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
judgment of the Pope for tho the Emperor did most strictly forbid and inhibit any person to oppugn the Doctrins contained in this Book of Interim either by Practice Writings or Preaching yet notwithstanding the Protestants on one side did not forbear to refute this Confession of Ausbourg by their publick Writings and Disputations and on the other Francis Romeo General of the Dominican Friers did by command from the Pope appoint several Learned men of that Order to refute that Formulary of the Interim In France also many wrote against it and in a short time great numbers both of Catholicks and Protestants oppugned it with heat of argument it having hapned in this matter as in others of the like nature that where middle terms or moderate expedients have been proposed between the extremes of opposite Factions for accommodating or reconciling their differences there the event hath been no other than that the contrary parties have impugned the expedients and both have been hardned and confirmed in their own Tenents and Opinions These debates and troubles gave a stop to the proceedings of the Council at Bologna for the space of two years and until almost the end of the year 1549. when at the beginning of November news came to the Pope then at Rome that the Duke Ottavio Farnese his Nephew who having against his own inclinations been detained by the Pope at Rome out of tenderness to his life lest he should incur the same fate as Pier-luigi had done was privately escaped out of the City and was then actually dealing with Ferdinand Gonzaga the Governor of Milan to instate him in Parma in despight of Camillo Orsino who was to keep and defend the Town in right of the Ecclesiastical State The which news so surprised the mind of the Pope with sensible grief and commotion of spirit who was not as yet recovered of the sorrow he had conceived for the fate of his Son Pierluigi that he presently fell into a swound or Leipothymie from which being revived was seized by so violent a Fever that in three days he died thereof being the 10th of November at his Palace of Monte Cavallo where he usually resided because it was esteemed a place of the best Air in Rome He had held the Papal Sea 15 years and 28 days and was arrived to the age of 81 years eight months and 10 days He was buried in S. Peter's Church without any great pomp or State and afterwards the Sea was vacant two months and 29 days JVLIVS III. THE Cardinals having as accustomary celebrated the Funeral Obsequies of the Pope deceased for the space of nine days did on the tenth enter into the Conclave but then considering the small appearance of Cardinals few being then present the formal recess and retirement into the Conclave was deferred for some time And here it is to be observed that the Cardinals were divided into three Factions the first favoured the Emperor the second was inclined to the French King and a third consisted of such Cardinals as had been the creatures of the late Pope deceased and by him promoted to several Benefices and Dignities the Cape or chief of which was Cardinal Farnese Nephew to Paul the Third who tho young was yet active subtil and of a judgment solid and of as good experience in the Court as could be expected in a person of his years This last party as it was numerous so it was composed of ancient Cardinals men of great authority and knowledg in the world and such as were able to bear down the ballance in favour of any person to which they inclined for which reason great courtship was made to Cardinal Farnese both by the Imperial and French Ministers whose arguments on both sides were so forcible to draw him to their party that being doubtful unto which he should incline resolved on a neutrality as the safest course whereby to steer tho in reality he seemed on occasions to lean most to the French party This was the state of affairs at Rome when about the beginning of the month of December 1549. the Cardinals entered into the Conclave Farnese in the first place proposed to his own Party the choice of Cardinal Poole an English man a person against whom for the nobility of his extraction his godliness and exemplary life nothing could be objected and being also acceptable to the Imperialists and displeasing to no party he found many friends ready to give their Votes for him amongst which the most considerable were the Cardinals of Trent Sforza and Crescentio who had drawn also Morone and Maffei to their Party who being all men of considerable interest did agree immediately to present him in the Conclave and assume him to the Papal Dignity But some of the old Cardinals who seemingly assented thereunto yet being inwardly envious to see a younger man preferred over their heads did advise to delay the time for a while lest the Election which ought to be mature and grave should seem to have been over-hasty and precipitate tho in reality this delay was caused by that hopes which every one entertained of being himself the person that should be elected by which means the choice of Poole being until the next day suspended the contrary party such as Monti Cesis and Gaddi who were all Pretenders and Candidates had time to make their Parties Cardinal Salviati labouring all the night for the exclusion of Poole The next day the Cardinals being assembled in the Chappel to the number of 49. Cardinal Fortone one of the French Faction publickly accused Poole of Heresie and for that reason protested against his choice Howsoever his Friends esteeming his report false and scandalous pressed forward the scrutiny in pursuance of which the Votes being put into a Chalice 26 were found in favour of Poole but in regard that 33 at least out of 49 were required to make the Election legitimate Poole was excluded to the great disappointment of himself and the Imperial Party who esteemed the choice to have been secure and certain In relation hereof I have been the more large because it concerned one of our Country-men and may have reference to some particulars which are to follow After which several other Cardinals experienced their fortunes but to no effect the Factions being every day more heated and embroiled so that they could not come to any agreement at length they resolved to nominate nine persons out of which the Imperialists might choose one that was most acceptable to them The persons proposed were three French men viz. Lorene Tornon and Bellai three Italians Salviati Ridolfi and Trani and three Imperialists Theatino Monti and San Marcello against whom nothing was objected excepting Monti whom Cardinal Ghisa accused of a wicked life publishing many Vices of which he was guilty and rendering him unworthy of the Priesthood and Holy Orders into which he was entered Howsoever at length the Cardinals growing weary with so long a continuation of the Conclave resolved
THE LIVES OF THE POPES From the time of our Saviour Jesus Christ TO THE REIGN OF SIXTUS IV. Written Originally in Latine by BAPTISTA PLATINA Native of Cremona And Translated into ENGLISH And the same History continued from the Year 1471. to this present time wherein the most remarkable Passages of Christendom both in Church and State are Treated of and Described By PAUL RYCAUT Esq LONDON Printed for Christopher Wilkinson at the Black Boy over against S. Dunstan's Church in Fleetstreet 1685. TO THE READER THE History of Platina of the Lives of the Popes being rendred into English by an unknown hand was delivered to me by the Bookseller and considering that Platina was an Author of good Reputation and Authority in the World I often wished that he had lived in that Age in which he might have deduced his History from ancient to the present times or that some other of our learned men would have continued the same in the Language of our own Country for since our Tongue is so well refined and so copious it ought justly to comprehend all those Histories Sciences and Arts which are related and made known in forreign Languages But observing that this Work was neglected and not thought worthy the labour of better Pens I essayed to do it in my own rude and plain Style without affectation or ornament more than what the simplicity of naked truth would afford me in search of which I have always had recourse to the best and to the most impartial Authors who have neither disguised the Vices of Men by flattery nor out of prejudice branded those Actions with shame and obloquy which might have admitted of a fairer character Nor have I mixed any thing of Religion in this History but where the nature of the relation could not subsist without it for in regard the Court and not the Church of Rome is the subject on which I treat I have made the Points of Religion accidental only to the following Discourses But as to Platina himself Trithemius in his Treatise of Ecclesiastical Writers gives him this Character He was born sayes he at Cremona was Breviary to the Pope and a man learned in all Sciences he was an excellent Philosopher and a famous Orator of an acute and ready wit and perswasive eloquence he was couragious and so constant to his principles that under Pope Paul II. he was deprived of his Estate and Preferments and after having endured the wrack or torture he was cruelly cast into Prison where he remained during the Reign of this Paul II. afterwards he was set at liberty by Sixtus IV. to whom he dedicated this following History of the Popes He died at Rome of the Plague Aged 60 years A. D. 1481. Frederick III. being Emperour and Sixtus IV. being Pope AN INTRODUCTION To the following HISTORY THIS continuation of Plaetina the subject of which is the Lives and Reigns of the Popes is a Treatise purely historical collected from feveral Latin French and Italian Authors whose design being solely to transmit matter of Fact to posterity did not intermeddle with points of Religion but as they accidentally occurred in the connexion of History there being a vast difference between the Church of Rome and the Court of Rome To this latter Notion which consists of a Pope who is Sovereign and of seventy Cardinals or more who are his Counsellours besides a great number of Prelats we shall confine our Discourse And whereas the Pope is a Prince who hath a Temporal Dominion under his Government and Jurisdiction it is no wonder if he and the Creatures and Confidents who attend him in all his Counsels should act by Maximes purely civil and political whence it is that Popes are approached with so much more awe and profound Reverence than is performed towards Kings and Emperours because the Spiritual comes in to maintain and uphold the Authority of the Temporal and both being united do mutually support each other hence proceed all the flatteries used in that Court all the contrivances which Ambition can suggest to raise Families and make those great who are in Authority And in short nothing is omitted which the Wit of Man and the Artifices of the most refined Heads in the World such as those are at Rome can devise to conserve and exalt the Interest and Authority of that Court. The Original of this Jurisdiction which is encreased to such a degree of Power and Greatness as is become suspected by Kings and formidable to its people sprang at first from those words of our Saviour to his Apostles Whose sins ye shall forgive on Earth shall be forgiven in Heaven and whose sins ye shall bind on Earth shall be bound in Heaven the which large and extensive priviledg was attended with a Commission to feed Christs Flock to preach the Gospel and to administer the Sacraments and with an exhortation to all the faithful to love one the other and to pardon and forgive each other their offences The Primitive Church which was always zealous to reconcile the Brethren and procure pardon of the Offender from the person offended did ordain according to the Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians that the Saints or Christians should not maintain a process of Law one against the other at the Bar or Tribunals of Infidels but that they should rather appoint and constitute some of the Faithful who were Men of approved wisdom and integrity to hear and examine and determine all their differences This manner of trial was certainly submitted unto with great charity of the both parties and with an unbiassed sentence of the Judg for the first had no power over them to enforce execution unless the constraint of their own Consciences which bore witness that the adjudgment was from God Nor did the Ecclesiastical Judg pronounce sentence without regret sorrow and grief for the Delinquent as appears by the words of St. Paul 2 Cor. chap. 2. where the sorrow of the Offender is said to be so great as to require comfort and that the Judg also did partake in the like affliction and anguish of heart with him This dispensation of the Ecclesiastical Censures being a work of great Charity was an Office onely proper for such as had attained to a good esteem for piety and to the degree and dignity of a Bishop But as the Faithful encreased and the Churches became numerous so the deliberations on Causes were too heavy and burdensom for the Bishop alone and therefore though the Bills and Processes at Law were received by the hands of the Bishop they were yet afterwards transferred to the consideration of the Ancients who were called Presbyters which being digested by them received their ultimate determination and sentence from the General Assembly of the Church the which practice was in use in the year of our Lord 250. as appears by the Epistles of St. Cyprian wherein he writes to the Presbyters of his Diocese of Carthage that he intended not
should succeed him a Right for ever to chuse a Successour and certainly he could not mean a Successour to the Kingdom of Germany which was hereditary and independent of the Roman See and therefore it can onely have reference to the Imperial Dignity Now whereas by the decease of Otho the 3d. who died without issue this Right of the Emperour devolved to the States who succeeded to the Sovereign Authority for it is a sure Maxim That the King cannot die they therefore challenged and appropriated to themselves the same Right of chusing Emperours the which afterwards they resigned and transferred to the seven Electors who exercise the same power unto this day three of which viz. Mentz Triers and Colen are Ecclesiasticks being Arch-bishops and Arch-Chancellours to shew and keep in remembrance that the Ecclesiastical State had once a Right in the Election of Emperours But Historians are so much at variance in this point and relate it with such variety that we shall not search farther into this matter but proceed to our purpose of the Election of Popes and of the formality therein used in this Age. We have in our foregoing Discourse mentioned that Popes were antiently chosen by the Nobility Clergy and people of Rome which was certainly the Original Custom Though the Book of the Sacred Ceremonies used in the Church of Rome tells us That St. Peter named Clemens for his Successour provided that it might so seem good to the Senators of the Roman Church that is to the Presbyters of which St. Peter had constituted a College of twenty four before his death with power and Authority to decide and determine all matters of difficulty arising in the Church The which Presbyters having little or no regard to the nomination and appointment of St. Peter chose Linus and after him Cletus and then Clemens succeeded who was rather recommended than chosen by St. Peter that so it might more plainly appear that Popes had not a Right to Elect their Successours for if that priviledg was denied to St. Peter much more ought it to be unto those who succeeded him These twenty four Presbyters were in the time of Pope Sylvester the first called Cardinals that is Princes in the Church on whom Innocent the 4th at the Council of Lions bestowed the red Hat as a mark and badg of their Dignity afterwards Schisms and Dissentions arising amongst the Senators the Clergy and people of Rome were admitted to be present at the Election but to have no Voice or Suffrage therein afterwards the