C. 997. having brought home his Army out of Syria into Italy reigned together with his Son whom he joyned to him as a Partner in the Empire five years He was the first Christian Emperour and 't is said of him that he never presumed to go to the holy Mysteries before he had confessed After the third year of his Reign the thousandth year from the building of the City being compleated he caused to be celebrated the Secular Games which were wont to be repeated every hundredth year They were first instituted by Valerius 〈◊〉 after the expulsion of the Kings and had their name from the Latin word seculum which signifies the space of an hundred years But by the fraud of Decius both the Philips were slain though in divers places the Father being put to death at Verona the Son at Rome Fabianus distributed the several Regions of the City among the seven Deacons by whom the Acts of the Martyrs written by the Notaries were to be collected and digested for the example of others who professed the Faith of Christ. He also built Monuments in the Coemeteries for the honour of the Martyrs Further he ordained that every year at some Sacrament the Chrism or holy Oyl should be new consecrated and the old burnt in the Church In his time sprang up the Novatian Heresie For Novatianus a Presbyter of the City of Rome out of an eager desire of being Bishop put all things into a great disorder that the Pontificate might not come into the hands of Cornelius who was Successor to Fabianus Having separated himself from the Church he gave to himself and his Followers the Denomination of the Pure and denied that Apostates though truly penitent ought to be received into the Church Upon this occasion a Council of sixty Bishops as many Presbyters and several Deacons was held at Rome in which the opinion of Novatianus was condemned as false for that according to the example of our Saviour Pardon is to be denied to no man that repents At the same time Origen opposed the heretical Doctrine of certain persons who affirmed that the Souls of men died with their bodies and were both together to be raised again at the Resurrection as also that of the Helchesaites who altogether rejected the Apostle S. Paul and asserted that though a man in his Torments should outwardly deny Christ yet he might be free from Guilt provided his heart were upright The same Author wrote against Celsus an Epicurean who opposed the Christians and sent Letters concerning Religion to the Emperour Philip and his Wife Severa and wrote also many things concerning the order of Faith to Fabianus Alexander Bishop of Cappadocia having from a desire to see the holy Places made a Journey to Jerusalem was there compell'd by Narcissus Bishop of that City and now grown old to be his Assistant in the Administration of that Bishoprick But the Persecution under Decius growing hot at the same that Babylas suffered Martyrdom at Antioch he being carried to Coesarea was there put to death for the faith of Christ. As for Fabianus concerning whom it is commonly believed that when enquiry was made for a Successour to Anterus a Dove lighted upon his head in the same shape with that which descended upon the head of Jesus at Jordan he received a Crown of Martyrdom after that at five Ordinations which he held in the month of December he had ordained twenty two Presbyters seven Deacons eleven Bishops and was interr'd in the Coemetery of Calistus in the Via Appia Jan. the 19th He was in the Chair fourteen years eleven months eleven days and by his death the See was vacant six days S. CORNELIUS CORNELIUS a Romam the Son of Castinus lived in the times of the Emperour Decius Who being born at Buda in Hungary upon the death of the two Philips assumed the Empire proving a bitter Enemy to the Christians because those Philips had been favourers of their Religion But having with his Son Caesar reigned only two years he was so suddenly cut off by the Goths that not so much as his dead body was ever found A just Judgment upon him who raising the seventh Persecution had put to death a multitude of most holy Men. During the Pontificate of Cornelius whose Judgment was that Apostates upon their Repentance ought to be received Novatus irregularly ordained Novatianus and Nicostratus upon which occasion the Confessour's who had fallen off from Cornelius being of the same opinion with Maximus the Presbyter and Moyses reconciled themselves to the Church again and thereby gained the name of Confessours indeed But not long after these Hereticks pressing hard upon him Cornelius is banished to Centumcelioe to him Cyprian Bishop of Carthage being himself imprison'd wrote Letters by which he came to understand both the calamity of his Friend and the confirmation of his own Exile There are extant 〈◊〉 other Epistles of Cyprian to Cornelius full of Religion and Piety but the choicest of them is accounted to be that wherein he accuses and condemns Novatus a certain Disciple of his Concerning the same Heresie Dionysius B. of Alexandria who had once been Scholar to Origen wrote to Cornelius and in another Epislle reproves Novatianus for having deserted the Communion of the Roman Church and pretending that he was forced against his will to take the 〈◊〉 upon him to whom he thus replies That thou wert says he O Novatian chosen to that Dignity against thy Will will appear when thou dost voluntarily leave it Cornelius before he went into banishment at the Instance of Lucina a holy 〈◊〉 by night removed the bodies of S. 〈◊〉 and S. 〈◊〉 out 〈◊〉 the publick burial places where they seemed to be less secure that of S. Paul was by Lucina her self reposited in ground of her own in the 〈◊〉 Oxiensis near the place where he suffer'd and that of Peter was by 〈◊〉 laid near the place where he also was Martyr'd not far 〈◊〉 the Temple of Apollo But when Decius came to understand that 〈◊〉 had received Leters from Cyprian he caused him to be brought from Ceutumcelioe to Rome and in the Temple of Tellus the 〈◊〉 Praefect being 〈◊〉 he thus 〈◊〉 with him Are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to 〈◊〉 thus 〈◊〉 that neither regarding the gods nor fearing the commands and threatning of Princes you keep a 〈◊〉 tending to endanger the publick Weal To whom Cornelius replied That the Letters which he receiv'd and return'd were only concerning the Praises of Christ and the Design of the Redemption of Souls lut contain'd nothing in them tending to the Diminution of the Empire At this Decius being enraged gave order that the holy man should first be scourged with a kind of Whips that had small globes of Lead 〈◊〉 to the end of them that afterwards he should be carried to the Temple of Mars to pay Adoration to his Image and upon his refusal so to do that he should be put to death The good man
of Damascus invading the territories of Jerusalem was met withal by Baldwin and totally routed so that in the pursuit the Christians were with much ado kept off from entring the City of Damascus pel-mel with the Enemy But to return to Pope Lucius he omitted no care nor pains in promoting that so considerable and necessary Expedition and I suppose he was much the more concern'd in his mind for it because before he was Pope he was Cardinal Priest of S. Cross in Jerusalem the Church whereof he almost wholly re-built By his approbation a national Council was held in France of several Bishops and Abbats against Peter Abelardus a Peripatetic Philosopher and a very learned Man who had maintain'd some heterodox Opinions but was in the presence of King Lewis so effectually convinc'd that he not only chang'd his mind but took upon him the life and order of a Monk and afterward together with some of his Scholars led a most holy life secluded from the World in a desert place Lucius after he had been Pope eleven months and four days died and was buried in the Lateran EVGENIVS III. EVGENIVS the Third a Pisan Abbat of S. Anastasius having been chosen a Monk by that holy Man Bernard was created Pope in the Church of S. Caesarius for when the Cardinals could not well agree whom to chuse out of their own number mov'd by an impulse from above they pitch'd upon this most religious Man Eugenius He finding the Romans would be urgent upon him with threats to procure his confirmation of their Senators he fled by night to Sabina accompanied by the College of Cardinals and was consecrated in the Monastery of Farfara and despising not onely the big words of the Romans but defying the worst they could do he drove those Senators to such a straight that he forc'd them to resign their Offices Hereupon he return'd to Rome but perceiving the Citizens were reconcil'd to him only out of design and not heartily and being afraid lest some trap should be laid for him he escap'd to Tivoli the Romans throwing at him Darts and other missile Weapons as he departed After this he went to Pisa and from thence by Sea to France where he persuaded King Lewis to engage in the holy War against the Turks and Saracens who arriving at Constantinople was no better used by the Emperour Emanuel than Conrade of Schwaben had been before him for Lewis taking his advice to pass through the deserts of Syria at a very unseasonable time was reduc'd to such extream necessity that he was compell'd to march his Army harrass'd with the bad way and want of all things to Antioch without entring upon any action This falsity of Emanuel procur'd him the enmity of Roger King of Sicily who mans out a Navy for Greece and seizes from him the Island of Corfu Corinth Thebes and Euboea and had gone up to Constantinople it self if the Venetians had not equipp'd a Fleet of sixty Gallies to hinder his design Roger therefore as God would have it turns to the coast of Asia where the Saracens Fleet had block'd up Lewis King of France then intending to set sail for Palestine from Porto di S. Simon and having got them at an advantage sets upon 'em and routs 'em delivering by this means this Christian King and his Army from destruction In the mean time the Venetian Fleet which was altogether on Emanuel's side retakes all those places which Roger had possest himself of but had been left by him unfortified and without Garisons Roger then leaving King Lewis at Joppa sets sail directly for Constantinople where he burnt the Suburbs in the very sight of the Emperour and carried his Victory so far that for some time he besieged even his Palace and with his own hand gather'd fruit out of his Garden But having got his Fleet together in order to return into Sicily he fell unawares upon the Venetian Navy which was ready prepar'd for a Battel and was by them defeated with the loss of twenty of his Gallies himself hardly escaping by flight While these things were doing Conrade Lewis and Baldwin with joint forces and courages attack'd Damascus which City was built by the Servants of Abraham in a Champain Country and naturally subject to drought but by Art rendred fertile and plentiful for the ground is watered by Channels and guts dug in the Earth and by that means made to abound with all things There is but one small River in that Country which running not far from the City Walls makes a little tongue of Land in which their Camp was pitch'd whereby they easily could hinder the Citizens from fetching Water but a certain Assyrian to whom in difficult matters Baldwin was wont to give great credit over-persuaded him to remove his Camp to the other side of the Town pretending that it might with more ease be there expugnable because the Walls were not so strong which was no sooner done but those of Damascus possess'd themselves of the place where our Men had encamp'd and having entrench'd themselves stop'd all the Water and Provisions that the Christians wanted So that being press'd with hunger and thirst they were forc'd dishonourably to raise the Siege from which Baldwin went to Jerusalem and Lewis and Conrade took their march to Europe whither they return'd An. Dom. 1152. with their Armies which by several accidents were very much shattered Eugenius after having as aforesaid stir'd up the Christians to this Expedition return'd to Rome where he was pompously and heartily entertain'd by the Citizens but having recover'd Terracina Sezza Norba and Rocca di Fumone places which had been seiz'd from the Church by several Lords of the adjacent Country he retir'd to Tivoli for his diversion where soon after he died having sate in the Papal Chair eight years four months and twenty days His body was carry'd to Rome and buried with great state as reason good in St. Peter's Church By his Order and at his charge the Portico of S. Mary Maggiore was built or rather re-edified as appears by the Inscription ANASTASIVS IV. ANASTASIVS the Fourth a Roman Son of Benedict was before Abbat of S. Ruffo in Velitro and now of a Cardinal was made Pope at that time when Alphonso K. of Spain died in his return from the Holy War to whom succeeded his Son Sanctius who soon after being slain in the Christian quarrel in a Battel in Arabia his Brother Ferdinand succeeded him in the Throne Anastasius having obtain'd the Popedom gave a Chalice of most excellent workmanship and vast price to the Lateran Church and in a short time raised a noble structure near the Pantheon now called S. Marca rotunda and many other things he design'd for the honour of the Church and the Ornament of the City if he had lived a little longer Great expectations Men had entertain'd concerning him and hopes that his goodness together with the learning of Richard de S. Victore his Cotemporary would
to that King And whereas the former Pope was always averse to the instances which the Emperor and French King and other Princes made to him for a General Council to be held for reforming abuses crept into the Church and suppressing the Opinions of Luther which they called heretical and which began to dilate and spread themselves in all parts of Christendom Now this Paul the Third was of such a different sense herein to his Predecessor that he freely declared for a Council shewing himself willing to meet the desires of the Princes and promised in a short space to appoint the time and place where such a Council should be held and celebrated And farther to confirm and improve this good correspondence with the Christian Courts he dispeeded his Emissaries and Legates into all parts whose care it was as well to advance the private interests of his Family as the common benefit of the Church and particularly to solicit and promote such a good correspondence and peace between the Emperor and the King of France that uniting their Forces for the common safety of Christendom might joyntly make War upon the Turk and other enemies to the Christian Faith but herein his desires found little success for the French being beaten out of Italy could not support the prosperity of the Emperor against whom breathing nothing but revenge could never be induced to unite their Arms in a common Cause or joyn in a design then preparing by the Emperor against the Kingdom of Tunis which one Barbarosso had usurped who having by the help of Soldiers and a strong Fleet furnished and equipped at the expence of Soliman Emperor of the Turks droven Mulcasses King of Tunis out of his own Country did with the pyracies he committed very much infest the Coasts of Spain and Sicily and being arrived to a considerable power threatned to invade the Kingdom of Naples This growing greatness of Barbarosso and the daily Pyracies he committed were sufficient provocation to Charles the Fifth to wage War against him and being a Tyrant and an Infidel the Pope also became concerned in this Holy Cause to concur with the Emperor for whose assistance he furnished out nine Gallies which were fitted at Genoua besides three others which were the usual Guard of the Coast over this Fleet Virginio Orsinio a person of great quality was constituted Admiral to whom was joyned Paulo Giustiniano a Noble Venetian and one of great experience in Sea Affairs The preparations of the Emperor also were very great his Fleet was commanded by Prince Doria who was made Commander in Chief at Sea to whom the Pope made a present of a short Sword or Poniard with a Hilt set with Jewels and the Scabbard rarely Engraved and consecrated with the usual Ceremonies likewise a Cap of Velvet Embroidered with Pearls which were the accustomary Donatives which Popes made to Generals that were employed in a Holy War against Infidels The Marquiss Del Vasso was created General of the Italian and German Infantry and being on his Voyage towards Tunis he touched in his way thither at Civita Vecchia to which place the Pope went in person to bless the Army that he might evidence to the world the great zeal he had for the Christian cause the which office of Benediction he performed on the top of a high Tower from whence surveying the Fleet of Ships and Gallies he solemnly prayed with a Choire of Priests for the happy success of this enterprise making thousands of Crosses on the empty Air and then descending into the Church he delivered the Banner and Scepter of the Christian Religion into the hands of Viâ—ginio Orsino his General The success of this Expedition was that the Emperor having landed a great Army on the Coast of Tunis defeated Barbarosso and put his Forces to flight took the City of Tunis and restored Mulcasses the vanquished Prince to his Kingdom on conditions of Homage and Tribute for better security of which payment and performance he built two Castles at the Goleta which being Garrisoned with Spaniards served for Block Houses to that Port and having released twenty thousand Christians from Captivity which Barbarossa had by his depredations at Sea and Land taken and enslaved he returned with his Fleet to Sicily and then to Naples where he solemnly entered in a triumphant manner with such joy and festivals as are due to such successes Nor was this good news less welcome to Rome where Processions of Thanksgivings were made and Te Deum sang in the most solemn manner and farther to â—estifie the great joy which the Pope conceived for this success John Piccolomini and Alexander Cesarini were sent from him to congratulate with the Emperor for this glorious and happy Victory Whilst the Emperor was in his passage between Sicily and Naples advices were brought him of the decease of Francis Sforza who was the last Duke of Milan by whose death that Dutchy devolved to the Empire being afterwards governed by Antonio de Levae in form of a Province howsoever the Title thereunto was not so clear on the Emperors side but that the King of France laid his claim unto it not only by right of inheritance as descended from his Great-Grand-Mother Valentina but by virtue also of a concession granted by publick Act from Maximilian the Emperor to King Lewis XII of France on a valuable consideration of mony paid for it after Lodowick Sforza had been taken and droven from thence But this pretence seemed of little moment to the Emperor who judging this Dukedom of great importance to his State came from Naples to Rome with intent to persuade the Pope to joyn with him in a League against the French that so Italy might be more in repose and quiet by expulsion of the French who were always esteemed great disturbers of the peace of it On the 5th of April 1536. the Emperor came to Rome where being received by the Cardinals Bishops and all the Orders of the Clergy with the Citizens he was conducted to the Church of S. Peter where the Pope attended him on the steps of the Porch and the usual Ceremonies being passed he was lodged in that apartment of the Vatican Palace which was built by Innocent VIII During the residence which the Emperor made at Rome he entertained frequent Conferences with the Pope concerning a League to be entered into between them and the other Princes of Italy for expelling the French out of that Country who having been always known under the character and notion of the disturbers of their peace they could neyer hope or expect quietness whilst that restless people had any hold or possession in their Quarters And farther the Emperor in a publick Assembly of the Pope and all the Cardinals and Forein Ministers did most severely inveigh against Francis the French King as the most ungratetul and faithless of all the Princes of the Universe but being sharply answered and replied upon by Monsieur Bellay the Embassador of France
