LIBRARY OF PRINCETON
ThTOLOGICAL SEMINARY
THE
HISTORY or THE POPES,
THEIE CHURCH AND STATE,
IN THE
SIXTEENTH AND SEVENTEENTH CENTURIES.
BY /
LEOPOLD EANKE.
TRANSLATED FROM THE LAST EDITION OF THE GERMAN, BY
WALTEE KEATING KELLY, ESQ. B.A.
OF TRINITY COLLEGE, DUBLIN.
PHILADELPHIA:
LEA & BLANCHARD.
1844.
AUTHOU^S PEEFACE.
The power of Rome in ancient and medieval times is universally knovpn, and in
modern times she has also enjoyed a grand epoch of renovated empire. After the revolt
from her rule which befel her in the former half of the sixteenth century, she succeeded
in once more constituting herself the centre of faith and opinion for the Latin nations of
Southern Europe, and made bold, and not unfrequently prosperous attempts, to reconquer
her authority over those of the North.
This period of the reconstruction of a mixed spiritual and temporal power, its renova-
tion and internal reform, its progress and decline, it is my purpose to portray, at least
in outline ; an undertaking which, however imperfectly I may have accomplished it, I
should not even have thought of attempting, had I not found opportunity to avail myself
of certain aids hitherto unknown. It is my duty in the first place to indicate generally
the nature and the source of those aids.
I have already laid before the public the contents of our Berlin MSS. : but how much
wealthier is Vienna in treasures of this kind than Berlin !
Besides its Teutonic basis, the character of Vienna exhibits an European feature : the
most diversified manners and tongues meet here, from the highest to the lowest station,
and here Italy in particular enjoys a living representation. The collections too of this
city are of a more comprehensive character, a fact originating directly in the policy
of the state and its position among nations, its ancient alliance with Spain, Belgium, and
Lombardy, and its intimate relations of neighbourhood and religion with Rome. Hence,
even the original collections of the imperial library, though bearing only on national
topics, are of great value. To these some foreign acquisitions have subsequently been
added. There have been purchased from Modena, from the house of Rangone, a num-
ber of volumes similar to our Berlin " Informazioni ;" from Venice, the invaluable MSS.
of the doge Marco Foscarini, amongst wliich are his own preparatory notes for the conti-
nuation of his literary work, "Chronicles of Italy," of which no trace is elsewhere to be
found. There is also preserved a rich collection of historico-political MSS., left by
Prince Eugene, comprehensively and judiciously planned by that distinguished states-
man. The reader is animated with pleasure and with hope, as he peruses the catalogue:
amidst all the unsatisfactoriness of printed books, what an unwrought mine of information
is here ! a whole futurity of study ! And yet but a few steps further, and Vienna lays
before us still more valuable stores. The imperial archives contain, as might naturally be
surmised, the most important and trustworthy records and materials for the elucidation
of German and general history, and more especially of that of Italy. True it is, by far
the greater part of the Venetian archives have, after many viscissitudes, found their way
back to Venice; but there is still extant in Vienna no small quantity of Venetian papers;
despatches, original or copied ; extracts from them for the use of the state, called rubri-
iv AUTHOR'S PREFACE.
caries ; reports, of which in no few instances no second copy exists, and which are of
great value; official registers of government functionaries; chronicles and diaries. The
details which will be found in these volumes respecting Gregory XIII. and Sixtus V.,
are for the most part derived from the Vienna archives. I cannot sufficiently laud the
unrestricted liberality with which access to these has been granted me.
I ought by all means to particularize in this place the many and various services
rendered me towards the furtherance of my task, both at home and abroad ; and yet a
Ecruple, whether just or not I cannot tell, occurs to me. I should have to record a mul-
titude of names, and among them some of high note : my gratitude would almost look
like boasting, and give to a work, that has every reason to appear in modest guise, an
air of ostentation that would ill become it.
Next to Vienna, my attention was chiefly turned to Venice and Rome.
In Venice it was formerly the almost invariable practice of the great houses to have
cabinets of MSS., in addition to their libraries. The contents of the former related as
a matter of course principally to the affairs of the republic ; they served to show the
part taken by the respective families in public affairs, and were preserved as records of
the house for the instruction of its younger members. A few of these private collections
are still in existence, and I had access to one or two such. But vastly the greater
number were lost in the fatal 1797, or have subsequently perished ; and if more of them
have been preserved than might have been expected, the credit of this is chiefly due to
the librarians of St. Marc, who strove in the general wreck to save as much as the
utmost capabilities of their institution allowed. This library possesses an ample stock
of MSS., which are of indispensable importance towards the history of the city and the
government, and which even throw some light on that of Europe in general. Still we
must not expect too much of this collection : it is a somewhat immature assemblage of
private ones casually brought together, without completeness or unity of plan. It is not
to be compared with the wealth of the government archives, particularly as these are
now arranged. In my inquiry into the conspiracy of the year 1618, I have already
given an account of the Venetian archives, which I will not here repeat. The docu-
ments of most interest for me, as regarded my Roman investigation, were the reports of
ambassadors on their return from the papal court. But for this subject too I had much
reason to wish for additional aid from other collections : lacunae are no where avoidable ;
and these archives have necessarily sustained many losses in their various wanderings.
I found altogether eight-and-forty reports respecting Rome, the oldest of them belonging
to the year 1500; nineteen of them being of the sixteenth, twenty-one of the seventeenth
century, a nearly complete series with but few breaks here and there ; while the
eighteenth century numbered but eight, but these very instructive and welcome. In
far the greater number of cases I saw and made use of originals. They contain a
great multitude of interesting notices, the fruits of direct personal observation, embody-
ing evanescent contemporary traits. This it was that first prompted and encouraged me
to the task of composing a continuous narrative.
The means of authenticating and extending these materials could manifestly be found
only in Rome.
But was it to be expected, that in that city a foreigner and an alien in religion should
be allowed freely to ransack the public collections in order to unveil the secrets of the
popedom? This would not perhaps have been quite so ill-advised as it may appear, for
no search can bring anything to light worse than vague conjecture surmises, or than the
world has already made up its mind to believe. I cannot boast, however, that the thing
was so. I was allowed to take cognizance of the treasures of the Vatican, and to make
use of a number of volumes: still I was by no means indulged with the freedom I could
have desired. Fortunately, however, other collections were thrown open to me, from
AUTHOR'S PREFACE. v
which very extensive and authentic, if not complete, materials were to be gathered. In
the palmy days of aristocracy — that is, especially in the seventeenth century — it was
customary throughout all Europe for the noble families that administered affairs of state,
to hold in their hands a portion of the public documents. No where, perhaps, did the
practice prevail to a greater extent than in Rome. The pope's kinsmen, who at all
times possessed supreme power, were in the habit of bequeathing, as heir-looms to the
families they founded, a large portion of the state papers they had collected durinf their
tenure of authority. These constituted a part of the family endowments. In the palaces
they built there were always a few rooms reserved, usually on the upper floor, for books
and MSS., which it was a point of honour with succeeding generations to fill as credita.
bly as their predecessors had done. Thus, in a certain respect, the private collections
are also the public ones ; and the records of the state became dispersed, without a word of
objection from any one, throughout the houses of the several families that had exercised
the control of public affairs. Somewhat in the same way it happened that the lavish
expenditure of the public wealth enriched the papal families, and that the Vatican gal-
lery, though distinguished for the number of masterpieces it contains, cannot yet be
compared in extent and in historical importance with some private collections, as, for
instance the Borghese or the Doria. Thus it is that the MSS. preserved in the Barbe-
rini, Chigi, Altieri, Albani, and Corsini palaces are of inestimable value as regards the
history of the popes, their ecclesiastical and their civil policy. The state record office,
which has been but recently founded, is chiefly worthy of note for its collection of regis-
ters illustrative of the middle ages : the investigator of a part of that period will find
there much that is worth his attention, though, as far as I am aware, it does not promise
much for later centuries. If I have not been purposely deceived, it sinks to nothing in
comparison with the splendid wealth of the private collections. Each of these, as may
be supposed, embraces more especially the period occupied by the pope of the family ;
but since the pope's relations continued in high station after his death, since every one
is eager to enlarge and complete a collection he has once begun, and Rome, where a
trade in MSS. had sprung up, offered opportunities enough to this end, there is not one
of these private collections but contains useful illustrations of other periods also, both
recent and remote. The richest of them (in consequence of valuable documentary
bequests) is the Barberini : the Corsini was arranged from the very beginning with the
utmost circumspection and discrimination. It was my good fortune to be allowed the
use of all tliese collections, and of others of less importance, sometimes with the most
unrestricted freedom. They presented to me an unlocked for prize in the shape of
authentic materials, directly bearing on my subject, consisting of the correspondence
of nunciatures, with the instructions imparted to them, and the reports they sent back;
copious biographical details of numerous popes, related with so much the more freedom
as they were not destined for the public eye ; biographical accounts of distinguished
cardinals ; official and private journals ; inquiries respecting special occurrences and
circumstances ; opinions and advices ; particulars concerning the administration of the
provinces, their trade and manufactures ; statistical tables and computations of income
and expenditure. All these were for the most part hitherto wholly unknown, and they
are generally the work of men having an intimate practical knowledge of their subject,
and of a trustworthiness which does not indeed preclude the exercise of searching and
discriminating criticism, provided only it deal with them in the spirit it generally
evinces towards well-informed contemporaries. The oldest of these MSS. which I had
an opportunity to make use of, related to the conspiracy of the Foscari against Nicholas
V. I met with only two pertaining to the fifteenth century : as we enter on the
sixteenth century, they become at every step more copious and numerous; they follow
the whole course of the seventeenth century, in which so little is confidently known
2
vi AUTHOR'S PREFACE.
of Rome, affording information the more welcome in proportion to the previous scantiness
of our knowledge : on the other hand, they decline in number and intrinsic worth after
the beginning of the eighteenth century : but those were times when court and state
had already lost no small portion of their efficiency and importance. I will go through
these Roman MSS., as well as the Venetian, in detail at the end of the work, citing
whatever has struck me as worthy of attention, and which I could not include in tljp
body of the narrative. Indeed, the huge mass of materials now before us in many
printed and manuscript papers, makes a strict observance of limits indispensable.
An Italian, a Roman, or a Catholic, would enter upon the execution of the task in a
totally different manner from that I have pursued. He would, by the expression of per-
sonal veneration, or perhaps, as matters stand at present, of personal hatred, give his
work a peculiar, and, I doubt not, more brilliant colouring ; in many things too he would
be more copious in detail, more ecclesiastical, more local. A Protestant and a native
of Northern Germany cannot compete with him in these respects. The latter's feelings
with regard to the papal power are much more those of indifference : he must, therefore,
from the outset renounce that warmth of tone and colouring which springs from partial
or hostile prejudice, and which might perhaps produce a considerable impression in
Europe. In reality we feel but little interest in mere matter of ecclesiastical and canon-
ical detail, whereas on the other hand our position afibrds us other, and, if I am not
mistaken, more just points of view, from which we may contemplate history.* For what
is it in this our day that can make the history of the papal power of importance to us 1
Certainly not its special bearing upon ourselves, seeing that it no longer exercises any
real influence over us ; nor is it any solicitude it excites in us : the times when we had
anything to fear are gone by ; we are too fully secure to harbour any apprehension. It
can be nothing else than its development and range of action on the great scene of the
world's history. The papal power was not after all so fixed and inflexible as is commonly
supposed. If we put out of consideration those principles in which its very existence is
essentially involved, and which it cannot abandon without consigning itself to certain
ruin, we shall find that in other respects it has been affected to its very core, no less
than the other powers, by every fate that has been dealt out to the European family.
With every vicissitude in the history of the world, with each successive rise of nation
after nation to pre-eminence over the rest, with every fluctuation of the general tide of
society, essential metamorphoses befel the papal power, its maxims, tendencies, and
pretensions; and, above all, its influence underwent the most important changes. If
indeed we cast a glance over the long catalogue of oft-repeated names through the many
centuries from Pius I. in the second, to our contemporaries Pius VII. and VIII. in the
nineteentii, we are readily impressed with the idea of an uninterrupted stability ; but let
us not be misled by appearances : in point of fact, there is much the same difference
between the popes of the several ages as between the various dynasties of a kingdom.
For us, who stand aloof, the observation of these mutations is precisely matter of the
highest interest. We read in them a portion of universal history, of the general progress
of man. We read this not exclusively in the periods of Rome's undisputed sovereignty,
but perhaps still more legibly in times of clashing action and counter-action, such as
those which this work proposes to embrace, the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries ;
times in which we see the popedom threatened and rudely shaken, yet standing its
ground with head erect, nay extending its influence anew, advancing vigorously for
awhile, then lastly halting in its course, and once more bending to its fall; times in
• Which cannot have been altered by the events that have occurred since the first publication of this work.
The author, on revising this volume, has found occasion for but slight additions and changes, of no importance
to the main subject. [Note to the Second Edition]
AUTHOR'S PREFACE. vu
which the mind of the western nations was chiefly engrossed with ecclesiastica I ques-
tions, and when that power, which, deserted and assailed by the one party, was stedfastly
adhered to and defended with fresh zeal by the other, was necessarily an object of high
and general interest. Such is the point of view from which our natural position demands
that we should regard this power, and from which I will now essay to portray it.
It is fit that I should begin my task with reminding my readers of the posture of the
papal power in the beginning of the sixteenth century, and of the course of events that
led thereto.
CONTENTS.
PART I.
author's fueface Page 3
BOOK THE FIRST.
INTRODUCTION.
CHAPTER I.— Epochs of the papact.
Christianity in the Roman empire 17
The papacy in connexion with the Prankish
empire 30
Relation to the German emperors 22
Internal progressive improvement of the hie-
rarchy 22
Contrasts between the fourteenth and fifteenth
centuries 26
CHAPTER, n.— The church and its territories in the beginning of the sixteenth centurt.
Extension of the ecclesiastical dominions .... 28 I Intellectual tendency 34
Growth of a secular spirit in the church 32 | Opposition to the papacy in Germany 37
CHAPTER ni. — Political complications — connexion between them and the reformation.
Leo X 39 I Clement VII 44
Adrian VI 42 |
BOOK THE SECOND.
BEGINNING OF A REGENERATION OF CATHOLICISM.
Introd uction 53
Opinions analogous to protestantism entertain-
ed in Italy ib.
Attempts at inward reforms, and at a reconcilia-
tion with protestants 57
New ecclesiastical orders 64
Ignatius Loyola 66
First sittinjrsof the council of Trent 71
The Inquisition 74
Progress of the Jesuit institution 77
Conclusion 82
BOOK THE THIRD.
THE POPES ABOUT THE MIDDLE OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY.
Introduction 82
Paul III 83
Julius III 92
Marcellus II 94
PaulIV 95
Remarks on the progress of protestantism
during this reign 103
Pius IV 105
The latter sittings of the council of Trent. . 108
PiusV 115
CONTENTS.
BOOK THE FOURTH.
COURT AND STATE. TIMES OF GREGORY XIII. AND SIXTUS V.
PAGE
Introduction 123
Administration of the states of the church . . 123
Finances 129
Gregory XIII 134
Sixtus V 139
Extirpation of the banditti 142
PAGE
Characteristics of the administration 143
Finances 146
Architectural enterprises of Sixtus V 148
General changes in the intellectual tendency
of the age 1 52
The Curia 157
BOOK THE FIFTH.
COUNTER REFORMATION. FIRST PERIOD. 1563—1569.
Introduction 1 62
Situation of Protestantism about the year 1563 163
Capacities of the papacy for contest 167
The first Jesuit schools in Germany 169
Beginning of the counter-reformation in Ger-
many 1 72
Troubles in the Netherlands and in France. . 177
Resistance made by the protestants in the
Netherlands, France, and Germany 181
Contrasts exhibited throughout the rest of
Europe 1 84
Crisis in the Netherlands, 188
Progress of the counter-reformation in Ger-
many 194
The Ligue 203
Savoy and Switzerland 207
Attempt on England 208
Assassination of Henry III 210
PART II.
BOOK THE SIXTH.
INTERNAL DISCREPANCIES, DOCTRINAL AND POLITICAL- 1589—1607.
Introduction 213
Ecclesiastico-political theory 214
Conflict of Doctrines 217
Latter times of Sixtus V 219
Urban VII., Gregory XIV., Innocent IX., and
their conclaves, 1590, 1591 225
Election and character of Clement VIII. . . . 227
Absolution of Henry IV 230
Ferrara under Alfonso II 236
Conquest of Ferrara 240
Commotions among the Jesuits 243
Political situation of Clement VIII 251
Election and first proceedings of Paul V. . . 254
Disputes with Venice 256
Issue of the affairs of the Jesuits 264
Conclusion 265
BOOK THE SEVENTH.
COUNTER-REFORMATION. SECOND PERIOD. 1590—1630.
CHAPTER I. — PROGRESS of the restoration op CATHOLICISM. 1-590—1617.
Introduction 266
§ 1. — Measures taken on behalf of Catholicism
in Poland and the adjoining countries ... ib.
Attempt on Sweden 268
Designs on Russia 273
Internal commotions in Poland 274
§ 2. — Continuation of a counter-reformation
in Germany 276
Nunciature in Switzerland 282
Regeneration of Catholicism in France .... 284
CONTENTS.
Breaking out of war,
CHAPTER II.— GEKBRAL WAR.— TRIUMPH OP CATHOLICISM. 1617—1623.
PAGE PAGE
287 I Gregory XV 291
CHAPTER III. — GENERAL OUTSPREAD OF CATHOLICISM.
I. Bohemia and the hereditary dominions of
Austria 293
II. The Empire. Transfer of the Electorate 296
III. France 298
IV. United Netherlands 299
V. State of Catholicism in England ib.
VI. Missions 302
CHAPTER IV.— COlfFLICTING POLITICAL RELATIONS. NEW VICTORIES OF CATHOLICISM. 1623 — 1628 256
CHAPTER V. — MANTUAN WAR.— THIRTY YEARS* WAR. — REVOLUTION IN THE STATE OF THINGS.
Mantuan Succession 313
Urban VIII 315
The power of the emperor Ferdinand in the
year 1629 319
Negociations with Sweden. Electoral diet at
Ratisbon .320
Swedish war. — Position of the pope 323
Restoration of the balance of the two confes-
sions 321
BOOK THE EIGHTH.
THE POPES ABOUT THE MIDDLE OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.—
LATER EPOCHS.
Introduction. . . 328
The escheat of Urbino ib.
Increase of the debts of the ecclesiastical
states 330
Foundation of new families 331
War of Castro 334
Innocent X 338
Alexander VIT. and Clement IX. 342
Elements of the Roman population 345
Edifices erected by the Popes 347
Digression concerning queen Christina of
Sweden 351
Administration of Church and State 358
The Jesuits in the middle of the seventeenth
century 383
The Jansenists. 367
The position of the court of Rome with re-
gard to the two parties 370
Relation of the Roman see to the temporal
power 372
Transition to the later epochs of the papacy. 374
Louis XIV. and Innocent XI 375
The Spanish succession 379
Altered stale of Europe. Internal ferments. 381
Suppression of the order of Jesuits 383
Joseph II 387
The French Revolution 388
The times of Napoleon 389
The Restoration 392
Conclusion 395
PART III.
APPENDIX.
INDEX
. Page 397
629
LIST OF THE POPES AND LEADING SOVEREIGNS OF EUROPE
IN THE SIXTEENTH AND SEVENTEENTH CENTURIES.
Alexander VI.
Pius III.
Julius II.
EMPERORS KINGS OP FRANCE. KINCS OF SPAIN
Leo X.
Adrian VI.
Clement VII.
Paul III.
Julius III.
Marcellus II.
Pius IV.
Pius V.
Gregory XIII.
Sixtus V.
1492
1493
1498
1503
1503
1504
1509
1513
1515
1516
1519
1522
1523
1534
154
1550
1553
155
1556
1558
1559
1560
1564
1566
1572
1574
1576
1585
1589
1590
1590
1591
1592
1598
1603
1605
1610
1612
16191 ....
1621 Gregory XV
1623 Urban VIII
1625
1637
1643
1644
1649
1655
1658
1660
1665
1667
1670
1676
1685
163
169
1700
Frederick III.
Maximilian I.
Charles VIII.
Louis XII.
Charles V.
Ferdinand I.
Urban VII.
Gregory XIV.
Innocent IX.
Clement VIII.
Henry II.
Maximilian II.
Rodolph II.
Leo XI. Paul V.
Ferdinand and Isabella.
Philip I.
Francis I.
Charles I. (Emp. Chs. V.)
Francis II.
Charles IX.
Henry III.
Henry IV.
Matthias
Ferdinand II.
Ferdinand III
Innocent X.
Alexander VII.
Clement IX.
Clement X.
Innocent XI.
yexanderVIII
Innocent XII.
'lement XI.
Louis XIII.
KINQS OF EKOLXMD.
Henry VII.
Henry VIIL
Philip II.
Edward VI.
Mary.
Elizabeth.
Philip IIL
Leopold I.
Philip IV.
Louis XIV.
James I.
Charles I.
Charles II.
Philip V.
The Commonwealth.
Charles II.
James II.
William and Mary.
x^hhto^-tgh
THE POPES OE EOME,
THEIR CHURCH AND STATE
SIXTEENTH AND SEVENTEENTH CENTFEIES.
BOOK THE FIRST.
INTRODUCTION.
CHAPTER I.
EPOCHS OF THE PAPACY.
Christianity in the Roman Empire.
If we take a general survey of the world in
the earliest times, we find it filled with a mul-
tude of independent tribes. We see them set-
tled round the Mediterranean, from the coasts
as far inland as the country had yet been ex-
plored; variously parted from each other, all
originally confined within narrow limits, and
living under purely independent and peculi-
arly constituted forms of government. The
independence they enjoyed was not merely
political: in every country a local religion
arose ; the ideas of God and of divine things
became as it were appropriated to certain
places ; national deities of the most diversi-
fied attributes occupied the world ; and the
law obeyed by their votaries became insepar-
ably identified with that of the state. We
may venture to assert that this intimate union
of religion and state, this twofold freedom,
which was shackled only with the light obli-
gations imposed by community of blood, had
the largest share in fashioning the character
of antiquity. Men were confined in those
days within narrow limits, but within these
the exuberance of a young and uncoerced ex-
istence was left to develope itself as its own
free impulses prompted. How wliolly was all
this changed when the power of Rome gained
the ascendant ! We see, one after the other,
all the primitive legislations that filled the
world bow down and disappear ; how denuded
of free peoples did the earth suddenly become !
In other times states have been convulsed
because their subjects had ceased to believe
in the religion they sanctioned ; in those days
the subjection of the state necessarily induced
the downfall of its religion. They were both
inevitably hurried along by the current of
political power, and carried together into
Rome: but what significance could they pos-
sess when uprooted from the soil to which
they had been indigenous] The worship of
Isis had probably a meaning in Egypt : it was
a deification of the forces of nature as they are
witnessed in that country : in Rome it became
a mere unmeaning idolatry. Nothing, there-
fore, could ensue from the reciprocal contact
of the several mythologies, but their mutual
hostility and extinction. No system of philo-
sophy could be devised capable of reconciling'
their contradictions.
But even had this been possible, it would
not have satisfied the wants of the world.
With all our sympathy for the downfall of
so many free states, we cannot deny that a
new life was directly generated from their
ruin. Simultaneous with the death of their
independence, was the downfall of the barrier
set up by their narrow national spirit. The
nations were subdued, involved in one com-
mon system of conquest, but by that very
means they were united and blended together.
The very range of this empire being desig-
nated by the name of orbis terrarum, its in-
habitants looked upon themselves as a single
collective body. The human race began to
be conscious of its common nature.
At this crisis of the world's progress Jesus
Christ was born.
How unpretending and obscure was his
life : his occupation, the healing of the sick,
and to talk of God in signs and parables, to a
few fishermen who did not always understand
Him: He had not where to lay his head : but,
even taking our stand upon this our review
of the world's history, we may affirm, never
has this earth exhibited anything more guile-
less or mighty, sublimer or holier than his
walk, his life, and his death ; in every sen-
tence He uttered breathes the very breath
of God ; his are words, as St. Peter says, of
everlasting life: the records of the human
18
EPOCHS OF THE PAPACY.
[iNTROD.
race offer nothing worthy of remote compari-
son with them.
If the national creeds ever contained within
them a germ of practical religion, this had now
been wholly obscured ; they had, as already
said, no longer a meaning: in Him, who was
both God and man, there stood in contrast
with them the eternal and universal relation-
ship of God to the world, of man to God.
Christ was born in a nation between which
and all others an exclusive and uncompromis-
ing ritual law had drawn the strictest line of
demarcation ; but whose measureless merit it
was to have clung with unchanging and in-
vincible stedfastness to that monotheism it had
from the very beginning received as its creed.
Undoubtedly it did, like other nations, regard
this as a religion intrinsically belonging to
itself, but now it received a wholly different
significancy. Christ put an end to the law by
fulfilling it : the Son of man proved himself,
according to his own expression, Lord also of
the sabbath ; He freed that which was essen-
tial and eternal from forms whose meaning a
narrow understanding had failed to seize ; and
now from out a people hitherto severed from
i all others by insurmountable barriers of sen-
timent and custom, there arose with all the
energy of truth, a faith that invited and em-
braced them all. The common God of all was
proclaimed, who, as St. Paul preached to the
Athenians, " hath made of one blood all races
of men to dwell on the face of the earth."
The fitting time, as we have seen, was ar-
rived for this sublime doctrine : there existed
a human race to adopt it. " It gleamed over
the earth like a sunbeam," as Eusebius says.*
In brief time we behold it outspread over the
whole range of the empire, from the Euphrates
to the Ebro, the Rhine, and the Danube.
But guileless and gentle though it was, it
was in the very nature of things that it should
encounter strong opposition from the existing
creeds, which had attach,ed themselves to the
habits and wants of society, and to all tradi-
tional feelings, and which had now taken a
turn that enabled them to reflect the constitu-
tion of the empire.
The political spirit of the antique religions
came forth once more in a new guise. The
sum and substance of all the old independent
systems that had once filled the world, had
fallen into the grasp of one ; there existed but
a single power that seemed self-dependent ;
religion acknowledged this when it sanctioned
the payment of divine honour to the emperor.
Temples were erected to him, altars heaped
with sacrifices, oaths were sworn by his name,
and festivals were solemnized in honour of
him ; his images invested the place where
they stood with the right of sanctuary. The
adoration paid to the genius of the emperor
was, perhaps, the only universal worship in
the empire.* All idolatries regarded it with
favour, for it afforded them countenance and
support.
This worship of the Caesar and the doctrine
of Christ bore, with relation to the local reli-
gion, a certain degree of mutual resemblance,
while at the same time they were contrasted
with each other to the utmost conceivable de-
gree.
The emperor regarded religion in its most
worldly point of view, as bound to earth and
the things of earth : to him be these surren-
dered, says Celsus ; from him come whatever
each man possesses. Christianity regarded
it in the fulness of the Spirit and of heavenly
truth.
The emperor identified religion and the
state : Christianity above all things separated
that which is God's from that which is Caesar's.
Every sacrifice offered to the emperor was
a confession of the lowest thraldom. That
very thing wherein had consisted the freedom
of the constitution, the ilnion of religion and
the state, was now the confirmation of sub-
jection. The injunction of Christianity, for-
bidding its followers to sacrifice to the emper-
ors, was an act of emancipation.
Lastly, the worship of the emperor was re-
stricted within the limits of the empire, the
supposed orb of the earth; Christianity was
destined to embrace the world's real limits,
and the whole race of man. The new faith
sought to revive among the nations the prime-
val religious sentiment, (if it be true that such
a thing was antecedent to all idolatries) or at
least an absolutely pure sentiment u-nsullied
by any necessary relation to the state, and set
this in opposition to that imperious power,
which, not content with earthly things, would
grasp divine things likewise. By this means
mankind became possessed of a spiritual ele-
ment in which it was again self-sustained,
free, and personally invincible; a new vital-
ity filled the bosom of the freshened earth ; it
was fructified for the birth of new productions.
The contest lay between the earthly and
the spiritual, thraldom and freedom, slow de-
cay and the rekindling of youthful vigour.
This is not the place for describing the long
strife between these principles. All the vital
elements of the Roman empire were set in
motion, and, gradually seized and penetrated
by the Christian system, were hurried onward
in this grand spiritual march. "The error of
idolatry," says Chrysostom, " was by its own
self extinguished.."!
♦ Hist. Eccl. ii. 3.
♦ Eckhel, Doctrina nummorum veterum, pt. ii. vol. viii.
p. 4-5G. He quotes a passage from Tertullian, from which
it would appear, tiiat the adoration of the Csesar waa also
at times the most fervent of all.
'liuxtAvoi KAi TTPce "EXAXK^tf.— Chrj-sosiomi 0pp. od.
Paris, U. 540.
INTROD.]
CHRISTIANITY IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE.
19
Already paganism appears to him as a con-
quered city, whose walls are demolished, its
halls and theatres and public buildings burned
to the ground, its defenders prostrate, while
only here and there a few aged persons and
children are seen surviving amidst its ruins.
Ere long these too were no more; and a
transmutation without a parallel ensued.
Out of the catacombs ascended the worship
of the martyrs ; on the spots where the Olym-
pic Gods had been adored, from the self-same
columns that had sustained their temples,
arose shrines to the memory of those who had
died for scorning their worship. The religious
system, begun in deserts and in dungeons,
overspread the world. It sometimes excites
surprise that precisely a secular building of
the pagans, the basilica, should have been
transformed into a Christian temple. There
is something very suggestive in this. The
apsis of the basilica contained an Augustcum,*
the images of those very Cfesars to whom di-
vine honours had been paid. To their place
succeeded, as we see in so many basilicas to
this day, the images of Christ and the apos-
tles ; instead of the world's masters, who
were themselves regarded as gods, appeared
the Son of God clothed in the nature of man.
The local deities faded away. On every high-
way, on the mountain cliffs and in the passes
through the ravines, on the housetops and on
ranks, consecrated by the imposition of hands,
withdrawn from all secular pursuits, is
pledged to devote itself " to spiritual and
divine purposes." At first, the Church con-
ducted itself in accordance with republican
forms, but these disappeared in proportion as
the new faith advanced to supremacy. By
and by, the minister of religion assumed a
position diametrically contrasted with that of
the layman.
It was not, I think, without a certain in-
trinsic necessity that this occurred. In the
advance of Christianity was involved an eman-
cipation of religion from the political element,
and this infers the establishment of a distinct
spiritual class with peculiar institutions. In
this separation of the Church from the State,
consists perhaps the greatest and most tho-
roughly effective peculiarity of the Christian
times. The spiritual and the temporal powers
may closely affect each other, they may exist
in the most intimate communion ; but per-
fectly to coalesce is what they can do at the
very most but exceptionally and for a short
while. In their mutual relations and bear-
ings has been involved, ever since those days,
one of the most important considerations pre-
sented in all history.
At the same time, the constitution of this
class was necessarily modelled on that of the
empire. The hierarchy of the bishops, me-
the mosaic of the floors, was seen the emblem tropolitan patriarchs, arose in correspondence
of the Cross. The victory was complete and
decisive. As the labarum appears over the
vanquished dragons on the coins of Constan-
tino, so the worship and the name of Christ
towered over flillen paganism. Regarded in
this aspect too, how immense is the impor-
tance of the Roman empire. In the centur-
ies of its rise it shattered independence, and
prostrated the nations ; it annihilated every
feeling of self-reliance involved in isolation ;
on the other hand, it beheld in later times the
true religion springing up in its bosom, the
purest expression of a common consciousness
prevailing more widely far than the limits of
its empire, the consciousness of community in
the one true God. May we venture to say
that the empire, by this development, an-
nulled its own necessity] The human race
was thenceforth acquainted with the depths
of its own nature ; it had found its own unity
in religion.
To this religion the Roman empire now
gave moreover its outward form.
The heathen priesthoods were assigned in
the same way as civil offices ; in the Jewish
system, one tribe was specially charged with
spiritual functions : it is the distinctive of
Christianity, that in it a particular class, com-
posed of members voluntarily seeking its
with the gradations of the civil administra-
tion. It was not long before the Roman
bishops assumed the highest rank. It is in-
deed an idle pretence to assert that they en-
joyed in the first century, or at any period
whatever, a supremacy universally recognized
by East and West ; but unquestionably they
speedily attained a consequence that exalted
tliem above all other ecclesiastical dignita-
ries. Many circumstances combined towards
this consummation. Seeing that in every
instance the superior importance of a provin-
cial capital endowed its bishop with a peculiar
preponderence, how much more must this
liave been the case with the ancient capital of
the entire empire, from which the latter even
derived its name?* Rome was one of the
most illustrious apostolic sees; here had the
greatest number of martyrs shed their blood ;
the bishops of Rome had borne themselves
with pre-eminent firmness during the perse-
cutions, and frequently had they succeeded
each other not so much in office as in martyr-
dom and death. But now, in addition to all
this, the emperors were disposed to favour
the rise of a great patriarchal authority. In
a law, that proved decisive of the supremacy
over Christendom, Theodosius the Great en-
joins, that all nations subject to his clemency
* I talfp. this fact from E. Q. Visconti, Museo Pio-Clem- * Casauboni Exercitaiiones ad Annates Ecclesiasticoa
emino VII. p. lUO, ed. of 1S07. I Baronii, p. 260.
20
EPOCHS OF THE PAPACY.
[iNTROD.
should follow the faith propounded to the I
Romans by St. Paul.f Valentinian III. for-
bade the bishops both of Gaul and of the other
provinces to depart from the received customs
of the Church, without the sanction of that
venerable authority, the pope of the holy city.
Thenceforth the power of the Roman bishop
grew up under the protection of the emperor
himself: but at the same time a limit was set
to it by the very circumstance of this political
connexion. Had there been but one emperor,
the universal supremacy might then have
been firmly established ; but this was forbid-
den by the partition of the empire. It was
impossible that the eastern emperors, who
clung so jealously to their ecclesiastical
rights, should have favoured the outspread of
the power of the western patriarchs in their
dominions. In this respect, too, the constitu-
tion of the Church reflected that of the em-
pire.
The Papacy in connexion with the Frank-
ish Empire.
Hardly had this grand change been ac-
complished, the Christian religion planted,
and the Church founded, when new events of
vast magnitude arose : the Roman empire, so
long victorious, was now in its turn assailed
by its neighbours, invaded, and vanquished.
In the huge downfall that ensued, Christi-
anity itself was once more shaken to its
foundations. The Romans in their hour of
peril bethought them once more of the Etru-
rian mysteries, the Athenians trusted to be
saved by Achilles and iVIinerva, the Cartha-
ginians prayed to the genius Ccslestis. But
these were only transient emotions ; whilst
the empire was shattered in the western pro-
vinces, the entire edifice of the Church held
cut unbroken even there.
Nevertheless, it too unavoidably fell into
manifold painful trials, and found itself in a
wholly altered condition. A pagan nation
laid hold on Britain ; Arian kings subdued the
greater part of the remaining West ; the
Lombards, for a long time Arians, and always
dangerous and ill-disposed neighbours, found-
ed a powerful realm in Italy before the gates
of Rome.
While the Roman bishops, thus hemmed in
on all sides, were bestirring themselves —
and that with all the shrewdness and pertina-
city which has ever since been their peculiar
characteristic — to become once more masters,
at least in their old patriarchal diocese, a
new and still heavier calamity befel them.
+ Codex-Theodos. xvi. 1,2. Cunclos populos quos cle-
menlise nostrae regit lemperanipntimi, in tali volumus
religione versari quam divinum Petnim Aposloluiii tradi-
disse Romanis, religio usque nunc ab ipso insinuata de-
claral. The edict of Valentinian III. is noticed also by
Planck, Geschichte der chrisllichkirchlichen Gesell-
schaflsverfassung, i. 642.
The Arabs, not mere conquerors like the Ger-
mans, but men inspired to fanaticism by a
haughty dogmatic faith, radically and invete-
rately hostile to Christianity, swept over the
West as they had done over the East ; they
conquered Africa after repeated attacks,
Spain in a single campaign ; and Musa boast-
ed that he would push forward through the
passes of the Pyrenees and over the Alps to
Italy, and cause the name of Mohammed to
be proclaimed from the Vatican.
The situation in which the western portion
of Roman Christendom was then placed, was
the more perilous, inasmuch as at that mo-
ment the iconoclastic controversy was raging
with the most bitter animosity. The emperor
of Constantinople had adopted a different side
from that of the pope of Rome ; he even more
than once practised against the latter's life.
The Lombards were not slow to perceive the
advantage likely to accrue to them from these
dissensions. Their king Astulphus seized on
provinces that, till then, had always recog-
nized the emperor's supremacy : he advanced
against Rome, and summoned that city too
with vehement threats to surrender to him
and pay him tribute.*
Help there was none in the Roman world ;
not even against the Lombards, still less
against the Arabs, who meantime began to
lord it over the Mediterranean, and threaten-
ed Christendom with a war for life or death.
But, happily, the means of help were no
longer confined witliin the limits of ihe Roman
empire.
Christianity, in accordance with its primary
destiny, had long overspread those limits : in
the West it had especially laid hold on the
Germanic tribes ; nay, a Christian power had
already arisen amongst these, to which the
pope had but to stretch out his hands to pro-
cure ready allies against all his enemies and
the most energetic succour.
Of the Germanic nations the Frankish
alone had become Catholic on its very first
rise in the Roman empire. This step on its
part had helped it to great advantages. The
Franks found natural allies a^ftiong the sub-
jects of their Arian enemies, the Burgundians
and West Goths. We read of numerous mi-
racles said to have occurred to Clovis : how
St. Martin discovered to him the ford over
the Vienne by means of a hind ; how St. Hil-
ary marshalled his way in a pillar of fire : we
shall not be far astray if we conjecture, that
in these legends are veiled, under sensible
imagery, the acts of assistance rendered by
* Anastasius Bibliothecarius : Vitae Pontificum. Vita
Stpphani III. Paris edit. p. 8-3. Tremens ut leo pestiferas
minas Kouumis dirigere non pesinebat, asserens omnes
uno gladio jugulari, nisi suaesese^subderentditioni. [Rag-
ing like a lion, he ceased not to utter deadly threats
against the Romans, declaring that he would put them
indiscriniinalely to tlie sword if they did not yield to his
sway.]
INTROD.]
THE PAPACY AND THE FRANK EMPIRE.
21
the natives to a participator in their own
creed, to whom, as Gregory of Tours says,
they wished victory " with eager inclination."
But the attachment to Catholicism, thus
confirmed from the very first by consequences
of such magnitude, was subsequently revived,
and mightily corroborated, by a very peculiar
influence from another quarter.
Pope Gregory the Great happened to see
some Anglo-Saxons in the slave market in
Rome, who attracted his attention, and
prompted him to cause the promulgation of
the Gospel amongst the people to which they
belonged. Never, perhaps, did a pope adopt
a resolution pregnant with more important
results. With the new doctrine a spirit of
veneration for Rome and the holy see, such
as had never before existed elsewhere, be-
came implanted in Germanic Britain. The
Anglo-Saxons began to make pilgrimages to
Rome ; they sent their youth thither ; King
Offa established the tribute called Peter's
pence, for the education of the clergy, and the
relief of pilgrims ; the higher orders travelled
to Rome to die there, and so be more cordial-
ly received into heaven by the saints. It was
as though that nation applied to Rome and the
Christian saints the old Teutonic superstition,
that the gods are nearer to some places than
to others.
But in addition to all this, results far
weightier still ensued when the Anglo-Sax-
ons began to propagate these views and feel-
ings of theirs on the continent, and in the
Frankish realm.
The apostle of the Germans was an Anglo-
Saxon. Bonifacius, thoroughly imbued as he
was with the reverence for St. Peter and his
successors common to his nation, pledged
Jiimself from the very first to adhere faith-
fully to the ordinances of the Roman see ;
and this vow he most scrupulously fulfilled.
He imposed on the German church he found-
ed an extraordinary obligation to obedience.
The bishops were required distinctly to vow
that they would persist to their lives' end in
submissiveness to the Romish church, St.
Peter, and his representative. Nor did he
eft'ect this only with the German bi.shops :
those of Gaul had hitherto maintained a cer-
tain independence of Rome. Bonifacius,
whose lot it was to preside a few times in their
synods, there found an opportunity to dispose
this western part of the Frankish church to'
the same way of thinking ; and thenceforth
the Gallic archbishops received the pallium
from Rome. In this manner did the Anglo-
Saxon submissiveness extend over the entire
Frankish realm.
And this realm was now the centre of the
whole Germanic west. The murderous fren-
zy by which the Merovingian race had
wrought its own destruction, had not impair-
ed the strength of the empire. Another
family rose in its stead to the supreme power ;
men, all of them, full of energy, of command-
ing will, and lofty vigour. Whilst other
realms were toppling down in ruin, and the
world seemed destined to fall a prey to the
Moslem sword, it was this race, the house of
Pepin of Heristall, afterwards called the Car-
lovingian, that made the first and the decis-
ive stand against the Mahommedan con-
querors.
This family moreover favoured the religious
development now in process of accomplish-
ment ; we find it very early in good intelli-
gence with Rome ; the labours of Boniface
were carried on under the special protection
of Charles Martel and Pepin le Bref.*
Let us now picture to ourselves what was
the temporal position of the Papal power.
On the one side, the East Roman empire
crumbling to ruin ; weak, incapable of pro-
tecting Christendom against Islamism, unable
even to defend its own territories in Italy
against the Lombards, and yet pretending to
an all-commanding voice even in spiritual mat-
ters ; on the other, the German nations, full
of life and vigour, and victorious over Islam-
ism, devoted with all the fresh ardour of youth
to the authority of which they were still in
need, and animated with a boundless volun-
tary devotion.
Already Gregory II. was fully sensible to
the value of the prize he had won. " All they
of the West," he writes in the fulness of his
self-complacency to the iconoclast emperor,
Leo the Isaurian, " have their eyes bent on
our humility; they regard us as a god on
earth." But his successors were continually
more and more impressed with the necessity
of separating themselves from a power that
only imposed duties upon them, while it could
render them 'no protection in return ; the suc-
cession or the Roman name and empire was
not sufficient to bind them ; on the contrary,
turning to those from whom alone they could
expect any help, they entered with the
supreme chiefs of the West, the Frankish
monarchs, into an alliance, that every year
became more strict, was productive of the
greatest advantages to both parties, and finally
manifested a vast and important bearing on
the whole scheme of history.
As Pepin the younger, not content with the
reality of kingly power, began to long for the
name too, he felt his full need of a higher
sanction ; and this the pope afforded him. In
*Bonafacii Epistolae ; ep. 12 ad Danielem episc. Sine
patrocinio principis Fraiiconim nee populum regere, nee
presbyteros vel uiaconos, monachos, vel ancillas Dei de-
lendere possum, nee ipsos pa^anorum ritus el sacrilegia
idolorum in Germania sine illius mandalo et limore pro-
hibere valeo. [Witlioul the patronage of llie sovereign
of the Franks, I can neillter rule the people nor defend
the priests and deacons, the monks, and the handmaids
of God, nor can I put a stop to pagan rites and sacrilegi-
ous idolatries in Germany, without his mandate, and the
awe of his name.]
22
EPOCHS OF THE PAPACY.
[iNTROD.
return, the newly-made king- took upon him to
defend "the Holy Church, and God's com-
monvveath," against the Lombards. To defend
them merely, was not enough for his zeal ; he
very soon compelled the Lombards to surren-
der the Italian territory, the Exarchate, of
which they had despoiled the East Roman
empire. Justice obviously demanded that this
should be restored to the emperor to whom it
belonged; and the proposal was made to Pepin.
His answer was, that " he had not taken the
field for the sake of a man, but solely out of
his veneration for St. Peter, to the end that he
might obtain forgiveness of his sins."* He
caused the keys of the conquered towns to be
laid on St. Peter's altar. This was the foun-
dation of the whole temporal dominion of the
popes.
In this lively spirit of mutual serviceable-
ness the alliance was continued and further
developed. At last Charlemagne wholly rid
the pope of his so long troublesome and oppres-
sive neighbours the Lombards. In his own
person he manifested the most profound defer-
ence for the holy father; he visited Rome,
kissing the steps of St. Peter's as he ascend-
ed ; he entered the vestibule, where the pope
awaited him, and confirmed to the pontift'the
gifts made by Pepin. The pope, on his part,
continued the monarch's most unswerving
friend : the relations in which the spiritual
chief stood to the Italian bishops made it an
easy matter for Charlemagne to master the
Lombards, and possess himself of their king-
dom.
Now this course of events was forthwith to
lead to a still greater result.
The pope could no longer abide without
foreign aid in his own city, where the strife of
opposite factions was raging with the utmost
violence; Charlemagne accordingly^ncemore
visited Rome, to afford him the assistance he
needed. The aged monarch was now full of
renown and victory. He had, in a long course
of warfare, subdued one by one all his neigh-
bours, and well-nigh united under his sway all
the Latin and Teutonic nations of Christen-
dom ; he had led them to victory against their
common enemy: it was matter of remark that
he possessed all the seats of the western empe-
rors in Italy, Gaul, and Germany, and their
power likewise.! True, since their day, those
countries had become altogether another
world ; but should they, therefore, be a bar to
this dignity ! Thus Pepin received the royal
* Anastasiua : affirmans etiam sub juramento quod per
nuUius hominis favorem sese cenamini saepius dedisset,
nisi pro amore Petri et venia delictorum.
t So I understand the Annales Laureshamensps : ad
annum 801. Visum est et ipsi apostolico Leoni, ut ipsum
Carolum regem Francorum imperaiorem noniinare debuis-
eent, qui ipsam Romam tenebat, ubi semper Ctesares
seders soliti erant, et reliquas sedes quas ipse per Ilaliam
eeu Galliam nee non et Germaniam tenebat (he meant to
say: ipsi tenebanl) : quia Deus omnipolens has omnes
sedes in potestalem ejus concessit, ideo justum eis vide-
baiur, ut ipse cum Dei adjutorio . . . ipsum nomen haberet.
diadem, because he who possesses the power
is no less entitled to the dignity. On this
occasion, too, the pope came to a similar reso-
lution. Penetrated with gratitude, and in
need, as he well knew, of permanent protec-
tion, he crowned Charlemagne on Christmas
eve of the year 800 with the crown of the
western empire.
With this act was fully accomplished that
series of historical events, which had begun
with the first incursions of the German tribes
into the Roman empire.
A Frank sovereign succeeded to the position
of the Western Roman emperors, and exer-
cised all their prerogatives. We see Char-
lemagne fully executing the most indisputable
acts of supreme authority in the territories
that had been conferred on St. Peter. In like
manner his nephew Lothaire appointed his
own judges there, and annulled confiscations
made by the pope. The pope, on the other
hand, supreme head of the hierarchy in the
Roman West, became a member of the Frank
empire. He broke off" from the East, and gra-
dually ceased to meet with any further recog-
nition there. The Greek emperors had long
despoiled him of his eastern diocese.* To
compensate him for this, the western churches
(not excepting the Lombard, on which the
Prankish institutions had been engrafted) ren-
dered him an obedience such as he had never
before enjoyed. Admitting schools in Rome
for Frieslanders, Saxons, and Franks, by means
of which that city itself began to be german-
ized, he commenced tliat blending of Latin
and German elements, which has since shaped
the character of the West. In the moment
of its utmost adversity his power struck fresh
root; when it seemed devoted to ruin, it
secured for itself a firm and lengthened endu-
rance. The hierarchy, formed in the Roman
empire, ditliised itself amongst the German
nations; and there it found a limitless field for
an ever progressive activity, in the course of
which it first fully developed the germs of its
nature.
Relation to the German Emperors. — Internal
progressive Improvement of the Hierarchy.
We pass over centuries, in order to arrive
at a more clear conception of that point of
development to which they led.
The Prankish empire is prostrate ; the
German is risen in the utmost vigour.
Never has the German name stood higher
in Europe than in the tenth and eleventh cen-
* Nicholas I. bewails the loss of the patriarchal power
of the Koman see : per Epirum veterem Epirumque novam
alque Illyricum, Macedoniam, Thessaliam, Acliaiam, Da-
ciam ripensem Daciamque mediterraneam, Moesiam, Dar-
daniaii], Preevalem, andllie loss of the patrimony in Cala-
bria and Sicily. Pagi (Critica in Annales Baronii) couples
this letter with another of Adrian l.'s to Charlemagne,
from which it appears that this loss resulted out of the
iconoclastic controversy.
INTROD.]
THE POPES AND THE GERMAN EMPERORS,
23
turies, under the Saxon and first Salique
emperors. We see Conrad 11. hurrying- from
the eastern frontiers, where the King of Poland
had been forced to submit to personal subjec-
tion and the partition of his territories, and
where the Duke of Bohemia had been con-
demned to incarceration, to support Burgundy
against the pretensions of the French gran-
dees. He vanquishes them in the plains of
Champagne : his Italian vassals cross the St.
Bernard to his aid : he causes himself to be
crowned at Geneva, and holds his diet at Solo-
thurn. Immediately after this we meet him
in Lower Italy. " He put an end by his
word," says his historian Weppo, " to the dis-
sensions on the confines of his empire in Capua
and Benevento." Henry III. ruled with no
less vigour : at one time we find him by the
Scheldt and the Lys, victorious over the
Counts of Flanders; presently in Hungary,
which he compelled, at least for a consider-
able time, to do him feudal service, beyond the
Raab, and scorning all limits but those set him
by the elements. The King of Denmark goes
in quest of him to Merseburg ; one of the most
powerful princes of France, the Count of
Tours, acknowledges himself his vassal ; and
the Spanish histories relate, that he demanded
of Ferdinand I. of Castile, victorious and
powerful as the latter was, that he should be
recognised by all Christian kings as their liege
suzerain.
If we now inquire on what intrinsically
rested this power, so wide in its range, and
which laid claim to an European supremacy,
we shall find that it contained within it a very
important ecclesiastical element. The Ger-
mans conquered whilst they made converts.
, Their marches advanced in conjunction with
the church over the Elbe, to the Oder on the
one side, to the Danube on the other : monks
and priests were the forerunners of German
influence in Bohemia and Hungary. By this
means a great accession of strength every
where accrued to the spiritual power. In
Germany bishops and abbots of the empire
enjoyed, not only in their own possessions, but
beyond them, the rights of counts, nay, some-
times of dukes ; and ecclesiastical estates were
no longer described as situated in such or such
a county, but the counties as in such and such
bishoprics. In Upper Italy almost all the towns
became subject to the viscounts of their bishops.
It would be an error to infer from this that
the spiritual powers had already acquired a
special independence. As the disposal of
ecclesiastical appointments rested with the
kings, (the chapters used to send back the
ring and crosier of their deceased superior to
the court, whence it was again bestowed on
his successor,) it was in general advantageous
for the princes to eke out the temporal privi-
leges of the men of their choice, on whose
devotedness they could rely. In defiance* of
the most refractory nobility, Henry III. placed
a plebeian, one of his creatures, in the chair
of St. Ambrose in Milan : to this line of con-
duct he was mainly indebted for the obedience
he subsequently met with in Upper Italy.
That Henry II. proved himself of all these
emperors the most munificent to the church,
and that he was the most strenuous in insisting
on his right to the nomination of the bishops,*
are facts that carry with them their mutual
explanation. Care was also taken that the
collation should be without prejudice to the
rights of the state. The property of the
Church was exempted neither from civil bur-
dens, nor even from feudal service : we fre-
quently find bishops taking the field at the
head of their vassals. On the other hand,
what an advantage it was to have the right of
nominating the bishops, who, like the Arch-
bishop of Bremen, exercised the highest spiri-
tual authority in the Scandinavian dominions
and over many Wendish tribes!
If then the ecclesiastical element was of
such eminent importance in the institutions of
the empire, it is self-evident how much this
must have been enhanced by the relation in
which the emperors stood to the supreme head
of the entire clergy, the pope of Rome.
The popedom was bound to the German
emperors by the strictest ties, as it had before
been to the Roman emperors and to the suc-
cessors of Charlemagne. True, indeed, the
popes had exercised acts of sovereign autho-
rity over the imperial sceptre before it passed
definitively to the Germans, and while it was
yet in weak and wavering hands. But when
the vigorous princes of Germany had achieved
the conquest of that dignity, they became, if
not admittedly, at least in fact what the Car-
lovingian race had been, the liege lords of the
popedom. Otto the Great shielded with a
powerful hand the pope whom he had seated
in the pontifical chair :t his sons followed his
example : the fact that the Roman factions did
once more make head, and seize on and resign
that dignity as their family interests fluctuat-
ed, purchase and traflic it away, did but more
clearly indicate the necessity of some higher
intervention. It was well known how vigor-
ously this was exercised by Henry III. His
synod at Sutri deposed the intruders upon the
popedom. No sooner had he put the patrician
ring on his finger, and received the imperial
crown, than he declared of his own good plea-
sure the individual who was to mount the papal
chair. Four successive German popes were
nominated by him : upon the occasion of a
vacancy in the highest station in the Church
* For instances of this strictness see Planck, Geschichto
der cliristl.-kirchl. Gesellschaftsverfassung, iii. 407.
t In Goldast, Constitutt. Imperiales, i. p. 221, we find an
instnimenl (with the scholia of Dietrich of Nieni) by which
the right of Charlemagne to choose a successor to himself,
and in future the popes of Rome, is transferred to the Ger-
man emperors. It is, however, undoubtedl/ a fabrication.
24
EPOCHS OF THE PAPACY.
[iNTROD.
the delegates from Rome presented themselves
at the imperial court exactly as the envoys
from other bishoprics, to receive the announce-
ment of a successor to the dignity.
In this position of things it was a matter of
personal interest to the emperor that the
papacy should wear an imposing aspect in the
eyes of the world. Henry III. promoted the
reformation, which was undertaken by the
popes appointed by himself; the augmentation
of their power in no wise moved him to jeal-
ousy. That Leo. IX. held a synod at Rheims
in defiance of the King of France, instituted
and deposed French bishops, and received the
solemn admission of the principle, that the
pope is the sole primate of the universal
church, might perfectly suit the emperor's
purposes, so long as he himself had the dis-
posal of the popedom. All this contributed
to uphold that paramount majesty which he
claimed over all Europe. What the arch-
bishop of Bremen effected for him in the
North, the pope obtained for him amongst the
other powers of Christendom.
But there was a great danger too involved
in this condition of things.
The ecclesiastical order had become in the
German and the germanized empire a totally
different institution from what it had been in
the Roman. A large share of political influ-
ence had been transferred to it ; it was pos-
sessed of princely power. We have seen
that it still depended on the emperor, the
highest secular authority. But what if this
authority should again fall into weak hands,
and if at the same time the supreme head of
the church, thrice powerful through his uni-
versally venerated rank, the obedience of his
subordinates, and his influence over other
states, should seize the favourable moment,
and set himself in opposition to the imperial
authority 1
The nature of the case involved more than
one element conducive to such a contingency ;
but there was an inherent principle in the ec-
clesiastical body, essentially opposed to so
great secular influence, which, when it should
have gathered sufficient strength, could not
fail to hurry on the consummation. It seems,
too, to me to have carried with it a palpable
inconsistency, that the pope should have ex-
ercised on all sides a spiritual power of the
highest order, and have been at the same time
subject to the emperor. The case would have
been different, had Henry III. actually com-
passed his design of elevating himself to be
the head of all Christendom ; but as he did
not succeed in this, it needed but a certain
evolution of politics, and the pope might by all
means have been hindered by his subordina-
tion to the emperor from being fully and free-
ly, as his office inferred, the common father of
the faithful.
Circumstances were in this state when
Gregory VII. ascended the papal chair. Gre-
gory was a man of a bold, bigoted, and aspir-
ing spirit; straightforward he was, so to
speak, as a scholastic system, invincible in
the stronghold of logical consequence, and
no less dexterous in parrying just and well-
founded objections with specious arguments.
He saw the goal towards which things were
tending; amidst all the petty bustle of every-
day business his sagacity detected the germs
of possible mighty events ; he resolved to
emancipate the papal power from the imperial
yoke. Having once fixed his mind on this
object, he forthwith, without a moment's hesi-
tation, or casting one glance behind, laid hold
on the decisive means towards its attainment.
The resolution which he caused to be passed
by one of his ecclesiastical assemblies, that
for the future no spiritual appointment should
ever be disposed of by a secular patron, was
of a nature to overthrow the constitution of
the empire in its very essence. This latter
rested, as already mentioned, on the inter-
connexion of the spiritual and temporal insti-
tutions : the bond between both was the right
of investiture ; the determination that this
ancient right should be wrested from the em-
peror was of the nature of a revolution.
It is manifest that Gregory could never have
been in a condition to entertain this design,
much less to accomplish it, had he not been
seconded by the convulsions of the empire
during the minority of Henry IV., and the
insurrection of the German populations and
princes against that sovereign. In the per-
sons of the great vassals he met with natural
allies : they too felt themselves oppressed by
the preponderance of the imperial power;
they too desired to become free. Then the pope
too was in a certain respect one of the mag-
nates of the empire. The two facts are in per-
fect accordance — that the pope declared Ger-
many an electoral empire (a doctrine tending
prodigiously to the augmentation of the power
of the princes), and that the princes were so
little disposed to murmur if the pope should
shake oft' the imperial yoke. Even in the
contested matter of the investiture their in-
terests went hand-in-hand. The pope was
still far from desiring personally to nominate
the bishops ; he referred the choice to the
chapters, over which the German nobility ex-
ercised the most commanding influence. In
a word, the pope had the aristocratic interests
on his side.
But even with these allies what long and
sanguinary conflicts did it cost the popes to
accomplish their undertaking ! From Den-
mark to Apulia, says the hymn in praise of
St. Anno, from Carlingen to Hungary, the
arms of the empire have been turned against
its own vitals. The strife between the spiri-
tua] and the temporal principles, which had
before gone hand-in-hand, spread fatal discord
INTROD.]
THE POPES AND THE GERMAN EMPERORS.
25
throughout Europe. Frequently were tlie i tical principle was soon transformed into a
popes themselves compelled to abandon their
capita], and see rivals usurp their seat on the
apostolic chair !
At last, however, the task was achieved.
After long centuries of subjection, after other
centuries of often dubious contest, the inde-
pendence of the Roman see and of its ruler
was finally establisbcd. The position of the
popes at that moment was in fact the grand-
est and most exalted. The clergy were whol-
ly in their hands. It was worthy of note that
tlie most resolute popes of those times, includ-
ing Gregory VII. himself, were Benedictines.
kind of sovereignty. The ecclesiastico-poli-
cal character winch society had assumed
throughout, and the course of events, necessa-
rily tended to such an issue. When countries
long lost, such as Spain, were finally wrested
from Mohammedanism; when provinces which
had not yet been acquired, such as Prussia,
were snatched from Paganism, and filled with
a Christian population; when even the capi-
tals of the Greek faith submitted to the Latin
ritual ; and when hundreds of thousands were
continually taking the field to rear the banner
of tlie cross over the holy sepulchre, must not
By the introduction of celibacy tiiey convert- the high-priest, whose hand was in all these
ed the entire of the secular clergy into a kind undertakings, and who received the fealty of
of monkish order. The universal bishopric to j the subdued, have been invested with a most
which they made pretensions was in some I surpassing grandeur ] Under his directions,
degree analogous to the power of an abbot of I and in his name, the western nations poured
Cluny, who was the only abbot in his order
in like manner these pope saspired to be the
only bishops of the entire Church. They
made no scruple of grasping at the adminis-
tration of all the dioceses,* and even com-
pared their own legates with the ancient
Roman proconsuls! Whilst this close-knit
and universally diffused order, powerful
through its wealth, and absolute controllers
of all the social relations, was moulding itself
to the sway of a single chief, the secular
powers were sinking into ru.n. Already in
the beginning of the twelfth century I'rior
Gerohus made bold to say : " It will come at
last to this, that the golden statue of the king-
dom will be utterly demolished, and every
great empire divided into tetrarchies ; not till
then will the church stand up free and unop-
pressed, under the protection of the great
crowned priest."f It wanted but a little that
this should have been literally fulfilled. For
in truth, which was the more powerful in
England in the thirteenth century, Henry III.,
or tiiose four-and-twenty to whom for a long-
period the administration was committed ;
which of the two in Castile, the king or the
altoshomes ! The power of an emperor
seemed almost superfluous from tlie time that
Frederick ceded the essential attributes of
sovereignty to the princes of the empire.
Italy and Germany were filled with independ-
ent powers. Comprehensiveness and unity
were qualities to be found almost exclusively
in tiie power of the pope. Thus it came to
pass that the independence of the ecclesias-
* One of the main points in reference to which I will
cite a passage from a letter of Henry IV. to Gregory.
(Mansi, Concil. n. collectio xx. 471.) Rectoreg sanctae
ecclesiEe, viilel. archiepiscopas, episcopos, presbyleros
sicut servos pedibus tuis calcasti. [You have trampled
like slaves under your feet the guides and guardians of
the Holy Church ; that is to say, the archbishops, bishops,
and priests.] We see that in this the pope had the pub-
1^ voice in his favour. In quorum conculcatione tibi
favorem ab ore vulgi comparasli. [By trampling on
Ihem you have won for yourself the apnlauseof the mnb.]
t Schriick cites this passage in his Kirchengeschichie,
Th. 27, 117.
4
themselves forth in immense colonies, as
though they had been a single people, and
sought to possess the whole world. It cannot
create surprise if he then exercised unlimited
sway in his internal administration, if a king
held his dominions of him as a fief, if a king of
Aragon transferred his to the apostle Peter,
and if Naples was actually transferred through
the pope's means into the hands of a foreign
family ! Marvellous physiognomy of those
times, which no one has yet pourtrayed in its
entire fulness and truth ! the most extraordi-
nary combination of internal discord and
splendid progress without, of independence
and subjection, of the spiritual and the tempo-
ral. And how contradictory a character is
exhibited even in the piety of those times !
Sometimes she retires into the rugged moun-
tain, or the lonely forest, to devote all her
harmless days to Divine contemplation and
prayer ; longing for death she already denies
herself every enjoyment offered by life ; or
with youthful fervour she labours, if dwelling
amongst men, to body forth in serene, sublime,
and profoundly suggestive forms, the myste-
ries she dimly surmises, the ideas in which
she has her being : — but one moment more,
and we behold another Piety, that which in-
vented the Inquisition, and plied the fearful
judgment of the sword against heretics : " We
have spared," says the leader of the expedi-
tion against the Albigenses, "neither sex,
nor age, nor rank, but put all alike to the
sword." Sometimes the two make their ap-
pearance together. At sight of Jerusalem
the Crusaders dismount from their horses, and
bare their feet, to approach the holy walls in
the guise of true pilgrims; in the hottest
fights they believe themselves aided by the
visible presence of saints and angels. But no
sooner have they scaled the walls, than they
rush forth to pillage and bloodshed; they
butchered many thousand Saracens on the
site of Solomon's temple ; they burned the
Jews in their synagogues, and they sullied
26
EPOCHS OF THE PAPACY.
[iNTROD.
with blood the holy threshold before which
they had come to olter adoration ; — an incon-
sistency this, that pervaded the whole nature
of that religio- political constitution, and stamp-
it with its visible impress.
Contrasts between the fourteenth andjifteenlh
Centuries.
At certain stages of history we feel peculi-
arly disposed, if we may so express it, to in-
vestigate the divine plan of tlie world's gov-
ernment, and the forces at work for the edu-
cation of the human race.
However imperfect may have been the de-
velopment we have just depicted, it was ne-
cessary towards the complete naturalization
of Christianity in the West. It was no easy
matter thoroughly to imbue with the ideas of
Christianity tiie refractory spirits of the north-
ern tribes, engrossed as they were by their
traditional superstitions. It needed a long
predominance of the spiritual order to achieve
full hold upon the German temperament.
The same means served likewise to effect that
close union of Germanic and Latin elements
on which is founded the character of Europe
in more recent times. There is a community
in the modern world whicli has always been
regarded as a main foundation of its progres-
sive improvement in Church and State, in
manners, social intercourse, and literature.
To bring this about, it was necessary that the
western nations should for once constitute, as
it were, a single ecclesiastico-political state.
But this was the phenomenon of a moment
only in the great course of things. Ai\er tiie
conversion was fully effected, new necessities
made themselves felt.
It was already indicative of the dawn of a
new epoch, that the national languages arose
everywhere at the same time. Slowly but
unceasingly they insinuated themselves into
the various branches of mental activity ; step
by step the idiom of the Church gave way be-
fore them. Universality retired, and in its
stead appeared a new species of partition
founded on a higher principle. Hitherto the
spirit of the Church had been predominant
over the sense of nationality ; the latter,
modified and transformed, but again indivi-
dualized, entered on a new career.
It cannot be doubted that all human pro-
ceedings, though often they deviate from the
beaten track, and fbllov/ a route less open to
observation, are invariably subject to one
mighty and unintermitting system of se-
quences. The papal power was promoted by
the earlier circumstances of history, its fur-
ther progress was opposed by the new. When
the nations no longer needed the impulse of
the ecclesiastical power to the extent they
had done before, they presently began to ofier
it resistance. They felt conscious of their
sufficiency for self-control. It is worth while
to recal to mind the more important occur-
rences that betokened the existence of this
feeling.
It was the French, as is well known, who
offered the first decisive resistance to the as-
sumptions of the popes. They set themselves
with national unanimity against the bulls of
excommunication of Boniface VIII. ; all the
popular authorities declared, in documents
amounting to several hundreds in number,
their cordial acquiescence in the steps taken
by Philip le Bel.
The Germans followed next. When the
popes began once more to assail the imperial
authority with all the old animosity, although
the latter was now far from possessing its for-
mer importance, and when they enlisted foreign
influence in their aid, the electors assembled
on the banks of the Rhine, on their stone seats
in the field of Bense, to adopt measures in
common for maintaining " the honor and dignity
of the empire." It was their purpose to secure
the independence of the empire against the
encroachments of the pope by a solemn reso-
lution. This followed soon after in due form,
with the sanction of all orders of potentates,
emperor, princes, and electors ; with one com-
mon consent they took their stand against the
principles of the papal policy.*
England did not long remain in the back-
ground. No where had the pope possessed
greater influence or dealtmore arbitrarily with
benefices: but when at last, Edward III. refus-
ed to continue the payment of the tribute, to
which former kings had made themselves
liable, his parliament united with him, and
promised him their support. The king took
measures to prevent the other encroachments
of the papal power.
Thus we see nation after nation evincing
their sense of self-reliince and unity : the
public administration will not hear of any
higher authority; the popes no longer find
allies in the middle classes, and their influence
is resolutely repulsed by princes and legisla-
tive bodies.
In addition to all this, the papacy itself had
fallen into weakness and disorder, which gave
the temporal princes, who had hitherto sought
only how they might secure themselves, an
opportunity of even visiting it with reprisals.
The great schism occurred. Observe the
consequences that followed. For a long time
it was optional with the princes to adhere to
the one pope or the other, as political conven-
ience dictated — the ecclesiastical power had
no means within itself to heal the breach, the
secular power alone could eflect this; — when
an assembly was held in Constance to this end,
votes were taken not individually as before,
* Licet juris iitriusque. See Olenschliiger, Staatsgps-
chichle des riJm. Kaisertliums in der eislen Hiilfie des
1 Iten Jahrhunderts, Nr. 63.
iNTROD.] CONTRASTS BETWEEN THE 14TH AND 15TH CENTURIES. 27
but by the four nations: it was left to eacfi
nation to determine in previous committee the
vote it was to give — they unanimously deposed
a pope — the newly-elected pontiff was obliged
to arrange concordats with each several nation,
which were of* serious importance, at least from
the precedent they afforded ; during the coun-
cil of Basle and the new schism some king-
doms held themselves neutral — nothing but
the direct efforts of the princes succeeded in
repairing this second rupture in the church.*
Nothing could have occurred more conducive
to the preponderance of the temporal power
and to the independence of the several states.
And now the pope was once more in a posi-
tion of exalted splendour ; he was universally
obeyed; the emperor still held his stirrup;
there were bishops not only in Hungary but
in Germany too, who styled themselves bishops
by the grace of the apostolic see ;f the Peter's
penny continued to be collected in the north ;
innumerable pilgrims from all countries visited
the threshold of the apostles on the occasion of
the Jubilee of 1450 ; an eye-witness compares
them for multitude to swarms of bees, or flocks
of migratory birds; and yet for all that, the
old condition of thi^gs was far from existing
any longer. ^
if we would seek a proof of this, we have
but to call to mind the enthusiasm which the
march to the holy sepulchre excited in former
times, and to compare it to the coldness vi^ith
which every appeal in favour of a combined
resistance to the Turks was received in the
fifleenth century. How much more urgent
was the necessity of protecting one's own land
against the danger that incessantly hovered
round it in the most palpable reality, than of
securing the custody of the holy sepulchre to
Christian hands ! ^neas Sylvius and the
niinorite Capistrano exerted their utmost elo-
quence, the one before the diet, the other in
the market-place before the people; and histo-
rians tell of the impression produced by them
on the public mind; but we do not find that
any one took up arms in consequence. What
pains the popes took! One equipped a fleet;
anotlier, Pius II., the same yEneas Sylvius,
betook himself, weak and ill as he was, to the
harbour, where, if none others, those at least
who were in most immediate danger, should
assemble : he wished to be present, he said, to
do what he alone might, to lift up his hands
to God during the fight like Moses ; but neither
exhortations, nor entreaties, nor example could
avail with his contemporaries. The youth-
ful emotions of a chivalric Christendom were
by-gone things : no pope might call them
back again.
Other interests filled the times. It was the
period when the European kingdoms were
finally consolidating themselves after long in-
ternal struggles. The central authorities
succeeded in overcoming the factions that
had hitherto jeopardized the throne, and in
gathering all their subjects round them in new
and stricter bonds of allegiance: and very soon
the papacy, which sought to lord it over all,
and intruded every where, came to be regard-
ed in a political light.
Monarchy began to evince far higher pre-
tensions than it had hitherto done.
The notion is frequently entertained, that
the papacy was almost unrestricted till the
Reformation ; whereas in reality, during the
fifleenth and the beginning of the sixteenth
centuries the several states had appropriated
to themselves no small portion of the rights
and privileges of the clergy.
In France the encroachments of the Roman
see were for the greater part prevented by
means of the pragmatic sanction, which for
more than half a century was regarded as the
palladium of the kingdom. True, Louis XI.
from a spurious tenderness for religion (to
which he was the more prone, inasmuch as he
was wanting in the genuine feeling), was
induced to be compliant on this score ; but his
successors insisted but the more strongly on
this their fundamental law. Accordingly
when Francis I. signed his concordat with
Leo X., it was asserted that the court of Rome
had by that instrument recovered its ancient
paramount influence. Now it is true that the
pope was again put in possession of the an-
nates : in return, however, he was obliged to
give up many other sources of income, and
what was the most important thing of all, he
ceded to the king the right of nomination to
the bishoprics and all the higher benefices.
It is undeniable that the Gallican church did
lose its rights, but this far less m favour of
the pope than of the king. Leo X. made little
difficulty of giving up the axiom for which
Gregory VII. had agitated the world.
Matters were not pushed so far in Germany.
The Basle resolutions, which in France as-
sumed the form of the pragmatic sanction,*
were exceedingly enervated in Germany,
where they had also been adopted at first, by
the concordat of Vienna. But this alteration
* Declaration of Pope Felix in Georgius, Vita Nicolai
v., p. 65.
t Constance, Schwerin, Fiinfkirchen. Schrock, Kir-
chengeschichte, Bd. 33, p. 60.
* We reco<rnize the connection from the following
words of jEneas Sylvius: "Propter decrela Basiiiensis
concilii inter sedein aposlolicam et nalionem vestram
dissidium coepit, cum vos ilia proisus tenenda diceretis,
apostolica vero sedes omnia rejiceret. Ilaque fuit denique
coinposilio facta— per quam aliqua ex decretis concilii
prffidicti recepta videnlur, aliqua rejecta. Mnei Sylvii
Epislola ad Mart inumMaierum contra murmur {rravaminis
Germanic® nationis 1457." In Muller's Reiclistagsthea-
tumi unter Friedrich III., p. 604. [Differences arose be-
tween the apostolic see and your nation, respecting the
decrees of the council of Basle, you alleging that Ihey
should be absolutely abided by, while the apostolic see
rejected them all. So at last a compromise was made, in
consequence of which some of the decrees of the said
council appear to have been retained, and others rejected.]
28
EPOCHS OF THE PAPACY.
[iNTROD.
itself was not obtained without sacrifice on the
part of Rome. In Germany it was not enough
to come to terms with the head of the realm ;
it was necessary to gain over the several states.
The archbishops of Mainz and Trier obtained
the right of disposing of the vacant benefices,
even in the months appropriated to the pope :
the elector of Brandenburg was granted the
privilege of appointing to the three bishoprics
in his dominions; less important states too,
Strasburg, Salzburg, and Metz, obtained con-
cessions.* Yet this was not enough to allay
the general opposition. In the year 1487 the
entire empire resisted a tithe which the pope
sought to impose, and defeated it.f In 1500,
the imperial government accorded the papal
legates only a third of the produce of indul-
gences, reserving the other two-thirds to itself
to be devoted to the war against the Turks.
In England, without any new concordat, and
without a pragmatic sanction, concessions
were obtained far surpassing those of Con-
stance. Henry VII. possessed the undisputed
right of nominating to the episcopal sees; nor
was he content with holding the promotion of
the clergy in his own hands, but he also appro-
priated half the annates to his own use. When
Wolsey subsequently, in the early part of the
reign of Henry VIII., had the dignity of legate
conferred on him in addition to his other offi-
ces, the temporal and spiritual powers were to
a certain extent amalgamated together: before
ever a thought of Protestantism was enter-
tained in the kingdom, a very arbitrary confis-
cation of numerous convents had taken place.
Meanwhile the southern countries and king-
doms did not remain behindhand. The king
of Spain too possessed the right of nominating-
bishops. The crown with which the grand
masterships of the spiritual orders were con-
nected, which had established and which
swayed the inquisition, enjoyed a host of
ecclesiastical attributes and immunities. Not
unfrequently did Ferdinand the Catholic resist
the papal functionaries.
In like manner as the Spanish, the Portu-
guese spiritual orders of St. Jacob, Avis, and
Christ, which had inherited the wealth of the
Templars, were in the patronage of the crown. |
King Emanuel obtained from Leo X. not only
a third of the cruciata, but also a tenth of the
church property, with the express right of
disposing- of them at his good pleasure, and in
accordance with desert.
In every direction, in short, throughout all
Christendom, in the south as well as in the
* Schrock's Kirchensesch. Bd. 32, p. 173. Eichhorn's
Staats-und Kedusgeschic.hte. Bd. III. § 47-2, n. c.
i Miiller's Roichslheatnim, Verst. VI., ]). 130.
t Inslruuione plena delle Cosp di Poi'losallo al Coadju-
tordi BergaiiiO, numiodfslinato inPonosallo: MS. among
the Inforniationi Politithe in Ihe royal library of Berlin,
vol. xii. Lpo X. granted this pationage of the orders ; ton-
tentandosi il re di pagare grandissinia lompositione di
dello pationato. [the king consenting to pay a very ample
composition for the same.]
north, was manifested a common tendency to
contract the power of the pope. What the
secular power particularly coveted was a par-
ticipation in the ecclesiastical revenues, and
the right of bestowing church benefices and
offices. The popes offered no strenuous resist-
ance. They sought to uphold what they could
of their privileges, and quietly ceded the rest.
It was said of Ferdinand, King of Naples, by
Lorenzo Medici, on the occasion of a diflfer-
ence between the former and the Roman see:
"He will make no difficulty of promising, but
by and by when his obligations should be ful-
filled, he will meet with indulgence, as kings
invariably do at the hands of the popes.*"
For this spirit of opposition had made it way
even into Italy : we are told of Lorenzo Medici
himself, that in this matter he followed the
example of the greater sovereigns, and paid
regard to so much, and no more, of the pope's
commands, as he had a mind.f
It would be erroneous to look on these
efforts as but so many arbitrary demonstra-
tions of strength. The ecclesiastical tendency
had ceased so thoroughly to sway the vital
habits of the European nations as had been
the case in past times : the development of
national feelings, and the consolidation and
perfectioning of state policy were advancing
rapidly, and assuming an important aspect.
Hence the relation between the spiritual and
the temporal powers demanded a -^thorough
recon-struction ; and truly a great change had
become apparent in the popes themselves.
CHAPTER IL
THE CHURCH AND ITS TERRITORIES IN THE
BEGINNING OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY.
Extension of the Ecclesiastical Dominions.
Whatever judgment may be passed on the
popes of the earlier times, certain it is they
had always grand interests in view — the care
of an oppressed religion, the struggle with
paganism, the propagation of Christianity
among the northern nations, the establishment
of an independent hierarchal power. Grand
designs and achievements nurture the dignity
of man's nature, and these their efforts upheld
the greatness of the popes at a loftier pitch.
But now those times were gone by, and with
them the tendencies they had occasioned : the
schism was allayed ; and the unpalatable
conviction was to be digested, that no hope
remained of effecting any combined system of
* Lorenzo to John de Laufredinis, Fabroni Vita Laurentii
Medicii II., p. 3t;2.
t Antonius Gallus de rebus Genuensibus; Muratori
Scriplt. R. It. xxiii. p. 281, says of Lorenzo: Regum nia-
joruiniiue principum contumacem licentiam adversus
Komanam ecclesiam sequebatur de juribus pontificis nisi
quod ei videretur nihil permittens.
iNTROD.] EXTENSION OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL DOMINIONS.
29
operations against the Turks. The result
was, that the head of the church applied him-
self especially, and more decidedly than at
any previous time, to the interests of her tem-
poral dominions, and devoted all his efforts to
their furtherance.
This course was in accordance with what
had long been the characteristic temper of
the age. " Formerly," it had been said by a
speaker in the council of Basle, " I was of opi-
nion that it would be well were the temporal
power wholly dissevered from the spiritual.
But now I have learned that virtue without
strength is ridiculous, that the Roman pope,
without the hereditary possessions of the
church, would be but the lackey of kings and
princes." This speaker, who had influence
enough in the assembly to determine the elec-
tion of pope Felix, declares it not very objec-
tionable that a pope should have sons, who
might uphold him against tyrants.*
This matter was subsequently regarded in
another light in Italy. It was looked on as
a thing of course that a pope should pi-omote
the interests of his own family, and he would
have been censured if he had not done so.
"Others," says Lorenzo Medici, writing to
Innocent VIII., " have not so long postponed
their efforts to become popes, and have given
themselves little concern to evince such deli-
cacy and forbearance as your holiness has
manifested for such a length of time. Now is
your holiness not only excused before God and
man, but one might perhaps even venture to
blame this punctilious conduct, and ascribe it
to another motive. Zeal and duty force it
upon me as a point of conscience to remind
your holiness, that no man is immortal, that a
pope's importance is just what he himself
chooses to make it ; he cannot make his
dignity hereditary ; nothing can he call his own
but the honours and the benefactions he has
bestowed on his kindred. "f Such was the
counsel given by the man who was regarded
as the wisest in Italy. He was certainly an
interested party ; he had married his daughter
to the pope's son ; but he would never have
ventured to express himself so roundly and
unreservedly, had not the views he propounded
been those admitted currently and without
question among the higher classes.
There is an intimate correspondence be-
tween the two contemporaneous facts, that the
European states despoiled the pope of a por-
tion of his privileges, and that the latter began
to apply himself to purely secular enterprises.
His primary quality, in his own eyes, was that
of an Italian prince.
No great length of time had elapsed since
the Florentines had overcome their neigh-
* See an extract from this speech in Schrock, vol.
xxxii. p. 90.
t A letter of Lorenzo's, without date, but apparently of
the year 1489, since it speaks of the fifth year of Innocent
VIII. Fabroui Vita Laurentii II., p. 390.
hours, and the house of Medici had established
its authority. The power of the house of
Sforza in Milan, of that of Aragon in Naples,
and of the Venetians in Lombardy, had all
been achieved and secured within the memory
of the existing generation. Might not a pope
too fairly entertain the hope of founding a still
greater inalienable sovereignty in the domains
which were regarded as the hereditary pos-
sessions of the church, but v/hich were actually
under the sway of a great nimiber of indepen-
dent rulers]
Pope Sixtus IV. was the first who delibe-
rately, and with effect, applied himself to the
purpose ; Alexander IV. followed it up with
extreme vigour and extraordinary success;
Julius II. gave the scheme an unexpected turn
with permanent results.
Sixtus IV. (1471 — 1484) conceived the plan
of founding a principality for his nephew Giro-
lamo Riario in the fair and fertile plains q&
Romagna. The other Italian powers were
already contending for the preponderance in
those regions or for their possession ; and if
the question had been one of right, the pope's
title was manifestly better than that of any of
them : but he was far from being a match for
them in political strength and in warlike re-
sources. He did not scruple to make his
spiritual power (in its nature and intention
exalted above all earthly purposes) subservient
to his worldly views, and to plunge it into all
the temporary intrigues in which these invol-
ved him. As the Medici chiefly stood in his
way, he mingled in the dissensions of Florence,
and drew down upon himself, as is well known,
the suspicion that he had been privy to the
conspiracy of the Pazzi, which led to their
murderous attempt before the altar of a cathe-
dral— that he had been accessary to this — he,
the father of the faithful ! When the Vene-
tians ceased to favour the pretensions of his
nephew, as they had long done, the pope was
not content with abandoning them to their
fate in a war to which he himself had impelled
them ; but even went so far as to excommuni-
cate them for continuing it.* He acted no
less arbitrarily in Rome ; he persecuted the
Colonnas, the opponents of the Riarios, with
savage ferocity, wrested Marino from them,
and caused the house of the prothonotary of
Colonna to be taken by storm, himself made
prisoner and executed. The victim's mother
went to St. Celso in Banchi, where the corpse
lay, raised the severed head by the locks, and
cried : " This is the head of my son ; this is
the faith and honour of the pope. He pro-
mised if we surrendered Marino to him, that
* The Conimentarii di Marino Sanuto on the Ferrara
war were printed in Venice in 1S29 ; at p. 56, he treats of
the pope's desertion. He cites the words of the Venetian
ambassador: " Tulti vedrannoavernoi cominciato qucsta
guerra di volonta del papa: egli per6 si mosse a roinpere
la lega." [It is notorious that we commenced this war at
the pope's desire : but he broke the league.]
30 THE CHURCH IN THE BEGINNING OF THE 16TH CENTURY. [introd.
he would release my son ; he has now got
Marino ; 'my son too is in our hands, but dead !
Look here, and see how the pope keeps his
plighted word."*
Such were the means by which Sixtus IV.
achieved the victory over his enemies, foreign
and domestic. He did actually succeed in
making his nephew lord of Imola and Forli,
but it cannot be questioned that, however his
temporal splendour gained thereby, his spiri-
tual influence lost infinitely more. An attempt
was made to assemble a council against him.
The time however was at hand when the
deeds of Sixtus were to be outdone. Not long
after him Alexander VI. ascended the papal
chair.
Alexander had, all his days, known no other
principle of conduct than to enjoy the world,
to live in luxury, and to satisty his lust and
ambition. It seemed to him arriving at the
^ummit of bliss when he was at last invested
^ith the highest spiritual dignity. Old as he
was, this feeling seemed daily to impart to
him fresh youth. No irksome thought was
allowed for one night to trouble his repose.
His only thought was, how to compass his own
advantages and heap pomp and honours on his
sons : never did he seriously devote himself to
any other purpose.f
This was the sole principle at the bottom of
all his political alliances which had so great
influence on the affairs of the world : how a
pope was disposed to marry his children, endow
and enrich them, was a weighty consideration
in determining all the political relations of
Europe.
Cffisar Borgia, Alexander's son, trod in the
footsteps of Riario. He began at the self-same
point, and his very first movement was to drive
Riario's widow from Imola and Forli. He
held on his course with daring contempt of
consequences, and what the other had but
attempted or but begun, he carried out to the
end. Let us observe the mode of proceeding
he adopted : it may be described in a few
words. The ecclesiastical state had hitherto
been kept divided by the factions of the Guelfs
and Ghibellines, the Orsini and the Colonnas.
Like the other papal families, and as Sixtus
IV. for example had done, Alexander and his
Bon allied themselves at first with one of the
two, the Orsini or Guelf party. With the
help of this alliance they speedily succeeded
in mastering all his enemies. They drove the
Sforzas from Pesaro, the Malatestas from
Rimini, and the Manfreddi from Faenza ; they
seized those powerful and strongly fortified
towns, and presently founded them into a
powerful lordship. No sooner had they ad-
vanced so far, no sooner had they rid them-
selves of their enemies, than they turned
* Alegretto Alegrelti : diari Sanesi, j). 817.
