Babylon, and the Babylonish captivity. Such furious metaphors, more
suitable to the ardor of Petrarch than to the judgment of Muratori,
are gravely refuted in Baluze's preface. The abbÈ de Sade is distracted
between the love of Petrarch and of his country. Yet he modestly pleads,
that many of the local inconveniences of Avignon are now removed; and
many of the vices against which the poet declaims, had been imported
with the Roman court by the strangers of Italy, (tom. i. p. 23--28.)]
[Footnote 82: The comtat Venaissin was ceded to the popes in 1273 by
Philip III. king of France, after he had inherited the dominions of the
count of Thoulouse. Forty years before, the heresy of Count Raymond had
given them a pretence of seizure, and they derived some obscure claim
from the xith century to some lands citra Rhodanum, (Valesii Notitia
Galliarum, p. 495, 610. Longuerue, Description de la France, tom. i. p.
376--381.)]
[Footnote 83: If a possession of four centuries were not itself a title,
such objections might annul the bargain; but the purchase money must
be refunded, for indeed it was paid. Civitatem Avenionem emit.... per
ejusmodi venditionem pecuni‚ redundates, &c., (iida Vita Clement. VI. in
Baluz. tom. i. p. 272. Muratori, Script. tom. iii. P. ii. p. 565.) The
only temptation for Jane and her second husband was ready money, and
without it they could not have returned to the throne of Naples.]
[Footnote 84: Clement V immediately promoted ten cardinals, nine French
and one English, (Vita ivta, p. 63, et Baluz. p. 625, &c.) In 1331, the
pope refused two candidates recommended by the king of France, quod xx.
Cardinales, de quibus xvii. de regno FranciÊ originem traxisse noscuntur
in memorato collegio existant, (Thomassin, Discipline de l'Eglise, tom.
i. p. 1281.)]
The progress of industry had produced and enriched the Italian
republics: the Êra of their liberty is the most flourishing period of
population and agriculture, of manufactures and commerce; and their
mechanic labors were gradually refined into the arts of elegance and
genius. But the position of Rome was less favorable, the territory less
fruitful: the character of the inhabitants was debased by indolence and
elated by pride; and they fondly conceived that the tribute of subjects
must forever nourish the metropolis of the church and empire. This
prejudice was encouraged in some degree by the resort of pilgrims to
the shrines of the apostles; and the last legacy of the popes, the
institution of the holy year, [85] was not less beneficial to the people
than to the clergy. Since the loss of Palestine, the gift of plenary
indulgences, which had been applied to the crusades, remained without
an object; and the most valuable treasure of the church was sequestered
above eight years from public circulation. A new channel was opened
by the diligence of Boniface the Eighth, who reconciled the vices of
ambition and avarice; and the pope had sufficient learning to recollect
and revive the secular games which were celebrated in Rome at the
conclusion of every century. To sound without danger the depth of
popular credulity, a sermon was seasonably pronounced, a report was
artfully scattered, some aged witnesses were produced; and on the first
of January of the year thirteen hundred, the church of St. Peter was
crowded with the faithful, who demanded the customary indulgence of
the holy time. The pontiff, who watched and irritated their devout
impatience, was soon persuaded by ancient testimony of the justice of
their claim; and he proclaimed a plenary absolution to all Catholics
who, in the course of that year, and at every similar period, should
respectfully visit the apostolic churches of St. Peter and St. Paul. The
welcome sound was propagated through Christendom; and at first from the
nearest provinces of Italy, and at length from the remote kingdoms of
Hungary and Britain, the highways were thronged with a swarm of pilgrims
who sought to expiate their sins in a journey, however costly or
laborious, which was exempt from the perils of military service. All
exceptions of rank or sex, of age or infirmity, were forgotten in the
common transport; and in the streets and churches many persons were
trampled to death by the eagerness of devotion. The calculation of their
numbers could not be easy nor accurate; and they have probably been
magnified by a dexterous clergy, well apprised of the contagion of
example: yet we are assured by a judicious historian, who assisted at
the ceremony, that Rome was never replenished with less than two hundred
thousand strangers; and another spectator has fixed at two millions the
total concourse of the year. A trifling oblation from each individual
would accumulate a royal treasure; and two priests stood night and day,