When his other great Affairs permitted he took very much delight in the study of the Arts by his Bounty and Goodness he gained the love of all men many good Laws he enacted repeal'd those that were superfluous and moderated those that were too rigorous Upon the Ruines of Byzantium he built a City of his own Name and endeavouring to make it equal in stateliness of buildings to Rome her self he ordered it to be called New Rome as appears from the Inscription under his Statue on Horse-back This great Prince well weighing and considering all things when he came to understand the Excellency of the Christian Religion how it obliges men to be moderate in their Enjoyments to rejoyce in poverty to be gentle and peaceable sincere and constant c. he thereupon heartily imbraced it and when he undertook any War bore no other Figure on his Standard but that of the Cross the form of which he had seen in the Air as he was advancing with his Forces against Maxentius and had heard the Angels near it saying to him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by this do thou overcome which accordingly he did freeing the necks of the people of Rome and the Christians from the Yoke of Tyranny and particularly defeating Licinius who had expell'd the Christians from City and Camp and persecuted them with banishment Imprisonment and Death it self exposing some of them to the Lions and causing others to be hung up and cut to pieces limb by limb like dead Swine Sylvester having so potent and propitious a Prince on his side leaves the Mountain Soracte whither he had been banished by the Tyrants or as some say had voluntarily retired and comes to Rome where he soon prevailed with Constantine who was before well enclined towards the Christians to be now very zealous in deserving well of the Church For as a particular testimony of the honour he had for the Clergy he allowed to the Bishops of Rome the use of a Diadem of Gold set with precious Stones But this Sylvester declined as not suiting a person devoted to Religion and therefore contented himself with a white Phrygian Mitre Constantine being highly affected with Sylvesters Sanctity built a Church in the City of Rome in the Gardens of Equitius not far from Domitians Baths which bore the name of Equitius till the time of Damasus Upon this Church the munificent Emperour conferr'd several donations of Vessels both of Gold and Silver and likewise very plentifully endowed it While these things were transacting at Rome at Alexandria a certain Presbyter named Arius a man more remarkable for his Person than the inward qualifications of his mind and who sought more eagerly after Fame and vain-glory than after Truth began to sow dissention in the Church For he endeavoured to separate the Son from the Eternal and ineffable Substance of God the Father by affirming that there was a time when he was not not understanding that the Son was Co-eternal with the Father and of the same substance with him according to that assertion of his in the Gospel I and my Father are one Now Alexander Bishop of Alexandria having in vain attempted to reclaim Arius from this his Errour by Constantines Appointment and at his great Charge a General Council was called at Nicoea a City of Bithynia at which three hundred and eighteen Bishops were present The Debates on either side were long and warm For divers persons subtil at Arguing were favourers of Arius and opposers of the simplicity of the Gospel though one of these a very learned Philosopher being inwardly touched by the Divine Spirit all on a sudden changed his opinion and immediately embraced the sound and Orthodox Doctrine which before he had pleaded against At length the matter being throughly discuss'd in the Council it was concluded that the Son should be styled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. acknowledg'd to be of the same substance with the Father Of those who were of Arius's Opinion affirming the Son of God to be created not begotten of the very Divinity of the Father there were seventeen But Constantine coming to understand the truth of the Controversie confirmed the Decree of the Council and denounc'd the punishment of Exile to those who contradicted it Hereupon Arius with only six more wer banish'd the rest of his Party coming over to the Orthodox Opinion In this Council the Photinians were condemned who had their name from Photinus a Bishop of Gallogroecia who taking up the Heresie of the Ebionites held that Christ was conceived of Mary by the ordinary way of generation as were likewise the Sabellians who affirmed that the Father Son and holy Ghost were but one Person In this Council also the Bishops according to Custom gave in Bills of Complaint to Constantine wherein they accused each other and desired Justice from him but the good Emperour burnt all their Accusations and told them that they must stand or fall by the Judgment of God only and not of men In this Council moreover it was decreed That no person who upon pretence of allaying the heat of his Lust had castrated himself should be admitted into Orders that no new Proselyte without a very strict Examination should be ordained and being so that it should not be lawful for him to co-habit with any other Women than his Mother or Sister or Aunt that none should be promoted to the Order of a Bishop unless by all or at least by three Bishops of the Province and that one Bishop should not receive any person whether Clerk or Laick who stood excommunicated by another It was decreed likewise and that very sacredly to prevent all oppression that there should be a Provincial Synod held every year whither any who thought themselves injured by the Bishop might appeal and I cannot see why this wholsom Institution should be abolished by the Prelates of our Age unless it be because they dread the Censures of the pious and Orthodox It was decreed also that they who in time of Persecution fell away before they were brought to the Torture should from thenceforward continue five years among the Catechumens Finally it was decreed that no Bishop should upon the account of Ambition or Covetousness leave a smaller Church for a greater a Canon which is quite laid aside in our days wherein with eager Appetites like hungry Wolves they all gape after fatter Bishopricks using all importunities promises and bribes to get them The Constitutions of Sylvester himself were reckon'd these that follow viz. That the holy Oyl should be consecrated by the Bishop only that none but Bishops should have the power of Confirmation but a Presbyter might anoint any person baptized upon the occasion of imminent death That no Laick should commence a Suit against a Clergyman that a Deacon while he was doing his Office in the Church should use a Cope with Sleeves that no Clergyman should plead for others or himself before a Secular Judg. That a
all manner of Vice and wickedness and if he had any time to spare from his lusts he spent it in Hunting and not in Prayer The Romans had at this time two Consuls annually and one Prefect who was a Judg among the Citizens Out of the People were created twelve Decarchons who were instead of the Senate neither were the Romans without some kind of Dominions for the neighbouring Towns of Tuscany between Orvieto and Todi and all that lies between the City and Benevent Naples Tagliacozzo and Riete were subject to the City of Rome What lies beyond was possessed partly by the Greeks and partly by the Saracens It is not altogether certain who then held Marca di Ancona and the Dutchy of Spoleto In the City thus free Octavian favour'd by the power of his Father assumes the Papal Dignity a weight for which his shoulders were very unfit which gave so great offence that two Cardinals who were nettled at it sent to Otho beseeching him to come and deliver the Clergy and the People of Rome out of the hands of Berengarius and this Pope John otherwise telling him that the Christian Religion and the Empire too would both be ruin'd Otho was at that time great in the estimation of all people having as we said before conquered Boleslaus King of Bohemia and routed the Hungarians that 〈◊〉 Germany in three fierce Battels taking three of their Princes who were hanged up by the Germans against the mind of the Emperor While Otho was expected the whole design was betray'd to John who took both the Cardinals and cut off the Nose of the one and the hand of the other This mov'd Otho to hasten his march into Italy where first he took Berengarius and his Son Albertus Prisoners and banish'd one to Constantinople the other into Austria and soon after entring Rome he was splendidly received even of John himself and Crown'd as some write Emperor of Germany and Hungary the Empire being now first translated to the Germans There are Authors yet that place this to the times of Leo VIII of whom we shall speak hereafter whose Opinion is follow'd by Gratian in his Decree though Ricardus and Cuseulinus disallow not the former but the Lateran Library-keeper writes that Otho came to Rome in John's time but says not a word of his Coronation so perplex'd and confused are the Affairs of those times by the carelesness and neglect of their Writers Otho however having somewhat setled the State of the City had some conference in private with John dissuading him kindly from his naughty way of life and exhorting him to reform but when he found fair words would not avail he made use of threats and declar'd for a General Council convening all the Bishops of Italy to judg of the way of life of this wicked Fellow The Censures of these good Men he apprehended would be heavy and therefore fled to Anagni sculking up and down in by-places like a wild Beast So that Otho by the persuasion of the Clergy creates Leo a Roman a keeper of the Archives in the Lateran Pope But upon the departure of the Emperor the Kinsmen and Friends of John turn out Leo and recall him who within few days after was struck dead as was thought from Heaven lest the Church of God should be ruin'd by so pernicious a Sedition as was then growing on Some indeed write that this wicked Wretch or Monster rather was taken in Adultery and there stabb'd However this put not an end to the Schism for the Romans upon the death of John put up Benedict in his room and were earnest with the Emperor who was then at Spalato to confirm their choice But the Emperor was highly displeased and not onely denied their request as unjust but as shall hereafter be told compelled them by force of Arms to abrogate Benedict and receive Leo. Many Prodigies are said to have been seen at this present time in Italy for in a mighty tempest of wind and rain there fell a stone of a wonderful 〈◊〉 from the Sky and in the garments of many persons the figure of a bloody Cross appeared miraculously which portents were look'd upon to 〈◊〉 great Slaughters and calamities to the Church This John who was certainly the most pernicious profligate Fellow of any that preceded him in the Pontifical Chair died in the ninth year third month and fifth day of his Popedom upon whose death during the Sedition the Sea was vacant twelve days BENEDICT V. BENEDICT the Fifth a Roman in the Sedition was of a Deacon made Pope chiefly by the assistance of the kinred and Dependents of John to whom the Preferment of Leo by Otho gave great disgust But the Emperor disapproving this Election flatly the confirmation of it to the Romans who earnestly sought it and wasting the territories of the City with fire and sword forced them not onely to turn out but to yield up Benedict and submit to Leo with an Oath not to attempt any alteration in what the Emperor had establish'd in the affair of the Popedom Matters thus composed in Italy Otho goes back for Germany taking Benedict with him who soon after died at Hapspurg whither he was banish'd He held the Papacy six months and five days The Sea was after vacant thirty days LEO VIII LEO the Eighth the Proloscriniary as I said before upon the expulsion of John was created Pope by the Clergy and People of Rome For when John led such an abominable and exorbitant life that the Romans urg'd the Emperor to depose him and set up another Pope he answered that the Election belong'd to the Clergy and People and let them chuse a Man they took to be most fit he would confirm him immediately Hereupon when they had chosen Leo and the Emperor had confirm'd him soon after altering their minds they deposed him and put up Benedict which so angred Otho that he compelled them by force of Arms to yield up Benedict and accept of Leo again who was so teiz'd with the mutinous humour of the Romans that he transferred the whole power of electing of Popes from the Clergy and People to the Emperor But he liv'd not long after dying in the sixteenth month of his Popedom JOHN XIV JOHN the Fourteenth Bishop of Narni a Roman Son of John a Bishop succeeded Leo. But the Romans having got the trick of expelling their Popes vex'd this Man also with seditions for having call'd to their assistance Geffrey Lord of Terra de Lavoro they broke into the Lateran Palace and feiz'd upon John whom they first cast into the Prison of Castle S. Angelo and soon after banish'd to Capua but Geffrey with his onely Son being slain by John Prince of Capua the Pope return'd straight to Rome in the eleventh month of his Exile Otho also upon notice of the Pope's distress together with his Son Otho and a good Army by long journeys came to Rome and immediately threw the Consuls the Praetor and the Decarchons
that the presence of two such great Kings would certainly move them as it did to make Theobald of Piacenza Arch-deacon of Liege Pope though he were absent But to return to Clement Whose life is to be commended in every part of it for his Learning Piety Religion Humanity Charity to his Neighbours and to all poor Christians As for the goods or the Church he distributed them at such a rate and with such discretion that he in all probability gave more to God than to his own Relations He had two Daughters by his Wife who died before his Popedom to one of which that liv'd in a Nunnery he gave thirty pounds of small Deniers Tournois and to the other who was married to a man of an equal fortune he ordered a portion of three hundred pounds Tournois upon condition she should never ask for one penny more He had besides a Nephew that was a Clergy-man whom when he found to have three Prebends for so they call Canonries he forced him to take his choice which of 'em he would keep and leave the other two But when his friends were urgent with him not onely to let his Nephew enjoy what he already had but give him more and greater preferments the Holy Man made answer I would the Popes in our time would follow his Example that he would obey God and not flesh and bloud That it was Gods pleasure what belong'd to the Church should be bestow'd to charitable uses nor was he worthy to be S. Peter's Successor who would give more to his Kindred than to Religion and to Christ But whilst he was at Viterbo and news was daily brought to him that Ednigeth a Dutchess of Poland who had been long dead was in very great esteem for her Miracles he canoniz'd her He was also wonderfully satisfied with the Doctrine of Bonaventure General of the Order of Friers Minors who at that time wrote gravely and copiously upon the first second third and fourth Books of the Sentences Now the Holy Man dying with such a Character was much lamented and miss'd by all men And hence arose the Controversie among the Cardinals to find out a fit Person to succeed Clement GREGORY X. GREGORY the tenth formerly called Theoâ—ald an Italian born at Piacâ—nza and Arch deacon of Liege was created Pope by the Colledg of Cardinals at Viterbo whilst he was in Asia For at that time when Lewis went into Africa Edward Son to the King of England sailed from England into Asia with a great Navy in order to regain the holy Land But staying so long at Ptolemais till Lewis King of France came out of Africa with Victory according to his promise he was stab'd in three places by one Arsacida a Companion of his as he was alone in his Bed chamber and by the assistance of another friend of his very hardly escaped his Death For that other person held the Russians hand so long till the People of the House came in who tare treacherous Arsacida to pieces and dragg'd him out of the Room But Edward when he was cured of his Wounds had a great esteem for his friend Theobald because he continually animated all Christian Kings and Princes against the Saracens and when he went to Rome in order to receive the Popedom being sent for by the Cardinals who had elected him he assisted him extraordinarily with a Ship with Money and a splendid equipage especially at that time when Henry a Youth and Son of Richard Earl of Cornwall who was lately dead came to Viterbo to see Clement After whose death staying there for some time he was unluckily kill'd For Guido Monford who went to the Cathedral Church along with Philip the French King to hear Divine Service stabbed him before the Altar because his Father Simon had been basely murther'd in