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
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
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
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
followers to inhabit had disturbance given him by one Saul an Hebrew by birth and Religion whom Stilico to the foul breach of Articles had sent with a Party for that purpose It was an easie matter to surprize and disorder the Goths who little suspected any such Practices and were peaceably celebrating the Feast of Easter But the day following Alaricus engaging with them slew Saul and made an universal slaughter of his men and then changing his former course towards Gaul moves against Stilico and the Roman Army These he overcame and then after a long and grievous Siege takes the City of Rome it self Anno U. C. MCLXIIII A. C. CCCCXII Notwithstanding this Success Alaricus exercised so much Moderation and Clemency that he commanded his Soldiers to put as few to the Sword as might be and particularly to spare all that should fly for refuge to the Churches of S. Peter and S. Paul After three days Plunder he leaves the City which had suffered less damage than was thought for very little of it being burnt and marches against the Lucani and Bruti and having taken and sacked Cosenza he there dies Whereupon the Goths with one consent made his kinsman Athaulphus his Successour who returning to Rome with his Army was so wrought upon by the Emperour Honorius's Sister Galla Placidia whom he had married that he restrained his Soldiers from committing any farther outrages and left the City to its own Government He had it certainly once in his purpose to have razed to the ground the then City of Rome and to have built a new one which he would have called Gotthia and have left to the ensuing Emperours his own Name so that they should not any longer have had the Title of Augusti but Athaulphi But Placidia not only brought his mind off from that project but also prevailed with him to enter into a League with Honorius and Theodosius the second the Son of Arcadius deceased Zosimus notwithstanding all these disturbances made several Ecclesiastical Constitutions allowed the blessing of Wax-Tapers on the Saturday before Easter in the several Parishes forbad the Clergy to frequent publick Drinking-houses though allowing them all innocent liberty among themselves or any Servant to be made a Clergy-man because that Order ought to consist of none but free and ingenuous persons Whereas now not only Servants and Bastards but the vile off-spring of the most flagitious Parents are admitted to that Dignity whose Enormities will certainly at long-run prove fatal to the Church 'T is said that Zosimus at this time sent Faustinus a Bishop and two Presbyters of the City to the Council of Carthage by them declaring that no Debates concerning Ecclesiastical Affairs ought to be managed any where without permission of the Church of Rome During his Pontificate lived Lucius a Bishop of the Arian Faction who wrote certain Books upon several Subjects Diodorus also Bishop of Tarsus during his being a Presbyter of Antioch was a great Writer following the sense of Eusebius but not able to reach his style for want of skill in secular Learning Tiberianus likewise who had been accused together with Priscillian wrote an Apology to free himself from the suspicion of Heresie Euagrius a man of smart and brisk parts translated into Latin the Life of S. Anthony written in Greek by Athanasius Ambrosius of Alexandria a Scholar of Didymus wrote a large Volume against Apollinarius At this time flourished those two famous Bishops Theophilus of Alexandria and John of Constantinople for the greatness of his Eloquence deservedly surnamed Chrysostom who so far prevailed upon Theodorus and Maximus two Condisciples of his that they left their Masters Libanius the Rhetorician and Andragatius the Philosopher and became Proselytes to Christianity This Libanius lying now at the point of death being asked whom he would leave sucsessour in his School made answer that he desired no other than Chrysosiom were he not a Christian. At this time the Decrees of the Council of Carthage being sent to Zosimus were by him confirmed and thereby the Pelagian Heresie condemned throughout the World Some tell us that Petronius Bishop of Bononia and Possidonius an African Bishop had now gain'd a mighty reputation for Sanctity that Primasius wrote largely against the Heresies to Bishop Fortunatus and that Proba Wife to Adelphus the Proconsul composed an Historical Poem of our Saviours Life consisting wholly of Virgilian Verse though others attribute the honour of this performance to Eudocia Empress of Theodosius the younger But certainly the most learned person of the Age he lived in was Augustinus Saint Ambrose his Convert Bishop of Hippo in Africa a most strenuous Defender of the Christian Faith both in Discourse and Writing As for Zosimus having ordained ten Presbyters three Deacons eight Bishops he died and was buried in the Via Tiburtina near the body of Saint Laurence the Martyr December 26th He sat in the Chair one year three months twelve days and by his death the See was vacant eleven days BONIFACIUS I. BONIFACE a Roman Son of Jucundus a Presbyter was Bishop in the time of Honorius At this time a great dissention 〈◊〉 among the Clergy for though Boniface was chosen Bishop in one Church of the City 〈◊〉 one Party yet Eulalius was elected and set up against him by a contrary Faction in another This when Honorius who was now at Milain came to understand at the Solicitation of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Placidia and her Son Valentiman they were both banish'd the City But about seven months after 〈◊〉 was re-call'd and confirmed in the Pontifical Dignity In the mean time Athaulphus dying Vallias was made King of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being terrified by the Judgments inflicted on his People restored Placidia whom he had always used very honourably to her Brother 〈◊〉 and entred into a League with him giving very good Hostages for the confirmation of it as did also the Alanes Vandals and 〈◊〉 This I lacidia Henorius gave in marriage to Constantius whom he had declared 〈◊〉 who had by her a Son named Valentinian but she being afterwards banish'd by her Brother went into the East with her Sons 〈◊〉 and Valentinian Our Bonisace ordained that no Woman though a Nun should touch the consecrated Pall or Incense and that no Servant or Debtor should be admitted into the Clergy Moreover he built an Oratory upon the ground where S. Felicitas the Martyr was buried and very much adorned her Tomb. During his Pontificate flourished divers famous men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Presbyter Son of Eusebius born at a Town called 〈◊〉 seated in the Confines of Dalmatia and Hungaria but demolished by the Goths It is not to my purpose to rehearse how great benefit the Church of God reaped from his Life and Writings since he is known to have been a person of extraordinary 〈◊〉 and his Works are had in so great honour and esteem that no Author is more read by learned Men than he He died at Bethlehem on the last day of
Father Zeno. In the mean time Odoacer invading Italy with a great Army of his Heruli and Turingians conquers and takes Prisoner Orestes a Noble Roman near Pavia and then causes him to be put to death in the sight of his whole Army at Placentia Hereupon Zeno pitying the calamitous state of Italy speedily sends Theodoric King of the Goths a man whom he had before very much esteem'd with a mighty force to oppose him who having in a pitch'd Battel not far from Aquileia near the River Sontio overcome Odoacer's Captains and having oftentimes the like success against Odoacer himself at length he besieg'd him three years together in Ravenna and reduc'd him to that extremity that with the advice of John the Bishop of that City he consented to admit Theodoric as his Partner in the Empire But the day following both Odoacer and his Son were contrary to promise and agreement slain by which means Theodorick possess'd himself of the Government of all Italy without any opposition In the mean time Simplicius dedicated the Churches of S. Stephen the Protomartyr on Mons Caolius and that of S. Andrew the Apostle not far from S. Maries the Great in which there appear to this day some footsteps of Antiquity which I have many a time beheld with sorrow for their neglect to whose charge such noble piles of building now ready to fall are committed That this Church was of his founding appears by certain Verses wrought in Mosaick work which I have seen in it He dedicated also another Church to S. Stephen near the Licinian Palace where the Virgins body had been buried He also appointed the Weekly-waitings of the Presbyters in their turns at the Churches of S. Peter S. Paul and S. Laurence the Martyr for the receiving of Penitents and baptizing of Proselytes Moreover he divided the City among the Presbyters into five Precincts or Regions the first of S. Peter 2. S. Paul 3. S. Laurence 4. S. John Lateran 5. S. Maria Maggiore He also ordained that no Clergy-man should hold a Benefice of any Lay-man a Constitution which was afterwards confirm'd by Gregory and other Popes At this time the Bishop of Rome's Primacy was countenanced by the Letters of Acacius Bishop of Constantinople and Timothy a learned man in which they beg him to censure Peter Mog Bishop of Alexandria an assertour of the Eutychian Heresie Which was accordingly done but with Proviso that he should be receiv'd into the Communion of the Church again if within a certain time prefix'd he retracted his Errours Some say that during his Pontificate lived Remigius Bishop of Reims who as History tells us baptized Clodoveus the French King Now also Theodorus Bishop 〈◊〉 Syria wrote largely against Eutyches and compiled ten Books of 〈◊〉 History in imitation of Eusebius Coesariensis At this time almost all Egypt was infected with the heretical Doctrine of Dioscorus concerning whom we have already spoken and Huneric King of the Vandals a Zealot 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 Faction raised a Persecution against the Orthodox Christians in Afrique Upon this Eudocia Niece to Theodosius a Catholick Lady and Wife to Huneric left her heretical Husband upon pretence of a Pilgrimage to Hierusalem to perform a Vow which she had made but upon so long a Journey the effect of which prov'd intolerable to the tenderness of her sex she there soon died 'T is said that at this time were found the bones of the Prophet Elisha which were carried into Alexandria as also the body of S. Barnabas the Apostle together with the Gospel of S. Matthew written with his own hand As for Simplicius himself having by his Constitutions and Donations very muchpromoted the interest of the Church of Rome and having at several Ordinations made fifty eight Presbyters eleven Deacons eighty six Bishops he died and was buried in S. Peter's Church on the second day of March He was inthe Chair fifteen years one month seven days and by his death the See was vacant twenty six days FELIX III. FELIX by birth a Roman Son of Felix a Presbyter was Bishop from the time of Odoacer whose power in Italy lasted fourteen years till the Reign of Theodoric Who though he made Ravenna the seat of the Empire yet the City of Rome was much indebted to his Bounty For he re-built the Sepulchre of Octavius exhibited shews to the people according to ancient custom repaired the publick Buildings and Churches and indeed neglected nothing that became a good and generous Prince And to confirm and establish the Empire he married Andefleda Daughter of Clodoveus King of France and gave in marriage his Sister to Huneric King of the Vandals and one of his Daughters to Alaric King of the Visigoths and the other to King Gondibate Felix now fully understanding that Peter Mog the Eutychian who had been banished for his heretical Opinions upon the complaint and at the desire of Acacius was by the same Acacius recall'd from Exile suspected that there was a private Agreement between them and therefore excommunicated them both by the authority of the Apostolick See which was confirm'd in a Synod of the Orthodox But three years after the Emperour Zeno testifying that they were penitent Felix sends two Bishops Messenus and Vitalis with full power upon enquiry into the truth of their repentance to absolve them These Legates arriving at the City Heraclea were soon corrupted with bribes and neglected to act according to their Commission Whereupon Felix out of a just indignation having first called a Council upon that occasion excommunicates them too as Simoniacks and betrayers of the trust reposed in them Though Messenus who confess'd his fault and begg'd time to evince the sincerity of his repentance had it accordingly granted him The same Felix also built the Church of S. Agapetus near that of S. Laurence and ordained that Churches should be consecrated by none but Bishops 'T is said that at this time Theodorus a Greek Presbyter wrote against the Hereticks a Book of the Harmony of the Old and new Testament and some reckon among the men of Note in this Age the Learned and famous Divine John Damascene who wrote the Book of Sentences imitating therein Gregory Nazianzene Gregory Nyssene and Didymus of Alexandria and compiled also certain Treatises of Medicin in which he gives an account of the Causes and Cure of Diseases Our Felix having at two Decembrian Ordinations made twenty eight Presbyters five Deacons thirty Bishops died and was buried in the Church of S. Paul He sat in the Chair eight years eleven months seventeen days and by his death the See was vacant five days GELASIUS I. GELASIUS an African Son of Valerius was Bishop of Rome at the time when Theodoric made War upon his Wives Father Clodoveus the French King for that he had slain his Daughter's Husband Alaric King of the Visigoths and seiz'd Gascoigne They were both allied to him by marriage but the cause of Alaric seem'd to him the more just
whereupon the Senate and people of Rome being divided into two Parties the dissention rose to such an heighth that to compromise the business a Council was by mutual consent called at Ravenna where the whole matter being discuss'd in the presence of Theodoric he at length determined on the side of Symmachus and confirmed him in the Pontificate who by a singular act of Grace made his very Competitour Laurence Bishop of Nocera Yet about four years after some busie and factious Clergy-men being countenanced and assisted by Festus and Probinus two of the Senatorian Order set up for Laurence again upon which King Theodoric was so highly displeas'd that he sends Peter Bishop of 〈◊〉 to Rome to depose them both and possess himself of the Chair But Symmachus called a Synod of an hundred and twenty Bishops wherein with great presence of mind he purg'd himself of all things 〈◊〉 to his Charge and by a general suffrage obtained the banishment of Laurence and Peter who had occasion'd all this mischief Hereupon so great a 〈◊〉 arose in the City that multitudes both of the Clergy and Laity were slain in all parts not so much as the Monastick Virgins escaping In this Tumult Gordianus a Presbyter and a very good man was kill'd in the Church of S. Peter ad Vincula nor had an end been put to slaughter here had not Faustus the Consul in compassion to the Clergy appear'd in Arms against Probinus the Author of so great a Calamity After this the Christians having some small respite Clodoveus banishing the Arian Hereticks restores the Orthodox and Constitutes Paris the Capital City of his Kingdom Symmachus at this time expell'd the Manichees out of the City and caused their Books to be burn'd before the Gates of S. John Lateran Several Churches he built from the ground and several others he repair'd and beautifi'd That of S. Andrew the Apostle near S. Peters he entirely built enriching it with divers Ornaments of Silver and Gold and he adorn'd S. Peters it self and its Portico with chequer'd Marble making the steps of Ascent into it more and larger than they were before Moreover he erected Episcopal Palaces He built also the Church of S. Agatha the Martyr in the Via Aurelia and that of S. Pancrace He repaired and adorn'd with painting the Cupola of S. Pauls and built from the foundations the Church of SS Silvester and Martin the Altars of which he very richly adorned He made also the steps that lead into the Church of S. John and S. Paul and enlarged S. Michaels He built from the ground the Oratories of Cosmus and Damianus being assisted in that work by Albinus and Glaphyras two men of principal Note Besides this near the Churches of S. Peter and S. Paul he builded two Hospitals making provision of all things necessary for the poor who should dwell in them For he was in all respects very charitable and sent supplies of Money and Cloaths to the Bishops and other Clergy in Africa and Sardinia who had suffered banishment for the profession of the true Religion He repaired the Church of S. Felicitas and the Cupola of that of S. Agnes which was decay'd and almost ready to fall He also at his own charge redeemed multitudes of Captives in several Provinces He ordained that on Sundays and the Birth-days of the Martyrs the Hymn Glory be to God on High should be sung and indeed left nothing undone which he thought might tend to the Glory of Almighty God In his time Gennadius Bishop of Marseille a great imitatour of S. Augustine did good service to the Church He wrote one Book against Heresies wherein he shews what is necessary to every man in order to his Salvation and another de viris illustribus in imitation of S. Hierom. As for Symmachus having at several Ordinations made ninety Presbyters sixteen Deacons one hundred twenty two Bishops he died and was buried in S. Peters Church July the 19th He sat in the Chair fifteen years six months twenty two days and by his death the See was vacant seven days HORMISDA I. HORMISDA the Son of Justus born at 〈◊〉 lived in the time of Theodoric and Anastasius as far as to the Consulship of Boethius and Symmachus These two upon suspicion of designing against his Government were by Theodoric at first banish'd and afterwards imprisoned Boethius during his confinement wrote several things extant to this day and translated and made Commentaries upon the greatest part of Aristotles Works He was throughly skill'd in the Mathematicks as his Books of Musick and Arithmetick clearly demonstrate But at length both he and Symmachus were put to death by the order of Theodoric Some tell us that the cause of Boethius his sufferings was the zeal he shewed in opposing the Arians who were favoured by Theodoric but I think the former Opinion to be more probable Hormisda with the advice of Theodoric held now a Provincial Synod at Rome in which the Eutychians were again condemn'd by universal consent He also sent Letters and Messengers to John Bishop of Constantinople admonishing him to renounce that Heresie and to believe there are two Natures in Christ the Divine and Humane But John continued refractory trusting to the interest he had with the Emperour Anastasius who not long after was struck dead by a Thunderbolt which was believ'd to be a just Judgment upon him both for his patronizing so pernicious an Heresie and especially for his ill usage of the Legates sent to him by Hormisda whom contrary to the Law of Nations he treated very contumeliously and sent them home in a shattered leaky Vessel ordering them to return directly into Italy without touching at any shore in Greece 'T is said that he bid them tell the Bishop that he must know it to be the part of an Emperour to Command not to obey the Dictates of the Bishop of Rome or any other These Legates were Euodius Bishop of Pavia Fortunatus Bishop of Catina Venantius a Presbyter of Rome and Vitalis a Deacon Anastasius dying in the twenty seventh year of his Reign Justine a Patron of the Catholick Faith succeeds him who forthwith sends Ambassadours to the Bishop of Rome to acknowledge the Authority of the Apostolick See and to desire the Bishop to interpose his Ecclesiastical Power for the setling the peace of the Church Whereupon Hormisda with the consent of Theodoric sends Germanus Bishop of Capua John and Blandus Presbyters and Felix and 〈◊〉 Deacons his Legates to Justine by whom they were receiv'd with all imaginable expressions and testimonies of Honour 〈◊〉 Respect John the Bishop of Constantinople with multitudes of the Orthodox Clergy and other Persons of principal Note going forth in Complement to meet them and congratulate their Arrival But the followers of Acacius dreading their coming had shut themselves up in a very strong Church and upon Consultation what to do sent Messengers to the Emperour declaring that they would by no means subscribe to
with all the low part between Via lata Campidoglio and the Aventine was so much under water that another deluge was feared many houses were born down by it Trees forc'd up by the roots and Corn that was sown was quite wash'd away and the same happened again the same year in December To make up these losses or to make them more tolerable the Pope omitted no manner of good Office or kindness to the Citizens At this time Michael Son of Theophilus Emperor of Constantinople sent Embassadors with Presents to Rome to visit the Apostolick Sea and his Holiness The Presents were a large Paten and Chalice of Gold with precious stones of great value This was that Michael who having taken Basilius to be his Partner in the Empire was murdered by him that he might reign alone His Embassadors were kindly received and sent home with Presents Nicolas being earnestly intent upon the Conservation of the Pontifical Dignity deprived John Arch Bishop of 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 to obey a Citation from the Apostolic Chair to answer some accusations Whereupon he goes to Pavia and procures of the Emperor Lewis commendatory Letters to the Pope and to his Embassadors that they should get leave that Arch-bishop John should have a safe conduct to come to Rome and plead his own Cause which the Pope readily granted And John in a great Convention of Prelates being allow'd liberty of Speech onely confess'd himself guilty and beg'd pardon of the Pope and of all that were present By which Confession and the Intercession of the Auditors the Pope was persuaded to receive him into favour upon these Conditions That he should 〈◊〉 his Error before the Synod that he should promise to come to Rome once a year if possible that he should not be capable of consecrating any Bishop in Romagna however canonically elected without leave first obtain'd from the Sea Apostolick and that he should not hinder any of those Bishops from coming to Rome as often as they pleased that he should not introduce any exaction custom or usage contrary to the sacred Canons and lastly that under the penalty of Anathema he should not alter or meddle with the treasure of holy Church without the consent of the Pope nor should without the same allowance receive any thing secular These holy Institutions were so highly approved by the whole Synod that thrice they all shouted Righteous is the judgment of the supreme Prelate just is the decree of the Universal Bishop All Christians agree to this wholsom Institution We all say think and judg the same thing Then John in the sight of them all took his Oath and gave it under his hand that he would observe the Articles Thus the Convocation was dissolved and John return'd to Ravenna The Pope having overcome this trouble rebuilt the Church of our Lady then call'd the Old afterwards the New Church and adorned it with excellent Paintings He by Letters and good Admonitions converted the King of Bulgaria to the Christian Faith with all his Realm to whom he sent Bishops and Priests to confirm the young 〈◊〉 driving out Photinus who had craftily disseminated erroneous Opinions among them He procured a Peace between Lewis the Emperor and Andalisio Duke of Benevent and repelled the Saracens who had made an Incursion as far as the same Benevent Lastly with the consent of the Emperor he decreed that no Emperor or other Lay-man should thrust himself into any Convocation of the Clergy except the debate was concerning matters of Faith and then his Opinion was that they might reasonably be present 'T is said that at this time S. Cyril brought the body of S. Clement from the Chersonese in Pontus to Rome and plac'd it in the Church now called S. Clement's where a little while after himself also was buried Nicolas now who was a great exemplar of all the Virtues one man could be endued with died the seventh year ninth month and thirteenth day of his 〈◊〉 and was buried according to his last Will in S. Peter's Church porch Some Authors say that the Sea was then vacant eight years seven months and nine days HADRIAN II. HADRIAN the second a Roman Son of Talarus a Bishop was a familiar friend of Pope Sergius who having once given him forty Julio's when he came home he gave them to his Steward to give to the Beggers and poor strangers that were at his door which the Steward going to do saw the number was so great that 't would not serve a quarter of them and so he return'd and told Hadrian Who hereupon takes the money and coming to the poor folks gave every one three Julio's and reserv'd to himself as many for his own use at which Miracle the Steward being astonish'd Dost thou see says Hadrian how good and bountiful the Lord is to those that are liberal and charitable to the Poor By this and other Virtues he grew into so high estimation with all men that when the Consultation was held for making a new Pope they unanimously elected him and brought him against his will from the Church of S. Mary ad Proesepe to the Lateran and immediately created him Pope nor regarding the consent of any person in a proceeding so tumultuary which gave great offence to the Embassadors of the Emperor who came on purpose upon this occasion but could not as they ought interpose the Imperial Authority in this Election But satisfaction was made to them by remonstrating that it was impossible in so great a tumult to moderate the violent inclinations of the multitude they were desired therefore to concur with the Clergy and People and according to custom to congratulate as Pope this excellent man whom they had chosen This at last the Embassadors did though they saw plainly that the Clergy and People did arrogate to themselves the full power of creating a Pope without expecting the consent of any Temporal Prince and this perhaps in order to enlarge the Liberties of holy Church by making it a Custom Soon after arriv'd Letters from Lewis highly applauding this action of the Romans and commending them that they had proceeded so religiously and sincerely in this Affair without waiting for the approbation of any one whose ignorance of the fitness of the Canditates might render them incompetent Judges in the case For how said he can it be that one that is a Foreiner and a Stranger should be able in another Countrey to distinguish who is most worthy To the Citizens therefore does it properly belong and to those who have had familiarity with and knowledg of the Competitors Hadrian then being made Pope took diligent care of all matters relating to Religion and by word example and authority both of himself and his Predecessors exhorted all men to good and holy lives particularly he shew'd himself a strenuous desender of those that had been oppressed by Injustice and the power of great men He caused a Council to be called at Constantinople where Photius a seditious
to have that question put on the tryal and notwithstanding the high and passionate words which intervened between them and the Arch-Bishops of Spain they positively forbad the Divines to treat farther on that Subject Howsoever after the Legats had considered that the Authority of these great Men had so deeply impressed this Opinion in the minds of the inferiour Clergy as was not to be defaced by the single dash of an over-ruling Power they appointed four Divines to confute the Arguments of the Spanish Prelats and to prove that the Bishops held their Power from the Pope and not immediately from Jesus Christ and that Episcopacy was no otherwise of Divine Right than as the whole Order of that Hierarchy was inherent in the Pope as the Head and source from whence all Ecclesiastical Power was derived by virtue of which it was in him onely to ordain Bishops over particular Churches to augment enlarge or restrain their jurisdiction and to depose suspend and transfer their trust and dignity unto others as he in his wisdom and infallible judgment should determine and command In defence of this Opinion Lainez General of the Jesuits an Orator of particular Note was appointed in a set Speech and at a Congregation purposely called to hear him on this question and thereupon such liberty was given him of Discourse that he declaimed for the space of two hours without any interruption alledging every thing which with any appearance of colour might be deduced from Scripture or the Antient Fathers all which was concluded with the general Applause of the Papal Party whilest others of the contrary Opinion were offended and netled in the highest degree Amongst the rest the Bishop of Paris at the next Congregation spake high and protested publickly against this Doctrine which as he said was invented by Cajetan who thereby merited the reward of a Cardinals Hat that the gentle Government of the Church was degenerated into Tyranny that the Spouse of Jesus Christ was made a Slave and prostituted to the Arbitrary pleasure of a single Person That for his part he was weary of those affronts and contempts which were daily offered to the Episcopal Dignity on which every petty Monk began to trample nor could he longer support the neglects which the Order of begging Friers put on that Sacred Function nor the insolences of the upstart Company of Jesuits who being neither Seculars nor Regulars but a mix'd composition of both acknowledged no other Jurisdiction but their own All which was delivered with such heat and vehemence as moved the bloud and farther incensed the minds of all those who were already enflamed with Resentments against the Speech of Lainez so that there was a common murmur through the whole Council universally concluding that the Speech of the Bishop of Paris was a clear refutation of all the frothy Oratory delivered by the General of the Jesuits howsoever the Legats still persisted in their Assertion and for support thereof were forming a new Party against the Spanish Prelats But these Disputes and heats were for a while suppressed by the many instances which were made by the Spaniards French Germans and others for a Reformation desiring that all other Debates and Controversies being laid aside the Council would be wholly intent to that great work of rectifying abuses which was the onely means that could produce peace and quiet in the Church But the Legats withstood this shock and endeavoured by delays and Artifices to evade this Assault made upon the Papal Power on which they dreaded the storm which the Cardinal of Lorain would make thereupon for he being now on his Journey to Trent gave out in all places through which he travelled that his Design was to abate the greatness and pride of the Pope and to ease the People of their Oppressions and Tyrannies which they suffered by the Court of Rome This Cardinal was a Person of great Power Interest and Revenue in France and therefore impatient of subjection to a Foreiner and desirous himself to be Pope or supreme Head of the Gallican Church to break all these Measures and countermine these Plots the Legats proposed several and different means sometimes it was resolved that the Pope should come to Bolegna that his near residence might over-awe the Council but not knowing how this might operate the next expedient was to adjourn the Council to some other place to proâ—ogue it for some certain time and in fine if all should fail then to dissolve it But this Remedy seeming too violent it was judged more convenient to suspend for a while the ordinary course of the Congregations hoping that with time the spirits and heats which Lainez Discourse had raised would abate and be allayed But this Remedy produced a contrary effect for the Prelats being at leisure banded together and dividing into several Factions and Meetings formed as many Councils as were Parties or interests Thus seven days passing without Congregations the Spaniards grew weary of the delays and with a haughty and arrogant manner associating themselves together came to the Legats and possitively demanded that Episcopacy should be declared to be by Divine Right to oppose this Spanish stiffness natural to the humour of that Nation eighteen or twenty Prelats were set up to contradict this Demand and require that no Determination should be made of that Controversie So that the Legats making use of these divisions to excuse themselves not being able to satisfie both Parties all things remained in suspense and in the mean time there was nothing but confusion and tumult and Consults how and in what manner to make Parties and Interests which gave the Legats just cause to fear the ill effect which these Disorders might produce After this intermission of Congregations on the 3d. of November they began again to meet when many Expedients were proposed to accommodate the Disputes which made so great a noise namely Whether Episcopacy and the Residence of Bishops in their respective Dioceses were instituted by Divine Right As to the latter the Cardinal of Mantoua one of the Legats did propose to have the question remain undecided but howsoever that every Bishop should be obliged under severe penalties to reside in his Diocess it being not material whether such residence were Jure Divino or not provided that every person observed and performed his duty therein But the first question was controverted with more passion the Bishop of Segovia averring that the Order of Episcopacy was declared by the Council held under Julius III. to be Jure Divino Upon reading the Act though the Roman Party would not dare to say that the Council had erred in that Point yet they endeavoured to evade the force of it by distinguishing between the Order abstractively and the Jurisdiction of it During these Contests the Cardinal of Lorain arrived at Trent where he made his entry on Horse-back with a great Train and Pomp supported between the two Cardinals of Mantoua and Seripande who were
such use of his Trade that all the Popes his Predecessours for above fifty years before had not thundered out so many Briefs Monitories and Excommunications as he had done in the space onely of five years In order to this design of advancing the Ecclesiastical Power to which all his thoughts were applyed he constituted a new Congregation at Rome whose business it was to contrive ways and means to amplifie and enlarge the Authority and Dominion of the Church and all the Nuntios or Ministers which he sent to Christian Princes were all prepared and composed of the same humour having special Instructions to cry up the Vertue and sacred force of the Ecclesiastical Authority amongst these Champions none was more zealous than Oratio Mathei Bishop of Gierace whom the Pope had made his Nuntio at Venice where one day making a Speech before the Doge and Council he had the impertinence or rather the impudence to say That Alms-deeds and other works of Charity and Piety and frequent Communion in the Holy Sacrament and the most sublime works of Christian devotion ad nihilum valent were all nothing unless they were attended with respect and favour to the Ecclesiastical liberty and authority To which he added That the Pope had commanded him to persist in this Opinion to the death and accordingly he was resolved to endure martyrdom rather than be remiss or cold in advancement of the Papal Authority And these words he delivered with such arrogance and supercilious affectation that he seemed to say I am Pope in this place and expect no Reply or Contest but onely Obedience Howsoever at first for several Months this design was not prosecuted with such heat as the importance of the matter did require for we must allow some abatement and allay for the joy and satisfaction which the Pope would take within himself for his late Atchievements And likewise upon farther thoughts he judged it not convenient to erect the Congregation he designed for that it would be a means to lay open and discover his contrivances and make Princes more jealous a proof whereof was given by the Congregation which was constituted for management of the Affairs of England which served onely to give better light and aim to King James than reigning and to render him more watchful and observing over all the actions and designs of the Papists in England And moreover the Pope having passed some few days of joy after his Inauguration was possessed with a melancholly caused by an hypocondriacal Fancy that he should speedily depart this life which gave some retardment for a while to the heat of his actions and indeed the ground of his apprehension proceeded from a common report about Rome that the Image of the Virgin of Subiaco had sweated which commonly fore-runs the death of Popes also a Dutch Astrologer had predicted that Clement VIII should die in March and that after him Leo and Paul should succeed and both Reign for a short time The thoughts hereof so disturbed and perplexed his mind that for the space of five Months he could not apply himself to any business of moment until in the Month of September certain of his Friends being desirous to cure this melancholly assembled all the Astrologers and Diviners together in the House of the Pope's Brothers where having had a Consultation they all concluded that there had been certain black and unhappy Influences which threatned the life of the Pope but being now past and blown over there remained nothing but chearful and auspitious Omens which promised long life and happiness and great successes unto him Thus being relieved of his Melancholly his thoughts were at liberty to reassume the design to advance the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction in order to which his first beginning was to persuade the King that the Council of Trent might be received in France In Spain he laboured to gain an exemption for the Jesuits that they might be freed from payment of their Tenths At Naples he endeavoured to have had the Marquess of Morcone called the Regent of Ponte sent to Rome for condemning a Book-seller to the Gallies for printing libellous Pamphlets the which he pretending to belong to the Inquisition was an encroachment on the Ecclesiastical Power and therefore merited the Censure and punishment of the Church He also took away certain Rents and Benefices belonging to the religious Order of Malta and conferred them on Cardinal Borghese who was his Nephew by the Sisters side called Scipio of the Family of Caffarelli a youth of twenty three years of age But these and other matters of this nature made no great noise and only served to open the gate or way to particulars of greater importance the which soon afterwards happened in two considerable Instances The first related to the Republick of Luca which observing that many of their Citizens having professed the Protestant Religion were retired from their Habitations and Country had in the times of former Popes forbidden and interdicted them from all Commerce or correspondence with their fellow-Citizens the which Act though well approved by the Pope to be in it self both pious and commendable yet he pretended that such Act of Interdiction belonged to the Ecclesiastical and not to the Civil Power and therefore required that the same should be cancelled and made void that so place and room might be opened for the Censure of the Church The second related to the City of Genoua where at the Jesuits Colledg an Oratory or Chappel was set up for Christian exercises and here the Citizens of this Congregation agreed amongst themselves to favour none with their Votes at the Election of Magistrates but such as were entered and enrolled in this Confraternity This resolution being made known to the Supreme Rulers of the City they immediately dissolved the Congregation not knowing what might be the ill effects and consequences of such Sedition This and other matters of like nature were ill resented by the Pope as encroachments on the Ecclesiastical liberty wherefore he commanded that such Orders be reversed and if not then he threatned them with Censures and Excommunications But the Pope began to deal more roundly with the State of Venice for being very urgent with them to assist the Emperor with Money towards his Wars against the Turks in Hungary he exacted it in such a manner as Kings and Emperors require contributions from their Subjects which though the Venetians could not digest without secret resentments yet their Answer was with much modesty That though the Senate would gladly contribute towards a War against the Turk yet being at high charge and expence to conserve their own State and secure themselves against those fears and jealousies which were given them by their Neighbours they could not apply their nerves and sinews of War to any design but what tended to their own security at home This Answer seemed very strange to the Pope who had learned from the doctrine of the modern Casuists That Popes might lay
