the ninth Persecution against the Christians the divine Vengeance meeting with him he was slain at a small Fort between Constantinople and Heraclea called Zenophrurium Felix out of the great regard he had to the honour of the Martyrs ordained that upon their account Masses should be celebrated yearly and that the Sacrifice of the Mass should be celebrated by no other persons but such as were in holy Orders and in no places but such as were consecrated cases of necessity being always excepted But if through the age or loss of Records it were doubtsul concerning any Church whether it had been consecrated or no he commanded that it should be consecrated anew saying that nothing could properly be said to be repeated of which it is uncertain whether ever it were once done at all During his Pontificate one Manes a Persian had the Impudence to profess himself to be the Christ and that he might gain the greater credit to his Imposture he associated to himself twelve Disciples But as that Manes was detested and abhorred for his pride and blasphemy so Anatolius the Bishop of Laodicoea was as much extolled and magnified for his Religion and Learning At the same time also Saturninus relying upon the assistance of his Army enterpriz'd the building of a new Antioch but when it appeared that he designed to invade the Empire too he was slain at Apemoea Felix after that at several Decembrian Ordinations he had made nine Presbyters seven Deacons five Bishops suffered Martyrdom and was buried in the Via Aurelia May the 30th in a Church which he had built two miles distant from the City He sat in the Chair four years three months 〈◊〉 days and the See was vacant seven days S. EUTYCHIANUS EUTYCHIANUS a Tuscan his Fathers name Maximus was in the time of the Emperour Aurelianus Who being slain was succeeded by Tacitus a man who both for his Valour and Justice was certainly very fit for Government but he was slain in Pontus in the sixth month after he came to the Empire as was also his Successour Florianus in Tarsus before he had reigned three months Eutychianus ordained that the fruits of the Earth as Beans and Grapes c. should be blessed upon the Altar and also that no persons should bury the Martyrs in any but Purple Vestments unless with his knowledg and leave Some write that in his time Dorotheus the Eunuch flourished a man questionless of very great skill in the Greek and Hebrew Language and with whose Learning 't is said the Emperour Aurelianus was wonderfully delighted For in the beginning of his Reign he was such a Favourer of the Christians that he severely censured the Sect of Paulus Samosatenus But being afterwards corrupted by evil Counsels and as hath been said raising a Persecution against the Christians having sent Dispatches concerning that Affair to the several Governours of Provinces he was cut off by the Divine Hand Eusebius when he was young was an Auditor of Dorotheus at his Expositions of Scripture At this time also Anatolius an Alexandrian Bishop of Laodicea a man of great Learning wrote several excellent things in Mathematicks and Divinity and was very severe against the Manichoean Heresie which then very much prevailed These Manichees to their other Errours brought in two Substances the one good the other evil and held that Souls flowed from God as from a Fountain The Old Testament they all together disown'd and receiv'd but some parts of the New Eutychianus after that at several Ordinations he had consecrated fourteen Presbyters five Deacons nine Bishops was crowned with Martyrdom and buried in the Coemetery of Calistus July the 25th He sat in the Chair one year one month one day and by his death theSee was vacant eight days There are some who say he lived in the Pontificate eight years ten months but I rather give credit to Damasus who is the author of the former Assertion S. CAIUS CAIUS a Dalmatian the Son of Caius a kinsman of the Emperour Diocletian lived in the times of Probus Carus and Carinus 〈◊〉 a person renowned for Military skill having undertaken the Government was very successful in recovering 〈◊〉 that had been possess'd by the Barbarians He also vanquish'd Saturninus who was attempting to usurp the Empire in the East and Proculus and Bonosus at 〈◊〉 But this Valiant and Just man was notwithstanding slain in a Tumult of the Soldiers at 〈◊〉 in the sixth year of his Reign After whom Carus Narbonensis entred upon the Empire and held it two years He having admitted his two Sons Carinus and Numerianus to a thare in the Government and having in the Parthian War taken 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 two famous Cities was in the Camp slain by a Thunderbolt Numerianus who was returning with his Father was murthered by the fraud of his Father-in-law Arrius Aper But Carinus a person most dissolutely lewd was overcome after a sharp and doubtful Engagement by 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 and at length suffered the just punishment of his Villanies Caius stated the several Orders in the Church by which as by certain steps and degrees the Clergy were to rise to the Episcopal Dignity These were the Door-keeper the Reader the Exorcist the Acolythus the Sub-deacon the Deacon the Presbyter and the Bishop He also as 〈◊〉 had done before him allotted several Regions to the Deacons who were to Register and compile the Acts of the Martyrs He ordained likewise that no Laick should commence a Suit of Law against a 〈◊〉 man and that no Pagan or Heretick should have power to accuse a Christian. In his time lived Victorinus Bishop of Poictiers who 〈◊〉 divers Commentaries on the Scriptures and was very sharp and severe against the Heresies then prevailing though he had greater skill in the Latin than the Greek Tongue as Hierom will have it who tells us that the sense of his Writings was great but the style mean Pamphilus also a Presbyter and the intimate Friend of Eusebius Bishop of Coesarea was so eagerly greedy of divine Learning that with his own hand he transcribed a great part of Origen's Books which Books Eusebius affirms himself to have seen in the Library of Coesarea with as great satisfaction as if he had gained the Riches of Croesus The same Pamphilus wrote the Defence of Origen as Eusebius himself also did not long after But in the Reign of Diocletian there arising against the Christians a Persecution sharper than ever was before Caius lay a long time concealed in certain Grotts and Vaults underground but being at length discovered and taken from thence by the Persecutors together with his Brother Gabinius and his Niece Susanna he was crowned
Presbyter should not consecrate the Elements upon a Pall of Silk or dyed Cloth but only upon white Linnen for the nearer resemblance of the fine white Linnen in which the Body of Christ was buried He also fix'd the several degrees in the Orders of the Church that every one might act in his own sphere and be the Husband of one Wife But Constantine being desirous to promote the Christian Religion built the Constantinian Church called the Lateran which he beautified and enriched with several great Donations the Ornaments and Endowments which he conferred upon it being of a vast value Among other things he set up in it a Font of Porphyry-stone that part of it which contains the Water being all Silver in the middle of the Font was placed a Pillar of Porphyry on the top of which stood a golden Lamp full of the most precious Oyl which was wont to burn in the night during the Easter Solemnities On the edge or brink of it stood a Lamb of pure Gold through which the Water was conveyed into it not far from the Lamb was the Statue of our Saviour of most pure Silver On the other side stood the Image of John Baptist of Silver likewise with an Inscription of these words Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the World There were besides seven Harts placed round about it and pouring Water into it For the maitenance of this Font he gave several Estates in Land and Houses Moreover Constantine at the motion of Sylvester built and dedicated a Church to S. Peter the chief of the Apostles in the Vatican not far from the Temple of Apollo where he very splendidly reposited the body of that Apostle and covered his Tomb over with Brass and Copper This Church likewise he magnificently adorn'd and 〈◊〉 largely endow'd The same Emperour also at the instance of Sylvester built a Church which he enriched and endowed as he had done the former in the Via Ostiensis in honour to S. Paul whose body he entomb'd after the same manner with that of S. Peter By his order also a Church was built in the Sessorian Atrium by the name of S. Cross of Jerusalem wherein he reposited a part of the holy Cross which was found out by his Mother Helena a Lady of ineomparable Piety and Devotion Who being promted thereto partly by the greatness of her own mind and partly by Visions in the Night went to Jerusalem to seek after the Cross upon which Christ was crucified To find it was a very difficult task because the ancient Persecutors had set up the Image of Venus in the same place that so the Christians might by mistake worship her in stead of their Saviour But Helena being animated with Zeal proceeded on to dig and remove the rubbish till at last she found three Crosses lying confusedly one among another on one of which was this Inscription in three Languages Jesus of Nazareth King of the Jews Macarius the Bishop of that City was at first mistaken in his opinion which was the right but at length all doubt concerning it was removed by an Experiment upon the body of a dead Woman who was raised to life at the application of the true one From the sense of so great a Miracle Constantine publish'd an Edict forbidding any Malefactor to be from thenceforward punish'd by Crucifiction Helena having first built a Church upon the ground where this Cross was found return'd and brought the Nails with which our Saviours body was fastned to it as a present to her Son Of one of those Nails he caused to be made the bit of the bridle with which he manag'd the Horse he us'd in War the other he wore on the Crest of his Helmet and the third he threw into the Adriatick Sea to suppress the rage and tempestuousness of it That part of the Cross which the devout Lady brought along with her in a Silver Case set with Gold and precious Stones was placed in this Sessorian Church To which Constantine was very liberal and munificent Some tell us that the Church of S. Agnes was built at Constantin's Command upon the request of his Daughter Constantia and a Font set up in it where both his Daughter and his Sister of the same name were baptized and which in like manner he largely presented and endowed The same Emperour built also the Church of S. Laurence without the Walls towards which he was not wanting to express his usual Beneficence 〈◊〉 in the Via Lavicana he built a Church to the two Martyrs 〈◊〉 the Presbyter and Peter the Exorcist not far from which he built a stately Monument in honour to his Mother whom he buried in a Sepuichre of Porphyry This Church also received signal Testimonies of his exemplary Bounty Besides these Churches in the City of Rome he built several others also elsewhere At Ostia not far from the Port he built a Church in honour to S. Peter and Paul the blessed Apostles and John Baptist near Alba he built a Church peculiarly dedicated to 〈◊〉 Baptist at Capua also he built in honour to the Apostles that which the called the Constantinian Church all which he enriched as he had done the former At Naples he built another as Damasus tells us but it is uncertain to whom he dedicated it And that the Clergy of New Rome also might be sharers in the Emperours 〈◊〉 he built likewise two Churches at Constantinople one dedicated to Irene the other to 〈◊〉 Apostles having first quite destroy'd the Delphick Tripods which had been the occasion of a great deal of mischief to superstitious People and either demolished the Pagan Temples or else transferr'd them to the use and benefit of the Christians Besides all the foregoing instances of Constantine's Munificence he distributed moreover among the Provincial Churches and the Clergy a certain Tribute or Custom due to him from the several Cities which Donation he made valid and perpetuated by an Imperial Edict And that Virgins and those who continued in Celibacy might be enabled to make Wills and so to bequeath by Testament something to the Clergy from whence I believe the Patrimony of the Church to have received a great encrease he repealed a Law which had been made for the propagating of mankind by which any Person was rendred uncapable of entring upon an Estate who had lived unmarried till five and twenty years of Age a Law upon which the Princes had founded their Jus trium liberorum the Right or Priviledg of having three Children of which they often took advantage against those who had no Issue All these things are exactly and fully delivered to us by Socrates and Zozomen the Historians In the time of Sylvester flourished several persons of extraordinary Note by whose labour and industry many Countreys and Nations were converted to Christianity and particularly by the preaching of Julianus Frumentius and Edisius whom certain Philosophers of Alexandria had carried thither The Iberi also
In his time lived 〈◊〉 Bishop of 〈◊〉 who 〈◊〉 twelve Books 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 and one against 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not long 〈◊〉 he 〈◊〉 at 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 also an 〈◊〉 who had 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 old Age so great a Proficient in those Arts which most require the assistance of sight particularly in Logick and Geometry that he wrote some excellent Treatises in the Mathematicks He published also Commentaries on the Psalms and the Gospels of Matthew and John and was a great opposer of the Arians Moreover Optatus an African Bishop of Mela compiled six Books against the 〈◊〉 and Severus Aquilius a Spaniard who was kinsman to that Severus to whom Lactantius penn'd two Books of Epistles wrote one Volume called 〈◊〉 As for our Siricius having setled the Affairs of the Church and at five Ordinations made twenty six Presbyters sixteen Deacons thirty two Bishops he died and was buried in the Coemetery of Priscilla in the Via Salaria Febr. 22. He was in the Chair fifteen years eleven months twenty days and by his death the See was vacant twenty days ANASTASIUS I. ANASTASIUS a Roman the Son of Maximus was made Bishop of Rome in the time of Gratian. This Gratian was a young Prince of eminent Piety and so good a Soldier that in an Expedition against the Germans that were now harrassing the Roman Borders he did in one Battel at Argentaria cut off thirty thousand of them with very little loss on his own side Returning from thence to Italy he expelled all those of the Arian Faction and admitted none but the Orthodox to the execution of any Ecclesiastical Office But apprehending the Publick-weal to be in great danger from the attempts of the Goths he associated to himself as a Partner in the Government Theodosius a Spaniard a person eminent for his Valour and Conduct who vanquishing the Alans Hunns and Goths re-establish'd the Empire of the East and entred into a League with Athanaricus King of the Goths after whose Death and magnificent Burial at Constantinople his whole Army repaired to Theodosius and declared they would serve under no other Commander but that good Emperour In the mean time Maximus usurped the Empire in Britain and passing over into Gaul slew Gratian at Lions whose death so 〈◊〉 his younger Brother Valentinian that he forthwith fled for refuge to Theodosius in the East Some are of opinion that those two Brethren owed the Calamities which befell them to their Mother Justina whose great Zeal for the Arian Heresie made her a fierce Persecutor of the Orthodox and especially of S. Ambrose whom against his will the people of Milain had at this time chosen their Bishop For Auxentius an Arian their late Bishop being dead a great Sedition arose in the City about chusing his Successour Now Ambrose who was a man of Consular dignity and their Governour endeavouring all he could to quell that disorder and to that end going into the Church where the people were in a tumultuary manner assembled he there makes an excellent Speech tending to persuade them to Peace and Unity among themselves which so wrought upon them that they all with one consent cryed out that they would have no other Bishop but Ambrose himself And the event answered their desires for being as yet but a Catechumen he was forthwith baptized and then admitted into holy Orders and constituted Bishop 〈◊〉 Milain That he was a person of great Learning and extraordinary Sanctity the account which we have of his Life and the many excellent Books which he wrote do abundantly testifie Our Anastasius decreed that the Clergy should by no means sit at the singing or reading of the holy Gospel in the Church but stand bowed and in a posture of 〈◊〉 and that no Strangers especially those that came from the parts beyond the Seas should be receiv'd into holy Orders unless they could produce Testimonials under the hands of five Bishops Which latter Ordinance is suppos'd to have been occasioned by the practice of the Manichees who having gained a great esteem and Authority in Africa were wont to send their Missionaries abroad into all parts to corrupt the Orthodox Doctrine by the infusion of their Errours He ordained likewise that no person 〈◊〉 of body or maimed or defective of any Limb or Member should be admitted into holy Orders Moreover he dedicated the Crescentian Church which stands in the second Region of the City in the Via Marurtina The Pontificate of this Anastasius as also that of Damasus and Siricius his Predecessors were signaliz'd not only by those excellent Emperours Jovinian 〈◊〉 Gratian and Theodosius but also by those many holy and worthy Doctors both Greek and Latin that were famous in all kinds of Learning Cappadocia as Eusebius tells us brought forth 〈◊〉 Nazianzen and Bazil the Great both extraordinary Persons and both brought up at Athens Basil was a Bishop of 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 a City formerly called Mazaca He wrote divers excellent Books against Eunomius one concerning the Holy Ghost and the Orders of a Monastick life He had two Brethren Gregory and Peter both very learned Men of the former of which some Books were extant in the time of Eusebius Gregory Nazianzen who was Master to S. Hierom wrote also many things particularly in praise of Cyprian Athanasius and Maximus the Philosopher two Books against Eunomius and one against the Emperour Julian besides an Encomium of Marriage and single Life in Hexameter Verse By the strength of his reasoning and the power of his Rhetorick in which he was an imitatour of Polemon a man of admirable Eloquence he brought off the Citizens of Constantinople from the Errours with which they had been infected At length being very aged he chose his own Successour and led a private life in the Countrey Basil died in the Reign of Gratian Gregory of Theodosius About the same time 〈◊〉 Epiphanius Bishop of Salamine in Cyprus a strenuous oppugner of all kinds of Heresies as did also Ephrem a Deacon of the Church of Edessa who composed divers Treatises in the 〈◊〉 Language which gained him so great a Veneration that in some Churches his Books were publickly read after the Holy Scriptures 〈◊〉 having at two Decembrian Ordinations made eight Presbyters five Deacons ten Bishops died and was buried April 28. He was in the Chair three years ten days and by his death the See was vacant twenty one days INNOCENTIUS I. INNOCENTIUS an Alban Son of Innocentius was Bishop in part of the Reign of Theodosius Who with great Conduct and singular Dispatch overcame the Usurper Maximus and at Aquileia whither he had fled retaliated upon him the Death of Gratian. A
Soon after his growing ambition prompts him to endeavour the gaining of the Western Empire and therefore getting together in a very little time a great Army he begins his March upon that Design This Aetius having intelligence of forthwith sends Ambassadours to Tholouse to King Theodorick to strike up a Peace with whom so strict a League was concluded that they both jointly engage in the War against Attila at a common charge and with equal Forces The Romans and Theodorick had for their Auxiliaries the Alanes Burgundians Franks Saxons and indeed almost all the people of the West At length Attila comes upon them in the Fields of Catalaunia and Battel is joyn'd with great Valour and Resolution on either side The Fight was long and sharp a Voice being over-heard none knowing from whence it came was the occasion of putting an end to the Dispute In this Engagement were slain on both sides eighteen thousand men neither Army flying or giving ground And yet 't is said that Theodorick Father of King Thurismond was killed in this Action Sixtus had not long enjoyed the Pontificate before he was publickly accused by one Bassus but in a Synod of fifty seven Bishops he made such a Defence of himself that he was by them all with one consent acquitted Bassus his false Accuser was with the consent of Valentinian and his Mother Placidia excommunicated and condemn'd to banishment but with this compassionate provision that at the point of death the Viaticum of the Blessed Sacrament should be denied him the forfeiture of his Estate was adjudged not to the Emperour but the Church 'T is said that in the third month of his Exile he died and that our Bishop Sixtus did with his own hands wrap up and embalm his Corps and then bury it in S. Peters Church Moreover Sixtus repaired and enlarged the Church of the Blessed Virgin which was anciently called by the name of Liberius near the Market place of Livia then had the name of S. Mary at the Manger and last of all was called S. Maries the Geeat That Sixtus did very much beautifie and make great additions to it appears from the Inscription on the front of the first Arch in these words Xystus Episcopus Plebi Dei for according to the Greek Orthography the name begins with X and y though by Custom it is now written Sixtus with S and i. To this Church that Bishop was very liberal and munificent among other instances adorning with Porphyry stone the Ambo or Desk where the Gospel and Epistles are read Besides what he did himself at his persuasion the Emperour Valentinian also was very liberal in works of this nature For over the Confessory of S. Peter which he richly adorned he placed the Image of 〈◊〉 Saviour of Gold set with Jewels and renewed those Silver Ornaments in the Cupola of the Lateran Church which the Goths had taken away Some are of an Opinion that in his time one Peter a Roman Presbyter by Nation a Sclavonian built the Church of S. Sabina upon the Aventine not far from the Monastery of S. Boniface where S. Alexius is interred 〈◊〉 I rather think this to have been done in the Pontificate of Coelestine the first as appears from an Inscription in Heroick Verse yet remaining which expresses as much 'T is said also that at this time 〈◊〉 Eusebius of Cremona and Philip two Scholars of S. Hierom both very elegant Writers as also Eucherius Bishop of Lyons a man of great Learning and Eloquence and Hilarius Bishop of Arles a pious Man and of no mean parts Our Sixtus having employed all his Estate in the building and adorning of Churches and relieving the poor and having made twenty eight Presbyters twelve Deacons fifty two Bishops died and was buried in a Vault in the Via Tiburtina near the body of S. Laurence He was in the Chair eight years nine days and by his death the See was vacant twenty two days LEO I. LEO a Tuscan Son of Quintianus lived at the time when Attila having return'd into Hungary from the Fight of Catalonia and there recruited his Army invaded Italy and first set down before Aquileia a Frontier City of that Province which held out a Siege 〈◊〉 three years Despairing hereupon of success he was just about to raise the Leaguer when observing the Storks to carry their young ones out of the City into the Fields being encouraged by this Omen he renews his Batteries and making a fierce assault at length takes the miserable City sacks and burns it sparing neither Age nor Sex but acting agreeably to the Title he assum'd to himself of being God's Scourge The Huns having hereby gain'd an Inlet into Italy over-run all the Countrey about Venice possessing themselves of the Cities and demolishing Milain and Pavia From hence Attila marching towards Rome and being come to the place where the Menzo runs into the Po ready to pass the River the holy Bishop Leo out of a tender sense of the calamitous state of Italy and of the City of Rome and with the advice of Valentinian goes forth and meets him persuading him not to proceed any farther but to take warning by Alaricus who soon after his taking that City was by the Judgment of God removed out of the World Attila takes the good Bishops Counsel being moved thereunto by a Vision which he saw while they were discoursing together of two men supposed to be S. Peter and S. Paul brandishing their naked swords over his head and threatning him with death if he were refractory Desisting therefore from his design he returns into Hungary where not long after he was choaked with his own bloud violently breaking out at his Nostrils through excess of drinking Leo returning to the City applyes himself wholly to the defence of the 〈◊〉 Faith which was now violently opposed by several kinds of Hereticks but especially by the Nestorians and Eutychians Nestorius 〈◊〉 of Constantinople affirmed the Blessed Virgin to be Mother not of God but of Man only that so he might make the Humanity and Divinity of Christ to be two distinct persons one the Son of God the other the Son of Man But Eutyches Abbot of Constantinople that he might broach an Heresie in contradiction to the former utterly confounded the divine and humane Nature of Christ asserting them to be one and not at all to be distinguished This Heresie being condemned by Flavianus Bishop of Constantinople with the consent of Theodosius a Synod is called at Ephesus in which Dioscorus Bishop of Alexandria being President Eutyches was restored and Flavianus censured But Theodosius dying and his successour Marcianus proving a Friend to the Orthodox Doctrine Leo calls a Council at Chalcedon wherein by the authority of six hundred and thirty Bishops it was decreed as an Article of Faith that there are two Natures in Christ and that one and the same Christ is God and Man by which consequently both Nestorius and Eutyches the pestilent Patron of the
Manichees were condemned Moreover the Books of the Manichees were publickly burnt and the pride and heretical Opinions of Dioscorus discountenanced and suppress'd In the mean time Valentinian being treacherously murdered Maximus usurps the Empire and against her will marries Eudoxia the Widow of Valentinian Upon this occasion the Vandals being called out of Afric Genseric being their Leader force their entrance into the City of Rome throw the Body of Maximus who had been kill'd in the Tumult by one Ursus a Roman Soldier into the River Tyber plunder and burn the City pillage the Churches and refuse to hearken to Bishop Leo begging them what ever spoils they carried away only to spare the City it self and the Temples However on the fourteenth day from their entrance into Rome they left it and taking away with them Eudoxia and her Daughter with a great number of other Captives they return'd into Africa Leo being now very intent upon making good the damages sustain'd from this People prevailed upon Demetria a pious Virgin to build upon her own ground in the Via Latina three miles from the City a Church to S. Stephen and did the same himself in the Via Appia in honour to S. Cornelius The Churches which had been in any part ruined he repaired and those of the sacred Vessels belonging to them which had been bruised and broken he caused to be mended and those which had been taken away to be made anew Moreover he built three Apartments in the Churches of S. John S. Peter and S. Paul appointed certain of the Roman Clergy whom he called Cubicularii to keep and take charge of the Sepulchres of the Apostles built a Monastery near S. Peters introduced into the Canon of the Mass the Clause Hoc sanctum sacrificium this holy Sacrifice c. and ordained that no Recluse should be capable of receiving the Consecrated Veils unless it did appear that she had preserv'd her Chastity spotless for the space of forty years But while the good man was employed in these things there started up of a sudden the Heresie of the Acephali so called because they were a company of foolish undisciplin'd Schismaticks or if it be not a quibble because they wanted both Brains and Head These men decried the Council of Chalcedon denied the propriety of two Substances in Christ and asserted that there could be but one Nature in one Person But our Leo abundantly confuted their absurd Doctrines in his elegant and learned Epistles written to the Faithful upon that Argument Men of Note in his time were Paulinus Bishop of Nola Prosper of Aquitain a learned man and Mamercus Bishop of Vienne who as 't is said was the first that appointed processionary Supplications or Litanies upon the occasion of the frequent Earthquakes with which Gaul was at that time very much afflicted To conclude Leo having ordained eighty one Presbyters thirty one Deacons and eighty one Bishops died and was buried in the Vatican near S. Peter April the 10th He sat in the Chair twenty one years one month thirteen days and by his death the See was vacant eight days HILARIUS I. HILARIUS a Sardinian the Son of Crispinus continued in the Chair till the time of the Emperour Leo Who being chosen Emperour upon the death of Marcianus creates his Son of his own name Augustus During his Reign the Roman State suffered very much by reason of certain Ambitious men who endeavoured to get the Government into their own hands And Genseric the Vandal King being tempted with so fair an opportunity sails out of Afrique into Italy with design to gain the Empire for himself Leo having intelligence hereof sends Basilicus a Patrician with a mighty Fleet to the Assistance of Anthemius the Emperour of the West These two with joint force and courage meet Genseric near Populonia and force him to an Engagement at Sea in which being routed with a great slaughter of his men he was glad to make an inglorious flight into Africa again In the mean time Ricimer a Patrician having on the Mountains of Trent conquer'd Biorgus King of the Alanes and being puff'd up with that Victory was purposed to attempt the City of Rome had not 〈◊〉 Bishop of Pavia made him and Anthemius Friends Hilary notwithstanding this confused state of things did not neglect the care of Ecclesiastical Affairs For he ordained that no Bishop should chuse his own Successour a Constitution which belongs as well to all other Ecclesiastical Degrees as that of Episcopacy he also made a Decretal which he dispersed throughout Christendom and wrote certain Epistles concerning the Catholick Faith by which the three Synods of Nice Ephesus and Chalcedon were confirmed and the Hereticks Eutyches Nestorius and Dioscorus with their Adherents condemned In the Baptistery of the Lateran Church he built three Oratories which were adorned with Gold and precious Stones their Gates of Brass covered with wrought Silver those he dedicated to S. John Baptist S. John Evangelist and S. Cross. In the last of these was reposited some of the wood of the Cross nclosed in Gold and set with Jewels and a Golden Agnus upon a Pillar of Onyx He added moreover the Oratory of S. Stephen built two Libraries adjoyning and founded a Monastery I shall not here recite the almost numberless Donations which he made to several Churches of Gold Silver Marble and Jewels Some tell us that Germanus Bishop of Auxerre and Lupus Bishop of Troyes lived in his time both great supporters of the Christian cause which was now very much undermined by the endeavours of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Pelagians Gennadius also Bishop of Constantinople did great service to the Church by the integrity of his Life and the excellency of his Parts and Learning During the Pontificate of our Hilary Victorinus of Aquitain a famous Arithmetician reduced the Easter account to the course of the Moon far out-doing Eusebius and Theophilus who had attempted it before him And among those that flourished at this time by some is reckoned Merline the famous English Bard concerning whom we are told more than enough As for Hilary himself having performed the duty of a good Bishop both in building and adorning of Churches and also in Teaching Admonishing Censuring and giving Alms where need required and having also ordained twenty five Presbyters five Deacons twenty two Bishops he died and was buried in the Sepulchre of S. Laurence near the body of Bishop Sixtus He sat in the Chair seven years three months ten days and by his death the See was vacant ten days SIMPICIUS I. SIMPLICIUS Son of Castinus born at Tivoli was Bishop during the Reigns of Leo the second and Zeno. For Leo the first falling sick makes choice of Leo the second Son of Zeno Isauricus and his own Nephew by Ariadne his Sister to be his Successour who not long after being seiz'd by a violent Distemper and apprehending himself to be at the point of death leaves the Empire to his