+ Relatione di Polo Capello, 1500. MS. (See Appendix
No. III.
against their friends. In this respect there
was a marked difference between the Borgias
and their predecessors, the latter of whom had
always been trammelled by the party to which
they had attached themselves. Cassar Borgia,
without hesitation or compunction, assailed
his own confederates. The duke of Urbino,
who had hitherto aided in his aggrandisement,
found himself suddenly, and without the least
warning, entangled in his toils, and with ditfi-
culty escaped, a hunted fugitive in his own
domains.* Upon this, Vitelli, Baglioni, and
the heads of the Orsini determined to show
him at least that they were capable of resist-
ing him. He on his part said : " It is right
and fit to betray those who are the masters of
all treachery ; he decoyed them with delibe-
rate, profoundly calculated cruelty into the
trap he had laid for them, and mercilessly des-
patched them. Atler he had tamed both par-
ties in this fashion, he stepped into their
places; gathered their adherents, the inferior
nobility, round him, and took them into his
pay : he kept the territories he had seized in
subjection by force of severity and terror.
And thus Alexander saw his warmest wish
fulfilled, the barons of the land annihilated,
and his house in train to found a great heredi-
tary principality in Italy. But he soon had to
feel practically of what the aroused passions are
capable. Csesar would not brook the partici-
pation of his power with any relation or fav-
ourite. He had caused his brother, who stood
in his way, to be murdered and thrown into
the river. He had his brother-in-law assailed
on the very steps of the palace.f His wife
and his sister nursed the wounded man; the
latter dressed his food with her own hands for
fear of poison : the pope had a guard set on
his house to protect his son-in-law from his
son : Csesar mocked at all these precautions,
saying, " What has failed a.t noon may easily
be done in the evening." When the prince
was now convalescent, he burst into his cham-
ber, turned out the wife and the sister, called
in his bravo, and had his unfortunate brother-
in-law strangled. For as to his father, on
whose life and station he only looked as means
* Many other interesting particulars relative to Caesar
Borgia are to be found tliroughout the fourth volume of
MSTChronicleofSaints; some letters of his too are given ;
one to Venice, Dec. Io02, and one to the pope, in which
he subscribes himself: " Vrx. Stis. humilissuiius servus
el devotissima factura."
t Diario de Sebastiano di Branca de Telini. MS. bibl.
Barb. n. 110-3, relates atrocities of Csesar's such as the fol-
lowing : II prinio, il fratello che si chianiava lo duca di
Gandia, lo lece buttar in flume : fece ammazzare lo cog-
nato, che era figlio del duca di Calabria, era lo piu bello
jovane che mai si vedesse in Roma: ancora fece ammaz-
zare Vitellozzodella ciiti di Castello, et era lopiu valen-
thuoino che fusse in quel tempo. [First he caused his
brother, who was named the duke di Gandia, to be thrown
into the river: he had his broiher-in-law assassinated,
who was the son of the duke of Calabria, and the hand-
somest youth ever seen in Rome : furthermore, he caused
the assassination of Vitellozzo of the city of Castello, the
most gallant man of that day.] He calls the lord of
Faenza lo piu bello figlio del mondo, the handsomest
youth in the world. (See Appendix No. IX.)
iNTROD.] EXTENSION OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL DOMINIONS.
31
towards his own aggrandisement, he had not
a thought of treating him in other respects
with the least consideration. He slew Alex-
ander's favourite Peroto beneath the pontifical
mantle, as the victim clung close to his patron :
the blood spurted in the pope's face.
For a time Csesar had Rome and the eccle-
siastical states in his power. Ho was a man
of surpassing beauty ; so strong that in the
bull-fight he would strike off the bull's head
at a smgle blow ; liberal-handed, not without
traits of magnanimity; voluptuous, bloody;
how did Rome tremble at his name ! Cajsar
needed gold and had enemies — every night
the corpses of murdered men were ibund in
the streets. Every man held his breath : for
there was none who might not fear that his
own turn would come next. Those whom
violence could not reach, were taken off by
poison.*
'I'liere was but one spot on the earth where
such deeds were possible ; that spot alone,
where unlimited temporal power and the high-
est spiritual authority were united in the
same individual. This spot Cffisar occupied.
Even monstrosity has its perfection. Many
sons and nephews of the popes have attempted
similar things, but none ever carried them to
such a pitch. Csesar was a virtuoso in crime.
VV'as it not, from the very first, one of the
most essential tendencies of Christianity to
render such violence impossible ! And Chris-
tianity itself, and the position of the supreme
head of the Church, were to serve to call it
forth.
In truth it needed not then that a Luther
should by and by arise to denounce in such
deeds the direct opp^ite of Christianity. The
cry arose at the very time, that the pope was
preparing the way tor antichrist, that his care
was devoted to the fulfiment of the satanic,
not of the heavenly kingdom. f
We will not follow in detail the particulars
of Alezander's history. He once purposed,
as is but too notorious, to take off one of the
richest cardinals by poison ; but the latter
succeeded by bribes, promises, and entreaties,
in gaining over the pope's chief cook; the
confection which had been prepared for the
cardinal was set before the pope, and he died
himself of the poison he had intended for an-
olher.l After his death a far difierent result
arose out of his schemes from that he had
contemplated.
* To the miillitude of notices extant on this head. I
have added something from Paolo Capello. (App. No.
in.) Upon all remarkable occasions of dealh, men
thought immediately of poisoning by the pope. See a
Jptler in Sanuto respecting the death of the cardinal of
Verona : Si judica sia stato atosicato per tuorli le faculti,
perche avunti che spirasse el papa mando giuiniie attorno
la ca.xa. [It is thought he was poisoned in order to seize
his wealth, because before he died the pope set guards
round the house.]
t A loose sheet MS. out of Sanuto's Chronicle.
t Successo di la morte di papa Alessandro. MS. (See
Appendix No. IV.)
It was always the hope of the papal families
to acquire for themselves hereditary rank and
possessions ; but it usually happened, that
with the life of the pope fell the power of his
kindred, and their greatness set as it had
risen. If the Venetians looked on unmoved
at Caesar Borgia's doings, though there were
indeed other reasons for this, yet one of the
most cogent consisted in the observation of
this habitual course of things. They judged,
"it was after all but a fire of straw; after
Alexander's death things would return of
themselves to the old course.*"
But this time they were deceived in their
expectations. A pope succeeded, who indeed
made it his task to appear the very opposite
to the Borgias, but who, for that very reason,
was in a condition to carry out their schemes:
only he did so by a different route. Pope Ju-
lius II. (1503 — 1513) enjoyed the inestimable
advantage of finding opportunity to satisfy
the pretensions of his family by peaceable
means, and he provided for them the hermi-
tage of Urbino. Thereupon he was at liberty,
unmolested by the importunities of his de-
pendents, to gratify that innate passion of his,
now inflamed by the circumstances of the
times and by the consciousness of his dignity,
the passion for war and conquest — but that on
behalf of the Church and for the benefit of
the papal see itself. Other popes had sought
to provide principalities for tlieir nephews or
their sons: he set his whole ambition on en-
larging the domains of the Church. He must
be regarded as their founder.
He found the whole territory in the utmost
confusion. All who had been able to escape
from CEBsar by flight, were now returned, the
Orsini and Colonna, the Vitelli and Baglioni,
Vaani, Malatesta and Montefeltri ; the fac-
tions were on foot again in every part of the
country, and they fought out their feuds in
the very Borgo of Rome. Julius has been
compared to Virgil's Neptune lifting his se-
rene head above the billows and calming their
fury with a glance. f He was dexterous
enough to rid himself of CaE?sar Borgia, and
to possess himself of his castles and his duke-
dom. He contrived to keep the lesser barons
under curb, a task rendered easy to his hand
by Cssar's practices: he was cautious not to
set over them cardinals whose avarice might
cause a fresh outbreak of the old refractory
spirit ;| as for the more powerful who refused
* Priuli Cronaca di Venezia. MS. Del resto poco sti-
mavano, conoscendo che questo acquislo che all' hora
faceva il duca Valentinois sarebbe foco di paglia che poco
dura.
t Tomaso Inghirami, in Fea, Notizie intorno Rafaele
Sanzio da Urbino, p. 57.
t Machiavelli (Principe, c. xi.) is not the only one who
reiiiarlfs this: in Jovius, Vita Pompeji Colonnae, p. 140,
the Roman barons under Julius II. complain, principes
urbis familias soliio purpurei galeri honore peitinaci pon-
tificum livore privari ; [that the chief families of the city
were deprived of the wonted honours of the purple by
the obstinate malevolence of the pontifls.]
32 THE CHURCH IN THE BEGINNING OF THE 16TH CENTURY, [introd.
him obedience, he grappled with them without
parley. He reduced that Baglione, who had
again mastered Perugia, within the bounds of
lawful subjection. John Bontivoglio was com
pelled in advanced age, witliout the power of
resistance, to render up the sumptuous palace
he had founded in Bologna, with its inscrip-
tion in which he had too hastily declared the
fuhiess of his good fortune : those two very
powerful cities acknowledged the immediate
authority of tiie pontifical chair.
Yet with all this, Julius was for a long time
far from the goal in view. The Venetians
were in possession of the greater part of the
coasts of the ecclesiastical state ; they were
by no means disposed to yield them up freely,
and they were greatly an overmatch for the
pope in war. He could not shut his eyes to
the fact that his assailing them would be the
signal for a general commotion of all Europe.
Ought he to risk this!
Old as Julius already was, keenly as he
had experienced a long life's vicissitudes of
good and evil fortune, and the hardships of
war and exile, aggravated by the consequen-
ces of intemperance and debauchery — he yet
knew not what it was to entertain fear or
irresolution ; even in his advanced years he
possessed that grand quality of manhood, in-
domitable courage. He made but small ac-
count of the princes of his time, thinking he
could overlook them all : to the very tumult
of a general war did he look with most hopes
of gain: his only care was to be always in
command of money, so as to seize the favour-
able opportunity with all his might: he de-
sired, as was happily said by a Venetian, to
be lord and master of the game of the world ;*
he waited the fulfilment of his desires with
impatience, but he kept them confined to his
own breast. If we inquire what was the cir-
cumstance that enabled him to assume his
peculiar attitue, we find it was, above all
things, that he was free to avow his natural
tendencies, nay openly to profess them and
make them his boast. The re-establishment
of the state of the Church was regarded by
the world of that day as a glorious enterprise,
it even considered it a religious one : all the
pope's steps were directed towards this one
end, this was the idea that animated all his
thoughts; they were, if I may so express
myself, steeped in it. As he now engaged
in the boldest operations, staking every thing
on the upshot of the game, (he took the field
* Sommarlo de la relation (li Domenigo Trivixan. MS.
"II fjapa vol esser il doaiinus et maislro del joi-.ho del
niundo." There also exists a second report of Polo Ca-
pello of the year 1510, whence a few notices are inserted
m the Appendix, (No. V.) Franceso Vettori, Sommario
deir istoria d'ltalia, MS. says of him : Julio piu fortxinato
che pntdente, e piu animoso clie forte, ma ambitio.so e
desideroso di grandezze oUra a rnodo. [Julius was more
fortunate than prudent, and more courageous than strong,
but ambitious and desirous of grandeur to an immoderate
degree.]
in person, and was drawn into Mirandola,
which he had conquered, over the frozen
ditches and through the breach,) as the most
decided mischance could not make him give
way, but only seemed to waken new resources
within him, he was successful accordingly.
He not only recovered all his own places from
the Venetians, but in the hot war that ensued,
he made himself master at last of Parma, Pi-
acenza, and even Reggio, and laid the foun-
dation of a power such as never pope before
him has possessed. The most beautiful of
lands from Piacenza to Terracina belonged to
him. He had always sought to appear in the
character of a liberator ; he dealt benignantly
and wisely with his new subjects, and ac-
quired their good will and attachment. Not
without alarm did the rest of the world see
so many warlike populations obedient to a
pope. Time was, says Machiavel, there was
no baron so petty who did not despise the pa-
pal power ; now it is looked on with respect
by a king of France.
Growth of a secular spirit in the Church.
It is not conceivable but that the whole in-
stitution of the church should take part in the
course and tendency pursued by its chief,
that it should aid in their development, and
be reciprocally affected by them.
Not alone the highest place in the church,
but all the others likewise came to be regard-
ed as temporal possessions. The pope nomi-
nated cardinals from personal favour, or to
gratify some prince, or, as was not unfre-
quently the case, simply for money. Could it
be reasonably expected that they would fulfil
their spiritual duties! Sixtus IV. bestowed
on one of his nephews one of the most impor-
tant offices, the Penitenziaria, which exercised
the greatest part of the right of dispensation.
He took occasion at the same time to aug-
ment the privileges of the office, publishing a
special bull to that efi^ect, in which he de-
nounces all who should dispute the propriety
of such arrangetjients as a stiff-necked gene-
ration and children of malice.* The natural
consequence was, that the nephew looked on
his office only as a benefice, the proceeds of
which he was to raise as high as possible.
In those times the bishoprics in most places
were, as we have seen, not unendowed with
a large share of temporal power : they were
distributed as sinecures in accordance with
family views or court favour. The Roman
curia had no other concern than how to turn
vacancies and presentations to the utmost
account. Alexander took double annates,
' * Bull of May 9, 1484. Quoniani nonnulli iniquitatis
filii, elationis et pertinaciae suae spiritu assumpto poiesla-
tem majori poenitentiarii noslri in dubium revocare prae-
sumunl, decet nos adversus tales adhibere remedia, &c.
Bullarium Romanum, ed. Cocquelines, iii. p. 187.
INTBOD.]
GROWTH OF A SECULAR SPIRIT.
33
levied double, triple tithes ; and it was all but
the case that every thing was matter of pur-
chase and sale. The taxes of the papal chan-
cery augmented day by day ; it was the duty
of the chief administrator to abate all griev-
ances in that department, but he usually re-
ferred the revision of the taxes to those who
had imposed them.* For every indulgence
granted by the datary's office, it was neces-
sary to pay a stipulated sum. The disputes
between the several courts and the curia
commonly turned on nothing else than these
exactions. The curia sought to swell them
to the utmost possible extent ; the inhabitants
of every country sought to restrain them as
much as they could.
Principles such as these necessarily worked
throughout all ranks of men so appointed
down to the lowest. Men renounced indeed
their bishoprics, but retained the proceeds of
them, at least for the greater part, and some-
times, in addition to this, the collation to the
cures dependent on them. Even the law that
the son of a clergyman should never enjoy
his father's appointment, and that no one
should bequeath his preferment by will, was
evaded : smce every one could make sure,
provided he did not spare his gold, of obtain-
ing for coadjutor whomsoever he pleased ; a
certain kind of virtual inheritorship became
established by custom. It followed of course
that the discharge of spiritual functions was
much neglected. In this brief statement I
shall confine myself to citing observations
made by right-minded prelates of the Roman
court. " What a spectacle," they exclaimed,
"does this desolation of the churches present
to the eyes of a Christian who travels over the
Christian world ! All the shepherds have
abandoned their flocks, and have letl them to
the care of hirelings."!
In all places incompetent persons were en-
trusted, without scrutiny or selection, with
the discharge of clerical duties. Since the
incumbents of benefices thought only of find-
ing the least costly substitutes, they pitched
especially on the mendicant monks as fit tor
their purpose. These occupied the bishoprics
under the title, unprecedented in such a sig-
nification, of suffragans, and the cures they
held in the capacity of vicars.
* Refonnationcs cancellarije apoplolica Saii. Dni. Nri.
Pauli III., 1510. MS. in the Baibfiini library in Rome,
No. 2275, enumerates all the abuses that had crept in
since the reigns of Sixtiis and Alexander. The grievan-
ces of the Germans relate especially to these " new de-
vices" and offices of the Roman chancery. § 14. § 38.
t Consilium delectorum cardinalium et aliorum praela-
torum de emendanda, ecclesia, Smo. Dino. Paulo III. ipso
jubenle, conscriptum anno 1538. [The counsel of select
cardinals and other prelates respecting tlie reformation of
the church, drawn up at the special command of his holi-
ness Paul III., in the year 1538,] frequently printed at
the immediate time, and important inasmuch as it points
out unambiguously the root of the evil ns far as it lay in
the administration. In Rome, long after it was printed,
it continued to be incorj.oialed with the MSS of the
Curia.
Already the mendicant orders were in pos-
session of extraordinary privileges: these had
been increased by Sixtus IV., who was him-
self a Franciscan. The right of confessing'
penitents, of administering the Lord's Supper,
of bestowing extreme unction, of burying in
the ground, and even in the garb of the order,
rights that conveyed both importance and ad-
vantage, he had confimed to them in their full
extent, and had threatened the disobedient,
the secular clergy, and those who should
molest the orders, particularly with respect
to bequests, with the loss of their prefer-
ments.*
Since they had now got both the bishoprics
and the cures too into their hands, it is evi-
dent what enormous influence they possessed.
All the higher appointments, the more distin-
guished dignities and their revenue were en-
joyed by the great families and their depend-
ents, by the favourites of the courts and of the
curia : the actual discharge of the several
offices was in the hands of the mendicant
monks, and in this capacity they had the sup-
port and protection of the pope. It was they
who in conjunction with others plied the traf-
fic in indulgences, to which so enormous an
extension was given at this period, Alexander
VI. having been the first to declare officially
that they released from purgatory. But the
mendicant orders too were fallen into total
worldliness. What intrigues in the order
for the higher appointments ! What eager-
ness at election time to get rid of rivals and
persons unfavourably inclined ! The latter
were sent out, if possible, as preachers or
curates ; against the former they did not
shrink from using the dagger or the sword,
and poison was frequently resorted to.t Mean-
while, the benefits of religion were put up for
sale. The mendicant monks, obliged to serve
for sorry pay, eagerly caught at contingent
sources of profit.
" Woe, woe !" exclaims one of those pre-
lates we have alluded to ; " who gives my
eyes their fountain of tears] Even those set
apart are fallen off, the vineyard of the Lord
is laid waste. Did they perish alone it were
an evil, yet it might be endured ; but since
they pervade all Christendom like the veins
of the body, their decay must needs bring
with it the ruin of the world."
* Amplissimae gratiae et privilegia fratrum mino'um
conveniualium ordinis S. Francisci, qua propterea niara
magnum nuncupanlur, 31 Aug. 1-174. BuUarium Rom.
III., 3,139. A similar bull was issued in favour of the Do-
minicans. Much attention was given to this Mare Mag-
num in the Laleran counsel of 1512; but privileges aro
more easily bestowed than revoked, at least so it wa3
then.
t In a voluminous report from Caraffato Clement, which
is given only in a mutilated form by Bromato, Vita di
Paolo I V'., it is said in the manuscript of the monasteries :
"Si viene ad hoinicidi non solo col veneno, ma aperla-
mente col coltello e con la spada, per non dire con schi-
opetti." [Murders are committed not only by poison, but
openly with the dagger and the sword, not to say with
fire-anns.]
34
THE CHURCH IN THE BEGINNING OF THE 16TH CENTURY, [introd.
Intellectual Tendency.
Could we unfold the book of history such
as it was in the actual occurrence, might the
fleeting events of time await our questioning
as nature does, how often should we in the
former, as now in the latter, detect the new
germ amidst the decay we mourn, how often
behold life issuing out of death !
Much as we deplore this secularization of
spiritual things, this corruption of religious
institutions, but for these evils the human
mind would hardly have been able to seize
upon one of its most peculiar and productive
paths.
We cannot deny, that however ingenious,
diversified, and profound are the productions
of the middle ages, they are yet based upon
general views of the world, visionary in char-
acter, and little in accordance with the real-
ity of things. Had the church endured in
full and conscious strength, it would have
rigidly adhered to these views : but circum-
stanced as it was, it left the mind of man at
liberty to follow a new development in a
wholly different direction.
It was a narrow horizon that necessarily
limited the intellectual reason of those ages:
the revived knowledge of antiquity burst that
confined circle, and opened to view a loftier,
a more comprehensive, and a grander pros-
pect.
It was not that the middle ages had been
totally unacquainted with the ancients. The
eagerness with which the Arabs, who were
so instrumental in introducing learned pur-
suits into the West, collected and appropri-
ated the works of the ancients, was not much
inferior to that with which the Italians prose-
cuted the same purpose in the fifteenth cen-
tury ; and Caliph Mamun may, m this respect,
be fairly compared with Cosmo de' Medici.
But let us observe the difference ; unimpor-
tant as it may perhaps appear, it is one, I
think, of a capital nature, ^i'he Arabs trans-
lated : they often downright destroyed the
originals. Since they overcharged the whole
body of their translations with their own pe-
culiar ideas, it came to pass that they theoso-
phised Aristotle, so to speak, perverted astro-
nomy into astrology, applied the latter to
medicine, and even contributed principally to
the fashioning of that visionary view of the
world before-mentioned. The Italians on the
contrary read and learned. From the Ro-
mans they proceeded to the Greeks : the art
of printing diffused the originals in number-
less copies throughout the world. The genu-
ine drove out the Arabic Aristotle ; out of the
unaltered works of the ancients, men learned
the sciences, geography directly from Ptole-
my, botany from i)ioscorides, medicine from
Galen and Hippocrates. How rapidly then
were men disencumbered of the fantastic
notions that had filled the world, and the pre-
judices that had enthralled the mind.
We should exaggerate, however, were we
to ilnpute to those times the immediate dis-
play of originality in the cultivation of litera-
ture and science, the discovery of new truths
or the production of grand conceptions ; men
sought only to understand the ancients ; no
attempt was made beyond this : the efficacy
of the classic writers was less in that they
prompted the growth of a creative spirit in
literature, than in the imitation they called
forth.
That imitation was one of the causes that
most essentially contributed to the progress of
the age.
Men vied with the ancients in their own
languages. Pope Leo X. was a special pa-
tron of this pursuit. He himself read to his
social circle the well written introduction to
the history of Jovius, declaring his opinion
that nothing like it had been produced since
the works of Livy. A patron of Latin im-
provisators, we may judge how charmed he
was by the talents of a Vida, who could de-
scribe such things as the game of chess in the
full tones of well cadenced Latin hexameters.
He invited to his court from Portugal a ma-
thematician who was famed for setting forth
his science in elegant Latin ; it was thus he
wished to see jurisprudence and theology
taught, and church history written.
Things, however could not stop at this
point. However far this imitation of the
ancients in their own tongues were pushed,
it could not embrace the whole intellectual
field. There was something in it incomplete
and unsatisfactory, and it was an accomplish-
ment too generally diffused to admit of this
defect escaping obvious notice. The new
conception gradually unfolded itself of imitat-
ing the ancients in the vernacular tongue.
Men felt their own position with regard to
them to be like that in which the Romans had
stood to the Greeks : they resolved to vie with
them, not as hitherto in details, but in the
whole range of literature ; and they rushed
with youthful impetuosity upon this new field
of exertion.
Fortunately it was the very period when
the vernacular tongues were acquiring in
general a regular and authorized form. The
merits of Bcinbo consist less in his elegant
Latin style or in his experimental essays in
Italian poetry, than in his well-devised and
successful endeavours to give correctness and
dignity to the popular language, and to estab-
lish its construction on fixed rules. This is
the ground on which Ariosto builds his fame :
he appeared precisely at the right moment :
his own literary attempts served but to exem-
plify the principles he taught.
If we contemplate the circle of works to
which was now applied, after ancient models,
INTROD.]
INTELLECTUAL TENDENCY.
35
\
that material so incomparable for its liquid i
pliancy and its euphony, and which had now
been prepared for use with so much discern-
ment, the following remarks will force them-
selves upon us.
Little success attended those efforts that
were g-overned by too close an attachment to
classic models. Trag-edies like the Rosmun-
da of Rucellai, which as their editors say
were modelled after the antique, didactic po-
ems like his Bees, in which we are referred
from the very first to Virgil, who is afterwards
made use of in a thousand different ways, had
no success, and produced no real effect. Co-
medies were at once constructed with more
freedom ; their very nature demanded that
they should assume the colour and impression
of the times ; still in almost every case they
were founded on some fable of antiquity, or
some piece by Plautus :* and even men of
such genius as Bibbiena and Machiavel
failed to assure to their comedies the entire
approbation of later times. In works of a dif-
ferent kind we sometimes meet with a certain
conflict between their ancient and their mo-
dern constituent parts. Thus in the Arcadia
of Sannazario, how singularly do the prolix
and latinized periods of the prose contrast with
the simplicity, the genuine feeling, and the
music of the verse.
If the success obtained, great as it was, was
not complete, that need not excite our won-
der. At all events a great example was giv-
en, an attempt made that proved infinitely
productive ; but still the spirit of modern lite-
rature was ill at ease under the restrictions
of the classic forms. Genius was enslaved
by rules imposed on it from without, not the
spontaneous expression of its own nature.
How indeed was it possible to achieve the
highest things through mere imitation ! The
great masterworks do exercise a legitimate
influence upon succeeding times, but it is one
of mind upon mind. We are all agreed in the
present day that the beautiful tbrm is fitted to
train, to fashion, to excite ; but subjugate it
never must.
* Marco Minio, among so many other interesting mat-
ters, relates to the Signory the circumstance of the pro-
duction of the first comedy in Rome: this letter is dated
March 13, 1519. " Finita dita festa (the carnival) se ando
ad una comedia, che fece el reverendmo. Cibo, dove e
stato bellissima cosa, lo apparato tanto suberbo che non
si potria dire. La comedia fu questa, che fu fema una
Ferrara e in dita sala fu fata Ferraia preciso come la 6.
Dicono che Blonsignor revmo. Cibo venendo per Ferrara
e volendo una comedia li fu data questa comedia. E sta
iratla parte de li Suppositi di Plauto e dal Eunucho de
Terenzio, molio bellissima." [On the termination of that
festival (the carnival) a comedy loUowed, given by Car-
dinal Cibo, in which were very beautiful things, with
such a grandeur of decoration as cannot be described.
The comedy was supposed to pass in Ferrara, which was
represented in the said hall precisely as it exists. They
say that Monsignior Cibo, passing through Ferrara, and
desiring to see a comedy, this one was given him. It is
taken iiom the Suppositi of Plautus, and from the Eunuch
of Terence, and is very beautiful.] He means, no doubt,
the Suppositi of Ariosto; but we observe, he neither men-
tions the author's name nor the title of the piece, but
merely from what it waa taken.
Supposing a genius partaking of the ten-
dencies of the times to have applied himself
to a work, differing both in form and material
from the remains of antiquity, and no other-
wise affected by them than as regarded the
influence of their spirit, the most remarkable
production must needs have been the result.
The romantic epos owes its peculiarities to
the fact that it falls under these conditions :
the poet had for his subject a Christian fable
of a heroic character ; the noblest figures, de-
picted by a few bold general traits, were set
before him; important situations, but little
developed, were suggested ; and even the po-
etic form was ready to his hand, derived im-
mediately from the popular entertainments.
Then came the tendency of the age to adapt
itself to the antique, a tendency whose influ-
ence was manifested in fashioning, in beauti-
fying, and humanizing. How different is
Boiardo's Rinaldo, noble, modest, full of the
hearty love of adventure, from the desperate
son of Haymon of the old legend ! How
transmuted into the intelligible, the cheerful,
and the charming, is all that was violent, fab-
ulous, and gigantic, in the old conception.
Even the unadorned old stories have in their
simplicity something winning and agreeable :
but how greatly does our enjoyment rise
when the melody of Ariosto's verse plays
round us, and we are hurried on from picture
to picture in the company of an accomplished
and cheerful spirit. The unlovely and the
formless has wrought itself into outline, and
symmetry, and music*
Few times are susceptible of pure beauty of
form ; only the most favoured and happy periods
produce it. Such an one was the end of the
fifteenth and the beginning of the sixteenth
century. How can I pretend to sketch, even
in outline, the living wealth of art, in concep-
tion and in practice, that filled those times !
We may boldly assert, that all that is most
beautiful in the productions of later ages in
architecture, sculpture, and painting, is com-
bined in that short epoch. This was its ten-
dency, not in abstract reasoning, but in actual
practice. In it lived and wrought the men of
those days. I would even say, that the for-
tresses then erected by the Prince against his
foes, and the notes of the philologist, written
in the margins of his authors, have something
of a common character. A severely beautiful
family resemblance pervades all the produc-
tions of those times.
It cannot however escape notice that while
an and poetry sought their materials in ele-
ments pertaining to the Church, they did not
leave the import of these untouched. The
romantic epos, presenting us with a church
legend, coinmonly deals with it in a tone of
*I have endeavoured to pursue this subject in detail,
I in a special treatise read before the Koyal Academy of
1 Sciences.
36
THE CHURCH IN THE BEGINNING OF THE 16TH CENTURY, [introd.
opposition. Ariosto found it necessary to dis-
card from his fable the back-ground that con-
tains its original signification.
In previous times, religion had had as much
part in the works of painters and sculptors as
art : but from the time art had been played on
by the breath of antiquity, it freed itself from
its apprenticeship to faith. We can observe
in the works of Raphael how from year to
year this change becomes more decidedly
manifest. Some may blame this if they will ;
but it would almost seem that the co-operation
of the profane element was necessary to the
full development and bloom of art.
And was it not highly significant that a
pope himself undertook to pull down the old
basilica of St. Peter, the metropolitan church
of Christendom, every spot in which was hal-
lowed, in which were gathered together the
memorials of so many centuries' veneration,
and to erect in its stead a temple planned
after the proportions of antiquity! It was a
purpose in which art was exclusively concern-
ed. Both the factions which then divided the
jealous and contentious world of art, united in
urging Julius II. to the design. Michael
Angelo wished for a worthy site for the pope's
monument, which he proposed to complete
upon a vast scheme, with all the lofiy gran-
deur we behold in all his Moses. Braniante
was still more urgent. He longed to put in
operation the bold conception of uplifting on
colossal columns towards the sky an imitation
of the Pantheon in all its greatness. Many
cardnials opposed the plan ; it would even
seem that there was a general feeling against
it: a multitude of personal feelings and affec-
tions are bound up with the existence of every
old church, and so it was in unparalleled
measure with this the highest sanctuary of
Christendon *. But Julius II. was not used to
defer to contradiction. Without further con-
sideration he had half the old Church pulled
down, and laid the foundation of the new one
with his own hand.
Thus rose again in the heart of the Chris-
tian worship the forms in which the spirit of
the old religions had so strikingly embodied
themselves. Bramante built at San Pietro in
Montorio, over the blood of the martyr, a cha-
* Fea, Notizie inlorno Rafaelle, p. 41, gives the follow-
ing extract from the unprinted work of Panvinius, De
rebus antiquis iiieniorabilibus et de pra?stantia busilicje
S. Petri Ajjostolorum Principis etc. " Qua in re (in the p;o-
jecl 01 the new building) adversos pene habuil cuncloi uiii
ordinum ho. nines et prEeseni,>ii cardinales, non quod no-
vam non cuperent basilicam magniliccntissimaui extrui,
sed quia antiquum toio terrarum orbe vtnerabileiu, tot
sanctorum sepulchris augustisslmain, tot celeberrirnis in
ea gestis insignem fundilus deleri ingemiscant." [In
which matter he had men of almost all classes against
him, and especially the cardinals; not because they did
not wish that a now basilica should be built with the
uimosl magnificence, but because they grieved to think
that the old one should be pulled down, revered as it was
by the whole world, ennobled by the sepulchres of so
many saints, and illustrious lor so many great things that
had been done in it.]
pel in the light and cheerful form of a perip-
teros.
If this involved a contradiction, it was one
that pervaded the whole being and habits of
the times.
Men went to the Vatican less for the pur-
pose of adoration on the threshold of the Apos-
tles, than to admire the great works of ancient
art in the pope's dwelling, the Belvedere
Apollo and the Laocoon. As strong repre-
sentations as ever were made to the pope,
urging him to s6t on foot a war against the infi-
dels; I find this for instance in a preface of Na-
vagero's;* but the author had no thought in this
for the interests of Christianity, or for the con-
quest of the holy sepulchre ; his cherished hope
was, that the pope would discover the lost writ-
ings of the Greeks, and perhaps of the Romans.
In the midst of this abundant scene of stu-
dies and productions, of intellect and art, in
the enjoyment of the expanding temporal pow-
er belonging to the highest spiritual dignity,
now lived Leo X. His title to the honour of
giving name to the age in which he lived has
been called in question, and it is possible his
merit may have been exaggerated. Be that
as it may, he was now the favourite of fortune.
He had grown up among the elements that
fashioned the world around him ; he possessed
liberality of mind and sensibility enough to
promote and enjoy them. If he had delighted
in the Latin works of direct imitators, the
original works of his contemporaries could not
fail of engaging his interest. In his presence
was produced the first tragedy, and (however
objectionable that may have been for its timid
imitation of Plautus) the first comedy written
in the Italian language. There is hardly any
which he was not the first to see. Ariosto
was amongst the acquaintances of his youth ;
Machiavel composed more than one of his
works at his express desire ; for him Raphael
filled chambers, galleries, and chapels, with
ideals of human beauty and of purely ex-
pressed existence. He passionately loved
music, the practice of which, in a high degree
of perfection, was just then becoming diffused
throughout Italy : the palace rang daily with
music, the pope hummed the airs that were
played. It may be that all this was a sort of
intellectual debauchery ; if so, it is at least the
only one that becomes a man. For the rest,
Leo X. was full of kindness and personal sym-
pathy. He never, or if at all, only in the
mildest terms, refused a request, although it
was really impossible to grant everything.
"He is a good man," said one of those obser-
vant ambassadors, " very liberal and good
natured; were it not that his relations drive
him upon them, he would avoid all dissen-
sions."! " He is learned," says another, "and
* Naugerii Prsefalio in Ciceronis Orationrs, t. i.
+ Zorzi. Per il papa non voria ni guerra ni faliche, ma
quest! soi lo intriga.
INTROD.]
OPPOSITION TO THE PAPACY IN GERMANY.
37
a friend to the learned: religious he is indeed,
but he has a mind to live."* Certainly he did
not always observe pontifical decorum. He
sometimes left Rome, to the sore distress of
his master of the ceremonies, not only without
surplice, but, as that officer has noted in his
journal, " what is worst of all, with boots on
his feet." He passed the autumn in rural re-
creations, enjoying hawking at Viterbo, hunt-
ing at Corneto, and fishing on the lake of
Bolsena. He then spent some time at Malli-
ana, his favourite resort Improvisator! and
men of light quick talents, capable of enliven-
ing every hour of the day, accompanied him.
Towards winter the party returned to the city.
This was in great prosperity : the number of
its inhabitants increased by a third within a
few years ; it offered profit to the artisan, hon-
our to the artist, to every one security. Never
had the court been more animated, cheerful,
and intellectual. No cost was too great for
spiritual or secular festivals, plays and thea-
trical entertainments, presents and favours;
nothing was spared. It was heard with de-
light that Giuliano Medici was thinking of
taking up his residence at Rome with his
young wife. "God be praised," says cardinal
Bibbiena in a letter to him, " for here we lack
nothing but a court of ladies."
Alexander's sensuality must ever be regard-
ed with loathing : there was nothing absolutely
censurable in the arrangements of Leo's court :
but it certainly cannot be denied that his life
did not correspond to that befitting a supreme
head of the Church.
Life easily veils its own incongruities: so
was it with these, till men pondered and
weighed them, and then they could not fail
to be apparent.
Under such circumstances, there could no
longer be any question of true Christian senti-
ment and conviction : on the contrary, there
arose a direct opposition to these.
The philosophical schools disputed whether
the reasonable soul were immaterial indeed
and immortal, but single and common to all
mankind, or whether it was absolutely mortal.
The most noted philosopher of the day, Pietro
Pomponazzo, took upon him to maintain the
latter opinion. He likened himself to Prome-
theus, whose heart was devoured by the vul-
ture because he sought to steal his fire from
Jupiter. But with all these painlul efforts,
with all his subtlety, he arrived at no other
result than that, "if the law-giver had estab-
lished the immortality of the soul, he had done
so without troubling himself about its truth. "f
We must not suppose that these sentiments
were confined to a few, or that they were kept
secret. Erasmus declares his astonishment at
the blasphemies that met his ears ; they sought
to prove to him, a foreigner, out of Pliny, that
there is no difference between the souls of men
and those of brutes.*
Whilst the common people sank into almost
heathenish superstition, which sought its sal-
vation in an ill-founded mechanical devotion,
the higher classes adopted notions of an anti-
religious tendency.
What was young Luther's amazement when
he visited Italy. At the moment when the
sacrifice of the mass was accomplished, the
priests blurted out blasphemies in which they
denied it.
In Rome it was a characteristic of good
society, to dispute the fundamental principles
of Christianity. " One passes no longer," says
P. Ant. Bandino,f " for an accomplished man,
unless he entertain some heterodox notions of
Christianity." At court they spoke of the
institutions of the catholic church, of passages
in the holy Scriptures, only in a tone of jesting;
the mysteries of faith were held in derision.
We see how everything conforms to certain
laws, how one thing begets another ; the eccle-
siastical pretensions of the sovereigns produce
the temporal claims of the popes ; the corrupv
tion of the ecclesiastical institutions elicit the
development of a new intellectual tendency,
until at last the very basis of faith becomes
affected in public opinion.
Opposition to the papacy in Germany.
I regard as surpassingly interesting the re-
lation on which Germany entered to this intel-
lectual development. Jt took part in it, but
in a totally different spirit.
If in Italy it was poets, such as Boccacio
and Petrarch, who promoted the study of an-
cient literature in their day, and created the
national impulse in that direction, in Germany
this was the work of a spiritual fraternity, the
procedalur. ISJunii, 1518. [Peter of Blantiia has assprt-
ed, thai accordinc; to the principles of philosoj)hy and the
opinions of Aristotle, the rational soul is or appears to be
mortal, contrary to the determination of the Lateran coun-
cil : the pope commands that the said Peter retract, other-
wise that he be proceeded against.]
* Burieny, Life of Erasmus, i. 139. I will here quote
also the followin? passage from Paul Canensius, in his
Vita Pauli 11. " Pari ciuoque dilisrentia e medio Komanse
curis nefandum nonnuUorum jitvenum sectam sceles-
tamque opinionem subtulit, qui depravatis moribus assere-
bant noslram fideni orthodoxam polius quibusdam sancto-
rum astutiis quam verjs rerum testimoniis subsistere."
[With equal diligence he eradicated from the Roman
court an infamous heresy, and abominable opinion of
some profligate young men, who asserted that our orthodox
faith reposed rather on certain subtleties of the saints,
than on real substantial evid'-nce.] The Triumph of
Charlemagne, a poem by Ludovieo, breathes a spirit of
* Mario Minio, Relazione. E docto e amador di docti ;
ben religioso, ma vol viver. He calls him " bona persona."
t Pomponazzo was very seiiously assailed on the sub- „- , -
ject, as appears, anong other proofs, from extracts out of j strongly marked materialism, as we see from the'^quoti
papal letters by Contelori. " Petrus de Mantua," it is tions of Daru in the fortieth book of his Hisioire de Venise.
there said, "asseruit quod anima rationalis secundum t In Caracciolo's MS. Life of Paul IV. In quel tempo
propria philosophiae et mentem Aristolelissit seu videatur non pareva fosse galantuomo e buon corlo!:iano colui che
morlalis, contra determinuioneni concilii Lateranensis : de' dogmi della chiesa non avevaqualche opinion erronea
papa mandal ut dictus Petrus revocel ; alias contra ipsum ed heretica.
38 THE CHURCH IN THE BEGINNING OF THE 16TH CENTURY, [introd.
Hieronymites, a fraternity bound together by
laborious industry and sequestration from the
world. It was one of its members, the pro-
found and blameless mystic Thomas a Kempis,
in whose school were formed all the worthy
men, who first borrowed from the light of
ancient literature newly risen in Italy, and
then returned to diffuse it through Germany.*
The difference thus observable in the be-
ginning, marked the subsequent progress
likewise.
In Italy men studied the works of the an-
cients to learn the sciences from them ; in
Germany they founded schools ; there men
sought the solution of the highest problems
affecting the human soul, if not by indepen-
dent thought, at least at the hand of the an-
cients ; here the best books were devoted to
the education of youth.
In Italy men were captivated by the beau-
tiful in form, and began to imitate the an-
cients ; they achieved, as we have seen, a
national literature. In Germany these stu-
dies took a spiritual direction. The renown
of Reuchlin and of Erasmus is familiar to
every one : if we inquire what constituted
the highest merit of the former, it was that
he wrote the first Hebrew grammar, a monu-
ment of which he hoped equally as the Italian
poets, " that it would be more durable than
brass." If he was the first thus to make the
study of the Old Testament possible, Erasmus
applied his industry to the New ; he was the
first who caused it to be printed in Greek ;
his paraphrases and annotations wrought an
effect that even far exceeded his intention.
While the course now entered on in Italy
withdrew men from the Church, or set them
in opposition to it, something of a similar
kind happened in Germany. There that free-
dom of thought which can never be wholly
suppressed intruded into literature, and here
and there assumed the form of decided unbe-
lief A more profound theology too, sprung
from unknown sources, had been discounte-
nanced by the Church, but defied its power to
put it down. This now became mixed up
with the literary movements in Germany. In
this point of view it seems to me worthy of
remark, that so early as the year 1513, the
Bohemian brethren made advances to Eras-
mus, whose views and sentiments yet differed
widely from theirs.f
And thus the development of the age on
both sides of the Alps led to an opposition
against the Church. Beyond them this was
connected with literature and science, on this
side it arose out of spiritual studies and a
profounder theology. There it was negative
and incredulous; here it was positive and
* Meiners has the merit of having first brought to light
this genealogy from the Davenlria lUustrala of Revius.
Biographies of celebrated men of the times of the revival
of letters, ii. 308.
t Fiisslin ; Kirchen- und Ketzergeschichte, ii. 82.
believing ; there it utterly abrogated the very
basis of the Church, here it re-established it ;
there it was mocking, satirical, and pliantly
submissive to power ; here it was full of ear-
nestness and deep indignation, and rose up
against the Roman church, turning upon it
the boldest attack it ever sustained. It has
been regarded as a fortuitous circumstance,
that this was directed in the first mstance
upon the abuses practised in the matter of
indulgences. But as the conversion into an
outward thing of that which was most essen-
tially a concern of the inward man, (a princi-
ple involved in the doctrine of indulgences)
was a most crying exemplification of that
fatal vice on the whole system, the worldli-
ness that had seized upon the Church, it was
of all things the most diametrically opposite
to the conceptions drawn from the profounder
German theology. To a man like Luther,
with a deep and lively sense of religion, filled
with the notions of sin and justification, as
they had been expressed in the books of Ger-
man theology before his time, strengthened
therein through the Scriptures, which he im-
bibed with a thirsting heart, nothing in the
world could be so shocking and repulsive as
the system of indulgences. The notion of a
pardon for sin to be had for money must needs
have been most deeply offensive to him whose
conclusions on this very point had been built
on considerations of the eternal relations be-
tween God and man, and who had learned to
interpret Scripture for himself
He did by all means set himself to oppose
the abuse ; but soon the weak-grounded and
prejudiced opposition he encountered led him
step by step further : he was not long blind
to the connexion between that monstrous
abuse and the general corruption of the
church. His was not a nature to quail before
any extremity : he grappled with unhesitat-
ing boldness with the very head of the church.
Out of the midst of the most devoted depend-
ents and champions of the papacy, the mendi-
cant monks, arose the boldest and most vigor-
ous opponent it had ever encountered. For-
asmuch as Luther held up its own proper
principles, in their fullest precision and clear-
ness, in the face of a power that had so widely
lapsed therefrom, forasmuch as he proclaimed
that which had already become a general
conviction, forasmuch as his opposition, which
had not yet developed the wliole system of its
positive principles, was welcome to the re-
jectors of the faith, and yet because it did ac-
tually involve those principles, was satisfac-
tory to the serious feelings of believers, it
followed that his writings wrought an incal-
culable effect : in a moment they filled Ger-
many and the world.
A. D. 1513—22.]
UNDER LEO X.
39
CHAPTER III.
POLITICAL COMPLICATIONS. CONNEXION BE-
TWEEN THEM AND THE REFORMATION.
Thus simultaneously with the secular
aspirations of the papacy had arisen a twofold
movement ; the one was religious ; a revolt
was already begun, of which it was foreseen
that it contained an immense futurity within
it ; the other political — the antagonising ele-
ments were in the most vehement fermenta-
tion, and tending rapidly to new combinations.
Both these movements, their reciprocal action,
and the opposing currents they engendered,
thenceforth for many centuries shaped the
history of the papacy.
Would that never prince or state might
imagine that any good may befal them which
they owe not to themselves, which they
shall not have won by their own native
strength !
Whilst the Italian powers sought the one
to overcome the others with the aid of foreign
nations, they destroyed with their own hands
the independence they had enjoyed during
the fifteenth century, and exposed their coun-
try to be the common battle prize for the rest
of Europe. A great share in this result must
be imputed to the popes. They had now
assuredly acquired a might, such as had never
before been possessed by the Roman see ; but
they had not acquired it of themselves : they
owed it to Frenchmen, Spaniards, Germans,
and Swiss. But for his league with Louis
XII., Csesar Borgia would hardly have accom-
plished much. Enlarged as were the views
of Julius II., heroic as were his achievements,
he must have succumbed but for the aid of
the Spaniards and the Swiss. How could it
be, but that they who had fought out the vic-
tory should seek to enjoy the preponderance
that thence accrued to them'! Julius II. saw
this clearly. His purpose was to maintain a
certain balance among the other powers, and
to make use only of the least potent among
them, the Swiss, whom he might hope to lead.
But it proved otherwise. Two great
powers grew up, and contended with each
other, if not for universal dominion, at least
for the supremacy in Europe, powers so
mighty that a pope was far from being able
to match them ; and they fought out their
quarrel on Italian ground.
First came the French. Not long after
Leo's accession they appeared in greater force
than they had ever before crossed the Alps,
to reconquer Milan ; at their head Francis I.,
in the ardour of youth and chivalry. Every-
thing hung on the question whether or not
the Swiss would be able to resist them. The
battle of Marignano was therefore so impor-
tant, because the Swiss were wholly routed,
and because they never since that defeat have
exercised an independent influence in Italy.
The battle had remained undecided the
first day, and already bonfires had been light-
ed in Rome upon intelligence of a victory
won by the Swiss. The earliest tidings of
the second day's result, and of the real issue of
the fight, were received by the envoy of the
Venetians, who were in alliance with the
king, and who themselves contributed in no
small degree to the event. He hastened at
the earliest hour to the Vatican to impart the
news to the pope : the latter came out but
partly dressed to give him audience. " Your
holiness," said the envoy, "gave me bad
tidings last night, and false ones too : to-day
I bring your holiness in return good news,
and true ; the Swiss are beaten." He read
him the letter he had received, written by
men known to the pope, and putting the mat-
ter beyond the possibility of doubt* The
pope did not disguise his deep dismay. " Then
what will become of us, what will become
even of you?" " We hope the best for both."
" Sir envoy," replied the pope, " we must
throw ourselves into the king's arms, and cry
him mercy."!
In fact the French through this victory
acquired the decided preponderence in Italy.
Had they followed it up with resolution, nei-
ther Tuscany nor the States of the Church,
both so easily moved to rebellion, would have
been able to offer much resistance, and the
Spaniards would have found it difficult to
maintain themselves in Naples. " The king,"
says Francis Vettori unconditionally, " might
have become lord of Italy." How much rest-
ed at that moment upon Leo !
Lorenzo Medici said of his three sons, Ju-
lian, Peter, and John, that the first was good,
the second a fool, the third prudent. This
third was pope Leo X. ; he now showed him-
self competent to encounter the difficult posi-
tion into which he had fallen.
Against the advice of his cardinals he be-
took himself to Bologna, to have speech with
the king-l Here they concluded the concor-
dat, in which they shared between them the
rights of the Gallican church. Leo was
forced to give up Parma and Placenza ; but
for the rest he succeeded in conjuring the
* Summario de la relationp di Zorzi. E cussi desmissi-
ato venne fuori non compilo di veslir. L' orator uisse :
Pater sante eri via. sant^. nii dette una cattiva miova e
falsa, io le daro ozi una bona e vera, zoe Sguizari 6 rotti.
The letters were from Pasqualiso, Dandolo, and othTS.
+ Domine oraror, vederemo quel fara il re Christmo. se
metteremo in le so man dimandando misericordia. Lui
orator disss: Pater sante, vostra santili non avri raal
alcuno.
t Zorzi. " Questo papa 6 savio e praticho di state, o si
pensd con li suoi consultori di venir abocharsi a Bologna
con vergocna di la sede (ap.) : molti cardinali, tra i qual
il cardinal Hadriano, lo disconsejava: pur vi volse an-
dar." [This pope is learned and practised in matters of
state, and he consulted with his advisers about going to
have speech at Bologna to the degradation of the (aposto-
lic) see. Many cardinals, amons them cardinal Hadrian,
dissuaded him, but he would go there.]
40
CONNEXION OF POLITICS WITH THE REFORMATION, [a. d.1513-22.
storm, inducing the king to turn his steps
homewards, and himself remaining secure in
the possession of his dominions.
What a stroke of fortune for him this was,
is apparent from the immediate effects of the
mere approach of the French. It is highly
deserving of remark that Leo, after his allies
had been defeated, and he had been forced to
yield up a portion of his territory, was able to
keep hold on two provinces but just won, ac-
customed to independence, and lull of all the
elements of insurrection.
A constant theme for censure has been his
attack on Urbino, a princely house that had
afforded refuge and sustenance to his own
family in their season of exile. The cause
was this : the duke of Urbino had accepted
the pope's pay, and had deserted him in the mo-
ment of crisis. Leo said, " if he did not visit
him with punishment for this, there would be
no baron in the states of the church so feeble
as not to resist him. He had received the
pontificate in credit, and would so maintain
it."* But as the duke received support, at
least in secret, from the French, as he had
allies in the state and even in the college of
cardinals, the conflict was yet of a hazardous
nature. The warlike prince was not easily
to be expelled from his possessions : the pope
was seen at times to tremble at the receipt of
unfavourable news, and to be reduced to ex-
treme perplexity. It is said a plot was form-
ed to poison him, in the course of treatment
for a malady under which he laboured. f The
pope succeeded in mastering this foe, but it is
manifest how much pains the conquest cost
him. The defeat of his party by the French
affected him in his very capital, nay iii his
own palace.
Meanwhile, the second great power had be-
come consolidated. Strange as it appeared
that one and the same monarch should rule in
Vienna, Brussels, Valladolid, Saragossa, and
Naples, and besides all these in a new contin-
ent too, this had been brought about by an easy
and scarcely noticed interlacement of family
interests. This elevation of the house of Aus-
tria, which linked together so many different
nations, was one of the greatest and most
pregnant changes that Europe had ever wit-
nessed. At the moment when the nations
parted from their old centre, they were thrown,
through their political circumstances, into a
new system of combinations. The power of
Austria forthwith set itself against the pre-
ponderant influence of France. Charles V.
* Franc. VeUori (Sommario della storiad' Italia) a very
intimate friend of the Medici, gives tiiis explanation.
The defender of Francesco Maria, Giov. Batt. Leoni
(Vita di Francesco Maria,) relates facts that tend very
much to the same purport, p. 166, et seq.
■|- Fea, in his Naiizie intorno Rafaele, p. 35, has com-
municated from the acts of the consistory the sentence
against the three cardinals, which expressly refers to
their understanding with Francesco Maria.
acquired through the imperial dignity a legi-
timate claim to paramount rank, at least in
Lombardy. War arose without much delay
out of these Italian circumstances.
The popes, as we have said, had hoped to
attain to complete independence through the
enlargement of their dominions. They now
saw themselves hemmed in between two far
superior powers. A pope was not so insigni-
ficant that he could remain neutral in a strife
between them ; nor, on the other hand, was he
strong enough to give a preponderance to the
scale into which he cast his force : he could
only look for safety to the dexterous use he
made of events. Leo is reputed to have said,
that when one had concluded terms with either
party, he must not omit to treat with the
other.* So double-tongued a policy was the
forced result of the position in which he was
placed.
Leo nevertheless could hardly entertain
any serious doubt as to which party it was his
interest to adopt. Even had it not been of
infinite importance to him to recover Parma
and Piacenza ; had the promise of Charles V.
so greatly in his favour, to seat an Italian
sovereign in Milan, been insufficient to deter-
mine him ; there was yet, it appears to me, a
still more decisive motive to fix his choice.
This was derived from religious considera-
tions.
Throughout the whole period we are con-
templating, there was nothing princes had so
much at heart, in all their involved dealings
with the Roman see, as to elicit a spiritual
opposition against it. Charles VIII. of France
had no more trusty support against Alexander
VI. than the Dominican Geronimo Savonarola
of Florence. When Louis XII. had abandon-
ed all hope of reconciliation with pope Julius
II., he summoned a council to meet at Pisa ;
ineffectual as was the attempt, it appeared to
Rome a matter of the utmost peril. But when
had a bolder or a more prosperous foe than
Luther ever stood up against the pope 1 His
mere appearance, his existence, gave him a
weighty political importance. In this light
Maximilian viewed the matter : he would not
have suffered any violence to befal the monk ;
he recommended him to the special protection
of the elector of Saxony : " there might some
time or other be need of him." From that
time forth Luther's influence increased day by
day. The pope had failed in all his attempts
to silence him either by persuasion or terror,
or to get him into his hands. Let it not be
supposed that Leo was deceived as to the
magnitude of the danger : how often did he
urge the able men with whom he was sur-
rounded in Rome, to engage in that contest.
* Suriano, Relatione di 1533. Dicesi del papa Leone
che quando '1 aveva falto lega con alcuno prima, soleva
dir che pero non si dovearestardetratar cum loallroprin-
cipe opposto.
A. D. 1513-22.]
UNDER LEO X.
41
But there was yet another means left. As
he should have had reason, had he declared
against the emperor, to fear so dangerous an
opposition protected and encouraged, so he
might hope, if he allied himself with that po-
tenate, to put down the religious revolution
with his assistance.
The diet of Worms, in the year 1521, took
the state of political and ecclesiastical affairs
into consideration. Leo concluded a league
with Charles V. for the reconquest of Milan.
The very same day on which this alliance was
made has been assigned as the date of the
edict published respecting Luther. Other
motives may indeed have co-operated towards
the promulgation of that document, but no one
will endeavour to persuade himself that it was
not most intimately connected with the politi-
cal treaty.
And not long was it ere the double eflects
of this alliance were manifested.
Luther was imprisoned and kept concealed
in the Wartburg.* The Italians at once re-
fused to believe that Charles had let him go
from a conscientious unwillingness to violate
the safe-conduct granted him. *' Since he
perceived," said they, " that the pope was
alarmed at Luther's doctrine, he designed to
keep him in check by means of it."f However
that may be, Luther did actually disappear for
a moment from the scene of the world ; he
was in a certain degree out of the pale of
the law, and the pope had in any case effect-
ed the adoption of decisive measures against
him.
Meanwhile the combined forces of the pope
and the emperor had been prosperous in Italy.
One of the pope's nearest relations, cardinal
Giulio Medici, the son of his father's brother,
was himself in the field, and entered Milan
with the victorious army. It was asserted in
Rome that the pope had it in contemplation to
bestow that dukedom upon him. But I find
no direct proof of this, and it is very unlikely
the emperor would have easily given his con-
sent. But even without this, the advantage
gained was not easily to be calculated. Parma
and Piacenza were taken ; the French remov-
ed, the pope would inevitably possess a great
influence over the new sovereign of Milan.
It was one of the most important of moments.
A new political development was begun ; a
great movement in the church had arisen. It
was a moment in which the pope might have
flattered himself with the hope of leading the
former, and with the assurance that he had
stayed the latter. He was still young enough
* Luther was supposed to be dead : it was reported thai
he had been murdered by the papal party. Pallavicini
(Istoria del Concilio di Trenlo, I. c. 28) infers from Alean-
der's letters, that the nuncios were in danger of their lives
on that account.
t Vettori : Carlo si excus6 di non poler procedere piu
oltre rispetto al salvocondotto, ma la verita fu che conos-
cendo che il papa lemeva molto di quesla doctrina di Lu- i
there, lo voile tenere con questo freno. '
to indulge the anticipation of turning the aus-
picious moment to full account.
Strange delusive lot of man ! Leo was in
his villa Malliana when the news was brought
him of the entrance of his own party into
Milan. He abandoned himself to the feeling
naturally occasioned by a happily completed
enterprise. He looked on with glee upon the
rejoicings celebrated by his people out of
doors ; moved to and fro till a late hour in
the night between the window and tlie fire
on the hearth — the month was November.*
Somewhat exhausted, but in the utmost de-
light, he reached Rome ; and there the festi-
vities for the victory were not yet quite ended,
when he was seized with a mortal sickness.
" Pray for me," he said to his servants, " that
I may yet make you all happy." He loved
life, we see, but his hour was come. He had
not time to receive the eucharist and extreme
unction. So suddenly, so prematurely, in the
midst of such great hopes did he die, " as the
poppy fades."!
The Roman people could not forgive him
that he had departed without the sacraments,
that he had expended so much money and yet
left abundant debts behind. They followed
his corpse with jeers. " You sneaked in like
a fox," they said, " ruled like a lion, and have
gone off like a dog."J After times, on the
other hand, have designated a century and a
great epoch in the progress of mankind by
his name.
We have called him a favourite of fortune.
After he had overcome the first mischance,
wliich affected not himself so much as other
members of his house, his lot carried him for-
ward from enjoyment to enjoyment, from suc-
cess to success. But even disappointments
themselves seemed constrained to promote his
prosperity. His life passed away in a sort of
intellectual intoxication, in the continual ful-
filment of all his wishes. To this end too his
personal qualities contributed, his good-nature
and liberality, his activity of imagination, and
his abundant readiness to acknowledge desert.
These qualities themselves are the fairest
* Copia di una lettera di Roma alii Sgri. Bolognesi a dS
3 Dcbr. 1521, scritta per Bartholomeo Argilelli, in the 32d
vol. of Sanuto. The intelligence was conveyed to the
pope Nov. 24, during the Benedicite. He took this also
for a particularly good omen ; and said, Questa e una
buona nuova che havete portato. The Swiss began imme-
diately to fire feiiz de joie. The pope sent to beg they
would desist, but in vain.
t People spoke immediately of poison. Lettera di
Hieronymo Bon a suo barba a di 5 Dec, in Sanuto. Non
si sa certo se'l pontefice sia mono di veneno. Fo. aperto.
Maistro Ferando judica sia stato venenato : alcuno de li
altri no : e di questa opinione Mastro Severino, che lo vide
aprire, dice che non 6 venenato. [It is not known for
certain whether or not the pope died of poison. He was «
opened. Master Ferando judged that he was poisoned:
some of the others said no ; and of this opinion was Master
Severino, who saw him opened, and said he was not
poisoned.]
t Capitoli di una lettera scritta a Pioma, 21 Dec. 1.521.
" Concludo che non 6 morto mai papa cum peggior fama
dapoi 6 la chiesa di Dio." [Ijudgethal never diedapope
in worse repute since the existence of God's church.]
43 CONNEXION OF POLITICS WITH THE REFORMATION, [a. d. 1522-3.
boons of nature, fortune-gifts, which fall but
seldom to the lot of men, and which yet are
essential to all the enjoyments of life. Busi-
ness but little disturbed his pleasures. As he
did not trouble himself about details, and look-
ed only to leading matters, they were not
oppressive to him, and exercised only the
nobler faculties of his mind. For the very
reason that he did not devote every day and
hour to them, it would seem that he could deal
with them upon large and unrestricted views,
and that in all the entanglements of the mo-
ment he had constantly before his eyes the
leading idea, the clue to all the mazes of the
labyrinth. All the grander impulses bestow-
ed on affairs were his own work. In his last
moments all the purposes of his policy met
together in cheering prosperity. We may
even regard it as a good fortune that he then
died. Times of another complexion followed,
and it is hard to imagine that he could have
successfully made head against their unpropi-
tious nature. His successors had to endure
their whole burden.
The conclave lasted very long. " My
lords," at last said Cardinal Medici, whom the
return of his house's foes to Urbino and Peru-
gia filled with alarm, so that he feared even
for Florence : "My lords, I see that none of us
here assembled can become pope. I have pro-
posed three or four to you, but you have reject-
ed them : on the other hand, I cannot accept
those whom you put forward. We must look
about for some one else not present." The
suggestion was approved of, and he was asked
whom he had in view. " Take," he answered,
" cardinal Tortosa, a venerable and aged man,
who is universally regarded as a saint."*
This was Adrian of Utrecht,! formerly profes-
sor in Louvain, the tutor of Charles V., through
whose personal regard he had been raised to
the rank of a governor of Spain, and to the
dignity of cardinal. Cardinal Cajetan, who
yet did not belong to the Medici party, rose to
speak in praise of the proposed candidate.
Who could have believed that the cardinals,
ever accustomed to consult their personal
intei'ests in the election of a pope, should have
pitched upon an absent Netherlander, whom
very few of them knew, and with whom not
* Letlera di Roma a dl 19 Zener. in Sanuto. Medici,
dubilando de li casi suoi, se le cosa fosse troppo ita in
longo, deliber6 metlere cunclusione, et liavendo in animo
queslo c'e. Deilusense per esser imperialissimo — disse :
«tc. [Medici bein? dubious as to his own affairs, if the
mauer was loo Ions; protracted, and having in his eye that
cardinal Tortosa wasonestrongly attached to the emperor
—said, &c.]
t So he calls himself in a letter of 1514, to be found in
■Caspar Burma nnus : Adrianus VI. sive analecta hislorica
■de Adriano VI. p. 2W. In original doctiments of his
native country he is called Meysler Aryan Florisse van
Ulrecht. Modern writers have soineliines given him the
name of Boyens, because his father signed himself Floris
Boyens ; but that means only Bodewin's son, and is not. a
family name. See Burmunn in the notes to Moringi Vila
AdriaBi, p.'i.
one of them could stipulate for, any private
advantage ? They suffered themselves to be
surprised into this determination ; and when
the thing was done they scarce knew how it
had come about. They were half dead with
terror, says one of our informants. It is assert-
ed they had persuaded themselves for a mo-
ment that the object of their choice would not
accept the appointment. Pasquin derided
them, representing the pope elect in the cha-
racter of a school-master, and the cardinals as
schoolboys whom he was chastising.
On a worthier man, however, the choice had
not for a long time fallen. Adrian was a man
of thoroughly unblemished reputation, upright,
pious, active, very serious, so that no more
than a faint smile was ever seen upon his lips,
but full of bene volent and pure intentions ; a
genuine clergyman.* What a contrast v,'hen
he now entered the city where Leo had kept
his court with such lavish splendour ! There
is a letter of his extant, in which he says, he
would rather serve God in his priory in Lou-
vain than be pope.f Indeed, he continued in
the Vatican the life he had led as professor.
It was characteristic of him, and we may be
permitted to relate it, that he had even brought
with him the old woman his attendant, who
continued to provide for his domestic wants as
before. He made no alteration in his personal
habits : he rose with the dawn, read his mass,
and then proceeded in the usual order to his
business and his studies, which he interrupted
only with the most frugal dinner. It cannot
be said of him that he was a stranger to the
general culture and acquirements of his age;
he loved Flemish art, and prized the learning
that was adorned with a tinge of elegance.
Erasmus testifies that he was especially pro-
tected by him from the attacks of the bigots of
the schools.]: But he disapproved of the almost
heathenish tendency to which they gave them-
selves up in Rome at that day, and he would
* Literae ex Victorial directivse ad Cardinalem de
Flisco, in the 33rd vol. of Sanuto, describe him thus:
•' Vir est sui lenax ; in concedendo parcissimus ; in reci-
piendo nuUus aut rarissiaius. In sacriticio cotidianus et
mavulinus est. Quern amel aut si quern amel nuUi ex-
ploralum. Ira non asitur, jocis noa ducitur. Neque ob
pnntificatum visus est exultasse : quin constat graviter
ilium ad ejus famam nuntii ingemuisse. [He is a man
tenacious of his own, very chary in conceding, and never
or very rarely accepting. He is punctual in the daily and
early performance of mass. Whom he loves, or whether
he loves any one, is known to none. He is not to be
driven by anger nor to be led by mirthful sallies. Nor
did he seem to exult at obtaining the ponliticaie ; on the
contrary, it is known that he \vas afflicted with grief on
hearing the intelligence.] In Burmann's collection there
is an Itlnerarinm Adriani by Ortiz, who accompanied the
j.ope and knew him intimately. He asserts, p. 223, that
he never observed any thing in him deserving of censure,
that he was a mirror of every virtue.
t Florence Oem Wyngaerden : Vittoria, 15 Feb. 1523,
in Burmann, p. 398.
t Erasmus says of him, in one of his letters: "Licet
scholasticis disciplinisfaveret, satis tamen aequus in bonas
lileras." [Although he favoured scholastic pursuits, he
was nevertheless Well enough disposed towards polite
learning.] Jovius relates with satisfaction, how n.uch the
fame of a scripuir annalium valde elegans availed him
with Adrian, especially as he was no poet.
A. D. 1522-3.]
UNDER ADRIAN VI.
43
not so much as hear of the sect of the poets.
No one could more earnestly desire than
Adrian VI. (lie retained his original name) to
heal the diseased condition in which he found
Christendom.
The progress of the Turkish arms and the
fall of Rhodes and Btdgrade were further spe-
cial motives prompting his thoughts towards
re-establishing of peace among the Christain
powers. Although he hnd been the emperor's
instructor, he forthwitli assp.med a neutral po-
sition : the imperial ambassador, who hoped on
the new outbreak of war to move him to a de-
cided declaration in favour of his pupil, was
obliged to leave Rome without accomplishing
his purpose.* When tiie news of the conquest
of Rhodes was read to the pope, he looked
down to the ground, said not a word, but sighed
deeply.f The danger of Hungary was palpa-
ble. He feared even for Italy and for Rome.
His whole endeavour was to bring about if
not a peace, at least a truce for three years,
in order to a general campaign in the mean-
time against the Turks.
He was not less resolved to meet the de-
mands of the Germans. With regard to the
abuses that had made their way into the
church, no one could express himself more
strongly than did he. " We know," he says
in the instructions for the Nuncio Chieregato,
whom he sent to the diet, " that for a consid-
erable tmie many abominable things have
found a place near the holy chair, abuses in
spiritual things, exorbitant straining of pre-
rogatives, everything turned to evil. The
disease has spread from the head to the limbs,
from the pope to the prelates : we are all gone
astray, there is none that has done rightly, no
not one." He now promised on the contrary
all that became a good pope ; to promote the
virtuous and the learned, to suppress abuses,
gradually at least, if not at once ; and he held
out a hope of reformation both in the head and
the members, such as had often been eagerly
desired.f
But to reform the world is not so easy a
task. The good intentions of an individual,
however high his station, reach but a little
way towards such a consummation. Abuses
for the most part strike root too deeply ; they
grow up enlwnied with the very growth of
the body they encumber.
The tall of Rhodes was far from inducing
the French to make peace : on the contrary,
perceiving that the loss would give the em-
peror fresh occupation, they concerted the
* Gradenigo, in his Rplalione, names the viceroy of
Naples. Girolamo Npgro, some highly interesting li'tters 1
from whoiii respecting this perio.l we find in theLeitere
Idi prin.;ipi, t. i. says, p. lOJ, of John Manu'-I: "Su parti
mezo disperaio." i
t Negio, from the narration of the Venetian Secretary,
p. 110. I
t In3tru"lio pro te Francisco Chieregato, &c. &c., to be '
found in Rainaldus, toin. xi. p. 3u3, and elsewhere. i
more vigorous measures against him. They
formed connexions in Sicily, not without the
privity of the cardinal who was most in
Adrian's confidence, and they made an at-
tempt upon that island. The pope found him-
self constrained at last to enter into a league
on his own part with the emperor, which was
virtually directed against France.
'I'he Germans too were no longer to be con-
ciliated by what would once have been con-
sidered a reformation of head and members;
and then how difhcult, how almost impracti-
cable would such reform have been !
Had the pope thoug-ht to suppress those
dues accruing to the curia, in which he per-
ceived a colour of simony, he could not have
done so without violence to the legitimate
rights of those whose offices were founded
thereon, offices which in most instances they
had purchased.
Did he contemplate a change in the system
of marriage dispensations, and some relaxa-
tion in the existing prohibitions I it was re-
presented to him that such a course would in-
fringe upon and weaken the discipline of the
church.
To check the monstrous abuse of indulgencea
he would gladly have revived the old pe-
nances: but the Penitenziaria set before him
the risk he would then run of losing Italy,
while he sought to retain Germany.*
In short, at every step ho saw himself sur-
rounded 'oy a thousand difficulties.
Add to this, that he found himself at Rome
in a strange element, which he could not rule,
inasmuch as he was not familiar with it, and
did not understand its constitution or its inhe-
rent forces. He had been joyfully welcomed :
it passed from mouth to mouth that he had
somewhere about 5U00 vacant benefices to
bestow, and every one's hopes were on the
alert. But never did pope show himself more
chary and reserved on this particular. Adrian
would know who it was for whom he provided,
to whom he commmitted ecclesiastical posts:
he set to work with scrupulous conscientious-
ness,! ^nd disappointed innumerable expecta-
tions. The first decree of his pontificate sup-
pressed the reversionary rights formerly an-
nexed to ecclesiastical dignities: he even re-
called those which had been already conceded.
It could not be but that the publication of this
decree in Rome should stir up feelings of the
bitterest animosity against him in abundance.
Hitherto a certain freedom of speech and of
writing had been enjoyed at court: this he
would no longer permit. The impoverished
*In the first book of ihe Historia de Concilio Triden
tino, by P. Sarpi, ed. of l'J29, p. 2-3, there is a goo 1 exposi-
tion of the state of things extracted frum a diary of
Chieregato.
tOni-i Itinerarium, c. xxviii., c. xxix., partiiularly
wo.thy of credit, as he says, " cum provision's et alia hu- *
ju3iiio.li testis oculatus inspex^rim." [I personally loolied
into appouumeuts and other things of thai kind.j
44 CONNEXION OF POLITICS WITH THE REFORMATION, [a. d. 1523-34.
state of the exchequer, and the increasing de-
mands upon it, obliged him to impose some
new taxes, and this was looked on as intole-
rable on the part of one who expended so
little. Dissatisfaction generally prevailed.*
He was well aware of this : it had its effect
upon him. He trusted the Italians still less
than before : the two Netherlanders to whom
he confided authority, Enkefort and Hezius,
the former his datary, the latter his secretary,
were not masters of business or of courtly
affairs. He himself found it impossible to
direct them ; besides, he was bent on still
pursuing his studies, not reading only but even
writing. He was not very accessible ; busi-
ness was procrastinated, tediously prolonged,
and unskilfully handled.
Thus it was that in circumstances of great-
est general moment nothing effectual was
done. War was renewed in Upper Italy.
In Germany, Luther was again at work. In
Rome, which was besides afflicted with the
plague, discontent was universal.
Adrian once said : " How much it imports
on what times is cast even the best of men !"
The whole feeling of his position is embodied
in this painful exclamation : fitly has it been
engraved on his monument in the German
church at Rome.
At least it is not ascribable exclusively to
Adrian's personal character if his times were
barren of result. The papacy was enveloped
in the march of mighty necessities swaying
the destinies of the world, necessities that
would have inhnitely tasked the powers of
men the most practised in statesmanship, and
the most fertile in expedients.
Among all the cardinals there was none
who seemed more peculiarly fitted to wield
the papacy, more equal to sustain the burthen
of that station, than Giulio de' Medici. He
had already under Leo the chief share in pub-
lic business, and had held the whole of its de-
tails in his hands ; even under Adrian loo he
had retained a certain degree of power.f He
did not let the highest dignity a second
time escape him. He took the name of Cle-
ment VII.
The new pope avoided with great caution
the evils that had made themselves felt under
his two immediate predecessors, Leo's insta-
bility, profuseness, and objectionable habits,
and Adrian's discordancy with the tempera-
ment of his court. Every thing under him
* Lettere di Negro. Capitolo del Berni.
E quando un srgue il libera costume
Di slbgarsi scrivendo e di cantare,
Lo minaccia di far biiUare in fiiime.
[And when any one indulges in tlie liberal custom of
venting his feelings in writing or in song, they threaten
to pitch him into the river.]
•f The Relatione di Mari o Foscari, 1.326, says of him in
reference lo thosetimes: " Stavacon grandissini;i.reputa-
tion e governava il papato e havia piu zente alia sua au-
dientia che il papa. [He enjoyed the highest reputation,
and had the government of the papacy: his aujiencps
were more numerously attended than those oi the pope.]
was controlled by sound discretion ; at least
in himself nothing was apparent but blameless
rectitude and moderation.* The pontifical
ceremonies were carefully observed, he gave
audience with unwearied assiduity from an
early hour till evening, and promoted the arts
and sciences in the course they had once for
ail assumed. Clement VII. was himself very
well informed. He could converse with equal
knowledge of his subject, whether the topic
related to mechanics and hydraulic architec-
ture, or to philosophy and theology. In every-
thing he manifested extraordinary acuteness;
his sagacity penetrated the most difficult cir-
cumstances, and saw through them to the
very bottom : never was man heard to debate
with greater skill. In Leo's time he ^"had
proved himself unsurpassed for prudence in
counsel and circumspect ability in practice.
But the storm is the test of the pilot's
powers. Clement received the popedom, if we
consider it only in the light of an Italian sove-
reignty, in a most critical condition.
The Spaniards had contributed the most to
enlarge and uphold the states of the church ;
they had established the Medici in Florence.
Thus leagued with the popes, their own ad-
vancement in Italy had accompanied that of
the Medici. Alexander VI. had opened Lower
Italy to them ; Julius had given them access
to the middle regions ; and through their com-
bination with Leo, in the attack on Milan,
they had become masters in Upper Italy. In
this course of events, (/lement had personally
afforded them manifold assistance. There is
extant an instruction of his to his ambassadors
at the Spanish court, in which he enumerates
the services he had rendered to Charles V.
and his house. He it was above all who had
brought it about that Francis I. in his first
expedition did not push on to Naples: to his
instrumentality it had been owing that Leo
offered no impediment to the election of
Charles V. to the imperial dignity, and re-
pealed the old constitution, by which it was
enacted that no J^ing of Naples should be em-
peror at the same time. In spite of all the
promises of the French, he had aided towards
the conclusion of the alliance bewteen Leo
and Charles for the reconquest of Milan, and
to promote that enterprise he had spared
neither the means of his country and his
friends, nor his own person ; he had procured
the popedom for Adrian, and when he did so
it seemed almost the same thing whether
Adrian or the emperor was made pope.f I
will not inquire how much of Leo's policy is
* Vettori says that so good a man had not been pope for
the last hundred years: non su|)erbo, noa simoniaco, non
avaro, non libidinoso, sobrio nel vicio, parco nel vestire,
religioso, devolo. [Not proud, not simoniacal, not avari-
cious, not lustful, temperate in diet, frugal in apparel, re-
ligious and devout.]
t In.^trutlione al Card, reverendmo' di Farnese, che fu
poi Paulo III., quando ando legato all' Imperatore Carlo
v., doppo il sacco di Eoma. (Appendix, No. XV.)
A. D. 1523-34.]
UNDER CLEMENT VII.
45
ascribable to the counsellor, and how much to
the sovereign; certain it is that Cardinal
Medici was always on the emperor's side.
After he had become pope too he aided the
imperial troops with money, provisions, and
grants of ecclesiastical revenues; once again
they were partially indebted for victory to his
support.
Thus closely was Clement leagued with the
Spaniards; but, as not unfrequenlly occurs,
prodigious evils ensued from this alliance.
The popes had occasioned the growth of the
Spanish power, but this had never been their
direct purpose. They had wrested Milan from
the French; but they had not entertained a
desire to transfer it to the Spaniards. (5n the
contrary, more than one war had been carried
on to prevent the possession of Naples and
Milan by one and the same power.* That
now the Spaniards, so long masters in Lower
Italy, were daily obtaining firmer footing in
Lombardy, and that they delayed the investi-
ture of Sforza, was regarded in Rome with
impatience and displeasure.
Clement was also personally dissatisfied.
We see from the instructions before cited, that
already as cardinal he had often thought him-
self treated with less consideration than was
due to his deserts: he still continued to meet
with little deference, and the expedition
against Marseilles was undertaken in 1524,
in direct opposition to his advice. His minis-
ters— so say themselves — perpetually looked
for still grosser marks of disrepect towards
the apostolic see. They recognized in the
Spaniards nothing but imperiousness and in-
solence.f
How straitly did Clement seem knit, through
the course of events and his personal position,
in the bonds of necessity and inclination with
the Spaniards ! But now a thousand reasons
presented themselves to make him execrate
the power he had helped to found, to oppose
the very cause he had hitherto favoured and
furthered.
Of all political efforts, the hardest perhaps
is to abandon the course in which one has hith-
erto moved, to undo the results he has himself
elicited.
And how much depended now on such an
effort! The Italians felt thoroughly that upon
the issue depended the decision of their fate
for centuries. A great community of feeling
had sprung up in the nation. I am firmly per-
suaded that this owed its origin to the literary
and artistic progress of Italy, in which it left
all other nations so far behind ! The haught-
* It is expressly stated in tlio before-mentioned instruc
lion, that the pope had shown himself ready to acquiesce
even in what was disagreeable to him, purche lo slato di
Milano restassp'al duca, al quale efTetto si erano fatte lulte
le guerre d'ltalia. [In order that the state of Milan might
remain in the duke's possession, a thing which had been
the object of all the wars of Italy.]
t M. Giberto datario a Dun Michele di Silva. Lettere
di Principi, I. 197 b.
iness too and the rapacity of the Spaniards,
both officers and privates, seemed absolutely
intolerable. It was with a mixture of con-
tempt and rage that the Italians beheld those
foreign half-barbarous masters in their country.
Things were moreover at such a pass, that
these intruders might possibly be got rid of.
But the fact was not to be disguised, that if
the attempt were not made with all the na-
tion's might, if the enterprise should prove
unsuccessful, all was lost forever.
I could wish it were in my power fully to
develope the history of this period, to set
forth in detail the whole struggle of the roused
powers of Italy. Here, however, we can only
mark some leading points.
The first step taken, and it seemed ex-
tremely well devised, was an attempt made
in the year 1525 to gain over the emperor's
best general, who was decidedly very much
dissatisfied. What more would be wanted if, aa
was hoped, the emperor should lose with his
general the army too by means of which he
ruled Italy] Promises were not spared; the
offer even of a crown was held out. But how
erroneous was the calculation! How wholly
was their self-complacent cunning shivered
upon the stubborn material on which it made
essay ! Pescara, the general in question, was
born indeed in Italy, but of Spanish blood; he
spoke nothing but Spanish, would be nothing
but a Spaniard, and had no tincture of Italian
art or literature: his mental character had
been fashioned by the Spanish romances,
which breathe only the spirit of loyalty and
fidelity. He was by nature opposed to a na-
tional Italian enterprize.* No sooner had
overtures been made to him than he communi-
cated them to his comrades, and to the empe-
ror: he made no other use of them than to
extract their secrets from the Italians, and to
frustrate all their plans.
But these very proceedings rendered a de-
cisive contest with the emperor unavoidable;
for how was it henceforth possible that any re-
mains of mutual confidence should subsist be-
tween the parties]
In the summer of 1.526, we see the Italians
at last going to work with their own strength.
The Milanese are already in the field against
the Imperialists. A Venetian and a papal army
advance to their support. Swiss aid is pro-
mised, and the alliance of France, and of
England has been secured. "This time," said
* Vettori sums up his character in the most opprobioua
manner. Era superbo oltre modo, invidioso, ingrato, avaro,
venenoso e crudele, senzareligione, senzahumaniti, nato
proprio per distruggere Tllalia. [He was haughty beyond
measure, envious, ungrateful, covetous, virulent and cruel,
without reliffion, without humanity, born expressly for the
destruction of Italy.] Morone, too, said once to Guicciar-
dini, there was no more faithless, malicious man than
Pescara (Hist, d'ltalia, XVI., 476,) and yet he made him
the offer. I do not cite these judgmentts as though they
were true; only they show thai Pescara had evinced
nothing but enmity and haired towards the Italians.
46
CONNEXION OF POLITICS WITH THE REFORMATION, [a. d. 1523-34.
Giberto, the most confidential minister of
Clement VII., " the matter concerns not a
petty revenge, a point of honour, or a single
town. This war decides the liberation or the
perpetual thraldom of Italy." He expresses
no doubt of a successful issue. " Posterity
will envy us that that their lot had not been
cast on our days, that they might have wit-
nessed so high fortune and have had their part
in it." He hopes there will be no need of
foreign aid. " Ours alone will be the glory,
and so much the sweeter the fruit,"*
With these thoughts and hopes Clement
entered on his war against the Spaniards.f It
was his boldest and loftiest conception, his
most unfortunate and fatal.
The affairs of the State and of the Church
are most intimately interwoven. The pope
seemed to have left the commotions of Ger-
many wholly out of consideration, and from
these originated the first reaction.
At the moment when the troops of Clement
VII. advanced into Upper Italy, in July 1526,
the diet had assembled at Spires to come to
a definitive resolution with regard to the dis-
sensions in the church. That the imperial
party, that Ferdinand of Austria who repre-
sented the emperor, and who himself had de-
signs upon Milan, should have been very
eager to uphold the power of the pope on this
side the Alps, at the very time when beyond
them they were attacked by him with the ut-
most determination, would have been contrary
to the nature of things. Whatever intentions
might have been entertained or announced be-
fore,| the state of open war between the pope
and the emperor put an end to all considera-
tions in favour of the former. Never had the
towns spoken out more freely than on this oc-
casion ; never had the princes pressed more
urgently for a removal of their burthens. The
proposal was made that the books containing the
new statutes should be forthwith burned with-
out reserve, and that the holy Scriptures should
be taken as the sole rule of faith. Although
some opposition arose, yet never was a reso-
lution adopted with more firmness. Ferdinand
signed a decree of the diet, by virtue of which
it was left open to the states so to comport
themselves in matters of religion, as each
might think to answer to God and the empe-
ror, that is, to act according to their own
judgment; a resolution in which not a thought
was bestowed on the pope, and which may be
regarded as the beginning of the actual refor-
mation, and of the establishment of a new
church in Germany. In Saxony, Hesse, and j
the neighbouring countries, measures in ac-
cordance with this resolution were taken
without further delay. The legal existence
of the protestant party in the empire rests
essentially on the decree of Spires, of the year
1526.
We may assert that this state of public feel-
ing in Germany was decisive for Italy likewise.
Zeal for their vast undertaking was far
from being universal among the Italians, nor
was there anything like perfect unity among
those who actually took part in it. The pope,
able as he was, and thoroughly Italian in feel-
ing, was yet not of that order of men by whom
fate will submit to be mastered. His penetra-
tion seemed at times prejudicial to him. He
seemed to know more clearly than was expe-
dient, that he was the weaker party; all pos-
sible contingencies, every shape of danger
presented themselves to his mind and be-
wildered him. There is a practical inventive-
ness that in business instinctively perceives
the simple principle, and unerringly seizes
on the feasible or expedient. He possessed
it not.* In the most important moments he
was seen to hesitate, waver, and think of
economizing money. As his allies now failed
to keep their engagements with him, the re-
sults anticipated were far from being obtained,
and the imperialists still kept their ground in
Lombardy,when in Nov. 1526, George Frunds-
berg crossed the Alps with an imposing army
of lansquenets, to bring the contest to an end.
Both general and men were full of Lutheran
sentiments. They came to revenge the empe-
ror upon the pope. The latter's breach of
the alliance had been represented to them as
the cause of all the mischief then felt, the pro-
tracted wars in Christendom, and the success
of the Ottomans, who were at that moment
overrunning Hungary. " If I make my way to
Rome," said Frundsberg, " I will hang the
pope."
Painful is it to witness the storm gathering
and rolling onwards from the narrowing hori-
zon. That Rome, so full it may be of vices,
but not less full of noble eflforts, intellect, and
mental accomplishments, creative, adorned
with matchless works of art, such as the world
had never before produced, a wealth ennobled
by the stamp of genius, and of living and im-
perishable efficacy, that Rome is now threat-
ened with destruction. As the masses of the
Imperialists draw together, the Italian troops
* G. M. Giberto al vescovodi Veruli. LeltrediPrincipi,
I. p. 192 a.
t Foscari tco, says, " QupUo fa a presente di voler far
lega con Francia, fa per ben suo e d'llalia, non perch6
ama Francesi." [His present desire to ally himself with
France is directed to his own good and that of Italy, and
is not prompted by any love for the French.] I
t The instructions of the emperor, which had caused '
the protestants some alarm, were of the dale of Blarch 1526, ]
a period in which the pope was not yet in alliance with
France.