indifferency between the Pope and the Republick serving God and Mammon or otherwise should have intimation to depart The which Order was signified to them by the Patriarchal Vicar with positive Orders immediately to depart and to consign into his hands all the Plate Vestments and goods belonging to their Church and in like manner Orders were given to all Governours to execute the same Decree in their respective jurisdictions This Command being signified to the Jesuits they assembled all their Votaries into their Church and gathered great Contributions from them and persuaded the Capucins that when they departed they should march two and two in a rank as in Procession with a Crucifix on the breast of every one which perhaps might move some disturbance in the minds of the Commonalty who beholding so many Crucifixes departing from them might apprehend also that Christ himself and the light of the Gospel was leaving their City which Opinion might be the beginning of some happy Sedition The Jesuits themselves were hastned away and forced to depart about two hours in the Night every one carrying his Christ as they called it about his Neck the People flocked in great numbers to see their departure and accompanied them to the Boats shouting and crying aloud Let them go to the Devil In divers parts of the City they had concealed and hid away the Vessels and pretious Ornaments of their Church and their best Houshold-stuff with their Library leaving their College empty and void of all Furniture whatsoever or of any thing of moment unless the Library given to them by the late Arch-bishop Lewis Molino with an other Library of prohibited Books And though the Jesuits of Venice had burnt many of their Papers yet at Padoua they left divers Copies of a certain Book containing eighteen Rules with this title Regulae aliquot servandae ut cum Orthodoxâ Ecclesiâ verè sentiamus In the seventeenth Rule of which they were commanded not to insist overmuch in their Sermons on the force and energy of the grace of God And in the third Rule they were enjoyned to believe according as the Hierarchy of the Church believed that is if the Church determined any thing to be white they should believe it so to be though the colour appeared black to the sight of their own eyes And lastly they left unto their Disciples and Votaries certain Rules whereby to govern themselves during this Interdict But though the Jesuits Capuchins and other Orders of St. Francis Reformed had abandoned Venice and were retired to other Convents in Milan Mantoua Bologna and Ferrara yet the Capuchins of Brescia and Bergamo where were no Jesuits to seduce them remained in excellent Concord and Obedience and securing themselves with that Protection which they received from the Senate remained resolute and constant to their Principles against all the Censures of Excommunication and other Spiritual penalties issued against them by their Superiours and in regard many of them were sober and learned Men they retorted all those Spiritual Arms with great force and power of argument and reason It was certainly believed at Rome that this Monitory would have produced three notable Effects First it was given for granted that all the Religious Orders would immediately abandon the Dominions of Venice by which the Interdict must of necessity have been observed Secondly That the City and People finding themselves deprived of all the Divine Offices would rise in a mutiny against the Government and compel them to give satisfaction to the Pope Thirdly That it would beget a misunderstanding amongst the Nobility and cause them to divide into several Factions towards which the Jesuits though absent did labour with all the Art and industry imaginable But the Court of Rome against their expectations finding that all matters had a contrary effect that Mass and other Offices of the Church were Celebrated without interruption that the people frequented the Churches with greater Devotion than before that the Senate were unanimous in their Counsels and the Commonalty quiet and obedient they began to repent them of this proceeding and many severely blamed the Pope for being over-rash and hasty for that though there might be reason in the merit of his Cause yet the prosecution of it was of that importance as ought to have been attempered with prudence and the consequences well weighed before matters were screwed up to that Degree as admitted of no indifferent terms or accommodation Wherefore now it concerned the Pope and Clergy to labour with Art and power of the Spiritual Arms in vindication of their Cause in order whereunto the Cardinals were set at work to prevail with the refractory Friers and Monks to leave their Dwellings and Party and come over to them promising in reward of that good Service honours and preferments in the Church and on the contrary threatned them with Censures and punishments both Spiritual and Temporal Howsoever they observed a different manner in treating with the rich Friers and the poor Mendicants For to the Poor they said that if they could not observe the Inderdict they should then depart and leave all they had for sake of the Gospel and if that were not permitted they should then seek after the glorious Crown of Martyrdom But to the Rich they thought better than to use this hard saying Durus est hic sermo for though they were commanded to observe the Interdict yet were advised not to leave or abandon their Monasteries and Revenues and the better to inculcate these persuasions Commissaries were appointed out of the same Orders privately to convey themselves into the Dominions of Venice to instil and foment this Doctrine in the minds of the Regulars but the ways were so obstructed by the diligence and watchfulness of the Governours in their respective Dominions that not a Frier durst adventure to steal in and engage in that Errand Seeing therefore that this course would not take the next expedient was to raise a dust and disturbance in the Court of forein Princes And in the first place the Jesuits who were and still are very prevalent in Poland laboured to put an affront on Foscarini Ambassadour for the Republick to that King causing two of the Gentlemen belonging to his Retinue to be disturbed at Mass and expelled the Church And the Nuntio made very warm Instances to the King that the Monitory against Venice might be affixed in all publick places of his Dominions but the King on the contrary did not onely refuse to grant this request but highly resented the late Affront offered to the two Venetian Gentlemen in satisfaction for which by the King's Order the Marshal of the Court and the Cardinal of Cracow having assembled the Friers together and duly reprehended their insolence commanding them the next day to sing High Mass in their Church to which having invited the Ambassadour they obliged the Friers to ask his Pardon for the affront offered to his Servants And farther the King with approbation of his Council
Dominion should govern and transport them from whence great confusions and bloudy Wars have arisen as the Annals of our times are able to attest In the beginning of this year a quarrel arose at Rome between the Contestabile Colonna and the Cavalier Chiaia Captain of the Pope's Guards caused by a Dispute they had for a Bank or Seat at a Comedy An other quarrel this Colonna maintained with the Ambassadour of Toscany for not resigning to him the principal place at a Visit which they made to the Princess Farnese An other quarrel he created not long after at Milan with the Prince of Avellino on occasion of a Dispute about the Title of Excellency all which had proceeded farther than to words had they been to be managed by other measures than those of wise and cautious Italians About this time the Duke of Bracciano Father of the Cardinal of that name dying at Rome the Duke of Nerula his Brother a Person of great parts and abilities succeeded to the Estate and to the Inheritance taking on himself the Title of Highness which he caused his Subjects to inscribe in all the Memorials and Writings they made to him Howsoever such as were Foreiners and independent to the Duke refused to give him other Title than that of Excellency until the Cardinal de Retz was persuaded to pass that Complement upon him and then the Prince Pamfilio and all the Princes of Rome who were in any wise considerable for Birth Riches or Power began to assume the honour of Highness to prevent which and the many Controversies which might arise from these beginnings the Pope gave Order that Title of Highness should be given to no Prince who was Vassal or Feudatary of the Church unless to the Duke of Parma onely and as to all the Families descended from Popes as also to all the Roman Barons they were not to pretend to a Title above that of Colonna and Orsina which was no other than that of Excellency In the year 1661. one Francis Borri born at Milan vented strange and unheard of Heresies and Enthusiastical Doctrines at Rome drawing unto himself many followers and Disciples by a feigned Hypocrisie and disimulation tending to sublime Notions and elevations of a spiritual Life The Doctrines he taught which he pretended to have received from Divine Inspiration were That the Blessed Virgin was really a Goddess because she was Mother of the Word Eternal which was God And to express this Mystery to his Disciples he maintained that the Blessed Virgin was the Holy Ghost Incarnate in the Womb of St. Anne And for this reason he stiled the Blessed Virgin most Holy Goddess and onely Daughter of the Most High He taught farther That in the Holy Eucharist there was not only the Natural Body of Christ but that of the Virgin Mary joined with it That besides Hell and Purgatory and Limbo there was a fourth place appointed for the receptacle of Infidels That the Book of Ecclesiastes wrote by Solomon was not Scripture but a Treatise full of Errours composed by him at the time when he remained in Original Sin And that it was not necessary to make confession of secret sins in the Ear of a Priest These and many other wild Fancies being figments formed in the hot and disturbed brain of Borri the Inquisition had no sooner notice of but they sent out Warrants to take him of which he having notice fled first to Inspruck howsoever his Heresies were examined and condemned by the Inquisition and he who was the Author of them was burnt in Effigie of which when Borri had notice he went to Strasbourg where to be revenged of the Pope he burn'd him also in Effigie Thence passing through Holland he vented a thousand chimerical Opinions at Roterdam Thence he went to Coppenhagen in Denmark where he made profession of Chymistry and wherein ha was so excellent an Operator that he created a real belief in King Frederick III. that he had the Philosopher's Stone by which he was able to turn any metal into Gold but that King dying his Son Christian V. was far from such a belief and discovering him to be an Impostor gave him five hundred Crowns and a Passport and so dismissed him from his Dominions Borri afterwards designing to travel into Turky was in Moravia on his way thither seised by the Emperour's command and sent to Rome where being sentenced by the Inquisition he was in the year 1670. condemned to perpetual imprisonment The which Story I the more willingly mention because I remember in the year 1678. to have seen him at Rome a Prisoner in the Castle of St. Angelo The Duke of Crequi who as we have said resided at Rome with character of Ambassadour Extraordinary from his most Christian Majesty was at first received and caressed with all the ceremony and respect which that Court was able to express but afterwards the Duke in the greatness of his Spirit not being able to support the pride and disdain which he observed to be lodged in the breast of Don Mario the Brother and the Cardinal Ghigi Nephew to the Pope he retired to evidence the little esteem he had for them by preferring other Cardinals before them in his Visits The Pope highly resenting this neglect and want of due respect received the Ambassadour at all his Audiences with much coldness and indifferency refusing to grant him any thing which he demanded of favour to the King his Master or his Subjects The Pope also plainly told the Ambassadour that he had deferred to make the Complement which he owed to the Ambassadress his Lady until first he had done him right in performance of that honour which was due to his Kindred and Relations Whilest this ill correspondence continued between the Pope and the Ambassadour it happened that a quarrel arose between two French men and three Corsi who were of the Pope's Guard which had lately been recruited with one hundred and fifty Soldiers of the same Country of Corsica The cause of which was this Two French Men to shew their bravery undertook to disarm the Night Petrol of three Corsi which they easily effected because the Officer which was with them commanded them not to fire their Carbines or make resistance for which default he was cashiered the Service and declared uncapable of farther Office and the Soldiers also were punished for cowardise and neglect of their duty It is reported also that Don Mario upbraided the Corsi with ignominious terms saying that they knew not how to make use of their Arms and that upon any other default of this nature he would shave their heads and send them to the Gallies The Corsi to excuse themselves laid some fault on Cardinal Imperiale the Governour who to acquit himself and recover his honour ordered the Bailiffs and Officers which he had employed to make search for some persons in a House adjoyning to the Palace of Farnese where the French Ambassadour lodged to make farther search
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
by Adoration the first is when every Cardinal writes in a Scroll of paper the name of that person whom he designs to be elected folding it into five several pages or columns On the first of which he writes these words Ego eligo in summum Pontificem Reverendissimum Dominum meum Cardinalem the which is written by the hand of the Conclavist that the Cardinal may not be discovered by his own writing On this fold two others are doubled down and some Wax dropped thereupon and sealed with some private Seal made for that purpose on the 4th page the Cardinal writes his own name and covers the same with the 5th folding Then all the Cardinals sitting in their Order on Benches in the Chappel with the Scrolls they have prepared in their hands take their turns to ascend unto the altar before which a Table is placed covered with a purple Cloth and a Chalice with a Patina or plate set thereupon On the right side of which sits the first Cardinal Bishop and on the left the first Cardinal Deacon then every one kneeling makes a short Prayer and arising puts his Scroll into the Chalice which being done and all the Cardinals returned to their places the first Cardinal Bishop takes the Chalice with his right hand and turns out all the Scrolls upon the Patina or plate which he holds in his left then setting the Chalice again on the Altar he takes the Scroll which comes first to hand and gives it to the Deacon Cardinal who reads it with an audible Voice the Cardinals noting with their pen and ink or Table-book how many Voices every person hath and the Papers being read the Master of the Ceremonies comes in with a pan of coals and burns all the papers or Scrolls so that no Man is known for which person he hath given his Vote In case any person hath gained two thirds of the number there present the election is good and he is presently declared Pope And this is the way of Scrutiny which is the most commonly used and practised in the election of Popes When the choice is not determined by Scrutiny it is then tried and proved by Access or Accessus which is performed in this manner All the Cardinals sitting in their Places one arises and goes to the Cardinal whom he designs to have elected and says Ego accedo ad Reverendissimum Dominum meum talem the which is noted by the other Cardinals as are the names of those who make the Access and those to whom they are made If two thirds agree in their Access to one person the election is determined by Access if not the next day they proceed again to the Scrutiny for it cannot be made twice in a day This way of Access seems to resemble the antient manner of giving Votes in the Senate of Rome when those that concurred in the same Opinion with an other went from his place to that side where the motion was first made whence came that saying Ire in sententiam and something we have like it in our Parliaments when the House divides it self The third way by Adoration is performed almost in the same manner as that by Access the Cardinal approaching him whom he desires to have created Pope with a profound reverence and lowly bowing but both the Access and the Adoration are to be proved and confirmed by the Scrutiny There was antiently another way of Election which was called by Compromise which was when the divisions were high and scarce determinable by the Conclave that then the Cardinals with common consent referred all their Votes to the choice of three or five Cardinals giving them power to elect any person whom all or the major part should chuse promising and obliging themselves to rest and remain satisfied with such choice by them made provided that the said election were concluded and determined within the time that a Candle lighted by the common consent of all the Conclave did last and continue Hereupon if any election were made during such time the person so chosen was acknowledged for Pope and Universal Bishop Moreover there is another way of election called by Inspiration that is when the Cardinals are Assembled in the Chappel and that every one hath taken his place according to his degree and order Then the first Bishop arises and in a short Speech exhorts the Fathers to provide such a person for Government of the Church as by his Wisdom and Sanctity may be capable to sustain so great a burden Then he demands of them the manner by which they are pleased to proceed whether by Compromise or by Scrutiny telling them that if his Opinion and Vote might prevail he would chuse no other than and accordingly did elect him for Supreme Bishop and Head of the Universal Church If in case all then present or at least two thirds of the number did concur in such person so nominated he was then without farther process or Scrutiny canonically elected Pope Which manner of election was frequently practised amongst the Antients and was called by Inspiration or designation of the Holy Ghost The Pope being legally chosen by any of the foregoing Methods he is conducted into the Sacristia or Vestry where being disrobed by the Cardinal-Deacons of his own Habit he is clothed in his Pontificalibus or Papal Vestments and being thence brought forth with his Mitre on his Head adorned with Gold and Jewels into the Chappel he is seated on the Altar where the Cardinals perform the ceremony of Adoration to him every one in his order kissing his feet hands and mouth Whilst these Ceremonies are performing all the doors and gates of the Conclave are opened at which a multitude of people appearing the Pope shews himself and blesses them And then the first Deacon Cardinal proclaims with a loud Voice to the people in these words Annuntio vobis gaudium magnum Papam habemus Reverendissimus Dominus Cardinalis electus est in Summum Pontificem elegit sibi nomen This being said the Pope descends into St. Peter's Church the Cardinals leading the way with a Cross carried before them and going directly to the High Altar he takes off his Mitre kneels and prays a while and returns thanks to God and the Blessed Apostles and then arising sits upon the Altar and the first Bishop kneels and sings Te Deum and then again the Cardinals perform their Act of Adoration kissing the feet hand and mouth of the Pope Which and the short Office being finished the Pope blesses the people again and then in the same order returns to his Apartment to take his repose and the Cardinals to their respective Lodgings The Pope being chosen for the most part changes his Name it having been an antient custom so to do and observed unfortunate to those Popes who have retained their own baptismal Names without alteration Our Platina saith That the first who began this Form was Sergius the Second who came to the
Popedom at the same time that Michael Emperour of Constantinople died This Sergius 't is said was surnamed Bocca di Porco or Hog's Snout which for shame he changed into Sergius Anno 843. and from thence came the custom down to our times that when any one is made Pope he laid by his own Name and took one of some of his Predecessours though all have not observed it Thus far are the words of Platina And since that time the Popes have commonly out of gratitude taken the Name of that Pope by whose favour he was first created Cardinal In all Histories we read of great Divisions and Factions in the Elections of Popes even in the first times when the popular tumults proceeded to the heighth of Rage and Sedition causing sometimes such difficulties in the Elections that after the decease of Nicolas the First Platina reports that some Authors say that the See of Rome was vacant eight years seven months and nine days and then Hadrian the 2d was chosen in the year 868. Afterwards in the year 1051. when Nicolas the Second had cured these riotous courses by transferring the whole power of Election into the hands of the Cardinals the Elections were then carried more smoothly indeed and with less noise but the Factions were not abated but oftentimes kept up with such Art and Interest that after the decease of Clement the 4th the differences held for the space of two years before the election of Gregory X. who was the next Successour came to be determined And now even in these days many Intrigues are managed in the Conclave before an Election can be perfected for the Emperour and the Kings of France and Spain must first be consulted and every Cardinal hath some Patron or Friend or Interest of his own to advance every one takes his measures of the person that may best suit and agree with his designs And now of late years since the Monarchy of France hath over-topped all the other Sovereignties of Christendom which depend on the Papal See that King must first be consulted and his assent taken before the Pope can be created as appears by the election of this present Pope Innocent XI In some convenient time after the Election or upon the first great Festival ensuing a day is appointed for the Pope's Coronation It would perhaps be very long and tedious in a Preface of this nature to describe distinctly all the Ceremonies thereof the particulars of which take up the space of a whole day from Morning until Night so that in the midst of them the Pope and Cardinals are constrained to take a short repose and refreshment to support the labour of the day For in the Morning early the Pope goes from his Bed-chamber into the Chamber called Papagalli where he is clothed by the Cardinal-Deacons Sub-deacons and other Officers belonging to that Chamber with a white Cassock girt about with a long Girdle over it he wears his Stole and Pluvial or Robe of a Scarlet colour with a rich Mitre on his Head set with many pretious Stones And in this Habit having the train of his Robes carried up by the Emperour or some King then present or in their absence by one of the chiefest Princes then attending at that Ceremony and a Canopy of State over his Head supported by eight Ambassadours or Nobles and the Cardinals in their Habits walking before with a Cross for their Banner they orderly proceed to St. Peter's Church where being entered and having laid aside his Mitre and prayed a while he arises and goes in the Chappel of St. Gregory otherwise called the Chappel of St. Andrew where being sate in a Chair placed there for that purpose he receives all the Cardinals with their Caps on their Heads to kiss his Hand and other Prelates to kiss his Feet then the Pope arising stands up and blesses the people after which the Sub-deacon reads the Epistle and all the rest of the Office for the Coronation which being performed the Pope vests himself with the Pontifical Habit according to the Method prescribed for those Rites According to the antient constitution it belonged only to the Bishop of Hostia to consecrate the Pope but of late years the first Cardinal Bishop performs that function when the Pope is consecrated he is anointed with Oil on his Head and on the palms of his Hands but the day of his Consecration is not always the day of his Coronation All the Ceremonies as we have said being finished and the Pope himself having celebrated the Mass they proceed then to the solemnities of the Coronation And in the first place the Pope goes to the stairs ascending to the Altar of St. Peter and St. Paul where a Throne is erected for him on which being seated he is encompassed by his Prelats and the people commanded to withdraw at some distance then the Dean-Cardinal takes off the Mitre from the Head of the Pope and places it on the left hand and having the Triara ready or the Triple Crown he sets it on his Head the people making a loud Acclamation with a Kyrie Eleison or Lord have mercy upon us Then the Dean publishes the Indulgences which the Pope is pleased to 〈…〉 and when he proclaims them on the right hand he recites them in Latin and on the left in the vulgar Language After which a Dinner is prepared for the Pope and Cardinals at the Palace of the Arch-Presbyter of St. Peter's and for the other Prelats at the Houses of the Canons and having taken their repast the Cardinals mount on their Mules and the Pope on his Horse and with a Noble train of all the Officers and Nobles in their due rank and order they march in solemn procession to the Lateran where the Pope alighting from his Horse is met by the chief Canon of the Church who offers the Cross to be kissed by him which the Dean-Cardinal taking from his hands puts it to the mouth of the Pope Then the triple Crown being taken from off his Head is delivered to the custody of the Auditor of the Rota who is one of the chief Justices and the Mitre is again planted on the Pope's head for the burden of the Triple Crown is so heavy with the Gold and Jewels that it is not born on the head without much trouble Platina saith That Paul the Second so delighted to see his Triple Crown studded with precious Stones that he exhausted the Treasury of the Church to purchase Jewels at any rate which being fixed in his Crown and Mitre he looked like the picture of a Cybele with Turrets on her Head and were so weighty and so burdensom on his Brow that they put his gross body into a violent heat and sweat which produced an Apoplexy of which soon after he died But to proceed The Pope wearing his Mitre is conducted to the Sedes stercoraria on which he seems rather to lye than to sit from whence being raised with honour by
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
presence of several Brethren taking hold of my hand This says he is the person whom having been my assistant in all affairs since I came to Rome I constitute Bishop of that City and when I shewed my willingness eo decline so great a Burden he exposulated with me in this manner Wilt thou consult only thine own convenience and deny thy assistance to the poor fluctuating Church of God when it is in thy power to steer it But he being a person of wonderful modesty did freely prefer Linus and Cletus to that dignity before himself undertook it He wrote in the name of the Roman Church a very useful Epistle to the Corinthians not differing in style from that of the Hebrews which is said to be St. Pauls This Epistle was formerly read publickly in several Churches there is another bearing his name which the Ancients did not thing authentick and Eufebius in the third Book of his History does find fault with a long Disputation between St. Peter and Appion said to be written by our Clement 'T is certain that John the Apostle son of Zebedee and Brother of James lived till this time who was the last Penman of the Gospel and confirmed what had been before written by Matthew Mark and Luke The reason why he wrote last is said to be that he might confront and defeat the Heresie of the Ebionites who impudently denied Christ to have had a being before his Birth of the Blessed Virgin and accordingly we find him very particular in demonstrating the Divinity of our Saviour He wrote several other things and among the rest his Revelation during his banishment into the Island Patmos by Domitian who being afterwards slain and his Acts for their excessive severity rescinded by the Senate he returned to Ephesus in the time of Nerva where he continued till the Reign of Trajan supporting the Churches of Asia by his Counsel and Writings till at last being worn out with Age he rested in the Lord the sixty eighth year after the Passion of Christ. Our Clemens by his Piety Religion and Learning made daily many Proselytes to Christianity whereupon P. Tarquinius the High Priest and Mamertinus the City Praefect stir'd up the Emperour against the Christians at whose command Clement was banish'd to an Island where he found near two thousand Christians condemn'd to hew Marble in the Quarries In this Island there being at that time a great scarcity of water which they were forced to fetch at six miles distance Clement going going to the top of a little Hill hard by sees there a Lamb under whose right foot flowed miraculously a plentiful Spring with which all the Islanders were refresh'd and many of them thereupon converted to the Christian faith At which Trajan being enraged sent some of his Guards who threw Clement into the Sea with an Anchor tied about his neck But his blessed Body was not long after cast on the shore and being buried at the place where this miraculous fountain had sprung up a Temple was built over it This is said to have happened September the fourteenth in the third year of the Emperor Trajan He was in the Chair nine years two months and ten days he divided the Wards of the City among seven Notaries who were to register the Acts of the Martyrs and at the Ordinations which he held according to Custom in the Month of December he made ten Presbyters two Deacons and fifteen Bishops By his death the See was vacant two and twenty days S. ANACLETUS ANACLETUS an Athenian son of Antiochus was successor to Clement in the time of Trajanus This Trajans Predecessor Nerva Cocceius was an excellent person both in his private and publick capacity just and equal in all his proceedings and one whose Government was very advantageous to the Republick Through his procurement the Acts of Domitian being repeal'd by Decree of the Senate multitudes thereupon return'd from banishment and several by his bounty had the Goods of which they had before been plundered restor'd to them But being now very old and drawing near to the time of his Death out of his care of the Publick Weal he adopted Trajan and then died in the sixteenth Month of his Reign and of his Age the seventy second year Trajan himself a Spaniard surnamed Ulpius Crinitus coming to the Empire surpassed the best of Princes in in the glory of his Arms the the Goodness of his Temper and the moderation of his Government He extended the bounds of the Empire far and wide reduced that part of Getmany beyond the Rhine to its former state subdued Dacia and several other Nations beyond the Danow recovered Parthia gave a King to the Albanians made Provinces beyond Euphrates and Tygris overcame and kept Armenia Assyria Mesopotamia Seleucia Ctesiphon and Babylon and proceeded as far as the borders of India and the Red Sea where he left a Fleet to infest those Borders The Ecclesiastical Laws and Constitutions of Anacletus were as followeth viz. That no Prelate or other Clerk should suffer his beard or hair to grow long that no Bishop should be ordained by less than three other Bishops that the Clergy should be admitted into holy Orders in publick only and that all the faithful should after Consecration communicate or be put out of the Church By this means the Christian interest encreas'd that Trajan fearing lest the Roman State might be impaired thereby gave allowance to a third Persecution of the Christians in which multitudes were put to Death and particularly Ignatius the third Bishop of the Church of Antioch after St. Peter Who being taken and condemn'd to suffer by wild beasts as he was carried to Rome by his Guards whom he called his Ten Leopards he all along in his passage encourag'd and confirm'd the Christians by Discourse with some and by Epistle to others declaring his readiness to suffer in this manner Come Cross come Beasts come Wrack come the torture of my whole body and the torments of the Devil upon me so I may enjoy Christ. And upon the occasion of his hearing the Lions roar Corn says he I am let me be ground by the teeth of these beasts that I may be found fine bread He died in Trajan's eleventh year and his bones were afterwards buried in the Suburbs of Antioch But Plinius Secundus who was then Governour of that Province being moved with compassion to see so many executed wrote to the Emperour Trajan informing him that incredible numbers of men were daily put to Death who were persons of an unblameable life and who in no point transgressed the Roman Laws save only that before day-break they would sing Hymns to Christ their God but that Adulteries and the like Crimes were disallowed and abominated by them Hereupon Trajan gave order that the Magistrates should not make search after the Christians but only punish those who voluntarily offered themselves During this Persecution Simeon the kinsman of our Lord son of
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
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
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
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
and was not yet punish'd according to his Demerits Those of the Clergy who had accompanied him from Rome were some of them banish'd others condemn'd to dig in the Mines But at the request of the Romans who had now a better Opinion of him and upon the importunity of Narses whom Justinian had sent to Rome to oppose the Goths Vigilius and all the others who were confin'd had liberty granted them to return into Italy But in their passage thither being come as far as Syracuse in 〈◊〉 Vigilius who had out-liv'd so many Calamities and Troubles died there of the Stone and his body was carried to Rome and buried in the Church of S. Marcellus in the Via Salaria He lived in the Pontificate at Rome and elsewhere seventeen years six months twenty six days and by his death the See was vacant three months five days PELAGIUS I. PELAGIUS a Roman lived in the time when Totilas King of the Goths advancing with a great Army from Treviso over-run and spoiled Italy in such a manner that from his salvage Cruelty he was called God's Scourge Coming as far as Mount Cassino in his way to Campania though he were in the habit of a common Soldier yet he was discovered by S. Benedict who spared not by threatning of divine Vengeance to terrifie him from raging so furiously against the Christians Moving thence towards Abruzzo he dismantled 〈◊〉 besieged Naples took Cumoe where yet he exercised an extraordinary Respect and Civility towards the Roman Women whom he found in it permitting them to go to Rome to their Friends without any violence or rudeness offered to them After this having taken Naples and made himself Master of all that part of Italy which lies towards Sicily he marches to Rome and having first seized the Port by which 〈◊〉 should come to the City he reduced them to such extremity for want of Provisions that some were forced to feed upon Mans-flesh At length forcing his entrance at the Gate which leads to Ostia he possessed himself of the City which having plundered he set on fire Some tell us that Totilas designed to save the Buildings of the City and sent Messengers about by Night to publish his pleasure in that particular but his Orders therein were not obeyed Justinian having Intelligence of these proceedings speedily dispatches Narses the Eunuch with a great Army into Italy 'T is said that this Narses was at first a Bookseller but being advanced to an Office near the Emperour's Person Justinian finding him to be a man of great merit raised him to the Dignity of a Patrician And indeed in all the accomplishments of Religion and Vertue and Clemency and Generosity and sweetness of temper he was a most exemplary and extraordinary Person Narses with the addition of some Auxiliary Forces from Alboinus King of the Lombards advances against the Goths routs them and makes a great slaughter in the pursuit of them Totilas lost his life ingloriously at Brissello and Theias who was chosen King in his stead though he behaved himself bravely yet was slain by Narses not far from Nocera And thus both the Name and Power of the Goths were extinct together in the seventy second year after that their King Theodoric first entred Italy Not long after died Justinian in the fortieth year of his Reign a Prince worthy to have his memory perpetuated to all Posterity and who according to the custom of preceding Emperours deserves the additional Titles of Alemanicus Gotthicus Wandalicus Persicus Africanus though he only advised but did not act in the successful Expeditions made against those Nations Pelagius in the midst of these disturbances not neglecting the Affairs of the Church ordained that Hereticks and Schismaticks might be suppressed by the Secular Power when they would not be reclaim'd by Reason and Argument Being accused that he was the occasion of the Calamities that befell Vigilius as having a greater interest with Justinian than Vigilius had in the sight of the Clergy and People he laid his hand upon the Cross and the Gospel and by a solemn Oath purged himself from that Charge Narses coming to Rome made a Procession from the Church of S. Pancras to S. Peter's with Thanksgiving for his late success and set himself with all possible application to repair the Damage which the City had receiv'd by the Goths In conjunction with Pelagius he ordained that no Person should be admitted to any holy Orders or Ecclesiastical Dignity by the way of canvassing or Birbery Pelagius making his Notary Valentinus a very religious person Treasurer of the Church begins the building of the Church of SS Philip and James Some tell us that the learned Monk Cassiodorus who had been first Consul then a Senator and afterwards renouncing all human Greatness embraced a Monastick life lived to this time and that Victor Bishop of Capua now wrote a Book concerning Easter in which he particularly discovered the mistakes of Dionysius the Roman Abbat who had with little care and skill composed a Paschal Cycle Moreover Sabinus Bishop of Canosa and Gregory Bishop of Langres and Vedastus a Scholar of S. Remigius and Bishop of Arras were Ornaments to the Pontificate of Pelagius and Herculanus Bishop of Perugia who had been put to Death by Totylas was Canonized Pelagius having at two Decembrian Ordinations made twenty six Presbyters eleven Deacons thirty nine Bishops died and was buried in S. Peter's He was in the Chair eleven years ten months twenty eight days The See was then vacant twenty six days JOHN III. JOHN the third the Son of Anastasius descended of a Noble Family lived in the time of Justine who succeeded Justinian but was in nothing like him For he was Covetous lewd rapacious a contemner of God and Men to such a degree that his Vices made him srantick so that his Wife Sophia managed all affairs till the time of Tiberius the second This Woman being prompted thereto by some envious persons who hated Narses recalls him out of Italy in these reproachful words That she would have the Eunuch come home and spin This he very highly resenting as well he might returns answer That he would spin such a Web as none of his Enemies should ever be able to unweave And he was as good as word For he presently sends and invites Alboinus King of the Lombards with all his people then possessed of Pannonia to come and seat themselves in the more plentiful Countrey of Italy Alboinus complying with the proposal of Narses and entring Italy with a vast number of men with their Wives and Children first possesses himself of Friuli and Marca Trivigiana thence passing into Insubria he takes and sacks Milain and at length makes himself Master of Pavia after it had held out a Siege of three years Being thus slush'd with Victory he goes to Verona which he constitutes the the Capital City of his Kingdom where being once at an Entertainment over-heated with Wine he compelled his Wife
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
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