whereupon the Senate and people of Rome being divided into two Parties the dissention rose to such an heighth that to compromise the business a Council was by mutual consent called at Ravenna where the whole matter being discuss'd in the presence of Theodoric he at length determined on the side of Symmachus and confirmed him in the Pontificate who by a singular act of Grace made his very Competitour Laurence Bishop of Nocera Yet about four years after some busie and factious Clergy-men being countenanced and assisted by Festus and Probinus two of the Senatorian Order set up for Laurence again upon which King Theodoric was so highly displeas'd that he sends Peter Bishop of 〈◊〉 to Rome to depose them both and possess himself of the Chair But Symmachus called a Synod of an hundred and twenty Bishops wherein with great presence of mind he purg'd himself of all things 〈◊〉 to his Charge and by a general suffrage obtained the banishment of Laurence and Peter who had occasion'd all this mischief Hereupon so great a 〈◊〉 arose in the City that multitudes both of the Clergy and Laity were slain in all parts not so much as the Monastick Virgins escaping In this Tumult Gordianus a Presbyter and a very good man was kill'd in the Church of S. Peter ad Vincula nor had an end been put to slaughter here had not Faustus the Consul in compassion to the Clergy appear'd in Arms against Probinus the Author of so great a Calamity After this the Christians having some small respite Clodoveus banishing the Arian Hereticks restores the Orthodox and Constitutes Paris the Capital City of his Kingdom Symmachus at this time expell'd the Manichees out of the City and caused their Books to be burn'd before the Gates of S. John Lateran Several Churches he built from the ground and several others he repair'd and beautifi'd That of S. Andrew the Apostle near S. Peters he entirely built enriching it with divers Ornaments of Silver and Gold and he adorn'd S. Peters it self and its Portico with chequer'd Marble making the steps of Ascent into it more and larger than they were before Moreover he erected Episcopal Palaces He built also the Church of S. Agatha the Martyr in the Via Aurelia and that of S. Pancrace He repaired and adorn'd with painting the Cupola of S. Pauls and built from the foundations the Church of SS Silvester and Martin the Altars of which he very richly adorned He made also the steps that lead into the Church of S. John and S. Paul and enlarged S. Michaels He built from the ground the Oratories of Cosmus and Damianus being assisted in that work by Albinus and Glaphyras two men of principal Note Besides this near the Churches of S. Peter and S. Paul he builded two Hospitals making provision of all things necessary for the poor who should dwell in them For he was in all respects very charitable and sent supplies of Money and Cloaths to the Bishops and other Clergy in Africa and Sardinia who had suffered banishment for the profession of the true Religion He repaired the Church of S. Felicitas and the Cupola of that of S. Agnes which was decay'd and almost ready to fall He also at his own charge redeemed multitudes of Captives in several Provinces He ordained that on Sundays and the Birth-days of the Martyrs the Hymn Glory be to God on High should be sung and indeed left nothing undone which he thought might tend to the Glory of Almighty God In his time Gennadius Bishop of Marseille a great imitatour of S. Augustine did good service to the Church He wrote one Book against Heresies wherein he shews what is necessary to every man in order to his Salvation and another de viris illustribus in imitation of S. Hierom. As for Symmachus having at several Ordinations made ninety Presbyters sixteen Deacons one hundred twenty two Bishops he died and was buried in S. Peters Church July the 19th He sat in the Chair fifteen years six months twenty two days and by his death the See was vacant seven days HORMISDA I. HORMISDA the Son of Justus born at 〈◊〉 lived in the time of Theodoric and Anastasius as far as to the Consulship of Boethius and Symmachus These two upon suspicion of designing against his Government were by Theodoric at first banish'd and afterwards imprisoned Boethius during his confinement wrote several things extant to this day and translated and made Commentaries upon the greatest part of Aristotles Works He was throughly skill'd in the Mathematicks as his Books of Musick and Arithmetick clearly demonstrate But at length both he and Symmachus were put to death by the order of Theodoric Some tell us that the cause of Boethius his sufferings was the zeal he shewed in opposing the Arians who were favoured by Theodoric but I think the former Opinion to be more probable Hormisda with the advice of Theodoric held now a Provincial Synod at Rome in which the Eutychians were again condemn'd by universal consent He also sent Letters and Messengers to John Bishop of Constantinople admonishing him to renounce that Heresie and to believe there are two Natures in Christ the Divine and Humane But John continued refractory trusting to the interest he had with the Emperour Anastasius who not long after was struck dead by a Thunderbolt which was believ'd to be a just Judgment upon him both for his patronizing so pernicious an Heresie and especially for his ill usage of the Legates sent to him by Hormisda whom contrary to the Law of Nations he treated very contumeliously and sent them home in a shattered leaky Vessel ordering them to return directly into Italy without touching at any shore in Greece 'T is said that he bid them tell the Bishop that he must know it to be the part of an Emperour to Command not to obey the Dictates of the Bishop of Rome or any other These Legates were Euodius Bishop of Pavia Fortunatus Bishop of Catina Venantius a Presbyter of Rome and Vitalis a Deacon Anastasius dying in the twenty seventh year of his Reign Justine a Patron of the Catholick Faith succeeds him who forthwith sends Ambassadours to the Bishop of Rome to acknowledge the Authority of the Apostolick See and to desire the Bishop to interpose his Ecclesiastical Power for the setling the peace of the Church Whereupon Hormisda with the consent of Theodoric sends Germanus Bishop of Capua John and Blandus Presbyters and Felix and 〈◊〉 Deacons his Legates to Justine by whom they were receiv'd with all imaginable expressions and testimonies of Honour 〈◊〉 Respect John the Bishop of Constantinople with multitudes of the Orthodox Clergy and other Persons of principal Note going forth in Complement to meet them and congratulate their Arrival But the followers of Acacius dreading their coming had shut themselves up in a very strong Church and upon Consultation what to do sent Messengers to the Emperour declaring that they would by no means subscribe to
of the Christian name He re-edified the City-Walls and Gates that had suffer'd by Age and raised from the Ground fifteen Forts 〈◊〉 the defence of the City of which two were very necessary one 〈◊〉 the right 〈◊〉 other on the left hand of the Tiber below the Hills Janiculus and Aventinus to hinder the Ships of any Enemy from entring the Town He by his diligence found out the Bodies of the Sancti quatuor coronati and built a Church to them after a magnificent manner and reposited their bodies under the Altar viz. Sempronianus Claudius Nicostratus Castorius to which he added those of Severus Severianus Carpophorus Victorinus Marius Felicissimus Agapetus Hippolytus Aquila Priscus Aquinus Narcissus Marcellinus Felix Apollos Benedict Venantius Diogenes Liberalis Festus Marcellus the head of S. Protus Cecilia Alexander Sixtus Sebastian Praxedes But while he was diligently intent upon these Affairs as became so holy a man news was brought that the Saracens were coming with a huge Fleet to sack the City and that the Neapolitans and the Inhabitants upon that shore would come to his assistance whereupon with what forces he could raise he march'd to Ostia and summon'd thither the Auxiliaries designing upon the first opportunity to fight the Enemy But first this holy Pope exhorted his Souldiers to receive the Sacrament which being devoutly perform'd he prayed to God thus O God whose right hand did support the blessed Peter when he walk'd upon the Waves and sav'd him from drowning and delivered from the deep his fellow-fellow-Apostle Paul when he was thrice shipwrack'd hear us mercifully and grant that for their merits the hands of these thy faithful ones fighting against the Enemies of thy holy Church may by thy almighty arm be confirm'd and strengthened that thy holy Name may appear glorious before all Nations in the Victory that shall be gained Having pronounc'd this by making the sign of the Cross he gave the signal for Battel and the onset was made by his Souldiers with great briskness as if they had been sure of Victory which after a tedious Dispute was theirs the Enemies being put to flight many of them perish'd in the fight but most were taken alive and brought to Rome where the Citizens would have some of them hang'd without the City for a 〈◊〉 to the rest very much against the mind of Leo who was very remarkable for Gentleness and Clemency but it was not for him to oppose the rage of a multitude Those that were taken alive Leo made use of in 〈◊〉 those Churches which the Saracens had heretofore ruin'd and burnt and in building the Wall about the Vatican which from his own name he call'd 〈◊〉 Leonina This he did lest the Enemy should with one slight assault take and sack the Church of S. Peter as heretofore they were wont The Gates also had his Prayers for upon that which leads to S. Peregrin this was graven in Marble O God who by giving to thy Apostle S. Peter the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven didst 〈◊〉 upon him the Pontifical Authority of binding and loosing grant that by the help of his intercession we may be delivered from all mischievous Attempts and that this City which now with thy assistance I have newly founded may be free or ever from thine anger and may have many and great Victories over those Enemies against whom it is built And on the second Gate near S. Angelo that leads into the fields were these words O God who from the beginning of the World didst vouchsafe to preserve and establish this holy Catholick and Apostolical Church of Rome mercifully blot 〈◊〉 the hand-writing of our iniquity and grant that this City which we assisted by the Intercession of the Apostles Peter and Paul have newly dedicated to thy holy name may remain secure from the evil machinations of its Enemies The third was on the front of the Gate by which we go to the Saxons School in these words Grant we beseech thee almighty and merciful God that crying to thee with our whole heart and the blessed Apostle Peter interceding for us we may obtain thy favour We continually beg of thy mercy that the City which I thy servant Leo IV. Bishop of Rome have dedicated anew and called Leonina from my own name may continue safe and prosperous This City he began in the first year of his Pontificate and finish'd in his sixth and gave it to be a habitation for the men of Corsica who had been driven out of that Island by the Saracens to each of whom also he assign'd a piece of ground for his maintenance But I wonder now that another Inscription is to be read on these Gates in dull Hexameter Verse which I cannot by any means think to be Leo's though it go under his name Of the Spoils of the Saracens he made several donations of Gold and Silver to the Churches of Rome Some write that 't was by his command that S. Mary's Church in the new street and the Tower in the Vatican next S. Peter's now to be seen were built Beside he restor'd the Silver-door of S. Peter which had been pillag'd by the Saracens He held a Synod of 47. Bishops wherein Anastasius Presbyter Cardinal of S. Marcellus was by the Papal Canons convict of several Crimes upon which he was condemned and excommunicate the chief allegation being that for five years he had not resided in his Parish Moreover he brought Colonies from Sardinia and Corsica which now upon the repulse of the 〈◊〉 had some respite and planted them in Hostia which partly by reason of the unhealthiness of the Air and partly by being so often 〈◊〉 was left without Inhabitants Lastly he fully satisfied Lotharius who having been inform'd that Leo was upon a design of translating the Empire to the Constantinopolitans came himself to Rome But the Informers being caught in Lies received condign punishment and the friendship was on both sides renewed 'T is said that Johannes Scotus a learned Divine liv'd at this time who coming into France by the command of K. Lewis translated S. Dionysius's Book de Hierarchia out of Greek into Latin but was soon after as they say stab'd with a Bodkin by some of his Scholars but the occasion of this villanous act is not any where recorded 'T is said too that now Ethelwolph K. of England out of devotion made his Countrey tributary to the Church of Rome by charging a penny yearly upon every house Our holy Pope Leo having deserv'd well of the Church of God of the City of Rome and of the whole Christian name for his Wisdom Gravity Diligence Learning and the Magnificence of his works died in the eighth year third month and sixth day of his Pontificate on the 17. day of July and was buried in S. Peter's Church The Sea was then void two months and fifteen days JOHN VIII JOHN of English Extraction but born at Mentz is said to have arriv'd at the Popedom by evil Arts for disguising
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
should succeed him a Right for ever to chuse a Successour and certainly he could not mean a Successour to the Kingdom of Germany which was hereditary and independent of the Roman See and therefore it can onely have reference to the Imperial Dignity Now whereas by the decease of Otho the 3d. who died without issue this Right of the Emperour devolved to the States who succeeded to the Sovereign Authority for it is a sure Maxim That the King cannot die they therefore challenged and appropriated to themselves the same Right of chusing Emperours the which afterwards they resigned and transferred to the seven Electors who exercise the same power unto this day three of which viz. Mentz Triers and Colen are Ecclesiasticks being Arch-bishops and Arch-Chancellours to shew and keep in remembrance that the Ecclesiastical State had once a Right in the Election of Emperours But Historians are so much at variance in this point and relate it with such variety that we shall not search farther into this matter but proceed to our purpose of the Election of Popes and of the formality therein used in this Age. We have in our foregoing Discourse mentioned that Popes were antiently chosen by the Nobility Clergy and people of Rome which was certainly the Original Custom Though the Book of the Sacred Ceremonies used in the Church of Rome tells us That St. Peter named Clemens for his Successour provided that it might so seem good to the Senators of the Roman Church that is to the Presbyters of which St. Peter had constituted a College of twenty four before his death with power and Authority to decide and determine all matters of difficulty arising in the Church The which Presbyters having little or no regard to the nomination and appointment of St. Peter chose Linus and after him Cletus and then Clemens succeeded who was rather recommended than chosen by St. Peter that so it might more plainly appear that Popes had not a Right to Elect their Successours for if that priviledg was denied to St. Peter much more ought it to be unto those who succeeded him These twenty four Presbyters were in the time of Pope Sylvester the first called Cardinals that is Princes in the Church on whom Innocent the 4th at the Council of Lions bestowed the red Hat as a mark and badg of their Dignity afterwards Schisms and Dissentions arising amongst the Senators the Clergy and people of Rome were admitted to be present at the Election but to have no Voice or Suffrage therein afterwards the force and violence of the people was such that they would have a Voice and concur with others in their Votes This popular way of Election caused such heats and disturbances that the Emperours were constrained for keeping the peace to interpose by their Authority and to Order that no Election should stand good until it was confirmed by the Imperial approbation The Kingdom of the Lombards being overthrown in the year 776. the Roman Empire was translated from the Greek to the German Princes and then Charles the Great assumed and exercised this power of Electing or what is all one the confirming of Popes Afterwards a Series of pious Emperours succeeding and considering that the Supreme Bishop was Instituted and Ordained by Christ himself to be a Shepherd to the Emperour as well as to feed his other Flock and to purge and spiritually to judg them they renounced the power of confirming Popes and entirely transferred it to the Roman Presbyters the Clergy and the people This popular manner of Election produced parties Schisms and contentions which often broke forth into bloud and wounds so that there was scarce a Regular Election for a long time the strongest always possessing the Chair until he was subverted by another more powerful than himself so that in the space of few years nine several Men seized on the Papal Chair namely Benedict the 9th Sylvester the 3d. Gregory the 6th Clement the 2d Damasus the 2d Leo the 2d Victor the 2d Stephen the 9th and Benedict the 10th To which last Nicolas the 2d succeeding a person of unparallel'd Sanctity and Wisdom did in the year 1051. study to cure and prevent these riotous courses for the future which upon the choice of every Pope were ready to bring and precipitate every thing into confusion For a Remedy whereunto he established a Law which was afterwards confirmed by the Council of Lateran that the election of the Popes should entirely rest and remain in the power of the Cardinals the which Law or Canon was afterwards confirmed by Alexander the 3d. and by Gregory the 10th in the Council of Lions and at Vienna by Clement the 6th The which happy Constitution hath tended much to the peace and quiet of the Church and as a Rule hereof Alexander the 3d. instituted at a General Council that he onely should be esteemed to have been canonically elected who had obtained his Choice by at least two Thirds of the College of Cardinals This power of Election hath ever since that time rested in the power of the Cardinals who after the Octaves appointed for solemnizing the Funerals of the deceased Pope have on the 9th or 10th day entered the Conclave in order to a new Election The Conclave is for the most part held at the Vatican Palace where in a long Gallery are erected small Apartments or Cells made of boards covered with purple Cloth for every Cardinal which place is appointed for the more convenient conference each with other to every Cardinal is allowed no more than two Servants which are called his Conclavists unless in case of sickness or other infirmity when three may be admitted The Cardinals being entered the Conclave is strictly guarded with the City Militia to hinder all commerce and intercourse of Letters from without The Gallery also is very closely watched being kept by a Master of the Ceremonies so that when the Cardinals have their Dishes served up to them they are visited and inspected by him lest any Letters or Advices should be concealed within the Meat According to this first Institution the Cardinals have a free use of several dishes of Meat for the first three days and whilst they are eating or doing any thing else in their Cells the outward Curtains are to be open and undrawn unless in the Night when they sleep or at other times that they take their repose when great care is taken that no undecent noise or disturbance be given It hath been accustomary of late years for the Cardinals to premise certain particular points and Articles necessary and convenient for the better government of the Church which are subscribed by the whole Community and every one takes an Oath to observe them in case he should prove to be the person chosen and promoted to the Pontifical Dignity After which matters are performed they proceed to an Election There are three ways by which Popes are chosen namely by Scrutiny by Access or
especially Peter and John were look'd upon as utterly illiterate men Their manner of living was measur'd by the common Good none of them challenged any propriety in any thing and whatsoever Religious Oblation was laid at their feet they either divided it between themselves for the supply of the necessities of Nature or else distributed it to the Poor These Disciples had each of them his Province assigned to him to St. Thomas was allotted Parthia to St. Matthew Aethiopia to St. Bartholomew India on this side Ganges to St. Andrew Scythia and Asia to St. John who after a long series of toyl and care died during his abode at Ephesus But to St. Peter the chief of the Apostles were assigned Pontus Galatia Bithynia and Cappadocia who being by birth a Galilean of the City of Bethsaida the son of John and Brother of Andrew the Apostle sate first in the Episcopal See of Antioch for seven years in the days of Tiberius This Emperour was Son-in-law and Heir to Augustus and for the space of twenty three years his administration of the Government had so much of change and variety in it that we cannot reckon him altogether a bad or absolutely a good Prince He was a Man of great Learnning and weighty Eloquence his Wars he managed not in Person but by his Lieutenants and shew'd a great deal of Prudence in suppressing any sudden commotions Having by Arts of flattery enticed sevcral Princes to his Court he never suffered them to return home again as particularly among others Archelaus of Cappadocia whose Kingdom he made a Province of the Empire Many of the Senators were banish'd and some of them slain by him C. Asinius Gallus the Pleader son of Asinius Pollio was by his Order put to death with the most exquisite torments and Vocienus Montanus Narbonensis one of the same profession died in the Baleares whither Tiberius had confined him Moreover Historians tell us that that his Brother Drusus was poisoned at his command And yet upon occasion he exercised so much lenity that when certain Publicans and Governours of Provinces moved him to raise the publick taxes he gave them this Answer That a good Shepherd does indeed shear but not flay his sheep Tiberius dying C. Coesar who with a jocular reflection upon his education in the Camp had the surname of Caligula succeeded him in the Empire he was the son of Drusus son-in-law to Augustus and Nephew to Tiberius The greatest Villain in the World and one who never did any worthy Action either at home or abroad His Avarice put him upon all manner of Oppression his Lust was such that he did not forbear to violate the Chastity of his own Sisters and his cruelty was so great that he is reported oftentimes to have cryed out Oh! That all the people of Rome had but one Neck At his Command all who were under proscription were put to Death for having recalled a certain person from banishment and enquiring of him what the Exiles did chiefly wish for the man imprudently answering that they desired nothing more than the Death of the Emperour he thereupon gave order that every man of them should be executed He would often complain of the condition of his times that they were not rendred remarkable by any publick Calamities as those of Tiberius had been in whose Reign no less than 20000 men had been slain by the fall of a Theatre at Tarracina He express'd so much envy at the renown of Virgil and Livy that he was very near taking away their Writings and Images out of all the Libraries the former of which he would censure as a man of no Wit and little Learning the latter as a verbose and negligent Historian and it was his common by-word concerning Seneca That his Writings were like a rope of Sand. Agrippa the son of King Herod who had been cast into prison by Tiberius for accusing Herod was by him set at liberty and made King of Judoea while Herod himself was confin'd to perpetual banishment at Lyons He caused himself to be translated into the number of the Gods and ordered the setting up Images in the Temple of Jerusalem At last he was assaulted and slain by some of his own Officers in the third year and tenth month of his Empire Among his Writings were found two Rolls or Lists one of which had a Dagger the other a Sword stamp'd upon it for a Seal they both contain'd the Names and Characters of certain principal men both of the Senatorian and Equestrian Order whom he had design'd to slaughter There was found likewise a large Chest fill'd with several sorts of Poisons which being at the Command of Claudius Coesar not long after thrown into the Sea 't is reported that the Waters were so infected thereby that there died abundance of Fish which the Tide cast up in vast numbers upon the neighbouring shores I thought good to give this account of these Monsters of men that thereby it might the better appear that God could then have scarce forborn destroying the whole World unless he had sent his Son and his Apostles by whose bloud manking though equal to Lycaon in impiety was yet redeem'd from destruction In their times lived that St. Peter whom our Saviour upon his ackowledgment of him to be the Christ bespake in these words Blessed art thou Simon Bar Jona for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee but my Father which is in Heaven and Thou art Peter and upon this Rock I will build my Church and I will give unto thee the keyes of the Kingdom of Heaven and the Power of binding and loosing This Apostle being a Person of most unwearied industry when he had sufficiently setled the Churches of Asia and confuted the Opinion of those who maintained the necessity of Circumcision came into Italy in the second year of Claudius This Claudius who was Uncle to Caligula and had been all along very contumeliously treated and bussoon'd by his Nephew being now Emperor making an Expedition into Britain had the Island surrendred up to him an Enterprise which none before Julius Coesar nor any after Claudius durst undertake he also added the Isles of Orkney to the Roman Empire He banish'd out of the City of Rome the seditious Jews and suppress'd the tumults in Judoea which had been rais'd by certain false Prophets And while Cumanus was appointed by him Procurator of Judoea there were crush'd to Death in the Porches of the Temple of Jerusalem during the days of Unlcavened bread to the number of thirty thousand Jews At the same time also there was a great dearth and scarcity of provision throughout the whole World a Calamity which had been foretold by â—â—â—gabus the Prophet Being secure of any hostilities from abroad he finish'd the Aquaeduct that had been begun by Caligula whose ruines are yet to be seen in the Lateran He attempted also to empty the Lake Fucinus being prompted thereto by the hope of getting
