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
kiss He was a man of so obliging a temper that no person went away sad out of his Presence And being so happy as to have a Contemporary Emperour like himself he designed to hold a Council vpon the account of the Monothelites Only he waited the time till Constantine should return from the War who had vanquish'd the Saracens and made them tributary to the Roman Empire But the Bulgarians advancing out of Scythia into Thrace and the Emperour endeavouring to put a check to their motion he was with great loss routed between Hungary and Moesia Hereupon he found himself obliged to strike up a peace with them upon disadvantageous terms permitting them to inhabit Hungary and Moesia though that Concession in the event proved a great benefit to the State of Christianity For these are the men who for this seven hundred and seventy years since have maintained a continual War and been the Bulwark of Christendom against the Turks Well a Peace being upon these Conditions concluded Pope Agatho sends to Constantinople his Legates John Bishop of Porto and John a Deacon of Rome Them Constantine receiv'd with all expressions of respect and very affectionately advised them to lay aside all Cavils and sophistical wranglings and Controversies and sincerely to endeavour the uniting the two Churches There were present at this Synod two hundred and eighty nine Bishops and by the Command of the Emperour there were brought out of the Library of Constantinople those Books from whence the Opinions and Determinations of the Ancients might be collected Gregory Patriarch of Constantinople and Macarius Bishop of Antioch perverting the sense of the Fathers maintain'd only one Will and Operation in Christ. But the Orthodox pressing hard with their Reasons and Authorities they thereby reclaimed Gregory and Macarius adhering obstinately to his Opinion they 〈◊〉 him and his Followers and made Theophanes an Orthodox Abbat Bishop of Antioch in his stead This Affair being thus successfully managed that thanks might be return'd to God for this Union of the two Churches in heart and mind John Bishop of Porto on the Octave of Easter in the presence of the Emperour Patriarch and the People of Constantinople in the Church of S. Sophia celebrates the Mass in Latin all that were present approving that way and condemning those that thought otherwise This was the sixth General Council consisting of two hundred and eighty nine Bishops held at Constantinople wherein upon the Authority of Cyril Athanasius Basil Gregory Dionysius Hilary Ambrose Augustine and Hierom it was concluded that there were two Wills and Operations in Christ and their pertinacy was exploded who asserted one Will only from whence they were called Monothelites The first General Council of three hundred and eighteen Bishops was as we have already said held at Nice in the Pontificate of Julius and the Reign of Constantine against Arius who asserted several Substances in the Trinity The second at Constantinople of an hundred and fifty Bishops in the Reign of Gratian and the Pontificate of Damasus against Macedonius and Eudoxus who denied the Holy Ghost to be God The third in Ephesus of two hundred Bishops in the Reign of Theodosius the second and the Pontificate of 〈◊〉 against Nestorius Bishop of Constantinople who denied the Blessed Virgin to be the Mother of God and made Christs Humanity and Divinity two Persons asserting separately one to be the Son of God the other the son of Man The fourth at Chalcedon a City over against Constantinople of six hundred and thirty Prelates in the Pontificate of Leo and the Reign of Martian against Eutyches Abbat of Constantinople who durst affirm that our Saviour after his Incarnation had but one Nature The fifth at Constantinople against Theodorus and all other Hereticks who asserted the Virgin Mary to have brought forth Man only not God-man in which Synod it was concluded that the Blessed Virgin should be styled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Mother of God Concerning the sixth Synod we have spoken already in which the Letters of Damianus Bishop of Pavia and Mansuetus Arch-bishop of Milain were very prevalent the principal Contents of them these viz. The true Faith concerning Christ God and Man is that we believe two Wills and two Operations in him Our Saviour says with respect to his Divinity I and my Father are one but with relation to his Humanity My Father is greater than I. Moreover as Man he was found asleep in the Ship as God he commanded the Winds and the Sea As for our Agatho in whose time after two Ecclipses one of the Moon another of the Sun there followed a grievous Pestilence having been in the Chair two years six months sifteen days he died and was buried in S. Peter's January the 10th The See was then vacant one year five months LEO II. LEO the second a Sicilian Son