THE INTRIGUES OF THE Court of Rome FOR THESE SEVEN or EIGHT YEARS past Written Originally in French By a French Gentleman who lived with a Publick Character several Years at that Court. Now Rendered into English LONDON Printed in the Year 1679. MEMOIRES OF The Time OR Discourses of the Intrigues OF THE Court of Rome CHAP. I. Touching the particular Reign of Clement X. Emilio Altieri and the Ministery of Cardinal Palazzi Altieri I Take not upon me in this place fully to Discuss the troubles and Perplexity of the Conclave of 1670. which lasted above four months and into which Cardinal Emilio Altieri entered with others of his Promotion before he had appeared in Purple because he was raised to that Dignity few dayes before the death of Clement IX It is however necessary to know by what Intrigue that good Old Man came to be Pope for the better understanding of what hath succeeded since his exaltation wherein his share has been as small as it was in the conduct of the whole Government of his Reign Pope Clement IX Julio Rospigliosi having not long survived the loss of Candie for the preservation of which place the sole Bulwark of Europe against the enterprises of the Turk he had laboured joyntly with France the suddenness of his death gave no time to the Cardinals to settle their Factions and forme Parties for the Election of a Successor But after the usual Ceremonies of Funeral they entered the Conclave December the 20th 1669 and that very night the Conclave was shut rather to observe the Formalities than seriously to set to work about a new Election The Cardinals that lived remote from Rome were to be expected especially those of France and Spain who were to bring with them the Sentiments of those Crowns concerning the Election of the Pope Insomuch that for above the space of five weeks they did no more but look on one another in the Conclave After the arrival of the Duke of Chaunes and the Cardinals of Rets and Bouillon the Spaniards netled at the long delay made in expectation of the French without doing of any business industriously protracted the coming of Cardinal Portocarrero to let the world see that the same respect was had for the Spanish Nation as had been shewed for France All the Cardinals being at last met did but slowly advance the dispatch of Affaires because Cardinal Chigi had framed a design of raising his Kinsman Cardinal d'Elci to the Papacy and had promised him rather to burst in the Conclave than to give his Vote to another The French Faction joyned to those of the Rospigliosi and Barbarini with many others that feared to fall again under a Papacy like to that of Alexander VII which would have happened if d'Elci had been made Pope vigorously opposed the Project of Chigi Nevertheless they would not openly give the Exclusion to d'Elci because in the speech that the Duke of Chaune made to the Cardinals when he appeared in the Conclave he freely protested that he had brought no orders from France for the exclusion of any and that the King his Master gave full liberty to the Cardinals to choose whom they should think best for he took them all to be persons of so much Integrity and Virtue that they would take no resolution but what was for the honour of the Holy See and good of the Church The Ambassadour of Spain failed not to make the same Declaration in the name of the King his Master as he was obliged to do though he had had contrary Orders that he might not render the Spanish Faction odious But that Protestation on the part of the French was made more out of Policy than on any other ground because notwithstanding their exclusion it had sometimes happened that he to whom they had given it had been for all that elected and the same thing might have happened in the case of Cardinal d'Elci whom they saw designed for the Papacy by Chigi with the Spaniards and Florentins united together For this reason they would not venture absolutely to exclude d'Elci from his pretensions and this encouraged Chigi still in his design until Cardinal d'Este in his usual ingenuous manner declared himself very civilly to Chigi Meeting him one day in the Conclave he told him Well my Lord Cardinal Chigi what do we do here Why don't you give us a Pope Chigi answered him we have one ready when you please adding that they could not do better than adhere to d'Elci Cardinal d'Este made use of this opportunity to make Chigi lay aside that thought saying Non diamo di grazia questo fastidio à quel buon vecchio that is Let us not I beseech you give that good old man that trouble that was an exclusion express enough couched in obscure termes to let Chigi and his party know that their design of making d'Elci Pope would not succeed and that if he should be proposed without effect it would be a means to encrease his distemper seeing he was already ill and had not come into the Conclave probably because of his indisposition probably also that he might avoid the sting of that usual Proverb He that goes Pope into the Conclave comes out Cardinal Chi entra Papa esce Cardinale What influence soever that Declaration of Cardinal d'Este ought to have had which was free enough for so reserved a man as he yet Cardinal Chigi was not at all discouraged by it and he never laid aside his thoughts of making d'Elci Pope until that good Cardinal was dead After his death that Chigi might not obstinately persist to make one of his own creatures Pope Cardinal Vidoni whom as it was known Chigi feared was brought upon the Stage and was long proposed It was said that the French bestirred themselves seriously in the matter but it is rather to be presumed that being perswaded it would not succeed they proposed Vidoni to tire out Chigi and to put him in the wrong and by the same means to make his Party distrust him by letting them see his repugnancy to consent to the Exaltation of one of his own creatures However it be there were many things that crossed the election of Vidoni he was taxed of being interested and of an odd humour that he was not affable not respectful towards the Nobility and rude to the poorer sort of people Besides it was his original sin as to Chigi that he was nominated to the Cardinalship by the King of Poland and though he was a creature of Alexander VII yet he had no other obligation to him for his Purple but that of being sent by him Nuncio into Poland Upon the same consideration it was judged that the Spaniards would oppose his Promotion because they had reason to apprehend that the King of Poland had got him created for his Interest and the same King being at that time retired into France after he had laid down the Crown the French by his meanes would