force and violence of the people was such that they would have a Voice and concur with others in their Votes This popular way of Election caused such heats and disturbances that the Emperours were constrained for keeping the peace to interpose by their Authority and to Order that no Election should stand good until it was confirmed by the Imperial approbation The Kingdom of the Lombards being overthrown in the year 776. the Roman Empire was translated from the Greek to the German Princes and then Charles the Great assumed and exercised this power of Electing or what is all one the confirming of Popes Afterwards a Series of pious Emperours succeeding and considering that the Supreme Bishop was Instituted and Ordained by Christ himself to be a Shepherd to the Emperour as well as to feed his other Flock and to purge and spiritually to judg them they renounced the power of confirming Popes and entirely transferred it to the Roman Presbyters the Clergy and the people This popular manner of Election produced parties Schisms and contentions which often broke forth into bloud and wounds so that there was scarce a Regular Election for a long time the strongest always possessing the Chair until he was subverted by another more powerful than himself so that in the space of few years nine several Men seized on the Papal Chair namely Benedict the 9th Sylvester the 3d. Gregory the 6th Clement the 2d Damasus the 2d Leo the 2d Victor the 2d Stephen the 9th and Benedict the 10th To which last Nicolas the 2d succeeding a person of unparallel'd Sanctity and Wisdom did in the year 1051. study to cure and prevent these riotous courses for the future which upon the choice of every Pope were ready to bring and precipitate every thing into confusion For a Remedy whereunto he established a Law which was afterwards confirmed by the Council of Lateran that the election of the Popes should entirely rest and remain in the power of the Cardinals the which Law or Canon was afterwards confirmed by Alexander the 3d. and by Gregory the 10th in the Council of Lions and at Vienna by Clement the 6th The which happy Constitution hath tended much to the peace and quiet of the Church and as a Rule hereof Alexander the 3d. instituted at a General Council that he onely should be esteemed to have been canonically elected who had obtained his Choice by at least two Thirds of the College of Cardinals This power of Election hath ever since that time rested in the power of the Cardinals who after the Octaves appointed for solemnizing the Funerals of the deceased Pope have on the 9th or 10th day entered the Conclave in order to a new Election The Conclave is for the most part held at the Vatican Palace where in a long Gallery are erected small Apartments or Cells made of boards covered with purple Cloth for every Cardinal which place is appointed for the more convenient conference each with other to every Cardinal is allowed no more than two Servants which are called his Conclavists unless in case of sickness or other infirmity when three may be admitted The Cardinals being entered the Conclave is strictly guarded with the City Militia to hinder all commerce and intercourse of Letters from without The Gallery also is very closely watched being kept by a Master of the Ceremonies so that when the Cardinals have their Dishes served up to them they are visited and inspected by him lest any Letters or Advices should be concealed within the Meat According to this first Institution the Cardinals have a free use of several dishes of Meat for the first three days and whilst they are eating or doing any thing else in their Cells the outward Curtains are to be open and undrawn unless in the Night when they sleep or at other times that they take their repose when great care is taken that no undecent noise or disturbance be given It hath been accustomary of late years for the Cardinals to premise certain particular points and Articles necessary and convenient for the better government of the Church which are subscribed by the whole Community and every one takes an Oath to observe them in case he should prove to be the person chosen and promoted to the Pontifical Dignity After which matters are performed they proceed to an Election There are three ways by which Popes are chosen namely by Scrutiny by Access or
died and was buried in S. Peter's Church October the 12th He was in the Chair four years two months thirteen days and by his death the See was vacant three days BONIFACE II. BONIFACE the second a Roman Son of Sigismund was also in the time of Justinian A Prince whose vast Parts and Learning qualified him for that great Work which for the publick Good he undertook of collecting and methodizing the scattered Roman Laws and retrenching those which were useless and superfluous Yet herein he made use of the Advice and assistance of John a Patrician Trebonianus Theophilus and Dorotheus men of great Learning and Authority With their help an immense number of near two thousand Volumes of Decrees made from the building of the City to this time confusedly heaped together were digested under their respective Titles into fifty Books which are sometimes called Digests and sometimes Pandects because they contain the whole Civil Law He made also an Epitome of the Laws in four Books which go under the name of Institutes or Justinian's Code Moreover some tell us that Justinian wrote certain Books concerning the Incarnation of our Lord and that at his own charge he built the Temple of S. Sophia than which there is not a more noble and magnificent Pile of Buildings in the World In his Reign 〈◊〉 was made Bishop of Rome though not without some opposition for the Clergy being divided one Party of them chose Dioscorus into the place of Felix deceased The Contention about this matter lasted twenty eight days but the death of Dioscorus put an end to the Controversie Things being quiet Boniface applyed himself to the setling of the Church and decreed that no Bishop should appoint his own successour which was afterwards confirm'd by several following Bishops of Rome He decreed also that upon the decease of any Bishop of Rome another should be chosen to succeed him if it might be within three days to prevent any bandying or dissention which might be occasioned by delay He ordained likewise that the Clergy should be seperated and placed distinct from the Laity at the time of Celebration At the same time many of the Roman Nobility were so wrought upon by the Sanctity of Benedict that they retired to Mount Cassino and became Monks there among whom the more eminent were Maurus and Placidius Other men of Note and esteem were Dionysius the Abbat famous for the extraordinary Skill and Judgment which he shewed in his Paschal Cycle Famundus whose writings against certain Eutychians then springing up were very much commended and Martin who by his Preaching and Writings converted the People of Soissons from the Arian Heresie to the Truth But Boniface having sat in the Pontifical Chair two years two days died and was buried in S. Peter's Church The See was then vacant two months JOHN II. 〈◊〉 the second a Roman Son of Projectus lived in the time of Justinian and soon after his entrance upon the Pontificate condemned Anthemius an Arian Bishop some say that he had been Bishop of Constantinople Justinian to shew his 〈◊〉 to the Roman See sent Hypatius and Demetrius two Bishops to 〈◊〉 both to complement John in his name and to make to S. Peter's Church several rich Presents During this Embassie Mundus Justinian's General took the strong City of Salona and gain'd a Victory over the Goths though not without great loss on the Conquering side For Mundus himself together with his Son a Valiant and brave young Gentleman was slain in that Engagement the news of which misforfortune was extreamly laid to heart by Justinian he having always had a great value for that Leaders Courage and Fidelity Our Bishop John of whom Historians say very little having at one Ordination made 〈◊〉 Presbyters twenty one Bishops died and was buried in S. Peter's Church May 27. He sat in the Chair two years four months and by his death the See was vacant six days AGAPETUS I. AGAPETUS a Roman Son of Gordianus a Presbyter of the Church of S. John and S. Paul being created Bishop by Theodatus who was by him forthwith sent to the Emperour Justinian was highly incens'd against that King for his having first banish'd Amalasuntha the Mother of Athalaric into the Island of the Lake of Bolsena and afterwards caused her to be put to death there For she was a Woman so well acquainted with Greek and Latin Learning that she durst engage in Disputation with any profess'd Scholar Moreover she was so throughly skilled in the Languages of all the barbarous Invadors of the Roman Empire that she could discourse any of them without an Interpreter Her Death Justinian so highly resented that he threatned to make War upon Theodatus for that reason Hereupon Agapetus was sent to him who being receiv'd with great honour and affection and having obtain'd the peace he was sent to sue for he was then practis'd with to confirm the Eutychian Opinions But Justinian finding that the good man utterly detested any such proposal from desiring and 〈◊〉 he fell to Threats and Menaces Upon which Agapetus told him that he should have been glad to be sent to Justinian a Christian Prince but that he found a Diocletian an Enemy and Persecutor of Christians By this boldness of Speech and Gods appointment Justinian was so wrought upon that he embraced the Catholick Faith and having despos'd Anthemius Bishop of Constantinople who patroniz'd the Eutychian Heresie put into his place Menas one of the Orthodox who was consecrated by Agapetus himself But not long after Agapetus died at Constantinople and his body being wrap'd up in Lead was convey'd to Rome and buried in S. Peter's Church He sat in the Chair eleven months twenty one days and by his death the See was vacant one month twenty nine days SYLVERIUS SYLVERIUS a Campanian Son of Bishop Hormisda was chosen Bishop of Rome at the command of Theodatus though till this time the Emperours only not the Kings had interposed their Authority in that matter But the Menaces of Theodatus prevailed who had threatned to put to death every man of the Clergy who would not subscribe his name to the choice of Sylverius For this reason and that he might also revenge the death of Amala suntha Justinian sends Belisarius a Patrician with an Army into Italy In his passage thither he first put in at Sicily and brought that Island to the Emperours devotion In the mean time Theodatus dying and the Goths having chosen themselves a King against the will of Justinian Belisarius quits Sicily that he might deliver Italy from the Tyranny of the Goths Coming into Campania and the City of Naples refusing to obey the Emperours Summons he took it by Storm and plundered it putting to the Sword all the Goths that were in Garrison there and a great part of the Citizens carrying away their Children and what other spoil they could lay their hands on The Soldiers pillaged the very Churches violated the chastity of Cloystered Virgins
Popedom or any other Bishoprick should undergo the same Penalty He decreed likewise that the choice of any Bishop should be by the Clergy and People and that the Election should then stand good when it were approved by the Civil Magistrate and when the Pope had interposed his Authority in these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Command An Institution in part very necessary for our times especially so many corruptions daily creeping in For it is probable that the Election being free the Clergy and People will chuse and the Magistrate approve of no other than such an one as deserves and is fit to be Governour in the Church Though if I may speak it without offence to any that are good the truth is multitudes do now aspire to the Dignity of Bishops not as they ought to do for the sake of the publick good but that they may satisfie their own Covetousness and Ambition For the great Question is what any Bishoprick is worth not how great a Flock there is to take the charge of But enough of this I return to Boniface whose Decrees as it appears were extinct with his Life He died in the ninth month of his Pontificate and was buried in the Church of S. Peter The See was then vacant one month six days BONIFACE IV. BONIFACE the fourth born in Valeria a City of the Marsi the Son of John a Physician obtained of the Emperour Phocas the Pantheon a Temple so called because it was dedicated to Cybele and all the Gods and having cast out all the Heathen Images that were in it he consecrated it on May the 12th in honour to the Blessed Virgin and all the Martyrs 〈◊〉 it was afterwards called S. Maria Rotunda and Virgo ad Martyres At this time the Persians under the Conduct of their King 〈◊〉 making an irruption into the Roman Provinces and having routed Phocas's Army possess themselves of Jerusalem prophane and pillage the Churches of the Christians carry away the Wood of our Saviour's Cross and take Captive Zacharias the holy Patriarch of that City Hereupon Phocas falling into contempt with all men but especially the Senate was deprived of his Empire and Life by Heraclius General of the Forces and Governour of the Province of Afrique Now also Caganus King of the Avares forcing his entrance through Pannonia and Illyricum into Italy was so much too hard for the Lombards that he was very near making himself Master of the Province it self and through the treachery of Romilda who was enamour'd of him he did actually take Friuli and sack'd it in such a manner that scarce any footsteps of it were left remaining While things went thus in Italy John Bishop of Girone proved a great Defence to Christianity both by his Preaching and Writings He being a Goth born in Portugal so soon as he came to the years of discretion travelled to Constantinople and parted thence so well skill'd in Greek and Latin Learning that at his return into Portugal he was able easily to 〈◊〉 the Arian Heresie which very much prevailed there For this reason he was by the Hereticks confined in Barcellona But afterwards upon the death of King Lemungildus who countenanced those Hereticks he came back into his own Countrey and both wrote very much concerning the Christian Religioon and also founded a Monastery and prescribed Rules of living which the Monks thereof were to guide themselves by Eutropius also Bishop of Valentia was now by his Learning and Example very instrumental to keep the Spaniards sound in the Faith Moreover Columbanus an Abbat a very holy man by descent a Goth coming first out of Scotland into Burgundy built there the stately Monastery of Luxevil and thence passing into Italy built another fair one at Bobio Pope Boniface that he might not be behind-hand in this matter with either of them converted his Father's House into a Monastery and gave his Estate for the maintenance of the Monks in it But not long after he died having been in the Chair six years eight months seventeen days and was buried in the Church of S. Peter in a time of Dearth Pestilence and great Innundation of Waters By his Death the See was vacant seven months twenty 〈◊〉 days DEUS-DEDIT I. DEUS-DEDIT a Roman Son of Stephen a Sub-deacon being unanimously chosen to the Pontificate proved a great Lover and Encourager of the Clergy 'T is reported that he was a person of so great Sanctity that meeting with a man who had a Leprosie he cured him of that Disease with a Kiss He ordained that the Son should not marry any Woman to whom his Father had been Godfather At this time Heraclius with a great Army recovered several Provinces which the Persians had possess'd themselves of dismounted and slew their General in a single Combat vanquish'd their King Chosdroës and took his Son Prisoner whom having first Christned he released and sent home again Entring Persia he took a strong Tower in which 〈◊〉 's Treasure lay part of which he distributed among his Soldiers and assign'd another part for the repairing of the Churches which the Persians had pillaged and spoil'd Returning to Jerusalem with seven Elephants loaded with other great Booty he brought along with him the Cross of our Blessed Saviour which the Persians had taken away and laid it up in the place where it was before Those of the Persians whom he had taken Prisoners he suffered to return into their own Countrey After this being arrived at Constantinople and taking delight in study he applied himself to Astrology But yet this great Emperour against all Law both Divine and Humane married his own Sister's Daughter and to add one Crime to another as is usual when men once become guilty he falls off to the Eutychian Heresie This happened at the time when Anastasius a Persian being converted to Christianity and having entred upon a Monastick Life was seized by his own Countrey-men and suffered Martyrdom for the sake of his Religion whose body was afterwards conveyed to Rome and reposited in the Monastery of S. Paul 'T is said that at this time Sisebute King of the Goths reduced several Cities of Spain which had revolted to the Romans and that by Torment he forced all the Jews which he discovered in his Kingdom to profess the belief of Christianity This it is reported he did at the request of Heraclius who had been fore-warn'd to beware of the Circumcised but yet afterwards he being not sufficiently careful to prevent his Fate was crush'd by the Saracens who observed Circumcision Thus things went in the East nor did the West want it's Assertours of the Christian Faith For Arnulphus Bishop of Metz by his Piety and Prudence kept Dagobert the French King within the bounds of his Duty being therein assisted by Amandus an excellent person and a vigorous defender of the Christian Religion Among the Spaniards Isidore Bishop of Sevil successour to Leander wrote several things very beneficial to the State of Christianity particularly of the
