Rome, the object of these last chapters, is deeply interested in the
disputed succession of her sovereigns. The first counsels for the peace
and union of Christendom arose from the university of Paris, from the
faculty of the Sorbonne, whose doctors were esteemed, at least in the
Gallican church, as the most consummate masters of theological science.
[72] Prudently waiving all invidious inquiry into the origin and merits
of the dispute, they proposed, as a healing measure, that the two
pretenders of Rome and Avignon should abdicate at the same time, after
qualifying the cardinals of the adverse factions to join in a legitimate
election; and that the nations should _subtract_ [73] their obedience,
if either of the competitor preferred his own interest to that of the
public. At each vacancy, these physicians of the church deprecated the
mischiefs of a hasty choice; but the policy of the conclave and
the ambition of its members were deaf to reason and entreaties; and
whatsoever promises were made, the pope could never be bound by the
oaths of the cardinal. During fifteen years, the pacific designs of the
university were eluded by the arts of the rival pontiffs, the scruples
or passions of their adherents, and the vicissitudes of French factions,
that ruled the insanity of Charles the Sixth. At length a vigorous
resolution was embraced; and a solemn embassy, of the titular patriarch
of Alexandria, two archbishops, five bishops, five abbots, three
knights, and twenty doctors, was sent to the courts of Avignon and Rome,
to require, in the name of the church and king, the abdication of
the two pretenders, of Peter de Luna, who styled himself Benedict the
Thirteenth, and of Angelo Corrario, who assumed the name of Gregory
the Twelfth. For the ancient honor of Rome, and the success of their
commission, the ambassadors solicited a conference with the magistrates
of the city, whom they gratified by a positive declaration, that the
most Christian king did not entertain a wish of transporting the holy
see from the Vatican, which he considered as the genuine and proper seat
of the successor of St. Peter. In the name of the senate and people, an
eloquent Roman asserted their desire to cooperate in the union of the
church, deplored the temporal and spiritual calamities of the long
schism, and requested the protection of France against the arms of the
king of Naples. The answers of Benedict and Gregory were alike edifying
and alike deceitful; and, in evading the demand of their abdication,
the two rivals were animated by a common spirit. They agreed on the
necessity of a previous interview; but the time, the place, and the
manner, could never be ascertained by mutual consent. "If the one
advances," says a servant of Gregory, "the other retreats; the one
appears an animal fearful of the land, the other a creature apprehensive
of the water. And thus, for a short remnant of life and power, will
these aged priests endanger the peace and salvation of the Christian
world." [74]
[Footnote 72: The leading and decisive part which France assumed in the
schism is stated by Peter du Puis in a separate history, extracted from
authentic records, and inserted in the seventh volume of the last and
best edition of his friend Thuanus, (P. xi. p. 110--184.)]
[Footnote 73: Of this measure, John Gerson, a stout doctor, was the
author of the champion. The proceedings of the university of Paris and
the Gallican church were often prompted by his advice, and are copiously
displayed in his theological writings, of which Le Clerc (BibliothËque
Choisie, tom. x. p. 1--78) has given a valuable extract. John Gerson
acted an important part in the councils of Pisa and Constance.]
[Footnote 74: Leonardus Brunus Aretinus, one of the revivers of classic
learning in Italy, who, after serving many years as secretary in the
Roman court, retired to the honorable office of chancellor of the
republic of Florence, (Fabric. Bibliot. Medii ∆vi, tom. i. p. 290.)
Lenfant has given the version of this curious epistle, (Concile de Pise,
tom. i. p. 192--195.)]