of Paul was as appears by his Writings a person throughly learned in the Latin and Greek Languages Having also good skill in Musick he composed Notes upon the Psalms and very much improved all Church Musick He ordained likewise that at the Celebration of the Mass the Pax should be given to the people Moreover he so vigorously maintained and asserted the sixth Synod of which we have spoken in the Life of Agatho that he Excommunicated all those whom in the presence of Constantine that Synod had condemned He also repress'd the pride of the Bishops of Ravenna a matter before attempted by Pope Agatho and ordained that the Election of the Clergy of Ravenna should be invalid unless it were confirmed by the Authority of the Roman See whereas before they presuming upon the power of their Exarchs managed all things arbitrarily owning no subjection to any but mating even the Popes themselves He likewise solemnly decreed that no person promoted to the dignity of an Archbishop should pay any thing for the use of the Pall or upon any other score a Decree which I could wish it were observed at this day seeing how many Evils have arisen through Bribery While Leo was busied in these matters Rhomoaldus Duke of Beneventum having raised a great Army possess'd himself of Taranto Brindisi and all Puglia and his Wife Theodata a devout Lady out of the spoils of the War built a Church in honour to S. Peter not far from Beneventum and a Nunnery Rhomoaldus dying was succeeded by his Son Grimoaldus who deceasing without Issue male left the Dukedom to his Brother Gisulphus Our Leo who besides his great Learning and Eloquence was also an extraordinary person for Devotion and Charity and by his Doctrine and Example very much promoted Justice Fortitude Clemency and Good Will among all men having been in the Chair only ten months died and June the 28th was accompanied to his burial in the Church of S. Peter with the tears of all men who deplored the loss of him as of a Common Father After his Death the See was vacant eleven months twenty one days The time
up to him by John Baptista he enter'd the Town at first without doing any violence But when they were come as far as S. Marks in the Street called Colonna the Pope's Soldiers met them assisted by a great number of people They fought some time in the City very stoutly and many were slain and taken on both sides But the Colonneses seeing the People of Rome otherwise affected than they expected they resolv'd to retreat out of the City but as they went they plunder'd all things drove away the Cattel and forc'd a great many Men along with ' em But the Pope's Soldiers mix'd with the Romans requited 'em for it For they plunder'd and laid waste the Houses of Prosper the Cardinal and all the Colonneses together with all those that had been Martin's Friends Being thus incens'd on either side they began to make use of treachery as well as open force to bring about their Designs For the Arch-Bishop of Benevento Son to Anthony Colonna was taken and one Masius a Frier who being tortur'd confess'd that he intended to kill the Governour of Castel S. Angelo and so taking it by surprise to betray it to the Colonneses who being once Masters of that might drive the Pope and the Vrsins out of Rome when they pleased Masius was degraded from the Priesthood and quarter'd in Campo di Fiore and his Limbs hung up at the four chief Gates of the City nothing being said of the Arch-Bishop of Benevento But Eugenius falling sick either of grief for these troubles or of Poison as some said he clap'd up a Peace with the Colonneses by the mediation of Angelot Foscus a Roman Citizen whom he not long after made Cardinal at the same time with Francis Condelmero his Nephew This Peace he made publick with as much speed as possible because he understood that Sigismund was come into Italy and design'd for Rome upon which he made his Nephew Francis Chamberlain and gave him some excellent Persons for his Assistants in the management of the Church Patrimony Whilst these things pass'd thus at Rome the Florentines and Venetians having routed a Fleet of Philip Duke of Genoa upon the Coast of Genoa in a Sea-fight and having a Pope who was their Country-man took the confidence to invade Philip by Land But he sent for Nicolas Picenninus immediately out of Tuscany and both beat the Venetian Fleet at Cremona and easily defeated Carmignola whom the Venetians beheaded a little after having first as they say themselves convicted him by Torture Letters produc'd and Oral testimony that it was through his treachery that they did not take Cremona when Cavalcabos had seized one Gate of the City and that the Navy was vanquish'd before his face when he might easily have hinder'd it with such a number of men as he had so near But then the Florentines fearing lest the Emperor now coming into Italy should favour Philip they dispatch'd Nerius Capponius