publickly put to Death Many of his Enemies he cut off by sundry kinds of Death and many he imprison'd some one or other of which he would every day order to be kill'd when the wiping of his Nose put him in mind of the injury that had been done him Moreover having caused the eyes of Callinicus the Patriarch of Constantinople to be put out he banish'd him to Rome and made Cyrus an Abbat who had maintain'd him in Pontus Patriarch in his stead Being acted by the same foolish humour as he had been before his loss of the Empire in the time of Pope Sergius he sends to Rome two Metropolitans to persuade Pope John to hold a Synod wherein they of the Western Church might confirm the truth of what those of the East believed concerning the Consubstantiality of the Son with the Father sending to him the Articles to which he would have him Subscribe The Pope sends the Men back again to the Emperour without doing any thing in the matter but yet he did not by his Censures and Interdicts correct the erroneous 〈◊〉 concerning God as it was fit he should and as it would have become a steady and resolute Pope to have done Some write though without good authority that Arithpertus King of the Lombards from a religious Principle gave the Cottian Alpes and all the Tract that reaches from Piedmont to the Coast of Genoa to the Church of Rome Others say that this Donation was only confirmed by Arithpertus But since there is no certainty concerning the Donation it self and the Lawyers call it the Chaff because it yields no Corn and it appears in no respect to have been the Gift of Constantine how can there be any evidence of its Confirmation I return to Pope John a Person who spake and lived very well and who built an Oratory in the Church of S. Peter in honour to the Blessed Virgin upon the Walls of which on each hand were wrought in Mosaick Work the 〈◊〉 of several of the holy Fathers Moreover he repaired the Church of S. Eugenia which had long before been decayed through Age. He adorn'd also the Coemeteries of the Martyrs Marcellinus and Marcus and Pope Damasus Finally he beautified divers other Churches with the Pictures and Statues of the Saints wherein the Painters and Statuaries had so well imitated the Gravity and Majesty of his own aspect that whosoever looked upon them thought they saw the Pope himself Having been in the Chair two years seven months seventeen days he died and was buried October the 18th in the Church of S. Peter before the Altar of the Blessed Virgin which himself had built The See was then vacant three months SISINNIUS SISINNIUS or as others call him Sozimus a Syrian his Fathers name John lived in the Pontificate no more than twenty days in which time 't is said the body of S. Benedict was by stealth conveyed away from Mount Cassino by reason of the solitude of the place and carried into France Now Sisinnius though he were so afflicted with the Gout both in his Hands and Feet that he could neither walk nor feed himself yet he took such 〈◊〉 both of the City and Church of Rome as to leave nothing undone which became a good Pope He had already prepared all materials for the raising the decayed Walls of the City and the repairing and beautifying of the old ruined Churches but he died suddenly and was buried in S. Peter's February the 6th The See was then vacant one month eighteen days CONSTANTINE I. CONSTANTINE another 〈◊〉 his Father's name likewise John was created Pope at the time when there happened to be a Famine at Rome which lasted three years in which exigence he was so charitable to all but especially the poorer sort that men thought him to have been sent down from Heaven for their relief In the mean time 〈◊〉 out of the hatred he bore to the name of Pontus sends Mauritius one of the Patrician Order and Helias one of his Guards with a Fleet to the Chersonese where he had been in Exile with Commission to put all above the age of fourteen to the Sword which to glut the Emperours Rage they accordingly put in execution And that we may not think that Cruelty was his only Vice he became guilty of so great Ingratitude as in an hostile manner to surprize King Trebellius by the Aid of whose Forces he had been restored to the Empire at a time when he was engaged in a War with the Thracians But Trebellius not only bore the Choque but also forced him to retreat with Loss There was no alteration from his former course of Life wrought in him by the Calamities he had underwent in any thing save in this that he now venerated and defended the Apostolick See contrary to 〈◊〉 he had formerly used to do For when Felix having been consecrated Arch-Bishop of Ravenna by the Pope was required according to custom to send in writing his ackowledgment of the Papal Authority and Money to Rome which he stifly refused to do Justinian upon knowledg of the matter presently sends order to Theodorus a Patrician his Admiral with the first opportunity to leave Sicily and go against the Ravennates He obeying the Emperours Order and having in 〈◊〉 gain'd a Victory over them exercises the greatest cruelty towards them and sends Felix bound in Chains to Constantinople whom Justinian afterwards banish'd into Pontus having first deprived him of his sight after this Manner He caused him to fix his Eyes long upon a red-hot Concave-vessel of Brass out of which there issued a firey Pyramid which easiy overcame his Eyes and blinded him Yet Constantine did by no means approve of this Cruelty being more desirous of his 〈◊〉 than his Punishment While the Pope and Emperour were thus employed Aisprandus endeavouring with the Aid of the Bavarians to recover the Kingdom of his Ancestours comes into Italy and engaging in a pitch'd Battel with Arithpertus vanquishes him and gains the Kingdom of the Lombards Arithpertus himself by a too fearful and hasty flight being drown'd in a swift River But Aisprandus not long after dying did with general approbation leave his Son Luithprandus Successour to his Kingdom Justinian being now very desirous to see Pope Constantine having sent Ships to convey him safely makes it his request that he would come to him Constantine yielding thereunto and approaching now near to Constant inople Tiberius Justinian's Son with a Princely Retinue and Cyrus the Patriarch with all the Clergy in honour to him go out eight miles to meet him and being dress'd in his Pontificalibus they conduct him with solemn Pomp into the City and lead him into the Palace Going from thence to Nicomedia whither also the Emperour was to come from Nice he was received there after the same manner as at Constantinople Justinian entring the City soon after 〈◊〉 only embraced the Pope but also kiss'd his Feet in sign of honour Having on the days following
Gregory having well discharged his Duty towards God and Men died in the tenth year eighth Month and twenty fourth day of his Pontificate and was with general lamentation buried in S. Peter's November the 28th The See was then vacant only eight days ZACHARIAS I. ZACHARIAS a Grecian the Son of Polychronius is reckoned in the number of the best Popes For he was a Person of a very mild Disposition and wonderfully sweet Conversation every way deserving a Lover of the Clergy and People of Rome slow to Anger but very forward to exercise Mercy and Clemency rendring to no man evil for evil but in Imitation of our Saviour overcoming evil with good and that to such a degree that after his arriving to the Papal Dignity he preferred and enriched those who had envied and hated him At the beginning of his Pontificate finding Italy enflamed in War in order to procure a Peace he forthwith sends Legates to Luithprandus King of the Lombards who now made War upon Transamundus Duke of Spoleto But these Legates not effecting the Design he himself goes in person accompanied with the Roman Clergy into Sabina and 't is said that in sign of honour the King met him eight miles from Narni and alighting off his Horse accompanied him on Foot into the City The day following while they were at Mass the Pope made publickly an Elegant Oration wherein he set forth the Duty of a Christian King both in the time of Peace and War and 't is reported that the King was so wrought upon by it that he presently put the sole Power of accommodating matters into the Pope's hands The King had already deposed Transamund and invested Agrandus his Nephew in the Dukedom Yet at the Pope's Intercession Transamund was received into favour but he quitting all Pretensions to the Dukedom entred into holy Orders All the Towns which had been taken in Sabina were restored as also Narni and Ancona and whatever places the Lombards had for thirty years past made themselves Masters of in Tuscany Moreover all who had been made Prisoners during the War were set at Liberty Luithprandus having been treated by the Pope with all imaginable expressions of Indearment and Respect marched thence peaceably with his Army and not long after died in the thirty second year of his Reign He was a person who deserved that Kingdom both for his extraordinary Wisdom and Prudence and also for his Valour and warlike Temper in which no man excell'd him so eminent also for Justice and Clemency that it is hard to judg whether of these two Vertues were more conspicuous in him His Nephew Aldeprandus succeeded him in the Kingdom which having held only six months he also died and Duke Rachis a Prince whose Piety and Integrity deserve the highest praise was unanimously chosen in his stead By him also a League was renewed with the Pope to whose Legates the devout and religious King graciously granted whatever they desired But having reigned four years he quitted his Government and betook himself to a Monastick Life encouraging his Wife and his Sons to do the like His Brother Aistulphus succeeded him whose crafty and fierce Temper threatned disturbance to all Italy but especially to the Pope and the Romans whom he designed by Force to bring under his Jurisdiction In the mean time Charles Martel being seiz'd with a violent sickness at the persuasion of his Friends divided his Acquests between his two Sons of whom Caroloman the elder had Austrasia and Suevia and 〈◊〉 Burgundy and part of France And so that valiant and wise man died at Cressey sur Serre in the thirty fifth year of his Office of Mayre of the Palace and was buried at Paris in the Church of S. Dennis He had had by a former Wife another Son named Grypho whose rapacious Temper suited with his Name he prevailed with the warlike Saxons to assist him in making War upon his Brethren But 〈◊〉 and Pipin entring Saxony with an Army force their Prince Theodoric to submission After this Expedition Caroloman comes to Rome and there renouncing the Pomp and Glory of Empire he goes to Mount Cassino and takes the habit of a Monk of S. Benedict But Pipin being of an aspiring Mind sends Ambassadours to the Pope desiring that by his Authority he would confirm to him the Kingdom of France The Pope upon the score of former good Services performed by his Family and the ancient Friendship which had been between them and the Popes his Predecessours yields to his Request and accordingly confirms him An. Dom. 753. and so from Mayre of the Palace who was the first Officer of the Kingdom Pipin was advanc'd to the Kingdom of France it self from whom the succeeding Kings derive their Original 'T is reported that Caroloman who as we have said had taken the habit of a Monk came now with others of the same Order from Mount Cassino to Pope Zachary desiring that by his mediation they might gain leave to remove the Body of S. Benedict which had by 〈◊〉 been carried away to the Abbey of Fleury in the Kingdom of France The Pope granted their Desire and thereupon sent a Message to King Pipin who upon Information in the matter freely gave way to it Zachary now enjoying Peace on every side set himself to the repairing of several decayed Churches The Tower and Portico before the Lateran Church he built from the ground made the Windows and Gates of Brass and upon the Frontispiece of the Portico caused a Map of the World to be delineated He renewed the defaced Images of the Saints enlarged and beautified the Lateran Palace repaired the Palatine Library and assigned to every Church a Revenue for the maintenance of Oyl for their Lamps He gave to S. Peter's an Altar-Cloth embroidered with Gold and set with Jewels having the Essigies of our Blessed Saviour wrought upon it He built the Church of S. George in Velabro and reposited the head of that Saint therein as also the Church of S. Coecilia in the Via Tiburtina six miles from the City and in it an Oratory in honour to S. Cyrus the Abbat setling a maintenance for the Priests that ministred in it He re-built the Roof of the Church of S. Eusebius which happened in his time to tumble down He also gave order that his Servants should daily distribute and give out at the Lateran Palace Alms to the Poor of all sorts Moreover he forbad the Venetians upon pain of Excommunication the selling of Christian Slaves to Saracens and Heathens which those Merchants were before wont to do Finally that we may not think that his Advancement to so great a Dignity made him neglect his Studies he translated out of Latin into Greek four Books of Gregory in Dialogue that so the Grecians might be instructed in the Rules of good living But having with such Integrity to the Satisfaction of all men governed the Church ten years three months he died and was buried in S. Peter's March the