* Suriano, Rel.de loSS, finds inhim "core frigidissimo;
el quale fa la Beatne. S. esser dotata di non vulgar timi-
diid, non dire pussillanimitil: il che peio paniii avere
trovato coiiiuneniente in la natura fiorentini. Qursta
timiditCi causa che S. S*. 6 molio irresolula." [A very
cold heart; for which reason his holiness is possessed
with no common timidity, not lo say cowardice. This,
by the by, I think I have commonly noticed among Flo-
rentines. This timidity causes his holiness to be very
undecided.]
A. D. 1523-34.]
UNDER CLEMENT VII.
47
disperse before them : the only army that yet
remains follows thoin from a distance. The
emperor, who had long been unable to pay his
army, could not, even if he would, g-ive it any
other direction. It marches under the impe-
rial banner, but follows its own stormy im-
pulses. The pope still hopes, negotiates,
concedes, concludes: but he either will not
or cannot lay hold on the only means that can
save him, namely, contenting the army with
the money it thinks it may demand. Well,
then, shall at least a resolute stand be made
against the enemy with the weapons that are
at command! Four thousand men were suf-
ficient to close the passes of Tuscany ; yet the
attempt is not once made. Rome numbered
perhaps thirty thousand inhabitants capable
of bearing arms ; many of tliem had seen ser-
vice ; they went about with swords by their
sides, fought with each other, and boasted
loudly of their deeds. But to resist the enemy,
who brought with them certain havoc, never
more tiian five hundred men were mustered
out of the city. The pope and his power were
vanquished at the first onset. On the 6lh May
1527, two hours before sunset, the Imperialists
burst into Rome. Old Frundsberg was no
longer at their head : he had been invalided
and left behind, having been struck with ap-
oplexy on failing to meet with the usual obe-
dience on the occasion of a disturbance among
his troops. Bourbon, who had led the army so
far, fell upon the first setting up of the storm-
ing ladders; and now restrained by no leader,
the bloodthirsty soldiery, hardened by long
privations, and rendered savage by their trade,
burst over the devoted city. Never fell a
richer booty into more violent hands, never
was plunder longer, more continuous, or more
destructive.* The splendour of Rome fills
the beginning of the sixteenth century ; it
distinguishes a wonderful period in the intel-
lectual development of mankind : that day it
came to an end. And thus did the pope, who
had sought the liberation of Italy, see himself i
beleaguered in the castle of St. Angeio, and
as it were a prisoner. We may assert, that
by this great blow, the preponderance of the
Spanish power m Italy was irrevocably estab-
lished.
A new expedition of the French, which
promised much at first, failed completely in
the end; they were constrained to give up all
their pretensions in Italy.
* Veltori : La urcisione non fu molta, perr.he rari si
urcidono quelli che non si vogliono difendere; ma la
preda lu jnestimabile in danaii conuinlo, di gioie, d'oro e
d'argenlo lavoralo, di veslile, d'arazzi, paramenti di casa,
mercanlie d'ogni soite e di taglie. [Tlie slaughter was
not great, because few were killed but those who attempted
to defend themselves ; but the booty was inestimable in
specie, jewels, wrought euld and silver, gamients, tapestry,
household furniture, meichandize of every kind, and ran-
som.] The pope, he says, was not to be blamed for the
misfortune ; it whs owing to tho inhabitants, superbi, avari,
homicidi, invidiosi, libidinosi e simulaiori, [proud, cov-
etous, murderers, envious, lustful and hypocritical,] as
he calls them. Such a population could not sastain itself.
Not less important was another occurrence.
Before Rome was yet captured, when it was
merely seen that Bourbon's route lay thither,
the enemies of the Medici at Florence had
availed themselves of the confusion of the
moment, once more to expel the family of the
pope. Clement felt almost more acutely the
revolt of his native city than the capture of
Rome. With amazement men beheld him
again connecting himself with the Spaniards
after enduring such deep indignities at their
hands. His motive was that he saw in Spanish
aid the only means of reinstating his party in
Florence. It seemed to him better to endure
the domination of the emperor than the refrac-
toriness of the rebels. The worse the fortune
of the French, the nearer did he draw to the
Spaniards. When at last the former were
completely defeated, he concluded with the
latter the treaty of Barcelona. So wholly did
he change his policy, that he now himself
made use of the same army that had taken
Rome before his eyes, and kept himself so
long besieged — that he made use of this, only
recruited and improved, to subjugate his na-
tive city.
Thenceforth Charles was more powerful in
Italy than any emperor for many centuries.
The crown which he received at Bologna had
once more its full significance. Milan gradu-
ally owned allegiance to him no less than
Naples: in Tuscany, his restoration of the
Medici in Florence procured him direct influ-
ence throughout his lite ; the remaining pow-
ers sided with him or submitted : with the
combined strength of Spain and Germany he
held all Italy between the Alps and the sea
in subjection to his victorious arms, and to the
rights of the imperial crown.
Such was the course and result of the Italian
war. Since that period foreign nations have
not ceased to rule in Italy. Let us now look
to the course of religious differences, which
were so intimately connected with those of a
political kind.
If the pope acquiesced in seeing the Spanish
power paramount all around him, he might at
least hope through the aid of that mighty
emperor, who was pictured to him as catholic
and devout, to have his authority re-established
in Germany. This had been stipulated by an
article in the treaty of Barcelona. The em-
peror promised with all his might to efi^ect the
reduction of the Protestants, and he seemed
too resolved on doing so. He returned a very
ungracious answer to the Protestant delegates
who waited on him in Italy. On his journey
into Germany in the year 1530, some members
of the curia, particularly cardinal Campeggi,
the legate who accompanied him, struck out
some bold plans, most perilously threatening
to Germany.
There exists a memorial presented by him
to the emperor at the time of the diet of Augs-
48 CONNEXION OF POLITICS WITH THE REFORMATION, [a. d. 1523-34.
burg, in which he sets these forth. I must in
deference to the cause of truth, thoug-h with
extreme reluctance, say a word respecting
this document.
Cardinal Campeggi did not content himself
with deplormg the disorders in religion, but
specially pointed out their political conse-
quences; how the nobility had sunk in the
cities of the empire through the operation of
the Reformation, how neither spiritual nor
temporal princes any longer met with due
obedience, and how even the majesty of the
emperor was no longer regarded. He then
suggests the remedy for the evil.
The mystery of his curative system was not
very profound. No more, he states, was neces-
sary than that a compact should be entered
into between the emperor and the well-dis-
posed princes, whereupon endeavours should
be made to convert the disaffected either by
promises or threats. But what if they remain-
ed stubborn ] It would then be right to extir-
pate such pestilent weeds with fire and sword.*
The grand thing was to confiscate their pro-
perty temporal and spiritual, in Germany as
well as in Hungary and Bohemia ; for this is
lawful and right with regard to heretics.
When they should have been thus mastered,
holy inquisitors should be appointed to trace
out any remnants left of them, and to proceed
against them as had been done in Spain against
the Moors. Furthermore, the university of
Wittemberg should be put under ban, and the
students declared unworthy of imperial or
papal favour, the books of the heretics should
be burned, and the monks sent back to con-
vents they had abandoned, and no heretics
tolerated at any court. But above all things,
a vigorous confiscation was necessary. " Even
should your majesty deal only with the ring-
leaders," says the legate, "you may exact
from them a large sum of money, which in
any case is indispensable for operations against
the Turks."
So runs this scheme ;t these are its main
propositions. How every word breathes of
oppression, blood, and rapine ! We cannot
wonder if the worst was apprehended by the
Germans of an emperor who went among them
under such escort, and if the Protestants con-
sulted together as to the extent to which they
might be warranted in carrying measures of
self-defence.
Fortunately, as matters stood, no such pro-
ceedings as those suggested by the legate
were to be apprehended.
The emperor was far from being strong
* Se alcuni ve ne fossero, che dio non voglia, le quali
obstinemente perseverassero in quesla diabolica via,
quella, (S. M.) potri mpllere la mano al ferro et al foco
et radicilus extirpare quesla mala venenosa pianta.
t Such a scheme ihey ventured to call an inslmclion.
Inslruclio data Caesari a reverpndmo- Cainpeegio in diela
Auguslana 1530. I found it in a Roman library in the
handwriting of the time, and undoubtedly genuine.
enough to carry them out. This was convinc-
ingly demonstrated at the time by Erasmus.
But even had he possessed the power, his
will would hardly have inclined that way.
He was by nature rather kind, considerate,
deliberate, and averse to precipitation than
otherwise. The more closely he examined
these dissensions, the more they touched a
chord in his own mind. His very proclama-
tion for a diet announced his desire to hear
the different opinions, weigh them and endea-
vour to reduce them to the standard of Christian
truth. Towards any such violent measures
as those above mentioned, he was far from
disposed.
Even those who systematically doubt the
purity of human intentions, cannot apply their
opinions here. It would not have been for
the interest of Charles to employ violence.
Was he, the emperor, to make himself the
executor of the pope's decrees? Should he
subdue for the pope, not merely for the exist-
ing one, but for all his successors likewise,
those enemies who would give them the most
occupation] The friendly disposition of the
Roman see was far from being sufficiently
secure to warrant this.
On the contrary, the existing state of things
offered him spontaneously and naturally an
advantage, which he had but to lay hold on
to attain more unconditional superiority than
that he yet possessed.
It was generally admitted, whether justly
or not I will not inquire, that only an assembly
of the Church could be adequate to the settle-
ment of such important differences. Councils
had maintained their credit for this very rea-
son, that the popes entertained a natural re-
pugnance to them ; and every act of opposition
shown by the latter, had all along exalted their
favourable reputation. In the year 1530,
Charles applied his thoughts seriously in this
direction. He promised a council within a
brief specified period.
It had long been the habitual most earnest
wish of the princes, in all their entanglements
with the papal see, to be backed by some
spiritual power. Charles would therefore
acquire in a council assembled under these
circumstances the most efficient of allies.
Called together at his instigation, and held
under his influence, the execution of its de-
crees would act two ways : they would make
themselves felt by the pope equally as by his
opponents. The old notion of a reformation
in head and members would be realized; and
what a predominance would this give to the
temporal authority, above all to the emperor
himself!
This course was rational ; it was, if you
will, unavoidable; but it was at the same time
for the emperor's best interest.
On the contrary, nothing more grave could
befal the pope and his court. I find that on
A. D. 1523-34.]
UNDER CLEMENT VII.
49
the first serious apprehension of a council, the
price of all the vendible offices of the court
fell considerably.* It is evident how much
danger was apprehended to the existing state
of things.
But in addition to all this, Clement VII.
was influenced by personal considerations like-
wise. That he was not of the legitimate
birth, that he had not risen to the supreme
dignity by perfectly pure means, an^l that from
personal motives he had suffered himself to
carry on a costly war with the forces of the
Church against his native land, matters all of
them which must weigh heavily against a
pope, occasioned him well-grounded alarm.
Clement, says Soriano, shunned as much as
possible the very mention of a council.
Although he did not flatly reject the pro-
posal (he durst not, with any regard to the
honour of the papal see), it cannot be matter
of doubt with what heart he set about carry-
ing it into effect.
He did give way indeed, he was fully
compliant; but at the same time he put for-
ward the opposing arguments in their strong-
est form, depicted in the liveliest manner all
the difficulties and dangers incident to a coun-
cil, and declared his belief that the result was
more than doubtful. f He stipulated too for
the co-operation of all other princes, and for a
previous subjection of the Protestants, things
that might very well figure in an abstract
scheme of papal doctrine, but utterly imprac-
ticable in the existing state of things. But
how indeed could it have been expected of
him, that during the delay appointed by the
emperor he should proceed, not merely in out-
ward show and form, but vigorously and de-
cisively, upon a work so repugnant to him?
Charles often upbraided him with his back-
wardness, ascribing to it all the farther mis-
chief that ensued. No doubt he hoped to
evade the necessity that hung over him.
But it clung to him sternly and fast. When
Charles again visited Italy in 1533, still full
of what he had seen and projected in Ger-
many, he pressed him in person (he held a
congress with the pope in Bologna) and with
increased earnestness on the subject of a coun-
cil, which he had so oflen demanded in writ-
ing. The different opinions and inclinations
were now brought into direct collision: the
pope adhered to his stipulated conditions, while
the emperor on his part represented to him
the impossibility of their fulfilment. They
could not come to any agreement. In the
briefs which were issued on these matters, a
certain discrepancy is observable ; in some the
pope seems more disposed to the emperor'a
views than in others.* But however that may
have been, he had no alternative but to pro-
ceed to a fresh proclamation of the council.
If he would not close his eyes to the light, he
could not doubt that on the return of the em-
peror, who had set out for Spain, bare words
would avail no longer ; that the danger he
apprehended, and with which a council sum-
moned under such circumstances really me-
naced the Roman see, would burst upon his
head.
The situation was one, in which the pos-
sessor of a power of whatever kind might
well be excused, if he adopted even a des-
perate resolution to ensure his safety. The
political preponderance of the emperor was
already excessive; and even though the pope
resigned himself to this, he could not but feel
his own depressed condition. He was deeply
mortified that Charles V. had decided the old
disputes of the Church with Ferrara in favour
of the latter: he bore it with outward calm-
ness, but gave vent to his complaints among
his friends. But how much mare afflicting
was it when that monarch, to whom he had
looked for the immediate suppression of the
Protestants, on the very contrary availed him-
self of the pretext of the religious dissensions,
to obtain an ecclesiastical predominance, un-
paralleled for centuries, and perilled even the
spiritual authority and dignity of the Roman
see ! Was it to be Clement's fate to fall
wholly into his hands, and be totally at his
mercy]
He formed his resolution at once in Bologna :
Francis I. had often already proposed to Cle-
ment an alliance to be cemented by ties of
blood, which the latter had always declined.
In his present need the pope himself recurred
to this. It is expressly affirmed, that the spe-
cial ground on which Clement again lent an
ear to the king of France was the demand
made for a council. f
* Lettera anonima all' arcivescovo Pimpinello. (Let-
ters di Principi, iii. 5.) Gli ufficii solo con la fama del
conciliosono invilili, che non se ne irovano danari. I
see thai Pallavicini loo ciies ihis letter, iii. 7. 1 ; I know
not how he comes to ascribe it to Sanga.
t Ex. gr. Air iinperatore : di man propria di papa Cle-
mente, Lettere di Principi, ii. 197. Al conlrario nessun
(rimedio) 6 piu pericoloso e per partorir niaggiori mali (del
concilio), quando non concorrono le debite circonstanze.
[On the contrary, no remedy can be more perilous or
pregnant with greater evils (than the council) if the re-
quisite circumstances do not concur.]
♦ Valuable information respecting the negotiations at
Bologna, derived from the archives of the Vatican, is to
be found in one of the best chaptersof Pallavicini, lib. iii.
c. 12. He mentions the discrepancy spoken of in the
text, and states that it rested on explicit negotiations.
Indeed we find in the despatches to the catholic states in
Rainaldus, xx. 659, Honleder, I. xv. a repetition of the
stipulation for a general co-operation; the pope promises
to coramunicate^the result of his efforts; in the list of
points proposed to the Protestants, it is said expressly in
the seventh article: Quod si forsan aliqui princlpes ve-
lint tarn pio negotio deesse, nihilominus summus D^s- nr.
procedet cum "saniori parte consentiente. But if per-
chance any princes shall refuse to co-operate in so pious
a matter, our supreme lord shall nevertheless proceed
with the consent of the more sound minded part.] It,
would seem that this was the discrepancy Pallavicini
had in view, although he mentions another.
t Soriano Relatione, 1535. II papa and6 a Bologna
contra sua voglia e quasi sforzato, come di buon logo ho
inteso, e fu assai di cio ovidente segao che S. S*. con-
50 CONNEXION OF POLITICS WITH THE REFORMATION, [a. d. 1523-34.
Purely political motives would never per-
haps have prompted this pope again to attempt
effecting a balance of power between the two
great rivals, and to divide his favour equally
between them ; but upon this course he was
now determined, in consideration of the dan-
gers threatening the Church over which he
presided.
Shortly after this Clement had another
meeting with Francis I. : it took place at
Marseilles, and the strictest alliance was con-
cluded between them. Precisely as at an-
other period, in the P^'lorentine emergency, the
pope had cemented his friendship with the
emperor by the marriage of a natural daughter
of the latter with one of his own nephews, so
now in the embarrassment of the Church he
sealed the league he had formed with Fran-
cis I. by betrothing his young niece Catherine
de'Medici with the king's second son. On
the former occasion he had reason to fear the
French and their indirect influence on Flo-
rence ; on the present, the emperor and his
intentions with regard to a convocation of
the Church.
And now he took no further pains to con-
ceal his aim. We have a letter from him to
Ferdinand I., in- which he declares that his
exertions to obtain a co-operation of all Chris-
tian sovereigns towards the council had not
been successful : king Francis I., with whom
he had spoken, held the present moment un-
suited to such a project, and refused to adopt
it ; but he, the pope, hoped on another oppor-
tunity to obtain a favourable decision from
the Christian sovereigns.* I cannot conceive
how a doubt can exist as to the purposes of
Clement VII. Even again, in his last docu-
ment addressed to the catholic princes of Ger-
many, he had repeated his conditions as to an
universal participation in the proposed mea-
sure: his present declaration, that he could
not succeed in obtaining this, is tantamount
to an unambiguous refusal to give effect to
his announcement of a council.f His alliance
eum() di giorni cento in tale viaggio il quale polea far in
sei di. Considerando dunque Clenienle quesli tali casi
8Uoi 8 per dire cosi la servitii nella quale egli si trovava
per la materia del concilio, la quale Csesare non lasciava
di stimolare, comincii) a rendersi piu facile al Clirislian-
issimo. Equivi si irattii I'andala di Marsilia, ct insieme
la practicadel malriiuonio, essendo gia la nipoie nobile
el habile. [The pope went 4o Bologna contrary to his
will and almost upon compulsion, as I have heard from
good authority; an evident proof of which was, that his
holiness spent a hundred days on the journey, whereas he
might have completed it in six. Clenienl then, reflecting
on the present condition of his affairs, and on the servi-
tude, so to speak, in which he was placed as regarded the
serious matter of the council, which the emperor never
ceased to urge, began to be more compliant towards the
most christian king. Thereupon negotiations were en-
tered into for the conference at Marseilles, and for the
marriage, the pope's niece beina now marriageable.] At
a previous period the pope would have alleged her birth
and her age as a pretext for evading the match.
*20lh March, 15.i4. Pallavicini, III. xvi. 3.
tLa Serta. V". dunque in maloiia del concilio puf)
esser certissima che dal canto di Clemente fu fuggita con
tuiti li raezzj e cod lulte le vie. [As regards the council,
with France gave him alike courage and a
pretext for this. I cannot persuade myself
that this council would ever have taken place
under his pontificate.
This however was not the only consequence
of his new league. Another and unexpected
one forthwith developed itself, one which is
of the utmost importance, especially for the
German people.
Very singular was the combination result-
ing from the alliance, as regarded the inter-
mixture of ecclesiastical and temporal inte-
rests. Francis I. was then on terms of the
best understanding with the Protestants, and
now becoming so closely connected with the
pope, he to a certain degree linked together
the Protestants and the pope in one system.
And here we have evidenced the political
strength of the position the Protestants had
assumed. The emperor could not entertain
the thought of so unconditionally subjecting
them again to the pope ; on the contrary, he
availed himself of their proceedings to keep
the latter in check. Gradually it appeared
that the pope too, on his part, had no wish to
see them wholly at the mercy of the emperor;
it was not altogether unconsciously that Cle-
ment was in a measure leagued with them ;
he hoped to be able to turn their opposition to
the emperor to account, and to occasion him
some trouble in his turn.
It was immediately remarked at the time,
that the king of France had persuaded the
pope that the principal Protestant princes were
dependent on him, and had induced him to
hope he would prevail on them to impede the
assembly of the council.* But if we are not
much mistaken, these engagements went still
fxirther. Shortly after his conference with
the pope, Francis held another with Philip of
Hesse. They agreed together on the resto-
ration of the Duke of Wurtemberg, who at
that time had been dispossessed by the house
of Austria ; Francis I. consented to aid with
supplies of money. Landgrave Philip effected
the enterprise with surprising rapidity in a
brief campaign. It is certain he had intended
to push his way into the hereditary dominions
of the house of Austria, f and it was generally
surmised that the king purposed an attack on
Milan for once from the side of Germany. |
your serenity may therefore be assured that Clement took
all possible ways and means to avoid it.]
*Sarpi, Historia del Concilio, Tridentino, lib. i. p. 68.
Soriano does not confirm all Sarpi's assertions, but a con-
siderable part of them he does. That ambassador says,
Avendo fatto credere a Clemente che da S. M. Chma. di-
pendessero quelli Sri. principal issimi e capi della fat-
tione luterana — si che almeno fugisse il concilio. This is
all I have ventured to assert.
tin his instruction to his ambassador to France, Aus.
1532, (Rommel Urkundenbuch 61.) he excuses himself
" for our not having proceeded to attack the king in his
hereditary possessions"— (dass wir nit fuitzugen, den
Kiinig in seinen Erblanden auzugreifen.)
tJovJus, Historiae sui temporis, lib. xxiii. p. 129: Pa-
ruta, Storia Venez. p. 389.
A. D. 1523-34.]
UNDER CLEMENT VII.
51
A still further view is set before us by Marino
Giustiniuno, in those days Venetian ambassa-
dor to France. He positively assures us that
these German movements were concerted by
Clement and Francis at Marseilles, and adds,
that it was assuredly not foreig-n to the plan
to cause the troops engaged in them to march
upon Italy : the pope would privately have
lent his co-operation to the enterprize.* It
would be somewhat rash to regard these as-
sertions, however confidently made, as fully
authentic ; still further proofs were necessary
to this : but even though we should not re-
ceive them, still we are met beyond the pos-
sibility of doubt by one very remarkable phe-
nomenon. Who could have surmised it 'i At
the moment the pope and the Protestants were
pursuing each other with the most implacable
hatred, whilst they were waging a spiritual
war against each other that filled the world
with discord, they were on the other hand
bound together by the like political interests.
Now whereas, on previous occasions of Ita-
lian politics, nothing had proved so pernicious
to the pope as the ambiguous supersubtle po-
licy he pursued, the same system produced
him still more bitter fruit in spiritual con-
cerns.
King Ferdinand, threatened in his heredi-
tary possessions, hastened to conclude the
peace of Kadan, by which he abandoned VVur-
temberg, and even entered into a close un-
derstanding with the Landgrave. Tliose were
Philip of Hesse's happiest days. That he had
with a strong hand helped an exiled German
prince to his rights, made him one of the
♦Relatione del clarrissimo M. Marino Guistinian el
Kr. venulo d'ambasciator al Christianissimo re di Francia
del 1535. (Archivio Venez.) Francesco fece I'abocca-
mento di MarsiliaconClemente, nelqual videndoloroclie
Cesare slava fermo — conchiuiero il moinmento delle armi
in GeTniania, soUo prelesto di voler metier il duca di Vir-
tenberg in casa; nel quale se Iddio non avesse posto la
mano con il mezzo di Cesare, il quale all' iniproviso e con
gran preslezza, senza saputa del Xmo ; con la;resiitulion del
ducato di Vitenberg fece la pace, tulle quelle genti veni-
vano in Italia sollo il favor secrelo di Clemenle. [Francis
held a conference al Marseilles, with Clement, wherein
seeing the emperor's firmness, Ihey resolved on tke war in
Oermany, under pretext of reinstating the duke of Wiir-
temburg ; in the course of which if Gocl had not interfered
through the emperor, who suddenly and with great haste
made peace unknown lo the most christian king by the
restilulion of the duchy of Wiinemburg, all those forces
would have entered Italy under the secret countenance
ofClemenl.] More accurate information will,Ilhink, be
yet obtained. Soriano superadds the following. Di tuui
li desiderii (del re) s'accommodu Clement, con parole tali
che lo facevano credere S. S. esser disposla in tuUo alle
sue voglie, senza pero far provisione alcuna in scrittura.
[Clement acceded lo all the kins's desires in such terms
as led him lo believe that his holiness was disposed in
evei7 thing to comply with his will, but at the same time
without making any stipulation in writins.] That an
Italian expedition was talked of, cannot be denied. The
pope maintained that he had declined it: "non avere
bisosno di mo;o in Italia" [that he did not want any
movement in Italy.] The king had told him he should
remain quiet, " con le mani accorte nelle manichi" [with
his hands lucked up in his sleeves.] Probably the French
asserted what the Italians denied, so that the ambassador
in France is more positive than Ihe ambassador in Rome.
If, however, the pope said he did not want a movement
in Italy, il is obvious how Utile that expression excludes
the idea of a movement in Germany.
most respected chiefs of the empire. But he
had by the same means achieved another im-
portant result. This treaty of peace con-
tained likewise a momentous decision respect-
ing the religious controversies. The imperial
chamber was directed to entertain in future
no complaints concerning confiscated Church
property.
I know not that any other single occurrence
ever operated so decisively as this enterprise
of Philip of Hesse's for the preponderance of
the Protestant name in Germany. That di-
rection to the imperial chamber involves a
judicial security for the new party of extra-
ordinary importance. Nor were its effects
long delayed. We may, I think, regard the
peace of Kadan as tlie second grand epoch of
the rise of a Protestant power in Germany.
After it had for a long period made a feebler
progress, it began anew to spread in the most
triumphant manner. Wurtemberg, which had
been taken, was reformed forthwith. The
German provinces of Denmark, Pomcrania,
the March of Brandenburg, the second branch
of Saxony, one branch of Brunswick, and the
Palatinate, followed shortly after. Within a
few years the reformation of the Church
spread over the whole of Lower Germany,
and obtained firm and permanent footing in
Upper Germany.
And pope Clement had been privy to an en-
terprise which led to this result, which so im-
measurably augmented the desertion from the
Church's ranks, nay he had perhaps approved
of it.
The papacy was in an utterly untenable
position. Its secular tendencies had engen-
dered in it a coruption that had caused it
numberless opponents and dissidents ; but the
continuation of that tendency, the further
commingling of spiritual and temporal inter-
ests, brought it wholly to the ground. Even
the English schism arose essentially from this
source.
It is very deserving of attention, that how-
ever hostilely Henry VIII. may have declared
against Luther, and however closely connect-
ed he may have been with the Roman see,
nevertheless on the first difference in purely
political matters in the beginning of the year
1525, he threated the papacy with ecclesias-
tical innovations.* Matters were accommo-
dated, indeed on that occasion ; the king made
common cause with the pope against the em-
peror. When Clement was besieged in the
castle of St. Angelo, and abandoned by every
one, Henry VIII. found means to furnish him
with aid; for this reason Clement was per-
haps personally inclined to him, more than to
* Wolsey had written, threatening " che ogni provincia
doventari Lulherana;" [that every province will become
Lutheran;] an expression that may fairly be considered
as the first symptom of secession from Rome shown by the
English government. (See Gibeno ai nuatii d'lnghilter-
ra: Letters di Principi, i. p. 147.)
52 CONNEXION OF POLITICS WITH THE REFORMATION, [a. d. 1523-34.
any other potentate.* But, since tliat period, definitive sentence in the year 1534, he, too,
the question of the king's divorce had arisen. ^ wavered no longer, but pronounced the total
It is not to be denied, that in the year 1528, separation of his kingdom from the pope's
the pope, if he did not promise a satisfactory authority. So weak were, already, the ties
decision of the question, at least held out a that bound together the Roman see and the
show of its probability, "so soon as the Ger- several national churches, that it needed only
mans and Spaniards should have been driven the resolve of a sovereign to wrest his king-
out of Italy."f The very contrary of this dom from the connexion.
took place, as we know. The Imperialists j These events filled up the last year of Cle-
now first acquired a footing of real stability ; ment's life : they were the more bitter to him,
we have seen into what strict alliance Cle- | inasmuch as he was not wholly blameless
xnent entered with them : under such circum- > with regard to them, and his mischances stood
stances he could not fulfil the expectations, in a painful relationship with his personal
which, be it observed, he had warranted only qualities. And day by day the course of
by a passing hint.]: No sooner was the peace events assumed a more perilous aspect. Fran-
of Barcelona concluded, than he called the cis I. was already threatening a fresh attack
case before the tribunal of Rome. The wife on Italy, and in this he asserted he was sanc-
from whom Henry wished to part, was the tioned, not, indeed, by the written, but at
emperor's aunt ; the validity of the marriage least by the orally expressed approval of the
had been expressly declared by a former pope ; ' pope. The emperor would no longer be put
was there a possibility of doubt as to the de- .off with pretences, and urged the summoning
cision, when once the suit was brought in ; of a council more pressingly than ever. Fam-
usual form before the judiciary court of the ily discords swelled the catalogue of his
curia, particularly under the permanent influ- troubles. After all the pains it had cost to
ence of the Imperialists'! Hereupon, Henry, ; bring Florence under, the pope was doomed
without more ado, adopted the course that had j to see his two nephews fall at variance with
before this time presented itself to him. In es- ; each other, and break out into the most savage
sentials, in what regarded dogmas, he was, and ', hostility. His reflections on this catastrophe,
continued, undoubtedly catholic ; but that af- his fear of coming events, " sorrow and secret
fair of his, which was dealt with so openly in
Rome in its political bearings, now excited
him to an opposition to the temporal power of
the papacy, that every day grew more vehe-
ment. To every step taken in Rome to his
disadvantage he responded with some measure
against the curia ; from stage to stage his se-
paration from it became continually more for-
mal. When the curia at last pronounced its
* Contarini, Relatione di 1530, expressly affirms this.
Soriano, too, says in 1533, Ansjlia S. Santita ania e era
conjunctissimo prima. [His holiness loves the king of
England, and was at first on terms of the strictest friend-
ship with hirn.] The king's design of obtaining a di-
vorce he flatly declares to be a "pazzia" [a piece of
folly].
+ 1- rom the despatches of Doctor Knight of Orvieto, l.st
and 9th Jan. 1528; Herbert's Life of Henry ATII., p. 218.
t The whole situation of affairs is e.vplained by the fol-
lowing passage of a letter from the papal Secretary San-
ga to Campeggi, dated Vilerbo, 2nd September, l.o28, at
the moment the Neapolitan enterprise had failed, (an
event alluded to in the letter,) and when Campeggi was
preparing to go to England: — Come vostra Slgn.Tlevma.
sa, tenendosi N. Signore obligatissimo come fa a quel Se-
rennio. re, nessuna cosa 6 si grande della quale non desi-
deri coinpiacerli, ma bisogna ancora che sua Beatitudine,
vedendo 1' imperatore vitlorioso e sperando in questa vit-
toria non trovarlo aliena della pace, — non si precipiti a
dare all' imperatore causa di nuova rottura, la quale leve-
ria in perpetuo ogni speranza di pace: oltre che al certo
metteria S. Sa. a fuoco et a totals eccidiotutto il suo stato.
(Leltere di diversi autori, Venetia, 1556, p. 39.) [Ourlord
the pope, esteeming himself, as your most reverend lord-
ship knows, most deeply obliged to that most serene
king, there is nothing of such magnitude that he would
not willingly do to gratify him; but still there is need
that his holiness, seeing that the emperor is victorious,
and having reason, therefore, to expect to find him not
averse to peace, should not rashly give the emperor cause
for a new rupture, which would forever obliterate all
hope of peace: besides, that his holiness would undoubt-
edly bring down ruin and destruction upon his whole
Btate.J
anguish," says Soriano, " brought him to the
grave."*
We have designated Leo as fortunate :
Clement was perhaps a better man — in any
case, freer from faults, more active, and in
particulars even more acute ; but in all his
concerns, active and passive, ill-luck attended
him. In truth he was the most ill-fated man
that had ever filled the pontiff's chair. He
met the superiority of the hostile forces that
surrounded him on all sides with an uncertain
policy, dependent on the probability of the
moment, and this was utter ruin. The at-
tempts, to which the most distinguished of
his predecessors had devoted themselves, to
found an independent temporal power, it was
his fate to see issue in a directly opposite re-
sult : he had to endure, that those from whose
grasp he sought to wrest Italy should consol-
idate their dominion there forever. The great
Protestant secession proceeded unremittingly
* Soriano. L' imperatore non cessava di sollecitar il
concilio. — S. M. Chrisms, dimando che da S. SA. li fussi-
no osservate le promesse essendo le conditioni poste fra
loro. Percio S. S-i. si pose a grandissimo pensiero, e fu
queslo dolore et atlanno che lo condusse alia morle. II
dolor fu accresciunlo dalle pazzie del cardinal de Medici,
il quale allora piu che mai intendeva a rinuntiare il ca-
pello per la concurrenza alle cosedi Fiorenza. [The em-
peror persisted incessantly in demanding the council. —
His Hiost Christian majesty recjuired that his holiness
should fulfil what he had promised on the conditions sti-
pulated between them. His holiness was thereby cast
into a state of profound and melancholy reflection, and this
grief and vexation it was that led to his death. His grief
was augmented by the mad schemes of the cardinal da
Medici,\vho was at that time more than ever bent on re-
nouncing the cardinal's hat, lo enter the lists of political
competition at Florence.]
A.D. 1513-41.] OPINIONS ANALAGOUS TO PROTESTANTISM IN ITALY. 53
before his eyes; whatever means he employed
against it, all helped to spread it more widely.
He left the papal see infinitely sunk in repu-
tation, without spiritual, without temporal
authority. Tiiat North Germany, which from
of old had been so important to the papacy,
through whose first conversion in remote times
the power of the popes in the West had been
mainly established, whose revolt against the
emperor Henry IV. had so greatly served
them towards the completion of their hierar-
chy, that country had now stood up against
them. To Germany belongs the imperishable
merit of having restored Christianity in a
purer form than it has worn since the first
centurifes, of having re-discovered the true
religion. Armed with such weapons it was
irresistible. Its convictions made themselves
paths through every neighbouring land.
They had already possessed Scandinavia ;
they spread in England, contrary to the king's
intention, but under protection of the mea-
sures he had adopted ; in Switzerland they
achieved for themselves, with a few modifica-
tions, an unassailable existence ; they made
bold progress in France ; in Italy, and even
in Spain, we find traces of them as early as
under Clement's reign. Ever furtiier and
further spreads the vast inundation. There
is a power in these opinions that convinces
and captivates all minds; and the struggle
between spiritual and temporal interests in
which the papacy had engaged, seems to have
been directly adapted to procure them com-
plete dominion.
BOOK THE SECOND.
BEGINNING OF A REGENERATION OF CATHOLICISM.
Introduction.
It is not in our day that the influence of
public opinion first made itself felt in the
world ; in every age of modern Europe it has
been an important element in social life. Who
can tell whence it arises, how it is fashioned ?
We may regard it as the most peculiar pro-
duction of our common nature, as the nearest
expression of the inward movements and re-
volutions of the great frame of society. It
springs from and is fed by secret sources-:
without requiring much force of reasoning, it
seizes on men's minds by involuntary convic-
tion. But it is only in its most general out-
lines it is consistent with itself ; within these
it is reproduced with various special modifi-
cations, in innumerable greater and smaller
circles. And since a host of new observations
and experiences are perpetually flowing in
upon it, simtie there are original minds that
are moved indeed by it, but not wholly borne
along by its current, and that exercise upon
it a vigorous reaction, it is hence involved in
an endless series of metamorphoses — it is
transient, multiform, sometimes more, some-
times less in unison with truth and justice,
being rather a tendency of the moment than
a fixed system. Frequently it only accompa-
nies the occasion that calls it forth, and fa-
shions itself to its complexion ; but now and
then, when it encounters an unaccomodating
will which it cannot overcome, it chafes and
swells, and assumes a character of exorbitant
demand. It must be admitted that it com-
monly displays a just apprehension of wants
and deficiencies, but the course of proceeding
which these demand it is not in its nature to
conceive with any instinctive accuracy. Thus
it happens, that in the course of time it often
runs into directly opposite extremes. It help-
ed to establish the papacy, it helped likewise
towards its demolition. In the times under
our consideration it was at one period utterly
profane ; it became thoroughly spiritual. We
have reinaiked how throughout all Europe it
inclined to Protestantism ; we shall also see
how in a large part of the same quarter it
took another colouring.
Let us set out with observing how the
doctrines of the Protestants made way even
in Italy.
Opinions analogous to Protestantism enter-
tained in Italy.
Literary associations exercised an incalcu-
lable influence on the development of learning
and art in Italy. They grew up sometimes round
a prince, sometimes round a distinguished scho-
lar, or a private individual of literary tastes
and easy fortune, occasionally, too, in the free
companionship of equals. Such institutions
are usually most valuable when they arise,
naturally and without formal plan, out of the
immediate wants of their day. It is with
pleasure we explore the vestiges of their
course.
At the same period as the protestant move-
ments began in Germany, literary meetings,
assuming a religious colour, made their ap-
pearance in Italy.
Just when it was the fashion of society,
54 BEGINNING OF A REGENERATION OF CATHOLICISM, [a. d. 1513-41.
under Leo X., to doubt or deny the truth of
Christianity, a reaction exhibited itself in the
minds of able men, men who possessed the
acquirements of their age, without merging in
it their individual character. It was very
natural tliat they should seek each other's
society. The human mind needs the support
of kindred opinion — at least it always loves it ;
but it is indispensable to it in religious convic-
tions, the very basis of which is the profoundest
feeling of community.
So early as in Leo's times mention is made
of an Oratory of Divine Love, which had been
founded by some distinguished men in Rome
for their mutual edification. They met to
worship God, to preach and practise spiritual
exercises in the Trastevere, in the church of
St. Silvestro and Dorotea, not far from the
place where the apostle Peter was supposed
to have resided, and superintended the first
assemblies of the Christians. They were in
number about 50 or 60. Contarini, Sadolet,
Giberto, and Carafiu, all of whom afterwards
became cardinals, Gaetano da Thiene, who
has been canonized, Lippomano, a spiritual
writer of much repute and industry, and some
other celebrated men, were of the number.
Julian Bathi, minister of the church where
they met, was the centre round which they
were grouped.*
It was far from being the case, as might
easily be supposed from their place of meet-
ing, that their general views were directly
opposed to those of Protestantism ; on the con-
trary, they coincided with them to a certain
extent, as for instance, in the purpose (the
same as that from which Luther and Melanc-
thon set out) to stay the general corruption of
the church by the revived force of religious
conviction. Their numbers were made up of
men who subsequently displayed great diver-
sity of sentiment ; at that time they all enter-
tained a community of opinion. But very soon
more decided and heterogeneous tendencies
ajose among them.
We again, after a lapse of a few years, meet
a part of this Roman society in Venice. Rome
* I extract this note from Caracciolo, Vita di Paulo IV.,
MS. Quei pochi huomini da bene ed eruditi prelati che
erano in Roma quel tempo di Leone X., vedendo la cillii
di Roma 6 tutto il resto d'ltalia, dove per la vicinanza
alia sede apostolica doveva piu fiorire I'osservanza de riti,
essere cosi maltiatato il culto divino, — si uniron' in un'
oratorio chiamalo del divino aniore circa sessanta di loro
per fare quivi quasi in una torre ogni sforzo perguardare
le divine legsi. [Those few men of worth and learned
prelates who were in Rome in those days of Leo X., seeing
divine worship so ill conducted in the city of Rome and
throughout all the rest of Italy, where the observance of
religious rites should have more especially flourished, from
the vicinity of the apostolic see, — united themselves, to
the number of about si.\ty, in an oratory called that of
Divine Love, there to make, as in a strong tower, every
effort to maintain the divine laws.] In the Vila Cajetani
Thienasi, (AA. SS. Aug. II.) c. i. 7—10, Caracciolo has re-
peated this, and with fuller details, though in the latter
place he reckons but fifty members. The Historia Cleri-
coRim Regularium, vuIl'o Tlieaiinorum, by Joseph Silos,
confirms it in many passages, which are printed in the
Commentarius priBvius to the Vita Cajetani.
had been sacked, Florence subdued ; Milan
had become the continual haunt of armies. In
the midst of this general ruin Venice had
maintained itself untouched by foreigners and
their armies, and was, therefore, regarded as
the common place of refuge. In that city met
together the scattered literati of Rome, and
the patriots of Florence, whose native land
was forever closed against them. In these
latter, particularly, was manifested a very
strong spiritual tendency, not unmarked by
the influence of Savonarola's doctrines, as
instances of which, we may mention the his-
torian Nardi, and Bruccioli, the translator of
the Bible. The same feelings were shared
by other refugees also, such as Reginald Pole,
who had quitted England to escape from the
innovations of Henry VIII. They met with a
ready welcome from their Venetian hosts. At
Peter Bembo's, in Padua, who kept open
house, the constant topics of conversation
related to classic literature and Ciceronian
Latin. More profound discussions cccupied
the guests of the learned and intelligent Gre-
gorio Cortese, abbot of San Georgio Slaggiore
at Venice. Bruccioli lays the scene of some
of his dialogues in the groves and bowers of
San Georgio. Not far from Treviso was the
villa of Luigi Priuli, named Treville.* His
was one of those pure and finished Venetian
characters, such as we now and then encoun-
ter even in the present day, full of calm suscep-
tibility for true and noble sentiments, and for
disinterested friendship. The chief occupa-
tions of his circle lay in spiritual studies and
and discourse. There was the Benedictine
Marco of Padua, a man of deep piety, the
same apparently from whom Pole asserts he
drew his ghostly nurture. Caspar Contarini
might be regarded as the head of the whole
band, a man of whom Pole says, that nothing
was unknown to him which the human mind
had discovered by its own powers of investi-
gation, or which God's grace had imparted to
it ; and to this store of wisdom he added the
adornment of virtue.
If we now inquire what were the leading
convictions of these men, we shall find fore-
most among them that doctrine of justification,
which, as taught by Luther, had originated
the whole Protestant movement. Contarini
wrote a special tract on the subject, which
Pole knows not how sufficiently to praise.
" Thou hast," he says to him, " brought to
light that jewel which the Church kept half-
buried." Pole himself finds that Scripture in
its profounder connexion preaches nothing but
this doctrine ; he congratulates his friend that
he had begun the disclosure of that " holy,
fruitful, and indispensable truth. "f To the
circle of friends who attached themselves to
♦ Epistolse ReginaUli Poli,ed.Quirini, torn. ii. Diatriba
ad Epislolas Si.'hi'lhornii, clxxxiii.
t Epistolae Poll, torn. iii. p. 57.
A. D. 1513-41.] OPINIONS ANALOGOUS TO PROTESTANTISM IN ITALY. 55
this doctrine belonged M. A. Flaminio. He
resided a long time with Pole : Contarini
wished to take him with him to Germany.
Observe how decidedly he proclaims the doc-
trine in question. " The Gospel," he says in
one of his letters,* " is nothing else than the
glad tidings that the only-begotten Son of God,
Flaminio revised it."* According to this ac-
count therefore, with a pupil and friend of
Valdez rests the authorship of this book, which
in reality had an incredible success, and for a
length of time made the doctrine of justifica-
tion popular in Italy. Valdez, for all that,
was not exclusively devoted to theological
clothed in" our flesh, has satisfied the justice | pursuits; being in the discharge of an impor-
of the eternal Father for us. He who believes tant secular office, he founded no sect, and
this enters the kingdom of heaven : he enjoys this book was the result of a liberal study of
the universal forgiveness ; from being a carnal
he becomes a spiritual creature, from being a
child of wrath he becomes a child of grace ; he
lives in a sweet peace of conscience." It is
scarcely possible to find expressions more ortho-
do.xly Lutiieran.
These convictions spread just like a literary
opinion or tendency over a great of Italy. f
Now it is worthy of remark, how suddenly
a controversy upon a point that had previously
been only now and then mentioned among the
school-men, could seize upon and engross a
century, and call forth the activity of every
mind. In the sixteenth century, the doctrine
of justification was the parent of the greatest
agitations, ruptures, and even revolutions. It
would seem to have befallen by way of coun-
terpoise to the worldliness settled upon the
church, now almost blind to the notion of man's
hnmediate relation to God, that so transcen-
dental a question, affecting the profoundest
mystery of that relation, became the universal
subject of men's thoughts.
Even in pleasure-loving Naples it was widely
promulgated, and that by a Spaniard, Juan
Valdez, one of the viceroy's secretaries. Un-
fortunately the writings of Valdez have wholly
disappeared ; but we have at least very dis-
tinct evidence as to their character, from the
objections made to them by his opponents.
About the year 1540, a little book " On the
Benefits bestowed by Christ," obtained circu-
lation, which, as a notification by the Inquisi-
tion expresses it, "treated in an insinuating
manner of justification, undervalued works and
merits, and ascribed every thing to faith alone ;
and forasmuch as that was the very point on
which so many prelates and monks stumbled,
the book had been diffused to an unusual
extent." The name of the author has been
frequently inquired after; this notification
distinctly identifies him. " It was a monk of
San Sererino," it asserts, "a pupil of Valdez :
* To Theodorina Saxili, 12ih Feb. 1542. Letters Volgari
(Raccolla del Manuzio), Vinegia, 1553. ii. 43.
t Anion? other documents, Sadolel's letter to Contarini
(Epistolae Sadoleti lib. ix. p. 365,) upon his Commentary
on the Epistle to the Romans is very remarkable, " in
nuibus commentariis," says Sadolel, " mortis et crucis
Christ! mysterium totum aperire atque illustrare sum
conatus ;" [in which commentary I have endeavoured to
unfold and illustrate the whole mystery of Christ's death
and passion.] He had not however quite satisfied Conta-
rini, nor did he quite concur in opinion with the latter.
He promises meanwhile to undertake in the new edition,
a clear explanation of the doctrines of original sin and
grace : " de hoc ipso morbo naturae noslrse et de repara-
tione arbilrii nostri a spirilu sancio facta."
Christianity. His friends thought with rup-
ture of the sweet days they enjoyed with him
at Chiaja and Posiiippo, " where nature smiles
and rejoices in her rich array." Valdez was
gentle, of pleasing manners, not without vigo-
rous reach of mind. His friends used to say
of him, "A part of his soul served to animate
his feeble slender body ; with the greater part,
the clear unclouded intellect, he was ever up-
lifted to the contemplation of truth."
Valdez had extraordinary influence among
the nobility and the learned of Naples: even
the women took a lively interest in these reli-
gious and intellectual movements. Among
these was Vittoria Colonna. After the death
of her husband Pescara, she had given herself
up wholly to study. Her poems and her let-
ters displayed a heartfelt morality and a reli-
gion void of hypocrisy. How beautifully does
she console a female friend for the loss of her
brother, " whose peaceful spirit has passed into
the everlasting true peace. She must not
complain, since she can now speak to him,
without his absence hindering her, as so often
before, from being understood by him."f Pole
and Contarini were among her most confiden-
tial friends. I am not disposed to think that
she devoted herself to spiritual exercises of a
monastic life. At least Aretino writes to her
with much naivete, that " it surely is not her
opinion that the silent tongue, the downcast
eyes, and the coarse raiment are the great
essentials, but purity of soul."
The house of Colonna generally, and in par-
ticular Vespasiano duke of Palliano, and his
wife Julia Gonzaga, the same who was reput-
* Schelhorn, Gerdesius, and others, have ascribed this
book to Aonius Palearius, who says in a discourse, " hoc
anno Tusce scripsi, Christi morte quanta commoda allata
sint humano generi," [this year I wrote in the Italian
language, a work on the numerous advantages conferred
on mankind by the death of Christ.] The words of the
compendium of the inquisitors, which I found in Carac-
ciolo, Vita di Paulo IV. MS., are on the other hand as
follows : Quel libro del beneficio di Christo, fu il suo autore
unmonaco di Sanseverino in Napoli, discepolo del Valdez,
fu revisore di detto libro il Flaminio, fu stampato molte
volte, ma particolarmente a Modena de mandate Moroni :
insannC) molti, perche Irattava della giustificatione con
doice modo, ma hereticamente. Now the passeige quoted
from Palearius, does not so distinctly indicate this book
as to make it certain none other is meant : Palearius says,
that he was called to account for it the same year; while,
on the contrary, the words of the compendium admit of no
doubt, and it goes on to say, " quel libro fu da molti appro-
bato solo in Verona, fu conosciuto e reprobato, dope molti
anni fu posto nel Indice." For these reasons, I hold the
opinion of the above mentioned scholars to be erroneous.
t Letters Volgari, i. 92. Lettere di diversia Autori, p.
60-1. A very useful collection, especially the first part.
56 BEGINNING OF A REGENERATION OF CATHOLICISM, [a. d. 1513-41.
ed the most beautiful woman in Ital}', partici-
pated in these religious sentiments. Valdez
dedicated one of his books to Julia.
But these doctrines made moreover an un-
common progress among the middle classes.
The report of the Inquisition almost seems
exaggerated, when it reckons three thousand
schoolmasters attached to them. But how
deeply must even a smaller number have
wrought upon the minds of youth and upon
the people !
Scarcely with less cordiality was the doc-
trine received in Modena. The bishop him-
self, Morone, an intimate friend of Pole and
Contarini, was in its favour. The work, " On
the Benefits bestowed by Christ," was printed
at his express command, and numerous copies
of it circulated. His chaplain, Don Girolamo
da Modena, was president of a society, in
which the same principles prevailed.*
Mention has from time to time been made
of the Protestants of Italy, and we have al-
ready adduced many of the names recorded
in their lists. Certainly some of the convic-
tions predominant in Germany had taken root
among these men ; they sought to build doc-
trine on the basis of scriptural testimony, and
in the article of justification they approxima-
ted closely to the Lutheran opinions ; but that
they participated in these on all other points
cannot be asserted ; the sense of the Church's
unity and reverence for the pope had struck
too deeply into their minds, and many catho-
lic usages were too intimately interwoven
with the national character to have been so
easily shaken off.
Flaminio composed an exposition of the
Psalms, the dogmatic contents of which have
been approved of by Protestant writers ; but
even to this he prefixed a dedication, in
which he called the pope " The Warder and
Prince of all Holiness, the Vicegerent of God
on earth."
Giovan Battista Folengo ascribes justifica-
tion to grace alone ; he speaks even of the
utility of sin, which is not far removed from
the sinfulness of good works : he is vehement
in his zeal against trusting in fasts, frequent
prayers, masses and confessions, nay even in
the priestly calling, tonsure, and mitre ;f and
yet he died quietly, somewhere about his six-
tieth year, in the same Benedictine convent
in which he had taken the vows in his six-
teenth.!
Not far otherwise was it for a long while
with Bernardino Ochino. If we believe his
* In Schelhorn's Amoenitatt. Literar. torn. xii. p. 564,
are reprinted, the Articuli contra Moronum, published by
Vergerio in the year 1558, and in which these accusations
do not fail to appear. The more exact notices I take from
the compendium of the inijuisitors.
+ Ad Psalm. 67. f. 2^16. An extract from these explana-
tions is given in the "Italia Reformata" of Gerdesius, p.
8o7— 261.
t Thuani Historis ad a. 1539, i. 473.
own words, it was from the very first a deep
longing, as he expresses himself, " after the
heavenly paradise that is achieved through
God's grace," that led him to become a Fran-
ciscan. His zeal was so deep-seated, that he
soon passed over to the severer penitential
practices of the Capuchins. He was named
general of the order in its third, and again in
its fourth chapter, and filled the ofhce with
extraordinary credit. But however rigorous
was his life, (he always went on foot, slept
on his cloak, never drank wine, and was most
strict in enforcing the vow of poverty on
others, as tlie most efficacious means towards
evangelical perfection,) yet even he was by
degrees convinced and penetrated by the
doctrine of justification through grace. He
presented it in the most urgent manner in
the confessional and from the pulpit. " I
opened my heart to him," says Bembo, " as I
could have done to Christ himself; it seemed
to me that I had never beheld a holier man."
The cities poured out their multitudes to hear
him preach ; the churches were too small to
contain them ; the learned and the common
people, both sexes, old and young, all were
gratified. His coarse garb, his beard that
swept his breast, his gray hairs, his pallid
meagre countenance, and the feebleness he
had contracted from his obstinate fasts, gave
him the aspect of a saint.*
Thus was there yet a line within Catholi-
cism, which the opinions analogous to the new
doctrines never overstepped. Priesthood and
monachism encountered no direct opposition
in Italy ; none there entertained a thought of
assailing the primacy of the pope. How, for
instance, should that principle have failed to
command the strong attachment of a Pole,
who had fled from England rather than ac-
knowledge his king as head of the English
Church ] They thought, as Ottonel Vida, a
pupil of Vergerios, declared to the latter, that
" in the Christian Church every one had his
appointed office ; to the bishop belonged the
care of the souls in his diocese, whom he was
to protect from the world and the evil one ; it
was the metropolitan's duty to see to the
residence of the bishops ; the metropolitans
were in their turn subject to the pope, to
whom was committed the general control of
the Church which he was to guide with holi-
ness of mind.f Every man must fulfil his
several calling."| These men regarded sepa-
ration from the Church as the worst of evils.
Isidore Clario, a man who improved the Vul-
gate with the aid of the Protestant works,
and prefixed to it an introduction which has
been subjected to expurgation, warned the
* Boverio, Annali di Frati Minori Capuccini, i. 375.
Gratiani Vie de Commendone, p. 143.
t In the original, "mil heiligem Geiste." (Translator.)
t Oitonello Vida Dot. al Vescovo Vergerio ; Lettere,
Tol. ix. I. 80.
A. D. 1541.]
ATTEMPTS AT INTERNAL REFORM.
57
Protestants from such a project in a special
treatise. " No corruption," he says, " could
be so great as to warrant a revolt from the
hallowed communion of the Church. Were
it not better to repair what we have, than to
commit ourselves to dubious attempts at pro-
ducing something else? Our sole thought
should be how the old institution may be
ameliorated and freed from its defects."
With these modifications there was a mul-
titude of adherents to the new doctrine in
Italy ; among them Antonio dei Pagliarici of
Siena, to wliom had been imputed the author-
ship of the book, " Of the Benefits bestowed
by Christ ;" Carnesecchi of Florence, who
was considered as an adherent to its doc-
trines and a promoter of its circulation ; Gio-
van Battista Rotto of Bologna, who had pa-
trons in Morone, Pole, and Vittoria Colonna,
and found means to aid the poorest of his fol-
lowers with money ; Fra Antonio of Volterra,
and some man of eminence in almost every
city of Italy.* It was a system of opinion de-
cidedly religious, but tempered by the forms
of the Church, that stirred the whole land
from end to end in all its circles.
Attempts at inward reform, and at a recon-
ciliation with the Protestants.
The saying is attributed to Pole, that men
should content themselves with their own
inward convictions, without concerning them-
selves to know if errors and abuses existed in
the Church. f But precisely from a party to
which he himself belonged, proceeded the
first attempt at reformation. That was per-
haps the most honourable act of Paul III. with
which he marked the commencement of his
reign, namely, the calling to the college of
cardinals several distinguished men, without
regard to anything besides their merits. He
began with that Venetian Conlarini, already
mentioned, who again is supposed to have
suggested the names of the rest. They were
men of irreproachable manners, in high re-
pute for learning and piety, and who must
have been intimately acquainted with the
* The extract from the compendium of the inquisitors
is our authority on this subject. Bologna, it says, fu in
molli pericoli, perche vi furono heretici principali, fra
quali fu un Gio B». Rotto, il quale haveva amicizia et ap
poggio di persone poteniissiine, come di Moione, Polo
Marchesa di Pescara, e raccoglieva danari a tuito suo
poiere, e gli compartiva ira gli heretici o,;culti e poveri
che stevano in Bologna: abjun") poi nelle mani del padre
Salmerone (the Jesuit,) per ordine del legato di Bologna
(compend. fol. ix. c. 94.) [Bologna was beset with dan-
ger, because the principal heretics were there, among
ihein one Gio B^. Roiio, who enjoyed the friendship and
patronage of very influential people, such as Morone,
Pole, and the Marchesa di Pescara, and who collected
money with all his might, and distributed it among the
secret and needy heretics of Bologna. H'B afterwards
read his recantation before father Salmerone, by order of
the legate of Bologna.] The same course was pursued in
all the towns.
+ Passages from Atanagi in Mc Crie's Reformalion in
Italy. German translation, p. 172.
8
wants of the several countries; Caraffa, who
had resided long in Spain and the Nether-
lands ; Sadolet, bishop of Carpentras in
France ; Pole, a refugee from England ; Gi-
berto, who, after he had long taken part in
the general administration of affairs, conduct-
ed his bishopric of Verona with exemplary
excellence; Federigo Fregoso, archbishop of
Salerno, almost all, as we see, members of
the oratory of Divine Love, and several of
them participating in the tendencies akin to
Protestantism.*
It was these same cardinals who now, by
command of the pope, concocted a project of
church reform. It became known to the
Protestants, who rejected it with derision.
They had themselves indeed by this time ad-
vanced much further. But it can hardly be
denied that it was a matter of strange signi-
fication for the catholic church, to see the
evil thus grappled with in Rome itself — that
in language addressed to a pope, was urged
the reproach of the popes, staled in that in-
troduction to this document, that " they had
frequently selected servants, not to learn
from them what their duty demanded, but
that they might be flattered by them with the
declared lawfulness of what their desires co-
veted ;" that such abuse of supreme power
was declared to be the most prolific source of
corruption.!
Nor did matters rest here. There are
extant some short pieces by Caspar Contarini,
in which he waged the most vehement war
on abuses, especially those abuses which
were profitable to the curia. The custom of
compositions, that is, the taking of money
even for the bestowal of religious favours, he
pronounces simony, which may be regarded
as a species of heresy. It was taken amiss
that he inculpated former popes. " What !'*
he exclaimed, " shall we concern ourselves so
much about the fame of three or four popes,
and not rather amend what is deformed, and
win ourselves a good name 1 It would in-
deed by a trying task to defend all the acts
of all the popes." He attacks the abuse of
dispensations most earnestly and effectively.
He considers it idolatrous to say, as was ac-
tually maintained, that the pope was bound
by no rule but that of his own will in con-
firming or suspending the positive law. It is
worth while to hear his remarks on this sub-
ject. " The law of Christ," he says, " is a
law of liberty, and forbids such gross servi-
tude, which the Lutherans were perfectly
justified in likening to the Babylonish captiv-
* Vita Reginaldi Poli in the edition of his letters by
Quirini, torn. i. p. 12. Floribelli de vita Jacobi Sadojeli
Commentarius, prefixed to the Epp. Sadoleti Col. 1590,
t This is the Consilium delectorum Cardinalium et ali-
orum Pralatorum de emendanda ecclesia. It is signed
by Contarini, Caraffa, Sadolet, Pole, Fregoso, Giberto,
Cortese, and Aleander.
58
BEGINNING OF A REGENERATION OF CATHOLICISM, [a. d. 1541.
ity. But furthermore, can that be indeed
called a government, the rule whereof is the
will of a man by nature prone to evil, and of
innumerable affections ] No ! all true do-
minion is a dominion of reason. It has for
its end to lead those who are subject to it by
the right means to their great end, happiness.
The authority of the pope is likewise a do-
minion of reason ; God has bestowed it on St.
Peter and his successors, to guide the flocks
confided to them to everlasting blessedness.
A pope must know that they are free men
over whom he exercises it. He must not
command, or forbid, or dispense according to
his own good pleasure, but in obedience to
the-^ule of reason, of God's commands, and of
love: a rule that refers everything to God,
and to the greatest common good. For the
positive law is not arbitrarily imposed, but in
unison with natural rights, the command-
ments of God, and circumstances; only in ac-
cordance with the same laws and the same
things, can it be altered." " Be it the" care
of your holiness," he says to Paul HI., " not
to depart from this rule. Turn not to the
impotence of the will, which chooses evil, to
the servitude which ministers to sin. Then
wilt thou be mighty, then wilt thou be free :
then will the life of the Christian common-
wealth be sustained in thee.*
Here, we see, was an attempt to found a
rational papacy ; the more remarkable, mas-
niuch as it set out from the same doctrine
concerning justification and free-will, which
served as the principle of the Protestant de-
fection. We do not merely conjecture this,
as knowing that Contarini cherished these
views ; he affirms it in express terms. He
lays it down that man is prone to evil ; that
this comes of the impotence of tiie will, which,
as soon as he turns to evil, becomes rather
passive than active ; that only by Christ's
grace he becomes free. He distinctly recog-
\ nizes the papal authority ; but he requires
that it be guided with a view to God and to
the greatest common good.
Contarini laid his essay before the pope. On
a fine day in November, 1538, he journeyed
with him to Ostia. " On the way thither," he
writes to Pole, " this our good old man drew
me aside, and talked with me alone about the
reform of the compositions. He said he had by
him the little treatise I had written on the sub-
ject, and that he had read it in his morning
hours. I had already given up all hope; but
now he spake to me with such Christian feel-
ing, that I have conceived fresh hope that God
will accomplish something great and not suffer
* G. Contarini Cardinalis aJ Paulum III. P. M. de po-
teslate ponlificis in coinjiositionibus: Printed in Rocca-
berte's BibliolVieca Ponlilicia Maxima, torn. xiii. Tliere
is also a Tractatus de rompositionibus datarii Revmi. D.
Gasparis Contarini, 1536, no copy of which I have any-
where found in print.
the gates of hell to prevail over his Spi-
rit."*
It may easily be conceived that a thorough
reform of abuses with which were bound up
so many personal rights and claims, and so
many habits of society, was of all things the
most difficult that could be undertaken. Pope
Paul, however, appeared gradually disposed
to proceed seriously to the task.
Thus he named commissions for carrying
out reform f in chamber, ruota, chancery, and
penitenziera: he also called back Giberto to
his counsels. Bulls were issued also of a
reforming character, and preparations were
made for the general council which Clement
had dreaded and shunned, and which Paul HI.
might have found many reasons of a private
nature to avoid.
How, now, if an amelioration had actually
taken place, the Roman court been reformed,
and the abuses of the constitution removed?
How if then the same dogma from which Lu-
ther had set out had become for the Church a
principle of renovation in life and doctrine'?
would not a reconciliation in that case have
been possible? For even the Protestants but
slowly and reluctantly tore themselves away
from the unity of the Church. To many this
seemed possible, and no few built great hopes
on a religious conference. Theoretically
speaking, the pope should not have consented
to the latter, since its object was to decide,
not uninfluenced by the secular power, upon
religious controversies, over which he himself
laid claim to paramount authority. Accord-
ingly, he was very guarded on the subject of
the conference, though he suffered it to pro-
ceed, and sent his delegates to attend it.
He proceeded with great circumspection in
the matter; invariably selected moderate men,
persons who subsequently, on many occasions,
incurred the suspicion of Protestantism. Fur-
thermore, he gave tiiem sound admonitions as
to their personal and political conduct.
Thus, for instance, when he sent Morone,
who was still young, to Germany, in 1536, he
failed not to enjoin him that " he should con-
tract no debts, that he should pay in the lodg-
ings assigned him, and dress without luxury,
and also without meanness; that he should,
indeed, visit the churches, but by all meana
without any show of hypocrisy," He was to
represent in his person that Roman reform of
which so much had been said ; and he was
counselled to maintain a dignity tempered
with cheerfulness.| In the year 1540 the
bishop of Vienna had counselled a very ex-
treme course. In his opinion it was advisable
to lay before the adherents of the new sect
* Caspar C. Contarenus Reginaldo C. Polo. Ex. ostiia
Tiberinis, 11 Nov. 1538. (Epp. Poli, ii. 142.)
+ Acta Consistorialia, (6 Aug. 1540,) in Rainaldus, An-
nales Ecclesiastici, toni. xxi. p. 146.
t Instructio pro causa fidei et consilii,dataepiscopoIVIu.
linae, 24 Oct. 1536. MS. (App. No. XXII.)
A. D. 1541.]
ATTEMPTS AT INTERNAL REFORM.
59
those articles of Luther and Melancthon's
which had been declared heretical, and to ask
them yes or no, whetiier they were disposed
to renounce them. But to such a course as
this the pope by no means counselled his nun-
cio. "They would rather die, we fear," he
says, " than make such a recantation."* He
only wishes to see a hope of reconciliation : at
the first glimpse of it he will send a formula
conceived in terms free from offence, already
drawn up by wise and venerable men. " Would
it were now come to that! Hardly do we
dare to expect it !"
But never did the two parties approach each
other nearer than in the Ratisbon Conference,
in the year 1541. The aspect of politics was
singularly favourable. The emperor, who
needed the strength of the empire, for the
purposes of a war against Turkey or France,
longed for nothing more ardently than a recon-
ciliation. He chose for speakers the most in-
telligent and moderate men among the cathol ic
theologians, Gropper, and Julius Pflug. On
the other side, Landgrave Philip was again
on good terms with Austria, and hoped to
obtain the chief command in the war now in
preparation : the emperor beheld him with
admiration and delight ride into Ratisbon on
his stately charger, himself as vigorous as the
steed. The placid Bucer, and the yielding
Melancthon appeared on the Protestant side.
How earnestly the pope desired a happy result
was evinced by the choice of the legate he
sent, that same Caspar Contarini, whom we
have seen so deeply engaged in the new course
of sentiment that had arisen in Italy, and so
active in devising schemes of general reform.
He now assumed a more important position,
midway between two systems of opi;iion, be-
tween two parties that divided tlie world,
commissioned in an advantageous moment,
and earnestly purposing to reconcile them ; a
position, which if it does not make it our duty,
yet affords us permission more nearly to ex-
amine his personal characteristics.
Messer Gasper Contarini, the eldest son of
n noble house in Venice that traded to the
Levant, had devoted himself especially to phi-
losophical studies. His manner of proceeding
in this is not unworthy of remark. He set
apart three hours daily for his special studies,
never devoting to them more, and never less.
He began each time with accurate repetition:
whatever he did he did thoroughly, never
slurring over any subject before him.f
He did not suffer the subtleties of Aristotle's
* Instructiones pro Revmo- D. ep. Mulinpnsi apostolico
nuncio inlprfuturoconventui Germanoium Spirse, 12Muii,
ir)40, celebrando. " Timendum est alqup atleo eenn scien-
dum, isla qu£e in his aniculis pie el prudrnter conlincn-
tur non solum frelos salvo conductu esse eos recusaturos,
verum etiam ubi mors praespns imminerel, ilium polius
praelpcturos." App. No. XXV.
t Joiumnis CascB Vila Gasparis Conlarini ; in Jo. Casae
Monumenla Lalini, ed. Hal. 1708, p. 88.
commentaries to beguile him into similar
point-splitting. He found that nothing is more
astute than untruth.
He displayed the most decided talent, but
still greater perseverance. He did not aim
at the graces of language, but expressed him-
self simply and to the purpose.
As nature unfolds the growing plant in
regular succession, yearly producing ring on
ring, so did his mind develope itself.
When he was admitted at rather an early
age into the council of the Pregadi, the senate
of his native city, he did not for a while ven-
ture to speak ; he could have wished to do so;
he could have found matter worth delivering;
still he could not summon up resolution ; but
when at length he conquered liis timidity, he
spoke, neither very engagingly, indeed, nor
wittily, nor warmly and energetically, but so
simply, and with such solidity of reasoning,
that he acquired the highest consideration.
He was cast upon most agitated times. He
was born to see his native city stripped of its
territory, and he contributed towards its reco-
very. On the first arrival of Charles V. in
Germany, he was sent as ambassador to him,
and there he witnessed the beginning of the
division in the Church. They entered Spain
as the ship Vittoria returned from the first
circumnavigation of the globe:* he was the
first, so far as I can discover, to solve the enig-
ma, that she entered port a day later than she
should have done, according to the reckoning
in her log-book. He helped to reconcile the
emperor and the pope, under whose orders he
passed, after the taking of Rome. Of his
sagacious penetrating views of men and things,
and his judicious patriotism, there are clear
proofs in his small book on the Venetian con-
stitution, a very instructive and well-arranged
little work, and in his reports of his embassies,
which exist here and tliere in manuscript.!
One Sunday, in the year 153-5, just as the
great council was asseinbled, and Contarini,
w ho, meanwhile, had been advanced to the most
important offices, was seated by the balloting
urn, the news arrived, that pope Paul whom
he did not know, and with whom he had no
manner of connexion, had named him cardinal.
Every one hastened to congratulate the aston-
ished man, who would hardly believe the re-
port. Aluise Mocenigo, who had hitherto
been opposed to him in political matters, ex-
claimed that the republic lost in him her best
citizen.]:
* Beccalello, Vila del C. Contarini, (Epp. Poli, lii.) p.
103. There is also a separate edition, but which has only
been detached from the volume of letters, and has simi-
larly numbered pages.
t The first belongs to the year 1.j25, the second to the
year 1.5:30. The lirst is, above all, very important in rela-
tion to the earlier limes of Charles V. I found no trace of
it, either in Vienna, or in Venice. I discovered one copy
in Home, but never mel with another elsewhere. (App.
No. XVIIl.)
}:DanielBarbarotoDominicoVeniero:LettereVolgari,i.73.
60
BEGINNING OF A REGENERATION OF CATHOLOCISM. [a. d. 1541.
This honourable fortune, nevertheless pre-
sented to him one painful aspect. Should
he abandon his free native city, that offered
him its highest dignities, and in any case a
sphere of action in full equality with the heads
of the state, to enter the service of a pope,
often swayed by passion and restiicted by no
binding law 1 Should he withdraw from the
republic of his forefathers, whose manners
harmonized with his own, to measure him-
self against the rest in the luxury and splen-
dour of the Roman court 1 The consider-
ation, that in such trying times the example
of contempt for so high a dignity would have
injurious effects, was, we are assured, what
chiefly determined him to accept it.*
The whole zeal which he had hitherto de-
voted to his native city, he now bestowed on
theaftairsof the Church. Heoften had against
him the cardinals, who thought it strange that
a new comer hardly installed, and a Venetian,
should take upon him to reform the Roman
court: sometimes too he encountered the re-
sistance of the pope. He once opposed the
nomination of a cardinal. " We know," said
the pope, "how tiie land lies; the cardinals
like it not that another should be made equal
in honour with themselves." Hurt at this,
Contarini replied ; " I do not think that the
cardinal's hat constitutes my greatest honour."
He continued to maintain in Rome all his
previous gravity, simplicity, and activity, all
his dignity and gentleness of character. Na-
ture leaves not the simple weed without the
adornment of its blossoms, in which its very
being breathes and imparts itself. To man,
she gives the disposition, the combined product
of all the higher powers of his organization,
which shapes his moral demeanour and be-
stows its expression on his aspect. Contarini's
was characterized by gentleness, innate truth,
pure morality ; above all, by that deep reli-
gious conviction that blesses while it enlight-
ens its possessor.
Endowed with a temper like this, full of
moderation, and almost of like views with the
Protestants upon the weightiest points of doc-
trine, Contarini appeared in Germany, where
he hoped by a doctrinal reform based on that
same great principle common to himself and
the Lutherans, and by the suppression of
abuses, to heal the division in the Church.
But had it not already gone too far? Had
not the dissentient opinions already struck too
deep root ! This is, 1 think, a question not to
be decided oft-hand.
Marmo Giustiniano, another Venetian who
left Germany shortly before the meeting of
this diet, and who seems to have carefully
observed the position of things, represents tiie
scheme as at least very feasible ;f only a few
* Casa, p. 1U2.
t Relaziorifi del clarmo- M. Marino Giustinian Kavi-
(ritornato) dalla legazoine di Gemiania solto Ferdinando,
re di Romani. Bibl. Corsini in Rome, n. 481.
important concessions he thinks were indis-
pensable. He particularizes the following:
" The pope must no longer claim to be Christ's
representative in secular as well as in spirit-
ual matters — substitutes of blameless life, and
capable of instructing the people, must be
appointed in the place of the unlearned and
the profligate bishops and priests — neither
sale of masses, nor accumulation of benefices,
nor abuse of compositions, must any longer be
tolerated — the breach of fasting ordinances
must be visited at the very most with light
punishments — then if the communion in both
kinds be accorded, and the marriage of priests
sanctioned, all parties in Germany will forth-
with abjure their dissensions, yield obedience
to the pope in spiritual things, assent to the
mass, submit to oral confession, and even ad-
mit the necessity of good works as fruits of
faith, in so far as they spring from faith. As
the present discord arose out of abuses, so it
will be allayed by their abolition."
In relation to this subject let us recollect,
that Landgrave Philip of Hesse had declared
the year before, that the temporal power of
the bishops might be tolerated in proportion
as means were found for the suitable exercise
of their spiritual authority ; and that with re-
spect to the mass, matters might easily be
accommodated, provided the question of the two
kinds were conceded.* Joachim von Branden-
berg declared his readiness to acknowledge
the pope's supremacy, doubtless under certain
conditions. Meanwhile, advances were made
from the other side also. The imperial am-
bassador reiterated, that concessions must be
made by both parties, so far as ever it was
possible, consistently with the honour of God.
Even the nonprotesting party would have w^el-
comed the withdrawal of spiritual power
throughout all Germany from the bishops,
who had become to all intents and purposes
secular princes, and its transference to super-
intendents, and the adoption of one general
measure tor the conversion of Church property.
Men began already to talk of neutral things
which might be retained or omitted ; and even
in the ecclesiastical electorates, prayers were
offered up for the prosperous issue of the work
of reconciliation.
We will not debate the degree of possibility
and probability of this consummation ; it was
in any case very difficult, but if there appeared
even a glimmering of hope, the attempt de-
served well to be made: thus much we see,
that a great inclination to such a result had
* Despatch of the Landgrave in Rommelg Urkunden-
buch, p. So. Compare that of the bishop of Lunden in
Seckendorf, p. 299. Contarini al C. Farncse, 2Slh April,
1541, Epp. (Poli, III. p. cclv.) The landgrave and the
elector demanded the rijiht of marriage for bolh orders of
the prieslhdod, and the sacrament in boih kinds. The
former made more difficulty with respect to the pope's
supremacy, the latter with respect to the doctrine " de
missaquod sit sacrificiuni," [that the mass is a sacrifice.]
A. D. 1541.] ATTEMPTS AT A RECONCILIATION WITH THE PROTESTANTS. 61
manifested itself, and that vast expectations
were built upon it.
It was now asked, whether the pope too,
without whom nothing: could be done, was dis-
posed to abate something from the strictness
of his demands. With respect to tiiis, a pas-
sage in his instructions to Contarini on his de-
parture for the conference, is very worthy of
attention.*
He had not conferred upon him the unlimi-
ted authority which was pressed for on the
part of the Imperialists. lie suspected that
demands might be put forward in Germany,
which no legate, nor even himself the pope
could concede without consulting the other
nations. But he did not absolutely reject all
negotiations thereupon. " We must first see,"
he says, " whether the Protestants accord with
us in the main principles, for example, the su-
premacy of the holy see, the sacraments, and
son)e others." If we now ask what are these
others, we find that the pope does not express
himself very clearly respecting them. He de-
scribes them generally as " whatever is sanc-
tioned as well by the holy Scriptures as by
the perpetual usage of the Church, matters
all of them well known to the legate." " Upon
this basis," he adds, "endeavours may then
be made to arrange all differences."!
There cannot be a question, but that this
vagueness of expression was purposely adopt-
ed ; Paul III. might have desired to see how
far Contarini could bring matters, and might
have been unwilling to bind himself before-
hand to a ratification of all his acts. He al-
lowed the legate a certain latitude. Undoubt-
edly it would have cost the latter new and
arduous efforts, to make that result acceptable
to the intractable Roman curia, which should
have been compassed in Ratisbon with much
straining, and without the possibility of fully
contenting all parties; but on the main object
of reconciling and uniting the assembled di-
vines, everything in the first instance depend-
ed. The conciliatory tendency was still much
too loose and undefined, it scarcely admitted
of a name ; nor till it had acquired consistence
and stability could it promise to possess greater
efficacy.
The discussion began on the 5th of April,
1541, and a plan of proceeding proposed by
* Instructio data Revmo. Cli. ContarnPO in Germaniam
legato, d. 28 mensis Jannarii, 1541. MS. in many libraries ;
printed in Quirini; Epp. Poli, iii. ccl.'c.xxvi.
t Vidpnduiii inprimis est an Prolestantes et ii qui ab
ecclesia; gremio defecerunt in principiis nobiscum con-
veniani cujusmodi p.st hujus sanct<E sedis priniatus, tan-
quain a Dfo el Salvatore noslro inslitulus, sacrosanctae
ecclesiae sacranipnta et alia qucedam, quae tarn sacrarum
litteramrn aucloiilate turn universalis ecclesiae perpetua
observatione hoc lenus observata et comprobata fuere, et
tibi noui esse benesciaius, quibus statim initio aiimissis
omnis super aliis controversiis coniordiatentarelur. We
must with respect to this subject keep steadily in view
the position ol the pope, whicli was in the highest degree
ortholox, and by its very nature infle.xible, in order to
perceive how much lay in such a turn of alEiirs.
the emperor, and admitted with some slight
alterations by Contarini, was adopted. Just
at this point the legate deemed it expedient
to depart a step from his instructions. The
pope had required in the very first place the
recognition of his supremacy. Contarini saw
clearly, that upon this topic, so fitted to stir
the passions, the design might be wrecked in
the very onset: he therefore suftered the
question touching the papal supremacy to be
the last in the list proposed for discussion,
holding it better to begin with those on which
he and his friends approximated to the Pro-
testants, questions decidedly of the highest
importance, which concerned the fundamental
principles of faith. He himself bore the largest
part in the deliberation on these points. His
secretary assures us that nothing was resolved
on by the catholic theologians, not even a
single variation proposed, until his opinion had
been previously consulted.* Morone, bishop
of Modena, and Tomaso da Modena, Maestro
di Sacro Pain zzo, both men who entertained
the same views touching the article of justifi-
cation, aided him with their advice. j The
main difficulty arose on the part of a German
theologian, Luther's old antagonist, Doctor
Eck: but upon compelling him to close dis-
cussion point by point, even he was brought
at last to a satisfactory explanation. In fact
the two parties speedily agreed — who could
have ventured to hope it! — upon the four im-
portant articles of human nature, original sin,
redemption, and even justification. Contarini
acquiesced in the main point of the Lutheran
doctrine, that man's justification ensues with-
out merit, through faith alone, adding only
thereto, that this faith must be lively and
active. Melancthon admitted that this was
precisely the Protestant creed. J Bucer boldly
maintains, that in the articles mutually ad-
mitted, was included " every thing necessary
towards a godly, righteous, and tioly life, in
the eyes of God and among men. "J
They were equally content on the other
side. The bishop of Aquila calls this a holy
conference, and doubts not that it will bring
about the reconciliation of Christendom. Con-
tarini's friends, who sympathized with him in
feeling and opinion, were delighted to hear
of the progress he had made. " When I ob-
served this unanimity of sentiment," says
Pole in a letter to the former, " I experienced
a feeling of pleasure such as no harmony of
* Beccatelli, Vita del Cardinal Contarini, p. cxvii.
t Pallavicini, IV. xiv. p. 433, from Conlarini's letters.
t Melancthon to Camerarius, 10th May, (Epp. p. 360.)
" Adsentiunter justificari homines fide, et quidem in earn
sententiam ut n'os docemus." [They admit that men are
justified by faith, and that too in the sense in which we
teach.] Compare Planck, Geschichte des protestantischen
Lehrbegriffs, III. ii. 03.
§ All the negotiations and writings (i)r the reconciliation
of the religious parties, executed by his Imperial Majesty,
A. D. 1541, by Martin Buoer, in Honleder, book i. chap.
37, p. 280.
62
BEGINNING OP A REGENERATION OF CATHOLICISM, [a. d. 1541.
tones could have afforded me : not alone be-
cause I foresee the coming of peace and union,
but also because these articles are the found-
ations of the Christian faith. They seem, in-
deed, to treat of a variety of matters, of faith,
works, and justification ; on this latter, how-
ever, justification, repose all the rest; and I
wish you joy, and I thank God, that the theo-
logians of both parties are agreed thereon.
We hope that he who has begun so mercifully
will also complete what he has begun."*
This, if I err not, was a crisis of essential
importance for Germany, nay for the world.
With respect to the former, the points we
have touched on tended in their consequences
to a change in the whole spiritual constitution
of the nation, and to putting the latter, as re-
garded the pope, in a freer, more independent
position, elevated above the reach of his tem-
poral encroachment. The unity of the church
would have been maintained, and with it that
of the nation. But the results would have
been still infinitely more extensive. If the
moderate party, that had planned and con-
ducted this peace-making effort, had been able
to keep the upper hand in Rome and in Italy,
what a wholly altered aspect must the Catho-
lic world have needs assumed !
But so vast a result was not to be obtained
without a vehement struggle.
The resolutions adopted at Ratisbon required
to be confirmed on the one side by the pope's
sanction, on the other by the assent of Luther,
to whom a special embassy even was deputed.
Buthere arose numerous difficulties. Luther
could not persuade himself that the doctrine
of justification had taken root amongst the
other party likewise. He justly regarded his
old adversary as incorrigible, and yet he too
had taken an active part in the matter. Lu-
ther saw in the concerted articles nothing but
a patchwork made up from both systems; he
therefore, ever regarding himself as he did,
as one engaged in a fight between heaven and
hell, thought that here too he discerned Sa-
tan's hand. He most urgently dissuaded his
sovereign the elector from proceeding in per-
son to the diet. " He was just the very one
whom the devil was looking for."f The ap-
pearance of the elector at the diet, and his
* Polus ConlarenoCapranicae, 17 Maji 1541. Epp.Poli,
torn. iii. p. 25. Ths letters of the bishop of Aquila in Rai-
naldus, 1541, No. 11, 1-2, are also deserving of attention.
It was thought, that if once the question of the Lord's Sup-
per was set at rest, every other difficulty would be easily
overcome. Id unum est quod omnibus spem maximam
fecit, asserlio Casaris se nuUo paclo nisi rebus bene com-
positis discessurum, atque etiam quod omnia scitu con-
siliisque revmi. legati in coUoquio a nostris Iheolojis tract-
antur et disputanl'ur. [What above all things fills every
one with the highest hopes, is the declaration of the em-
peror, that he will on no account depart till matters are
satisfactorily arranged, and also that our divines conduct
themselves in the disputation, in all respects, with the
knowledge and by the advice of the most revJ legate.]
t Luther to John Frederick, in de Weite's collection,
T. 353.
assent to the conclusions adopted, would in-
deed have had immense weight.
Meanwhile, the articles in question had
arrived in Rome, where they excited an ex-
traordinary sensation. The cardinals Caraffa
and San Marcello, particularly took great
offence at the declaration respecting justifica-
tion, and it was with difficulty Priuli could
make its real import clear to them.* The
pope, however, did not express himself in such
positive terms as Luther. Cardinal Farnese
wrote to the legate, that his holiness neither
sanctioned nor rejected this conclusion : but
all others who hadseen it were of opinion, that,
provided always its meaning was in accord-
ance with the Catholic faith, it might have
been conceived in clearer language.
However strong this theological opposition
might have been, it was yet neither the only
one, nor perhaps the most efficacious. Another
rose out of the bearing of politics.
A reconciliation, such as that contemplated,
would have given Germany an universal unity,
and bestowed extraordinary strength upon the
emperor, who would have been able to avail
himself of that unity.f As tlie head of the
moderate party he would of necessity have
obtained a great pre-eminence in the eyes of
all Europe, especially whenever a general
council took place. All the usual feelings of
enmity were naturally aroused at such a pros-
pect.
Francis I. looked on himself as especially
threatened, and neglected nothing tiiat could
throw impediments in the way of an union of
parties. He complained vehemently of the
concessions made by the legate at Ratisbon,J
* I cannot forgive Quirini for his failure to give without
curtailment Priuli's letter on these circumstances, which
he had in his hands.
t There always existed an Imperial party, which strove
for that result. In this lies, among other things, the whole
secret of the archbishop of Lunden's negotiations. Here-
presented to the emperor: " Che se S. M. volesse tolerare
che i Lutherani stessero nelli loro errori, disponeva a
modo e voler suo di tutta la Germania." Inslruzione di
Paolo III. a Montepulciano, 1539. [That if the emperor
would tolerate the persistence of the Lutherans in their
errors, he might dispose of all Germany at his own will
and pleasure.] The emperor too, at that time, wished for
toleration.
t He spoke on the subject with the papal ambassadors
at his court. II C. di Mantova al Ci. Contarini in Quirini,
III. cclxxviii: Loces, 17 Maggio 1541. S. Ma. Chma. di-
veni va ogni dl piu ardente nelle cose della chiesa, le quali
era resoluto di voler difendere e sostenerp con tutte le
forze sue e con la vita sua e di figliuoli, giurandomi che
da questo si moveva principalmenie a far questo officio.