it is performed and many times no body knows anything of it till after the consistory When it was made known that the Pope had appointed a consistory to declare Cardinals and to fill the vacant places then presently the Bishop of Laon was talked on as the first of those that were to be promoted without staying till he should be declared he is waited upon and complimented and the great and spacious Palace of Farneze is hardly big enough to receive all that come to him But some hours after the Scene is changed the Pope makes Cardinals some he names and reserves one in pectore The Bishop of Laon is out of all patience to see so long an expectation disappointed and so positive promises without effect He complains highly but they endeavour to appease him by assuring him that he is Cardinal in pectore that the Pope upon certain considerations was hindred from declaring him but that in time he will declare him yet nothing can pacifie him he writes to France and Portugal and engages Cardinal Rospigliosi to joyn with him in his grievances The King and Cardinal Rospigliosi have the same assurances given them that the Bishop of Laon is Cardinal from the day of the promotion that the Pope has reserved him in pectore that he may be at quiet and not doubt of it but all this is not sufficient to free the Bishop of Laon from a deep melancholly Who can see into the Popes heart and though one might see there the name of Cesar D'Estrees Cardinal who can promise but Cardinal Altieri by the absolute power he has over the Pope will not efface the characters or give it out that the Pope has a weak memory as he hath so often done already that he may at his pleasure dispose of all things who is ignorant that these reservations in pectore are the ingines of the Court of Rome to keep many Prelates in expectation at the same time Who can promise but that they will keep the Bishop of Laon still in hopes until that either the death of the Pope or some other conjuncture may give the Nephew Regnant opportunity of leaving both the Bishop of Laon and Rospigliosi in the mire All these reflexions concurring with the loss of Mr de Lionne who was shatched away by a very sudden death were strong enough to overcome the constancy of a more patient man than the Bishop of Laon and to kindle a choler less susceptible of slames than his Some were perswaded that he would retire from Rome with his Brother the Ambassador as has been practised upon like rencounters others thought that the restitution of Castro would be brought upon the stage again afresh but they judged it more convenient to continue their instances at Court wherin they ran no risque whereas by taking the other course besides that they would have engaged the King they ran hazard of losing all They therefore patiently expected the fulfilling of the promises and assurances that were made to them with so much the more encouragement that notwithstanding the death of Mr. de Lionne and the effects of their enemies yet the King still supported them with his protection But the promotion that was made the following winter almost quite dash'd all their hopes For the better understanding of this matter we must pass to another Intrigue Monsieur de Bonzi Bishop of Beziers being removed from the Ambassie of Venice to that of Poland in very troublesome times performed so good services to that Crown that King Casimir named him to the Cardinalship under Alexander the VII But that Pope who to the day of his death had shunned all occasions of shewing kindness to France dying without granting any thing to Poland in the last promotion which he made for Crowns that Prelate was disappointed of his pretensions Under Clement the IX the successor of Alexander he had his nomination renewed by the King and the Cardinals Vrsini and Este were by very pressing Letters from his Polonian Majesty charged with that affair but that great Pope having other engagements that insensibly drew him another way even to the end of his Pontificate which lasted not full two years and a half matters continued as they were He had not hitherto made any better progress under the present Pontificat tho King Michael Vignovieski upon his advancement to the Crown of Poland confirmed the nomination of King Casimir his predecessor He therefore nicked his time thinking no opportunity more proper for succeeding in his designs than the present His hopes were backed with many considerations Cardinal Altieri was sollicited by the King of Poland to do Justice to that Crown after so many exclusions in the Promotions that had been made at the nomination of other Princes The Emperour had the same right to make his instances for the Empire because neither the one nor other had had any Cardinals under Clement the Ninth But that which wrought most for Mr. de Bonzi was that Cardinal Altieri though he had no inclination to give a Hat to the Bishop of Laon yet he was unwilling to disoblige the King of France What course is then taken in favour of Mr. de Bonzi they put Cardinal Altieri in head that by giving Mr. de Bonzi a Hat he 'le satisfie Poland