with rakes in their hands, to collect, without counting, the heaps of
gold and silver that were poured on the altar of St. Paul. [86] It was
fortunately a season of peace and plenty; and if forage was scarce, if
inns and lodgings were extravagantly dear, an inexhaustible supply of
bread and wine, of meat and fish, was provided by the policy of Boniface
and the venal hospitality of the Romans. From a city without trade or
industry, all casual riches will speedily evaporate: but the avarice
and envy of the next generation solicited Clement the Sixth [87] to
anticipate the distant period of the century. The gracious pontiff
complied with their wishes; afforded Rome this poor consolation for his
loss; and justified the change by the name and practice of the
Mosaic Jubilee. [88] His summons was obeyed; and the number, zeal, and
liberality of the pilgrims did not yield to the primitive festival. But
they encountered the triple scourge of war, pestilence, and famine:
many wives and virgins were violated in the castles of Italy; and many
strangers were pillaged or murdered by the savage Romans, no longer
moderated by the presence of their bishops. [89] To the impatience of the
popes we may ascribe the successive reduction to fifty, thirty-three,
and twenty-five years; although the second of these terms is
commensurate with the life of Christ. The profusion of indulgences, the
revolt of the Protestants, and the decline of superstition, have much
diminished the value of the jubilee; yet even the nineteenth and
last festival was a year of pleasure and profit to the Romans; and a
philosophic smile will not disturb the triumph of the priest or the
happiness of the people. [90]
[Footnote 85: Our primitive account is from Cardinal James Caietan,
(Maxima Bibliot. Patrum, tom. xxv.;) and I am at a loss to determine
whether the nephew of Boniface VIII. be a fool or a knave: the uncle is
a much clearer character.]
[Footnote 86: See John Villani (l. viii. c. 36) in the xiith, and
the Chronicon Astense, in the xith volume (p. 191, 192) of Muratori's
Collection Papa innumerabilem pecuniam ab eisdem accepit, nam duo
clerici, cum rastris, &c.]
[Footnote 87: The two bulls of Boniface VIII. and Clement VI. are
inserted on the Corpus Juris Canonici, Extravagant. (Commun. l. v. tit.
ix c 1, 2.)]
[Footnote 88: The sabbatic years and jubilees of the Mosaic law, (Car.
Sigon. de Republica HebrÊorum, Opp. tom. iv. l. iii. c. 14, 14, p. 151,
152,) the suspension of all care and labor, the periodical release of
lands, debts, servitude, &c., may seem a noble idea, but the execution
would be impracticable in a _profane_ republic; and I should be glad to
learn that this ruinous festival was observed by the Jewish people.]
[Footnote 89: See the Chronicle of Matteo Villani, (l. i. c. 56,) in the
xivth vol. of Muratori, and the MÈmoires sur la Vie de PÈtrarque, tom.
iii. p. 75--89.]
[Footnote 90: The subject is exhausted by M. Chais, a French minister at
the Hague, in his Lettres Historiques et Dogmatiques, sur les JubilÈs
et es Indulgences; la Haye, 1751, 3 vols. in 12mo.; an elaborate and
pleasing work, had not the author preferred the character of a polemic
to that of a philosopher.]
In the beginning of the eleventh century, Italy was exposed to the
feudal tyranny, alike oppressive to the sovereign and the people. The
rights of human nature were vindicated by her numerous republics, who
soon extended their liberty and dominion from the city to the adjacent
country. The sword of the nobles was broken; their slaves were
enfranchised; their castles were demolished; they assumed the habits of
society and obedience; their ambition was confined to municipal honors,
and in the proudest aristocracy of Venice on Genoa, each patrician was
subject to the laws. [91] But the feeble and disorderly government of
Rome was unequal to the task of curbing her rebellious sons, who scorned
the authority of the magistrate within and without the walls. It was
no longer a civil contention between the nobles and plebeians for the
government of the state: the barons asserted in arms their personal
independence; their palaces and castles were fortified against a siege;
and their private quarrels were maintained by the numbers of their
vassals and retainers. In origin and affection, they were aliens to
their country: [92] and a genuine Roman, could such have been produced,
might have renounced these haughty strangers, who disdained the
appellation of citizens, and proudly styled themselves the princes, of
Rome. [93] After a dark series of revolutions, all records of pedigree
were lost; the distinction of surnames was abolished; the blood of the
nations was mingled in a thousand channels; and the Goths and Lombards,