not only honour and reputation but profit and advantage by it since there was a certain person who proffered to undertake that work at his own private charge upon condition that the Land when it was drein'd might have been granted to him for his reward The Mountain being partly undermin'd partly cut through the length of three miles the Passage was at the end of eleven years with much ado finish'd there being no less than 30000 labourers continually employ'd in it It was he likewise that made the Harbour of Ostia by drawing an Arm of the Sea on each hand and so breaking the violence of the Waves a Work the footsteps of which are not to be seen at this day without Wonder Having put to death his Wife Messalina for Adultery he afterwards against all Law both Humane and Divine married Agrippina the Daughter of his Brother Germanicus by whom in the fourteenth year of his Empire he was poison'd with Mushrooms prepared by her for that purpose In his time St. Peter came to Rome the principal City of the World both because he judg'd it a Seat best accommodated to the Pontifical dignity and because likewise he understood that Simon Magus a certain Samaritan had planted there who by his Sorceries had so far seduced the People that they believed him to be a God For his Statue had been already erected at Rome between the two Bridges with this Latin Inscription Simoni Deo Sancto i. e. to Simon the Holy God This man while he stai'd in Samaria pretended Faith in Christ so far as to obtain Baptism from Philip one of the seven Deacons which afterwards abusing to ill ends he laid the foundation of divers Heresies To him was joyn'd one Sebene a shameless Strumpet who was his Companion and partner in Villany To such an heighth of impudence did this lewd Fellow arrive that he challenged St. Peter to work Miracles with him and particularly he undertook to raise to life a dead child which indeed at first seem'd somewhat to move at his Charms But it being manifest presently that the Child nevertheless continued dead still at St. Peters command in the Name of Jesus it immediately arose Simon being enraged hereat profered as a further trial which of them was the more holy man and more beloved of God to fly from the Capitol to the Aventine in the sight of all the People provided Peter would follow him While he was yet flying at the prayer of Peter who with hands lift up to Heaven beseeched God not to suffer so great a multitude to be deluded with Magical Arts down he fell and broke his Leg with grief of which Mis-adventure he not long after died at Aricia whither his followers had conveighed him after this foul disgrace From him the Hereticks called Simoniaci had their original who pretended to buy and sell the Gift of the Holy Ghost and who asserted the Creatures to proceed from a certain superiour Power but not to be from God After this St. Peter applying himself both by Preaching and Example to the propagating of the Word of God was by the Christian Romans earnestly desired that John surnamed Mark who was his Son in Baptism and a person of a most approved life and conversation might be employed by him in writing a Gospel St. Hierom saith that he being a Priest in Israel a Levite according to the flesh after his conversion to the Christian Faith wrote his Gospel in Italy shewing what he owed to his own Parentage and Extraction and what to Christ. Which Gospel as we now have it was approved by the testimony of St. Peter Being afterwards sent into Egypt as Philo the Jew a famous Writer tells us after that by Preaching and Writing he had well form'd the Alexandrian Church being a man very eminent both for his Life and Learning in the eighth year of the Emperor Nero he died and was buried at Alexandria in whose place succeeded Anianus The year before died James surnamed Justus the Brother of our Lord being the Son of Joseph by another Wife or as some will have it Sisters son to Mary Christ's Mother Egefippus who lived near the Apostles times affirms of him that he was holy in his Mothers Womb that he drank neither Wine nor strong drink nor ever tasted flesh that he neither shaved nor bathed nor anointed himself nor ever wore any other but linnen garments He was often accustomed to enter into the Holy of Holies where he continued so incessantly in his Prayers for the Welfare of the People that his knees were grown hard and callous like those of Camels But Festus leaving the Government of Judoea before Albinus his successor arrived there the High Priest Ananus the son of Ananus requiring James publickly to deny Christ to be the Son of God upon his refusal he gave order he should be stoned to Death who after he had been thrown down headlong from a pinacle of the Temple continuing yet half alive and with hands stretch'd forth towards Heaven praying for his persecutors was at last kill'd outright with a blow of a Fullers Club. Josephus reports him to have been a man of so great sanctity that it was the general belief that his murder was the cause of the destruction of Jerusalem This is that James whom our Lord appeared to after his Resurrection and to whom having blessed Bread and broken it he said Brother eat thy Bread because the son of man is risen He presided over the Church of Jerusalem thirty years that is to the seventh year of Nero. His Sepulchre with an Inscription hard by the Temple from which he had been cast down was yet in being in Andrian's time It is evident likewise that Barnabas by birth a Cypriot surnamed Joses a Levite died before St. Peter's martyrdom He being chosen together with Paul an Apostle of the Gentiles wrote only one Epistle of matters concerning the Church and that too is reckoned Apocryphal There happening to be a difference between him and Paul occasioned by Mark a Disciple he accompanied with the said Mark went to Cyprus where Preaching the faith of Christ he was crowned with Martyrdom Paul first called Saul was descended of the Tribe of Benjamin of a Town of Judoea called Giscalis which being taken in War by the Romans he with his Parents removed to Tarsus a City of Cilicia And being sent thence to Jerusalem to study the Law he had his Education under the learned Gamaliel After this receiving Letters from the High Priest he became a Persecutor of those that professed Christ to be the true God and particularly was present and assistant at the death of St. Stephen the Protomartyr But as he was going to Damascus being by the Divine Spirit wonderfully converted to the Faith he became a chosen Vessel and from that time took the name of Paul from a Pro-consul of Cyprus whom by his preaching he had converted to Christianity After this he together with
Barnabas having travelled through divers Cities upon his return to Jerusalem was by Peter John and James chosen an Apostle of the Gentiles In the twenty fifth year after the death of Christ which was the second of the Emperor Nero and the time when Festus succeeded Felix in the Procuratorship of Judoea he with his fellow-captive Aristarchus was as a free Denizon sent bound to Rome where continuing the space of two years under very little confinement he was daily engaged in disputation with the Jews Being at length set at liberty by Nero he both preached and wrote many things We have at this day fourteen of his Epistles one to the Romans two to the Corinthians one to the Galatians one to the Ephesians one to the Philippians one to the Colossians two to the Thessalonians two to Timothy one to Titus and one to Philemon that to the Hebrews is generally said to be his though because of the difference of style and phrase from the rest it be uncertain whether it were so or no and there have been anciently divers who have entituled it some to Luke some to Barnabas some to Clemens St. Peter also wrote two general Epistles though the latter be by many denied to be his for the same reason of the difference of style But being so taken up with Prayer and Preaching that he could not attend any other great variety of business he constituted two Bishops viz. Linus and Cletus who might exercise the sacerdotal Ministery to the Romans and other Christians The holy man applying himself entirely to these things gained thereby so great and universal a Reputation that men were ready to worship him as a God The Emperor Nero being displeased hereat began to contrive his death whereupon St. Peter with the advice of his Friends that he might avoid the Emperours envy and rage departed out of the City by the Via Appia and at the end of the first mile he travelled to use the words of Egesippus meeting with Christ in the way and falling down and worshipping him he said Lord whither goest thou to whom Christ replied I go to Rome to be crucified again There is yet remaining a Chappel built on the same place where these words were spoken Now St. Peter believing this saying of our Saviour to relate to his own martyrdom because Christ might seem to be ready to suffer again in him went back to the City and forth with consecrated Clemens a Bishop and in these words recommended to him his Chair and the Church of God I deliver to thee the same power of binding and loosing which Christ lest to me do thou as becomes a good Pastor promote the salvation of men both by Prayer and Preaching without regard to any hazard of Life or Fortune Having set these things thus in order at the Command of Nero in the last year of his Empire He was put to death together with St. Paul though the kinds of their Punishment were different For St. Peter was crucified with his Head towards the ground and his Feet upwards for so he desired it might be saying That he was unworthy to undergo the same kind of death with his Saviour He was buried in the Vatican in the Via Aurelia near Nero's Gardens not far from the Via Triumphalis which leads to the Temple of Apollo He continued in the See 25 years But St. Paul being on the same day beheaded was interred in the Via Ostiensis in the 37th year after the death of Christ. This is confirmed by the testimony of Caius the Historian who in a Disputation against one Proculus a Montanist has these words I says he can shew you the Victorious Ensigns of the Apostles for you cannot pass the Via Regalis that leads to the Vatican nor the Via Ostiensis but you will find the Trophies of those Hero's that established this Church where certainly he refers to these two St. Peter and St. Paul In the fore-mentioned Gardens of Nero were reposited the ashes of a multitude of holy Martyrs For a Fire happening in the time of Nero which raging for six days together had wasted a great part of the City and devoured the substance of many wealthy Citizens the blame of all which was laid upon the Emperour He as Tacitus tells us being very desirous to quell the rumour suborn'd false Witnesses to accuse and lay all the blame of that Calamity upon the Christians Whereupon so great a number of them were seiz'd and put to death that it is said the flame of their empaled bodies supplied the room of lights for some nights together There are those who say this Fire was kindled by Nero either that he might have before his Eyes the Resemblance of burning Troy or else because he had taken offence at the irregularity of the old Houses and the narrowness and windings of the streets neither of which are improbable of such a man as he who was profligately self-will'd intemperate and cruel and in all respects more lewd and wicked than his Uncle Caligula For he both put to death a great part of the Senate and also without any regard to Decency would in the fight of the People sing and dance in the publique Theatre His dissolute Luxury was such that he made use of perfum'd cold Baths and fished with golden Nets which were drag'd with Purple Cords Yet he took such care to conceal all these Vices in the beginning of his Empire that men had generally great hopes of him For being put in mind to sign a Warrant according to Custom for the Execution of one that was condemn'd to die How glad says he should I be that I had never learnt to write Howas very sumptuous in his Buildings both in the City and elsewhere for the Baths called by his Name and the Aurea Domus and the Portico three miles long were finish'd by him with with wondrous magnificence besides which he was at a vast expence to make the Haven at Antium at the sight of which I my self not long since was wonderfully pleased I return to his Cruelty which he exercised towards his Master Seneca towards M. Annoeus Lucanus the famous Poet towards his Mother Agrippina and his Wife Octavia towards Cornutus the Philosopher Perfius's Master whom he banish'd towards Piso and in a word towards all those who were in any reputation among the Citizens In the end he so highly provok'd the rage and hatred of the people against him that most diligent search was made after him to bring him to condign punishment Which punishment was that being bound he should be led up and down with a Gallows upon his neck and being whipped with Rods to Death his body should be thrown into the River Tyber But he making his escape four miles out of the City laid violent hands upon himself in the Countrey-house of one of his Freemen between the Via Salaria and Nomentana in the thirty second year of his Age and of his Reign the fourteenth S.
LINUS LINUS by Nation a Tuscan his Father's name Herculeanus was in the Chair from the last year of Nero to the times of Vespasian and from the Consulship of Saturninus and Scipio to that of Capito and Rufus In this space of time there were no less than three Emperours Galba Otho and Vitellius each of them reigning but a very little while Galba a Person descended of the most ancient Nobility being created Emperour by the Soldiers in Spain assoon as he heard of the death of Nero came immediatey to Rome But rendring himself obnoxious to all men by his Avarice and Sloth through the treachery of Otho he was slain at Rome near Curtius's Lake in the seventh month of his Reign together with Piso a Noble Youth whom he had adopted for his Son He was doubtless a man who before he came to the Empire was very eminent in the management both of Military and Civil affairs being often Consul often Proconsul and several times General in the most important Wars That which makes me speak this in his praise is the Learning of M. Fabius Quintilianus whom Galba brought with him out of Spain to Rome Otho a man of better extraction by his Mother 's than by his Father's side who while he led a private life was very loose and effeminate as being a great and intimate Friend of Nero's in the midst of tumults and slaughters as I hinted before invaded the Empire But being ingaged in a Civil War against Vitellius who had been created Emperour in Germany though he got the better in three small Skirmishes one at the Alps another at Placentia the third at Castor yet losing the day in the last and most considerable which was at Bebriacum he thereupon fell into so deep a melancholly that in the third month of his Empire he stab'd himself Vitellius concerning whose Extraction there are different Opinions coming to Rome and obtaining the Empire soon degenerated into all manner of lewdness cruelty and gluttony being used to make several Meals in a day and some of them to such an height of Luxury that there have been at one Supper no less than two thousand Fishes and seven thousand Fowl serv'd up to his Table But having intelligence that Vespasian who had been created Emperour by the Army in Judoea was advancing with his Legions he at first determin'd to quit the Empire yet being afterwards encouraged by those about him he took up Arms and forc'd Sabinus Vespasian's Brother with his Flavian Soldiers into the Capitol which being set on fire they were all burnt Hereupon being surpriz'd by Vespasian and having no hope of pardon left him he hid himself in a private Chamber in the Palace from whence he was most ignominiously drag'd and carried naked through the Via Sacra to the Scaloe Gemonioe where being quartered he was thrown into the River Tyber During this time Linus was Successor to St. Peter though there are some who place Clemens here and wholly leave out Linus and Cletus who yet are sufficiently confuted not only by History but also by the authority of S. Hierom who tells us that Clemens was the fourth Bishop of Rome after Peter for Linus was accounted the second and Cletus the third notwithstanding that most of the Romans immediately after Peter reckon Clemens To whom though St. Peter had as it were by Will bequeath'd the Right of Succession yet his modesty was so great that he compelled Linus and Cletus to take upon them the Pontifical Dignity before him lest any ambition of preheminence might be of ill example to after Ages This Linus by Commission from St. Peter ordained that no Woman should enter the Church but with her Head veiled Moreover at two Ordinations which he held in the City he made eighteen Presbyters and eleven Bishops He wrote also the Memoirs of St. Peter and particularly the Contention he had with Sinion Magus In his time lived Philo a Jew by Nation of Alexandria in whose Writings there is so much Wit and Judgment that from the likeness there appears between them he deserv'd to have it proverbially said Either Plato does Philonize or Philo does Platonize By his Learning and Eloquence he corrected the rashness of Appion who had been sent Ambassadour from the Alexandrians with Complaints against the Jews While he was at Rome in Claudius his time he contracted an acquaintance with St. Peter and thereupon wrote several things in praise of the Christians Josephus also the son of Matathias a Priest at Hierusalem being taken Prisoner by Vespasian and committed to the custody of his son Titus till that City was taken coming to Rome during the Pontificate of Linus presented to the Father and the Son seven Books of the Jewish War which were laid up in the publick Library and the Author himself as a reward for that performance had most deservedly a Statue erected to him He wrote likewise twenty four other Books of Antiquities from the beginning of the World to the fourteenth year of the Emperour Domitian As for Linus himself though he had gain'd a mighty reputation by the sanctity of his Life by his Power of casting out Devils and raising the Dead yet was he put to Death by Saturninus the Consul whose very Daughter he had dispossess'd and was buried in the Vatican near the Body of St. Peter on the twenty first day of September when he had sat in the Pontifical See eleven years three months and twelve days There are some who affirm that Gregory Bishop of Ostia did according to a Vow which he had made remove the Body of this holy Bishop to that place and solemnly interr it in the Church of St. Laurence S. CLETUS CLETUS born in Rome in the Vicopatrician Region Son of Aemilianus through the persuasion of Clemens unwillingly took upon him the burden of the Pontificate though for his Learning Life and Quality he was a Person of very great esteem and Authority among all that knew him He lived in the time of Vespasian and Titus from the seventh Consulship of Vespasian and the fifth of Domitian to Domitian and Rufus Coss according to Damasus Vespasian as I said before succeeding Vitellius committed the management of the Jewish War which had been carrying on two years before to his Son Titus which he within two years after with great resolution finished For all Judoea being conquer'd the City Hierusalem destroyed and the Temple levelled to the ground it is reported that no less than six hundred thousand Jews were slain nay Josephus a Jew who was a Captive in that War and had his life given him because he foretold the death of Nero and that Vespasian should in a short time be Emperor relates that eleven hundred thousand perished therein by sword and famine and that a hundred thousand were taken Prisoners and publickly exposed to sale Nor will it seem improbable if we consider that he tells us this happened at the time
of the Feast of Unleavened Bread when they came from all parts of Judoea to Jerusalem as into a publick Prison and especially on the day of the Passeover upon which they crucified Christ being now to undergo the deserved punishment both of their frequent revolts from the Roman Government and also of their villany and perfidiousness in putting to death the innocent Jesus Upon this Victory over the Jews the Father and Son were honoured with a Triumph both riding in the same Chariot and Domitian upon a white Horse following them The Monuments of this Triumph remain still in the Via Nova where are to be seen engraven the Candesticks and the Tables of the old Law that were taken out of the Temple and triumphantly brought away Yet Vespasian exercised so much humanity towards the Jews even when they were conquered that for all those whom he found among them remaining of the House of David as being of Royal descent he had a very good esteem And indeed he always used his Power with great Moderation being of so mild and merciful a Temper as to discharge even Traytors with no other than a verbal Correction and to slight the Discourses of insolent and talkative people and in general to be forgetful of Faults and Injuries He was look'd upon as too much enclin'd to Avarice and yet he used no oppression for the getting of Money and what he had he employed in Bounty and Magnificence For he both finish'd the Temple of Peace adjoyning to the Forum that had been begun by Claudius and began that Amphitheatre a part of which is yet to be seen with admiration He had so great an opinion of the Bravery and Merit of his Son Titus that upon occasion of certain tumults rais'd by some ambitious men who aspir'd to the Empire he said publickly That either his Son or no man would be his Successor in the Empire And good ground he had to say so for that Titus both for his Courage and Integrity was accounted the Darling and Delight of Mankind He was endued with an Eloquence excellency suited to the times of Peace and with a Courage to those of War he was very merciful to Offenders and so kind and bountiful to all that he never denied any man any thing Upon which occasion when some of his Friends took the liberty to find fault with him as too profuse he told them It was not fit that any man should depart sad out of the presence of a Prince And remembring at a certain time that he had not conferr'd any benefit in a whole day he thereupon cried out to those about him My Friends I have lost a Day Never any Emperour was superiour to him in Magnificence the Amphitheatre together with the Baths near adjoyning being perfectly compleated and dedicated and an Hunting of five thousand wild Beasts exhibited by him He recall'd from Exile Mursonius Rufus a famous Philosopher and was much pleased with the conversation of Asconius Poedianus a most learned man He died in the second year of his Empire and was carried to his Sepulchre with so great and universal a lamentation as if every man had lost a Father There are some who write that Cletus succeeded Linus in the second year of Vespasian who held the Empire ten years Whether that were so or no 't is certain that Cletus was a most holy and good man and that he left nothing undone that might contribute to the enlargement and increase of the Church of God In his time lived Luke a Physitian of Antioch one extraordinarily well skilled in the Greek Language a follower of S. Paul the Apostle and his constant attendant and Companion in his Travels He pen'd the Gospel which is commended by S. Paul and which S. Paul for a good reason calls his Gospel He wrote also the Acts of the Apostles being himself an Eye-witness of them He lived eighty four years was married in Bithynia and buried at Constantinople whither his bones together with those of Andrew the Apostle were in the tenth year of Constantius conveyed out of Achaia At the same time likewise Philip returning out of Scythia which by his Example and Preaching he had kept stedfast in the faith for twenty years together into Asia died at Jerusalem As for Cletus himself having setled the Church as well as the Times would bear and ordain'd according to St. Peter's command twenty five Presbyters he was crown'd with Martyrdom in the Reign of Domitian and buried near the body of S. Peter in the Vatican April 27. There were many other Martyrs about the same time among whom is reckoned Flavia Domicilla Sisters Daughter to Flavius Clemens the Consul who was banish'd into the Island Pontia for the profession of Christianity Cletus sate in the Chair twelve years one month eleven days and by his Death the See was vacant twenty days S. CLEMENS CLEMENS born in Rome in the Region of Mons Coelius his Fathers name Faustinus lived in the time of Titus his Successor Domitian Who was more like to Nero or Caligula than to his Father Vespasian or his Brother yet at the beginning of his Empire he kept within some tolerable bounds but soon after he broke out into very great enormities of Lust Idleness Rage and Cruelty crimes which brought upon him so great an Odium as almost quite defac'd the Memory and Renown of his Father and his Brother Many of the Nobility he put to death whereof most were by his order assassined in the places whither he had banish'd them He was so industriously idle as to spend the time of his privacy and retirement in killing Flies with a Bodkin for which reason when a certain person coming out of his Presence was asked whether any one were with Coesar he answer'd merrily No not so much as a Fly He arriv'd to such an heighth of Folly and arrogance as to expect divine Honours and command that in all Discourses and Writings concerning him the Title of Lord and God should be given him He was the second from Nero that rais'd a Persecution against the Christians Moreover he gave order that all those of the Linage of David among the Jews should by Interrogatories and racking them to Confession be diligently search'd after and being found utterly destroy'd and extin guish'd In the end the divine Vengeance overtaking him he was in the fifteenth year of his Empire stab'd to death in the Palace by his own servants His Body was carried out by the common Bearers and ingloriously buried by Philix at her Countrey-house in the Via Latina Clemens was now as I have said the fourth Bishop of Rome from S. Peter Linus being accounted the second and Cletus the third though the Latins generally reckon Clemens next after Peter and that he was design'd so appears from his own Letter to James Bishop of Jerusalem wherein he gives him the following account of that matter Simon Peter being apprehensive of his approaching Death in the
Cleophas and Bishop of Jerusalem was crucified in the hundred and twentieth year of his Age. These things which we have spoken were acted in the time of this Bishop and not of Cletus as Eusebius in the third book of his History would have it for Damasus makes out that Cletus and Anacletus differed both as to their Countrey and manner of Death Cletus being a Roman and suffering under Domitian but Anacletus and Athenian and suffering under Trajan Our Anacletus having erected an Oratory to St. Peter and assigned places of burial for the Martyrs distinct from those of other men and at one Decembrian Ordination made five Presbyters three Deacons and six Bishops upon his Martyrdom the See was vacant thirteen days after he had sat in it nine years two months and ten days S. EUARISTUS EUARISTUS by birth a Grecian his Father a Jew named Juda of the City of Bethleem lived in the time of Trajan A Prince whom I take delight to mention because of his singular Justice and Humanity Who behav'd himself so acceptably towards all men that as far as the times of Justinian the usual acclamation of the People at the Creation of an Emperour was this Let him be more prosperous than Augustus and better than Trajan He was of a temper so courteous and condescending in visiting the Sick in saluting his Friends in keeping Festivals and being present at Collations to which he was invited that the fault which some found with him for that very reason gave the occasion of that worthy noble saying of his That a Prince ought to be such to his Subjects as he desires they should be to him He impartially distributed Honours Riches and Rewards to all that deserved well never oppress'd any man to fill his own Exchequer granted advantageous immunities to poor Cities repaired the High-ways and made the passages of Rivers secure made a high large Mole at the Haven of Ancona to break the violence of the Waves and indeed neither acted nor designed any thing in his whole life but what tended to the publick Good Having gain'd such Renown both in War and in Peace he died of a Flux at Seleucia a City of Isauria in the eighteenth year and sixth month of his Reign His bones were afterward convey'd to Rome and there buried in an Urn of Gold in the Forum which himself had built under the winding Pillar of an hundred forty foot high which is yet to beseen But we return to Euaristus who as Damasus tells us divided the City of Rome among the Presbyters into Parishes ordained that seven Deacons should attend the Bishop when ever he preached to be witnesses of the truth of his Doctrine and moreover that the accusation of a Lay-man should not be admitted against a Bishop He held Decembrian Ordinations at which he made six Presbyters two Deacons and five Bishops In his time lived Papias Bishop of Hierapolis an Auditor of John a person who took not so much delight in the Records of the ancient Disciples of our Lord as in the living Conversation of Aristion and John the Elder And it is manifest from the order he observes in setting down the names of these two after the mention of almost all the Apostles that the John whom he places among the Apostles was a distinct Person from this John the Aged whom hereckons after Aristion He was certainly a very learned man and followed by many as particularly Irenaeus Apollinarius Tertullian Victorinus Pictaviensis and Lactantius Firmianus Now also Quadratus a Disciple of the Apostles did by his Industry and Courage support the Church of God as much as might be in such dangerous times For when Adrian who now passed the Winter at Athens and was admitted a Priest to the Goddess Eleusina began to persecute the Christians Quadratus with his own hand presented to him a very honest and rational Book of the Excellency of the Christian Religion The like did Aristides and Athenian Philosopher converted to Christianity who at the same time with Quadratus presented to Adrian a Treatise containing an account of our Religion The effect of which Apologeticks was that Adrian being convinc'd of the injustice of putting the Christians to death without their being heard wrote to Minutius Fundanus the Proconsul of Asia ordering that no Christian should be executed unless his guilt were proved by a credible Witness As for our Euaristus some tell us that he was martyr'd in the last year of Trajan but they are more in the right who are of opinion that he suffered under Adrian before his being reconciled to the Christians For he was in the Chair nine years ten months two days and was buried in the Vatican near the body of S. Peter October the twenty seventh The See was then vacant nineteen days S. ALEXANDER I. ALEXANDER a Roman Son of Alexander a Person of Wisdom and Gravity far exceeding his years held the Pontificate in the time of Aelius Adrianus This Adrian who was Son to Trajan's Cosin-German at his first coming to the Empire proved an Enemy to the Christians but afterwards as shall be said anon upon knowledg of their Religion and Devotion became very kind and propitious to them From the great benefits which the Roman State receiv'd by his Government he was called the Father of his Countrey and his Wife had the Title of Augusta He was excellently well skil'd both in the Roman and Greek Languages made many Laws created a goodly Library at Athens being mightily pleased with the Learning and Conversation of Plutarch Sixtus Agathocles and Oenomaus the Philosopher and at the request of the Athenians compiled Laws for them according to the Model of Draco and Solen Being admitted to the Eleusinian Mysteries he was very bountiful to the Citizens of Athens and repair'd their bridg broken down by an Innundation of the River Cephysus He built also a Bridg at Rome called by his own name remaining to this day and a stately Sepulchre in the Vatican near the River Tyber which the Popes now make use of for a Citadel Moreover he made that most sumptuous and stately Villa now called Old Tiber to the several parts of which he gave the names of Provinces and the most celebrated parts of the World Coming to Pelusium he was at great expence in adorning Pompey's Tomb and in Britain he built a Wall of sixty miles to sever the Romans from the Natives And because Septicius Clarus the Captain of his Guards and Suetonius Tranquillus his Secretary with several others had without his leave conversed somewhat more familiarly with his Empress Sabina than the Reverence of a Court admitted of he remov'd them all and put others into their Offices But to return to our Alexander He was the first who for the remembrance of Christs Passion at the Communion added those words Qui pridie quam pateretur to the Clause Hoc est corpus meum He ordained likewise that the Holy Water as it is called