and with the same hand give contentment to the King of France who will have no ground to press so much for the Bishop of Laon when his Majesty sees one of his Subjects and one of his Ministers raised to the Cardinalship that being an Italian and Florentin by Nation the Spaniards will have less cause of complaining and that so one single Hat will be worth him three one which soon or late he must give to Mr. Bonzi another that he was engaged to bestow on the Bishop of Laon and a third which the Spaniards demanded for Father Nitard Some have given out that the Adversaries of the Bishop of Laon made use of that artifice to bafle him and that they incited Mr. de Bonzi to make his proposition at the Palace the more to stir up the Spaniards who would not suffer the elevation of two French Prelats advanced by Forreign Princes to their prejudice so that if there was any ground in that conjecture it was not the way to advance the affairs of Mr. de Bonzi but to entangle him as well as the Bishop of Laon. Others said that the Cardinals Borromei and Carpegna conspiring with Altieri devised that clutter to give the last blow to the pretensions of the Bishop of Laon. However the matter was it is certain Mr. de Bonzi at that time took very good measures because without much negotiation he with three others was declared Cardinal in the promotion whereof we have spoken which was made in the month of February the Pope having still reserved in peciore him whom he had not named in the former promotion Many people were surprised when they saw Cardinals created and no mention made of
to raise his family by Alliances and in the flourishing state of so eminent grandeur it was no hard matter for him to find out very advantageous means of procuring them There are many noble and rich Families in Rome who court the Alliances of the Families of the Popes Regnant since now they have no other way to maintain their grandeur and though the authority and command which they enjoy by such Alliances be confined to the Popes Life yet they have the comfort after his death of the quality of Princes which remains to them with the other advantages of Estates that they have purchased during the time of his Reign The house of the Prince of Carbognano was equally considerable in Nobility as being the chief branch of the family of Colonna and in richness being much encreased by the good husbandry of the Prince of that Name who then lived There were but two Sons in that house the elder called the Duke of Bassanello and the younger named D. Egidio Duke of Anticoli The first was Married to the Sister of the Constable Colonna the fairest and handsomest Princess in Rome and possibly in all Italy but without hopes of having Children So that the whole Estate that was to fall to the younger made him be looked upon as the richest Match in Rome Cardinal Altieri cast his eyes upon him and caused a Match to be proposed to him with a Grand Neece of the Pope and all the advantages that he might thereby expect The Prince of Carbognano listened to the proposition and was ready to give his consent to it but the elder who perceived that by that Match his younger Brother would be advanced to a higher quality then himself did all he could to cross it he imployed his Brother-in-Law the Constable and his other Relations to divert his Father and Brother from that Design They represented to them that there was no great advantage to be expected from the Alliance of an Aged Pope such as Clement X. that they ought not to relye on a Nephew whose Fortune was in continual danger being onely founded on the favour of an Old Man capable of all sorts of Impressions That there was little honour to be gained with a Man of such a condition and of a far baser humour who converted every thing into Bartering and Traffick That it would be a fine sight to see him to day on the Throne and three dayes after grovelling in the dust either by the fall of the Nephew or the death of the Unckle These Suggestions and Considerations did not at all shake the Prince of Carbognano in his Design his younger Son was already old enough to think of Marrying the Father was so old as in probability he ought not to expect another Pontificat to see Successors of his Name his Family and the great Estate that he had acquired with so much care and frugality He treated with Cardinal Altieri on condition that his Son might have the Prerogatives of the Princes which are called del Soglio or of the Throne he would have engaged Cardinal Altieri to grant him the same honour for his eldest Son that so he might please him but because that drew after it great consequences they gave him good words with hopes of overcoming the difficulties that at first appeared in that Proposition that it behoved him first to gain the Pope by shewing a readiness to embrace the occasion that offered of matching with his Family and that afterward he might promise himself any thing of his goodness The business being brought to these termes the Marriage was quickly concluded and the new Married persons were complemented by all the Court acknowledged and treated as the Popes Nephews But some time after the rejoycing of that Marriage was interrupted by the disquiet of the Duke of Bassanello He saw the Duke of Anticoli his Brother in great grandeur treated as the Popes Nephew with all the Priviledges that are annexed to that quality There was no discourse of the Engagement of putting him in possession of the same honours by virtue of the marriage of his Holinesses Neece with his Brother He complained highly of it daily and had no other satisfaction but ambiguous answers or the testimonies of good intentions which produced a delay as bad as a refusal So that being wearied by so many unprofitable pursuits when he found there was nothing for him to expect and that he was told his pretension could not succeed