the Greeks and Franks, the Germans and Normans, had obtained the fairest
possessions by royal bounty, or the prerogative of valor. These examples
might be readily presumed; but the elevation of a Hebrew race to the
rank of senators and consuls is an event without a parallel in the long
captivity of these miserable exiles. [94] In the time of Leo the Ninth,
a wealthy and learned Jew was converted to Christianity, and honored at
his baptism with the name of his godfather, the reigning Pope. The zeal
and courage of Peter the son of Leo were signalized in the cause of
Gregory the Seventh, who intrusted his faithful adherent with the
government of Adrian's mole, the tower of Crescentius, or, as it is now
called, the castle of St. Angelo. Both the father and the son were the
parents of a numerous progeny: their riches, the fruits of usury, were
shared with the noblest families of the city; and so extensive was their
alliance, that the grandson of the proselyte was exalted by the weight
of his kindred to the throne of St. Peter. A majority of the clergy and
people supported his cause: he reigned several years in the Vatican;
and it is only the eloquence of St. Bernard, and the final triumph of
Innocence the Second, that has branded Anacletus with the epithet of
antipope. After his defeat and death, the posterity of Leo is no longer
conspicuous; and none will be found of the modern nobles ambitious of
descending from a Jewish stock. It is not my design to enumerate the
Roman families which have failed at different periods, or those which
are continued in different degrees of splendor to the present time. [95]
The old consular line of the _Frangipani_ discover their name in the
generous act of _breaking_ or dividing bread in a time of famine; and
such benevolence is more truly glorious than to have enclosed, with
their allies the _Corsi_, a spacious quarter of the city in the chains
of their fortifications; the _Savelli_, as it should seem a Sabine race,
have maintained their original dignity; the obsolete surname of the
_Capizucchi_ is inscribed on the coins of the first senators; the
_Conti_ preserve the honor, without the estate, of the counts of Signia;
and the _Annibaldi_ must have been very ignorant, or very modest, if
they had not descended from the Carthaginian hero. [96]
[Footnote 91: Muratori (Dissert. xlvii.) alleges the Annals of Florence,
Padua, Genoa, &c., the analogy of the rest, the evidence of Otho of
Frisingen, (de Gest. Fred. I. l. ii. c. 13,) and the submission of the
marquis of Este.]
[Footnote 92: As early as the year 824, the emperor Lothaire I. found it
expedient to interrogate the Roman people, to learn from each individual
by what national law he chose to be governed. (Muratori, Dissertat
xxii.)]
[Footnote 93: Petrarch attacks these foreigners, the tyrants of Rome,
in a declamation or epistle, full of bold truths and absurd pedantry, in
which he applies the maxims, and even prejudices, of the old republic to
the state of the xivth century, (MÈmoires, tom. iii. p. 157--169.)]
[Footnote 94: The origin and adventures of the Jewish family are noticed
by Pagi, (Critica, tom. iv. p. 435, A.D. 1124, No. 3, 4,) who draws
his information from the Chronographus Maurigniacensis, and Arnulphus
Sagiensis de Schismate, (in Muratori, Script. Ital. tom. iii. P. i. p.
423--432.) The fact must in some degree be true; yet I could wish that
it had been coolly related, before it was turned into a reproach against
the antipope.]
[Footnote 95: Muratori has given two dissertations (xli. and xlii.) to
the names, surnames, and families of Italy. Some nobles, who glory
in their domestic fables, may be offended with his firm and temperate
criticism; yet surely some ounces of pure gold are of more value than
many pounds of base metal.]
[Footnote 96: The cardinal of St. George, in his poetical, or rather
metrical history of the election and coronation of Boniface VIII.,
(Muratori Script. Ital. tom. iii. P. i. p. 641, &c.,) describes the
state and families of Rome at the coronation of Boniface VIII., (A.D.
1295.)
Interea titulis redimiti sanguine et armis
Illustresque viri Roman‚ a stirpe trahentes
Nomen in emeritos tantÊ virtutis honores
Insulerant sese medios festumque colebant
Aurata fulgente tog‚, sociante caterv‚.
Ex ipsis devota domus prÊstantis ab _Urs‚_
EcclesiÊ, vultumque gerens demissius altum
Festa _Columna_ jocis, necnon _Sabellia_ mitis;
Stephanides senior, _Comites_, _Annibalica_ proles,
PrÊfectusque urbis magnum sine viribus nomen.
(l. ii. c. 5, 100, p. 647, 648.)
The ancient statutes of Rome (l. iii. c. 59, p. 174, 175) distinguish
eleven families of barons, who are obliged to swear in concilio
communi, before the senator, that they would not harbor or protect any
malefactors, outlaws, &c.--a feeble security!]