[His most Christian Majesty grew every day more ardent
with respect to the affairs of the church, which he was re-
solved to defend and uphold with all his might, and with
his own life and those of his sons, vowing to me that it was
chiefly on this account he was moved to take upon him-
self such duties.] Granvella, on the other hand, had dif-
fererenl instructions. M'affermCi, says Conlarino in a
letter to Farnese, ibid, cclv., con giuramenlo havere in
mano letteredel re Christ-no., il quale scrivea questi prin-
cipi Protestant! che non si accordino in alcun modo, e che
lui avpva voluto veder I'opinioni loro, le quali non li spi-
acevano. [He assured me on oath that he held letters in
his hands from the most Christian king, who wrote to these
Protestant princes that they should not in any wise assent,
and that he had been desirous to learn their opinions,
A. D. 1541.] ATTEMPTS AT A RECONCILIATION WITH THE PROTESTANTS. 63
saying that " his conduct discouraged the good
and emboldened the bad ; he would go to such
extremities out of complaisance to the empe-
ror, that the matter would be past cure. The
advice of other princes also ought surely to
have been taken." He affected to consider
the pope and the church in danger ; and pro-
mised he would defend them with his life, and
with all the might of his kingdom.
And already at Rome other scruples had
taken fast hold, besides those of a theological
character already mentioned. It was noticed
that the emperor, on opening the diet and an-
nouncing the intention of assembling a gene-
ral council, had not said that it was for the
pope alone to convene it. Indications, it was
thought, existed that he pretended to that
right for himself. In the old articles agreed
on with Clement VII. at Barcelona, there was
a passage which some were disposed to think
aimed that way. And did not the protestants
unceasingly assert, that the right of conven-
ing a council belonged to the emperor? How
ready might he not be to yield to them on
a point in which his own advantage so visibly
coincided with their doctrine.* Herein was
involved the greatest danger of a rupture.
In the mean time Germany too was on the
alert. Giustiniana assures us, that the power
the landgrave had acquired by putting him-
self at the head of the protestant party, al-
ready excited a desire in other sovereigns to
attain a similar accession of strength at the
head of the catholics. One who took part in
the diet, acquaints us, that the dukes of Bava-
ria entertained an abhorrence of every propo-
sition for agreement : the elector of Mainz
was also decidedly opposed to it. He warns
the pope in a special letter against a national
council, nay, against any council to be held
in Germany ; " the pope would be constrained
by it to inordinate concessions."! There are
other documents too extant, in which catho-
lics complain directly to the pope of the pro-
gress made by protestantism in the diet, the
obsequiousness of Gropper and Pflug, and the
withdrawal of the catholic princes from the
discussion. J:
In short, in Rome, France, and Germany,
there arose a keen opposition to the concilia-
tory project of Charles V. on the part of his
enemies, and of those who were either truly
which were not displeasing to him.] According to this,
Francis I. would have caused impediments on both sides
10 a reconciliation.
*Ardin5hello al nome del C. Farnese al C'. Contarini,
29Mag2io, 1541.
tLiterae Cardinalis Mogunlini, in Rainaldus, 1541, No.
27.
t Anonymous, likewise in Rainaldus, No. 25. The side
from which they came is obvious, from the fact that Eck
is thus spoken of in them : " Unus duntaxat peritus The-
ologus ailhibltus est." [One able divine at least was
brought forwanls.] They are full of insinuations against
the emperor. " Nihil," ihey say, " ordinabilur pro robore
ecclesiae, quia timelur illi (Csesari) displicere." [Nothing
will be arranged conducive to the strength of the church,
because of the fear of offending him (the emperor.)]
or ostensibly the most zealous for Catholicism.
In Rome they remarked an unusual intimacy
between the pope and the French ambasador ;
it was said his holiness purposed a marriage
between his niece Vittoria Farnese and one of
the house of Guise.
These movements could not fail of a lively
reaction upon the theologians. Eck, inde-
pendently of all this, adhered to Bavaria.
" The emperor's enemies," says Contarini's
secretary, "in Germany and without it,f,who
feared her greatness should he combine all
Germany in unity, began to sow dissension
among the theologians. Carnal envy broke
up the conference."* Considering the natural
difficulties of the matter, it is no wonder if
from that time forth there was no further pos-
sibility of agreeing on a single article.
They overstep the bounds of justice who
ascribe the blame of this solely, or even princi-
pally, to the protestants. The pope very soon
announced it to his legate as his decided will,
that he should neither in his public nor his
private capacity sanction any resolution in
which the Catholic opinions were expressed
in other words than such as admitted of no
ambiguity. The formulas in which Contarini
had thought to reconcile the various opinions
as to the pope's supremacy, and the power of
councils, were unconditionally rejected at
Rome.f The legate was constrained to abide
by explanations, that even seemed in contra-
diction with his own previous language.
But that some practical result might be ob-
tained, the emperor wished at least that both
parties should for the present abide by the ar-
ticles mutually assented to, extending tolera-
tion to the several opinions entertained on
other points. But neither Luther nor the pope
could be brought to consent to this. It was
announced to the cardinal as the unanimous
determination of the whole college, that no
toleration with regard to such essential arti-
cles, should under any condition be admitted.
After such great hopes and so prosperous a
beginning, Contarini returned home wholly
frustrated. He had wished to accompany the
emperor to the Netherlands, but he was not
permitted. He was forced to return to Italy,
to endure the slanders that were spread from
Rome over the whole country touching his
conduct, and the reputed concessions he had
made to the protestants. He had loftiness
enough of soul to feel still more keenly the ill
success of designs of such enlarged utility.
How grand a position was that which mod-
erate Catholicism had assumed in his person.
But now that it had failed to carry out its vast
* Baccatelli Vita, p. 119. " Hora il diavolo, chesempra
alle buone opere s' atlraversa, fece si che sparsa rjuesta
fama della concordia che tra Catholici e Proieslanti si
preparava.gli invidi dell' imperatore, in Gerinania e fuori,
che la sua grandezza temevano quando lutti gli Alemani
fussero stati uniti, cominciarono a seminare zizania tra
quelli theologi coUocutori."
t Ardinghello a Contarini. Ibid. p. 224.
64
BEGINNING OF A REGENERATION OF CATHOLICISM, [a. d. 1520-40.
and comprehensive designs, it became a ques-
tion whether it would be able even to maintain
its own existence. To every great tendency is
imperatively assigned the task of vindicating
itself, and winning its own way ; if it cannot
attain to command, its doom is speedy ruin.
New Ecclesiastical Orders.
Meanwhile another tendency had already
developed itself, in its origin nearly related to
that already indicated, but continually diverg-
ing from it, and though likewise founded on
the idea of reform, yet directly opposed to
protestantism.
If Luther repudiated the existing priest-
hood in its very principle and conception, so
on the other hand there arose in Italy a move-
ment towards the re-establishment of that very
principle, and the renewal of its credit and
consideration in the church, by means of a
more rio-id observance of its tenour. Both
parties were aware of the corruption of the
ecclesiastical institutions: but whereas in
Germany men would be content with nothing
but the abolition of monachism, in Italy, they
desired its renovation ; whilst there the clerk
shook off so many fetters he had previously
worn, here it was contemplated to place him
in a still more restricted condition. On this
side of the Alps men struck into a wholly
new path ; beyond them, on the other hand,
they repeated attempts that had been made
from time to time during the course of centu-
ries.
For it was a thing of old occurrence that
the institutions of the church should yield to
the growth of worldly tendencies, and then
again bethink them of their origin, and amend
their errors. How necessary had the Carlo-
vingians found it to enforce upon the clergy
the rule of Chrodegang, enjoining them to
community of life and voluntary subordina-
tion ! The simple rule of Benedict of Nursia
was not long sufficient even for the convents :
during the Tenth and eleventh centuries small
secluded congregations, with peculiar regula-
tions after the model of Clugny, were every
where thought requisite. All this had an im-
mediate effect on the secular clergy ; they be-
came, by the enforcement of celibacy, as al-
ready said, themselves almost reduced to the
form of a monastic order. Notwithstanding
all this, and in spite of the great religious im-
pulse given to the nation by the crusades, so
that even the knights and nobles submitted
their trade of war to the forms of monkish
laws: all these institutions had fallen deeply
into corruption when the mendicant orders
arose. At first, they unquestionably contri-
buted to the restoration of primitive simplicity
and severity, but we have seen how they too
gradually degenerated, and became tinctured
with worldliness ; and how precisely in them
was evinced one of the most glaring instances
of the church's corruption.
So early as the year 1520, and since with
continually increasing earnestness in propor-
tion to the progress made by protestantism,
there was felt in the countries not yet invaded
by the new doctrine, a sense of the necessity
of again reforming the hierarchal institutions.
The feeling was manifested even in the orders
themselves, sometimes in the one, sometimes
in the other.
In spite of the great seclusion of the order
of Camaldoli, Paolo Giustiniani found it in-'
volved in the general corruption. In tiieyear
1522, he formed a new congregation of the
order, which received the name of Monte
Corona, from the mountain on which after-
wards stood its principal establishment.* Gi-
ustiniani held three thing essential to the at-
tainment of spiritual perfection: solitude,
vows, and the separation of the monks into
distinct cells. He descants with peculiar
satisfaction in one of his letters, on those lit-
tle cells and oratories still to be found here
and there on the loftiest mountains amidst
the wild charms of nature, that seem to invite
the soul at once to sublime aspirations, and to
profound repose. f The reforms effected by
these hermits were felt all over the world.
Among the Franciscans, who were per-
haps the most deeply tainted of all, a new
experiment of reform was made, in addition
to the many that had preceded it. The Ca-
puchins proposed to revive the regulations of
the first founder, the midnight worship, the
prayers at stated hours, discipline and silence,
with all the personal austerity of the original
institution. We cannot avoid smiling at the
importance they attached to trivial things ; it
cannot, however, be questioned, that they once
more evinced great energy of conduct, as for
instance during the plague of 1528.
After all, but little had been gained by the
reform of the religious orders, so long as the
secular clergy were so wholly estranged from
their calling. An amelioration, to signify
anything, must needs affect the latter.
Here we again encounter members of the
Roman oratory before-mentioned. Two of
them, men as it seemed of wholly opposite
character, undertook to prepare the way for
this desirable measure : the one, Gaetano de
Thiene, pacific, retiring, gentle, of few words,
wrapt in the charmed reveries of spiritual en-
thusiasm ; a man of whom it was said, that he
could wish to reform the world without its be-
ing known that he was in it :|: the other, John
* It is reasonable to date the foundation from the draw-
ing up of the rules, after Mosacio was ceded to the new
consrrocai ion in 1522. Basciano, the sur.cessor of Giusti-
niani, "was the first founder of Monte Corona. Helyot,
Histoiredes Ordres Montasiques, V. p. 271.
+ Lettera del C. Giiisiiniano al vesfovo Teatino in Bro-
niato, Sloria di Paolo IV. lib. iii. § 19.
tCaracciolua, Vita S. Cajentani Thiensei, c. ix. p. 101.
In conversatione hurailis, mansuetus, rnodestus, pauci
A. D. 1520-40.]
NEW ECCLESIASTICAL ORDERS.
65
Peter Caraffa, of whom we shall have yet to
epeak at length, sanguine, turbulent, impetu-
ous and bigoted. But Caraffa, too, owned, as
he said, that his heart was but the more op-
pressed the more it had pursued its own de-
sires ; that it could find no rest but in aban-
doning itself for God, and in converse with
heavenly things. Thus these two men agreed
in that craving for seclusion, which was in
the one an instinct of nature, in the other the
longing after a cherished ideal of perfection,
and in a desire to be active in the cause of
religion. Convinced of the necessity of a re-
form, they combined in founding an institu-
tion (since called the order of Theatines), that
had for its objects, contemplation, and at the
same time the amendment of the clergy.*
Gaetano belonged to the protonotari parle-
cipanti: he gave up his emoluments : Caraffii
held the bishopric of Chieti, and the arch-
bishopric of Brindisi ; he resigned them both.f
On the 14th Sept. 1524, in company with two
intimate friends, they solemnly took the three
vows.|; To the vow of poverty they added
the special clause, that not only would they
possess nothing, but that they would abstain
from begging, waiting only in their dwelling
for alms. After a short abode in the city they
withdrew to a small house on the Monte
Pincio, near the Vigna Capisucchi, which was
afterwards converted into the Villa Medici,
and where, although it was within the walls,
a deep solitude reigned in those days. Here
they lived in that poverty they had imposed
on themselves, in spiritual exercises, and in
the strictly appointed and monthly-repeated
study of the gospel : they then descended to
the city to preach.
They did not call themselves monks, but
regular clergy : they were priests with monk's
vows. Their purpose was to establish a sort
of seminary for the priesthood. Their founda-
tion deed permitted them e.xpressly to receive
secular clergy. They did not originally adopt
a determined colour and form of garb, leaving
these to be determined by the local customs
of the clergy. The forms of service too, they
sermonis, — meminique me ilium ssepe vidisse inter pre-
candura lacrymaniem. He is very well described by ihe
testimony of a pious society in Ricenza, which is also to
be found in the same work, c. i. No. 12.
* Caracciolus, c. ii. § 19, specifies it as their views
"clericis quos ingenli populorum exitio improbitas insci-
liaque corrup^senl, clericos alios debere suffici, quorum
opera damnuA quod illi per pravum exemplum imulis-
sent sanareiur." [That other clergy should be substituted
for those whom vice and ignorance had corrupted, to the
great ruin of the peoj)le, so that with the aid of the latter
the mischief done by the evil example of the former might
be cured.]
t We find it authenticated by a letter of the papal da-
lary of Sept. 22, 1524. (Letteredi Principi, i. p. 135) that
the pope long hesitated to accept the resignation (" non
volenJo privare quelle chiese di cosi bunn pastore — not
being willing to deprive those churches of so good a pas-
tor.") He only yielded to Caraft'a's repeated and urgent
entreaties.
t The acts on this subject are to be found in the Com-
mentarius praevius AA. SS., Aug. II, 249,
proposed should every where be in conformity
with national usage. Thus they freed them-
selves from many restrictions under which
the monks laboured : they declared expressly
that no usage should be binding on the con-
science, either as regarded life or worship;*
on the other hand they resolved to dedicate
themselves to clerical duties, to preaching,
the ministration of the sacraments, and the
care of the sick.
And now, a thing that had fallen into total
disuse in Italy, priests were seen in the pul-
pit with the baret, the cross, and the clerical
gown. This occurred chiefly in the oratory
of Divine Love, frequently also in the streets
in the form of missions. Caraffa himself
preached with all that overflowing eloquence
that remained his own till his death. He and
his associates, most of them men of noble birth,
and who might have enjoyed all the pleasures
of the world, began to visit the sick in private
houses and hospitals, and to stand by the bed
of the dying.
Here we behold a resumption of clerical
duties of very great importance. This order
did not indeed become, properly speaking, a
seminary for priests; its numbers were never
sufficient for that purpose ; but it grew to be
a seminary for bishops. It became in time the
peculiar order of the nobility ; and as it was
sedulously observed from the first that the
new members should be of noble descent, so
in later times proofs of nobility were here and
there required for admission into the order.
It will readily be admitted that the original
plan of living upon alms, without having re-
course to begging, could only be carried out
under such conditions.
The main thing, however, was, that the
happy thought of conjoining clerical duties
and consecration to the ministry with monks'
vows, was elsewhere approved and imitated.
Upper Italy had been visited since the year
1521 with continual war, and in its train with
devastation, famine, and disease. How many
children were there made orphans, and threat-
ened with ruin in body and soul. Happily,
pity dwells among men close by misfortune.
A Venetian senator, Girolamo Miani, gathered
together the children who were fugitives in
Venice, and received them in his house, seek-
ing them out through the islands and the city.
Without paying much heed to the scolding of
his sister-in-law, he sold his plate and the
* Rule of the Theatines in Bromato's Vitu di Paolo IV.
lib. iii. § 25. Nessuna consueludine, nessun modo di
vivere o rito che sia, tanto di quelle cose che spettano al
cullo divino e in qualunque modo fannosi in chiesa,
quanto di quelle che pel viver comune in casa o fuori da
noi si sogliono praticare, non permettiamo in veruna nia-
niera che acquistino vigore di precetlo. [We do not per-
mit that any usage, or any manner of living or rite what-
ever, either in those things that concern divine worship,
or which are in any way practised in church, or in those
which relate to living in community with us or otherwige,
shall in anywise acquire force of prescription.]
66
BEGINNING OF A REGENERATION OF CATHOLICISM, [a. d. 1520-43.
handsemest tapestry in his house, to procure
for the children lodging, food, raiment, and
instruction. By degrees he devoted his whole
energy to this vocation. His success was par-
ticularly great in Bergamo. The hospital
which he founded there was so strenuously sup-
ported, that he was encouraged to make simi-
lar experiments in other towns. By and by
hospitals of the same kind were established at
Verona, Brescia, Ferrara, Como, Milan, Pavia,
and Genoa. Finally, he entered with some
friends of like sentiments into a congregation
of regular clergy, modelled on that of the
Theatines, designated by the name di So-
masca. Their main object was education.
Their hospitals received a common constitu-
tion.*
No city had felt more severely all the hor-
rors of war than Milan, exposed as it had
been to repeated sieges and captures, now by
the one party, now by the other. To mitigate
the efiects of these evils by deeds of mercy,
and to repair the barbarism they entailed by
instrnction, preaching, and example, was the
object of the three founders of the order of
Barnabites, Zaccaria, Ferrari, and Morigia.
We learn from a Milanese chronicle with
what astonishment men first beheld these new
priests going through the streets, all alike in
homely garb, with their round barets, with
downcast heads, and all still young. They
had their dwelling near the church of S. Am-
brosio, where they lived in community. The
countess Lodovica Torella, who sold her pa-
ternal inheritance Guastalla, and devoted the
proceeds to good works, was their special pro-
tectress.f The Barnabites had likewise the
form of regular clergy.
But whatever all these congregations might
effect in their own circles, they were debarred
from the exercise of any universal or deep-
.searching influence, either by the limited na-
ture of their aim, as in the case of the last-
named order, or by the inherent limitation of
their means, as m that of the Tlieatines.
They are deserving of attention, because their
spontaneous rise is evidence of a great ten-
dency that contributed immensely to the re-
generation of Catholicism : but to resist tlie
bold march of Protestantism was a task de-
manding other powers.'
And these arose and entered upon a similar
path, but the mode in which they were pro-
duced was very unexpected, and quite unpa-
ralelled.
♦ Approbatio societatis lam ecclesiaslicarum qiiam secii-
larium personarum, nupcr inslitiUae ad erigendum hospi-
talia pro subventione pauperumorphanonim et inulierum
convertitarum (which last object, the support of converted
women, was in some places combined with the first.)
Kull of Paul III. 5 June, lolO. BuUarium, Cocquelines
IV., p. 173.
It appears, however, from the bull of Fius V. Injunctuni
nobis, Dec. 6, 1.568, that the members of this congregation
took their first vows at that date.
t Chronicle of Burigozzo in Custode : continuation by
Verri, Sioria di Milano IV. p. 88.
Ignatius Loyola.
The Spanish chivalry was the only one in
the world that still retained something of its
religious character. The war with the Moors,
scarce ended in the peninsula, and still car-
ried on in Africa ; the vicinity of the subju-
gated Moors who remained in Spain, and
with whom the victors continued to hold an
intercourse, characterized by all the rancour
of discordance in faith ; and the adventurous
expeditions again.st other unbelievers beyond
the ocean, all fostered and perpetuated this
spirit. It was idealized in books like Amadia
de Gaul, full of a simple, enthusiastic, loyal
gallantry.
Don Ifiigo Lopez de Recalde,* the youngest
son of the house of Loyola, was born in the
castle of" that name, between Azpeitia and
Azcoitia in Guipuscoa, of a race belonging to
the noblest of the land (de parientes mayores,)
the head of whom claimed of right to be al-
ways summoned by a special writ to do hom-
age. He was brought up at the court of
Ferdinand the Catholic, and in the suite of
the duke of Najara. Ifiigo was deeply im-
bued with the spirit of his class and nation.
He longed for knightly renown ; for none had
fine arms and horses, the fame of valour, the
adventures of the duel and of love, more
charms than for him: but the religious bent
of his people was equally marked in him : he
celebrated the first of the apostles in a chi-
valric romance, composed in this earlier pe-
riod of his life.f
In all probability, however, we should have
read his name among those of the other brave
Spanish cavaliers, to whom Charles V. sup-
plied such ample opportunity to distinguish
themselves, had he not unluckily been se-
verely wounded in both legs in defence of
Pampeluna against the French, in 1521. Be-
ing carried to his lodgings, he twice endured
the opening his wounds with singular forti-
tude, in the worst agony of the operation only
strongly clenching his fists : he recovered,
indeed, but tlie cure was most unfavourable.
He was versed in the romances of chivalry,
and greatly attached to them, particularly to
Amadis de Gaul : he now, during his confine-
ment, had opportunity to read the lives of
Christ and of some of the saints.
Visionary by nature, his course forever
barred upon a bath that seemed^ to promise
him the most brilliant fortune, compelled to
inactivity, and at the same time excited and
agitated by his sufferings, he fell into a state
of mind the most singular that can be con-
ceived. The deeds of St. Francis and St.
* So stands the name in judicial acts; that no one
knows how he came by the name Recalde, is no proof
against its authenticity. Acta Sanctorum, 31 Julii. Com-
mentarius praevius, p. 410.
t Maffei, Vita Ignatii.
A, D. 1520—43.]
IGNATIUS LOYALA.
67
Dominic, that were here displayed before him
in all the lustre of ghostly fame, seemed to
him no less worthy of imitation than those of
his chivalric models; and as he read he felt
himself possessed of the courage and the
strength to follow their footsteps, and to vie
with iheni in austerity and self-denial,*
Frequently, indeed, these ideas gave way
to very mundane thoughts. He would picture
to himself how he would visit the city where
dwelt the lady to whose service he had dedi-
cated his heart — " She was no countess," he
6ays himself, " no duchess, but something
higher still" — how he would address her with
gay and graceful discourse, how he would
testify his devotion to her, and what knightly
devoirs he would accomplish to her honour.
Wholly immersed in these varying fancies,
his mind fluctuated alternately between them.
But the longer his recovery was protracted,
and the worse issue it seemed to promise, the
more did his religious reveries gain the upper
hand. Shall we do him wrong if we impute
this result to his growing conviction that he
could never be fully restored to his former
vigour, nor ever again be fit for military ser-
vice, and the pursuit of knightly honour?
Nor was the transition so abrupt, or to so
opposite an extreme as it may at first sight
perhaps appear. In his spiritual exercises,
the origin of which was coincident with the
first extatic contemplation of his awakened
soul, he sets two camps before his mind's eye,
the one at Jerusalem, the other at Babylon,
Christ's and Satan's, on that side all the good,
on this all the bad, both armed and ready for
mutual combat. Christ is a king who pro-
claims his intention of subjugating all the
countries of the unbelievers. Whoso will fol-
low his banners must, however, eat of the
same food and wear the same raiment as his
King, and endure the same hardships and
vigils as he : according to this measure he
shall be admitted to share in the victory, and
in the soldier's reward. Each man shall then
declare before Christ, the Virgin, and the
whole heavenly host, that he will follow his
lord with all possible fidelity, partake of every
mischance with him, and serve him in true
poverty, bodily and spiritual.f
Such fantastic conceptions as these it may
have been that facilitated his transition from
♦ The Acta Antiquissima, a Lodovico Consalvo ex ore
Sancti excerpla, AA. SS. 1.1. p. 634, gives us very au-
thentic information on this subject. The thought occurred
to him once: "Quid si ego hoc agerem quod fecit b.Fran-
ciscus? quid si hoc quod b. Dominicus ■!" [Whatiflwere
to do like St. Francis or St. Dominick?] Again: " De
muchas cosas vanas que si le ofrecian, una tenia." [Of
many vain thoughts that occurred to him, one clung fast
to his mind,] namely, the honour he thought lo pay his
lady. " Non era condesa, ni duquesa ; mas era su eslado
mas alto que ninguno destas." A singularly naif ac-
knowledgment.
+ Exercitia Spirilualia: secunda hebdom. Contempla-
tioregni Jesu Christi exsimilitudine regis terrenisubditos
sues evocanlis ad belluni, and other passages.
mundane to ghostly chivalry, for this was the
end of his aspirations, a chivalry, the very
ideal of which was embodied in the acts and
the self-denying practices of the saints. He
tore himself from his paternal house and his
relations, and climbed the Montserrat, not
impelled by anguish for his sins, nor by any
peculiar religious longings, but only, as he
himself has told us, by his thirst to achieve
such great deeds as those by which the saints
had won their renown, to undergo penances
as hard or even harder; and to serve God in
Jerusalem. He hung up arms and armour
before an image of the Virgin ; holding before
it, as he knelt or stood in prayer with his pil-
grim's staff in his hand, a vigil different from
that of incipient knighthood, but expressly
suggested by the romance of Amadis,* in which
all the details of the rite are so accurately de-
picted. He gave away the knightly dress in
which he had arrived, and provided himself
with the coarse garb of the hermits, whose
lonely dwellings were hewn out between those
naked rocks. After he had made a general
confession, he did not immediately betake
himself to Barcelona in pursuance of his inten-
tion to visit Jerusalem, fearing that he should
be recognized on the main roads, but first to
Manresa, from which place he proposed, after
fresh penances, to reach the harbour.
But here other trials awaited him : the
ideas to which he had yielded, rather from
caprice than from any settled conviction, had
actiuired almost complete mastery over hiin.
In the cell of a Dominican convent he gave
himself up to the severest penances, rose at
midnight to pray, passed seven hours daily on
his knees, and scourged himself regularly
thrice a day. Not only, however, did he find
these severities so great that he doubted whe-
ther he should be able to continue them all his
life ; but, what was still more serious, he felt
that they did not give him peace. He had
spent three whole days on JVlontserrat, making
a general confession of all his past life ; still
he thought he had not done enough. He re-
peated it in Manresa ; dragged back forgotten
sins to light, and even searched sedulously
after the merest trifles ; but the more painfully
he explored, the more afflicting were the
doubts that assailed him. He believed he was
not accepted by God nor justified before him.
He read in the works of the fathers that God
had once been softened by abstinence from all
food, and moved to be gracious. So he ab-
stained on one occasion from one Sunday to
another, from all use of aliment. His confes-
sor forbade him this practice, and he, who
exalted the idea of obedience above every
other, desisted from it. Now and then it did
* Acta Antiquissima : Cum mentem rebus iis refertam
haberet quae ab Amadeo de Gaula conscriptae et ab ejus
generis scriptoribus (a curious mistake, for Amadis is
surely not an author) nonnuUae illi similes occurrebant.
68
BEGINNING OF A REGENERATION OF CATHOLICISM. [a. d. 1520-43.
appear to him as if his melancholy was remov-
ed, as if a heavy garment had fallen from his
shoulders, but soon all his old anguish return-
ed. It seemed to him as if his whole life had
been one uninterrupted series of sin upon sin.
Sometimes he deliberated whether or not he
should throw himself out of tlie window.*
We are involuntarily reminded by these
details of the painful state in which Luther
was sunk some twenty years before, by
similar doubts. Religion's great demand, a
a full reconciliation with God, and a conscious
assurance thereof, could never in the ordinary
way proposed by the church be satisfied to the
filling up the fathomless depths of a soul at
war with itself. But very different were the
paths by which they both issued from this laby-
rinth. Luther attained to the doctrine of re-
conciliation through Christ, altogether without
works ; this it was that first unlocked to him
the meaning of the Scripture, which became
his strong support. For Loyola, we do not
learn that he searched the Scriptures, or that
any dogma had made an impression on him.
Living in a world of inward emotions, in
thoughts that sprang up in his own mind, he
believed that he experienced the suggestions
now of the good, now of the evil spirit. At
last he came to be able to discriminate them,
remarking that the soul was cheered and com-
forted by the former, and harassed and tor-
tured by the latter.f One day it seemed to
him as if he had awoke out of a dream. He
thought he could palpably perceive that all his
torments were assaults of Satan. From that
hour he resolved to have done forever with all
his past life, to tear open those wounds no
more, nor ever to handle them again. This
was not so much a return of peace as a resolu-
tion : it was rather an engagement entered
into at the free option of the will than a con-
viction enforcing its subjection. It had no
need of the Scriptures, it was based on the
feeling of an immediate intercourse with the
world of spirits. It would never have sufficed
for Luther. Luther desired no inspirations,
no visions ; he held them all for things of per-
dition ; he would have nothing but the simple,
* Maffei, Ribadeneira, Orlandino, and all his other bio-
graphers, recount these struggles : but the most authentic
testimony is that of Ignatius himself. The following pas-
sage in his writings, depicts the condition he was in.
Cum his cogitationibusagitaretur, tentabalursaepe graviter
magno cum impetu ul magno ex foramine quod in cellula
eral sese dejiceret. Nee aberat foramen ab eo loco ubi
preces fundebat. Sed cum videret esse peccatum se ipsum
occidere, rursus clamabat, Domine, non Aiciam quod te
otfendat. [Agitated with these thoughts, he was often
sorely tempted with a vehement impulse to throw himself
out of a large window in the cell, not far from where he
poured foith his prayers. But seeing it was a sin to slay
himself, he cried out again, '-Lord, I will not do what is
offensive to thee."]
+ One of his most peculiar and most original percep-
tions, the beginning of which he himself refers to his fan-
tasies in illness. It grew to certainty while he was at
Manresa. It is greatly expanded in the " Spiritual Exer-
cises," in which we find explicit rules : Ad motus animae
quos diversi excitant spiriius discernendos, ut boni solum
admillaniur et pellaniur mali.
written, indubitable word of God. Loyola, on
on the other hand, lived wholly in fantasies
and inward visions. He thought that no one
so well understood Christianity as an old wo-
man, who had told him in his anguish that
Christ was yet to appear to him. At first he
could scarcely feel assured of the fact, but by
and by he was satisfied that he beheld at one
time Christ, at another the Virgin, with his
bodily eyes. He stood on the steps of the
church of St. Dominick at Manresa, and wept
aloud because he beheld the mystery of the
Trinity visibly revealed to him at that mo-
ment.* He spoke of nothing else that whole
day, and was inexhaustible in similes and com-
parisons. The mystery of creation suddenly
flashed upon him in mystic symbols. He
beheld in the host him who was God and man.
Once on his way along the banks of the Llo-
bregat to a distant church, he sat down and
bent his eyes on the deep stream before him :
when suddenly he felt himself in an ecstasy,
wherein the mysteries of faith were visibly
revealed to him : he rose up, he thought, ano-
ther man. Thenceforth for him there was no
more need of testimony, of Scripture. Even
had there been no such thing he would yet
haveg one unhesitatingly to death for the faith
he had hitherto cherished, the truth of which
he now saw with his eyes.f
If we have rightly seized the main features
of this most strange state of mind, of this chi-
valry of abstinence, this pertinacity of enthu-
siasm and fantastic asceticism, there will be no
need that we should continue to accompany
Ifiigo Loyola at every step of his life. He did
actually go to Jerusalem, in the hope of con-
tributing both to the corroboration of the faith-
ful, and to the conversion of the unbelievers.
But how was he to accomplish the latter, un-
instructed as he was, without associates, and
without plenary powers! His purpose to re-
main in the Holy Land was frustrated by the
imperative order to depart, given him by the
authorities of Jerusalem, who had the express
sanction of the pope for so doing. On his re-
turn too to Spain, he had vexations enough to
encounter. He fell even under the suspicion
of heresy, on his beginning to teach, and to
invite others to participate in his religious
exercises. It would have been a most singu-
lar freak of chance, if Loyola, whose society
ended in illuminati, had himself been asso-
ciated with a sect of that name.| Nor can it
be denied that the Alumbrados, the Spanish
Illuminati of that day, entertained opinions
* En figura de tres teclas. [Under the figure of three
keys of a musical instmment.]
t Acta Antiquissima : His visishaud mediocriter confir-
matus est (in the original le dieron tanta confirmacione
siempre de la fe) ut soepe etiam id cogilarit, quod etsi nulla
Scripturamysteriailla fidei doceret,tamen ipse ob ea ipsa
quae videral, statueret sibi pro his esse moriendum.
t This charge was liliewise brought against Lainez and
Borgia. Llorente, Hist, de ITnquisition, III. p. 83. Mel-
chior Cano flatly termed them illuminati, the gnostics of
the age.
A. D, 1520-43.]
IGNATIUS LOYOLA.
69
that had some analogy to his fantasies. They,
too, revolting- from the doctrine of salvation
by works till then taught in Christendom, gave
themselves up to ecstasy, and thought, like
him, that mysteries were revealed to them by
intuition, particularly, as they asserted, that
of the Trinity. Like Loyola, and his followers
after him, they made general confession a con-
dition to absolution, and insisted in the first
place on inward prayer. I should hardly,
indeed, venture to maintain that Loyola was
wholly untinctured with these opinions ; but
neither can it be said that he ever belonged to
the sect. The grand difference between them
was, that whereas they considered themselves
exalted by the claims of the spirit above all
common duties, he, on the other hand, with
the feelings of an old soldier, declared obedi-
ence to be the first of all duties. He invari-
ably submitted all his enthusiastic feelings and
all his inward convictions to the church and
its powers.
Meanwhile, these troubles and obstacles had
a decisive influence upon his future life. In
the condition in which he then was, without
learning or systematic knowledge of theology,
and without political support, his existence
must have passed away without leaving a
trace behind, fortunate enough if he had suc-
ceeded in making some two or three conver-
sions within the limits of Spain. But the
injunction imposed on him in Alcala and Sala-
manca to study theology for four years, before
he again attempted to hold forth on certain of
the more knotty points of doctrine, compelled
him to enter on a path that gradually opened
to him an unexpected field in which to indulge
his impulse to religious activity.
He betook himself to Paris, then the most
famous university in the world.
Academical studies possessed peculiar diffi-
culties for him. He had to pass through the
classes of grammar, which he had already
begun in Spain, and of those of philosophy,
before he was admitted to those of theology.*
But with every word he parsed, with every
logical conception he had to analyse, he was
rapt in contemplation of the deeper religious
sense he was accustomed to connect with
them. There is something of magnanimity
in the fact, that he pronounced these indul-
gences to be suggestions of the evil spirit, and
that he forced himself most vigorously to ab-
stain from them.
Whilst his studies were thus opening to
him a new world, the world of realities, he did
not for a moment intermit the prosecution of
his religious views, or fail even to impart them
to others. It was in this very place he made
* According to the oldest chronicle of the Jesuits,
Chronicon Breve AA. SS. I. 1. 525, Ignatius was in Paris
from 1528 to 1535. Ibi vero non sine magnis tnolesliis el
persecutionibus primo gramniaticae de iniegro, turn philo-
sophiae ac demum Iheologico studio sedulam operam
navavit.
his first lasting conversions, pregnant with
important results for the whole world.
Of Loyola's two chamber companions in the
college of St. Barbara, the one, Peter Faber
of Savoy, proved an easy conquest. He was
a man who had grown up among his father's
herds, and who had by night under the open
heaven dedicated himself to God and to study.
He repeated the course of philosophy with
Ignatius (this was the name borne by Inigo
among foreigners,) and the latter communi-
cated to him his own ascetic principles. Igna-
tius taught his young friend to combat his
faults prudently, not all at once, but one after
the other, as there was ever some virtue he
should especially aspire afler. He kept him
strictly to confession and to frequent partici-
pation in the Lord's Supper. They united
themselves together in the closest bonds of
community : Ignatius shared with Faber the
alms that were furnished him somewhat abun-
dantly from Spain and Flanders. He had a
harder task with his other companion, Francis
Xavier of Navarre, whose only longing was to
add the name of a learned man to the list of
renowned warriors, extending through the five
hundred years of his noble pedigree : he was
handsome, rich, full of talent, and had already
obtained a footing at the royal court. Ignatius
delayed not to manifest towards him the re-
spect to which he laid claim, and to see that
it was paid him by others likewise. He pro-
cured him a considerable attendance at his
first lectures. Having thus begun by render-
ing him personal services, he failed not in
obtaining for his own example and personal
austerity, the influence they were adapted to
produce. He brought Xavier, as he had the
other, to practise religious exercises under his
own guidance. He did not spare them. Three
days and three nights he made them fast ; nor
did he allow Faber any intermission in the
hardest winter, when carriages passed over
the frozen Seine. He made them both wholly
his own, and full participators in his own
thoughts and feelings.*
How remarkable was that cell of St. Bar-
bara, that held these three men, where, full of
visionary notions of religion, they formed plans
and devised enterprises that were to lead, they
themselves knew not whither !
Let us notice the circumstances that prompt-
ed the farther development of this a.ssociation.
Afler a few more Spaniards, Salmeron, Lain-
ez, and Bobadilla, to all of whom Ignatius had
rendered himself indispensable by his coun-
sels or his protection, had joined their num-
ber, they betook themselves one day to the
church of Montmartre. Faber, who was now
a priest, read mass. They took the vow of
* Orlandinus, who likewise wrote a life of Faberwhich
I have not seen, is in his great work too, Hislorise Socie-
tatis Jesu, pars I. p. 17, more circumstantial on this point,
than Ribadeneira.
70 BEGINNING OF A REGENERATION OF CATHOLOCISM. [a. d. 1520-43.
chastity, and swore, after completing their
studies, to dedicate their lives in strict poverty
to the care of Christian souls in Jerusalem, or
to the conversion of the Saracens : or should
it be impossible to reach that place or to re-
main there, they pledged themselves in that
case to offer their services to the pope, to go
to any place he should assign them, without
reward or condition. Having thus sworn,
each received the host, and lastly Faber did
the same. After this they had a repast to-
gether at the fountain of St. Denys.
A league this between young men, based
on enthusiasm, and directed to purposes not
even attainable ; still in accordance with the
ideas originally entertained by Ignatius, or
departing from them only in so far as on an
express calculation of probabilities they
thought it unlikely they could fully carry
them out.
In the beginning of 1537 we find them ac-
tually assembled in Venice with three other
associates, and preparing to set out on their
pilgrimage. We have already noticed many
changes in Loyola : we have seen him pass
from a worldly to a spiritual chivalry, fall
into the most intense mental conflicts, and
force his way out of them with the help of a
visionary asceticism. Next he became a the-
ologian, and the founder of an enthusiastic
society ; and now, finally, his purposes as-
sumed their permanent bent. The war which
had just then broken out between Venice and
the Turks prevented his voyage, and deferred
still more the prospect of the intended pil-
grimage: but he found on the instant in
Venice an institution that, we are almost
tempted to say, first opened his eyes to his
true vocation. For a while Loyola attached
himself very closely to Caraft'a, taking up his
residence in the convent of the Theatines,
which had been formed in Venice. He at-
tended in the hospitals which Carafl!a superin-
tended, and in which he exercised his novices.
Ignatius was not indeed perfectly satisfied
with the Theatine institution : he proposed
some alterations in it to Carafia, and this is
said to have led to a rupture between them.*
But even this much shows what deep impres-
sion the institution made on his mind. He
saw an order of priests devoting themselves
to proper clerical duties with zeal and auster-
ity. If, as seemed every day more probable,
he was destined to remain on this side the
Mediterranean, and to exercise his powers
within the limits of western Christendom, it
was manifest to him that here was the only
system he could himself adopt with advan-
tage.
Accordingly, he and all his companions re-
*Sachinus, in his treatise, Cujus sit autoritatis quod in
b. Cajetani Thiensi vita de bealo Isnatio iradiiur'! pre-
viously to Orlandinus, discusses all the particulars of the
intercourse between these two men.
ceived priestly consecration in Venice, and
afler forty days of prayer he began to preach
with three of them in Vicenza, On the same
day, and at the same hour, they appeared in
different streets, mounted up on stones, waved
their hats, and began with loud cries to ex-
hort to confession. Strange preachers they
were, ragged and emaciated, and speaking an
unintelligible medley of Spanish and Italian.
They remained in the same neighbourhood
till the year they had resolved to wait was
expired, after which they set out for Rome.
Upon their separation, for they determined
on making the journey by different routes,
they laid down their first rules, to enable
them to observe a certain uniformity of con-
duct even when apart. But what answer
should they give, should they be asked the
nature of their occupation] They pleased
themselves with the thought of making war
as soldiers against Satan, calling themselves,
in accordance with Loyola's old military pro-
pensities, the Company of Jesus, just like a
company of soldiers, who bear the name of
their captain.*
In Rome their situation was at first by no
means desirable : Ignatius thought he saw
every door closed against them, and they had
to clear themselves there once more of suspi-
cion from the heresy. Meanwhile, however,
their manner of life, their zeal in preaching
and instructing, and their care of the sick, had
procured them numerous adherents, and so
many showed an alacrity to join them, that
they were in a condition to think of formally
instituting their society.
They had already taken two vows ; they
now added a third, that of obedince. Now
as Ignatius had always pronounced obedience
to be one of the foremost virtues, they made
it their aim to surpass all other orders in this
particular. It was already going far to resolve,
as they had done, that the election of the ge-
neral should always be for life ; but even this
was not enough for them. They superadded
the special obligation " to do all that was
commanded them by the pope for the time
being, to go forthwith into every country,
among Turks, pagans, and heretics, wherever
he should send them, without objection, and
without condition or reward."
What a contrast to the previous tendencies
of those times ! Whilst the pope was expe-
riencing opposition and defection on every
side, and had nothing to expect but continual
* Ribadeneira, Vita Brevior, c. 12, remarks that Isnatiug
chose this title, " ne de sun nomine diceretur." [That the
society should not be called afler his own name.] Ni-
groni e.xpounds the word societas, " quasi dieas cohortem
aut centuriam quae ad pugnam cum hostibus spirituali-
bus conserendam conscripfa est." [A cohort or century,
as it were, enrolled to do battle against spiritual ene-
mies.] Postquam nos vitamque nostram Chiisto D'do nos-
tro et ejus vero ac legitimo vicario internis obtuleramus,
— in the Deliberatio Primorum Patrum, AA. SS. 1. 1. p.
463.
A. D. 1520-43.]
IGNATIUS LOYOLA.
71
defection, here was a zealous enthusiastic so-
ciety, spontaneously formed for the purpose of
devoting' itself exclusively to his service. He
could not hesitate to give his sanction to their
institution, at first (in the year 1540) with
some restrictions, and soon after (1543) un-
conditionally.
Meanwliile the society, on its part, took the
best preliminary step. tSix of the oldest asso-
ciates met together to choose their president,
who, as was stated in the first draft of the
constitution they presented to the pope,
" should dispense grades and offices as to him
should seem fit, project the plan of the consti-
tution for the order, with the advice and as-
sistance of the members, and in all other mat-
ters exercise sole and undivided command ;
in him should Christ be honoured as present
in his person." Their choice fell unanimous-
ly on Ignatius, who, as Salmeron said in his
voting paper, " had begotten them all in
Christ, and fed them with his milk."*
And now at last the society had acquired its
form. It, too, was an assembly of chierici
regolari; it too, was characterized by an union
of clerical and monastic duties; but still there
were many distinctions between it and others
of the sort.
If the Theatines had set the example of
laying aside several less important obligations,
the Jesuits went still further.f Not only did
they discard all semblance of the monastic
costume, but they moreover freed themselves
from the general services and devotional prac-
tices that consumed so much time at the con-
vents, and from the obligation to sing m a
choir.
Relieved from these minor occupations, they
devoted their whole time and all their pow-
ers to the discharge of essential duties; not
to one especial duty, like the Barnabites,
although they bound themselves to the care
of the sick, because it procured them a good
name ; nor under restrictive conditions, like
the Theatines, but with their very utmost ex-
ertions. First, to preaching : upon their first
separation at Vicenza, they had pledged them-
eelves to each other to preach chiefly for the
common people : to think more of making' an
impression than of distinguishing themselves
by nice choice of language ; and this system
they now continued to observe. Secondly,
* Suffragium Salmeronis.
tin ihis they place the difference between themselves
and the Theatines. Didacus Payva Andradius, Orlhodoxa-
rum Explicate lib. i. f. 14: Illi(Theatini)sacraiiini aeierna-
ruraque rerum meditationi psalmodiseque potissiinum va-
cant: isli vero (JesuitEe) cum divinoi'uiu mysteriorum as-
aidua conteniplatione, docendas plebis, evangelii amplifi-
candl, sacramenta administrandi atque reliqua omnia
apostolica munera conjungunt. [The Theatines apply
themselves principally, to meditation on sacred and eter
nal things, and to psalmody : but the Jesuits combine
with constant contemplation of the divine mysteries, the
duties of instructing the people, expounding the gospel,
administering the sacraments, and all other apostolic
funclions.J
confession : for thereby immediately hung the
power of conducting and swaying consciences,
and for this they found valuable help in the spi-
ritual practises to which they had themselves
been inured by Ignatius. Lastly, the instruc-
tion of youth : to this they had thought of
binding themselves from the first, by a spe-
cial clause in their vows, and although that
was not done, they made the practice of this
duty imperative by the most cogent rules.
Their most earnest desire was to gain the
rising generation. In short, they laid aside
all by-work, and wholly devoted themselves
to essential practical labours, and such as
promised to enlarge their influence.
Thus had a system pre-eminently practical
unfolded itself out of the visionary aspirations
of Ignatius, and his ascetic conversions re-
sulted in an institution, planned with all the
skilful adaptation of means that worldly pru-
dence could suggest.
He saw all his expectations far surpassed.
He had now the uncontrolled conduct of a so-
ciety which had adopted a large part of his
instructions, and which deliberately, and with
study, formed their religious persuasions in
the way in which he had acquired his by
chance, and by the force of genius ; a society
which did not indeed carry out his plan re-
garding Jerusalem, by which nothing could
have been obtained, but which elsewhere en-
tered upon missions the most remote and the
most crowned with success, and which espe-
cially took upon it that care of souls which he
had always enjoined, to an extent he could
never have anticipated ; one, finally, that ren-
dered him at once military and spiritual obe-
dience.
Before we more nearly contemplate the
practical efficacy to which the society very
soon attained, we must investigate one of the
most important causes that led thereto.
First Sittings of the Council of Trent.
We have seen what interests were engaged
on the imperial side in demanding a council,
and on the papal side in refusing it. There
was but one point of view in which a general
assembly of the Church could offer anything
desirable to the pope. In order to the incul-
cation and dissemination of the doctrines of
the catholic church with entire unwavering
zeal, it was necessary that the doubts should
be removed that had risen in the bosom of the
church itself touching sundry points among
its dogmas. A council alone could do this
with plenary authority. The great matter to
be effected was, that it should be called at
a favourable period, and be held under the
influence of the pope.
The grand crisis in which the two church
parties had approximated more nearly than
ever, through the medium of a moderate sys-
72
BEGINNING OF A REGENERATION OF CATHOLOCISM. [a. d. 1545.
tern of opinions, was also decisive of this long
agitated question. The pope, as already said,
thought he perceived that the emperor pre-
tended to the right of summoning the council ;
and being at this instant assured of the attach-
ment of the catholic princes on all sides, he
lost no time in anticipating the imperial in-
tentions. The movements already detailed
were yet pending, when he came to the defi-
nitive resolution of putting an end to all fur-
ther delay, and proceeding to an ecumenic
convocation of the church.* He forthwith
made his determination known to Conta-
rini, and through him to the emperor: the
negociations were conducted with spirit, and
at last the pope's citations were issued. The
following year we find his legates in Trent, f
New hindrances, however, presented them-
selves : even now the number of bishops who
appeared to the summons was much too small,
the times much too involved in war, and the
general state of things not perfectly favoura-
ble. It was not till December, 1545, that
the opening of the council actually took place.
At last the dilatory old man had found the
wished for moment.
For what moment could be more so than
that in which the emperor had wholly broken
with the two heads of the Protestant party,
and was preparing for war against them.
Being now in need of the pope's aid, he could
not assert the claims he had once thought of
setting up as to the council. The war would
give liim full occupation; the strength of the
Protestants made it impossible to foresee the
embarrassments in which he would become
involved : so much the less therefore would
he be in a condition to insist on the reforms
with which he had hitherto threatened the
papal see. Moreover, the pope had other
means of baffling him. The emperor de-
manded that the council should begin with
the subject of reform : the papal legates car-
ried the resolution that questions of reform
and of dogma should be treated together :J
but in point of fact, the latter were first con-
sidered.
♦ Ardinghello al C. Contarini 15 Guigno 1541, inQuiri-
ni iii. ccxlvi. : Considerato che n6 la concoidia a Chris-
liani 6 successa, e la lolerantia [which was proposed in
Ralisbon, but was rejected by the consistory of cardinals)
6 illecitissima e damnosa, e la_guerra,difficile e pericolosa
— pare a S.S. che si ricorra al rimedio del concilio. —
Adunque — S. Beatitudine ha delerminato di levar via la
prorogatione della suspensione del concilio e di dischiarar-
lo econgregarlo quanlo piu presto st potri. [Considering
that no concord had been brought about among Christians,
and that toleration is most illicit and pernicious, and war
difficult and dangerous, it seems good to his holiness to
have recourse to the remedy of a council. Therefore, his
holiness has determined to put an end to the suspension
of the council, and to proclaim and assemble it as quickly
as possible.]
t They arrived on the 22d of Nov. 1542.
j An expedient proposed by Thomas Campeggi, Palla-
Ticini. vi. vii. 5. A bull concerning reform had been
grepared from the very first, but it was not published.
uUa reformationis Pauli papse III. concepta, non vulga-
la, primum edidit H. N. Clausen. Havn. 1829.
Whilst the pope succeeded in putting aside
what would have been prejudicial to him, he
secured that on which he himself was bent.
The establishment of the disputed doctrines
was, as already shown, of the utmost import-
ance to him. It was now to be decided whe-
tlier or not any of those views that inclined to
the Protestant system, should be able to main-
tain their place in the body of the catholic
faith.
Contarini indeed was now dead, but Pole
still survived, and there were many warm
champions of their principles in the assem-
bly. The question was, would they be able
to vindicate the superiority of their own
opinions]
In the first place (for everything was done
very systematically,) the discussion turned
on revelation itself, and the sources from
which the knowledge of it is to be derived.
Even at this early stage of the proceedings,
some voices were raised of a Protestant cast.
The bishop Nachianti of Chrozza, would hear
of nothing but scripture: according to him,
every thing was written in the Gospel that
was necessary to salvation. But he had an
enormous majority against him. The i-esolu-
tion was passed, that the unwritten traditions
received from the mouth of Christ Himself,
and propagated through succeeding times
down to the most recent, under the protec-
tion of the Holy Spirit, were to be received
with like reverence as holy writ. With re-
spect to the latter, men were not even refer-
red back to the original text. The Vulgate
was recognized as the authentic translation
of the latter, with the mere promise subjoined,
that for the future it should be printed with
the utmost care.*
After the foundation had been thus laid,
(not untruly was it said to be half the work,)
they passed on to that great distinctive doc-
trine of justification, and to the other con-
nected with it. The highest possible interest
was attached to this controversy.
For there were actually no few members
of the council, whose views on this subject
coincided with the opinions of the Protes-
tants. The archbishop of Siena, the bishop
Della Cava, Giulio Contarini, bishop of Bellu-
no, and with them five theologians, ascribed
justification wholly and solely to the merits
of Christ and to faith. Charity and hope they
pronounced to be the companions, and works
to be the proofs of faith ; they were nothing
more, but the basis of justification was faith
alone.
How was it to be supposed that, at a mo-
* Cone. Tridentini Sessio iv. In publicis lectionibus,
disputationibus, praedioationibus, et expositionibus pro
authenlica habeatur: [be it held authentic in public
readings, disputations, preachings, and expositions.] It
was to be printed in an amended form, poslhac [hereaf-
ter,] not exactly as Pallavicini states, " quanto si poaesse
piu toslo," vi. 15. 2 [as soon as possible.]
X. D. 1545.] FIRST SITTINGS OF THE COUNCIL OF TRENT.
73
ment when the pope and the emperor were
attacking the Protestants with force of arms,
the main principle on which the whole exist-
ence of the latter as a party was founded,
should have its validity acknowledged in a
council held under the auspices of the pope
and the emperor ] In vain did Pole exhort
the members not to reject an opinion for no
other reason than because it was maintained
by Luther. There were too many embitter-
ing associations connected with it. The
I bishop Delia Cava, and a Greek monk, pro-
ceeded to actual violence against each other.
Upon so unquestionably Protestant a topic,
there was no possibility of the council's arriv-
ing at even valuable discussions : their de-
bates turned (and even this was no small
thing) only on the intermediate system of
opinion as propounded by Caspar Contarini
and his friends.
Seripando, the general of the Augustines,
advanced this doctrine, but not without ex-
pressly premising, that it was not Luther's
opinions he advocated, but, on the contrary,
those of his most distinguished opponents, for
instance, Pflug and Cropper. Justification,
he asserted, was two-fold ;* the one kind in-
dwelling and inherent in us, through which,
from being sinners, we become children of
God, and this too of grace and without merit,
a principle active in works, visible in virtues,
but not capable by itself of conducting us to
God's glory : the other, the righteousness
and the merits of Christ applied and imparted
to us, repairing all deficiencies, complete, and
saving. Exactly thus had Contarini taught.
"If the question be," says he, "on which of
these two kinds of righteousness we must
build, the indwelling or that in Christ imput-
ed to us, the answer of the devout must be,
that we can confide only on the latter ; that
our own righteousness is but inchoate, imper-
fect, full of deficiencies ; that Christ's right-
eousness on the contrary is true, perfect, and
in God's sight thoroughly and solely well
pleasing: for its sake alone can we trust to
be justified before God.f
Yet even under such a modification (which
as we have seen left the Protestant doctrine
unaffected, and which might even have been
sanctioned by the adherents of the latter) this
opinion encountered warm opposition.
* Parere dato a 13 di Luglio 1544. Cited by Pallavici-
ni viii. xi. 4.
t Coiilareni Tractatus de Juslificatione. The reader
must not, as happened at first to me, refer to the Vene-
tian edition of 158fl, in which this passage will be sought
for in vain. In 1.571 the Sarbonne had approved of the
treatise as it stood: in the Parisian edition of the same
year it is given without mutilation. In 1.389, on the con-
trary, the Venetian Inquisitor, Fra Marco Medici, put his
veto upon it ; nor was he content with striking out Oifen-
ding passages, but they were so altered as to accord with
received dogmas. We are struck with astonishment
when we meet with the collation in Quirini Epp. Poli,
iii. ccxiii. These unjustifiable acts of violence must be
borne in mind, if we would explain so bitter a hatred as
that cherished by Paul Sarpi.
10
Caraffa, who had already resisted it when
it was discussed in Ratisbon, was now among
the cardinals to whom was confided the con-
trol of the council of Trent. He came for-
ward with a treatise on justification of his
own composition, wherein he vehemently op-
posed all opinions of the kind.* The Jesuits
were now in the field, and lent them their
support. Salmeron and Lainez, had secured
themselves the advantageous privilege of
exposing their opinions in succession. They
were learned, able, in the prime of life, and
filled with zeal. Enjoined by Ignatius never
to pledge themselves to an opinion tiiat vero-ed
in the least upon innovation.! they opposed
Seripando's doctrine with all their might.
Lainez appeared in the list with a substantive
work rather than with a reply. He had the
majority of the theologians on his side.
These disputants left altogether unques-
tioned the distinction drawn between the two
kinds of justifications. But they maintained
that the imputed kind passed into the inher-
ent, or that Christ's merits became immedi-
ately applied and imparted to man through
faith; that we must by all means build on
the righteousness of Christ, not because it fills
up our own, but because it promotes it. This
was precisely the turning point of the whole
controversy. According to the views of Con-
tarini and Seripando, the merit of works could
not subsist, but this system saved them. It
was the old doctrine of the schoolmen, that
the soul invested with grace, merits for itself
eternal life.f The archbishop of Bitonto, one
of the most learned and eloquent of those fa-
thers, distinguished between a previous justi-
fication dependent on the merits of Christ,
through which the sinner is re.scued from the
state of condemnation, and a consequent jus-
tification, the achievement of a righteousness
proper to the individual, dependent on the
grace infused into us, and indwelling in us.
In this sense, said the bishop of Fano, faith is
but the gate to justification ; but we must not
stop there ; we must complete the whole
course.
Closely as these opinions appear to approx-
imate, they are yet diametrically opposed to
each other. The Lutheran doctrine asserts
the necessity of inward regeneration, points
out the way to salvation, and maintains that
good works must follow ; but it deduces the
bestowal of divine grace solely from the mer-
its of Christ. The council of Trent, on the
contrary, admits indeed the merits of Christ,
but ascribes justification to them only so far
as they promote regeneration, and tliereby
good works, on which all depends in the last
result. " The sinner," it says,§ " is justified,
* Broniato, Vita de Paolo, iv. Tom. ii. p. 131.
t Orlandinus, vi. p. 127.
t Chemnitius, Examen Concilii Tridenlini, i.355.
§ Sessio, vi. c. vii. x.
74
BEGINNING OF A REGENERATION OF CATHOLICISM, [a. d. 1542.
when through the merit of the most holy pas-
sion, and throuoh the operation of the Holy
Spirit, the love of God is implanted in his
heart and abides in it ; thus become a friend
of God, man goes forward from virtue to vir-
tue, and becomes renewed day by day.
Whilst he observes the commandments of
God and of the Church, he grows, with the
help of faith through good works, in the right-
eousness attained through Christ's grace, and
becomes more and more justified."
And thus were the opinions of the Protes-
tants wholly excluded from Catholicism; all
mediation was utterly discarded. This hap-
pened at that very time, when the emperor
was already victorious in Germany, when the
Lutherans were surrendering on all sides,
and the victor was proceeding to put down
those who still held out. The advocates of
the intermediate opinions, cardinal Pole and
the archbishop of Siena, had already quitted
the council, of course under different pre-
texts;* instead of prescribing views of faith
to others, they had reason to fear lest their
own should be assailed and condemned.
The greatest difficulty was now overcome.
Since justification is progressive in the heart
of man, and undergoes a continual develop-
ment, it cannot dispense with the sacraments
through which it either begins, or is contin-
ued if begun, or if lost, is again recovered.!
There was no difficulty in upholding them all
seven, as they had hitherto been received,
and referring back their origin to the Author
of faith, since the institutions of Christ's
Church were communicated not by scripture
alone, but also by tradition. | Now these
sacraments, as is well known, embrace the
whole life of man and every portion of its pro-
gress : they are the foundation of the power,
whereby the hierarchy rules every day and
hour of the layman ; since they not only ty-
pify grace but impart it, they complete the
mystic relationship in which man is thought
to stand to God.
Tradition was upheld for this special reason,
that the Holy Spirit perpetually abides in the
Church; the Vulgate, because the Romish
Church had by special divine grace been kept
free from all error. It is in harmony with this
indwelling of the divine nature in the Church,
that the justifying principle should in like
manner have its abode in the individual, that
the grace bound up as it were with the visible
* It was at least a singular coincidence if they were
both detained, as was alleged, by the accident of extraor-
dinary illness from going to Trent. Polo ai C'i Monte e
Cervini 15 Sen. 1546, Epp. t. iv. 189. These opinions
were very injurious to Pole. Mendoza al Ernperador
Carlos, 13 Jul. 1437, " Lo Cardinal de Inelaterra le haze
danno lo que se a dicho de la juslificacion." [The Eng-
lish cardinal has done himself hurt by his language re-
specting justification.]
tSessiovii. Proa'mium.
j Sarpi gives the discussions on this point : Historia del
Concilio Tridentino, p. 241 ed. 1629. Pailavicini's ac-
count is very insufficient.
sacrament, should be imparted to him step by
step, and embrace his life and death. The
visible Church is at the same time that true
Church which has been named the invisible.
She cannot recognize any religious existence
beyond her own pale.
The Inquisition.
Meanwhile measures had been adopted (or
propagating these doctrines, and for suppress-
ing those opposed to them.
We must here recur once more to the times
of the Ratisbon conference. When it was
perceived that no conclusion was come to with
the Protestants of Germany, and that at the
same time, even in Italy, controversies respect-
ing the sacraments, doubts concerning purga-
tory, and other speculations of great moment
as regarded the Romish ritual, were gaining
ground, the pope one day asked cardinal Ca-
raffa " what means he could devise against
these evils?" The cardinal declared that the
only one was "a thorough searching inquisi-
sition." John Alvarez de Toledo, cardinal of
Burgos, joined with him in this opinion.
The old Dominican inquisition had long ago
fallen into decay. The choice of inquisitors
was committed to the monastic orders, and it
frequently happened that these partook of the
opinions which it was sought to put down. In
Spain, the earlier form of the institution had
been so far departed from, that a supreme tri-
bunal of the Inquisition for that country had
been erected there. Carafta and Burgos, old
Dominicans both of them, both men of hnrsh
and gloomy views of rectitude, zealots for the
purity of Catholicism, austere in life, and in-
tractable in their opinions, counselled the pope
to found in Rome, on the model of that of
Spain, a general supreme tribunal of the in-
quisition, on which all others should be de-
pendent. "As St. Peter," said Carafta, "van-
quished the first heresiarchs on no other spot
than Rome, so must the successor of St. Peter
overcome all the heresies of the world in
Rome."* The Jesuits reckon it to their hon-
our, that their founder Loyola supported this
proposal by a special memorial. On the 21st
of July 1542, the bull was issued.
It names six cardinals, among whom Caraffa
and Toledo stood first, to be commissioners of
the apostolic see, general and universal inqui-
sitors on this side the Alps and beyond them.
It bestows on them the right to delegate
ecclesiastics with similar power, to all such
places as it shall seem good to them, to deter-
mine absolutely all appeals against the acts of
the latter, and even to proceed without the
participation of the ordinary spiritual courts.
Every man, without a single exception, with-
out any regard whatever to station or dignity,
shall be subject to their jurisdiction ; the sus-
* Bromato, Vila di Paolo IV. lib. vii. § 3.
A. D. 1542.]
THE INQUISITION.
75
pected shall be thrown into prison, the g-uilty
shall be punished even capitally, and their
property confiscated. One restriction is im-
posed on the court. To punish shall be its
function : the pope reserves to himself the right
of pardoning the guilty wlio become converted.
Thus shall every thing be done, ordered, and
accomplished, to suppress and uproot the errors
that have broken out among the Christian
community.*
Caraffa lost not a moment in putting this
bull into execution. He was not over rich,
but upon this occasion he would have regarded
it at a loss, had he waited for a payment from
the apostolic chamber: he immediately hired
a house, fitted up the rooms for officers and
the prisons at his own cost; provided them
with bars and strong locks, with blocks, chains,
and bonds, and all the horrible utensils of his
office. He then named commissioners general
for the several countries. The first, as far as
I can discover, for Rome, was his own chaplain,
Teofilo di Tropea, of whose severity cardinals,
such as Pole, had soon reason to complain.
"The following rules," says the MS. bio-
graphy of Caraflu, "were conceived by the
cardinal to be the best directed to the end in
view.f
" Firstly, In matters of faith, not a moment's
delay must be made, but upon the least suspi-
cion, measures must immediately be taken
with the utmost rigour.
" Secondly, No respect must be shown to
any prince or prelate, however high his station.
" Thirdly, Extraordinary and extreme seve-
rity must be used, against such as shall seek
to defend themselves through the protection
of any potentate; only whoso confesses, shall
be treated mildly and with fatherly com-
passion.
" Fourthly, We must not debase ourselves
to any sort of toleration towards heretics, and
especially towards Calvinists."
All, we see, is rigour, unrelenting, unscrupu-
lous rigour, till the confession has been worked
out. Horrible, especially at a moment when
opinions were not yet fully developed, when
many were seeking to conciliate the profound-
er doctrines of Christianity, with the institu-
tions of the existing church. The weaker
gave way and submitted ; those of stronger
mould, on the contrary, now first decidedly
embraced the tenets of opposition, and sought
to withdraw themselves from violence.
One of the first among them was Bernardin
Ochino. For some time he had been observed
to be less sedulous in the discharge of his mon-
* Licet ab initio. Depulatio nonnuUoruin S. R. E. Car-
rtinalium generalium inquisitorum haereticae pravitalis
July 21, 1542. Cocquelinps, iv. p. 211.
t Caracciolo, Vita di Paolo IV. MS. c. 8. Haveva egli
quesli infrascritte regoli lenule da lui come assiomi veris-
simi: la prima, che in materia di fede non bisogna aspet-
tar punlo, ma subito che vi 6 qualclie sospetto o indicio di
peste hereiica farogni sforza e violenza per esiiparla," etc .
astic duties: in 1542 his preaching too was
held to be objectionable. He maintained most
positively the doctrine that faith alone justi-
fies; he exclaimed, citing St. Augustin, "He
that created thee without thy aid, will he not
without thy aid save theel" His comments
on purgatory did not appear very orthodox.
Already the nuncio at Venice forbade him the
pulpit for two days ; thereupon lis was cited
to Rome ; he had already reached Bologna and
Florence, when, apparently alarmed at the
newly instituted Inquisition, he determined
on flight.
The historian of his order* describes him as
pausing when he had reached St, Bernard,
and recalling to memory all the honours that
had been paid him in his beautiful native
land, and the countless multitudes that greeted
his appearance in the pulpit with eagerness,
listened to him with excited attention, and
departed with admiring satisfaction. An ora-
tor certainly loses more in the loss of his
country than any other man. That loss he
now sustained in his old age. He gave the
seal of his order, which he had hitherto carried
with him, to his companion on the road, and
proceeded to Geneva. Even yet, however,
his convictions were not firmly established ;
he fell into very extraordinary errors.
About the same time Peter Martyr Vermi-
gli left Italy. " I broke away from the midst
of so many false pretensions, and saved myself
from the impending danger." Many of the
pupils he had till then brought up in Lucca,
subsequently followed him.f
Ca3lio Secundo Curione had a narrow es-
cape. He waited till the bargello appeared
to arrest him. Curione was large and power-
ful. With the knife he had about him he cut
his way through the sbirri, sprang on his horse
and rode away, bending his route to Switzer-
land.
There had already been commotions in
Modena ; they were now revived. People
denounced each other. Filippo Valentino
withdrew to Trent, and Castelvetri found it
advisable to secure himself at least for a time
in Germany.
Every where throughout Italy, persecution
and terrors broke out. The rancour of con-
tending factions seconded the designs of the
inquisitors. How often, after long waiting in
vain other opportunity of revenge, was a man's
enemy known to have recourse to the charge
of heresy. Of two parties that cherished an
equal degree of rancorous hate against each
other, the monks of the old school, and all that
host of men of talent, who had been led by
* Boverio, Annali i. 4.38.
+ A letter of Peter Martyr's to the community he had
left, in which he expresses his repentance for having
sometimes veiled the truth, in' Schlosser, Leben Bezas
und Peter Martyrs, p. 400. Gerdesius and M<^- Cne have
collected numerous detached notices in the works already
mentioned.
76
BEGINNING OF A REGENERATION OF CATHOLICISM, [a. d. 1542.
their literary labours to a religious tendency,
the former had now got weapons in their
hands and condemned their antagonists to per-
petual silence. "It is hardly possible," ex-
claims Antonio dei Plagiarici, " to be a Chris-
tian and die in one's bed."* The academy of
Modena was not the only one broken up.
The Neapolitan too, founded by the Seggi,
and originally intended only for studies, from
which, in accordance with the spirit of the
age, they proceeded to theological disputations,
was closed by the viceroy.f Literature in
general was subjected to the severest scrutiny.
In the year 1543, Caraffa gave orders that for
the future no book, whatever were its contents,
whether it were old or new, should be printed
without the permission of the inquisitors :
booksellers were also to send them in cata-
logues of their stock, and were not to sell any
more books without their permission : the cus-
toms' officers of the Dogana received orders
not to deliver to iis address any package of
MS. or printed books without first having laid
it before the inquisition. J By degrees the
index of the forbidden books came to be pub-
lished ; the first example had been set in Lou-
vain and Paris.
In Italy Giovanni della Casa, who was on
terms of the closest intimacy with the house
of CarafFa, printed the first catalogue of about
seventy numbers in Venice. JVJore length-
ened lists appeared in 1552 at Florence, in
1554 at Milan, and the first drawn up in what
was afterwards the usual form at Rome in
1559. It contains works of the Cardinals,
and the poems of that same della Casa him-
self. Not only were these laws imposed on
printers and booksellers, but it was made an
obligation of conscience upon private persons
to denounce forbidden books, and to contribute
to their destruction. The rule was applied
with incredible strictness. Many as were the
thousands of copies circulated of the books on
" The Benefits bestowed by Christ," it wholly
vanished, and is no longer to be found. In Rome,
whole piles of confiscated copies were burnt.
In all these contrivances and undertakings
the clergy employed the aid of the secular
arm. 5 It was of advantage to the popes that
* Aonii Palearii Opera, ed. Wetslen. 1696, p. 91. II Cl-
di Ravenna al Cl- Conlarini Epp. Poll, 208, already men-
lions this: "Sendo qviella cilti (Ravenna) partialissima,
li6 vi rimanendo huomo alcuno non conlaminalo di questa
macchia della fattioni, si van volontieri dove Toccasion
s'offrrisce carricando I'un I'altro da inimici. [This cily
(Ravenna) being Cull of parly spirit, not a man in it be-
ing uncontaminated with the stain of faction, they seize
every opportunity of denouncing each other.]
t Giannone, Sioria di Napoli, xxxii. cv.
t Bromato, vii. 9.
§ Other laymen also joined in their efforts. "Fu rime-
dialo," says the compendium of the Inquisitors, "oppor-
tunamente dal S. Officio in Roma con porre in oeni citti
valenti e zelanti inquisitori, servendosi anche talhora de
secolari zelanti e dotti per ajuto della fede, come verbi
gratia del Godescalco in Conio, del conte Albano in Ber-
gamo, del Blutio in Milano. Questa risolutione di ser-
virsi de' secolari fu presa perche non soli moltissimi
vescovi, vicarij, frati e preti, ma anco molli dell' istessa
they possessed a territory of their own of such
considerable extent, where they could set an
example and establish the model for imitation.
In Milan and Naples the administration could
make the less opposition to the new measures,
inasmuch as it had itself purposed introducing
the Spanish inquisition there; only in Naples
the confiscation of property was forbidden.
In Tuscany the inquisition was accessible to
worldly influence, through the agency of the
legate, whom duke Cosmo contrived to procure
for his court: nevertheless, the brotherhoods
formed by it gave great ofience. In Sienna
and Pisa it preceded to inordinate lengths
against the universities. In the Venetian do-
minions the inquisitor was not indeed alto-
gether free from secular control ; from April
1547, three Venetian nobili continued to sit
in his tribunal : in the provinces, the rettore
of every town had part in the investigations,
calling in occasionally the advice of doctors,
and in difficult cases, especially when charges
were brought against persons of importance,
applying for his guidance to the council often :
nevertheless, this did not hinder the ordinan-
ces of Rome being carried into efl^ect in all
essentials.
Thus was the agitation of dissentient opin-
ions in religion violently stifled and destroyed
in Italy. Almost the whole order of Francis-
cans was forced to recant. The greater part
of the followers of Valdez had to do the same.
In Venice a certain freedom was allowed
the foreigners, Germans for the most part, who
resided there for trade or for study ; natives,
on the other hand, were forced to abjure their
opinions, and their meetings were broken up.
Many took to flight: we meet these fugitives
in every town of Germany and Switzerland.
Those who neither would give way nor could
escape, endured the penalty. In Venice they
were sent with two vessels beyond the la-
goons out to sea. A plank was laid between
the two vessels, and the condemned placed
upon it ; the vessels moved asunder both at
the same moment, the plank fell; the suf-
ferers called once more on the name of Christ
and sank. In Rome, auto-da-fes were held
in all form before the church of Santa Maria
alia Minerva, Many were they that fled from
place to place with wife and children : we
trace their wanderings awhile, and then they
vanish; they are fallen most likely into the
toils of their merciless hunters. Others kept
quiet. The duchess of Ferrara, who but for
the salique law, would have been heiress to
the crown of France, was not protected by her
inquisitions erano heretici," [This was opportunely
remedied by the Office in Rome, by placing in every city
able and zealous inquisitors, and employing also zealous
and learned laymen in aid of the faith, as, for instance,
Godescalco in Como, the count Albano in Bergamo, and
Mutio in Milan. This resolution of employing secular
persons was taken, because not only very many bishops,
vicars, monks and priests, but even many members of
the inquisition itself were heretics.]
A. D. 1543-56.]
THE INQUISITION.
77
birth and high rank. Her husband himself
was her accuser. " She sees no one," says
Marot, "to whom slie can complain: the
mountains are between her and her friends :
she mingles her wine with tears."
Progress of the Jesuit institution.
In this state of things, when opponents had
been put down by force, and the dogmas of the
Church again firmly reinstated in the mind of
the age, and whilst the ecclesiastical power was
guarding their observance with resistless wea-
pons, the order of Jesuits now arose in the
strictest alliance witJi that power.
Not only in Rome, but in all Italy, the order
obtained extraordinary success. It had origi-
nally designed itself for the common people;
it speedily found acceptance among the higher
classes.
In Parma it was favoured by the Farnese:*
princesses submitted to its spiritual e.xercises.
In Venice, Lainez expounded the Gospel of
St. John expressly to the nobility, and with
the help of Lippomano he succeeded, so early
as 1542, in laying the foundation of the Jesuit
college in that city. In Montepuciano Fran-
cesco Strada basso much command over some
of the foremost men of the city, that they ac-
companied him through the streets begging ;
Strada knocked at the doors, and they received
the donations. In Faenza, although Ochino
had greatly exerted himself there, they suc-
ceeded in acquiring great influence, appeasing
enmities that had subsisted for centuries, and
founding societies for the support of the poor.
I mention but a few examples of their success.
In every direction they made their appearance,
procured adherents, formed schools, and firmly
established themselves.
But as Ignatius was wholly a Spaniard, and
had set out on his career from peculiarly na-
tional ideas, and as his ablest disciples were
naturally furnished by Spain, it followed that
his society, thus Spanish in spirit, made great-
er progress in that peninsula than in Italy
itself. In Barcelona he made a very import-
ant conquest in the person of the viceroy Fran-
cis Borgia, duke of Gandia; in Valencia a
church was insufficient to contain the hearers
of Araoz, and a pulpit was erected for him in
the open air ; in Valencia adherents in con-
siderable strength very speedily mustered
round Francis Villanova, although he was
sickly, of mean descent, and wholly destitute
of learning ; it was principally from this place
* Orlandinus expresses himself in singular terms. Et
civilas, he says, ii. p. 78, ei privati quibus fuisse dicitur
aliqua cum Komano poniifice necessitudo, supplices ad
eum lileras pro Fabro reiinendo dederunt. [Both the
etateand private individuals who were said to be in some
degree related to the Roman pontift', sent letters to him en-
treating him to retain Faber.] Just as if it was not noto-
rious that Paul III. had a son. The Inquisition was sub-
quently introduced into Parma, on account of the opposi-
' tion manifested to the priests who favoured Jesuitism.
and from Salamanca, where they began in
1548, with a very small and sorry house, that
the Jesuists spread over Spain.* Nor were
they meanwhile less warmly received in Por-
tugal. Of the first two sent him at his re-
quest, the king sent but one to the East Indies,
(that Xavier who there achieved the name of
an apostle and a saint,) the other Simon Rod-
erigo, he kept with him. The Jesuits acquired
extraordinary approbation at both courts. The
Portuguese they thoroughly reformed ; at that
of Spain, they became at once the confessors
of the leading men of rank, of the president
of the council of Castile, and of the cardinal
of Toledo.
Already in the year 1540, Ignatius had sent
some young persons to Paris to study there.
From thence his society extended over the
Netherlands. In Louvain, Faber met with
the most decisive success: eighteen young
men, already bachelors or masters, presented
themselves, abandoning home, university, and
country, to accompany him to Portugal. Je-
suits were already seen in Germany : and
among the first was Peter Canisius, who did
them so much service, and who entered their
order on his three-and-twentieth birth-day.
This rapid success of the order must na-
turally have exercised tlie most cogent influ-
ence upon the development of his constitution.
It moulded itself in the following fashion.
Into the class of his first associates, the pro-
fessed members, Ignatius admitted but i'ew.
He found that men at once fully educated,
good, and devout, were in scanty number.
In the very first project he laid before the
pope, he declares his intention of founding
colleges at one or other of the universities,
to train up young men. Of these an unex-
pected multitude as we have said, attached
themselves to his society. They constituted
the class of scholars, as distinguished from
that of professed members.f
But an inconvenience was very soon felt.
As the professed members had bound them-
selves by the fourth vow to continual travel on
the service of the pope, it was inconsistent to
assign to them so many colleges as were now
required, establishments that could only
flourish through their constant presence.
Ignatius soon found it necessary to constitute
a third class between these two, spiritual co-
adjutors, priests like the others, possessed of
requisite learning, and who expressly enga-
* Ribadeneira, Vita Ignatii, c. x. n. 244. c. xxxviii. n.
285.
tPauli III. facultas coadjutores admittendi d. 5 Junii,
1546: ita ut ad vota servanda pro eo tempore quo lu, fili
prasposite, et qui pro tempore fuerint ejusdem societatia
praepositi, eis in minisierio spirituali vel lemporali uten-
dum judicaveritis, et non ultra astringantur. Corijus In-
stituto'rum, i. p. 15. [Insuchwiselhatthey shall be bound
to keep their vows for such a time as you, my son, and
those who shall preside for the time being over the society,
shall think fit to employ their spiritual or temporal ser-
vices, and no longer.]
78
BEGINNING OF A REGENERATION OF CATHOLICISM, [a. d. 1543-56.
ged themselves to the duty of instructing
youth. One of the most momentuous institu-
tions this, and, so far as I can learn, peculiar
to the Jesuits; one too on which the most
brilliant success of the order was founded-
These coadjutors were allowed to settle them-
selves in the several localities, become resi-
dents, gain influence, and control education.
Like the scholars, they took but three vows,
and these, be it remarked, only simply, not
solemnly. That is to say, they would them-
selves have incurred excommunication had
they attempted to separate from the society ;
but the latter possessed the right, though only
in accurately defined cases, of discharging
them from their vows.
And now but one thing more was requisite.
It would have interrupted the studies and occu-
pations to which these classes were destined,
had they been obliged at the same time to take
upon them the care of their own subsistence.
The professed members lived in their houses
on alms; the coadjutors and scholars were
spared that necessity, the colleges being al-
lowed to possess corporate revenues. For the
administration of these, so far as that did not
fall to the share of the professed, who could
not themselves enjoy them, and for the mana-
gement of all other external matters, Ignatius
further appointed a class of secular coadjutors.
These, as well as the others, took three sim-
ple vows, but had to content themselves with
the persuasion that they were serving God by
aiding a society that watched over the salva-
vation of souls, and were not permitted to aim
at anything higher.
These arrangements, individually judicious,
served at the same time to constitute a hiera-
rchy, which in its several gradations possessed
a still further special control over the minds
of its members.*
If we steadily examine the laws that were
from time to time promulgated to the society,
we find that the foremost consideration on
which they reposed was the utter severing of
the ordinary relations of life. Love of kindred
is denounced by them as a carnal inclination.!
He who gives up his wealth to enter the so-
ciety, is not to transfer it to his relations, but
to divide it among the poor.| He who has
already entered, neither receives nor dis-
patches a letter till it has been first read by a
superior. The society requires the whole
man : all his inclinations must wear its fetters.
It demands even to participate in his secrets.
He enters the order with a general confession ;
he is required to set forth his own defects and
* The basis of the society consisted of novices, guests,
and indifferenls ; from these rose the several classes.
+ Summariiim constitutionum, § 8. in the Corpus Insti-
tutonim societatis Jesu. Aniverpiae 1709. loin. i. Tn Or-
landinus III. 66. it is mentioiipd in Faber's praise, that
once on reaching his native town after an absence of some
years, he so triumphed over his feelings as to pass on with-
out stopping.
$Exainen generale, civ. § 2.
even his virtues. A confessor is appointed him
by the superior ; the superior retains to him-
self the right of absolving in those cases with
which it is expedient he should be acquainted.*
He insists particularly on this, in order that
he may perfectly know the characters of his
subordinates, and use them as he pleases.
For obedience in this society took the place
of every other relation, of every other motive
that can sway the actions of men ; absolute
obedience, without a thought of its objects or
consequences.! No one shall covet any other
grade than that he occupies : the secular co-
adjutor, if he does not already read and write,
shall not learn to do so without permission.
Every member shall submit in blind subjection
to the rule of his superiors, to the total abju-
ration of his own judgment, like a lifeless
thing, like a stafl^ that is wielded at will by
the hand that holds it. Those superiors are
in his eyes invested with divine providence.^
What a power was now committed to the
general, in whom was vested for life the right
of swaying this obedience, unsubjected to any
necessity of accounting for the use he made
of it ! According to the project of 1543, all
the members of the order who should chance
to be in one and the same place with the gene-
ral, were to be consulted even in slight mat-
ters. The project of 1550, confirmed by Julius
III., releases the general from this restriction,
except in so far as he may himself think good
* Rules separately contained in the Summarium consti-
tutionum, § 32. § 41, the Examen generale, § 35. § 36, and
the Constitutionum Pauli III. c. i. n. 11. "lUi casus re-
servabuntur," it is said in the latter place, " quos ab eo
(superiore) cognosci necessarium videbitur aut valde con-
veniens." [Those cases shall be reserved, of which it
shall appear necessary or very expedient that they should
be known to him (the superior.)]
+ The letter of Ignatius, " fratribus societatis Jesu qui
sunt in Lusitania," 7 Kol. Ap. 1553. § 3.
t Constitutiones, vi. 1. Et sibi quisque persuadeat, quod
qui subobedientia vivunt, se ferri ac regi a divina provi-
dentia per superiores sues sinere debent, perinde ac ca-
daver essent. [And be each one well assured, that those
who are bound to obedience ought to surfer themselves to
be moved and governed by divine providence through
their superiors, just as though they were dead bodies.]
Here is also the other constitution, vi. 5. according to
which, it seems as though a sin could be enjoined. Visum
est nobis in Domino— nuUas constitutiones, declarationes,
vel ordinem ullum vivendi posse obligalionem ad pecca-
tutn mortale vel venialeinducere, nisi superior ea in nom-
ine Domini Jesu Christi vel in virtute obedientiee jubeat.
[It has seemed good to us in the Lord— that no constitu-
tions, declarations, nor any order of living can induce an
obligation to mortal or venial sin, unless the superior
command them in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, or
in virtue of obedience.] We can hardly trust our eyes
as we read this ; and indeed, another interpretation of
the passage is possible, besidesthat which obviously occurs
at first sight. "Obligatio ad peccatum mortale vel ven-
iale," may possibly rather mean, the binding force of a
constitution, such, that he who breaks the latter is guilty
of one or the other kind of sin. [The passage thus inter-
preted would signify. That no constitution, &c. can im-
pose an obligation amounting in its force to the contin-
gency of mortal or venial sin, unless the superior com-
mand those constitutions, &c. Traiif.] It will at least be
confessed that the constitution ousht to be more perspic-
uous ; no fault can be alleged against one who shall bona
fide refer " ea" to " peccatum mortals vel venale," and
not to " constitutiones."
A. D. 1543-56.] PROGRESS OF THE JESUIT INSTITUTION.
to submit to it.* It is only in cases of alter-
ations in the constitution, and of the suppres-
sion of houses and colleges already established,
that a consultation continued to be held neces-
sary. In other respects, every power is com-
mitted to him that might be useful to the
governing of the society. He has assistants
in the several provinces, but these discharge
no functions but those specially committed to
them by him. He names at his pleasure the
presidents of provinces, colleges, and houses,
accepts and dismisses, dispenses and punishes :
he exercises a kind of papal power on a
smaller scale.f
There was only this danger to be appre-
hended, that the general in possession of such
vast power might himself lapse from the prin-
ciples of the society. As far as regarded this
consideration, he was subjected to a certain
limitation. It is perhaps no such great matter
as it may have appeared to Ignatius, that the
society or its deputies were entrusted with
the faculty of arranging certain external
things, the hours of meals, and of sleep, cos-
tume, and all that concerned the daily habits
of life ;t but it was assuredly something that
the possessor of supreme authority was de-
prived of a freedom enjoyed by the meanest
individual. The assistants, who were not
named by him, watched him continually in
this respect. There was an appointed admo-
nisher, and on the occurrence of gross faults,
the assistants could call a general congrega-
tion, which in that case had the prerogative
of even pronouncing the deposition of the
general.
This carries us a step farther.