that it could not be brought into practice because there was no example for it that it would introduce a too insupportable abuse into the Court of calling to the degrees of the Throne not onely the Popes Kindred but also all those that were related to them that so the Chappels and intire Halls would not suffice to receive them he quite fell out with Cardinal Altieri his Brother the Duke of Anticoli and the Duchess his Sister in Law Having continued some time in an indifferency which sufficiently spake his secret indignation he bethought himself of means to revenge himself of the pretended wrong that was done him The Italian Nation in general is very discreet and not easie to give offence but is likewise very stiff and almost inflexible to pardon an injury Being a Politick and wise People they think that the great readiness in forgetting a wrong makes way for receiving another because Impunity makes men bold when on the other hand say they if any one think that if he offend me I will never pardon him he will have more care not to vex me But it must be confessed also that there is great difference in the wayes of revenge which are taken in several Provinces of Italy In Lombardie resentments commonly break out to the highest excess and there are few offences that are not followed by some Murder And the worst of all is that he who hath done the wrong does all he can to dispatch him whom he thinks he has offended that so he may prevent him being fully perswaded that he cannot escape his resentment At Naples Revenge is executed by Duels of all sorts and they often fight on horseback four against four and so decide their controversies These two sorts of revenge cannot be practised at Rome the one because of the rigour of the Justice the great Policy and the numerous and strong Guards in all the quarters of the Town the other because of the Ecclesiastick Laws and that it is a Republick which may be as truly called populus sacerdotum as Florus named it populus vivorum in the beginning of its establishment There are none there but Priests or Clerks or men belonging to Priests against whom by consequent one cannot draw a Sword So that saving some Placards and Pasquinades all revenge at Rome consists in Interest either by ruining or crossing the fortune of an Enemy with Law Suites or otherwayes wherein the People of that Countrey are very ingenious as well as in other places of the World The Duke
the Bishop of Laon no body could tell what to say of that Mysterie but in general there were no great matters expected for that Prelate His greatest mortification was to be obliged to thank the Palace for the promotion of the Cardinal Bonzi and to testifie his joy therefore because it was an advantage for the Crown yet he performed it with much constancy and made his private discontent give place to a publick rejoycing Cardinal Altieri in the mean time triumphed he perswaded himself that he had satisfied all parties the Spaniards in his opinion had nothing to demand seeing the Bishop of Laon was not declared Cardinal that the King of France would remit his sollicitations having given him a Cardinal by satisfying the nomination of Poland Thus he made his Accompts but matters will not go so and after the long turnings and windings that he hath made the Bishop of Laons Hat will cost him four two which he hath already given to Poland and the Empire and two which must be given in the next promotion to the Bishop of Laon and Father Nitard that is to Portugal and Spain without reckoning another which he will be still indebted to the Crown of France in compensation of the promotion of Nitard which his Majesty will pretend to be made at the nomination of Spain Hardly had Cardinal Altieri received the Compliments which were made him on all hands upon account of the last promotion but that he was more vigorously than ever sollicited by Portugal and France to oblige him to make his holiness declare in favour of the Bishop of Laon whom he had long reserved in peciore They represented to him that it was too great an amusement for a Prelate of his merit that though no regard were had to the instances made on his behalfe yet it was a thing due solely to the services of the house of Vendome done for the Holy See they added besides the weight that the recommendation of the King of France ought to have who was then about to begin a War so advantageous to Religion and the Church by the Liberty which he was about to restore to the Catholicks in Holland and which by consequent would render the Pontificat of Clement the X. glorious to Posterity Why should there so much difficulty be made to fill the Sacred Colledge with men illustrious for piety learning and birth presented to the Pope by Princes when some were cloathed in purple who very often had no other recommendation but that of a base and servile compliance Cardinal Altieri could not disguise his aversion against so many promotions by which he made no Creatures if the Pope should come to die what interest could he make in the Conclave without Electors at his devotion What friendship could he find in the Cardinals that were not at all obliged to him because he made them against his Will What party should he take What assistance expect in time of need being at Rome without a Faction in bad intelligence in France and in Spain without advancement the Cardinalship of the Bishop of Laon begets him an enemy in the Colledge and that dignity for the future will serve onely to make his enemy more powerful The Hat of Father Nitard which he cannot refuse to the Queen Regent of Spain raises him as many enemies in that Kingdom as Father Nitard has envyers that is to say Don John of Austria and the most part of the Grandees at Court who obliged the Queen to send him away These reflections strangely tossed the mind of Altieri but he must at length condescend he is