person was deposed and Ignatius restor'd who had been wrongfully turn'd out before In this Council a long debate was held whether the Bulgarians whose Embassadors were present should be subject to the Roman or Constantinopolitan Sea And by the favour of the Emperor Basilius they were adjudged to the Sea of Rome whereupon the Bulgarians making their 〈◊〉 to Hadrian that some man of good life and ability might be sent into their Countrey by whose authority and example they might be retain'd in the Christian Faith he sent three most religious men with plenary power to settle the Churches there as they should see fit They were Sylvester the Sub-deacon Leopardus of Ancona and Dominic of Trevisa who soon composed the whole Affair to the Popes mind though 't was not long ere the Bulgarians corrupted with gifts and promises by the Constantinopolitans expel'd the Latin Priests and receiv'd the Greeks and this Sedition gave occasion to many quarrels betwixt the Greeks and Latins Hadrian still opposing himself to all the Enemies of the Church as much as was possible when he was about to anoint Charles Emperor in the room of Lewis now deceased died himself in the fifth year ninth month and twelfth day of his Popedom A little before his death it rain'd bloud for three days together at Brescia and France was miserably wasted with Locusts both certain presages of his much lamented death JOHN IX JOHN the ninth a Roman Son of Gundo as soon as he was made Pope declared Charles surnamed the Bald who came to Rome for that purpose Emperor which so enraged the Sons of his elder Brother Lewis King of Germany Charles surnam'd the Gross and Caroloman that levying an Army they invade Italy resolving to deprive their Uncle of his Crown and Life Charles hereupon makes haste towards Verona with his forces intending to cut off the passage of his Nephews by Trent but was taken ill at Mantua and there poisoned as 't was thought by one Zedechias a Jew whom he made use of for a Physician Upon this news Pope John used his utmost endeavour that Charles his Son Lewis surnamed the Stammerer King of France might be made Emperor but the great men of Rome opposed it desiring rather that Charles III. King of Germany might succeed who with his Brother Caroloman had now over-run a great part of Italy So great was the Sedition that though many favour'd Lewis yet they took the Pope and clap'd him in prison But by the help of some Friends he soon made his escape into France to Lewis where he slaid a year anointed him King and ended some Controversies depending between the Ecclesiastics For Gibertus Bishop of Nismes had by force turn'd Leo an Abbot out of his Monastery This Monastery was dedicated to S. Peter and in it lay buried the body of S. Giles it is situate in a place call'd Flaviano from a Valley of that name given to S. Giles by a certain King nam'd Flavius and he built there a Monastery to the honour of SS Peter and Paul The Pope in the presence of many Bishops and Judges heard the Cause and adjudg'd the Monastery to Leo. This was done at Arles from whence John departing with the approbation of Lewis he held a Council at Troyes where he made several Decrees about religious affairs and appointed a Bishop for the Flemings who having left their Woods and fastnesses now betook themselves to an orderly way of living But Italy all this while being harrass'd by the Saracens who had taken and plundered the Monastery of Monte-Cassino John was call'd home to Rome and with the help of some Christian Princes drave the greatest part of them out of Italy and Sicily and at last that he might live the more quietly in the City he plac'd the Imperial Crown on the head of Charles III. who quickly after marching against the Normans then infesting the borders of France and Lorain defeated them so that their King Rothifredus was forc'd to sue for peace and to become a Christian the Emperour himself being his Godfather and taking him into favour This writes Anastasius the Roman Library-keeper who was then highly in vogue being so skilful in both Tongues that by the persuasion of the Emperor Charles he translated out of Greek into elegant Latin the seventh General Council and Dionysius the Areopagite's Book de Hierarchiâ with the lives of several Saints Some say that this Charles built many Monasteries and was liberal to the Church but 't is certain that it was his particular commendation that he put many learned men upon writing for Milo a Monk of S. Amand wrote the Life of that Saint very exactly and Joannes Scotus did very solidly and acutely handle many points of our Religion nor was our Pope John without desert in the same way having while he was Deacon excellently composed the Life of Gregory I. in four Books When he had sate ten years and two days he died and was buried in S. Peter's Church MARTIN II. MARTIN the second a Frenchman Son of Palumbus succeeded John Some perhaps deceiv'd by the likeness of the names call him Marinus This Martin the story of whose Life is so short because of the small time he held the Chair was Pope at the time when the Sons of Basilius Leo and Alexander were Emperors in the East and Charles III. in the West who we told you was crowned by John VIII and who broke the forces of the Normans infesting France in so many Battels that he forced them to submit to him and receive the Christian Faith Some write that 't was this Martin that with his tricks of which somewhat will be said in the Life of Formosus did so plague Pope John with Seditions as to get him thrown into prison and force him to fly But having by ill means gotten the Popedom he soon died having sate but one year and five days and in that time doing nothing remarkable either because his time was short or because no occasion offered it self from whence he could acquire repute except we may suppose it to be the Will of God that those who attain to Power by indirect means should lose that true glory which is the chief aim of every good Prince HADRIAN III. HADRIAN the third a Roman Son of Benedict was a man of so great a Spirit that immediately upon his entrance on the Popedom An. Dom. 895. he proposed to the Senate and People that a Law should pass that no regard should hereafter be given to the Authority of the Emperor in the creation of any Pope but that the Election of the Clergy and People should be free this Institution was rather attempted than begun before by Nicolas I. as was said but I believe Hadrian took now the opportunity when the Emperor Charles was march'd with his Army out of Italy against the Rebellious Normans He went with a design utterly to extirpate that unquiet people but perceiving that would be difficult and not to be
Pope again that he would please to Anathematize Rodolphus who endeavour'd to get possession of his Kingdom Which Gregory refusing to do Henry was so angry that he studied day and night to ruin the Pope In the mean while lest Sedition should be wanting in Christendom Michael and Andronicus his Son who had been by force depriv'd of the Empire of Constantinople by Nicephorus Bucamor came for refuge to Gregory who not only excommunicated Nicephorus but employ'd Rogerius a feudatary of the Roman Church to restore Michael with whom he discours'd at Ceperano to the Empire In pursuance of which command he got a Navy and leaving his younger Son Rogerius in Italy he took Boëmund his other Son along with him and sailed first to Valona but pitch'd his Camp near Durazzo resolving to make sure of that City which was so convenient for the carrying on of the War But Dominick Sylvius Duke of Venice who was of Nicephorus's party beat Rogerius from the Siege with great loss on both sides But not long after Nicephorus was betray'd by Alexius Mega General of his Forces and made a Prisoner the City being given up for three days to be plunder'd by the Soldiers according to compact Nicephorus himself was taken in the Church of Sancta Sophia but his life 〈◊〉 upon condition that he would take upon him the habit of a Monk for as long as he lived Gregory seeing that Henry was incited against the Church by some seditious Bishops called a great Synod and forbad Gilbert Arch-bishop of Ravenna for his pride and malice the exercise of his Episcopal or Priestly function under pain of an Anathema or Curse For when he was summon'd to appear before the Sea Apostolick being conscious of his crimes he would not obey the Citation for which alone he deserv'd the penalty of an Anathema He likewise censured Roland of Treviso for that when he was Legat in order to a Peace between him and Henry he sowed the seeds of discord and not unity to get a Bishoprick by the bargain 〈◊〉 did he spare Hugo Cardinal of St. Clements who had seditiously and heretically conspired with Cadolus Bishop of Parma In fine he chose three at the same Assembly to wit Bernard the Deacon the other Bernard Abbat of Marseilles and Odo Arch-bishop of Treves to go Legates à Latere from the Sea Apostolick to compose all differences between Henry and Rodolphus For the wise Pope saw that such a quarrel unless it were timely ended would occasion great calamities one time or other to Christendon But because he well knew that there would not be lacking such mischievous men as would endeavour to hinder it because it was their interest to foment rather than remove the dissention he gave the Legates Letters Apostolical to the several Princes and States written after this manner We taking notice of the weakness covetousness and ambition of mankind do charge all manner of persons whether Kings Arch-bishops Bishops Dukes Counts Marquesses or Knights that either out of pride cunning or covetousness they give no hindrance to our Legats whilst they negotiate the Peace And whosoever shall be so rash as to contravene this Order which I hope none will and shall hinder our Legats from composing a Peace I bind him under an Anathema both in Spirituals and Temporals by Apostolick Power and take away from him the advantage of any Victory he has gain'd that he may at least be confounded and be converted by a double penance He likewise commanded the Legates to call a Diet in Germany and deliberately examine who of the two Kings had the right and accordingly by the consent of all good Men to assign him the Kingdom whose cause was justest and that He when he should hear what they had determin'd would confirm it by the authority of God and S. Peter than which there cannot be greater But in the mean while Gregory lest the Church of Rome should suffer by Simony called a Council and therein confirm'd the Decrees of his Predecessors made to put a stop to that evil in these words We following the example of our Predecessors as we have formerly in other Councils do decree and ordain by the authority of Almighty God that whoever for the future accepts of a Bishoprick an Abbacy or any other Ecclesiastical preferment from a Layman shall not by any means be esteemed a Bishop an Abbat or a Clergy man nor let the same person dare to approach the Apostolical Sea before he has repented and left the place that he gain'd by ambition and contumacy which is the sin of Idolatry And under the same Censures we bind Kings Dukes and Princes who shall dare to confer Bishopricks or other Ecclesiastical Dignities upon any person against Law and Reason Furthermore we confirm the sentence of Anathema which was justly given against Theobald Archbishop of Milan and Gilbert Arch-bishop of Ravenna as also against Roland Arch-bishop of Treviso and we lay the same Censure upon Peter who was formerly Bishop of Redona but is now an Usurper in the Church 〈◊〉 Narbonne Moreover we deny S. Peter's favour and entrance into the Church to all such till they have repented and satisfied for their offences be they Normans Italians or any other Nation who have in the least injured or violated the Marcha di Termo in Ancona the Dutchy of Spoleto Campagna di Roma Sabina Tivoli Palestrina Frascati or Alba or the parts that lie toward the Tuscan Sea Add to these the Monastery of St. Benedict and all the Country of Cassino as also Benevent in Abruzzo But if any one pretends a just cause for taking what he has not yet restored let him demand justice of us or our Officers and if they are not satisfied we grant them leave to take back as much as will satisfie them not excessively like Robbers but as becomes Christians and such Men who only retake what is their own and desire not other mens goods fearing the anger of God and the Curse of S. Peter After that he confirmed the Curse against Henry afresh in these words Blessed Peter and thou Paul Doctor of the Gentiles I beseech you to hearken unto me a little and hear me in mercy for you are Disciples and Lovers of Truth and what I say is true I undertake this cause for Truths sake that my Brethren whose salvation I desire may obey me more willingly and that they may know how I rely upon your assistance next to that of Christ and his Virgin Mother whilst I resist the wicked and am a present guard continually to the faithful For I did not ascend this Sea willingly but against my inclinations even with tears in my eyes that they should think such a worthless Man as me fit to sit in such a lofty Throne But this I say because I did not chuse you but you me and imposed this heavy burden upon my shoulders But the Sons of Belial are risen up against me since I have ascended the Mount
animosities arisen in the Kingdom of Naples For King Robert dying without Issue male bequeathed Johanna Daughter of Andrew his Nephew for a Wife to King Charles of Hungary's Son who came at that time a Youth to Naples But Johanna hating him for a dull fellow kill'd him by surprise in the City which was generally against the Match and was married to his Cousin German one Lewis Son to a former Prince of Tarento who was known to be Robert's Brother But Lewis King of Hungary and Brother of her first Husband resolving to revenge so great a piece of Villany came into Italy with a very well order'd Army and first attaqued the Sulmoneses who had the boldness to oppose him But in the mean while the manner of choosing Senators at Rome was alter'd by Apostolical Authority and Nicolas de Renty Citizen of Rome and publick Notary a man very earnest and high for Liberty when he had taken the Capitol gain'd so much good will and Authority among all the people that he could incline them to what he pleased And that he might work upon them the more effectually he used this Motto Nicolas the severe and merciful Patron of Liberty Peace and Justice and the illustrious Redeemer of the Sacred State of Rome With these great Words he created such an admiration of himself that all the people of Italy desired by their Embassadors to enter into League and friendship with him Beside that some forein Nations look'd upon the glory of the Roman Empire to be now reviving But his vain Boasting continu'd not long for whilst he was kind to some Citizens and an Enemy to others he all on the sudden was accounted instead of a Patron a Tyrant So that in the seventh month of his Government of his own accord without any bodies knowledg on a dark Night he went disguised from Rome into Bohemia to Charles the Son of John whom Clement a little before had made the Electors put in nomination for Emperor because he was so fine a Scholar besides that he had a mind to affront the Bavarian by setting up a Competitor So the Tribune i.e. Nicolas was taken by Charles and carry'd to Avignion for a Present to the Pope But Lewis having gotten into Sulmona after a long Siege makes himself easily master of the whole Kingdom since Johanna and the Adulterer Lewis were fled for fear into Narbonne and had left onely the Duke of Durazzo Nephew to King Robert to protect the Kingdom who was conquer'd and taken by Charles and put to Death But the Plague being very hot all over Italy Charles left sufficient Garisons there and return'd into Hungary in the third month after his arrival which was just about the time when John the Arch-Bishop a man of great courage and conduct received from the Pope the Lieutenancy of Millain upon the death of his Brother Luchino But Clement kept Nicolas in Prison and sent some Cardinals to Rome to settle the State of the City to whom Francis Petrarcha wrote persuading them to chuse Senators impartially out of the Commonalty if they would appease the Tumults since it did not sufficiently appear in Rome who were of the Senatorian and who of the Plebeian rank because they were almost all Foreigners and born of strange Parents Upon this Petro Sarra of Columna and John Vrsini were declared Senators At this time the Plague raged so all over Italy for three years that there was scarce one man in ten that escaped Nor is that any wonder for there was such a concourse of men from all places to Rome at the Jubilee which was then celebrated that they not onely brought the Contagion along with 'em but by the throng and bustle and sweating that was among 'em infected all places and persons At that