If we do not suffer ourselves to be dazzled
by the hyperbolical expressions, in which the
Jesuits have set forth this power, and ratlier
consider what may have been practical under
the great extent very soon acquired by the
society, we shall observe the following state
of things. The general exercised the supreme
guidance of the whole order, and particularly
the control of the superiors, whose consciences
he was to know, and whose offices were in
his distribution. These again had a similar
power in their own sphere, and frequently
exercised it with more severity than the gene-
ral. ^ The superiors and the general in some
degree counterpoised each other. Further-
more, the general was required to be informed
as to the personal characteristics of every
* Adjutus, quatenus ipse opportunus judicabit, fratrum
suoriim consilio, per se ipsum ordinandi et jubendi quje
ad Dei gloriain perlinere videbuntur, jus totum habeut,
says Julius III. Confirmalio Inslituti. [He siiall have
the eniire rislit, of ordaining and commanding of himself
those things, which to him shall appear conducive to the
glory of God, assisted therein, as far as he himself shall
judge fit, by the advice of his brethren.]
t Consiilutiones, ix. 3.
t Schedula Ignatii AA. SS. Commentatio prsvia, n.
872.
§ Mariana, Discurso de laa Enfermedadas de la Com-
pania de Jesus, c. xi.
_ 79
subordinate, of every member of the society ;
and though in this particular it is manifest he
could interpose only on urgent occasions, he
still possessed the highest supervision. A
committee of the professed members, on the
other hand, exercised supervision over him.
There have been other institutions that,
forming a special world within the great
world, have severed their members from all
other relations, made them their own pro-
perty, and engendered a new principle of
life within them. This was precisely the
aim of the Jesuit institution. But it is pecu-
liar to it, that on the one hand it not only
favoured, but demanded a development of in-
dividual minds, and on the other hand it took
them completely captive, and made them its
own property. Hence all personal relations
between the members, merged in subordina-
tion and mutual supervision. Nevertheless
they formed a firmly compacted, perfect unity ;
they had nerve and active vigour. For this
reason they so greatly strengthened the mo-
narchial power: they submitted themselves to
it wholly, even though its possessors fell off
from first principles.
It was quite in keeping with the character
of this society, that none of its members were
permitted to fill any ecclesiastical dignity.
They would have had duties to fulfil, and
have been placed in circumstances that would
have rendered all supervision impossible. At
the beginning at least this rule was most
rigidly observed. Jay neither desired nor
was allowed to accept the bishopric of Trent ;
when Ferdinand I. who offered it him desisted
from his purpose in compliance with a letter
from Ignatius, the latter caused solemn masses
to be celebrated and Te Deum to be sung.*
Another important point is, that the whole
society raised itself above the observance of
the more irksome devotional practices. Thus
the several members were enjoined not to
push their religious exercises to excess : they
were not with fastings, vigils, and castigations,
either to weaken their bodies, or to withdraw
too much time from the service of their neigh-
bours. In labour too they were commanded
to observe moderation, the spirited steed was
not to be spurred only, but curbed ; they were
not to encumber themselves with so many
weapons that they could not wield them all :
they were not so to overload themselves with
labour that the elasticity of the mind should
give way beneath itf
It is manifest how thoroughly the society
regarded all its members as its own property,
but left them at the same time to the most
* Extract from the Liber Memorabilia of Ludovicua
Oonsalvus: "quod desistente rege S. Ignatius indixerit
missas et Te Deum laudamus in gratiarum actionem."
tommentanus prsevius in AA. SS. Julii vii. n. 41
+ Conslitutionea, v. 3. 1. Epistola Ignatii ad fratres Qui
sunt la Hispania. Corpus Instituiorum, ii. 540.
80
BEGINNING OF A REGENERATION OF CATHOLICISM, [a. d. 1543-56.
vigorous development of their individual en-
ergies consistent with that principle.
In fact, this was indispensable to the accom-
plishment of the difficult functions undertaken
by the order. These, as we have seen, were
preaching, instruction, and confession. To
the two latter, above all, the Jesuits devoted
themselves in a manner peculiarly their own.
The business of instruction had till then
been in the hands of those men of letters, who,
after long prosecuting their studies in a man-
ner merely profane, had afterwards taken a
spiritual bent, at first not very favourably
regarded by the Roman court, and subse-
quently wholly reprobated by it. The Jesuits
took upon them to drive them from their
posts, and to occupy the.se in their stead.
They began with a close observance of sys-
tem : they divided their schools into classes,
and their course of instruction was pursued
in a perfectly uniform spirit, from the lowest
to the highest grade. Furthermore, they paid
attention to morals, and produced well bred
men ; they were patronized by the civil pow-
ers, and lastly, they gave their instructions
gratis. Wherever a city or a prince had
founded a college, private individuals were
not called on for any further payment. It
was expressly forbidden the members of the
order to ask or accept of remuneration or
alms ; their instruction was gratuitous as well
as their sermons and their masses ; there was
even no box for offerings in their churches.
Human nature being what it is, this must
have tended immeasurably to the advance of
their cause, especially as they actually taught
with as much success as zeal. "Not only
were the poor thus aided," says Orlandini,
" but the rich too had a burthen lightened for
them."* He remarks what immense success
the educational labours of the society enjoyed.
" We see many," he says, " glittering m the
cardinal's purple, whom we had but a little
before on our scholars' benches : others have
attained to the government of cities and
states : we have educated bishops and their
counsellors, and even other spiritual commu-
nities have been recruited from the numbers
of our scholars." The order, as will readily
be supposed, contrived to appropriate to itself
all the pre-eminent talents among its pupils.
Its members constituted a professional body
of teachers, that achieved for itself an incal-
culable amount of influence, since it spread
throughout all catholic countries, was the first
to give to education that religious tone it has
since retained, and observed a strict unity in
its discipline, its methods, and its lessons.
But how greatly was this influence strength-
ened by the fact, that the order succeeded
likewise in appropriating to itself the duties
of the confessional, and the guidance of con-
sciences ! No age was ever more susceptible
to this kind of influence, more thirsted for it,
as it were. Their code of laws enjoins the
Jesuits, " in their manner and way of impart-
ing absolution, to pursue one uniform method,
to exercise themselves in cases of conscience,
to accustom themselves to a short mode of
questioning, and to have the examples of the
saints, their words, and other helps, in readi-
ness against every kind of sin :"* rules, as it
is obvious, most accurately calculated to meet
the wants of man. The extraordinary suc-
cess, however, which they obtained in this
branch of their labours, and which involved a
real diffusion of their peculiar way of think-
ing, depended further on another important
point.
That little book of spiritual exercises is
very remarkable, which Ignatius, I will not
say was the first to plan, but which he worked
out in the most singular manner,! with which
he gathered together his first, and afterwards
his latter pupils, and his followers generally,
and made them wholly his own. Its efficacy
was progressive and continual ; the more so
perhaps, as it was recommended only for
occasional study, in moments of inward unea-
siness, and spiritual craving.
It is not a book of doctrine ; it is a guide to
self-contemplation. " The longings of the
soul," says Ignatius, "are not to be satisfied
by a host of knowledge, but only by inward
intuition and feeling."|
This process he undertakes to direct. The
guide of souls indicates the points of>iew, the
exercitant is to follow these out. He must
on retiring to rest, and immediately on his
* Orlandinus, lib. vi. 70. A comparison might be made
wilh the conventual schools of the Protestants, in which
too the religious tendency fully predominated. See Sturm
in Ruhkopf, Geschichte des Schulwesens, S. 378. The
points of clifference would be the most interesting.
first awaking, turn his thoughts in the assign-
ed direction, sedulously barring every other :
doors and windows are shut close, and then
kneeling or prostrate on the earth he com-
pletes his task of contemplation.
He begins with being conscious of his sins;
he considers how for a single act of will the
angels were hurried down into hell ; but for
him, although he has committed far greater
trespasses, the saints have offered their pray-
ers, heaven and its stars, animals and plants
of the earth have ministered to him ; that he
may now be free from his guilt, and not cast
into everlasting condemnation, he calls on
Christ crucified : he feels his reply : there
ensues between them a discourse, like that
between friend and friend, like that between
a servant and his master.
* Regula Sacerdotum, § 8. 10. 11.
t For after all that has been written pro and contra, it
is manifest that Ignatius had in view a similar work by
Garcia de Cisneros. But all that is most peculiar seems
his own. Comm. prsevius, n. 64.
t Non enim abundantia scientiae, sed sensus et gustus
renira interior desiderium animse replere solet.
A. D. 1543-56.] PROGRESS OF THE JESUIT INSTITUTION.
81
He then seeks chiefly to edify himself by
the contemplation of holy Scripture. " I .see,"
says Ignatius, " how the three persons of the
Godhead overlook the whole earth, filled with
men doomed to hell : they resolve that the
second person shall for their redemption take
upon him human nature : I cast my eyes over
the whole range of the round earth, and in a
corner I discern the hut of the Virgin Mary,
from which salvation issues forth." He pro-
ceeds onward from point to point through the
sacred history; pictures to hunself the several
transactions in all their particulars, according
to the category of the senses : tlie widest
scope is allowed to the religious fancy un-
shackled by the bonds of the letter ; imagina-
tion touches and kisses the garments, the
footsteps of the sacred personages. In this
exalted state of imagination, possessed with
the feeling, how great is the blessedness of a
soul that is filled with divine graces and
virtues, the exercitant returns to the contem-
plation of his own condition. If a man has
yet to choose his calling, he chooses it now in
accordance with the wants and wishes of his
heart, keeping ever one sole object in view,
how he may be saved to God's glory, and
believing he stands in the presence of God
and all the saints. If the choice no longer
remains to be made, he then ponders on his
way of life, his daily walk and conversation,
his domestic economy, his necessary expendi-
ture, what he has to gi\e to the poor ; all this
he considers in that tone of mind in whicli in
the hour of death he will wish he had com-
muned with himself, looking exclusively to
what tends to the honour of God and to his
own salvation.
Thirty days are devoted to these exercises.
Reflections on sacred history, on the indi-
vidual's personal circumstances, prayers and
resolutions, alternate with each other. The
soul is continually intent and spontaneously
active. Lastly, when the individual repre-
sents to himself God's provident care, " who
in his creation labours actively as if it were
for man," he once again thinks he stands in
the sight of the Lord and his saints : he be-
seeches Him to vouchsafe to accept his love
and adoralion ; he offers up to Him his free-
do.m, dedicates to him memory, understanding,
and will, and thus he seals with liim the
league of love. Love consists in the commu-
nity of all capacities and possessions. In re-
turn for its devotedness, God bestows his grace
on the soul.
It is enough that we give this passing view
of this book. In its general tenour, its seve-
ral propositions and their mutual coimection,
there is a certain cogency that excites the
thoughts indeed to inward activity, but con-
fines them within a narrow circle. It is most
happily adjusted to the author's aim, the fos-
tering of a spirit of meditation under the go-
11
vernment of the imagination; the more so,
inasmuch as it is based upon his own experi-
ence. In tiiiswork Ignatius successively em-
bodies every striking phenomenon of his reli-
gious awakening and his progress, from the
beginning to the year 1548, when his system
received the pope's sanction. It has been said
that Jesuitism turned the experience of the
Protestants to good account, and this may be
true in some few particulars : but on the
whole the two principles are diametrically
opposed. Here at least Ignatius set up in op-
position to the discursive, logical, radical, and,
by its very nature, polemical method of the
Protestants, another wholly different, brief,
intuitive, and leading to contemplation, ad-
justed to the imaginative principle, and
prompting to instantaneous resolves.
Thus atler all did every visionary trait that
had marked liis temperament from the begin-
ning, grow at last to extraordinary practical
significance. Being too a soldier, he gathered
together a spiritual standing army, recruited,
likewise, by the help of religious fancy, se-
lected man by man, individually trained to
his purpose, and commanded by himself in the
service of the pope. He beheld it overspread
every country of the earth.
When Ignatius died, his society numbered
thirteen provinces, exclusively of the Roman.*
Mere inspection of the list shows where lay
the strength of the order. The majority of
j these provinces, seven, belonged to Spain and
j her colonies. There were ten colleges in
Castile, five in Arragon, and the same num-
ber in Andalusia, The greatest progress had
been made in Portugal, where there were
houses both for professed members and for no-
vices. In Brazil there were twenty-eight
members of the society busily engaged, and
about one hundred in the East Indies from
Goa to Japan. From this quarter an experi-
ment had been made on ^Ethiopia, and a pro-
vincial sent thither: the prosperity of the en-
terprize seemed to be secure. All these pro-
vinces, of Spanish and Portngues language
and habits, were under the direction of a com-
missioner general, Francesco Borgia. The
nation which had witnessed the birth of the
society, was also that in which its influence
had become most comprehensive. Nor indeed
was it much less so in Italy. There were
three provinces of the Italian tongue; there
was the Roman, which was under the imme-
diate direction of the general, with houses for
professed members and novices, the Collegium
Romanum, and the Collegium Germanicurn,
which latter had been erected by the advice
of cardinal Morone expressly for Germans,
but which had not yet made any decisive pro-
gress : Naples also belonged to this province.
♦ In the year 155S. Sicchinus, Historia Societatia Jef u,
p. ii. give lUiniua iiom the begiuuiug.
82 THE POPES ABOUT THE MIDDLE OF THE 16TH CENTURY, [a. d. 1534.
The second province was the Sicilian, with Conclusion.
four colleges already completed and two be-
gun : the viceroy Delia Vega had introduced
the first Jesuits there ;* Messina and Palermo
had vied with each other in establishing col-
leges, from which the others subsequently
took their rise. The third was the province
of Italy proper, including upper Italy, and con-
taining ten colleges. The order had not made
such good speed in other countries; in them
it was everywhere opposed by Protestantism,
or by an already well marked and matured
inclination thereto. In France they had but
a single college actually in operation : they
reckoned two German provinces, but these
were yet in their infancy. The first em-
braced Vienna, Prague, and Ingolstadt, but
its existence was in every way very precari-
ous ; the other comprised the Netherlands ;
but Philip II. had not yet granted the Je-
suits any legal existence in these territo-
ries.
Nevertheless, this first rapid success was
in itself a guarantee to the order of the
might it was destined to attain. That it
had risen to such power and influence in
those purely catholic countries, the two pe-
ninsulas, was a circumstance of vast signifi-
cance.
Thus we see, in opposition to those Protest-
ant movements that every moment spread more
widely, a new tendency had arisen in the midst
of Catholicism in Rome, around the pope.
This too, like its antagonist, rose out of the
mundane corruption of the church, or rather
out of the wants thereby excited in the minds
of men.
At first those two tendencies approximated
to each other. There was a moment in which
the Germans had not so fully determined on
casting off the hierarchy — in which even Italy
would have been disposed to see the power of
that hierarchy rationally modified. That mo-
ment passed away.
Whilst the Protestants, relying on the
Scriptures, went back more and more boldly
to the primitive forms of the Christian faith
and Christian life ; the opposite party resolved
to stand fast by the ecclesiastical institutions
that had been consolidated in the course of
the century, and truly to renovate them, and
imbue them with fresh spirit, earnestness, and
strictness.
So rise two neighbouring and kindred
springs on the mountain top ; and then gush-
ing over difl"erent declivities, roll their tbr-
ever-parted waters in opposite directions.
BOOK THE THIRD.
THE POPES ABOUT THE MIDDLE OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY.
Introduction.
The sixteenth century is pre-eminently
distinguished by its spirit of religious produc-
tiveness. To this very day we live and
breathe amidst the conflicting notions which
then first broke upon the world.
If we would still more closely mark the
momentous crisis in which the severing of the
two religions was completed, we should find
it did not coincide with the first appearance
of the reformers; for their opinions did not in-
stantly assume a fixed character, and for a
long time there was reason to hope for an ac-
commodation between the conflicting doc-
trines: it was not till the year 1552 that all
efforts towards this end were finally and ut-
terly wrecked, and the three great forms of
western Christianity for ever parted from each
other. Lutheranism became more strict, aus-
tere, and exclusive. Calvinism diverged from
it in the most important articles, whereas Cal-
vin himself had formerly passed for a Luthe-
* Ribadeneira, Vita Ignatii, n. 203.
ran. Opposed to them both, Catholicism as-
sumed its modern form. The three conflicting
theologies sought to establish themselves firm-
ly, each on the ground it had severally as-
sumed, and from thence to harass and subdue
the others, and bring the world under sub-
jection.
It might appear that the catholic tendency,
which sought principally only the renovation
of existing institutions, would have found it
an easier task than could the others to make
good its progress. But the advantage on its
side was not great. It, too, was encompassed,
and its course impeded, by many other im-
pulses affecting society, such as secular feel-
mgs, profane learning, and dissentient theo-
logical opinions. It rather resembled a fer-
menting principle, of which it was yet ques-
tionable whether it would really lay hold on
and assimilate to itself the elements around it,
or be overwhelmed by them.
It encountered its first obstacle in the popes
themselves, their personal circumstances, and
their policy.
We have remarked how a thoroughly un-
A. D. 1534.]
PAUL III.
spiritual temper having taken root in the
heads of the cliiirch, elicited that opposition
which gave such an immense impetus to pro-
testantism.
The question was, whether, and to what
extent, the strict ecclesiastical tendencies
would overcome and transform tliat temper.
It appears to me that the conflict between
these two principles, between the active and
passive habits of policy that had hitherto pre-
vailed, and that had now grown inveterate,
and the necessity of applying to these a tho-
rough internal reform, constitutes the para-
mount interest in the history of tlie nexl,
popes.
Paul III.
Excessive stress is too often laid in the pre-
sent day on the designs and influence of ex-
alted personages, prmces, and governments :
their memory is often compelled to atone for
faults committed by the multitude; frequently,
also, they are allowed credit for what really
proceeded spontaneously from the community.
The catholic movement which formed one
of the subjects of our consideration in the pre-
ceeding book, began under Paul III. but it
would be an error to ascribe its origin to that
pope. He saw clearly what was its import-
ance to the Roman see ; he not only let it
take its course, but he furthered it in many re-
spects. We may, however, unhesitatingly
assert that his own personal feelings were
never once enlisted in its favour.
Alexander Farnese (such was the former
name of Paul III.) was a worldling as ever
was any pope before him. His education was
completed m the 15th century, for he was
born in 1468. His studies were pursued un-
der Pomponius Lsetus at Rome, and in the
garden of Lorenzo Medici at Florence. He
became fully imbued with the elegant erudi-
tion and the feeling for art characteristic of
that epoch ; nor was he untinclured with its
morals. His mother once found it necessary
to have him imprisoned in the castle of St.
Angelo: he availed himself of an unguarded
moment afforded him by the procession of
Corpus Christi day, to let himself down from
the castle by a rope, and escape. He acknow-
ledged a natural son and daughter ; but for
all that he was advanced to the rank of car-
dinal in rather early life, for in those days
little offence was taken at such matters.
While still cardinal he laid the foundation of
the most beautiful of all palaces, the Farnese ;
and at Bolsena, where his hereditary estates
were situated, he built himself a villa, which
pope Leo found so much to liis taste, as now
and then to visit him there. Amidst these
sumptuous and brilliant habits of life, he che-
rished desires of another kind. P^rom the very
first he fixed his eye on the highest dignity.
It is characteristic of him that he sought to
attain it by means of a strict neutrality. The
French and imperial factions divided Italy,
Rome, and the college of cardinals: he con-
ducted himself with such consummate caution,
such happy prudence, that no one could have
said to which of the two he was more inclined.
Already upon the death of Leo, and again after
that of Adrian, he had gone near to be chosen.
He bore a grudge against the memory of Cle-
ment VII., who had wrested from him twelve
years of the popedom that would otherwise
have been his. At last, in October 1534, in
the fortieth year of his cardinalate and the
sixty-seventh of his age, he reached the object
of his ambition, and was chosen.*
He now came to feel, in a manner wholly
new to him, the great conflict that agitated
the world — the strife between those two par-
ties between whom he had just assumed so
important a station — the necessity of combat-
ing the protestants, anil the secret connexion
with them into which he was led by their po-
litical attitude — hisnatural inclination, arising
out of the posture of his Italian principality, to
weaken the ascendency of the Spaniards, and
the danger involved in every attempt to that
end — the urgent necessity of a reform, and the
undesirable circumscription with which it
threatened the papal power.
The manner in which his nature displayed
itself in the midst of so many contradictory
demands is very worthy of observation.
Paul III. was a man of easy, magnificent,
liberal habits. Seldom has a pope been so
much beloved in Rome as he was. There was
something noble in his naming the cardinals
we have spoken of without their knowledge:
how advantageously does such conduct con-
trast with the petty personal considerations it
had almost become a rule to observe. But he
did not appoint them merely, he left them
also unusual liberty : he bore with contradic-
* Onuphrius PanviniusVita Pauli III. In the yparlo38,
Mure Antonio Contarini mado a repoit regard! ngihe papal
court to the Venetian Senate. This I was unfortunately
unable to find in the Venetian archives or elsewhere. In
a MS. relating to the Turkish war of that time, under the
title, Tre libri delli Commentari della Guerra, lo37, 8, 9,
in my possession, I find a short extract from the report
from which I have derived the above notices. Disse del
stato della corte che niolti anni inanzi li prelati non
erano stati in quella riforma di vita ch'eran allora, e che
li cardinal! havevano liberty maggiore di dire I'opinion
loro in consisloro ch'avesser avuto gia mai da gran tempo ;
e che di ciO il pontefice non solamente non si doleva, ma
se n'era studiatissimo, onde per questa ragione se poleva
sperare di giorno in giorno magior riforma. Consideri>
che tra cardlnali vi erano tali uomini celeberrimi, che per
opinione commune il mondo non avria altretanti. [He
said of the state of the court, that for many years past the
prelates had not led such reformed lives as then, and that
the cardinals had more liberty in speaking their minds
than ever they had enjoyed before, whereat the ]jope was
not only not displeased, but was most desirous of seeing
it so, for which reason a greater measure of reform might
be looked for from day to day. He considered that there
were among the cardinals men of such e.vceeding cele-
brity, that in the common opinion the world had not their
equals.]
84 THE POPES ABOUT THE MIDDLE OP THE 16TH CENTURY, [a. d. 1538.
tion in the consistory, and encouraged unre-
stricted freedom of discussion. i
But if lie letl due liberty to others, if lie]
accorded to each the advantage incident to his
position, he was equally resolved not to fore-
go one single prerogative of his own. The
emperor once addressed remonstrances tohim
on the subject of his having advanced two of
his nephews to the cardinalate at much too
early an age: his reply was, that he would
do as his predecessors had done ; there were
instances of boys having been made cardinals
in their cradles. He manifested a preference
for his family unusual even in his station.*
He was fully as much bent as any other
pope on advancing them to princely digni-
ties.
Not that, like Alexander the VI., he post-
poned every other consideration to this one ;
no one could allege that against him ; he ap-
plied himself nio.-t honestly to etiecting a
peace between France and Spain, to the sup-
pression of the protestants, the resisting the
Turks, and the reform of the church ; but
along with all this he had it strongly at heart
to exalt his own house.
Combining together, as he did, all these
discordant purposes, pursuing at one and the
same time public and private aims, he was
constrained to a policy in the utmost degree
circumspect, watchful, lingering, and expect-
ant: for if every thing depended on the fa-
vourable moment, the happy combination of
circumstances, these were to be slowly and
laboriously brought about, and then grasped
with the utmost rapidity, and turned to ac-
count.
Ambassadors found it difficult to treat with
him. They were surprised to see that he be-
trayed no deficiency in spirit, and yet could
seldom be brought to a decisive resolution.
He studied to fetter other-s watched to lay
hold of a binding word, to obtain an irrevoca-
ble assurance; but he never was willing to
pledge himself. This disposition he displayed
even in minor things; he was not inclined to
refuse or promise anything beforehand ; liking
to have his hands free to the last moment.
But how much more was this evinced by him
in difficult circumstances! Sometimes it
would happen that he himself pointed out an
escape frum a difficulty, or a means of accom-
modation, and when others were disposed to
adopt it, he would nevertheless draw back.
♦ Sonano lo3o. E Romano di saneue et 6 cranimo mollo
gagliaido: . . . slima assai I'ingiurif chei;li si fanno, ei 6
ini.linalissimoa fargrandi i suoi. [He isaKo.iian in blood,
and of a very lively lenippninipul : ... he is sensitive
enough to injuries done hiin, and is ir.ost sUonsly inclined
to aggrandize those belonging to him.'] Varchi (Islorie
Florentine, p. C3J,) gives aii account ol" Paul's first secre-
tary, JMesse Ambrogio, "who coid 1 have all he wished,
and wished all he could have." An.oug many other pre-
sents he o:ice had sixty silver wiish-hand basins and ewers
bestowed on him. " How comes il," ii was sai.l, "that
with so many basins he yet has nol clean hands ?J"
He wished always to remain master of his own
transactions.*
He too, as we have said, belonged to the
classical school ; he aimed at speaking both
Latin and Italian with unvarying choiceness
and elegance: he always selected and weigh-
ed liis words with the twofold view to their
import and form: he delivered himself in a
low tone, and with the slowest deliberation.
People were often at a loss to know e.\actly
how they stood with him. Sometimes they
thought they should rather infer the vei-y op-
posite to what his words ostensibly portended.
But this would not have been correct in all
cases. Those who knew him more intimately
remarked, that he entertained the strongest
hopes of accomplishing a project just at the
very time when he abstained from all men-
tion of it, neither alluding to the thing itself,
nor to the persons whom it concerned. f For
thus much was manifest, that he never let go
a purpose he had once embraced. He trusted
to carry out every project, if not immediately,
yet some other time, under altered circum-
stances, by another course.
It was not inconsistent with the habits of a
mind so constituted, of such far-searching fore-
thought, such a tendency to look warily
around in every direction, and to ponder its
purposes in secret, that it should have taken
into the scope of its reflections powers above
as well as upon the earth. The influence of
the constellations over the results of human
actions was little questioned in those days.
Paul III. held no important sitting of the con-
sistory, nor made any journey, without having
first consulted the stars on the choice of tlie
♦ In the Lettres el Bl^moires d'Estat, par Guill. Ribier,
Paris, l!JG6, we find numerous specimens of his negocia-
lions and their character, from lo37 to 1540, and from 1547
to 154^\in the despatches of French ambassiidora. Matteo
Dandolo describes thent directly in a MS. in my posses-
sion, Relatiime di Roma, 1551, d. 2o. Junii in Senatu. 11
negoiiare con P. Paolo fu giudicato ad ogn'un difficile,
perclie era tardissimonel pailare, perche non voleva niai
pioferire paiola che non fiisse elegante el exquisila, cosi
nellii volgare come nella latina e greca, che di tune ire
ne faceva profcssione (I should nol think he very often
used Greek in his negotiations), e mi aveva scopeno di
t;u-"l i)ocoche io ne inteudeva. E perche era vecchissimo,
parlava bassissimo e era longhissimo, ne volea negar cosa
clie segli addimandasse; ma n6 anche (volea) che luomo
clie ne2o;iava seco potesse esser sicuro di haveie havuto
da S. Si. il si piu che il n^ perche lei voleva starse sem-
pre in I'avanlaggio di poter negare e concedere: peril
che sempre si risolveva tardissimamenle, quamlo volea ne-
gare. [To negotiate with Pope Paul was considered a dif-
ficult thine for every one, because he was very slow in
speech, nol wishing ever to utter a word tliat was nol ele-
gant and select, as well in the vulsar tongue as in Latin
and Greek, for he professed them all three, and discovered
in me what little I knew of iheiu. And as he was very
old, he spoke very low, and was extremely dilatory, nor
woulil he refuse anyThing that was asked of him ; nor, on
the other hand, was he willing that the man who negoti-
ated with him could be sure of having had "yes" more
than " no" of his holiness, lor he wished always to stand
on the vantage ground of being able to reluse or concede;
wherefore he w-<is always most slow to resolve when he
wished to denv.]
i Observations of cardinal Carpi and Margareta: " Ch»-
son Is," says Mendoza, "que inas platica tienen de su
condicion." [Who are the persons possessing aiosl prac-
tical knowledge of his disposiiion.J
1538.]
PAUL III.
85
fittinrf days.* An alliance with France was
broken otF merely because there was no con-
formity between the nativities of the kiMi>-an(l
the pope. This pope, it is plain, felt himself
in tlic midst of a tliousand conflicting agen-
cies, not only of the powers of tiie earth be-
low, but of the configuration of the stars
above: his plan was, to give due attention
alike to the one class and to the other, to
mitigate' their unpropitious influences, turn
their favours to account, and dexterously to
steer home his bark between the rocks that
threatened him on every side.
Let us consider how he attempted this,
whether or not he was successful, wlictiierhe
actually lifted himself above the warring
forces of the world's great movements, or
whether he too was involved in their vortex.
lie succeeded in the very first year of his
pontificate in effecting a league with Charles
V. and the Venetians against the Turks. He
urged the Venetians with great earnestness
to the task, and the hope once more prevailed
of seeing the boundaries of Christendom ex-
tended as tiir as to Constantinople.
The war, however, meanwhile renewed be-
tween diaries V. and Francis I. was a tbrmi-
dable obstacle to every undertaking. The
pope spared no pains to allay the hostility of
the two sovereigns. The congress between
them at Nice, where he too was present, was
wholly his work. The Venetian ambassador,
who was present, cannot find words sufficient-
ly to extol the zeal and patience exhibited on
that occasion by the pope. It was only by
means of the utmost assiduity, and but at the
last moment, when he was already threaten-
ing to depart, that he at last succeeded in
bringing about a truce.f He effected a good
understanding between the two sovereigns,
which very soon afterwards seemed to pass
into something like friendship.
While the pope thus promoted public affairs,
he did not neglect his own. It was noted
that he always interwove the two together,
and made them advance in concert. The
Turkish war gave him an opportunity to
seize ('anierino. It was on the point of be-
ing incorporated with Urbino ; the last Vara-
na, heiress of Camerino, had married Guido-
baldo II., who attained to the government of
Urbino in the year 15384 ^^^ ^^^'^ V^P^ ''^"
clared that Camerino could not be iidiorited
by a woman. The Venetians ought in justice
* Mendoza. Es venitlo la cosa 4 que ay muy pocos car-
denalps, que concierien ne^ocios, auiiquf si'a para coiii-
f)rar unacari;;a ile lena, siao es o pornieilio lioalgun asuo-
ogo o hechizero. [Ii is cone lo such a pass, tlial there!
are vpiy few cardinals wlio will traiisacl any business, '
though il be only to buy a load of woxl, exceiJt through :
the medium of so.ne aslroloi^er or wizard.] We meet!
with the most un(iupstionable particulars respecting the |
pope hiiDSi 11'. I
•f RtliiioiK; del Clma. M. Niccolo Ticpoln d( 1 Convenlo
di Nizz:i, lafonnalt. Politichs VI. (Berlin Library .> There
^Iso oxisis an old iinpressiou. |
$,Adriaui, Islorier bs, U.
to have supported the duko, whose nncestora
had been under their |)r()trction, and had serv-
ed in their armies; and they did appeal urg-
ently and warmly in his behalf, but were de-
terred from doing more i<)r tear of war. Tiiey
feared that the pope would call in the aid of
the emperor or tlic king of France ; they pru-
dently considered, that sliould he gain the
emperor to his side, the latter would be the
less capable of acting against the Turks; or
should he obtain tlie assistance of France, the
peace of Italy would be endangered, and their
own position would become still more disad-
vantageous and isolated :* accordingly they
abandoned the duke to his fate, and he was
compelled to cede Camerino, which the pope
bestowed on his Grandson Ottavio ; tor his
house was already rising to splendour and
power. How profitable to him was the con-
gress of iXice! While it was yet pending,
his son, Pier Luigi, obtained Novara and the
district about it from the emperor, who also
pledged himself irrevoca.bly to give his natu-
ral daughter Margaret, after the death of
Alessandro de Medici, in marriage to Ottavio
Farnese. We may believe the pope when he
affirms that he did not i()r this go over uncon-
ditionally to the imperial party. On the con-
trary, he wished to enter into a no less strict
connexion with Francis I. The king too, on
his part acquiesced in the proposal, and pro-
mised him at Nice a prince of the blood, the
duke of Vendome, t()r his granddaughter Vit-
toria.f Great was the happiness of Paul III.
in being thus connected with the two greatest
liouses of Europe ; he was very sensible of
the honour, and spoke of it in the consistory.
The peace-making mediatorial position, too,
which he occupied between the two powers,
flattered his ecclesiastical ambition.
But the further course of these matters
proved not altogether so favourable. The
Ottomans were far from suffering any check ;
and Venice was compelled to accept an unfa-
vourable peace. Francis I. afterwards recall-
ed the personal promise he had given, and
though the pope never abandoned the hope of
actually efiectmg a family alliance with the
house of Valois, still the negociation lan-
* The deliberations are contained in the before-men-
tioned commentary on the Turkish war, which thus ac-
quires a peculiar interest.
t Grisrnan, Ambassadrur du Roi de France a Borne, au
Connetable. Kibier, i. p. 2ol. Moascigneur, sa dite
Saintet6 a un merveilleus drsir du mariage de Vcndosme :
car il s'en est enli6reinent detlar6 a n oy,disanlque | our
estre sa niece unique et lanl aim^e de luy, il ne desiroit,
apr6s lo bien de la Chrestii nl^, autre chose i his que voir
sa dite niece niarieo en France, di>iil le dit seiineur (le
roy) luy avoit tenu pro.xis i\ Nice, el aprfis, v ous, Mon-
seigneur, luy en aviez parl6. [Monseigncur, his said ho-
liness, marvellously desires the Vendome marriage: for
so he declared lully to me, saying that his niece being
his only on", and to nmeh br loved by him,tliprp was no-
tliing he n.o.e d( sired, next lo the wi Ifare of Christendom,
than to see his said niece married in France, whereof the
king had made him pio, osi.ls al Nice, and you, Mousig-
ueur, spoke to him aiterwards.j
86 THE POPES ABOUT THE MIDDLE OF THE 16TH CENTURY, [a. d. 1539-43.
guished. The good understanding which the
pope had brought about between the king and
the emperor appeared indeed to be continually
on the increase. At one time the pope
seemed well nigh jealous on the subject,
complaining that it was he who had founded
it, and now it proved the cause of his being
neglected.* Nevertheless, it but too soon
came to an end, and war broke out afresh.
Thereupon the pope addressed himself to new
designs.
Till now he had always openly declared
among his friends, and had even given the
emperor to understand as much, that Milan
belonged to the French, and ought of right to
be restored to them.f By degrees he gave
up that opinion. Presently, we meet with a
proposal to Charles from cardinal Carpi, who
of all the cardinals was the most in the pope's
confidence, which points to far different con-
clusions.!
" The emperor," he says, " must not think
of being count, duke, or prince; he must be
emperor and nothing else : he must possess
not many provinces, but great vassals. His
prosperity has ceased since he became pos-
sessed of Milan. He cannot be counselled to
return it to Francis I. whose thirst for terri-
torial acquisition it would but irritate, but
neither on the other hand ought he to retain
it.J The emperor has enemies only because
it is feared he seeks to appropriate to himself
foreign dominions. Let him annihilate this
suspicion, let him give Milan to a distinct
duke, and Francis L will no longer find an
adherent : he, the emperor, on the contrary,
will have Germany and Italy for him, he will
carry his banners into the remotest nations,
and he will associate his name" (such is the
expression) " with immortality."
Now if the emperor was neither to surren-
der Milan to the French, nor to retain it him-
self, to whom then was he to transfer the
duchy? The pope thought it would be no
unapt solution of the dilemma if it were given
to his grandson, the emperor's son-in-law.
He had already hinted at this arrangement in
former missions. At a new conoress which
* Gri^nan, 7 Mars, 1539. Ribier, i. 40G. Le cardinal
de Boulogne au Roi, 20 Avril, 1539. Ibid. p. 445. The
pope said lo him, "qu'il estoil fori eslonne, veu la peine
et travail ([u'il avoit pour vous appoinifr, Vous et I'Em-
pereur, (pie vous le laissiez ainsi arrifire." [That he
was much astonished, seeing the pains and labour he had
taken to effect an accordance between you and the em-
peror, that you should both so turn your backs upon
him.] I
+ M. A. Contarini likewise confirmed this in his report. '
$ Discurso del Rmo- c'e- di Carpi del 1543 (perhaps
however a year earlier) a Carlo V. Cesare del modo nel
dominare. Bibl. Corsini n. 443.
§ Se la M. V. dellostato di Milano le usasse cortesia,
non lanto si speffnerebbe quantosi ascenderebbe la sete
sua; si che 6 meglio di armarsi di quel dacato contra di
lui.— V. M. ha da esse certa, che non peraftettione che al-
tri abbia a questo re, ma per interpsse particolare, e la
Germania e 1' Italia, sinche <la tal sospetlo non saranno
liberate, sono per sostentare ad ogni lor polere la poteniia
di Fraucia. I
he held with the emperor at Busseto in L543,
he brought it forward in form. Negociationa
proceeded on the subject with great earnest-
ness, and the pope entertained the liveliest
hopes. The marquis of Vasto, governor of
xMilan, whom he gained over, being somewhat
credulous and fond of show, appeared one day
with a well prepared speech to escort Marga-
ret as his future sovereign to Milan. I find
that the negociation was broken off in conse-
quence of some exorbitant demands on the
emperor's pari.* Afier all, it is hard to be-
lieve that the emperor could ever have been
disposed, for any consideration whatever, to
surrender to foreign influence so important
and well situated a sovereignty.
For even without this the position assumed
by the Farnesi was one full of danger to him.
Of the Italian provinces over which Charles
ruled or possessed influence, there was not
one in which the existing government had
not necessarily been founded, or at least con-
firmed by force. In every quarter, in Milan,
Naples, Florence, Genoa, Siena, there were
malcontents belonging to the vanquished par-
ty : Rome and Venice were full of emigrants,
'i'he Farnesi were not prevented by their
close connection with the emperor from link-
ing themselves with these men, who, worsted
as they were, were yet powerful through the
importance of their chiefs, their wealth, and
their numbers. At the head of the victors
stood the emperor ; the beaten party sought
refuge with the pope. They were bound by
innumerable secret ties together : they were
in constant connexion, open or concealed, with
France ; new plans and enterprises were con-
stantly in hand, now relating to Siena, now
to Genoa, and now to Lucca. How often did
the pope seek to gain access and footing in
P^'lorence? But he tbund in young duke Cos-
mo the very man who was fitted to withstand
him. Cosmo expresses himself on this sub-
ject with straightforward self-reliance. "The
pope," he says, " who has been successful in
so many undertakings, has no warmer wish
* Pallavicini has flatly denied these negociations.
From what Muratori too (Annali d' Italia x. ii. 51.) addu-
ces on the subject, further reasons for doubting them may
perhaps bederived. He relieson the authority of the his-
torians, who however, may, after all, have written from
hearsay. But a letter from Girolaiiio Guicciardini to Cos-
mo Medici, Cremona, 2G Guigno 1543, in the Archivio
Mediceo at Florence, is decisive on the subject. Gran-
vella himself had spoken of it: S. Ma- mostrava non esser
aliena quando per la parte del papa fussino adempiute le
larghe offerte eran state proferte dal duca di Castio sin a
Genova. [The king showed that he was not ill disposed,
if on the pope's part had been fulfilled the ample offers
made by the duke di Castro at Genoa.] I do not know
what may have been these offers : at any rate they were
too much for the pope. According to Gos.'iPlini, Ferranle
Gonzagas's secretary, the emperor feared on liis depart-
ure, " che in vok'endo ecli le sjialle (i Farnese) non pen-
sassero ad occuparlo" (Vitadi Don Ferrando, p. iv.) [that
as soon as his back was turned the Farnesi would at-
tempt to take possession of it.] A Neapolitan bioirraphy
of Vasto, not yet printed, in the Chigi library in Rome,
contains very detailed and amusing particulars on this
subject.
A. D. 1546.]
PAUL HI.
87
ungratified, than to e^ain some ground in Flo-
rence too, and to alienate this city from the
emperor ; but he shall carry this wish with
him to the grave."*
In a certain respect the pope and the em-
peror confronted each other as heads of oppo-
sing factions. If the emperor had married
his daughter into the pope's family, he did it
only to keep the latter in check ; " to main-
tain," as he said, " the existing state of things
in Italy." The pope, on the other hand,
wished to avail himself of his conne.xion with
tlie emperor, to ab.^tract something from the
imperial power. Ho would gladly at one and
the same time have placed his house under
the protection of the emperor, and have ex'alt-
ed it with the help of the emperor's opponent.
There was still in tact a Gliibelline and
Guelphic party, the former adhering as usual
to the emperor, the latter to tlie pope.
In the year 1-545 we find the two heads of
the factions, notwithstanding all this, again
on friendly terms. Margaret's hopes of soon
giving to her family a descendant of the em-
peror, turned tiie feelings of the Farnesi
again in favour of Charles V. Cardinal Ales-
sand ro Farnese repaired to Worms to meet
him. This embassy was one of the most im-
portant emanating from Paul III. The car-
dinal succeeded m once more allaying the
emperor's displeasure. He endeavoured to
justify his brothers on the score of some
charges alleged against them ; on other sub-
jects he begged for forgiveness, and promised
they would all in future be his majesty's obe-
dient servants and sons. The emperor re-
plied, tliat in that case he would treat them
as his own children. Upon this they proceed-
ed to di.scuss important matters, such as the
war against the Protestants, and the council ;
and both agreed that the latter should take
place without delay. Should the emperor
resolve again to employ his arms against the
Protestants, the pope pledged himself to aid
him therein with all his might, with all his
wealth, " ay, though it were necessary to sell
his crown.f"
The council was actually opened the same
year : we are now for the first time in a con-
dition to see how this was finally brought
about ; the war too was begun in the year
1546. The pope and the emperor united in
* A letter of Cosmo found in the Medicean archives;
likewise of the year 1537. Al napa non 6 restate altra
voglia in quesio mondo se non disporre di questo stato e
levarlo dalladivoiione dell' imperatore, etc.
t We have authentic information respecting the mis-
sion from Granvella himself. DIspaccio di Monsignor di
Corlonaal Duca di Fiorenza. Vormalia, 29 Magglo, 1545.
(Granvella) mi concluse in somma ch'el cardinale era ven-
lUo per giiistificarsi d'alcune calumnie, e supplica S. M.
che quando non polesse interamente discolpare I'attioni
passate di N^o- Signore sue e di sua casa, ella si degnasse
rimellerle e non ne tener conto. Expose di piu, in caso
che S. M. si risolvess'? sbatlere per via d'arma, perche
per giustiiia non si vedeva quasi niodo alcuno, li Lute-
rani, S. Beatitudine concorreici con ogni somma di de-
nari.
annulling the Smalcaldic league, which was
not much less hostile to the temporal power
of the one, than to the spiritual power of the
other. The pope contributed money and
troops.
The emperor's purpose was to carry on
warlike operations simultaneously with peace-
ful negociations. Whilst he curbed the dis-
obedience of the Protestants by war, the coun-
cil was to settle religious controversies, and
above all to proceed to measures of reform,
which would in some degree render submis-
sion possible on the part of the Protestants.
The success of the war surpassed all ex-
pectation. At first the fortunes of Charles
seemed utterly desperate, but he stood firm in
the most perilous circumstances. In the fall
of the year 1546, he saw all Upper Germany
in his hands ; cities and princes vied in sub-
mitting to hi(n : the moment seemed come
when the Protestant party might be wholly
put down in Germany, and the whole north
again made catholic.
What did the pope in that moment?
He recalled his troops from the imperial
army: he transferred the council, that was
just now on the point of fulfilling its purpose,
and putting its pacificatory powers in opera-
tion, from Trent, where it had been assem-
bled at the suggestion of the Germans, to Bo-
logna, his second capital, on the pretext that
a contagious disease had broken out in the
former place.
His motives to this step do not admit of
doubt. The political tendencies of the papa-
cy and the ecclesiastical were once more in
collision. That all Germany should be van-
quished and really submissive to the emperor,
was a thing the pope could never have de-
sired: his expectations had pointed to a far
different result. He might have thought it
probable that the emperor would obtain some
success which would redound to the advan-
tage of the catholic Church ; at the same
time he doubted not, as he himself confesses,*
that he should see him involved in many diffi-
culties and perplexities, which would enable
himself, the pope, more freely to pursue his
private ends. But fortune mocked his calcu-
lations. He had now to fear, and France
drew his attention to this, that this paramount
power attained by the emperor would re-act
on Italy, and be felt by himself but too soon
in spiritual as well as temporal affairs. In
addition to all this, he felt a growing uneasi-
ness with regard to the council. It had long
* Charles C. de Guise au Koy, 21 Oct. 1547. (Ribier, ii
p. To.) written after an audience of the pope : Paul states
the reasons that induced him to take pan in the German
war. Aussi t dire franchement, qu'il estoit bien mieux
de I'empescher (I'empereur) en un lieu, dont il pcnsoil
qu' aisement il ne viendroit i bout. [Also to speak
frankly, that it was much better to surround the emperor
with impediments in a position from which he thought
he would not easily come off with success.]
88
THE POPES ABOUT THE MIDDLE OF THE IGTH CENTURY, [a. d. 1547.
been a burthen to bim,* and he had already
bethousfht him of dissolving' it ; but now the
imperialists among the bishops, made more
and more presumptions by victory, were tak-
ing some singularly bold steps. The Spanish
bishops brought forward certain proposals
under the name of censurce, that tended gen-
erally to a circumscription ofthe papal dignity.
The Reformation, always so much dreaded by
Rome, seemed no longer capable of being post-
poned.
It sounds strangely, but nothing is truer,
than that in the very moment when all North
Germany was tremblin;^ly apprehensive of the
reinstatement of the papal authority, the pope
felt himself an ally of the Protestants. He
manifested his joy at the success of the elec-
tor John Frederick over duke Maurice, and
wished for nothing more ardently than that he
might be equally prosperous agamst the empe-
ror. He specially admonished Francis I. who
was novi? endeavouring to form an universal
league against the emperor, " to succour those
who were not yetbeaten."f It again seemed
probable to him that the emperor encountering
extreme obstacles, would for a long time yet
have his hands occupied : " he believes this,"
said the French envoy, "because he wishes
it." But he deceived himself as he had done
before. The emperor's good fortune baffled
all his.calculations, Charles was victorious at
Muhlberg, and carried oil' the two leaders of
the Protestants as prisoners. He could now
direct his attention more closely than ever to
his Italian schemes.
The pope's conduct, as may be supposed,
had most deeply irritated him. He saw very
clearly through his policy. " His holiness's
intention," he writes to his ambassadors, " has
been from the first to entangle us in these
undertakings, and then to leave us in our em-
barrassment."! The withdrawal ofthe papal
* Du Mortier au Roy, 26 Avril, 1547. Je vous asseure,
Sire, que pendant il esloit i Trente, c'estoilune charge
qui le prpssoil lort. [I assure you, Sire, tliut wlien it was
at Trent, it was a burtlien that lay very heavily upon him. ]
t Le nieme au nieme. Kibier, i. 03/", S.S. ... a entendu
que le due de Saxe se irouve fort, dont elle a lei coniente-
ment, cornme celui qui eslime le coninuin ennemy esu-e
par ces nioyens retenu d'executer ses enireprises, et con-
noist-on bien qu'l seioit utile sous-main d'enlrelenir ceux
qui luy resistent, disanlque vous nesoauriez faired^pense
plus utile. [His holiness— has heard lliat the duke of
Saxony is in strength, whereat he rejoices, as thinking
that the common enemy will thereby be restricted from
accomplishing his designs, and is decidedly of opinion
that il would be useful secretly to aid those who re.sist
him, saying that you could not incur any expense that
would yield more advantage.]
t Copiade la carta que S.M. scrivioaDon Diego de Men-
doca a XI de Hebrero, 1517 aos. Quanto mas y va el dicho
(prospero succeso) adelante, mas nos conhrmamos en
creher que fuesse verdad lo que antes se havia savido de
la intention y inclinacion de S. S., y lo que se dezia (es)
que su fin havia sido por embarauar nos en lo que eslava-
mos, y dexarnos en tllo con sus finos drsinos y plalicas,
pe ro que, aunque pesasse a S.S. y a oiros, espeiavan os
con la ayuda de M.S., ai;n(|ue sin la de S.S., guiar etla
impresa a buen camino. ['Ihe more our success advanc-
ed, the more confirmed were we in the truth of our former
opinion as toihe inteniionand inclination of his Holiness :
the sum of the matter is, that his aim had been to embar-
troops was not a matter of much moment.
Badly paid, and for that reason disorderly and
undisciplined, they had never been good for
much. But the transference of the council
was a matter ofthe greatest importance. It is
wonderful how much on this occasion too the
dissensions ofthe pope and the emperor, pro-
duced by the political position of the former,
aided the cause ofthe Protestants. The means
of compelling them to submit to the voice of
the council now obviously presented them-
selves. But as the council itself had divided
(for the imperial bishops remained in Trent,)
since there was no longer a possibility of its
arriving at any valid resolution, neither could
any one be forced to give his adhesion to the
acts of that body. The emperor was com-
pelled to .^ee the most essential part of his
plans frustrated by the defection of his ally.
He not only insisted continually on the re-
transfer of the council to Trent, but even went
so far as to say, " that he would go to Rome,
and hold the council there himself"
Paul III. bestirred himself : " the emperor,"
he said, " is mighty ; but we too can show
some strength and possess some friends." The
long promised connexion with France was now
effected : Oratio Farnese, and the natural
daughter of Henry II. were betrothed : no
means were left untried to engage tiio Vene-
tians next in a general league. All the emi-
grants were on the alert. Disturbances broke
out in Naples just at the critical moment: a
Neapolitan delegate presented himself to im-
plore the pope's aid on behalf of his vassals in
that quarter, and there were cardinals who
counselled him to accede to the request.
The Italian factions now stood once more
face to face, and with the more decided hosti-
lity as their two leaders were mutually at
variance. On the one side were the governors
of Milan and Naples, the Medici in Florence,
and the Dorias in Genoa; Don Diego Men-
doza, imperial ambassador at Rome, may be
looked on as the centre of their party : they
had still a great force of Ghibelline adhe-
rents in every direction. On the other side
were the pope and the Farnesi, the emigrants
and malcontents, and a newly formed Orsini
party, adherents of the French. The former
party were favoured by the portion of the
council that had remained in Trent, the latter
by the portion that had gone to Bologna.
The hatred mutually cherished by these
parties was suddenly exemplified in a deed of
violence.
The pope had already availed himself of his
former close intimacy with the emperor, to
transfer Parma and Piacenza to his son Pier
rass us in the position in which we stood, and leave us
there with his crafty designs and practices, but that how-
ever unwelcome it might be to his Holiness and others, we
hoped with the help of our Lord, even though without that
of his Holiness, to bring this enierprizeto a favourabla
issue.]
A. D. 1547.]
PAUL m.
Luigi, as a fief under the papal see. The
times were not such as to allow of his pro-
ceeding to such a step with the recklessness
of an Alexander or a Leo. By way of com-
pensation, he re-attached Camerino and Nepi
to the church, and sought to prove that the
Camera would suffer no loss in the transac-
tion, by calculations of the cost attending the
maintenance of those frontier places in a state
of defence, the tribute that his son would have
to pay on account of them, and the revenue to
be derived from the newly annexed localities.
But it was only in private conference with the
cardinals he could succeed in bringing them
over to his views, and this not even with all
of them. Some openly resisted : others sedu-
lously abstained from attending the consistory,
in which the matter was brought forward ;
and CarafFa was seen on the day appointed for
that business, proceeding on a solemn visit to
the seven churches.* The emperor, too, was
averse to the affair ; at least, he would have
wished the dulcedom given to his son-in-law
Ottavio, to whom, however, Camerino also
belonged.! He let the matter pass, because he
was just then in need of the pope's friendship,
but he never gave it liis sanction : he knew
Pier Luigi too well. That very son of the
pope held in his hand all the cords of the secret
associations among the Italian opposition. It
was not doubted tliathe had been privy to the
conspiracy of Fiesco, in Genoa, that he had
assisted i'ietro Strozzi, the powerful head of
the Florentine emigrants, in a moment of the
utmost difficulty, after an unsuccessful attempt
on Milan, to make his esc;ipe over the Po, and
had been the sole instrument of securing his
safety. It was suspected that he himself
entertained fixed designs on Milan. J
One day the pope, who thought himself still
under the influence of favourable stars, and
able to conjure the storms that threatened
him, was particularly cheerful at the audience.
He enumerated all the felicities of his life,
and compared himself in that respect with the
emperor Tiberius. On that very day his son,
the possessor of all his acquisitions, the heir
of his good fortune, was assailed and murder-
ed by conspirators in Piacenza.^
The Ghibellines of Piacenza, aggrieved and
irritated by the violent acts of the duke, who
belonged to the despotic rulers of those times,
and sought especially to keep the nobility in
subjection, were the perpetrators of the dead :
♦ Bromato, Vita di Paolo IV. ii. 222.
t The negocialions on this subject are manifest from
Mendoza's letter of the 29th Nov. 1.517. The pope says
he bestowed the fief on Pier Luigi because the cardinals
preferred this, and " haviendo de vivir tanipoco, como
moalrava su indisposicion," [having so short a time to
live, as appeared from his ill health.]
t Gossellini, Vila di Ferr. Gonzaga, p. 20. Segni, Storie
Fiorentin°, p. 202.
§ Mendooaal Emperador, 18 Sept. 1517. Gast"> la mayor
pane del tempo (on Uiat day) en contar bus felicidades y
•ompararse a Tiberio imperador.
12
but we cannot entertain a doubt of what every
one in that day believed, that Ferrante Gon-
zaga, governor of Milan, had a hand in the
affair.* Gonzaga's biographer, who had been
in the times we arc speaking of his confiden-
tial secretary, and who seeks to exculpate
him, assures us that his intention had only ex-
tended to the imprisonment and not to the
assassination of Farnese.f I find in some
MSS.. still clearer hints that the emperor had
received previous information of this design;
but I hesitate to credit this without further
substantiation. Be this as it may, the imperial
troops hastened to the spot, took possession of
Piacenza, and asserted the claims of the em-
pire upon tliat city. This was in some mea-
sure a retaliation for the pope's de.sertion of
the emperor in the war of Smalcald.
The state of ihings that now arose is with-
out a parallel.
Cardinal Alessandro Farnese, some pre-
tended to know, had said he could only help
himself out of his difficulties by the death of
some imperial ministers : he could not take
them off by violence, and must, therefore, have
recourse to art. While, therefore, the persons
aimed at sought to secure themselves against
poison, two or three Corsican bravoes were
arrested in Milan, and brought to confess,
whether truly or falsely I will not pretend to
say, they had been hired by those belonging
to the pope to assa.ssinate Ferrante Gonzago,
At all events, Gonzago was exasperated
afresh. He must, he said, secure his life as
well as he could : nothing remained for him
but to put out of the way two or three of these
his enemies, either by his own hand or by ano-
ther's.! Mendoza is of opinion there was a
design to kill all the Spaniards in Rome; the
people were to be secretly instigated to the act,
which when done was to be excused on the
plea of their ungovernable fury.
No reconciliation was to be thought ofl
There had been a wish to employ the media-
lion of the emperor's daughter to that end.
But she had never liked the Farnese family,
she despised her husband, who was much her
jimior, and exposed his bad qualities to the
ambas.sadors without reserve ; she said she
would rather cut off her child's head than
* CompertumhabemusFerdinandum esseautorem,[We
have ascertained that Ferrante was the instigator of the
deed] said the pojje in tlie coasislory. Extrait du Consis-
toire tenu par N. S. P6re, in a dispatch from Morvillier,
Venise, 7 Sept. 1547. Ribier, ii. 61.
t Gossellini, p. 45. N6 I'imperatorp, n6 D. Fernando,
come di natura magnanimi, consentirono mai alia niorte
del duca Pier Luigi Farnese; anzi fecero o;ni opera di
salvarlo, cnmandando in specialiti a congiurati che vivo
il tenessero. [Neither the emperor nor Don Fernando,
men of noble natures, ever would consent to the death of
the duke Pier Luigi Farnese, but did all in their power to
save him, eiving special orders to the conspirators, thai
they should keep him alive as a prisoner.]
t Mendo'ja al Emp. Don Hernando procurara de asfi-
purar su vida come mejor piidiere, hechando a parte dos (t
lies di estos, o por su mano o por mano du oiros.
90 THE POPES ABOUT THE MIDDLE OF THE 16TH CENTURY, [a. d. 1548.
make any request lo her father that might be
displeasing to him.
Mendoza's correspondence with his court
lies before me. It would not be easy to match
these letters, for the tone imparted to them by
that deep rooted hate, which both parties strove
to conceal, and each perceived in the other.
There is in them a feeling of superiority filled
with bitterness, of contempt that is yet on its
guard, of distrust, such as men entertain to-
wards an inveterate malefactor.
In this posture of thmgs, France was the
only country to which the pope could look for
support or help.
Accordingly we find him sometimes discus-
sing for hours the relation of the Roman see
to France, in the presence of the French am-
bassadors and cardinals Guise and Farnese.
" He had read in old books," he said, " and
heard it from others during his cardinalate,
and personally experienced it since he became
pope, that the holy see was always then in
power and prosperity when it was allied with
France, while on the contrary it sustained
losses so soon as this ceased to be the case.
He could not forgive Leo X. and his prede-
cessor Clement, he could not forgive himself
for having even favoured the emperor : now,
however, he was determined forever to unite
himself with France. He hoped to live yet
long enough to leave the papal see devotedly
attached to the French king ; he would endea-
vour to make the latter the greatest sovereign
in the world ; his own house should be con-
nected with him by the most indissoluble
ties."*
His purpose was to form with France, Swit-
zerland, and Venice, a league at first defen-
sive, but of which he himself says, that it was
" the door to an offensive league."! The
French calculated that their friends, once
united, would secure to them as large a terri-
tory in Italy as that which the emperor pos-
sessed : tlie whole Orsini party were again
ready to devote themselves to the king with
life and substance. The Farnesi thought that
in the district of Milan they could count at
least on Cremona and Pavia : the Neapolitan
emigrants promised to bring fifteen thousand
men into the field, and forthwith to deliver up
Aversa and Naples. The pope entered with
• Guise au Roy, 31 Oct. 1547. Ribier, ii. 75.
+ Guise au Roy, 11 Nov. 1-547. Ribier, ii. 81. Sire, il
aemble au pape, it. ce qu'il m'a dit, qu'il doil comniencer
a vous faire declaration de son ainili6 par vous presenter
luy el toute sa maison : el pour ce qu'ils n'auroifnl puis-
sance de vous faire service, ny vous aider 4 oft'enser, si
vous premierenienl vous ne les aidez d. defendre, il luy a
8embl6 devoir commencer par la lieue defensive, la quelle
il dil estre la vrayeportedel'offensive. [Sire, the pope is
minded, as he has told me, that he ousilil to begin his dec-
laration of friendship by presenting to you himself, and his
whole house: and for thai they could have no power lo do
you service, or to aid you to offend, unless you in the first
place aid them to defend, il seems fit to him lo bpgin with
the defensive league, which he says is the real door to the
offensive.] The whole correspondence relates to this
topic.
great eagerness into all these schemes. He
gave the French ambassador the first intelli-
gence of a design on Genoa. He was not at
all averse to the conclusion of a league with
the Sultan or with Algiers, for the sake of
getting hold of Naples. Edward VI. had just
ascended the throne of England, and a decid-
edly protestant administration had assumed
the helm of state : the pope for all that advised
Henry II. to make peace with England, "that
he might be free to accomplish other designs
for the best interests of Christendom."*
Thus vehement was the pope's hostility to
the emperor, thus close his connexion with
the French, thus vast were the views he pro-
posed to himself: and yet he never completed
his projected league, he never took the final
step.
The Venetians were astounded. " The
pope," they said, "has been assailed in his
dignity, injured in his own blood, robbed of
the best possessions of his house : he should
grasp at every alliance, on any terms; yet
after so many injuries and insults he still
hesitates and wavers."
Most commonly personal injuries prompt to
extreme resolves. There are natures, how-
ever, in which that is not the case, which
even then deliberate when they are most
deeply wounded ; not that the sentiment of
revenge is less strong in them, but because
they are more forcibly possessed with the con-
sciousness of their adversary's superiority.
The prudence that anticipates the aspect of
the future predominates in them : great mis-
chances do not rouse them, but make them
spiritless, vacillating, and weak.
The emperor was too powerful to enter-
tain any serious fear of the Farnesi. He kept
on his way without bestowing a thought upon
them. He protested solemnly against the
sittings of the council in Bologna, and declared
beforehand all acts that should issue from it
to be null and void. In the year 1548 he
publislied the Interim in Germany. However
intolerable the pope tliought it that the em-
peror should venture to prescribe a rule of
faith, however vehemently he complained that
the property of the church should be left in
the hands of its present possessors (in addition
to all this, cardinal Farnese said he could
point out seven or eight heresies in the Inte-
rim,!) the emperor did not suffer himself to
* Franoois de Rohan au Roy, 24 Febrier, 1548. Ribier,
ii. 117. S. S. m'a conniiand6 de vous faire entendre et
conseiller de sa part, de rcgarder les moyens que vous
pouvez tenir pour vous mettre en paix pour quelqtie temps
avec les Anglais, afin que n'estanl en lanl d' endroits eni-
ppsche vous pussiez plus facilemenl executer vos desseins
el entreprises pour le bien public de la Chrestient^.
+ " Hazer intendcr a V. M. como en el Interim ay 7 o 8
herecias." Mondoca, 10 Juni, 1348. In the " Leltere del
Commendatore Annibal Caro, serine al nome del VA- Far-
nesp," which in other respects are composed with great
reserve, there is a letter (i. 65) to the Cardinal Sfondrato
with respect to the Interim, in which it is said, " the em-
peror has caused a scandal in Christendom; he might
have taken somelhing better in hand."
A. D. 1548.]
PAUL III.
91
be moved from his purpose. In the affair of
Piacenza too, he did not yield a hair's breadth.
Tlie pope demanded the immediate restitution
of that city ; the emperor maintained his claim
to it in right of tlie empire. The pope ap-
pealed to the treaty of 1521, in which Pia-
cenza had been guaranteed to the Roman
see ; the emperor pointed to the word " inves-
titure," by which the empire had asserted its
own right of sovereignty. The pope rejoined
that the word was here employed otherwise
than in the feudal sense : the emperor carried
the discussion no further, but declared that
his conscience forbade him to give back Pia-
cenza.*
Gladly would the pope now have taken up
arms, attached himself to France, and set his
friends and partisans in motion (his adherents
were observed to be busy in Naples, Genoa,
Siena, Piacenza, and even in Orbitello), gladly
would he have revenged himself by some un-
expected blow ; but on the other hand, he felt
extreme dreqjd of the emperor's superior pow-
er, above all of his influence in ecclesiastical
matters ; he was apprehensive that a council
would be called that would declare itself de-
cidedly against him, and even proceed to his
deposition. Mendoza affirms, that the attempt
of the Corsicans upon the life of Ferrante
Gonzaga had especially alarmed him.
However this may be, certain it is he kept
still and smothered his rage. The Farnesi
were even not displeased to see the emperor
take Siena, hoping he would bestow it on tliem
in compensation tor their losses. The most
singular proposals were made in connection
with this subject. " If the emperor agrees to
this," it was said to iSlendoza, "the pope on
his part must then send back the council to
Trent, and not only proceed in other respects
according to the emperor's wishes (for exam-
ple, m solemnly recognizing his right to Bur-
gundy), but also declare Charles his successor
in the papal see. For, said they, the climate
of Germany is cold, that of Italy warm ; warm
countries are more wholesome for the gout,
with which the emperor is afflicted. "f I will
not maintain that they were serious in mak-
ing these proposals, for the old pope lived in
the belief that he should survive the emperor ;
we see, however, on what dubious and
strangely unaccustomed paths tlieir policy
had adventured. I'heir movements and their
* " LettPre del Cardiniil Fainese, scritte al Vpscovo di
Fano, nuntio al imperatore Carlo," Inforiiiationi PoliticliP,
xix. anil some instruction-! of the pope's and Farnpse's,
ib. xii. throw light on ihpse transactions, of which I can
only touch on the main points.
t Cardinal Gambara inadR the proposition to Blendoza
in a private meeting in a church. He said at least, " que
avia scripto al papa al20 desto, y no lo havia toinado mal."
[That he had written somewhat thereabout to the pope,
and that he had not taken it aiuiss.] Le Conneslable au
Eoy, 1 Sept. l.)19 (Ribier, ii. 155, p. 69). Lp papp et sos
minislrps vousontjusques-icy us6 de toutes dissiimdalions,
les-quellps ils ont depuis quilque temps voulu couvrir de
pur mensoiigp, pour en former une vraye meschancete,
puis qu'il faut que je I'appelle ainsi.
negotiations with the emperor did not escape
the observation of the French. We have a
very indignant letter from the constable de
Montmorency, in which he speaks without
qualificationof" dissimulations, lies, and down-
right villainies," practised in Rome against
the king of France.*
At last, that he might after all do some-
thing, and gain at least one fixed point in
these contentions, the pope resolved, since not
only his house's title to Piacenza but even
that of the church was disputed, to give back
that dukedom to the immediate possession of
the latter. This was the first time he had
ever done anything contrary to the interests
of his grandchildren. He thought he pos-
sessed unlimited authority over them ; he had
always lauded them, and deemed himself for-
tunate in their faultless obedience. But the
difference was, that till now he had always
striven for their manifest advantage; now, on
the contrary, he proposed a measure at vari-
ance therewith. They attempted at first to
divert him from his purpose by indirect means.
They had it represented to him that the day
proposed for the consistory was inauspicious,
being St. Roque's day ; that the exchange he
contemplated in giving them back Camerino
instead of Piacenza, would be rather prejudi-
cial to the church than otherwise. They
turned against him the very arguments he
had himself used on a former occasion. But
ail their efforts could but delay, not prevent
the measure. Paul J II. finally gave orders
to Camillo Orsino, governor of Parma, to keep
pos.session of that city in the name of the
church, and to give it up to no onfe whatever.
After this declaration, which left not a doubt
behind, the Farnese no longer contained them-
selves. On no consideration would they con-
sent to be despoiled of a dukedom, that put
them on a footing with the independent
princes of Italy. Ottavio made an attempt
to get Parma into his hands in defiance of the
pope, by fiirce or stratagem ; but Camillo's
prudence and determination frustrated his
schemes. What must have been Paul's feel-
ings when he learned this! It was reserved
for the old man at the close of his days to see
his grandsons, to whom he had manifested so
much affectionate partiality, for whose advan-
tage he had heaped on himself the reproaches
of the world, now rebelling against him!
Even the failure of his attempt did not deter
Ottavio from his purpose. He wrote to the
pope, telling him flatly, that if Parma w^as not
restored to him by fair means, he would make
peace with Ferrante Gonzaga, and endeavour
to possess himself of it with the help of the
imperial arms. And in fact his negociations
with that mortal enemy of his house were
* Dandolu also asserts his positive determination: S. S.
era a tutto volla a restiluir Parma alia chiesa. [His holi-
ness waa fully minded to restore Parma lo the church.]
92 THE POPES ABOUT THE MIDDLE OF THE 16TH CENTURY, [a. d, 1552.
highest station. But how insignificant ap-
pears even a miglity mortal in comparison
with the world's history ! In all his thoughts
and efforts he is circumscribed and commanded
by the span of time he looks upon, by momen-
tary struggles that press upon him as though
they were those of eternity : he is fettered too
beyond the lot of other jnen, by the personal
considerations incident to his station; they
tax his powers to the utmost, fill up his days,
sometimes it may be with satisfaction, but
oftener with vexation and sorrow, and waste
and wear him away. Even while he per-
ishes, the eteniLil destinies of the world roll
on to their accomplishment.
already far advanced : a courier had been des-
patched to the emperor with the definitive
proposal.* The pope complained loudly that
he was betrayed by his own kindred ; their
conduct was such as must bring him to the
grave. What wounded him mo^t deeply was,
that the rumour arose he had himself been
privy to Otiavio's proceedings, and had taken
a part in them belying his open professions.
He told cardinal Este that never in his life
had anything caused him such anguish, not
even Fier Luigi's death, nor the seizure of
Piacenza. But he would not leave the world
in any doubt as to his real sentiments.f His
only consolation was, that at least Alessandro
Farnese, the cardinal, was innocent, and de-
voted to him. He gradually became con-
vinced that the latter too, in whom he trusted
wholly, to whose hands were committed the
entire management of public affairs, was but
too well aware of the matter, and had been a
consenting party to it. This discovery broke
his heart. On the day of All Souls (Nov. 2,
1549), he communicated it to the Venetian
ambassador in bitter anguish of heart. The
day following he went, to seek if possible
some relief of mind, to his vigna on iVIonte
Cavallo. But he found no repose. He sent
for Cardinal Alessandro : one word brought
on another ; the pope burst into the most vio-
lent paroxysm of anger, snatched his nephew's
cap out of his hand, and dashed it on the
ground.| The court already anticipated a
change ; it was generally supposed the pope
would remove the cardmal fi-om the adminis-
tration. But it did not come to that. This
violent agitation of mind at the advanced age
of eighty-three, was fatal to the old man. He
was immediately taken sick, and died a few
days afterwards, on the lOth Nov. 1549. All
ranks flocked to kiss his foot. He was as
much beloved as his grandsons were hp.ted :
that he had met with his death through their
means, on whom he had bestowed most kind-
ness, moved every one to pity.
Paul III. was a man fjll of talent and intel-
lect, of penetrating sagacity, exalted to the
* Gossplini, Vita di Ferr. Gonzasa, p. 65.
t Hippolytp, Cardinal de Ferrare, an Roy, 22 Oct. 1540.
Kibier ii. 2i8. S. 8. m'a asseure n'avoir en sa vie eu
chose dont die ait tant receu d'ennuy, pour ropinjon
qu'elle craint qu'on veuille prendre que cecy ail este de
son conspntemi nl.
t Dandolo. II Kev'"0' Farnese si resolse di non volpr
che casa sua restasse priva di Roma, e se ne messe alia
forte. . . S. S. accortasi di quesla contrao|)eralione del
Revmo- Farnese me la comunico il di de' niorti, in cran
piarte con grandissima amaritudine, et il di dielro la mat-
lina per tempo se ne anda alia sun viena di Monte Ca-
vallo per cercar transtuUo, dove si ini;oler6 per lal causa
con esso Revn.o- Farnese. . . . Gli fu troviito tulto I'inte-
riore nellissimo, d' haver a viver ancor qualche anno, se
no.i che n' 1 coie Ire goccie di sanL'ue agghiaciato (this is
well known to be an erroneous noiion), suidicati dal molo
della colera. [ — All his inside was lound in a very sound
state, so that he mifrhl have lived so:np years longer, with
the exception of three clols of coj,'.'ulated blood in thp
heart, sud] 03,jd to have betn caused by the vehemence of
his choler.]
Julius III.
During the conclave, five or six cardinals
happened to be standing round the altar of
the chapel, talking of the difficulty there was
to choose a pope. *' Elect me," said cardinal
Monte, one of their number, "arid the day fol-
lowing 1 will make you my intimates and fa-
vourites of the whole college of cardinals."
"Shall we indeed elect him !" said Sfondrata,
another of them, when they had separated.
Da Monte had the character of being impetu-
ous and irascible, and in other respects too
had small grounds for hope : the lowest bets
were staked upon his name.* In spite of all
this, so it was that he was elected (Feb. 7,
1550.) In memory of Julius II., whose
chamberlain he had been, he styled himself
Julius III.
Every face in the imperial court was lighted
up with joy, when this choice became known.
Duke Cosmo had chiefly contributed to bring
it about. It was part and parcel of the pre-
eminence of fortune and power, at which the
emperor then found himself arrived, that at
last a pope, on whose devotedness he could
reckon, ascended the papal chair. Public af-
fairs seemed destined now to take a difierent
course.
The emperor still regarded it as of extreme
importance, that the council should again be
established in Trent; he still hoped to com-
pel the Protestants to attend it, and to submit
to its authority. The new pope received the
proposition with cordiality. If he did set
forth the difficulties inherent in the matter,
his only anxiety was, lest he should be thought
to put them forward as excuses : he was never
tired of protesting that this was not so: he
had acted all his days without subterfuge or
pretence, and would ever maintain the same
conduct. He did actually appoint the re-
newal of the council for the spring of 1551,
* Dandolo, Rf laUone, 1551 ; Questo revmo. di Monte sa
bm subito in consideratioae di ogn' uno, ma all' imon-
trooiin' uno parldva tanto d: Ua sua tolera e subitezza,
che ne posso mai che di pochissima scommessa.
A. D. 1552.]
JULIUS III.
03
declaring that he did so without pact or con-
dition.*
But all was far from being achieved when
the good will of the pope was secure,
Ottavio Farnese had, by a resolution passed
by the cardinals in conclave at the instance
of Julius, become again possessed of Parma.
This had not occurred contrary to the empe-
ror's will ; they had long been negotiating
together, and some hopes were entertained of
a renewed good understanding between tliem.
But the emperor's mind was made up not to
give Ottavio back Piacenza too; and he even
retained the places in the territory of Parma,
which Gonzaga had seized : Ottavio, in con-
eequence, continued to maintain a warlike
attitude.f There was no possibility of any
real confidence between the two, after so
many reciprocal offences. It is true, the death
of Paul III. had deprived his grandsons of a
great support, but it had also set their hands
free. 'J' hey had now no need to give any fur-
ther consideration to the general interests or
to those of the Church, but could adopt mea-
sures with an exclusive view lo their own.
"We still find Ottavio possessed with feelings
of bitter hatred. His enemies, he said, were
endeavouring to wrest Parma from him, and
even to put himself out of the way ; but they
should succeed in neither the one nor the
olher.f
In this temper he turned to Henry II., and
that king joyfully accepted his proposals.
Italy and Germany were filled with mal-
contents. What the emperor had already ef-
fected, and that which was yet looked for
from him, his religious and his political atti-
tude, had all stirred up numberless enemies
again,-t him. Henry II. resolved to revive
his father's anti-Austrian plans. He aban-
doned the war with England, concluded an
alliance with Ottavio, and took the garrison
of Parma into his pay. French troops too
soon appeared in Mirandola. The banners of
France were seen waving in the heart of
lUly.
In this new complication of things Julius
adhered stedfastly to the emperor. He thought
it intolerable that a miserable worm, Ottavio
Farnese, should rebel at once against an em-
peror and a pope. " It is our will," he de-
clares to his nuncio, "to embark in the same
vessel with his im.perial majesty, and to share
the same fortune. To Him who has the wis-
dom and the power we leave the determina-
tion of the course.^" The emperor declared
* Letlpre del Nunzio Pighino, 12 e 15 Ag. 1550: Inff.
Polit. xi.x.
t Gosstllini, Vila di Ferr. Conzagii, and the justifica-
tion of Gonzaga, in the third boolc, fio^n the accusation of
his having caused the war, atibrd an authentic explana-
tion of this turn of things.
t Letters delli Signoii Farnesiani per n'^poliodi Parma,
Infoimalt. Pol. xix. The above is fio n a 1'11't of Oltnvio
lo cardinal AltssHndro Farn?SP,Parina, 2Il1i March, loot.
§ Juhus Papa III. Manu propria: Instiutiione per voi
himself for the immediate forcible pjrction of
the French and their adherents. 'J'he impe-
rial and papal troops were very soon in the
field. An important fortress in the Parmcg-
giana fell into their hand.«, they laid waste
the whole region, and completely surrounded
Mirandola.
But these petty hostilities were not enough
to quell the movements that had indeed ori-
ginated here, but had since laid hold on all
Europe. War broke out by land and sea, and
on every frontier where met the territories of
the emperor and of the king of France. When
the Protestants at last allied themselves to
the French, they cast into the scale a weight
very different from that of the Italians. The
most determined attack Charles had ever sus-
tained ensued. The French appeared on the
Rhine, the elector Maurice in the Tyrol.
The veteran conqueror, after taking up his
position on the mountain land between Italy
and Germany, to keep them both in obedience,
saw himself suddenly perilled, vanquished,
and almost a prisoner.
This produced an immediate effect on the
affairs of Italy. " Never could we have be-
lieved," said the pope, "that God would so
visit us.*" He was constrained, in April
1552, to agree to a truce with his enemies.
Some mischances there are that come not
wholly unwelcome. They put an end to a
course of action that begins to be irksome,
they give a legitimate reason or a manifest
excuse for abandoning it.
The ill luck that befel the pope seems al-
most to have been of this kind. It was with
dissatisfaction he had seen his capital filled
with troops, his coffers emptied, and he thought
he sometimes had cause to complain of the
imperial ministers.! The council, too, had
become a source of real uneasiness to him.
Since the appearance of the German delegates,
to whom promises of reformation had been
made, the proceedings took a bolder course.
Already in 1552, the pope complained that
attempts were made to despoil him of his au-
thority ; that the intention of the Spanish
bishops, was on the one hand servilely to sub-
mit to the chapters, on the other to withdraw
from the holy see the patronage of all bene-
fices : he would not however suffer that, under
the title of abuses, he should be robbed of that
which was no abuse, but an essential attribute
Monsignor d'Imola con I'imperatore. L' ultimo di Marzo
Infoi-matt. Pol. xii. Reassigns the rea!;oii for this close
union: Non per atfelto alcuno humano, ina perche ye-
demo la causo nostra esse con S. Ma. Cesarea in tulli li
atTari e niassimamente in quello della rpligione. [Not
for any human affection, but because we see that our
cause is identified with the emperor's in all matters, espe-
ciullv those of religion.]
* Al C. Crescentio, 13 April, 1552. t «• w i
tLetteradel papa a Meniloza,2G Dec, 1351. (Inflf.Pol.
xix.) " Without pride be it said : Of i.ounsol we have no
n-ed; we could even hflp others in that respect; help
indeed we might require."
94 THE POPES ABOUT THE MIDDLE OF THE 16TH CENTURY, [a. d. 1555.
of his power.* It cnuld not, therefore, have
been wholly displeasing to him, that the at-
tack of the Protestants broke up the council:
he hastened to decree its suspension. He was
thereby rid of innumerable pretensions and
disputes.
From that time forth, Julius III. never again
seriously applied his energies to politics. The
inhabitants of Siena indeed complained, that
although their half townsmen by the mother's
side, he had seconded duke Cosmo's project
of subduing them; but a subsequent judicial
investigation proved the falsehood of the
charge. It was rather Cosmo who had rea-
son to complain. The pope did not hinder
the Florentine emigrants, the bitterest foes of
his ally, from assembling and arming in the
states of the church.
The villa of pope Giulio, at the entrance of
the Porta del Popolo, is still visited by the
stranger. Those times come bodily before
him, as he ascends the ample steps to the gal-
lery, whence he overlooks the whole extent
of Rome from Monte Mario, and all the wind-
ings of the Tiber. The buildmg of this palace,
the laying out of its gardens, were the daily
and hourly occupation of Julius III. He him-
self designed the plan, but the work was never
ended; every day new suggestions and ca-
prices presented themselves, which were forth-
with to be put in execution by the architects.f
Here the pope passed his days, forgettinar all
the world beyond. He had done a'good deal
for the advancement of his relations. Duke
Cosmo gave them Sansovino, their ancestral
place, and the emperor gave them Novara ;
Julius himself bestowed on them the dignities
of the ecclesiastical states, and Camerino. He
kept his word with his favourite, a youth
whom he had taken a liking to in Parma, and
made him a cardinal. He had happened once
to see him seized by an ape, and had been
pleased by his spirit and courage : from that
moment he brought him up, and bestowed on
him a regard which unhappily constituted his
only merit. Julius wished to see him, and
the rest of those belonging to him, well pro-
vided for, but he had no inclination to involve
himself in dangerous perplexities on their ac-
* Al Crescenlio 16 Gena., 1j52. He exclaims: Non
sari veio, non coinportaremo mai, prima lassaremo ruinare
il mondo. [It shall nol be, we will never endure it, we
would sooner see Uie downfall of the world.]
t Vasari. Boissard describes their extent at that time;
"Occupat fere omnes colles qui ab urbe ad pontem Mil-
vium protenduntur;" [ocrupyin? almost the whole range
of hills from the city to the Miivian bridge,] he relates
their magnificence, and gives some of the inscriptions:
e. g. Honeste voluptarier^cunctis fas honestis eslo. [Be
■virtuous delights allowed the virtuous,] and particularly:
Dehinc proximo in templo Deo ac divo Andreae gratias
agunto (the visiters I presume are understood,) vitamque
et salutem Julio III., Poiiici IVIaximo, Baluino ejus fratri,
et eorum familiae universae, plurimam et seternam p e-
canlor. [Let them give thanks to God and St. Andrew in
the adjoining temple, and implore life and healih, abund-
ant and eternal, for poae Paul [11., Baldwin his brother,
and their whole family.] Julius died on the 23rd of,
March, 1555. I
count. The easy pleasant life of his villa, as
we have said, suited best for him. He gave en-
tertainments, which he seasoned with sprink-
lings of proverbial wit, that at times indeed
called up the blushes of his guests. In the
important business of Church and state, he
took no more part than was barely unavoid-
able.
Marcellvs II.
It was impossible that Church or state could
thrive much under such treatment. The rup-
ture between the two great catholic powers
was constantly becoming wider and more pe-
rilous; the German Protestants had mightily
recovered from their defeat of 1547, and stood
firmer than ever. No thought could be enter-
tained of the often proposed catholic reform.
The fact could not be concealed, that the pros-
pects of the Romish church were in every
direction gloomy and ambiguous.
Now if, as we have seen, there had risen
in the bosom of that church, a stricter spirit,
that heartily condemned the whole life and
conduct of so many pontiffs, must not that
feeling at last display itself in the election of
a pope? Much indeed depended on the per-
sonal qualities of the pontiffs; for this very
reason had the highest dignity been made
elective, in order that a man representing the
prevailing spirit of the Church should be set
at the head of affairs.
The first time the more austere party pos-
sessed influence in the choice of a pope, was
after the death of Julius Hi. The latter had
often felt himself checked in his undignified
behaviour by the presence of cardinal Marcello
Cervini. This determined the choice. April
II, 1555, Marcellus II. was elected.
His whole life had been earnest and irre-
proachable : that reformation of the ('hurch,
of which others but talked, he exhibited in his
own person. His election gave rise to the
greatest hopes. " I had prayed," says a con-
temporary, " that there might come a pope,
who should know how to redeem the fair
words, church, council, and reform, from the
contempt into which they had fallen ; tli rough
this election, I deemed my hope fulfilled ; my
wish appeared to have become a fact."* " The
opinion," says another, "entertained of this
pope's worth and incomparable wisdom, filled
the world with hope : now, if ever, it was
thought, will it be possible for the Church to
exting-uish heresy, to reform abuses and cor-
ruption of manners, to become whole and
sound again, and once more united. "f Mar-
cellus began entirely in this spirit. He did
not suffer his relations to come to Rome : he
* Seripando al vescovo di Fiesole. Lettere di Principi,
iii. Iii2.
t Lettere di Principi, iii. 141. The editor speaks here
in his own person.
A. D. 1555.]
PAUL IV.
95
made a multitude of retrenchments in the ex-
penditure of tlie court, he is said to have
drawn up a catalogue of the principal reforms
requisite in the ecclesiastical institutions; he
immediately endeavoured to restore its gen-
uine solemnity to divine worship; all his
thoughts turned on a council, and on reform.*
In politics he assumed a neutral position, with
wliich tiie emperor was contented. " The
world however," say those contemporaries of
his, " was not worthy of him ;" and they apply
to this Marcellus, Virgil's words respecting
another :
" Oslendent terris hunc tanlum fata."
He died on the twenty-second day of his pon-
tificate.
We cannot speak of effects operated during
60 hrief an administration ; but even this be-
ginning, this election, are in themselves indi-
cations of the spirit that was beginning to
prevail. It predominated in the next conclave
likewise, whence the most austere of all the
cardinals, Giovanni Pietro Caraffa, issued as
pope, May 23, 1555.
Paul IV.
We have often spoken of him already: he
is the same who founded the Theatines, re-
established the inquisition, and so essentially
contributed to the confirmation of the old
doctrine at Trent. If there was a party
which purposed the renovation of Catholicism
in all its strictness, that party possessed in
him who now ascended the papal chair, not a
member merely, but a founder and a leader.