too far engaged there are places void and he is urged without intermission In fine after that the Bishop of Laon had languished in expectation almost two years he is at last made Cardinal and to justifie the good intentions of his holiness it is declared that he is the person whom the Pope hath had in peciore almost a year and so he is comforted by giving him the precedence before those that were created since that time This is the upshot of that so perplexed Intrigue and should we tell the thoughts of the most disinterested of the Court of Rome we might acknowledge with them that the Nephew of a Pope might have come off with more satisfaction to all parties and less disadvantage to himself He might from the beginning by granting a Hat to the nomination of Portugal have done somewhat for the advantage of the Church with that Crown and gotten from thence a considerable sum of the Revenues of the Bishopricks which had been put under Sequestration during the long Vacation of that Countrey to be employed in the necessities of Christendom against the Turck and the Spaniards could have found nothing to blame in that conduct Next he might upon the resignation that Cardinal Rospigliosi made have given that Hat to the Bishop of Laon and all men would have applauded such an action In fine in the promotion of the Bishop of Laon when he came at length to have him declared Cardinal he might have shewn some forwardness to make that resolution seem more conspicuous and free which from the beginning to the end appeared all along forced and constrained But either his engagement with the Spaniards to whom he owed his quality of Nephew more than to any other or his own interest to make himself creatures inclined him to do so yet in spight of his teeth he saw four Hats go out of his hands for which no man was obliged to him The Cardinalship of the Bishop of Laon put off the promotion of D. Felix Rospigliosi who had generously made over his place to him so that France was obliged to sollicite Cardinal Altieri that so soon as he could he would have respect to the House of Rospigliosi And in solliciting of that Affair the Duke and Cardinal d'Estrees gave the Palace no time to breath Fortune it seems never favoured the Nephew of a Pope so much as Altieri there have not been observed in many Ages so many places vacant in the sacred Colledge in so short a time as have been in the Pontificat of Clement the X. This has given occasion to many of the Court of Rome to say That a Just Judgment of Heaven was to be seen in the death of so many Cardinals because having chosen Clement the X. Pope in the thoughts that he could not reign long it seemed that in a short time he should bury all those that had chosen him In less than three years more than Fifteen were already dead so that since the last promotion in a short time there were places to be filled One was demanded for the Abbot Felix Rospigliosi and the merit of his family concurring with the Instances of the King of France and the Obligations that the Pope had to the memory of his Unckle carried it at length over the conduct of Altieri who was wholly addicted to the making of his Family and profiting of
Inquisition and by the Ecclesiastick Jurisdiction which gives absolute authority to the Nuncio's and Judges of the Church throughout the whole extent of his Dominions And that is the reason that the differences of France with Rome exceed not a kind of dryness that often happens amongst Friends upon occasion of some grudge and which commonly yields to the pleasure of a reconciliation On the contrary Spain either never breaks with Rome or their ruptures are attended with some great blow and noise as happens betwixt persons interessed It may be said that the Jealousies of these two Kings has some Analogie with that of Jacob and Esau these two children endeavoured who could most to attract all the Blessing of Isaac their Father they made use of all kind of artifice to supplant one another and to make their condition better And the Pope is in no less perplexity than the good old man Isaac was how to content his two children I will not enter upon the full application of the comparison it must not be said that this common Father is so dim-sighted as Isaac was that he cannot distinguish the Merit of these two Sons that he knows not him to whom God has designed the birth-right that he perceives not for which of the two it is that their Mother has greatest sympathie and inclination that is whom the Church has cherished most and to whom she hath alwayes given the preference the Pope needs not to feel the hands of Jacob that he may know him from Esau he knows it sufficiently by many brave actions from which the holy See has drawn most considerable advantages he knows very well for whom he ought to declare himself and to whom he ought to give the greater share of his blessings But the good Father fears to foment Jealousies and to put division betwixt his two sons by an open Declaration This is a figure of what daily happens at Rome the Pope can do nothing in favour or consideration of France but that he is burdened with the complaints of Spain And seeing the Catholick King is stronger in Italy than his most Christian Majesty by reason of the Kingdom of Naples and Duchy of Milan so has he a better share of the blessings of the Earth though with reluctancy of the Holy Father that is to say he carries it by politick interest and the Pope must of necessity be a Spaniard in appearance though he be French in his heart We might likewise add that Esau was more useful to Isaack than Jacob that he brought his Father daily some prey from Hunting that he laboured to satisfie the appetite of the old man whilst Jacob was wholly taken up about the affairs of his Family and looking after his Flocks without withdrawing from the bosom or sight of his Mother So the King of