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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A47947	Il cardinalismo di Santa Chiesa, or, The history of the cardinals of the Roman Church from the time of their first creation, to the election of the present Pope, Clement the Ninth, with a full account of his conclave, in three parts / written in Italian by the author of the Nipotismo di Roma ; and faithfully Englished by G.H.; Cardinalismo di Santa Chiesa. English	Leti, Gregorio, 1630-1701.; G. H.	1670 (1670)	Wing L1330; ESTC R2263	502,829	344

Roman Court not only Bishopricks and Masterships but even Cardinalships too But those Missionaries who have wit in their heads and zeal in their hearts go in another road and do things with more maturity of judgement For remedy of such disorders as these 't were fit some persons of authority had inspection into the promoting of Religion otherwise the ordinary Clergymen either through ignorance passion or humour spoil all break a sunder what ought to be joyn'd together and joyn what ought to be separated and bring things into confusion and ruine The Roman Church having resolv'd to assume to its self both a Spiritual and a Temporal Dominion and to make Cardinals precede Princes and Priests Magistrates hath thought fit for the more easie preservation of its Grandeur that not only the Cardinals but the Priests too should keep up a certain Majesty and eminent decorum which intention been so diligently pursu'd that they run even into excess without which excess I believe things would not proceed so agreeably to their humour On the other side the Protestants that is to say the Ministers and Ecclesiastical Pastors for the better preserving their Religion in its due decorum are contented to live with modesty suitable to their Pastoral Charge that is to administer the Sacraments to Preach to visit the Sick to instruct the people in the power of the H. Scripture referring Command Authority Temporal Dominion and even the Protection of Religion to the secular arm of Magistrates and Princes and teaching all to know by proofs both Holy and Political the Preheminence of the Majesty of Soveraigns above the Jurisdiction Ecclesiastical and the obligation incumbent upon Ecclesiasticks to obey the Temporal Power And indeed the Protestant Religion flourishes more and shines with more decency in those places where the Magistrates and Secular Governours have their eyes most open over the people taking cognisance of their actions not only so far as concerns the duty of a Subject towards his Prince but also in reference to Spiritual matters and this not only by the assistance of the Pastors but also by their own proper office which suffers not any to exercise their Spiritual Function but by derivative power from the Magistrate as he that is chosen by God to preside in the midst of his people to the end they may not run headlong without such a stay and guide into irremediable and dangerous errors The Magistrates and Princes study and endeavour as much as possibly to advance their Soveraignty more and more above the Jurisdiction of Churchmen but these aware of the design which might prejudice their independency are not asleep in the mean time but strive not only to preserve but likewise to promote their jurisdiction beyond what they have already if it be possible and they would effect it did not Princes and Magistrates make use of Policy whereby without prejudicing the Church's Interests they restrain the ambition which in these dayes seems natural to all the Churchmen of the world to say no more The Ecclesiasticks who take it in disdain when they see Magistrates intermeddle with their Assemblies the Elections to Spiritual Charges and the Orders of Spiritual Functions have no reason at all to complain of a thing so reasonable because to speak truth Churchmen are in these dayes so farr respected by the people as the Magistrates cause them to be respected by their secular power and the people are so farr inflam'd with zeal for their own Religion as they see the Magistrate zealous for it and the preservation of the Common Liberty For my part I firmly believe there can be no better course to destroy the Protestant Religion than to sow discord between the Clergy and the Magistrate and to bring it to pass that the Ecclesiasticks not contented with the degree and limits of their proper charge may rise against the Princes and Governours an instance whereof is to be seen in a certain Kingdom which perhaps bewails the effects of that Policy even to this day But the thing were impossible in these times inasmuch as the Magistrates well aware of the project have provided remedies against it in such sort that the Churchmen glory in their Loyalty and Obedience towards them if for no other reason yet at least to avoid the involving of Religion in some Schism or other and the bringing of themselves into a Labyrinth hard to get out of without first undergoing the consequences wont to arrive upon civil broils In short the Roman Religion continues such as it is that is good for the Church-men and bad for the Laity on this account that the Ecclesiasticks make use of an absolute and independent authority in Spirituals and very much likewise in Temporals