Paul IV. already numbered nine-and-seventy
years, but his deep sunk eyes retained all the
fire of youth. He was very tall and thin, his
etep was rapid, and he seemed all sinew. In
his personal habits, he bound himself by no
rule, often slept by day and studied by night,
and woe to the servant who should have enter-
ed his room before he had rung his bell. In
like manner in all other matters he followed
the impulse of the moment,f but this was
always governed by a habit of mind formed
by the practice of a long life into a second
nature. He seemed to know no otiier duty,
no other occupation, than the restoration of
the old faith to its former domination. Such
natures arise from time to time, and we occa-
sionally meet with specimens of them in our
own day. They form their conceptions of the
* Petri Polidori, de Vita Marcelli II. Coniracntarius,
1744, p. 119.
t Kelazione di M. Bernardo Navagero (clie fu poi car-
dinale) alia .Serma- Repca- di Venetia, lornando di Roma,
Ambascialore appresso del Pontefice Paolo IV., 1558, in
many Italian libraries, also in the Informazioni Politiche
in Berlin. La complessione di quesio pontefice 6 cole-
rica adusto ; ha una incredibil gravitSi e grandezza in tutte
le sue azioiii, et veramenie pare nato al signnresgiare.
[The complexion of this pontiff is swarthy choleric; he
displays incredible gravity and grandeur in all his ac-
tions, aad seems truly born to command, j
world and all its purposes from a single point
of sight; their individual instincts are so pow-
erful as to tincture all their views; they are
indefatigable speakers, and always possess a
certain freshness of manner, pouring forth in
inexhaustible streams the system of thought
that has grown up in them by a sort of fatality.
How vastly important do they become at
times, when all their actions are purely and
absolutely dependent on their opinions, and
their will becomes united with power ! What
might there not have been expected of Paul
IV., who had never known what it was to
pause from any motives of discretion, who had
always carried out his opinions with the ut-
most impetuosity, now that he was exalted
to the topmost station !* It was matter of
wonder to himself how he had arrived there,
since he had never bestowed the least favour
on a single cardinal, and had never shown a
trace in his conduct, of anything but the utmost
austerity. He believed it was not the cardinals,
but God himself who had chosen him and called
him to the accomplishment of his purposes.!
" We promise and vow," he says, in the bull
published on the commencement of his ponti-
ficate, "to make it in truth our care, that the
reform of the universal church, and the Roman
court, shall be set on foot." He marked the
day of his coronation by the issuing of com-
mands respecting convents and orders. He
sent without delay two monks from Monte
Cassino into Spain, to restore the decayed
discipline of the convents in that country.
He appointed a congregation for general re-
form, consisting of three classes, each consti-
tuted by eight cardinals, fifteen prelates, and
fifty learned divines. The articles which
were to be discussed by them, and which re-
lated to the collation to benefices, were com-
municated to the universities. He set to
work, as we see, with great earnestness.]: It
seemed as if that ecclesiastical spirit, which
* It may bo guessed that his character did not meet
with unanimous approbation. Aretino's Capitolo al R&
di Francia thus describes him:
Caraffa, ipocrita infingardo,
Che tien per concienza spirituale
Quando si mette del pepe in sul cardo.
[Caraffa, loitering hypocrite, who makes matter of reli-
gioug conscience of peppering a thistle.]
t Relatione del Clmo- M. Aluise Mocenigo K. ritornato
dalla corie di Roma, 1560, (Arch. Venez.) Fu eletto ponte-
fice contra il parer e credere di ogn' uno, e forse anco di
se stesso, come S. S. propria mi disse poco inanzi morisse,
die non avea mai comoiaciulo ad alcuno e che se un car-
dinale eli avea domandatoqualche gratia, gli aveasempre
risposto alia ri versa, ne mai compiaciutolo ; onde disse : lo
non so come mi habbiano eletto papa, e concludo che
Iddio faccia li pontefici. [He was elected pope, contrary
to probability and lo the belief of every bidy, himself
perhaps included, as his holiness himself told me short-
ly before he died, that he had never been complaisant to
any one, and that if a cardinal asked him any favour, he
had always given a contrary answer, and never had com-
plied with the request ; for which reasons, he said, I know
not how they elected me i»pe, and conclude that God
appoints the pontiffs.]
t Bromato, Vila di Paolo IV. lib. ix. § 2. § 17. (ii. 2iH.
289.)
98 THE POPES ABOUT THE MIDDLE OF THE 16TH CENTURY, [a. d. 1555-
had for a considerable time made good its in-
fluence ainon^ the inferior classes of the
clergy, had now taken possession of the papacy
likewise, and would forthwith assume the sole
direction of Paul IV's pontifical career.
The only remaining question was, what
position he would assume with respect to the
general movements of the political world.
It is no easy task to change the main direc-
tions a power has once taken, and which have
gradually identified themselves with its very
being.
This was a moment in which it seemed for
once possible to indulge the wish which must
have ever been natural to the popes, to deliver
themselves from the yoke of the Spaniards.
That war which we have seen arising out of
the concerns of the Farnesi, was the most
unfortunate in which Charles V. ever embark-
ed. He was.pressed hard in the Netherlands ;
Germany revolted from him ; Italy had ceased
to be faithful; he could no longer rely on the
Estes and the Gonzagas; he himself was sick
and weary of life. I know not whether any
other pope, had he not belonged directly to
the imperial party, could have resisted the
allurements presented by these circumstances.
For Paul IV. they were specially attractive.
He had beheld Italy still in the freedom of the
fifteenth century (he was born in 1476), and
his soul clung to the remembrance. He
compared the Italy of those times to a well-
tuned instrument of four strings, namely, Na-
ples, Milan, the Church, and Venice. He
execrated the memory of Alfonso and Louis
the Moor, "unhallowed and lost souls," as
he said, "whose discord destroyed that har-
mony."* The mastery since acquired by the
Spaniards he had never brought himself to
endure. The house of Carafta from which he
sprang, belonged to the French party: it had
borne arms unnumbered times against Castil-
ians and Calalonians; in 152S it had again
joined the French ; during the troubles of 1547
it was Giovanni Pietro Carafta, who advised
Paul III. to sieze Naples. But this party-
hatred was augmented by other causes. Ca-
rafta had always maintained that Charles V.
favoured the Protestants out of jealousy to-
wards the pope, and he ascribed the progress
of that party directly to the emperor.f Charles
knew him well. He once excluded him from
the council appointed for the administration
of Naples; he never allowed him to obtain
quiet possession of his Neapolitan ecclesiasti-
cal offices: furthermore, he had occasionally
remonstrated severely against his declama-
tions in the consistory. All this, as may be
supposed, added to the virulence of CaratTa's
♦ Infelici quplle anime di Alfonso d'Aragona el Ludo-
Tico Ui Milano, che furiio li primi che guaslaroDO cosi
nobil inslruiiienlo d'llalia. In Navagero.
t Meino.iale dato a Annibale Kucpllai, Sell. 1555, (In-
formall. Pol. torn, xxiv.) Chiamava Uberamanie la M^'
6. Cesarea fautore di herelici e di scianialici.
dislike. As a Neapolitan and Italian, as a
Catholic and as pope, he hated the emperor,
and, save his reforming zeal, he cherished no
other passion than that hate.
Hardly had he taken possession of the pon-
tificate— not without a certain self-compla-
cence, when he remitted taxes to the Romans,
imported corn, for which he saw a statute
erected to him, and received amidst the pa-
geantry of a sumptuous court, administered
by Neapolitan nobles, the homage of embassies
flocking in from all quarters — hardly had he
been installed, when he v/as already involved
in a thousand disputes with the emperor.
Thereupon the latter was said to have remon-
strated with the cardinals of his party ; his
adherents held suspicious meetings, and some
of them carried ofTfrom the harbour of Ci vita
Vecchia some ships that had previously been
taken from them by the French.*' The pope's
fury instantly blazed up. He arrested such
of his vassals and cardinals as were inclined
to the emperor's cause, or they fled and ho
confiscated their possessions. Nor was that
enough for him. He entered, without long
deliberation, on the alliance with the French,
which Paul III. could never make up his mind
to conclude. " The emperor," he said, "only
thought to put an end to him by a kind of
mental fever ; but he would come to open con-
flict; and with the help of the king of France,
he would seek to free poor Italy from the
tyranny of the Spaniards : he hoped yet to see
two French sovereigns in Milan and Naples."
He would sit for hours at table over the black
thick volcanic wine of Naples, that was his
favourite beveragef (it was of the kind called
Mangiaguerra), and pour forth torrents of in-
vectives against the Spaniards, those schis-
matic and heretics, accursed of God, seed of
Jews and Moors, dregs of the world, and so
* Instrutlioni e LetlerediMonsignor dellaCasaa nomo
del C'- Caratfa, dove si contiene il principio della roitura
della guerra fra papa Paolo IV., e I'imperalore Carlo V.,
1555. Also in the Inf. Pol. 24.
t Navagero. L'ordine suo 6 sempre di mangiare du9
voile il giorno: vuol esserservito niollo delicalanienle, e
nel principio del ponlificalo 25 pialli non basiavano: beve
molto piu di quello che mangia ; il vino 6 polenie e gagli-
ardo, negro e lanlo spesso che si potria quasi lagliare, di-
mandasi mangia-guerra, che si conduce del regno di Na-
poli : dopopasto sempre beve malvagia, che isuoichiamano
lavarsi i demi. Slava a mangiare in publico, come gli
allri ponleficijSino al ultima indispositione che furiputala
monale, quando pcrdelto I'appetito: consumava qualcha
voltalre hore di tempo dal sedere al levarsi da mensa,
enirando in varii ragionoinenti secondo I'occasione el
usando molle voile in quel impctoadir molle cose secrets
e d'imporianza. [His custom is, always to eal twice a
day ; he insists on being served delicately, and in the be-
ginning of his pontificate iwenty-five dishes were not
enough for his table. He drinks much more Ihau he eala.
His wine is strong and brisk, black, and so thick thai it
might almost be cut. It is called mangiaguerra, and
comes from the kingdom of Naples. He used to eal in
public like other popes, till his last illness, which was
reputed mortal, when he lost his appetite. After meals
he always drinks malmsey, which those about him called
rinsing his mouth. He would sometimes spend three
hours from the lime he sal down till he rose from table,
entering into numerous discussions, as the occasion sug-
gested, and ofK n in his loquacity giving utterance lo man/
matlers oiaecreaj and impoilance.]
A. D, 1556.]
PAUL IV.
97
forth.* But he consoled himself with the text,
" Thou siialt walk upon serpents, thou shall
tread upon lions and dragons," Now was the
time arrived when Charles and his son should
suffer chastisement for their sins. He, the
pope, would inflict it; he would free Italy from
him. If men would not hearken to him, if
they would not stand by him, then must it be
told in future times that an aged Italian, so
near his death, and who ought rather to have
sought repose, and to have prepared for his
last hour, had yet conceived sucii exalted
plans. It is not necessary to go into the de-
tails of the negotiations he plied in the earnest
pursuit of this idea. When the French, in
spite of an understanding already entered into
with him, yet concluded a truce with Spain,!
he sent his nephew Charles Caraffa to France ;
where the latter succeeded in engaging in his
interests the several parties that were there
contending for power, the Montmorencies and
the Guises, the king's wife and his mistress,
and in causing a new outbreak of hosti]ities.|
In Italy, he procured a vigorous ally in the
duke of Ferrara. They contemplated com-
pletely revolutionizing Italy. Florentine and
Neapolitan emigrants filled the curia ; the
time of their restoration seemed arrived. The
papal fiscal commenced a legal process against
the emperor Charles and king Philip, in which
he proposed an excommunication against those
sovereigns, and a release of their subjects
from their allegiance. In Florence, evidence,
it was constantly asserted, existed to show,
that the house of Medici was also doomed
to suffer downfall. 5 Every preparation was
made for war, and the result of all the previous
struggles and tendencies of the century was
once more rendered problematical.
How wholly different was the turn now
taken by the papacy from that anticipated !
* Navagero. Mai parlava di S. M^- e della nalione Spag-
nola, che non gli chiamasse eretici, scisinalici, e iiiala-
delti da Dio, seme di Giiulei e di Mori, feccia del mondp,
deplorando la miseria d'It:ilia, che fosse astrelta a servire
gente cosi abjetta e cosi vile. The dispatches of llie
French ambassadors are full of these outbreaks. See, for
instance, those of Lansac and Avancon, in Ribier, ii.
610—618.
t The account of CarafTa's incredulity in the first in-
stance, given by Navagero, is very characteristic : Doman-
dando io al ponlc-fice el al C' CaratTa se havevano avviso
alcuno delle tregue (of Vaucelles) si guardarono I'un I'al-
tro ridendo, quasi volessero dire, si come mi disse anche
apertamente il pontefice, che questa speranza di tregue
era assai debole in lui; e non di meno venne I'avviso il
giorno seguente, il quale si come consolo tutta Roma, cosi
diede tanto travaglio e tanlo molestia al papa et al car-
dinale, che non lo poterono dissimulare. Diceva il papa
che queste tregue sarebbero la ruina del mondo. [When
1 asked the pope and cardinal Caratfa if they had any
advices of the truce, they loolted at each other with a
smile, as if they would say, as the pope iudeed even told
me openly, that their anticipations of such a truce were
faint enough : nevertheless the news arrived the next day,
and proved as consolatory to all Rome, as it caused trou-
ble and vexation to the pope and the cardinal, which they
could not conceal. The pope said that tViis truce would
be the ruin of the world.]
t Rabulin, M^inoires, Collect. Univers. torn. 38. 358.
Particularly ViUars, Memoires. lb. torn. 35. 277.
§ Gussoni, Rel"«- di Toscana.
13
All designs of reform were forced to give way
to those of war, which brought in their train
results of a totally opposite character.
He who as Cardinal had most zealously, and
even at his own personal risk, condemned the
system of nepotism, was now seen to abandon
himself to that very abuse. He raised to the
rank ofcardinal his nephew. Carlo Caraffa, who
had revelled in the wild excess of the soldier's
life,* and of whom Paul IV. said himself, that
his arm was dyed in gore to the elbow. Carlo
had found means to propitiate the weak old
man, causing himself to be discovered occa-
sionally praying in seeming remorse before
the crucifix.f But the main thing was, that
they both agreed in hating the same object.
Carlo Caraffa, who had rendered the emperor
military service in Germany, complained that
the latter had made him nothing but the most
ungracious return. The depriving him of a
prisoner, from whom he had expected a large
ransom, and the refusal to ratify his nomina-
tion, which had been actually made, to a pri-
ory of the order of Malta, filled up the mea-
sure of his hatred and thirst for vengeance.
These passions stood in the pope's eye in lieu
of every virtue. He could never make an end
of praising him, affirming that the Roman see
had never possessed a more able servant. He
committed to him the entire weight not only
of secular but even of ecclesiastical affairs,
and was pleased when he was regarded as
the author of whatever favours individuals re-
ceived at the hands of the government.
For a long time the pope did not deign to
cast one glance of favour on his two other
nephews. It was not till they conformed to
to tlieir uncle's anti-Spanish sentiments that
he bestowed his good-will upon them. J Never
could any one have anticipated what he then
did. He declared that frequently as the Co-
lonnas, those inveterate rebels against God
and man, had been deprived of their castles,
they had never been permanently detained ;
but now he would commit them to the keep-
ing of vassals who should know how to defend
them. He bestowed them on his nephews,
naming the elder duke of I'alliano, and the
younger marquis of Montebello. The cardi-
nals, when he made known his will to them,
were silent, and looked down to the ground.
The Caraffas now indulged in the most aspi-
ring projects. The daughters should marry,
if not into the family of the king of France,
at least into that of the duke of Ferrara : the
sons hoped at least to compass the possession
of Siena. Some one spoke jestingly of the
» Babon in Ribier, ii. 745. Villars, p. 255.
t Bromato.
i Extractus processus Cardinalis Caraffae. Similiter
dux Palliani deponit, quod donee se declaraverit contra
imperiales, papa eum nuuquam vidit gralo vullu el bono
oculo. [The duke of Palliano likewise deposes, that un-
til he declared against the imperialists, the pope never
looked on him with a favourable eye.J
98 THE POPES ABOUT THE MIDDLE OF THE 16TH CENTURY, [a. d. 1557.
jewelled cap of a child of that family ; " This
is no time to talk of caps, but of crowns," re-
plied the mother of the nepotes*
In truth, every thing depended on the issue
of the war which now broke out, but from the
very first, indeed, with no promising aspect.
After the above-mentioned act of the fiscal,
the duke of Alva had advanced from the Nea-
politan into the Roman territory. The papal
vassals accompanied him, and all their con-
federates were on the alert. Nettuno drove
out the papal garrison, and recalled the Co-
lonnas. Alva seized Frosinone, Anagni, Ti-
voli in the mountains, Ostia on the sea, and
hemmed in Rome on both sides.
The pope relied at first on his Romans : he
had reviewed them in person. They marched
from Campofiore past the castle of St. Angelo,
which saluted them with its artillery, to the
piazza San Pietro, where the pope stood with
his nephew at a window. There were three
hundred and forty ranks armed with harque-
buses, and two hundred and fifty armed with
pikes, in each rank nine men, presenting an
imposing appearance, and led by officers all of
noble blood. When the caporioni and the
etandard-bearers came before his holiness, he
gave them his blessmg.f All this made a brave
6how ; but these were not the fit men for the
defence of the city. After the Spaniards had
approached somewhat nearer, a false rumour,
a small body of horse, was enough to throw
them all into such confusion, that not a man
was to be found by the colours. The pope
was constrained to look round for other help.
Pietro Strozzi at last brought the troops to his
assistance who were serving before Siena : he
reconquered 'i'ivoli and Ostia, and removed
the most pressing danger.
But what a war was that! There are times
when the motives that prompt men's present
actions, and the secret principles of their lives,
seem as though they stood in direct and visi-
ble opposition to each other.
Alva might, at the beginning, have taken
Rome without much difficulty ; but his uncle,
cardinal Giacomo, reminded him of the unfor-
tunate end to which all had come who had
taken part in Bourbon's conquest. As a good
catholic, Alva carried on the war with ex-
treme reserve : he combated the pope, but
without ceasing to reverence him ; he sought
only to wrest the sword from his hand, but he
had no desire for the tame of being numbered
among the conquerors of Rome. His soldiers
complained it was a mist, a cloud, against
which he led them ; it annoyed them, and
they could not lay hold on it, nor stifle it in
its source.
And who, on the other hand, were they who
* Bromato ix. 16; ii. 28G. Literally, Non esaer quel
tempo da pailar di bercue ma di corone.
t Diario di Cola Calleinn Romano del rione di Traste-
vei'e dall' anno 1521 siuo all' anno 1582, MS.
defended the pope against such good catholics?
The best among them were Germans, all pro-
testants. They jeered at the images of the
saints on the roads and in the churches, laugh-
ed at the mass, broke the fasts, and did a mul-
titude of things every one of which the pope
at any other tmie would have punished with
death.* I find even that Carlo Carafta enter-
ed into an intimate understanding with the
great protestant leader. Margrave Albert of
Brandenburgh.
More glaring the contradiction on both sides
could not be. On the one was the rigid spirit
of Catholicism, with which the leader, at least,
was penetrated: — how far he had left the old
Bourbon times behind him I On the other
was the secular tendency of the popedom,
which had seized hold even on Paul IV., how-
ever disposed he was to condemn it in the ab-
stract. Thus it was that the followers of his
faith were his assailants, the seceders from it
his defenders; but the former, even in the at-
tack, retained their submissiveness ; the latter,
while they protected him, treated himself and
everything belonging to him with hatred and
scorn.
It was not till the French forces, ten thou-
sand foot and a less numerous but very bril-
liant cavalry, had crossed the Alps, that the war
began in earnest. The French would rather
have turned their strength at once against
Milan, which they thought less strongly de-
fended ; but they were obliged to follow the
impulse the Carafias gave them towards Na-
ples. The latter had no doubt of finding num-
berless adherents in their native country.
They counted on the power of the emigrants,
on a rising of their party, if not through the
whole kingdom, yet by all means in the Ab-
ruzzi, round about Aquila and Montorio, where
their paternal and maternal ancestors had al-
ways possessed great influence.
In some way or another the natural forces
of things would find vent; for the papal pow-
er had too often been excited to opposition
against the domination of Spain, not to break
out at last.
The pope and his nephews were resolved on
the most extreme measures. Caraff'a notonly
sought the aid of the Protestants, but even
made the proposal to Solyman I. that he should
desist from his Hungarian campaign, to throw
himself with his whole force upon both Sici-
lies.* He solicited the help of the infidels
against the catholic king.
* Navagpro. Fu ripiitata la piu esercitata gente la
Tedesca (35(X) fanU) [other MSS., however, give (litferent
numbers] e piu alia alia guerra, ma era in tuito Luterana.
La Guascona . . . era lanlo insolente, taiilocontroronor
delle donne et in torre la robba, . . . gli oftesi maledice-
vano publicanienle chi era causa di questi disoidini.
[The German infantry, 3500 strong, were reckoned Iha
best drilled men, and the most serviceable soldiers. The
Gascons were so insolent, such violators of female honour,
and such plunderers ;— the injured publicly cursed him
wlio was the cause of these disorders.]
t His confessions in Bromato, Vita di Paola IV. lom. ii.
A. D. 1557.]
PAUL IV.
99
In April, 1557, the papal troops crossed the
Neapolitan frontiers. They disting'uished Holy
Thursday by the conquest and atrocious pil-
lage of Conipli, wl'.ich was full of treasure, as
well belonginn;' to the place as carried thither
for safety. Thereupon Guise too crossed the
Tronto, and laid sie<^'e to Civitella.
But he found the king in a good state of
preparation. Alva well knew there would be
no insurrections against him, so long as he
was the strongest pnrty in the country. He
had obtained an important grant of money in
the parliament of the barons. Queen Bona
of Poland, of the old Arragon race, who had
shortly before arrived in her duchy of Bari,
and who was with all her heart an enemy to
the French, furnished him with a subsidy of
half a million of scudi. He confiscated the
ecclesiastical revenues destined for Rome,
and even laid claim to the gold and silver in
the churches, and to the bells of Benevento.*
He had contrived to fortify, the best way he
could, all the Neapolitan frontier places, and
as many of the Roman as were still in his
hands, and to collect a formidable army, con-
stituted in the old way of Germans, Spaniards,
and Italians, and had also formed Neapolitan
centuries under the conduct of nobles. Civi-
tella was stoutly defended by count Santafiore,
who had animated the inhabitants to active
co-operation: they even repulsed a storm.
VVhilst the kingdom remained thus com-
bined, and displayed nothing but devotedness
to Philip n. sharp dissensions on the other
hand, broke out between the assailants, be-
tween French and Italians, Guise and Monte-
bello. Guise complained that the pope did
not adhere to his agreement with him, and
failed to supply the promised aid. When the
duke of Alva appeared with his army in the
Abruzzi, in the middle of May, Guise thought
is best to raise the siege, and retire with his
army over the Tronto. The war was again
transferred to the Roman territory ; a war in
which the belligerents advanced and fell back,
besieged towns and abandoned them, but only
once came to a serious engagement.
Marc Antonio Colonna threatened Palliano,
which the pope had wrested from him : Guilio
Orsino hastened to its support with provisions
and troops. Three thousand Swiss had just
arrived in i?ome under a colonel from Unter-
walden. The pope welcomed them with de-
light, decked their officers with gold chains
and knightly titles, and declared tliem the le-
gion of angels whom God had sent him. Giu-
p. 369. Bromato also convpys good information rpspecting
the war. He frequ -nily boinnvi-'J it, a tkcl ho do'^s not
conceal, from a voluminous MS. by Nores, which treats
of this war, and which is often found in Italian libraries. I
* Gianuon ', Islona di Nipoll, lib. xx.xiii. c. 1. Not
only Goss dini, but M imbrino Ros'^o likewise, Delle His-
lorie dA Moudo, lib. vii. givi s a dPtaiU'd account of this
war fro.n auLh'nuc sources; others also ascribe to Fer- |
rante G inza!;a a considerable share in the measures
adopted by Alva. I
lio Orsino commanded these troops, and some
Italian companies of infantry and cavalry.
Marc Antonio Colonna opposed his course, and
once more a battle was fought in the style of
the old Italian war of 1491 — 15:31 ; on either
side papal and imperial troops, a Colonna and
an Orsino. The German lansquenets under
their last distinguished leaders, Caspar von
Feltz and Hans Walther, were opposed, as
they had so often been before, to the Swiss.
Once more these old antagonists fought for a
cause that little concerned themselves ; but
their bravery was not the less extraordinary.*
At last Hans Walther, huge and strong as a
giant, say the Spaniards, flung himself into
the midst of a Swiss company, and vvilh a pis-
tol in one hand, and his naked sword in the
other, forced his way up to the standard-bear-
er, whom he brought down, dealing him a
violent cut over the head, and shooting him at
the same time in the side. The whole com-
pany rushed upon hiin, but his lansquenets
had already pressed up to his support. The
Swiss were completely broken and routed.
Their banners, on which were inscribed in
large letters, " Defenders of the faith, and of
the holy see," sank in the dust. Of his eleven
captains, their colonel led back only two to
Rome.
Whilst this petty war was in progress here,
the main armies confronted each other on the
confines of the Netherlands. The battle of
St. Quintin ensued, in which the Spaniards
gained the most complete victory. The only
wonder felt in France was, that they did not
push straight on to Paris, which they might
have taken. f
" I hope," hereupon wrote Henry 11. to
Guise, " that the pope will do as mucli for me
in my need as I did for him in his."| So far was
Paul IV. now from being justified in counting
on French aid, that the French r nther expect-
ed succour from him. Guise declared " that
no chains could hold him any longer in Italy ;"^
and he hastened back with his forces to his
embarrassed sovereign.
Upon this the Spaniards and the Colonnas
advanced again upon Rome, safe from all pos-
sibility of hindrance. The Romans saw
themselves once more threatened with con-
quest and plunder; and to make their condi-
tion the more desperate, they had not much less
reason to fear their defenders than their foes.
For many nights, lights were burned in every
window, all the streets were illuminated,
and it is said that a skirmishing party of
Spaniards, that had advanced almost up to the
gates, was frightened back by that means.
But the chief purpose of this precaution was
* I borrow the details of this little encounter from Ca-
brera, Don Fell je Segundo, lib. iii. p. IdJ.
t Monluc, Meu.oirps, p. Uti.
t Le Koy li Mons. de Guise, in Ribier, ii. p. 750.
§ Leltera del ducd di Palliano al C. Caralfa. Informatt.
Folii. xxii.
100 THE POPES ABOUT THE MIDDLE OF THE 16TH CENTURY, [a. d. 1559.
to enable the citizens to be on their watch
against the violence of the papal troops.
Every one murmured : they wished the pope
dead a thousand times, and demanded that the
Spanish army should be admitted by a formal
capitulation.
To such a pass did Paul IV. suffer things
to arrive. Not till his undertakings had com-
pletely broken down, his allies been beaten,
his territory for the most part occupied by the
enemy, and his capital a second time threat-
ened, did he consent to peace.
This was concluded by the Spaniards in the
same spirit as they had carried on the war.
They gave him back all the castles and cities
belonging to the church ; and they even pro-
mised the Caralfas a compensation for Pallia-
no, which they had lost.* Alva went to
Rome and kissed with profound reverence the
foot of him he had vanquished, of the sworn
foe to his nation and his king. He has been
known to say, that he never feared the face of
man as he did the pope's.
Favourable, however, as this peace seemed
to the papal power, it was yet decisive against
the aims it had hitherto cherished. 'J'here
was an end to all attempts at throwing off the
Spanish yoke : they were never again renew-
ed in the old way. The dominion of the
Spaniards had proved unassailable in Milan
and Naples : their allies were stronger than
ever. Duke Cosmo, whom it had been pro-
posed to expel from Florence, had won Siena
in addition thereto, and was now in possession
of a considerable independent power. The
Farnesi were secured to Philip II. by the re-
storation of Piacenza. Marc Antonio Colon-
na had made himself a great name, and re-
gained the position held of old by his family.
Nothing remained for the pope but to accom-
modate himself to this state of things. Even
Paul IV. was constrained to this ; with what
mortification may easily be supposed. Some
one once called Philip II. his friend: "Yes,
my friend," he retorted, " who kept me be-
sieged, who sought my very soul." In public
he compared him to the prodigal son in the
gospel, but among his intimates he spoke in
praise only of such popes as had designed to
raise French kings to the imperial dignity.f
His sentiments remained unchanged, but he
was controlled by circumstances. He could
no longer hope, much less undertake any-
* A secret convention touching Palliano was made be-
tween Alva and Cardinal Caraffa; secret not only as re-
garded the public, but even the pope himself. Biomato,
ii. 385.
tL'evesque d'Angouleme au Roy, 11 Juin, 15.58. Ribier,
ii. 745. Ihe pope said, "Que vous, sire, n'esliez pas
pour degenerer de vos predecessruis, ([ui avoienl toujours
est6 conservaleurs et dclVnst urs de ce saint siege,
comme au tontraire le loy Philippe tenoit de race de le
vouloir ruiner et conlondre enlierenient." [That you,
Bire, were not disposed to degenerate fro n your predeces-
sors, who hai.l always been cousPrvalors and defenders of
the holy see, while, on the contrary, it was hereditary
with king Philip to wish utterly to ruin and confound ii.J
thing ; even his complaints he durst only vent
in secret.
But it is always a vain attempt to resist the
consequences of an event accomplished. Even
Paul IV. experienced after some time the in-
fluence of a reaction, of the utmost moment
as regarded both his administration, and the
general transformation of the papal system.
His nepotism was not based on the selfish-
ness or the family partialities that had actu-
ated other popes; he favoured his nephews
because they seconded his designs against
Spain ; he legarded them as his natural help-
ers in that struggle. The contest was now
over, and with it ceased the utility of the
nephews. Success is requisite to the stability
of every distinguished station, particularly of
such as are not altogether legitimate. Cardi-
nal Carafl^a now undertook an embassy to
king Philip, especially in the interest of his
own house, in order to secure the promised
compensation for Palliano. Since his return
from this, without accomplishing much, the
pope was observed to treat him with more and
more coldness. Ere long the cardinal found
it no longer possible to command all the ap-
proaches to his uncle, and to exclude all but
his own creatures from access to him. At
times, too, unfavourable rumours reached the
pope's ears, calculated perhaps to revive the
repugnance he had felt in former years for
his nephew. The latter was once taken ill,
and the pope visiting him unexpijctedly,
found him with two persons of the worst re-
putation. " The aged," he said, " are mis-
trustful. I saw things there that opened my
eyes widely." It needed but a provocation,
we see, to rouse a storm witliin him, and this
was afforded by an otherwise insignificant oc-
currence. On new year's night, 1559, there
was a riot in the streets, in which a young
cardinal, that same favourite of Julius III.,
cardinal Monte, drew his sword. The pope
heard of this the very next morning, and was
deeply ofi'ended that his nephew made no
mention to him of the circumstance. He
waited a few days, and at last gave vent to
his displeasure. The court, in its natural ap-
petite tor change, caught eagerly at that token
of the cardinal's disgrace. The Florentine
ambassador, who had endured a thousand
mortifications at the hands of the Caraffas,
now made his way to the pope, and laid the
bitterest complaints betiire hmi. The Mar-
chesa della Valle, a relation of the pontiff's,
i who had never been allowed free access to
jhim, found opportunity to slip a paper into the
pope's breviary, on which were noted down
some of his nephew's misdeeds. " If your holi-
ness desire further inlbrmation, you need but
sign your name." Paul afhxed his signature,
and tiie promised information tailed not to be
I fonhcoming. Thus ready charged with dis-
' content and acerbity, the pope went on tlie
A. D. 1559.]
PAUL IV.
101
9th of Jan. to the assembly of the inquisition.
He proceeded to speak of the night riot, ve-
hemently upbraided cardinal Monte, threat-
ened to punish him, and thundered out inces-
santly, reform, reform. The cardinals, usu-
ally so taciturn, had now plucked up courage.
"Holy father," said cardinal Pacheco, inter-
rupting him, " we must begin reform with
ourselves." The pope was silenced. The
phrase struck home to his heart : it brought
palpably before him the half-formed convic-
tions that stirred within him. He said no
more about Monte's business, went and shut
himself up in his chamber in a burning rage,
and thought of nothing but his nephews.
After giving immediate orders that nothing
for the future should be done in obedience to
the commands of cardinal Caraffa, he sent to
demand his papers of the latter. Cardinal
Vitellozzo Vitelli, who was reputed to be
privy to the secrets of the Caraftas, was com-
pelled to swear that he would disclose what-
ever he knew of them. Camillo Orsini was
summoned to the same end from his country
house. The rigorist party, that had long
looked on with displeasure at the doings of
the pope's nephew, now raised their heads.
The old Theatine, don Geromia, who was re-
garded as a saint, was closeted for hf)urs with
the pope; the latter learned things he never
could have guessed at, that bewildered him
with rage. He fell into the most violent agi-
tation ; he could neither eat nor sleep, and
for ten days laboured under a fever. Memo-
rable forever is that pope, who with self-in-
flicted violence rent assunder the partial ties
that bound him to his kindred. At length he
was resolved. On the 27lh Jan. he summon-
ed a consistory, set forth with passionate emo-
tion the evil lives of his nephews, and called
God and the world and men to witness, that
he had never known of this, and that he had
been betrayed. He divested them of their
offices, and banished them with their families
to various remote places. His nephews'
mother, seventy years of age, bent with sick-
ness, and personally blamele.ss, cast herself
at his feet as he went back to the Palace : he
passed her with harsh words. The young
Marchesa Montebello arrived just now from
Naples. She found her palace fast closed:
no one would receive her in any of the inns;
she drove from one to another on a rainy
night, till at last an inn-keeper in a remote
corner, who had not received any orders in
the matter, afforded her a shelter. Cardinal
Caraftk in vain solicited that he should be im-
prisoned, and his conduct invi^stigated. The
Swiss guards had orders to repulse not only
himself, but also any one who should ever
have been in his service. The pope made
but a single exception. He kept with him
the son of Montorio, whom lie loved, and
whom he had made cardinal in his eighteenth
year, and read his hours with him. But never
dust the young man allude to the discarded
favourites, much less venture an entreaty for
them : he was not allowed even to hold any
communion with his father. The misfortune
of his house preyed on him so much the more
deeply : what he durst not utter in words
was legible in his face, and in his whole per-
son.*
Would it not be supposed that these occur-
rences had their effect on the mind of the pope
likewise 1
He seemed as though nothing had happen-
ed. No sooner had he with tempestuous elo-
quence pronounced sentence in the consistory,
while most of the cardinals sat spell-bound
with amazement and terror, than lie seemed
on his part wholly impassive, and proceeded
at once to other business. The foreign am-
bassadors were astounded when they observed
his demeanour. " In the midst of such sud-
den and sweeping changes," they said of him,
" surrounded by entirely new ministers and
servants, he stands up resolute, unbending,
and indifferent. He feels no pity, and seems
to have retained not the least remembrance
of his kindred." Henceforth he surrendered
himself to a wholly different passion.
Assuredly this was an ever memorable re-
volution of feeling. Hatred against the Spa-
niards, the idea of becoming liberator of
Italy, had hurried even Paul IV. into worldly
designs and practices, to the bestowal of eccle-
siastical territories on his nephews, to the ele-
vation of a soldier to the ministry even of
spiritual aflairs, to deeds of hostility and
bloodshed. Events compelled him to abandon
that idea and suppress that hatred, and then
were his eyes gradually opened to the cen-
surable conduct of those about him. After a
violent struggle, his stern justice prevailed,
and he shook them off, and from that hour re-
turned to his old plans of reform. He began
to reign as had been e.xpected of him at first,
and now urged on the reform of the state, and
above all the church, with the same passion-
ate energy he had formerly manifested in en-
mity and war.
Secular affairs from the highest to the low-
est grade were transferred to other hands.
The existing podestis and governors lost their
places, and the manner in which this was ef-
fected was sometimes singular. The newly
appointed governor of Perugia appeared there
by night: without waiting for day, he had
the Anziani summoned, produced his creden-
tials, and commanded them forthwith to ar-
rest the late governor, who was present in
* Satisfactory information on this head is furnished by
Pallavicini, and slill mure so by Bromato. In the Berlin
Infonnationi is also to be found a Diario d'akune attioni
piu notabili nfl pontiticato di Paolo IV. I'anno 1.358, sino
alia sua niorte (beginning from the lOih of Sep. 1558,)
that was not known to either of them, was composed from
personal observation, and has afforded me quite new in-
ibrmaiion.
102 THE POPES ABOUT THE MIDDLE OF THE 16TH CENTURY, [a. d. 1559.
the assembly. Paul IV. was now the first
pope since time immemorial, who governed
without ncpotes. Their place was supplied
by cardinal Carpi and Camiilo Orsini, who
had already been so influential under Paul
III. The system of the government was also
changed with the persons. Sums of no in-
considerable amount were economised, and a
proportional diminution made in taxation. A
box was put up into which every one could
deposit a statement of his grievances, and of
which the pope alone retained the key. The
governor made his report daily. Everything
was conducted with the greatest care and
circumspection, without any remains of the
old abuses.
If the pope, amidst all the commotions that
had hitherto prevailed, had never lost sight of
church reform, he now devoted himself to it
more zealously and more with his whole
heart. He introduced a stricter discipline
into the churches ; he forbade all begging,
even the collections of the clergy for masses.
He removed all offensive pictures. A medal
was struck representing him under the type
of Christ clearing the temple. He banished
from his city and territories the fugitive monks.
He compelled the court regularly to observe
the fasts, and to solemnize Easter by receiv-
ing the Lord's Supper. Nay, the cardinals
were obliged to preach occasionally ! The
pope himself set the example. He endeavour-
ed to suppress many profitnble abuses. He
would hear no more of marriage dispensations
or their produce. A host of places that had
hitherto been sold, including those of the
chiericali di camera,* he determined should
be disposed of according to merit. Ho insist-
ed still more strongly on the worth and cleri-
cal habits of those on whom ecclesiastical offi-
ces were bestowed. He no longer tolerated
the compacts so long and so generally in
vogue, in consequence of which one man per-
formed the duties of an office, and another
enjoyed tlie best part of its reveimes. He
also entertained the design of restoring to the
bishops many of the rights of which they had
been supplanted, and highly disapproved of
the rapacity with which everything had been
absorbed into Rome.f
His reforms were not merely negative,
they were not confined to undoing. He sought
too to surround public worship with a greater
pomp. The decoration of the Sixtine chapel,
and the representation of the holy sepulchre,
* Caracciolo, Vila di Paolo IV. MS. particularly mpn-
tions them. The pope said, " Chesiinili officii d'ammin-
istralioni e di giustitia conveniva chesi dasspro a persoiie
che li lacesseio p non vinderli a chi avesse occasioii de
volerne cavare il sue di^n iro." [That it was expedient
to bestow such offices of administration and of justice, on
persons who would discharge the duties beJoniiins; to '
them, and not on such as were prompted to make them a I
source of cain.] I
t BiO.nato, ii. 483.
are to be ascribed to him.* There is an ideal
of the modern Catholic worship, full of digni-
ty, devotion and splendour, and this concep-
tion it was that floated before his mind too.
It was his boast that he let no day pass
without promulgating some order towards the
restoration of the church to its original purity.
In many of his decrees we trace the outlines
of those ordinances, to which the council of
Trent shortly afterwards gave its sanction. -j-
In this career, too, as might be expected,
he evinced all the inflexibility peculiar to his
nature.
Above all other institutions, he favoured
the inquisition which he had himselfre-estab-
lished. He often let pass the days appointed
for the sittings of the segnatvra and the con-
sistory, but never the Thursday on which the
congregation of the inquisition assembled in
his presence. He insisted on the utmost ri-
gour in the proceedings of that body. He
subjected new classes of offences to its juris-
diction, and endowed it with the barbarous
prerogative of employing torture for the de-
tection of accomplices. No respect of per-
sons availed with him ; he brought the high-
est barons before that tribunal, and he now
had cardinals, like Morone and Foscherari,
arrested and thrown into prison, doubts hav-
ing occurred to him of their orthodoxy, though
he had formerly employed those very men in
criticising the contents of important books,
such for instance as the spiritual exercises of
Ignatius. He instituted the festival of St.
Dominic in honour of that great inquisitor.
Thus it was that the rigidly spiritual, re-
storative tendency of the papacy became pa-
ramount.
Paul IV. seemed almost to have forgotten
that he had ever entertained any other views;
the men)ory of past times was extinguished
within him. He lived and moved in his re-
forms, and his inquisition ; passed laws, im-
prisoned, excomynunicated, and held autos-da-
tes. At last, when laid low by an illness suf-
ficient to cause the death even of a younger
man, he called the cardinals once more to-
gether, commended his soul to their prayers,
and the holy see and the inquisition to their
* Mocenigo, Relatione di 15G0. Nelli officii divini poi
e nelle ceremonie procedeva questa pontofice con lanta
graviti edevotione c.hs veranmnte pareva degnissiino vi-
cario di Gesu Christo. Nelle cose poi delta reli^'ione si
prendeva tanlo pensiero et usava tanta diliirentia che
maggior non si poteva desiderare. [In the divine offices
liliewise, and ceremonies, this ponlitf proceeded with
such gravity and devotion, that he truly appeared a most
worthy vicar of Jesus Christ. To the affairs of religion
t03 he applied himself with such deep thought, and so
mu.'li diligence, as left nothing to be desired.]
+ Mocenigo. Papa Paolo IV. andava continuamente
facendo qualche nova deteriiiinatione erifo.''ma, e sempre
diceva preparare altre, accij che restasse nianco occa-
sione e meno necessity di far concilio. [Pope Paul IV.
was continually malting some new resolution in the way
of reform, ami was always saying that he had others in
preparation, so that there was little opportunity, and less
necessity for assembling a council.]
A. D. 1555-9.]
PAUL IV.
103
care : he strove to collect his energies once
more, and to raise himself up ; his strength
failed him ; he fell back and died (18 Aug.
1559.)
Herein, at least, are these men of decided
and passionate temperament, happier than
weaker natures: their prejudices dnzzle
them, but at the same time steel them, and
make them intrinsically invincible.
But the people forgot not so quickly as the
pope himself, what they had suffered under
him. 'J'hey could not forgive him the war he
had brought on Rome ; his alienation of his
nephews, hated as they certainly were, was
not enough for the masses. Upon his death
some assembled in the capitol, and resolved
to destroy his monuments, since he had been
an ill-doer to the city and to the whole earth.
Others pillaged the buildings of the inquisi-
tion, set fire to them, and mal-treated the
servants of the tribunal. An attempt too was
made to burn the Dominican convent della
Minerva. The Colonnas, Orsini, Cesarini,
Massimi, who had all been mortally offended
by Paul IV., took part in these tumultuous
proceedings. The statue that had been
erected to the pope was torn down from its
pedestal, broken in pieces, and the head with
the triple crown dragged through the streets.*
But how fortunate had it been for the pope-
dom, had it never encountered any other
reaction against the projects set on foot by
Paul IV.
Remarks on the progress of Proteslanlism
during this reign.
We saw how the former discord between
the papacy and the imperial, or Spanish
power, contributed more perhaps than any
otlier external circumstance to the establish-
ment of protestantism in Germany. INever-
theless, a second breach had not been avoid-
ed, and this led to still greater, and more
comprehensive consequences.
We may date its commencement from the
recal of the papal troops from the imperial
army, and the removal of the council. The
importance of these acts was manifested at
once. Nothing so essentially impeded the
subjection of the protestants as the policy of
Paul III. at that period.
But the great and permanent effects of that
pope's measures were not felt till afler his
* Mocenigo. Viddi il popolo correr in fun a verso la
casa di Ripetta, deputata per le cose dell' iiKjuisitione,
melter a sacco tuUa la robba ch'era denlro, si di vitlualie
come d'allra robba, che la inaggior parte era del Kevmo-
CI- Alessandrino,sommo inquisilorp,lraUar male con bas-
tonate e feriti tuui i ministri dell' inquisilione, levar le
scitture, geltandolea refuso per la slrada e finalmenle po-
ner foco quella casa. . I frati di S. Domenico eruno in
tant' odioa quel populo che in ogni uiodo volevan abbru-
ciar il monastero della Minerva. He goes on to stale that
the blame rested most on the nobles. Similar tumults
took place in Perugia.
death. The connexion with France, into
which he introduced his nephews, occasioned
a general war; a war in which not only did
the German protestants achieve that ever me-
morable victory, that secured them forever
from council, emperor, and pope, but in which
too the new opinions made vigorous progress
in France and in the Netherlands, being in-
troduced directly by the German soldiers, who
fought on both sides, and being favoured by
the turmoil of war, which precluded any ri-
gorous precautions.
Paul IV. ascended the papal chair. He
ought steadily to have fixed his eyes on the
existing state of things, and have bent all his
efforts to the restoration of peace ; but with
the blind impetuosity of passion he plunged
into the strife. The result was, that he, the
most fiery of zealots, was destined, more per-
haps than any of his predecessors, to promote
the dissemination of protestantism, which he
hated, loathed, and persecuted.
Let us call to mind his influence upon Eng-
land.
The first victory of the new opinions in
that country was for a long time incomplete ;
it needed but a retrocession of the govern-
ment, nothing more than the accession of a
catholic queen was requisite, to determine
the parliament to a new subjection of the
church to the pope's sway. tStill the latter
had every reason to proceed with moderation,
nor durst he wage open war upon the cir-
cumstances that had arisen out of the past in-
novations. Julius III. clearly perceived this.
The first papal legate immediately remarked,*
how potent were the interests connected with
the confiscated church properties. Julius
adopted the magnanimous resolution not to
insist on their restoration. Indeed, the legate
was not permitted to enter England till he
was first in a condition to give satisfactory
assurances on that head : they formed the ba-
sis of all his subsequent influence,! and by
their means he obtained the most signal suc-
cess. The legate was Reginald Pole, with
whom we are already acquainted ; amongst
all the men of the day the very one most fit-
ted to labour after the restoration of Catholi-
cism in England ; a man exalted above all
suspicion of impure motives, intelligent, mod-
erate, and, as a native Englishman of high
rank, equally acceptable to queen, nobles,
and people. The undertaking prospered be-
yond all expectation. The accession of Paul
IV. to the throne was distinguished by the
presence of English ambassadors, who assured
hirn of the obedience of that country.
* Leltere di Mr- Henrico, Nov. 15o3, in a MS. entitled
Letlere e Negotiati di Polo, which contains much matter
besides, important to this history. Respecting this trans-
action see Pallavicini, xiii. 9. 411.
t He did not hesitate to acknowledge the rights of the
actual possessors. Litters Dispensatoriae C" Poll, Con-
cilia M. Britanniae, iv. 112.
104 THE POPES ABOUT THE MIDDLE OF THE 16TH CENTURY, [a. d. 1559.
Paul IV. had not to acquire the allegiance
of England, but merely to retain it. Let us
see what measures he adopted towards that
end.
He declared the restitution of the church
property to be an indispensable duty, the vio-
lation of which entailed everlasting damna-
tion. He strove also to re-establish the col-
lection of Peter's pence.* But besides all
this, what worse means could he adopt to
complete the recovery of England within the
pale of the church, than pursuing with such
rancorous animosity Philip II. of Spain, who
was also king of England ] English soldiers
took part in the battle of St. Quintin, the con-
sequences of which were so serious to Italy.
Lastly, he persecuted cardinal Pole, whom he
never could endure, despoiled him of the
rank of legate, which no one had ever exer-
cised with greater advantage to the holy see,
and put in his place an inefficient, aged, and
infirm monk, but one of more violent opin-
ions.! Had the problem proposed to Paul IV.
been, how he might prevent the work of re-
storation, he could not have adopted any oth-
er course.
It was no wonder, therefore, that after the
early and unexpected death both of the queen
and the legate, the two conflicting tendencies
broke out with renewed violence. This result
was greatly accelerated by the religious per-
secutions, which Pole had condemned, but
which were approved of by his bigoted oppo-
nents.
The question was then once more submit-
ted to the pope : it demanded the more serious
consideration, inasmuch as its import no doubt
concerned Scotland likewise. There too strife
ran high between the two religious parties :
the final determination of the matter in Eng-
land would needs decide the future condition
of Scotland.
What an important fact it was, that Eliza-
beth in the beginning of her reign appeared
by no means decidedly Protestant,| and that
she caused her accession to be notified to the
pope. A marriage between her and Philip
II. was at least made matter of negociation,
and was generally regarded in that day as
very probable. One would suppose that no
event could have been more desirable for the
pope.
But Paul IV. knew no moderation. He
gave a repulsive scornful answer to Eliza-
beth's ambassador. " She must first of all,"
he said, " submit her claims to his judgment."
Let it not be supposed he was moved to this
* He was then wholly engrossed with these ideas. He
published his Bull Rescissioalienalionuni, (Bullariumiv.
4. 319.) in which he annulled all alienations whatever of
the old ecclesiastical possessions.
t Godwin's Annales Angliae, etc. p. 45G.
t Nares alto, in his Memoirs of Buileigh, ii. p. 43,
thinks her religious opinions "at first liable to some
4oubtB."
conduct only by his regard to the dignity of
the apostolic see: other motives co-operated.
The French desired from political jealousy to
prevent the proposed marriage. They em-
ployed the pietists, the Theatines, to represent
to the old pope that Elizabeth was after all a
Protestant at heart, and that the marriage
would never lead to any good.* The Guises
had the strongest interest in this matter.
Should Elizabeth be repudiated by the Roman
see, their sister's daughter, Mary Stuart, dau-
phine of France, and queen of Scotland, would
possess the next title to the crown of England.
The Guises might hope to rule in her name
over all the three kingdoms. Mary actually
assumed the English arms, and already dated
her edicts with the year of her reign over
England and Ireland. Preparations for war
were made in the Scottish ports. f
Even though Elizabeth had not been so
inclined, she would yet have been compelled
by circumstances to throw herself upon Pro-
testantism : she did so in the most decided
manner. She succeeded in procuring a par-
liament with a protestant majority,]: by which,
in a few months, all those changes were
adopted that essentially fixed the character
of the English Church.
Scotland too was necessarily affected by
this course of things : there a national Pro-
testant party resisted the progress of the
French catholic interests. Elizabeth hesi-
tated not to ally herself with that party, and
in this purpose she was confirmed even by the
Spanish ambassador. J The treaty of Berwick,
which she concluded with the Scottish oppo-
sition, gave the latter the predominance. Be-
fore Mary Stuart could set foot in her kingdom,
she was forced not only to forego the title of
queen of England, but even to ratify the sta-
tutes of a parliament of protestant views;
statutes, one of which prohibited mass under
the penalty of death.
Thus it was in a great degree a re-action
against the French pretensions, to which the
pope lent his sanction, that contributed for-
ever to secure the victory of Protestantism in
Great Britain.
Not that the inward impulses of the parties
inclined to Protestantism were dependent on
those political movements; their origin lay
far deeper; but it commonly happened that
the data from which followed the outbreak,
progress, and decision of the strife, coincided
closely with the various contingencies of
politics.
In Germany, too, a measure adopted by
* Private narrative of Thuanus.
t In Forbes's Transactions there is a Responsio ad peti-
tiones D. Glasion. et Episc. Aquilani, by Cecil, which
sets forth all these motives in the most striking manner.
$Neal, History of the Puritans, i. 125. "The court
took such measures about elections as seldom fail of suc-
cess."
§ Camden, Rerum Anglicanim Annales, p. 37.
A. D. 1559.]
PIUS IV.
105
Paul IV. proved in one respect of great impor-
tance. His opposition to the transfer of the
imperial crown, in pursuance of his old aver-
sion to the house of Austria, obliged Ferdinand
I. to be more observant than before of the
maintenance of friendly relation with his
Protestant allies. From that time forth it
was an union of the moderate princes of both i
parties that guided the affairs of Germany;!
and under their influence the transference of
ecclesiastical foundations in Lower Germany
to Protestant administrations was speedily-;
accomplished.
It seemed as though the papacy was not to
suffer any detriment, to which it did not itself
conduce in one way or another by its political
eflbrts.
Let us pause at this moment to cast a
glance over the world from the summit of
Rome, and contemplate the enormous losses
the catholic creed had sustained. We see
Scandinavia and Britain revolted, Germany
almost wholly Protestant, Poland and Hun-
gary in violent fermentation, Geneva become
a central point for the Latin nations and the
West, as important as Wittenberg for the
German nations and the East : in France too,
and in the Netherlands, we see a party already
on foot beneath the banners of Protestantism.
But one last hope remained to the Catholic
faith. In Spain and Italy the symptoms of
dissent had been quelled, and a strict spirit of
ecclesiastical restoration had arisen. How-
ever disadvantageous was the secular policy
of Paul IV. in other respects, he had yet
achieved the supremacy of that spirit in the
court and the palace. The question was,
whether it would continue to maintain itself
there, or whether it would once more be ena-
bled to pervade and unite the catholic world 7
Pius IV.
It is related that once at a banquet of car-
dinals, AlessandroFarnese presented a garland
to a lad who had the art of improvisatising to
the lyre, and bade him offer it to him among
them who was one day to be pope. The lad,
Silvio Antoniano, himself afterwards a distin-
guished man and cardinal, went up instantly
to Giovanni Angelo Medici, and pronouncing
an eulogy upon him, presented him with the
garland. That Medici was Paul's successor
by the title of PiuslV.*
He was of mean extraction. His father
Bernardino had originally settled in Milan,
where he had accumulated a small fortune by
government contracts.f His sons, however,
♦ Nicius Erylhrseus relates this anecdote in the article
on Anioniano, Pinacolheca, p. 37. Mazzuclielli also
repeals it. The election took place on the 26ih of Dec.
15o9.
t Hieronymo Soranzo, Relatione di Roma. Bernardino
padre della B.S. fu stimalo persona di soinma bonli e di
gran industria, ancora che fusse nalo in povero e basso
fltato : nondimeno venuto habitar a Milano si diedi a pig-
liar datii in affilto.
14
were lefl to shift for themselves with but very
slender means. One of them, Giangiacomo,
who adopted the military profession, took ser-
vice at first with a nobleman ; the other one,
Giovanni Angelo, applied himself to study,
but in very straitened circumstances. Their
fortunes originated in the following manner.
Giangiacomo, reckless and enterprising by
nature, made himself serviceable to the then
rulers of Milan, in putting out of the way one
of their opponents, a Visconti named Monsig-
norino. No sooner, however, was the murder
done, than those who devised it sought to get
rid of their tool likewise, and sent the young
man to the castle of Mus on the lake of Como,
with a letter to the castellan, directing him
to put the bearer to death. Giangiacomo had
his suspicions, opened the letter, saw what
was prepared for him, and forthwith adopted
his resolution. He chose a few trusty com-
rades, obtained admission into the castle by
means of the letter, and then succeeded in
seizing possession of it. From that time forth
he conducted himself as an independent
prince ; secure in his fastness, he kept the
Milanese, Swiss, and Venetians in perpetual
commotion ; at last he took the white ctoss
and entered the imperial service. He was
created Marquis of Marignano, served as chief
of the artillery in the war against the Luthe-
rans, and commanded the imperial army
encamped before Siena.* He was equally
shrewd as desperate, fortunate in all his en-
terprizes, and devoid of pity. Many a peasant
who sought to convey provisions into Siena
did he slay with his own hand with his iron
staff. There was not a tree far and wide on
which he had not caused some one to be
hanged : the victims he had caused to be put
to death were said to amount to 5000. He
conquered Siena, and founded a considerable
house.
The advance of his brother Giovanni An-
gelo had accompanied his own. He took the
degree of doctor, and acquired reputation aa
a jurist. He then purchased an appointment
in Rome. He was already in the confidence
of Paul III., when his brother the marquia
married an Orsina, sister to the wife of Pier
Luigi Farnese.f Upon this he was made car-
* Ripamont, Historise Urbis Mediolanis. Natalis Comes
Hist.
t Soranzo. Nato 1499, si dottor6 152.5, vivendo in stu-
dio cosi strettamente che il Pasrjua suo medico, che slava
con lui a dozena, I'acconimodoun gran tempo del suo ser-
vilore e di qualche altra cosa necessaria. Del 1527 com-
pro un proionolariato. Servendo il cardinal Farnes9
(Kipamonte tells of his good understanding with Paul III.
himself) coUa piu assidua diligenza s'andu meltendo
inanzi: ebbe drversi impieghi, dove acquisto nome di
persona integra e giusta e di natura officiosa. [Born in
1499, he took his degree of Doctor in 1525, pursuing his
studies in such straitened circuLiistances, that Pasqua his
physician accommodated him with the service ot his own
domestic and with other necessaries. He purchased a
prothonotary's place in 1527. Exercising the most assidu-
ous diligence in the service of the cardinal Faruese, his
advance was constant. He held dilierenl employmeals,
106 THE POPES ABOUT THE MIDDLE OF THE 16TH CENTURY, [a. d. 1559.
dinal. After that we find him entrusted with
the administration of the papal cities, the con-
duct of political negociations, and more than
once with the commissariat of papa] armies.
He showed himself dexterous, prudent, and
good humoured. But Paul IV. could not en-
dure him, and once broke out into violent in-
vectives against him in the consistory. Medici
thought it best to withdraw from Rome. He
assuaged the pains of exile by literary occu-
pations, and by a munificent bounty that pro-
cured him the title of father of the poor,
residing sometimes at the baths of Pisa,
sometimes in the Milan, where he built a
great deal. Perhaps the diametrical contrast
he exhibited to Paul IV. now contributed
chiefly to his election.
That contrast was more than usually strik-
ing.
Paul IV. was a Neapolitan of high birth, of
the anti-Austrian faction, a zealot, a monk,
and an inquisitor. Pins IV. a Milanese par-
venu, closely connected through his brother
and some German relations with the house of
Austria, a jurist, of a jovial and worldly dis-
position. Paul IV. had stood aloof and inac-
cessible ; in his least actions he aimed at
displaying dignity and majesty ; Pius was all
goodness and condescension. He was daily
seen on foot or on horseback in the streets,
almost without attendants ; he talked affably
with every body. The Venetian despatches
make us "fully acquainted with him.* The
ambassadors come upon him as he writes or
transacts business in a cool hall : he rises and
walks up and down with them, or they meet
him as he is proposing to visit the Belvedere :
he seats himself without laying down his stick,
hears what they have to say without further
ceremony, and then sets off on his excursion
in their company. Whilst he treats them in
this familiar way, he looks too for courteous
address and deference on their parts. The
clever sallies with which the Venetians some-
times accost him, delight him, and elicit his
smile and plaudits. Staunch partisan of Aus-
tria as he is, he is disgusted at the unbending
and imperious manners of the Spanish ambas-
sador Vargas. He dislikes to be encumbered
with details, which soon fatigue him ; but
those who confine themselves with him to
general important matters, always find him
good humoured and easy to deal with. On
such occasions he pours out a thousand cor-
dial protestations, how heartily he hates the
bad, how by nature he lovesjustice, and desires
to molest no man's freedom, but to evince
good feeling and friendliness to every one :
in which he acquired the reputation of an upright and
just man, of an obliging disposition.] The marriage of
the marquis followed, " con promessa di far lui cardinale"
[with the promise that he should be made cardinal].
* Kagguagli del Ambasciutore Veneto da Roma 15G1.
By Marc Antonio Amulio (Mulla). Informatt. Politt.
zxxvii.
but especially his thoughts are bent on labour-
ing with all his might for the church, and he
hopes to God he will be able to effect some-
thing for its good. We may easily picture
him to ourselves; a hale burly old man, still
active enough to reach his country house be-
fore sunrise, with a cheerful face and lively
eye ; fond of conversation, good cheer, and
merriment. Recovered from an illness that
had been deemed alarming, he throws himself
on his horse, rides off to the dwelling he had
'occupied when a cardinal, runs nimbly up and
down the stairs, and cries, " No ! no ! we' are
not going to die yet."
But was a pope of this joyous and mundane
temperament the one best fitted at this crisis
to pilot the church through her difficulties'?
Was it not to be feared that he would lapse
from the tenor of the course but scarce begun
in the close of his predecessor's reign 1 His
nature I will not deny may have tended that
way ; but the event was otherwise.
For his own part he had no good will to the
Inquisition ; he censured the monkish harsh-
ness of its proceedings, and seldom or never
frequented the congregation : but on the other
hand he never ventured to molest it, declaring
that he knew nothing about the matter, that
he was no theologian ; and he left it all the
power it had possessed under Paul IV.*
He made a fearful example of the nephews
of the pope. The excesses committed by the
duke of Palliano even after his fall (he put his
own wife to death out of jealou.sy) made it an
easy matter for the enemies of the Caraffa to
gratify their thirst for vengeance. A penal
process was instituted against them, wherein
they were accused of the most horrible crimes,
robberies, murders, forgeries, and besides all
this, of very arbitrary conduct in the adminis-
tration of public affairs, and of continued
system of deception practised on poor old Paul
IV. Their reply is extant, and is not indeed
destitute of a show of justification.! But their
accusers prevailed. Tlie pope, after sitting
one day in the consistory from an early hour
till evening, to hear the several documents
read to him, pronounced sentence of death on
* Sorano. Se bene si connobbe non esser di sua satis-
fatione il modo che tengono gl' inquisiiori di procedere
per I'ordlnario con lanto rigore contra gli inquisiti, e che
si lascia intendere chepiuli piaceriache usassero termini
da cortese gentilhuomo che da frate severo, non di meno
non ardisce, o non vuole mai opponersi ai giudicii loro.
[Though it be well known that he is not satisfied with the
manner in which the inquisitors commonly proceed with
such rigour against the accused, and that he gives it to be
understood he would be better pleased were they to use
the language of gentlemanly courtesy, than of monkish
harshness, nevertheless he does not venture or does not.
wish ever to oppose their judgment.]
t Bromato gives chiefly from Nores a circumstantial
account of these proceedings. In the Informatt. we also
find the letters of Mula, e. g. 19 July, 1560; the Extractus
Processus cardinal is Caraffae, and El sucesso de la muerte
de los Carafas, con ladeclaracion y el modo que murieron.
La morte de C' Caraffa (Library at Venice, vi. no. 39.) is
the MS. Bromata had before him in addition lo thai of
Nore«.
A. D. 1560.]
PIUS IV.
107
the accused, namely, the cardinal, the duke of
Palliano, and two of his nearest relations, the
counts Aliffe, and Leonardo di Cardine. Mon-
tebello and some others had fled. The car-
dinal perhaps had expected banishment, but
never thought of being condemned to death.
When the sentence was announced to him one
morning as he lay in bed, and when every
doubt was now removed, lie covered his face
for a moment in the coverlet ; then rising up
he smote his hands together, and uttered that
painful exclamation common in Italy in des-
perate contingencies, " Well, well, patience !"
He was not allowed his usual confessor: he
had much to say, as may be imagined, to the
confessor sent liim, and the shrilt was some-
what protracted. " Finish, will you, mon-
signore," cried the officer of police, *' we have
other business in hand."
Thus perished these nepotes. They are the
last who aspired after independent sovereign-
ties, and who excited great general move-
ments with a view to their private political
ends. We meet with this class from the days
of Sextus IV. ; Hieronymo Riario, Caasar Bor-
gia, Lorenzo Medici, Pier Luigi Farnese ; the
Caraftas close the list. Other nepotist fami-
lies have since arisen, but under wholly dif-
ferent circumstances. Nepotism has never
been revived in its old shape.
How, for instance, should Pius IV., after so
violent an execution, have ventured to bestow
on his nephews a power of the same nature as
that, the exercise of which he had so impla-
cably visited upon the CarafFas] Besides, as
a man of naturally active temperament, he
was disposed to govern for himself; he deter-
mined all important matters only upon the
strength of his own judgment, and if he was
open to censure, it was rather for relying too
little on the support of others. Add to this,
that the nephew he might have been tempted
to push forward, Federigo Borromeo, died
young. The other Carlo Borromeo, was not
the man for worldly elevation ; he would never
have accepted it. Carlo Borromeo regarded
his position with respect to the pope, and tiie
contact into which it brought him with the
weightiest affairs of government, not as con-
veying to him a right to any selfish indul-
gence, but as imposing duties to which he was
to devote himself with all assiduity. He did
so with equal modesty and perseverance, gave
audience indefatigably, and sedulously devoted
himself to the administration of the state ; the
latter was in one respect importantly affected
by his tenure of authority, inasmuch as he
formed around him a college of eight doctors,
which afterwards grew into the Consulla.
After dispatching these occupations, he gave
his assistance to tlie pope. lie is the same
who was afterwards pronounced a saint, and
in ihe times we are speaking of his conduct
was noble and irreproachable. " !So tar as is
known," Hieronymo Soranzo says of him, " he
is pure from every stain; so religious is his
life, and so excellent his example, as to leave
the best men nothing to desire. It redounds
very greatly to his praise, that in the prime
of his years, nephew to a pope whose favour
he fully enjoys, and residing at a court where
he might procure himself every kind of plea-
sure, he leads so exemplary a life." His
recreation was to collect some learned men
about him in the evening. The conversation
began with profane literature, but from Epic-
tetus and the stoics, whom Borromeo, still a
young man, did not disdain, it soon passed,
even in those hours of leisure, to ecclesiastical
questions.* If any thing was objected against
him, it was not as regarded his good will or
his diligence, but only in some degree as to
his talents ; or his servants complained that
they were forced to forego the rich marks of
favour enjoyed under the nepotism of former
years.
Thus did the nephew's qualities make up
for what the more strictly inclined might have
blamed as wanting in the uncle. At any rate
every thing proceeded in the established
course : ecclesiastical and secular business
was completed zealously and with due atten-
tion to the interests of the church, and the pro-
gress of reform was maintained. The pope
publicly admonished the bishops to reside in
their dioceses, and some were seen forthwith
to kiss his foot and take their leave. There is
a coercive power in widely prevalent ideas
that have once gained the upper hand. A
serious spirit in religious matters had attained
supremacy in Rome, and not even the pope
could any longer swerve from its dictates.
But if the more mundane disposition of this
pope was not unpropitious to the restoration of
strict discipline in the church, we may add
that, on the other hand, it was calculated to
contribute immensely towards cementing the
breaches that had occurred in the catholic
world.
Paul IV. had held that it belonged to the
pope to lord it over emperors and kings : for
this it was that he had plunged into so many
enmities and wars. Pius was the more clearly
aware of this fault, forasmuch as it was com-
mitted by a predecessor with whom he had
other reasons besides to feel himself in direct
contrast. "Thereby we lost England," he
exclaimed, " which we might have retained,
had cardinal Pole been better supported ;
thereby was Scotland also lost : during the
war the German doctrines penetrated into
France." He on the contrary desired peace
above all things. Even a war with the pro-
testants was not to his mind. He frequently
interrupted the ambassador from Savoy, who
solicited his aid towards an attack on Geneva,
* ThPSR are thR Nodes Vaticanas mentioned by Glus
sianus, Vila Carol i Borromei, i. iv. 22.
108 THE POPES ABOUT THE MIDDLE OF THE 16TH CENTURY, [a. d. 1562.
exclaiming', "What times are these to make
me such proposals 1 There is nothing they
demand so imperatively as peace."* He would
fain have been on good terms with every one.
He dispensed his ecclesiastical favours readily;
and if he had to refuse any thing, he did so
courteously and modestly. It was his convic-
tion, and he declared it openly, that the power
of the pope could not subsist without the autho-
rity of sovereigns.
The last part of the pontificate of Paul IV.
was marked by the renewed demand of the
whole catholic world for a council. It is cer-
tain that Pius IV. could not, without the
greatest difficulty, have resisted the call. He
could no longer make war a pretext for refusal,
as his predecessors had done, for at last all
Europe was at peace. The measure was even
of urgent necessity on his own account, since
the French were threatening to assemble a
national council, which might very possibly
have led to a schism. But in truth I find that,
apart from all this, he was very well inclined
that way. Let us hear himself: " We desire
the council," he says, " we desire it assuredly,
and we desire it general. Were it not so, we
might throw obstacles in the way, and dally
with the expectations of the world for years :
but we are, on the contrary, much more dis-
posed to remove all hindrances. What needs
reform shall be reformed, even in our own per-
son and in our own affairs. If we have any
other thought than to do God service, may
God chastise us accordingly." It often ap-
peared to him that he did not meet with suffi-
cient assistance from the several sovereigns
towards so great a design. One morning the
Venetian ambassador found him in bed, crip-
pled with the gout, and immersed in thought.
"Our purpose is good," he exclaimed, "but
we are alone." " I was seized with pity,"
says the ambassador, " to see him as he lay in
bed, and to hear him say, ' We are alone to
bear so heavy a burden.' " Meanwhile, how-
ever, he set the work in progress. On the
18th Jan. 1.562, there were so many bishops
and delegates assembled in Trent, that it was
possible to resume, for the tliird time, the
twice-interrupted council. The pope had
mainly contributed to this. " Assuredly," says
Girolaino iSoranzo, who does not take his part
on other occasif)ns, "his holiness has shown in
this matter all the zeal that was to be expect-
ed of so great a chief shepherd : he has
neglected nothing that could conduce towards
so holy and so necessary a work."
The latter sittings of the Council of Trent.
The state of the world was entirely altered
since the first assembly of this council. The
* Mula, 14 Fpb. 15GI. Pius becged him lo say : "Che
havemo aninjo di stare in pace, e che non sapenio nipnte
de quesii pensieri del duca di Savoia, e ci meravigliamo
pope had no longer reason to fear that a power-
ful emperor would avail himself of it to become
master of the popedom. Ferdinand I. had no
power whatever in Italy : nor was any serious
diversity of opinion on essential dogmas now
to be apprehended.* These, in the form in
which they had been confirmed, though not
fully developed, had already become predom-
inant throughout a great part of the catholic
world. A reunion of the protestants with the
church was no longer seriously to be thought
of They had assumed in Germany a power-
ful and henceforth unassailable position : in
the north their ecclesiastical notions had been
incorporated with the state policy, and the
same thing was just now taking place in Eng-
land, when the pope declared that the new
council was but a continuation of the former,
and finally silenced the voices raised against
this declaration, he virtually abandoned all
hope of the kind. How could the free protes-
tants acquiesce in a council by whose earlier
resolutions the most important articles of their
faith had been already condemned !f In this
way the influence of the council was limited
beforehand to the exceedingly contracted cir-
cle of the catholic nations. Its purpose could,
on the whole, extend only to settlmg the dis-
putes between the latter and the supreme
ecclesiastical authority ; to the establishment
of dogmas on certain as yet undetermined
points ; and, above all, to the completion of
the internal reform already begun, and the
issuing of rules of discipline which should be
of universal authority.
But even this limited task proved exceed-
ingly difficult. The most vehement contro-
versies soon broke out among the assembled
fathers.
The Spaniards mooted the question, wheth-
er the residence of the bishops in their dio-
ceses was a matter prescribed by divine law, or
by human authority. This might seem an
idle dispute, since all parties were agreed in
holding residence to be necessary. But the
Spaniards maintained the general principle
that episcopal authority was not an emanation
of the papal, as was alleged in Rome, but that its
che vada cercando qupsle cose : non 6 tempo di fare I'im-
presa di Ginevra, ne di fa generali. Scrivele che siamo
constanli in qupsta opinione de star in pace."
* This was the view taken of the matter by Ferdinand I.
Lilterse ad Legates, 12 Aug, loG2, in Le Plat, Monum. ad
Hist. Cone. Tridentini, v. p. 452. Quid enim allinet . . .
disquirere de his dogmatibus, de quibus apud oiiines non
EOliim principes, verum eliam privates homines catholi-
cos, nulla nunc penitus exislil disceptalio i [For what
end does it serve ... to discuss those dogmas, respecting
which among all catholics, whether princes or private
individuals, there nnw exists no manner of dissension ?]
+ The main argument in the protest of the Piotpsiants :
" Causae cur electores principesaliique Aueustanseconfes-
sioni adjunctae status recusent adere conciliuiu." Le Plat,
iv. p, 57. The remark in the very first pioclamation, the
formidable words, " omni suspensione sublata." Ihey
recal to mind the condemnation lormerly passed on their
fundamental principles, and copiously set forth "quae
mala sub eaconfirmatione laleaal" [what evil lurks under
that confinnalion.]
A. D. 1562.] PIUS IV. LATTER SITTINGS OF THE COUNCIL OF TRENT. 109
origin rested directly on divine appointment.
This was striking at the very heart of the
whole system of tlie church. The indepen-
dence of the subordinate clerical authorities,
whom the pope so sedulously kept under,
would of necessity have followed in the train
of this principle.
The debate on this topic was already very
animated, when the imperial ambassadors ar-
rived. The articles they proposed are highly
remarkable: "It is to be wished," say some
of them, " that the pope, following the exam-
ple of Christ, will humble himself, and sub-
mit to reform as regards his own person, his
dominions, and his curia. The council must
reform both the nomination of the cardinals
and the conclave." Ferdinand was used to
say: " Since the cardinals are not good, how
can they choose a good pope 1" He wished
the reform he proposed to be based on the plan
promulgated by the council of Constance, but
which had not been carried into effect. The
resolutions were to be prepared by deputations
from the several nations. But, furthermore,
he demanded the cup for the laity, and the
marriage of priests ; remission of fasts for some
of his subjects ; the establishment of schools
for the poor ; the purification of the breviary,
legends, and homilies; more intelligible cate-
chisms ; the use of German in church sing-
ing; a reform of the convents, and for this
special reason too, " that their great wealth
might no longer be expended in so flagitious
a manner."* These were indeed proposals of
vast moment, the upshot of which would have
been nothing less than a thorough transmuta-
tion of the whole church system. The em-
peror urged the consideration of them in re-
peated letrers.
Last of all appeared the cardinal of Lor-
raine with the French prelates, and cordially
seconded the German proposals. He demand-
ed, especially, the grant of the cup to the lai-
ty the administration of the sacraments in the
vulgar tongue, the accompaniment of the mass
with instruction and preaching, and permis-
sion to sing the psalms in French in full con-
gregation— all of them matters from which
the most desirable consequences were antici-
pated. " We are fully assured," says the king,
" that the accordance of the cup to the laity
would quiet many uneasy consciences, re-
unite to the catholic church whole provinces
that have severed themselves from its commu-
nion, and be one of the best means ofappeas-
♦ Pallavicini almost wholly passpsoverlhpse postulates,
xvii. 1, 6. They are irksome to him. Indeed they have
never been made linown in their proper form. They lie
before us in these extracts. The first Is in P. Sarpi, lib.
vi. p. 32.5, and precisely alike, but in Latin, in Rinaldi
and Goldast. The s°cond is in Bartholoiiiaeus de Maity-
ribus, and is somewhat ir.ore copious. The third was ta-
ken by Shelhoin from the papers of Slaphylus. They
do not agree very well together. I am inclined to thinlc
the orisrinal of them is to be found in Vienna: it must be
a remarkable do ument. I have adhered lothe e.xtract in
Shelhom. Le Plat gives them all, as well as the answer.
ing the troubles in our realm."* But, besides
all this, the French bishops sought also to
bring forward the resolutions of Basel, and
they maintained openly that a council is above
the pope.
The Spaniards did not concur in the de-
mands of the Germans and the French. They
condemned in the most energetic manner the
layman's cup and the marriage of priests, and
I it was impossible to obtain, from the council
I at least, any concession on these points: all
' that was done was to refer the expediency of
j the concessions to the pope's decision. There
! were points, however, on which three nations
agreed in resisting the pretensions of the cu-
ria. They thought it intolerable that the le-
gates alone should have the right of proposing
resolutions; but, besides this, the conduct of
the legates in previously consulting the pope's
good pleasure with regard to every resolution,
appeared to them an insult to the dignity of
the council. According to that way of pro-
ceeding, as the emperor said, there were prop-
' erly two councils, the one in Trent, the other,
and more real one, in Rome.
I In this state of opinions, had the votes been
taken by nations, what singular results would
have ensued !
As this, however, was not the case, the three
nations, even taken together, were in a mi-
nority. The Italian, much the more numer-
ous party, as usual supported, without much
tenderness of conscience, the opinions of the
curia, on which they were for the most part
dependent. Great bitterness of feeling arose
on both sides. The French jested about the
' Holy Ghost arriving in Trent in a ma^bag.
The Italians spoke of Spanish leprosies and
French diseases, with which the orthodox
were visited in turns. When the bishop of
Cadiz said, there had been famous bishops,
nay, fathers of the church, whom no pope had
appointed, the Italians were loud in their vo-
ciferations: they demanded his expulsion, and
talked of anathema and' heresy. The Span-
iards retorted upon them the charge of here-
sy.f Sometimes different parties assembled
in the streets, shouting the watchwords, Spain!
Italy : and blood was seen to flow on the cho-
sen ground of peace.
Was it then to be wondered at, if for ten
months it was never found possible to come
to a session"? if the pope's first legate dis-
suaded him from going to Bologna, repre-
sentmg to him what would be said if even
then the council could not reach any regular
termination, but must be dissolved 7| A dis-
♦ M^moire baill6 i Mr le C de Lorraine, quand il est
parti pour aller au concil. Le Plat, iv. 5G2.
t Pallavicini XV. V. 5. Paleotto, Acta: "Alii praelali
ingeuiinabant clamanies. Exeat, exeat; etalii, Anathema
sit ; ad quos Gran itensis conversus respondit : Anatliema
vos estis." Mendham, Memoirs of the Council of Trent,
p. 251.
t Letteradel C'e. di Blantua, legato al concilio di Tren-
to, scritia al papa Pio IV. li 15, Gen. 1503. Quando si
110 THE POPES ABOUT THE MIDDLE OP THE 16TH CENTURY, [a. d. 1563.
solution however, a suspension, or even a mere
translation, which had often been thought of,
would have been exceedingly hazardous.
Nothing was expected in Rome but mischief:
they thought there that a council was much
too violent a remedy for the debilitated body
of the church, and that it would prove fatal to
it and to Italy. "A few days before my de-
parture, in the beginning of the year 1.563,"
Girolanio Soranzo tells us, "cardinal Carpi,
dean of the college, and a very intelligent
man, said to me, that in his last illness he had
prayed to God to grant him death in His mer-
cy, that he might not live to see the downfall
and the burial of Rome. All the other emi-
nent cardinals, too, incessantly deplore their
ill fortune: they see plainly there is no es-
cape for ihem, unless God's holy hand be es-
pecially extended to them."* Pius IV. dread-
ed to see all the evils with which other popes
had ever thought themselves threatened, now
burst upon himself.
It is a lofty thought, that in times of difficulty
and of keen discord in the Church, it is to an
assembly of its chief shepherds it must look
for remedy. " Let it deliberate without pre-
sumption or envy in catholic peace," says Au-
gustine; "after fuller experience, let it open
what was shut, and bring to light what was
hidden." But even in the earliest times, this
ideal was far from being attained : it would
have needed a purity of sentiment, and an in-
dependence of extraneous influence, that
seems not bestowed on man. But how much
more unattainable was it, now that the Church
was intwined with the state by such innumer-
able and such conflicting relations. If, not-
withstanding this, councils still remained ob-
jects of so much respect, and were so often,
and so urgently demanded, that was to be at-
tributed tor the most part, to the necessity of
curbing the power of the popes. But now,
what the latter had always asserted, seemed to
be confirmed, viz., that in times of great con-
fusion, councils were rather fitted to augment
than to allay the evil. All the Italians shared
in the alarm of the curia. " Either," said they,
" the council will go on, or it will be dissol-
ved. In the former case, especially if the pope
should die in the interim, the ultramontanes
will fashion the conclave after their own views,
and to the detriment of Italy : they will cir-
havesse di disolvere questo concilio . . . per causa d'
allri e non nostra . . . mi piaceria piu che V". Bealilu-
dine fusse reslala a Roma.
* Li Cardinali di maggior auloritideploravano con tutli
a tuue Tore la loromispria, la quale stiniano tanlo mag-
giore che vedonn e conoscono assti chiaro non esservi rim-
edio alcuno, se non quf Uo che piacesse dare al S^. DIo
con lasua sanlissiiiia mano!— Ceno nonsi puj se non le-
mere, adds Sorano on his own pan, Sermo. Principe, che
la povera Italia afflitla per altre causa habbi ancora a sen-
lire afflillione per queslo particolannente : lo vedono e lo
conoscono tutti i savj. [Certainly, most serene prince, it
cannot but be feared that poor Italy isdestined, inaddilion
to all her other afflictions, to sutler particularly from this
cause too. This is mauifesi to all wise men.]
cumscribe the pope to that degree, that he will
be little more than a mere bishop of Rome :
under the pretext of reform, they will destroy
all offices, and ruin the whole curia. Should
it, on the other hand, bo dissolved without
having effected anything desirable, even the
faithful will take great offence thereat, and
the waverers will run extraordinary risk of
being lost altogether."
Looking at the position of things, it seemed
impossible to elicit in the council itself any
change in the sentiments prevailing there.
Confronted with the legates, who were gui-
ded by the pope, and the Italians, who were
dependent on him, stood the prelates of the
other nations, who, on their parts, adhered to
the ambassadors of their respective sovereigns.
No reconciliation, no accommodation could be
devised. Matters seemed still desperate in
Feb. 1.563; all was bickering; each party
obstinately stood fast to its own notions.
But, on more closely viewing the case in
its naked reality, one possibility appeared of
an escape from the labyrinth.
The discordant opinions only met and com-
bated in Trent; they had I their sources at
Rome, and in the courts of the several sove-
reigns. If these dissensions were to be anul-
led, they must be dealt with at the fountain
head. Pius IV. had said, that the popedom
could no longer subsist isolated from the sove-
reigns of Europe ; this then was the very
moment to act upon that maxim. He had
once thought of receiving the demands of the
several courts, and fulfilling them without the
interference of a council ; but this would have
been but a half measure. The grand object
was to bring the council to a close in harmony
with the greater powers; in no other way
could it be done.
Pius IV. resolved to attempt this; and he
was seconded by his ablest and most states-
manlike cardinal Morone.
The most important personage to conciliate,
was the emperor Ferdinand, in whose views
the French, as we have said, concurred, and
for whom, as his uncle, Philip II. entertained
no little deference.
Morone, who shortly before had been named
president of the council, but who felt assured
that nothing could be effected in Trent, betook
himself, in April 1563, unaccompanied by a
single prelate, to Inspruck to meet the empe-
ror. He found him soured, discontented, and
offended, convinced that no serious intentions
of reform were entertained at Rome, and de-
termined, in the first place, to secure the free-
dom of the council.*
* To this place belongs also the Relatione in scr. fatta
dal Co.iiendone ai S". legati del concilio supra le cose ri-
tratle dal' iniperatore, 19 Febr. 15G3. Para che pensino
trovar inodo e forma di haver piu parte et aulonl^ nel pre-
sente concilio per slabilire in esse tutte le loro peiitioni
giuiitaniente con li Franresi. [It appears, thpy think to
find ways and means of possessing more share and greater
A. D. 1563.] PIUS IV. LATTER SITTINGS OF THE COUNCIL OF TRENT. Ill
Extraordinary address, great diplomatic
skill, as we should say in these days, was re-
quisite on the legate's part, to propitiate the
incensed monarch.*
Ferdinand was angry that his propositions
of reform had been put aside, and never made
subjects of actual disscussion. The legate
had the art to persuade him that it had, for
reasons not altogether to be despised, been
judged hazardous to discuss them in form, but
that the most important points they contained
had, nevertheless, been considered, and even
already adopted. The emperor further com-
plained, that the council wa.s led by Rome,
and that the legates were governed by in-
structions received thence. Morone rejoined,
and the fact was undeniable, that the ambas-
sadors of the sovereigns were also guided by
instructions from home, and were continually
receiving fresh orders.
In fact Morone, who had already long pos-
sessed the confidence of the house "of Austria,
got happily over this most delicate matter.
He glossed over the unfavourable impressions
the emperor had taken up, and then applied
himself to effect a mutual agreement on those
controverted points that had caused the great-
est discord in Trent. It was not at all his in-
tention to give way on essential matters, or
to sutler the pope's authority to be in any wise
weakened: "the great object was," he him-
self says, "to hit upon such conclusions, that
the emperor might deem himself satisfied,
without trenching loo closely upon the au-
thority of the pope or the legates."!
The first of these points was the exclusive
right of initiating measures vested in the le-
gates, a right which it was constantly asserted
militated against the freedom of the council.
Morone remarked, that it was not for the in-
terest of the sovereigns to concede the initia-
tive to all prelates; a fact of which he could
have had no difficulty in convincing the em-
peror. It was easy to foresee that the bishops,
once possessed of that privilege, would not
be slow to propose resolutions running directly
counter to the existing pretensions and rights
of the state. It was manifest what confusion
would arise out of such a concession. Still
there was a desire, in some degree, to meet
the wishes of the sovereigns, and the device
adopted to that end is worthy of notice. Mo-
rone promised to bring forward everything
that the ambassadors should suggest to him
with that intention, or on his failing to do so,
influence in the present council, so as to carry their mea-
sures in conjunction with the French.]