as they were leading him to Punishment disposed of what he had to Stephen the Arch-deacon and afterwards upon the fifth of May was beheaded Lucina with some of the Clergy buried his body by night in a Grotto of hers in the Via Appia nor far from the Coemetery of Calistus There are some who write that the Bishop suffered under Gallus and Volusianus but I rather give credit to Damasus who affirms Decius to have been the Author of his Martyrdom Cornelius held two Ordinations in the Month of December in which he made four Presbyters four Deacons seven Bishops He sat in the Chair two years three days and by his death the See was vacant thirty five days S. LUCIUS I. LUCIUS by birth a Roman his Father's Name Porphyrius was chosen Bishop when Gallus Hostilianus was Emperour Gallus associated to himself in the Government his Son Volusianus in whose times there arose so great a Plague to revenge the cause of Christianity that there were few Families much less Cities and Provinces which had not their share in the publick Calamity But while Gallus and Volusianus were engaging in a Civil War against Aemilianus who had attempted an alteration of the Government they were both kill'd at 〈◊〉 before they had compleated the second year of their Empire Aemilianus a person of obscure birth was slain e're he had possess'd his usurped Power three months and soon after Valerianus and Gallienus were chosen Emperours the former by the Army in Rhetia and Noricum the latter at Rome by the Senate Their Government proved very pernicious to the Roman State by the means of their own Pusillanimity and the 〈◊〉 they exercised against the Christians For both the Germans had marched forward as far as Ravenna laying all 〈◊〉 where ever they came with Fire and Sword and also Valerianus himself making War in Mesopotamia was taken Prisoner by the Parthians and forced to live in the most ignominious servitude for Sapores King of Persia made use of him for a Footstool when he got up on Horseback A Punishment which justly 〈◊〉 him for this reason that as soon as he was seiz'd of the Empire he was the eighth from Nero who commanded that the Christians should be put to Tortures be made to worship Idols or upon their refusal be put to death Gallienus being terrisied by this manifest Judgment of God suffered the Christians to live quietly But it was now too late for by the Divine Permission the Barbarians had already made Inroads upon the Roman borders and certain pernicious Tyrants arose who overthrew at home what was left undestroyed by the forein Enemy 〈◊〉 hereupon leaves the care of the Publick and spending his time very dissolutely at 〈◊〉 was there slain Lucius upon the death of Volusianus being released from banishment at his return to Rome ordained that every Bishop 〈◊〉 be accompanied where-ever he went with two Presbyters and three Deacons as witnesses of his Life and Actions In his time suffered Saint Cyprian who was first a Professor of Rhetorick and afterward as St. Hierem tells us at the persuasion of Coecilius the Presbyter from whom he took his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 becoming a Christian he gave his Estate to the Poor Having 〈◊〉 first ordained a Presbyter and then Bishop of Carthage he was 〈◊〉 to death under 〈◊〉 and Volusianus His Life and Martyrdom were 〈◊〉 well written by Pontius a Presbyter and his Companion in 〈◊〉 And it ought not to be forgotten that Cyprian before he 〈◊〉 was reconciled to the Opinion of the Church of Rome that 〈◊〉 were not to be re-baptized but to be receiv'd without any further Ceremony than that of Imposition of Hands a matter about which there had been formerly a great Controversie between him and Cornelius But to return to Lucius before his Martyrdom which he suffered at the command of Valerianus he delivered up his Ecclesiastical Power to 〈◊〉 the Arch-deacon He conferred holy Orders thrice in the month of December ordaining four Presbyters four Deacons seven Bishops He was interred in the Coemetery of Calistus in the Via Appia Aug. the 25th He was in the Chair three years three months three days and by his death the See was vacant thirty five days S. STEPHANUS I. STEPHANUS a Roman the Son of Julius was chosen Bishop when the Roman Empire seem'd to be utterly ruin'd and particularly at the time when Posthumus 〈◊〉 his Usurped Power in Gallia though not without great advantage to the Publick For he governed very well ten years together freed the Countrey from Hostility and restored that Province to its ancient Form But being afterwards kill'd at Mentz in a tumult of the Soldiers Victorinus succeeded him who was indeed an excellent Soldier but being exces ssively incontinent and adulterous was slain at Cologne Stephanus applying himself to the Regulation of the Church ordained that the Priests and other Ministers should not use their sacred Vestments any where but in the Church and during the performance of Divine Offices lest otherwise they should incur the Punishment of Belshazzar King of Babylon for touching the holy Vessels with prophane hands Concerning the Re-baptization of those who returned to the Faith he was of the same Judgment with Cornelius his Predecessor and thought it by no means lawful to communicate with those who re-baptized them Whereupon Dionysius who had formerly concurred in opinion about the matter with those of Carthage and the East both his and their Sentiments of it being now altered writes to Stephen and encourages him from the assurance that both the Asian and African Churches were now reconciled to the Judgment of the Roman See concerning it About the same time Malchion a Presbyter of Antioch a person of extraordinary Eloquence became very useful to the Church of God in writing against Paulus Samosatenus the Bishop of that place who endeavoured to revive the Opinion of Artemon affirming Christ to have been a meer man and that he had no Existence till he was conceived by the Virgin Mary An Opinion which being afterwards condemned in the Council of Antioch by general consent this Malchion in the name of the Synod wrote a large Epistle to the Christians concerning it As for Stephanus when he had by his Example and Persuasion converted a multitude of Gentiles to Christianity being seized by Gallienus as some say or else by those who upon the Edict of Decius were appointed to persecute the Christians he himself together with many others his Proselytes was hurried away to Martyrdom and having suffered he was interred in the Coemetery of Calistus in the Via Appia August the 2d after that he had at two Decembrian Ordinations made six Presbyters five Deacons three Bishops He was in the Chair seven years five months two days and the See was vacant two and twenty days S. SIXTUS II. SIXTUS an Athenian of a Philosopher became a Christian the Decian and Valerian Persecution yet continuing But it
When his other great Affairs permitted he took very much delight in the study of the Arts by his Bounty and Goodness he gained the love of all men many good Laws he enacted repeal'd those that were superfluous and moderated those that were too rigorous Upon the Ruines of Byzantium he built a City of his own Name and endeavouring to make it equal in stateliness of buildings to Rome her self he ordered it to be called New Rome as appears from the Inscription under his Statue on Horse-back This great Prince well weighing and considering all things when he came to understand the Excellency of the Christian Religion how it obliges men to be moderate in their Enjoyments to rejoyce in poverty to be gentle and peaceable sincere and constant c. he thereupon heartily imbraced it and when he undertook any War bore no other Figure on his Standard but that of the Cross the form of which he had seen in the Air as he was advancing with his Forces against Maxentius and had heard the Angels near it saying to him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by this do thou overcome which accordingly he did freeing the necks of the people of Rome and the Christians from the Yoke of Tyranny and particularly defeating Licinius who had expell'd the Christians from City and Camp and persecuted them with banishment Imprisonment and Death it self exposing some of them to the Lions and causing others to be hung up and cut to pieces limb by limb like dead Swine Sylvester having so potent and propitious a Prince on his side leaves the Mountain Soracte whither he had been banished by the Tyrants or as some say had voluntarily retired and comes to Rome where he soon prevailed with Constantine who was before well enclined towards the Christians to be now very zealous in deserving well of the Church For as a particular testimony of the honour he had for the Clergy he allowed to the Bishops of Rome the use of a Diadem of Gold set with precious Stones But this Sylvester declined as not suiting a person devoted to Religion and therefore contented himself with a white Phrygian Mitre Constantine being highly affected with Sylvesters Sanctity built a Church in the City of Rome in the Gardens of Equitius not far from Domitians Baths which bore the name of Equitius till the time of Damasus Upon this Church the munificent Emperour conferr'd several donations of Vessels both of Gold and Silver and likewise very plentifully endowed it While these things were transacting at Rome at Alexandria a certain Presbyter named Arius a man more remarkable for his Person than the inward qualifications of his mind and who sought more eagerly after Fame and vain-glory than after Truth began to sow dissention in the Church For he endeavoured to separate the Son from the Eternal and ineffable Substance of God the Father by affirming that there was a time when he was not not understanding that the Son was Co-eternal with the Father and of the same substance with him according to that assertion of his in the Gospel I and my Father are one Now Alexander Bishop of Alexandria having in vain attempted to reclaim Arius from this his Errour by Constantines Appointment and at his great Charge a General Council was called at Nicoea a City of Bithynia at which three hundred and eighteen Bishops were present The Debates on either side were long and warm For divers persons subtil at Arguing were favourers of Arius and opposers of the simplicity of the Gospel though one of these a very learned Philosopher being inwardly touched by the Divine Spirit all on a sudden changed his opinion and immediately embraced the sound and Orthodox Doctrine which before he had pleaded against At length the matter being throughly discuss'd in the Council it was concluded that the Son should be styled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. acknowledg'd to be of the same substance with the Father Of those who were of Arius's Opinion affirming the Son of God to be created not begotten of the very Divinity of the Father there were seventeen But Constantine coming to understand the truth of the Controversie confirmed the Decree of the Council and denounc'd the punishment of Exile to those who contradicted it Hereupon Arius with only six more wer banish'd the rest of his Party coming over to the Orthodox Opinion In this Council the Photinians were condemned who had their name from Photinus a Bishop of Gallogroecia who taking up the Heresie of the Ebionites held that Christ was conceived of Mary by the ordinary way of generation as were likewise the Sabellians who affirmed that the Father Son and holy Ghost were but one Person In this Council also the Bishops according to Custom gave in Bills of Complaint to Constantine wherein they accused each other and desired Justice from him but the good Emperour burnt all their Accusations and told them that they must stand or fall by the Judgment of God only and not of men In this Council moreover it was decreed That no person who upon pretence of allaying the heat of his Lust had castrated himself should be admitted into Orders that no new Proselyte without a very strict Examination should be ordained and being so that it should not be lawful for him to co-habit with any other Women than his Mother or Sister or Aunt that none should be promoted to the Order of a Bishop unless by all or at least by three Bishops of the Province and that one Bishop should not receive any person whether Clerk or Laick who stood excommunicated by another It was decreed likewise and that very sacredly to prevent all oppression that there should be a Provincial Synod held every year whither any who thought themselves injured by the Bishop might appeal and I cannot see why this wholsom Institution should be abolished by the Prelates of our Age unless it be because they dread the Censures of the pious and Orthodox It was decreed also that they who in time of Persecution fell away before they were brought to the Torture should from thenceforward continue five years among the Catechumens Finally it was decreed that no Bishop should upon the account of Ambition or Covetousness leave a smaller Church for a greater a Canon which is quite laid aside in our days wherein with eager Appetites like hungry Wolves they all gape after fatter Bishopricks using all importunities promises and bribes to get them The Constitutions of Sylvester himself were reckon'd these that follow viz. That the holy Oyl should be consecrated by the Bishop only that none but Bishops should have the power of Confirmation but a Presbyter might anoint any person baptized upon the occasion of imminent death That no Laick should commence a Suit against a Clergyman that a Deacon while he was doing his Office in the Church should use a Cope with Sleeves that no Clergyman should plead for others or himself before a Secular Judg. That a
a remote People were brought to the knowledg and Belief Christianity a certain Captive Woman through the Assistance and Persuasion of their King Bacurius At this time likewise the Authority of Antony the holy Hermite did much towards the Reformation of Mankind Helena did oftentimes both by Letter and Messengers recommend her self and her Sons to his Prayers he was by Countrey an Egyptian his manner of living severe and abstemious eating only Bread and drinking nothing but Water and never making any Meal but about Sun-set a man wholly rapt up in Contemplation His Life was written at large by Athanasius Bishop of Alexandria As for Sylvester himself having at seven Decembrian Ordinations made forty two Presbyters thirty six Deacons sixty five Bishops he dyed and was buried in the Coemetery of Priscilla in the Via Salaria three miles distant from the City on the last day of December He was in the Chair twenty three years ten months eleven days and by his death the See was vacant fifteen days MARCUS I. MARCUS a Roman Son of Priscus lived also in the Reign of Constantine the Great concerning whom Historians differ in their Writings For some affirm that Constantine towards the latter end of his Reign recalled Arius from banishment and became a favourer of his Heresy through the persuasion of his Sister who always insisted that it was nothing but Envy that had caused his Condemnation These I believe to be deceiv'd by the nearness of their names and so to ascribe that to the Father which was the act of the Son For it is not probable that that wise Prince who had all along before disapprov'd of the Arian opinion should now begin to incline to it in that part of his Age wherein men are usually most judicious and discerning They write moreover that Constantine was baptized by Eusebius an Arian Bishop of Nicomedia But that this is a mistake appears both from the Emperours great bounty towards the Orthodox and also from that stately Font upon that occasion erected with wonderful Magnificence at Rome at which after he had been successful in expelling the Tyrants he with his Son Crispus were instructed in the Faith and baptized by Sylvester They who are of the other opinion tell us that Constantine deferred so great an Affair till the time that he might come to the River Jordan in which he had a great desire to be baptized in imitation of our Saviour but that in an Expedition against the Parthians making Inroads upon Mesopotamia in the thirty first year of his Reign and of his Age the sixty sixth he died on the way at Nicomedia before he could reach the River Jordan for the purpose he design'd and was there baptized at the point of Death But let these men confound and perplex the matter as they please we have reason to believe according to the general opinion that Constantine who had so often overcome his Enemies under the Standard of the Cross who had built so many Churches to the honour of God who had been present at holy Councils and who had so often joyned in Devotion with the holy Fathers would desire to be fortified against the Enemy of mankind by the Character of Baptism as soon as ever he came to understand the excellency of our Religion I am not ignorant what Socrates and Zozomen and most other Writers say concerning it but I follow the Truth and that which is most agreeable to the Religion and Piety of this excellent Prince The vulgar story of his having been overspread with Leprosie and cured of it by Baptism with a previous fiction concerning a Bath of the blood of Infants before prescribed for his Cure I can by no means give credit to having herein the Authority of Socrates on my side who affirms that Constantine being now sixty five years of Age fell sick and left the City of Constantinople to go to the hot Baths for the recovery of his health but speaks not a word concerning any Leprosie Besides there is no mention made of it by any Writer either Heathen or Christian and certainly had there been any such thing Orosius Eutropius and others who have most accurately written the Memoirs of Constantine would not have omitted it One thing more concerning this great Prince is certain viz. That a Blazing Star or Comet of extraordinary magnitude appear'd some time before his Death Marcus applying himself to the care of Religion ordained that the Bishop of Ostia whose place it is to consecrate the Bishop of Rome might use a Pall. He appointed likewise that upon solemn days immediately after the Gospel the Nicene Creed should be rehears'd with a loud voice both by the Clergy and People He built also two Churches at Rome one in the Via Ardeatina in which he was buried the other within the City these Churches Constantine presented and endowed very liberally In the time of this Emperour and Bishop lived Juvencus a Spaniard of Noble birth and a Presbyter who in four Books translated almost verbatim into hexametre Verse the four Gospels he wrote also something concerning the Sacraments in the same kind of Metre Our Marcus having at two Decembrian Ordinations made twenty five Presbyters six Deacons twenty eight Bishops died and was buried in the Coemetery of Balbina in the Via Ardeatina Octob. the fifth He was in the Chair two years eight months twenty days and by his death the See was vacant twenty days IULIUS I. IULIUS a Roman the Son of Rusticus lived in the time of Constantius who sharing the Empire with his two Brethren Constantine and Constans reigned twenty four years Among the Successours of Constantine the Great is sometimes reckoned Delmatius Caesar his Nephew who was certainly a very hopeful young Gentleman but was soon cut off in a Tumult of the Soldiers though by the Permission rather than at the Command of Constantius In the mean time the Arian Heresie mightily prevailed being abetted by Constantius who compelled the Orthodox to receive Arius In the second year of his Reign therefore a Council was called at Laodicea a City of Syria or as others have it at Tyre Thither resort both the Catholicks and Arians and their daily debate was whether Christ should be styled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the same substance with the Father or no. Athanasius Bishop of Alexandria asserted it and press'd hard upon them with his Reasons and Arguments for it which when Arius found himself not able to answer he betook himself to Reproach and Calumny accusing the holy Man of Sorcery and to procure credit to his Charge producing out of a Box the pretended Arm of Arsenius whom he falsly asserted that Athanasius had kill'd and was wont to make use of that dead Arm in his Incantations Hereupon Athanasius was violently run down and condemned by the Emperour but making his escape he lay concealed in a dry Cistern for six years together without seeing the Sun but being at length
fate which the good Bishop 〈◊〉 had foretold to Maximus himself when he was going against all Right and Justice to invade Italy having dreined Britain of its Military Forces and left it an easie prey to the Scots and Picts Moreover Theodosius relying wholly upon the Divine aid in a very short time defeated not only Andragatius Maximus's General and Victor his Son but Argobastus and Eugenius two other Vsurpers which was the occasion of that strain of the Poet Claudian upon this Emperours success O nimium dilecte Deo tibi militat Aether Et conjurati veniunt ad classica Venti Englished Darling of Heaven with whom the Skies combine And the confederate Winds in Battel joyn He was not only a great Soldier but a very pious and devout man as appears by his carriage upon the repulse he found at the Church of Milain for being forbidden entrance by Ambrose the Bishop of it till he should have repented of a certain Crime committed by him he so well resented the Bishop's plain dealing with him that he frankly gave him thanks for it and completed his course of Pennance for the Fact that had been the occasion of it By his Empress 〈◊〉 he had two Sons Arcadius and Honorius Being once in a great transport of rage against the Citizens of Thessalonica for their having kill'd a Soldier or as others say a Magistrate of his all the Clergy of Italy were scarce able to keep him from destroying the whole City upon that provocation But afterwards coming to himself and understanding the matter better being convinced of his Errour he both bewailed the Fact which he had only willed but not executed and also made a Law that the punitive Decrees of Princes should be deferr'd for three days that so they might have space left for compassion or retractation It is reported of him that when at any time he was in a sudden heat of Anger he would force himself to repeat over distinctly all the Letters of the Alphabet that so in the mean time his Anger might evaporate 'T is said also that he contracted a great Friendship with one John an Anchorete whose advice he always used both in War and Peace But in the fiftieth year of his Age he died at Milain Innocentius improving the opportunity of such a peaceable state of Affairs and so propitious a Prince made several Constitutions concerning matters of the Church He appointed that every Saturday should be a Fast because our Blessed Saviour lay in the Grave and his Disciples 〈◊〉 on that day He made certain Laws concerning the Jews and Pagans and for the regulation of Monks By the consent of Theodosius he banish'd from the City and confin'd to a Monastick life the Cataphrygian Hereticks of the gang of Montanus Priscilla and Maximilia Moreover he condemned the Heresie of Pelagius and Coelestinus who preferred Free-will before the Divine Grace and asserted that men by their own natural strength were able to perform the Laws of God against whom S. Austin wrote largely But Pelagius persisting obstinately in his opinions against all Conviction went into Britain and infected the whole Island with his Errours being assisted by Julian his Companion and Confederate in that wicked Design He also consecrated the Church of Gervasius and Protasius erected and beautified at the Cost of a Lady named Vestina whose Goods and Jewels bequeathed by Will were sold according to a just appraisement and employed to that purpose This Church was endowed with several Estates both in Houses and Land within and without the City and the Cure of it and that of S. Agnes given to Leopardus and Paulinus two Presbyters In his time lived Apollinarius Bishop of Laodicea from whom the Apollinarians had their name and original a man vehement and subtil at Disputation who maintained that our Saviour at his Incarnation took only a Body not a Soul but being press'd hard with Arguments to the contrary he at length granted that he had indeed an animal Soul but not a rational one that being supplied by his Divinity An Opinion which had been before exploded by Damasus and Peter Bishop of Alexandria But Martianus Bishop of Barcellona a man eminent for his Chastity and Eloquence was very Orthodox in matters of Faith and a great opposer of the Novatian Heresie Cyril also Bishop of Hierusalem who before had been several times deposed and as often restored at length under Theodosius the Emperour held his Episcopal Dignity peaceably and without interruption eight years together and became a great Writer Euzoius who in his youth had been Condisciple to Gregory Nazianzen at Coesarea under Thespesius the Rhetorician took a vast deal of pains in amending and rectifying the corrupted Copies of the Works of Origen and Pamphilus and was himself a considerable Author At the same time Hieronymus a Presbyter living in Bethlehem was a very successful propagator of Christianity as appears by his Writings Now also the Synod of Bourdeaux condemned the Doctrine of Priscillian an Heresie patch'd up out of the Tenets of the Gnosticks and Manichees of whom we have spoken above Our Innocentius having at four Ordinations made thirty Presbyters twelve Deacons fifty four Bishops died and was buried July the 28th He sat in the Chair fifteen years two months twenty five days and by his death the See was vacant twenty two days ZOSIMUS ZOSIMUS a Grecian his Fathers name Abraham lived during the Reign of Arcadius and Honorius who succeeded their Father Theodosius in the Empire These divided the Government between them Arcadius ruling in the East and Honorius in the West Though Theodosius had left them to the Tuition of three of his Generals who as their Guardians and Protectours were to manage Affairs in their Minority Russinus in the East Stilico in the West and Gildo in Africa But they moved with Ambition and a thirst after greatness and not doubting to get the advantage of the young Princes set up every one for himself Against Gildo who was engag'd in a Rebellion in Afrique his injured and incensed Brother Mascezel is sent with an Army and soon defeats and puts him to flight who not long after dieth either through grief or by poyson And Mascezel himself being so puffed up with this success that he falls into a great contempt of God and cruelty towards men is killed by his own Soldiers Russinus also who endeavoured to possess himself of the Empire of the East is surprized and punish'd by Arcadius At this time Rhadaguisus King of the Goths invaded Italy and lay'd all waste with fire and Sword where ever he came but by the Roman Army under the Command of Stilico he was vanquish'd and slain on the Mountains of Fiesoli Him Alaricus succeeded whom Stilico to work his own ambitious designs very much countenanced and assisted when he might have conquer'd him But in the end Alaricus being now at Polentia on his way to Gaul part of which Honorius had granted to him and his
