Papa This consert began by Barbarini Chigi Rospigliosi Medici Este and all the rest of their party seconded Altieri Papa Altieri Papa This was a clap of thunder for the Squadron Volant but perceiving that all with one voice proclaimed Altieri Pope that it was a laid designe and that their repugnancy could not at all hinder it they mingled their voices with the rest and altogether ran to the chamber of Altieri where every one strove to strip him of his cloaths that they might invest him in the Pontifical Ornaments And thus was that good old man made Pope who took the name of Clement in memory of his Predecessor to whom he was indebted for his Promotion The first action the Pope did before he went down to St. Peters Church was to declare Cardinal Paluzzi by Adoption the Nephew of his Family obliging him to take the name of Altieri and the Arms of the House which are six Stars Argent in a Field Azure with a bordure Argent to name for Datary Mons Carpegna a Roman who was then Auditor of the Rota and to make Mons Frederick Boromei a Milanese Secretary of State These are the three most considerable places which the Popes upon their assumption to the Pontificate bestow commonly upon their greatest Confidents The choice that the Pope made of Cardinal Paluzzi and his Adoption into the Family of Altieri gave all men occasion of discoursing and of framing different judgements of the Papacy according as passion or the opinion they had of this Nephew afforded them matter some making reflexion on the poverty of his House which had but small Rents and great Debts and was drained in purchasing to him the Office of Auditor of the Chamber and on the genius of the Romans naturally inclined to raise money by any way whatsoever expected no great matters under that Government but rather all kinds of low base doings and Extorsions Others to flatter themselves with the hopes of better fortune corrected that presage by the consideration of the very condition of Paluzzi who being nothing at all related to the Pope in Bloud and his employment having no other foundation but the favour of an Adoption would be oblig for preserving himself in his place to behave himself with great moderation to content all people to make friends or at least to make no enemies and not to give men cause of murmuring who would bear less respect to him than for the real Nephew of a Pope that he had a fresh example before his eyes of Cardinal Astalli whose Nepotisme being like his own lasted not long under Innocent X. who being displeased at his Conduct as ignominiously removed him from his Person as he had gloriously called him to his Promotion Some again considering the old age of the Pope and his humour easie to be governed thought they had more ground to say that the Adoptive Nephew would entertain no other thoughts but to make his best of the short time that he could expect under such a Pontificate by using all endeavors to raise his Family and settle his Fortune that he would find the less difficulty in it for that he had to do with a Pope easie to be governed who was so aged as to have no other thoughts but to live in quietness and to leave the management of affairs to those that should be about him that there was an instance of a like Pontificate of Pope Ludovisio named Gregory XV. under whom in the space of two years his kindred had heaped up vast Treasures and Riches built Palaces bought Lands and Principalities by ways known to all men In a word every one reasoned after their own manner in a Court where men more than in any other pretend to dive into what is to come and where for that end they often go as far as superstition in consulting some who report things to come either by Astrologie or by some other far less allowed and more dishonest Art It was not long before men came to be clearly informed of what they might expect under that Pontificate because at the very first Cardinal Paluzzi whom we shall hereafter call Altieri took his measures to dispose of all things without so much as acquainting the Pope till after he had done what seemed best to himself This is so true that in the beginning of his Ministery some having presented to the Pope Petitions for obtaining of Favours from his Holiness in the Audiences which he gives all men during the first days of his Exaltation and having obtained of his Holiness himself a favourable Order when the Will and Pleasure of the Pope was to be put in execution and fulfilled Cardinal Altieri gave the denial said That his Holiness had been surprised and when he was pressed by replying to him that his Holiness had been very well informed of the matter of Fact he stood not to say to the great contempt of the Pope that his memory was bad and that he remembred not that he was already engaged to another insomuch that there were several persons to whom the Pope had given Charges Offices or Benefices who never came to enjoy them because Cardinal Altieri had given them away to others But because that began already to make some noise at Rome and occasioned scandal to the Church and dishonour to the Holy See Cardinal Altieri to remedy that and at the same time better to secure his absolute power gave express Orders to the Master of his Holynesses Chamber and to all others that were about him to let none have access to the Pope without his knowledge especially such as had any memorial to present unto him By this way of Conduct he kept the Pope besieged under pretext of easing him of the trouble of giving so many Audiences and to spare said he the old age of his Holiness which could not bear up under so many troubles and cares In the mean time they who were jealous of the fortune of Cardinal Altieri failed not to make advantage of his Conduct they taxed his Government as injurious to the Holy See tyrannical towards the People odious to the Prelacy and ignominious to the Pope himself that he had brought his Holiness to hear none but such as spoke by his mouth that he might establish to himself a Monopoly and keep his Holiness from the knowledge of his actions that he abused the easiness and goodness of the Pope that he intended to have a Pope in Effigie that had ears and heard not and a mouth and spake not and to render the matter more notorious some took the boldness to write upon the Popes chamber door under his Holiness Picture this biting Pasguinade Qui sto per insegna Which signified that the Pope served only for a Signe There were but few that were not offended at the conduct of the Nephew Regnant virtuous men living at Rome who applied themselves to honest courses in hopes of some reward lost their courage when they perceived that
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