and on the contrary the Protestant Religion is so far Protestant as the Magistrates have the supremacy both in Spirituals and Temporals If Liberty of Conscience which is so much talk'd of amongst the Protestants and the principal point of the Reformation should any wise come to be molested by the Supreme Authority upon the Ecclesiasticks ambition and invasion of the same there would no longer be a Liberty but a Slavery for People seeing themselves commanded by the Ecclesiasticks would think their Consciences enslav'd and not free it being proper to Churchmen to proceed with too much Zeal or too much Ambition and to be displeas'd when they see that they are not obey'd like Angels although in their commanding they remember not that themselves are but men And indeed the Protestants desire to serve God not according to the Orders and Precepts of men but according to the Divine Laws registred in the H. Scripture which they daily read in their Assemblies publick and private and therefore they reverence their Ministers as men who are contented to preach without commanding The Protestants doubt I conceive lest the Ecclesiasticks being addicted to study and speculation in case the Supreme Authority should be united in them they would reverse the old Model which is Christs and impose a new one upon them of their own and of a plain Ecclesiastical Ordinance make a new Divine Precept and therefore they are very well pleas'd to see the Magistrate use such great care and diligence for the preservation of that Religion which they pretend to be of Divine Institution without any additions of humane invention although the Catholicks accuse them of pinning their Faith upon Luther and Calvin which is false for neither Luther not Calvin instituted any new Religion The Catholick Religion or rather the Roman as we call it in the Primitive times when the piety of Pastors was as conspicuous to their Flock as the Sun went almost in the same order whilst the Emperors manag'd Ecclesiastical Elections and the Magistrates not only preceeded the Churchmen but besides in case of deficience oblig'd them to their duty and constrain'd them to be diligent in feeding the flock of Christ with Charity yea they permitted them not to exercise any publick Function but

on foot was contriving which way to give ease to the Church and therefore by the Orders of all Nations in Christendom John was cited to appear at a General Councel to extinguish the said Schisms he sent two Cardinals immediately into Germany to negotiate with the Princes of that Country and of France about election of a place proper for the celebration of so great a Councel By the major part of the Nations Constance was pitch'd upon as the most convenient city of all At the time appointed they met and John amongst the rest though he had been disswaded by the soberest of his friends presaging the danger he was in of going a Pope and returning a private person as it happen'd For all this John would goe and he carried along with him certain persons excellent in all manner of learning with whom he held the Germans for a long time in variety of disputes and a thousand ambiguities and doubts to resolve upon that which ought to be resolved on But Sigismund arriving at the same time and free liberty being given of discovering other peoples defects there were several great delinquencies objected against John who being conscious of their truth and fearing corporal punishment as well as to be depriv'd of the Papacy he fled out of Constance in the disguise of a footman and retiring to Shaffusen a City belonging to Frederick Duke of Austria whither several Cardinals of his creation fled also By the authority of the Councel John being recited he fled again from Shaffusen to Fribourg designing to throw himself under the protection of the Duke of Burgundy But he was taken and by Order of the Councel imprison'd in the Isle of St. Mark near Constance in the fifth year of his Pontificat The Councel not suspecting John's Escape chose certain grave and learned Judges giving them authority to form diligent process upon the actions and life of John and to report his misdemeanors to the whole body of the Councel There were above forty Articles prov'd against him some of them so small they might have been excus'd but others there were would have beg●t great scandal to the church if they should have pass'd unpunished and these were such as declar'd him a Heretick a Sodomite a Murderer a Simoniac a Perjur'd person a Blasphemer a Hypocrite a Gamester an Adulterer a Fornicater a Poisoner an Usurer a Profaner and so forth Upon these considerations all the Fathers concurring in the sentence John was legally depos'd and the sentence sent to him to subscribe which being in prison he willingly did That being done he was deliver'd into the hands of Ludovico Bavaro a great favourer of Gregory the 12th to be kept in safe custody till the Councel should determine otherwise of him Three years he continued a prisoner in the castle of Haldelberg under no few afflictions the greatest of them all was that he was not permitted to have any Italians to his servants and the Souldiers that guarded him being all Germans they understood not one word that was spoken on either side so