Britains yet despising worldly Greatness he became for some time an Hermit and died at length in an obscure Village Pope John having been in the Chair one year nine months nine days died and was buried in the Church of S. Peter October the 12th The See was then vacant one month thirteen days THEODORUS I. THEODORUS a Grecian Son of Theodorus a Bishop born at Jerusalem was no sooner in the Chair but he applyed himself like a good Bishop to all those things which he thought might tend to the advancement of the Christian Religion being a person obliging to all men but extraordinarily bountiful to the poor At this time Heraclius died of a Dropsie in the thirtieth year of his Reign having a little before made Theodorus surnamed Calliopa his Exarch in Italy in the place of Isaacius deceased Heraclius was succeeded by his Son Constantine who in the fourth month after his coming to the Empire was poisoned by the procurement of his Step-mother Martina and her Son Heracleon whom it is said Pyrrhus the Patriarch prompted to commit that Villany Heracleon upon the Death of his Brother takes upon him the Government at that time particularly when Cyrus Sergius and Pyrrhus reviving the Heresie of the Acephali maintained the Opinion of one only Nature in Christ one Operation and one Will. Among these Pyrrhus hearing of the Death of Heraclius and being very desirous to return out of Asrica whither he had been banished into his own Countrey coming to Rome and making an hypocritical Retractation of his Errours was restored by Theodorus and received from him a Form of Belief But he lost his Life before he could accomplish the end which he sought to compass by such ill means For the Senate and people of Constantinople being acquainted with the cause of Constantine's Death first seize Martina and Heracleon and having cut off his Nose and cut out her Tongue banish them both then apprehending Pyrrhus who endeavoured to make his escape they put him to Death Constantius the Son of Constantine who had been thus treacherously murdered they create Emperour and instead of Pyrrhus make Paul their Bishop whom yet Theodorus deprived for being in the like kind Heretical his pertinacy therein being favoured by Constantius who was unadvisedly fallen into the same Heresie But the Pope laying aside this Controversie and applying himself to other cares caused the bones of the Martyrs Primus and Felicianus to be removed out of a sandy Grotto in the Via Nomentana to Rome where he reposited them in the Church of S. Stephen the Proto-martyr sparing no cost in Ornaments both of Silver and Gold upon their Tomb. He also built and adorn'd a Church in the Via Flaminia as likewise two Oratories one near the Lateran Church dedicated to S. Sebastian the other in the Via Ostiensis to Eupolus the Martyr Having finished these things and been in the Chair six years five months eighteen days he died and was buried in S. Peter's May the 14th The See was then vacant fifty two days MARTINUS I. MARTINUS the first born at Todi Son of Fabricius succeeding Theodorus forthwith dispatches his Legates to Constantinople to admonish Paul to quit his Errours and at length to return into the way of Truth But he not only disobeyed the Popes Commands but also being countenanced therein by Constantius offered great indignities to these Legates and then banish'd them into several Islands Martinus highly resenting this usage calls a Synod of an hundred and fifty Bishops at Rome wherein he renews the Condemnation of Cyrus of Alexandria Sergius and Pyrrhus and excommunicates and deprives Paul the Patriarch with the bitterest Anathemas imaginable While these things were transacting the Peace of Italy which had lasted between the Romans and the Lombards thirty years began now to be disturbed For the Lombards took mightily upon them and imposed such unjust conditions upon the Romans as they could not submit to particularly Rhotaris being himself an Arian had scarce any City over which he did not set up an Arian as well as a Catholick Bishop This was an Evil which both Theodorus and Martine had often endeavoured to remedy but in vain For this reason and also at the instance of Theodorus the Exarch a War was proclaimed with the Lombards whereupon they take up Arms and near Scultenna a River of Modena a sharp Engagement there was on both sides But in the end Theodorus was vanquish'd and routed and lost in the fight near seven thousand of his Men. Rhotaris being flush'd with this Victory in a short time easily made himself Master of all Liguria Now Constantius hoping that the change of his General might change his Fortune too recalls Theodorus and sends Olympuis his Exarch into Italy with Instructions both to propagate the Sect of the Monothelites throughout Italy and also either to put Pope Martine to Death or else to take care to have him sent Prisoner to Constantinople Olympius coming to Rome where there had been already a Synod held against this and other the Errours of the Oriental Church and finding that he could not disperse the Contagion as he thought to do sends one of his Officers to seize Martine in the Church of S. Maria Maggiore and either to bring him to him or else to kill him if he refus'd and made resistance The Officer being just ready to execute this Order was by Miracle suddenly struck with blindness and so by divine Providence Martine escaped the danger The Saracens taking heart upon this great dissention between the Eastern and Western Church set sail from Alexandria with a great Fleet and arriving at Rhodes and taking the City they destroyed the famous and celebrated Coloss there with the Brass of which it 's said they loaded nine hundred Camels this Coloss being seventy foot high the Workmanship of Chares the Scholar of Lysippus Afterwards having possessed themselves of several Islands in the Archipelago and thence sailing to Sicily they very much infested the Inhabitants of that Island Hereupon Olympius at the entreaty of Pope Martine makes an Expedition and forces them thence though not without the loss of many of his Ships and Men and even that of his own Life too for he fell sick in Sicily and died there But Constantius who was not in the least bettered by all these Calamities commands Theodorus Calliopa again into Italy with express Order that he should forthwith send Pope Martine bound to him and to assist him in that Affair he joins Paulus Pellarius with him who was to take care to see it done Theodorus having been honourably received by the Romans and going upon pretence of making a Visit to the Pope seizes and puts him in Fetters and so sends him to Constantinople from whence he was afterwards banish'd to the Chersonese the place where Clemens Romanus had formerly been an Exile Now Martine being thus compassed with Calamities and pinch'd with extreme want at length dies in Banishment after he had been in the
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
Zachary and his Successours Stephen and Paul would always have him near their Persons But upon the Death of Paul whom our Stephen never deserted to his last Breath Desiderius who as we have said was by the Assistance of Stephen II. made King of Lombardy being by Pipin's Death rid of all fear encourages Toto Duke of Nepi to promote his Brother Constantine to the Pontificate by force of Arms if he could not compass it by canvassing and bribery He accordingly marches to Rome with an Army and with the Assistance of some whom he had corrupted and made his Friends by Gifts and Promises gets Constantine to be elected Pope Indeed there were those who set up one Philip against him but he was presently forced to quit his Pretensions and Gregory Bishop of Praeneste compelled to initiate Constantine who at the time of his choice was a Laick into holy Orders and then to consecrate him Bishop the hands of which Gregory are said thereupon by Miracle to have so withered that he could not reach them to his Mouth But Constantine having persisted to exercise the Papal Function for one year was at length in great Rage and Disdain deposed by the People of Rome and Stephen unanimously chosen in his stead Upon which Constantine being brought into S. Saviour's Church and the sacred Canons read he was publickly and solemnly divested of the Pontifical Habit and commanded to lead a private life in a Monastery After this Stephen being consecrated by three Bishops in the Church of S. Adrian and saluted as the true Pope by all the Clergy and People of Rome applied himself to the censuring and suppressing of the Practices of some ill men who endeavoured to break the Unity of the Roman Church Therefore calling a Council he writes to Charles desiring him to send to Rome as soon as might be some Bishops of France by their Learning and Integrity well qualified for the Affair The same also he writes to the other Christian Princes who all complying with him therein a Council is held in the Lateran Church where the Fathers having discoursed among themselves divers things tending to the setling of the Church they ordered Constantine to be brought before them For the underhand-dealings of Desiderius King of the Lombards and Paul Aphiarta having occasioned frequent tumults among the People Desiderius endeavouring all he could to alienate the Affections of the Romans from Charles to the Emperour hereupon several were killed on both sides and Constantine the occasion of all the mischief had his Eyes put out by the contrary Faction though Stephen declared against it and did what he could to prevent it but there is no opposing a furious enraged Multitude Constantine appearing before the Council and being accused that he had usurped the Apostolick See not being in any holy Orders lays all the fault upon the People and especially upon some particular Persons who forced him against his Will to take the Pontificate upon him Then prostrating himself upon the floor and humbly begging Pardon the persons present moved with Compassion ordered him to be dismissed and put off the Debate of his whole Case to the next day intending then more maturely to deliberate what ought to be done in the matter But the next day Constantine returning to the Council was quite of another mind and remonstrated that he had Precedents of former Prelates for what he had done that Sergius Arch-Bishop of Ravenna and Stephen of Naples had been of Laicks consecrated Bishops The Fathers resenting this Impudence caused him to be cast out with Disgrace and having nulled his Decrees applied themselves to the setling of the State of Christianity Among other things it was unanimously decreed by them That no Laick but such only as had pass'd through the several Degrees in the Clergy should presume to take the Popedom upon pain of Excommunication It was ordained likewise that those who had attained to the Episcopal Dignity in the time of Constantine should renounce that Character and fall back into the same Rank and Order which they were of before but with this Reserve that if their Life and Doctrine were approved by the People it then pleased the Council that upon their application to the Apostolick See they might be consecrated anew The same was judged meet concerning Presbyters and Deacons yet it was forbidden that any of them should arrive to the greater Degrees upon a Jealousie as I believe lest some Errour or Sect might thence arise as from a Seminary of Discord and Sedition Moreover it was decreed that all the sacred Offices which Constantine had performed should be deemed null except only Baptism and Confirmation Finally having made void the Constantinian Synod in which the Greek Prelates had decreed that the Pictures and Statues of the Saints should be defaced and thrown out of Churches it was ordained that those Images should be in all places 〈◊〉 and an Anathema pass'd upon that execrable and pernicious Synod by which the condition of the Immortal God was rendred worse than that of Men it being allowed us to erect the Statues of men who have deserved well of the Publick both for the expressing of our Gratitude and the raising our Emulation of their brave Deeds but forbidden to set up the Image of our Saviour whom we ought if it were possible to have always before our Eyes whether we consider the mighty Obligations he has laid upon Mankind or the Dignity of his Divine Nature These things having thus pass'd according to the Popes mind it was Decreed that on the following day there should be a Solemn Procession both to return thanks to God and also in order to the averting of his Displeasure This Procession was made from the Lateran Church to S. Peter's with universal great Devotion the Pope himself with all that were present walking Bare-foot But in our times Piety and Devotion are grown so cold that such Expressions of Humility are not only laid aside but men are so proud as 〈◊〉 to vouchsale to pray at all Even the more eminent and dignisied persons instead of weeping at Procession or at Mass as these holy Fathers were wont to do are employed in indecent and shameless laughter 〈◊〉 of singing Hymns which they disdain as a servile thing they are breaking 〈◊〉 and telling Stories among themselves to make each other merry What should I say further the more petulant and full of Buffoonry any one is the more he is commended in such a corrupt Age. Our present Clergy does dread severe and grave Men as being more desirous to live thus licentiously than 〈◊〉 be obedient to good Admonitions and subject to wholesom Restraints by which means the 〈◊〉 Religion does daily suffer and decline I return to Stephen who when the Procession was over forthwith caused the Acts of the Council to be first openly pronounced by his Commissary and then published in Writing threatning Excommunication against any who should presume to oppose what the Holy Synod
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-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
when he petition'd with all humility to send him a Pall he did it and restor'd him to his Authority in this form of words We are persuaded by thy Letter to send thy Brotherhood a Pall together with the Blessing of the Sea Apostolick which kind of Honour was never before conferr'd upon any person absent from us After that he gave a Pall and several priviledges to the Arch bishop of Toledo who came to Rome and swore fidelity to the Pope and made him Primate of all Spain But he laid a Curse upon the King of Portugal and all the Diocese of St. James because he had thrown the Bishop of that Province into Prison without hearing what he had to say for himself About the same time Henry Bishop of Soissons came to Urban at Rome and freely quitted his Bishoprick which he had received from the King of France without any hopes of Restitution Whereupon Urban lest his Diocese should suffer for want of a Bishop restored him to his Bishoprick though he were unwilling to take it but he was sworn in this manner I for the future will not communicate with any that are excommunicated by this Sea wittingly and willingly nor will I ever be present at the Consecrations of those that accept of Bishopricks or Abbies against Law and Reason from Laymen and so help me God and this holy Gospel I never intend to break my resolution So also they say he dealt with the Bishop of Bellay Nor can any one say he was pertinacious for doing so for he knew how and when to alter his mind upon occasion which every good Man should do For when he had admitted a Clerk whom Gibert the Anti-Pope had made a Sub deacon to second Orders he chang'd his mind because it was a thing of ill Example and like to be of very pernicious consequence He confirm'd the Order of Cistercians which was first set up in Burgundy and some say the Carthusians began their Order in his time though others say it was in the time of Victor III. But when Urban had settled the Church of God not onely by his pains and Example but by his Writings too which he set forth against the Hereticks he died near St. Nicolas's in the House of Peter Leo an eminent Citizen twelve years four months and nineteen days after he came to the Popedom upon the 28th of August His Body was carried over Tiber to avoid the contrivances of his Enemies who would have done him an injury if possible after death and buried very honourably in St. Peter's at the Vatican PASCHAL II. PASCHAL the Second before call'd Raynerius an Italian of Romagna whose Father's name was Crescentius and his Mother Alphacia was chosen Pope about that time when the Christians fought in Asia and took Antioch into which they were lett by Pyrrhus an eminent Citizen For he admired Böemunds valour so much that he promised to surrender the City to 'em if the rest of the Christians would let Böemund be Governour of it The Christians when they enter'd the City spared almost all but onely that they were severe upon the Saracens and Cassianus their King who fled to the Mountains was kill'd by the Armenians They had taken all but the Castle which whilest Böemund attaqued he was shot through the thigh with an Arrow which pained him so that he was fain to desist from the Siege for several days But when Corbanes the King of persia's General came up with Sensadolus Castianus's Son to retake Antioch Böemund was by that time well of his Wound met and would have engaged ' em But the Enemy kept up in the Mountains and could not be tempted to fight by any means Whereupon Böemund being necessitated for lack of Provisions was resolv'd to fight 'em though the place was much to his disadvantage So he order'd that Lance wherewith Longinus pierced Christ's side which they found in St. Andrew's Church at Antioch to be carry'd before 'em as the best Ensign they could have and marching up to 'em he defeated them with the slaughter of an hundred thousand though at first they made a brisk resistance Besides that they say there were fifteen thousand Camels taken in their Camp and so much plunder carry'd off that from the greatest extremity of want they were advanced to the greatest abundance of all things necessary The Governour of the Castle when he knew of it surrender'd the Castle to Böemund and embraced the Christian Faith and all that were in the Garrison if they would do the like were permitted to march off with Bag and Baggage whither they pleased After that there arose a great debate betwixt Böemund and Raymund when Böemund demanded Antioch and Raymund said it belong'd to the Emperour of Constantinople by the contract they had before freely made But the Priests to whom it was referr'd gave it to Böemund without any more ado In the mean time Hugo Magnus who was gone to Constantinople to compose things died and then the other Officers all but Raymund who besieged Caesarea in Cappadocia resolv'd to go to Jerusalem with their Army and rendezvouz'd in Lycia But by the way they attempted to take Tortosa and after they had spent three months in vain they raised the Siege and march'd to Tripoli the petit King of which place furnish'd 'em liberally with Mony Provisions and Arms and thereby obtain'd a Peace upon Condition that he if Jerusalem were taken should embrace the Christian Religion Hence they removed and passing by Coesarea in Palestine came at five encampings to Jerusalem which stands upon an high Hill and is divided also by several Dales so that it cannot be besieged but by a very great Army Beside there wants Fountains and River-waters which are necessary for an Army For there is no other rivolet but Siloe and that very little in the Summer time and sometimes nothing at all which runs down Mount Sion into the Valley of 〈◊〉 Yet there are a great many Cisterns in the City and the Countrey to furnish the Citizens with Water but cannot supply great Armies and Beasts of carriage Notwithstanding the Christians got what Provisions they could and attaqued the City in four places very fiercely whilest the Jerusalemites defended it as stoutly and upon the 13th of July they took it by storm the thirty ninth day after they began to besiege it in the year 1499. four hundred and ninety years after the Saracens took it under the Reign of Heraclius Godfrey was most to be commended in that action for that he first master'd that part of the Wall which was allotted for him and his Brother to storm and help'd Balion down into the City to open the Gates for the Christians at whose entrance there was such a slaughter both in the City and especially in the Temple that Men were above the ancles in bloud And the same day they had taken the Temple too if Night had not come upon ' em However the next day the Attaque was
the Columneses took their Title There was another Family at Rome called the Corsi very powerful and so true to Gregory VII that their Houses which were under the Capitol were burnt by Henry down to the ground yet afterward Stephen the chief of that Family chang'd sides and in Paschal's absence surpriz'd St. Paul's Church and the Castle hard by from whence he continually teazed the City of Rome with inroads very strangely For this reason the Pope omitted all forein Affairs and return'd with all speed to the City from whence he drove Stephen who went safely off disguised in a Monks Habit and so deceived those that came to take him At that time many Authors say there appeared a great many Prodigies as that the 〈◊〉 gain'd in some places full twenty paces into the Land more than ordinary and on the other side in some places retired from the shore an hundred And the like I saw at Pozzuoli the last year by some old weather beaten Marble Pillars that were wasted to three Cubits though the Inhabitants told me that three years before they were wash'd by the Sea They tell you likewise that a Comet appeared of a vast bigness that was seen at Sun-setting Paschal however was not disturb'd at any of these things because he knew 'em to be natural But when he heard the Bishop of Florence should say that Antichrist was born he went immediately thither and calling a Council who discussed the matter very nicely he perceived the Bishop was onely ambitious of being the Author of some great matter and therefore when he had chid him he sent him away and went himself into Lombardy where he called an Assembly at Guardastallo of many Princes and Bishops and held a long debate about Homages Fees and the Oaths of Bishops that had been or should be administred to Laymen And hearing of the scandalous lives of the French Priests he went into France and at Troyes he called a Synod in which having taken order for the more decent adorning of Churches and partly expelled partly chastised their Incumbents he returned in haste into Italy because he heard all things were there in an uproar For Stephen Corsus had taken Montalto and Pontechio from that part of Toscany which now they call St. Peter's Patrimony and had fortified them with Castles from whence he pillaged the whole Country with frequent inroads but the Pope fell upon him and beat him out of one of his Castles though he could not storm the other by reason of its situation and the Winter season which was at hand Going therefore into Puglia to compose the differences of those parts he committed the care of the Church to the Bishop of Lavico to Peter the Son of Leo and to Leo the Son of Fregepan the City and all its concerns and to Ptolemy Lord of Subiaco the territories adjacent leaving his Nephew Godfrey General to assist them in the defence of the Churches jurisdiction But in the Pope's absence Ptolemy the reputed Author of all that mischief threatned he should never return to the City any more and all these revolted from the Church to wit Peter Columna whom the Pope had taken into favour the Abbat of Farfa together with those of Anagni Palestrina Tivoli Frascati and Sabina The same Ptolemy also raised an Army and besieged Alba in Campagna di Roma which the Citizens very stoutly defended But when the Pope and the Prince of Cajetta came up together with Richard of Aquila two excellent Commanders they drove out these Usurpers that would have possessed themselves of the Church Revenues and freeing Alba from the Siege he also had the other revolting Towns surrender'd up to him except that he was fain to storm Tivoli which stood out very obstinately and occasion'd much damage on both sides though he took Montalto and turned out Stephen and quieted the whole Patrimony in a short time Assoon as he had made Peace here he apply'd himself to the War in Asia and to that end wrote Letters and sent Nuntios to all Christian Princes to exhort and animate 'em to it as much as possible because he heard that 〈◊〉 the death of Godfrey the Saracens brought great Armies to Jerusalem designing to re-take it as also that the Christians had received a great overthrow that the Earl of Burgundy was slain in the fight that Boëmund was taken alive and that Baldwin himself Godfrey's Brother then King had made a narrow escape so that the City was well-nigh taken But the Barbarians though they had gotten such a Victory yet they durst not attempt Jerusalem For Tancred who had defended Antioch very valiantly did also take Laodicea which belong'd to the Emperour of Constantinople by storm because he heard that Alexius was pleased to hear that so many Christians were killed and hinder'd our Men from passing out of Europe into Asia Baldwin the King encouraged by the good fortune and resolution of Tancred raised an Army as fast as he could he resolv'd to march against 〈◊〉 having sent to Genoua and Venice for Auxiliaries from whence he had eighty Ships of War besides many Galleys that were sent to the place insomuch that the City was besieged both by Land and Sea very closely and in twenty days was taken and the Saracens that came to defend it utterly routed and defeated Tancred shew'd great piety towards his Uncle Boëmund who had been kept in Prison by the Enemies for three years and restored him to the Principality of Antioch after he had redeemed him with a great Ransom of Silver and Gold After that 〈◊〉 committed the care of Antioch to Tancred and went first into Italy and then into France and married Constantine King Philip of France's Daughter but hearing that Alexius Emperour of Constantinople infested the Seaport Towns near Antioch he return'd into Italy and getting a Navy 〈◊〉 sailed into Dalmatia where he besieged Durazzo that he might divert Alexius from the War in Asia as he soon did and Alexius desiring a Peace Boëmund granted it upon condition that he should put an end to the War against Antioch and let the French Soldiers pass through his Country into Asia without any hindrance Peace thus made Boemund sail'd for Asia with the Navy which he had provided against Alexius and did so recruit and chear the spirits of the Christians that King Baldwin storm'd and took Baruti a Maritime Town of Phaenicia between Sidon and Biblos whose Metropolis is Tyre after he had besieged it two months but not without great loss of Men so that he was very severe with 'em and gave the City as a Colony to the Christians At the same time was Sidon also taken But amidst these successes of the Christians Boemund that famous Prince died which caused an 〈◊〉 sorrow and left his little Son Boemund whom he had by his Wife Constantia and who was to be his Successor in the Principality of Antioch under Tancred's Tuition till he grew up In the mean time Henry the
out freely every Man with his own Clothes but when they could not make good the agreement because the piece of the Cross was not to be found Richard put many of the Barbarians to death Saladine was so dismay'd at these losses that despairing of being able to defend them all he dismantled several Cities in that Region and was upon the point of delivering up Jerusalem itself if it had not been for a difference which arose between Philip and Richard concerning Precedency upon which Philip pretending himself sick departed home from Asia Richard then apply'd himself more vigorously to the War though at this time Conrade of Montferrat was assassinated in the Market-place of Tyre by two Saracen Ruffians who had bound themselves under an Oath and Vow to destroy all the Enemies of their Religion after the same manner but as they ran away they were caught and put to death with the most exquisite Torments and Henry Earl of Champagne taking Queen Isabel to Wife entred upon the Dominion of Tyre Richard giving some fair words to Guy of Lusignan persuaded him to pass over to him his Kingdom of Jerusalem which the Kings of England still put among their Titles and herewith taking courage he march'd his Army to beleaguer the City of Jerusalem but Saladine in his Journey falling in with his Rear forc'd him to a Battel in a very disadvantageous place in which though he at last came off Conqueror yet it was with great loss of men Saladine after this encamp'd not far from Bethlehem in a commodious place to intercept any manner of Provisions that might be sent from Egypt to the Christian Army as they should lie before Jerusalem wherefore and because the Winter was coming on Richard puts off his designs for this so necessary Siege the Pope yet urging him and continually supplying him with Money and retreats to Ascalon which as well as Gaza he fortifies again they having before been slighted by Saladine In the mean time the Sea-forces by degrees leave him and the Pisans sailing into the Adriatic seiz'd Pola with intent to Winter there but the Venetians reinforcing their own Fleet set upon 'em took the Place and sack'd it and drove out the Pisans and had pursued them to extremity if Celestine out of care for the good of Christendom had not mediated between them Spring now came on and Richard was preparing for the Siege of Jerusalem when on a sudden news was brought him that King Philip had invaded Normandy and intended to pass into England to procure that Kingdom for his Brother John Richard then laid by those thoughts and strook up a Peace with Saladine upon these Articles That Saladine should enjoy all but Tyre and Ptolemais to which with their Territories remaining in the hands of the Christians he should give no molestation Richard having thus settled Affairs there returning into Europe was taken by his Enemies from whom he was ransom'd with a vast sum of Money and at last arriving in England he had many a Battel with the King of France much against the Pope's mind who was griev'd that so fierce a War should be raised among Christians at so unseasonable a time when Saladine being now dead it was thought to have been a very fit time to have recovered Jerusalem It is reported of that illustrious Prince that one Ceremony at his Funeral was this His Shirt was hung upon the end of a Pike and carried before the Corps and one with a loud Voice cryed Behold Saladine the mighty Lord of Asia of all his Realms and of all his Wealth takes no more than this along with him A spectacle well befitting so great a Man to whom nothing was wanting but the Character of a Christian to have rendred him a most consummate Prince Upon the death of Saladine as was said before Celestine had fresh hopes that Jerusalem might be regain'd and so urg'd the Emperour Henry who Tancred being dead succeeded to the Kingdom of Sicily to undertake the Enterprize that though he could not go in person yet he sent thither with great speed a good Army under the Arch-bishop of Mentz and the Duke of Saxony The King of France would have gone too but that the Saracens who inhabited Mauritania now the Moors had cross'd the Streights and having taken the King of Castile Prisoner had possess'd themselves of that part of Spain now call'd Granado where the French fear'd they would hardly continue long quiet but go near to infest the neighbouring Nations and therefore would not draw their forces out of Europe The Germans however arriving in Asia fortified Berylus which had been deserted by the Saracens and rais'd their Siege from before Joppa from whence when they were about to go to Jerusalem Celestine this most holy Pope who never let slip any opportunity for the recovery of the Holy Land died upon which they desisted Notwithstanding all these troubles and these great charges of War our Pope built two Palaces one near S. Peter's the other near S. John in the Lateran fit for the reception of Popes The brasen Gates yet remaining in the Lateran over against the Sancta Sanctorum which were made by his Order and at his charge Moreover he made Viterbo a City raising the Church there to a Bishops Sea to which Diocese he added Toscanella and Centum-cellae Celestine died when he had been Pope six years seven months and eleven days to the great grief of all good Men and was buried in St. Peter's Church INNOCENT III. INNOCENT the Third born in Anagni Son of Trasimund of the Family of the Conti was for his great Learning and many Virtues made a Cardinal by Celestine and upon his death was by general consent chosen Pope Which he had no sooner arriv'd to but he applied his thoughts to the Holy War and by Letters Messengers large Promises and Largesses endeavour'd to contain the Germans within the bounds of their duty who after the decease of their Emperour Henry were all in a mutiny but 't was to no purpose for they disdaining any Commander left Asia and to the extream damage of the Christian Cause return'd to Europe whereby those of Joppa especially suffered most for being destitute of help the Turks and Saracens came upon 'em and while they were about to yield they took the City by force and cut them all off rasing it to the ground In Germany also all things seem'd to threaten confusion some of the Electors stickling hard for Otho Duke of Saxony others standing resolutely for Philip a German Duke of Tuscany who was left by Henry upon his death bed Guardian to his young Son And to improve this mischief to the height the King of France took part with Philip and the King of England was for Otho Innocent then to obviate the impending miseries that must follow upon such a state of Affairs confirms Otho in the Empire as duly elected by those who had just suffrage Philip notwithstanding would not lay down his
Cubit in depth This so terrified the Christians that they were glad to accept of Peace upon condition that Damiata should be re deliver'd to the Egyptians the Prisoners on both sides be discharg'd and the piece of the Holy Cross then in the hands of those Barbarians should be restor'd to the Christians and they suffer'd to retire quietly to Acon and Tyre Thus was Damiata which was begun to be inhabited by the Christians upon the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin deliver'd up according to the Articles on the Birth-day of the same An. Dom. 1221. In which year the Tartars a Nation of Scythia or as others will have it of the mountainous parts of India leaving their own Country ravag'd through Parthia Media Persia Assyria and came as far as Sarmatia where not far from Palus Meotis driving out the old Inhabitants they seated themselves The Christian Commanders finding at this time that nothing was to be attempted in Asia the Enemy being too powerful they together with John Colonna return'd into Italy and were soon follow'd by John King of Jerusalem who came to Rome and was by the Pope kindly entertain'd and had large Presents made to him Afterward he gave his Daughter which he had by his Wife Jole in marriage to the Emperor Frederic though he was under the Pope's Anathema and pass'd over all the Title he had by hereditary right to the Kingdom of Jerusalem to him by way of Dowry Hence it is that all the succeeding Kings of Sicily and Naples use the Title of that Kingdom also though they make their claim to it with words only and not with Arms. John then took a Journey into France where he had better luck than he was wont to have for Philip King of France bequeath'd in his last Will forty thousand pounds in Silver to him and as much to the grand Master of the Templers and with the help of this Money he went into Spain to perform a Vow he had made to S. James of Compostella where he took to Wife Berengaria Sister to the King of Spain This year died S. Dominic that holy Man at Bononia and Frederic declar'd his Son Henry a Boy but of ten years old King of Germany Our Honorius being a little quiet from forein troubles repair'd the Church of S. Laurence without the Walls that is call'd Sancta Sanctorum and the Church of S. Vivian beside he built a Palace at Casa Marii and adorn'd the Cibory Altar-Canopy or Covering of S. Peter with excellent workmanship He also compil'd the Decretal Epistles and confirm'd the Order of S. Francis who within two years after was canoniz'd by Pope Gregory After this blessed manner did Honorius lead his life and as became a careful and a good Shepherd and dying when he had been Pope ten years seven months and thirteen days he was buried in the Church of S. Mary Maggiore After his death there happened so great Earthquakes that in the Monti Salvii five thousand persons were slain by the falls of Houses and by the Stones that were thrown into the Vales from the tops of the Mountains GREGORY IX GREGORY the Ninth born at Anagni a City of Campania of the Family of the Conti and Nephew to Innocent III. was created Pope at the Settizonio a place in Rome so call'd from seven rows of Pillars there plac'd by the Emperour Severus Which was no sooner done but he dispatch'd away monitory Letters to require Frederic the Emperour under pain of an Anathema that he should with the first opportunity march with his Army into Asia there to endeavour the recovery of the holy City Frederic receiv'd the Admonition and indeed promised so to do accordingly giving out Orders that all who had entred themselves of the Crusado should by a day appointed repair to Brundusium with their Arms. Great numbers met there from all Countries particularly from Germany came the Lantgrave of Hesse who waiting there for the arrival of Frederic out of Sicily where he staid and prolong'd the time feigning himself sick died himself and a great number of his Soldiers and as soon as the news of his death was brought to Frederic he then immediately set sail for Brundusium and seiz'd into his hands whatsoever the Lantgrave had left of value which act plainly detected the fraudulence of his pretence However he continued to make the World believe that he was really intent upon the holy Expedition and after the rapacious action aforesaid upon the goods of the Lantgrave he hoisted Sail and commanded the rest that were there to follow him but in a little while after return'd to Brundusium forc'd as he pretended by the tempestuous weather 1. The noise of this Expedition mov'd John King of Jerusalem and Berengaria his Wife knowing well that they did what would be very acceptable to the Pope to take a journey to Bononia meaning to make use of some Shipping of the Venetians to carry him to Asia but the Pope understood well enough the tricks of Ferdinand and what little credit was to be given him and lest John should quite lose his labour and come for nothing he confer'd upon him the Government of the Exarchate of Ravenna and ratified the Sentence of Excommunication which was pronounc'd by his Predecessor Honorius III. against the Emperour Frederic and had done worse things against him if himself had not been under some fearful apprehensions of an Invasion from the Moors who were then out at Sea with a powerful Fleet but were afterwards vanquish'd by Ferdinand of Aragon with so great loss on their side that in a short time he possess'd himself of Majorca one of the Islands call'd the Baleares and took the City Valentia driving out the Saracens and compelling the Inhabitants to receive the Christian Religion At last yet Frederic was what by the intreaties of his Friends and the threats of the Pope wrought upon to begin his Voyage sailing first to Cyprus which afforded some hopes to the Christian Soldiers that were in Asia whom he had so often deceiv'd But while he staid there sending out Spies to bring him an account of the strength of the Soldan's Forces his General Rainaldo whom he had left in Sicily invades the Pope's Territories and takes several Towns in the Marca di Ancona The Pope was then at Perugia designing to go to Assisi there in person to examine the truth of those reports which had been of Miracles wrought by that holy Man S. Francis and when he found what he had heard concerning him to be really true he canoniz'd him with great solemnity in the presence of great numbers of Christian People who came together for that end While these things were acting by the Pope another Commander of the Emperours by siding with a Faction seizes Fuligno but was quickly expell'd by the Power of some good Men who stood up for the holy Church By this time Frederic was got to Acon and from thence solicited the Pope earnestly by Letters
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
in corporal strength for he himself could discern rather more of the Affairs of the City than those that were in it besides put 'em all together He lived in the Mount di S. Sabina and built him a curious Palace there whose ruins are yet to be seen which drew many of the Romans to live by him so that the Mount began from his time to be very full of Inhabitants He was resolved to injure no Man whilst he was Pope but on the contrary to do what good he could to all and therefore being provoked by the indignities which Peter King of Aragon offer'd to him by endeavouring to get the Kingdom of Sicily he confirmed Martin's Interdictions against Peter But Rodulphus the Emperor having a great mind to raise money sent his Chancellour one of the Family of the Flisci into Tuscany to make all the Country free especially those who would buy their Liberty Those of Lucca paid upon that account 12000 l. The Florentines six thousand and as soon as they were made perfectly free they created a certain kind of Officers which they call Arts-masters with a Sword-Bearer This Sale did not displease Honorius though it look'd too mean for such a great Prince because by that means the Patrimony of the Church would be more secure he thought when the Emperor had no more power to oppress those free Cities But whilst the King of France besieged Girona and Peter of Aragon was sollicitous how to hinder the carriage of Provisions from Narbonne into the Enemies Camp he was engaged in a sharp Conflict where he received a deadly Wound of which not long after he dy'd for want of looking to So that Girona was surrender'd upon Terms and submitted to the King of France though he did not long survive the Conquest For he died of a Fever which he caught in the Camp as he was besieging Perpignano His Navy too not long after that was taken and burnt in the Port of Narbonne by Roger Loria Peter of Aragon had two Sons Ferdinand and James whereof he left Ferdinand his eldest Son King of Aragon by his Will and James King of Sicily But when the old Kings were dead in that manner as I have told you the Wars devolved upon the young ones who attempted on both sides to make those of Pisa and the Genoeses who were excellent Seamen of their Party But these two States heing incens'd and arm'd against each other engaged so furiously at Malora an Island near the Port of Pisa that those of Pisa lost forty Ships or Gallies and twelve thousand men which were partly slain and partly taken Honorius took this misfortune of theirs so much to heart that he had like to have interdicted the Genoeses who pursu'd the men of Pisa with too much animosity And that unhappy day gave such a shock to those of Pisa that they never retrieved themselves since But Edward King of England went at that time into Gascoigne to make peace between Charles a Youth Son to the King of France who I told you was taken in War and Ferdinand King of Aragon The business went as he would have it and they treated about Charles's freedom when at the same time the Apostolical Legate and the Earl of Arras with the assistance of the Earl of Avellino possess themselves of the City Catina and send over thither an Army raised out of Tuscany For this reason Edward return'd home without success But Roger Loria advanced King Ferdinand's fortune by taking the French Fleet as it came back out of Sicily Honorius could not engage in this War because he was invaded in Romagna by Guido Feltrini But at length when he had conquer'd Guido he recover'd all Romagna in a short time and not long after dy'd two years and a day after he was made Pope His body was carried in great State from S. Sabina to S. Peter's and buried in a Marble Tomb which is yet extant among those that Pope Pius collected as the Arms of his Family and the Inscription declare And indeed he deserv'd all the honour paid to his dead Corps because he was a very upright Man and a great lover of Christian Piety For he confirm'd not onely the Order of the Carmelites which was not very well approved of in some Councils and chang'd their black Cloaks for white ones but he did the same also by the order of Eremites which was disapproved on at Paris But the onely Cardinal he made during his Pontificate was John Boccamatius Bishop of Frascati for he would say that none but good and learned men ought to be taken into so great a Society not those that were illiterate and ignorant in the manage of humane Affairs He loved Courtiers so as that he would go every year especially in the Summer to Tivoli on purpose to avoid the Heat of the Town which causes many Diseases When Honorius was dead the Sea was vacant ten months For the Conclave being summon'd to meet at St. Sabina a great many of the Cardinals were taken sick of a sudden Out of whom there died Jordan Vrsin Earl of Millain Hugh an English man Gervase of Anjou Dean of Paris and Antherius an excellent Person For this reason they dismiss'd the Conclave and deferr'd the matter till a more seasonable time especially because of the Earthquakes which were then so great that they thought Heaven it self would be angry with 'em if they did it at that time NICOLAS IV. NICOLAS the fourth of Principato-citra an Ascolese formerly called Jerome a Brother and General of the Order of Friers Minors and after that a Cardinal Priest was made Pope at St. Sabina the tenth month after Honorius's death and placed not onely in Peter's Sea but in the Saint's own Chair After that he went to Rieti to avoid some Tumults at Rome and there he created Cardinals of almost all Religions For he loved all men alike nor did he think that he ow'd more to his Relations than to any good man The difference between Virtue and Vice caused him to incline more to one man than another Some of those that he made Cardinals were called Neapolio Petrus Columna Hugo Colionius a famous Doctor of the Order of Preachers Matthaeus Aquasparta General of the Minors and Bishop of Porto About a year after he came back to Rome when City broils were somewhat appeased and lived at S. Maries the Great which Church he and James Columna repaired as appears upon the great Portico where the Image of our Saviour the Pope and James the Cardinal are yet to be seen The same Pope repaired the front and the back-part of the Lateran and adorn'd it with Fret-work as the Inscription tells us In the mean time the Kings of Aragon and Sicily conclude a Peace upon these terms That King Charles should be set at Liberty and settle James of Aragon in the Kingdom of Sicily at his own charge And if he did not do so in three years time he promised to