The Christian world was at length provoked by their obstinacy and
fraud: they were deserted by their cardinals, who embraced each other
as friends and colleagues; and their revolt was supported by a numerous
assembly of prelates and ambassadors. With equal justice, the council of
Pisa deposed the popes of Rome and Avignon; the conclave was unanimous
in the choice of Alexander the Fifth, and his vacant seat was soon
filled by a similar election of John the Twenty-third, the most
profligate of mankind. But instead of extinguishing the schism, the
rashness of the French and Italians had given a third pretender to
the chair of St. Peter. Such new claims of the synod and conclave were
disputed; three kings, of Germany, Hungary, and Naples, adhered to the
cause of Gregory the Twelfth; and Benedict the Thirteenth, himself
a Spaniard, was acknowledged by the devotion and patriotism of that
powerful nation. The rash proceedings of Pisa were corrected by the
council of Constance; the emperor Sigismond acted a conspicuous part
as the advocate or protector of the Catholic church; and the number and
weight of civil and ecclesiastical members might seem to constitute the
states-general of Europe. Of the three popes, John the Twenty-third
was the first victim: he fled and was brought back a prisoner: the most
scandalous charges were suppressed; the vicar of Christ was only accused
of piracy, murder, rape, sodomy, and incest; and after subscribing his
own condemnation, he expiated in prison the imprudence of trusting
his person to a free city beyond the Alps. Gregory the Twelfth, whose
obedience was reduced to the narrow precincts of Rimini, descended with
more honor from the throne; and his ambassador convened the session, in
which he renounced the title and authority of lawful pope. To vanquish
the obstinacy of Benedict the Thirteenth or his adherents, the emperor
in person undertook a journey from Constance to Perpignan. The kings of
Castile, Arragon, Navarre, and Scotland, obtained an equal and honorable
treaty; with the concurrence of the Spaniards, Benedict was deposed by
the council; but the harmless old man was left in a solitary castle to
excommunicate twice each day the rebel kingdoms which had deserted his
cause. After thus eradicating the remains of the schism, the synod of
Constance proceeded with slow and cautious steps to elect the sovereign
of Rome and the head of the church. On this momentous occasion, the
college of twenty-three cardinals was fortified with thirty deputies;
six of whom were chosen in each of the five great nations of
Christendom,--the Italian, the German, the French, the Spanish, and
the _English_: [75] the interference of strangers was softened by their
generous preference of an Italian and a Roman; and the hereditary, as
well as personal, merit of Otho Colonna recommended him to the conclave.
Rome accepted with joy and obedience the noblest of her sons; the
ecclesiastical state was defended by his powerful family; and the
elevation of Martin the Fifth is the Êra of the restoration and
establishment of the popes in the Vatican. [76]
[Footnote 75: I cannot overlook this great national cause, which was
vigorously maintained by the English ambassadors against those
of France. The latter contended, that Christendom was essentially
distributed into the four great nations and votes, of Italy, Germany,
France, and Spain, and that the lesser kingdoms (such as England,
Denmark, Portugal, &c.) were comprehended under one or other of these
great divisions. The English asserted, that the British islands, of
which they were the head, should be considered as a fifth and coˆrdinate
nation, with an equal vote; and every argument of truth or fable was
introduced to exalt the dignity of their country. Including England,
Scotland, Wales, the four kingdoms of Ireland, and the Orkneys, the
British Islands are decorated with eight royal crowns, and discriminated
by four or five languages, English, Welsh, Cornish, Scotch, Irish, &c.
The greater island from north to south measures 800 miles, or 40 days'
journey; and England alone contains 32 counties and 52,000 parish
churches, (a bold account!) besides cathedrals, colleges, priories, and
hospitals. They celebrate the mission of St. Joseph of Arimathea, the
birth of Constantine, and the legatine powers of the two primates,
without forgetting the testimony of Bartholomey de Glanville, (A.D.
1360,) who reckons only four Christian kingdoms, 1. of Rome, 2. of
Constantinople, 3. of Ireland, which had been transferred to the English
monarchs, and 4, of Spain. Our countrymen prevailed in the council,
but the victories of Henry V. added much weight to their arguments.