a Citizen of theirs if possible to persuade Eugenius that the Emperors coming to the City did threaten no less ruin to the Sea Apostolick than to Florence And that it was an easie matter to keep him from passing over Arno into Siena which had molested the Florentines a long time if he would command Nicolas Tollentinas then in Arms under the Pope to join Michelett Cotignola General of the Florentines and oppose Sigismund at Arno that he might not pass the River with his German Horse Eugenius was easily persuaded to it and upon some Debate about the charge of the War Nerius took up the business and agreed that the Florentines should pay two thousand Horse of Eugenius's raising as long as the War lasted Then Nicolas Tollentinas at the Pope's command march'd out of his Winter-quarters and whilst he pillaged the Sieneses gave Sigismund opportunity to pass the River Arno by the assistance of Anthony Pontadera who was an excellent Commander and a bitter Enemy of the Florentines and thence passing through Volaterra in so peaceable a manner that his Army seemed rather friends than foes he was received and made welcome wherever he came The Emperor having tarried six months at Siena to the great cost of that City and having in vain attempted to make Peace with the Florentines applying himself to Eugenius he made a League with him and then went to Rome where he was kindly entertain'd by the people and the Pope and receiv'd the Imperial Crown And going from the Vatican where he was crown'd into the Lateran where he lodg'd he Knighted several Italians and Germans at Ponte di S. Angelo according to custom And some say that Eugenius waited on him so far and then went back to S. Peter's After that the Emperor took leave of the Pope and travelling through the Marcha d' Ancona and Romagna he arrived at Ferrara and Mantoua Where when he had stay'd some days he made John Francis Lord of Mantoua a Marquis and married Barbara the Daughter of John Marquis of Brandenburgh to Lewis Son of John Francis This match was thought an honour to the Gonzagan Family not onely because the Lady was akin to the Emperour but because her Father John was an Imperial Elector At last the Emperor departed out of Italy leaving all things in confusion but Nicolas d' Este Marquis of Ferrara was persuaded by Philip to go to Venice and exhort them to Peace and so he did insomuch that they were induced by the awe he had over 'em and considering their great expences to send Plenipotentiaries to Ferrara along with him where by consent of Eugenius April 1. 1433. a Peace was concluded upon these Conditions to wit That Philip should depart out of Geradada and deliver it up to the Marquis of Monteferrat and Orlando Pallaricini both whom he had turn'd out of their paternal Inheritance that all which had been taken from the Florentines the Sieneses or those of Lucca should be return'd to the Owners and that he should be look'd upon as a common Enemy that did not restore what he had taken in thirty days Thus having made a Peace in all parts they hoped for some rest when on the sudden the whole shock of the War fell upon Eugenius For Philip who loved Novelties sent Francis Sforza with a great Army into Romagna pretending to march into Puglia which Alphonso had invaded to defend those Towns which his Father Sforza had possess'd there Who marching through Ancona and Ombria with his Army in good order surprised and took them in a moment And Philip not content to do so sent Nicolas Fortebrachius a valiant and prudent Commander with chosen Horse so suddenly against Eugenius that he was possess'd of the Ponte Molle and the Porta del popolo before it was known that any Enemy approached This Nicolas had formerly fought under Eugenius and by his Commission had subdu'd the Governor of Vetralla and Civita Vechia by the help of the Venetian Galleys that attaqued the Castle off the Sea But when Nicolas afterward demanded
will not be foreign to our present purpose to go on as we have begun to give some account of the other Tyrants till we come to the true Successour Victorinus therefore being slain in Gallia Tetricus a Senator being at that time Governour of Aquitain was in his absence chosen Emperour by the Soldiers But while these things were transacting in Gallia Odenatus overcomes the the Persians defends Syria and 〈◊〉 Mesopotamia as far as Ctesiphon At this time in Ptolemais anciently called Barce a City of Pentapolis there was broach'd a Doctrine full of blasphemies against God the Father and against Christ whom it denied to be the Son of the most high God and the first-born of every Creature and against the Holy Ghost whose being it disowned The Assertors of it were called 〈◊〉 from Sabellius the author of this perverse Sect. What shall I say of that carnal opinion of Cerinthus who affirmed that Christ should personally Reign upon the earth a thousand years from whence