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
a short time by the help of the Viconti and Vgutio Fagiolani who was sole Governour of Pisa and Lucca Wherefore they endeavour'd to bring over to their Party by Promises and Presents Petramala Bishop and Lord of Arezzo and Philip of Tarento a Prince and Brother to King Robert For Philip at that time was very strong in Cavalry and a very good Soldier JOHN XXIII JOHN the twenty third formerly called James of Caturco Bishop of Porto after a long debate between twenty three Cardinals was chosen Pope at Lyons and the fifth of September received the Pontifical Crown in the Cathedral Church there From thence he removed with the whole Court to Avignion where he made eight Cardinals in the Ember-week before Advent some of which were James of Caturco his Sisters Son and John Cajetan Cardinal Deacon of S. Theodores of the Family of the Vrsins Besides that he canoniz'd for a Confessor Lewis Bishop of Tholouse Son to Charles late King of Sicily though there are some that ascribe this Act to Boniface as I told you before He forced Hugo Bishop of Caturco to relinquish his Bishoprick and Priesthood and stripp'd him of all his Pontifical Ornaments as the Ring the Mitre the Coife the Cap and the Rocket And after he had deprived degraded and to use their own phrase deliver'd him over to the secular jurisdiction he was tortur'd to Death for conspiring against the Pope The Church of Tholouse which he loved entirely he made an Arch-bishoprick and improved six Castles that belong'd to it into so many Cities that the Arch-bishop might have something under him which was honourable and worth his governing He also joyn'd Limosa i. e. Wiselburg and the Abby of S. Pontius to the Arch-bishoprick of Narbonne nay so much addicted was he to Novelties that he divided some single Bishopricks into two and united others that were distinct turning Abbaties into Bishopricks and Bishopricks into Abbaties He likewise created new Dignities and new Societies in the Church and alter'd those which had been formerly constituted Yet he was so grateful that he confirmed the Design of setting forth that Book called Clementinae or Rules of Clement and commanded all Doctors in publick Schools to read it for Lectures He reduced the Order of Gramont which had been corrupted by some factious fellows into a better form by taking away such things as might be inconvenient and adding other things that might keep up the Grandeur of Religion He loved the Church of Saragoza so well that he made the City a Metropolis and assigned it the Covernment of five Cathedrals out of eleven which were under the Arch-bishop of Tarragona He also created a new Order of Knights to fight under Christ's Banner in Portugal and oppose the Saracens in Granada and Africa Boetica was the old name for Granada which lies to the Mediteranean and is so called I suppose from the abundance it yields of a sort of Grain that Dyers use Now the Head-quarters of this Order which the Pope constituted was in a Seaport Town in the Diocese of Sylva and the Knights had all the Templers goods by consent of the King of Portugal that they might be more at leisure to fight for Christ Their Censor and Moderator is the Abbot of a Monastery of Cistercians at Alcoasia in the Diocese of Lisbon who has the Power to list and disband a Knight as he pleases Afterward he made two S. Thomases that is to say Thomas Bishop of Hereford a man of a great Family a good Life extraordinary Learning and famous for his Miracles and Thomas Aquinas a celebrated Doctor of the Order of S. Dominick of whose Life and Writings I have formerly made several Remarks Not long after he created seven Cardinals at a second Ordination in the year 1322 and presently thereupon he set forth an Edict to declare all those for obstinate Hereticks who affirm'd that Christ and his Disciples had nothing which they could call their own Which certainly does not much agree with the Scripture that tells us in many places how Christ his Disciples and true followers had a real propriety in nothing as in that passage of the Gospel where it says He that does not sell all that he has and give to the Poor cannot be my Disciple Nay more than that He accounted every one an Heretick that said the Disciples as such had not Power to sell to give to bequeath and to get because when they enter'd into Religion they were to be under the Will of another Which is the reason that Slaves do not gain any thing for themselves but their Master or give the Poor what they formerly got if he command them And of these Positions he sent Apostolical Transcripts to all publick Schools that the Scholars might not dare to Dispute of that matter any more Moreover he condemned the Opinion of one Frier Peter of the Order of Minors who had animated a whole Convent of the third Order to imitate Christs poverty of which number many were condemned and burnt After that he made ten Cardinals more among whom he consider'd John Columna and his Brother Matthew who were of the Vrsin Family and of the Order of Preachers Whilst the Pope was imploy'd in these Affairs the Florentine Army was overcome in a bloody fight by Vgutio Fagiolani not far from the Mount Catino But those of Lucca not able to endure the Tyranny of Vgutio any longer took an occasion and turn'd Nerius his Son out of the City whilst he was going to punish Castruccio a person of a Noble Family and good courage whom he had put in Prison that he might get the spoils which Castruccio had taken from the Enemies Nerius being banish'd out of Lucca incensed his Father against that State upon whom those of Pisa shut their Gates as he was going out of the City to meet the Enemy Upon that he and his Son escaped to Malaspina after he had often attempted and been as often frustrated in the recovery of his Sovereignty but by Command from the Pope he came back at last into Romagna which was his native Countrey By this means Castruccio was promoted from extream misery to the greatest happiness for he was taken out of Prison and made sole Governour of Lucca But the Pope hearing that the Esteses had routed the Church Forces out of Ferrara and gotten it totally into their own hands and that the Viscounts by assistance of Lewis of Bavaria had made themselves Masters of Millain he said he would let the Esteses alone for a while but interdicted the Viscounts though he was not so angry with them as with Lewis who usurped the Title of Emperor At the same time the Gibellins of Genoa were banish'd by their Fellow-Citizens the Guelphs assisted by King Robert to whom they had committed the Government of their City and fled in great numbers to Savona But there too some time after Robert persecuted 'em every one in their Exile and reduced the Savoneses as
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
the assistance of the Bolognians under the conduct of Rodolphus Varraneo he went with his Army to Winter in Cesena In which City there was such an upooar by reason of the pride of the French that six hundred Britains were slain and the rest turn'd out of Town But they got in again afterward by way of the Tower and being increased in their number they fill'd all places with bloud and rapine not sparing even those whose very age made their excuse onely young Women and Maids were kept alive to be abused But those of Forli fearing lest for want of advice and one to Govern them they might be oppress'd by the Legate they took Synebald Pyne John and Theobald Ordelaphi as their Lords into the City and were bravely defended by them from the fury of the Britains But Pope Gregory conceiving that all the mischiefs of Italy proceeded from his being absent and that the long shipwrack of Affairs there happen'd because the Pilot was out of the way the good Man was very intent a good while upon a Journey into Italy But he was mightily concerned at a certain Bishops words who being asked by the Pope as they were walking together why he did not return to his Church which he ought not to have left so long without a Pastor He reply'd Why do not you that are the greatest Bishop give a good Example and go to your own Bishoprick at Rome The Pope was disturb'd at these words and therefore he got ready one and twenty Ships in the Rhoan under pretence of going elsewhere that he might not be stop'd by the French as he would have been if they had understood he had been going to Rome because it was their Interest to keep the Court in France Thereupon he went first to Genoa and then to Corneto from whence he went by Land for he was weary of sailing in the Winter especially to Rome and arrived there in the year 1376. about the 11. of January in the seventh year of his Pontificate and the 70th year after the Court went out of Rome into France But what preparations the people of Rome made and with what incredible joy they received him 't is needless to relate for all the Nobility went to meet him with their countenances gestures and acclamations expressing all kind of pleasure as Children do that see their dear Father return'd from a strange Country And indeed all things lacked his presence there For both the Walls the Churches and all buildings in general publick or private threatened nothing but ruin till he repaired most part of them as the Tower which he built at S. Maries the Great does testifie The morality also of the City was so decay'd that they seemed to have nothing about 'em which look'd like a Citizen but appeared as if they ought to go and learn manners who formerly had reduced the whole to urbanity and good behaviour So then the Pope having seated himself in Rome as a good Pastor should do began to look about him and think of a cure for the Wounds of Italy And whilst he was a ruminating of it he consider'd that nothing but a Peace could do the feat Thereupon he sent his Legate first to the Florentines who inclin'd to War and persuades 'em not to slight or refuse any fair Conditions of Peace They suspecting the Popes power and fearing lest they should be compell'd to make a Peace enter into Alliance and Confederacy with Bernabos their old Enemy After that they corrupted Haucut with money and fair promises to come over from the Church to their Party at which they were so triumphant and so proud that they omitted no sort of injury or Affront that they could do the Pope For which they were anathematized and yet were so insolent that they forced their Priests notwithstanding the Interdiction to perform the Divine Offices against Law and Reason The Pope therefore weary at last of intreating took up Arms and having reconciled Bologna which was to be govern'd in his Name he like the Florentines before made Varraneo his stipendiary and gave him the command of the Church Army to go against Florence But a quarrel arose between the Genoeses and the Venetians which put a stop to his Designs he fearing lest any forein force should invade Italy if he ingaged with the Florentines himself For whilst Andronicus by the Genoeses assistance to whom he had given Tenedo as the reward of the Exploit had dethroned Charles's Father who was John Emperor of Constantinople the Venetians restored him again to his Country and had the Island Tenedo given to them by him At which the Genoeses were angry though they deferr'd their revenge till another occasion for fear of the Pope's Curse who threaten'd it to both parties if they did not quit their Arms not holding it fit for either of them to meddle in that War But whilst this holy Man did all things with that diligence that became a Pope he dy'd of that intolerable pain the stone in the Bladder in the seventh year and fifth month of his Pontificate the sixteenth of April in the year 1378. and was buried in S. Maries in the New Street in a Marble Tomb which is yet to be seen and so much lamented as never man was before him For all people thought themselves deprived of a Father in him and did bewail not onely the present but their future Calamity into which they were faln by the loss of so good a Pope and the Discords that arose among the chief Citizens VRBAN VI. GREGORY being dead and the making a new Pope being under debate the Clergy and People of Rome address'd themselves to the Cardinals and desired 'em that they would choose some worthy Person an Italian to govern the Church and State of Rome with integrity and piety for that unless an extraordinary Pastor were then elected Christianity as it stood at that time must needs fall to decay And they desired an Italian Pope lest if he were a French man the Court of Rome must remove again beyond the Mountains to the great disadvantage and damage of the City of Rome and all Italy besides Alledging that when the Pope was absent all the Country and City were continually embroil'd with Usurpations and Seditions and that the Churches in Rome were so neglected and thereby grown so much out of order that they were most of 'em ready to fall And that upon this account the people who came continually to Rome were not so zealous as they used to be when they saw the Papal Sea the Cardinals Churches and Monasteries nay the holy places where the Martyrs lie without a Roof and the Walls falling down to let in sheep and other Cattel That it was fit the Pope should live where Peter had placed the Pontifical Chair by the Will of God out of his own Country and Nation and advanced the honour of it by the ashes and the blood of Martyrs Confessors and holy Popes Hence might the
Sedition into a safe Port. He therefore having obtained this great Dignity and seeing the Hydras head which might grow out again and multiply was still left that is Benedict formerly called Peter Luna who kept with some few Cardinals and Prelates in a place that might be called the very Fort of Schism Whilst some People of Aragon were at a stand which way to incline He by approbation of the Council sent Alemannus Ademarius a very learned Man whose Tomb is still to be seen in new S. Maries a Florentine and Cardinal of S. Eusebius as Legate à Latere into Aragon to admonish Peter upon Ecclesiastical Penalties and Censures to resign the Pontificate Nay even the Cardinals that were on Peter's side when they heard this ultimate resolution of the Pope and Council went to Peter and desired him at last to remove all Schism out of the Church of God with which Christendom had been for so many years afflicted and told him that John and Gregory had done the same in order to save the Church from ruin Peter gave 'em some slight answer and told 'em he could not do it but he would agree with Martin if all were true which people said of his integrity and humanity and bid 'em let him alone to manage the business and trouble themselves no more about it But of the four Cardinals who went to him two observing his obstinacy immediately revolted from him to Martin And those two that continued on his side were presently counted Anti-Cardinals one of which was a Carthusian and the other called Julian Dobla Upon this all Spain acknowledged Martins Authority and so did the Scots and those of Armagnac not long after And so all Christendom except one Peninsula owned the Authority of Martin This great Affair thus setled by the pains and industry of the Ecclesiastick and secular Princes especially of Sigismund the Emperor they began to talk of reforming the manners of both the Laiety and Clergy which were debauched with too much Licence But because the Council of Constance had lasted already four years to the great inconvenience of Prelates and their Churches it was Martin's pleasure and the Opinion of the Council that weighty Affair should be deferred till some more seasonable opportunity it being he said a work that would require much time and deliberation because as Jerome says every Country has its peculiar Manners and Customs which cannot be easily remov'd without great disturbance Now because the Schism from a small beginning had lasted a long time to the great disadvantage of Christendom upon notice that John XXIII was escaped out of custody fearing lest he should call another Council he publish'd a Decree concerning the calling of Councils That from the end of the Council at Constance no other Council should be held within five years and after that within seven and from thence it was drawn out to ten years and was made a Law That every ten years a General Council should be held in some convenient place to treat of matters of Faith and the common good of Christendom In confirmation whereof by the approbation of the Council Martin publish'd his Bulls But he abrogated all Decrees that were made during the Schism before his Pontificate except such as were made to promote faith or good manners That all Men might know he intended to call a Council he publickly advised concerning a commodious place for it and at last chose Pavia by general approbation and gave out his Breves to this purpose Martin Bishop and Servant of Gods Servants for the future remembrance of the thing being desirous to have Obedience paid to the Decree of this General Council upon a Debate had concerning a Place where the next Council shall be holden we do with the approbation and consent of the said Council and by the Authority of these presents appoint the City of Pavia for that purpose And let no man contravene this our Decree upon pein of the displeasure of God Almighty and of his Apostles SS Peter and Paul Given and enacted at Constance in the publick Council-House April 18. in the first year of our Pontificate And now he was willing the Council should be dissolv'd wherefore calling a full Assembly with the good liking of the Emperor and of all the rest he commanded Ibaldo Cardinal of S. Vitus to dismiss them which he did by saying Sirs Depart in peace Every one now having leave to be gone the Pope was desired on the one side by the Emperor and the Germans that he would tarry some time in their Country and by the French Princes on the other side to go into France but he told 'em he could not do it by any means because he said the Churches Patrimony was torn and spoiled by Usurpers in Italy whilst the Pope was absent and that the City of Rome which was the Metropolis of Christendom was almost ruin'd for want of the presence of its Governour so much it had suffer'd by Plague Famine Sword Fire and Sedition beside that the Churches and Chappels of the holy Martyrs by the Pope's absence were either in ruins or ready to fall and therefore he must be gone thither He desired 'em to take that kindly which reason and necessity forced him to and that they would let him sit in Peter's Chair since they had unanimously chosen him Pope That the Church of Rome was the Mother and the Head of all other Churches and therefore the Pope ought to reside there lest the true Pilot should be displaced from the Stern to the Stem to the great hazard and detriment of both Passengers and Sailers i.e. all Christian Men. So he went from Constance through Savoy into Italy and arrived at Millain where he was very kindly received by Duke Philip and all his People who gave him all the respect imaginable Philip was at that time in Arms endeavouring to recover his paternal inheritance which the Usurpers kept from him with great bravery and courage for having once tasted how pleasant it was to govern they were not easily turn'd out of possession However Carmignola Philip's chief Commander press'd Pandulphus Malatesta very hard who having taken Pergamo by bribing the Governour to betray the Castle moved toward Brescia and would have quickly strip'd him of all his Dominions had he not been aided by the Venetians with great sums of Money and stout Cavalry or had not Pope Martin persuaded Philip to make a Peace with Pandulphus which was accordingly afterward composed and agreed upon at Mantoua in the presence of Martin and by the Umpirage of John Francisco upon these terms to wit That Pandulphus paying a yearly Tribute should keep Brescia so long as he lived but should not have Power to give it away by Will because at his Death it naturally devolv'd upon Philip. But the next year Pandulphus broke his Peace by endeavouring by Men and Money to keep Cabrinus Fundulus in the possession of Cremona For Philip made War against him
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
his pay Eugenius answered him that he had taken as much spoil out of the Castle especially out of the Town as would satisfie him At which Nicolas was so angry that he went into the parts about Rome and raised such tumults taking and driving away such numbers of Men and Cattel that Eugenius was some time at a stand what to do The Romans flock'd to him with their complaints but the Pope who at that time wanted both advice and health sent 'em to Francis the Chamberlain who being devoted to idleness and pleasure gave 'em no other answer but that they over-valued their Cattel for they often complain'd of the loss of them and told 'em that the Venetians lived more like Citizens than they without Beasts and flocks of Cattel The Romans were displeased at this answer and therefore when Nicolas had taken Tivoli beating Count Tagliacotius out of it and Subiaco and drawn all the Colonneses to his party Stephen Colonna who was always of the other side being kill'd by the Prince they threw off the yoke of Subjection and crying out Arms Arms Liberty Liberty they beat out all Eugenius's Officers and taking Francis the Chamberlain Prisoner they created a new Magistracy of their own choosing consisting of seven Romans whom they called Governors who had power of life and death But Eugenius in such an Hurry not knowing what to do resolv'd to flee for 't And immediately changing his Habit for that of a Monk went on shipboard in a small Vessel along with Arsenius the Monk down the Tiber to Ostia Whereupon certain Romans that knew of his going threw Stones and shot Arrows at him for they would fain have kept him there till they had got possession of S. Angelo Nevertheless Eugenius went away upon the 7th of July and sailed to Pisa first and then to Florence in Galleys laid on purpose for his passage and then the Romans betook themselves to storm the Castle raising Mounds and Bulwarks in all places that might make it more accessible to the Enemy On the other side those of the Castle made some sallies upon them and the Governor thinking it fit to use some stratagem with the people of Rome He by the assistance and advice of Baldesar Aufido a cunning Captain that defended the lower part of the Castle bad one of his Soldiers that sallied out that he should suffer himself to be taken by the Enemy and then blame the cruelty and covetousness of him the Governor and promise them that if they would give him such a reward he would kill the Governor and betray the Castle The Soldier did exactly as he was bid and when he was taken said all the ill things he could devise against Antony Ridio the Governor and swore he would bring the matter about to their mind Thereupon being dismissed he went into the Castle and hung up Anthonies Clothes with somewhat like his Head on top of them which was visible a great way off Baldesar presently cry'd out the wicked Fellow was justly punish'd and that some of the chief Roman Commanders might now come in and if they paid the reward take the Castle They not being aware of the trick went in and were strait taken Immediately there was a joyful noise in the Castle and Darts and Bullets were thrown and shot upon the Romans without The Romans being thus deluded advised concerning the enter-change of their Captives and in order to it set the Chamberlain Eugenius's Nephew at Liberty and unanimously submitted to Eugenius within five months after they thought to have gain'd their freedom Then there were Magistrates made in the name of the Church who fortified the Capitol with strong Guards and other provisions And after upon the arrival of John Viteleschus whom they call'd the Patriarch Francis his Nephew being gone to Eugenius a sudden dread seiz'd the Romans to such a degree that they durst not so much as open their mouths for fear For Viteleschus was an imperious and cruel Man and lived like a Tyrant rather than a Christian These things were transacted at Rome whilst Alphonso besieged Naples and Cajetta which was stoutly defended by the Genoese Merchants and the Genoeses thinking it their duty to assist their Countrymen fitted out a Navy with all speed by the leave and good liking of Duke Philip Viconti who lent 'em some Foot-Soldiers and meeting their Enemy Alphonso not far from Cajetta they engaged with him After a long and a sharp conflict they defeated Alphonso and took him Prisoner and all his retinue of which some were Princes Alphonso was brought to Millain to Philip but was entertain'd not as a Captive or an Enemy of the Genoeses but as a King and a Friend And when he had been treated honourably for some days and presented by Philip with many great gifts he went into his Kingdom and took Cajetta presently Upon that the Genoeses were so enraged that he should free Alphonso so easily whom they had taken with such hazard that by the advice of Thomas Fregoso they revolted from Philip and made the said Thomas their Duke Then Picenninus who was sent against the Genoeses receiving news that they persisted in their obstinacy took Sarzana and marching toward Pisa under pretence to go and help Alphonso spoiled many Castles belonging to the Pisans But the Florentines stopped his career by sending for Francis Sfortia with the Pope's good liking who was then in possession of Ancona and endeavour'd by the assistance of the Florentines and Venetians to be made Lord of it But Eugenius was against that and said that it became a Pope to preserve the Church-patrimony even by War rather than alienate it So they deferred that business till another opportunity yet Francis in hopes of it did not onely beat Picenninus from the Siege of Barga taking Lewis Gonzaga who fought under Picenninus but he laid close Siege to Lucca in the name of the Florentines Picenninus was hinder'd from passing the Apennine to their relief and therefore promised to free them another way Wherefore he march'd through Bologna without any molestation onely taking a Town belonging to the Florentines called Oriolo and being mindful of the Lucceses he went thither and in the absence of Francis Sfortia vanquish'd the Florentines and raised the Siege of Lucca The Pope being almost distracted with care as well because he was surrounded with War as that the Council of Basil begun by the Decree of Pope Martin increased daily by the conflux of all the Princes of Spain France Germany and Hungary who referr'd the case of all Christendom to that Council he contrived how to dissolve it and to that purpose would have removed it from Basil to Bologna by general consent of the Cardinals that were there on his side But the Emperor other Princes and Prelates then at Basil did not onely disobey the Pope but admonish'd him several times to come himself with his Cardinals to Basil which was a convenient place that Martin had chosen to hold
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 Council of Basil was at the heighth King Alphonso who was then at War in Naples being desired to send some body thither he order'd Alphonso Borgia to go who taking it ill that a thing of such pernicious consequence should be committed to his management he got leave of the Queen to go into Italy to the King with Ferdinand the King's Son and exhort him that after so many dangerous expeditions and difficulties with which he was even at that time surrounded he would return into his own Country But the King told him he would not but sent him to Eugenius who was then at Florence to treat concerning a Peace For Viteleschus having enter'd the Kingdom of Naples in Eugenius's name with an Army plunder'd and spoil'd all that came before him to hinder the King from taking Naples which at that time he laid Siege to But the business taking up time and the Pope intending in the mean time to make twenty Cardinals among the rest design'd the Bishop of Valenza should be one though he refused the honour with all the earnestness imaginable because he said it was not fit for him to receive especially till he had done the business that he came for Afterward Eugenius return'd to Rome the Patriarch of Aquilegia whom he sent to Tarracina to the King having made a Peace between the Pope and the King upon Conditions at the making of which the Bishop of Valenza was present and interposed his Authority and care for which the Pope began to love him so well that he soon after made him Cardinal Sanctorum quatuor and sent for him to Rome where he used no less modesty in his Cardinalate than he had before in his Bishoprick being always free and far from pomp and vain-glory When he spoke in the Senate he was reckon'd so grave and sincere a person that he never spake any thing out of flattery or to win favour But Eugenius dying and Nicolas after him this Alphonso Borgia as I told you was made Pope in S. Peter's Palace taking upon him the name of Calistus and immediately proclaimed War against the Turks shewing his own hand-writing whereby he had vowed to do so even before his Pontificate in a Book of his to this purpose I Calixtus do vow to God and the Holy Trinity that I will persecute the Turks those Enemies of Christianity with War Curses Interdictions Execrations and by all the ways I am able All that were by admired at it that he should arrogate to himself the name of Pope before he had the honour conferr'd and that a Man who was so old and decrepit should have so much courage But that he might really perform his promise he sent Preachers through all Europe to animate all Christians against the Turks and to persuade such as were able to lend their helping hand in that momentous Expedition And of these he sent sixteen Gallies full built at Rome over whom the Patriarch of Aquilegia was Admiral and harass'd the Sea-coasts of Asia for three years together where he took several Islands and did the Enemy a great deal of damage King Alphonso and the Duke of Burgundy also took upon them the Cross and profess'd that they would either go against the Enemy in their own persons or at least would raise Men to send Yet this Affair as it was moved at an heat so it as easily cooled again whilst the Princes indulged their pleasures and neglected that which would have gain'd them immortal Fame Whilst the Pope was Crown'd in the Lateran two Soldiers one under the Earl Aversus and the other under Neapolio Vrsin Men of diverse factions and parties who quarrelling about a young Lad did so wound each other that they both dy'd upon the spot For that reason Neapolio raising the Vrsine Faction invaded the House where the Count Aversus lived but the Count being from home he would have gone to the Lateran to seise him but was with much ado kept back by his Brother Latinus the Pope's Chamberlain And indeed Neapolio could not have gone thither without great damage to the City because all the Faction of the Colonneses who favour'd the Count were then in Arms. The Pope also had sent John Baruncellus and Laelius de Valle two Advocates of the Consistory to both of 'em to make 'em Friends so that by this means the present disturbance was appeased but the old grudg betwixt them still remain'd For they had many trials of Skill to the great disadvantage of their Adherents The Pope however apply'd his mind to his Pontifical Affairs and Canoniz'd S. Vincent a Spaniard of the Order of Preachers and S. Edmund of England and upon that occasion said Prayers and Thanksgivings from Ecclesia Minervae to S. Peter's with a long train of Clergy and Laity following him But lest any thing should be wanting to disturb the Church some Country Fellows of Palombara a Town in Sabina who were formerly banish'd thence by James Sebellus Lord of the place return'd home and killing two Sons of James's promised to surrender the Town to the Church which Calixtus not only refused to accept but sent Cardinal Columna thither to appease them Neapolio fearing the Cardinal should seise Palombara in his own name he went thither with his Army and besieged the Town for some days Though when Matthew Poianus and Francis Sabellus with other Commanders came up by order from the Pope and the Cardinal they raised the Siege enter'd Palombara and hang'd twenty of the Country Fellows of those especially that had made the disturbance and quarter'd 'em to give example to others and warn 'em never to attempt so great a piece of Villany against their rightful Lords Soon after appeared a Comet for some days hairy and red of which when the Astrologers said that it portended a great Plague Dearth or some mighty Slaughter Calixtus appointed a Fast for several days to pray to God that if any judgment hung over them he would be pleased to avert and turn it upon the Turks the Enemies to Christianity He gave order likewise that God should be supplicated every day and that a Bell should be rung about Noon to give people notice when they should joyn in Prayer for the Christians against the Turks So that the Christians assisted by the Prayers of the whole Church fought against the Turks at Belgrade under the conduct of John the Vaivod an excellent Person and John Capistranus of the Order of Minors bearing the holy Cross and conquer'd 'em when they besieged Belgrade six thousand of the Enemies being slain by a few of our Men as Carviagalla Cardinal of S. Angelo wrote to the Pope and to Dominick Capranicus Cardinal of S. Crosses besides that all their Carriages and an hundred and sixty Guns were taken a blow that so much scar'd the Turk that he retir'd in haste to Constantinople And no doubt but that cruel barbarous Nation had been destroyed if the Christian Princes would but have laid aside their
magnificent Buildings near Saint Mark 's and in the Vatican An instance of his Munificence was the Hunting which with great charge he caused to be represented in the Campo di Merula for the entertainment of the Duke of Ferrara The management of which was committed to his Nephew by his Sister whom he had made Cardinal of S. Lucia and at the same time conferred the like honour of a Cardinal on Baptista Zeno his other Nephew It was a hard thing to gain access to him considering he would sleep in the day-time and be awake in the night looking over his Jewels and pretious Stones and if after long waiting you came into his presence you might hear him indeed but your self could not be heard he was so very talkative He was morose and peevish as well to his Courtiers as Strangers and would often alter his mind from what he had promised He had a great mind to be thought a politick Man and would therefore give very ambiguous answers so that he continued not long his Friendships with any Princes or Commonwealths himself having several different Interests He lov'd to have great variety of Dishes at his Table and generally eat of the worst but would be clamorous if what he used to like were not provided He drank often but his Wine was small and diluted with Water He loved Melons Crabs Sweetmeats Fish and Bacon which odd kind of Diet I believe caused the Apoplexy of which he died for the day before his death he had eat two very large Melons He was reputed a just and yet a merciful Man endeavouring to amend even Thieves Murderers Traitors and perjur'd Villains by tedious Imprisonment But he was a great Enemy and Despiser of Human Learning branding those for Heretics that gave their minds to it and dissuading the People of Rome from putting their Children to be brought up to it telling them that it was enough if they had learn'd to write and read He was known to be ill-condition'd and inexorable to Petitioners not onely denying but reproaching and abusing them but yet he would make a show of doing less than he would do Lastly one thing he was highly to be commended for that he kept no ill Men about him but contain'd his Family and all his Domestics in their due bounds that their pride and insolence might not procure him the hate of the great Men and People of Rome The End of the Lives of the POPES Written by B. Platina A CONTINUATION OF THE Lives of the Popes SIXTVS IV. FRANCIS della Rovere born the 21. of July Anno 1414. at Celle a Village near Savona a City under the Dominion of the Republick of Genoua was created Pope on the 9th of August 1471. he was as some write the Son of a Fisherman tho Onofrio Panvinio in the History of his Life deduces his Original from a noble and ancient Extraction of the Longobards and reports that Simon della Rovere in the year of our Lord 700. transplanting himself from Premont to Savona was the first of that Family from whom this Sixtus IV. descended His Fathers name was Leonard a person of Authority and Reputation having managed many publick Offices for the Service of his Country This Francis della Rovere was in the time of his infancy dedicated by the Vow of his Mother to the Order of S. Francis and at the age of nine years was put into a Convent and committed to the charge of John Pinarolo a Frier of that Society by whom he was instructed in the Rules of the Franciscan Order and in the first Rudiments of Grammar and being of good Wit and Capacity he became Master of the Ciceronian Stile and Language He afterwards went to Cheri where he studied Logick and thence travelled to Pavia and Bologna where he became a great proficient in Philosophy and Divinity Being of twenty years of age he disputed with great acuteness and subtilty in the Schools at Geneva and afterwards taking the degree of Doctor in Padua he was made Reader of the Divinity and Philosophy Lectures at Padoua Pavia Siena and other parts in Italy In process of time his abilities being made known he was esteemed and courted by all and having many Scholars and admirers amongst which Cardinal Bessarion was one he gained a great esteem and interest in all Courts of Europe so that in time he was constituted General of his Order Procurator of the Court at Rome and Vicar-General of all Italy He was highly esteemed by Pius the second and Paul the second being a great admirer of his abilities and Learning did at the instance and persuasion of the Cardinals Bessarion and Francis de Gonzaga admit him with seven others to the order of Cardinals without any motion In process of time his abilities being made known he was esteemed and courted by all and having many Scholars and admirers amongst which Cardinal Bessarion was one he gained a great esteem and interest in all Courts of Europe so that in time he was constituted General of his Order Procurator of the Court at Rome and Vicar-General of all Italy He was highly esteemed by Pius the second and Paul the second being a great admirer of his abilities and Learning did at the instance and persuasion of the Cardinals Bessarion and Francis de Gonzaga admit him with seven others to the order of Cardinals without any motion or address from himself or so much as his own knowledg being then at Pavia with design to go for Venice On this occasion coming to Rome he was created Cardinal the 17th of September 1467. and being by the beneficence and favour of the Church assisted with many large Contributions he was enabled to repair the Palace of S. Peter ad Vincola where he formed and kept his Court after the Rules and Customs of a Convent The exercise of this eminent Office and his attendance on the Government of the Church could not so distract or divert his mind from his Studies but that he found time to write many Tractates and Treatises in Divinity namely a Tract of the Blood of Jesus Christ of the Conception of the Virgin Mary de futuris contingentibus and of the Power of God against the Opinion of a certain Carmelite Frier who held that God could not by his Omnipotent Power save any person whom he had predestinated to damnation He also wrote a Tractate reconciling the opinions of Aquinas and Scotus shewing that they did not differ in substance or reallity but in words or ways of expression All which procured him such fame and credit that Paul the second dying suddenly on the 28th of July he was in a Conclave of seven and twenty Cardinals elected Pope on the 9th of August 1471. After his Election he was Crowned the 24th of September following after which he esteemed it his first business to reconcile the Discords amongst Christian Princes and to turn the hatred they conceived one against the other upon their common enemy the Turk To