time the Town of Colle and Geminiano were made subject to the Florentines and Bologna to the Arch-Bishop of Millain by the voluntary surrender of the Citizens At which the Pope being disturb'd sent a Legate into Italy to instigate the Florentines and Mastino Scala against the Viconti But when Mastino was dead the Arch-Bishop endeavour'd to draw Canegrande Son to Mastino and all the Gibellins in Romagna and Tuscany to make an Alliance with him and sent his Nephew Bernabos to Bologna to keep the Citizens in Obedience In the mean time the Florentines without any resistance set upon the Pistoians and the Prateses and at length reduced 'em by main force But after that being harrass'd by the Arch-Bishop's force under the command of John Aulegius they could hardly defend themselves within their Walls At that time Anguillara and Borgo di Sancto Sepolchro belonging to the Church revolted to the Viscounts and then also we read that the Genoeses and Venetians fought a Sea-Battel in which the Genoeses at first were conquer'd but afterward they were more victorious under the Command of Admiral Philip Auria and not onely took the Island Scio from the Venetians but kill'd a great many men in Vbaea now called Necroponte But Clement resolving at last to consult the quiet of Italy Decreed that Lewis Prince of Taranto should be King of Naples renew'd the Peace with the Hungarian bought the City of Avignion of Queen Joan whose Inheritance it was and paid for it by remitting of a certain Fee that amounted to rather more than the price of it and was due from her to the Church of Rome upon the account of the Kingdom of Naples But whilst Olegio Viconti besieged Scarperia in Muciallia those of Siena Arezzo and Perugia being affrighted enter'd into a new Confederacy with the Florentines against the Viconti The Pisans could not shew their friendship to the Viconti for the Gambacorti a Noble Family that were Allies of Florence who being now unable to withstand the Viconti alone call'd Charles the Emperor into Italy At this the Pope was concern'd and fearing Italy might be destroy'd with fire and sword as the Emperor threaten'd he deliver'd Bologni ro the Viconti upon Condition that they should pay the Church twelve thousand pound a year and made Peace between the Viconti and the Florentines upon these terms That neither of 'em should molest those of Pisa Lucca Siena or Perugia and that Borgo di Sancto Sepolchro should be subject to the Church and the Viconti should preserve the Liberty of the Cortoneses He also endeavour'd to compose the differences between Philip of France and Edward of England but in vain for they were so incens'd to fight that in one Battel Edward kill'd twenty thousand French and after eleventh months Siege victoriously took Calais by storm The same success he had against the Scots But the Pope having done the Duty of a good Shepherd seeing he could not advantage Christendom abroad he consulted how to do the Church some good at home For he chose excellent Persons for Cardinals especially Giles a Spaniard who was Arch-Bishop of Toledo Nicolas Cappocius a Roman Citizen Rainaldo Vrsina Protonotary of the Church of
Thomas chiefly with the assistance of his Infantry gave the Enemy such a blow that of six thousand Horse which fought under Hawkwood few escaped and the Captain himself yielded Those that had revolted from the Church when they heard of this great Victory immediately surrender'd Vrban then came into Italy in the fourth year of his Pontificate to settle things and Giles the Legate met him at Corneto and rendring an account of what he had done was discharg'd from his Legateship and the Pope going on his way from Corneto to Rome he retired quietly in his old Age at Viterbo where he died in three months after He was a Man of singular Virtue and Courage and preserv'd the Honour of the Church whilst he lived most wonderfully His Body was carried to Assisi and buried in the Church of S. Francis in a Tomb that he built himself whilst he was living When Charles the Emperor understood that Vrban was gone to Rome he went thither too as fast as he could with his Wife and Children but by the way took Lucca from the Pisanes and Sancto Miniato from the Florentines Whether he went to Rome or no is not certain because 't is said he received his Imperial Crown from Pope Innocent the Sixth who sent the Cardinal of Ostia to Rome for that purpose But having received a great sum of mony of the Florentines to buy their own peace he march'd out of Italy the third month after he came thither in the year 1368. Vrban had sought a long time for the Heads of SS Peter and Paul which through the ignorance of the times had long been neglected and having light upon them at Sancta Sanctorum he put 'em up in Silver Cases next the great Altar of the Lateran where they were highly honourâ—d by a great concourse of all the Clergy and People of Rome The same Pope built one Palace in the old City and another in Montefiascone that he and other Popes might retire thither to avoid the Heat and bustle of the Town But resolving to go back shortly into France he made John Hawkwood an excellent Commander whom he released out of Prison General of all those Forces that had serv'd under Giles to guard the Church Patrimony till he return'd again For he design'd to return for Italy But going into France he died at Marseilies in the eighth year and the fourth month of his Pontificate or as others will have it he dy'd at Avignion just about the time when Briget a devout Woman who was a Princess of Switzerland came to Rome upon a Vow she had made There were at the same time some Commotions in Puglia after the death of Nicolas Acciolo who was Governour of that Province and a Stout Wise Man GREGORY XI GREGORY the Eleventh of Lymosin formerly call'd Peter Belford and Cardinal-Deacon of New S. Maries was made Pope at Avignion by a general consent Clement VI. his Uncle made him Cardinal when he was scarce seventeen years of age But that he might not seem to consult the good of his Kindred more than that of the Church he sent him to the best Masters he could find for breeding and especially to Baldus who at that time was a Professor at Perugia Under whom he made such progress in all sorts of Learning that Baldus often used his Authority to clear a Doubt And then he was a Man of such innocence good nature affability and piety that he was generally beloved At his entrance upon the Pontificate this was the state of things in Italy at Rome the Courts of Justice were held by Senators whom the Pope appointed for every six months but the Guard of the City and all the management of publick Affairs were in the hands of the Banderesii so named from their Banners a Teutonic word which they used in War by which every Decuria now called Capo di Regione or Head of a Ward was distinguish'd In Lombardy those Nobles who as I said before conspired against the Viconti surprised the City of Reggio by treachery which was before in their possession but the Castle holding out Bernabos entring the City that way at the first Onset overthrew the Enemy and driving away Lucius the German Commander repossess'd himself of the place Thus went matters in Italy when Perinus King of Cyprus who succeeded his Father Peter was the cause of great animosities between the Genoeses and the Venetians For when he was Crown'd at Famagosta and two Bailiffs as the Merchants call their Residents one from Genoa and the other from Venice were there attending they strove who should walk on the right hand the King which raised such a Tumult that the Genoeses were beaten and wounded basely the King favouring the Venetians The Genoeses hereupon got a Navy of 40 Ships together under the command of Peter Fregoso Brother to Dominick Fregoso and invaded Cyprus and landed fourteen thousand men to destroy all the Island with fire and sword for violating the Law of Nations The King being deserted on all sides submitted to their mercy and surrendering Famagosta promised the Genoeses to give them 40000. per annum to purchase his Peace The Popes Legate was now come into Italy and had setled the state of the Church he made a Peace with the Viconti when a new Tumult arose at Prato which was the original of great confusion For the Inhabitants of Prato endeavouring to vindicate themselves from the Dominion of the Florentines called the Church Forces into Tuscany by permission from the Legate But the Florentines so far corrupted them with money that they enter'd Prato by their assistance put the Conspirators to death and sent a great many Banners with Liberty written upon them by several Troops to several Towns exhorting the People as their Lords that they would remember the Liberty of the Church and cast off the yoke of Servitude The first that revolted from the Church were the Castellani then the Perugians those of Todi Spoleto Gubio Viterbo Forli and Ascoli follow'd their Example At that time too Astorgius Manfred under the Bavarian having tasted the sweetness of absolute Dominion had possess'd himself of Granariolo a Castle near Faenza against whom the Legate sent John Hawkwood with some Troops out of Bologna The Florentines and those of Bologna defended Astorgius and keeping out Hawkwood with all his men asserted their Liberty But Hawkwood seeing the Faenzeses ready to rebel he not onely plunder'd the City severely and kill'd all that his Soldiers met but he sold the very ground on which it stood to Nicolas and Albert d' Este two Brothers for 20000 l. reserving onely Bagnacavallo to himself where the Carriages of his Army lay The Pope hearing of such great Revolutions sent Cardinal Cevennes as his Legate with six thousand British Horse ito Italy who coming down through Piedmont march'd as far as the very Gates of Bologna without doing any hurt designing to besiege the City But when the Legate heard the Florentines were come to
good as my word and would often boast what a kindness he had for me and what great things he would do for me as soon as Borsius d' Este was gone who coming to the City with a great Equipage was very magnificently and splendidly received by him The same he had often promised to the Ambassadours of Venice and Milan who had spoken on my behalf For two years I was led on or rather beguil'd with these hopes till at length I resolv'd to go with the Cardinal of Mantua to Bononia of which he was Legat. But Paul forbad me and after his jesting manner said I had wit enough already and wanted Wealth rather than Learning And now while I was in expectation that I should be reliev'd after so many troubles and afflictions behold the Pope dies of an Apoplexy about two hours within night being alone in his Chamber having been well that day and held a Consistory His death happened July 28. 1471. in the sixth year and tenth month of his Pontificate As to his Personage it was Majestic and becoming a Pope for he was so portly and tall that he was easily distinguishable from the rest when at Mass In his dress though he was not curious yet he was not reputed negligent Nay 't is said that when he was to appear in public he would use to paint his face In his Pontifical Vestments he outwent all his Predecessors especially in his Regno or Mitre upon which he laid out a great deal of Mony in purchasing at vast rates Diamonds Sapphyrs Emeralds Chrysoliths Jaspers Unions and all manner of precious stones wherewith adorn'd like another Aaron he would appear abroad somewhat more august than a Man delighting to be seen and admir'd by every one To this purpose sometimes by deferring some usual Solemnities he would keep Strangers in Town that so he might be view'd by greater numbers But lest he alone should seem to differ from the rest he made a Decree that none but Cardinals should under a Penalty wear red Caps to whom he had in the first year of his Popedom given Cloth of that colour to make Horse-Cloths or Mule-Cloths of when they rode He was also about to order that Cardinals Caps should be of Silk Scarlet but some Persons hindred it by telling him well that the Ecclesiastical Pomp was rather to be diminished than encreased to the detriment of the Christian Religion Before he was made Pope he used to give out that if ever he came to that good fortune he would give each Cardinal a Castle in the Country where they might retire conveniently to avoid the Summer-heats of the City but when he was once got into the Chair he thought of nothing less However he endeavour'd by his Authority and by force too to augment the Power of the Papacy For he sent the Bishop of Tricarico into France to hear the Cause of quarrel between the Duke of Burgundy and the People of Liege and upon their reconciliation to take off the Interdict laid upon the Liegeois for wrongfully expelling their Bishop but while the Legat took great pains to subject all matters to the Pope's Judgment he and their Bishop too were clapt up by the Liegeois Hereupon the Duke of Burgundy makes Peace with the French King with whom he was before at War and with his aid gives those of Liege several great defeats and at length sacks their City and sets free the imprison'd Bishops Moreover Paul hearing of the Apostasie of the King of Bohemia he by his Legat Lorenzo Roverella Bishop of Ferrara raised the Hungarians and Germans upon him so that he had certainly cut off both the King George and his Progeny and utterly rooted out the Heretics had not the Polanders who laid claim to that Kingdom held Matthias King of Hungary employ'd in War lest he should have made himself Master of it He undertook two Wars of no great moment in Italy which being not openly declared but begun by picqueering Parties he afterwards abandon'd For first he attempted the seizing the Signeury of Tolfa by cunning wiles which failing with open force under the conduct of Vianesius he set upon it and besieged it but the King's Army in which the Vrsini serv'd returning from the War they had now ended with Bartholomew of Bergamo on a sudden he raised the Siege in great disorder though the Enemy was not within sixty miles of the place so that after a long contention in which he had extreamly disobliged and almost enrag'd the Vrsini against him he was fain to purchase Tolfa for seventeen thousand Ducats of Gold for fear of that potent Family who were related to the Lords of the place After the same manner he set upon Robert Malatesta Son of Sigismund when having taken the Suburbs of Rimini by a Stratagem and for sometime having besieged the City Lorenzo Arch-Bishop of Spalato being the chief in the Enterprise Frederick D. of Vrbin came upon him with the King's Forces and those of the Florentines who forc'd him to raise his Siege and foil'd his Army shamefully so that he accepted of a Peace upon very dishonourable terms Lorenzo charg'd the reason of the loss of Rimini upon the niggardliness of his pay to the Soldiers and to the great slowness of his Resolution while through ignorance in affairs of that nature he deliberated long about actions which should be done in a moment Paul was indeed so awkward at business that except he were driven to it he would not enter upon any Affair however plain and unencumbred nor when begun would he bring it to peofection This humour of his he was wont to boast had done him great service in many concerns whereas to speak truth it had been very mischievous both to himself and the Church of Rome He yet was very diligent in getting Mony so that he generally intrusted the disposal of Bishopricks and Benefices to such Courtiers whose Places being saleable nothing could be bestowed without a Present All Offices indeed in his time were set to sale whereby it came to pass that he who had a mind to a Bishoprick or Benefice would purchase of him at a good rate some other Office and so get what he would have in spight of any other Candidates who could pretend upon the score of either Learning or good Life to be capable of whatsoever honour or preferment Beside when Bishopricks were vacant he would remove the more worthy as he call'd them to the more wealthy Seat by these Translations raising vast Sums of Mony because more Annates became due at the same time He also allow'd the purchasing of Salaries With these Moneys he would sometimes be very liberal giving exhibitions to the poorer Cardinals and Bishops and to Princes or Noblemen that were driven out of their Country and relieving poor Maidens Widows and sick People He took great care too that Corn and all manner of Victuals should be afforded cheaper at Rome than formerly He was at the charge of several