followers to inhabit had disturbance given him by one Saul an Hebrew by birth and Religion whom Stilico to the foul breach of Articles had sent with a Party for that purpose It was an easie matter to surprize and disorder the Goths who little suspected any such Practices and were peaceably celebrating the Feast of Easter But the day following Alaricus engaging with them slew Saul and made an universal slaughter of his men and then changing his former course towards Gaul moves against Stilico and the Roman Army These he overcame and then after a long and grievous Siege takes the City of Rome it self Anno U. C. MCLXIIII A. C. CCCCXII Notwithstanding this Success Alaricus exercised so much Moderation and Clemency that he commanded his Soldiers to put as few to the Sword as might be and particularly to spare all that should fly for refuge to the Churches of S. Peter and S. Paul After three days Plunder he leaves the City which had suffered less damage than was thought for very little of it being burnt and marches against the Lucani and Bruti and having taken and sacked Cosenza he there dies Whereupon the Goths with one consent made his kinsman Athaulphus his Successour who returning to Rome with his Army was so wrought upon by the Emperour Honorius's Sister Galla Placidia whom he had married that he restrained his Soldiers from committing any farther outrages and left the City to its own Government He had it certainly once in his purpose to have razed to the ground the then City of Rome and to have built a new one which he would have called Gotthia and have left to the ensuing Emperours his own Name so that they should not any longer have had the Title of Augusti but Athaulphi But Placidia not only brought his mind off from that project but also prevailed with him to enter into a League with Honorius and Theodosius the second the Son of Arcadius deceased Zosimus notwithstanding all these disturbances made several Ecclesiastical Constitutions allowed the blessing of Wax-Tapers on the Saturday before Easter in the several Parishes forbad the Clergy to frequent publick Drinking-houses though allowing them all innocent liberty among themselves or any Servant to be made a Clergy-man because that Order ought to consist of none but free and ingenuous persons Whereas now not only Servants and Bastards but the vile off-spring of the most flagitious Parents are admitted to that Dignity whose Enormities will certainly at long-run prove fatal to the Church 'T is said that Zosimus at this time sent Faustinus a Bishop and two Presbyters of the City to the Council of Carthage by them declaring that no Debates concerning Ecclesiastical Affairs ought to be managed any where without permission of the Church of Rome During his Pontificate lived Lucius a Bishop of the Arian Faction who wrote certain Books upon several Subjects Diodorus also Bishop of Tarsus during his being a Presbyter of Antioch was a great Writer following the sense of Eusebius but not able to reach his style for want of skill in secular Learning Tiberianus likewise who had been accused together with Priscillian wrote an Apology to free himself from the suspicion of Heresie Euagrius a man of smart and brisk parts translated into Latin the Life of S. Anthony written in Greek by Athanasius Ambrosius of Alexandria a Scholar of Didymus wrote a large Volume against Apollinarius At this time flourished those two famous Bishops Theophilus of Alexandria and John of Constantinople for the greatness of his Eloquence deservedly surnamed Chrysostom who so far prevailed upon Theodorus and Maximus two Condisciples of his that they left their Masters Libanius the Rhetorician and Andragatius the Philosopher and became Proselytes to Christianity This Libanius lying now at the point of death being asked whom he would leave sucsessour in his School made answer that he desired no other than Chrysosiom were he not a Christian. At this time the Decrees of the Council of Carthage being sent to Zosimus were by him confirmed and thereby the Pelagian Heresie condemned throughout the World Some tell us that Petronius Bishop of Bononia and Possidonius an African Bishop had now gain'd a mighty reputation for Sanctity that Primasius wrote largely against the Heresies to Bishop Fortunatus and that Proba Wife to Adelphus the Proconsul composed an Historical Poem of our Saviours Life consisting wholly of Virgilian Verse though others attribute the honour of this performance to Eudocia Empress of Theodosius the younger But certainly the most learned person of the Age he lived in was Augustinus Saint Ambrose his Convert Bishop of Hippo in Africa a most strenuous Defender of the Christian Faith both in Discourse and Writing As for Zosimus having ordained ten Presbyters three Deacons eight Bishops he died and was buried in the Via Tiburtina near the body of Saint Laurence the Martyr December 26th He sat in the Chair one year three months twelve days and by his death the See was vacant eleven days BONIFACIUS I. BONIFACE a Roman Son of Jucundus a Presbyter was Bishop in the time of Honorius At this time a great dissention 〈◊〉 among the Clergy for though Boniface was chosen Bishop in one Church of the City 〈◊〉 one Party yet Eulalius was elected and set up against him by a contrary Faction in another This when Honorius who was now at Milain came to understand at the Solicitation of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Placidia and her Son Valentiman they were both banish'd the City But about seven months after 〈◊〉 was re-call'd and confirmed in the Pontifical Dignity In the mean time Athaulphus dying Vallias was made King of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being terrified by the Judgments inflicted on his People restored Placidia whom he had always used very honourably to her Brother 〈◊〉 and entred into a League with him giving very good Hostages for the confirmation of it as did also the Alanes Vandals and 〈◊〉 This I lacidia Henorius gave in marriage to Constantius whom he had declared 〈◊〉 who had by her a Son named Valentinian but she being afterwards banish'd by her Brother went into the East with her Sons 〈◊〉 and Valentinian Our Bonisace ordained that no Woman though a Nun should touch the consecrated Pall or Incense and that no Servant or Debtor should be admitted into the Clergy Moreover he built an Oratory upon the ground where S. Felicitas the Martyr was buried and very much adorned her Tomb. During his Pontificate flourished divers famous men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Presbyter Son of Eusebius born at a Town called 〈◊〉 seated in the Confines of Dalmatia and Hungaria but demolished by the Goths It is not to my purpose to rehearse how great benefit the Church of God reaped from his Life and Writings since he is known to have been a person of extraordinary 〈◊〉 and his Works are had in so great honour and esteem that no Author is more read by learned Men than he He died at Bethlehem on the last day of
the determination of the Apostolick See unless an account were first given them why Acacius was Excommunicated But Justine soon forc'd them out of the Church and City too and Hormisda dealt in the same manner with the Manichees who began to spring up afresh in Rome whose Books he caused to be burn'd before the Gates of S. John Lateran About this time Transamund King of the Vandals dying in Afric his Son 〈◊〉 whom he had by the Captive Daughter of Valentinian succeeded him in the Kingdom He inherited none of his Fathers Errours but following the Counsel of his religious Mother re-call'd all the Catholicks whom Transamund had banish'd and permitted them the free exercise of their Religion At this time also several rich Presents were sent to Rome for the Ornament of the Churches there by Clodoveus King of France and Justine the Emperour King Theodoric also richly adorn'd the Church of S. Peter nor was Hormisda himself behind these Princes in bounty and munificence to the Church Having setled things according to his mind and ordained twenty one Presbyters fifty five Bishops he died and was buried in S. Peter's Church August the 6th in the Consulship of Maximus He sat in the Chair nine years eighteen days and by his death the See was vacant six days JOHN I. IOHN by birth a Tuscan Son of Constantius was in the Chair from the Consulship of Maximus to that of Olybrius in the time of King Theodoric and the Emperour Justine Who out of his great zeal for the Orthodox Faith and that he might utterly extinguish the name of Hereticks banish'd the Arians and gave their Churches to the Catholicks This was so highly resented by Theodoric that he sends John himself with Theodorus and the two Agapeti his Ambassadours to Justine to advise him to restore the Arians or upon his refusal to let him know that he would pull down all the Catholick Churches in Italy These Ambassadours were at first very kindly and honourably received But having given an account of their Embassie and finding Justine wholly averse to grant what they desired they betook themselves to Tears and Prayers humbly beseeching him to prevent the ruin of Italy and all the Orthodox Christians in it by which means the good Prince was prevailed upon to recall the Arians and to grant them a Toleration Some write that it was in this Bishops time that Symmachus and Boethius were brought back from Exile imprison'd and slain by the cruelty and rage of Theodoric However certain it is that they were put to death by Theodoric's order and it matters not much whether it were in the Pontificate of Hormisda or John Which John returning from Constantinople Theodoric was so highly incens'd against him for his agreement with the Emperour Justine both in Faith and manners that it was a chance that he had not taken away his life immediately but throw him into Prison he did at Ravenna where through stench and nastiness and want of necessary provision the good man at length died A Cruelty for which the divine Vengeance sorely punished Theodoric not long after for he died suddenly of a fit of an Apoplexy and his Soul if you will take the word of a devout Hermit who reported it was cast into the flames of the Island Lipara Theodoric was succeeded in the Kingdom by his Daughter Amalasuntha with her Son Athalaric whom she had by her Husband Eucherius A Woman who with a prudence above her Sex rectified her Fathers ill Decrees restored the confiscated Estates of Boethius and Symmachus to their Children and caused her Son to be instructed in all kinds of good Literature though she were herein opposed by the Goths who cried out that their King was not to be bred a Scholar but a Soldier Much about this time died Justine being very Aged leaving the Empire to his Sisters Son Justinian and Clodoveus King of France leaving four Sons his Successors in that Kingdon Persons of Note and esteem at this time were Benedict of Nursia who setled among the Italians the Rules and Canons of the Monastick life and Bridget a devout Virgin of Scotland and John Presbyter of Antioch who wrote much against those that held that Christ should be worshipped in one Nature only To these Isidore adds one Cyprignius a Spanish Bishop who wrote elegantly upon the Apocalypse Our John before he went to Constantinople had repaired three Coemeteries namely that of Nereus and Achilleus in the Via Ardeatina that of the Martyrs SS Felix and Adauctus and that of Priscilla He also adorn'd the Altar of S. Peters with Gold and Jewels He likewise brought with him from Constantinople a Paten of Gold and a Chalice of Gold set with precious stones the Presents of the Emperour Justine but these I suppose to have been lost together with his life At several Ordinations he consecrated fifteen Bishops 'T is said that his Body was brought from Ravenna to Rome and buried in S. Peter's Church July the 27th Olybrius being then Consul He sat in the Chair two years eight months and by his death the Seewas vacant fifty eight days FELIX IV. FELIX the fourth a Sammite the Son of Costorius lived in the time of the Emperour Justinian Whose General Belisarius was victorious over the Persians and passing into Afric by his singular courage and conduct subdued and almost quite rooted out the Vandals whose King Gilimer he took Prisoner and brought him home with him in Triumph About this time Amalasuntha having a long time lived very uneasily with her malecontented Goths and having buried her wayward and unruly Son Athalaric associates her kinsman Theodatus in the Government This Theodatus was so great a Proficient in Greek and Latin Learning that he wrote an elegant History of his own times and was throughly skilled in the Platonick Philosophy And though he were not naturally of an active Martial temper yet at the desire of Amalasuntha he undertook a War against the Burgundians and Alemanni and manag'd it very succcesfully Felix in the mean while being careful of the affairs of the Church excommunicated the Patriarch of Constantinople for Heresie and built in the Via Sacra near the Forum Romanum the Church of S. Cosmus and Damianus as appears from the Verses yet remaining wrought in Mosaick work He also re-built the Church of S. Saturninus in the Via Salaria which had been consumed by fire Some write that in this Age lived Cassiodorus who while he was a Senator wrote several things in Politicks and when he became a Monk composed a Comment upon the Psalms 'T is said also that Priscian of Caesarea the famous Grammarian now wrote his Book of Grammar Arator likewise a Sub-Deacon of Rome translated the Gospels into Hexameter Verse and Justinian Bishop of Valence was had in great esteem for what he preach'd and wrote concerning the Christian Faith As for Felix himself having ordained fifty five Presbyters four Deacons twenty nine Bishops he
died and was buried in S. Peter's Church October the 12th He was in the Chair four years two months thirteen days and by his death the See was vacant three days BONIFACE II. BONIFACE the second a Roman Son of Sigismund was also in the time of Justinian A Prince whose vast Parts and Learning qualified him for that great Work which for the publick Good he undertook of collecting and methodizing the scattered Roman Laws and retrenching those which were useless and superfluous Yet herein he made use of the Advice and assistance of John a Patrician Trebonianus Theophilus and Dorotheus men of great Learning and Authority With their help an immense number of near two thousand Volumes of Decrees made from the building of the City to this time confusedly heaped together were digested under their respective Titles into fifty Books which are sometimes called Digests and sometimes Pandects because they contain the whole Civil Law He made also an Epitome of the Laws in four Books which go under the name of Institutes or Justinian's Code Moreover some tell us that Justinian wrote certain Books concerning the Incarnation of our Lord and that at his own charge he built the Temple of S. Sophia than which there is not a more noble and magnificent Pile of Buildings in the World In his Reign 〈◊〉 was made Bishop of Rome though not without some opposition for the Clergy being divided one Party of them chose Dioscorus into the place of Felix deceased The Contention about this matter lasted twenty eight days but the death of Dioscorus put an end to the Controversie Things being quiet Boniface applyed himself to the setling of the Church and decreed that no Bishop should appoint his own successour which was afterwards confirm'd by several following Bishops of Rome He decreed also that upon the decease of any Bishop of Rome another should be chosen to succeed him if it might be within three days to prevent any bandying or dissention which might be occasioned by delay He ordained likewise that the Clergy should be seperated and placed distinct from the Laity at the time of Celebration At the same time many of the Roman Nobility were so wrought upon by the Sanctity of Benedict that they retired to Mount Cassino and became Monks there among whom the more eminent were Maurus and Placidius Other men of Note and esteem were Dionysius the Abbat famous for the extraordinary Skill and Judgment which he shewed in his Paschal Cycle Famundus whose writings against certain Eutychians then springing up were very much commended and Martin who by his Preaching and Writings converted the People of Soissons from the Arian Heresie to the Truth But Boniface having sat in the Pontifical Chair two years two days died and was buried in S. Peter's Church The See was then vacant two months JOHN II. 〈◊〉 the second a Roman Son of Projectus lived in the time of Justinian and soon after his entrance upon the Pontificate condemned Anthemius an Arian Bishop some say that he had been Bishop of Constantinople Justinian to shew his 〈◊〉 to the Roman See sent Hypatius and Demetrius two Bishops to 〈◊〉 both to complement John in his name and to make to S. Peter's Church several rich Presents During this Embassie Mundus Justinian's General took the strong City of Salona and gain'd a Victory over the Goths though not without great loss on the Conquering side For Mundus himself together with his Son a Valiant and brave young Gentleman was slain in that Engagement the news of which misforfortune was extreamly laid to heart by Justinian he having always had a great value for that Leaders Courage and Fidelity Our Bishop John of whom Historians say very little having at one Ordination made 〈◊〉 Presbyters twenty one Bishops died and was buried in S. Peter's Church May 27. He sat in the Chair two years four months and by his death the See was vacant six days AGAPETUS I. AGAPETUS a Roman Son of Gordianus a Presbyter of the Church of S. John and S. Paul being created Bishop by Theodatus who was by him forthwith sent to the Emperour Justinian was highly incens'd against that King for his having first banish'd Amalasuntha the Mother of Athalaric into the Island of the Lake of Bolsena and afterwards caused her to be put to death there For she was a Woman so well acquainted with Greek and Latin Learning that she durst engage in Disputation with any profess'd Scholar Moreover she was so throughly skilled in the Languages of all the barbarous Invadors of the Roman Empire that she could discourse any of them without an Interpreter Her Death Justinian so highly resented that he threatned to make War upon Theodatus for that reason Hereupon Agapetus was sent to him who being receiv'd with great honour and affection and having obtain'd the peace he was sent to sue for he was then practis'd with to confirm the Eutychian Opinions But Justinian finding that the good man utterly detested any such proposal from desiring and 〈◊〉 he fell to Threats and Menaces Upon which Agapetus told him that he should have been glad to be sent to Justinian a Christian Prince but that he found a Diocletian an Enemy and Persecutor of Christians By this boldness of Speech and Gods appointment Justinian was so wrought upon that he embraced the Catholick Faith and having despos'd Anthemius Bishop of Constantinople who patroniz'd the Eutychian Heresie put into his place Menas one of the Orthodox who was consecrated by Agapetus himself But not long after Agapetus died at Constantinople and his body being wrap'd up in Lead was convey'd to Rome and buried in S. Peter's Church He sat in the Chair eleven months twenty one days and by his death the See was vacant one month twenty nine days SYLVERIUS SYLVERIUS a Campanian Son of Bishop Hormisda was chosen Bishop of Rome at the command of Theodatus though till this time the Emperours only not the Kings had interposed their Authority in that matter But the Menaces of Theodatus prevailed who had threatned to put to death every man of the Clergy who would not subscribe his name to the choice of Sylverius For this reason and that he might also revenge the death of Amala suntha Justinian sends Belisarius a Patrician with an Army into Italy In his passage thither he first put in at Sicily and brought that Island to the Emperours devotion In the mean time Theodatus dying and the Goths having chosen themselves a King against the will of Justinian Belisarius quits Sicily that he might deliver Italy from the Tyranny of the Goths Coming into Campania and the City of Naples refusing to obey the Emperours Summons he took it by Storm and plundered it putting to the Sword all the Goths that were in Garrison there and a great part of the Citizens carrying away their Children and what other spoil they could lay their hands on The Soldiers pillaged the very Churches violated the chastity of Cloystered Virgins
Chief Good of Famous Men of Grammar and Etymology an History from Adam to the times of Heraclius the Lives of several Saints the History of the Lombards and a short Cosmography Some say that this Isidore was a German though the Spaniards lay claim to him but whatever Countrey-man he were 't is certain that he was a most excellent person both for his great Learning and his greater Sanctity As for Deus-dedit the time of whose Pontificate besides what we have already mentioned was rendred remarkable by an Earthquake and a Scab so near approaching to a Leprosie that it deformed men beyond each others knowledg he died in the third year and twenty third day of his being in the Chair and was buried in the Church of S. Peter November the 8th By his Death the See was vacant one month sixteen days BONIFACE V. BONIFACE the fifth a Campanian his Father's name John was chosen Pope at the time when Eleutherius a Patrician being sent by Heraclius to Rome and having reveng'd the Death of John the late Exarch of Ravenna usurped the Kingdom of Italy But in his way to Rome he was put to Death by his own Soldiers and his Head sent to Constantinople Upon which Isaacius of Constantinople another Patrician was made Exarch in his stead Theudelinda now after the Death of her Husband Adoaldus governing together with her Son the Kingdom of the Lombards very prudently and justly maintained a Peace between her People and the Italians for ten years together made several Presents and Donations to several Churches and endowed them with Lands for the better maintenance of the Clergy belonging to them In the twelfth year of Heraclius Mahomet an Arabian as some will have him or as others a Persian descended of a Noble Family his Father a Gentile his Mother a Jewess was the Author of so much mischief to the Christian State that I am afraid lest his Sect should utterly extinguish the Remains of Christianity especially in our Age wherein we are grown listless and unactive and stand still tamely exspecting our own Ruin His Sect prevails and encreases now more than ever All Asia and Africa and a great part of Europe is subject to Mahometan Princes the Turks press bard upon us by Sea and Land that they may ferret us like Coneys out of these Burrows in Europe In the mean time we sit idly looking upon one another as if the whole State of Christianity were not at all in danger The Clergy expect that so important and necessary a War should be undertaken by the Laity The Laity expect that the Clergy should expend their Money to bear the Charge of a War for the Defence of Religion and not put it to worse Uses as most of them are wont to do laying out their Stock gotten by Alms and Martyr's Bloud upon huge large Vessels of massy Gold and Silver while themselves in the mean time carry it arrogantly towards Men are contemners of God whom they serve only for Gain and are not at all solicitous for the time to come But I return to Mahomet a man of so wily a Temper and so sharp a Wit that having long conversed among the Christians and acquainted himself with all the Sects that had been before him he introduced a new kind of Superstition which has as we see almost rooted out Christianity Moreover having got together a great Army of Arabians he was so hardy as to encroach upon the Borders of the Roman Empire but Heraclius soon put a stop to his Motion having by Promises and Bribes prevailed with his Soldiers to make a Revolt from him As for Pope Boniface he was a person of singular Humanity Clemency and obliging Deportment towards all men and neglected no part of the Duty of a good Bishop He ordained that Criminals who fled for Refuge to Churches should not be taken thence by force that the Acolythi should not meddle with the Reliques of the Martyrs that belonging to Presbyters and Sub-deacons and that in every place those who were guilty of sacriledg should be Excommunicated He built and dedicated the Coemetery of S. Nicomedes and was in an extraordinary manner liberal and munificent towards those of the Clergy who led exemplary Lives At this time Gallus a Scholar of S. Columbanus lived so devoutly that he deserved to be canonized a Saint even in his life-time Eustachius the Abbat followed his Example and so did S. Aurea in honour to whom Eligius built a Nunnery 'T is said also that at this time one Basilius was very famous for his Life and Learning and in both equal to Isidore himself Our Boniface having been in the Chair five years ten days died and was buried in the Church of S. Peter By his death See was vacant thirteen days HONORIUS I. HONORIUS a Campanian Son of Petronius a man of Consular Dignity entred upon the Pontificate at the time when Theudelinda died and her Son Adoaldus was deposed Arioaldus being made King in his stead At which time Heraclius who had been victorious over the Persians was very urgent to have all the Jews who were Subjects to the Empire baptized Hereupon the Saracens and Arabians taking up Arms Anno Dom. 623. gain'd such a Victory over Heraclius's Army that they rendred that successful Man the most unfortunate This was done under the Conduct of Mahomet who pretending himself to be the great Prophet of God and deluding the Asians and Africans by Magical Arts put such vigour into the people who embraced his new Religion that he was very near to have ruin'd the Empire having taken Alexandria and several important Cities of Syria and Cilicia He had for his followers the Saracens so called from Sarah Abraham's lawful Wife as if they were the only legitimate Successours and Heirs of the divine Promise The crafty man herein followed the Example of Jeroboam who prescrib'd distinct Rules of Worship to his Tribes that they might not be subject to the Jewish Government The same also afterwards did the Greeks who dissented from the Catholicks not only for the sake of Religion but Empire upon the score of which they followed the Errours of the Nestorians Jacobites and Ebionites But in the end their pertinacy reduc'd them to that pass that their Religion and Government were dissolved together and they brought into the vilest servitude But Mahomet as we see in the Alcoran that he might separate his Disciples as far as possible from Christianity in composing his Laws followed the Example of several Hereticks and especially the Nestorians collecting here and there and reducing into one Body many things repugnant to the Law of Moses and the Gospel 'T is said that at this time Heraclius distrusting his own strength struck up an inglorious Peace with the Saracens and that being impos'd upon by the Arts of Pyrrhus Patriarch of Constantinople and Cyrus Bishop of Alexandria he fell off to the Heresie of the Monothelites a Sect so called from their asserting one Will