as their discourse was only by signs What manner of life this Pope had led may be argued from his sentence which was given by those only who had been formerly of his parry and had created him Pope for those who were of Gregory's and Benedicts faction were not yet arriv'd at the Councel and receiv'd the news of it upon the way In this Councel a Decree was publish'd by the Fathers which presided declaring that a General Councel lawfully assembled was unquestionably above the Pope and had its power immediately from Christs and that therefore the authority of the Pope must needs be inferiour to theirs Gregory was resolv'd not to be there himself being so perswaded by the Emperour Sigismond and therefore he sent Charles Malatesta a very worthy person in his name who seeing all the Fathers of the Councel resolv'd upon their sentence that Gregory should renounce got up publiquely upon the Seat which was prepar'd for Gregory and as if he had been present himself having read the power he had from Gregory to renounce he renounc'd the Papacy in his name and declar'd him but a private person For this prompt and liberal resignation Gregory was immediately declar'd Legat della Marca and went to his charge but he liv'd not long in his Office dying at Ricanati of pure discontent because Malatesta had made his renuntiation so soon believing that if he had delay'd his renuntiation for a while he might have found out some expedient to have kept the sacred Mantle upon his Shoulders He dy'd therefore before the creation of Martin and was buried in the church of Ricanati and thus two Popes John and Gregory being taken out of the way there remained a third still which was Pieter del Lnna call'd by the name of Benedict the thirteenth who made more difficulty of renouncing the Popedom than the other two and because he had declar'd that he would never consent to the renuntiation to make him do it by force the Emperour Sigismond with the Orators of the Councel went in person to the Kings of France and of England perswading them that they ought to be instrumental in the safety of Christendom and the ease and security of the church which was to be done by forcing Benedict to renounce the Papacy as the other two had done Sigismond having received a satisfactory answer from these two Princes he went to Narbon discours'd personally with Ferdinand King of Arragon whose Subjects or at least the greatest part of them paid obedience to Benedict Amongst the rest one of their resolutions was that Benedict should be perswaded with efficacious arguments not to remain so untractable in resolving to do that which the other two had done And if notwithstanding force of argument was not sufficient to remove him from his pertinacity that in such case the King should force his Subjects to desert the said Benedict and follow whom the Council of Constance should ordain and accordingly he sent a most eloquent Ambassador to him But Benedict who found himself in a strong place and the people affectionate to him suffer'd himself neither to be overcome nor mov'd by their perswasions alleaging still for his answer that he was the true Vicar of Christ and that Constance was not a place convenient for the liberty of an Ecclesiastical Council seeing that John had been condemn'd and depos'd from the Papacy by those very persons who had been formerly his friends and receiv'd him to the Pontifical Dignity The Princes of Spain observing the pertinacity of Benedict concurr'd with the opinion of the Council which was manag'd by five several Nations viz. Italy Germany France Spain and England all that these Nations had then done was approv'd and was publish'd by a Trumpet or a publick Notary As soon as by a general consent all was confirm'd and Benedicts cause had been discuss'd in this order and method for several dayes At last he was

absolutely at least they precede the interests of God and his Church and this I am sure but few Cardinals with a good Conscience can deny This way of proceeding so blindly in the Elections of the Pope has prevail'd for above three hundred years but for an Age past it is so usual and rooted that it seems a necessary virtue Now the Cardinals who are ingag'd both to the Princes and the Church do in the Elections of the Popes stand as it were in a Precipice and are in danger of running themselves upon Scylla to avoid Charibdis or upon Charibdis to avoid Scylla and this is it that obliges the Cardinals many times to endure imprisonment in the Conclave several dayes together And to render the Election of the Pope more tedious and pernicious that is more adhaesive to the world there is another thing introduc'd likewise into the Conclave within this last Age and that is the faction of the Nephews which prevails dayly and overgrows both the factions of Spain of France and all the Princes in Christendome The faction of the Nephews was the cause as we shall show in its proper place that after the death of Vrban and Innocent the Cardinals remain'd several weeks and months shut up in the Conclave without being able to agree the interest of the Nephews over-powring the intreest of the Crowns which ought to have been the greater of the two And now behold the liberty of the Cardinals inslav'd to the Tyranny