Spain daily obliges the Pope by great sums of Money which Rome draws out of his Dominions whereas the French King hath no other aim but to please the Church to assist her inclinations to extend and increase the number of her subjects and in fine to maintain the Family that depends thereon Having cast an eye upon these reflexions it may be easily judged in what manner the Nephew of a Pope ought to order his Conduct with the Ministers of Crowns He may lay down for maxims that the intelligence of the Spaniards with Rome is founded on Interest and Fear that they never ask any thing which is not to be suspected that they use endeavours to procure the same liberties as France hath that they cannot attain to that without shaking off the yoke of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction which they have so often attempted that most part of their demands are hurtful enterprises and that by consequence nothing is to be granted to them unless it be first well considered if any prejudice may redound from it to the authority of the Apostolick See That on the other hand the correspondence of France with Rome hath no other foundation than love and respect that their liberties immunities and priviledges put them in a condition of not having most times their recourse to Rome but purely out of deference and respect that these liberties free their demands from the suspition of abuse or noveltie and that if the King or his Subjects make application to the Holy See there is commonly more to be got by granting than by refusing their demands because that in granting them they make matters pass for favours which otherwise they pretend to have by justice when they come with any reluctancy That other Princes in imitation of the Spaniards do all they can to enlarge their liberties and especially the Princes of Italy with whom closer measures may be taken because they are in greater dependence on the Holy See It would he no hard matter for me to show in the sequel of this History that these maxims are very essential for the conduct of affairs in the Court of Rome but I have confined my self to the affairs of the present Pontificat Let us see then what measures Cardinal Altieri has taken in his Ministry with Princes He had great advantages for succeeding in it he was become Nephew to a very aged Pope of a mild and commodious humour easie to be governed he had the example of a glorious and wise Pontificat under Clement the IX who made it questioned whether he was more French or Spaniard but who left no doubt but that he was all to all the private interest of his establishment busied him not much seeing the fairest Dignities showred down upon his head and the best bits fell into his mouth as the Pamerlengat and great Vicarship of Rome with many considerable benefices by the death of the Cardinals Ginetti and Antonio Barbarini besides the Archbishoprick of Ravenna wherewith the Pope provided him at the opening of the Conclave There was none at Court able to give him jealousie or to thwart his projects the death of Cardinal Antonio left him quickly master of Rome Cardinal Este who alone could give the Popes Nephews enough to do was retired home to Modena where in a short time he ended his troubles with his days Cardinal Gabrieli was removed as we have said before the alliance of his House strengthened his authority and none were in the Palace but his own Creatures There were no great affairs in agitation at Rome and the Ministry of the three principal Catholick crowned Heads was discharged by Prelats to wit by the Cardinal Lantgrave of Hesse the Bishop of Laon and Father Nitard Christian Princes were in peace the two first years of his Ministry except the King of Poland who was engaged in war with the Turk and if the King of France was then thinking of a War against the Hollanders it was the fairest conjuncture in the world for the Nephew of a Pope to immortalize the memory of the Pontificat by rendring it advantageous to the Church and happy for Catholicks and he had occasion enough
consult to attaque the Cardinal Nephew in the most sensible part of his Nepotisme they resolve to take no more notice of him in the Affairs of their Ministery to deprive him of the honour they do him in communicating to him the result of their ordinary Audiences and in fine to look upon him no other wayes but as another private Cardinal of the Colledge With this Project they intend to acquaint their Masters and that it may not seem a thing affected to gratifie a private Passion or to put a trick upon the Nephew they all engage to signe the Copy of the Relation which they should send to their several Masters with this formality that the Relation which should go to France should be signed by Cardinal Langrave the Emperors Ambassador Cardinal Nitard the Spanish Ambassador and the Ambassador of Venice that that which was to be sent to Spain should be signed by the Duke d'Estrees and the others and in the same manner the rest that should be sent to Germany and Venice That was an expedient to avoid the difficulty of Signing all the same Relation which could not be done because the Ambassador of Spain would not have Signed under the French Ambassadour who is in possession of the first place These things thus performed and the Ministers being approved by their Masters as to what they had resolved in the first Audience which they had at the Palace they represented to the Pope the causes which they had of discontent the Actions of the Nephew in prejudice of their Priviledges the abuses to which he engaged the authority as well as goodness of his Holiness the Injury done to their Character and the resentment they were forced to testifie of it without hurting their respect and duty towards the Holy See which their Masters knew well to distinguish from the bad Government of Cardinal Altieri they declared to his