peace with paying the Armies of his Enemy Nor was the advantage which he gained at the conclusion acquired by the valour of his Arms or Virtue and Conduct of his Captains for they being men of lewd lives cowardly and base were prosperous in nothing all their actions tending to increase disorders and multiply errors whereby the Pope being at length forced to crave the assistance of all men paid dearly for the purchase of Vrbin In this manner the year 1518. began and continued with peace and with an unusual calmness in all the Regions of Italy only the success of Sultan Selim Emperor of the Turks who had been victorious in Persia Syria and Egypt alarm'd the Pope and the Christian Princes who apprehending with great dread the progress of his Arms the number of his Ships and Gallies which he was building and all other Provisions necessary for War feared lest he should invest Rhodes the Bulwark of Christendom in the Eastern parts or perhaps fall into Hungaria which tho formerly defended by the Valor of the Inhabitants yet now lay exposed by its own Civil and Intestine Dissentions and by the minority of a King governed by Priests and Jesuitical Councils Nor was Italy free from the like fears of Invasion by that Potent Prince which had under meaner circumstances of power entered the City of Otranto and put all Italy into a fear and consternation And therefore now to obviate and prevent the like dangers at a distance the Pope caused most devout Processions with the solemn Pomp of Images and Relicks of Saints to be made at Rome and in person walked bare-foot with all his Court from S. Peters to the Minerva where Prayers were made to God that he would be pleased to divert the fury of this Common Enemy to Christendom And because Prayers without human endeavours are not available Letters were wrote to all Christian Princes to joyn in this War for the more orderly management of which the task and enterprise which every one was to undertake was allotted and contrived in the Consistory and an Universal Truce for five years was published amongst all Christian Princes and States with grievous censures on those who should be repugnant thereunto In pursuance of this method and design the Emperor and King of Poland were to invade the Turk on the parts of Servia and Bulgaria The French King Venetians and other Princes of Italy were to Embark at the Port of Brundusium and pass into Albania and invade Greece on that side The Kings of England Spain and Portugal were to Rendezvous at Carâ—agena in Spain and with a Fleet of 200 Sail enter the Heliespont and attack Constantinople it self and for carrying on of this Holy War voluntary Contributions were to be made and Impositions to be laid as well on the Clergy as the Laity Now tho these matters were begun with great expectation and the Universal Truce accepted with a specious show and mighty promises made of advancing this Enterprise with ostentation and bravery of words yet at length private Interests over-ruling the zeal for Religion and the Universal Union the minds of the Princes became slackned in the design and the thoughts of War vanished every one looking at the peril as uncertain and far distant The Peace still continuing in Italy until the year 1520. Martin Luther a Frier of the Order of S. Austin began to make some disturbances in Germany which greatly opposed the Authority of the Church of Rome The beginnings thereof had their original from certain Indulgences which Pope Leo exercised in a more ample and licentious manner than was customed and practised by former Popes For in the year 1100. being in the Reign of Vrban II. Plenary Indulgences for Pardon and Remission of Sins were bestowed on those only who went to the Holy War with intent to deliver the Sepulchre of Christ out of the hands of Infidels These Indulgences were afterwards in like manner dispensed unto those who either were not able or willing to undertake the design in person provided that they entertained or payed another at their own charge Afterwards Indulgences and Pardons of this nature became more common being enlarged to those who took part in the Wars against those who resisted the Secular Arms of the Pope tho the same were Christians and Princes who in defence of their own Kingdoms and States opposed the Encroachments and Extravagancies of the Ecclesiastical Claims But now Pope Leo by the Counsel of Cardinal Puccio bestowed his Indulgences in more ample form and dispersed them in all parts of the Christian World without distinction of times persons or places not only for the help of such who were yet living but with power to deliver the souls of the Dead from the pains of Purgatory it being manifestly known that the design of these Indulgences was only to obtain money from the people which the Collectors exacted with an unparallel'd impudence the matter became scandalous especially in Germany where the Officers set the Indulgences to sale at a small price and sometimes in a Tavern this power of redeeming Souls out of Purgatory were set for a Stake at a Game at Tables This shame and dishonor was increased in the Country of Saxony and other parts of Germany when it was known that the proceed and benefit of those Indulgences extorted with great rigor and avarice by the Bishop of Arembauld a man fit to be employed in such a Commission was not to be paid in to the Apostolical Chamber at Rome but given to Magdalen Sister to the Pope and devoted to the avarice of a Woman for then the matter became detestable and the cries and exclamations lowed in all parts of Germany Luther being supported by the favour of the Duke of Saxony took this occasion to contemn these Indulgences and preach every where against them which being a matter very plausible his Sermons were heard with great attention by the people and his Doctrin approved by his Auditors who came from all parts to hear him Having this encouragement he began to question the Power of the Church and the Authority of the Pope and as matters grew higher he disputed against Pardons and Penance and Purgatory upon which the Doctrin of Indulgences had its foundation on the truth of which Doctrins he laid so much stress and was so positive in the certainty of all his Conclusions that he would often say he would not refer or submit them to the judgment of Angels After these beginnings which seemed plausible and honest and which made great noise and were highly controverted in the world by the most acute and subtil Wits of that Age Luther proceeded to preach against Images in Churches against Prayers to Saints to question Transubstantiation in the Holy Eucharist and to allow Marriage to Priests Monks and Friers the which he not only maintained by force of Argument but confirmed by his own example The Pope in opposition hereunto sent many Religious and learned men into
able to render a reason why amidst so many dangers and troubles of the Ecclesiastical State they had chosen a stranger for Pope of a remote Country who had never seen Italy and perhaps might never have seen it but upon this occasion and who had neither been acquainted with the customs of the Court of Rome nor yet had entertained such conversation with the Cardinals as to have hoped by their interest or his own merit to have attained to the Election of which the Cardinals not being able to render any solid reason gave out in excuse of themselves that it was an impulse of the Holy Ghost which did often inspire the hearts of Cardinals in Election of Popes The news of this Election was brought to Adrian then residing at Victoria a Town on the Confines of Biscay upon advice whereof taking no other name than his own he caused himself to be called Adrian the sixth He was born at Vtrecht a City in Holland his Father's name was Florent one that by Profession made Tapestry Hangings and this his Son being a Youth of an ingenious lively spirit was sent to Study in the University of Lovain where afterwards being a great proficient in Learning Margaret the Daughter of Maximilian then Governess of the Low-Countries receiving information of his Virtues and Abilities made him Curate of a Parish-Church in Holland afterwards he was preferred to be Dean of the Cathedral in Lovain and then made Vice-Chancellor of that University During this time Philip Arch-Duke of Austria Son of Maximilian the Emperor died leaving a Son of seven years of age named Charles for whose Education and Instruction a Tutor and School-master being sought in all parts none was esteemed more proper either for his Virtue or Learning than this Adrian Having for some time honorably acquitted himself in this Office he was sent Embassador to Ferdinand King of Spain with whom he acquired so much favour and interest that in a short time he was made Bishop of Tortosa and afterwards Chief Counsellor of State to the Emperor Charles V. Likewise by the recommendation of the Emperor Maximilian and on account of the great esteem and reputation he had acquired he was created Cardinal by Pope Leo X with the Title of S. John and S. Paul in the year 1519. And Charles his Scholar being chosen Emperor he committed to his care and charge the whole and entire Government of Spain in which Country Adrian resided when the news was brought him of his Election to the Popedom Charles the Emperor having about that time passed by Sea into Spain sent an Express to congratulate his Promotion desiring him that he would be pleased to make some little stay at Barcelona that so he might have opportunity to pay his Respects in person to him and perform that Reverence and Obedience which he owed to the Apostolical Sea but Adrian was in so much hast fearing some Revolutions in Rome and Italy that he would make no stay at Barcelona but Embarking at Taragona on the 11th of August he soon after with a placid Navigation arrived at Genoua where he was visited by the Prelates of France thence proceeding to Ligorn he was there received by Cardinal De Medicis and five other Cardinals as also by the Embassadors sent from several Princes of Italy and by Francis de Gonzaga who was General of the Army belonging to the Church At Pyrgos he was met by Pompey Colonna and Francis Vrsino who were Cardinals delegated by the Senate of Rome and thence proceeding to Ostia he was carried up the River to the Monastery of S. Paul where he lodged for one night And lastly on the 29. of August the people of Rome with the several Orders of the Clergy accompanied him with great pomp to the Palace of the Vatican and the next day he was solemnly Crowned in the Portico of S. Peter's Church Pope Adrian being now seated in his Throne employed his whole time at first to hear and understand the Affairs of Rome for as yet he was altogether ignorant of the State of Italy the which in such an exigency in which things at that time were was a great trouble to considering men who thought it a miserable disadvantage to have at that time a Pope a stranger and altogether unexperienced in the Affairs of Italy and of the Court when the Pestilence grievously afflicted the City a matter which was interpreted for an ill Prognostication and omen of his future success The Treasury also by the Wars Disorders and Luxury of preceding Popes exhausted and drained to a farthing and all the Jewels and Ornaments of the Pontifical Dignity pawned and placed in the hands of Usurers first by Leo and afterwards more monies raised upon them by the College to supply the necessities and exigencies of the Church Arimino also was seized and possessed by Sigismund Malatesta And news was come that Soliman the Great Turk had invested Rhodes and put it into great danger and prepared with a great Army to invade Hungary all which being matters of great difficulty did much puzzle and distract the mind of Adrian who was as yet raw and unexperienced in the Affairs of Rome the which troubles were soon followed by the unhappy news of the loss of Rhodes having been surrendred up on conditions after a six months Siege And now Adrian being warm in his Seat began in the first place to design the recovery of Rimini which was seized and possessed by Sigismund and Pandolfo Malatesta and next to compose those differences which the Duke of Ferrara had continued with his two late Predecessors for the more effectual performance whereof he sent 1500 Spanish Infantry which he had brought with him out of Spain for security of his passage on the Sea into Romagna the which with addition of other Forces so affrighted Sigismond and Malatesta that by the mediation of the Duke of Vrbin they surrendred Rimini to the Pope upon hopes that the Pope would in lieu thereof assign them some other honorable support and maintenance Afterwards the Duke of Vrbin went himself to Rome where the memory of Pope Julian was still so precious as to entitle him to some kindness from this present Pope on which motive the Ecclesiastical Censures which were issued out against him by Leo were reversed Plenary Absolution given him and he again restored to the Dutchy of Vrbin by Adrian howsoever with this clause salvo jure c. that it might be without prejudice to that Grant made to the Florentines of the Country of Montfeltra in considerarion of the sum of 350000 Crowns which they had lent to Pope Leo for defence of that Country With the like frank generosity Adrian received Alfonso Duke of Ferrara into his favour and not only invested him in the Dukedom of Ferrara and in all those Lands which depended on the Church before the War which Pope Leo â—ade against the French but also in the Towns of Felix and Final which he had
to that King And whereas the former Pope was always averse to the instances which the Emperor and French King and other Princes made to him for a General Council to be held for reforming abuses crept into the Church and suppressing the Opinions of Luther which they called heretical and which began to dilate and spread themselves in all parts of Christendom Now this Paul the Third was of such a different sense herein to his Predecessor that he freely declared for a Council shewing himself willing to meet the desires of the Princes and promised in a short space to appoint the time and place where such a Council should be held and celebrated And farther to confirm and improve this good correspondence with the Christian Courts he dispeeded his Emissaries and Legates into all parts whose care it was as well to advance the private interests of his Family as the common benefit of the Church and particularly to solicit and promote such a good correspondence and peace between the Emperor and the King of France that uniting their Forces for the common safety of Christendom might joyntly make War upon the Turk and other enemies to the Christian Faith but herein his desires found little success for the French being beaten out of Italy could not support the prosperity of the Emperor against whom breathing nothing but revenge could never be induced to unite their Arms in a common Cause or joyn in a design then preparing by the Emperor against the Kingdom of Tunis which one Barbarosso had usurped who having by the help of Soldiers and a strong Fleet furnished and equipped at the expence of Soliman Emperor of the Turks droven Mulcasses King of Tunis out of his own Country did with the pyracies he committed very much infest the Coasts of Spain and Sicily and being arrived to a considerable power threatned to invade the Kingdom of Naples This growing greatness of Barbarosso and the daily Pyracies he committed were sufficient provocation to Charles the Fifth to wage War against him and being a Tyrant and an Infidel the Pope also became concerned in this Holy Cause to concur with the Emperor for whose assistance he furnished out nine Gallies which were fitted at Genoua besides three others which were the usual Guard of the Coast over this Fleet Virginio Orsinio a person of great quality was constituted Admiral to whom was joyned Paulo Giustiniano a Noble Venetian and one of great experience in Sea Affairs The preparations of the Emperor also were very great his Fleet was commanded by Prince Doria who was made Commander in Chief at Sea to whom the Pope made a present of a short Sword or Poniard with a Hilt set with Jewels and the Scabbard rarely Engraved and consecrated with the usual Ceremonies likewise a Cap of Velvet Embroidered with Pearls which were the accustomary Donatives which Popes made to Generals that were employed in a Holy War against Infidels The Marquiss Del Vasso was created General of the Italian and German Infantry and being on his Voyage towards Tunis he touched in his way thither at Civita Vecchia to which place the Pope went in person to bless the Army that he might evidence to the world the great zeal he had for the Christian cause the which office of Benediction he performed on the top of a high Tower from whence surveying the Fleet of Ships and Gallies he solemnly prayed with a Choire of Priests for the happy success of this enterprise making thousands of Crosses on the empty Air and then descending into the Church he delivered the Banner and Scepter of the Christian Religion into the hands of Viâ—ginio Orsino his General The success of this Expedition was that the Emperor having landed a great Army on the Coast of Tunis defeated Barbarosso and put his Forces to flight took the City of Tunis and restored Mulcasses the vanquished Prince to his Kingdom on conditions of Homage and Tribute for better security of which payment and performance he built two Castles at the Goleta which being Garrisoned with Spaniards served for Block Houses to that Port and having released twenty thousand Christians from Captivity which Barbarossa had by his depredations at Sea and Land taken and enslaved he returned with his Fleet to Sicily and then to Naples where he solemnly entered in a triumphant manner with such joy and festivals as are due to such successes Nor was this good news less welcome to Rome where Processions of Thanksgivings were made and Te Deum sang in the most solemn manner and farther to â—estifie the great joy which the Pope conceived for this success John Piccolomini and Alexander Cesarini were sent from him to congratulate with the Emperor for this glorious and happy Victory Whilst the Emperor was in his passage between Sicily and Naples advices were brought him of the decease of Francis Sforza who was the last Duke of Milan by whose death that Dutchy devolved to the Empire being afterwards governed by Antonio de Levae in form of a Province howsoever the Title thereunto was not so clear on the Emperors side but that the King of France laid his claim unto it not only by right of inheritance as descended from his Great-Grand-Mother Valentina but by virtue also of a concession granted by publick Act from Maximilian the Emperor to King Lewis XII of France on a valuable consideration of mony paid for it after Lodowick Sforza had been taken and droven from thence But this pretence seemed of little moment to the Emperor who judging this Dukedom of great importance to his State came from Naples to Rome with intent to persuade the Pope to joyn with him in a League against the French that so Italy might be more in repose and quiet by expulsion of the French who were always esteemed great disturbers of the peace of it On the 5th of April 1536. the Emperor came to Rome where being received by the Cardinals Bishops and all the Orders of the Clergy with the Citizens he was conducted to the Church of S. Peter where the Pope attended him on the steps of the Porch and the usual Ceremonies being passed he was lodged in that apartment of the Vatican Palace which was built by Innocent VIII During the residence which the Emperor made at Rome he entertained frequent Conferences with the Pope concerning a League to be entered into between them and the other Princes of Italy for expelling the French out of that Country who having been always known under the character and notion of the disturbers of their peace they could neyer hope or expect quietness whilst that restless people had any hold or possession in their Quarters And farther the Emperor in a publick Assembly of the Pope and all the Cardinals and Forein Ministers did most severely inveigh against Francis the French King as the most ungratetul and faithless of all the Princes of the Universe but being sharply answered and replied upon by Monsieur Bellay the Embassador of France
Imperial Faction Ferdinand of Toledo Duke of Alva then Vice-King of Naples being alarmed by these proceedings resolved not to attend the assaults of the Enemy but rather that he might be beforehand with them made Incursions into the State of the Church and without much resistance took Pontecorvo Frosolone Anagna Marino Valmontone Palestrina Tivoli Ostia Gave Genazzano Nettuno Albano Vicovaro Monte Fortino and in short made himself Master of all the Campania of Rome the Pope on the other side with the aid and assistance of the French and Switzers recovered several of those places again but the War being continued for the space of a whole year with great fury and resolution on both sides that Country became most miserably harassed and laid desolate by fire and sword By the vast expences of this War the Pope's Treasury being much exhausted many exorbitant ways were contrived to replenish it again as namely the Tithes upon all Benefices were doubled the Gabelles and Customs were raised to an intolerable degree half a years Revenue was exacted from all Offices and the Debts which particular Persons owed to their Creditors were required to be paid into the Treasury upon which the Debtors being discharged Debentures were given from the Pope to the Creditors and the same charged as a Debt upon the Church He farther seized on all the Horses in Rome to serve in the War and compelled all the Friers of what order soever to labour on the Works and carry Earth to the Fortifications many of the Churches he converted into Granaries and Store-houses wherein to lay Provisions besides many other Exactions and agrievances which he imposed on the People who were by this time possessed with a detestable hatred against his Person and his Actions Howsoever neither the Cries nor Exclamations of his Subjects nor the miseries of his Country were able to incline the fierce and resolute Spirit of the Pope to any terms of Peace whilst he found himself seconded by the French and Switzers Howsoever in the Month of August following the French having received a Defeat at the Battel of St. Quintin in which a great part of the Nobility of France were taken Prisoners and thereby also the expectation of the Pope being in some measure defeated his haughty Spirit began to abate and hearken to some terms and proposals of Accommodation for then the sad Spectacle of Italy laid wast with fire and sword appeared before him and the dreadful apprehension of Treason against his Person which was plotted to betray Rome into the hands of Mark Anthony Colonna and Ascanio della Corona who at the beginning of the War revolted to the Spanish Party did much affright him so that as I say the Pope's mind being become more flexible a Peace was concluded on the thirteenth of September 1557. by the mediation of the Venetians the Duke of Florence and Cardinal Sforza and signed by the Cardinal Caraffa in behalf of the Pope and by the Duke of Alva in the name of Philip King of Spain Which being concluded the Duke of Alva coming to Rome with Christian humility kissed the feet of the Pope and received absolution and being treated with high honour obtained the freedom of all those who had been imprisoned on account of the late War Matters being by these means reduced to some tolerable quiet the Pope dispatched his Legats both to Spain and France to labour a cementing of that Peace which he himself of late had been an Instrument to break recommending more particularly in their Instructions the confirmation of the Dukedom of Paliano on his Nephew So that now being wearied with War the fatigues and expence and unquietudes of which he had never before been acquainted with the Pope betook himself to his more agreeable trade of regulating the Manners of Men and the corruptions and abuses crept into the Church but in regard the particulars hereof were various and burthensom he committed the greatest part of that trouble to the Conduct of Cardinal Caraffa Attending himself with sedulity and attention to the Court of Inquisition as the sole Tribunal then capable to suppress Heresies and the present distempers of the Age and therefore to the cognisance of that Court he reduced several Crimes triable at other Bars of Judicature so that the Prisons of the Inquisition were filled with Malefactors and in this way of Judicial proceedings he was the more passionate because he had been the first that persuaded Paul III. to erect that Court and had contrived the Methods and Rules for the proceedings thereof and therefore coming now himself to the Popedom he put all those Orders into practice which he had formerly meditated constituting Cardinal Alessandrino Inquisitor General together with sixteen Cardinals who were made Judges of the Court whose first work was to publish an Index Expurgatorius of all Books in the least manner suspected or attainted of Heresie forbidding all Persons under pain of Excommunication to read them or have them in their possession He recalled Cardinal Poole from his Office of Legat in England on account as some believe of an old Pique that had been between them and having accused Cardinal Morone of Heresie by reason as some believe of his friendship to Poole he imprisoned him in the Castle together with the Bishop of Cava and had as was certainly believed deprived them of all their Revenue and Dignities had not his malice against them been interrupted by his Death acting in every thing with a bitterness agreeable to the virulency of his nature About this time the Emperor Charles V. being wearied with the turmoils and troubles of this World renounced his Imperial Crown to his Brother Ferdinand of Austria who was already elected King of the Romans and his Kingdom of Spain and other Dominions to his Son Philip II. But this Abdication the Pope would not understand not admitting on the score of old grudges which he owed to Charles that according to antient Canons an Emperor could make such a renunciation without consulting first and taking the advice and consent of the Pope and for that reason he would never acknowledg Ferdinand for Emperour nor under that Notion and Character receive Ambassadours from him In this manner with a froward severity acting all his Affairs he would admit of no excuses that any Man made for a failure in his Duty and particularly having commanded all Monks Friers Abbots and Priors to return to their Monasteries he would not admit an Excuse from any Non-Residentiary unless he had obtained a License on occasion of some publick Service for the Church and for discovery of such Trespassers he employed Officers or Visitors as severe as himself who upon strict enquiry having found any Non-Residentaries they immediately proceeded against them as Disobedient and Delinquents committing some of them to Chains and others to the Gallies This Severity howsoever was much applauded when after an unknown and unpractised manner of Justice he spared not the Crimes of his Nephews
the principal Legats By this addition the Council began to be numerous the Prelats onely amounting to the number of two hundred and eighteen which though much inferiour to Antient Councils were howsoever a greater appearance than any that had yet been known in Trent The favourers of the Roman Party looked on this increase as a recruit of Auxiliaries which were come in to reinforce their Enemies and therefore to redouble their vigilance and augment their force the Pope dispeeded all the Power he had of Cardinals and Bishops to the Council fearing that the Union which was formed between the Spaniards French and Germans would be too powerful for his Italian Adherents The 23d of November was the day when the Cardinal of Lorain made his first appearance in the Congregation when as a Prologue to all the rest the King's Letters were first read containing little more than to pray and exhort the Council in general terms that they would bend all their labours and endeavours towards a Reformation and to those means which might restore Peace and Unity in the Church The Letters being read the Cardinal in an elaborate and pathetical Speech began to relate the calamities which the Wars about Religion had caused in France desiring the Council that for a remedy thereof they would be pleased to be indulgent to the Protestants in condescending to their weak and tender Consciences so far as was consistent with the Doctrines of Faith and then declaiming against the corruptions which were crept into the Church he instantly desired that an inspection might be made into the many abuses of which the Clergy were guilty to whom he ingeniously applyed the History of the Prophet Jonas We said he are the cause of all these storms we that have departed and fled from the face of God cast us into the Seas and the tempest will abate This Discourse was seconded by the French Ambassadour du Ferrier much to the same purpose and then concluded thus If you ask me why France is not in Peace and what is the cause of all these divisions which thus miserably rend and tear out the bowels of that distressed Nation I must answer you in the same manner as Jehu did to Joram 2 Kings c. 9. v. 22. when he asked Is it peace Jehu How can it be peace so long as the whoredoms of thy mother Jezebel and her witchcrafts are so many In fine he frankly told them That in case they took not some course to reform the disorders in France all the bloud that was there spilt would be laid to their charge and though this plain dealing did infinitely displease the favourers of the Court of Rome yet they judged it seasonable to dissemble their Resentments fearing lest France in that doubtful state should make a total defection from the Sea of Rome And now it is curious and worthy our observation to consider that whilest the specious Proposal of Reformation was offered it was plausible and consented unto in general terms by every Party and Interest but when they descended to particulars and would apply the remedies to the respective abuses then there appeared a strange and prodigious diversity in their Opinions every one being willing to reform others but not himself or his Party easily observing the Moat in their Brothers Eye but not the Beam in their own The Court of Rome would gladly assent to a reformation of Princes and Bishops but not yield to any inspection which might be made into the corruptions of their Consistories or into the Power which they had usurped The Bishops could easily agree to a reformation of Manners in the Courts of the Pope and of their respective Princes but could not hear of having their Authority or Revenues retrenched The Kings and Princes instantly pressed to have a reformation of the Clergy both of the Head and of the Members but could not endure to hear of having their Regalia diminished or the Power of conferring and disposing Benefices according to their pleasure Wherefore it was impossible that all their different Interests could ever be reconciled or at the end concenter in a single Tertio or common agreement Wherefore being wearied with these Debates and finding out new Expedients which could never square with the form of such Dissenting Interests they again re-assumed the old and wearisom Debates about the being of Residencies and Episcopacy by Divine Right in which nothing of the former heats were abated The Bishop of Auranch declared positively that his Opinion was that Episcopacy was by Divine Right and that the Authority of the Pope differed not from that of an ordinary Bishop but onely in degree and was restrained within the limits of the Canons He farther applauded the Decrees of the Parliament of Paris which declared the abusive Bulls of the Pope to be void in their own nature and forbad to have them put into Execution and thus much said he the Power of my Master is able to verify and make good But the heats about Residencies began to abate it being made appear that if that Point were once gained it would not onely be an eclipse but a total ruin of the Papal Authority for if the Residence of Bishops were declared to be by Divine Right it would follow that the Pope thenceforth remains devested of all Power to transfer diminish divide or make any change or alteration in the Episcopal Seas All which though the Spaniards knew very well and that their aim was onely to advance their own Interest and Authority yet they would seem to maintain the contrary and that this Concession would serve to render the Papal Power more considerable and glorious In fine it was agreed to send this Point about Residencies to the Pope by the Bishop of Ventimille Thus was this whole year consumed in these Controversies the last day of December concluding with a Congregation at which it was resolved that the Session should be deferred for fifteen days At the beginning of this year 1563. the French proposed thirty four Articles in order to a Reformation the most part of which respected the Clergy tending to the correction of abuses in Ordinations and promotion of unworthy Persons both for their lives and knowledg to places of eminence and honour in the Church Some also related to the Court of Rome and to the retrenchment of its Revenue the exaction whereof was an agrievance to the People of France Other Articles forbad Plurality of Benefices and Moneys or rewards to be given for administration of the Sacraments It was also required that Divine Service might be rendred and performed in the French Tongue at least that the principal Prayers be pronounced both in the French and in the Latin Tongue That the Communion be delivered in both kinds That Bishops within their respective Dioceses have a jurisdiction over the Religious in Monasteries as well as over Seculars That all abuses be taken away in the superstitious worship of Images and the fond and vain
being once celebrated is of force and not to be again dissolved but by Authority and dispensation of the Church After divers debates thereupon the Bishop of Metz was so happy as to find a form of words for that Canon which contented all Parties which was this That though the Church hath ever forbidden and detested Clandestine Marriages yet whosoever denies Clandestine Marriage to be a Sacrament let him be Anathema The marriage of Priests admitted now of no farther difficulty for though the Emperor the King of France and the Duke of Bavaria demanded that priviledg in behalf of their People yet that Point was now laid aside and all instances in that matter were denied to be heard or admitted to farther question or examination in the Council After this the Legats proposed thirty eight Articles in order to a Reformation which contained the many abuses and encroachments which Secular Princes had made upon the Rights of the Church but the Cardinal of Lorain was for abbreviating the Articles and for cutting off all those which might administer matter of Controversie so that by a speedy dispatch thereof the Council might tend towards a conclusion which caused many to wonder that the zeal which he had so warmly evidenced at first for a Reformation should so soon vanish and be evaporated A Copy of these Articles being communicated to the Ambassadours every one made his observations reflections and additions thereunto as was most consistent with the affairs of their respective Masters For the chief Remarks and alterations of the Ambassadours tended to something which might abate the Power and Authority of the Pope over the Ordinaries and the jurisdiction of the Bishops themselves over the Civil and Municipal Courts But the French were the most severe of any in the rules of Reformation For they would have the number of Cardinals restrained to twenty four that the Nephews of Popes during the life of the Pope should not be capable to receive a Cardinals Hat that Cardinals should be made uncapable to hold Bishopricks that criminal causes against Bishops should not be judg'd at other Tribunals than such as are within the Dominions of France That Bishops should be endued with plenary Power to give absolution in all Cases That Ecclesiastical persons should not be concerned or intermedle in secular Affairs and in short that they do no act or thing which may infringe the Law of France or intrench on the Liberties of the Gallican Church These particulars for reformation of the Church thus delivered were to be prepared against the next Session and as resolved so to be enacted and for Reformation of the Courts of Princes it was by agreement of the Ambassadours reserved as the chief matter and subject for a subsequent Session These Proposals were in no manner acceptable to the Pope who could not endure such fatal attempts on the Power and prerogative of the Church to avoid which nothing could be a defence or remedy but onely the dissolution of the Council to which end he earnestly wrote to all his Nuncios residing in the Courts of forein Princes commanding them to use their utmost art and skill to persuade the respective Princes to be aiding and concurring herein And farther gave orders to his Legats at Trent to grant freely whatsoever could not be refused and with all decent speed to put a final end and conclusion to the Council but this Design encountred some rubs and obstructions from the Spanish Ambassadour and others of that Party who complained of the private Cabals which the Legats held with certain Cardinals and other Confidents in exclusion of the Spanish Interest But their complaints were little regarded by the Legats whose greatest incumbence then was to satisfy the Bishops without whose concurrence the Council could not be dissolved For now the intention of the Bishops being to make use of this occasion to enlarge their Power and obtain some priviledges which were derogatory to the Papal Chair made that point of gaining the good will of the Bishops to be the more difficult because that their pretences of subjecting Monasteries and regulation of Friers and certain priviledged Churches to the Episcopal Jurisdiction which were exempted from it by Orders of the Pope found most opposition from the Generals of the respective Orders and indeed the Ambassadours themselves did not much favour this Demand which seem'd too highly to advance and exalt the pride and power of the Bishops Whilest these things were under Debate the French Ambassadours received a large Pacquet from their Master in answer to the late Proposals projected for a Model to reform abuses in the Courts of Princes the which much displeased the King and his Ministers of State who wondered at the daring attempts of the Clergy on the King 's Royal Power and Authority under a pretence of Reformation contenting themselves in the mean time with a slight and superficial review of their own abuses and therefore persuaded the Fathers of the Council to attend unto matters purely Spiritual and to such Acts as might serve to reform corruptions crept into the Church and to correct the debauched lives of Priests and Monks the scandal of which had been the cause of all the Schism in the Church rather than to intermedle with the sacred Prerogative of Kings or abett and maintain the Clergy in their opposition and contumacy against their Sovereign Thus much the Ambassadours had Orders to signifie to the Council with farther Instructions that in case they should notwithstanding this intimation proceed to encroach on the King's Regalia that then they should make their Protest and retire to Venice all which the Ambassadours made known to the Cardinal of Lorain and declared to the Legats requiring the Bishops to supersede their pretensions to those honours and priviledges which were the sole Right and Prerogative of Kings The Bishops who were resolutely bent to maintain those Emoluments which so nearly concerned them protested before the Legats that they would neither enter more into the Congregation nor give their advice or Voice in any matter unless they were first secured of the Rights to which they pretended which a hundred of them obliged themselves by solemn Oath never to remit All which violent Contests took up so much time that when the 15th of September was come which was the day before the Session nothing was duly prepared in order to pass into a Canon and therefore the time was prorogued until the 11th of November that so in the interim the Cardinal of Lorain might have sufficient time to make his Journey to Rome where he was greatly desired by the Pope and all that Party The Cardinal being arrived at Rome was received with all the joy and honours imaginable he was lodged in the Pope's Palace and immediately in Person visited by him which was a Complement that never Pope had made before to any under that character of a Cardinal After which there passed such kindness between them at several private