only that hereupon Julio Orâ—â—no was dispeeded with thirty Companies of Foot to Guard and defend the Confines of Hungary and thus the Pope having spent five days at Busetto with no other advantage to his Affairs he returned again to Bologna where he celebrated the Feast of S. Peter the Apostle About this time Barbarosso who had been instigated by the French to do all the damage they were able to the Emperor had coasted along the shore by Naples and having slaid some time before the Isle of 〈…〉 they at length appeared near Civita Vecchia at the mouth of the 〈…〉 which gave such an alarm to Rome that the Inhabitants had certainly abandoned the City and fled to the Mountains had not Poline the French Envoy aboard the Fleet of Barbarosso written a Letter to Cardinal Rodolfo giving him assurance that there was no design upon Rome with which the tumult was quieted and their fears dissipated Now began the year 1544. which was very remarkable for the unexpected Peace concluded between the Emperor and the French King on the 18th of September at Crespy a Castle in Valois after the bloody Battel of Cerisoles the which was received with extreme joy by all the Christian Princes and especially by Pope Paul who being returned from Bologna to Rome had lately made solemn Processions for the Peace and quiet of Christendom the which unexpected news surprising the Pope was interpreted by him as a return of those Prayers and Supplications he had made for Peace tho inwardly he conceived some secret resentments that he had not been concerned as Mediator in it Upon this news of Peace the Pope thought it seasonable to publish an other Sessions of the Council to Commence in March following which had on occasion of the late Wars been prorogued but this hasty indiction of a Council was not pleasing to the Emperor who expected to have been first consulted esteeming that it had been more agreeable to his Authority and more acceptable to the humor of Germany had he been made the principal Author of this Council Howsoever that he might seem to be the first mover of the work and the Pope only to act in the second place he issued out many Commissions to the Prelates of Spain and of the Low-Countries and to many Divines at Lovain to meet together and consider of several Theses and Propositions which were to be debated in the Council which being reduced to six and thirty Heads he required their solution of them positively without any proofs or references to Holy Scripture All which solutions being made were confirmed by the Emperor 's Magisterial Authority and Edicts requiring all people to yield entire faith and belief thereunto And farther the Emperor not being able to conceal the displeasure he had conceived against the Pope vented his choler frequently to the Nuntio in very severe and sharp terms and whereas the Pope in the month of December had created thirteen Cardinals those three which were Spaniards amongst them were forbidden by the Emperor to accept the Dignity or to take the Title or wear the Habit. Tho the Emperor had testified this open displeasure against the Pope yet he so far complied with him as to send Don Diego de Mendoza who had lately been his Embassador at Venice with ample Commission to the Council of Trent as did also the other Princes who were in amity with the Pope but the Protestants who had sent their Commissioners to the Diet at Worms over which Ferdinand presided in the place of the Emperor refused to send their Embassadors to Trent alledging that the Assembly held at that place was not legitimate nor could be termed with the quality and character of a General Council The Pope being highly incensed at this refusal and separation of the Protestants which he esteemed an affront to the Papal Authority dispatched his Nephew the Cardinal Farnese in quality of Legate with ample instructions to the Emperor wherein besides some other particular interests he encharged him most especially to incite the Emperor to make a War of Religion against the Protestant Princes of which he conceived the greater hopes in regard that by frequent advices from his Nuntio he was assured of the displeasure and disdain the Emperor had of the Protestant Cause and that he willingly gave ear to those suggestions which advised him to compel their Assents and Compliance by force of Arms. To this Proposition the Emperor made answer that he acknowledged this Counsel which the Pope gave him to be good and almost necessary and which he resolved to follow but howsoever that it was to be executed with its due caution and that a Truce was first to be concluded with the Turk which was secretly treating and then that some discords and dissentions were to be sowed amongst the Protestant Princes for that being united together their numbers were so formidable and great that instead of maintaining the Catholick Religion he should put it into apparent danger and hazard which a doubtful state of War may produce This Treaty tho secretly carried was yet suspected by the Protestant Princes who took a most sensible alarm from the Sermon of a Cordelier Frier that preached one day before the Emperor King Ferdinand and the Legate and used many invective Speeches against the Lutherans he told the Emperor plainly that it was his duty to defend the Church by force of Arms and that God had put the Sword into his hands for extirpation of this Heresie and destruction of this pest of mankind which he ought not to suffer to live in this world This Sermon and discourse made great noise being interpreted for the sense of the Legate and to be an effect of the Treaty which he secretly held with the Pope and that the Frier Preached in that manner by his order wherefore to abate and surcease those reports the Cardinal departed secretly by night and with all expedition returned into Italy In the mean time the Debates at the Diet at Worms proceeded where the Emperor in person endeavoured to persuade the Princes to contribute towards a War against the Turk which they absolutely refused to do until assurance were given them that the Peace between them and the Emperor should be continued and maintained without any respect to the determinations and conclusions at Trent which they could not esteem a General Council or to have any Power and Authority to oblige them to an observation of those Decrees and Canons which were formed therein to which the Emperor replied that he could not assure them of Peace or observation of any Articles which should exempt them from the determination of that Council to which all Christians were obliged to submit and that he should not know how to to excuse himself to other Kings and Princes in case he should endeavour to procure that exemption for Germany only from obedience to the Council which was chiefly convened in respect and in order to the settlement of their
the principal Legats By this addition the Council began to be numerous the Prelats onely amounting to the number of two hundred and eighteen which though much inferiour to Antient Councils were howsoever a greater appearance than any that had yet been known in Trent The favourers of the Roman Party looked on this increase as a recruit of Auxiliaries which were come in to reinforce their Enemies and therefore to redouble their vigilance and augment their force the Pope dispeeded all the Power he had of Cardinals and Bishops to the Council fearing that the Union which was formed between the Spaniards French and Germans would be too powerful for his Italian Adherents The 23d of November was the day when the Cardinal of Lorain made his first appearance in the Congregation when as a Prologue to all the rest the King's Letters were first read containing little more than to pray and exhort the Council in general terms that they would bend all their labours and endeavours towards a Reformation and to those means which might restore Peace and Unity in the Church The Letters being read the Cardinal in an elaborate and pathetical Speech began to relate the calamities which the Wars about Religion had caused in France desiring the Council that for a remedy thereof they would be pleased to be indulgent to the Protestants in condescending to their weak and tender Consciences so far as was consistent with the Doctrines of Faith and then declaiming against the corruptions which were crept into the Church he instantly desired that an inspection might be made into the many abuses of which the Clergy were guilty to whom he ingeniously applyed the History of the Prophet Jonas We said he are the cause of all these storms we that have departed and fled from the face of God cast us into the Seas and the tempest will abate This Discourse was seconded by the French Ambassadour du Ferrier much to the same purpose and then concluded thus If you ask me why France is not in Peace and what is the cause of all these divisions which thus miserably rend and tear out the bowels of that distressed Nation I must answer you in the same manner as Jehu did to Joram 2 Kings c. 9. v. 22. when he asked Is it peace Jehu How can it be peace so long as the whoredoms of thy mother Jezebel and her witchcrafts are so many In fine he frankly told them That in case they took not some course to reform the disorders in France all the bloud that was there spilt would be laid to their charge and though this plain dealing did infinitely displease the favourers of the Court of Rome yet they judged it seasonable to dissemble their Resentments fearing lest France in that doubtful state should make a total defection from the Sea of Rome And now it is curious and worthy our observation to consider that whilest the specious Proposal of Reformation was offered it was plausible and consented unto in general terms by every Party and Interest but when they descended to particulars and would apply the remedies to the respective abuses then there appeared a strange and prodigious diversity in their Opinions every one being willing to reform others but not himself or his Party easily observing the Moat in their Brothers Eye but not the Beam in their own The Court of Rome would gladly assent to a reformation of Princes and Bishops but not yield to any inspection which might be made into the corruptions of their Consistories or into the Power which they had usurped The Bishops could easily agree to a reformation of Manners in the Courts of the Pope and of their respective Princes but could not hear of having their Authority or Revenues retrenched The Kings and Princes instantly pressed to have a reformation of the Clergy both of the Head and of the Members but could not endure to hear of having their Regalia diminished or the Power of conferring and disposing Benefices according to their pleasure Wherefore it was impossible that all their different Interests could ever be reconciled or at the end concenter in a single Tertio or common agreement Wherefore being wearied with these Debates and finding out new Expedients which could never square with the form of such Dissenting Interests they again re-assumed the old and wearisom Debates about the being of Residencies and Episcopacy by Divine Right in which nothing of the former heats were abated The Bishop of Auranch declared positively that his Opinion was that Episcopacy was by Divine Right and that the Authority of the Pope differed not from that of an ordinary Bishop but onely in degree and was restrained within the limits of the Canons He farther applauded the Decrees of the Parliament of Paris which declared the abusive Bulls of the Pope to be void in their own nature and forbad to have them put into Execution and thus much said he the Power of my Master is able to verify and make good But the heats about Residencies began to abate it being made appear that if that Point were once gained it would not onely be an eclipse but a total ruin of the Papal Authority for if the Residence of Bishops were declared to be by Divine Right it would follow that the Pope thenceforth remains devested of all Power to transfer diminish divide or make any change or alteration in the Episcopal Seas All which though the Spaniards knew very well and that their aim was onely to advance their own Interest and Authority yet they would seem to maintain the contrary and that this Concession would serve to render the Papal Power more considerable and glorious In fine it was agreed to send this Point about Residencies to the Pope by the Bishop of Ventimille Thus was this whole year consumed in these Controversies the last day of December concluding with a Congregation at which it was resolved that the Session should be deferred for fifteen days At the beginning of this year 1563. the French proposed thirty four Articles in order to a Reformation the most part of which respected the Clergy tending to the correction of abuses in Ordinations and promotion of unworthy Persons both for their lives and knowledg to places of eminence and honour in the Church Some also related to the Court of Rome and to the retrenchment of its Revenue the exaction whereof was an agrievance to the People of France Other Articles forbad Plurality of Benefices and Moneys or rewards to be given for administration of the Sacraments It was also required that Divine Service might be rendred and performed in the French Tongue at least that the principal Prayers be pronounced both in the French and in the Latin Tongue That the Communion be delivered in both kinds That Bishops within their respective Dioceses have a jurisdiction over the Religious in Monasteries as well as over Seculars That all abuses be taken away in the superstitious worship of Images and the fond and vain