Holiness that they pretended not to do violence to his inclination and to the affection he had for Cardinal Altieri but that they could do very well without depending on him in the exercise of their ministery whereof he had evidenced so small esteem by all his proceedings in what had already past The Pope laboured as much as in him lay to pacifie them and to Justifie the Edict he represented to them the great necessities of the Apostolick Chamber engaged in more than Eight and forty Millions of Gold at his coming to the Pontificat that the suspension of the Priviledges and Exemptions was onely for the Holy year which engaged the Chamber still to more extraordinary charges and that moreover Cardinal Altieri and he had shewen their Moderation because that under his Reign the Ecclesiastick State had not been charged with any new imposition a thing which has not happened under many Popes of these last Ages These and such like Discourses of the Pope which tended onely to Justifie the Nephew had not the effect which he could have wished The Audiences being ended the Ambassadours returned home without going to the Apartment of the Nephew as the custom is treated no more with him about any business and took from him the name of Altieri calling him onely Paluzzi in the Titles they gave him when occasion offered of speaking to him This continued for some time but the Nephew fearing the consequences of an affair of that nature and finding that it drew upon him the contempt of all the Roman Court and even of the People who when they are discontented many times imitate the more powerful that they may shake off their obedience that Potentates gave no more answers to his Letters wherewith he accompanied the Briefs of his Holiness that in fine being no more respected of the great Men he became the object of the Peoples derision or the compassion of his Friends he caused a Congregation to be established of unsuspected Cardinals to consider of the means of giving satisfaction to the Forreign Ministers with as much safety to his honour as possibly could be had I may say by the by that they commonly refer to Congregations affairs that they would have prolonged and I never saw any thing determined by them they are composed of Men that affect neutrality but who are however naturally more inclined to those who have given them the Commission if any of them absent themselves whole moneths pass over before they meet again and if death or any accident carry any one of them off time is required to agree upon another to be put into the place of him that is gone in a word the Papacy commonly expires before they conclude any thing let the matter of their Deputation be never so easie The Congregation that Altieri appointed for the satisfaction of the Ambassadors proposed several expedients to which they agreed not when the revocation of the Edict was proposed they said that that would be reckoned no satisfaction to them seeing the Pope was obliged to do so in Justice and that though he would not revoke it yet there were but few Officers of the Customs that durst yenture to put it in execution against the Ministers In effect whether the Customers had orders from the Palace to desist from executing it or that they feared some harsh usage they altered nothing in the matter of exemptions And one day some Packs and Boxes being sent to Cardinal Sforza and the Carriers being gone to discharge and put them into the Custom-house his Eminence was offended that they were not sent soon enough home to him he himself went to the Custom-house and caused them to be carried away threatning the Popes Officers without any notice taken thereof in the Palace Whilst the Congregation was busie in managing some accommodation the Ambassadours contrived among themselves wayes to highten more and more their pretensions and vex the Nephew they not onely forbore treating with him but also if they met him in the Town they caused not their Coaches to stop as the custom is but went on without compliment or ceremony So that Cardinal Altieri being one day gone abroad to make some visit and perceiving the French Ambassadors Coach coming at a distance he caused the Tossels to be quickly taken off his Horses that he might pass incognito and so avoid the shame of seeing the Ambassador pass by without receiving the usual civility That which surprised him most was the stedfastness of all the Ministers linked together to cross him in a time when the Princes their Masters were so hot in action against one another he could not comprehend how the Ambassadors of the Emperor and Spain continued so addicted to second the French Minister who was the most incensed of all and who drave the matter farthest He let the debate rest some time to see if they would give over but perceiving that he gained nothing by that course he endeavoured underhand to draw off from the party the Cardinals of Hesse and Nitard they desired time to communicate the propositions that were
made them to Madrid and Vienna that they might thereupon have the opinions of their Princes who had concerned themselves in the difference Nevertheless the matter coming into negotiation on each side they yielded all of a sudden and condescended to the accommodation which they had disputed and wherein they found no other advantage at least that hath been apparent but a weak protestation of Cardinal Nitard that it was never in his thoughts to offend them and that he was displeased at what had passed which he did in a visit that was rendered him by the Ambassadors of the Emperor and Spain where they owned him for the Popes Nephew and in that quality treated with him They proceeded not in that without imparting their resolution to the Ambassadors of France and Venice and it was no difficult matter for them to draw the latter into their party who might very lawfully rest contented with