stomach as the Spaniards say Por digerir los boccones grandes to digest great pieces In effect if we impartially consider either that he hath let slip so many fair opportunities of signalizing himself or that he has brought upon himself so many unlucky hits without thinking on them we may easily judge that he hath been as indifferent for the one as improvident against the others Let us see then both the chief opportunities of renoun which he hath failed to embrace and the occasions of disquiet and perplexity into which he hath thrown himself that we may make good a truth which will justifie a great many without doing wrong to his conduct We must lay down for a ground then the state of the affairs of Europe at the beginning of that Pontificat to wit France and Spain at peace together the enterprises of the Turk against Poland and the preparations of France against Holland What projects might Cardinal Altieri have had in that conjuncture or rather what might he not have undertaken if the matter was to assist Poland against the Turk what means were wanting to him Peace being between the Crowns of France and Spain or if that peace seemed overcast by some clouds of jealousies and fears there was no difficulty to confirm a serenity in all the climats of Christendom before these clouds gathered more and grew thicker and before they broke out in thunder and lightning in many places of the world as since they have done What advances did he make for the assistance of Poland what Legations for the union of Christian Princes what Negotiations to make them turn their Arms against the Common Enemy he made no other step than the raising of vast sums of Money of the Benefices of Italy whereof he very slowly sent to the Republick of Poland Fifty thousand Crowns A Cardinal of great virtue scandalized at the lukewarmness of Altieri sent him a considerable sum of his own Money to awaken him and to excite him to make some brisk attempt in favour of a Kingdom exposed as a prey to Infidels but that secret reproof of backwardness made no great impression on him Caminitz was already carried by the Turks before the Poles were in any condition to make head against them and to compleat their misfortunes King Michael being dead the Kingdom was divided about the election of a successor to the Crown Cardinal Altieri bestirred himself a little but at the instigation of the house of Austria and to the end he might back the designs of the Spaniards who were for Prince Charles of Lorrain his succeeding to the Crown in hopes of making him marry the Queen Dowager of Poland Sister to the Emperor He caused great offers to be made of Money and assistance that he might overcome the difficulty which the Poles might make by reason of the lowness of Prince Charles as to fortune who depended in a great measure on the Court of Vienna and who was not like to have means of supporting the Crown under the pressing Circumstances iâ— lay under Monsieur Bonvizi the Nuncio was the life of his designes in Poland as he had formerly been at Cologne that Prelate who has been always reputed to have a great Heart and small Head was as succesless in the one place as he had been in the other there was but little regard had for the Packt-Offices of Rome the Nuncio's proposition was laid aside and John Sobieski was chose a King a man capable to maintain the Crown both by his consummated prudence and Heroick courage So that the whole Intrigue was useless and served only to disgrace the Holy See in the person of Altieri to beget an aversion in several Princes concerned in that Declaration and to expose his Ministry to the compassion of his friends and to the derision and hatred of his adversaries In truth if we should enlarge in our reflexions upon that Conduct his measures would seem very obscure what obliged him in an affair of that consequence to transgress the bounds of Neutrality which renders the Pope alike venerable to all parties which makes him Umpire amongst all Christian Princes and which places him in the midst of Sovereigns as the Sun is among the Planets to give impartially his light to all the celestial bodies according as they draw near or are at distance from him for the different participation thereof Or if he had a mind to leave that neutrality to gain a Crowned Head why did he not assure himself well first of the success of his enterprize it is true if it had succeeded it would have been of great advantage to him but he had but few instances of free people that have ever been willing to accept of a King from the hands of Popes If they have sometimes given Kings to the kingdom of Naples they had the Sovereign Dominion but he had less reason to promise himself that from the Republick of Poland which professes a liberty so nice that it will not so much as accept of Cardinals of that Nation from Rome because that Dignity puts them on a dependence on forreign Princes Insomuch that they who otherwise know the humor of Cardinal Altieri not to be very undertaking and that he is more ready to Ward than make a Pass could find no other cause of that procedure but an excessive compliance with the Spaniards wherein he may have this comfort that he is not the only Minister or Kinsman of a Pope who hath been out of his measures in following too implicitely the counsels of the Spaniards After the election of the King of Poland one may imagine that that Prince had but little obligation to the Court of Rome and especially to Cardinal Altieri so that it was rationally to be believed that this Nephew in good policie yea even in civility and decorum would take all ways to procure the good Will of a Sovereign who had some reason not to be well satisfied with him because his Faction was against him in the Diet His Majesty of Poland gave him a fair opportunity for this by naming the Bishop of Marseilles to a Cardinalship who would not be perswaded that there should immediately be dispatched a Gentleman of his Holiness's or Cardinal Altier's Chamber to carry a Cardinals Hat to the King of Poland or be disposed of by him as he thought best that by such a courteous carriage he might gain the favours of so generous a Prince and so useful as the King of Poland is in a State where there are different opinions about matters of Religion But Cardinal Altieri's eyes are still shut he cannot but listen to the Spaniards they make him believe that the election of General Sobieski to be King of Poland cannot subsist that it was not formal that confusion and precipitancy hath more concurred to it than mature deliberation that it will meet with opposition that those of Lithuania have not given their consent thereto that that Prince is married and that
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