England by Richard He having reveng'd his Fathers death in this manner he escaped with safety to Ruffus Governour of Tuscany Not long after Philip and Charles vexed at such an Indignity went from Viterbo the former into France the latter into Puglia For having made a Peace with the Saracens Charles went along with Theobald who was arrived at Siponto now call'd Manfredonia as far as Ceperano From thence his Holiness travell'd through Marsi and Sabini to Viterbo where he was receiv'd by the Cardinals with all Respect and Honour imaginable and being crown'd with the Pontifical Diadem he was invested with all the Power that Christ left Peter When that was done and that he had setled the Popedom for a time he was desirous to make Peace between the Genoeses and the Venetians For these two States had been engaged one with another in great and bloudy Conflicts for a long time Upon this account Philip King of France who tarried at Cremona was prevail'd upon by the Pope to send for the Genoese and Venetian Embassadors and made a Peace between 'em for five years that they might all go in one body against the Saracens Italy was now quiet when the beginning of an universal disorder rose from the Venetians now Exactions For they made a Law that no one should sail in the Adriatick especially from Pola to Venice unless they paid a Gabel according to the value of their goods But the Bologneses could not endure this as being at that time masters of a great part of Romagna and therefore for three years together they fought the Venetians with great variety of Fortune At last being tired out they accepted of a Peace upon this Condition that they should demolish a Castle which they had built upon the very mouth of Po that they should have free leave to carry out some goods that were there and then the Venetians should have the sole custody of the Mouth of the River Po. They also of Ancona were offended that the Venetians challenged the absolute dominion of the Adriatick Sea and exacted Custom from those that sailed there And hereof they complain'd to the Pope whose Duty it is to see that no new Taxes be imposed He therefore immediately commanded the Venetians to take off that Imposition who answered him in these very words That the Pope did not perfectly understand the matter and that when he did he would be able to judg better of it Gregory could not make an end of this matter to his mind because he was forced to go to the Council which he had called at Lyons Thither also went Paleologus Emperor of Constantinople with a great Retinue and made the Greeks comply and subscribe to the Opinion of the Church of Rome now the thirteenth time they having so often revolted Nay farther some Noblemen of Tartary were induced by his Authority to receive Baptism Mean time the Western Empire being vacant Rodolphus Earl of Assia is made Emperor by the Electors upon condition that he would go to Rome the next year to receive the Crown there But the Florentines who were Guelphs immediately turned out their Countrymen the Gibellins though they had been restored
to their Countrey by Gregory as he went into France At which the Pope was so angry that he interdicted them from all benefit of the Law and was very near doing the same thing by the Bologneses who had ejected the Lambertescii and the Asinelli Gibellins of noble Families but they suffer'd for it not long after For when they went to fight against the Forleses that had kindly entertain'd some persons whom they had banish'd 't is said eight thousand of the Bologneses were slain at one Sally from the Town Upon which misfortune some Cities of Romagna grew confident and immediately revolted from the Bologneses themselves Especially Cervia from whence they received a great Revenue out of Salt But Gregory when he had dismissed the Council at Lyons in which many Decrees were made relating to the choice of Popes the expedition against the Saracens the union of the Greek and Latin Churches and the peace of Christendom as he was going into Italy he met Alphonso King of Castile at Bellocadoro complaining grievously that he had given the Empire to Rodulphus But when the Pope had satisfied him he resign'd all his right to Rodulphus The Pope was very kindly receiv'd by all the Italians as he travell'd through Tuscany but shunn'd the Florentines on purpose and went to Arezzo lest they should have prevailed with him to take off his Interdiction At Arezzo he died in the fourth year second month and tenth day of his Pontificate and there he was buried He was a Man of an extraordinary Reputation through his whole Life for Prudence in the conduct of his Affairs for Courage and greatness of Mind that made him contemn Money and all mean things for humanity clemency bounty to poor Christians and those especially that fled for refuge into the bosom of the Apostolick Sea INNOCENT V. INNOCENT the fifth formerly called Peter of Tarantaise a Burgundian a Dominican a man very learned in holy Writ was created Pope at Arezzo in the year of our Lord 1275. From thence not long after he went to Rome where he was crown'd in S. Peter's Church and from that time immediately apply'd himself to compose the Affairs of Italy To this end he sent Legats men of great Authority to command not onely the people of Tuscany who conspir'd the ruin of those of Pisa but also the Genoeses and Venetians who were mortal Enemies to quit their Arms. Assistant to them were the Embassadors of Charles the King by whose Awe over them he hoped to have his business done more to his mind The People of Tuscany did as he commanded them but especially the Florentines whom the Pope absolv'd from Gregory's Interdiction upon that very score But the Genoeses and Venetians whose hatred was more inveterate were still in Arms perpetually butchering each other and yet Innocent if he had lived a little longer had brought them over to his Opinion so zealous he was in that matter But he died in the sixth month and second day of his Pontificate and was buried in the Lateran Church Now the secular Priests had no great reason to lament his death by reason of a Sentence which he gave just before he dy'd For when there arose a Dispute between the Priests of the Cathedral Church and the Friers Preachers concerning the body of Clement the fourth for each Order desired to have the disposing of it he gave judgment that it ought to be committed to the Friers for he said his Holiness had order'd it so whilst he was alive Upon this account Innocent was a little maligned but was otherwise a very good Man and such a Person from whom those of his time might have expected all the good imaginable ADRIAN V. ADRIAN the fifth a Genoese of the Family of the Flisci before called Othobon was made Pope at Rome in the Court of the Lateran He was Innocent the fourth's Nephew by whom he was created Cardinal Deacon of S. Adrian and sent Legat into England with plenary Power to compose the differences between that King and his Barons Assoon as he was made Pope he presently went to Viterbo and invites Rodulphus the Emperor into Italy to lessen the Power of Charles who at that time did what he pleas'd at Rome But Rodulphus being ingaged in the Bohemian War could not comply with Adrian In the mean time Charles was very cautious to avoid the envy of the World and turn'd all the stress of the War upon Achaia so to make his way toward the Empire of Constantinople But Adrian dying in the fortieth day of his Pontificate he came back into Italy This Pope died at Viterbo before his consecration and was buried in a Convent of Freres Minors He had an intention not onely more and more to secure the Churches Patrimony from Tyrants but also to reduce Gregory's Decree for the Choice of a Pope into a better method not totally to abolish it But Death obstructed his endeavours and withstood the greatness of his Mind The Sea at that time was vacant twenty eight days JOHN XXII JOHN the Twenty-Second a Spaniard born at Lisbon and formerly call'd Peter was made Pope being then Bishop of Frascati Who though he were reckon'd a very learned man yet by his ignorance in business and the unevenness of his Conversation he did the Popedom more injury than Honour or kindness For he did many things that argued him to be guilty of Folly and Levity and does not deserve commendations unless it be for one thing and that was that he assisted young Scholars especially the poorer sort with money and preferments At that time the Venetians infested those of Ancona for Merchandizing in Dalmatia without paying any custom to the Venetians and yet the Pope himself to whom they were tributary did not protect them as he should have done but onely seemed ready with his Tongue to say what he was too much a Coward ever to do Nevertheless the Anconeses though the Pope would not aid them took courage and made a Sally so briskly that they rais'd the Siege and drave the Venetians from the Town a good way not without considerable damage to them By the advice of John Cajetan who govern'd all things at that time for that he was made Pope by his assistance and the Votes he procured he sent Legats to Paleologus and all the Western Kings to exhort 'em in his name that they would make Peace with one another and bend their Forces against the Saracens and other Enemies of Christianity The Man was a Fool to promise himself a long Life and to tell every body he should live a great while because every body knew his life and Conversation he was so immodest and so sottish But behold as he was betraying his Folly to all that were about him a certain new Apartment that he had built in the Palace at Viterbo fell down all of the sudden and he was found among the Wood and the stones seven days after the fall of it but he
return to Prison giving his two Sons for Hostages one of which was named Charles who was afterward created King of Hungary and called Marcellus and the other Lewis who when he had lived a good life in the Order of S. Francis was canoniz'd for a Saint Whilst these things were transacted in Europe the Great Turk made use of that occasion and whilst the Christians quarrell'd among themselves thought himself secure Wherefore he goes with fire and sword and razes Tripoli a famous City in Asia killing all the Christians that were there in Garison Said and Baruâ—i suffer'd the like Calamity having no body to assist ' em Aca of old called Ptolemaâ—s stood because they made a truce with the Sultan for two years And to defend it for time to come Nicolas the Pope did all he could to get Soldiers under Christ's Banner and paid them with his own money They were about one thousand five hundred but there were a great many more that follow'd 'em without being inrolled without Colours or any body to conduct ' em Who when they were come to Aca they did the Christians as much hurt as they did the Saracens But the Sultan demanded what was his due as he pretended which when the Christians refused to restore he threaten'd utter ruin to 'em all Then there arose a great question among the Christians who should have possession of Aca for the Patriarch of Constantinople the Templars of Germany the King of Cyprus and Charles King of Sicily did all lay claim to it Those also of Pisa had a mind to demand Aca and lawfully as they said themselves but that a War which brake out in Tuscany diverted them from such an ill design For they starv'd Earl Vgulinus in Prison where they kept him his two Sons and two Nieces and after that did so far animate the Gibellins against the Guelphs that they threaten'd equal destruction to 'em all They fell first upon those of Arezzo because the banish'd Gibellins desir'd it when William Petramala was Bishop of that place who was aided by Earl Feltri the Florentine But the Florentines did not think themselves strong enough and therefore they sent Charles the Second also thither with some forces as he was going through their Country to wait upon the Pope Their Camps were pitched near one another in the Country of Tipherno by which name they now call the City having alter'd the name of the Castle Immediately as the Battel was just begun there were a great many Florentines kill'd but not long after the case was alter'd and though William the Bishop and Earl Feltri were slain yet there fell of the Gibellini three thousand and two thousand were taken The Neighbours call the place where they fought Campaldino Charles having obtain'd so great a Victory goes straight to Nicolas and gets the favour to hold of him in Fee the Crown of both the Sicilies Which when James of Aragon understood he presently goes and attaques Cajetta But lest any thing should be wanting that might disturb the quiet of Christendom a fatal War broke out between Philip of France and Edward King of England which did not onely trouble the Christians in Asia very much but also gave our Enemies great confidence and hopes that they should totally obliterate the Christian Name throughout all Asia For the Sultan who at that time was sick had sent an hundred and fifty thousand men to Acra under the Command of his Son But the Siege continuing for two months the Father died in that time and the Son succeeded him who attaqued the Town with much greater resolution For he filled the Trenches and promised all the plunder to the Soldiers But when he had fought his way to the very Walls he was beaten back by the Christians who made a Sally upon him even to his Camp and had a great many of his men hurt in the Action Whilst they were thus employ'd in Asia Nicolas the Pope sends two Legats à Latere as they call 'em i. e. Benedictus Cajetanus and Gerard of Parma with all speed into France to make a Peace between the two Kings and animate 'em against the Saracens who then besieged Acra For he had made a Peace between James of Aragon and Charles who was a Captive upon those Conditions that I told you before that they might all be the more free to go against the common Enemy Nay he had begun to provide a Navy as thinking himself almost sure of a Peace but to no purpose For the Kings did not obey him when he gave 'em good advice nor did they that were in Garison at Ptolemais agree so well among themselves as to keep out the Enemy according to their power For having daily lost a great many of their men there were at that time but twelve thousand left who afterward made their escape in a Corsaire or a swift sailing Frigot kept for that purpose along with the Patriarch of Jerusalem And though at first they had good shipping yet at last they were Shipwreck'd near Cyprus But the Sultan enter'd the City when the Inhabitants had left it and destroy'd it immediately with fire and sword in the 196th year after Godfry had taken it But amidst so many Calamities the Island of Cyprus and Armenia the less formerly called Cilicia continued Christian At that time Nicolas was very urgent with Rodulphus the Emperor to send his Army into Asia for fear the Enemy should get the remaining part of it But Rodulphus soon after died and Adolphus Hasso was chosen to be his Successor who demanding the Rights of the Empire was kill'd in a fight at Spire by Albertus Son to Rodulphus He was indeed a brave Man but had neither men nor money enough and that was the reason that they said he was rather overpower'd by multitude than fairly Conquer'd But Nicolas the Pope through discontent as some suppose to see all things go cross to his expectation and being conscious that he had favour'd Parties more than became a Pope died at Rome in the fourth year first month and eighth day of his Pontificate near S. Maries the Great and is there buried at the upper end of the Church by Cardinal Columna as you may see upon the Pavement where his Picture is in Porphyry But after his death the Cardinals went to Perugia that they might choose a Pope with greater freedom but protracted the business by quarrels among themselves two years and three months In the mean while Michael Palaeologus Emperor of Constantinople dies but the Priests and the Monks would not suffer his body to be buried in an holy place because he joyned with the Western Church in the Council of Lions And indeed Andronicus Michael's Son would have declared himself of the same opinion as the Latins if he had been assisted by our Party But when the Sea was vacant Andronicus was destitute of Friends and so at last apostarized from the faith But Charles the Second King of Naples