* Tlie most iiiiponant docuiiient I have met with touch-
ing the transactions at Trent, is Morone's Report of his
Legation: it is brief, but to the point. Neither Sarpi nor
even Pallavicini make mention of it. Kelatione somma-
r:a del Ci. Morone sopra la legatione sua. Bibl.Allieri in
Koma, vii. F. 3.
t Fu necessario trovare temperamento tale che paresse
all' imperatore di essere in alcuno modo satisfatlo, et in-
gieme non si pregiudicasse all' autoriicl del papa n6 de'
legati, ma restasse ilcoauilio ael suo possesso.
to admit their right to propose the measures
in person. The accommodation was signifi-
cant of the spirit that gradually began to pre-
vail in the convocation. The legates admitted
an occasion on which they would forego their
exclusive right to the initiative ; but this not so
much in favour of the fathers assembled in
council, as of the ambassadors.* It followed
thence, that the sovereigns alone were accord-
ed a .share in those rights, which in other
respects the pope reserved to himself.
A second point was the demand that the
committees which prepared the resolutions,
should be constituted according to the several
nations. Morone remarked that this had al-
ways been the practice, but that for the future,
since the emperor desired it, it should be more
strictly observed.
The third point was, reform. Ferdinand
conceded at last, that the expression, reforma-
tion of the head, and also the old question of
the Sorbonne, whether councils were superior
to the pope or not, should be avoided ; in re-
turn for which, Morone promised a real search-
ing reform in all other particulars. The plan
agreed on to that end included even the
conclave.
These main points being set at rest, all
secondary questions were easily arranged.
The emperor desisted from many of his de-
mands, and enjoined his ambassadors, above
all things, to maintain a good understanding
with the papal legates. Morone returned
back over the Alps, having successfully
accomplished his mission. "As soon as
the emperor's favourable determination was
known in Trent," he says himself, "and the
concord between his ambassadors and the
pope's was fully ascertained, the council be-
gan to assume a different aspect, and to become
much easier to manage."
Other circumstances also contributed to this
result.
The Spaniards and the French had quarrel-
led about the precedence due to the represent-
atives of their kings, and had ever since liung
much less together.
Special negotiations had also been entered
on with each of them.
Philip II. was urgently impelled by the
force of circumstances towards a good under-
standing with the pope. His power in Spain
was, in a great measure, founded on ecclesi-
astical interests, and these it was naturally
* Sumniariumeorumqusedicunturacta inter Caesaream
Majestatem et illuslrissinmm cardinalem Moroniim, in
the Acts of Torellus, likewise in Salig, Geschichte dea
Tridentinischen Conciliuins III., A. 2y2., wherein this is
expressed in the following manner: Maj. S. sibi reserva-
vit, vel per medium dictorum legatorum, vel si ipsi in hoc
gravarentur, perse ipsum, vel per ministros sues proponi
curare: [His majesty reserved to himself, the causing
measures to be proposed through the medium of the said
legates, or if they objected to this, by himself or his ser-
vants.] I confess I should not readily have inferred from
hence, such a negotiation as Morone reports, though in-
deed it is implied in it.
112 THE POPES ABOUT THE MIDDLE OF THE 16TH CENTURY, [a. d. 1563.
his prime care to hold in his own hand. The
Roman court was well aware of the fact, and
the nuncio from Madrid often said, that a quiet
termination of the council was as desirable
for the king as for the pope. The Spanish
prelates at Trent had already raised their
voices against the burdens imposed on church
property, burdens which in Spain constituted
an important part of the public revenues. The
fact had caused the king much uneasiness,
and he entreated the pope to forbid such ob-
jectionable language.* Under these circum-
stances, how could he have thought of securing
his prelates a right to initiate any measure?
On the contrary, he rather sought to impose
restrictions upon them. Pius complained of
the constant opposition offered him by the
Spanish prelates: the king promised to adopt
means for checking their disobedience. In
short, the pope and the king were clearly
convinced that their interests were identical.
Other negotiations too must have taken place.
The pope threw himself wholly into the king's
arms, while the latter solemnly promised to
aid the pope in every emergency with all the
strength of his kingdom.
Meanwhile, the French, on their part, were
approximating to Rome. The Guises, who
exercised so great an influence in the govern-
ment at home and in the council, adopted in
both places a policy decidedly and increasingly
catholic. It was owing only to the compliances
of cardinal Guise, that after ten months' delay,
and an eighth postponement, there was at last
a possibility of again holding a session. But
furthermore, an alliance of the strictest nature
was talked of Guise proposed a congress of
the leadmg catholic sovereigns, the pope, the
emperor, and the kings of France and Spain.f
He went in person to Rome to discuss the
project more fully, and the pope was at a loss
for words to laud " his Christian zeal for God's
service and the public tranquillity, not only in
matters touching the council, but also in others
that concerned the general welfare."| The
proposed congress would have been very wel-
come to the pope, who. sent ambassadors on
the subject to the emperor and the king.
Thus it appears that the important dissen-
sions were appeased, and the obstacles to a
happy termination of the council were remov-
ed, not at Trent, but at the several courts,
and by means of political negotiations. Mo-
rone, who had most largely contributed to
this result, succeeded also in the mean time,
in gaining over the prelates individually, lav-
ishing on them all the acknowledgments,
praise, and favour for which they panted. ^
* Paolo Tiepolo, Dispaccio di Spagna, 4 Dec. 1552.
+ Instruuione data a Mons. Carlo Visconti mandato da
papa Pio IV. al re call, per le cose del concilio di Treiito
(ultimo Ouobre, 1563.) Bibl. Barb. 1007.
t " il beneficio universale." Leltera di papa Pio IV.,
20 Ouobre, 1503.
§ I have not yet seen the Life of Ayala by Villanueva, i
He furnished a striking example of what can
be eftected in the most trying circumstances
by a man of intellect and address, who com-
prehends the posture of affairs, and directs his
powers to an aim compatible therewith. To
him, above every other individual, the catholic
church is indebted for the favourable issue of
the council of Trent.
The path was smoothed, and, as he says
himself, the inherent difficulties of the subject
might now be accosted.
'J'he old controversy respecting the neces-
sity of residence, and the divine right of the
bishops, was still pending. For a long time the
Spaniards held out immovably in defence of
their doctrine on tliis head, declaring it, so
late as in July, 1563, as infallible as the ten
commandments; the archbishop of Grenada
wished that all books should be burned in
which the contrary opinion was asserted.*
Nevertheless, when the decree came to be
drawn up, they submitted to the omission from
it of their favourite opinion. A form, however,
was adopted, that still left them a possibility
of arguing in favour of their own views.
This very ambiguity in the decree, Lainez
made the subject of his special praise.f
The same course was pursued with respect
to the other disputed point, the initiative, the
^^ proponenlibus legatis." The pope declared
that every one should be at liberty to ask and
to say whatever he had a right, in accordance
with the usages of ancient councils, to ask and
to say ; but he cautiously abstained from em-
ploying the word prnpose.l An expedient
was thus hit upon, with which the Spaniards
were satisfied, although it did not involve the
slightest concession on the pope's part.
The obstacles arising out of political con-
siderations being removed, the questions which
had given occasion to bitterness and wrang-
ling, were dealt with, not so much with a
view to decide them, as to get rid of them by
some dexterous accommodation.
In this disposition of the council, the less
serious matters were got through with so
much the more ease. Never did the council's
proceedings make more rapid progress. The
important dogmas of clerical ordination, the sa-
crament of marriage, indulgences, purgatory,
the adoration of saints, and by far the weighti-
est measure of reform it ever adopted, belong
to the last three sessions in the second half of
the year 1563. The congregations on every
one of these topics were composed of different
nations. The project of reform was concerted
in which, as I find, there must be some account of this.
Meanwhile, Morone's assurance is quite sufficient. "I
prclati," says he, " accarezzati e stimiti e loJati e gra-
tiati si fecero piu trattabili."
* Scrittura nelle lettere e momorie del nuncio Visconti,
ii. 174.
+ "Ejus verba in utramque partem pie satis posse ex-
poni." Palpolto in iMendham, Memoirs of the Council of -
Trent, p. 252.
t Pallavicini, xxiii. 6. 5.
A. D. 1583.] PIUS IV. LATTER SITTINGS OF THE COUNCIL OF TRENT. 113
in five separate assemblies, one of them
French, presided over by the cardinal de
Guise, one Spanish, at the head of which was
the archbishop of Grenada, and three Italian *
They easily atjreed on most questions : only
two real difficulties presented themselves, the
questions as to the exemption of chapters, and
plurality of benefices, in which private inter-
ests again played an important part.
The former question particularly affected
Spain, where the chapters had already lost
something of the extraordinary freedom they
had once possessed. Whilst it was their wish
to regain this, the king conceived tlie design
of still further curtailing their privileges; for
the nomination of the bishops being vested in
himself, he had an interest in extending this
authority. The pope, on the other hand, was
for the chapters, the absolute subjection of
which to the bishops, would have not a little
diminished his influence over the Spanish
church. On this point, therefore, these ^'o
great powers were again in collision, and it
was a question, which of them would com-
mand a majority. The king too was exceed-
ingly strong in the council. His ambassador
had succeeded in excluding from it a delegate
sent by the chapters, to watch over their
rights. He had so much ecclesiastical patron-
age at his d isposal, that every one was rel uctant
to break with him. The opinions pronounced
orally, were unfavourable to the chapters, but
observe the device adopted by the papal le-
gates to counteract that result. They decided
that the votes should, on this occasion, be
taken in writing: the viva voce declarations
alone, made in the presence of so many of the
king's adherents, were shaped in compliance
with his views, not the written ones, which
were placed in the legate's hands. By this
scheme they at last obtained an important
majority for the papal views and for the chap-
ters. Encouraged by this, they then entered,
through Guise's mediation, into negotiations
with the Spanish prelates, who, in the end,
contented themselves with a much more mode-
rate extension of their immunities than they
had contemplated. f
* The best accounts on this are to be found where they
would be least expected, in Baini, Vila di Palestrina, i.
199. derived from authentic letters. The diary of Servan-
lio, of which Mendham has made use, (p. 304.) also touch-
es en the affair.
t Sarpi, viii. 816, does not give a very clear account of
this matter. Mordne's authentic explanation is very ac-
ceptable. L'articolo delle cause e dell" essenzioni di can-
onici fu vinto secondo la domanda degli oltraniontani : poi
facendosi contra 1' uso che li padri tutti dessero voti in
iscritio, furono mutate niolte sententie e lu vinio il con-
Irario. Si venne al fin alia concordia che si vede nei de-
creti, e fu mezzano Lorena, che gia era lornato da Roma,
lutto addittoal servilio di S. Beatitudine el alia fine del
concilio. [The article of the causes and essential attri-
butes of the clergy, was passed in accordance with the
views of the ultramontanes : afterwards the usual order
being broken through, according to which the assembled
fathers should have given their votes in writing, many
opinions were changed, and the contrary resolution was
adopted. At last the council came to that agreement
15
The second question, that respecting plu-
ralities, was still more niomentou fo • the
curia. A reform of the institution of cardi-
nals had been long talked of, and there were
many who regarded its corruption as the pri-
mary source of all mischief Now the cardi-
nals often accumulated a multitude of bene-
fices, and it was proposed to restrict them in
this by the most cogent laws. It will readily
be conceived how sensitive the curia must
have been with regard to every innovation of
this kind ; they shrank in alarm from the very
thought of a serious discussion of the subject.
In this case, too, the evasion contrived by Mo-
rone was very remarkable : he mixed up the
reform of the cardinals with the articles af-
fecting the bishops. " But a few," he says,
" perceived the importance of the circum-
stance, and in this way all rocks and shoals
were avoided."
Whilst the pope thus successfully main-
tained the subsistence of the Roman court in
the form it had hitherto worn, he aLso mani-
fested his readiness to drop the project that
had been entertained of a reformation of
princes. On this head he yielded to the em-
peror's representations.*
The whole of the proceedings were actu-
ally like those of a peaceful congress. While
questions of subordinate interest were dis-
cussed to general conclusions by the divines,
those of more importance were subjects of
negociation between the courts. Couriers
were incessantly flying to and fro, and one
concession was requited with another.
The pope's foremost object was now to
bring the convocation to a speedy close. For
a while the Spaniards held out against this :
they were not satisfied with the reforms that
had been effected ; and the king's ambassador
once even made a show of protesting : but as
the pope declared his readiness to call a new
synod in case of urgency,-}- as every one was
alive to the extreme inconvenience that would
ensue, were the papal see to become vacant
pending a council, and lastly, as every one
was tired and longed to return home, even
the Spaniards gave way in the end.
The spirit of opposition was virtually over-
come. To the very last the council mani-
fested extreme submissiveness. It conde-
scended to solicit the pope's confirmation of
its decrees, and declared expressly that all
reforming decrees, however their words might
run, were conceived with the fixed under-
standing that nothing in them should be con-
which is seen in its decrees, the mediator being the car-
dinal of Lorraine, who had now relumed from Kome,
entirely devoted to the service of his holiness, and to the
ends of the council.]
* That a rigid retorm of the curia, the cardinals, and
conclave did not lake place, was in close keeping with
the omission of a reformation of ihe princes. Extract*
from the correspondence of the legatee in Pallavicini,
23, 7,4. '
t Pallavicini, 24, 8, 6.
114 THE POPES ABOUT THE MIDDLE OF THE 16TH CENTURY, [a. d. 1563.
strued as affecting the dignity of the holy see.*
How far were they at Trent from renewing
the pretensions of Constance and Basel to
superiority over the papal power ! In the
proclamations with which the sittings were
closed, and which were composed by cardinal
Guise, the universal bishopric of the pope was
especially recognized.
Thus prosperous was the event. The coun-
cil that had been so vehemently demanded,
and so long evaded, that had been twice dis-
solved, had been shaken by so many political
storms, and whose third convocation even had
been beset with danger, closed amidst the
general harmony of the catholic world. It
may readily be understood how the prelates,
as they met together for the last time on the
4th Dec. 1.56:^, were all emotion and joy.
Even those who had hitherto been antago-
nists congratulated each other, and tears were
seen to start into the eyes of many of those
aged men.
Now seeing, as we have remarked, that the
result obtained had been the fruit of so much
suppleness and political dexterity, it might be
asked whether the efficacy of the council had
not been impaired thereby.
The council of Trent must ever be regard-
ed as the most important, if not of all coun-
cils, yet assuredly of those of more modern
ages.
Its importance is compressed into two great
crises.
In the first, which we touched on in a for-
mer place, during the war of Smalcalde, the
doctrines of Rome after many fluctuations
broke forever with the protestant opinions.
Out of the doctrine of justification as then
set forth, arose forthwith the whole system
of dogmatic theology, such as it is professed
to the present day by the catholic church.
In the second of these crises, and the last
we considered, after Morone's conference
with the emperor, in the summer and autumn
of the year 1563, the hierarchy was establish-
ed anew, theoretically by the decrees respect-
ing clerical ordination, and practically by the
resolutions touching measures of reform.
The.'ie reforms are, to the present day, of
the greatest moment.
The faithful were again subjected to the
uncompromising disciphne of the church, and
in urgent cases to the sword of excommuni-
cation. Seminaries were founded, where
young ecclesiastics were carefully brought
up under strict discipline and in the fear of
God. The parishes were regulated anew,
the administration of the sacraments and
preaching subjected to fixed ordinances, and
the co-operation of the regular clergy sub-
jected to determined laws. The bishops were
held rigidly to the duties of their office, espe-
♦Sessioxxv. c. 21.
cially to the superintendence of the clergy,
according to their various grades of consecra-
tion. It was a regulation attended with
weighty results, that the bishops solemnly
bound themselves by a special confession of
faith, signed and sworn to by them, to observ-
ance of the decrees of the council of Trent,
and to submissiveness to the pope.
But the purpose undoubtedly entertained at
first in this convocation, of limiting the power
of the pope, was not fulfilled : on the contrary,
that power is.^ued from the struggle even aug-
mented in extent and cogency. As the ex-
clusive right of interpreting the decrees of the
council of Trent was reserved to the pope, it
was always in his power to prescribe rules for
faith and conduct. All the cords of the re-
stored discipline centred in Rome.
The catholic church owned the circum-
scription of its dominion ; it gave up all claims
upon the Greeks and the East, and protest-
antism it repudiated with countless anathe-
mas. In the earlier Catholicism there was in-
volved an element of protestantism : this was
now forever cast out. But Catholicism, in
thus limiting the field of its operation, con-
centrated its strength, and braced up all its
energies.
It was only, as we have seen, by means of
a good understanding and agreement with the
foremost catholic princes, that so much was
achieved; and in this alliance with monarchy
lies one of the main conditions of all catholo-
cism's subsequent development. This is in
some degree analogous to the tendency of
protestantism to combine episcopal with sove-
reign rights. It was only by degrees it exhi-
bited itself among the catholics. It is obvious
that it involves a possibility of new divisions,
but of this there was, in the times we are
speaking of, no immediate danger. The de-
crees of the council were promptly received
in province after province. The claims of
Pious IV. to importance in the world's history
rest on his having effected this event: he was
the first pope who deliberately abandoned the
tendency of the hierarchy to set itself in op-
position to the authority of sovereigns..
Having now attamed this grand result,
Pius thought full surely that the work of his
life was completed. It is remarkable, that
the tension of his mind relaxed from the mo-
ment the council was closed. Men thought
they noticed in him a neglect for divine ser-
vice, too great a proneness to good living, and
too much indulgence in courtly splendour,
sumptuous festivities, and magnificent build-
ings. The zealous perceived a difl'erence be-
tween him and his predecessor, of which they
complained loudly.*
* Paolo Tiepolo. Dopo che questo (il concilio) hebbe
fine, liberate da una grande sollecitudine, fattosi feniio e
gagliardo nell' autoriti sua, incomincio piu liberamente
ad operare conforme alia sua inclinatione e p^nsieri:
1565.]
PIUS V.
115
Nevertheless, there was no reason to ap-
prehend any reaction in pnblic feeling from
this cause. A tendency luid unfolded itself
in Catholicism that was no longer to be sup-
pressed or restrained.
When once a spirit is roused, there is no
prescribing to it ihe path it shall pursue.
Every departure, however trifluig, from its
rules on the part of those who should repre-
sent it, will be productive of tiie most striking
symptoms.
Tlie spirit that had gone forth in the direc-
tion of rigid Catholicism became forthwith
dangerous to Pius himself.
There lived in Rome a certain Benedetto
Acculti, a catholic even to euthusiasm, who
talked perpetually of a mystery that had been
conliJed to him by God : tiiis he would reveal,
engaging, in proof that he spoke the truth, to
pass uninjured through a burning pile, in jire-
sence of the assembled people in the Piazza
Navona.
His secret was the foreknowledge he ima-
gined he possessed, that an union would
shortly take place between the Greek and
Romish churches; the then united Catholic
church would subdue the Turks and all apos-
tates ; the pope would be a holy man, attain
to universal monarchy, and introduce the mil-
leuium on earth. He was tilled to fanaticism
with these notions.
He now found, however, that Pius IV.,
whose habits and temper were infinitely re-
mote from his ideal, was not the man tor so
great an enterprise. Benedetto Accolti deem-
ed hiiuself destined by God to free Christen-
dom from so unfit a chief.
He conceived the design of putting the pope
to death, and found an accomplice, whom he
assured of rewards to be received at the hands
of Gjd, and of the future holy monarch. They
set out one day on their purpose, and soon saw
the pope approaching in the midst of a pro-
cession, easy to be come at, tranquil, without
suspicion and without defence.
Aicotti. instead of rushing upon him, began
to tremble and to change colour. There is in
all that surrounds the person of a pope some-
thing that must irresistibly impress minds so
fanatically catholic as his. The pope passed
on his way.
Others, meanwhile, had observed Accolti.
His accomplice, Antonio Canossa by name,
was a man of no stedfast resolution; some-
times he suffered himself to be prevailed on
onde facilmenlR si conobbe in lui aninio piu toslodaprin-
cipe die allendesse solcimenie al t'auo suo, chf? di ponie-
fice die avesse rispeuo al benpficio e s.ilu'.e degli altri.
[AflPi- ilie council had coine 10 an end, being freed from
so great an anxiety, and being secured and set at his ease
in ihe exercise of his authority, he began to act more freely
in conformity with his own inclinations and views: so
that li' manifested rather the disposition of a sovereign
who l:iolcs only to liis personal interest, tluin of a pope re-
gardUil of the advantage and weal of others.] Panvinius
has remarked the some thing.
to attempt the deed some other time, some-
times he felt tempted to divulge the design.
Neither of them observed strict silence, and
at last they were secured and condemned to
death.*
We see what manner of minds were astir
in those agitated times. Much as Pius IV,
had done for the reconstruction of the church,
there were yet many for whom that was far
from being enough, and who cherished far
other projects.
Pius V,
But the partisans of the more austere sys-
tem had presently a great and unexpected
success. Pius IV. dying on the 9th Dec.
1585, a pope was elected, whom they might by
all means reckon as one of themselves. This
was Pius V.
I will not repeat the more or less dubious
secret information concerning his election,
contained in the book on the conclaves, and
in some historians of that time. VVe have a
letter from Carlo Borromeo, that gives us a
sufficient explanation of the result. " [ re-
solved," he says, (and it is certain that he was
very influential in determining the choice,)
" to look to nothing so much as to religion
and faith. 'J'he piety, irreproachable life, and
holy disposition of the cardinal of Alessandria,
afterwards Pius V., being known to me, I
thought that the Christian commonwealth
could be best administered by him, and I ex-
erted all my etlbrts in his favour."f In a man
of such spiritual-mindedness as cardinal Bor-
romeo, no other motives could have been ex-
pected. Philip II., interested by his ambas-
sador in fivour of the same cardinal, expressly
thanked Borromeo for the part he look in the
election. I Pius V. was just such a man as
was thought to be wanted. The adherents
of Paul IV., who had hitherto kept still, now
deemed themselves hapjiy. Letters of theirs
are extant, " 'J'o Rome, to Rome !" writes one
* I lake these notices, which I have met witli no where
else, from a MS. in the Corsini library in Koine. No. 674,
under the title, Antonio Canossa. Quesio 6 il sommario
della mia deposiiione per la qual causa io moro, rjuale si
degnari V. S. mandare alii miei s". padre e iiiadre.
t Ciis. Borromeus Henrico CI'. Infanti PonugalliEB,
Romae, d. 26 Feb. 1566. Clussiani, VitaC.Borromei, p. 62.
Compare Ripamonli Historia Urbis Mediolani, lib. xii.
p. 814.
1 1 find this in a Dispacccio di Soranzo ambre. in Spag-
na. Non essendo conosciute le quality di S. Si. da ques-
io Ser'ii". R'^, mentre era in cardinalilo, ii delto co.nmen-
dalor (Luigi Requesens, Comm. maggior) sempre lo laud6
molto predicando questo soggelto esser degno del pomifi-
calo ; con il che S. M. si mosse a dargli ordine che con
ogni suo polere li desse favore. [His holiness's qu.ililies
since he had been in the cardinalale, not being known to
that most serene kins, the said commendaior (Luiiri Re-
quesens, Comm. maggior) always praised him liiglily, af-
firming that he was a person worthy of the pontificate;
whereupon his nuijesty was pleased lo command him
that he should favour him with all his power.] Thus the
story related by OUrocchi in the rejiiarks on Giussano,
p. 219, falls to the ground. The election look place Jan.
8, 1566.
116 THE POPES ABOUT THE MIDDLE OF 16TH CENTURY. [a. d. 1565-72.
of them, "come confidently, without hesita-
tion, but with all modesty : God has raised up
Paul IV. to us again."
Michele Ghisliori (now Pius V.) of mean
extraction, born in the year 1504, at Bosco,
not far from Alessandria, entered a Domini-
can convent when but in his fourteenth year,
and there gave himself up body and soul to
the monastic poverty and devotion required
of him by his order. Of the alms he received
he retained for himself not even enough to
procure him a cloak ; he found the best pre-
servative against the heat of summer to con-
sist in abstinence ; and though confessor to a
governor of Milan, he always travelled on
foot with his wallet on his back. When he
taught, he did so with precision and zeal ;
had he to administer the affairs of a convent
as prior, he was strict and frugal, and many
were those he cleared from debt. The growth
and fashioning of his mind occurred in those
times in which Italy herself witnessed the
strife between the established doctrines and
the protestant innovations. He adopted the
party of the old doctrine in all its strictness.
Of thirty disputations he held in Parma in
1543, the greater part related to the authori-
ty of the pope, and were opposed to the new
opinions. He was ere long invested with the
office of an inquisitor, which he had to dis-
charge precisely in places of especial danger,
as Como and Bergamo,* where intercourse
with the Swiss and the Germans could not be
avoided, and in the Valteline that was under
the Grisons. He displayed there the obsti-
nacy and the courage of a zealot. He was
sometimes pelted with stones on his entry
into Como; often to save his life he was com-
pelled to hide himself by night in peasants'
huts, and steal away like an outlaw. But he
suffered no danger to divert him from his
course. The count Delia Trinita threatening
to have him thrown into a well, he answered,
" God's will be done." Thus he too was im-
plicated in the struggle between spiritual and
political powers then agitating Italy ; and as
the side he adopted was victorious, his ad-
vancement kept pace with its prosperity. He
was named commissioner of the Inquisition in
Rome. Paul IV. soon declared that Fra
Michele was a great servant of God, and wor-
thy of high honour; he appointed him bishop
* Paolo Tiepolo, Relazione di Roma in tempo di Pio
IV. et V. In Bergamo li lu levalo per forza, dalle prigi-
oni del monaslerodi S. Donienico, dove allora sisolevano
mettere i rei, un principale hereiico, noininato Giorgio
Mondaga (another name to add to the list ol the Italian
Protestants,) ton gran peritolo suo e de' frali. Nella me-
desima cilli poi travaglio assai per forniare il piocesso
contra il vescovo uUora di Bergamo. [At Bergamo there
was rescued from him by force, from the prisons of the
monastery of St. Dominic, where accused persons used
then to be kept, a chief heretic named Giorgio Montallo,
under circumstances of great peril to hiiiiself and the
monks. He afterwards exerted himself so far in the same
ciiy, as to institute a process against the then bishop of | ras'sa che come /rate incomincio di portare. Fa le orati
iJergamo.J | oni divoiissimaniente et alcune volte coUe lacriiue.
of Neri, wishing, as he said, to put a chain on
his legs, so that he might never hereafter be
tempted to withdraw to the repose of a mon-
astery.* In 1557 he made him cardinal. In
this new dignity Giiislieri continued as before,
austere, poor, and unpretending; he told the
members of his household they must imagine
they were inmates of a monastery. For him-
self, he lived only in his devotions and in the
Inquisition.
In a man of this character, Borromeo, Phi-
lip II. and the entirestrictparty, thought they
beheld the saviour of the Church. The Ro-
man citizens were not perhaps so well satis-
fied. Pius V. heard of it and said, " They
shall lament me so much the more when I am
dead."
He retained all his monastic austerity even
when pope, rigidly and undeviatingly observed
all the fasts, allowed himself no garment of
fine texture,! read frequently, and daily heard
mass, but still took care that his devotional
practices should not offer any hindrance to
public business. He never indulged in the
siesta, and was a very early riser. Were
there any doubt as to the depth of his reli-
gious earnestness, we might find a warrant
for it in the fact, that he did not regard the
papacy as conducive to the increase of his
piety, nor as tending to the soul's weal, and
to the attainment of the glories of Paradise ;
were it not for prayer, he thought the burden
would be intolerable to him. To his last
hour he enjoyed the bliss of a fervent devo-
tion, the only bliss of which he was capable,
a devotion that often moved him even to tears,
and from the practice of which he rose up
with the conviction that he had been heard.
The people were in raptures when they saw
him in procession, barefooted and bareheaded,
with his long snow-white beard, and his face
that beamed with unaffected piety. So pious
a pope they were sure they had never looked
upon, and they would relate how his very as-
pect had converted protestants. Moreover,
Pius was kindly and afi'able ; he treated his
old servants with the utmost familiarity.
How noble was his manner of accosting that
same count Delia Trinita, when he was now
sent as ambassador to him ! " Behold," he
said, when he recognized him, " thus does
God help the innocent:" this was the only
way in which he ever visited the past upon
the count. Benevolent he had always been :
he had a list of the needy in Rome, whom he
regularly assisted in proportion to their sta-
tion.
* Catena, Vita di Pio V., from which we have taken the
greater part of our inl'ormation, gives this also. Pius V.
related it himself to the Venetian ambassadors as they,
namely, Mich. Suriano and Paul Tiepolo, (Oct. 2, 1508)
acquiiint us.]
f Catena. Tiepolo: N6 mai ha lasciato la camisia di
A. D. 1565-72.]
PIUS V.
117
Natures such as his are humble, resigned,
and childlike; but when they are irritated
and offended, they kindle into stormy vehe-
mence and implacable resentment. Their
own turn of thought they regard in the light
of a duty, a paramount duty, the neglect of
which rouses their indignation. Pius V. was
conscious that he always pursued the straight-
forward path. That this had conducted him
to the papacy, was a fact that filled him with
such self-reliance as made him utterly indif-
ferent to every extraneous consideration.
His obstinate adhesion to his own opinion
was extreme ; the soundest arguments were
found insufficient to wean him from them.
He was easily irritated by contradiction ; his
face reddened, and he broke out into the most
violent expressions.* As he understood but
little of the affairs of the world or of domestic
politics, and rather suffered his judgment to
be warped in one way or another by second-
ary circumstances, it was a matter of the
greatest difficulty to deal with him to the pur-
pose.
With regard to individuals, he did not in-
deed allow his opinions to be determined at
once by the first impression ; but having once
made up his mind to consider any one as good
or bad, there was no moving him from that
conclusion.f He was prone, however, to
think that men deteriorate rather than im-
prove in character, and he looked on most
men with suspicion.
It was remarked that he never mitigated a
penal sentence ; commonly he would much
rather have wished they had been more se-
vere.
It was not enough for him that the Inquisi-
tion punished recent offences; he caused in-
quiry to be made into old ones of ten or twen-
ty years' standing.
If there was a place where fewer punish-
ments were inflicted, that was enough to con-
demn it in his eyes as impure : he ascribed
the circumstance to official negligence.
Observe with what rigour he insists on the
application of ecclesiastical censure. " We
forbid," he says in one of his bulls, " every
physician, who shall be called in to attend a
* Informationedi Pio V. (Bib. Ambroaiana in Milan F.
D. 161.) La S. S^- naluralnienle 6 gioviale e piacevole, se
ben paraccidenle pare di allradispositione, edi qui viene
che volonlieri onesleniente ragiona con M"" Cirillo, suo
niaeslro di casa, il quale con le sue piacevolezze essendo
huomo desli'o e accorto, diletta S. Beatiludinp, e sempre
prolitta a se slesso et altri. [His holiness is naturally of a
cheerful and pleasant temper, though he may by accident
appear otherwise; wherefore he readily engages in hon-
ourable discourse with monsignor Cirillo, his maestro di
case, who, being a man of polished address, delights his
holini ss with his pleasant sallies, to the constant profit of
himself and others.]
flnforrnationi di Pio V. E piu difficultoso di lasciar la
cattiva impressione che la buona, e niassimamente di
quelle persone che non ha in pralica. [He foregoes a bad
impression with more dilficulty than a good one, particu-
larly with regard to those persons of whom he does notsee
much.]
bedridden patient, to visit the said patient for
a longer space than three days, unless he re-
ceive a certificate within that time, that the
patient has confessed his sins afresh."* An-
other bull imposes punishments upon the vio-
lation of the sabbath and on blasphemy. For
the rich these were of a pecuniary nature.
" But a common man who cannot pay, shall
for the first offence stand a whole day before
the church-doors with his hands bound behind
his back ; for the second, he shall be whipped
through the city; for the third, his tongue
shall be bored, and he shall be sent to the
galleys."
Such is the general style of his ordinances.
How often was it necessary to remind him
that he had to do, not with angels, but with
men If
Deference towards the secular powers, now
become so urgently necessary, never checked
him in this respect. He not only caused the
bull In Coena Domini, which had been an old
subject of complaint on the part of the sove-
reigns, to be proclaimed anew, but even ren-
dered it more harsh by some special additions.
In that bull he appeared, on the whole, to
deny the right of government to impose new
taxes.
Such violent proceedings were followed of
course by re-actions ; not merely inasmuch
as the demands which a man of such austerity
thought himself justified in making upon the
world, could never be satisfied, but further-
more, a deliberate resistance arose, and jar-
rings innumerable. Philip II., devotee as he
was, once hinted to the pope that he should
not venture to try of what a sovereign, irrita-
ted to the utmost, might be capable.
The pope, on his part, was deeply affected
by this state of things. He often felt himself
unhappy in his rank. He said he was weary
of life ; that since he acted without respect of
persons he had made himself enemies, and
that ever since he had been pope, his life had
been one series of vexations and persecutions.
Be that as it may, and although Pius no
more succeeded than any other man in giving
full content and satisfaction, certain it is that
his demeanour and his habits of mind exer-
cised an incalculable influence over his con-
temporaries, and over the general develop-
ment of his church. After so long a train of
circumstances, all conspiring to call forth and
promote a more spiritual tendency, after so
many resolutions adopted to make this gener-
ally predominant, there needed a pope of his
* Supra eregem Dominicum, Bull. iv. ii. p. 281.
•f In the Informationi Politiche, xii. is to be found for
instance an Epistola a N. S. Pio V. nella quale si esorta
S. S. tulerare gli Ebrei e le corteegiane, [An episile loour
lord Pius v., in which his holine'ss is exhorted to tolerate
the Jews and the courtesans] by a certain Bertano, who
expatiates largely on his subject. The Caporioni begged
the pope that he would grant at least the barest toleration.
The pope answered, he would rather quit Kome, than
wink at such abominations.
118 THE POPES ABOUT THE MIDDLE OF 16TH CENTURY, [a. d. 1566-72.
mould to provide that the new system should
not only be every where proclaimed, but also
practically enforced. To this end his zeal
and his example alike were of immense efH-
cacy.
'I'he often talked-of reformations of the court
were commenced in fact at least, if not in the
forms that had been proposed. The expendi-
ture of the papal household was retrenched to
an extraordmary degree. Pius V. required
little for his own person, and used often to
say, "He who would govern, must begin with
himself." For his servants, who as he thought
had remained true to him all his life through
without hope of reward, and purely out of
afl'ection, he provided not indeed without lib-
erality ; but still he kept his dependents with-
in more straitened limits than ever had any
pope before him. He moderately endowed
his nephew Bonelli, whom he had made car-
dinal, only because he was told that such a
step was expedient towards maintaining a
more confidential intercourse with sovereigns.
When Bonelli once invited his father to Rome,
Pius obliged him to quit the city again that
night and that very hour. The rest of his
relations he would never raise above the mid-
dle station, and woe to him who should have
been induced into any transgression, even into
a lie ; he never forgave him, but drove him
from him without mercy. How far was he
from the practice of that nepotism, that for
centuries had constituted so considerable a
part of papal history. In one of his most en-
ergetic bulls, Pius V. forbade for the future
every enfeoftinent of a possession of the Ro-
man Church under any title and pretext what-
ever : he declared ipso facto excommunicated
all who stiould even counsel such an act, and
he caused these declarations of his to be sign-
ed by all the cardinals.* He proceeded with
zeal in the repeal of abuses; few dispensa-
tions, and still fewer compositions, were
known to issue from him ; and frequently did
he restrict the indulgences that had been
granted by his predecessors. He enjoined his
auditor-general to proceed without ceremony
agMiii.-i all archl)ishops and bishops who ne-
glected to reside in their respective dioceses,
and to report them to himself, that he might
depose the disobedient.! He commanded°all
parish priests, under heavy penalties, to attend
closely to the discharge of public worship in
their several churches, and he cancelled what-
ever dispensations from that duty they might
have received.J He was not less zealous in
his endeavours to restore order in the con-
vents. On the one hand, he confirmed to
them their exemption from imposts and other
burthens, as, for instance, the quartering of
* Prohibitio alipnandi pt infpudandi civiiates et loca S.
K. E. adiijOiiPl nos: 15G7, 2'.) Man.
t Cum alias 15G6, 10 Junii, Bull. iv. ii. 303.
J (Jupiemes 1508, 8 Julii, Bull. iv. iii. 24.
troops ; he would not have their tranquillity
molested ; but, on the other hand, he forbade
the monks to hear confessions without exami-
nation and permission of the bishops, and
every new bishop was to be at liberty to re-
peat the examination.* He enjoined the
strictest seclusion both of monks and nuns.
This was not universally approved of Com-
plaints were urged that he enforced rules
more strict than those to which members of
orders had bound themselves: some fell into
a sort of desperation, others fled.f
All these things he enforced in the first
instance in Rome, and in the states of the
Church. He bound the secular as well as
the ecclesiastical authorities to the adminis-
tration of his spiritual ordinances,! while he
himself provided for a rigorous and impartial
administration of justice.^ He did not merely
admonish the magistrates earnestly thereto,
but every last Wednesday of the month he
held a public sitting with the cardinals, at
which every one might appeal in person
against the ordinary tribunals. Independently
of this, he was indefatigable in giving audi-
ence. He remained in his chair from early
morning, and every one was admitted. His
zeal did actually produce a total reform in
the ways of Rome. " At Rome," says Paul
Tiepolo, " things go on very differently from
the old flagitious course. The inhabitants
are become much better, or at least they
appear so."
Something similar took place more or less
throughout all Italy. Church-discipline was
every where rendered more strict by the
publication of the decrees of the council. An
obedience was rendered to the pope, such as
none of his predecessors for a long time had
enjoyed.
Duke Cosmo of Florence did not hesitate to
give up to him those who were denounced by
the Inquisition. Carnesecchi, another of tliose
men of letters who had participated in the
* Romani 1571, G Ausr. Bull. iv. iii. 177.
t Tiepolo, Spesse voile nel dar rhnedio a qunlche dis-
ordiiie incorre in uii altro niassiore, procedendo niassim-
aniente per vie degli esiremi. [Frequently in applying
a remedy to one evil, he incurred another of greater mag-
nitude, his proceedings being for the most part in ex-
tremes,]
t Bull. iv. iii. 284.
§ Informatione della quality di Pio V. e delle cose the
da quelle dependono (Berlin Library). Nel conferire le
gratie non si cura delle circonstanze, secondo che alle
volte sarebbe necPssario per qualsivogliarispelto conside-
rabile, n6 a requisition d'alcuno la giustitia si ha punto
alterala, ancora che sia senza dar scandalo e con psempio
d'altri pontefice polesse fare. [In conferring favours he
pays no heed to circumstances, as would at times seem
necessary in regard to some considerable claim to defer-
ence, nor does justice waver a jot at the solicitation of any
one, even though it might be done without giving scandal,
and under the sanction of other popes' examplrs.] Sori-
ano observes, that he never conferred a favuur without
accompanying it with an admonition: " il che mi parse
proprio il stilo de' confessori, che fanno una gran repren-
sioneal penitenie, quaado sono per assolverlo," [which
seems to me the peculiar style of confessors, who chide
the penitent largely when they are about to aljsolve him.]
A. D. 1566-72.]
PIUS V.
119
first movements towards protestantism in dinals who had chosen his uncle, he mio-ht
Italy, had hitherto always come off safely : have occupied a brilliant position in Rome •
but now neither his personal credit, nor the but he gave up everything, and refused every-
reputation of his family, nor his connexion thing, to devote- himself to the ecclesiastical
even with the reigning house itself, could any duties of his bishopric of Milan. These he
longer protect him. _ He was delivered bound discharged with uncommon energy, nay with
to the Roman Inquisition, and suffered death passion. He was continually journeying
at the stake.* Cosmo was entirely devoted through his diocese in every direction ; there
to the pope ; he aided him in all his under- I was not a place in it which he had not visit-
takings, and admitted his spiritual claims ; ed two or three times ; the loftiest mountains
without hesitation. In return for this, the tbe remotest valleys, were not neglected by
pope felt moved to crown him archduke of i him. He was usually preceded by a i;isj7«<or,
Tuscany. The right of the Roman see to whose report he carried with hun, and then
take such a step was exceedingly dubious; investigated everything with his own eyes,
the prince's morals occasioned well-grounded imposing punishments and confirming im-
offence, but the devotion he manifested to- provements.* He led his clergy to adopt a
wards the holy see, the strict ecclesiastical similar course: six provincial councils were
measures he adopted in his dominions, ap
peared in the pope's eye to constitute the very
merit of merits.
The old antagonists of the Medici, the
Farnesi, vied with them in the same course :
even Ottavio Farnese plumed himself on
executing the pope's commands upon the least
hint.
Pius was not on quite such good terms with
the Venetians. They were neither so hostile
to the Turks, nor so indulgent to monastic
institutions, nor so cordial towards the inqui-
sition, as he could have wished. Still he took
good care not to break with them. He deem-
ed " that the republic was based upon the
faith, and had always kept herself catholic :
she alone had remained free from the inunda-
tion of the barbarians ; the honour of Italy
rested upon her," and he declared that he
loved her. The Venetians too conceded more
to him than to any other pope. They deli-
vered up to him (an act unparalleled in their
annals) the unfortunate Guido Zanetti of Fano,
whose religious opinions had incurred suspi-
cion, and who had fled to Parma. They
introduced tolerably good order among the
clergy of the city, who for a long time had
given themselves little concern about the
rules of the Church. But, besides this, their
churches of Verona were admirably organized
by J. Matteo Giberti, who was held up as an
example of what a bishop's life should be.f
His plans and regulations were regarded as
morals throughout the entire catholic world ;
the council of Trent adopted several of them.
Carlo Borromeo had his likeness taken, that
ho might be constantly reminded of his walk
and demeanour.
But Carlo Borromeo himself exercised a
still greater influence. From his numerous
dignities and offices, (among them, that of
grand-penitentiary,) and as chief of the car-
held under his auspices. But besides all this,
he was indefatigable in the discharge of ordi-
nary clerical functions. He preached, and
read mass; passed whole days in administering'
the sacrament, ordaining priests, admitting
nimg, and consecrating altars. The latter
ceremony was one of eight hours' duration :
three hundred occasions have been enume-
rated, on which he performed it. Many of
his measures, indeed, chiefly concerned exter-
nals, relating more particularly to the reno-
vation of buildings, tlie harmonizing of rituals,
and the elevation and adoration of the host.
What was most essential, was the riu-id dis-
cipline in which he held his clergy, and in
which these again held their fl^ocks. He
knew well the art of making his orders effec-
tive. In Swiss countries he visited the places
of most ancient sanctity, divided presents
among the people, and invited the nobles to
his table. On the other hand, he knew how
to meet the refractory with efi^ect. The pea-
santry of Valcamonica waited for him once to
receive his blessing. Now as they had not
paid their tithes for some time, he passed on
without moving his hands or casting a glance
on one of them. The people were "distracted
at this, and made up their minds to return to
their old dutiful behaviour.f Occasionally,
however, he encountered more obstinate and
more rancorous opposition. His purpose to
reform the order of Umiliati, whose members
liad entered it only to enjoy its wealth in
licentiousness,! exasperated those men to such
a degree, that they made an attempt on the
archbishop's life. A shot was fired at him as
he was praying in his chapel. Nothing, how-
» Cantini, Vita di Cosimo, p. 458.
■t Petri Francisci Zini, boni pastoris, exemplum ac spe-
cimen singulare ex Jo. Matthaeo Gibeito episcope expres-
sum atque propositum. Written in 1536, and originally
intended for England. Opera Giberti, p. 252.
TXT* j^'"®^'^°"^' ^^ ""'^^ ^' '■^''"^ ^''^'■'s S. Caroli Borromai,
Mediol. p. 112, IS very explicit respecting the "ritus
visitationis," and all such thinss.
t Kii)amonte, Historia urbis "Mediolani, in Gravius, ii
I. p. 864. Ripamonle dedicated the whole second part of
his history, lib. xi.— xvii. to St. Charles Borroiiieiis.
t They had, in all, ninety-four houses, each of which
might have maintained a hundred individuals; yet so
small was the number of the members, that they were on
an average only two teahouse. The order was abolished
and Borromeo's endowments, as well as the Jesuits, pro-
fited by its wealth. *^
120 THE POPES ABOUT THE MIDDLE OF 16TH CENTURY, [a. d. 1566-72.
ever, was ever more useful to him than this
attack. The people looked on his escape as
a miracle, and from that moment began to
regard him with absolute veneration. Since
his zeal was as pure and as unsullied by
worldly motives as it was persistent, since
even in the hour of peril, when the plague
was raging, he was unwearied in his solici-
tude for the bodily and spiritual health of
those committed to his care, since every act of
his bespoke nothing but disinterestedness and
piety, his influence grew day by day, and
Milan assumed a totally altered aspect.
" How shall I sufficiently praise thee, fairest
city !" exclaims Gabriel Paleotto towards the
close of Borromeo's administration ; "I admire
thy sanctity and religion ; I see thee a second
Jerusalem." With all the worldliness of the
Milanese nobility, exclamations so enthusias-
tic as these could not possibly have been
altogether ungrounded. The duke of Savoy
solemnly congratulated Borromeo on the suc-
cess of his exertions. The latter sought now
to secute the future stability of his regulations.
The uniformity of the ritual was to be main-
tained by a congregation. A special order of
regular clergy, named obligati, pledged them-
selves to the service of the archbishop and his
church. The Barnabites received new rules,
and since that time their labours were appro-
priated, first in that diocese, and afterwards
wherever their order obtained admission, to
the task of aiding the bishops in their care of
souls.* These arrangements were a repeti-
tion of those of Rome on a smaller scale. A
Collegium Helveticum too was founded in
Milan for the restoration of Catholicism in
Switzerland, as in Rome the Collegium Ger-
manician had been established for Germany.
All this could but corroborate the importance
and consideration of the pope. Borromeo,
who never received a papal brief but with
uncovered head, instilled the same devoted-
ness into his church.
Meanwhile, Pius V. had attained an un-
wonted influence in Naples too. In the very
commencement of his papacy he had sent for
Tommaso Orsino da Foligno, and charged
him with a reforming visitation of the Roman
churches. On the" completion of this, he
named him bishop of Strongoli, and sent him
with the same view to Naples. Amid.st a
great concourse of that devout people, Orsino
completed his visitation of the capital and of
a considerable part of the kingdom..
True it is, the pope had in Naples as well
as in Milan no few disputes with the royal
officers. The king felt himself aggrieved by
the bull In Ccena Dojnini, whilst the pope
would hear nothing of the royal exequatur:
for the former, the ecclesiastical officers did
* Ripamonte, 857. He calls the first founders Beccaria,
Ferraria, and Morigia. Giussano, p. 442, gives the usual
namei.
too much ; for the latter, the royal officers did
too little : there were incessant bickerings
between the viceroys and the archbishops.
Intense dissatisfaction often, as we have al-
ready said, prevailed at the court of Madrid,
and the king's confessor was loud in his com-
plaints. No open rapture however ensued.
Both sovereigns respectively imputed the chief
blame to the other's officers and advisers, and
they remained on terms of personal friendship
with each other. On one occasion, when
Philip JI. was ill, Pius V. lifted up his hands
and prayed to God for his recovery : the aged
man implored God to take some years from
his own span, and add them to the king's,
whose life was of more moment than his own.
Moreover, Spain was, on the whole, govern-
ed completely in the spirit of the ecclesiasti-
cal renovation. The king had, for a moment,
pondered whether or not he should uncondi-
tionally admit the resolutions of the council of
Trent, and he would at least have been glad
to curtail the papal power, as far as regarded
the right of making concessions at variance
with the tenour of those resolutions; — but the
religious character of his monarchy was oppos-
ed to all attempts of the kind : he saw that he
must avoid even the semblance of a serious
diflference, if he would remain secure of the
allegiance paid to himself. The decrees of
the council were every where proclaimed, and
the regulations enforced. In this kingdom,
too, the rigorous dogmatic spirit acquired the
upper hand. Carranza, archbishop of Toledo,
the first clergyman in Spain, formerly a mem-
ber of the council of Trent, and who, next to
Pole, had contributed most to the restoration
of Catholicism in England under the reign of
Mary, in spite of all these claims, could not
escape the inquisition. " I have never," he
said, " had any other purpose in view, than to
put down heresy, and God has stood by me in
this design. I myself have converted many
persons of heterodox views ; I have caused the
bodies of many arch-heretics to be disinterred
and burned ; catholics and protestants have
named me the foremost defender of the faith."
But all this unquestionably catholic conduct
availed him nothing against the Inquisition.
Sixteen articles were found in his works, in
which he seemed to approximate to the notions
of the Protestants, especially with regard to
justification. After suffering a long imprison-
ment in Spain, and the anxieties of a pro-
tracted prosecution, he was sent to Rome. It
seemed doing him a great favour to snatch
him from the hands of his personal enemies ;
but even in Rome he could not in the end
escape sentence of condemnation.*
If such was the fate of a man of such high
station, in a case of so doubtful a nature, it
♦ Llorente has devoted three long chapters, in his His-
tory of the Inquisition, to this event. Hist, de I'lnquisi-
lion, iii. 183—315.
A. D. 1566-72.]
PIUS V.
121
may be conceived how little tolerance the
Inquisition would be inclined to show to un-
deniable lapses from the faith, in persons of
lower rank; instances of which did certainly
appear here and there in Spain. The whole
rigour with which the remains of Judaism and
Mohammedanism had hitherto been hunted
down, was now concentrated upon Protestant
opinions. Autos-da-fe followed thick and fnst
upon each other, till at last every germ of the
obuo.xious creed was extirpated. Since the
year 1570, we hardly meet with any but
foreigners brought beibre the Inquisition for
protestantism.*
The government of Spain did not favour the
Jesuits. They were considered to be, for the
most part, Jewish Christians, not of pure
Spanisli blood ; and were shrewdly suspected
of harbouring the thought of some time or
other revenging themselves for all the mal-
treatment they had endured. In Portugal, on
the contrary, the members of the order attained
but too rapidly unlimited power: they governed
tlie kingdom in the name of king Sebastian.
As they enjoyed the highest credit in Rome
too, and under Pius V., they made their power
in that country subservient to the views of the
curia.
And thus Pius V. ruled both the peninsulas
more completely than any of his predecessors
for a long time. The regulations of the coun-
cil of Trent were every where in rigour. All
bishops swore to the Proftssio Fidci, which
contained a summary of the dogmatic propo-
sitions of the council. Pope Pius V. promul-
gated the Romish catechism, in which those
propositions appear here and there in a more
expanded form ; he abolished all breviaries
not expressly issued by the papal see, or which
had not been in use upwards of two hundred
years, and published a new one, modelled on
that of the oldest of the principal churches of
Rome, desirmg that it might be universally
adopted.! He failed not also to publish a
new missal for general use, "after the rule
and ritual of the holy fathers.^ The ecclesias-
tical seminaries were filled ; the convents
were effectually reformed ; the inquisition
vv'atched with merciless severity over the unity
and inviolability of the faith.
Now by such means as these, a strict com-
bination had grown up between all these
countries and states. This was greatly pro-
moted by the fact, that France, involved as it
was in civil war, either abandoned its old hos-
tility to Spain, or was unable to give it effect.
* M<^ Crie's History of the Progress and Suppression of
the Inquisition in Spain, p. 336.
t l{eniotis iis qute aliena et incerta essent. [To the
withdrawal of all those of adventitious and iincerlain
ori^^in.]— Quoniam nobis: 9 Julii, 15i>8.
t CoUatis omnibus cum vetustissiiiius nostriB Vaticanae
bibliolhecsB aliisque undique conquisilis eniendatis atque
incorruptis codicibus. [Collated with all the most ancient
MSS. in our Vatican library, and with other correct and
uncorrupted MSS. selected from all quarters.]
l(i
The troubles of France were productive of
another result also. The events of a period
always evolve some general political notions,
which then exercise a practical dominion over
the world. The catholic princes believed
themselves assured that the admission of
changes in religion was fatal to a state.
Whereas Pius V, had said that the church
could not subsist without the support of sove-
reigns, the latter were now convinced that
for them, too, an union with the church was
indispensably necessary. Pius V. never ceas-
ed to preach up this doctrine to them. In
fact, he lived to see all Southern Christendom
grouped around himself in one common enter-
prise.
The Ottoman power was still making vigor-
ous progress: it ruled the Mediterranean;
and its enterprises, first against Malta, and
then against Cyprus, showed how earnestly
it was bent on tiie conquest of the yet unsub-
jugated islands. It threatened Italy from
Hungary and Greece. Pius V. succeeded in
at last opening the eyes of the catholic mon-
arclis to the magnitude of this danger. The
thought of a league between those sovereigns
suggested itself to him upon the attack on
Cyprus, and he proposed it to Venice on the
one side, and to Spain on the other. " When
I received permission to treat with him on the
subject," says the Venetian ambassador, " and
communicated my instructions to him, he rais-
ed his hands towards heaven and thanked
God : he promised that his whole soul, and
every thought of his mind, should be devoted
to that busmess."* It cost him infinite trouble
to remove the difficulties that impeded an
union of the two maritime powers. He add-
ed the other states of Italy to them ; and he
himself, though at first he possessed neither
money nor ships nor arms, yet found means
to reinforce the fleet even with papal galleys.
He had a share in the choice of the leader,
Don John of Austria, whose ambition and devo-
tion he contrived equally to influence. The
result at last was the most successful engage-
ment, that of Lepanto, in which Christendom
had ever been concerned. So intensely was
the pope interested in this enterprise, that on
the day of battle he believed he beheld the
victory in a sort of rapturous trance. Its
achievement filled him with the highest self-
confidence and the most daring projects. In
* Soriano. Havuta la resolutione, andai subito alia
audienza, benche era di notte, e I'hora incomnioda, e S.
Sa. travaglialo per li accident! sesuiti quel ciorno per la
coronatione del duca di Fiorenza ed il protesto dell' am-
basciatore Cesareo (against it): e co.uniunicata la com-
missione che haveva, S. S^. si allegrO tutto. [Having
received the resolution, I went instantly to seek an audi-
ence, though il was night, and the hour inconvenient, and
his holiness had been much faticued that day by the inci-
dents arising out of the coronation of the duke of Florence,
and the protest of the imperial ambassadors asainst it ;
and on my communicating my orders, his holiness was
entirely delighled.J
122 THE POPES ABOUT THE MIDDLE OF THE 16TH CENTURY, [a. d. 1572.
a few years he hoped to see the Ottomans
wholly prostrated.
But his mediation was not exclusively de-
voted to the bringing about of such unques-
tionably glorious enterprises. His religion
was of so exclusive and imperious a kind, that
he cherished the bitterest hatred towards all
Christians of a different faith. Strange incon-
sistency, that religion should persecute inno-
cence and humility and genuine piety ! It
seemed none to Pius V., who had risen through
the Inquisition, and grown old in its ways.
If he sought with inexhaustible zeal to extir-
pate the remains of dissent that yet lurked in
catholic lands, he persecuted with still more
savage fury tJie avowed Protestants who had
already shaken off his yoke, or who were yet
engaged in the struggle. He not only aided
the French catholics with a small body of
troops, but he gave the leader of these, the
count Santafiore, the monstrous order, to take
no Huguenot prisoner, but to kill forthwith
every Protestant who should fall into his
hands.* When the disturbances broke out in
the Netherlands, Philip II. wavered at first
as to what course he should pursue with these
provinces ; the pope advised him to an armed
intervention. His argument was, " He that
negociates without the cogency of arms must
receive laws ; but he that has arms in his
hands can prescribe them." He approved of
Alva's bloody measures, and sent him, in re-
ward of them, the consecrated hat and sword.
It cannot be proved that he was privy to the
preparations for the massacre of St. Bartho-
lomew ; but he did things that make it evident
he would have approved of it as much as his
successor.
What a medley of singleness of purpose,
loftiness of soul, personal austerity, and entire
devotion to religion, with grim bigotry, ran-
corous hatred, and sanguinary zeal for perse-
cution !
In this spirit lived and died Pius V.* When
he saw his end approaching, he once more
visited the seven churches, " in order," as he
said, " to take leave of those holy places ;"
and he thrice kissed the last steps of the Scala
Santa. He had once promised not only to
expend on an expedition against England the
property of the church, chalices and crosses
not excepted, but even to head it in person.
Some fugitive catholics from England pre-
senting themselves in his way, he said, " he
wished he might shed his blood for them." He
spoke with special interest of the Ligue, for
the successful prosecution of which he left
every thing in ready train : the last money
he dispensed was for that purpose.f The
phantoms of his enterprises hovered round
him to his last moment. He had not a doubt
of their prosperous issue, deeming that God
would needs raise up from the very stones the
man his work demanded.
If his loss was immediately felt more acutely
than he himself had anticipated, an unity had
yet been founded, a force had been summoned
forth, whose inherent momentum would of
necessity maintain the course begun.
BOOK THE FOURTH.
COURT AND STATE. THE TIMES OF GREGORY XIII. AND SIXTUS V.
Introduction.
Henceforth Catholicism confronted the
protestant world in renovated collected vigour.
Comparing the two antagonists together, we
see an extraordinary advantage on the side of
Catholicism, inasmuch as it had a centre, a
chief who guided its movements in every di-
rection.
Nor only had the pope the means of uniting
the other catholic powers in a community of
efforts, but he possessed besides dominions
of his own, sufficiently strong to contribute
something to the general force.
From this time forth, the states of the
Church come before us in a new light.
Their foundation resulted from the efforts
* Catena, Vila di Pio V., p. 85. Pio si ilolso dpi conte
che non huvesse il comandamemo di lui osservato d'am-
mazzar subilo qualunque ^ereiico gli fosse veuuto alle
mani.
of the popes to elevate their families to princely
station, or to secure for themselves a para-
mount importance among the powers of the
world, and especially among the Italian states.
In neither object did they succeed to the full
extent of their desires ; and now it was be-
come forever impossible to renew those ef-
forts. A law of their own making forbade
the alienation of the possessions of the Church,
while the Spaniards were far too powerful in
Italy to admit of any contest with them. On
the other hand, the temporal sovereignty had
♦ Hp died May 1,1572.
t Infonnaiione dell' infermitil di Pio V. Havendo in
sua stanza in una cassettina 13m. sc. per donare e fare
eleemosine di sua niano, dueglorni avanti sua morte, fece
chiamare il deposilario della camera e levarli, dicendo
che sarieno boni per la lega. [Having in his chamber a
casket containing tliirteen thousand scudi, intended for
presents and alms to be bestowed with his own hand, two
days before he died hesent for the treasurer to the camera
to take them, saying, ihey would be serviceable to tha
L/igue.]
i
ADMINISTRATION OF THE STATES OF THE CHURCH.
123
now become a prop for the spiritual authority :
I the financial means it aftbrded were import-
ant to the g-eneral development of the papal
power. Belbre we proceed further, it will be
necessary to take a closer view of the admi-
nistration of the States of the Church, in the
form it gradually assumed during the course
of the sixteenth century.
Administration of the States of the Church.
A well-situated, rich, and noble region had
fallen to the lot of the popes.
The writers of the sixteenth century can-
not find words sufficiently to extol its fertility.
What beautiful plains did it exhibit round
Bologna, all through Romagna ! what loveli-
ness combined with fertility, down tlie slopes
of the Apennines! " We travelled," say the
Venetian ambassadors of 1522, "from Mace-
rata to Tolentino through the most beautiful
fields ; through hills and plains covered with
corn : there was nothing else to be seen grow-
ing for a space of thirty miles; not a foot of
uncultivated land was discoverable ; it seemed
impossible to gather in, not to speak of con-
suming, such an abundance of corn." Ro-
magna yearly yielded forty thousand stara
more corn than was sufficient for its own con-
sumption ; for this there was a great demand,
and after supplying the mountain districts of
Urbino, Tuscany, and Bologna, thirty-five
thousand stara more were at times exported
by sea. Whilst Venice,* on the one sea, was
supplied with necessaries from Bologna and
the iVlarch ; on the other, Genoa commonly,
and occasionally Naples too, were supplied
from Viterbo and the patrimony. In one of
his bulls of the year 1566, Pius V. extols the
divine grace, that had permitted that Rome,
which formerly had not been able to subsist
without foreign supplies of 6orn, should now
not only possess it in superfluity, but often be
able to supply it of its own growth to neigh-
bouring and distant countries, by land and sea.f
In the year 1589, the exports of corn from the
States of the Church are estimated at the an-
nual value of five hundred thousand scudi.l
* Badoer, Relatione, 1591 . The friendship of Romagna
for Venice rested on the consideration, "quanto impona
la vicinili di questacitli per ben vendere per rordinario
le lore biade, vini, frutti, guadi et altre cose, ri(;oilandone
aU'incomro boni danari." [How imporianl the vicinity
of the latter city was for the ready sale of the corn, wine,
fruits, nets, and other very profitable coiniuoililies.]
t Jurisdictio consuluin arlis agriculiurae urbis — 9 Sep.
1566. Bullar. Cocquel. iv. ii. 314.
JGiovanni Griiti, Relatione, 1589. La Romagna e la
Marca sola si mette che alcune voile abbia mandato fuori
60n)- rubbia di grano e piu di SOm- di menudi. II paese di
Roma e lo staio di li dell' Alpi quasi oani anno s.immin-
islra il viver al paese di Genova et altri jiinshi circonvi-
cini : onde deU'uscita di grani e di biade dellostato eccle-
eiastico si tien per cosa certa che ogn'anno eniri in esso
valsente di 500m- go. almeno : n6 ail'incontro ha bisnjno
di fosi di fuori se non di poco niomento et in poca stima,
che sono specierie e cosi da vestirsi di nobili e ])ersone
principali. [Il is stated thai Romagna and the March
alone have occasionally sixty thousand rubbia of wheal,
Particular districts were further celebrated for
their several peculiar productions; Perugia
for hemp, Faenza for flax, Viterbo for both,*
Cesena for a wine for exportation, Rimini for
oil, Bologna for woad, San Lorenzo for its
manna; the vintage of Montefiascone was
famous all over the world. In Campagna
there existed in those times a breed of horses
not much inferior to that of Naples; about
Nettuno and Terracina there was excellent
hunting, especially of the wild boar. There
was no lack of lakes abounding in fish : there
were salt and alum works, and quaries of mar-
ble : the country seemed to possess in plenty
every thing that could be desired for the com-
forts of life.
Nor was this territory by any means ex-
cluded from the general commerce of the
world. Ancona had a very flourishing trade,
" It is a handsome place," say the ambassa-
dors of 1522, "full of merchants, particularly
Greeks and Turks : we were assured that in
preceeding years some of them did business
to the amount of five hundred thousand du-
cats." In the year 1549, we find two hun-
dred Greek families settled there as traders,
having their own church. The harbour was
full of Levantine caravels. There were Ar-
menians, Turks, Florentines, people from
Lucca, Venetians, and Jews from the East
and from the West. The goods that changed
hands here consisted of silk, wool, leather,
Flemish lead and cloths. Luxury was on
the increase; house-rents were rising, phy-
sicians and schoolmasters were more nu-
merous, and their fees higher than ever be-
fore, f
But the inhabitants of the States of the
Church were still more renowned for their
valour than for their commercial activity and
capacity. They are sometimes described to
us according to the several shades of their
military character. The Perugians are steady
soldiers, the inhabitants of Romagna brave
but improvident, those of Spolelo abound in
stratageins of war ; the Bolognese are high-
spirited, but hard to keep in discipline; the
inhabitants of the March addicted to plunder;
the Faentini are above all others the men to
resist a charge, and to pursue the enemy on
his retreat ; the men of Fori i are distinguished
for skill in executing difficult mancEuvres;
those of Fermo for dexterity in the use of the
and more than thirty thousand rubbia of olher grain The
country round Rome and the Transalpine Slate, almost
every year supply the necessaries of life to Geneva and
other surrounding neighbourhoods: accordingly il is ascer-
tained, thai in return for the corn and oats of the Ecclesi-
aslical States, there yearly flows into them the amount of
five hundred thousand scudi at least. On the other hand,
they have no need of foreign goods, with the exception of
things of small importance and value, such as groceries,
and ^materials of apparel for the nobility and persons of
distinction.]
* Voyage de Montaigne, ii. 488.
t Saracini, Noiizie istoriche della citt4 d'Ancona. Roma,
1675, p. 362.
124 COURT AND STATE. TIMES OF GREGORY XIII. AND SIXTHS V.
lance.* "The whole population," says one
of our Venetians, " is martial and fierce by
nature. So soon as these men leave their
homes they are fit for every deed of war,
whether of leaguer or of open fight : they bear
with ease the toils of a campaign.!" The
Venetians constantly drew their best troops
from the March and from Romagna : for that
reason was the friendship of the dukes of Ur-
bino of such moment to the republic we always
find officers from those districts in its service.
It was said, however, that here there were cap-
tains enough for all the sovereigns in the
world ; from hence had gone forth the com-
pany of St. George, with which Albericii of
Barbiano had extirpated the foreign mercena-
ries, and revived the fame of the Italian arms ;
here was still the race and slock of the men
who had contributed so much to the establish-
ment of the Roman empire. | Later times
have not justified such high encomiums; still
the last leader who employed these men on
foreign service is said to have given them the
decided preference over the rest of his Italian,
and over a considerable part of his French
troops.
All these rich districts and this brave popu-
lation were now subject to the peaceful, spi-
ritual power of the pope. Let us now trace
the leading features of the government that
developed itself under the pontiifs.
It was founded, as usual in the Italian states,
on a more or less stringent limitation of the
independence to which the municipalities had
almost every where grown in the course of
centuries.
Down even to the fifteenth century, the
priors of Viterbo, sitting on their stone seats
before the door of the town-hall, received the
oath of the podestas, sent them by the pope or
his representative.^
When the city of Fano became immediately
subject to the Roman see, it made stipula-
tions beforehand, conditioning not only that it
should tor the future be under the immediate
sovereignty of Rome, but also that it should
have right of choosing its own podesta, with-
out the need of any further confirmation of
tlie appointment, withtwenty years immunity
*Laudi, QuEBSliones Forcianae, Neapoli, 1536: a book
full of authentic and minute observations on the state of
Italy in those days.
t Soriano, 157U; Quanto a soldati, 6 commune opinions
clie nello statodellacliicsa siano i mialiori di tutto il resto
d'ltalia, anzi d'Europa. [As for soldiers, it is commonly
thought that the Ecclesiastical States possess the best in
Italy, or even in Europe.]
t Lorenzo Priuli: Relatione, 1.58G. Lo stato pieno di
viveri per darne anco a popoli vicini, pieno di huomini
bellicosi — he specifies Genga, Carpacna, and Malatesta.
Pareno tulti questi popoli nati et allevali nella militia.
E molto presto si metteria insieme molto buona gentetoc-
cando il tamburo. [The State abounds with the necessa-
ries of life, so that it can supjdy its neiulibours, and is full
of warlike men. The wliole population seems born and
bred to war. A fine body of men would speedily assem-
ble at the beat of the drum.]
§ Feliciano Bassi: Istoria di Vitorbo, p. 59.
from all new burthens, the advantages of the
sale of salt, and several other privileges.*
Even so arbitrary a ruler as Cesar Borgia
could not avoid granting privileges to the
towns of which he had composed his princi-
pality. He even surrendered to the town of
Sinigaglia revenues that had till then belonged
to the sovereign."!-
How much more incumbent was this upon
Julius II., whose ambition it was to figure as
an emancipator from tyranny. He himself re-
minded the Perugians that he had spent the
best years of his youth within their walls.
When he drove Baglione out of Perugia, he
contented himself with recalling the emi-
grants, restoring their power to the peaceful
magistrates, the priori, and bestowing higher
salaries on the professors of the universities :
he made no encroachments on the ancient
immunities of the city. For a long time after-
wards it paid no more than a few thousand du-
cats, by way of recognition of the pope's sove-
reignty; even under Clement VII. I find a
calculation of the number of troops it could
bring into the field, just as though it were a
perfectly free community.!
Bologna's yoke was equally light. With
the forms, it at all times maintained likewise
many of the essential attributes of municipal
independence. It freely administered its own
revenues, maintained its own troops, and the
pope's legate received a salary from the city.
Julius II. conquered the towns of Romagna
in the Venitian war ; but he did not possess
himself of a single one without consenting to
restrictive conditions or conferring new posi-
tive rights. In later times they always re-
curred to the stipulations they then concluded
with him. They designated the political con-
dition on which they entered by the name of
" Ecclesiasiical Freedom. "J
The state, tlfus constituted, had on the
whole a certain analogy to that of Venice. In
the one, as in the other, the political power
liad hitherto been in the hands of the com-
munes, which had for the most part subjected
smaller communities to their sway. In the
Venetian territories these ruling municipali-
ties, without in all respects foregoing their
independence, had subjected themselves under
accurately defined conditions to tlie control of
the nobilii of Venice: in the Ecclesiastical
States they fell under the commonwealth of
the curia ; for the court constituted a common-
wealth in tlie latter, as the nobility did in the
former. The dignity of prelate, indeed, was
not indispensable towards the occupation of
the highest posts in the municipalities during
*Amiani: Memorie istoriche della citti'di Fano, t. ii.
p. 4.
t Siena, Storia di Senigaglia, App. n. v.
t Surlano, Relatione di Fiorenza, 1.533.
§ Rainaldus alludes to tliis but very briefly. Concern-
ing Ravenna, see Hieronymi Kubei Historiarum ilaven-
nalum lib. viii. p. 6G0.
ADMINISTRATION OF THE STATES OF THE CHURCH.
125
the first half of this century : temporal vice-
legates present themselves to us in Perug^ia ;
in Romagna it seemed almost an established
rule that a secular president should be at tlie
head of the administration; laymen attained
occasionally to the greatest power and conse-
quence, as for instance, Jacopo Salviati, under
Clement Vli. ; but these laymen belonged
after all to the curia ; they were servants of
the pope, and thereby members of that corpo-
ration. The towns, however, did not like
those secular governors ; they demanded pre-
lates, tiiinking it more Jionourable to obey ec-
clesiastics of high rank. Compared with a
German principality, with all its organized
system of estates, an Italian at first sight ap-
pears almost anarchical. But even in the
case of the latter, there existed in fact a nota-
ble partition of privileges between the various
classes, between the highest authorities of a
city and its nobili, between these latter and
the cittadini, between the aristocracy and the
communes subject to them, between the city
and the rural population. It is a striking fact,
that hardly in any once instance was a sys-
tem of provincial administration adopted in
Italy. Provincial assemblies were held in-
deed in the Ecclesiastical States, and these
have been dignified with the name of par-
liaments; but in some way or other it must
have been inconsistent with the manners ol'
the country and with the Italian character to
bring such institutions to perfection: they
never attained to any enduring influence.
Now had the municipal constitution reached
that complete development of which it was
susceptible, and towards which it seemed in
progress, seeing on the one hand the limita-
tion of the government authority, on the other
the positive rights and the great power of the
communes, and the multitude of the indivi-
dual privileges, it would have e.xhibited the
principle of stability in the most striking form
— a political system defined by special prero-
gatives and reciprocal limitations.
Considerable progress was made in this di-
rection in the Venetian dominions, not nearly
so much in the States of the Church.
This difference is referable to the original
diversity of their forms of government. In
Venice there was a hereditary self-governing
corporation, that regarded the supreme power
as its own property. The Roman curia on
the other hand was extremely fluctuating ;
new^ elements flowed in upon it after every
new conclave ; the countrymen of the several
popes always acquired a large share in the
disposal of business. In the tbrmer, appoint-
ments to places in the administration proceed-
ed from the corporation itself; in the latter,
they depended on the favour of the head of tlie
state. In the former, the rulers were kept in
check by rigorous laws, close inspection, and
syndication; in the latter, individuals were
less restricted byfear of punishment than by
hope of promotion, which moreover depended,
in a great degree, on favour and afl'ection, and
they enjoyed a wider range of action.
From the very first, too, the papal govern-
ment had secured to itself a freer position.
In this point of view we arrive at a remark-
able result, on comparing the concessions made
respectively by Rome and Venice. A favour-
able opportunity for this is aflbrded, among
others, by the case of Faenza, which had yield-
ed itself up to the Venetians a few years before
its surrender to the pope, and had made stipu-
lations with both.* On both occasions it had
demanded, for instance, that no new tax should
ever be imposed without the approval of the
majority of the great council of Faenza : to
this the Venetians acceded unconditionally,
whereas the pope added the clause, "unless
it should otherwise seem fit to him upon im-
portant and reasonable grounds." I will not
enlarge upon this subject ; the same difl^erence
is every where observable ; it is sufficient that
I mention one other instance. The Venetians
had consented without hesitation that all cri-
minal judgments should be subject to the
approval of the podesta and his curia : the pope
likewise granted this in general, but insisted
on one exception. "In cases of high treason,
or of similar crimes, which might occasion
public irritation, the authority of the governor
sha,ll step in." It is manifest that the papal
government reserved to itself, from the very
outset, a much more vigorous exercise of the
sovereign authority than did the Venetian.f
It cannot be denied that its efforts to this
end were greatly facilitated by the other side.
In the subject towns in those days the mid-
dle classes, the burghers, and the traders and
artisans, when their incomes sufficed for their
maintenance, remained peaceable and obedi-
ent ; but there was no end to the commotions
among the patricians, the nobili, who held the
municipal authority in their hands. They
practised no arts, cared little for agriculture,
set no great store by intellectual cultivation,
or skill in arms ; their own feuds and enmities
were all that engrossed their attention. The
old factions of Guelphs and Ghibellines still
subsisted ; they had been fostered by the last
wars, in which victory had alternated between
them ; all the f imilies belonging to either
party were well known. In Faenza, Ravenna,
and Forli, the Ghibellines were the stronger;
in Rimini the Guelphs ; but in all these towns
the weaker party still maintained itself. In
* Historie di Faenze, falica di GiulioCesare Tonduzzi,
Fapnza, 1U75, contain (p. 5li9) ihe capilulatious concluded
wilh the Venetians in 1501, and (p. 08?) those assented to
by Julius II. in 15111.
t What were the means it used is shown by Paul III.
when he says (1547) : " Ceux qui viennent nouvellenient
au papat viennent pauvres, obliges de promesses, at la de-
pense qu'ils font pour s'asseurerdans les lerresde I'eglise
nionte plus c^ue le profit des proniieresann^es." Le Card',
de Guise au Koy de France, en Kibier, ii. 17.
126 COURT AND STATE. TIMES OF GREGORY XIII. AND SIXTHS V.
Cesena and Imola the two* were on a par.
Even in the midst of outward peace a secret
war was carried on ; every one made it his
special purpose to keep down his adversary of
the other faction, and to cast him into the
shade.* The chiefs had at their beck depen-
dents in the lowest classes, stout determined
fellows, vagabond bravi, who voluntarily offer-
ed their services to those who they knew stood
in fear of enemies, or had an injury to avenge.
They were always ready to commit murder
for hire.
The result of these universal feuds was, that
while neither party trusted the other, or allow-
ed it the exerciseof authority, the cities were
less sedulous to maintain their privileges.
When the president, or the legate, entered
the province, the question was not asked whe-
ther he was disposed to respect the rights of
the municipalities ; the only thing attempted
to be guessed at was, to which party he ad-
hered. It is impossible to describe the exul-
tation of the favoured party, and the dismay of
their rivals. The legate had need be very
wary. The most influential men sought his
intimacy, courted his good-will, affected to
display great zeal for the interests of the state,
and acquiesced in all measures proposed for
its advantage ; but all this was often but a
pretence to secure them a better footing with
the legate, to ingratiate themselves with him,
and so enable them the more keenly to wound
and persecute the party they hated.f
The barons in the country were in a some-
what diflerent position. They were for the
most part poor, but liberal and ambitiojis, so
that they even kept open house, and without
exception expended more than their means
could affijrd. They always had dependents in
the towns, whose aid they often employed for
illegal purposes. But they made it their chief
care to maintain a good understanding with
their peasantry, who always possessed the
largest extent of ground, though no wealth.
In southern countries regard is indeed paid to
high birth and to the prerogatives of gentle
blood, but the distinction of ranks is very far
from being so strictly marked there as in nor-
thern lands, nor does it act as a bar to the
closest personal intimacy. The peasants lived
* Relatione dellaRomagna(Bibl. All.). Li nobili hanno
seguilo di iiiolle persone, delle quale alcune voile si vag-
liono no' consegli per conseguire qualche carica, o per se
o per allrl, per poiere vincere o per impedire all' allri
qualclip richiesla: ne' giudicii per provare el alcune volte
per testificare, nelle inimlcitie per fare vendette, ingiurie:
alcuni ancora a Ravenna, Imola e Faenzausavano di con-
trabandare grano. [The nobles have a numerous train of
dependents, of whose aid they avail themselves in the
council, to obtain any charge either for themselves or for
others, to further any request of their own, or hinder those
of others; before the tribunals to carry on suits, and some-
times to bear witness and in their quarrels to satisfy their
reven'/e. Some too in Ravenna, Imola, and Faenza, em-
ployed these persons in smugslina corn.
t Relatione di Monsre- Rev"'o- Giov. P. Ghisilieri al P.
Gregorio XIII. tornando esli dal presidentatodi Romagna.
We learn from Tonduzzi (Hislorie di Faenza, p. 673) that
Ghisilieri came inloihe province in 1573.
with their barons rather on the footing of bro-
therly subordination, nor could it well be said
whether the peasants showed more alacrity
towards obedience and service, or the barons
towards acts of patronage and support : there
was something of a patriarchal character in
the connexion between them.* This arose
chiefly out of the desire of the barons to hinder
their vassals from having recourse to the state
authorities. They paid but little regard to the
feudal supremacy of the papal see. They
looked on the pretensions of the legate to
judge, not only on appeal, but sometimes even
in the first instance, not as claims of right,
but as consequences of an unfortunate politi-
cal conjuncture that would soon pass away.
There existed also here and there, particu-
larly in Romagna, independent communities
of peasants.f They were large clans descend-
ed from a common stock ; lords in their own
villages; all armed, and especially practised
in the use of the arquebus; generally half-
savage. They may be compared with the
free Greek or Sclavonian communities, that
maintained their independence among the
Venetians, or with those of Candia, Morea,
and Dalmatia, who reconquered their lost
independence from the Turks. In the States
of the Church these peasants likewise adiiered
to the different factions. The Savina, Scar-
docci, and Solaroli, were Ghibellines; the
Manbelli, Cerroni, and Serra, were Guelphs.
The Serra had in their district an eminence
that served as an asylum for those who com-
mitted any offence. The strongest of all were
the Cerroni, whose numbers extended also
into the Florentine territory. They had di-
vided themselves into two branches, Rinaldi
and Ravagli, which were unceasingly at feud,
notwithstanding their relationship. They
stood in a sort of hereditary connexion not
only with the noble families of the towns, but
also with lawyers who supported the one or
the other faction in their litigations. There
was not in all Romagna a single family so
powerful that it could not easily have been
hurt by these peasants. The Venetians al ways
kept some one of their military commanders
among them, in order to be assured of their
aid in case of war.
If, as we have already said, all these popu-
lations had been united, it would have been
* Relatione della Romagna : Essendosi agginstate gli
uni air humore degli allri. [Being filled to each other's
humour.]
t The peasants likewise often threw off the yoke of the
towns. Ghisilieri: " Scossi da quel giogo e recali ([uasi
corpo diyerso da quelle cilfA" (ex. gr. Forli, Cesena), "si
governaho con eerie loro lesgi separate, solto il governo
d'un protettore eletto da loro medesimi, li quali hanno
aniplissima aulorita di far le resolulioni necessarie per li
casi occorrenli alii conladini." [Having shaken oT tha
yoke, and seceded as a separate body from those cities,
they are under the governmeniof th^irown distinct laws,
administered by a president elected by ihems'lves, who
has the amplest authority to adopl all resolutions neces-
sary under the various circumsiances occurring lo the
peasants.]
ADMINISTRATION OF THE STATES OF THE CHURCH.
127
difficult for the Roman prelates to assert the
authority of the state ; but their dissensions
strengthened the hands of the government.
In the report of a president of Romagna to
pope Gregory XIII. I find the words : " As the
people is easily ruled when disunited, so is it
with difficulty governed when too much unit-
ed."* But, furthermore, another party sprung
up in these centuries in favour of tlie govern-
ment. It consisted of those peaceful indivi-
duals who wished for tranquillity, men of the
middle station, who were not partisans of
either faction. In Fano tliis party formed an
association, called the " Holy Union," com-
pelled to this step, as stated in their founda-
tion-deed, " because the whole town is become
full of robbery and murder, and not only are
those persons insecure who are involved in the
several feuds, but those, too, who would fain
eat their bread m the sweat of their brow."
They bound themselvestogether in the church
by an oath of brotherhood for life or death to
uphold the quiet of the town, and to exter-
minate its disturbers.f The government fa-
voured them, and allowed them the right of
bearing arms. We find them throughout all
Romagna under the title oi' pacijici, gradually
constituting a kind of plebian magistracy.
The government had its adherents likewise
among the peasants. The Manbelli attached
themselves to the legate's court. They arrest-
ed banditti, and acted as warders of the fron-
tiers, whereby they acquired no slight increase
of consequence in the eyes of their neigh-
bours.| The government was further assisted
by local jealousies, the opposition of the rural
communities to the towns, and many other
internal evils.
Thus, instead of that legal order, quiet, and
stability, to which, judging theoretically, the
constitution miglithave led, we find turbulent
strife of factions, interference of government
so long as these are at variance, reaction of the
municipalities when they are again united ;
violence on the side of the law, violence against
the law, every man trying how far he might
riot in license.
Under Leo X. the Florentines, who for the
most part held the reigns of administration,
immediately exercised the rights of the curia
♦ Siccome il popolo disunilo facilmente si doniina, cosi
difficilmenie si rpgge quando 6 iroppo unilo.
t They were like the Herniandad. Aiiiiani, Memorie
di Fano, ii. 146, gives their formula grounded on the text
" Beali pacifici, quia filii Dei vocabunlur." [Blessed are
Ihe peace-makers, for they shall be called the sons of
God.] Hence may have been derived their name in
other towns.
t According to the Relatione della Romagna, they call-
ed themselves also, from their place of abode, " Huomini
da Schieto:" — " Uomini," it says, "che si fanno mollo ri-
guardare ; sono Guelphi : la corte di Romagna si 6 valuta
dell' opero loro mollo utilmente, massime in havere in
niano bandiii, et in ovviare alle fraudi the si fanno in
estrarre bestiani dalle montagne." [Men who are much
esteemed : they are Guelphs : the court of Romagna has
profited much by their aid, especially in curbing the ban-
ditti, and in preventing the fraudulent absuaclion of cattle
from the mounlains.J
in a very oppressive manner. Embassies from
the towns arrived one after the other in Rome,
entreating relief of their grievances. Raven-
na declared it would rather surrender to the
Turks, than endure the continuance of such
a system of government.* Often during the
vacancies of the papal see the old lords re-
turned, and were not afterwards expelled
without difficulty by the new pope. On the
other hand, the towns dreaded being alien-
ated from the papal see. Sometimes a cardi-
nal, sometimes one of the pope's adherents, or
a neighbouring prince, would endeavour to
obtain the right of government in one or other
of the towns, in consideration of money paid
to the camera. The towns, therefore, kept
agents and envoys at Rome, to discover every
scheme of this kind the moment it was sug-
gested, and to frustrate it whenever it was
sought to be put in operation. They were
generally successful in this ; but sometimes
it happened that they were obliged to have
recourse to force against the pope's authority,
and even against his troops. In almost all
the histories of the towns there occur one or
more examples of rude insubordination. In
Faenza once, in the summer of 1.521, the
Swiss of Pope Leo and the citizens came to a
regular battle in the streets. The Swiss con-
trived to concentrate themselves in the piazza,
but the citizens baricading all the streets that
opened upon it, they were glad enough when
one was unbarred, and they were suffered to
march out unmolested. That day was for
many a year afterwards celebrated in Faenza
with religious solemnities.! Jesi, which
could hardly be called an important town,
had yet courage enough to attack the vice-
governor in his palace, on the 25th Novem-
ber, 1528, on his demanding certain marks of
honour which the inhabitants refused to pay
him. The citizens and the peasants united,
and a hundred Albanians who were in the
neighbourhood were taken into pay : the vice-
governor fled with all his officers. " My
native town," says the otherwise very devout
catholic chronicler, "having in this way re-
trieved its original freedom, resolved yearly
to solemnize that day at the public cost."|
From such acts nothing, it is obvious, could
ensue but new subjugations, new punish-
ments, and harder restrictions. The govern-
ment seized on the pretext afforded them by
such occurrences, to wrest from the towns
♦ Marino Zorzi: Relatione di 1517. La terra di Ro-
magna e in gran combustione e desordine: li vien fatta
poco juslitia: e lui orator ha visto tal x man di oratori al
cardinal di Medici, che ncgotia le facende, lamentandosi
di mali portainenti fanno quelli reiiori loio. [Romagna
is in the utmost turbulence and disorder; justice is little
regarded there, and the reporter has seen as many as ten
deputations to cardinal Medici, respecting the state of
Ihinss there, all loudly complaining of the misconduct of
their rulers.]
t Tonduzzi, Hislorie di Faenz, p. f>09.