by the Greeks he was called a Chiliast Being himself a man of unbounded Lust and Luxury he feigned a great plenty of delicious Viands and a great variety of beautiful Women to be the principal Ingredients of the happiness of that Kingdom Of the same opinion likewise was Nepos a Bishop in some parts of Egypt who affirmed that the Saints were to Reign with Christ on the Earth in the highest enjoyment of all sensual delights and pleasures from whom his brutish followers were called Nepotiani Sixtus had it some time in his mind to baffle and suppress these opinions but being accused for preaching the faith of Christ contrary to the Emperours Edict he was taken and led to the Temple of Mars where he must either offer sacrifice to the Idol or upon his 〈◊〉 be put to death As he was going forth to punishment Laurence his Arch-deacon thus bespake him Whither art thou going O my Father without thy Son Whither O best of Bishops art thou hastning without thy Attendants To whom Sixtus answered I do not forsake thee O my Son there are yet greater conflicts behind which thou art to undergo for the faith of Christ within three days thou as a dutiful Deacon shalt follow me thy Bishop in the mean time if thou hast any stock lying by thee distribute it all to the Poor On the same day with Sixtus which was the eighth of August there were executed six Deacons viz. Felicissimus Agapetus Januarius Magus Innocentius Stephanus And on the third day after August the tenth the same Lawrence with Claudius the Sub-deacon and Seuerus the Presbyter and Crescentius the Reader and Romanus the Door-keeper were all put to death together though with several kinds of Tortures among which it is said that Laurence was broiled upon a Gridiron Vincentius who had been Scholar to Sixtus being gone into Spain could not be present at this Martyrdom Sixtus during his Pontificate having at two Decembrian Ordinations made four Presbyters seven Deacons two Bishops his body was interr'd in the Coemetery of Calistus in the Via Appia The other Martyrs lye in the Coemetery of Proetextatus in the Via Tiburtina Sixtus sat in the Chair two years ten months twenty three days And the See was vacant thirty five days S. DIONYSIUS DIONYSIUS whose original Damasus could not trace being of a Monk advanced to the Pontifical Dignity forthwith allotted to the several Presbyters in the City of Rome their several Churches and Coemeteries and to others elsewhere 〈◊〉 their respective Parishes and Dioceses that so every one might be confined within his own bounds and limits His contemporary Emperour I take to have been Claudius who when by consent of the Senate he had undertaken the Government made War upon and with incredible slaughter defeated the Goths who had for fifteen years together wasted Illyricum and Macedonia Hereupon it was decreed by the Senate that in the Council-house a golden Shicld in the Capital a golden Statue should be erected to his Honour But falling sick at Sirmium he died before the second year of his Empire was compleated Upon his death Quintillus his Brother was straightway chosen Emperour by the Army a person of singular moderation and the only man who deserved to succeed his Brother but he also governed a very little time being slain in the seventeenth day of his Reign During the Pontificate of Dionysius Paulus Samosatenus deserting the Orthodox Faith revived the Heresie of Artemon This Paul being made Bishop of Antioch in the room of Demetrianus behaved himself with excessive haughtiness and affectation for as he passed along he affected to read and dictate Letters a great throng of Attendants going before and following him so that for the sake of his Arrogance multitudes were very strongly prejudiced against the Christian Religion But had they lived in our times wherein Pride and Pomp not to say Luxury it self are at their heighth what would they think to see Prelates led on by so many young Sparks and brought up by a crowd of Presbyters all mounted upon high-fed and gay-trapped Horses Certain I am they would abhor and execrate them and say that they were false and hypocritical pretenders to the Religion of the blessed Jesus But I return to Paul whom I may more securely reprove He was highly self-opinionated and ambitious and denied our Saviours eternal Generation or that he had a being till his conception of the blessed Virgin For this reason at the Council of 〈◊〉 he was publickly condemned by the consent of all the Bishops that were present but especially by the sentence of Gregory Bishop of Coesarea a most holy man who was present at the Council and afterwards suffered Martyrdom for the faith of Christ. Malchion also a Presbyter of Antioch disputed and wrote much against this Paul for the reason that I have already mentioned Dionysius himself could not be at this Council because of his great Age but of all the transactions there he had