But among, perhaps above, the peers and princes of the city, I
distinguish the rival houses of Colonna and Ursini, whose private story
is an essential part of the annals of modern Rome. I. The name and arms
of Colonna [97] have been the theme of much doubtful etymology; nor have
the orators and antiquarians overlooked either Trajan's pillar, or the
columns of Hercules, or the pillar of Christ's flagellation, or the
luminous column that guided the Israelites in the desert. Their first
historical appearance in the year eleven hundred and four attests the
power and antiquity, while it explains the simple meaning, of the name.
By the usurpation of CavÊ, the Colonna provoked the arms of Paschal the
Second; but they lawfully held in the Campagna of Rome the hereditary
fiefs of Zagarola and _Colonna_; and the latter of these towns was
probably adorned with some lofty pillar, the relic of a villa or temple.
[98] They likewise possessed one moiety of the neighboring city of
Tusculum, a strong presumption of their descent from the counts of
Tusculum, who in the tenth century were the tyrants of the apostolic
see. According to their own and the public opinion, the primitive and
remote source was derived from the banks of the Rhine; [99] and the
sovereigns of Germany were not ashamed of a real or fabulous affinity
with a noble race, which in the revolutions of seven hundred years has
been often illustrated by merit and always by fortune. [100] About the
end of the thirteenth century, the most powerful branch was composed of
an uncle and six bothers, all conspicuous in arms, or in the honors of
the church. Of these, Peter was elected senator of Rome, introduced to
the Capitol in a triumphal car, and hailed in some vain acclamations
with the title of CÊsar; while John and Stephen were declared marquis of
Ancona and count of Romagna, by Nicholas the Fourth, a patron so partial
to their family, that he has been delineated in satirical portraits,
imprisoned as it were in a hollow pillar. [101] After his decease their
haughty behavior provoked the displeasure of the most implacable
of mankind. The two cardinals, the uncle and the nephew, denied the
election of Boniface the Eighth; and the Colonna were oppressed for a
moment by his temporal and spiritual arms. [102] He proclaimed a crusade
against his personal enemies; their estates were confiscated; their
fortresses on either side of the Tyber were besieged by the troops
of St. Peter and those of the rival nobles; and after the ruin of
Palestrina or PrÊneste, their principal seat, the ground was marked with
a ploughshare, the emblem of perpetual desolation. Degraded, banished,
proscribed, the six brothers, in disguise and danger, wandered over
Europe without renouncing the hope of deliverance and revenge. In this
double hope, the French court was their surest asylum; they prompted
and directed the enterprise of Philip; and I should praise their
magnanimity, had they respected the misfortune and courage of the
captive tyrant. His civil acts were annulled by the Roman people, who
restored the honors and possessions of the Colonna; and some estimate
may be formed of their wealth by their losses, of their losses by the
damages of one hundred thousand gold florins which were granted
them against the accomplices and heirs of the deceased pope. All the
spiritual censures and disqualifications were abolished [103] by his
prudent successors; and the fortune of the house was more firmly
established by this transient hurricane. The boldness of Sciarra Colonna
was signalized in the captivity of Boniface, and long afterwards in the
coronation of Lewis of Bavaria; and by the gratitude of the emperor, the
pillar in their arms was encircled with a royal crown. But the first of
the family in fame and merit was the elder Stephen, whom Petrarch loved
and esteemed as a hero superior to his own times, and not unworthy
of ancient Rome. Persecution and exile displayed to the nations his
abilities in peace and war; in his distress he was an object, not of
pity, but of reverence; the aspect of danger provoked him to avow his
name and country; and when he was asked, "Where is now your fortress?"
he laid his hand on his heart, and answered, "Here." He supported with
the same virtue the return of prosperity; and, till the ruin of his
declining age, the ancestors, the character, and the children of Stephen
Colonna, exalted his dignity in the Roman republic, and at the court of
Avignon. II. The Ursini migrated from Spoleto; [104] the sons of Ursus,
as they are styled in the twelfth century, from some eminent person,
who is only known as the father of their race. But they were soon
distinguished among the nobles of Rome, by the number and bravery of
their kinsmen, the strength of their towers, the honors of the senate
and sacred college, and the elevation of two popes, Celestin the Third
and Nicholas the Third, of their name and lineage. [105] Their riches may
be accused as an early abuse of nepotism: the estates of St. Peter were
alienated in their favor by the liberal Celestin; [106] and Nicholas was
ambitious for their sake to solicit the alliance of monarchs; to found
new kingdoms in Lombardy and Tuscany; and to invest them with the
perpetual office of senators of Rome. All that has been observed of
the greatness of the Colonna will likewise redeemed to the glory of
the Ursini, their constant and equal antagonists in the long
hereditary feud, which distracted above two hundred and fifty years the
ecclesiastical state. The jealously of preeminence and power was the
true ground of their quarrel; but as a specious badge of distinction,
the Colonna embraced the name of Ghibelines and the party of the empire;
the Ursini espoused the title of Guelphs and the cause of the church.