of the Nephews the Ambition of the Nephews Lording it over the Priviledges of the Church Is it necessary then that young men be preferr'd before old that Ganimed be ador'd before Jupiter Is it reasonable to exclude those who can say and speak truth Quadraginta annis proximus fui generationi huic and to admit them who but begin to say the Introibo in domum tuum Domine Must it be then that if in the Sacred Colledge there be found one Cardinal worthy of the Papacy must it be I say that he must stand depriv'd and uncapable because he was not created by the last Pope In this manner things are now carry'd because they will have it so but doubtless it ought to be otherwise At present and for a hundred years past the vote of the Cardinals is not free the last takes place of the first and the first are forc'd to give place to the last The Hereticks laugh and the Catholicks laugh and some of those Romans who are neither Catholicks nor Hereticks make Pasquins upon the subject a subject indeed too scandalous and reproachfull to the whole Colledge but especially to those Cardinals who laying aside their own liberties and the liberty of the Church adhere so close to the interest of the Nephews manifesting thereby that it was not their merit advanc'd them to the Cardinalitial Dignity but their Devotion to the Nephews and pronouncing themselves Cardinals of the Nipotisme rather than of the Holy Church seeing they do not serve the Church but the Nipotisme Some few dayes past I had an accidental occasion of discoursing with a certain Prelate or Abbot of Rome who amongst variety of other things relating to the interests of the Court of Rome happen'd in the process of his discourse to declare that he had been Conclavist to a Cardinal in the last Conclave of Chigi I out of my natural curiosity and in order to my History which I was then a compiling giving thanks to Heaven for so propitious an opportunity beseech'd the Abbot very earnestly that he would inform me of some particulars touching the interests of the Princes in the Election of the Popes The Abbot fetch'd a sigh at my request and gave me this answer Sir in the Election of the Pope the least thing that prevails is the interest of the Princes and especially of the Crowns if you knew at what rate things are carry'd in the Conclave you 'd bless your self There is not a word of any thing but the Nephews and the interests of the Crowns are us'd but as a meer shadow to the interest of the Nipotisme for my part I believe the Princes weary to see the interests of the Nephews preferr'd to theirs in a matter of that consequence will leave Rome to the Cardinals and the Cardinals in Rome who finding themselves depriv'd of the riches the Princes give them to defend their interest will every one cry out without doubt Quid faciam miser quia Dominus meus aufert a me villicationem And this I am sure of that if ever the Princes shall resolve to take that course their interests in the Conclave will be greater than they are now which if not nothing at all are at least so little they know not where to find them themselves Certainly if things be consider'd impartially it will be found that the Papacy is not Elective as it seems in appearance but Hereditary to the Nephews for as much as the Nephews of the deceas'd Pope are they which govern all in the Conclave and will have it one way or other in spight of all those who endeavour to oppose them But because a business of such importance desires better proofs I shall proceed according to the order of Elections and by experience of the successes of the Conclaves since Paul the third render the Reader so well satisfy'd and inform'd that he may himself confess the Papacy is now become Hereditary to the Nipotism of Rome Paul the third pass'd from this to a better life on the 10th of November 1549. and his ob●equies being perform'd the Lord Cardinals to the number of 47. enter'd into the Conclave they were divided into three factions the first for France govern'd by the Cardinal Guise the second for the Emperor manag'd by the Cardinal of Trent and the third of the Creatures of Paul conducted by Cardinal Farnese a young man but as well vers'd and experienc'd in Politick affairs as was to be expected from his age and something better Amongst the Cardinals of the faction of Farnese there were certain others promoted in the time of Paul and which is more considerable they were able men and mature both in judgement and age by which means this faction being the greatest of the three was courted and caress'd by both the other At the beginning of the Conclave the reputation of the Cardinal Farnese began to be very great all people acknowledging it impossible to put an end to the Conclave without his concurrence so that each of the two factions took what pains they could to draw him to their side but because to oblige his Creatures the more to him he had declar'd to do nothing but by the deliberation and consent of all his aforesaid Creatures together Farnese being weary of the importunities of the Imperialists and the French re●olv'd before he engag'd himself to consuit certain of his Creatures more judicious than the rest who fail'd not to advise him with great reason and solidity Some of them declar'd