Sedition into a safe Port. He therefore having obtained this great Dignity and seeing the Hydras head which might grow out again and multiply was still left that is Benedict formerly called Peter Luna who kept with some few Cardinals and Prelates in a place that might be called the very Fort of Schism Whilst some People of Aragon were at a stand which way to incline He by approbation of the Council sent Alemannus Ademarius a very learned Man whose Tomb is still to be seen in new S. Maries a Florentine and Cardinal of S. Eusebius as Legate à Latere into Aragon to admonish Peter upon Ecclesiastical Penalties and Censures to resign the Pontificate Nay even the Cardinals that were on Peter's side when they heard this ultimate resolution of the Pope and Council went to Peter and desired him at last to remove all Schism out of the Church of God with which Christendom had been for so many years afflicted and told him that John and Gregory had done the same in order to save the Church from ruin Peter gave 'em some slight answer and told 'em he could not do it but he would agree with Martin if all were true which people said of his integrity and humanity and bid 'em let him alone to manage the business and trouble themselves no more about it But of the four Cardinals who went to him two observing his obstinacy immediately revolted from him to Martin And those two that continued on his side were presently counted Anti-Cardinals one of which was a Carthusian and the other called Julian Dobla Upon this all Spain acknowledged Martins Authority and so did the Scots and those of Armagnac not long after And so all Christendom except one Peninsula owned the Authority of Martin This great Affair thus setled by the pains and industry of the Ecclesiastick and secular Princes especially of Sigismund the Emperor they began to talk of reforming the manners of both the Laiety and Clergy which were debauched with too much Licence But because the Council of Constance had lasted already four years to the great inconvenience of Prelates and their Churches it was Martin's pleasure and the Opinion of the Council that weighty Affair should be deferred till some more seasonable opportunity it being he said a work that would require much time and deliberation because as Jerome says every Country has its peculiar Manners and Customs which cannot be easily remov'd without great disturbance Now because the Schism from a small beginning had lasted a long time to the great disadvantage of Christendom upon notice that John XXIII was escaped out of custody fearing lest he should call another Council he publish'd a Decree concerning the calling of Councils That from the end of the Council at Constance no other Council should be held within five years and after that within seven and from thence it was drawn out to ten years and was made a Law That every ten years a General Council should be held in some convenient place to treat of matters of Faith and the common good of Christendom In confirmation whereof by the approbation of the Council Martin publish'd his Bulls But he abrogated all Decrees that were made during the Schism before his Pontificate except such as were made to promote faith or good manners That all Men might know he intended to call a Council he publickly advised concerning a commodious place for it and at last chose Pavia by general approbation and gave out his Breves to this purpose Martin Bishop and Servant of Gods Servants for the future remembrance of the thing being desirous to have Obedience paid to the Decree of this General Council upon a Debate had concerning a Place where the next Council shall be holden we do with the approbation and consent of the said Council and by the Authority of these presents appoint the City of Pavia for that purpose And let no man contravene this our Decree upon pein of the displeasure of God Almighty and of his Apostles SS Peter and Paul Given and enacted at Constance in the publick Council-House April 18. in the first year of our Pontificate And now he was willing the Council should be dissolv'd wherefore calling a full Assembly with the good liking of the Emperor and of all the rest he commanded Ibaldo Cardinal of S. Vitus to dismiss them which he did by saying Sirs Depart in peace Every one now having leave to be gone the Pope was desired on the one side by the Emperor and the Germans that he would tarry some time in their Country and by the French Princes on the other side to go into France but he told 'em he could not do it by any means because he said the Churches Patrimony was torn and spoiled by Usurpers in Italy whilst the Pope was absent and that the City of Rome which was the Metropolis of Christendom was almost ruin'd for want of the presence of its Governour so much it had suffer'd by Plague Famine Sword Fire and Sedition beside that the Churches and Chappels of the holy Martyrs by the Pope's absence were either in ruins or ready to fall and therefore he must be gone thither He desired 'em to take that kindly which reason and necessity forced him to and that they would let him sit in Peter's Chair since they had unanimously chosen him Pope That the Church of Rome was the Mother and the Head of all other Churches and therefore the Pope ought to reside there lest the true Pilot should be displaced from the Stern to the Stem to the great hazard and detriment of both Passengers and Sailers i.e. all Christian Men. So he went from Constance through Savoy into Italy and arrived at Millain where he was very kindly received by Duke Philip and all his People who gave him all the respect imaginable Philip was at that time in Arms endeavouring to recover his paternal inheritance which the Usurpers kept from him with great bravery and courage for having once tasted how pleasant it was to govern they were not easily turn'd out of possession However Carmignola Philip's chief Commander press'd Pandulphus Malatesta very hard who having taken Pergamo by bribing the Governour to betray the Castle moved toward Brescia and would have quickly strip'd him of all his Dominions had he not been aided by the Venetians with great sums of Money and stout Cavalry or had not Pope Martin persuaded Philip to make a Peace with Pandulphus which was accordingly afterward composed and agreed upon at Mantoua in the presence of Martin and by the Umpirage of John Francisco upon these terms to wit That Pandulphus paying a yearly Tribute should keep Brescia so long as he lived but should not have Power to give it away by Will because at his Death it naturally devolv'd upon Philip. But the next year Pandulphus broke his Peace by endeavouring by Men and Money to keep Cabrinus Fundulus in the possession of Cremona For Philip made War against him
the Council in or else they threaten'd to oppose him as a prevaricating and an obstinate person Eugenius was moved at their words and confirmed the Council at Basil by a new Breve giving every one leave to go thither for he was so tormented with Wars on all sides of him that he had hardly time to breath But having recover'd Rome he sent John Viteleschus thither immediately who was a Man indeed very fit for business but savage and severe who marching against the Colonneses the Sabelli and all the Gibellin faction he sack'd and razed the Castle of Gandulpho standing on the Lago Albano as also Savello and Borgeto He likewise took Alba Civita Lapuvina Palestrina and Zagatolo and sent all the Inhabitants that were alive to Rome Then turning his course into Campagna di Roma he brought 'em all over to the Church and having taken Anthony Pontadera he hang'd him upon an Olive-Tree at Fraselone Then coming back to Rome he put 'em all in a fear and pull'd down several Houses of Conspirators that had taken possession of the Porta Maggiore in a tumult and declared them Enemies to the Church Among the rest he took one Pulcellus and tortur'd him with red hot Pincers and then hang'd him in Campo Fiore When the Roman people complain'd that the covetousness of some rich Men had brought a Famine upon the Country there was so much Wheat immediately brought into the Market by his Order that there ensued great plenty of all things in a short time so readily were his Commands obey'd When he had thus setled Affairs he went into the Kingdom of Naples which Alphonso had lately got possession of and which he said belonged to the Pope and the Church and there he took the Prince of Tarento with two thousand Horse and invaded the Dominion of the Earl of Nola. He also had like to have taken Alphonso by fraud rather than force when they had made a Truce and a Peace was as good as concluded When he had taken the Towns belonging to the Church he freed the Prince And going back to Rome he demolish'd Palestrina which was ready to rebel by the persuasion of Lorenzo Colonna and turned out the Inhabitants in great numbers to roam about the Country in the year 1435. In which year Eugenius went from Florence having first consecrated the Cathedral Church there and going to Bologna he built a Fort near that Gate which leads towards Ferrara and fortified the House where the Legate now resides with a good high and broad Wall behind especially and with Turrets The year after he in a publick Consistory translated the Council of Basil though he had approved of that place from thence to Ferrara and said that the Greeks who had a mind to join with the Church of Rome had chosen that City to meet in Then the Presidents of the Council at Basil were very urgent with the Greeks and did exhort them with Prayers and Promises that they would leave Eugenius and come to them Nor were they content to do so onely but they bragg'd that they would depose Eugenius too if he would not come thither also Eugenius could not tell for some time what to do but yet he sent thither as Legate one John Francis Capitelista a Lawyer and a Knight of Padua to plead his cause But when Sigismund the Emperor was dead by whose favour the Council of Basil flourish'd and Albert Duke of Austria was chosen in his room the Cardinal of S. Crosses began the Council of Ferrara in the name of Eugenius Eugenius also went thither when he heard the Emperor of Constantinople whose name was John Paleologus was coming with a great many Gallies of his own as well as what the Venetians for Eugenius's sake sent to meet the Emperor lest any violence should have been offer'd him because he had an account that certain French Gallies were sent by the Council into the Archipelago with Orders either to bring the Emperor to them or if they could not do so that at least they should keep him from going to Ferrara But Eugenius so far corrupted the Admiral of those Galleys with Money that he left the Council at Basil and came over to his Party When the Emperour came to Ferrara he was entertain'd by Eugenius as the Roman Emperours used to be treated But Viteleschus when he had quieted the Church Dominions and punish'd several Priests that had pilfer'd certain Jewels out of the Heads of Peter and Paul the Apostles in the Lateran Church to which they belong'd and after that had put James Galesius and his Accomplices to death for attempting to make Innovations upon the Government he went to Ferrara where in a publick Consistory he was receiv'd into the number of Cardinals with great Honour For he had been made Cardinal six months before at Bologna and then returning with greater Authority he put the Governour of Vetralla and the Lord of Fuligno after he had expell'd him from his usurp'd Dominion to death in the Castle of Surio But Eugenius desiring to unite the two Churches that were so long of different Opinions in the year 1438 having made solemn Prayers and celebrated the Mass of the Holy Ghost he went to the Council along with the Emperour and Patriarch of Constantinople where the Emperour being seated on a Throne suitable to his Dignity and the other Greeks in a place opposite to the Pope the question was first ask'd Whether the Latins and the Greeks who had been so long of different Opinions were willing to be united into one Church At which they all cry'd out They would very willingly provided that their differences were first reconciled by Reason In order to which there were Disputations every day between those that the Latins and Greeks had chosen to debate those weighty Points But there happening a Plague at Ferrara which continued a good while it was not safe staying there and therefore the Council was removed to Florence And as soon as they came thither Picenninus presently took possession of Forli Imola Ravenna and Bologna by command from Philip with a design to thwart Eugenius's intentions who was a Friend to the Florentines and Venetians his Enemies After that he came back into Parma and raising a great body of Horse he passed the Po and took in a short time the greater Casal and Platina my native Country and all that the Venetians had about Cremona Then he routed Gattamelata General of the Venetian Army at Calvatoni and with the Prince of Mantoua his Ally he besieged Brescia for some months which was stoutly defended by the Citizens and one Francis Barbar a very learned Man and their chief Magistrate Whereupon he pass'd from thence to seize several Castles thereabout and hinder provisions from being brought into the City plundering and destroying all the Country as far as Verona and Vincenza so that he left the Venetians nothing to live upon but yet all this was not accomplish'd without great damage to
though it was offer'd him And afterward when he was sent Embassadour from Felix to Frederick the Emperour he so far prevailed upon him by his ingenuity that he made him a Poet Laureat his Companion and a Prothonotary which in Germany is a Secretary of State Not long after he was made a Counsellour of State and shew'd such Learning and Authority that he was reckon'd the most ingenuous Man there by far although he wanted not Rivals and Detractors When Eugenius and the Emperour first treated about putting an end to the Schism and Aeneas went to the Pope upon that account he stay'd some time at Siena where his Friends desired him not to go to Eugenius for they feared the Pope would use him severely because his Authority was often opposed as people said by Aeneas in Epistles and Orations at the Council of Basil But he was resolute and trusting to his own innocence slighted the intreaties of his Relations and went to Rome where in the first place he acquitted himself before Eugenius in an elegant Oration for submitting to their Opinion who approv'd of the Council of Basil And when he had so done he began to treat with him about that which the Emperour sent him to negotiate Thereupon two Agents were sent from Eugenius into Germany of whom one was Sarzanus and the other John Carvagialla by whose good management and Aeneas's industry together the Neutrality as I told you in the Life of Nicolas was taken off But that it might appear really to be so and not in words onely the Emperour sent Aeneas himself to Rome to make a publick Declaration of Submission in all matters to Eugenius in the name of himself and all Germany Eugenius dying about this time Aeneas was President of the Conclave till another Pope was chosen in the room of the deceased there being no Orator in the City more fit for so great an Employment Nicolas being chosen Pope he had leave to depart and as he went into Germany he having been made Sub Deacon by Eugenius was made Bishop of Trieste that Bishop being just then dead by the Pope and the Emperour without his own knowledg After which Philip Viconti dying without an Heir the Emperour sent him Envoy to Millain where he made an Oration concerning the descent of the Inheritance of that City and exhorting to Allegiance which if they preserv'd inviolate they might enjoy their liberty still He was sent thither another time when they were besieged by Francis Sfortia and suffer'd great extremities in defence of their Liberty at which time he enter'd the City with great hazard alone for his Collegues left him at Como and durst not go on for fear But he departed thence without any success and whilst the Emperour sent him to Alphonso King of Aragon the Pope Nicolas made him Bishop of Siena the place of his Nativity And when the Emperour and Alphonso had contracted an Alliance by Marriage he return'd into Germany where he persuaded the Emperour to go as soon as possible into Italy and receive his Imperial Crown Upon that advice Frederick went thither but sent Aeneas before to meet and complement his Wife Leonora who was to come from Portugal into Tuscany Who when he came to Siena stay'd not long there but he began to be suspected by the people as if he design'd because the Emperour was coming to turn out the populace and make the Government an Aristocracy Aeneas therefore to free the people from that jealousie went to Talamone where he thought Leonora would arrive and yet the people were not satisfied For they banish'd the Nobility into the Country for a time and a little while after according to the mutable humour of the Mobile gave 'em leave to come back again when they understood the integrity of the Emperour and the modesty of Aeneas Hence he went to Pisa where he heard the Portugueses were landed and brought the Infanta who was committed to his sole care to the Emperour then at Siena Then going to Rome he managed all things whilst the Emperour was crown'd both private and publick Afterward the Emperour went to visit Alphonso and left Ladislaus a Princely Youth whom the Hungarians and Bohemians had often endeavour'd to steal away from him under the tutelage of Aeneas who kept him very faithfully When the Emperour came back to Rome and had given the Pope thanks he went for Ferrara and having made Borsius d' Este Duke of Modena he departed And no sooner was he come into Germany but he presently dispatch'd away Aeneas by the Pope's Order as Envoy extraordinary into Bohemia and all the Cities of Austria For there was a Controversie between them and the Emperour about King Ladislaus whom they would needs have him send into their Country But the Dispute was ended and a Peace made between 'em so that Aeneas was not long after sent to the Assembly at Ratisbone where he in the name of the Emperour and in the presence of Philip Duke of Burgundy and Lewis of Bavaria spoke of the Turks cruelty and calamities of Christendom with such vehemency and passion that he forced sighs and tears from every one there but especially he seemed so far to animate the Duke of Burgundy that a War was decreed immediately by general consent though it was after laid aside through the ambition and folly of those who thought too well of themselves And now Aeneas was grown old and tired with the tedious Journeys he had taken into forein parts wherefore he resolv'd to return to Siena his native Country but the Emperour easily chang'd his mind by telling him that he yet design'd to make War upon the Turks Thereupon he was sent to the Convention at Frankfort where all the German Princes were met together and in a grave long Oration persuaded them with many reasons to undertake that dangerous but necessary War And indeed he seemed to move 'em all exceedingly though it is natural for those to cool soon whose affections are quickly heated There was also a third Convention in Cittanova about the same thing wherein Aeneas employ'd all his endeavours to bring about what he desired exhorting every one of them both in publick and private to assist in that War upon which the safety of all Europe the Liberty of both Princes and people and the honour of Christianity did depend And just as he expected to do the business there was news brought that Pope Nicolas was dead which put all things into a new Confusion For the Convention broke up and the Germans desirous of Novelty endeavour'd to persuade the Emperour no longer to obey the Pope unless he would grant them some certain Demands for they said the Germans were in a worse condition than either the French or Italians whose Servants they might be termed unless things were alter'd especially to the Italians And truly the Emperour had hearken'd to those Mutineers if Aeneas with his gravity had not interposed and told the Emperour That