inclined as was said to have granted all the Points demanded which did not intrench upon the Papal Authority and voluntarily have yielded a License for Priests to marry and to the Laiety the Communion in both kinds but then considering that these concessions would open a gate to other Demands and to such a croud of Novelties which pressing in at this breach might ruine and over-run all the constitutions and Canons of the Church he therefore resolved to keep himself firm to the present State of Principles and Governments which he doubted not but to maintain in case he could work off the Emperor from the French Party to which end he ordered the Cardinal of Moron who was to succeed into the place of one of the deceased Legats to pass from Trent to Inspruck there to treat with the Emperor and representing to him how fatal such Novelties would be to the Church endeavour to persuade him not to insist farther on those Points but leaving the French to their own Opinions to take part with the Pope and the King of Spain whose friendship was more stable and secure than that of France At this time news came to Trent that the King had concluded a Peace at Orleans with his Protestant Subjects and it was suggested at Rome that this Peace was made by contrivance of the French Bishops who secretly and in their hearts were tainted with Heresie at which the Pope was so incensed that at a Congregation of Cardinals convened the 31. of March he ordered the Judges of the Court of Inquisition to proceed against such Persons as were Instrumental in that Peace and accordingly Coligny Cardinal of Chatillon St. Romain Arch-Bishop of Axi John de Monlue Bishop of Valence the Bishop of Troye the Bishop of Pamiers and the Bishop of Chartres were all accused of Heresie and cited to appear at Rome before the Tribunal of the Inquisition By these Accidents the quarrels of France encreasing both at Trent and at Rome the French Divines being displeased both with their ill treatment and with the long delays in all matters at Trent resolved to take their leave of the Council which the Legats easily granted and to which the French Ambassadours so readily assented that they even forced them to retire by denying to them their Pensions in case they continued in that station against the pleasure of the King howsoever three Friers who were Pensioners of Rome continued still there at the Pope's charge resolving to see the utmost issue of all those Affairs The 22. of April having been the day formerly appointed for the Session a general Congregation was held the day before at which the Legats declaring that matters were not prepared for a Session did propose that it might be again deferred until the 3d. of June following to which the Cardinal of Lorain replyed that it seemed derogatory to the wisdom and gravity of that Council so often to appoint times for a Session and then again to subject them to farther delays wherefore it would be much more advisable to prefix the 21th of May following for the time when a day should precisely be appointed for holding a Session This Proposition so generally pleased the Council that with a common Voice they assented thereunto and though this unanimous concurrence with the Cardinal in this matter of small importance administred subject both of jealousie and envy to the Legats yet they could well enough rellish any thing of delay in hopes that the most violent and hot spirits being wearied with long expectation would either abate of their mettle or else retire in despair or discontent The Cardinal Moron was detained at Inspruck for a longer time than he expected by reason that the Emperor suffered all his Papers and Memorials to be inspected and examined by certain of his own Divines which the Cardinal highly resented as an indignity to the Pope whose Proposals were more sacred than to be exposed to the censures of a few silly Priests and indeed it was believed that this manner of treatment proceeded from the dictates of the Cardinal of Lorain who at that time had dispatched one of his Gentlemen to the Emperor desiring him to speak plainly to the Cardinal Moron giving him to understand that the Council ought to be free and not to be translated from Trent unto any other place as some had contrived out of no good intent to the publick welfare In the mean time the Pope was dealing with those Ambassadours who resided with him at Rome to prevail with their Masters to refer all Disputes about Reformation to himself rather than to the Council for that the abuses in Discipline were never esteemed the causes of Heresies as plainly appeared in the Primitive Church where Heresies were very importunate and troublesom notwithstanding the purity of their Government and the incorruption of their Manners That it was impossible to extract a Reformation from the common consent of such different Interests most of which being guided by a zeal without prudence served onely to discover the nakedness of the Church and make it manifest to all the World that her Evils were incurable After a long vacation for some weeks a Congregation was held on the 14th of May when the Cardinal of Lorain made a long and Eloquent Oration about Bishops and the means how to prevent the abuses in their Election he first began with those of France which was onely an Introduction to his Satyr against the Court of Rome which he termed the source and original of all the abuses and corruptions in the Church he inveyed chiefly against those Cardinals who held Pluralities of Bishopricks shewing that all the tricks and contrivances for holding several Benefices in Commendam and the like were only Artifices to delude that wise God who would neither be mocked nor deceived Which Discourse might proceed well enough from the mouth of another though it became not the Cardinal who was known to possess a Revenue from the Church of a million of Livers per annum to all which the Cardidinal Moron who was newly returned from the Emperor replyed with great sharpness nor sparing the Cardinal himself in the least which served to enflame those Feuds which had taken their Original from former causes And now upon return of Cardinal Moron from the Emperor every one began to discourse of the issue which his Negotiations had produced on which Subject the common report was that the Emperor had promised to defend the Authority of the Pope against the opposition and resistance of Hereticks That he would not pass beyond Inspruck nor consent to have the Council removed from Trent to Bologna nor could he accept the Proposition of coming to Bologna and there be crowned by the hands of the Pope without the advice and consent of a Diet. This as we said was what appeared above-board and the more common Discourse of the Town but the truth and the secret of it was this That the Cardinal Moron had persuaded
with the Pope as they had also ordered their Ambassadour in England not to discourse any thing of that Point unto his Majesty or his Counsellours But when the matter came to be advised to Sir Henry Wotton he complained that the Senate had been much more free and open to other Ambassadours than to him and as to the pretensions of the Pope he said That he could not understand that piece of Romish Divinity which was contrary to Justice and moral honesty And now to provide against all those inconveniences and mischiefs which might be the consequences of this Excommunication the Senate commanded all Prelats and Ecclesiastical persons not to permit or suffer any Bulls Briefs or any other Writing to be affixed at any Church door or publick place whatsoever ordaining upon pain of the Prince's displeasure that every person whatsoever who had any of the Copies of that Brief which was lately published at Rome against the Republick should immediately deliver them up into the hands of the Magistrates in Venice and to the Rulers and Governours respectively in all places subject to that Dominion which the people so readily obeyed that in a short time so great a number of Copies were brought in as was wonderful to consider how so many could be printed and such diligence was used by the Magistrates and by the people themselves that not one Brief was affixed in any publick place the persons who endeavoured to act therein being discovered and prevented And farther the true state of that difference which the Republick had with the Pope was advised and intimated to all the Ministers for foreign Princes residing at Venice and the same also signified to all the Agents residing for that Republick in forein parts In like manner the Senate wrote to all their Governours and Magistrates of Towns and Cities subjected to their Dominions acquainting them with the injuries they had received from the Pope and with the reasons they had to defend their Laws and Liberties all which being signified as was commanded unto the Counsels and Magistracy of the Cities it took such impression every where that the people yielded a most entire and chearful obedience thereunto shewing themselves ready to defend the publick Liberty and in maintenance thereof every one offered Money and Arms according to his ability and in pursuance of such Resolution furnished the same as time required After publication made of the Monitory Brief the Pope's Nuntio spent most of his time in the Jesuits College where many of those Fathers were received who had been eminently known for the confusions and disturbances they had created in the World and particularly amongst the rest was one Bernardino of Siena who had lately acted the like part at Paris when the Jesuits were expelled from that City and Antonio Possevino who was famous for his Actions in Moscovy and Poland and skilful in the management of Intrigues there was also Barone a Venetian a bold confident Fellow one that would have a hand in every matter of publick disturbance likewise John Gentes who made profession of truly stating all cases of Conscience being endued with an excellent faculty of finding fault and of condemning and reproving every thing which was acted without his concurrence and of justifying every thing which was appointed and directed by the Jesuits all of them being excellent Instruments in their way and faithful performers of the fourth Article of their Vow But the Nuntio having thus frequented the Society of Jesuits and learned his Lesson in every particular made a visit to the Doge to whom having in the first place expressed his grief for the unhappy estate of Affairs he desired his Serene Highness to consider of some ways and means by which these differences might be composed and in order thereunto he promised his ultimate endeavours and all the good Offices which his authority and interest were able to perform which Discourse he sweetned with the most persuasive and affectionate expressions imaginable often invoking the name of Almighty God of whom when he had occasion to speak he called him Our Lord and in like manner when he had occasion to mention the Pope he called him Our Lord so that in his Discourse it was difficult to distinguish which of the two Lords he meant onely some observing persons had taken notice that when he intended the name of God he kept his head covered but when he meant the Pope he always took his Cap off The Pope having understood how resolute the Senate seemed in maintenance of their Laws and Liberties and with what chearful readiness the people obeyed them conceived little hopes at the present of obtaining his desires and therefore judging that his Nuntio could not continue longer with honour at Venice he dispatched his Letters to recal him from thence and intimated to the Ambassadour Nani by the bishop of Soana that he should depart from Rome not leaving any of his Domesticks or Substitutes in his place At Venice the Superiours and Priors of Monasteries and other Churches were convened before the Council of Ten who signified to them that the pleasure of the Prince was that they should still continue to officiate and perform the Divine Offices and that none of them should leave the State without license obtained It was also declared that protection should be given to such as remained and that such as would depart should not carry with them the Utensils or Vestments or Riches belonging to the Church And that in case any Brief should be sent them from Rome or Order from their Superiors they should first present it to the Magistrates before it was read by themselves and the like Command was given to all Governours of Cities and places under Dominion of Venice As yet the Capucins Theatins and other Religious had not entertained thoughts of departure for when the Monitory was first published at Rome the Provincial and other Capucins held a Consultation together where it was concluded that in regard the differences between the Pope and the Republick had no relation to matters of Faith they were not obliged to follow the Pope's dictates so far in this case as to abandon their Habitations and subsistence yet afterwards the Superiours obeying the pleasure of the Pope expresly commanded all sorts of Religious Orders to depart and leave their Dwellings within the jurisdiction of Venice saying unto them Come forth from them O my People The term of twenty four days being almost expired when the Monitory was to Commence the Senate called the Jesuits to know their resolution whether they would continue in the City or not to which they made answer That they had intentions and desires to stay but could not promise to say Mass excepting which they would engage to perform all other Divine Offices and Service The Senate taking this Answer into consideration resolved that the Jesuits should either celebrate Mass as formerly with all the other functions of Priesthood and not remain in a kind of
Spain was declared an Enemy in return for which the Senate made their due acknowledgments to the King Whilest these things were in Treaty the Spaniards endeavoured to raise a War between the Turk and the Venetians supposing thereby to drive the Senate to those streights as would inevitably compel them to a composition with the Pope To perform which the Marquiss of Santa Croce having received the Nuntio's Benediction departed from Naples with a Fleet of twenty six Gallies and having advice that the Venetian Armata was then at Corfu he privately crossed the Gulf and on the 10th of August arrived at Durazzo a City of Albania which being empty almost of all its People at that season of the year when the Inhabitants are for the most part in their Fields and Gardens gathering their Fruits he easily surprized the place sacked and burnt it carrying away Captives about one hundred fifty five Men Women and Children together with thirty pieces of Canon The news hereof coming to Venice did much trouble the Senate who apprehending lest the Turks should attribute this act of Hostility ro the Venetians would in revenge thereof make War upon them to prevent which they immediately dispatched advice to their Bailo at Constantinople giving him to undestand the truth of this Aggression which being performed by the Spaniards and not by them ought to be represented to the Grand Signior in such manner as might not be occasion of any Rupture The Grand Signior being rightly informed of the truth of this matter did believe that this attempt was performed by the Spaniards with Artifice and design and therefore gave Order to the Captain Pasha or Admiral of his Gallies to entertain a perfect good correspondence with the Venetians and joyn with them to the confusion of the Pope and the Spaniards Some few days after this the Turkish Fleet consisting of fifty five Gallies came to an Anchor not far from Corfu commanded by Gieffier Pasha to whom General Pasqualigo who then commanded the Venetian Fleet and was at Corfu sent a Complement by his Secretary to the Pasha which was in like manner returned with many obliging Expressions telling him of the great Esteem and honour which the Grand Signior had for the Republick and as a demonstration thereof had given him Commission to joyn with the Venetian Fleet and to make War on the Pope and the King of Spain in such manner as he should receive direction from the Venetians acting a part or in the same body with them as they should think convenient and necessary and in farther assurance hereof he dispeeded three Gallies commanded by the Bei of Damiata to inform Pasqualigo of these Resolutions which he had received in Commission from his Master the Grand Signior to which friendly offer Pasqualigo returned a like courteous acknowledgment saying howsoever that he could neither do nor act any thing herein without Orders and directions from the Senate and in the mean time whilest these Advices were in going and Answers expected he prevailed with the Turks to withdraw their Forces from those Seas promising to give them timely notice in case there should be occasion to desire their Assistance About this time being in the Month of August the Pope in justification of these his proceedings employed Scipio Gobellucci to write the reasons and arguments which moved and directed him in this Cause which Papers were dispersed over Mantoua Milan Cremona and Ferrara and Copies thereof sent into Spain and other parts which Writings the Senate taking into consideration It was proposed that they should be answered by some learned Hand and that all the Letters Reasons and Proceedings in this Cause should be printed and published to the World but this Proposal was generally disliked by the Senate as a matter which would exasperate and keep alive the difference and rub on the Sore which already smarted too much that the Cause of the Senate was sufficiently known to the World and that silence would look more like contempt esteeming such Pamphlets not worthy the publick notice or consideration and would argue greater reverence to the Apostolical Sea than to expose and lay it open even in those matters wherein the Republick had received most manifest Injuries Howsoever it was impossible to restrain the Wit and Pens of some working Heads and Spirits who still were writing Papers on one side and the other which being as yet onely in Manuscript could not be so publick to common view as