and defeats them Bertarius saved himself by flight but Theodoric retreating by agreement upon a Truce constitutes the victorious Pipin Mayre of the Palace and principal Administratour of his Kingdom After this Pipin returned to Austrasia upon intelligence that the Germans and Sueves infested his People and having quell'd them he sets forward towards France again upon the News that Theodoric being dead the Kingdom had fallen to his Brother Childepert Arriving there and being very kindly received by the King after he had put his son into the place of Mayre of the Palace he again returns enraged at the Sueves and Germans who were now the second time in Arms. At this time Sergius having 〈◊〉 the banishment of Justinian enjoyed Peace and Tranquility repaired the Church of S. Peter and restored to it its antient beauty The Front of it he adorn'd with Mosaick work made the Candlesticks and other Ornaments of it of Gold and Silver found a part of our Saviours Cross in a little brass Coffer and because the body of S. Leo had hitherto lain less regarded than his merits required he reposited it in a more honourable and celebrated place The Statues of the Apostles defaced with Age he renew'd and either repaired or made wholly new the Ornaments of many Churches which it would be tedious to enumerate Moreover he ordained that at the breaking of the body of our Lord should be sung O Lamb of God that takest away the sins of the World have mercy upon us and that on the day of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin and of S. Simon there should be yearly a Procession with Litanies through the City setting out at S. Hadrian He made Damianus Arch-Bishop of Ravenna and Berslauardus Arch-Bishop of Britain By his Learning and Authority he brought over to the Truth the Church of Aquileia which before consented not wholly to the fifth Synod Some tell us that at this time Lambertus a Person of great Sanctity suffered Martyrdom at Liege because he was so hardy as to reprove Pipin for slighting his Wive's Bed and keeping Alpais a Whore The author of his Death is said to have been her own Brother who afterwards died of the lousy Disease 'T is written also that by the exemplary Sanctity of Sergius the Saxons were now first wrought upon to embrace Christianity The good man having by these means gained a great reputation and having been in the Chair thirteen years eight months twenty three days he died and was with the lamentation of all men who wept as at the loss of a common Father with great Solemnity buried in the Church of S. Peter September the 8th The See was then vacant one month twenty days JOHN VI. JOHN the sixth a Grecian was elected Pope at the time when Theophylact the Exarch in his passage to Italy arrived first at Sicily Which being known to the Italian Soldiers who having of late times usually sided more with the Popes than the Emperours were afraid that his coming might betoken some ill they resolved to kill him at his entrance into Rome But by the Authority of Pope John who made himself Umpire between them Theophylact was protected and all things being made up and accommodated he goes for Ravenna In the mean time Gisulphus Duke of Beneventum taking heart upon this disagreement of the Exarch and Soldiers invades Terra di Lavoro possesses himself of Sora and Arpino burns Villages makes the Villagers his Prisoners and drives away their Cattel The Pope being deeply sensible of this Calamity sends his Ambassadours to Gisulphus to admonish him to quit those places which he had no Right to and to return into Abruzzo which if he refus'd to do he should soon feel the vengeance of Almighty God upon him Gisulphus being terrified hereby restores the Towns he had taken and returns to Beneventum Of those which were carried away Captive Pope John redeemed all he could sind out as 〈◊〉 as the Treasure of the Church would reach for their ransom At this time 〈◊〉 who as we have said had been banish'd by Leontius to the 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 making his escape thence comes to Cacanus King of the Avares who at first treated him with the greatest respect and kindness and promised him his Daughter in marriage but afterwards being corrupted with bribes by Tiberius he design'd to betray his Guest and Son-in-law into his hands Justinian having notice hereof flees to Trebellius Prince of the Bulgarians by whose aid he was in a little time after restored to the Empire While 〈◊〉 things were transacted in Europe the 〈◊〉 being possessed of Libya and Africa set sail from Septa and passing over into Spain made themselves Masters of it all except that part inhabited by the Asturians and Biscains who as they had been the last People of Spain who were subdued to the Roman Empire and the last who revolted from it and the only People who shook off the Yoke of the Visigoths so now having received the Christian Faith they were the men who continued stedfastly with the greatest resolution to defend themselves by Arms against the perfidious Saracens So then Africa which being recovered by Belisarius General to Justinian the first had been subject to the Roman Empire an hundred and seventy years and also Granada in Hispania 〈◊〉 being at this time seiz'd by the Saracens have been obedient to their Laws and Customs now this seven hundred and forty years to the great reproach of Christianity the Spaniards who are wont to boast of their Wit and Valour not being able to drive them out of Europe Some tell us that Bede who lived in these times by Letters written to several Christian Princes did very much bewail this Calamity that thereby he might excite them to enter into a War against these Enemies of God and Men. This 〈◊〉 was not only extraordinarily well skill'd in the Greek and Latin Tongues but also for his eminent Piety and Modesty gain'd the surname of 〈◊〉 He wrote many things upon the Acts of the Apostles and upon S. Luke he published a Book of Chronology and several Homilies which are much used by the Gallican 〈◊〉 Moreover of Strabo and Haymo two very learned men said to be Bede's Brethren one composed divers elegant Homilies and the other commented upon Genesis As for Pope John having repaired the Church of S. Andrew in the Vatican and the roof of that of S. Mark and adorn'd with Pillars on each hand the Altar of S. Peter's in the third year and third month of his Pontificate he died as some think a Martyr but by whom he suffered Martyrdom does not sufficiently appear 'T is said he was buried in the Coemetery of S. Sebastian in the Via Appia By his Death the See was vacant one month nineteen days JOHN VII JOHN the seventh a Grecian Son of Plato enter'd upon the Pontificate at the time when Justinian being return'd to 〈◊〉 caused Tiberius and Leontius by whom he had been deposed to be
name John was unammously elected Pope in the Year seven hundred fifty nine He was a Person of singular Learning very well skill'd in the Greek and Latin Tongues and of such an Insight into the Sense of Holy Writ that no man was more ready at the expounding of the abstruse and difficult places in it Nor 〈◊〉 he work upon the People merely by his Preaching and Eloquence but in all respects he gave them such a prevailing Example that it is difficult to determine whether he spake or lived better He was so valiant a 〈◊〉 of the Catholick Faith that he thereby contracted the displeasure and hatred of the greatest Princes but by no Force or Power or Menace was removed one step from his Resolution Finally his good-will towards all men was such that he cherished and relieved the Poor redeemed Captives releas'd insolvent Debtours and asserted the Cause of Widows and Orphans against potent Oppressours in such a manner that he deserved the Name of a common Father and 〈◊〉 Soon after his entrance upon the Pontificate with the Consent of the Clergy of Rome he excommunicated and deposed the Emperour Leo for his having rased the Pictures of the Saints out of the Churches and destroyed their Images and also for not being Orthodox in Opinion concerning the Consubstantiality of the Son with the Father In the mean time Luithprandus King of the Lombards from an ambitious desire of enlarging his Dominions having possess'd himself of all the Towns round about lays Siege to Rome it self whereupon Gregory forthwith dispatches Messengers by Sea it not being safe for them to pass by Land to Charles Prince of the French to pray him that he would speedily aid the distressed City and Church of Rome Indeed formerly the Popes when they were in any great Danger from abroad had been wont to seek for succour from the Emperour of Constantinople but Gregory now declined it both for the Causes we have just before mentioned and also especially because Leo was now hard put to it to defend Constantinople it self against the Saracens and therefore little able to protect others By which means it came to pass that the Constantinopolitan Emperours being for the time to come unapplied to the Protection of the Church was from henceforward put into other hands Upon Gregorie's Request Charles undertaking the Church's Patronage desires Luithprandus as his Friend and particularly upon the account of his Son Pipin his near Allie to quit his Enterprize and not give the Pope any disturbance whereupon Luithprandus raises the Siege The 〈◊〉 of Italy being thus composed Charles turns his Army with success against the Burgundians crushes the Idolatrous Prison's takes Lions Arles and Marseilles from the 〈◊〉 who thereupon invite to their Aid Athimus the King of the Saracens Who passing the Rhone takes Avignon by Storm intending to make use of the convenience of that place for a Citadel But Charles upon Intelligence hereof hastens thither with his Army and re-takes Avignon putting to the Sword all the Saracens who were in Garrison in it From thence he marched to Narbonne whither he understood that Athimus had fled But having advice that Amoreus another Saracen King of Spain was coming with a great Army to the Aid of Athimus he quitted the Siege of Narbonne and march'd to the Valley of Corbiere not far off wherein there was a fair Plain very commodious to joyn Battel in Amoreus thinking that Charles having been routed had fled thither enters the Valley and prepares to engage which Charles did not decline though the number of the Adversaries Army was incredibly great The 〈◊〉 having continued for some time very warm and Amoreus himself having been slain at the beginning of the Engagement at length the Saracens were forced to betake themselves to slight and a great part of them were kill'd in the Fens and 〈◊〉 thereabouts Athimus as good luck would have it making his Escape by Sea towards the farther part of Spain in Rage and Despair lay'd 〈◊〉 by Fire and Sword all the Islands which he arrived at in his passage Much about this time the Body of S. Augustine which two hundred and fifty years before when the Vandals wasted Africa had been carried away from Hippo into Sardinia was by the care of Luithprandus translated thence to Pavia and reposited in a very honourable place of Interrment The Saracens being now pretty well tamed kept themselves within the Pyrenean Hills upon which all the Visigoths who possessed the hither parts of Spain and part of France being not able to defend themselves were subdued by Charles and so that People who had domineer'd for almost three hundred years were utterly extinguished except some few who were saved by the People of Barcelona Some write that Charles was in this War assisted by Luithprandus with Men who after the Victory returned home laden with Booty In the mean while Pope Gregory not neglecting to improve the time of Peace he now enjoyed applyed himself to Church-work The Altar of S. Peter's he made more stately by erecting a Row of six Pillars of Onyx on each hand of it where as many of the same magnitude and figure had formerly stood but were now decayed through 〈◊〉 Upon these Pillars were Architraves gilt with Silver on which he set up the Images of our Saviour and the Apostles at equal distances He built also an Oratory in the same Church in which he reposited some of the Reliques of almost all the Saints and ordered Mass to be therein daily performed in the Canon of which he added these words which were engraven upon the Marble round the Oratory Quorum Solennitas in conspectu tuoe Majeslatis celebratur Domine Deus noster toto in Orbe terrarum c. i. e. Whose Anniversaries are celebrated in the sight of thy Majesty O Lord our God throughout all the World c. which Clause is not in the general Canon now used Moreover he gave to this Church several Vessels of Silver and caused to be made at his own Charge the Image of the Blessed Virgin with our Saviour in her Arms of Gold which he placed in the Church of S. Mary ad Proesepe He also repaired the Roof of the Church of S. Chrysogonus appointing Monks for the daily performance of divine Service therein and setling an Estate for their Maintenance Several Monasteries he either repaired or built from the ground to the Recluses whereof he prescribed Rules of strict and holy living He re-built also the ruined Walls of the City of Rome and in like manner those of the almost desolate Civita Vecchia Furthermore he ordained the Celebration of Mass in the Church of S Peter almost without Intermission both by the Priests in Weekly Attendance and by the Monks upon which account we may observe the Cells of the Monks and the Houses of the Secular Priests to be in several places contiguous each of them striving to out do the other in diligence at their Devotion Our
Brother who had before as we have already said taken the habit of a Monk and indeed the Lombards generally except those of Tuscany were on his side But Desiderius by making large Promises to the Pope and the Romans wrought them into a favour of his Pretensions and accordingly they with all speed sent Ambassadours and among them Holcadus the Abbat to Rachis to require him to lay down his Arms and submit to Desiderius And so Faenza and Ferrara were at last delivered to the Pope and the name of the Exarchate which had continued from the time of Narses to the taking of Ravenna by Aistulphus an hundred and seventy years was extinguished Things being now peaceably setled and the Jurisdiction of the Church greatly encreased Stephen holding a Synod takes an account of his several Flocks and their Pastors gently chastises those who had offended directs such as had gone astray teaches and instructs the ignorant and finally sets before them the Duty of a Bishop of a Presbyter and of all Orders in the Clergy Moreover he appointed Litanies for the appeasing of the Divine Anger the Procession on the first Saturday to be to S. Marie's ad Proesepe on the second to S. Peter's in the Vatican on the third to S. Paul's in the Via Ostiensis He also repaired several Churches which had been damaged by Aistulphus while he layed Siege to the City yet he did not recover the Reliques of the Saints which that King had carried with him to Pavia and there reposited not dishonourably in divers Churches The good man having by these means proved serviceable to God his Countrey and the Church died in the fifth year and first month of his Pontificate and was buried April the 26th with general lamentation as for the loss of a Common Father The See was then vacant thirty two days PAUL I. PAUL a Roman son of 〈◊〉 Brother of Stephen the second became well skill'd and practiced in all things belonging to a Churchman by his having been educated in the Lateran Palace under Pope Gregory the second and Pope Zachay by which latter he was together with his Brother ordained Deacon and when upon the Vacancy of the Popedom by the Death of Stephen some persons proposed Theophylact the Arch-Deacon for his Successour yet others stood for Paul as one who both for the Integrity of his Life and great Learning deserved to succeed his Brother in that Dignity After a long Dispute therefore Theophylact was rejected and Paul by general suffrage chosen in the time of Constantine and Leo. This Paul was a person of an extraordinary meek and merciful Temper and who in Imitation of our Saviour never returned to any man evil for evil but on the contrary by doing good to them he overcame those ill men that had oftentimes injur'd him He was of so kind and compassionate a Nature as that he would go about by night with only two or three Attendants to the Houses of poor sick people assisting them with his Counsel and relieving them with his Alms. He also frequently visited the Prisons and paying their Creditors discharged thence multitudes of poor Debtours The Fatherless and Widows that were over-reach'd by the tricks of Lawyers he defended by his Authority and supported by his Charity Moreover having assembled the Clergy and People of Rome he did with great solemnity translate the Body of S. Petronilla S. Peter's Daughter with her Tomb of Marble upon which was this Inscription Petronilloe Filioe dulcissimoe from the Via Appia into the Vatican and placed it at the upper end of the Church dedicated to her Father At this time the Emperour Constantine having in all places plucked down the Images and put to death Constantine Patriarch of Constantinople for opposing him therein and made Nicetas an Eunuch his Abettour in the Sacriledg Patriach in his stead the Pope consulting by all means the Interest of Religion sends Nuntios to Constantinople to advise the Emperour to restore and set up again the Images he had taken away or upon his refusal so to do to threaten him with the Censure of Excommunication But Constantine persisting obstinately in what he had done not only despised this good Counsel but also granted Peace to Sabinus King of the Bulgarians because he also made the like havock of Images with himself though he were before engaged in a War against him Having also associated to himself into part of the Empire his Son Leo the fourth whom he had married to the most beautiful Athenian Lady Irene he enters into a League with the Saracens thereby to despite and provoke the Orthodox Christians In the mean time Pipin entirely subdues Taxillo Duke of the Bojarians and admits of a League with the Saxons but upon this Condition that they should be obliged to send three hundred Horsemen to his Assistance as often as he should have occasion to make an Expedition Against the Aquitains he maintained a tedious War which at length he committed to the management of his young Son Charles himself being so worn out with Age that he could not be present at it This War being ended Charles takes by Storm Bourbon Clermont and several other Towns of Auvergne But Pipin who as we have said was now very old not long after dies leaving in the Kingdom his two Sons Charles and Caroloman Some tell us that Aistulphus King of the Lombards who as is above declared had carried away the Bodies of divers Saints from Rome to Pavia died at this time and that he had built Chappels to those Saints aud also a Cloister for Virgins in which his own Daughters became Nuns He was an extraordinary Lover of the Monks and died in their Arms in the sixth year and fifth month of his Reign At the beginning of his Government he was fierce and rash in the end moderate and a person of such Learning that he reduc'd and form'd the Edicts of the Lombards into Laws He was as has been said succeeded by Duke Desiderius the Valour of the Lombards beginning now to dissolve and lose it self in Luxury Our Paul having repaired some old decayed Churches died in S. Paul's in the Via Ostiensis in the tenth year and first month of his Pontificate and his Body was with very great Solemnity carried into the Vatican The See was then vacant one year one month STEPHEN III. STEPHEN the third a Sicilian Son of Olibrius entred upon the Pontificate A. D. 768. a learned man and in the management of Affairs especially those belonging to the Church very active and steddy Coming to Rome very young by appointment of Pope Gregory III. he took Orders and became a Monk in the Monastery of S. Chrysogonus where he was inured to the stricter way of living and instructed in Ecclesiastical Learning Being afterwards called by Pope Zachary into the Lateran Palace and his Life and Learning generally approved of he was constituted Parish-Priest of S. Caetilia and for his great Integrity and readiness in Business both
much out of hopes of success that upon hearing this ill news of the misfortune of his Friends and Allies he began to think of retiring to Rome though his coming thither was opposed by one John Cincio a potent Citizen and Senator whose intolerable arrogance yet was so curb'd by James Capocio another Roman Citizen that the Pope was received into Rome with great splendor magnificence This was that James whose name is yet to be seen and read in the little Chappel of Mosaic Work which was built at his charge in the Church of S. Mary Maggiore in which also was buried Peter Capocio who was a Cardinal of the Church of Rome and while he liv'd a bitter Enemy of this Schismatical Emperour Frederic at whose expence the Hospital of S. Anthony not far from the aforesaid Church and the College for Scholars at Perugia now call'd la Sapientia was also erected Gregory having quieted the minds of Men in the City again pronounces an Anathema against Frederic and declares him to have forfeited his right to the Empire and deprives him of it then he sends for the Ambassadours of the States of Venice and Genoa between whom there was so great a quarrel as it was fear'd a War would ensue to mediate their differences which he did so effectually as that he procur'd an Agreement between 'em to a Peace upon condition that without mutual consent neither of the two States should make Peace with the Emperor of Constantinople that they should be Enemies to the Enemies of each other and join their Forces upon every occasion for the common defence and this Treaty to be in force and complied withal for nine years by them both under pain of Excommunication to be denounc'd by the Pope upon the Infractor About this time died Baldwin who upon the Death of John had succeeded to the Empire of Greece and made shift to hold it for two years but with so great difficulty by reason of his poor Treasury that he could hardly defend himself from his Enemies being forc'd to deliver his Son for a Pledg to the Venetian Merchants for Money that he had borrow'd of 'em and to make Money of the Lead that belong'd to the Churches beside he sold to the Venetians who were wealthy and able to purchase 'em the Spear with which our Saviour Christ's Body was pierc'd and the Sponge which was reach'd to him to drink out of Frederic had a great spight at these Venetians because they were on the Pope's side and drove them into their Marishes where their City stands for security and did them great damage but in the mean while happened a general revolt of the Cities of Lombardy by the Procurement and instigation of Gregory Monte-longo who was Legat at Bononia and Ferrara which had revolted before from the Pope to the Emperour was retaken by them though Salinguerra a valiant Commander was in it and made a brave defence As soon as it was taken it was put into the hands of Azo of the House of Este who was a considerable Person in this Enterprize to be govern'd by him in the name of the Church An. Dom. 1240. This so alarm'd the Emperour who was then at Pisa that being under great uncertainty whom to look upon as Friends to himself or Wellwishers to the Pope he divided first the Cities of Italy into two Factions giving the name of Guelphs to those who were for the Pope's Interest and that of Gibellines to them that were for the Imperial These most pernicious names of distinction invented surely for the mischief of mankind were first made use of at Pistoia where when the Magistrates expell'd the Panzatichi who were Gibellines out of the City there chanc'd to be two Brothers Germans the one of which whose name was Guelph was for the Pope the other for the Emperour and his name was Gibel from which these two Parties were discriminated by those different appellations On the other side those of Arezzo and Sienna drive out the Guelphs whose example being follow'd by many other Cities of Italy gave occasion and rise to a worse than Civil War Several Cities after this revolted from the Pope as well in Vmbria as in Tuscany and particularly the Citizens of Viterbo threw off their obedience The Romans also would fain have been doing the same thing but that the Pope carrying the heads of the Apostles SS Peter and Paul through the City in Procession moved the People to commiserate the State of the Church and then making a most excellent Oration in S. Peters Church he had the power and good fortune by it to persuade even the Seditious who were ready to mutiny to take his part and to list themselves under the holy Cross for the defence of the Church of God These when some time after Frederic came in hostile manner before the Walls of Rome gave him a repulse which so enrag'd him that whatsoever Prisoners he had taken he put to death with divers tortures and retir'd towards Beneventum which City he took by force sack'd and dismantled it Then returning by the Via Latina with his heart full of fury toward the City by the way he plunder'd the Monastery of Monte-Cassino and turn'd out the Monks he destroy'd also with fire and sword the City of Sora formerly belonging to the Samnites situate at the head of the River Garigliano and pillag'd any thing that belong'd to the Templers wherever he could meet with it He was so great a Lover of the Saracens that he made use of them rather than any other People in his Wars made Magistrates of them and gave them a City for themselves which is call'd to this day Nocera di Pagani He threaten'd the Brother of the King of Tunis because he was come as far as Palermo to receive the Sacrament of Baptism By a sudden Onset he also made himself Master of Ravenna which appertain'd to the Church All which Gregory well considering he appointed a Council to be holden in the Lateran there to find out means to depose Frederic but the Emperour had so beset all the ways that with the help of the Pisans he took several Cardinals and Prelates as they were travelling both by Sea and Land and cast them into Prison Which so griev'd the good Pope that he liv'd not long after dying when he had been Pope fourteen years and three months There happen'd an Eclipse of the Sun a little before his death greater than ever was seen Raymund of Barcelona flourish'd in his time and assisted him in compiling his Book of Decretals whom many Authors so commend that nothing can be added to his Praise CELESTINE IV. CELESTINE the Fourth a Milanese of the Family of the Castiglioni Bishop of Sabina famous in his time for his exemplary life and great Learning being very old and sickly was yet chosen Pope in the room of Gregory but died on the eighteenth day of his Pontificate and was buried in S. Peter's Church to the great
receiv'd the Sacraments of the Church and then died in the eighth month of his Pontificate and was buried at Viterbo He was a Man as I said before of great Learning but little Prudence For he wrote many Tracts in his life especially certain Rules relating to Physick for he was counted a very good Physician He wrote also another Book and called it Thesaurus Pauperum or the Poors Treasure and set out Problems in imitation of Aristotle But 't is certain however it comes to be so that many very learned Men are not at all fit for business Yet I need not doubt how it comes to pass but take it rather for a greater Wonder if he that takes pleasure in Contemplation should apply his mind to Wordly Affairs too NICOLAS III. NICOLAS the Third a Roman of the Family of the Vrsini formerly called John Cajetan was made Pope at last after the Election had been six months in suspence by reason of a great Contest that was among the Cardinals Now the King of Sicily as Senator had the guard of the Conclave at that time and was very urgent with 'em to chuse a French-man But Nicolas assoon as he began his Reign in the year 1278 resolv'd to restrain Charles's Power and took from him the Lieutenancy of Tuscany because he said that Rodulphus took it ill and would not perform his promise of going upon the Expedition into the holy Land upon any other terms since Tuscany was reckon'd to belong to the jurisdiction of the Empire Though the Pope gain'd this point yet he reduced Romagna and Bologna it self together with the Exarchate of Ravenna which at that time were under the Emperor and made 'em subject to himself And thither he sent Bertholdus his Nephew who was declared Earl of Romagna He sent also another Nephew of his that was a Cardinal called Latinus Legat into Tuscany who restored the Gibellins in all places and imposed what Officers he pleased upon the Citizens at Florence and in other parts of Tuscany But the Office of Senator which used to be granted or committed to Kings and Princes he discharg'd himself alone He would not see the Embassadors from the Venetians who at that time harass'd the Anconeses with War and so they departed But he called 'em back and chid 'em severely nay he threaten'd to ruin their City if they did not desist from besieging or storming Ancona At length when both parties had suffer'd great inconveniencies they made a Peace upon equal terms But this Pope had a mind to create two Kings both of the Vrsini one of Tuscany and the other of Lombardy to keep those Germans on the one side that inhabit part of the Alps and the French on the other side that lived in Sicily and Naples within their bounds And to bring it about he persuaded Peter King of Aragon to endeavour the recovery of the Kingdom of Sicily upon the title of his Wife Constantia who was heir to it And he took the Honour of Senator from Charles and conferr'd it upon himself and made an everlasting Edict that no King or Prince should dare to sue for or bear that Office This Nicolas as Authors say was a man of great courage and conduct and so perfect in his life and conversation that in Italian he was commonly called il Composto or Composto He was a lover and admirer of learned men especially of those who had Learning mingled with prudence and Religion But he was reckon'd impartial to all in the distribution of honours and dignities For at his first Ordination he chose a Bishop for Alba out of the Order of Minors for Ostia and Porto out of the Preachers The Bishops of Palestrina and Trescat were Seculars He created besides these two Cardinal-Priests that is to say Gerard with the Title of the Twelve Apostles and Jerome of the Order of Minors with the Title of S. Pudentiana To them he added two Deacons that is to say Jordan his Brother Cardinal of S. Eustachius a man of much Learning and innocence and James Colonna of S. Maries in Via lata a person of great Religion and gravity He adorn'd and enlarged the Papal Palace with other Buildings which he added For he built a convenient house nigh S Peters part of which is yet to be seen which Nicolas the fifth afterward repair'd to his great cost and charge He also walled S. Peter's Garden which now they call Belvedere Then he repair'd S. Peter's Church when it was ready to fall with age and adorn'd it with the Pictures of the Popes The same he did in S. Pauls More than all this he advanced divine Worship most wonderfully by encreasing the number of Canons and the provision that had been made for those who serv'd in Churches Again he divided the Ecclesiastick Orders and appointed to each their Offices He likewise assigned every one his Lodging that even Strangers might know where every Officer especially the chief Officer was to be found He finish'd the Lateran Palace which was begun before by Adrian the fifth He built the Sancta Sanctorum from the ground after the first Chappel was ruin'd with age and beautified the Church it self with Mosaic work as it is now to be seen and with plaister of Marble And thither he removed the Apostles heads till he had reqair'd St. John's Church at his own Charge But when it was finish'd he presently brought 'em back again in Silver Cases made by his Order and attended by all the People he laid 'em up in the Chappel which was built for the purpose The same day he consecrated the Church that is upon the eighth of July Some Historians say that no one ever said Mass with more Devotion than he for during the performance of that Divine Office he constantly wept He was very godly and such a Lover of the Friers Minors for that they contemn'd the World that he has explain'd many doubts relating to that Order in a decretal Epistle When Churches were void there never was a Pope that took care sooner or more deliberately giving them to the best and the fittest Men he could find For he first look'd into a mans life and his Learning and then gave immediately the vacant Seas to those that he thought worthy For he used to say Delays were dangerous because there were such men in the World as would commit Sacriledg with all their hearts He could not endure Proctors and Attornies because they liv'd upon the bloud of the Poor and those that went to Law but hated them as a Plague in which he imitated Gregory X. and John XXI But because there were great corruptions among Magistrates in all places he ordain'd that all Offices should be annual only and if any one durst to hold 'em longer he was liable to an Anathema from which he could not be absolv'd but by the Pope himself Besides these things he did a great many more for the good of the Clergy and all Christian People as it