The adverse pleadings were found at Constance by Sir Robert Wingfield,
ambassador of Henry VIII. to the emperor Maximilian I., and by him
printed in 1517 at Louvain. From a Leipsic MS. they are more correctly
published in the collection of Von der Hardt, tom. v.; but I have only
seen Lenfant's abstract of these acts, (Concile de Constance, tom. ii.
p. 447, 453, &c.)]
[Footnote 76: The histories of the three successive councils, Pisa,
Constance, and Basil, have been written with a tolerable degree of
candor, industry, and elegance, by a Protestant minister, M. Lenfant,
who retired from France to Berlin. They form six volumes in quarto;
and as Basil is the worst, so Constance is the best, part of the
Collection.]
Chapter LXX: Final Settlement Of The Ecclesiastical State.--Part IV.
The royal prerogative of coining money, which had been exercised near
three hundred years by the senate, was _first_ resumed by Martin the
Fifth, [77] and his image and superscription introduce the series of the
papal medals. Of his two immediate successors, Eugenius the Fourth was
the _last_ pope expelled by the tumults of the Roman people, [78] and
Nicholas the Fifth, the _last_ who was importuned by the presence of
a Roman emperor. [79] I. The conflict of Eugenius with the fathers of
Basil, and the weight or apprehension of a new excise, emboldened and
provoked the Romans to usurp the temporal government of the city. They
rose in arms, elected seven governors of the republic, and a constable
of the Capitol; imprisoned the pope's nephew; besieged his person in the
palace; and shot volleys of arrows into his bark as he escaped down the
Tyber in the habit of a monk. But he still possessed in the castle of
St. Angelo a faithful garrison and a train of artillery: their batteries
incessantly thundered on the city, and a bullet more dexterously pointed
broke down the barricade of the bridge, and scattered with a single shot
the heroes of the republic. Their constancy was exhausted by a rebellion
of five months. Under the tyranny of the Ghibeline nobles, the wisest
patriots regretted the dominion of the church; and their repentance
was unanimous and effectual. The troops of St. Peter again occupied the
Capitol; the magistrates departed to their homes; the most guilty were
executed or exiled; and the legate, at the head of two thousand foot and
four thousand horse, was saluted as the father of the city. The synods
of Ferrara and Florence, the fear or resentment of Eugenius, prolonged
his absence: he was received by a submissive people; but the pontiff
understood from the acclamations of his triumphal entry, that to secure
their loyalty and his own repose, he must grant without delay the
abolition of the odious excise. II. Rome was restored, adorned, and
enlightened, by the peaceful reign of Nicholas the Fifth. In the midst
of these laudable occupations, the pope was alarmed by the approach of
Frederic the Third of Austria; though his fears could not be justified
by the character or the power of the Imperial candidate. After drawing
his military force to the metropolis, and imposing the best security of
oaths [80] and treaties, Nicholas received with a smiling countenance the
faithful advocate and vassal of the church. So tame were the times,
so feeble was the Austrian, that the pomp of his coronation was
accomplished with order and harmony: but the superfluous honor was so
disgraceful to an independent nation, that his successors have excused
themselves from the toilsome pilgrimage to the Vatican; and rest their
Imperial title on the choice of the electors of Germany.
[Footnote 77: See the xxviith Dissertation of the Antiquities of
Muratori, and the 1st Instruction of the Science des Medailles of the
PËre Joubert and the Baron de la Bastie. The Metallic History of Martin
V. and his successors has been composed by two monks, Moulinet, a
Frenchman, and Bonanni, an Italian: but I understand, that the first
part of the series is restored from more recent coins.]
[Footnote 78: Besides the Lives of Eugenius IV., (Rerum Italic. tom.
iii. P. i. p. 869, and tom. xxv. p. 256,) the Diaries of Paul Petroni
and Stephen Infessura are the best original evidence for the revolt of
the Romans against Eugenius IV. The former, who lived at the time and on
the spot, speaks the language of a citizen, equally afraid of priestly
and popular tyranny.]