full intelligence given him by Maximus Bishop of Alexandria Dionysius dying was buried in the Coemetery of Calistus after that at two Decembrian Ordinations he had made twelve Presbyters six Deacons seven Bishops He sat in the Chair six years two months four days and the See was vacant six days S. FELIX I. FELIX a Roman Son of Constantinus lived in the time of Aurelianus Who came to the Empire A.U.C. 1027 and being an excellent Soldier gain'd a great Victory over the Goths at the River Danow From thence passing into Asia at a place not far from Antioch by the terrour of his name rather than by fighting he overcame Zenobia who from the time that her Husband Odenatus had been slain was possess'd of the Eastern Empire Her he led in Triumph together with Tetricus by his defeating of whom at Chaalons Gallia was again recovered Yet by the Humanity and Clemency of Aurelianus Zenobia lived all her time very honourably in the City from
only in Christ. But these Seducers at the Instance of Honorius who was very diligent to reclaim Heraclius were afterwards banished And Honorius having now some respite from other cares by his Learning and Example proved a great Reformer of the Clergy The Church of S. Peter he covered with Brass taken out of the Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus repaired that of S. Agnes in the Via Nomentana as appears by an Inscription in Verse therein and likewise that of S. Pancras in the Via Aurelia built those of S. Anastasius S. Cyriacus seven miles from Rome in the Via Ostiensis and S. Severinus in Tivoli all which he made very stately and adorn'd with Gold Silver Porphyry Marble and all manner of Ornamental workmanship He repaired also the Coemetery of SS Marcellinus and Peter in the Via Labicana and was at the charge of building other Churches besides those before-mentioned Moreover he ordained that every Saturday a Procession with Litanies should be made from S. Apollinaris to S. Peter's But having been in the Chair twelve years eleven months seventeen days he died and was buried in the Church of S. Peter October the 12th By his death the See was vacant one year seven months eighteen days SEVERINUS I. SEVERINUS a Roman Son of Labienus being chosen in the place of Honorius deceased was confirmed therein by Isaacius Exarch of Italy the Election of the Clergy and People being at this time reckoned null and void without the Assent of the Emperours or their Exarchs Now Isaacius having made a Journey to Rome upon the occasion of confirming this Pope that he might not lose his labour fairly sets himself to plunder the Lateran Treasury being assisted in that attempt by several Citizens though he were resisted for a time but in vain by the Clergy of that Church the principal of which he afterwards banished The ground of this Action was Isaacius's Resentment that the Clergy alone should grow rich without contributing to the Charge of the Wars especially at a time when the Soldiers were reduc'd to the greatest want and extremity Part of the spoil he distributed among the Soldiers part he carried away with him to Ravenna and of the rest he made a Present to the Emperour Those of the Saracens who had been listed by Heraclius being discontented for want of Pay march'd into Syria and made themselves Masters of Damascus a City subject to the Empire Then joyning with the other Arabians and being furnished with Provisions and Arms and heated by Mahomet's Zeal they over-run Phoenicia and Egypt and put to the Sword all those who refused to subscribe to their Government and Mahomet's Religion Advancing thence against the Persians and having slain Hormisda the Persian King they ceased not to commit all manner of outrages upon that People till they had entirely reduced them to subjection But Heraclius having intelligence of what work these Saracens made especially upon their taking of Antioch and searing that they might possess themselves of Jerusalem it self which they not long after did took care to have the Cross of our Saviour conveyed to Constantinople that it might not again come into the hands of the Agarens for so the Greeks in contempt call the Arabians as descending from Agar Abraham's Servant But Mahomet as we are told dying at Mecha was succeeded in the Command by Calipha and he by Hali who being laid aside for his being too superstitious the Egyptians make another Calipha their Commander 'T is said also that to complete the Calamities of the Roman Empire Sisebute King of the Goths did at this time recover out of the hands of the Romans all the Cities of Spain and so a period was put to the Roman Government in that Countrey As for 〈◊〉 who was a person of extraordinary Piety and Religion a Lover of the Poor kind to those in affliction liberal to all and in adorning of Churches very munificent having been in the Chair one year two months he died and was buried in S. Peter's Church