and expedition in the design upon Florence but whilst these things were meditating Letters came from the Electoral College to the Emperor earnestly intreating him that he would be pleased speedily to return into Germany to consider about the matter of Summoning a General Council for Reformation of Religion and Election of his Brother Ferdinand to be King of the Romans and also to prepare matters for resistance of the Turk who had sworn to return thither again in a short time These matters seeming of considerable importance were the cause that the Emperor changed his resolution of proceeding to Rome and was Crowned at Bologna by the hand of the Pope at which there was a great confluence of people tho not that magnificence and pomp as had been usual at the Inauguration of other Emperors The day of his Coronation was the Feast of S. Matthias a day thrice auspicious to him being the day of his Nativity the day on which he took the French King Prisoner and the day on which he was invested in the Imperial Dignity This Solemnity being past the Emperor prepared for his Journey into Germany howsoever before his departure the Pope having setled his own business with him touching the subjection of Florence other matters of difference relating to the Venetians to the Investiture of Francis Sforza into the Dutchy of Milan and Alfonso d' Este Duke of Ferrara were referred by compromise to the sentence and determination of the Emperor the expectation of which judgment gave for some time quiet and repose to the Affairs of Italy After which the Emperor proceeded to Germany and the Pope returned to Rome where after some short time he received the joyful news of the surrender of Florence which having endured a long Siege by the Emperors Army under the command of the Prince of Aurange and after his death of Don Ferrand de Gonzaga yielded it self by common consent of the people to the government of twelve Citizens who being of the Faction of the Medices did without attending the Declaration of the Emperor leave Florence entirely to the pleasure and disposal of the Pope at whose instance and persuasion the Emperor declared Alexander de Medicis Prince and Duke of Florence and the same right of Honor and Dignity to descend from him to his Heirs for ever the which power and title hath since that time continued in that Illustrious Family Whilst these things were acted in Italy a Diet was assembled at Ausbourg at which Ferdinand the Emperors Brother was elected King of the Romans where also notice being taken of the great increase of the Lutheran Doctrin which had spread it self in all parts of Germany and had taken root in the greatest and most Princely Families it was concluded by all sides and parties as well Lutherans as others that the only means to reform Affairs and confirm those Doctrins which were sound and Orthodox was only in the Power and Authority of a General Council for the moderate Party which was inclined to the Papal Interest considering the many abuses crept into the Church and the exorbitant power of the Clergy hoped that a Council would reduce matters to more equal terms The Lutherans on the other side having formed a great and numerous Party did apprehend that many of the dignified Clergy that were to be Members of that Council would prove well inclined and affected to them where matters being debated with freedom and candor the nakedness of the Church of Rome would be exposed and its Corruptions discovered This being the general sense of all Germany which the Emperor was willing to satisfie he sent to the Pope urging him to summon a Council to persuade him whereunto he desired him to recal unto his memory the personal Conferences they had entertained at Bologna and the assurances he had there given him of faithfulness and adherence to the Church promising him that neither his Authority nor Dignity should be brought into any danger for that he would be there present in person to over-awe any contrivances which might be designed against either Nothing could come more ungrateful than this Proposition to the Pope and Cardinals who were not willing to expose the excessive abuses and exactions of the Court of Rome to the test of a Council where perhaps the authority of Indulgences the largeness of Dispensations and other Errors being discussed would give admission into those secrets which were not to be touched or opened The Pope also had some secret reserves of his own which he would not have committed to the scrutiny of a a Council he was not willing perhaps to have it debated that he was born Illigitimate which incapacitates him of being a Cardinal and consequently of being Pope Nor would he have the suspicion of Simony with which he practised with Cardinal Colonna called into question besides many other particulars of which he feared to be censured by the Council upon consideration of all which after consultations had with the Cardinals deputed to the discussion of that matter many reasons were given to the Emperor against the present Assembling of such a Council but when the time should appear more seasonable that then the Indictions might be regulated with many proper and cautious circumstances as that the Council should be celebrated in Italy and that the Pope should be personally present at it and that the Lutherans should promise to submit the determination and decision of their Controversies and Opinions to the judgment and sentence of a Council and in the mean time desist from the declaration or propagation of their Doctrins the which being a matter difficult and unpracticable the proposition for a Council became ineffectual and the thoughts thereof laid aside until the Reign of another Pope Tho the Pope did not think fit to gratifie the desires of the Emperor and all Germany with a General Council yet the Emperor not unmindful of the Arbitration he had accepted for settlement of the Affairs of Italy did about the beginning of the year 1531. reassume the consideration of those matters In the first place therefore he decreed that the City of Florence should be governed by the same Magistrates and by the same model and form of rule as it had formerly been in the time of the Medices that Alexander the Popes Nephew should be chief in the Government and so successively his Heirs for ever all the ancient Privileges and Immunities formerly granted by him or his Predecessors were again restored and confirmed with condition notwithstanding of forfeiture in case the Magistrates or People of that City should attempt any thing against the authority and greatness of the Medices the which Sentence he pronounced with a Despotick power not by virtue of a compromise or reference to him by the parties concerned but by an Authority inherent in the Imperial Dignity And tho this determination was pleasing to the Pope yet by the other relating to the Duke of Ferrara he was much offended for
Enemy they all divided themselves into three Squadrons under their respective Commanders sailing away in manner of a flight to the great ignominy and shame of the Christian Arms which inglorious action did greatly displease the Pope and more especially the Venetians who instead of some great benefit which they expected in return for all their expence and hazard lost Castlenuovo which was soon afterwards taken by the Enemy Howsoever this publick Disgrace was in some manner repaired by the favour and good will of the Emperor towards the Pope whh bestowed on his Son Pier-luigi the City of Novara and gave Margaret of Austria the Widow of Alexander de Medicis in marriage to his Nephew Ottavio with a Portion of 250 thousand Ducats It happened about this time that Francis Naria da Meltro Duke of Camerin died the Pope immediately resolved to make seizure of Camerino pretending that that place was devolved to the Church ever since the death of John Maria Varano whom Leo X. had made Duke of that place for that he leaving no Heirs Male Feltro had by Usurpation taken possession of that place in right only of Julia the Daughter of John Maria Varano whom his Son Guido Vbaldo had taken to Wife and held the same in despight of Clement the late Pope And now whereas the present Duke was a youth of tender age and no experience the Pope made use of this opportunity to lay his claim which he had concealed during the life of the old Duke and to make it good raised an Army and marched against Camerino with which this young Duke being terrified surrendred the place without other difficulty to the Pope who having satisfied all pretenders to any Arrears by disbursement of great sums of mony he invested his Nephew Ottavio Farnese in the place creating him Duke of Camerino chief Prefect of Rome and Censuary of the Church By this and other expences the Chamber was greatly exhausted of its Treasure to recruit which the Pope laid new Gabels and Impositions on all Commodities in his Dominions and especially upon Salt the which so discontented the People of Perugia that from a mutiny they took Arms and appeared in open Rebellion but being soon queâ—led by the Popes Forces all their Immunities and Privileges were seized whereby they were forced to send their Messengers to Rome with all humility and submission to beg Pardon from the Pope promising all Loyalty and Obedience for the future Ascanius Colonna making also some disturbance on the like occasion was for his contumacy deprived of his Estate in Campagna Paliano was dismantled and his Fortress of Rocca entirely demolished Things being thus reduced and settled in the Temporal State he converted his thoughts to the quiet and security of the Church and considering that disturbances in the world proceeded commonly from want of good Instruction and corruption of manners he commanded the Bishops to their respective Diocesses enjoyning them to reside there and teach their Flocks with good Lectures by their own exemplary lives In the year 1540. he augmented and enlarged the Immunities and Privileges of the Chamber and the Authority of the Referendaries He gave liberty to Clergy men to dispose of their Estates by Testament without leave or interruption of the Apostolical Chamber He gave liberty also to Jews which were converted to Christianity to dispose of their Estates according to their own will and pleasure and reformed many abuses in the administration of Civil and Criminal Causes and towards the end of this year constituted Cardinal Farnese his Nephew Legate at Avignon in the place of the Cardinal D'Auch deceased The Pope as we have declared before shewing himself unresolved in the matter of a Council being very wavering as to the time and place tho he seemed always ready to agree thereunto and from the first time that he was created Pope evidenced an earnest desire above all things to comply with the Christian Princes in that particular at length the Emperor and Princes of Germany finding their Country tossed and embroiled with various disputes of Religion resolved to call a Diet at Regensburg supposing that a National Assembly might settle and determin Controversies in want and for defect of a General Council and in pursuance thereof a Diet was opened at Regensburg about the beginning of March 1541. At this Diet the Emperor himself was present with great hopes that all Controversies about Religion would be here determined and Germany united in the same opinion Hereunto the Pope sent Cardinal Gaspar Contarini to be his Legat a person of excellent prudence and learning accompanied with several others well instructed in the Interest of the Court of Rome and with publick Notaries skilful in drawing up Authentick Acts and Forms of Law to whom above all things it was committed in charge not to receive any Papers or Memorials which might tend to the least abatement or diminution of the Papal Authority but in such case to break up abruptly referring those matters to the determination of a General Council In short after long Conferences and Debates the Diet broke up on the 28th of July the Emperor referring all that had been done or transacted there to a General Council or to a National Synod of Germany or to a Diet of the Empire promising to go himself into Italy to treat with the Pope on that matter and in case the Pope should appear refractory thereunto that then notwithstanding he would within the space of eighteen months by virtue of his own Authority issue forth his Writs for calling a Diet of the Empire for setling the Affairs of Religion and prevail with the Pope to send his Legat to it And in the mean time he commanded the Protestants not to receive any other new Doctrins than such as had already been debated and enjoyned the Bishops to reform the abuses of their Churches He forbad also the dissolution of Monasteries or any seizure to be made on the Estate of the Church and any person or persons whatsoever to change or alter his or their Religion And for the better satisfaction and contentment of the Protestants that in those points which were still under Controversie he left every man free and at liberty in his own judgment and farther that such Monasteries as were not yet demolished should still remain but howsoever should be reduced to a Godly and Christian way of practice That the Goods of the Church should not be seized but left for maintainance of the Ministers without any distinction or difference relating to their Sect in Religion He also prorogued the Assembly at Ausburg until such time as the points there in Controversie could come to the decision of a General Council or a Diet of the Empire After this the Emperor passed into Italy and at Luca met the Pope where in a long discourse he treated at large concerning a Council and the management of a War against the Turks the result of which was this That
under the Emperor and by Angelo de Medici Legat for the Pope and in the mean time Monsieur de Thermes General of the French Forces was raising Men in Mirandola and making preparations of Ammunition and provisions for a War and Peter Sirozzi and Oratio Farnese Captains of Henry the French King made incursions as far as Bologna spoiling and laying waste the Country round about wherefore the Imperialists having joined the Popes Army laid siege to Mirandola so that Parma and Mirandola were both besieged at the same time in this manner the War continued for the space of a whole year without any memorable action on either side onely fire and sword and miserable devastations raged in all parts of Italy of which the Pope being touched with an inward compassion and being naturally inclined to Peace having began this War more in compliance with the Emperour than his own humour or affections or with intention to possess himself of Parma did at the instance of certain French Cardinals make a Peace with which the Siege was raised both from before Parma and Mirandola howsoever with this accommodation on the Popes side the Wars did not end between Henry of France and Charles the Emperour but being continued from one year to another produced nothing but slaughter ruin and miseries to their People In the mean time the Pope having proclaimed that the Council held at Bologna should be transferred to Trent commanding by his Indictions and Bulls all Patriarchs Arch-Bishops and Bishops to repair thither and having sent thither Cardinal Crescentio to preside as his Legat together with his two Assistants before named the eleventh Sessions was commenced on the first of May 1551. Howsoever before it could be agreed to transfer the Council again to Trent many and serious Debates were held thereupon and the reasons of Paul the third for adjourning it to Bologna being very forcible it had still been continued there had not the considerations of pleasing the Emperour prevailed which in that conjuncture was esteemed necessary and also it was resolved that all the Acts and determinations which had been concluded and agreed in the former Sessions should be esteemed authentick and ratified and not farther to be called into question or debate either in any Diet or in this Council for which reasons the Protestants refused to appear at Trent alledging that the place was neither secure for them nor the Council free in such manner as that every one might deliver his Sence and debate his Opinions and that unless the conclusions made in the Council might be again examined and that the Divines who composed the Confession of Augsburg might have a Decisive as well as a deliberative Voice and that unless the Pope not being permitted to preside in the Council the Bishops might be absolved from their Oath which obliges to the Papal Sea and suffered freely to give their own true and real Sentiments it could not be expected that any happy result should issue from this Council and therefore they were resolved to absent themselves and not give their attendance according to the citations and summons from the Pope Wherefore the Emperour entering into a closer Treaty with the Ecclesiastical Electors and others inclining to the Church of Rome advised them to attend personally the General Council to which all due and humble obedience was to be given promising them all security and safety both in going and returning For as he was in the quality of Emperour so he was Advocate of the Church and the Defender of Councils the which Office that he might be in a better capacity to perform he would take up his residence at some place on the Frontiers where he would be assistant to their Liberty that every one might have a freedom to propose and speak what he in Conscience judged most agreeable to the Word of God and the Doctrine of the Ancient Fathers This Declaration of the Emperour seemed to be made and erected as a Battery or Counter-work to the Popes Bull. For whereas the Pope pretended to govern and direct Councils the Emperour resolved to take the care and charge to see them orderly and regularly directed The Pope pretended to preside and to be himself the Rule and have the casting Voice and the Emperour commands that all Decisions be made according to Scriptures and the Holy Fathers The Pope directs that the conclusions made at former Sessions stand in force the Emperour leaves them free to be disputed and debated as every Mans conscience directed In short the Court of Rome not being able to digest these contradictions complained much of the encroachments which the Emperour made on the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction and that his Declaration was an other Convocation of a Council The Emperour having declared his resolution to grant his Passes and safe conduct to all such as should go to this Council The Protestant Princes began to discourse in all parts of Germany of sending the most acute and learned Men amongst them to Trent and accordingly Maurice Duke of Saxony commanded Melancthon and other Divines of singular note and reputation to repair thither In like manner the Duke of Wirtemberg provided others of equal Learning but considering that a safe Conduct or Passeport from the Emperour was not sufficient as had been formerly experienced at the Councils of Constance and Basil the Emperour was desired by those Princes to obtain by the means of his Ambassadours safe conducts under the publick Seal of the Council which the Emperour promised to do and accordingly gave order to Count Monfort one of his three Ambassadours residing at Trent to procure the same the which afterwards gave occasion of much Debate and Dispute in what manner and with what Expressions it was to be formed The Pope though to outward appearance seemed very desirous to have the Council commence and be continued at Trent according to the time appointed yet did not seem much concerned or greatly pressing to have the Catholick Prelats assemble onely the Emperour seemed most urgent conceiving the determinations of a Council to be the onely means to quiet and appease the disturbances in Germany and therefore instantly pressed the Electors of Cologne Triers and Metz together with several Bishops of Spain and such as were in his Dominions of Italy to hasten their Journey unto Trent so that during the space of eight months that the Council continued the whole Assembly of Persons actually present comprehending also the Presidents and Princes did not exceed the number of sixty four Time being protracted unprofitably from the first of May to the first of September a Sessions was then held at which it was declared that considering the small appearance of Bishops by reason of the absence of the German Nation the Sessions of the Council had been until that time deferred But now in regard that two of the Electors were already come which gave hopes that many others of the same Country would follow their example and speedily