[Footnote 79: The coronation of Frederic III. is described by Lenfant,
(Concile de Basle, tom. ii. p. 276--288,) from ∆neas Sylvius, a
spectator and actor in that splendid scene.]
[Footnote 80: The oath of fidelity imposed on the emperor by the pope is
recorded and sanctified in the Clementines, (l. ii. tit. ix.;) and ∆neas
Sylvius, who objects to this new demand, could not foresee, that in
a few years he should ascend the throne, and imbibe the maxims, of
Boniface VIII.]
A citizen has remarked, with pride and pleasure, that the king of the
Romans, after passing with a slight salute the cardinals and prelates
who met him at the gate, distinguished the dress and person of the
senator of Rome; and in this last farewell, the pageants of the empire
and the republic were clasped in a friendly embrace. [81] According to
the laws of Rome, [82] her first magistrate was required to be a doctor
of laws, an alien, of a place at least forty miles from the city; with
whose inhabitants he must not be connected in the third canonical degree
of blood or alliance. The election was annual: a severe scrutiny was
instituted into the conduct of the departing senator; nor could he be
recalled to the same office till after the expiration of two years. A
liberal salary of three thousand florins was assigned for his expense
and reward; and his public appearance represented the majesty of the
republic. His robes were of gold brocade or crimson velvet, or in the
summer season of a lighter silk: he bore in his hand an ivory sceptre;
the sound of trumpets announced his approach; and his solemn steps were
preceded at least by four lictors or attendants, whose red wands were
enveloped with bands or streamers of the golden color or livery of the
city. His oath in the Capitol proclaims his right and duty to observe
and assert the laws, to control the proud, to protect the poor, and to
exercise justice and mercy within the extent of his jurisdiction. In
these useful functions he was assisted by three learned strangers; the
two _collaterals_, and the judge of criminal appeals: their frequent
trials of robberies, rapes, and murders, are attested by the laws; and
the weakness of these laws connives at the licentiousness of private
feuds and armed associations for mutual defence. But the senator was
confined to the administration of justice: the Capitol, the treasury,
and the government of the city and its territory, were intrusted to
the three _conservators_, who were changed four times in each year: the
militia of the thirteen regions assembled under the banners of
their respective chiefs, or _caporioni_; and the first of these was
distinguished by the name and dignity of the _prior_. The popular
legislature consisted of the secret and the common councils of the
Romans. The former was composed of the magistrates and their immediate
predecessors, with some fiscal and legal officers, and three classes of
thirteen, twenty-six, and forty, counsellors: amounting in the whole
to about one hundred and twenty persons. In the common council all
male citizens had a right to vote; and the value of their privilege
was enhanced by the care with which any foreigners were prevented from
usurping the title and character of Romans. The tumult of a democracy
was checked by wise and jealous precautions: except the magistrates,
none could propose a question; none were permitted to speak, except from
an open pulpit or tribunal; all disorderly acclamations were suppressed;
the sense of the majority was decided by a secret ballot; and their
decrees were promulgated in the venerable name of the Roman senate and
people. It would not be easy to assign a period in which this theory of
government has been reduced to accurate and constant practice, since the
establishment of order has been gradually connected with the decay
of liberty. But in the year one thousand five hundred and eighty the
ancient statutes were collected, methodized in three books, and adapted
to present use, under the pontificate, and with the approbation, of
Gregory the Thirteenth: [83] this civil and criminal code is the modern
law of the city; and, if the popular assemblies have been abolished,
a foreign senator, with the three conservators, still resides in the
palace of the Capitol. [84] The policy of the CÊsars has been repeated
by the popes; and the bishop of Rome affected to maintain the form of
a republic, while he reigned with the absolute powers of a temporal, as
well as a spiritual, monarch.