when they were issued from the Press howsoever in Milan there was a scandalous Pamphlet printed and set out by some Churchmen in which against the Rules of all Sense and Reason it was intimated that during this Interdict all Marriages being a Sacrament of the Church were invalid the copulation adulterous and the Children Bastards the which Paper being spread over all Bergamo Brescia and Crema it was thought fit that in confutation hereof a Treatise wrote about one hundred and fifty years ago by Gerson should be re-printed and divulged which was so opposite to the matter in hand and so properly accommodated to the present times and differences that nothing could then have been better nor more fitly applyed to which was annexed a Letter without name exhorting all Curates to attend their Flock and Charge without fear of giving any offence to God by not observing the Interdict This Treatise of Gerson being wrote so many years past carried such Authority and weight that Bellarmine esteemed it worth his Answer and Baronius cryed it down with such passion as if the belief thereof had been a total subversion of the Christian Religion The Authority of these two learned Cardinals was so great and considerable that the Senate of Venice thought fit for the better ease of pious and tender Consciences to give a License to certain learned Writers to publish their Reasons and Arguments in defence of the Republick restraining themselves always within the compass of those Rules which the Laws prescribe that is That nothing should be asserted contrary to Faith good Customs and manners and the Authority of the Prince for perusal and approbation of which five Divines were appointed to assemble in the House of the Patriarchal Vicar and to allow all writings of that nature with their Imprimatur before any Printer should dare to put them in the Press or publish the same Thus were all the Wits set at work in writing some on one side and some on the other the chief Heads which those who wrote in favour of the Republick were these That God had constituted two sorts of Government in the World one Spiritual and the other Temporal The Spiritual was committed to the Apostles and their Successours the Temporal unto Princes and both were restrained within such limits as that one ought not to meddle or interfere with the other That the Pope hath no Power to annull the temporal Laws made by Princes nor to depose them or free their Subjects from their Allegiance to them
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
into whose hands he had committed the most important Government of the Ecclesiastical State for they having misbehaved themselves the Pope in a publick Consistory discharged Cardinal Caraffa of his Government and Legantine Power in Bologna the Duke of Palvano he dismissed from being General of the Ecclesiastical Army and Admiral of the Gallies belonging to the Church and the Marquis of Montebello from being Captain of his Guards which Sentence against them the Pope thundring with impetuous Rage certain Cardinals would have offered something to mitigate his fury and extenuate the faults of his Nephews but those Lenitives adding more flame to his Fury he instantly charged the Cardinal Caraffa without farther delay to depart from Rome and remain confined to the City Indivina and the other two unto their respective Castles in places of these he constituted other grave Prelats whom he esteemed able and worthy to bear that share of Government which by reason of the infirmity of his old age he was uncapable to support And having thus disposed the Affairs of his Temporal Government he returned his thoughts to perfect that Reformation which he had then projected when he first came to the Papal Chair believing that the accomplishment thereof would be the greatest Ornament of the Apostolical Sea and give it a reputation over all the World In pursuance whereof he erected a Congregation composed of twenty four Cardinals and forty five Prelats and other Persons of the most wise and learned of all the Court to the number of one hundred and fifty These he divided into three Classes or Chambers to each of which he allotted eight Cardinals and fifteen Bishops and as many others as made up the number of fifty the chief incumbence and business of whom was to examine and enquire into the several degrees and natures of Simony the which being stated and concluded by this Congregation Coppies thereof were taken and published and sent to all Universities and Schools of learned Men requiring them to take notice of the particular Cases stated and concluded by the Holy Sea which was the Chief Doctor and Cathedratical Casuist in all Points of Religion and Conscience And though he himself as he affirmed had no need of such Regulations being well acquainted with the mind of Christ and versed in the Duty of that Office to which he was called yet that he might in all his endeavours for Reformation forestall the Objection which might be made him of Physitian cure thy self he resolved to begin at home and reform the Crimes of Simony which were objected as the crying sins of the Court of Rome and that when he had gone so far he would then remonstrate unto other Princes the Simony of their own Courts which was more rife and more intolerable in them than was ever allowed or practised at Rome But when the particular Cases of Simony came distinctly to be handled instancing in what manner Money might be taken and in what not there arose such diversities of Opinions that at length the conclusions came to be laid before the Pope as the ultimate Moderator of all Differences the which he having with some perplexity considered he finally resolved That it was not lawful to receive any Price Money Alms or any reward whatsoever for conferring any spiritual Graces or Benefices Ecclesiastical and that as to the Dispensations in cases of Matrimony though it had been the custom to receive Money for them he resolved that the same should never be again brought into practice by himself Howsoever so many scruples and Objections arose in many particular matters that nothing could ever be drawn to general Heads and so being environed by difficulties which procured delays nothing came to a full resolution the which a certain Cardinal having observed proposed to have these Questions reserved for a General Council at which the Pope being moved with extreme Choler replied That he had no need of any Council being the supreme Head and above it but the Cardinal being desirous to mollifie and appease his anger with some qualifications of his Speech said that though it was true that a Council was not necessary for giving force and Authority to the Pope's Determinations yet it might be convenient to have a Council for settlement of that Uniformity of Worship which was necessary in all Christian Churches to which the Pope assenting farther added That in case he should at any time call a Council that the same should be held at Rome and not at Trent which was in the midst and almost the Nest of the Lutherans Moreover in case he should at any time call a Council it should be composed of none but Catholicks for that they might with as much reason admit a Turk to those Debates and Consults of Religion as a Lutheran or any other Heretick and that it was unreasonable and preposterous to send sixty able and learned Bishops and forty Doctors to a Town within the Mountains as had been done twice already on supposition that they were better able to govern the World than the Vicar of Jesus Christ joined to the wisdom of his College of Cardinals who were selected out of the most wise religious and excellent personages of the Chistian Church During his time this Pope at four several Ordinations created nineteen Cardinals and changed the Festival of St. Peter which by antient Canons was celebrated on the 18th of January to the end of June supposing that season of the year most convenient for that Solemnity It is certain that this Pope intended well and designed with the strictest severity the reformation of Manners but his way of acting therein was so fierce and with those disobliging circumstances having a motion with his Head which spoke anger and spight that he could perform nothing though never so holy and laudable but what was ill censured by evil Tongues and indeed he was generally hated and that even by good Men. And though all the good actions which this Pope performed were done with so ill a meen as made them appear bad yet he had the good Conduct and fortune to prove a successful Instrument in making that memorable Peace between Philip King of Spain and Henry King of France for which happiness and Rejoycing Tilts and Tornaments being appointed at the French Court King Henry himself acting a part in it was unfortunately slain and his Son Francis II. being then a Youth succeeded in his Throne About which time the Pope being fallen into a Dropsie with which finding himself to decay and his end approach he summoned all the Cardinals to his Chamber desiring them to cast their thoughts upon some Person excellently qualified both for holiness of Life and Wisdom whom they might judg worthy to succeed him in the Apostolical Chair but in an especial manner he recommended to them the continuance of the Inquisition to which he gave the Epithet of most Holy declaring to have by good experience proved that the same had been the support of his
Authority and would be the chief Basis and Pillar of the Papal Dignity But so soon as it was noised abroad that the Pope drew towards his end the People arose in a tumult and without Counsel or Rule running through the City cursed the name and actions of Paul IV. damning all the Family and Party of Caraffa and having opened all the doors of the common Prisons they ran to the House of the Inquisition of which having opened the Gates and released the Prisoners they set fire to the Building which consumed the Prison and the place of Judicature together with all the Processes Papers and Records of that Court and had proceeded to have offered the like to the Minerva where several of the Judges of the Inquisition were lodged but that the Rhetorick and persuasions of some who had power with the Rabble diverted their fury In fine this Pope died the 18th of August 1559. being aged eighty three years one month and twenty two days and having governed four years two months and twenty seven days and his Body was carried with little Pomp and buried in a Sepulcre of Brick in the Church of St. Peter after which the Sea was vacant four months and seven days but no sooner was the breath out of his Body than the furious and mad Rabble ran to the Capitol where he had a Statue of Marble erected by an excellent Artist and placed amongst the Conservators of Rome the Head and right Hand of which they having taken off drew them for three days together through all the filth and ordure of the City and afterwards wearied with the sport they threw them into the Tyber and finally by publick Decree of the People of Rome it was commanded that in what place soever of the City the Arms of Caraffa were found either painted or engraven they should be defaced or broken the which was executed with so much readiness that in one days time there were no signals or memorials of the Caraffian Family remaining in the whole City By all which it appears that this Paul IV. had been happier and more reverenced had he died with the Title onely of Cardinal Caraffa and with the Opinion of being worthy to govern though he had never reigned Dignus fuisset Imperii si non regnasset PIVS IV. PAVL the Fourth being dead and his Funerals performed the Cardinals after the Accustomed manner entered the Conclave to the number of forty four for Election of a new Pope the Contests on which were so many and so obstinately maintained by the interest of powerful Cardinals whose equal Authority and grandeur of Families were in such an even ballance that after a thousand shufflings and alterations of Suffrages which happened in the space of four months and seven days all the Votes came at length on the 24th of December 1559. being the Eve of the Feast of Christmas to terminate in the choice of John Angelo de Medicis Cardinal of Santa Prisca On the Feast of Epiphany or Twelfth-day 1560 he was Crowned to the common joy and satisfaction of the whole City of Rome which conceived great expectations of good Government from the testimonies of Piety and Virtue which he had given by many instances of his past Life in conformity whereunto he took on himself the name of Pius IV. This Pope was of the Illustrious Family of the Medicis born at Milan to which place his Father amidst the turbulencies and intestine Discords of Florence was constrained to sly for refuge he was in his youth educated and trained up in all the Methods of good Literature in which having run through all the Studies and Exercises of Philosophy and Physick and then studying the Civil Law he took his degree of Doctor applying himself afterward to the practice of the Law In the time of Clement VII he was made one of the Protonotaries which they call Partecipanti under Paul III. He exercised many considerable Charges and Offices amongst which he was made Commissary of the Army of the Church then Arch-Bishop of Ragusa and lastly before his preferment to the Popedom he was by Paul IV. made Priest and Cardinal of Santa Prisca Du Chesne and others who write of the election of this Pope report that the Debates thereupon having been long and intricate the Choice came at length to be decided by the Holy Ghost which in the form of a Dove entering the Chappel of Sixtus after many flights round came at length to pierch on the Cell or Seat of Cardinal Santa Prisca which being observed was agreed to be the Holy Omen by which the Holy Ghost pointed out the Person to be Elected concluding all Controversies by a Miracle but other more judicious Authors are silent in such a foppery and particularly Onufrius Panvinius who writing the life of this Pope mentions nothing of this nature though he prosesses to have known him and to have frequented his Table when he was Cardinal which was always incompassed with Men of Learning and parts who conversing one with another with much ingenuity and Candour seemed to form a College of wise and virtuous Persons and he farther declares that having been present at the solemnities of his Election and Inauguration he had seen and observed all the passages of it He moreover pretends to have had a personal acquaintance with him and that he was in his own nature generous and compassionate having by many and great Charities he had performed obtained the Title of Father of the Poor and thus having acquired a general esteem amongst the Cardinals of a meek gentle and pious temper he found a more easie access to the Papal Chair which had lately been possessed by gall and bitterness and from whence nothing but Thunder and Lightning and terrours had proceeded But this Pope being desirous to rectifie this harsh humour of the Chair gave himself the name of Pius IV. And for instances thereof his first care and incumbence was to pass an Act or Decree of General Pardon to all such who during the vacancy of the Sea had committed any enormous Crimes and in common to all the people who had with insolent despight broken the Statue and defaced the Arms of Paul IV. Then his next business was to enquire into and redress the Oppressions and agrievances imposed by his Predecessour referring the examination of those matters to a Committee of wise and sober Men who rectifying that which was amiss all things might at length return to their due and accustomed Channel upon revision of which cases many Decrees passed by Paul IV. in point of Simony were repealed or at least moderated many Friers who had with too much severity been expelled their Monasteries were restored the punishments and cruelties of the Inquisition were regulated with more moderation and in fine many of those who under colour of Heresie though in reality out of malice or other design had been committed to that Prison were by Order of the new Inquisitors released and set at