attend the Summons of the Holy Council it was resolved in expectation thereof to adjourn for the space of forty days that is from the first of September to the eleventh of October At which time these particular Articles would be then treated and discussed First of the Sacraments in general and next of Baptism the Eucharist and confirmation in particular After which the Count de Monfort made a Speech in behalf of his Master the Emperour and several Commissions and Letters of Credence from divers Princes were publickly read by the Secretary of the Council After which Amiot Abbot of Bellosane presented a Letter from Henry the French King directed to the Council and delivered to be read by the Secretary the Superscription whereof was this Sanctissimis in Christo Patribus Conventus Tridentini Against which the Spanish Prelats took great exception cryed out with a loud Voice That that Letter was not directed to them who were a General Council and not an Assembly as that Superscription would insinuate and therefore desired that the Letter might not be read but that in case the Bearer had any thing to propose from his Master he might be heard by a Committee or at some private House the word Conventus gave great Scandal and an occasion of much noise and disturbance until such time as the Arch-Bishop of Metz rising from his Seat asked them how they would be able to admit audience to the Protestants who stiled them Conventum Malignantium when they so ill relished the title of Sanctissimum Conventum howsoever the Spaniards continued their Exclamations until the Legat and his Assistants together with the Emperours Ambassadors retiring a while into secret Conference returned again and gave their assent to have the Letter read being willing to have the word Conventus taken in the largest and most favourable sense The Contents and substance of which Letter dated the 13th of August was to this effect That the King out of due respect to that Council and according to the custom of his Ancestors had thought fit to signifie to them the reasons why he had not sent any of his Bishops to that Assembly convened by Pope Julius the 3d. under the title of a General Council the which was caused by the Obligation he had upon him both in justice and honour to assist the Duke of Parma for which cause there being a necessity laid upon him of making War against the Pope and the Ecclesiastical State there could be no security or safety either to his Ambassadours or Bishops in any Dominions of the Church whilest this misunderstanding between him and the Pope remained and therefore he hoped they would accept this as a just reason and excuse to whom he appealed as favourable and impartial Judges in the case c. After the Letter a Protest was read containing all the Particulars of which Mounsieur de Termes Ambassadour for France complained at Rome to the Pope in name of the King the substance whereof was this That having taken upon him the protection of Parma he had endeavoured to represent his Reasons for it to the Pope and Cardinals giving them to understand that his principal Motives thereunto were reasonable pious and Royal and such as had no mixture of interest but purely respected the welfare and benefit of the Church as might appear by the Articles of agreement with Parma which onely respected the Church and the peace and liberty of Italy of which having informed the Pope his Holiness seemed not willing to understand the same seeming more inclinable to gratifie his own humour than prevent those mischiefs which would embroil all Europe and interrupt the proceedings of the present Council which he could not esteem or stile with the Character of General but of a particular Convention assembled onely to serve a turn and promote private interests so long as he who was the most Christian King and the eldest Son of the Church was excluded thence not being able to send his Ambassadours or Bishops thither with that security to their Persons and freedom in their Votes as was required in a General Council c. This Protest being read the Answer thereunto was deferred until the eleventh of October In the mean time this Protest afforded matter of Discourse to all Christendom some were of Opinion that the Pope hereupon would be induced to dissolve the Council which could have no Authority or be termed General so long as the French Nation which was a principal Member was excluded from it But the Pope was of another Opinion pretending that his sincere endeavours of persuading that Nation to join themselves to it was sufficient and the Imperialists who cared not much for their Company judged that scruple immaterial since that being cited and required to appear thereat as members of the Catholick Church their causeless and obstinate absence ought not to prejudice the proceedings of the Council for in regard the greater part include the Minor the whole body of France was obliged to own those Acts of the Council to be Canonical and Obligatory having by their absence when they might have been present or by their silence assented thereunto Howsoever the Parliament of Paris was of an other Judgment for tho it be true that the greater number carries the point in those Assemblies where is a common concurrence in Votes But where one part absents it self and refuses to joyn the Acts of the other cannot oblige the dissenting Party and in that case that Rule takes place Prohibentis potior est conditio of which nature are all such Ecclesiastical Assemblies which how numerous soever they may be their Acts have onely an Authority to oblige their own Countries but not such as have dissented or are not concurring with them which was the sense and Opinion of ancient times as we may read in the Treatises wrote by S. Hilarius Athanasius Theodoret and Victorinus expresly upon this Point for which reasons certains Canons have been received in some Churches which have been rejected in others and as St. Gregory testifies that upon the same account the Canons of the second Council of Constantinople and of the first of Ephesus were not received by the Church of Rome But lest the French King should by this manner of Nonconformity seem Schismatical or be suspected of an intention to alienate the minds of his People from the Catholick Religion he published divers severe Edicts against the Protestants promising rewards to such who should detect and accuse them Now according to the Promise made to the Abbot of Bellozare that an Answer should be given to the Letters and Protest of the French King his Master on the eleventh of October following the Cryer of the Council at the Church-gate made Proclamation that in case any were there present for the most Christian King he should then appear But the Abbot knowing well that no Answer would be given him but such as was forged at Rome by the Spanish Party had by Order
of the Catholick Religion had by the Authority of the Inquisition established condemned some to the Gallies and others to the Fire yet finding that these severities operated little upon minds already prepossessed with an Opinion of Religion and Conscience he was desirous to make trial of the more gentle and soft means of Instructions lest his People becoming desperate under their hardship and torments should be persuaded to believe it lawful to take up Arms in defence of their Persons and their Religion The Pope ill relished this Proposal declaring that he would never consent to have his Authority put to compromise or his Power compounded for that he was well acquainted with what obstinacy the Hereticks maintained their Doctrines which were never to be confuted but by the Sword the which he esteemed to be the most effectual way of Instruction and having persuaded the Duke to that remedy a War was begun in the Valleys which continued for a long time Nor were the disturbances in France less grievous than in Savoy where many were put to death for no other cause than for their zeal to the true reformed Religion and the salvation of their own Souls though it is true that many who were ambitious and desirous of Novelty did under this guise and cloak of Religion and with pretence of rescuing the King and the Dignity of the Sovereign Magistrate from the usurpations and tyranny of the Duke of Guise and his Party take up Arms and enter into Rebellion against their King but being afterwards beaten and many killed others were afterwards tried and for their Offences justly condemned to die and to all others who being misguided by Religion should lay down their Arms in the space of twenty four hours Proclamation was made that they should be received to mercy by a full and plenary Pardon from his Majesty But now the humours of the People being moved and hopes conceived of obtaining liberty of Conscience great tumults were raised in Provence Languedoc Poitou and other places so that how to suppress these tumults and quiet the minds of the people which were feavered with the heats of Religion was the great matter debated in the Councils of France and whereas it was objected by the Cardinal Armagnac that no Ecclesiastical remedy could be applyed without the assent and concurrence of the Pope this scruple was soon exploded by the contrary Opinion of the most of the Council who alledged that God had given to every Nation a full Power and Authority within it self to provide remedies necessary and agreeable to the present government of their State without having recourse to forein and far distant Powers for as it were unreasonable in case of fire and terrible incendiations within the City of Paris to expect till waters were brought from the Tybur to extinguish the flames and in the mean time neglect the use of the more near and convenient streams of the Seine and Mearne so also would it be in this great conflagration of civil-War to neglect remedies at home until we can fetch them from remote and distant Countries In short therefore it was agreed that a National Council should be assembled composed of all the Prelats of the Kingdom whose business it should be to consult and find out means to give a stop to the growing evils and to the course of those infections which were ready to poison and overwhelm the whole Kingdom Howsoever lest this Edict for summoning a National Council should be ill taken by the Pope and interpreted for a point of disrespect to the Apostolical Sea without his consent thereunto or at least an intimation given thereof it was ordered that the Ambassadour residing at Rome should by word of mouth represent the many dangers and growing evils within the Kingdom of France which could be cured by no other remedy than a National Assembly and that the dangers thereof were so pressing as not to admit the slow Methods of forein Assistance These matters being exactly in this manner represented to the Pope were very ill resented by him judging that such an Assembly of Prelats could not be convened without a breach of the Ecclesiastical Canons nor without prejudice to the Papal Authority which to make more clearly appear he resolved to dispatch the Bishop of Viterbo into France to make known unto his Majesty That such an Assembly was never admitted by former Popes in any Country or Kingdom whatsoever they being well assured that such a meeting would serve to no other end than to administer unto greater division and confusion and produce a Schism in the Church Catholick and That it would serve farther to exalt the pride of the Prelats inspiring them with an Opinion of some superiour Authority inherent in them above that of the Pope or of the King but if he would apply a true and an effectual remedy none could be so successful as a General Council which he had resolved shortly to assemble and that in the mean time nothing could be so available as that the Bishops be commanded to repair to their respective Dioceses and the Curats to their Parishes and there to watch over their Flocks and hinder Thieves and Wolves from breaking within the Fold and finally desired that their Spiritual Authority might be reinforced by the Power of the Civil Magistrate and the Arms of Regal force The Bishop of Viterbo being with these Instructions dispeeded into France he was farther commanded in his Journey thither to negotiate matters in the same form at the Court of Savoy and to incite the Duke to make War upon Geneva which they called the Nest of Heresie and the root from whence sprang all the false Doctrines of the new Religion the Bishop accordingly did not fail on his part to represent all matters to the Duke agreeable to his Instructions and found in him a ready disposition to embrace all the Proposals made him by the Pope especially the Enterprise against Geneva provided that with the consent both of Spain and France he might possess and enjoy that City This Demand was easily admitted on the side of Spain but they well knew that it would never be granted by France which had long aspired to that Dominion to which the Spaniards would accord being more willing to see that place the Capital Throne of the new Religion than a Seat of the French Power for that being near to the Dukedom of Burgundy might prove an ill Neighbour to that part of the Spanish Dominions Howsoever that the King of Spain might follow the Pope's inclinations in concurrence with the French as far as prudence and caution directed he dispatched Don Antonio de Toledo his Ambassadour into France to offer unto that King his utmost assistance and to joyn his Arms unto his for the total ruin and extirpation of Heresie But the Court of France would yield no ear to either of these Propositions they would gladly indeed have had the possession of Geneva but the Enterprise seemed difficult
whilest the Civil Wars continued and whilest Geneva remained in League with the Swisses who had promised to afford their utmost succour and aid unto that place and as to the National Synod they persisted in their resolution promising the Pope that nothing should be attempted therein derogatory to his Power and the Authority of the Church But this assurance did little satisfy the jealousie of the Pope who suspected the very Prelats to be tainted with Heresie and to have an inclination to set up a Gallican Church as they called it separate and independant of the Roman Sea The fear and jealousie hereof constrained the Pope positively to resolve on a General Council and to hasten the convocation thereof with all speed possible supposing that the convention of a General Council would break the former Measures and invalidate the Authority of all National Synods This being agreed the next thing proposed was the place which the Pope would have had to be his own Town of Bologna but that he knew it would be generally disliked by the Prelats nor would the Spaniards consent to have it held at Milan for though they were zealous Catholicks yet in matters of worldly interest they distrusted the Pope as much as other Princes In fine Trent was agreed to be the most commodious and least subject to exceptions of any howsoever the French were of another Opinion as was also the Emperour who proposed Wormes Triers Constance or Hagunaw as more convenient for that the Protestants did so abhor the name of Trent that they would take a prejudice to any thing formed there nor would they endure to have the Council stiled a Continuation of a former but one new and established on its own foundation nor was this the only scruple of the Emperor for he declared that he could not answer for the Empire unless it were first prepared and disposed by a General Diet nor would the Clergy of his hereditary Countries be induced to be present at the Council unless the Cup in the Sacrament were first granted to the Laiety and License for the Priests to marry but all these matters being diametrically opposite to the Papal interest the Pope declared his resolution was rather to give his life than his assent thereunto In the mean time the numbers of those of the Reformed Religion encreased greatly in France so that it was resolved in case a General Council were not speedily assembled that a National Synod should meet at Meaux on the 13th of January 1561. for the tumults and combustions about Religion were so pressing that they required a speedy and an effectual cure the fear of which so touched the Pope as did also the Declaration of the Emperor that taking no notice of the exceptions of either he resolved to surmount the difficulties and therewith signed the Bull for calling a Council to commence on Easter day 1561. giving this Title thereunto Indictio Concilii Tridentini as if it had been to be a New and not the continuation of a former Council howsoever in the body of the Bull the word Continuation being mentioned it gave great scandal and offence to all though the Pope's Legats endeavoured to smooth it over by saying that the Continuation could be no impediment to any revision of what had formerly passed nor hinder the Council from repealing any Act which had been Decreed and ordained in the times of Paul and Julius III. And now Francis II. King of France being dead and his Brother Charles IX a Youth of ten years of age succeeding gave great expectations of a happy change to the Protestants for that the King of Navarre having declared himself of the Reformed Religion to whom of right as first Prince of the Blood the Government belonged during the minority of the King and that he was ruled much by the Counsels of the Admiral de Coligny who was the grand Protector of the Reformed gave them hopes that the severity of proceedings against them would be abated and