The eagle and the keys were displayed in their adverse banners; and the
two factions of Italy most furiously raged when the origin and nature
of the dispute were long since forgotten. [107] After the retreat of
the popes to Avignon they disputed in arms the vacant republic; and
the mischiefs of discord were perpetuated by the wretched compromise of
electing each year two rival senators. By their private hostilities the
city and country were desolated, and the fluctuating balance inclined
with their alternate success. But none of either family had fallen by
the sword, till the most renowned champion of the Ursini was surprised
and slain by the younger Stephen Colonna. [108] His triumph is stained
with the reproach of violating the truce; their defeat was basely
avenged by the assassination, before the church door, of an innocent
boy and his two servants. Yet the victorious Colonna, with an annual
colleague, was declared senator of Rome during the term of five years.
And the muse of Petrarch inspired a wish, a hope, a prediction, that the
generous youth, the son of his venerable hero, would restore Rome and
Italy to their pristine glory; that his justice would extirpate the
wolves and lions, the serpents and _bears_, who labored to subvert the
eternal basis of the marble column. [109]
[Footnote 97: It is pity that the Colonna themselves have not favored
the world with a complete and critical history of their illustrious
house. I adhere to Muratori, (Dissert. xlii. tom. iii. p. 647, 648.)]
[Footnote 98: Pandulph. Pisan. in Vit. Paschal. II. in Muratori, Script.
Ital. tom. iii. P. i. p. 335. The family has still great possessions in
the Campagna of Rome; but they have alienated to the Rospigliosi this
original fief of _Colonna_, (Eschinard, p. 258, 259.)]
[Footnote 99:
Te longinqua dedit tellus et pascua Rheni,
says Petrarch; and, in 1417, a duke of Guelders and Juliers acknowledges
(Lenfant, Hist. du Concile de Constance, tom. ii. p. 539) his descent
from the ancestors of Martin V., (Otho Colonna:) but the royal author
of the Memoirs of Brandenburg observes, that the sceptre in his arms
has been confounded with the column. To maintain the Roman origin of
the Colonna, it was ingeniously supposed (Diario di Monaldeschi, in
the Script. Ital. tom. xii. p. 533) that a cousin of the emperor Nero
escaped from the city, and founded Mentz in Germany.]
[Footnote 100: I cannot overlook the Roman triumph of ovation on Marce
Antonio Colonna, who had commanded the pope's galleys at the naval
victory of Lepanto, (Thuan. Hist. l. 7, tom. iii. p. 55, 56. Muret.
Oratio x. Opp. tom. i. p. 180--190.)]
[Footnote 101: Muratori, Annali d'Italia, tom. x. p. 216, 220.]
[Footnote 102: Petrarch's attachment to the Colonna has authorized the
abbÈ de Sade to expatiate on the state of the family in the fourteenth
century, the persecution of Boniface VIII., the character of Stephen and
his sons, their quarrels with the Ursini, &c., (MÈmoires sur PÈtrarque,
tom. i. p. 98--110, 146--148, 174--176, 222--230, 275--280.) His
criticism often rectifies the hearsay stories of Villani, and the errors
of the less diligent moderns. I understand the branch of Stephen to be
now extinct.]
[Footnote 103: Alexander III. had declared the Colonna who adhered
to the emperor Frederic I. incapable of holding any ecclesiastical
benefice, (Villani, l. v. c. 1;) and the last stains of annual
excommunication were purified by Sixtus V., (Vita di Sisto V. tom. iii.
p. 416.) Treason, sacrilege, and proscription are often the best titles
of ancient nobility.]
[Footnote 104:
--------Vallis te proxima misit,
AppenninigenÊ qua prata virentia sylvÊ
Spoletana metunt armenta gregesque protervi.
Monaldeschi (tom. xii. Script. Ital. p. 533) gives the Ursini a French
origin, which may be remotely true.]