the satisfaction that pleased the other two But the Duke d'Estrees let them take their course and told them that his Master had other pretensions and motives not to be content with the conduct of Altieri that though the satisfaction which they accepted were sufficient to repare what had happened upon the account of the â—dict which nevertheless he could hardly be perswaded of yet he would not admit of it unless he had the other satisfactions which the King pretended to be his due It is not known by what Maxim of policy the Ministers of Spain so suddenly remitted their pretensions seeing they have the esteem not to let go their hold easily and to be more firm and stedfast than the French especially in matter of resentment and revenge the Politicks of that change after so publick and solemn declarations cannot be observed All that can be said of it is that by so low a compliance they intended to make their Court and leave the Duke d'Estrees in the lurch Some without any ground have been pleased to say that Cardinal Altieri gained the Spaniards by giving them hopes of assisting them under-hand for the recovery of Messina or that at least they yielded easily to him that by gaining the Pope in condescending to Altieri they believed they might hamper the Duke d'Estrees and put him in the wrong giving out that the French Nation is never content that they are troublesome every where and insupportable in all places where they can have footing This they put the Italians in head of but they are not now adayes so apt to believe these suggestions seeing it is a Proverb with them that Sono morti tutti i mutti francesi e tutti i savy spagnuoli That all the French Fooles are dead and all the Wise Spaniards They have proofes of this by the reputation and wise conduct which the King has held at Rome for some time wherein that Court has perceived that there is nothing now to be got of the French by the Maxim heretofore observed of tiring them out by length of time and so prevailing on their natural impatience This hath made Cardinal Altieri yield and to use the recommendations and intercessions of Friends with his Majesty in the present affaires from which good success may be expected if the Pope live any time and when he shall die it will give a great stroak for the satisfaction of his Majesty in a Court which is wholly governed by example and in the most important deliberations looks alwayes back to what hath been done in times past CHAP. VI. Of the Conduct of Cardinals and Ministers and on what foot they stand in the Court of Rome IT was my desire to have continued my reflexions on the Conduct of Cardinal Altieri but just as I was thinking to trace his proceedings the death of Clement the X. which gives another face to the whole Court of Rome hath likewise put that Cardinal and his affairs in a different posture from what they were before so that the first designe which related to matters that are not of this time would be useless and could not now be performed That obliges me to turn mine eyes on that which in my opinion is most remarkable at all times in the Court of Rome and especially during the vacancy of the See This will be a diversion full of Instruction for those who either have not seen that Court or who have spent some time there without reflecting on what occurs in it as it is the case of many men That Court as we have said is composed of Cardinals and Ministers The Cardinals may be divided into a certain number of Parties which have their several Heads The Ministers are divided into Domestick and Forreign A LIST of the CARDINALS according to their Factions in the year 1676. The First Division of Cardinals I. The Barbarini Faction or the Faction of the Old Colledge 1. FRancis Barbarini Nephew of Pope VRBIN VIII a Florentine Bishop of Ostia Vice-Chancellor of the Holy Roman Church Dean of the Sacred Colledge promoted in the year 1623. 2. Vlderick Carpegna of Vrbin Bishop of Porto in the year 1633. 3. Julius Gabrieli a Roman Bishop of Sabina in the year 1641. 4. Cesar Fachinetti a Bolonian Bishop of Palestrina in the year 1643. 5 Charles Rossetti of Ferara Bishop of Faenza First Priest Cardinal 1643. 6. Charles Barbarini a Roman of the Creation of Innocent the X. in the year 1653. II. The Faction of Innocent X. called the Squadron Volant NIcholas Ludovisio a Bolonian great Penitentiary promoted in the year 1645. Alderan Cibo of the Princes of Massa of Carrara 1645. Bennet Odescalchi of Coma in the Duchy of Milan 1645. Louis Homodei a Milanese 1652. Peter Ottoboni a Vonetian 1652. Francis Albrizi of Catena in Romania 1655. Decius Azzolini of Fermo in the Marque 1654. All these are of the Creation of Innocent the X. III. The Faction called the Faction of Chigi FLavius Chigi a Sienese Nephew of Alexander VII the Head 1657. Jerome Bonvisi of Luca 1657. Anthony Bichi a Sienese 1657. James Franzone a Genoese 1658. Peter Vidoni of Cremona 1660. Gregory Barbrigo a Venetian Bishop of Padua 1660. Jerome Boncampagni a Bolonian Archbishop of Bolonia 1664. Alfonsus Litta a Milanese Archbishop of Milan 1664. Nerius Corsini a Florentine 1664. Charles Bonelli a Roman 1664. Celius Picolomini a Sienese Archbishop of Siena 1664. Charles Caraffa a Neopolitan 1664. John Nicolas Conti a Roman Bishop of Aucona 1664. John Savelli a Roman 1664. James Nini a Sienese 1664. Julius Spinola a Genoese 1666. Innigo Caraccioli a Neopolitan Archbishop of Naples 1666. John Delphini a Venetian Patriarch of Aquilea 1667. Sigismond Chigi a Sienese 1667. They are all of the Creation of Alexander the VII except Sigismond Chigi who was promoted by Clement IX IV. The Faction of the Rospigliosi's JAmes Rospigliosi of Pistria Nephew to Clement the IX Head of the Party 1667. Charles Cerri a Roman Bishop of Ferrara 1669. Lazarus Palavicini a Genoese 1669. Nicholas Acciaioli a Florentine 1669. Bonacorso Bonacorsi of