liberty of Conscience granted to the whole Kingdom the which though it did not take effect fully to their desires yet at an Assembly of the Estates at Orleance it was ordained That an Arrest of judgment should be given and all penal Processes stopped which were made against any for account of Religion and at the same time Orders were given to the Prelats to prepare themselves for their Journey to Trent At this time the Protestant Princes were assembled at Naumbourg with intention to guard themselves from the Plots which would be contrived against them in the Council of Trent and to take off the reproach of Divisions and disagreement in the points of Faith amongst themselves But such was the variety then of Opinions that it was difficult to concur in one Symbol of Faith for the Confession of Augsburg had lately been printed in several Editions and every one with some difference from an other And as to a General Council they petitioned the Emperour that such an one might be convened as was free and where the Pope might not preside and overawe the Votes of the Protestants the which request they made rather in excuse for their not going to Trent than out of any prospect of a concession to their grant In the mean time the Pope having sent two Nuntios to the Emperor he advised them to go to Naumbourg accompanied with two of his Ambassadours and receive the sense of the Assembly which was there convened The Protestants received the Ambassadours with great respect and heard the Nuntios with equal civilities but still continuing firm to their Principles declared that they could not acknowledg the Pope's jurisdiction and therefore could not esteem themselves obliged to make known unto the Pope the Opinion they had of a Council having already signified their thoughts thereof unto the Emperor with the like coldness they were received at Norimberg Frankfort Ausbourg and other Protestant Towns Elizabeth Queen of England at the same time refused to admit the Abbot Martininguez sent by the Pope within her Dominions And the King of Denmark in like manner denied entrance to the Nuncios within his State saying That neither his Father nor he having ever had to do with the Pope he knew no business his Nuntios could have with him Thus did these Nuntios meet Oppositions in all parts nor did they find any encouraging compliance in the Emperor himself who insisted on the Indiction of a new Council which was not founded on the Continuation or basis of a former France likewise made many exceptions to the Bull of Indiction being for a New and not for a Continuation of the Old Council Nor was this all many other things concurring in that Kingdom to the diminution of the Pope's Authority for not onely were the penal Laws against the Protestants taken away but also at a Convention of the Estates at Orleance the Pope's Annates or yearly Revenue was taken off and all Moneys forbidden to be carried to Rome the
agreement between Leo X. and Francis the First was made void and all Friars and other Religious were made subject to the Bishop of their Diocese So that France seemed in a manner to be lost onely Spain being a people not given much to innovation adhered to the Pope's Authority and to a Continuation of the Old Council The Feast of Easter approaching which was the time appointed for the opening the Council the Pope deputed the Cardinals of Mantoua Warmia Seripanda and Simonette to be his Legats and Presidents of the Council and hastned all the Bishops of Italy to repair unto Trent that so they might counterballance the number of the French and Spanish Bishops who came as was believed with no other intention than to gain one Point which was that a General Council in its Determinations was superiour and above the Authority of the Pope a Position which the Bishops of Italy who had the honour of being the Head of all the Clergy ought on no terms whatsoever to admit But as yet there was a very thin appearance of Bishops at Trent for the eyes of all were fixed on the issue which the Convention of the Estates at Orleans and the Conference at Poissy would produce which in every Act struck at the Pope's Authority and exposed unto the people the corruptions and abuses of the Roman Sea In fine after all the Queen Regent wrote a Letter to the Pope wherein she represented to him the great numbers of Protestants in France and the daily encrease of them to suppress which a Reformation in many things was necessary as namely to take away Images out of the Churches the Spittle and Exorcisms in Baptism to grant the Eucharistical Chalice to the Laiety to admit the Divine Service in the vulgar Tongue and expunge the late Festival of Corpus Christi out of the Kalendar All and every Point of which were such mortal blows to the Church that the Pope could not think thereof with any patience nor give other answer thereunto than that those and other matters should be deferred to the decision of the Council With these expectations and Discourses the time was protracted until the month of December by which time there was a considerable appearance of Bishops at Trent so that the Pope commanded without farther delay that the Council should be commenced but by reason of some other Obstructions and at the desire of the Emperor's Ambassadours it was again deferred until the middle of January following The first Session was held the 18th of January at which the first preliminary afforded great matter of Dispute for it was there to be made a standing Rule That nothing should be propounded but what was first moved by the Legats Proponentibus Legatis which being opposed by four Spanish Prelats was notwithstanding over-ruled by the greater number and the next Sessions appointed for the 26th of February following In the mean time on the 17th of January the Edict was made at St. Germaines whereby the Protestants had liberty given them to have their Churches or Temples without the Cities to live under the protection of the King in observance of their own Discipline Provided that they taught nothing contrary to the Doctrine of the Old and New Testament and to the Council of Nice At Trent after several Congregations held there another Sessions commenced the 26th of February at which some matters were determined in relation to Precedency and the Index Expurgatorius and then the Council adjourned until the 14th of March which time being come nothing passed at that Session worthy of observation onely they adjourned until the 14th of May and then again to the 4th of June At the beginning of this Session the Marquis of Pescara who was Ambassadour for Spain instantly urged that this Council might be declared a Continuation of the former under Paul and Julius but the Emperor's Ambassadours made such fierce opposition that nothing for that time was concluded therein after which the Marquis de Pescara departed from Trent upon pretence that the affairs of his Government required his presence at Milan though in reality it was to avoid a concurrence with the French Ambassadours who were then upon their Journey to Trent namely the Lord of Lansac Ferrier who was a President of Parliament and Fabre Lord of Pibrac one also of the Long-Robe who arrived two or three days after the departure of the Spanish Ambassadour And now misunderstandings encreased between the Court of Rome and the Council of Trent the Cardinal of Mantoua himself who was one of the Pope's Legats being suspected of not having had sufficient zeal for the Authority of the Court of Rome because he had not seconded the Votes of the Spanish Party who would have declared this present Council a Continuation of the former so that it came to be debated at Rome whether it were not necessary to recall the Cardinal of Mantoua from his Presidency or to place some other Collegue in Commission above him On the other side the Council was as much dissatisfied with the Court of Rome as the Court of Rome was with Trent because that many things were designed there to moderate the Papal Authority and give a greater latitude of Power to Princes and Arch-Bishops in the exercise both of the spiritual and temporal jurisdiction nor were the Prelats free from all variance amongst themselves whose interests several times interfering one with other administred subject of Dispute which ended in Reproaches and Obloquies of one against the other The French Ambassadours being admitted to Audience in a Congregation assembled the 26th of May Fibrac made a very eloquent and pathetical Oration wherein he reproved the indiscreet and ill-guided zeal of those who would not part with one insignificant ceremony to gain the common quiet and peace of the Church and the salvation of many souls He also openly declaimed against the violence imposed in the Council which ought to have been free And considering that preceding Councils had for some Ages past suffered their Opinions and Sentiments to be overswayed by a superiour Power and serve an interest for whose sake they were not assembled he did therefore now exhort the Fathers then present that they would take such measures as might without mixture of other considerations cure and heal the Diseases of the Church produce Peace and propagate Charity in the World and secure the Flock of Christ from usurpation and Oppression This Speech so startled the Council that the Prolocutor having nothing to reply gave an end to the Congregation of that Day On the 4th of June a Session was held in which the Commissions of Ambassadours were read and an Answer given by the Prolocutor to the Speech of Pibrac which was ill resented by the French and then the Session ended and another appointed on the 16th of July In the mean time several Congregations were held whereat the chief matter debated was the administration of the Sacrament of the Holy Communion to
imaginations which Men conceive of Reliques Pilgrimages and Indulgences That the Doctrine and practice of Penance should be again renewed and established according to the custom of the Primitive Church All or most of which Articles were ungrateful to the Legats both for the substance of them and circumstances with which they were delivered the Ambassadours at the same time declaring that in case they were not granted such provisions would be made in France by a National Council as were agreeable to the State of their Affairs Howsoever the Legats seemed favourably to accept them and dispatched them to the Pope by the Bishops of Viterbo And now by this time the Pope was ready to make a return of the conclusions he had made in the Point about Residencies dispatched from Trent by the Bishop of Ventimille the matter of which though couched with great Art and in such ambiguous terms as might admit of various interpretations yet that artificial fraud could not pass on such subtil Heads who for their Learning and experience were chosen out of the wisest Men of Europe for they easily discovered the Pope's intent to advance himself above an Universal Council they could have been contented to have admitted him the Chief super Ecclesias Vniversas but not super Ecclesiam Vniversalem that is over all Churches in particular but not over the Universal Church as it was aggregated into one body in a General Council Hereupon great Contests arose the Pensioners of Rome produced in favour of the Pope's Authority a Canon made by the Council of Florence which having been received by the Spaniards gave them some trouble in what manner to make an Answer thereunto But the French who had never received the Articles of that Council for Canonical opposed the Councils of Constance and Basil against it which had determined that General Councils were superiour to the Pope but the Italians who maintained that the Council of Basil was Schismatical and that the Canons of Constance were partly received and partly rejected so heated their French Opponents that Reasons and Arguments being on both sides declined the Dispute ended with high words and reproaches of one against the other Which the Legats well observing and that there could be no good issue of such high Contests desired time to remit these matters to the Pope's Censures and so proceeded again to the Point about Residencies the which having already caused inextricable difficulties for the Pope's words did not please the Council the Cardinal of Lorain proposed something by way of Accommodation putting in some gentler terms which might serve the turn of both Parties but the Legats penetrating with their accustomary Acuteness into the words found that the sense would bear an Interpretation which might be expounded in favour of the Opinion that Residencies were constituted by Divine Right Wherefore slighting or laying aside the words which the Cardinal had projected they framed another according to their own humour and presented it to the Congregation the which so incensed the Cardinal of Lorain that from thence forward he began to deal plainly and express himself in free and high terms protesting that for the future he would meddle no farther for that he observed a secret Combination which in Cabinet Consults assumed to its self an Authority to dispose matters differing from the Sentiments of the General Council That the Legats sought nothing more than occasions to break up the Council in discontent That nothing was acted but according to the will of the Legats who moved by such measures only as they received from the Pope whose resolution in every thing they expected from Rome according to that old saying That the Holy Ghost was brought every week from Rome to Trent in the Courriers Portmantle That he for his part was resolved to have patience until the next Session at which if matters were not managed with more fair proceedings he was resolved to retire into France with his French Nation then at the Council where renouncing all farther applications to Rome or Trent they were resolved to assemble a National Council by which they would establish such a form of Concordat as should be agreeable to the present state of their Country and which might secure the safety of the King and the quiet of his People To the same purpose the French Ambassadour expressed himself at Rome but the Pope who had been long used to such kind of Menaces and a noise about National Councils little regarded their Censures or Threats but briskly answered That the Council was free even to a licentiousness that if there were Parties and Factions they were unknown to him and were only made by the Vltramontane Bishops whose design was to trample on the Authority of the Papal Chair And in this manner such distractions and Disputes arose at Trent occasioned by the Power and Interest which the Cardinal of Lorain had there with the greatest part of the Clergy that the Congregations were for some time suspended until the Cardinal of Ventimille returned from Rome freighted with abundance of Complements and Salutes and especially with supplies of Mony for the Pope's Pensioners and then the Congregations being again commenced and with them the Discords renewed it was agreed that the next Session should be deferred until the 22th of April which was presently after Easter The Cardinal of Lorain though he seemed outwardly to consent hereunto with some reluctancy and onely in compliance with the rest of the Council yet in reality he was well enough pleased hoping that a short time would put an end to the life of this Pope who was very aged and infirm when he imagined that his Greatness and Authority would be very instrumental in promoting such a Person to the Papacy as would be facil and easie in granting every thing agreeable to his desires And now to allay a little the heats about the Divine Right of Episcopacy and Residencies the Council diverted their thoughts and Discourse to eight several Points relating to Marriage During which time and the Interval between that and the next Session the Cardinal of Lorain took the opportunity to visit the Emperor's Court at Inspruck which administred great cause of jealousie to the Pope who not onely observed the Cardinal's dissaffection from his proceedings in the Council but likewise from his Letter wherein complaining of the many Factions and Intrigues which his Italian Bishops had caused he concludes that if matters were carried on with the same Measures there would remain nothing more for him either to consider or act than onely to pray unto God to direct the Council with his Holy Inspiration The Cardinal of Lorain being arrived at Inspruck where he remained five days had frequent Conferences with the Emperor and his Son the King of the Romans touching the many disorders and corruptions of the Council at Trent as also of the means how and in what manner the Cup might be restored to the Laiety how Marriage might be granted and dispensed