[Footnote 81: Lo senatore di Roma, vestito di brocarto con quella
beretta, e con quelle maniche, et ornamenti di pelle, co' quali va alle
feste di Testaccio e Nagone, might escape the eye of ∆neas Sylvius,
but he is viewed with admiration and complacency by the Roman citizen,
(Diario di Stephano Infessura, p. 1133.)]
[Footnote 82: See, in the statutes of Rome, the _senator and three
judges_, (l. i. c. 3--14,) the _conservators_, (l. i. c. 15, 16, 17,
l. iii. c. 4,) the _caporioni_ (l. i. c. 18, l. iii. c. 8,) the _secret
council_, (l. iii. c. 2,) the _common council_, (l. iii. c. 3.) The
title of _feuds_, _defiances_, _acts of violence_, &c., is spread
through many a chapter (c. 14--40) of the second book.]
[Footnote 83: _Statuta alm Urbis Rom Auctoritate S. D. N. Gregorii XIII
Pont. Max. a Senatu Populoque Rom. reformata et edita. Rom, 1580, in
folio_. The obsolete, repugnant statutes of antiquity were confounded in
five books, and Lucas PÊtus, a lawyer and antiquarian, was appointed to
act as the modern Tribonian. Yet I regret the old code, with the rugged
crust of freedom and barbarism.]
[Footnote 84: In my time (1765) and in M. Grosley's, (Observations sur
l'Italie torn. ii. p. 361,) the senator of Rome was M. Bielke, a noble
Swede and a proselyte to the Catholic faith. The pope's right to appoint
the senator and the conservator is implied, rather than affirmed, in the
statutes.]
It is an obvious truth, that the times must be suited to extraordinary
characters, and that the genius of Cromwell or Retz might now expire
in obscurity. The political enthusiasm of Rienzi had exalted him to a
throne; the same enthusiasm, in the next century, conducted his imitator
to the gallows. The birth of Stephen Porcaro was noble, his reputation
spotless: his tongue was armed with eloquence, his mind was enlightened
with learning; and he aspired, beyond the aim of vulgar ambition, to
free his country and immortalize his name. The dominion of priests is
most odious to a liberal spirit: every scruple was removed by the recent
knowledge of the fable and forgery of Constantine's donation; Petrarch
was now the oracle of the Italians; and as often as Porcaro revolved the
ode which describes the patriot and hero of Rome, he applied to himself
the visions of the prophetic bard. His first trial of the popular
feelings was at the funeral of Eugenius the Fourth: in an elaborate
speech he called the Romans to liberty and arms; and they listened with
apparent pleasure, till Porcaro was interrupted and answered by a
grave advocate, who pleaded for the church and state. By every law the
seditious orator was guilty of treason; but the benevolence of the new
pontiff, who viewed his character with pity and esteem, attempted by an
honorable office to convert the patriot into a friend. The inflexible
Roman returned from Anagni with an increase of reputation and zeal; and,
on the first opportunity, the games of the place Navona, he tried to
inflame the casual dispute of some boys and mechanics into a general
rising of the people. Yet the humane Nicholas was still averse to accept
the forfeit of his life; and the traitor was removed from the scene of
temptation to Bologna, with a liberal allowance for his support, and the
easy obligation of presenting himself each day before the governor of
the city. But Porcaro had learned from the younger Brutus, that with
tyrants no faith or gratitude should be observed: the exile declaimed
against the arbitrary sentence; a party and a conspiracy were gradually
formed: his nephew, a daring youth, assembled a band of volunteers;
and on the appointed evening a feast was prepared at his house for the
friends of the republic. Their leader, who had escaped from Bologna,
appeared among them in a robe of purple and gold: his voice, his
countenance, his gestures, bespoke the man who had devoted his life or
death to the glorious cause. In a studied oration, he expiated on the
motives and the means of their enterprise; the name and liberties of
Rome; the sloth and pride of their ecclesiastical tyrants; the active
or passive consent of their fellow-citizens; three hundred soldiers, and
four hundred exiles, long exercised in arms or in wrongs; the license
of revenge to edge their swords, and a million of ducats to reward their
victory. It would be easy, (he said,) on the next day, the festival of
the Epiphany, to seize the pope and his cardinals, before the doors, or
at the altar, of St. Peter's; to lead them in chains under the walls of
St. Angelo; to extort by the threat of their instant death a surrender
of the castle; to ascend the vacant Capitol; to ring the alarm bell; and
to restore in a popular assembly the ancient republic of Rome. While he
triumphed, he was already betrayed. The senator, with a strong guard,
invested the house: the nephew of Porcaro cut his way through the crowd;
but the unfortunate Stephen was drawn from a chest, lamenting that his
enemies had anticipated by three hours the execution of his design.