August the 2d The See was then vacant four months twenty days JOHN IV. JOHN the fourth a Dalmatian Son of Venantius entring upon the Pontificate forthwith expressed a wonderful Compassion in employing the remainder of the Treasury of the Church which Isaacius had left behind him for the redemption of a multitude of Istrians and Dalmatians who had been taken Captive In the mean time Rhotaris who succeeded Arioaldus in the Kingdom of Lombardy though he were a person eminent for Justice and Piety yet became a Favourer of the Arians and permitted that in every City of his Kingdom there should be at the same time two Bishops of equal Authority the one a Catholick and the other an Arian He was a Prince of great Parts and reduc'd the Laws which Memory and Use alone had before retain'd methodically into a Book which he ordered to be called the Edict His Excellency in Military Skill appear'd in that he made himself Master of all Tuscany and Liguria with the Sea-coast as far as Marseille But in the sixth year of his Reign he died and 〈◊〉 the Kingdom to his Son Rhodoaldus 'T is reported that a certain Priest entring by night into the Church of S. John Baptist and there opening the Tomb in which the Body of Rhotaris lay rob'd it of all the things of value with which the Bodies of Kings are wont to be interred Hereupon John Baptist a Saint to whom Rhotaris had been in his life-time very much devoted appear'd to the Priest and threatned him with Death if he ever entred his Church again The like happened even in our times to Cardinal Luigi Patriarch of Aquileia whose Sepulchre was broke open and pillaged by those very men whom he himself had enriched and raised from a mean condition to the Sacerdotal Dignity Rhodoaldus entring upon the Government of the Kingdom marries Gundiberga the Daughter of Queen Theudelinda who imitating her Mother's Devotion built and richly adorned a Church in Honour to S. John Baptist at Terracina in like manner as Theudelinda had done at Monza But Rhodoaldus being taken in Adultery was slain by the Husband of the Adulteress Successour to him was Aripertus Son of Gudualdus and Brother of Queen Theudelinda he built our Saviour's Chappel at Pavia and very much beautified and plentifully endowed it Pope John fearing now lest the Bodies of Vincentius and Anastasius might sometime or other be violated by the barbarous Nations took care to have them safely conveyed to Rome and with great Solemnity reposited them in the Oratory of S. John Baptist near the Baptistery of the Lateran We are told that in his Pontificate Vincentius Bishop of Beauvais and Muardus Arch-bishop of Reims were in great esteem for their Learning and Sanctity Moreover Reginulpha a French Lady was very eminent for Piety and Renaldus Bishop of Trajetto famous for his Life and Miracles Jodocus also was not inferiour to any of these who though he were the Son of a King of the
beautifying the Churches restoring the Aqueducts and such like publick Works which I need not particularly enumerate performed at his vast Expence But while he was employed in these matters there happened such an Inundation of the River Tyber as bore down a principal Gate and Bridg and several Buildings of the City and did otherwise great Damage In this Extremity Adrian took care to send Boats to convey Provisions to such as while the Waters were so high could not stir out of their Houses And afterwards he comforted with his Advice and supported with his Charity the principal sufferers in that Calamity nor did he spare any Cost in repairing the publick Loss In short Adrian left nothing undone that became a good Prince and excellent Pope defending the Christian Religion maintaining the Roman Liberty and asserting the Cause of the Poor the Orphans and Widows After he had held the Chair with great honour twenty three years ten months he died and was buried in S. Peters December the 27th LEO III. LEO the third a Roman Son of Azzupius was upon the account of Merit advanced to the Pontificate having been from his Youth so throughly educated and instructed in Ecclesiastical Learning that he deserved to be preferred before all others A modest upright and well-spoken Person and such a Favourer of learned Men that he encouraged them by the Proposal of generous Rewards to resort from all Parts to him and was wonderfully pleased with their Conversation Moreover to visit and exhort the sick to relieve the Poor to comfort the dejected and to reduce the erroneous by his Preaching and Admonition in which through his Art and Eloquence he had gained a great Perfection was his peculiar Providence He was naturally of a meek Temper a Lover of all Mankind slow to Anger ready to commiserate eminent for Piety and a vigorous Promoter and Defender of the Honour of God and his Church Hereupon he was as I have said unanimously elected to the Papal See on S. Stephen's day and the day following