Conferences that the Pope seemed to refuse nothing which might engage and oblige the Cardinal having at his instance granted an alienation from the Church of three hundred thousand Livers a year to the King of France which Bene had formerly been demanded and sollicited with great importunity but could never be obtained until this endearment happened between the Cardinal and the Pope For now their mutual intimacy and friendship began to be so great that the Pope opened his bosom and heart to him giving him to understand that the Council being become a burden to him which he could not support he had therefore sent a private Bull to his Legats either to prorogue or adjourn it to some other place as should be most agreeable to the state of Affairs but the Cardinal who professed to have the same Interest for that his occasions required his presence in France yet could not concur in Opinion either to have the Council prorogued or adjourned to an other place but rather to dispose matters in order to a Conclusion which might easily be effected by laying aside all those Points which might administer matter or cause of Dispute promising to contribute to this Design all the Power and Interest he had with the Ambassadours and Bishops that so every thing might terminate happily and to the satisfaction of the Court of Rome The Pope being overjoyed with these Promises was comforted in the highest degree by the consolatory expressions of the Cardinal in return for which he promised to use all his endeavours to create him his Successour by engaging such a number of Cardinals in his favour as should secure his Election promising in the mean time to make him the chief Instrument of all his grand Designs Thus was the one elevated in his hopes and expectations of high preferments and the other encouraged against the refractory opposition of the French Prelats who were now grown mutinous and the Papal Authority rendered contemptible to them For at that time Chatillion had voluntarily renounced his character of Cardinal and called himself by the title of Count de Beauvais and in contempt of that Dignity was married in the habit of a Cardinal as if he intended by that action to have rendered that Honour ridiculous The French Prelats also being disgusted five of them retired from Trent having easily obtained their license from the Legats whose chief endeavours and labour was now to appease the Sedition and mutinies of the Bishops who were come to that unbridled usurpation and entrenchments on the temporal jurisdiction of Princes and Magistrates that they constrained the Legats to read in the Congregation that Model of a Decree which they had projected for Reformation of Secular Magistrates the particulars of which were so licentious and extravagant as deserve to be noted for discovery of that Pride which reigned amongst the Clergy of those days the contents of which were these That a Clergy-man was not liable to the Sentence of a Secular Court nor could he be tryed at that Bar though he himself should consent thereunto that the Secular Judges should not intermedle with causes relating to Matrimony to Heresie to Tenths Advowsons or rights of Patronage nor with any other causes whether civil or criminal wherein the Ecclesiastical Censure was or might be concerned That no Injunction be issued out of a Secular Court to hinder the proceedings of the Ecclesiastical in points of Excommunication though taken out against the Emperor himself or against Kings Nor shall the Civil Law contradict or interfere with the Ecclesiastical in matters which relate to the Affairs Goods or possessions of the Church which is endued with a Power of constituting its own Courts and Officers of several degrees ranks and qualities That the Clergy shall be exempt from Taxes Imposts Tithes or Subsidies whatsoever That Princes or Magistrates shall not have Power to quarter Soldiers Officers or Horse within the Houses or on the possessions of the Clergy with several other Articles of like tenure which were so repugnant to the Power of Kings that is seemed to shake their Authority and set up an other Soveraignty within their own Kingdoms independant of the Regal Jurisdiction for which reason the French Ambassadours having made their Protest against these Articles in the space of fifteen days afterwards retired from Trent to Venice according to the Orders which they had received from France The news of this retreat of the Ambassadours was very unwelcome to the Court of Rome and especially to the Cardinal of Lorain who apprehended that this unexpected accident would much eclipse his Credit and Reputation with the Pope and defeat the hopes he had conceived of his new preferment which that he might still keep up he promised the Pope to write and accordingly did write unto the King in such terms as plainly evidenced how far he had abandoned the Principles he brought from France and sacrificed them to a new aad strange Interest which he had acquired at Rome After which the Pope wrote to the Legats to prepare for the following Session according to the time appointed and to commence immediately after the return of the Cardinal to Trent and then speedily to wind all things up so as to put a final conclusion to the Council in which there seemed no great difficulty for that the French and Germans being drawn off they had none to deal with but onely with the Spaniards Howsoever the Pope resenting highly the retirement of the five French Bishops accused them of Heresie and cited them to make their defence before the Tribunal of Inquisition at Rome in like manner he issued out Process against Jane Queen of Navarre Widow of Anthony of Bourbon upon an accusation of Heresie in order to depose her from her Crown and Dignity the which Decrees were divulged and affixed on all publick places And though the Cardinal did in dislike thereof represent unto the Pope that this manner of proceeding was contrary to the received Maxims of France and the liberties of the Gallican Church and that it was not seasonable to proceed with such rigour against a Queen who was an Ally of France and the Relict of one lately slain in Battel against the Hugenots and that it was too early to summon Bishops to receive judgment at Rome against which the Council of France had so lately protested yet the Cardinal having performed this Office in a cold and perfunctory manner as if he intended rather to acquit himself with his Master than gain his Point gave no satisfaction to the Government of France which therefore making use of the Ambassadour Monsieur d' Oisel in this Negotiation his endeavours succeeded so well that the Process against the Queen of Navarre and the five Bishops was superseded and the whole matter buried in silence And that the King might shew how little he regarded the Decrees of the Council he proceeded actually to alienate the Lands of the Church before the License and Grant of the Pope
of the Inquisition he was by Paul the 4th made Bishop of Nepi and then Cardinal de Sancta Sabina but in regard that he was born at Boschi not above six miles distant from Alexandria he was commonly stiled Cardinal Alessandrino and then as we have said without much faction or debate he was with common consent on the 7th of Jan. 1566. created Pope All the Writers of his Life give him the commendation of unblemished Virtue of a strict and severe Devotion and of a most excellent Spirit in the government of the Church but for a more perfect Character of him take the words of Papyrius Massonius which are these He did neever seek or pursue honours but walking always in the direct and even path of Virtue he was always courted and overtaken by them the Dignity of Cardinal had changed nothing in his humour and served onely to render his Virtues more conspicuous to the World for he still reserved the same sweetness and affability in his nature the same severity in his life and discipline and the same freedom and candour in his advice and Counsel as he had maintained in his private condition having always a more strict regard to Justice and Truth than to the favour and flattery of great Personages and in delivering his Advice as his words were plain and sincere so his gestures and countenance enforced them with prevailing Authority Thus was his advancement to the Papal Authority raised on the pedestal of his own merit so that there is no place left for doubt but that his Election proceeded from Divine Providence or Inspiration rather than from the judgment or direction of Men for he had no fumes or vanities of an antient Family to boast of no grandeur of richness nor favour of Princes which might assist and concur to his Instalment and prepare his way to the Papal Sea onely the same Vertue which had accompanied him from his youth gave him favour in the eyes of the World and lead him by the hand to this degree of Sovereignty On the Festival of St. Anthony being then of the age of sixty two he was Crowned Pope but not without the fears and apprehensions of the World who imagined that his quick and hot nature being prone to sudden anger being conjoyned with that severity of Life which he had always professed would render him as froward and impetuous as Paul IV. but his teasty nature which was subject to sudden anger was as easily and quickly past and then his good nature returning again he would execute his passion which being free from Pride and Ambition and worldly considerations did never transport him beyond the limits of Decency and Reason Being now seated in the Papal Chair the Establishment and Ornament whereof he esteemed to be holiness of Life in himself and purity and religious deportment in the Clergy he endeavoured to put those Rules of Piety into practice which the Council of Trent had prescribed for reformation of Manners and Discipline amongst Priests and religious Persons In order unto which he designed to banish all the Cortesans from Rome which was a work of no small adventure at that time when those Ladies of pleasure possessed the most sumptuous and magnificent Palaces of the City and were favoured by the Patronage of some Senators and Cardinals who to hinder that unkind action alledged that the Church would not onely lose a considerable Revenue which did arise from the pains of that industrious sort of People but also Strangers be deprived of those entertainments of Musick and Dancing which they promised to themselves during their residences at Rome howsoever though these considerations did not wholly avail with the Pope yet they did moderate the rigour of his Sentence so that some of the Cortesans were permitted License to remain and abide in a certain corner of the City being forbidden to pass through the high and publick streets and to frequent any of the Churches excepting two or three which were appointed for them where Masses were allowed and Sermons preached on Texts proper to their condition and in order to reduce them to contrition and conversion of life As he was severe in this manner against the Cortesans so he carried a strict Eye over all the Clergy enjoyning all such as enjoyed any Benefices from the Church to have the Crown of their head constantly shaved and never to wear Silk in any of their Habits and Garments unless in their Stoles and Vestments in which they officiated or celebrated Mass the like modesty and grave deportment he ordained amongst all the Officers of his own Family where he appointed three Lectures of Divinity to be read every Week for entertainment of the Clergy and commanded his Suisses and Soldiers of his Life-guard to comport themselves with Civility towards all without Extortion or Insolence As to his own Relations he commanded them all to retire from Rome having provided for them in other places with small Pensions excepting onely one young Nephew who was a Student in the German College and an other called Michael Bonnello who being a youth of excellent parts and a hopeful disposition was at the great instance of Friends promoted to the degree of a Cardinal A certain rich Jew at Rome called Elias one learned in the Rabbins and Mosaical Law and Master of a Synagogue did usually frequent the Society of this Cardinal Alexandrino before he came to be Pope between whom questions being often controverted about Religion the Cardinal by the force of Reason and the Example of his holy life so prevailed at length upon the Jew that he promised to become a Christian and profess that faith so soon as this Cardinal should be created Pope the which promise Alexandrino immediately challenged so soon as he was promoted to the Papal Chair the Jew was not able to resist or deny the engagement but believing that this unexpected advancement of his Friend to the Popedom was an impulse of the Holy Ghost for his conversion did immediately profess the Christian Faith and together with his Wife three Children and a Nephew were all baptized by the Pope himself about the Feast of Pentecost in the year 1566. And thus much shall serve for a Character in general of the humour and temperament of this Pope Pius V. Now as to the management of his temporal Power he was extreamly zealous against the Protestants on the one side and against the Turks on the other For as to the first he sent Cardinal Commendone to be present at a General Diet in Germany convened by the Emperour Maximilian and be their assistant to the Roman Catholicks and offer such cautions and Caveats in their proceedings as might defend and secure the Papal Authority as much as was possible Then to subject and subdue the Protestants in France he furnished King Charles IX with an Army of four thousand four hundred Foot and nine hundred Horse under the command of the Count St. Fleur and farther to supply the
pillaged all the Cities round nor were the Lives nor Estates of honest Men safe nor secure within the Cities It is incredible to relate what numbers they murthered in divers places and what Robberies they committed and though this Gregory sent many Troops of armed Soldiers against them yet he was not able to extirpate those bands of villanous Men that work being reserved for Sixtus Quintus whose Life is the next which offers it self to our Pen. SIXTVS V. GREGORY being dead the Cardinals to the number of thirty nine entered the Conclave on Easter day being the eleventh of April which were all that were then present at Rome to which in a short time afterwards three more were added namely the Cardinals of Austria Madrucci and Vercelli The Conclave being divided into no less than six Factions prolonged the choice by the many Scrutinies that were made but at length all things seemed to favour Cardinal Montalto and the minds of the Conclave to encline towards him for he was considered as a Person learned peaceable pleasant in his Conversation and one who was free of dependancies or Relations for he had onely some Nephews by a Sister who were all so young and of that tender age that they were never likely to put him to expence or intrude into the management of Affairs besides he had been always obliging in his carriage and given demonstrations of due honour and respect to all the Cardinals he was also of a quiet behahaviour living in a modest retirement and having at any time entertained a Dispute or controversie with any Cardinal in the Consistory he would rather gently yield the question than seem obstinate in any impertinent adherence to his own Opinion When at any time he had been reviled as once he was in the Consistory where one of the Cardinals called him the Ass of la Marca he laughed and took it for a jest and as an effect of that intimacy and familiarity which was between them In short his plausible carriage made him acceptable to all and opened a way to his Election which happened the 24th day of April the Sea having been vacant fourteen days onely This Pope was named Felix or Felice born of poor and obscure Parents at Montalto in the Marches of Ancona at the age of fourteen years he took the habit of St. Francis and became a Cordelior Frier in a Convent at Ascoli not far distant from the place of his birth As he grew forward in years he became a good proficient in his Studies and so subtil a Disputant that he was always challenging and provoking his fellow Students to Disputations which moved them to that anger and envy against him as made them often to fly into passions and revile him with the meanness of his birth terming him with the reproach of being the Son of a Hog-driver or the Boy of a Swineherd all which he took very mildly and without displeasure to be accounted of mean Parentage for he would often in jest say that he was born of an Illustrious House which was so conspicuous that the very Sun-beams darted through it But when he had passed from his Sophistry to more substantial Learning he took his Degree of Doctor of Divinity in the City of Fermo and soon after in company with certain other learned Fathers he went to a publick Disputation held at Asciti where in presence of Cardinal Carpi who was then Protectour of the Franciscan Order he shewed so much subtlety and acuteness of Wit in defending certain conclusions that he acquired the esteem both of a learned Disputant and an elegant Oratour In the year 1551. he was ordained Preacher at Siena and the year following at Camerino and afterwards by order of his General he was appointed one of the Lent Preachers in the Church of the Holy Apostles at Rome and therein acquitted himself with great honour and applause Afterwards he was made one of the Council of the Inquisition and constituted by Pope Pius IV. Vicar General of his Order and together with Cardinal Buon-compagno made Legat Apostolical in Italy Pius V. created him Bishop of St. Agatha and Cardinal with title of St. Jerome And lastly as we have said he was on the 11th of April 1585. chosen Pope giving himself the name of Sixtus V. though desired by others to assume the name of Nicholas in honour to Nicholas IV. whose memory he was observed much to affect as appears by a stately Monument which he at his own charge when Cardinal erected over the Sepulcre of that Pope in the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore at Rome But the name of Sixtus prevailed with him both in Complement to Cardinal St. Sixtus as also in honour to the memory of Sixtus IV. who was a Frier likewise of the same Order Sixtus being thus Elected he contrived to be crowned on Wednesday the first of May which day had often proved auspicious to him for on a Wednesday he was first initiated into the habit of St. Francis and on a Wednesday he was created Vicar General Cardinal and Pope on Sunday following he went to St. John of Lateran according to usual custom to take possession of his sublime Office But before we proceed to the particular Affairs which occurred in his Government it may not be unpleasant to the Reader to recite some delightful passages which happened upon his Election For when the Scrutiny was past and that Montalto thought himself secure of his Election he immediately began to cast off his disguise of Humility with which he had for above fifteen years cloaked his Ambition for no sooner were half the Votes recited in his favour by which he found himself secure of his Election but being impatient to enjoy the honours of the Papal Throne he arose on his Feet before the Scrutiny was wholly finished and placing himself in the middle of the Hall he threw away his little Staff which he usually carried for a support of his crooked old Age and then strutting and stretching himself bolt upright he seemed a foot higher than before that all wondered to see the Pope grown in a moment so much taller than when he was Cardinal and with that he began to hum and spit with as much force as any young Man of thirty years of Age and of sound Lungs was able to do At which the Cardinals looking one upon the other wondred at this strange Metamorphosis shewing some kind of dissatisfaction at their Choice and therewith the Cardinal Deacon cryed aloud Hold fair and softly here is an Errour in the Votes the Scrutiny is not good But Montalto would by no means be so put off but boldly replyed It is good it is good and began to sing Te Deum Laudamus with such a clear and Audible Voice that he made the whole Hall ring again though an hour or two before he did not speak a word without Coughing or spitting three or four times And therewith placing himself before the Altar with his Eyes
Scholars who rehearsed many Verses in honour of their great Benefactor Pope Gregory particularly recounting the thousand Benefits and Donations they had received from him hoping by this example to excite Sixtus to the like bounty but he not being a Person to be wheedled with fine Verses after he had heard all they could say he told them plainly Fathers said he you are much mistaken you take us to be Gregory and we are Sixtus and We promise you ever to remain the good Sixtus and never to be the bad Gregory At another time being persuaded by them to come to a solemn Festival celebrated at their College they with that occasion shewed him the magnificence and neatness of their House and the convenience of their Offices all which Sixtus much approving merrily told them That he would rather see their Treasury than their Refectory to which the Father Rector answered That they had never been so poor as at present Continue so still said Sixtus for unless you be poor you shall never be truly Religious for your Poverty is beneficial to the Church and your Riches prejudicial to the Popes By these sharp Replies the Jesuits had touched the pulse of the Pope and finding that nothing was to be gotten by him would never trouble him afterwards with Requests or begging Petitions Howsoever Sixtus in his heart loved and affected this People â—eing excellent Spies and such as brought him the best Intelligence and therefore he was often heard to say That the Jesuits were the best sort of Religious Orders and useful in the Church and that he loved them heartily because they asked him nothing Sixtus had for a long time got a fancy or project in his head to confine all the Courtesans or Whores in Rome within a place or circuit of the City as the Jews were and having communicated this Design to the Governour of Rome he was made sensible by him of the great difficulty of the thing for that their numbers filled the greatest part of the City howsoever not being able to suffer the propudious and shameless Courtesans to live intermixed with the honourable and vertuous Matrons he banished the most common and impudent strumpets from the City confining the remaining part within a certain limit and quarter of the Town But this remedy of Vice enereased two great Evils for the small number of Courtesans did not abate the sin but procured greater custom and Trade to the Ladies of Pleasure who having more employment than they could turn their hands unto the looser sort of Italians for want of Women burned in lust one towards the other and addicted themselves to that abominable and unnatural Crime of Sodomy of which the Pope being made sensible he reversed his sentence and gave license to the banished Whores to return to their usual stations howsoever strict Orders were given that Priests should not entertain Wenches in their Houses under the notion of Servants or House-keepers which yet was so connived at that when it was told the Pope that a certain Cardinal kept a Mistris The better said he for having his Conscience stained with this scandal he will be the more cautious how he speaks boldly or with freedom in our presence This first year of the Pontificate of Sixtus was in the Month of December ended with the promotion of eight Cardinals all Men of honour and merit amongst which Hippolito Aldobrandino of Florence was one with title of Cardinal Pancratio who was afterwards created Pope and called Clement VIII Sixtus being now at ease in his Chair began his second year with the long desired work of raising the Obeliske called by the Italians Aguglia or Guglia which had lain for many years neglected in the Circus of Nero where now is the Sacristia or Vestry of St. Peter's Church This Obeliske as some Writers affirm was made by Nycoreus who reigned in Egypt about the time of Numa Pompilius and that at first it was one hundred and fifty Cubits high but in raising of it it broke and so was shortned fifty Cubits which afterwards with several others of less magnitude was brought to Rome and consecrated to Octavianus Augustus and Tiberius his adopted Son as may be seen by this Insciption now remaining Divo Caesari Divi Julii F. Aug. Tiberio Caesari Divi Aug. F. Augusto Sacrum But being erected in the times of Christianity it was consecrated to the Holy Cross with this Motto Sanct. Cruci Sacravit Sixtus V. Pont. Max. E priore sede avulsum Ces Aug. Tib. ablatum On the Basis of it on the South side are these words Sixtus V. Pont. Max. Cruci Invictae Obeliscum Vaticanum ab impurâ superstitione expiatum justius felicius Consecravit Anno MD.LXXXVII Pont. II. To erect this Obelisk without breaking it was accounted a matter of that difficulty and Art that none would undertake it till at length Domenico Fontana a rare Architect of Como contrived the Engines to perform the work which were so many that the materials of them the labour and the workmanship cost thirty six thousand Crowns there is a Book extant in the Vatican Library which I have seen that describes all the Instruments and Engines which were formed for that Design The whole weight of the Obelisk rests on four Lions of Brass which are placed on a Pedestal Besides this great Work Sixtus also was very industrious this year and intent in great and mighty works of Munificence and Charity For he raised and repaired four other Obelisques in divers parts of Rome He built also a Chappel in Santa Maria Maggiore which he dedicated to the Manger of Christ called ad praesepe which he adorned with rare and precious stones of the finest Marble Porphiry Alabaster Agats and the like which cover the walls of the Chappel within he erected a stately Sepulcre or Monument in memory of Pius V. He was at great charge and expence in bringing the Water by Aqueducts to his Palace of Monte Cavallo antiently Mons Quirinus He also brought Water to Rome by Pipes from the possessions of Prince Colonna far distant from Rome yet by the help of two thousand Men which he employed for the space of eighteen Months he happily finished the same the charge of which amounted to 270000 Crowâ—s comprehending the sum of twenty five thousand pounds which he gave to Prince Colonna in purchase of that stream of Water which he had taken from his Land To which Aqueduct he gave the name of Felice which was the name he owned when he was a Frier He built also the Portico of the Lateran which is a Noble Sructure He caused a Statue of St. Peter to be cast in Brass and placed it on the Pillar of Trajan and an other of St. Paul which he set on the Column of Antonius Pius He enlarged many of the streets in Rome made them strait and so wide that five Coaches might pass abreast He built a very stately Church and dedicated it to St. Jerome and
endowed it with a plentiful Revenue But amongst all the magnificent structures which he hath raised there is none so famous and worthy of his Name as the Vatican Library being about three hundred and eighteen foot in length and sixty nine in breadth on the Walls are painted all the General Councils in Fresco with the famous Libraries mentioned by antient Authors as also the manner of raising the Guglia or Obelisque before St. Peters At the entry to this Library are two Statues of Marble that on the right hand represents Aristides an antient Philosopher of Smyrna that on the lest is Hypolitus who first invented the perpetual Kalendar he lived fourteen hundred years ago The Books are all kept in Presses containing twenty thousand Manuscripts and sixteen thousand Books which are printed round about thee first Chamber the Pictures are placed of all those who have been Library-keepers since Sixtus V. The Books commonly shewn here to Strangers are The antient Copy of the Septuagint a vast Bible in Hebrew a little Book written on the bark of a Tree certain Sermons with Annotations wrote by Thomas Aquinas and with his own hand an old Terence wrote one thousand two hundred years ago a Letter which Henry VIII of England wrote to Anne of Bolen with his own hand as also his Book against Luther hereunto is added the Duke of Vrbin's Library bequeathed to this place as also that of the Prince Palatine Frederick transported from Heidelberg to the Vatican after that Town was plundered by the Duke of Bavaria All which and many other rare Works of the like nature were performed at the charge of this Pope which are now extant at Rome and commonly seen and observed by Travellers Besides all which he built several other Colleges Monasteries and places of Charity at Bologna and in his own Country And at a vast expence he turned the poor Village of Montalto where he was born into a City encompassing it about with a Wall to perform which he was forced to cut through a Rock and threw down a high Hill to make it equal to the lower Level and to give some more esteem and honour to this place he made it a Bishoprick endowing it with a thousand Crowns of yearly Revenue besides many other priviledges and immunities which he bestowed both on the Diocese and the Government of the City during the time of which Work he built a Bridg at Rome over the Tybur which was of great use and benefit to the Trade and Commerce of the City called at this day il ponte Sisto tras Tevere Thus far have we discoursed concerning the humour and disposition of this Pope his Conduct and Wisdom in the management of Affairs relating to Rome and the Church together with his Munificence and greatness of his Soul in matters of building and stately Structures which have perpetuated his memory to these times Let us now proceed to other particulars which may demonstrate his dexterity and conduct of Affairs relating to Negotiations with forein Princes and in what manner he studied to fortifie the Ecclesiastical State as well with the Sword of St. Paul as the Keys of St. Peter In order whereunto in the first place he formed and setled the Militia of the Church in so good a method that he was able within the space of one Month to bring twenty thousand fighting Men into the Field and in the next place he consulted with the most knowing Enginiers in what manner the Ecclesiastical State might be most commodiously and with most advantage fortified the which was executed with most Labour and Art on that side which borders on the Kingdom of Naples which was a just cause of jealousie to the Spaniards who by the words and actions of this Pope had long suspected that his Intentions and Designs tended towards that Kingdom the possession of which he had for a long time swallowed in his thoughts resolving not longer to content himself with the bare feud or tribute for it the which jealousie was encreased when they found the Pope intent in building ten new Gallies for defraying the cost of which and of their maintenance he imposed a new Tax on the people of Rome and the whole Ecclesiastical State About this time the Cantons of Switzerland which continued firm to the Church of Rome sent their Ambassadours to the Pope not onely to make their acknowledgments of Obedience to the Papal Sea but likewise to inform his Holiness of the unhappy state and condition of their Country caused by the neighbourhood of the Protestant Cantons who daily sent Preachers into their Dominions who seducing many from the Catholick Doctrine their numbers and force did daily encrease For prevention of which and to confirm the doubtful in the Catholick Religion they desired that the Pope would be pleased to send his Nuntio into those parts which would be an encouragement to the people to continue in the way of truth as well as an honour to their Country The Pope with all readiness embracing the Proposition dispatched Baptista Santorio Bishop of Fricarico and Steward of his Houshold to be and remain his Nuntio within the Dominions of the Catholick Cantons Santorio being there arrived found all things in great disorder the people living without as it were any respect or dependance on the Roman Sea by reason that for many years the Popes had not thought this Country worthy the charge or maintenance of a Nuntio therein But now Santorio appearing there with the Character and in the quality of a Nuntio caused speedily a Diet to be convened in the Month of October 1586. at which two things were agreed and concluded highly advantageous to the Papal Authority The first was that all the Deputies which were present in great numbers received the Communion from the hand of the Nuntio and then entered into strict League and Confederacy together solemnly swearing before the Altar to maintain and uphold the Papal Authority and to sacrifice their lives and fortunes in the defence thereof In the second place they gave full power and Authority unto the Nuntio to exercise a free and Arbitrary Jurisdiction over all Ecclesiastical persons within their Dominions subjecting them to his Courts as well in criminal as in civil Causes which was a concession that the Wise Republick of Venice did never judge fit to grant notwithstanding all the bluster and noise with which the Popes required and challenged it from them But this Power given to the Nuntio was the cause soon after of some disturbance amongst the Cantons for it happened That one day the Nuntio having Complaints brought him against a certain Priest for scandal and misbehaviour he immediately issued out his Warrant to the chief Constable and his Officers to take and seize the person of that Priest and put him into safe custody the Priest hearing of this prosecution fled into the Dominions of the Protestant Cantons where the Officers pursuing him took him and by violence and force brought
him thence and secured him in the Nuntio's Prison The news of this Attempt allarm'd all the Protestant Cantons who by way of Reprisals seized the first Priest they could meet and confined him within their own Prison resolving not to set him at liberty without the release or enlargement of the other This Accident caused great disturbance and commotions both amongst the Protestants and Catholicks Diets being called on both sides matters ran so high that a general rupture or War was feared of all the Cantons The Nuntio being also sensible of these disorders and not knowing unto what they might amount wrote to the Pope the whole sum of this matter to which he returned answer in this manner We have sent you to pacifie and quiet matters and not to make disturbances to give ease and repose to the Catholicks and not to put Arms into the hands of the Hereticks to convert the one and not to put the others into danger no people will be contented to lose their own right the point of Jurisdiction is more nice and brittle than a Christal Glass and therefore those cases are to be managed tenderly and with severe caution troubles and disquiets are dangerous to Catholicks but to Hereticks it may be profitable to fish in troubled Waters to give to Hereticks is a great evil but to take from them is highly dangerous Be therefore prudent in this case both for your own quiet and for mine The Nuntio collecting from this Answer that it was the Pope's pleasure to accommodate these matters He ordered it so that the Priest should be set at liberty but by way of escape rather than by formal enlargement the like expedient the Protestants took as to the other Priest by which means these matters were pacified and concluded Henry III. King of France as before related having composed his quarrel with the Pope about reception of his Nuntio the Bishop of Nazaret so good and fair a correspondence passed between them that the King adventured to demand license of the Pope to raise a hundred thousand Crowns from the revenue of the Church Sixtus who was unwilling to deprive the Church of such a sum nor yet to disoblige the King by a plain and positive refusal entertained his Ambassadour the Marquess Pisani with a delatory Answer such as this We shall consider we shall do nothing rashly but with Mature consideration which being often repeated and the Ambassadours wearied with such insignificant puts off which according to the stile of Italy and Rome imported no less than a civil denial acquainted the King with their Sentiments in the case which were that nothing could be expected from the Pope's bounty or concession upon which advice and upon a belief that this refusal was instilled by such Instruments as were employed in the Catholick League and particularly by the Duke of Guise and his party the King resolved to stand on his own bottom and to steer a course between the League and the Hugonots for as he durst not confide in the Catholick League so he feared the issue of the War against his Protestant Subjects both which though to appearance were equally dangerous yet a peace with the latter seemed most safe and desireable in pursuance of this Counsel a peace being concluded with the Protestants by negotiation of the Queen the promotors of the League of which the Duke of Guise was the Chief dispatched an Express immediately to Rome giving the Pope to understand the matter in these precise words That the cause of Religion was betrayed That the Cause of the Hugonots was openly and publickly favoured That the measures of the War were broken and all expectation of good and benefit lost which might redound by means of the League to the Catholick Cause That the heart of the King seemed much estranged to the Catholick party resolving to espouse protect and maintain the Heresie in France The Pope so soon as he received this Intelligence called the French Ambassadour to whom with words full of disdain and fury he complained of the proceedings of the King whom he mentioned as one infected with Heresie and already alienated and estranged from the Papal Sea and having called a Consistory Letters were wrote to the Nuntio Nazaret with Orders to intimate the Pope's just complaints to the King giving him to understand how much he did resent the Resolution he had taken to the prejudice of the Catholick Church which was of such ill consequence as took deep impression in the mind of the Pope and would be recorded with everlasting Characters of Infamy in the Histories of his Reign The Nuntio having received these Instructions and being backed by the instigation of the Duke of Guise represented the Pope's sence in warm and passionate terms In return unto which the King contrary to the equal temper of his nature retorted an Answer in brisk and sharp Expressions That it was a fine and easie matter for the Pope to stand and behold at a distance the miseries and afflictions of his Country and to give Counsel without assistance or contribution to the War for want of which and of a license to alienate so much of the Lands of the Church as might serve to raise the sum of a hundred thousand Crowns he was forced for preservation of his Kingdom and Regal Dignity to accept those Conditions which they called ruinous to the Church And then moderating his passion a little in more gentle and mild terms he desired the Nuntio to assure the Pope That he would ever adhere and remain constant to the faith of the Catholick Church and act in every thing to the advancement of it so far as he was able and that the want onely of Money had forced him to this resolution These particulars being wrote to Rome quieted a little the mind of the Pope who did all the time before do nothing either in the Consistory with the Cardinals or in his Discourses with the forein Ministers but rail and storm against the French King But being now satisfied by his Nuntio that the King had changed his mind and would be induced to continue the War against the Protestants provided he could be assisted with Aid from the Church the Pope immediately appointed a Bull to be drawn up and sealed giving Authority and Power to the King not onely to raise a hundred thousand Crowns out of the Estate of the Church as the King had demanded but also twenty thousand Crowns more for better encouragement to continue and persevere in the assurances given enjoyning the Nuntio to raise those sums on the Clergy without any contradiction or delatory proceedings Thus as Sixtus was zealous and profuse in such Expences as he judged conducive to the support of the Papal Authority so he was no less generous in works which might tend to the honour and ornament of it In which consideration reflecting one day on the manner and garb in which he desired his Nuntios might live in the Courts of forein
passing once in his Coach by the Convent of the Holy Apostles he was pleased to alight and enter into the Convent the Gate being open he went first into the Porters Lodge who was then a Probationer or in the first year of his Novitiate the Pope surprizing him whilest he was eating a dish of Beans was pleased with the remembrance of his own poor condition when in the like posture he was forced to content himself with the same Diet in contemplation of which he sat down on the stairs and taking a wooden Spoon began to eat heartily and help the Porter to make an end of his Mess The standers by wondered at the humour and fancy of the Pope and especially to see him eat up the oiled Beans so heartily which when he had done he arose up and thanked the Porter saying These Beans will add two years of life to us because we have eaten them with a good appetite and without fear And then lifting up his eyes to Heaven he said Blessed be thy Name most Almighty Father that thou hast granted this favour to thy High Priest to eat once in peace and quietness Thus much he was apprehended to say out of the caution and fear he had of Poison for he was confident that the Porters Beans were free from such Ingredients though he could not be secure of his own Dishes at home of which living in continual suspition he confined his Cook always ways to his Kitchin keeping a Guard always upon him to keep him from all correspondence or communication with others The Pope thus pleased with his Entertainment commanded that the Porter who was a Probationer onely should be immediately vested in the Friers habit which being performed in his presence he gave him his Blessing at departure adding these words We have been what you are do you endeavour to be what we are But we must not omit to recount one pleasant passage before we return to more serious and important Affairs Sixtus out of an affection to the Friers of his own Order had a desire to celebrate this year a Chapter General over which he would preside in Person giving license not onely to such Friers as were invited thereunto but also to all others who had the curiosity to be there present and not to burden the Order with the expence which such a concourse of people might bring he declared that he would bear the charge on his own account by reason of which never was any Chapter at Rome celebrated with such State and Magnificence as this At this Chapter a new General of the Order being chosen the Pope commanded that after the Election all the Friers should walk in procession to kiss his Feet at the Vatican giving the Friers to understand the day before that he gave license to every one of them to demand some grace or favour from him by which distinguishing Act of benevolence he might give sufficient testimony to the World of that love and affection which possessed his heart towards the Companions of his Order The Friers receiving this gracious Message by their Cardinal Protector were highly exalted in their spirits and every one began to consider with himself what Boon or Gift or priviledg would be most corresponding to his own convenience In the mean time the report of this excessive Grace flying about into all Convents of the City the Friers of other Orders began to envy the happiness and fortune of the Cordeliers the Dominicans murmured against Pius V. who had never evidenced the like respect towards them the Cardinals also repined and blamed the prodigality and excess of the Pope in promising favour to every individual Frier of his Order when on all the Cardinals together he never bestowed one ray of his bounty nor granted one priviledg to the whole Sacred College But these Discourses little touched the mind of Sixtus who the next day gave admission to the Friers one after the other as they were in Precedency and Seniority at the reception of whom the Pope sat in his Chair of State and his Secretary on his left hand at a little Table to take their Names and a brief of the Petitions and Requests they made the which for the most part were so ridiculous and extravagant as yielded the Pope subject sufficient for laughter and pass-time For one being a Napolitan whispering in the Pope's Ear desired that he might have license to renounce his Order and marry or else that he might have a Dispensation to keep a Wench and not be liable to the Censure of his Superiours some of them demanded to be made Cardidinals others to be made Arch-bishops Bishops and Abbots with other Dignities some would have crept into the Offices which belonged to other Orders one particularly demanding to be made Chief Master of the Sacred Palace which belongs to the Dominicans and an other desired to have Bishops removed to make places for them In short their Requests were so exorbitant that to satisfie them all Sixtus must have overturned the whole Order of Friers and unhinged all the Dignities and Rules of the Church Only it is observable that a poor Lay-Brother who had been a Cook and Butler in a Convent being one of the last to kiss the feet of the Pope shed many tears of joy at his admittance to so unexpected an honour which having done the Petition he made was this That since his Holiness was pleased to suffer such a poor wretch as he to speak to him all he had to desire was onely this that he would vouchsafe out of his great bounty to build a Fountain for his Convent which suffered very much as his Holiness well knew for want of Water The Friers having thus in their order exposed their several Petitions they were called in together and then in a full Assembly the Pope made this general Answer to them all Had your petitions and demands been correspondent to our expectation we should have made no difficulty of giving satisfaction to your desires We imagined that you who are persons sequestred from the World would have entertained no thoughts of particular interest for Friers having their wills restrained and bound up with chains of Obedience can possess nothing in reference to their own persons but onely with regard to the publick benefit to which Rule had you confined your desires our bounty had been enlarged to the ultimate concession of what you could demand which we are now forced to deny lest we should offend against the Rules of your primary Institution and Vows which require you to mortifie rather than me to gratifie your Ambition Thus were the Friers all dismissed from the Pope's presence where Petitions and Desires became the common talk and laughter of the Town and served to discover the secret that the minds of mortified Friers are as capable of vain thoughts and ambitious desires as those of secular Men who profess not the like strictness of mortification and sanctity Howsoever the poor Lay-brother's