After such manifest and repeated guilt, even the mercy of Nicholas was
silent. Porcaro, and nine of his accomplices, were hanged without the
benefit of the sacraments; and, amidst the fears and invectives of the
papal court, the Romans pitied, and almost applauded, these martyrs of
their country. [85] But their applause was mute, their pity ineffectual,
their liberty forever extinct; and, if they have since risen in a
vacancy of the throne or a scarcity of bread, such accidental tumults
may be found in the bosom of the most abject servitude.
[Footnote 85: Besides the curious, though concise, narrative of
Machiavel, (Istoria Florentina, l. vi. Opere, tom. i. p. 210, 211, edit.
Londra, 1747, in 4to.) the Porcarian conspiracy is related in the Diary
of Stephen Infessura, (Rer. Ital. tom. iii. P. ii. p. 1134, 1135,) and
in a separate tract by Leo Baptista Alberti, (Rer. Ital. tom. xxv. p.
609--614.) It is amusing to compare the style and sentiments of
the courtier and citizen. Facinus profecto quo.... neque periculo
horribilius, neque audaci‚ detestabilius, neque crudelitate tetrius, a
quoquam perditissimo uspiam excogitatum sit.... Perdette la vita quell'
huomo da bene, e amatore dello bene e libert‡ di Roma.]
But the independence of the nobles, which was fomented by discord,
survived the freedom of the commons, which must be founded in union. A
privilege of rapine and oppression was long maintained by the barons of
Rome; their houses were a fortress and a sanctuary: and the ferocious
train of banditti and criminals whom they protected from the law repaid
the hospitality with the service of their swords and daggers. The
private interest of the pontiffs, or their nephews, sometimes involved
them in these domestic feuds. Under the reign of Sixtus the Fourth, Rome
was distracted by the battles and sieges of the rival houses: after the
conflagration of his palace, the prothonotary Colonna was tortured and
beheaded; and Savelli, his captive friend, was murdered on the spot, for
refusing to join in the acclamations of the victorious Ursini. [86]
But the popes no longer trembled in the Vatican: they had strength
to command, if they had resolution to claim, the obedience of their
subjects; and the strangers, who observed these partial disorders,
admired the easy taxes and wise administration of the ecclesiastical
state. [87]
[Footnote 86: The disorders of Rome, which were much inflamed by the
partiality of Sixtus IV. are exposed in the Diaries of two spectators,
Stephen Infessura, and an anonymous citizen. See the troubles of the
year 1484, and the death of the prothonotary Colonna, in tom. iii. P.
ii. p. 1083, 1158.]
[Footnote 87: Est toute la terre de l'Èglise troublÈe pour cette
partialitÈ (des Colonnes et des Ursins) come nous dirions Luce et
Grammont, ou en Hollande Houc et Caballan; et quand ce ne seroit ce
diffÈrend la terre de l'Èglise seroit la plus heureuse habitation pour
les sujets qui soit dans toute le monde (car ils ne payent ni tailles ni
guËres autres choses,) et seroient toujours bien conduits, (car toujours
les papes sont sages et bien consellies;) mais trËs souvent en advient
de grands et cruels meurtres et pilleries.]