Voice from Heaven that he must lay down the Popedom if he would be saved The Cardinals were cited but did not appear because they fear'd Boniface's severity and resolution Wherefore they retired to Nepi with all the Family of the Columneses and being declared Schismaticks by a publick Decree they had their Benefices Dignities Estates Castles and Towns taken from them Which Deprivation Boniface afterward reduced into the form of a Decree as appears in the Book called Sextus After that Boniface raised a great many Men and Arms to quell them and besieged Palestrina where they were ingarison'd with one Sarra a famous Man who was their Uncle And when they got away from thence after he took and plunder'd the Town he pursu'd 'em to Zagalora and Columna from whence also they were forced to fly not long after by reason of the multitude of their Enemies by whom these Castles likewise were destroy'd but especially that of Columna which was their native Country But the Cardinals got away from thence too and went to Rieti though Sarra staid a long time in the Woods at Antium for fear of Boniface's cruelty But falling into the hands of certain Pirates he was put to the Oar and by that means suffer'd a great deal of misery though he was more willing to endure banishment and hardship in that manner than to feel Boniface's Tyranny who hated the whole Race of the Gibellines 'T is well known what he said to Prochetus Arch-bishop of Genoa when he came and laid himself at his feet upon an Ash-Wednesday For whereas the Priest uses to say Remember man that thou art Ashes and into Ashes shalt thou return he alter'd some of the words and said Remember man that thou art a Gibellin and with the rest of the Gibellines into Ashes shalt thou return and with that he threw some Ashes into his Eyes not upon his head as the custom is Nay he deprived him of his Arch-Bishoprick for the very name of the Gibellines though he restored him afterward when he understood that the Cardinals of Columna did not go to Genoa as he supposed they had done The Columneses being banish'd in this sort Boniface appointed a double Anniversary one in honour of the Apostles and Evangelists and another in honour of those four Doctors of the Church Gregory Austin Jerome and Ambrose He likewise canonized Lewis one of the King of France's Family Son to Charles the Second who some say was profess'd of the Order of S. Francis whilst he was at Civita Vecchia After that he turn'd out the Secular Canons from the Cathedral of Alby and put Regulars in their room at the request of Bernard Castanetus Bishop of the Place He also put forth a sixth Volume or Code of the Pontificial or Canon Law which was compiled by three very learned Men according to his Order with the addition of some new Decrees of his own The City of Gubio which by the instigation of the Gibellines had revolted from the Church he in a short time recover'd He denied Albertus Duke of Austria to confirm him in the Empire though he petitioned for it several times But when James of Aragon was dead and Robert Son of Charles and Duke of Calabria or Terra d' Otranto was gone over into Sicily and had taken Catina there brake out such a War of a sudden that almost all Italy was in an Uproar For the Sicilians who favour'd the Aragoneses got a Navy together and not onely conquer'd Philip Robert's Brother but took him and put him in Prison Whereupon Robert left Catina and return'd into Italy without accomplishing his Designs But Frederick of Aragon coming out of Spain with an Army into Sicily did not onely recover all Sicily but Terra d' Otranto too In Tuscany those of Genoa did burn with so much hatred against the Inhabitants of Pisa that they not only took Leghorn and burnt it but they sunk Merchants Ships in the mouth of the River to hinder the men of Pisa from sailing out These things were carry'd on in Italy to the no small detriment of the Country whilst the Pope sate still nor would interpose his Authority to make Peace in any place And lest you should think Heaven was at peace with Mankind there was of a sudden such an Earthquake as never was known before which lasted at several places a great many Days and threw down many Houses The Pope was then with all the whole Court at Rieti and fearing lest he should be knock'd on the head with the fall of Houses he caused a little Hutt to be built of small planks in a wide Field which was in the Cloyster of the Friers Preachers and there he kept for some time though it were bitter cold Weather For this Commotion began upon St. Andrews day There appeared also at that time a Comet which was a sign of some great Calamity to come But Boniface after so many and such continu'd Earthquakes came to himself and made several Cardinals of which number were the Arch-bishop of Toledo Richard of Siena Nicolas of Treviso Master of the Order of Preachers John Murro General of the Minors and one Peter a Spaniard He also kept a Jubilee in the year 1300. and gave a full pardon of all their sins to those that had visited the Apostles Tombs after the manner that is prescribed in the Old Testament though the Jews at first had quite another sentiment of this Affair For they kept a Jubilee every fiftieth Year wherein Debtors were released from their Creditors as Josephus says and Servants or Slaves challenged their freedom From whence the Jubilee imports liberty both in mind and body For they are truly said to be free whose sins are forgiven He commanded it to be kept every hundredth year For this reason that year there came such a multitude of people to Rome from all parts that you could hardly stir in the streets though they are very large and spatious it was so throng'd There came to Rome at that time Charles Earl of Valois Brother to Philip of France who married the Daughter of Balwin late Emperor of Constantinople and got leave of Boniface that his Father-in-law might endeavour to recover the Empire of which by force he had been deprived Boniface was willing to gratifie him because he intended to make use of their assistance toward sending an Army into Asia to recover Jerusalem But whilst things were coming to a settlement he made Charles sole Governour of Peter's Patrimony and sent a Legat into Tuscany to appease the new broils there For instead of Gibellins and Guelphs they were called Whites and Blacks But the Legat could do no good though he threaten'd to interdict them nor could Charles of Valois who came thither by the Pope's Order restrain the Florentines so much but that they did drive the Albi or Whites out of their City and kill a great many of 'em besides For at that time the Gibellines were called the Whites But the
thousand pounds every year to the Church of Rome This Pope in all his Reign made but six cardinal-Cardinal-Presbyters and that at one time who were excellent Persons not of his own kindred as 't is usual now a days but men called forth to receive such a Dignity out of several Nations Yet I do not disapprove of them that are preferr'd to honour because they are related to the person who confers it if they are deserving Besides he was a Man of such constancy that he could not be induced to do an injury either by force by importunity or promises of gain For he loved good Men and on the contrary was an open Enemy to all evil and â—lagitious persons He likewise often attempted by his Legats to make Peace between Philip of France and Edward of England but to no purpose since they were such foes as to have fought many bloody Battels one with another For Edwards Navy engaged with the French above Selusas near Flanders so fiercely that he overcame them and kill'd they say full thirty three thousand French in that one fight But the Pope having tried to effect that business so often at last desisted and betook himself to building a Palace for succeeding Popes with several Towers and making of Orchards which he finished He also repaired the Roof of S. Peter's Church at his own charge as the Inscription under his Statute there shews He died in the seventh year third month and seventeenth day of his Pontificate and left a great quantity of Gold behind him not to his Relations but to the Church He had a Design to have Zoto a famous Painter of that Age to draw the Histories of the Martyrs in the House that he built but was prevented by Death At which every body was grieved he was so good and so learned a Man and shewed their sorrow by their Tears and Sighs whilst they attended at his Funeral CLEMENT VI. CLEMENT the sixth a Limousin formerly called Peter at first a Monk and then Arch-Bishop of Rouen was at last made Pope at Avignion He was a Man of great Learning and exact Eloquence liberal to all men affable and very humane elected Pope the seventh of May and Crowned the sixteenth of June in the year 1342. In the first year of his Pontificate and the Ember-week after his Coronation he created eight Cardinal-Priests and two Deacons that is to say his Brother who was a Monk of Tulle and William his Sisters Son Of those Priests also which he made one was his Relation by Marriage and the following year he made two more of which one was his Nephew by another Sister This Pope when the Romans petition'd and told him that whereas Boniface the eighth had formerly granted a full Remission of sins to all that visited the Shrines of the Apostles Peter and Paul every hundredth year which space of time the Romans anciently called Saeculum an Age and thence their Games once in an hundred years Ludi Saeculares they thought it more convenient the time should be contracted because men seldom lived so long he freely consented that the Jubilee should be kept every fiftieth year But when he sound that all Italy was in an uproar he confirmed onely Luchinus and John two Viscounts his Lieutenants in the Dutchy of Millain without mentioning the other Princes of Italy For he thought that they alone were able to resist the Bavarian who as he gave out himself was coming down into Italy and to requite the Pope confirm'd many Lieutenants in the Towns and places belonging to the Church by his Imperial Authority For he continued John of Vicourles at Viterbo Galeot Malatesia and his Brethren at Rimini Pesaro and Fano Antonio Feletrario at Vrbino Nâ—lphus and Gallasius two Brothers at Callio Allegretus Clavellus at Farriano Bulgarutius at Matelâ—ca Ismedutius at Sancto Severino Gentilis Varraneus at Camerino Michael at Mount Milon Pongonius at Cingoli Nicolas Boscaretus at Esio Guido Polentensis at Ravenna Francis and Synebald at Forli and Caesena John Manfred at Faenza though before some of these men had gotten the same places under them partly by force and partly by the good will of the Inhabitants as I said in the life of Benedict But in the mean time the Frescobaldi who were eminent Citizens of Florence were banish'd by their fellow-Citizens and would have instigated the Pisanes to War but it was at an ill time For the Florentines at that time were just upon buying Parma of the Scaligeri and to that end had sent some of their Sons to Ferrara as Hostages promising to give 'em for it 500000 l. For there were two Arbitrators one chosen by each party out of Ferrara But the Florentines having engaged in several bloody fights one upon the neck of another were extreamly weaken'd both by the Pisanes and their Allies and at last even forced to slip the opportunity of such a bargain Yet they did not neglect to send aids to the people of Lucca when they were besieged by the Pisanes besides that their Allies helped 'em too under the conduct of Malatesta of Rimini surnamed Vngarus who forced the Pisanes from Lucca At that time Robert who was an Ally of the Florentines being moved with the calamities of his Confederates sent one Gualter a French man that they called Governor of Athens with a small party of Horse into Tuscany who having by mere stratagem defeated Malatesta who was but an unskilful Captain he gain'd so cunningly upon the favour of the Florentines that in a short time he was both General of their Forces and Governour of their City and turn'd out all the other Officers in it Those of Arezzo also if Pisâ—oia and Volaterra promoted his success by surrendering themselves immediately to him But when Accio Corrigienses had deliver'd up Parma which he could not keep to Obicio d' Este Philippino Gonzaga provoked to War by Obicio got an Army together and near to Reggio engaged with him so furiously that he routed and pursu'd him as far as Ferrara Then Obicio finding his condition desperate put Parma which he could not defend under the protection of Luchino in the year 1366. But when the Florentines could no longer endure the Tyranny of Gualter and many were put to death every day for conspiring against him how to get their Liberty Angelo Acciaiolo Bishop of the City sends away for the Citizens ready armed into his Bishoprick with a resolution to recover the liberty of his Country At which the Tyrant seeing himself too weak for the Citizens made the Bishop himself Umpire concerning the Terms of Peace and so march'd off in safety with what he had in the tenth month of his Reign But the Rabble of the City shewed themselves ungrateful as indeed they always do and banish'd the Nobility by whose conduct and courage they had gain'd their Liberty spoiling their Goods and demolishing their Houses And lest any thing should be lacking that might disturb all Italy there were great
Pastors of the Church if they were circumspect and mindful of Christs Command or incited by Example of those whose Martyrdoms and Actions they had before their Eyes consult the Salvation of Mankind and at the same time recover S. Peter's Patrimony which had been seised by several Usurpers in Tuscany Sabina Campagna di Roma Ombria Millain and Romagna whilst the Popes were absent That they would not say for the present how the piety of people was diminish'd and that their Pilgrimages to Rome or to see the Bodies or Reliques of the Saints were much rarer than formerly by reason of the Popes absence but that all these things might still be restored if an Italian were chosen Pope The Cardinals made Answer that they would take care to choose an excellent Man to govern the Church of God without any respect to Persons or Nations in imitation of our Saviour who chose Apostles out of all Nations That they might go and be satisfied that they would do nothing but what should promote the glory of God the good of the Church and of all Christendom So they appointed a Conclave at S. Peter's and order'd a certain number of Guards to be in the Vatican lest any Tumult might hinder so important an Election But when they came to Vote there was a great debate all of a sudden For there were thirteen French Cardinals who would have had a Pope chosen out of them and four Italians among whom one that was of the Vrsin Family did most aspire to the Popedom The French seem'd to have the better of it because they had the Majority but there hapning a quarrel betwixt those of Limosin and the other French Men each side contending for the choice of a Pope out of their party they chose Bartholomew Arch-Bishop of Bari a Neapolitan or as others say a Pisan not of the Colledg of Cardinals and in his absence by the name of Vrban the Sixth But before they appear'd abroad or that it was known that Vrban was made Pope the French scandalized the Election as extorted by fraud and fear whilst the Romans urged them with force and Arms to chuse an Italian So that the Cardinals when they came out of the Conclave fled partly into Castel S. Angelo and partly into other secure places to avoid the fury of the enraged people Cardinal Vrsin also went to Vicovaro having great hopes of getting the Pontificate in a time of such Discord But not long after the Cardinals repented and came to the City where they confirm'd Vrban whom they had formerly chosen saluting him according to the dignity of a true Pope Three months after the French Party pretended the City was too hot for 'em and desired of the Pope that he would give 'em leave to go to Anagni for change of Air which in the City was pestilent especially in the Summer and to French Constitutions though they indeed were affraid of his severity and so were desirous to get out of the way For he had often called 'em to him and admonished them to keep their hands clean and receive no bribes nor rewards for pleading in behalf of others or doing any man a kindness that should ask it And told 'em that he would punish them severely that he found guilty of Simony or promoting unjust Suits Besides he told 'em that he should be pleased and was very desirous that they would omit some of their State and such a train of Servants and Horses for what they spent in such vanity was really due to the Poor or ought to have been employ'd toward the repairs of tottering Churches He told 'em that he would chuse good men to be about his own person and that he would make the wicked suffer for their offences unless they mended their manners And because he heard that the French Cardinals did talk once as if the Court of Rome would go back into their Countrey he told 'em publickly that he would stay at Rome and would not hearken to any one that should persuade him to remove from it because as he said the foundation of the universal Church and of Christian Faith was laid at Rome and all the superstructure raised in the same place The French Cardinals were moved with these Reasons and especially those who had robbed the Church Treasury upon the Death of several Popes and done what they pleased they fled first to Anagni next to Fondi where they inveigh'd against Vrban as a false Pope and said he was made by force and received his Crown by force because that Election and Coronation was not in a place at all safe where peoples Wills and Votes might be free but that on the contrary they were forced to chuse an Italian rather than a French man For these Reasons the Sea as they said being vacant they who were eight in all by the permission and favour of Queen Joan chose Cardinal Cevennes who had been Legate in Italy and called him Clement the Seventh Hence arose a great and a long quarrel in the Church of God which they call a Schism when part of the Christian Princes favour'd Vrban and part favour'd Cevennes Nor were these seditious Cardinals content with that but sent the Britains who had plunder'd and taken many Castles Villages and Forts against the Pope and people of Rome who meeting the Enemy at Ponte Salaro in a confused manner were conquer'd and kill'd But after that they fought another Battel at Sancto Marino with such courage and intention that they beat the Britains and kill'd so many of 'em that there was hardly a Messenger left to carry the news Those that were in the Castles defended themselves for some time but especially the Governour of the Castle of Surio who after many years surrender'd it to Pope Martin In the mean time the Genoeses begin to shew the malice which they had conceiv'd in their hearts against the Venetians and took Lewis King of Hungary into their Alliance with Francis of Carrara Lord of Padua the Duke of Austria and the Patriarch of Aquilegia On the part of the Venetians were Perinus of Lusignan King of Cyprus and so was Bernabos Viconti In the first Engagement at Sea the Venetians had the better of it upon the Coast of Antio under the Command of Victor a Pisan of ten Genoese Ships five being lost At that time also the Marchesi of Carreto by the assistance of Bernabos took Albenga Noli and Castel Franco from the Genoeses but not long after they made a Peace with 'em and restored all After this the Genoeses put Dominick Fregoso their Duke into Prison with his Brother Peter and made Nicolas Gualch their Governour by Land and Lucian Auria their Admiral by Sea But Bernabos that had married his Daughter to the King of Cyprus sent her very honourably into Cyprus to her Husband with twelve Galleys six Catalonian and six Venetian Perinus thus strengthened attaqued Famagosta both by Sea and Land but in vain for the Soldiers within
the Cardinals to send some Bishops before to Pavia to begin it that seeming to be the most commodious place for it Thither therefore he immediately sent Peter Donatus Arch-Bishop of Candia James Camplo Bishop of Spoleto Peter Rosatius Abbot of Aquilegia Frier Leonard a Florentine and General of the Preachers to open the Council But they found no body yet come from France or Germany onely two Abbots of Burgundy therefore they thought fit to defer it till one at least should be come from each Nation little of moment being to be transacted without universal consent But while they waited their coming on a sudden Pavia was visited so severely with a Plague that with the Popes leave the Presidents of the Council remov'd to Sienna whither people came from all Nations more readily and in greater numbers than to Pavia Alphonsus King of Aragon who was an Enemy to Martin for giving the Title of King of Naples and Sicily to Lewis which himself desired sent his Embassador to the Council with Order to delay it as much as he could and to bring about the Cause of the Anti-pope Peter Luna yet alive in Panischola either by Promises or Bribes to those who had greatest Authority in the Council Wherefore Martin who knew very well how great a calamity such a thing would bring upon the Church and what danger there was in delays commanded the Council to be immediately dissolv'd approving first of the Decrees made in it that concern'd matters of Faith And lest he might seem to fear a General Council he order'd that another should be held at Basil seven years after Thus did that prudent subtil Man root out the seeds of Schism and Discord that were sown in the Council of Siena Alphonso then complain'd of Martin publickly that by his means he was put by the Kingdom which Joan designed for him and Lewis was made Heir in his room Martin easily confuted this charge and told him that Lewis was confirm'd Heir to Joan by Alexander V. and John XXIII long before and that all the blame ought to be laid on the Queen and not upon him whose business it was to strengthen rather than weaken the Churches Feudataries unless they had committed some heinous Offence against the Sea of Rome and that he did not see why Lewis might not be lawful Heir to Joan who was Crown'd by his Order But when Brachius saw the Pope involv'd in so many Affairs and so distracted by reason of the quarrel between him and Alphonso he got many of the Church-Towns by force and laid close Siege to Aquila a City in the Kingdom of Naples The Pope was angry at that and raising a good sufficient Army he attempted to relieve Aquila assisted by the Army of the Queen and Lewis and not far from Aquila he conquer'd and kill'd Brachius in the open Field The Sfortians were in that Battel under the conduct of Francis Son to Sforza who some years before going over the River Piscara which the Ancients call'd Aternus was drown'd Brachius's body was brought to Rome and buried in an unhallow'd place without the Porta di Sancto Lorenzo Upon this Victory there was so great tranquillity besides that Perugia Todi and Assisi with some other Towns which Brachius had possession of were reduced to the Church that they thought Augustus's happy days were come again into the World Then people lived at ease and could walk even in the Night through the Woods without any danger no Robbers being abroad no Russians and Thieves for he cut off Tartalia Lauellus and other Usurpers that got their living rather by Rapine than War But the Hereticks of Bohemia who plagu'd the Catholicks of Germany continually with Heresie and Arms seemed to interrupt this Peace and happiness To make them therefore submit to Reason and to the Church he admonish'd them first of all very gravely and when that would not do he sent Legats into Germany to stir up the Catholicks to Arms. And first he sent Henry Cardinal of S. Eusebius thither alone then Bartholomew of Piacenza and last of all he recall'd them and sent Julian Caesarinus Cardinal of S. Angelo who receiv'd great damage from the Enemy not by his own fault but by the cowardise of his Soldiers However Martin was not discouraged at it but made greater preparations against the Hereticks onely before he set about such a grand Affair he resolv'd to compose and quiet Italy For when the Peace was made by Martin between Philip and the Venetians the Florentines bore a grudg at Ladislaus Son to Paul Guinisius Lord of Lucca for the assistance he gave Philip in the preceding War and now he not being mention'd in the Articles of that Peace they laid hold on it as a fair opportunity to subdue the City and having raised an Army under Nicolas Fortebrachius and taken some Castles thereabout they laid Siege to it Whereupon Philip by the entreaty of Paul and for fear lest if Lucca fell into the hands of the Florentines he should find them the sharper as being the nearer Enemies he first sent Francis Sforza into Parma with a great body of Horse to raise Foot-soldiers there Who passing the Apennine in the beginning of Spring put the Florentines into such a fright that before he came into the Cloudy Vale as the Inhabitants call it the Enemies had removed their Camp and raised their Siege from before Lucca out of fear And his coming was so much the more welcome to the Lucceses because when their Enemies were subdu'd and the Usurper taken they thought to become absolute freemen by Francis's assistance But the Florentines bribing Francis with fifty thousand pounds he left the people of Lucca in a worse condition than ever having promised for that Sum not to serve Philip for six months Then the Lucceses were besieged more close than before Whereupon Philip at the request of Martin who also pitied the case of the Lucceses sent Nicolas Piceninus thither with a great Body of Horse presently who vanquish'd and routed the Enemy and not only raised the Siege but march'd thence and took many Castles belonging to Pisa and Volaterra by storm and did the Sieneses a kindness who then made War upon the Florentines Martin being now undisturb'd by any forein Foe apply'd his mind to adorn the City and Churches of Rome and to that purpose repaired the Portico of S. Peters which was falling down and paved the Lateran Church with Mosaic work cieled it anew and began those Paintings there which were done by the hand of the famous Gentilis He likewise repaired the old Palace that was ready to fall near the Twelve Apostles where he lived some years The Cardinals follow'd his Example and re-edified their Churches as fast as they could so that now Rome look'd something like a City He also created certain Cardinals of which his Nephew Prosper Columna Cardinal of S. George was one In the mean time Peter Luna dy'd at Panischola but lest the