them with the Spiritual Artillery of Excommunication which he caused to be thundered out and affixed in all the publick places of Ferrara The Cardinal being proud of the honour to be so great a General used such diligence in raising and providing his Army that in less than two Months after his departure from Rome he had compleated his Leavies and appointed his general Rendezvouz at Rimini With the unexpected news of this speedy dispatch Cesare d' Este was much surprized and being now in great fear and doubt of his success began to consult of what moderate and reasonable propositions he might offer unto the Pope wherefore he desired his Friends at Rome to intercede for him and by their hands offered many and various expedients condescending every day to Conditions more favourable to the Pope than the former but the Pope refusing all other terms than those which made him Master of the City and jurisdiction of Ferrara he was at length obliged to yield thereunto whereby that Dominion devolved to the Church and the delivery thereof was agreed by Articles signed at Faenza of which when the Pope received advice he sang Te Deum and rendered thanks publickly to God and with the general concurrence and Counsel of the Cardinals in a full Consistory he constituted Cardinal Aldobrandino his Legat at Ferrara giving him order to take possession of the City which about the end of February 1598. was accordingly surrendered with all quietness and peace not so much as with a Sword drawn or a Musket fired before which time Don Cesare retired to Reggio and Modena of which Cities he was shortly after created Duke by the Emperor and invested in the Government thereof and also made Prince of the Roman Empire Afterwards the Pope resolving to make a Journey to Ferrara to settle and establish Affairs in his new Dominions he caused on Sunday being the 12th of April according to the usual Custom when Popes travel the Sacrament of the Altar to be carried the day before his departure and then the next day after Mass laying his Vestments aside and clothing himself with his shorter Garments the Antiphona was sung In viam pacis with other short Prayers for the happy success of this Journey and then mounting into his Horse-litter he was accompanied to the Gate of the City by the Cardinals where turning towards them he gave them his Benediction and proceeded on his way in this order First after the Baggage belonging to the Kitchin the Horse-litters and Horses appertaining to the Pope preceded led by the Grooms of the Stables clothed in red next followed the Carriages with the Robes next to them a Squadron of Light-Horsemen with four Trumpets before them then the Pope's Family with the Guard of Switzers on foot armed with Carbines and Halberts after followed the Governour of Rome who accompanied his Holiness as far as Ponte Molle then went the Standard-bearer carrying a Crucifix and immediately after him went the Pope in his Litter and then followed the Cardinals Baronius Arigoni Monte and St. Georgio on Mules with Ombrelles in in their hands with a great number of other Prelats some on Horses and others in Coaches In this manner they travelled until Thursday in the Evening being treated on the way by several Cardinals when they arrived at Loretto and there for Devotion and for refreshment remained until Sunday When the Pope being on his departure presented to the Lady of Loretto a stately Cross with six Silver Candlesticks and two Bases of massive Silver with a thousand Crowns in Money and rich Vestments with which the Pope was clothed when he said Mass in that Chappel Departing on Sunday from Loretto they arrived that Evening at Ancona where being received with Triumphant Arches and splendid entertainment they were pleased to remain until the Friday following during which time Cardinal Aldobrandino arrived and was received by the Pope with all the demonstrations of kindness and respect imaginable On Thursday being Ascension day and the day before the Pope's departure the Sacrament of the Altar took its journey forward for Sinigaglia where the day following it arrived as also did the Pope being received by the Duke of Vrbin with a sumptuous and splendid entertainment From Sinigaglia they came to Fano which being the City where the Pope was born he was received with all demonstrations of joy and triumph from thence they travelled to Pesaro where the Duke of that place was not wanting in his respects and duty and next day to Rimini where the Duke of Modena came to kiss the feet of the Pope On Tuesday they came to Ravexna on Thursday they arrived at the Church of St. George not far distant from Ferrara where was a stately Monastery possessed by Monks of the Order of Mount Olivet the Sacrament being there arrived in the Morning was met about a Mile distant from the Church by the Clergy and Religious of Ferrara with all reverence and devotion where the Pope coming afterwards about an hour before Sun-setting retired into the Convent where his Lodgings were prepared being the very same in which Clement VII had formerly been received and here all things were prepared for the solemn Cavalcade and entry into Ferrara We shall not need to entertain the Reader with the Order and sumptuous manner of this Cavalcade as we have done of the Pope's Journey to this place it is sufficient to mention that the Entry into Ferrara was truly Royal and Magnificent and what might suit with the State and glory of the greatest Monarch of Europe During the time of the Pope's residence in that place which was from the Months of April until the middle of December following several matters and actions of importance succeeded and particularly a contract of Marriage between four persons of the same Name Family and bearing the same Escutcheons and Arms to wit between Philip III. King of Spain and Margaret of Austria Sister of the Arch-Duke Ferdinand of Austria and between the Arch-Duke of Austria Albert late Cardinal with the Infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia Sister of the King of Spain the which most illustrious Persons were joyned together by the hands of the Pope during the time that the Pope resided at Ferrara For though in the life of Philip II. the Marriage was agreed between his Son and the Lady Margaret yet not being celebrated before his death the consummation thereof was deferred until the days of mourning for the deceased King were accomplished which happening to be at the time when Pope Clement was at Ferrara it was thought fit that the Lady Margaret in her passage to Spain should take Ferrara in her way which accordingly she did being splendidly treated by the State of Venice as she journied through their Dominions and being conducted by the Governour of Milan with a numerous train she entered the City of Ferrara where she was magnificently received by the whole College of Cardinals and lodged at the expences of the Pope
made by their Predecessours had in the year 1603. Ordered and enacted That no Churches or religious Houses should be built or erected without license first obtained from the Senate And whereas such Laws being in themselves void ought to have been repealed and cancelled the said Council did not onely confirm but enlarge the same making those Laws which were once restrained and limited to the City of Venice onely to reach and extend to all parts and places subjected to that Dominion under severe forfeitures and penalties to the Offenders as if both Churches and Ecclesiastial persons were subjected to the temporal Jurisdiction and as if it were a capital crime nnd wickedness to build a Church And whereas in pursuance of an other Law made in the year 1536. whereby a Statute of Mortmain was made and penalties laid on such who should without license obtained from the Senate alienate the Lands of Lay-persons and bestow them to pious uses which Law as it ought to have been repealed so on the contrary in the Month of March last past the Senate did not onely confirm the same but did likewise enlarge and extend the power thereof to all parts within their Dominions as if that Signory which is but a temporal power had Authority with consent or concurrence of the Pope to dispose of Ecclesiastical Estates Goods or Revenues though left by pious and faithful Believers as an Offering for sin and as an ease to their burdened Consciences The which things being damnable scandalous and contrary to the Ecclesiastical liberty are null and void in themselves and from the observance of which all persons are disobliged And it is hereby farther declared that those who have been contrivers or Legislators of these or the like Statutes have incurred the censure of the Church and a forfeiture of all those Lands which they hold of the Church and their States and Dominions are also liable to other punishments So that unless every thing be restored to its pristine State perseverance in the same will be an aggravation of the crime for which no absolution can be given but on terms of restauration of all matters to their original condition Wherefore being exalted on our supreme Throne on which we cannot nor ought to dissemble any matters We admonish you to consider the danger of your Souls for which this Republick is obliged to provide for we command under pain of Excommunication that the aforesaid Laws whether antient or modern be revoked and cancelled and that the same be published in all parts of your Dominions and in case you refuse to perform the same We shall then be forced to proceed to the execution of this Our Sentence so soon as we have understood the presentation of these Our Letters from the report of Our Nuntio and afterwards you are not to expect any other citation or process from us for we are unwilling that God should in the last day of Judgment demand an account of this matter and condemn us for want of performance of Our duty in this case Wherefore we whose end and design it is to govern the Christian State in peace and righteousness cannot dissemble in cases where the Apostolical Sea is offended the Ecclesiastical liberty trampled under foot the Canons neglected the Rites of the Church and the priviledges of the Clergy violated which is the sum of this Our accusation against you And We do farther make known unto you that we are not moved to pass this Our Censure out of any worldly respect having onely an ambition of zeal to exercise our Apostolical Government as far as we are able in its due perfection And as we would not intrench on the temporal Authority so neither will we permit that the Ecclesiastical should be infringed But in case the Republick would be obedient to these Our Commands they would free Vs from great troubles and anguish of mind which we sustain for their sakes And they also may conserve the Lands which they hold from the Church nor can this Republick defend themselves from the force and violence of Infidels by any better and prevailing means than by doing right and justice to the Clergy who day and night watch over them and pray unto God for this Republick The Senate having read and considered these Briefs thought fit to confer and consult with the most judicious and able Lawyers of their age such as Antonio Pellegrini and Erasmus Gratiani together with Father Paul of the Order of the Servi a person profoundly learned in Theology and the Canons of the Church unto these three they added several other learned Men eminent for wisdom and piety of Life not Subjects onely to the State of Venice but belonging to other parts of Italy namely Menocchio President of Milan and others in consideration of which case they perused and search'd the Books and Writings of the most famous Doctors of France and Spain and according to the Opinion and sence of all those learned Men in the Law the Controversie between the Pope and the Republick did relate wholly to temporal matters unto which the Papal Authority did not extend and that the Republick might in such cases order and determine according to the nature and exigency of their Affairs and in farther proof and testimony hereof many Laws were cited which had been enacted in other Christian Countries and Dominions of the same substance and tenure with these And in this manner the Senate having received and understood the Opinion and report of their Doctors returned their answer unto the Pope to this effect dated the 28th of January With much astonishment and trouble of mind this Republick hath been informed by Letters from your Holiness that those Laws which for some ages have been observed with much benefit to this Republick and never questioned by your Predecessors should now be reprehended and repealed by the Authority of the Apostolical Sea the which Laws are so sound and safe for us that the alteration of them would shake the very foundation of this Government And we are troubled to think that those Persons who were of excellent piety and vertue that made and established these Laws and who are now in Heaven should be termed and branded as violators of the Ecclesiastical liberty And now according to the desire of your Holiness we have caused all our Laws both antient and modern relating to the points in Controversie to be reviewed and examined and we find nothing which hath been established by the Power of the Supreme Prince in the least derogatory to the Papal Authority it being apparent that it is the duty of the Secular Magistrate to inspect and consider what kind of Companies are fit to be admitted into the City what Edifices are fit to be erected and what are not and what may in time prove hurtful to the publick safety for in regard the Dominion of Venice doth abound with Churches and religious Houses as much as any other part and that when it was
Garrison at Ferrara with a thousand Foot he likewise banished all Strangers from Marca and Romagna and commanded the Natives thereof to return into their own Country But to the management of this War designed many difficulties occurred for in the first place there was an excessive scarcity of all Provisions in Rome and the Ecclesiastical State as also in Naples and Abruzzo by reason of which the People cryed out nothing but Peace and Bread and on the contrary there was great abundance of all things within the Dominions of Venice from whence the People of the Pope's Country receiving the most part of their Provisions were kindly affected to the Venetian State but notwithstanding all these difficulties the Pope resolved to proceed in his War and to recruit his Troops and for maintenance thereof new Impositions were laid on Salt Flesh and Paper with intention also to lay a Tax on Wine and Timber if occasion should require And in the mean time the Count de Fuentes Governour of Milan gave out that he would have an Army speedily in the Field consisting of twenty five thousand Men composed of Germans Napolitans Switzers and Spaniards Though the Venetians did not neglect all due care towards the provisions of War and to make their Defence whensoever they should be attacked yet with more especial regard they had an Eye to Plots and Conspiracies within the State giving Orders to their Sea-Captains to stop all Vessels which sailed in the Gulf unless such as had Passes from the King of Spain for his own particular Affairs which caused great embroils along the Coast of Romagna and the Marca d' Ancona which seemed as it were to be blocked up Orders were likewise given to hinder all exportation of Corn out of the Dominions of Venice and Sequestrations laid on the Revenues of the Clergy who had quitted or abandoned the Venetian Countries for which cause many Prelats at Rome were forced to retrench their Families But notwithstanding the Promises made by the Spaniards of administring Aid to the Pope which at the first heat were positive and large yet the Court at Madrid coming to make more mature reflections on the tenure of their former Letters thought fit to explicate their sence more at large and to signifie to the State of Venice That it was not the intention of his Catholick Majesty to make a War on the Republick but onely to demonstrate unto the World that that Crown would on all occasions be joyned to the Apostolical Sea And accordingly D. Inigo de Cardenas Ambassadour residing in Ordinary at Venice did on the 13th of July present a memorial to the Senate signifying That the King being desirous of doing good Offices in the mediation of Peace between the Pope and that Republick had commanded him his Ambassadour to interpose therein assuring him that whatsoever he should act in order thereunto would be most pleasing to his Majesty And that some Overtures might be made in order to this Accommodation Cardenas desired that for a beginning thereunto the Senate would give him leave in their name to desire and supplicate the Pope that he would be pleased to take off his Censures from them being much troubled that they had ever given his Holiness any cause of displeasure which being words of formality and Complement onely could not in reality be prejudicial to the right of their Cause and yet were in this state of things of importance and absolute necessity To which the Doge made Answer That neither by himself nor by the Senate was there ever any just cause of displeasure given to the Pope and therefore to Scandals and Disgusts voluntarily taken and not given there was no other remedy than voluntary Acknowledgments The same day the French Ambassadour urged the Senate to be the first to make Overtures of Peace to the Pope which could be no dishonour to the Republick considering with what respect and duty all Christian Princes treated the Pope and that it is Jus Commune to submit and humble themselves before his Holiness for other matters they might with all confidence rely on the directions of his Majesty herein whom they had always found a true Friend and a faithful Ally That considering on what terms the King of Spain stood with them and how he had declared himself of the Papal Party it was not now seasonable to disgust the King his Master and that therefore they would be pleased to think of some Answer which he might with confidence communicate to the King The Senate having taken these particulars into consideration gave almost the same Answer as they had newly done to the Spanish Ambassadour Adding onely to the French That by way of Mediation he would be pleased to represent unto the Pope That the Senate was troubled that his Holiness would take displeasure at the actions of a Republick which was entirely devoted and dedicated to the glory and service of God to the publick quiet and tranquillity of the World and to the maintenance of that liberty and Power which was committed to them by Divine Right These Negotiations being ineffectual and fruitless the Senate gave Order to Giustiniano their Ambassadour in England to inform King James with the progress and success of all these Affairs and differences with the Pope which when the King had rightly understood he returned this Answer That he was highly satisfied with the constancy of the People and unanimous resolution of the Senate in defence of their Native liberty and justice and of that Power which God hath bestowed upon Princes That the Declaration made by Spain in a Letter was ridiculous and that matters of such importance required more than words That he was highly sensible of the honour which the Republick had done him in sending him an Ambassadour Ordinary and Extraordinary wherefore that he might return them the like demonstrations of sincere Friendship he promised to grant and condescend to all the desires of the Senate for that he should be very ungrateful and unjust in case he should deny protection to that righteous Cause of the Republick which was engaged in the maintenance of that liberty and Authority which is the common Right of all Princes in the Universe And therefore in case the Senate should at any time be engaged in War for this Cause they might be assured and rely on the word of a Prince that he would assist them with all the power he was able and that he had given Commission to his Ambassadour at Venice to assure the Senate the like in his name And farther the Earl of Salisbury by the King's Order added That the King was not induced to grant them these succours on expectation that they should leave Communion with the Church of Rome but onely from a principle of Justice by which he esteemed himself obliged to vindicate the Cause of Princes and the Authority of the Secular Power as also from a Spirit of Animosity being resolved to take that side to which
until these days there are several Bishops of the Roman rite in Armenia and Monasteries of Dominican Friers In the year 1610. this Pope beatified Ignatius Loyola who was the first Founder and Institutor of the Order of Jesuits giving them leave and permission amongst themselves and publickly in their own Churches to invoke him as a Saint or as one of those happy Souls who live and reign in Heaven with God but not to be prayed unto or invoked by the Universal Church But with more Ceremony and joy he canonized the same year Charles Borromeo the Arch-bishop of Milan In the time of Clement VIII the people of Milan had earnestly desired this grace and had begun the methods and rules of proceedings observed in that case the which being continued until the time of this Paul V. were then at the desire and request of the Kings of Spain Poland and Sweden as also of the College of Cardinals and Bishops of the Province of Milan consummated and finished with great pomp and expence In the Month of May of this year 1610. Henry IV. King of France was wickedly and traiterously assassinated by Ravillac the particulars of which are specified in the French History the which diabolical Act as it astonished the whole World so it sadly affected Pope Paul who had received many Obligations from that King being endeared to him by many late circumstances in the Controversie with Venice and upon this score he deeply lamented this unhappy fate which he said was a loss to all Christendom and the Universal Church and understanding that some young French Men then at Rome rejoyced at the fact and stiled the villanous Assassinate The Deliverer of their Country he caused them to be seized and upon Process made against them he condemned them to the Gallies And though Popes do seldom assist at the Obsequies of deceased Princes yet he was resolved to be present at these which were celebrated at Rome with great solemnity where one Sequier preaching the funeral Sermon of this great Prince he bestowed on him these Titles of Praise and Dignity calling him The Protectour of the publick Peace the Ornament of the Catholick Apostolick and Roman Church the sole Arbitrator between Christian Kings and Princes and the delight of the Universe with which the Pope was so well affected that he acknowledged all that was said of him to have been true but yet that this Elogium came far short of the merit of this great Prince Besides these honours performed to the three forementioned Parties he beatified Phillippus Nerius Founder of the Order of the Fathers of the Oratory called in French Les peres d' Oratoire and in Spain known by the name of Observantes Minores as also the Virgin Teresa who for it instituted the Order of descalced Carmelites with divers others But now to enumerate the many publick works done by this Pope we shall find none to have exceeded him in Magnificent Structures For in the first place he highly beautified the Vatican Basilicon called by us the Church of S. Peter which being begun by Julius II. and amplified and encreased by Gregory XIII and Sixtus V. was not yet perfected until the time of this Pope who by the help and contrivance of Michael Angelo de Bonarora caused the old Building of Constantine to be demolished and began a most stupendous work erecting from the very foundation the whole body of the Church from the Chappel of Gregory to the farthest end building the Quire Chancel and both the lower and upper Portico from whence the Pope on certain days blessed the People and in remembrance whereof this Inscription is engraven within the Church Paulus V. Pont. Max. Vaticanum Templum a Julio II. Inchoatum Et usque ad Gregorii Clementis Sacella Assiduo Centum Annorum Opificio Productum Tantae Molis Accessione Vniversum Constantinianae Basilicae Ambitum includens Confecit Confessionem Beati Petri Exornavit Frontem Orientalem Porticum Extruxit But besides this foregoing work of great Magnificence and charge bestowed on St. Peter's Church he enlarged the Vatican Palace adding several convenient Stairs and passages into the Garden called the Bel vedere by which in a more direct way he might pass into it for that Palace is said to be so great as to contain five thousand six hundred and fifty Chambers He also enlarged the Vatican Library and adorned it with the Pictures of many Men famous in their Ages made and drawn by excellent hands to this Library he added a place to keep the Records of the secret transactions of the Roman Sea which he called Archivium Apostolicum Nor did his Munificence end with this work but with more State and charge he erected a Chappel called the Chappel of Burghese in the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore dedicated to the Blessed Virgin the outside of which though built of Stone digged from Quarries on the banks of the Tybur yet the inside was enriched with Numidian and Carian Marble and with Granite Marble and Alabaster fetched from Chios and Phrygia the High Altar was supported with four lofty Pillars of Jasper-stone beset with Topaces Rubies Emeralds Chrysolites Onyx Amethysts and divers other pretious Stones from Persia and India and dressed up the Image of our Lady upon it with rich embroidered Cloths with Chains of Gold and Pearl and the rarest Gems To this Chappel he gave a Cross of Silver weighing one hundred twenty eight pounds costing two thousand one hundred and fifty Ducats He also erected the Statues of the Twelve Apostles in Silver which cost six thousand Ducats of Gold with six silver Candlesticks gilded which cost three thousand Crowns also two massy Candlesticks of Silver which were placed at the foot of the high Altar weighing one hundred and fourteen pounds and cost one thousand four hundred Ducats of Gold Moreover he gave the heads of six Saints in Silver which cost two thousand and thirty Ducats and the Arms of six Saints which cost one thousand two hundred Ducats and also two Silver Basons weighing twenty three pounds and which cost five hundred pieces of Eight the Crown which he bestowed on the Image studded with precious Stones was valued at twelve thousand Ducats of Gold before which was hanged a Lamp of Silver weighing thirty one pounds with many other rare and rich gifts which amounted in all to 31725 Ducats of Gold I remember my self to have seen and observed this Chappel with great admiration and particularly noted the four Pillars of Jaspar and Bases of Brass and that the back of the Altar was all of Lapis Lazuli and the Cupolo of the Chappel was painted by Guido Rheni of Bologna this Chappel is just opposite to another built by Sixtus V. the chief Architect of which was Domenico Fontana and cost seven hundred thousand Crowns they are both additions to the Sancta Maria Maggiore which is one of the greatest Churches in Rome it is seated on Mons Esquilinus and by some is
sent the Library antiently belonging to the Princes Palatines to Rome which by this Pope was transmitted into the Vatican with this Inscription Sum De Bibliotheca Quam Heidelberga Capta Spolium Fecit Et Pont. Max. Greg. XV. Trophaeum Misit Maximilianus Vtriusque Bavariae Dux S.R. Imperii Archi-Dapifer Et Princeps Elector Anno M.DCXXIII Besides which several Standards taken at the Battel of Prague were sent to Rome and there by the Pope's order hanged up in the Church of Sancta Maria de Victoria The success of the Catholick Princes being to the great comfort of the Pope thus fortunate he encouraged the Duke of Savoy to make War upon Geneva and render himself Master of that place whereby he would not only do justice to his own Right and Title but also overthrow the capital Seat of Heresie and Calvinism With the like zeal did the Pope require of the four Venetian Ambassadours sent according to custom to congratulate his promotion to the Papal Chair that the Republick would again admit into their State those Religious People of the Society of Jesus which had been banished from thence in the time of his Predecessor Paul V. But this request being repugnant to many Laws and formalities and the indissoluble bonds of Government could not be obtained though it was pressed more home by the Marquis de Coevre who passed from Rome to Venice in the name of his Master King Lewis III. and seconded with earnest importunity by the Bishop of Monte Fiascorie the Pope's Nuntio and the powerful Letters of the Cardinal Ludovisio For the Senate declared that they could not depart from their first resolution which being founded on Decrees and solid considerations could in no wise be altered and therefore Princes in Amity with them ought not to press them unto that which was neither permitted to them to grant nor could they deny without doing a displeasure to themselves In this year Osman the Emperour of the Turks invaded Poland with a powerful Army but King Sigismond III. being assisted with Mony from the Pope made a vigorous resistance and gained a signal Victory against the Enemy In this year also Antonius de Dominis who was Arch-bishop of Spalato in Dalmatia deserting his Bishoprick and all his Ecclesiastical Preferments for the sake of the Gospel and the true Protestant Religion went into England where he wrote a Book against the Ecclesiastical State but being unconstant and wavering in his Principles he returned to Rome where he renounced all the Principles of the Protestant Faith and yet afterwards in the year 1624. in the time of Vrban VIII being troubled in Conscience for his Apostacy and reassuming again the Profession he made in opposition to the Roman Church he was imprisoned in the Castle of St. Angelo where he died after which his Body was burn'd together with his Writings The Congregation de Propaganda Fide was first instituted by this Gregory V. as appears by his Letters Patents for the same dated the 10th of July 1622. and for maintenance thereof he setled a certain Revenue to support such as employed themselves in that important work In the same year also he canonized Ignatius Loyola first Founder of the Jesuits who was formerly beatified likewise Philip Neri Founder of the Oratorians called in French les Peres d' Oratoire with Isidore a Spaniard who had been a Husbandman Teresia a Nun that reformed the Order of the Carmelites and Francis Xaverius a Jesuit whom they call Apostle of the Indies Moreover this Pope at the instance and desire of King Lewis XIII advanced the Bishoprick of Paris to be an Arch-bishoprick But what is more observable in his time was a Diploma which he made for the more orderly and easie Election of Popes by way of secret Suffrages which divers had attempted to perform but could never be perfected until this Pope wrote and published the same the which Rule was afterwards practised at the Election of Vrban VIII the succeeding Pope This Pope had created eleven Cardinals during the time of his Reign which lasted only two years five months and twenty nine days he departing this life on the 8th of July 1623. after which the Sea was vacant twenty eight days his Body was carried to the Church of S. Peter where it was deposited only for some time and afterwards translated to the Roman College of Jesuits where it was buried in a most magnificent Chappel erected by his Nephew Cardinal Ludovisio with this Epitaph inscribed thereupon Gregorius XV. Pontifex Ter Maximus Terrarum Orbis bene-merentissimus Multa brevi jaculatus Imperio Quot Mensium tot Lustrorum aequavit Annos Immortali dignus Nomine Rebus praeclare Gestis Romae pro Româ Pietatem auxit novo Cultu Religionis Religioni Aras extruxit Nova Sanctorum Apotheosi Inter quos Ignatium Societatis Jesu Fundatorem Franciscum Xaverium Antesignanum Gemellum Numen Coeli Albo Vtriusque Orbis gemellum veluti Castorem Festa Omnium Acclamatione intulit Fecisset plura ni Eato abreptus praepropero Objisset Lugendus semper quod imperasset parum An. Sal. MDCXXIII VRBAN VIII GREGORY XV. being dead and his Funeral Rites according to Custom being performed on the 19th of July early in the morning the Cardinals to the number of fifty four entered the Conclave It was the common Opinion of most people that the Election would be long and take up much time before it were determined because that as the Rules and Methods prescribed by the Bull of Gregory V. for Election of Popes which as yet had not been put in practice might increase the difficulty so also it was observed that the Cardinals were much divided in their Opinions and Votes there being many persons at that time who for their Age Vertues and Services formerly rendered to the Ecclesiastical State stood Candidates and esteemed themselves worthy of the Papal Dignity namely four Princes viz. Farnese Este Savoy and Medici and four Nephews of Popes Bourghese Ludovisio Buoncompagno and Aldobrandino howsoever contrary to common Opinion and beyond expectation of all the Cardinals agreed and on the 6th of August being Sunday and the day of the Festival observed in remembrance of the Transfiguration of Christ they all concurred with common Voice in the Election of Maffeo Barberini who was the fourth Pope which the City of Florence had given to the Church namely three of the House of Medicis Aldobrandino and this Barberini who was the fifth This Pope was of the age of fifty six years when he was chosen much to the wonder of the Electors themselves who were amazed to have deceived their own hopes by promoting a Person who for his complexion and vigour might out live the greater part of them This Family of Barberini had flourished for the space of five hundred years in the little Republick of Simi-Fontana which was situated between Florence and Siena and not above two miles distant from the Town of Barberini but this Republick being afterwards
of St. Angelo At his arrival in the Suburbs of Paris he was visited in the name of the King and Queen by the Duke of Nemours and other chief Peers of France and at his entry he was accompanied by the Duke of Orleans the King 's only Brother with a great train of Nobility of the first rank and Order in that Kingdom This Legat who was young and but lately admitted into the Order of Priesthood reserved his first Mass wherewith to treat the King and Queen which he offered to them as the first fruits of his Sarifices celebrating it at Fontainbleau on the 15th of August which is the day of the Festival of the Assumption of our Lady Being returned afterwards to Rome his presence was desired by Philip III. King of Spain under the same quality and character at his Court to be Godfather in place of the Pope to the Daughter of the King who was afterwards baptized with the name of Maria Clara Eugenia But not to confer all the stock of honour on one single person of his Kinred the Pope called Anthony Barberini his other Nephew Son of another Brother from his Capuchin's Cell to rank him together with the Cardinals it was he who was called for a long time Cardinal Antonio he was esteemed a very upright Man and one who observed the rules of S. Francis notwithstanding that his degree of Cardinal excused him in a great measure from the severity of them During the absence of Francisco Barberino in France Antonio was Chief Minister with the Pope in his stead which at his return he did most voluntarily resign into the hands of Francisco in the execution of which it is reported of him that he would never be present at the consultations of War which at that time infested Italy upon a Dispute concerning the Valteline saying that his Order obliged him to the exercise of Peace and works of Charity the affairs of War being incompatible with his Vow and his Profession In the year 1626. this Pope had the honour to consecrate the great Basilicon of St. Peter's Church which having been created by Constantine the Great was afterwards enlarged and adorned by the munificence of many other Popes and now being compleatly finished by this he with great Pomp in presence and with the assistance of twenty two Cardinals of which three were Bishops performed all the Ceremonies and rites of consecration in memory of which this Inscription was engraven over the Walls Vrbanus VIII Pontif. Max. Vaticanam Basilicam A Constantino Magno Extructam A Beato Silvestro Dedicatam In Amplissimi Templi Formam Religiosâ multorum Pontificum Magnificentiâ Redactam Solemni ritu consecravit Sepulcrum Apostolicum Area Mole Decoravit O Deum Aras Et Sacella Statuis Ac Multiplicibus Operibus Ornavit And indeed that Area Moles or the Corinthian Brass with which he made the high Altar was fetched from the roof of the Pantheon called now the Rotunda from the form of it built by Agrippina the which Brass not only served for the high Altar for out of the surplusage of it there was founded a great Cannon now in the Castle of St. Angelo which gave occasion to that Libell which was put into the hands of Pasquin Quod non fecerunt Barbari fecerunt Barberini And indeed it seems strange that the Romans who are so curious should destroy such a piece of Antiquity for as I remember I took off this Inscription from the Architrave of the Portico M. Agrippa L.F. Cos. Tertium fecit And undeneath in lesser Letters Imp. Caes. L. Septimius Severius Pius Pertinax Arabicus Adiabenicus Parthicus Maximus Pont. Max. Trib. Pop. XI Cos. III. P.P. PROCos Imp. Caes. M. Aurelius Antoninus Pius Faelix Aug Trib. Potest V. Cos. PROCos Pantheum vetustate corruptum cum omni cultu restituêrunt This Temple formerly dedicated to all the Gods was now dedicated to all Saints Now as to matters of political Government and his management thereof the Pope found himself much engaged by Gregory his Predecessour who as we have said in his life had accepted the Valteline in Deposite which bringing an unseasonable charge upon him he complained thereof but found no way to get out for Ludovisio had strongly tied the knot both of business and decency And though Vrban by reason of employments exercised in France was judged inclinable and in a manner partial to that Court yet it was fit that he should appear serviceable at least in name to the designs of Spain and indeed he was so in reality for though the Deposite of the Valteline was said to be in the hands of the Pope yet Leopold continued in possession and enjoyed the conveniencies and advantages and the Grisons groaned under the burden to remedy which the Pope proposed divers expedients but the preliminary to all and his chief condition was a reimbursement of the Money which he had expended before he would quit or part with his Trust The Confederates readily accepted the proffer and willingly would have reimbursed the Pope provided the Valley were put into their hands and rendred to the first Owner when the Forts were razed and Religion restored But the Pope being fearful to offend Spain proposed that a strong body of Soldiery belonging to the Valteline should be razed and united either to the Catholick Cantons of Helvetia or as a fourth League to the three Cantons of the Grisons But the Confederates proposing to themselves the end of restoring things to their former state judged that by these means they should be wanting to the protection which they had promised to the Grisons and that the Spaniards should still enjoy the predominancy and liberty of passage to the exclusion of all others upon which considerations and several others the Dispute still continued until the year 1627 when the Pope acquainted the Cardinals in a full Consistory that the Disputes and Wars arisen about the Valteline were composed and ended on the conditions that the Fortifications of those places which were committed to his Trust were by consent of the Kings of France and Spain to be ruined and demolished To which he added these words At length said he we have attained that which we much wished and desired for by mutual consent of both Kings the Peace is concluded and established we have omitted nothing which might conduce to the good of the Church and it hath been our principal care that the Catholick Religion should suffer no detriment the Kings themselves are witnesses hereof and God himself knows that we have always had his glory and honour before our eyes And now that the Grandeur of the Apostolical Chair be advanced and the Consistory gratified and pleased Vrban in the year 1631. bestowed the Title of Eminence upon the Cardinals forbidding them to receive any other distinction of honour and for establishment thereof a Decree was made and entred into the Records of the Congregation of Ceremonies that the Titles of Cardinals should be the