Princes to depose them and could command Legions of Angels to come to his aid and assistance The Senate having received these Informations from their Ambassadour did well weigh and consider the anger and furious displeasure of the Pope on the one side and the publick liberty and the necessity of upholding their Government on the other and having put both these considerations into the balance they returned this answer to the Pope's Nuntio and wrote also to their Ambassadour at Rome to this effect That they could neither release the Prisoners lawfully arrested nor repeal or dispence with those Laws which were justly established lest they should violate that natural liberty which God had bestowed on their Republick and which had been conserved for many hundreds of years by the wisdom and with the blood of their Ancestours For that to admit such a breach into their Power would breed such confusion in their Government as could not but end in a dangerous Sedition The which resolution was so unanimous and general that not one Vote in the Senate was dissenting and accordingly it was signified to the Nuntio that so they might disabuse and take off the Pope from those expectations which the Jesuits had promised of making a division and Schism amongst the Senators But these reasons made little impression in the mind of the Pope or did in the least move him from prosecuting the violent course he designed and accordingly he ordered two Briefs to be drawn up one relating to the two Laws and the other to the two Prisoners for besides the Canon or Prebend whom we have formerly mentioned the Abbot of Nervesa was also apprehended by the Secular Justice The Crimes laid to the charge of this Abbot were such as were flagitious and of a high nature being accused of having exercised an unlimited tyranny upon his Neighbours and Tenants that he had robbed and taken away their goods at the prices he was pleased to set that he lived in Whoredom and committed Rapes on the Bodies of vertuous and chast Women and that in order thereunto he used Magical Spells and Enchantments and compounded subtle Poisons by which he had destroyed his own Brother who was an Augustine Frier and with him his Servant that by his Poisons he had macerated the Body of his Father in such manner as had reduced him to the last extremity of life That he had committed Incest with his own Sister and poisoned her Maid lest his Crime should be detected by her besides many other Murthers and wickedness of the deepest dye of which he was guilty and this was the pretious Fellow with his Comrade the Canon of Vicenza whom the Pope was so instant to defend and exempt from the Sentence of the Secular Justice The Breviates as we have said being wrote and Sealed were directed in this manner Marino Grimano Duci Reipub. Venetorum and then dispeeded with all secrecy by the Pope to his Nuntio at Venice which when he had done he called a Consistory of Cardinals and then first published and made known the whole matter to them enlarging himself with such heat and vehemence on every particular Point as that he seemed impatient of any contradiction not admitting any debate or consultation thereupon The Cardinals not being used to this manner of treatment who according to the antient constitution of Consistories were not only reputed Counsellours but Parties also in all matters of this moment did murmure at this rash and precipitate resolution of the Pope and having understood the reasons of the Pope on the one side and of the Republick on the other were divided into various Opinions The Consistory being ended the Cardinals Baronius and Perron used many arguments in private to the Pope persuading him to desist from so difficult and hazardous an Enterprise at least that he should expect a more favourable conjuncture of Affairs rather than adventure all by a hasty and inconsiderate advice but the Pope who was fixed on his Design became deaf to all Counsels which concurred not with his sense The Nuntio having received the Briefs delivered them on Christmas day in the Morning to the Counsellours at the time when they were assembled to hear the high Mass but the Doge Grimani lying at that time on his Death-bed and dying the next day the Senate delayed to open the Briefs until according to their usual Methods they had compleated the election of a new Prince Of which the Pope having advice he immediately dispatched Orders to his Nuntio commanding him to protest against the Republick and against their Election as being void and invalid and of no power whilest they remained under the Censure of Excommunication with this new device the Pope expected to make a division and a confusion in their Councils for he measuring the constitutions of Venice at the death of their Prince with those at Rome during the vacancy of the Sea did imagine that such a Bone as this thrown into so numerous an Assembly would beget great disturbances and diversity of Opinions but this Government which hath always been firm and constant and which admitted of no Interregnum kept constant to their antient Principles refusing to give Audience to the Nuntio or any other forein Representative unless it were to pass the Offices of Condolance for the death of the Prince Thus as we say this Election admitting of no interruption the same was compleated on the 10th of January 1606. by the unanimous consent of the Nobles concurring in the choice of Leonard Donato a Senatour of great eminence and esteem for the probity of his life his experience in Government and knowledg in Learning besides his heroick Vertues and qualities which recommended him to all mankind After this Election all the Ambassadours from forein Princes went to congratulate with the new Doge onely the Pope's Nuntio refrained from this Office notwithstanding which the Doge according to the usual form wrote to the Pope giving him advice of his Election to which the Pope contrary to his former intentions returned a favourable answer giving his Nuntio Order to pass the Complement and in person to congratulate with the Doge for the honour with which he was invested The first thing which after the election of the Prince was transacted in the Senate was the Controversie between the Pope and the Republick and in the first place the Cavalier Peter Duodo was appointed Ambassadour to be dispeeded to Rome Then the Pope's Briefs were in the next place to he considered the which being opened and read were found to run almost in the same stile and tenure one having reference to the Laws and the other to the Prisoners the Contents whereof were as followeth That whereas for some years past the Senate had in their publick Councils transacted and established several matters against the Liberties and Immunities of the Church and against the Canons Councils and Pontifical Constitutions And whereas the Council of the Pragadi in pursuance of such Laws
was excluded Campori made the greater bustle and so also did Aquino but great and strong Parties opposing against them vacated their Elections At length Cardinal Borghese naming Ludovisio was followed by a general concurrence of almost all the Cardinals almost we may say because Campori upon the news thereof turned pale and ready to fall into a swoon Aldobrandino also and Aquino fell sick and were carried out of the Conclave and Aquino having now lost all hopes of being made Pope took it so grievously to heart that in two days he departed this life Thus Ludovisio being elected he was conducted into the Chappel Parlina where he was vested in his Pontificalibus and acknowledged and adored for Pope on the 21th of February 1621. and took the name of Gregory XV. This Pope was born at Bologna on the third of January 1554. his Father was Count Pompeo Ludovisio and his Mother Camilla Blanchina he was in his youthful years educated in the Jesuits Colledg at Rome where he was instructed in all sorts of Humane and Philosophical Learning returning afterwards to Bologna he studied the Civil Law in which he arrived to the degree of Doctor and thence again setling himself at Rome he gained the friendship of three succeeding Popes by Gregory XIII he was chosen and created Principal Judg of the Capitol by Clement VIII he was made Referendary of both Signatures and presided in all Civil Causes in the place of Deputy to Cardinal Rusticuccio the Pope's Vicar he was afterwards assumed into Commission with the Auditors of the Rota which Office one of his Ancestors named Lodowick Ludovisio had about one hundred and fifty years before with great satisfaction and prudence admitted He was likewise by the same Clement VIII adjoyned in Commission with Maffeo Barbarini Clerk of the Apostolical Chamber who afterwards was Pope and sent to Beneventum to appease Tumults and Seditions arisen between the Officers of the Pope and those of the King of Spain And lastly Paul V. created him Arch-bishop of Bologna upon promotion to which Prelacy he wrote a Letter to his Diocesans full of Charity and paternal affection which was printed at Bologna and is extant at this day About this time a War was begun between Charles Emanuel Duke of Savoy and Ferdinand Duke of Mantoua grounded on certain differences about some places in the Dutchy of Montferrat which were the cause of great trouble in Milan and other places of Italy in regard that Philip III. King of Spain took part with the Duke of Mantoua to appease which disturbances and compose which differences Pope Paul employed this Alexander Ludovisio qualifying him with the Title of his Nuntio in those three Provinces to confer with the Ambassadours of France and Spain in which negotiation he so well acquitted himself and with such honour towards the Papal Sea that Peace being concluded and all Disputes ended the Pope in reward of the pains and prudence of Ludovisio on the 20th of November 1616. promoted him to the degree of Cardinal with which Title he resided in his Diocese until news came of the death of Paul V when he immediately repaired to Rome and entred the Conclave on the 8th of February with the other Cardinal and on the 21th of that month was himself created Pope Some few days after which being crowned in St. Peter's Church with the usual pomp he took possession of the Sovereign Power of the Church in the Church of St. John de Lateran which Ceremonies being past he published Jubilies and Pardons over all Christendom to all such who should with sincere minds pray for the prosperity and happiness of his Reign At this time a War began to be inflamed between the Inhabitants and Neighbours of the Valteline in which the Kings of Spain and France became involved the causes and original of which doth not appertain to this History Spain being desirous to interest Gregory in this Cause offered to deposite the Forts of the Valteline in his hands making great ostentations of their desires to Peace and quietness but in Rome the Opinions and Counsels upon an offer of such importance were doubtful and divided for those who penetrated the most deeply into matters of Policy were not willing that the Authority of the Church and Power of the Pope should be so far engaged or that the professed neutrality and mediation should run so much hazard for that being once accepted by the Pope the Conditions of Peace would be rendered more difficult and perhaps impossible for if in case an agreement should happen between two Kings of restoring all things to their former estate it would be difficult to conceive with what decency the Pope could restore into the hands of the Protestants whom he esteemed Hereticks those places which were committed to his Guardianship and custody The Venetian Republick being of the same Opinion sent Soranzo Ambassadour Extraordinary to Rome to disuade the Pope from lending his Name and Authority to the interests of Spain but he yielding an Ear to his Nephews who were overcome by Pensions and Benefices from Spain was possessed with an Opinion and belief that at the appearing of his Colours all the Arms of the Enemy would out of Veneration fall from their hands upon which the glorious memorial of Peace preserved and Religion protected would remain as an Ornament to his Name and a Crown upon his Sepulcre But the French shewed themselves displeased that Gregory had not expected the sence of that Crown upon the matter before he resolved to accept the Deposite howsoever in the French Councils the Opinion prevailed that the Pope should accept of the Deposite with certain limitations and reserves and it was declared that the Deposite should remain until the end of July it being now the month of May within which time the Forts being demolished and all restraints upon the Grisons and Armies removed which did oppress them affairs should be restored to their former State which not being performed the League should supplicate the Pope to join himself to their Arms thereby to obtain the effect In pursuance of these resolutions the Duke of Fiano the Pope's own Brother a dull and sottish Man was sent with fifteen thousand Foot and five hundred Horse to take possession of the Towns to be deposited but had been resisted in the Valley had not the Governour of Milan removed all obstacles but these matters came to no maturity for amidst these transactions the Pope departed this life In the year 1622. Lewis XIII of France was involved in great Wars against his Protestant Subjects and rendered himself Master of the Provinces of Poictou Xantonge Gascony Dauphino and Languedoc Philip IV. King of Spain was employed in Wars against the Hollanders likewise the Emperour Ferdinand II. waged Wars with the Protestants in Germany and with assistance of Marquis Spinola and the Duke of Bavaria despoiled the Prince Palatine of the Rhine of his Dominions and having the plunder of Heidelberg the Duke of Bavaria
of which was consented unto by his Majesty and summoned to meet the first of October following Thus far concerning the Regale we have extracted in short by way of Epitome from the Treatise of Dr. Burnet on that Subject Now as to what follow'd The Assembly met at the time appinted at the opening of which the Bishop of Meaux preached a most Eloquent Sermon with much applause After which the point of the Regale was put to the question and argued learnedly on both sides and in conclusion the greatest part were of Opinion that the Right unto the Regalia were inherent in the Crown and that the pretensions thereunto were Usurpations by the Church as appears by this following Declaration The Declaration of the Clergy of the Gallican Church concerning the Ecclesiastical Power We the Arch-Bishops and Bishops Representatives of the Gallican Church being by command of his Majesty assembled at Paris together with others of the Clergy in the same manner delegated with us after long debate and mature consideration have thought fit to declare and determine these several particulars following 1. First That a Power is given by God to St. Peter and his Successours who are the Vicars of Christ and to the Church to order and regulate all Spiritual matters but not to intermeddle in Civil or Temporal matters according to that saying of our Lord My Kingdom is not of this World And again Give unto Caesar the things that are Caesars and unto God the things which are Gods And agreeable hereunto is that of the Apostle Let every Soul be subject to the higher powers for there is no power but of God the powers which are are ordained of God and whosoever resisteth the power resisteth the Ordinance of God Wherefore Kings and Princes by the Law of God are not liable in Temporal matters to the Ecclesiastical Power nor by the Power of the Keys can they be Deposed either directly or indirectly or can their Subjects be absolved from their Fealty and Obedience to them or from their Oaths of Allegiance the which we confirm and determine as principles not onely necessary for conservation of the publick peace and tranquillity but for the better government of the Church and as truths agreeable to the Word of God the tradition of the Fathers and to the example and practise of Saints and Holy Men. 2. Secondly That the Apostolical See and the Successours of St. Peter who are the Vicars of Christ have a full and plenary power in all Spiritual matters in such manner as is given to them by the Holy Oecumenical Synod of Constance which is received by the Apostolical See and in such manner as hath been confirmed by the constant use and practise of the Popes of Rome and the whole Church and observed by the Religion of the Gallican Church and decreed by the Authority of the General Councils in the fourth and fifth Sessions And the Gallican Church doth condemn the Opinions of those who esteeming those Decrees of doubtful Authority do endeavour to restrain them to certain times of Schism and to invalidate the present power thereof 3. Thirdly Hence it is that the 3d exercise of the Apostolical power is to be regulated by Canons established by the Spirit of God and thereunto all the World is to bear respect and Reverence Likewise the Rules Manners and Institutions received by the Kingdom and Church of France as also the customs of our Forefathers are to remain unalterable the which is a clear demonstration of the greatness of the Apostolical See that the Statutes and Ordinances thereof are established and confirmed by and with the consent of the Churches 4. Fourthly In questions of Faith the Pope is Chief Judg and his Decrees extend themselves to the Churches in general and to every one in particular nor can his judgment be repealed unless by the consent and determination of the Universal Church 5. Fifthly These particulars received from the Doctrine of our Fore-fathers we have by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost Decreed to send unto all the Gallican Churches and the Bishops presiding over them And we do all concur in the same sence and meaning of them Subscribed by Arch-Bishops and Bishops and Clergy as before related and registred as required by the King's Attorney General March 23. 1682. The Pope who during his Reign had not as yet assumed any to the degree of Cardinal to supply the places of those who were dead the College was diminished twenty six in their number which when the Pope considered and that old Men were every day dying and falling off he was inspired to replenish the places with a supply of sixteen new Cardinals which were these that follow 1. John Baptista Spinola of sixty seven years of Age a Genoese who was Governour of Rome and Secretary of the Congregation of Regulars 2. Anthony Pignatelli a Napolitan of sixty six years of age Bishop of Lecca and Master of the Pope's Chamber 3. Stephen Brancaccio a Napolitan of sixty four years of age 4. Stephen Agostini of sixty five years of age Arch-Bishop of Heraclea and Datary to the Pope 5. Francis Bonvisi of Luca aged sixty three years Arch-Bishop of Thessalonica and Nuntio residing at Vienna 6. Savo Mellini a Roman aged thirty seven years Arch-Bishop of Cesarea and Nuntio in Spain 7. Frederick Visconti of Milan aged sixty three Auditor of the Rota and Arch-Bishop of Milan 8. Marco Gallio of Como aged sixty nine years Bishop of Rimini and Vice-gerent of Rome 9. Flaminio del Tayo of Siena aged eighty years Auditor of the Rota and Chief Penitentiary 10. Raymond Capizucchi a Roman aged sixty nine years Master of the Palace 11. John Baptista de Luca a Napolitan aged sixty four years Auditor to the Pope 12. Laurentio Brancati of Laurea in Calabria aged sixty four years Library-keeper of the Vatican 13. Vrbano Lacchetti of Florence aged forty four years Auditor of the Apostolical Chamber 14. John Francisco Ginetti a Roman aged sixty years Treasurer of the Apostolical Chamber 15. Benedict Pamfilio aged twenty eight years Grand Prior of Rome 16. Michael Angelo Ricci aged sixty five years Secretary of the Congregation of Indulgences The other ten Hats remaining were kept in the hand of the Pope for a reserve wherewith to gratifie Kings and Princes whensoever they should desire to have some of their own Creatures preferred to that Dignity All the sixteen preceding Cardinals took their promotion very patiently and without much reluctancy excepting Tayo who was eighty years of age and Ricci both which made some modest refusals as unworthy of that great honour but the Pope instantly constraining them they with humility submitted And here it is observable that this Pope is not very forward to create Cardinals but rather inclinable to lessen and reduce their number which of late years hath increased to that degree as to become a burthen to the Church But to return unto the Assembly at Paris which after many Debates and deliberate