with general Acclamations seated in S. Peter's Chair At this time Irene Mother of Constantine the Emperour not being able to bear her Son 's ill Courses and being instigated thereto by certain of the Citizens returns to Constantinople puts out his Eyes and throws him into Prison where as an undutiful Son he miserably ended his days In the mean time Charles having Disturbance given him on many sides sends his Son Pipin against the Hungarians whom having worsted in several Engagements he at length totally subdued Adelphonsus likewise King of Asturia and Gallicia having received Auxiliary Forces from Charles vanquished the Saracens and took Lisbon upon the hearing of which Victory of his the Garrison of Barcelona forthwith yielded up to Charles Moreover the Bavarians who made Inroads upon the Inhabitants of Friuli were now overcome by Henry Charle's Lieutenant there At this time Leo with the Clergy and People being employed in the Solcmn Procession 〈◊〉 by Pope Gregory he was through the treachery of Paschal and Campulus two of the principal Clergy seized near the Church of S. Sylvester stripped of his Pontifical Habit so cruelly beaten and misused that it was thought he had been deprived both of his Sight and Speech and then closely imprisoned in the Monastery of S. Erasmus From whence yet soon after by the diligence of Albinus one belonging to his Bed-chamber he made his Escape and was secretly conveyed to the Vatican where he lay concealed till Vinigisius Duke of Spoleto being privately invited thereunto came and with a 〈◊〉 Guard of Soldiers to secure him on his way from any Violence which his Enemies might offer to him carried him off safely to Spoleto The Factious being not now able to wreak their malice upon the Persons of Leo and Albinus express their Rage in pulling down their Houses nay so hardy and daring were they as to go to Charles who was now making War upon the Saxons and to whom they understood Leo had repaired on purpose to complain of and accuse the Pope But Charles deferring the debate of the matter to another time sends the Pope to Rome with an honourable Retinue promising that himself would be there in a little time in order to the composing of the Affairs of Italy Leo in his passage being come as far as Ponte Molle was there in Honour met by the Clergy and People of Rome who congratulated his Return and introduced him into the City And Charles without making any long stay passing through Mentz and Noremberg into Friuli severely chastises the Citizens of Treviso for having put to Death Henry their Governour and having constituted another to succeed him in that Office he thence goes first to Ravenna and presently after to Rome where his Presence was earnestly desired and expected At his Entrance into the City all imaginable expressions of Honour as good reason was were made to him On the eighth day of his being there in the presence of the People and Clergy assembled in S. Peter's Church he asked all the Bishops who had come thither out of all the parts of Italy and France what their Opinion was concerning the Life aud Conversation of the Pope But Answer was made by all with one Voice that the Apostolick See the Head of all Churches ought to be judged by none especially not by a Laick Hereupon Charles laying aside any farther Enquiry into the matter Pope Leo who extreamly wished that he might be put upon that way of purging himself going up into the Pulpit and holding the Gospels in his hands declared upon his Oath that he was innocent of all those things which were laid to his Charge This was done on the thirteenth day of December A. D. 800. While things went thus at Rome Pipin by his Fathers Order advancing against the Beneventans who under Grimoald's Conduct made Inroads upon their Neighbours and having given them so many Defeats that at length they were scarce able to defend themselves within the Walls of their City he left the farther management of that War to Vinigisius Duke of Spoleto and returned to his Father who was now in a short time to be crowned Emperour For the Pope that he might make some Requital to Charles who had deserved so well of the Church and also because he saw that the Emperours of Constantinople were hardly able to maintain that Title upon which account Rome and all Italy had suffered great Calamities after Mass in S. Peter's Church with the Consent and at the Request of the People of Rome declares with a loud Voice the said Charles to be Emperour and put the Imperial Diadem upon his Head the People repeating thrice this Acclamation Long Life and Victory to Charles Augustus whom God has Crowned the Great and Pacifick Emperour Then the Pope annointed him and his Son Pipin whom in like manner he pronounced King of Italy Charles being now invested with Imperial Power gave Order that Campulus and Paschal the
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