Church should be at quiet those two Anti-Cardinals that I told you of were persuaded by Alphonso who was Martin's Enemy to choose Giles Munio a Canon of Barselona and a Nobleman Pope and call'd him Clement VIII He was no sooner chosen but he made Cardinals and acted as Pope But when Martin and Alphonso were friends again he sent Peter de Fuso a Cardinal as Legate from the Sea Apostolick thither to whom Giles resign'd his Title to the Popedom at the command of Alphonso For which Martin was so kind to him afterward that he made him Bishop of Majorca And the Cardinals also that were made by Giles did voluntarily lay down their Dignity But those two that Peter Luna made remain'd still obstinate and therefore because they would not obey the Pope the Legate put them in Prison Thus Martin's industry and prudence removed the Schism from all parts and when the Church was setled he used as much skill and discretion in conferring of Benefices For he did not bestow 'em upon every one that ask'd him but consider'd who was fittest to receive them and to take such a charge upon him And if he did not know any body in the Country where Benefices fell he used to send and enquire of those that knew the place who was qualified with Learning Birth or breeding fit for any Office And thus did he advance the Church and deserving Men at the same time to his great Honour In fine so couragious and resolute he was that though he had two Brothers the elder of which Jordanus Prince of Salerno died of the Plague and the other Lorenzo was burn'd to death in a Turret which was casually set on fire he was not known to say or do any thing that argued Impatience or lowness of mind But this same Person so exactly good in the whole course of his life died at Rome of an Apoplexy in the fourteenth year and the third month of his Pontificate and the sixty third year of his Age and was by his own Order buried in S. Johns Church near the Heads of the Apostles in a brazen Tomb and attended by all the people of Rome and the Clergy weeping as if the Church of God and the City of Rome had been bereft of their onely and their best Parent The Sea at that time was vacant twelve days EVGENIVS IV. EVGENIVS the Fourth a Venetian of the Family of Condelmero a common but ancient name whose Fathers name was Angelo arrived at the Pontificate after this manner When Gregory XII was made Pope who was of the Family of Coraro and a Venetian Anthony Corar Gregory's Nephew a Canon of S. Georges in Alga going to Rome took Gabriel Condelmero who was of the same profession and had lived with him from his Childhood along with him somewhat against his will Gregory was so taken with his Wit and Parts that he first made him his Treasurer and then Bishop of Siena having made his Nephew Anthony Bishop of Bologna The Sieneses refused Gabriel at first and would not have him for their Bishop alledging that a Foreiner ought not to be set over them in that high Function but one that knew the customs and usages of their City But when Gregory afterward upon a distrust of his condition left Rome for Lucca and encreased the number of Cardinals he made Anthony his Nephew and Gabriel Condelmero two who was made use of by Gregory after that and when he was turn'd out by Martin in many great Affairs especially in the Embassy to the Marcha d' Ancona in which he not only confirm'd the Inhabitants in their Allegiance to the Church by punishing some seditious Conspirators but also repaired the Church of S. Agnes at Ancona which was decay'd and the Port of the same City which was Weather-beaten very old and ruinous so as to make it like Trajans And afterward when Martin understood that the Bolognians were set upon innovations he sent Gabriel from Ancona thither who suppress'd the Sedition as soon as he came Where coming to Rome and Martin soon after dying he alone was thought fit to be made Pope out of eighteen Cardinals who at that time were in the Conclave and changing his name to Eugenius was brought immediatey to S. Peters attended by all the People and Clergy in the year 1431. March 3d. And having received the Papal Crown he went to the Lateran and from thence to the Vatican where he set a day for a general Consistory to be held At which there was such a Concourse of People that the Timber of the building where they met and where the publick Consistory now stands gave way and put the people into such a consternation that the Bishop of Sinigaglia a Citizen of Rome of the Family of Mella was trodden to death in the throng For the Popes House was not built at that time as it is now When the Consistory was dismiss'd Eugenius took all care to avoid Tumults But some Sycophants persuading him that Martin who was very covetous had left somewhere a great Treasure behind him of which he might be inform'd by Martin's Friends and Relations they made the Man so mad that he commanded Oddo Poccio Martin's Vice-Chamberlain to be laid hold on and gave the charge of the business to Stephen Colonna his General the onely person of his Party among the Colonna's Cardinal Vrsin and Cardinal Comitum egging him on by whose contrivance 't is thought all these things were done against the Colonneses out of an old grudg between the two Factions Eugenius however commanded that Oddo should be brought to him quietly and civily which was quite contrarily executed by Stephen For not onely his goods were plunder'd by the Soldiers but he was carried by force or rather dragg'd like a Robber publickly into the Pope's presence Eugenius was very angry at this rude usage of him and checked Stephen for it nay threaten'd to punish him severely for bringing not onely Oddo but the Bishop of Tivoli who was formerly Martin's Chamberlain before him after such an unworthy manner Hereupon Stephen fearing the Popes displeasure fled to Palestrina to Prince Colonna and desired him to join with him to drive Eugenius from the City because he said Eugenius had a Design to extinguish the whole Family of Colonna And that he knew that to be so for he was privy to it himself and that he ran away from the City because he knew that he also must bear a part in that common Calamity unless they all avoided it together The Prince moved with what he said and with the misfortunes of such as had been Martin's Friends took up Arms and immediately resolv'd to set upon the Pope staying onely a little till his Brother Prosper a Cardinal Deacon whom he had forewarn'd of the business could get out of the City And as soon as he saw him he march'd from Palestrina to Marino and thence to Rome against Eugenius and having the Gate di Sancto Sebastiano deliver'd
the Council in or else they threaten'd to oppose him as a prevaricating and an obstinate person Eugenius was moved at their words and confirmed the Council at Basil by a new Breve giving every one leave to go thither for he was so tormented with Wars on all sides of him that he had hardly time to breath But having recover'd Rome he sent John Viteleschus thither immediately who was a Man indeed very fit for business but savage and severe who marching against the Colonneses the Sabelli and all the Gibellin faction he sack'd and razed the Castle of Gandulpho standing on the Lago Albano as also Savello and Borgeto He likewise took Alba Civita Lapuvina Palestrina and Zagatolo and sent all the Inhabitants that were alive to Rome Then turning his course into Campagna di Roma he brought 'em all over to the Church and having taken Anthony Pontadera he hang'd him upon an Olive-Tree at Fraselone Then coming back to Rome he put 'em all in a fear and pull'd down several Houses of Conspirators that had taken possession of the Porta Maggiore in a tumult and declared them Enemies to the Church Among the rest he took one Pulcellus and tortur'd him with red hot Pincers and then hang'd him in Campo Fiore When the Roman people complain'd that the covetousness of some rich Men had brought a Famine upon the Country there was so much Wheat immediately brought into the Market by his Order that there ensued great plenty of all things in a short time so readily were his Commands obey'd When he had thus setled Affairs he went into the Kingdom of Naples which Alphonso had lately got possession of and which he said belonged to the Pope and the Church and there he took the Prince of Tarento with two thousand Horse and invaded the Dominion of the Earl of Nola. He also had like to have taken Alphonso by fraud rather than force when they had made a Truce and a Peace was as good as concluded When he had taken the Towns belonging to the Church he freed the Prince And going back to Rome he demolish'd Palestrina which was ready to rebel by the persuasion of Lorenzo Colonna and turned out the Inhabitants in great numbers to roam about the Country in the year 1435. In which year Eugenius went from Florence having first consecrated the Cathedral Church there and going to Bologna he built a Fort near that Gate which leads towards Ferrara and fortified the House where the Legate now resides with a good high and broad Wall behind especially and with Turrets The year after he in a publick Consistory translated the Council of Basil though he had approved of that place from thence to Ferrara and said that the Greeks who had a mind to join with the Church of Rome had chosen that City to meet in Then the Presidents of the Council at Basil were very urgent with the Greeks and did exhort them with Prayers and Promises that they would leave Eugenius and come to them Nor were they content to do so onely but they bragg'd that they would depose Eugenius too if he would not come thither also Eugenius could not tell for some time what to do but yet he sent thither as Legate one John Francis Capitelista a Lawyer and a Knight of Padua to plead his cause But when Sigismund the Emperor was dead by whose favour the Council of Basil flourish'd and Albert Duke of Austria was chosen in his room the Cardinal of S. Crosses began the Council of Ferrara in the name of Eugenius Eugenius also went thither when he heard the Emperor of Constantinople whose name was John Paleologus was coming with a great many Gallies of his own as well as what the Venetians for Eugenius's sake sent to meet the Emperor lest any violence should have been offer'd him because he had an account that certain French Gallies were sent by the Council into the Archipelago with Orders either to bring the Emperor to them or if they could not do so that at least they should keep him from going to Ferrara But Eugenius so far corrupted the Admiral of those Galleys with Money that he left the Council at Basil and came over to his Party When the Emperour came to Ferrara he was entertain'd by Eugenius as the Roman Emperours used to be treated But Viteleschus when he had quieted the Church Dominions and punish'd several Priests that had pilfer'd certain Jewels out of the Heads of Peter and Paul the Apostles in the Lateran Church to which they belong'd and after that had put James Galesius and his Accomplices to death for attempting to make Innovations upon the Government he went to Ferrara where in a publick Consistory he was receiv'd into the number of Cardinals with great Honour For he had been made Cardinal six months before at Bologna and then returning with greater Authority he put the Governour of Vetralla and the Lord of Fuligno after he had expell'd him from his usurp'd Dominion to death in the Castle of Surio But Eugenius desiring to unite the two Churches that were so long of different Opinions in the year 1438 having made solemn Prayers and celebrated the Mass of the Holy Ghost he went to the Council along with the Emperour and Patriarch of Constantinople where the Emperour being seated on a Throne suitable to his Dignity and the other Greeks in a place opposite to the Pope the question was first ask'd Whether the Latins and the Greeks who had been so long of different Opinions were willing to be united into one Church At which they all cry'd out They would very willingly provided that their differences were first reconciled by Reason In order to which there were Disputations every day between those that the Latins and Greeks had chosen to debate those weighty Points But there happening a Plague at Ferrara which continued a good while it was not safe staying there and therefore the Council was removed to Florence And as soon as they came thither Picenninus presently took possession of Forli Imola Ravenna and Bologna by command from Philip with a design to thwart Eugenius's intentions who was a Friend to the Florentines and Venetians his Enemies After that he came back into Parma and raising a great body of Horse he passed the Po and took in a short time the greater Casal and Platina my native Country and all that the Venetians had about Cremona Then he routed Gattamelata General of the Venetian Army at Calvatoni and with the Prince of Mantoua his Ally he besieged Brescia for some months which was stoutly defended by the Citizens and one Francis Barbar a very learned Man and their chief Magistrate Whereupon he pass'd from thence to seize several Castles thereabout and hinder provisions from being brought into the City plundering and destroying all the Country as far as Verona and Vincenza so that he left the Venetians nothing to live upon but yet all this was not accomplish'd without great damage to
the opposers of the Church of Rome both within and without Italy he canonized Catharine of Siena and abrogated the French Pragmatic Sanction He restored Ferdinand of Aragon to the Kingdom of Naples encreased the Churches Patrimony and made the first Allum Mines at Tolfa He was an Admirer of Justice and Religion and an excellent Orator But he died at Ancona as he was going to the War against the Turks where he had his Navy ready and the Duke and Senate of Venice for his fellow Soldiers in Christ He was brought thence into the City by order of the Cardinals and buried in the place where he commanded St. Andrew the Apostle's head which was brought hither to him from Morea to be laid He lived fifty eight years nine months and twenty seven days and when he dy'd left the College of Cardinals forty five thousand pound gather'd out of the Church Revenues to maintain the War against the Turks But the Cardinals committed all this Money and the Galleys that were then in the Port of Ancona to Christopher Maurus Duke of Venice who arrived there two days before Pius died upon condition that he should use the Ships according to their directions and should send the Money to Matthias King of Hungary who was continually at War with the Turk Thus died Pius who was a personage of such true courage and singular prudence as he seemed to be born not to ease or pleasure but to manage the most important Affairs He always endeavour'd to augment the Majesty and grandieur of the Pontifical Chair nor did he ever leave chastizing of Kings Dukes States Usurpers that wronged either himself or any other Church-Man till he made 'em acknowledg their Errour And therefore he was an Enemy to Lewis King of France because he endeavour'd to diminish the Liberties of the Church and extorted from him the Pragmatic Sanction which was most pernicious to the Sea of Rome He threaten'd Borsius Duke of Modena who being a Feudatary of the Church of Rome yet favour'd Sigismund Malatesta and the French who were no Friends to the Church But he censur'd Sigismund Duke of Austria most grievously for taking Nicolas Cusanus Cardinal of St. Peter ad vincula and keeping him some days in Prison He deprived Dieterus Isimbergensis Bishop of Mayence who hated the Church of Rome and put another in his place and so likewise he displaced the Arch-Bishop of Benevento who was upon new projects and endeavour'd to betray Benevento to the French He likewise deprived Francis Copinus who in his Embassady to England assumed more Power than the Sea Apostolick had given him to the destruction of many Men him he deprived of his Bishoprick of Teramo He also made Terracino Benevento Sora Arpino and a great part of Campagnia subject to the Church He never granted any thing to any King Duke or State for fear or covetousness and would reprove Men severely that ask'd what he could not grant without detriment to the Church and dishonour to himself and strook such terrour into some Lords of Italy especially that they continued very true to their Faith and Allegiance But as he always plagued his publick Enemies so likewise he Cherish'd his Friends as much He dearly loved Frederick the Emperour Matthias King of Hungary Ferdinand Son to Alphonso Philip of Burgundy Francis Sfortia and Lewis Gonzaga He added twelve Cardinals to the former number the Cardinal of Rieti Spoleto Trani Alexander Saxoferratensis Bartholomew Roverella James of Lucca Francis Son to his Sister Laodamia Francis Gonzaga Son to the Marquess Lewis all Italians But then there were others from beyond the Alps as Salseburgensis Lewis Libretus of Artois and Vergelensis Moreover he so ordered his method of living that he could never be accused of idleness or sloth He rose as soon as 't was day for his health sake and having said his Prayers very devoutly went about his worldly affairs When he had done his mornings work and walk'd about the Gardens for his recreation he went to Dinner in which he used an indifferent sort of Diet not curious and dainty For he seldom bid 'em get him this or that particular Dish but whatever they set before him he ate of He was very abstemious and when he did drink Wine it was always diluted with Water and pleasant rather than rough upon the Palate After Meals he either discoursed or disputed half an hour with his Chaplains and then going into his Bed-Chamber he took a nap after which he went to Prayers again and then wrote or read as long as his business would permit The same also he did after Supper for he both read and dictated till midnight as he lay in his Bed nor did he sleep above five or six hours He was a short Man gray-hair'd before his time and had a wrinkled Face before he was old In his aspect he bore severity tempered with good-nature and in his garb was neither finical nor negligent but so contrived it as to be consistent with the pains which he usually took He could patiently endure both hunger and thirst because he was naturally very strong and yet his long journeys frequent labour and Watchings had impair'd him His usual Diseases were the Cough the Stone and Gout wherewith he was often so tormented that no body could say he was alive but by his Voice And even in his sickness he was very accessible but sparing of Words and unwilling to deny any Man's Petition He laid out all the Money he got together and did neither love Gold nor contemn it but would never be by whilst it was told out or laid up He seemed not to cherish the Wits of his Age because three grievous Wars which he had undertook had so continually exhausted the Pontifical Treasury that he was oftentimes much in Debt and yet he preferred many learned Men to places both in the Court and Church He would willingly hear an Oration or a Poem and always submitted his own Writings to the judgment of the Learned He hated Lyars and Sycophants was soon angry and soon pleased again He pardon'd those that reviled or scoff'd at him unless they injur'd the Sea Apostolick the Dignity whereof he always had such a respect for as upon that account often to fall out with great Kings and Princes He was very kind to his Houshold Servants for those that he sound in an errour through folly or ignorance he admonish'd like a Father He never reproved any one for speaking or thinking ill of him because in a free City he desired every body should utter their minds And when one told him that he had an ill Report he reply'd go into the Campo di fiore and you 'l hear a great many talk against me If at any time he had a mind to change the Air of Rome for a better he went especially in the Summer to Tivoli or his own Country Siena But he was mightily pleased with the retirement of an Abby in Siena which is very
them by right of inheritance which for many years they maintained against the power of the Turk who made many attempts to make seizure of it About the same time also Dabuson the Great Master of Rhodes valiantly defended his City against Mahomet causing him to raise his Siege and retire with disgrace The fear of the Turk by their Retreat out of Italy being extinguished Sixtus re-assumed his former designs and in order thereunto favoured the party of the Venetians who made War upon Hercules da Este Duke of Ferrara by these means all Italy was put into a new flame of War being divided into diverse Parties and Factions On one side were the Pope the Venetians Genoueses and those of Siena with other Cities allied in a Confederacy On the other were Ferdinand King of Naples the Florentines Lodowick Sforza Protector of the State of Milan during the minority of the young Duke The Pope in favour of his own Party managed his War with the Spiritual as well as with the Temporal Arms for in the year 1482. he Excommunicated all his Enemies and as many as took their part or favoured their Cause and encouraged René Duke of Lorain and Anjou to return into Italy and recover his Kingdom of Naples But René being otherwise employed could not make use of this opportunity which was offered and therewith Ferdinand being enraged entered the Dominions of the Pope with a great Army and approached to the Gates of Rome with which Sixtus being greatly incensed issued out an Army against him under the command of Robert Malatesta and both Armies joyning Battel in a place called Campo Morto near Velitri Sixtus had the fortune of the day and to overthrow his Enemy many were slain on the place many principal Officers taken and carried in triumph into Rome and Ferdinand himself narrowly escaped by flight Three days after which Victory Malatesta died not without some suspicion of being poisoned Not long after a Peace being concluded between Pope Sixtus and the King of Naples all the Prisoners were set at liberty amongst which were the Cardinals Colonna and Savelli who at the beginning of the War were as disaffected persons committed to custody This War being in this manner ended the Pope turned his Arms upon the Venetians in favour of Hercules Duke of Ferrara lest that State being too powerful for him should augment their Force by the addition of that Dukedom and in regard that State would not give ear to his admonitions and desist from prosecution of their War at his command the Pope made use of his spiritual Arms Excommunicating all the Subjects under the Dominions of Venice and entering into League with all the Confederate Princes of Italy waged the most dangerous War that ever the Venetians had sustained and certainly had proved fatal to them had not Lodowick Sâ—forza Duke of Milan made a separate Peace with them against the sense and opinion of all the other Confederates Sixtus having by these many Wars and several ways exhausted his Treasury contrived by sale of new Offices never before known to replenish his Coffers he also imposed new Taxes and raised the old ones but that which most reflected on his Reputation and blemished him with the character of a covetous person was that he decimated the Prelates and laid new impositions on the Clergy but to do this Pope justice and give him his due never was any more generous or munificent in his gifts or more delighted to do good offices than this for he freely and at his own charge maintain'd Andrew Paleologo Prince of the Morea with Leonard di Focco Despor of Albania who had been deposed and exterminated their Dominions by the Turk he likewise with great magnificence and courtesie treated the Queens of Cyprus and Bosna whom the Turk had forced to abandon their Dominions and fly for refuge under his protection Also when the Kings of Denmark Swedeland Norway and Gothland with the Dukes of Saxony and Calabria being moved and guided by their Devotion came to visit the Roman Sea he received them with great State and treated them with a magnificence becoming Kings And when in the year of Jubile Ferdinand of Aragon King of Naples came to gain Indulgences at Rome he remitted to him the yearly Tribute which he was obliged to pay for that Kingdom and in lieu thereof contented himself with the yearly acknowledgment of a White Horse with its Furniture which is continued to this day And farther to demonstrate his generous and great Soul he re-built the Hospital of S. Spirito for maintainance and education of young Children he built the Church of S. Mary of Peace he adorned the Basilicon of S. Peter with new Windows making the Church more lightsome and pleasant than before he repaired the Palace of Lateran as also the Churches of the Holy Apostles with several other Churches The Pons Janicularis or the Bridg of Janicula being ruined he took up all the Stones and built an other Bridg over Tybur in the place thereof which since that time is called by the name of Ponte Sesto or the Bridg of Sixtus He cleared all the Common sewers of Rome making conveyances for the sullage of the City to run into the Tybur he repaired many Aquaeducts and Fountains and brought the brazen Statue of M. Aurelius from an obscure place and erected it in the more open Area of the Capitol It was he that reduced the Vatican Library into such a condition as hath made it famous through all the world for he not only brought Books thither from all parts of Europe but left also certain Rents and Revenues for the increase of them with Pensions also to the Library-keepers and under-Officers On the Pedestal of his Statue in the Library these Verses are written Templa Domum expositis vicos fora maenia pontes Virgineam Trivii quod reparatis aquam Prisc a licet Nautis Statuas dare commoda Portus Et Vaticanum cingere Christe jugum Plus tamen urbs debet nam quae squalore latebat Cernitur in celebri Bibliotheca loco In short there was nothing which tended to the glory and ornament of the City which was neglected by him and such was his zeal and power in defence of the Privileges of the Church that he would never suffer them to be infringed nor did any Prince offer him an injury or indignity which he did not return with due revenge As for instance appears by the War he made in confederacy with Venice and Genoua against the Duke of Ferrara and his Allies the which he managed with so much heat that when the Venetians made a separate Peace without his consent or approbation he so highly resented it that it brought him to a fit of the Gout which increased on him with that violence that he died thereof on the 13th of August 1484. having held the Pontifical Sea for the space of 13 years and four days having arrived the age of 70 years and 22 days At
which though it be a year of repentance yet it is also a year of Jubilee and of spiritual joy and comfort Now because the love of Christ for whom we are Ambassadours to all Nations constraineth us and the zeal which we have for your Souls doth consume our spirit we exhort and beseech you all by the blood which Jesus Christ hath spilt and by his coming in the last day of Judgment especially at this time of Jubilee That every one be converted from the evil of his way and turn unto the Lord with a pure heart and good conscience and faith unfeigned because the Lord is gracious and merciful full of compassion and long-suffering Wherefore according to the duty of our Pastoral Office we do call and chearfully invite you Our dear Children in Christ namely the Emperor the Kings and Catholick Princes with all the faithful of Christ wheresoever dispersed in the most remote parts of the World that they would be present at this joyful solemnity of the Jubilee though we cannot but at the same time be miserably afflicted with consideration of the great numbers of people who have separated themselves from the union and Communion of the Catholick and Apostolical Church within the last Age of one hundred years past did with one mind and heart celebrate this holy year of Jubilee for the eternal salvation of whose souls we would gladly and willingly spill our blood and give our lives Wherefore you who are obedient Children and Catholick and beloved of God and us Venite Ascendite ad locum quem elegit Dominus Come unto this spiritual Jerusalem and to this holy Mount of Sion not according to the letter but Allegorically and by spiritual understanding because that from this place the holy light of Evangelical truth hath from the first beginning of the Primitive Church been diffused through all Nations This is that happy City whose faith the Apostle praises and commends in these words I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole World This is the City where the Chief of the Apostles Peter and Paul did vent their Doctrine with the effusion of their blood that Rome being the sacred Seat of St. Peter might become the capital City of the World the Mother of all the Faithful and the Majesty of all the other Churches Here is the Rock of Faith placed and from hence springs the fountain of the Priestly unity from hence are derived the clear streams of the purest Doctrine here are found the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven with full power to bind and loose and lastly here is conserved that Treasure of Indulgences which shall never fail of which the Roman High Priest is the principal keeper and Dispenser And though he doth dispense some part hereof every year as occasion doth require yet more especially in this Holy year of Jubilee a greater affluence thereof is dispersed when according to the solemnity of the most antient Churches of Rome when the gates are opened by the pious and liberal hands that so entering into the presence of God with joy and having cast off from their shoulders the yoke of sin and the tyranny of the Enemy you may be reconciled unto God by means of the Sacrament and therefore come you as true Children Heirs of Heaven and Possessours of Paradise Given at Rome near St. Peters in the year of our Lord's Incarnation 1599. June 18. in the 8th year of our Pontificate The Copy of this Letter being sent to all Christian Princes in communion with the Court of Rome the Pope busily employed himself in making preparations and provisions for entertainment of Pilgrims who in the following year of Jubilee crouded in those numbers to gain the Indulgences and Pardons as of Men and Women the account made amounted unto three Millions of Persons But the Pope was not so busily employed in his preparations for the Jubilee but that he attended to the decision of the Controversie of the Marquisat of Saluces which as we have said was at the late Treaty at Vervins put into his hands and power to be concluded and determined in the space of one year In order unto which the President Bruslard was dispatched to Rome in behalf of the French King and the Count d' Archonas of the Duke of Savoy and both met there about the beginning of this year 1599. the Cause being pleaded before the Pope both Parties pressed the Arguments so home in favour of the right of their respective matters that the Pope esteeming the Point difficult to be decided required some longer time before he would undertake to pass his judgment and in the interim proposed that the Marquisat should remain in his hands as a Depositary and an indifferent person between both Parties And though neither the King nor the Duke were well pleased with these delatory proceedings yet the King was contented to allow two Months for such determination but the Duke who had been possessed by the suggestions of his Minister at Rome that the Pope required to be the Depositary with design to bestow the Marquisat on one of his Nephews conceived such a jealousie of the Pope's intentions that he began to decline the Umpirage which when the Pope understood he with great indignation refused to interpose farther resolving neither to meddle with the Arbitration nor the Deposite The King who knew well in what manner to do right unto himself by his Sword was not much concerned for the rejection which the Pope had made of the Arbitration and the Duke being contented to have his Cause pass by other formalities than that of the Consistory judged his right more secure and more easily convincing by a personal Treaty with the King himself which matter being now taken out of the hand of the Pope we leave to the temporal determination of these Princes and proceed to other matters more agreeable to this History Henry IV. of France being in good favour and correspondence with Clement VIII treated with him about obtaining a Divorce or rather a dissolution of marriage between him and Margaret Dutchess of Valois to which this Pope might perhaps be more inclinable and easie on some reflections he made on the ill consequences which the delays of the like Divorce to Henry VIII of England produced to the Papal Power The Cardinal d' Ossac with the President Monsieur de Silery having Orders to prosecute this matter in the Court of Rome represented to the Pope the state of the marriage with Queen Margaret and that though the King their Master had ever since his conversion to the Catholick Religion entertained reverend and obedient thoughts towards the Papal Sea and might on score of being the eldest Son of the Church expected more than ordinary favours yet on consideration of the Nullity of this Marriage he desired nothing more than common justice The Pope who was very desirous to favour and