Italy But Pope Vrban after various troubles and Negotiations established the Peace of Italy and by the dexterous management of Cardinal Mazarine then his Nuntio appeased the differences between Spain and France and therewith established an universal Peace In the life of Sixtus IV. we have shewed how that that Pope married John his Nephew and Brother to Cardinal Julian to Jane the Daughter of Frederick Duke of Vrbin by whom he had one Son called Francisco Maria della Rovere who succeeded in that Dukedom And whereas for want of Heirs male that Dutchy did of right devolve to the Demesnes of the Church yet Sixtus to advance the honour of his own Family de la Rovere was pleased still to continue that Fief in separation from the Church the which remained in such condition until the year 1632. when Francisco Maria della Rovere the last Duke of Vrbin dying this Pope Vrban assumed the property and without difficulty united it to the patrimony of the Church for this Pope having an Eye thereunto in the life of the Duke who was then grown very old kept a Prèlate in that Country which assisted in all affairs by which means after his death Taddeo Barberino the Pope's Nephew Prince of Palestrina entred peaceably with his Soldiers and took such quiet possession thereof as if the old Dominion had been continued rather than a new one introduced The Pope expecting this accident was already in Arms under pretence of the commotions in Italy so that in case amidst these confusions any one should have designed to disturb his peaceable possession he was in a condition to maintain his right with a puissant Force But the Princes were so far from invading the Dutchy that they universally concurred in the confirmation of his Title advising him to invest one of his Nephews in the Principality But the Pope considering the severe Bulls of his Predecessours against such alienations feared that he might entail a patrimony of unquietness and trouble to his posterity and therefore resolved to annex that Dominion to the Church against the persuasions of divers Princes who were willing to see the Ecclesiastical State increase in Temporal Power in memory of which Union of this Principality to the Church without Arms or effusion of bloud but only by prudence and gentleness these words are engraven in the Vatican Civitates Ditiones Ducat us Vrbini Nomine comprehensae quas à Romanis Pontificibus Feltria prius deinde Ruveria familia beneficiario Jure possidebat in Francisco Maria II. extinctâ utriusque sobole in liberam Apostolicae Sedis Dominationem concessere Vrbano VIII Pont. Max. Anno Salutis MDCXXXII Regio autem Virorum tum Militari studio tum insigni Opificio Doctrinae laude praestantium multitudine celeberrima est But that the Pope might not displease his Nephew Taddeo by this disappointment he conferred upon him the Pretorship of Rome which had long been enjoyed by the Family of Rovere This Office and Dignity which still retained the antient and venerable Name of Praetor Praetorii and in the times of the Caesars was in great esteem and Authority conserved now little more than an empty name without power for which reason forein Ambassadours who were the Representatives of the Emperour and Kings refused to give precedency of place to this Prefect or Governour at such times when at the most solemn Functions they assisted at the Chair of the Pope The Barberins depending on the greatness of their Uncle who was ever partial in the Cause and Interest of his kinred obstinately maintained their pretended Right by which the Controversie arose so high that the Ambassadours by Order of their respective Princes abstained from the Churches and from all solemn Meetings at which they might be present with the Prefect From this common distast of Princes arose an other of a private nature between the Cavalier Giovanni Pesari Ambassadour for the Republick of Venice and Taddeo the Prefect the occasion was this the Prefect casually meeting in the street with Pesari caused his Coach to stop as the custom is always in Rome that when the Coaches of Cardinals Ambassadours and other Great Men meet they always stop and send Messages of Complement one to the other but Pesari not observing it by reason that it was in the dusk of the Evening drove on without notice of the Prefect which though Pesari sent afterwards expresly to excuse yet the Prefect was so offended that he purposely designed to meet him an other time and that he might requite the late neglect he corrupted the Ambassadours Coachman to stay his Horses feigning that his Hat was fallen off and so in the mean time the Prefect passed without notice of the Ambassadour Pesari intended to have chastised his Servant for this piece of treachery but that he was rescued by some armed Men from the punishment he deserved The Court of Rome which is always talkative and figuring a strange kind of effects from such shadows and appearances made great account of these Formalities discoursing of them with the same direful apprehensions as Men in other parts use to conclude from bloudy Battels and important Conquests But the Senate of Venice having notice hereof was well assured that by support of the Uncle the party of the Barberins would be too strong in Rome ordered their Ambassadour Pesari that for evidence of a publick Resentment he should immediately leave the City without taking the least notice either of the Pope or his Nephews and in the mean time at Venice the Nuntio was suspended from Audience To this disgust an other quarrel was annexed occasioned by a Bull made the last year by Vrban whereby he Decreed to Cardinals the Ecclesiastical Electors and the Great Master of Malta the Title of Eminence forbidding them to receive any other unless from Kings The Republick of Venice which have always adhered to their antient Forms and Stile and will upon no occasion whatsoever be induced to alter and change their Customs would never give other Title to them than of Reverendissimo Illustrissimo which gave great disgust and mortification to the Pope and served to increase the former discontent To these were added other sharp contests between those of Loreo Subjects to the Venetians and those of Ferrara where Cardinal Palotta the Pope's Legat encroached on the undoubted confines of the Venetians and imprisoning the Venetian Subjects shewed an intention to attempt greater Novelties and by erecting and changing the High ways diverted the course of the Waters in such manner as made the River Po almost useless The Venetians provoked by these mischiefs laboured to repair themselves with like returns for Luca Pesaro Captain of the Gulf entring into the Sacca di Goro with some Gallies and armed Barks stopped the Ships which with Victuals and Merchandise passed by Sea towards Ferrara He destroyed also the works which were lately made in the River to divert its course The Troops also encreased on both sides and the
Plenipotentiaries to be nominated and appointed by both sides and the place for Treaty to be Lions So on the twentieth of February an Instrument was signed by the Ambassadour Grimani and the Duke of Crequi and subscribed also by Monsieur Tellier Secretary of State and War whereby it was concerted and agreed to enter upon a Treaty at the place aforesaid and that Plenipotentiaries should be sent thither with Commissions from his Majesty Thus for some time whilest the troubles were a little appeased and quieted the Court of France passed the Carneval with their usual jollity and entertained it self with celebration of the marriage between Madmoiselle de Valois and the Duke of Savoy the Count de Soissons representing the person of the Duke at the ceremony of Espousals The which few days after was followed by the marriage of Madmoiselle Mariana Mancini Niece of Cardinal Mazarini with the Duke of Buglion great Chamberlain of France And now the Plenipotentiaries preparing for their meeting at Lions Aloisé Sagredo arrived at Paris in quality of Ambassadour for the Venetians and to succeed in the place of Grimani who was to be assisting in the Office of Mediation at Lions Grimani and Monsignor Rasponi Plenipotentiary from the Pope met at the time and place appointed but the Duke of Crequi on pretence of the Queen Mother's sickness or rather because he desired to be waited and attended for came not to Lions till towards the middle of May where entering on their Conference matters were proceeded to a hopeful condition of agreement when on a sudden they were unhappily interrupted by the Title which the Pope sent to Rasponi to be his Nuntio Extraordinary to all Christian Princes for whereas the French King had absolutely determined not to receive any person from the Pope with Title of Nuntio until the differences were accommodated between himself and Rome the Treaty was by Order of the King broken off upon that punctilio but afterwards was by Order renewed again at Bonvicino a place situate on the Frontiers of Savoy the Parochial Church of which is in the Dominions of France and on the other side of the Bridg which is the Territory of Savoy is an antient and famous Monastery of Carmelite Friers thither as we have said the Treaty was transferred where besides Crequi Rasponi and Grimani there were present the Agents for Modena and Parma and the twelve Consuls of Avigion Rasponi took his quarters on the side of Savoy and the other on that of France Here the particulars were again debated and the Pope was persuaded to condescend to all the pretensions of France excepting onely to the restitution of Castro on which the King peremptorily insisted because he had engaged his Honour and Authority therein by the Articles of Peace made at the Pyreneans The Pope on the other side insisted That it was not in his Power to pass an Act so prejudicial to the Apostolical Chair and contrary to the many Bulls of his Predecessours And thus whilest both sides insisted resolutely on this Point with many delays and punctilios which obstructed a conclusion the King dispatched an express to Rome to know the ultimate resolution of the Pope on that Point and when answer was returned that by reason of the Sentences passed by the Tribunals of Justice and that Castro was in the Camera annexed to the triple Crown and incorporated into the Dominions of the Church he could not assent to have it dismembred from St. Peter's Patrimony so soon I say as this news came the Treaty broke off every one returning to his Place and Country During this Treaty at Buonvicinio great preparations were making at Rome for a War and when it broke up without agreement then contrary to all expectation the Troops were disbanded and the Officers Reformed though in the mean time the French Troops began to march into Italy which was the occasion of a witty saying That at Rome they armed when they knew not with whom they were to have War and disarmed when they knew not with whom they should have Peace And yet it is probable and by most believed that there was never any real design of Rupture by either side but that the pretensions and preparations for this War were onely in appearance and made subservient to other Projects though to make it appear real the Duke of Beaufort was sent with a Fleet of Ships on the Coast of Italy the approach of which gave an Allarm at the very Gates of Rome but afterwards disappeared and stood off again into the Sea pretending to be driven to Calari in Sardinia by Tempests and contrary Winds And though neither the Pope nor King as was believed were in earnest in matter of a War yet the ill correspondence between them was judged prejudicial to Christendom and obstructive to those succours which were intended against the Turk who had then lately made himself Master of Newhausell and was triumphant in Hungary Wherefore the Venetians with more warm instances than ever laboured to renew the Treaty in which Office the Spaniards also judged themselves obliged to join because they desired to keep the Arms of France distant from Italy and both one and the other used their endeavours so effectually with the Pope and the King that they both consented to enter into another Treaty and accordingly the French King constituted Monsignore Bourlemont then at Florence to be his Plenipotentiary and the Pope ordained Rasponi with a like Power from him Pisa being the place appointed for the Treaty where after some few days of debate all matters came to be concluded and agreed in form and manner following That his Holiness to please the most Christian King had assented to dismember Castro from the Patrimony of the Church conditionally that the Duke of Parma within the space of eight years pay the sum of eight millions six hundred and nineteen Crowns to the Camera Of which sum having paid one half he shall be invested and restored into one half of the Principality And in case that any dispute shall arise touching the division of the moiety the same shall be determined by two Arbitrators indifferently chosen and they not agreeing the difference shall be referred to the Umpirage of a third Person Or otherwise the Camera making the division the Duke shall have Power to chuse or otherwise if the Duke makes the division then the choice shall be in the Power of the Camera That the Duke of Modena shall renounce all his pretensions to Comacchio And the Pope at the instance of the King shall in lieu thereof give and surrender unto the said Duke Mount d' Este which was valued at two hundred and fifty thousand Crowns or thereabouts and shall remit to him the Interest which he owes to the Montists which was estimated at fifty thousand Crowns together with a donative of forty thousand Crowns or in lieu thereof some Palace in Rome to the Duke's satisfaction And that the Pope shall
made to which Altieri not judging fit to condescend remained firm in his denial and therein being resolved until the death of this Pope an ill correspondence passed between Poland and Rome during the Reign of this Clement X. Though all these difficulties were made in exception to the person of the Bishop of Marseille yet Altieri was more easie and favourable to the Family of the late Pope and accordingly about the beginning of the year 1673. Felice Rospigliosi was advanced to the degree of Cardinal whereby the Pope in gratitude to Clement IX returned the Hat he had received from him to a person of the same name and Family at the same time also he promoted Peter Basadonna Knight and Procurator of St. Mark for the Republick of Venice to the same degree together with Monsignor Nerli a Florentine and then Nuntio at Paris this year also the College of Cardinals lost four of their number three of which were principal Members and Persons great in their worth and Offices viz. Frederick Borromeo Secretary of State Imperiali à bury and an active Cardinal as also Cualtieri and Roberti In this year the most Christian King designed to reform the Order of St. Lazarus and cast it into some other model for that this Order being almost worn out and the constitutions of it either abrogated or out of use his Majesty judged it more convenient to renew it again and establish it upon some other foundation and in pursuance of this resolution a new Chief or General was appointed for this Order This right of Regalia or Jus Patronatus which his Majesty had on this occasion exercised in the Gallican Church greatly offended Cardinal Altieri who to vindicate the Papal Authority in opposition to the King 's usurped pretences persuaded a certain Gascon who was come to seek preferment at Rome to accept the honour of Abbat of the Order of St. Lazarus and to qualifie him for this dignity the Title of Abbat of Colombiere was conferred upon him This simple Gascon for no other would be so vain as to accept of an Employment so intriguesom and difficult as this not having the Talent or capacity to manage an Affair of this weight and moment signed and dispatched away the Orders requisite for regulation of his Abby and though his friends and acquaintance dissuaded him from an Enterprise so offensive to the King yet this bold Gascon persisted in his folly being therein encouraged by the Creatures of Altieri The Duke d' Estreé then Ambassadour for France at Rome highly resented this pretence of the Pope in derogation to the Right of his Master but more especially was offended with the Gascon who had conspired with the Cardinal to deprive the King of his Right and Prerogative Wherefore the Duke being highly incensed seized the Scrivener who had drawn up the Abbat's Memorial to the Pope and after severe words and Reproofs caused him to be imprisoned the Abbat in the mean time fearing the like treatment retired into a priviledged place within the jurisdiction of the Pope's Palace and under the protection of the Cardinal who allowed him a Pension for his necessary maintenance At length the Abbat instigated by his Friends and encouraged by Altieri departed from Rome and passed the Alps into France where so soon as he was arrived he was seiz'd by the King's command and committed to Prison where we shall leave him to the Law and the disposal of the Order of St. Lazarus to the pleasure of his Majesty This and other discontents encreased the ill correspondence between the Duke d' Estreé Ambassadour of France and the Cardinal which Altieri though an Italian could not conceal or dissemble for being passionately affected to the Interest of Spain received the news of the French Conquests and successes against Holland with regret and displeasure either disapproving the intelligence as false or otherwise relating it with such circumstances as much abated and eclipsed the glory of those Victories all which served to inflame the differences between the Duke and the Cardinal But none was of greater consequence than that which intervened between the Cardinal and all the Ambassadours and Representatives for forein Princes residing in the Court of Rome the occasion and matter whereof was this It being now the year 1674. immediately preceding the year of Jubily when more than ordinary provisions are made for entertainment and sustenance of Pilgrims who croud in great numbers to obtain the Indulgences Pardons and Dispensations which are granted at that holy time It happened that the Farmers and Collectors of the Customs and Impositions which are laid on all sorts of Victuals and Provisions made complaints of the great damage which the Pope suffered in that branch of his Revenue from the abuses and frauds of forein Ministers who having all provisions for their Families allowed to them free from Taxes and Impost did under that pretence colour the goods and provisions of others and thereby raised considerable sums of Money to their own advantage which belonged and appertained to the Apostolical Chamber The Farmers had often complained of these abuses in the times of other Popes and though many remedies and expedients were proposed for prevention of the Cheat yet they produced nothing besides Affronts and blows to the Officers At length Altieri who esteemed himself more politick and powerful than all the Nephews of preceding Popes resolved on occasion of the approaching Jubily to raise the Farm on provisions to a more exorbitant price than ever was known and to obviate the complaints of the Customers he published an Edict That all Ambassadours and Cardidinals should for the future pay the Taxes and Impositions on their Domestick provisions in such manner as all other persons not exempted by priviledges were obliged to pay This Edict being published greatly surprized not only the Ministers from forein Princes but the whole College of Cardinals who finding themselves hereby deprived of their chief benefit and priviledg murmured and talked loud against the arbitrary and irregular Government of Cardinal Altieri who little regarding the empty air of words returned no other answer than that the Pope was Master of his own Family and Dominions The Ambassadours then residing at Rome were the Cardinal Landgrave of Hesse for the Emperour the Duke d' Estreé for France Cardinal Nitardo for Spain besides the Representatives of Venice the Grand Duke Genoua and other lesser Princes all these being disobliged and sensibly touched by the loss or suspension of their priviledg entered into consultation together of the method whereby to proceed when after some debate they agreed to go together to the Palace of Monte Cavallo where the Pope was then lodged and there without any previous Ceremony or notice taken of the Cardinal Nephew to demand Audience immediately of the Pope Accordingly these forein Ministers being on their way thither which made a great noise and combustion in the City of Rome the Cardinal at the alarm roused up
which by some side-wind or far-fetched notion of Spiritual Concernment reduced almost every thing under cognisance of the Church According to this natural course of worldly affairs Lewis the 14th the most Christian King being high and prosperous in his fortune resolved to put a period to the process for the Regale which had continued near thirty years and at last in the year 1673. came to a conclusion and Declaration was made That the King had Right of Regale in all his Dominions without distinction except onely in those Sees that had purchased their exemption from it And therefore all Bishops who had not yet registred their Oaths of Fidelity in the Chambers of Accounts were required to do it and to take out a Writ upon it for closing the Regale otherwise rheir Bishopricks were still to be looked on as under it All the Bishops of France unwilling to incurr the displeasure of their successful Monarch submitted excepting the Bishops of Alet and Pamiers It was now under the Reign of Clement X. an old doating Pope who having his parts and understanding enfeebled by old Age he committed the management of the Pontificate to the sole direction of Cardinal Paluzzi afterwards adopted by the Pope and called Altieri a Person who from his first beginning was distastful to the Court of France and not until this time well reconciled unto it as we have at large declared in the foregoing Life This was the time I say when open Claim to the Regale was renewed in favour of the King and when the Pope himself was scarce able to distinguish his Interest and Altieri was so thwarted and opposed by the Court of France that he had enough to do to conserve his own personal Interest much less to vindicate and contend for the Rights of the Church in a case so litigious as this In January 1676. the King 's Right was claimed in disposal of the Deanry of Alet the Dispute of which was left unto the Bishop to maintain for the Pope being under the foregoing Circumstances took little cognisance thereof either by himself or his Cardinal But this good Pope dying in the month of August next following the Controversie fell to the lot of Innocent the 11th to maintain and to dispute in opposition to the eldest Son of the Church This quarrel was increased by a Contest at Pamiers where one Paucet was provided in Right of the Regale to be Arch-deacon of Pamiers but was rejected by the Bishop and Chapter howsoever the Regale prevailed for the Arch-Bishop of Tholouse was on their side and gave judgment in favour of the Regalist But on the contrary the Bishop of Pamiers acquiesced not with this Sentence but made his appeal to the Pope who was now engaged in the Controversie and the matter lodged in his hands Wherefore the Pope in the year 1678 wrote his Brief to the French King and in soft and yet pressing terms complained of the Innovasions made on the Liberties of the Church and the Authority of the Council of Lions and after several Arguments to persuade him to desist from this Enterprise he concludes that he cannot forget those Popes his Predecessours who upon the like occasions had endured long and great afflictions But these Allegations satisfied not the King who pretended that the Rights of the Regale were inherent in the Crown and had been enjoyed by his Ancestors and by them derived down to himself The Pope on the other side affirmed that the Secular Powers had no right to things sacred but as it was derived to them by the Authority of the Church and that the Church had not granted any such Right having expresly limited it by the Council of Lions which hath now been observed four hundred years This Controversie seemed to lie dormant from September 1678. to December 1679. until it was again revived and stirred in the See of Pamiers in that point which concerned the vacant Benefices and the mean Profits for the King's Officers seized on them likewise so that the good old Bishop had nothing to live on the last twenty months of his life but the Oblations and Charities of his People On this occasion the Pope wrote to the Cardinal d' Estreé to interpose in this Affair as being a Person more than ordinarily concerned in the dignity of the Apostolical See To which the Cardinal made answer in the style of a Court-Bishop extolling the King's merit his zeal for the Faith and respect for the Apostolical Chair what he had done for the suppression of Calvinism and Heresie within his Dominions and how bravely he had defended the Christian Cause against the Turks and in fine he laid down the dangers which would follow if any dissention should arise between the King and the Church At length Cardinal d' Estreé was dispatched to Rome with a Letter of Credence and Orders to treat immediately with the Pope himself but it seems his Negotiations produced little alteration for the Pope continued steddy and constant to his Principles And on the other side the Parliament of Paris became as zealous for the King 's Right and Authority for which the King's Attorney General pleading made little esteem of the Pope's Censures which were passed for Obedience to the King's Orders The Church said he may indeed have an Authority to punish Men for Heresie and an ill life but the World was now too well enlightned not to discern that the Thunders of Rome had been for several Ages vainly employed for extending its Authority beyond all due bounds the limits of which were to be found in the Canons of the Church by which the Pope as well as others ought to govern himself And therefore desired that the last Brief sent by the Pope might be suppressed which was accordingly done by a Judgment of the Court of Parliament on the last of March 1681. And to give a farther Authority to this Judgment an Extraordinary Assembly was called of all the Bishops then residing at Paris where were present six Arch-Bishops twenty six Bishops and six that were named to Bishopricks to whom the Agents of the Clergy represented the Invasions made on the Liberties of the Gallican Church by the Pope's Briefs both in general concerning the Regale and in particular in the Affair at Pamiers and the Nunneries and concerning a Book of Gerbais a Dr. of Sorbonne De causis Majoribus which were equally contrary both to Church and State to the Canons and the Concordate by which the Pope upon a simple Complaint without any Appeal did by the plenitude of his Power judg at Rome concerning the validity of Elections and the Authority of Arch-Bishops and Primats c. The issue of which Assembly was this They asserted the Authority of National Churches for judging of all matters both of Faith and Manners and in the conclusion agreed to make an Address to the King praying him to give leave either for a National Council or an Assembly General the latter
Soter 23. Eleutherius 24. Victor I. 28. Zephyrinus 27. Calistus I. 28. Anterus 33. Stephen I. 38. Felix 41. Eutychianus 42. Caius 43. Miltiades 50. Of the Nicene Council 52. Of Sylvester ibid. Of Damasus 63. Siricius 65. Anastasius 67. Zosimus 71. Boniface I. 72. Stephen III. 144. Gregory III. 136. Nicolas I. 168 Desiderius King of the Lombards 140. takes several Cities in Italy 145. is overthrown by Charlemagne 146 Devil in the shape of Moses beguiles the Jews 74 Didymus a learned Christian 65 Dionysius Bishop of Corinth 23 Dioscorus the Heretick 77 Disciples of Christ their several Provinces 1. Dominic 256. Founder of the Order of Preaching Friers 257. Canoniz'd 262 Domitian the Emperour his Character 11 Donation of Charlemagne to the Church 147. Of Maude the Countess 226 Donatus a Sectary 59 Dorothea a Virgin her Chastity 50 Dorotheus a learned Christian 42 Dulcinus and Margaret Hereticks put to death 300 E Easter observ'd always on a Sunday upon what occasion 20 25 Ebionites Hereticks 52 Ecelino Tyrant of Padua 270 Edessa taken by the Turks 236 Edmund Arch-Bishop of Canterbury Canoniz'd 268 Edward Prince of England his Voyage to the Holy Land 278 stab'd ibid. being King he mediates between the Kings of France and Aragon 289. War between him and the French King 291. obtains a great Sea Victory over 'em 311. Another by Land 315. besieges Paris 318 Egesippus a learned Christian Writer 22.83 Elizabeth Daughter to the King of Hungary Canoniz'd 262 Elisha's Body found 80 Ember-Weeks when first instituted 28 31 Emmanuel II. Emperor of Constantinople his treachery to the Christians 237 Encratitae Hereticks 21 English first make themselves Masters of Great Britain 73 Ephrem Syrus a learned Writer 67 Epiphanius Bishop of Salamine ib. Epiphanius Bishop of Pavia p. 82 Este the Family Lords of Ferrara and Modena 300. 28 of that House hang'd at once 302. drive the Church Forces out of Ferrara 307 Ethelwolph King of England 164 Evagrius a learned Christian 71 Eudocia the Catholick p. 80 Eunomius a Heretick 61 Eusebius surnam'd Pamphilus and why 48 Eusebius Emissenus 58 Eusebius of Cremona 76 Eutropius Epitomizer of the Roman History 73 Eutyches the Heretick p. 76 Exarchate of Ravenna extinguish'd 140 F Fast not to be observ'd on a Sunday 50 Faustus Bishop 83 Flavianus Bishop 77 Florence made a free City 289 Florianus Emperour 42 Florinus a Heretick 25 Forlimpopoli sack'd and ruin'd 114 S. Francis Founder of the Order of Friers Minors 257. Canoniz'd 262 Frangipani a Roman Family 229 Fratricelli a holy Brotherhood 297 Frederic Emperour engag'd in the Holy War 251 Frederic II. his Contests with the Pope 260. Frederic III. comes to Rome 378 Friscus of the House of Este murthers his Father 301 Fucinus the Lake drein'd 3 Fulgentius Bishop 83 Fulk Earl of Anjou King of Jerusalem 236 G Galba Emperour his good and bad qualities 7 Galerius Emperour 47 Gallienus Emperour 37 Gallus Emperour 37 Gascons subdu'd by Charlemagne 148 Gemblours the Monastery when and by whom built 182 Gennadius Bishop 78 Genoeses routed by the Venetians 271. a mortal hatred between 'em 281 326. defeat the Pisans 289. invade Cyprus 321 Genseric King of the Vandals 74. routed 78 Germanus Bishop 82 Geta Emperour slain 28 Gibellines and Guelphs 264 Gildo a General of the Empire sets up for himself 70 Gisulphus D. of Benevent 125. Another 202 Gloria Patri when added to the ends of Psalms 63 Godfathers and Godmothers a Decree concerning them 19 Godfrey King of Jerusalem 221. defeats the Army of the King of Babylon ibid. Gordianus Emperour 34 Goths driven from Rome 91 Granada in Spain seiz'd by the Saracens 126 Gratianus Emperour 66 Gratian who compil'd the Decrees 257 Gregorius Baeticus a learned Bishop 65 Gregory Nazianzen 67 Gregory Patriarch of Constantinople a Monothelite 117 S. Gregory his body translated 159 Grimoaldus D. of Beneventum 112 114. makes himself King of the Lombards 115. his death ibid. Another 150 Guelphs and Gibellines when first so distinguish'd 264 Guido Bonatus an Astrologer 286 Guy of Lusignan King of Jerusalem 248. taken Prisoner 249 H Hannibali and Vrsini two factions at Rome 285 Hawkwood an English-man 319.319 the Pope's General 320. in several Services 321 331 332 Haydo Governour of Aquitain rebels 155 Haymo Brother to Venerable Bede 126 Helchesaites Hereticks 35 Helena Mother to the Emperour Constantine finds the Holy Cross 48 Henry D. of Bavaria Emperour 196 Henry II. Son of Conrade Emperour 199 Henry III. Emperour 206. depriv'd by Pope Gregory 209 Henry IV. Emperour 225 Henry of Luxemburg invades Italy 302. is Crown'd at Rome 303 Henry King of England meets the Pope 235. satisfies him about the murther of Thomas Becket 245 Henry Son of Richard of Cornwal murther'd 279 Heraclea taken by the Christians 218 Heraclius Patriarch of Jerusalem 248 Heraclius a learned Christian 27 Heraclius Emperour 104. his Actions 105 Hermes a Christian Writer 20 Hilarius Bishop of Poictiers 65 Hilarius Bishop of Arles 76 Hildebrand a Monk 202. made Pope 207 Hilminoline a Saracen General 256 Holy-Water See Water Holy-War See War Honorius Emperour 70 Host ordered to be made of Unleavened Bread onely 16 Hubert a Bishop in Bretagne 122 Hugo de Sancto Victore 233 Hungari a Scythian People 173 come into Italy 180 181 Hunns a Scythian Nation 173 179 John Hus burnt for a Heretick 346 Hymns added to the Divine Service 17 18 125 I James surnamed Justus his Acts and martyrdom 4 S. Januarius his Body translated 156 Iconium taken by the Christians 218 S. Jerom the learned Presbyter 69. his death 72 Jerom of Prague burnt for a Heretick 346 Jerusalem taken by Titus 9. permitted by Julian the Apostate to be rebuilt 62. taken by the Saracens 108. recover'd by the Christians 221. retaken by the Saracens 250. dismantled 258 S. Ignatius his martyrdom 13 Images in Churches ordered by the Emperour to be pull'd down 132 141. Decrees thereupon at Rome 144. at Nice 148 Inventio Crucis 48 Inundations of the Tiber 131 149 167 Joan Queen of Naples kills her Husband 313 Pope Joan 165 S. John the Apostle banish'd into Patmos 12 John Bishop of Bergamo 121 John Arch Bishop of Ravenna submits to the Pope 168 John King of Jerusalem 258 Joppa taken by the Christians 222 Josephus when he liv'd 8 Jovinian Emperour 63 Irene Empress of Constantinople 149 Isidore Bishop of Sevil 105 Jubilee first kept every fiftieth year 296 Julian surnam'd the Apostate 59.61 his death 62 Julianus Emperour 65 Julius Africanus an eminent Writer 33 Justin Martyr when he liv'd and his Works 18 Justin Emperour 86 Justinian I. Emperour 88. his Actions 89 Justinian II. terrifies the Saracens into submission 121. breaks faith with them 123. is deposed and his Nose cut off 124. restored 126. his severity upon his Enemies 127. and ingratitude to his Friend 128. slain 129 Juvencus a noble Christian 56 L Lactantius Firmianus when he lived 48 Lambert a holy Martyr 125 Latinianus a Bishop 102
Lent first Instituted 18 Leo Emperour 78.79 his Edict against Images 132 S. Leo his body translated 125 Leodegarius Bishop of Autun 122 Leontius makes himself Emperour 124. deposed ibid. Lewis surnam'd the Godly Emperour 153 Lewis King of Bavaria 154 Lewis Son of Lotharius 100. Crown'd King of Italy 161. being Emperor he comes to Rome 167 Lewis King of France engages in the holy War 267 Lewis of the French Bloud Royal canoniz'd 295 Libanius the Orator 71 Licinius Emperour 49 Lions a Council there 280 Lombards their coming into Italy 96 Lotharingia Lorain why so call'd 160 Lotharius Emperour 154.160 Lucca made a free City 289. taken by the Germans and sold 308 Lucifer Bishop of Cagliari 59 Lucina a Roman Lady leaves the Church her Heir 47 Lucius King of Britain 24 Lucius an Heretical Bishop violent against the Orthodox 64 Luithprandus King of the Lombards 129. takes Ravenna 131. besieges Rome 134. his character 136 Luke the Evangelist 10 Lupus Duke of Friuli 114 M Macarius Bishop of Antioch a Monothelite 117 Macedonius a Heretick 61 Mahomet the Impostor 105 Malchion an eloquent Presbyter 38 Manes a Persian Impostor 41 Manfred Prince of Tarento 267. made King of Sicily 270. is kill'd 275 Manichees their Heresie 42 Marcion the Heretick 19 S. Mark employ'd by S. Peter to write his Gospel 4. his Body translated to Venice 158 Marriages a Decree concerning them 23 S. Martin's body works a Miracle 172 Martyrs their Acts ordain'd to be written and preserv'd 33 34. Masses yearly to be celebrated upon their account 41 Mathild or Maud a noble Countess 204. her death 206 Mauritius Emperour 98 Maxentius Emperour 48 49 Maximian Herculeus Emperour 44.48 Maximian Galerius Caesar 44. Emperour 47 Maximine Emperour 33.49 Maximus the Tyrant 77. a learned Christian of that name 127 Melito Bishop of Sardis 20 Merlin the British Prophet 79 Messalina Wife to the Emperour Claudius put to death for Adultery 3 Mezelindis a Woman of incomparable chastity 116 Milain taken by Sforza 377 Minutius Felix when he liv'd 31 Modestus a Christian Writer 25 Monothelites a Council held concerning them 117 Montanists Hereticks 21 Guido Montfort murthers Henry Son of Richard of Cornwall 273 Simon Montfort 256 Moors invade Calabria 176 N Names of Popes when first chang'd 160 Naples taken by Belisarius 91. besieg'd 253 Narses the Eunuch 94 Nepos a Heretick 39 Nero Emperour his Vices 6. kills himself 7 Nerva Cocceius Emperour his character 12 Nectorius his Heresie 74 Nice in Bithynia a Council there 51 Nicetas an Eunuch Patriarch of Constantinople 141 S. Nicolas his Body translated 216 Nicopolis taken by the Christians 218 Nogaret a French Cavalier 298 Normans have a part of France allow'd them to inhabit 172 Novatianus his Heresie 34. opposed by whom 36 O Odoacer King of the Heruli invades Italy 79 Olympius the Exarch 111 Optatus Milevitanus when he liv'd 66 Holy Orders not to be conferr'd at once 65. not upon maim'd or infirm persons 67. nor Foreiners without Testimonials ibid. nor on Servants 71. nor Debtors 72 Organs introduced first into the Church 114 Origen a learned Christian 27.29.32 Ostia the Harbour there by whom made 3 Otho Emperour an Account of his life 7 Otho II. Emperour 184 conquers Boleslaus King of Bohemia 183 comes to Rome 185 Otho Abbat of Clugny 207 Otho Duke of Burgundy engag'd in the Holy War 251 P Palaeologus Michael assumes the Empire of Constantinople 272 Pallavicino a powerful Gibelline 270.273 Pamphilus a learned Presbyter 43 Pantheon given to the Christians 103 Papias Bishop of Hierapolis 14 Papias the Lombard Glossographer 257 Paris when and by whom made an University 152 Parishes Rome when first so divided 14 Paschal an Arch-deacon endeavours to make himself Pope 123. convict of Sorcery ibid. S. Paul the Apostle 5. beheaded 6 Paulus Samosatenus a Heretick 26.40 Paulus Diaconus when he liv'd 147 Pelagius his Heresie condemn'd 69 Pepin Duke of Austrasia 124. King of France 137.141 his death 142 Pepin Son of Charlemagne 149.150 dies at Milan 151 Pepin Son of Lewis the Godly King of Aquitain 154 Perinus King of Cyprus 321 Pertheris King of the Lombards 120 Peter an Hermite excites the Christian Princes to the Holy War 217 Peter Abelardus a learned Men 238 Peter of Verona canoniz'd 268 Peter King of Aragon 287. his Kingdom given away by the Pope 288 Peter Luna Anti-Pope 338. his death 356 Petrarcha a learned Man 311 S. Petronilla S. Peter's Daughter her body translated 141 S. Philip the Apostle 10 Philip the Emperour 34 Philip King of France engag'd in the Holy War 251. returns home 253 Philippicus Emperour of Constantinople 129. deposed and his Eyes put out 130 Philo Judaeus when he liv'd 8 Phocas Emperour 101 Photinus a learned Bishop 18. Another of that name an Ebionite 65 Photinians Hereticks condemn'd 52 Picenninus a great Commander 361 Pisans overthrown by the Venetians 253. by the Genoeses 289. their City taken by the Florentines 339 Pistoia taken and rased 301 Plague through Europe 98 Platina the Author of this History imprison'd by Pope Paul II. 403. and tortur'd 410 Pliny the second occasions a persecution of the Christians to be stay'd 13 Polycarp Bishop of Smyrna 19 Polycrates Bishop of Ephesus 26 Posthumus an Usurper in Gallia 38 Pragmatic Sanction 396 Presbyters not to be ordain'd but by a Bishop 65 Primates who are to bear that Title 22 Priscian the Grammarian 88 Priscilla a Roman Matron builds a Cemetery 47 Priscillian his Heresie condemn'd 69 Probus Emperour 43 Projectus a Bishop martyr'd 116 Ptolemais besieged by the Christians 251. taken 253. retaken by the Infidels 292 Q Quadragesimal Fast See Lent Quadratus a learned Disciple 14 Quintilian's Works when and by whom found out 382 Quintillus Emperour 40 Quotiliani Hereticks 25 R Rabanus a learned Monk 159 Racherius Bishop of Verona 182 Rachis King of the Lombards 137 Ravenna the Church there reconcil'd to that of Rome 116. the pride of their Bishops repress'd by the Pope 119. the City taken by the Lombards 131. the Exarchate extinguish'd 140 Raymund a Commander in the holy War 217. a Debate between him and Boemund 220 Reggio surprizsed by treachery 320 Remigius Bishop of Rhemes 80 Rhodes taken by the Turks 111 Rhomoaldus Duke of Beneventum 119 Richard King of England engaged in the holy War 251. strikes up a Peace with Saladine 253. is taken Prisoner 254 Robert Guiscardi a great General 202. defeats the Saracens 203. and Greeks 204 Rodulphus King of Burgundy 181. of Habspurg Emperour 280. sells to several Cities of Italy their freedom 289 Rome sack'd by the Vandals 77. besieg'd by the Lombards 96 Rothifredus King of the Normans 171 Ruffinus a Roman General 70 S Sabellius Author of the Sabellian Heresie 39. his Heresie condemn'd 52 Sabinus King of the Bulgarians 141 Sacrament of the Lord's Supper various Decrees about it 16.17.20.27.125 Saladine King of Egypt 246. defeats the Christians 249. takes Jerusalem 250. his death and Character 254 Sanctuaries in