JBaldassini, Memorie istoriche dell' antichissimacitt&
de Jesi. Jesi, 1744, p. 256.
123 COURT AND STATE. TIMES OF GREGORY XIII. AND SIXTUS V.
whatever remnants they yet retained of an-
cient independence, and to bring thern into
total subjection.
Ancona and Perugia afford striking and
memorable instances of this.
Ancona was one of those towns that paid
the pope merely a small annual sum by way
of recognition ; the inadequacy of which ap-
peared the more strongly as the prosperity of
the town augmented. The court reckoned
th'3 revenue of Ancona at fifty thousand scudi,
and thought it intolerable that the local nobi-
lity, should divide all that money between
themselves. So when the city refused to
submit to new taxes, and took forcible posses-
sion of a castle to which it laid claim, an
open rupture ensued. The manner in which
governments of that day sometimes asserted
their rights is worth notice. The papal func-
tionaries swept away all the cattle Irom the
March of Ancona to realize the amount of
their dues : this they called exercising re-
prisals.
Clement VII. however was not satisfied
with this : he only waited a favourable oppor-
tunity to make himself temporal master of
Ancona, and, to bring this about, he had re-
course to stratagem. He ordered a fort to
be erected in the city, alleging he did so only
because the Turkish power, after its recent
successes in Egypt and Rhodes, which gave
it such strength in the Mediterranean, would
undoubtedly make a speedy descent on Italy.
How perilous would it be then if Ancona, ni
which there were always numerous Turkish
vessels at anchor, should be left without any
military works! He sent Antonio Sangallo
to erect the fort. The works were carried on
with the utmost rapidity, and a small garrison
was soon installed in them. This was the
moment the pope looked for. AVhen things
were so far advanced, one day in September,
1532, the governor of the March, Monsignor
Bernardino della Barba, a priest, but a man
of martial character, made his appearance in
the territory of Ancona with an imposing
army furnished him by the jealousy of tlie
neighbouring districts, took one of the gates
of the city, and marched his troops up to the
palace. The Anziani, but recently chosen by
lot, dwelt there free from apprehension, and
surrounded with the badges of supreme digni-
ty. Monsignor della Barba entered with
a military staff", and announced to them, witii
little ceremony, " that the pope was resolved
to have the uncontrolled government of An-
cona in his own hands." In fact, there was no
possibility of resisting him. The younger
nobili brought in from the country in all haste
a few bands of retainers ; but what could
they do, now that the papal troops were
already prepared by new fortifications for
every contingency ] The elder nobles would
not risk the plundering and devastation of the
city. They yielded, therefore, to what was
inevitable.
The Anziani left the palace, and presently
appeared the new legate, Benedetto della Ac-
colti, who had stipulated to pay the camera
twenty thousand scudi yearly for the govern-
ment of Ancona.
The whole state of things was changed.
All arms were required to be given up, and
sixty-four of the principal nobles were exiled:
new lists of magistrates were made out ; some
of the offices of state were conferred on the
inhabitants of the rural district and persons not
noble. Justice was no longer administered
according to the old statutes.
Woe to him who offered to oppose these
regulations ! Some leading men incurred
the suspicion of conspiring together: they
were forthwith arrested, sentenced, and be-
headed. The next day a carpet was spread
in the market-place, and the corpses laid
upon it, with a lighted torch by each: in that
manner they were left lying the whole day.
Paul III. indeed subsequently granted the
inhabitants some relaxation from the severity
shown them ; but they were not raised Irom
their state of abject subjection, nor had he
any thought of restoring their ancient inde-
pendence.
On the contrary, he employed the same
Bernardino della Barba to suppress the liber-
ties of another of his towns.
The pope having raised the price of salt
one-halt; the city of Perugia thought itself
justified by its privileges in opposing the ex-
action. The pope excommunicated the citi-
zens who assembled in the churches, elected
a magistracy of " twenty-five defenders," and
laid the keys of their gates before a crucifix
in the market-place. Both sides prepared for
action.
The insurrection of so important a city
against the pope's .sway excited general com-
motion, and would have led to remarkable
consequences, had there been war at the time
in Italy : but as every thing was quiet, no
state could afford them the aid on which they
counted.
Though Perugia was not without strength,
it was far from being able to cope with the
army led against it by Pier Luigi Farnese,
consisting of ten thousand Italians and three
thousand Spaniards. The government of the
five-and-twent.y, too, was marked rather by
violence and impetuosity than by discretion
and care for the protection of the city. They
did not even provide money for the payment
of the troops brought to their aid by one of
the Baglioni. Their only ally, Ascanio Co-
loiina, who resisted the same impost, con-
tented himself with driving oft' cattle from
the ecclesiastical territories, but could not be
prevailed on to render them any more serious
assistance.
FINANCES.
129
Accordingly, after a brief enjoyment of
freedom, the city was forced to surrender
again on the 3rd of June, 1540. Delegates
from it were obliged to attend at the pope's
feet in the portico of St. Peter, in long mourn-
ing-robes, with ropes round their necks, to beg
for mercy.
This was granted, but their liberties were
already destroyed ; all their privileges were
repealed.
Bernardino dejla Barba arrived in Perugia,
to deal with it as he had done with Ancona.
The inhabitants were disarmed ; the chains
with wliich the streets had been closed till
now were taken away ; and the houses of the
five-and-twenty, who had early taken flight,
were levelled with the ground. A fort was
erected on the site where the Baglioni had
resided. The citizens were forced to pay the
expenses. A chief magistrate was appointed,
whose title, " conservator of ecclesiastical
obedience," was sufficiently indicative of the
purpose for which he was intended. A sub-
sequent pope restored the title of prior, but
without any renewal of the old privileges.*
Ascania Colonna, too, was meanwhile over-
come by the same papal army, and driven out
of his strongholds.
The papal power was incalculably aug-
mented in the states of the church by so many
successful achievements; neither towns nor
barons dared any longer stand out against it.
The free communes had submitted one by one,
and the popes could now bend all the resources
of the country to their own ends.
Let us contemplate the manner in which
they did this.
Finances.
It is necessary that we should, in the first
instance, make ourselves acquainted with the
papal system of finance ; a system important
not only as regarded that state, but also from
the example it furnished to all Europe.
It has been observed, that the system of
exchanges of the middle ages owed its origin
chiefly to the nature of the papal revenues,
which, falling due all over the world, were to
be remitted from all parts to the 'curia : nor
is it less worthy of remark, that the system of
public debt, with which we are all now en-
compassed, and which exercises so paramount
an influence over all tlie springs of couimerce,
was first systematically developed in the states
of the Church.
However just may have been the com-
plaints raised against the exactions of Rome
during the fifteenth century, it is yet manifest
*Marioui, Memorie isloriche civili ed ecclPsiasticVie
delta ciltik de Perugia e su conlado, Perui^ia, ISOG, gives
an aulheniic and detailed account of these occurrences,
I. p. 113— IGO. lie recurs to them again, for instance, iii.
p. 634.
17
that but a small part of the proceeds passed
into the hands of the pope. Pius II. enjoyed
the general obedience of Europe ; and yet, for
want of money, he was once compelled to
limit himself and his household to a single
meal a day. He was obliged to borrow the
two hundred thousand ducats requisite lor the
Turkish war he had in contemplation. Even
those petty expedients which many a pope
adopted, such as obtaining from a prince, a
bishop, or a grand-master, who had an afliiir
pending at the papal court, a present, it might
be of a gold cup, with a sum of ducats in it,
or of costly fur, only show the really misera-
ble state of their economy.*
Money certainly arrived at the court in very
considerable sums, though not so exorbitant as
has been supposed ; but there it was dissipated
among a thousand hands. It was absorbed by
the offices which it had been the practice for
a great length of time to put up to sale. The
income of these was chiefly founded on gratu-
ities, and free scope was given to the exac-
tions of the holders. The pope received no-
thing but the price paid for the offices on the
filling up of vacancies.
If the pope was disposed to engage in any
costly undertaking, he was obliged to have
recourse to extraordinary means. Jubilees
and indulgences were most welcome helps ;
through such instrumentality the docility of
the faithful afforded him a clear revenue.
There was another ready means at his com-
mand. To procure important sums he had
but to create new offices, and sell them ; a
singular kind of loan, for which the church
paid heavy interest, liquidated by the increase
of its own dues. This practice had long
prevailed. According to a register of the
house of Chigi, which is deserving of credit,
there were in the year 1471 about six himdred
and fifty vendible offices, the income of which
was calculated at about one hundred thousand
scudi.f These were almost all places of proc-
tors, registrars, abbreviators, correctors, no-
taries, secretaries, and even messengers and
porters; the increasingnumber of which con-
tinually augmented the cost of a bull or a
brief. This was the very object of their crea-
tion ; the duties attached to them amounted
to little or nothing.
It will readily be supposed that the suc-
ceeding popes, deeply involved as they were
* Voight, " Voices from Rome respecting the papal
court in the fifteenth century," in Fr. von Raumer's His-
torischen Taschenbuch for the yearlS33, contains numer-
ous notices on this subject. Those v/ho have access to
the work entitled " Schlrsien vor und seit dem Jahre
1740," will find there, ii. 483, a satire of thf> fifteenth cen-
tury, not badly executed, on this monstrous system of pre-
sent-giving: "Passio domini papse secundum marcam
auri et arsenti."
+ Gli uificii piu antichi. MS. Bibliotheca Chigi, No. ii.
50. There are (iSl offices and 98,.340scudi, " fin al crea-
tioni di Sisto IV." (up to the creation by Sixtus IV.) So
littlelrulh is there in the assertion of Onuphrius Panvin-
ius, that Sexlus IV. was the first who sold them : p. 348.
130 COURT AND STATE. TIMES OF GREGORY XIII. AND SIXTUS V.
in European politics, eagerly laid hold on so
convenient a means oi' filling their coffers.
Sixtiis IV. availed himself in this matter of the
advice of his prothonotary Sinolfo. He es-
tablished whole colleges at once, the posts in
which he sold for a few hundred ducats. They
were singular titles under which these new
establishments figured ; as, for instance, a
college of a hundred janissaries, who were
nominated for one hundred thousand ducats,
and their salaries charged upon the proceeds
of the bulls and annates.* Sixtus IV. sold
notairates, prothonotariates, proctorships of
the camera, and every office besides, and car-
ried the system to such lengths that he has
been held to be its founder. At any rate, it
was first fully adopted in his time. Innocent
VIII., whose embarrassments were such as to
make him even pledge the papal tiara, found-
ed a new college of twenty-six secretaries for
sixty thousand scudi, and a full complement
of other offices. Alexander VI. named eighty
writers of briefs, each of whom had to pay
seven hundred and fifty scudi. Julius II. ad-
ded a hundred writers of archives upon the
same terms.
The sources, however, from which all these
hundreds of functionaries derived their sala-
ries, were not inexhaustible. We have seen
how almost all Christian states made simulta-
neous and successful attempts to limit the in-
terference of the papal court. These took
place precisely at the juncture when the popes
beheld themselves constrained to great ex-
penditure by the magnitude of their under-
takings.
It was fortunate for them that they obtain-
ed possession of a territory from which, mild
as was their administration in the beginning,
they yet drew considerable new revenues. It
will not excite surprise that they dealt with
these just in the same way as with the eccle-
siastical funds.
Julius II., besides the assignment of the an-
nates, gave the above-mentioned writers a lien
also on the dogana and the treasury. He in-
stituted a college of a hundred and forty-one
presidents of the Annona, who were all paid
out of the coffers of the state. In this way he
made the surplus revenue of the country serve
as a basis for contracting loans. The grand
distinguishing character of this pope in the
eyes of foreign powers was that he could raise
as much money as he chose. This was, in a
great degree, the foundation of his policy.
The wants of Leo X., however, were much
greater than those of Julius, since he was no
loss involved in war, was much more prodigal,
and more dependent on the support of his re-
• There were also Stradiotesand Mamelukos, who wi^re
afterwards however suppressed. "Adistipulalores sine
quibus nullae possent confici tabulae." Onuphrius Pan-
viniua. According lo the register (Ufficii Antichi,) this
creation would seem to have brought iaonly 40,000 ducats.
lations. "That the pope should ever keep by
him a thousand ducats together," says Fran-
cesco Vettori of him, "is just as impossible as
that a stone should fly up into the air itself."
The charge has been laid at his door, that he
ran through the wealth of three pontificates;
that of his predecessor, from whom he inheri-
ted a considerable treasure, his own, and that
of his successor, to whom he bequeathed a
mass of debt. He was not content with sell-
ing existing offices; his great nomination of
cardinals brought him in important sums, and
nothing could exceed the boldness with which
he employed the established expedient of cre-
ating new offices simply for the purpose of
sale. Above twelve hundred such were cre-
ated by him alone.* The characteristic of
all these portionarii, scndieri, cavalier i di
San Pietro, and whatever else they were cal-
led, is, that having paid down a sum of money,
they drew interest on it for life under those
titles: their office had no other signification
than the addition of some small prerogatives
to the enjoyment of that interest. This was,
in point of fact, nothing else than a system of
borrowing on annuities. Leo derived about
nine hundred thousand scudi from the sale of
offices. The interest, which was indeed very
high, as it yearly amounted to an eighth of
the capital,! was to a certain extent provided
for by a slight advance in the amount of eccle-
siastical dues; but it was principally furnished
by the treasuries of the recently conquered
provinces, that is, by the surplus funds of the
ujunicipal administrations, paid into the state
coffers, by the proceeds of the alum works, the
salt trade, and the dogana at Rome. Leo
swelled the number of offices to 2150, the
yearly income of which was calculated at
320,000 scudi, and was a burden to both church
and state.
However intrinsically censurable was this
prodigality, Leo may have been confirmed in
it by observing that for the time it produced
beneficial rather than pernicious effects. The
singular elevation of Rome at that period was
ascribable in part to this system of finance.
There was no place in the world where a man
could lay out his capital to as much advantage.
The multitude of new offices, vacancies, and
re-appoiutmencs, created an incessant move-
ment in the curia, that offered every one an
easy opportunity of advancement.
* Sommario di la relation di M. Minio, 1520: Non ha
contanti, perche 6 liberal, non se lenir danari : poi li Fi-
orenlini, (che) sifanno esonosoi parenli, non li lassa mai
aver un soldo: e diii Fioi-entini 6 in gran odio in cone,
perche in ogni cosa 6 Fiorenlini. [He has no ready
n:0upy, because he is liberal and cannot keep it. Then
the Florentines, who are, or pretend to be, his relations,
never leave him a penny. And the said Florentines are
in great odium at court, because they thrust themselves
into every thing.]
t The til2 poitionarii di ripa— aggiunli al collegio dei
presidenli— paid 286,200 ducals, and received yearly
38,816: the 400 cavalieri di S. Pietro paid 400,000, and
had in return 50,610 ducats yearly.
FINANCES.
131
Another consequence was, that the burden
of new imposts was avoided. Undoubtedly,
the states of the church, of all countries in
those days, and Rome of all cities, paid the
lowest taxes. It had long before been repre-
sented to the Romans that every other city
furnished to its sovereign heavy loans and
vexatious imposts, whilst their lord, the pope,
rather made them rich. A secretary of Cle-
ment VII., who shortly after wrote an account
of the conclave in which hisniaster was elec-
ted, expresses his wonder that the Romans
were not more devoted to the holy see, since
they suffered so little from taxation. "From
Terracina to Piacenza," he exclaims, " the
church possesses a large and fair part of Italy :
its dominion spreads far and wide; yet so many
flourishing lands and wealthy cities, which,
under any other government, would be taxed
to maintain great armies, pay the Roman popes
hardly so nmch as may suffice to cover the
cost of their own administration."*
But, of necessity, this system could only
last so long as there was a surplus in the state
coffers. Leo himself did not succeed in fund-
ing all his loans. AluiseGaddi had advanced
him thirty-two thousand, Bernardo Bini two
hundred thousand ducats : Salviati, Ridolfi,
all his servants and retainers, had done their
utmost to procure him money, relying on his
liberality and his youth for repayment and
brilliant reward. They w^ere every one of
them ruined by his sudden death.
He left his dominions in a state of exhaus-
tion, which was sorely felt by his successor.
The universal hatred the unfortunate Adrian
drew down on his head, arose partly from his
having recourse, in his urgent need of money,
to the imposition of a direct tax of half-a-dticat
on each hearth. f This was the more unpopu-
lar, because the Romans were little accustom-
ed to such demands.
But Clement VII., too, could not avoid new
taxes, at least indirect ones. Murmurs were
raised against cardinal Armellino, who was
regarded as their inventor: the augmentation
of the duties levied at the city gates on arti-
cles of provision caused particular dissatisfac-
tion, but the people were obliged to bear with
it.|: Things were come to such a pass, that
* Vianesius Albergatus, Commentarii rerum sui tempo-
ris (nolhing more than the descriplion of the conclave.)
Opuleiitissinii populi et ditissiiuae urbes, quse si allerius
ditioiiis essenl, suis vectigalibus vei magnos exercitus al-
ere possenl, Ro.nano pontifici vix tantuni tribuiuni pen-
duiit quaiiiuin in praeiorum magislratuunKiue expensam
sufficere qunal. In the report ol' Zorzi, 1517, the united
revenues of Perugia, Spolelo, the March and Romagna,
are set down, after a calculation made by Francesco Ar-
mellino, at 1-20,00J ducats. Of this one half fell to the
papal treasury. " Di quel somma la mili 6 per terra per
pagar i legati el aliri oliicii e altra mitA ha il papa." IJn-
fortunately thfre are no few mistakes in the copy of the
report given by Sanuto.
+ Hieronyino .Nfegro a Marc Antonio Micheli, 7 April,
1523. Letters di Piincipi, i. p. 114.
jFoscari: Relatione, loitj. Ei|iialchemurmuration in
Roma eiiam per causa del Cardinal Armellin, qual iruova
it would be necessary to have recourse to mea-
sures of a far more efficient character. Hith-
erto loans had been raised under the form of
saleable offices : Clement VJI. was the first
who approximated to the system of direct
loans, on the important occasion of his taking
up arms against Charles V. in the year 1.526.
When offices were purchased, the capital
was lost in case of death, unless the family re-
covered it from the papal treasury. Clement
VII. now took up a capital of two hundred
thousand ducats, which did not yield so high
an interest as the places, yet paid a consider-
able one, viz. ten per cent., passing, moreover,
by inheritance. This is a ' monte non vaca-
bile,' the 'monte della fede.' The interest
was charged on the dogana. The security of
the monte was furthermore greatly increased
by the provision that the creditors became im-
mediately admitted to a share in the direction
of the dogana. Nor even in this matter were
the old forms quite forgotten, for the montes
were incorporated into a college. A few con-
tractors paid the sum required to the camera,
and then shared it out among the meml^rs.
Can it be said that the creditors of the state,
in so far as they have a lien on the general in-
come, on the product of the labours of the com-
munity, acquire tiiereby an indirect share in
the government ? Such, at least, appeared to
be the case in Rome at that day, nor would
capitalists lend their money without the form
of such a participation.
Now this was, as we shall see, an introduc-
tion to the most extensive operations of
finance.
Paul III. proceeded in them with modera-
tion. He contented himself with diminishing
the interest of the monte established by Cle-
ment; and as he succeeded in making new
assignments of it, he augmented the capital
nearly one half. But he did not found a new
monte. The creation of six hundred new
places sufficiently compensated him for this
moderation. The measures by which he made
himself memorable in the history of finance
are of a different character.
We have seen what commotions were ex-
cited by his enhancement of the price of salt.
He abandoned this, but he instituted in its
stead, and with the express promise of fore-
going it, the direct tax of the sussidio. It is
the same impost which was levied in many of
the southern countries in those days : in Spain
under the name o'i servicio, in Naples by that
o\' donative, as mensuale in Milan, and else-
where under diff'erent titles. In the states of
nuove invention per trovar danari in Roma, e far metier
nove angarie, e fino chi porta tordi a Roma et altre cose di
manzar, pagatanlo: la qual angaria importa da due. "2,500.
[There is somemurnmring in Rome on account of cardinal
Armellino, who has devised new schemes for getting
money, and imposes new duties, so that every one, even
down to those who bi'ing thrushes and other eatables to
Rome, pays something ; which duty brings in 250U ducats.]
132
•COURT AND STATE.
the church it was originally introduced for
three years, and fixed at three hundred thou-
sand scudi. The contribution of each pro-
vince was determined in Rome ; the provincial
parliaments assembled to divide it between
the several towns; the towns again allotted it
between themselves and the surrounding dis-
tricts. Every one was called on to bear his
share of the burden. The bull expressly en-
joins that all secular subjects of the Roman
church, whatever were their exemptions or
privileges, marquises, barons, vassals, and pub-
lic officers not excepted, should be rated to
this contribution.*
But payment was not made without the most
urgent remonstrances, especially when the
sussidio was seen to be renewed for successive
periods of years : it had never, indeed, been
repealed ; but it had always been imperfectly
collected. f Bologna, that had been assessed
at thirty thousand scudi, was prudent enough
to compound for perpetual freedom from the
tax on paying down a sum of ready money.
Parma and Piacenza were alienated, and paid
the subsidy no longer. Fano affords us an
example Jiow the other towns fared. That
town long witheld payment, on the pretext
that it was assessed at too higli a rate. There-
upon Paul III. felt himself obliged, for once,
to remit the inhabitants all arrears, but on
condition that they should expend the full
amount on the repair of their walls. Subse-
quently, too, a third of their contingent was
always allowed to be set oft' on the same ac-
count. Nevertheless, the descendants of these
men have continually complained of being ex-
orbitantly rated. The rural districts, too,
were incessant in their outcries against the
share of the burden imposed on them by the
towns; they made attempts to withdraw from
the control of the town council ; and, as the
latter struggled to maintain its authority, they
would gladly have placed themselves under
the command of the duke of Urbino. It would
carry us too far, were we to continue the in-
vestigation of these petty interests. It is
enough if we arrive at an explanation of the
fact, that not much more than the half of the
subsidy was ever realized.]: In the year 1560,
the whole proceeds were valued at 165,000
scudi.
* Bullar. In the year 1537, he declares to the French
ambassador," ladebilili(5 du revenu de Teglise (and there-
by of the stale) donl elle n'avoit point iiiaintenant 40m-
escus de rente par an de quoi elle puisse faire estat." In
Ribier, i. 69. [The scantiness of the revenues of the
church, which had not then 40,000 crowns a year which it
could dispose of.]
+ BuU: Decens esse censemus: 5 Sept. 1543. Bull.
Cocqu. iv. i. 225.
t Bull of Paul IV. Cupientes indemnitati : 15 April,
1559. Bullar. Cocq. iv. i. 358. Exactio, causantibus di-
versis exceptionibus, libeitatibus, el iiiiniunitatibus a so-
lulione ipslus subsidii diversis cominunitatibiis el univer-
sitalibus el particularibus personis, necnon civilatibus,
lerris, oppidis, el locis nosiri status ecclesiastici concessis,
el factisdiversarum portionuni ejusdem subsidii donalion-
jbus, vix ad dimidum suminae irecemorum millium scuio-
Be this as it may, this pope had greatly
augmented the revenues of the ecclesiastical
states. Under Julius II. they were estimated
at 350,000 scudi; under Leo, at 420,000; un-
der Clement VII., in the year 1526, at 500,-
000. According to an authentic table procur-
ed by the Venetian ambassador, Dandolo,
from the Roman treasury, they amounted im-
mediately after the death of Paul III. to 706,-
473 scudi.
His successors, for all that, did not find
themselves in much the better plight. Julius
III. complains in one of his instructions, that his
predecessor had alienated the whole revenues
of the see (with the exception, doubtless, of
the sussidio, which could not be so dealt with,
since it was always, nominally at least, im-
posed but for three years), and that he had
moreover left behind him a floating debt of
500,000 scudi.*
Julius III. by embarking, in spite of this, in
his war against the French and the Farnesi,
necessarily involved himself in the greatest
embarrassments. Although the imperialists
furnished him with subsidies by no means
inconsiderable for those times, his briefs are
yet filled with complaints: "He had counted
on receiving 100,000 scudi in Ancona, but
had not taken 100,000 bajocchi : instead of
120,000 scudi from Bologna, he had gotten
only 50,000. The promises of Genoese and
Lucchese money-changers were recalled im-
mediately after they were given ; whoever
possessed a carline, kept it back, and would
not risk it."t
The adoption of more effectual measures
was imperiously demanded, if the pope would
keep his army together: he resolved, there-
fore, to found a new monte ; and the manner
in which he did this is the same as that which
has almost ever since been pursued.
He appointed a new tax. He laid two car-
lines on the rubbio of flour, which brought
him in, clear of all deductions, 30,0U0 scudi :
this sum he appropriated to the payment of
interest on a capital he forthwith raised : thus
originated the " monte della farina." We
observe the close analogy between this and
former financial operations. On previous oc-
casions ecclesiastical offices, payable out of
the augmenting revenues of the curia, had
been created, solely that they might be sold
to furnish the sums of which there was present
need : in this instance the revenues of the state
were increased by a new tax, which, however,
rum hujusmodi ascendil. [In consequence of various ex-
ceptions, liberties, and immunities from the payment of
the subsidy granted to divers communities, universities,
and individuals, moreover to cities, lands, towns, and
places in our ecclesiastical slate, and donations or remis-
sions being made of divers portions of the said subsidy,
the net proceeds hardly amount to half the gross sum of
three hundred thousand crowns.]
* Inslruttione per voi Monsignore d'Imola: ultimo di
Marzo, 1.551. Informationi Poliliche, torn. xii.
+ II papa a Giovamb. di Monte, 3 April, 1552.
FINANCES.
133
was employed merely as interest upon a large
capital which there was no other means of
raising. All subsequent popes continued this
practice. Sometimes these "monti" were
like Clement's, "non vacabili ;" at other times
they were "vacabili;" i. e. the payment of
the interest ceased upon the death of the cre-
ditor. In the latter case the per-centage was
higher, and the collegiate character of the
montists brought the system still nearer to
that of saleable offices. Paul IV. established
the " monte novennale de' frati," upon a tax
he imposed on the regular monastic orders.
Pius IV. laid a quatrino on every pound of
meat, and immediately applied the proceeds
to the foundation of the " monte pio," which
brought him in 170,000 scudi. Pius V. laid
another quatrino on the pound of meat, and
based upon it the "monte lega."
If we keep the development of this system
in view, we shall be very strongly possessed
with the general importance of the territorial
dominions of the church. What were the
necessities that compelled the popes to have
recourse to those singular kinds of loan, which
entailed such an immediate burden on the
resources of their country"? They were, for
the most part, the necessities of Catholicism.
As the time of purely political tendencies was
gone by, there were none other which the
popes could aim at carrying out but those of
an ecclesiastical nature. The support of the
catholic powers in their struggle against the
Protestants, and in their enterprizes against
the Turks, was now almost always the imme-
diate inducement to financial operations. The
monte founded by Pius V. was called " monte
lega," because the capital derived from it was
applied to the Turkish war, which that pope
undertook in league with Spain and Venice.
This became still more and more the case.
Every European commotion affected the states
of the church in this manner. On almost
every occasion they were constrained to con-
tribute through some new exaction to the de-
fence of the ecclesiastical interests. For this
reason was the possession of these temporal
states of such moment as regarded the eccle-
siastical position of the popes.
For they were not content with the monti
alone, but kept up the old contrivances also.
Theycontinually created new places, or caval-
ierate with special privileges ; whether it was
that the salaries were covered as before by
new taxes, or that the fall in the value of gold,
which then began to be very obvious, caused
larger amounts to flow into the treasury.*
Hence it happened, that the revenues of
the popes, after the short depression under
Paul IV., occasioned by his wars, continued
* Thus, about I08O, many "luoghi di monte" stood at
100 instead of 130 : the interest of the " vacabili " was de-
pressed from 1-1 to 9, whereby a great saving was effected
on the whole.
constantly to rise. Even under Paul they
increased again to 700,000 scudi ; under Pius
they were reckoned at 898,482 scudi. Paul
Tiepolo expresses his astonishment at finding
them, after an absence of nine years, augment-
ed in the year 1576 by 200,000 scudi, and
amounting to 1,100,000. It was a curious
fact, however, though inevitable under the
circumstances of the case, that the popes did
not receive more money in consequence of
this rise in their revenues. The alienations
kept pace with the taxes. It is calculated
that Julius III. alienated 54,000 scudi of in-
come, Paul IV. 45,960, and Pius IV., who
made the most of everything, as much as
182,550. Pius IV. also increased the number
of saleable offices to three thousand five hun-
dred, exclusively, of course, of the Monti,
which were not counted as belonging to the
offices.* The amount of alienated revenue
reached 450,000 scudi; it was continually on
the increase ; in the year 1576 it had grown
to 530,000 scudi. Great as had been the in-
crease of income, this swallowed up nearly
the halfofit.t
The tables of the papal revenues about this
time present a remarkable aspect. After
naming the sum which the farmers of the
revenue had contracted to pay (the contracts
were generally for periods of nine years), they
also slate what portion of those sums was
alienated. The dogana of Rome, for instance,
yielded in 1576 and the following years the
considerable sum of 133,000 scudi ; of this,
however, 111,170 scudi were assigned; other
deductions occurred; and, finally, the camera
received only 13,000 scudi. Some taxes upon
corn, meat, and wine, were wholly swallowed
up by the monti. From several provincial
chests, called treasuries, which likewise had
to meet the exigencies of the provinces,— for
instance, from the March and from Camerino,
— not a bajocco reached the papal camera;
and yet the sussidio was often applied to the
same use. Nay, such heavy incumbrances
were laid on the alum-works of Tolfa, which
had formerly been reckoned a superior source
of revenue, that there was actually a deficit
of2000scudi.t
The pope's personal expenses and the main-
tenance of his court, were charged principally
upon the dataria, which had two several
sources of income. The one was more pecu-
liarly ecclesiastical, consisting of compositions
* Lista degli ufficii della corte Romana, 1560; Bibl.
Chigi, N. ii. 50. Many other separate lists of different
years. , , .
+ Tiepolo reckons, that besides 100,000 scudi for salaries,
270,000 were spent on fortifications and nunciatures, so
that the pope still had 200,000 left. He calculates, that
under the pretext of the necessities of the Turliish war
the popes had received 1,800,000 scudi, and had only ex-
pended 340,000 in that way. .
t E. G. Entrata della reverenda camera apostolica
sotto il pontificato di N, S. Gregoria XIII. fala ael anuo
1570. MS. Gothana, No. 219.
134
COURT AND STATE.
[a. d. 1572-85,
and fixed fines, for which the datario permit-
ted various canonical irregularities on the
translation from one benefice to another.
These profits had been very much contracted
by the rigorous measures of Paul IV., but they
gradually increased again. The other was
of a more secular character, growing out of
the appointments to vacant " Cavalierate,"
saleable offices and places in the "monti va-
cabili," and augmenting in proportion as the
number of these increased.* About the year
1570, however, both these sources of revenue
together were no more than sufficient barely
to meet the daily expenses of the household.
The course of things had placed the states
of the church in a wholly altered position.
Whereas they had formerly boasted of being
the least burdened of all those of Italy, they
were now as badly off as the rest, nay worse;!
and the inhabitants were loud in their con)-
plaints. But little remained of the ancient
municipal liberties; the administration was
become moi-e and more systematic and uniform.
In former times the rights of government had
frequently been conceded to favoured cardi-
nals and prelates, who made no inconsiderable
profit of them. The pope's countrymen, the
Florentines under the Medici, the Neapolitans
under Paul IV., the Milanese under Pius IV.,
had then monopolized the best places. Pius
V. put an end to this system. Those favour-
ites had never personally conducted the gov-
ernments committed to them, but had always
left them in the hands of a doctor of laws";|
Pius V. himself appointed this doctor, and
appropriated to the camera the advantages
that had before accrued to the favourites.
Every tiling proceeded with more order and
quiet. In earlier times a militia had been
established in the coimtry, and 16,000 men
enrolled: Pius IV. had maintained a corps of
light cavalry : Pius V. abolislied both the one
and the otiier ; he disbanded the cavalry, and
suffered the militia to fall into disuse. His
♦ Accordin? to Moceniso, 15G0, the dataria had formprly
yielded between 10,000 and 14,0110 ducats per month. Un-
der Paul IV. the proceeds fell to 3000 or 4000 ducats.
f Paulo Tiepolo, Rplation-^ di Roiria in tempo di PioIV.
e Pio v., says at that lime :~L'impositio.'ie alio stato eccle-
siasUco e gravezza quasi insopporlabile per essere per
diversi altri conli molto asgravato ; . . . . d'alienare,
piu enlrale della chiese noaVi 6 piuordine, perche quasi
tutle I'entrate eerie si Irovanogia alienate esopra I'incer-
to non si trovaria chi desse danari." [The incumbrances
on the ecclesiastical states are a burden almost insupport-
able, being asgravated from various other causes; . . . .
there is no possibility of making any further alienation of
church revenues ; for almost all the certain revenues are
already alienated, and no one would advance money upon
an uncertainty.]
t Tiepolo. Ibid. Qualche governn o legatione rispon-
devasino a Ire, qualroo forsesettemilie piuscudi I'anno.
E qu isi tulti allegramenle ricevendo il denaro si scarica-
vanodel peso del governo col mellere un doilore in luogo
loro. [Each government, or lesation, was wortti three,
four, or, perhaps, seven thousand scudi, and more, annu-
ally. In almost every instance the persons appointed
eagerly received the money, relieved themselves uf the
burden of the government, deputing a doctor in their
etead.]
whole armed force did not amount to 500
men ; 350 of whom, chiefly Swiss, were sta-
tioned in Rome. Had it not been for the ne-
cessity of defending the coasts against the
assaults of the Turks, the people would have
quite forgotten the use of arms. That war-
like population seemed disposed to become
wholly peaceful. The popes wished to rule
their country like a great domain, the rents
of which should in part be applied to the ad-
vantage of their own households, but the
main portion be devoted to the exigencies of
the church.
We shall see that in this design they again
encountered great difficulties.
The Times of Gregory XIII. and Six-
tus V.
GREGORY XIII.
Gregory XIII. — Hugo Buoncompagno of
Bologna — who had risen to eminence as a
jurist and in the civil service, was of a cheer-
ful and jovial nature. He had a son, who
was born to him before indeed he had as-
sumed the clerical character, but not in wed-
lock. Though he afterwards led a regular
life, he was at no time over-scrupulous, and
to a certain kind of sanctimony he rather ma-
nifested his dislike. He seemed disposed to
follow the example of Pius IV., whose minis-
ters he forthwith recalled, rather than that of
his immediate predecessor.* But in this pope
was exemplified the constraining influence of
public opinion. A hundred years earlier he
would have reigned at most like an Innocent
VIII. ; now, on the contrary, a man, even
such as he, could no longer resist the severe
ecclesiastical spirit of the times.
There was a party at court that had made
it its primary business to maintain and defend
that spirit. It consisted of the Jesuits, the
theatines, and their friends. We meet with
tlie names of Monsignori Frumento and Cor-
niglia, the fearless preacher Francis Toledo,
and the datary Contarell. They obtained
command over the pope the more readily, as
they acted in combination. They represent-
ed to him, that the consideration Pius V. had
enjoyed was owing principally to his personal
conduct. In all the letters they read to him,
nothing was talked of but the memory of the
holy life of the departed, anJ the fame of his
reforms and his virtues. They suppressed
every expression of an opposite character.
They gave the ambition of Gregory XIII. a
thoroughly ecclesiastical colouring.f
* It was expected his reign would be different from
that of his predecessor: " mitioi'i quadam hominumque
captui accommodatiori ratione" [of a jiiilder and more
conciliating character.] Coairaentarii de rebus Gregorii
Xni. (MS. Bibl. Alb.)
t Relatione della corte di Roma a tempo di Gregorio
XIII. (Bibl. Corsini, 7U.)20ih F^br. 1574, is very iusiruc-
A. D. 1572-59.]
GREGORY XIII.
135
He had it much at heart to promote his son,
and to elevate him to princely rank. But
upon the very first mark of favour he showed
him (he named him castellan of St. Angelo,
and gonfaloniere of the church,) the rigorous
friends alarmed his conscience. Durhig the
jubilee of 1575 they would not tolerate Gia-
como's presence in Rome : it was not till it
was over, they consented to his return, and
then only because the aspiring young man's
health suffered from his vexation. (Gregory
then caused him to marry, and effected his
nomination by the Venetians as one of their
nobili,* and by the king- of Spain as general
of his hoinmcs cfarmes. But he continued to
keep him sedulously under restraint. When
the young man once went so far as to liberate
one of his university friends from arrest, the
pope again banished liim, and threatened to
deprive him of all his offices. The young
wife's prostrate entreaties hindered this, but
all loftier hopes were gone for many a day.f
It was not till the pope's last years that Gia-
como recovered his influence over his father,
and not even then in important matters of
state, or unrestrictedly.| When his interces-
sion was solicited by any one, he shrugged
his shoulders.
If this was the case with the pope's son,
how much less might his other relations ven-
ture to hope for irregular favours or for a
share of authority! Gregory admitted two of
his nephews to the cardinalate ; even Pius V.
had done something similar ; but a third, who
thought to assume the same rank, he refused
to admit to an audience, and compelled him
to begone within two days. The pope's bro-
ther had set out to enjoy a sight of the good
live on this head. Of the pope's disposition, the author
says: — " Non 6 statoscnjpuloso n6 dissolute niai, e leson
djspiaciule la cose inal f^tte." [He has never been
eciupulous or dissolute, and he looks with displeasure on
misconduct.]
* They had the difficult task on this occasion of declar-
ing his biith. It has been praised as an instance of Ve-
netian address that they called him Signor Giacoiiio Bon-
compagno, closely connected with his holiness. This
was really the expedient of Cardinal Conio. When the
matter was under discussion, the ambassador aslied the
minister, whether Giacoirio was to be designated as the
son of his holiness. "S. Ssri-i' lUi'i^- proniamente dopo
averscusato con molte parole il fatto di S. Si. che prima
che avesse alcuno ordine ecclesiastico, generasse questo
figlivolo, disse : che si poirebbe nominarlo peril Sr' Jaco-
nio Boacompagno Bologncse, streltamenle congiunto con
Sua Saniti." Dispaccio Paolo Tiepolo, 3 Rlarzo, 1574.
[His excellency, immediately after making profuse ex-
cuses for his holiness, who had begotten that son before
he had taken any ecclesiastical orders, said that he might
be called Sr. Jacomo Boncompagno of Bologna, closely
connected with his holiness.]
f Antonio Tiepolo : Dispacci Agosto Sett. 1576. In the
year 1583 (29th of March) il is said in one of these dis-
patches, " II Sr. Gia<;omo non si lascia intromettere in
cosa di .slato. ' [S^. Giacomo is not allowed to interfere
in matters of stale.]
t It is to this last period only of Gregory's life that judg-
ment is applicable, which has taken such firm root, and
which I find, for instance, in the Memoires de Richelieu :
"Prince doux elbenin fut nieilleur homme que bon
pope." [A mild and beneticent prince, he was better as
a man than as a pope.] Il will be seen in how limited a
degree this is true.
fortune that had befallen his house : he had
already reached Orvietto, when he was met
by a messenger from the court, ordering him
to turn back. Tears started into the old man's
eyes, and he could not forego advancing a
little further on his way to Rome : upon a se-
cond order, however, he retraced his steps to
Bologna.*
In short, this pope cannot be charged with
nepotism, or undue favouring of his family.
When a newly-appointed cardinal told him
that he would be grateful to the house, and
the nephews of his holiness, he struck the
arms of his chair with both hands, exclaiming,
" You must be grateful to God, and to the
holy see !"
So deeply was he already penetrated by
the religious spirit of the times. He sought
not only to equal, but even to surpass Pius V.
in evidences of piety.f In the first years of
his pontificate, he himself read mass thrice
every week, and never omitted to do so on
Sunday. His life and deportment were not
only blameless, but edifying.
No pope ever discharged certain duties of
his office more faithfully than Gregory. He
kept a list of men of all countries who were
fit for the episcopal dignity : he proved him-
self well informed respecting every one pro-
posed to him, and sought to conduct the nomi-
nations to those important offices with the ut-
most care.
Above all, he devoted his earnest endea-
vours to promote a strict system of ecclesias-
tical education. He aided the progress of the
Jesuit colleges with extraordinary liberality.
He made considerable presents to the estab-
lishment of professed members in Rome ; and
purchased houses, closed up streets, and al-
lotted revenues for the purpose of giving the
whole college the form it wears lo this day.
It was calculated to contain twenty lecture
rooms, and three hundred and sixty cells for
students; it was called, " The Seminary of
all Nations." Upon its first foundation, in
order to signify its purpose of embracing the
whole world within its scope, twenty-five
speeches were delivered, in as many different
languages, each immediately accompanied by
a Latin translation.]: The Collegium Ger-
manicum, which was founded earlier, had fal-
len into a critical condition, from the failure
of its funds; the pope granted it not only the
San Apollinare palace, and the revenues of
* The good man complained that his brother's ad-
vancement to the papacy was more 'hurtful than advan-
tageous lo himself: since it obliged him lo greater expen-
ses than were covered by the allowance made him by
Gregory.
t Seconda relatione dell ambasciatore di Roma Clmo-
M. Paolo Tiepolo Cavre-, 3Maggio, 1575. Nella religione
ha tolto non solo d'imitar, ma ancora d'avanzar Piu V.:
dice per I'ordinario almenotre voile messa alia seltimana.
Ha avuto particolar cura delli chiese, faciendole non solo
con fabriche et altri modi ornar, ma ancora colla assislen-
tia e frequentia di preti accrescer nel culto divino.
t Dispaccio, Donate, 13 Genu. 1582.
136
COURT AND STATE.
[a. d. 1572-85.
San Stefano on Monte Celio, but 10,000 scu-
di besides, from the apostolic treasury. Gre-
gory may be regarded as the proper founder
of this institution, from which, since that day,
a vast number of champions of Catholicism
have year by year been sent into Germany.
He also founded an English college in Rome,
and found means to endow it. He aided the
colleges in Vienna and Gratz out of his privy
purse ; and there was probably not a Jesuit
school in the world that had not cause in some
way or other to applaud his liberality. By
the advice of the bishop of Sitia he founded a
Greek college likewise, in which young peo-
ple from thirteen to sixteen years of age were
received, not merely from lands already under
Christian rule, such as Corfu and Candia, but
also from Constantinople, the Morea, and Sa-
lon ichi. They had Greek teachers, wore the
caftan and the Venetian baret ; they were to
be kept thoroughly Greek, and the thought
was always to be impressed upon them that
they were to return to their native land.
Their own ritual was to be retained as well
as their language ; and the instruction to be
given them was modelled on the principles
laid down by the council, in which the Greek
and Latin churches had been united.*
Gregory's reform of the calendar was an-
other instance of his comprehensive care for
the whole catholic world. The measure had
been desired by the council of Trent, and it
was rendered unavoidable by the removal of
the high festivals of the church from the con-
nexion with seasons of the year imposed upon
them by decrees of councils. All catholic na-
tions took part in this reform. Luigi Lilio, a
Calabrian, in other respects little known,
won for himself immortal memory by his sug-
gestion of the easiest method of overcoming
the difficulty. His proposal was communicat-
ed to every university, among others to those
of Salamanca and Alcala, and opinions were
collected from every quarter. A commission
in Rome, the most active and best-informed
member of which was the German Clavius.f
then subjected the plan to a fresh investiga-
tion, and passed the final decision. The
learned cardinal Sirleto had the greatest in-
fluence over the whole course of the proceed-
ings. A certain degree of mystery was ob-
served ; the new calendar was shown to no
one, not even to the ambassadors, until it had
been approved by the several courts.^ There-
upon it was solemnly published by Gregory.
* Dispaccio Antonio Tiepolo, IS Marzo, 1577. "Accio
che fauo magsioii possano attelinnatamenie e con la veri-
ty imparata dar a vedere suoi Grpci la vera via." [So
that when grown up, they may with affectionate zeal, and
with the aid of the truth they shall have acquired, demon-
strate the tnie faith to their Greek countrymen.]
t Erythrseus, " In (juibus Christophorus Clavius princi-
pem locum obtinebat."
t Dispaccio Donato, 20 Dee. 1581. 2 Giugno, 1582. He
firaises the cerdinal as an " huomo veraiiiente di grande
iueratura." [A man of tiuly great learning.]
He extols the reform as a proof of God's infi-
nite grace to his church.*
But tliis pope's efforts were not all of so
peaceful a nature. It gave him deep concern
that the Venetians in the first place conclud-
ed a peace, and subsequently, even king Phi-
lip II. made a truce with the Turks. Had it
rested with him, the league that had won the
victory of Lepanto would never have been
dissolved. The disturbances in the Nether-
lands and in France, and the collision of par-
ties in Germany, opened a wide field for his
exertions. He was indefatigable in efforts
against the Protestants. The insurrections
queen Elizabeth had to subdue in Ireland
were almost all instigated by Rome. The
pope made no secret of his wish to bring about
a general combination against England. Year
after year his nuncios negociated on this sub-
ject with Philip II. and the Guises. It would
not be uninteresting, were a connected his-
tory composed of all those negociations and
endeavours, which were often unknown to
those for whose ruin they were intended, and
which led at Inst to the great enterprise of the
Armada. Gregory plied them with the most
ardent zeal. The French league, which was
so dangerous to Henri III. and Henri IV.,
owed its origin to the connexion between this
pope and the Guises.
Little as Gregory XIII. burdened the state
for the sake of his relations, it yet follows of
course, from the comprehensiveness and the
costly nature of his undertakings, that he did
not spare the public revenues. Even Stuke-
ley's expedition, which ended so disastrously,
in Africa, trifling as it was, absorbed a consi-
derable sum. He once sent Charles IX. four
hundred thousand ducats, the proceeds of a
direct tax on the towns of the ecclesiastical
states. He frequently furnished subsidies to
the emperor, and to the grand-master of iVJal-
ta. But even his pacific enterprises required
considerable sums. It was calculated that
the aid afforded to young men pursuing their
studies cost him two millions. f How much
then must he have expended on the twenty-
two colleges of the Jesuits alone, which owed
their origin to him !
Considering the financial condition of his
states, which, in spite of an increasing reve-
nue, never exhibited a surplus, he must have M\
frequently found himself involved in embai*- Jl
rassment.
The Venetians, shortly after his accession,
made an attempt to induce him to grant them
a loan. Gregory listened with augmenting
* Bull of the 13th Feb. 1582, § 12. BuUar. Cocq. iv. 4,
10.
+ Calculation of Baronius. Posseviniis in Ciacconius,
Vitje Pontificum, iv. 37. Lorenzo Priuli reckons that he
expended yearly 200,000 scudi on opere pie. Tlie extracts
given by Cocquelines, at the close of Mafl'ei's Annals,
from the reports of cardinals Como and Musotti, are most
copious and authentic on this bead.
A. D. 1572-85.]
GREGORY XIII.
137
attention to the detailed proposals of the am-
bassador, and when at last he saw what he
was aiming- at, he cried out, " What do you
mean, sir ambassador'! The congregation
sits every day to devise means of raising
money, and never lights upon any serviceable
expedient."*
The secular administration of Gregory
XIII. was now become of paramount impor-
tance. It was already come to this, that both
alienations and imposition of new taxes were
regarded as impolitic ; the dubious, nay perni-
cious results of such a system were fully
appreciated. Gregory imposed on the con-
gregation the task of procuring him money,
but that neither through ecclesiastical conces-
sions, nor through new taxes, nor thi-ough the
sale of ecclesiastical revenues.
But what other means than these remained
to be tried ] The measures devised, and the
effects subsequently produced by them, are
very deserving of attention.
Gregory, who always carried out to the
utmost an absolute idea of right, thought lie
discovered that the popedom was endowed
with many rights, which it had only to assert,
to become possessed of new sources of reve-
nue.f It was not his disposition to respect
the privileges that stood in his way. Amongst
others, he unhesitatingly abolished that which
the Venetians possessed, of exporting corn
from the March and from Ravenna under
certain advantages, saying it was just that
foreigners should pay the same amount of
dues as the natives. | Upon the Venetians
failing to comply at once with his measures,
he caused their warehouses at Vienna to be
forcibly broken open, their contents sold by
auction, and the owners imprisoned. This,
however, was but a small matter ; it is merely
an indication of the course he was bent on
pursuing. It was of much more moment that
he thought he discovered a crowd of abuses
among the aristocracy of his own dominions,
the abolition of which would be profitable to
the papal treasury. Rudolfo Bonfiliuolo, the
secretary of the treasury, proposed a sweeping
extension and renewal of feudal rights, till
then hardly thought of. He asserted that a
large portion of the castles and estates of the
barons had lapsed to the pope ; some from the
fliilure of the direct line of succession, some
from the neglect to pay the rent due upon
them. 5 Nothing could be more acceptable to
* Dispaccio, 14 Marzo, 1573. It is a Conjregatione
deputHla sopra la provisione di danari.
t Maffi-i, Annali di Gregorio XIII. i. p. 101. He calcu-
lates tliat the states of the church yielded a net income of
160,000 scud i only.
t Dispaccio, Antonio Tiepolo, 12 April, 1577.
§ Dispaccio, A. Tiepolo, 12 Gf>nn. 1579. II commissa-
rio della camera altende con molta diligentia a ritrovare
e rivedere scrillure per ricupprare quanto dalli pontefici
paasati si 6 stato oblie;ato, o data in petjno ad alcuno, e ve-
aendo che S. S^- e;li ass mtisse volenlieri, non la sparagna
o porta rispetto ad alcuno.
18
the pope, who had already acquired some
such estates by escheat or purchase. He put
the scheme forthwith into operation. He
wrested, in the highlands of Romagna, Cas-
telnovo from the Isei of Cesena, and Corcana
from the Jassatelli of Imola. Lonzana, on its
beautiful hill, and Savignano in the plain,
were taken from the Rangoni of Modena.
Alberto Pio voluntarily surrendered Bertinoro,
to avoid the suit with which he was threat-
ened by the treasury, which, however, was
not content with that, but divested him like-
wise of Verucchio and other places. There-
upon he tendered his rent every Peter's-day,
but it was never again accepted. All this
happened in Romagna alone; and precisely the
same course was pursued in the other pro-
vinces. Claim was laid not only to estates
on which the feudal dues had not been dis-
charged; there were others which had origi-
nally been only mortgaged to the barons,
though this circumstance had long been for-
gotten, and they had passed as freehold from
hand to hand, and been greatly improved : it
was now the pleasure of the pope and his
commissioners of the treasury to redeem them.
In this way they got possession of the castle
of Sitiano, by payinnr off the original incum-
brance of 14,000 scudi, a sum far inferior to
its actual value at that time.
The pope congratulated himself much on
these proceedings. He thought he possessed
a claim the more on the grace of heaven so
soon as he had succeeded in raising the reve-
nues of the church by ten scudi ; provided it
were without imposition of new taxes. He
reckoned with satisfaction that the income of
the ecclesiastical dominions had by legal
means, within a short space of time, received
an augmentation of a hundred thousand scudi.
How greatly would this increase his means of
proceedingagainst heretics and infidels? The
court for the most part approved his measures.
"This pop3 is named the Watchful," (such is
the etymological signification of Gregorius,)
says cardinal Como; "he is resolved to watch
and retrieve his own."*
Throughout the country, and among the
aristocracy, these measures exited, on the
contrary, a very different feeling.
Many great families found themselves sud-
denly ejected from properties they had consi-
dered their own by the most legitimate titles;
others saw themselves threatened. Daily
search into old papers was made in Rome,
and every day new claims were extracted
from them. Ere long no man thought himself
secure, and many resolved to defend their
possessions with the sword, rather than sur-
* Dispaccio, 21 O^t. 15S1. Soiio molti anni che lachiesa
no ha havuLo pontafice di queslo no:ne Grejorio, che
secundo li sua elimologia greca vuol dire vigilante:
qussto che 6 Grego.'io e vigilante, vuol vigil ire e ricupe-
rare il suo, e li par di far un graasarvilio quando ricupera
alcuna cosa, benche minima,
1^
COURT AND STATE.
[a. d. 1572-85.
render them to the commissioners of the trea-
sury. One of these feudatories once said to
the pope, to his face, "Wliat is lost, is lost;
but a man has at least some satisfaction when
he has stood out in his own defence."
In consequence of the influence of the aris-
tocracy over their peasants and over the nobili
of neighbouring towns, the pope's proceedings
set the whole country in a ferment.
Moreover, the pope had by other injudicious
measures inflicted very painful losses on some
towns. He had raised the tolls of Ancona,
for instance, on the principle that the advance
would fall upon the merchants, and not upon
the country. He thus inflicted a blow upon
that town, from which it has never recovered.
Its commerce suddenly departed, nor was it
of much avail that the impost was repealed,
and even that their old privileges were
restored to the Ragusans.
The consequences that ensued were most
miexpected and peculiar.
Obedience in every country, but especially
in one so pacific, is founded on a voluntary
subordination. The elements of discord were
here not removed or suppressed, but merely
concealed by the incumbent power of the
government. As soon as the principle of sub-
ordination gave way in one place, all those
elements burst out together, and appeared in
full conflict. The country seemed suddenly
to remember how warlike, how skilful in arms,
how independent in its parties, it had been for
centuries; it began to despise its government
of priests and doctors, and relapsed into a con-
dition congenial to its nature.
Not that the people directly opposed the
government, or rebelled against it, but the old
feuds broke out again on all sides.
All Roraagna was once more divided by
them. In Ravenna tJie Rasponi and the
Leonardi were arrayed against each other ;
in Rimini, the Ricciardelli and the Tignoli ;
in Cesena, the Venturelli and the Bottini; in
Forli, the Numai and the Siragli ; in Irnola,
the Vicini and the Sassatelli : the former
of all these were Ghibellines; the others,
Guelphs; for the old names survived, although
the interests originally connected with them
had been so wholly changed. The two par-
ties had often distmct quarters and churches;
they distinguished themselves by slight signs ;
the Guelphs wore the feather on the right
side of the hat, the Ghibellines on the left.*
The division extended even to the pettiest
village : no one would have spared the life of
his own brother, had he belonged to the oppo-
site faction. Some there were who put their
wives out of the way, that they might marry
* The Relatione di Romagna points out the differences,
"npl lagliar del pane, nel cingersi, in ponare il pennac-
chio, fiocco o liore al capello o all' orecchio" [in cutting
bi'ead, wearing the belt, the feather, locks or flowers in
the hair or in the ear].
into a family belonging to their own party.
The pacijici were no longer serviceable, since
fovouritism had admitted unfit persons into
their body. The factions took the adminis-
tration of justice into their own hands, and
often declared those persons innocent who
had been condemned by the papal tribunals.
They broke open the prisons, to liberate their
friends, and to assail their enemies, and the
heads of the latter were sometimes seen the
next day stuck up round the fountains.*
Public authority being now so weak,, the
March, Campagna, and all the provinces were
infested with troops of outlawed bandits, that
swelled into small armies. At their head
were Alfonso Piccolomini, Roberto Malatesta,
and other young men of t!ie first families.
Piccolomini seized the town-house of Monte-
abboddo, had all his enemies hunted out and
executed before the eyes of their mothers and
wives. He put to death nine of the single
family of Gabuzio, his followers in the mean
while dancing in the market-place. He
marched through the country as lord of the
land, nor was he even stopped by an attack of
the ague, being carried on his bad days on a
litter at the head of his troops. He sent a
message to the inhabitants of Corneto, desir-
ing them to hasten their harvest; for he was
coming to burn up the crops of his enemy
Latino Orsino. Personally, he was governed
by a sort of principle of honour; he took away
a courier's letters, but did not touch the money
the man carried : his followers, however, were
but the more brutally rapacious. From all
sides delegates flucked to Rome, imploring
help on behalf of the towns.f The pope aug-
mented his forces, and gave cardinal Sforza
more ample plenary powers than ever had been
possessed by any one since cardinal Albornoz :
he was to proceed not only without regard to
any privilege, but even without being bound
by any rule of law, or observing any form of
process, manu regid.\. Giacomo Boncom-
pagno took the field, and they succeeded
indeed in dispersing the bands of robbers, and
clearing the country of them ; but as soon as
their backs were turned, all the old mischiefs
broke out as freshly as before.
A particular circumstance contributed great-
ly to make these incurable.
Gregory, who is often represented as good-
natured to excess, had yet asserted his eccle-
t
* In the MS. Sixtus V. Pontifex M. (Bibl. Altieri in
Rome) is the most detailed description of this state of
things. An extract is given in the Appendix, No. 52.
t Dispacci Donato, del 15S2, passim.
t Brief for Sforza, given in the Dispacci: Omnimodam
faculiatem, potestatem, auctoritatem, et arbitriuiri, contra
quoscunque bannitos facinorosos receptalores fautores
complices et seguaces, etc. necnon contra communitates
iiniversitates et civitates terras et castra et alios cujuscun-
que dignitatis vel praeeminenliae, Baiones Duces et quo-
vis aucloritatefungcntes,etexlrajudicialiteretiurisordine
non servato, etiam sine processu et scripiuris ct manu
rpgia, illosque omnes et singulos puniendi tam in rebus in
bonis quam in personis.
I
A. D. 1572-85.]
SIXTUS V.
139
siastical as well as his secular rights with
rigour.* He spared neither the emperor nor
the king of Spain, and paid no deference to
his neighbours. He was involved in a thou-
sand disputes with Venice witli respect to the
affairs of Aquileia, the visitation of their
churches, and other points: the ambassadors
cannot describe his violence, the intense bitter-
ness he manifested whenever these subjects
were touched upon. The same was tiie case
as to Tuscany and Naples; Ferrara found no
favour ; Parma had shortly before lost consi-
derable sums in litigation with him. All these
neighbours exulted at seeing the pope invol-
ved in such unpleasant perplexities, and un-
hesitatingly gave shelter to the bandits, who
then, as soon as opportunity offered, returned
to the states of the Church. The pope entreat-
ed them, in vain, to desist from this conduct:
they thought it curious that Rome should treat
all others with indifference and contempt, and
then lay claim to service and respect at the
hands of every one.f
Thus Gregory was never able to lay hold on
the outlaws of his dominions. The taxes
ceased to be paid, the sussidio was not col-
lected. Universal discontent settled upon the
country. Even cardinals asked themselves
the question, whether it were not better to
attach themselves to some other state.
Under these circumstances, the further pro-
secution of the treasury secretary's measures
was not to be thought of In December, 1581,
the Venetian ambassador distinctly announced
that the pope had put a stop to all proceedings
in matters of confiscation.
He was forced to allow Piccolomini to come
to Rome and present a petition to him.| A
shudder crept over him as he read the long
list of murders he was called on to forgive, and
he laid it on the table : hut he was told that
one of three things was inevitable ; either his
* Already in 157G, P. Trepolo takes notice of this.
Quanto piu cerca d' acquistarsi nome di guisto, tanlo piu
lo perde di gratioso, perclie concede niolto meno gralie
exlraordinarie di quel che ha failoaltro poniefice di molti
anni in qua : — la qual cosa aggiunta al mancamenlo ch' 6
in lui di certi offici grati et accetli per la difficult^ raassi-
mamente naturale che ha nel parlar, e per le pochissiine
parole che in ciascuna occasione usa, fa ch' egli in gran
parte manca in (luella gratia appresso le persone. [The
more he strives lo acquire the title of Just, the more he
loses that of Gracious, because he grants much fewer ex-
traordinary favours than any pope for many years past ; — ■
which circumstance, joined to his deficiency in certain
winning arts, arising from the dilliculty, chiefly natural,
which he feels in expressing himself, and from the very
few words he uses on every occasion, are the causes in a
great measure that he is thus wanting in personal favour.]
+ Dispaccio, Donito, 10 Set. 1D81. E una cosa grande
che con non dar mai satisfatione nissuna si pretendre d'
avere da altro in quello che locca alia liberti dello stato
8U0 correniemente ogni sorte d'ossequio.
t Donato, April 9, 1583. II sparagnar la spesa e I'assi
curar il Signor Giacoino, che lo desiderava, et il fuggir
I'occasione di disgustarsi ogni di piu per ([uesto con Fio-
renza, si co.ne ogni di avveniva, ha fatto venir S. Si' in
quesla risolulione. [The saving of expense, and the secu-
rity of Signor Giacomo, who desired it, and the wish to
avoid further cause of quarrel with Florence, such as was
every day arising, induced the pope lo this step.]
son Giacomo mu.st expect death at the hand of
Piccolomini, or he must put Piccolomini to
death, or extend forgiveness to him. The
father confessors of St. John Lateran declared
that, although they durst not violate the secrets
of the confessional, thus much they were at
liberty to say, if something was not done, a
great calamity was at hand. Besides this
Piccolomini was openly favoured by the grand
duke of Tuscany, and then inhabited the
Medici palace. At last the pope consented,
but with a deeply mortified heart, and signed
the brief of absolution.
But the act did not restore tranquillity. His
own capital was full of bandits. Things arrived
at such a pass, that the city magistracy of the
" conservatori" were obliged to interpose, to
procure obedience to the pope's police. A
certain Marianazzo rejected the protfered par-
don, saying it was more advantageous for him
to live as a bandit, and safer too.*
The aged pope, weak and weary of life,
looked up to heaven, and cried, " Thou wilt
arise, O Lord, and have mercy upon Zion !"
SiXTUS V.
It would seem at times as if there were in
turbulence and disorder some secret virtue
that brings forth the man who is fitted to con-
trol them.
Whilst throughout the world hereditary
sovereignties or aristocracies transmitted
their power from generation to generation, it
was the distinguishing characteristic of the
ecclesiastical sovereignty, that it offered the
opportunity of rising from the lowest to the
highest grade of human society. From the
very humblest class the pope now arose, who
possessed the power and every natural quality
requisite for putting an end to all the disor-
ders that prevailed.
On the first successful incursions of the Otto-
mans into the Illyrian and Dalamatian pro-
vinces, many of their inhabitants fled to Italy.
They were seen arriving in groups, and sitting
on the shore with their hands outstretched to
heaven. It is probable that Zanelto Peretli,
the ancestor of Sixtus V. and a Sclavonian,
was one of these refugees. As commonly
happens with exiles, neither he nor his poste-
rity, who settled in Monlalto, could boast of
much prosperity in the country of their adop-
tion. Peretto Peretti, the father of Sixtus,
was even forced by debt to leave that town ;
nor was it till after his marriage that he was
in a condition to rent a garden m Grotto a
Mare, near Fermo. This was a remarkable
locality. Among the plants of the garden
were discoverable the ruins of a temple of
Cupra, the Etruscan Juno ; there was no lack
* " Che il viver fuor
gior sicurti." Gregory rei
10, 1585.
uscitolitorni piuaconto e di mag-
reigned frojn May 13, 1572, to April
140
COURT AND STATE.
[a. d. 1585.
of the finest fruits of the South ; Fermo, at
that time, enjoying a milder climate than the
rest of the March. In this place a son was
born to Peretti, on the ISth of Dec. 1521. It
had shortly before appeared to him in a dream,
that whilst he was bewailing his many vexa-
tions, a sacred voice had comforted hnn with
the assurance that he was to have a son who
should make the fortune of his house. He
caught at this hope with all the alacrity of a
visionary temperament, whose natural prone-
ness to mysticism had been exalted by want,
and he named the boy Felix.*
What were the circumstances of the family,
is plain enough, when we learn, for instance,
that the child once fell into a pond, and was
pulled out of it by his aunt who was washing
there ; that he was obliged to watch fruit, and
even to tend swine. He learned his letters
out of the primers which the other boys laid
down beside him, as they passed through the
fields on their way to and from school : his
father could not muster the five bajocchi, de-
manded monthly by the nearest schoolmaster.
Fortunately there was a member of the family
in orders, Fra Salvatore, a Franciscan, who
was at last prevailed on to pay the school-
money. Young Felix now went to i-eceive
instruction with the rest, carrying with him a
piece of bread, which he used to eat at noon,
sitting by the fountain, with the water of which
he washed down his meal. In spite of such
cheerless circumstances, the father's hopes
were soon shared by the son. When the
latter entered the Franciscan order at the
early age of twelve, — for as yet there was no
decree of the council of Trent to forbid such
premature vows, — he retained his name of
Felix. Fra Salvatore treated him with great
strictness, exercising the authority both of an
uncle and a f ither ; but he also sent him to
.school. Felix often studied supperless, by the
light of a lantern in the cross-roads, or, when
that had gone out, by a lamp burning before
the host in the church. We do not find that
* Tempesti, Sloria della vita e geste di Sisto V., 1754,
has given the result of his investigations of the archives
of Montallo respecting the descent of his hero. The Vita
Sixti v., ipsius nianu emendala, is also authentic. MS.
in the Bibl. Altieri in Rome. Sixtus was born, "cum
pater Ludovici Vecchii Firmani horlum e.xcoleret, mater
Dianse nurui ejus perhonestse matronse domeslicis minis-
teriis operam daret" [whilst his father cultivated the gar-
den of Ludovico Vecchio of Fernio, and his mother aided
his housekeeper, Diana, a very virtuous matron, in domes-
tic duties.] Thi.s Diana lived to witness the pontificate
of Sixtus, at a very advanced age. "Anus senio confecta
Romam deferri vluit, cupida venerari euin in suinmo
rerum humanarum fastigio positum, quem oliioris sui filium
paupers victu doini suae nalum aUierat." [The decrepid
old woman desired to be carried lo Rome, that she misht
otfer homage, in his topmost elevation, to him whom she
had known as the son of her gardener, born, and humbly
nurtured in her house.] Further, " Pavisse puenim pecus
et Picentes memorant, et ipse ad'o non diffitetur ut etiam
prae se ferat." [The peoplp of Piceno relate that the boy
tended cattle, and he himself fir from denying it, boasts
that it was so.] In the Ambmsiana R. there is F. Radice
deir origine di Sisto V., an Information, dated Rome, May
4, 1585, which, however, does not contain much.
he gave any direct indications of an original
tendency to devotional feeling or to profound
science : we only learn that he made rapid
progress both in the school at Fermo, and in
the schools and universities of Ferrara and
Bologna : he took his degrees with very great
credit. He displayed a particular talent for
dialectics, and he made himself master in a
high degree of the monkish accomplishment
of treating intricate theological questions. In
the general convention of the Franciscans in
the year 1.549, in which literary contests were
also exhibited, he encounteretl with address
and presence of mind a Telesean, Antonio
Persico of Calabria, who was then in high
repute in Perugia.* This was the first thing
tliat brought him somewhat into notice ; from
that time cardinal Pio of Carpi, the protector
of the order, took a lively interest in him.
But his high fortune is ascribed more parti-
cularly to another incident.
In the year 1552, he preached the lent ser-
mons in the church of the Santi Apostoli in
Rome, with the greatest success. His style
was considered animated, copious, and fluent ;
his language free from meretricious ornament,
his matter well arranged, and his utterance
distinct and pleavsing. Once on this occasion,
in presence of the whole congregation, as he
paused in the midst of his discourse, according
to the custom in Italy, and after taking breadth,
read the memorials presented, which usually
contain entreaties and intercessions, he light-
ed on one which was found lying sealed on
the pulpit, and the contents of which were of
a widely diflTarent kind. All the main points
of the sermons already preached by Peretti
were set down in it, particularly those relat-
ing to predestination, and beside each stood in
large letters, " Thou liest." Peretti could not
wholly conceal his surprise ; he hastened to
conclude his discourse, and immediately on
reaching home sent the paper to the Inquisi-
tion.f He very speedily saw the grand inqui-
sitor Michelc Ghislieri enter his room. The
most searching examination began. Peretti
used often afterwards to tell how much he had
been frightened by the aspect of that man,
with his stern brows, his deep set eyes, and
his strongly marked features. He collected
himself, however, answered satisfactoi'ily, and
without committinor himself When Ghislieri
* Sixtus V. Pontifex Maximus : MS. Bibl. Altieri. Exi-
mia Persicus apud omnes late fama Perusiae philosophiam
ex Telesii placitis cum publics doceret, novitale doctrinae
turn primum nascentis nativuni ingenii lumen niirifice
illustrabat. Montaltus ex universa theologia excerptas
positiones eardinali Carpensi inscrijjtas tanta cum ingenii
iaude defendit, ut omnibus admiralioni fuerit.
t Narrative in the same MS. Jam priorem orationis
partem exegerat, cum oblatum libellum resignat, et tacitus,
ut populosummam exponat, legere incipil. Quotquot ad
eam diem catholiiae fidei dogmata Montaltus piocoiicione
afiiniiarat, ordine coUecia conlinebat, singulisque id lan-
tum addebal, Uteris grandioribiis : Mentiris. Complica-
tum diligenter libellum, sed ita ut consternationis mani-
festus multis esset, ad pectus dimittit, orationemciue brevi
praecisione paucis absolvit. ^
A. D. 1585.]
SIXTUS V.
141
saw that the monk was not only guiltless, but
so versed and so firmly rooted in catholic doc-
trine, he was like another man, embraced
Peretti with tears, and became his second
patron.
From that period Fra Felice Peretti adher-
ed to the strict party, which was just then
arisen in the church. He maintained an inti-
mate intercourse with Ignatio, 'J'elino, and
Filippo IVeri, who all three won the title of
saints. The opposition he encountered in his
order, which he sought to reform, and his ex-
pulsion once from Venice by the brethren,
only increased his credit with the representa-
tives of tiie dominant opinions. He was pre-
sented to Paul IV., and was often consulted
by him on occasions of difficulty. lie labour-
ed as a theologian in the congregation for the
council of Tent, and as consultor attached to
the inquisition ; and he had a considerable
share in the condemnation of the arciibishop
Carranza, patiently undergoing the drudgery
of searcliing out those passages in the writings
of the protestants, which ('arranza had adopt-
ed into his own. He won the implicit confi-
dence of Pius V, who named him vicar-general
of the Franciscans, expressly with a view to
his reforming the order ; and this, indeed,
Peretti effected with a high hand. He deposed
the commissioners-general, who had hitherto
exercised the highest authority in the order,
restored the ancient constitution, according to
which the latter was vested in the provincials,
and held the most rigid visitations. Pius saw
his expectations not only fulfilled, but surpass-
ed ; he regarded the liking he entertained for
Peretti, as a kind of divine inspiration; with-
out heeding the calumnies with which he was
pursued, he named him bishop of St. Agatha,
and cardinal in the year 1570.
He was also invested with the bishopric
of Fermo. Felice Peretti returned in the
church's purple to his native place, where he
had once watched fruit and swine; still his
father's prophecies, and his own hopes, were
not yet fully accomplished.
It has been repeated, times without number,
what crafty plans cardinal Montalto (so he
was now called) employed to reach the tiara,
how he affected humility, and tottered along
with the help of his stick, bent and coughing :
but the critic will see the a priori unproba-
bility of all this ; it is not by such means that
men reach the highest dignities.
Montalto led a quiet, frugal, and diligent
life of retirement. His pleasures consisted in
planting trees and vines in his vineyard at
Santa Maria Maggiore, whicli is still visited by
strangers, and in doing some service to his
native town. His more serious hours were
occupied with the works of St. Amhrnse, which
he edited in 1580. With all the diligence he
applied to that task, his treatment of his au-
thor was yet somewhat arbitrary. For the
rest, it does not appear that his character v/as
quite so inoflensivc as it has been represented.
A report of 1.574 already designates Montalto
as learned and prudent, but also crafty and
malicious.* But he displayed extraordinary
self-command. When his nephew, the hus-
band of Vittoria Accorombuona, was murdered,
he was the first who entreated the pope to let
the investigation of the matter drop. It was
probably this quality, which every one ad-
mired, that contributed most to his actual
election, when the intrigues of the conclave
of 1585 led to his nomination. It was also
taken into account, as is stated in the genuine
narratives of those proceedings, that all things
considered he was still of hale years, his age
being sixty-four; and that he was of a strong
and healthy constitution. Every one confessed,
that, under the circumstances of the times, a
man of vigour was above all things necessary.
Thus Fra Felice saw his end attained ; and
it must have been with an honourable pride
that he beheld the gratification of so exalted
and so legitimate an ambition as that which
had animated him. All those circumstances
in which he had ever thought he recognized
the indications of a higher destiny, now came
before his mind. He chose fur his motto:
" From my mother's womb, thou, O God, hast
been my defender."
* A " Discorso sopra i soggetii papabili" under Gregory
XIII., says of Montalto : " La naluia sua, lenuta lerribile,
hiiperiosa el anoganie, non li put) punto conciliare la
gratia." [His disposition reputed feiocious, imperious, and
arrogant, is by no means fitted to gain liim regard.] We see
see that in his cardinalale he was the same man as he was
when pope. Gregory XIII. used to say to those about him,
"caverent magnum ilium cinerarium." [They should be-
ware of that great grey friar.] The author of SixtusV. P. M.
malces Farnese say, on seeing him between the two domi-
nicans, Trani and Justinian, who also entertained hopes
of the papacy: "Nae Picenum hoc junientum magnifice
olim exilietjSi duos illos, quoshinc atque iUinc male fert,
carbonis saccos excusseril." [That Picenian packhorse
will assuredly conie out grandly some time or other, if
ever he shakes otf those two sacks of coal, with which he
is encumbered on either side.] He adds, that it was this
very anticipation that induced Accorombuona to marry
the nephew of Sixtus V. The grand duke Francis of Tus-
cany liad a great part in the election of Sixtus. In a dis-
patch of Albeni, the Florentine Ambassador, of the 11th
May, 1585 (Roma Filza, n. 36,) it is said, " ¥">•»• AUezza
sia solaquella che come conviene goda il frutto dell'opera
che ella Itafatta (he means this election) per avere questo
Pontefice e non altro, se ne faccia belle." [Your high-
ness alone, as is rieht, enjoys the frail of your own work,
inasmuch as~you alone will have the advantage of this
pope's friendship in case of war.] Another Florentine
dispatch says, "II papa replica che il gran duca aveva
molle ragioni di desiderargli bene, perche egli era come
quel agricoltore che pianta un frutto che ha poi caro in-
sieme di vederlo crescere et andare avanti lungo tempo,
asgiungendoli che egli era slalo quello che dopo il Signer
Iddio aveva condotta quest 'opera, che a lui solo ne aveva
ad aver oblige, e che le conosceva, se ben di queste cose
non poteva ijarlar con egn'uno." [The pope replied, that
the grand duke had many reasons for wishing his pros-
perity, since his highness was like the liusbandman, who
plants a tree, and delights in seeing il long grow and
thrive, adding that it was his hishness, who under God
hail conducted this matter, that to him alone he, the pope,
was bound in gratitude for the same ; that he was aware
of this, though he could not speak to every one on the
subject.] We see from this that something very peculiar
was transacted behind the scenps, of which we know
Utile or nothing. The election took place on the 24th of
April, 1585.
142
SIXTUS V. EXTIRPATION OF THE BANDITTI, [a. d. 1585-90.
And in all his undertakings he believed him-
self to be under the continual favour and pro-
tection of God. Immediately on his ascending
the throne, he declared his intention of exter-
minating the bandits and malefactors. Should
his own strength be insufficient thereto, he
knew that God would send legions of angels
to his aid.*
He immediately entered on that difficult
task with resolution and judgment.
Extirpation of the Banditti.
Gregory's memory was repugnant to him,
he had no inclination to follow out the mea-
sures of that pope. He dismissed the greater
part of the troops, and reduced the number of
the sbirri by one-half On the other hand, he
resolved on an unsparing punishment of the
guilty who should fall into his hands.
The carrying short weapons, especially a
kind of gun, had long been prohibited. Four
young men of Cora, nearly related to each
other, were taken with such weapons upon
them. The following day was fixed for the
coronation, and the auspicious opportunity was
taken to intercede for the young men's par-
don. Sixtus replied, " While I live, criminals
must die.f" That very day all the four were
seen hanging on one gallows, by the bridge
of St. Angelo.
A young Transteverine was condemned to
death for having resisted the sbirri who at-
tempted to take away his ass. Every one was
filled with pity for the poor lad as he was led
weeping to the place of execution, for so small
an offence : his youth was represented to tlie
pope, who is said to have answered, " I will
add a few years of my life to his," and he
caused the sentence to be executed.
These first acts of Sixtus V. struck terror
into every one, and gave great force to the
orders he now issued.
Barons and communes were commanded to
clear their castles and towns of bandits : — the
losses sustained at the hands of the bandits
were to be made good by the lord or the com-
mune in whose jurisdiction they occurred. |
It had been usual to set a price on the head
* Dispaccio, Priuli, 11 Maggio, 1585. Speech of the
pope in the consistory. Disse di due cose che lo trava-
gliano la materia della giustilia e della abondantia, alle
quale voleva attender con ogni cura, sperando in Dio che
quando le mancassero li ajuti proprii e forastieri, le man-
der4 tante legioni di angeli per punir 11 malfattori e
ribaldi, et esorto li cardinalidi non usarle loro franchigie
nel dar recapilo a trisli, deteslando il poco pensier del
suo predecessor. [He spoke of two things that engaged
his attention; the administration of justice, and t!ie at-
tainment of plenty ; to which he would attend with all
diligence, trusting in God, that should his own power and
other help fail him, He would send him legions of angels
to punish malefactors and reprobates; and he exhorted
the cardinals not to employ their privileges in sheltering
the wicked, expressing his detestation of his predecessor's
jnconsiderateness.]
tSe vivo facinorosis moriendum esse.
t Bull, t. iv. p. iv. p. 137. Bando, in Tempesti i. ix.
p. 14.
of a bandit. Sixtus enacted that this should
no longer be paid by the treasury, but the
bandit's relations, or, if they were insolvent,
by the commune in which he was born.
Besides thus obviously engaging the inte-
rests of the lords of the soil, the communes,
and the kindred, in favour of his purpose, he
likewise sought to avail himself of the ban-
ditti's own interests. He promised every one
who should deliver up a comrade alive or dead,
pardon not only for himself, but also for some
friends whom he might name, and a gratuity
besides in money.
When these regulations had been adopted,
and a few examples exhibited of their strict
enforcement, the pursuit of the banditti pre-
sently assumed another appearance.
It was fortunate that at the very first he
was successful with respect to certain captains
of bands.
The pope could not rest for thinking thut
the priest Guercino, who called himself king
of Campagna, and who had once forbidden the
subjects of the bishop of Viterbo to obey their
lord, was still carrying on his practices, and
had just committed new acts of plunder.
Sixtus prayed, says Galesius, that God would
free the states of the church from that robber :
on the following morning news arrived that
Guercino was captured. His head was stuck
upon the bridge of St. Angelo, decked witli a
gilded crown ; the man who brought it re-
ceived his reward, two thousand scudi ; the
people applauded his holiness's excellent ad-
ministration of justice.
Della Fara, for all that, another of these
banditti, dared one night to call up the watch-
men at the Porta Salara, and desired them to
give his respects to the pope and the governor.
Thereupon Sixtus commanded his kinsmen,
on pain of death, to deliver him up. Before a
month was passed, Della Fara's head was
brought in.
At times it was something else than justice
that was exercised against the banditti.
Thirty of them had ensconced themselves
on a hill near Urbino; the duke had mules
laden with provisions driven by the place,
which the robbers failed not to plunder. But
the provisions were poisoned, every man of
the thirty died. On being informed of this,
says a historian of Sixtus V., the pope was
greatly delighted.*
A father and son were led to death in Rome,
although they persevered in asserting their
innocence. The mother placed herself in the
way; she begged only for a short respite,
when she could prove that her husband and ■
her son were guiltless. The senator denied I
her request. " Since then you thirst for
blood," she cried, " you shall have your fill of
*Memorie del Ponteficato di SistoV.; " Ragguagliato
Sisto ne prese gran comento."
D. 15S5-90.] SIXTHS V. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE ADMINISTRATION. 143
it," and she threw herself out of a window
of the capitol. Meanwhile, the two victims
reached the place of execution ; each wished
to be the first to die; the father could not
bear to see the death of the son, the son that
of the father : the people shrieked for pity ;
the savage executioner stormed at the useless
delay.
No respect of persons was observed. The
count Giovanni Pepoli, descended from one of
the first families of Bologna, but who was
deeply implicated in the deeds of the banditti,
was stran(>led in prison: all his money and
estates were confiscated to the treasury. Not
a day passed without executions; every where
in the woods and in the open fields, stakes
were to be seen with the heads of banditti
impaled on them. Those legates and gover-
nors alone received the pope's encomiums,
who satisfied him in this respect, and sent him
plenty of heads. There was something of ori-
ental barbarism in this kind of justice.
If there were robbers unreached by it, they
fell by the hands of their own comrades. The
pope's promises had sowed disunion among
their bands; no one trusted a comrade ; they
murdered each other.*
Thus, before a year had passed, the troubles
of the Ecclesiastical States were suppressed
in their open manifestation, if not stifled at
their source. In 1586 it was announced that
the last leaders, Montebrandano and Arara,
had been put to death.
It was a source of great delight to the pope
when ambassadors, as they now arrived at his
court, remarked to him, that in every part of
his territory they had passed through, they
had beheld a country blessed with peace and
security.!
Characteristics of the Administration.
Now as the abuses combated by the pope
owed their origin to other causes besides the
mere want of vigilant control, the success too
of his efforts was connected with other steps
that he adopted.
Sixtus is sometimes regarded as the sole
founder of the internal system of the Ecclesi-
astical States : arrangements are attributed
to him tliat had existed long before his day :
♦ Disp. Priuli, as early as thp 29lh of June, I5S5. Li
fuorusciti s'ammazzano I'un I'allro per la provision del
novo breve.
t Vila Sixti V. i. m. em. Ea fjuies et tranquillitas, ut
in urbe vasta, in hoc convenlu nalionuni, in tanta pere-
grinorum adversarumque colluvie, iibi lot nobilium su-
perbae eminent opes, nemo tarn tenuis, lam abjectae for-
tunae sit qui se nunc sentiat cujusquam injuriae obnox-
iuni. [Such is the peace and tranquillity prevailing, that
in this great city, in this assemblage of nations, this vast
conflux of strangers and immigrants, amidst all the wealth
and splendour of so many nobles, there is no one, how-
ever feeble, or however lowly his fortune, who need fear
vcrong or insult at the hand of any man.] According to
Gualterius, Vita Sixti V., the latter applied the text,
Fugit irapius nemine persequente. [The wicked fleeth
though no man pursueth.]
he is extolled as an incomparable master of
finance, a highly unprejudiced statesman, a
restorer of antiquity. lie possessed a charac-
ter that stamped itself upon the memories of
men, and gave credibility to fabulous and ro-
mantic stories.
But if his administration was not all it has
been declared to have been, it was assuredly
very remarkable.
In one particular it was strongly contrasted
with that of Gregory. The latter pope was
severe, decisive, and partial in his general
measures; special instances of disobedience
he overlooked. The provocation he gave to
individual interests on the one hand, and the
unparalleled impunity he permitted on the
other, were the very causes of the miserable
perplexities he had to endure. Sixtus, on the
contrary, was inexorable in special cases : he
insisted upon the enforcement of his laws with
a rigour that bordered upon cruelty; whereas
in general measures we find him mild, indul-
gent, and conciliatory. Under Gregory's rule
obedience would have profitted nothing, nor
resistance been attended with any disadvan-
tage. Under Sixtus, men had every thing to
fear the moment they offered to withstand
him : on the other hand, they might reckon on
proofs of his favour when they strove to please
him. Nothing was more efficacious than this
in promoting his views.
From the first he let all the bickerings drop
in which his predecessor had been involved
v/ith his neighbours on account of his eccle-
siastical pretensions, declaring that it was
incumbent on the pope to uphold and extend
the privileges that had been granted to sover-
eigns. He restored, for instance, to the Mi-
lanese the place in the rota which Gregory
XIII. had attempted to take from them. VVhen
the Venetians at last brought to light a brief
which appeared conclusive in favour of their
rights in the afi:air of Aquileia, he expressed
his satisfaction. He resolved to suppress the
offensive clause in the bull In Cosna Domini,
and he totally abolished the congregation
concerning ecclesiastical jurisdiction, from
which the greater number of disputes had
originated.* There is certainly something
magnanimous in voluntarily foregoing con-
tested rights. He forthwith reaped the most
fortunate fruits of this conduct. The king of
Spain announced to the pope, in an autograph
letter, that he had enjoined his ministers in
* Lorenzo Priuli, Relatione, 1586. E pontefice che non
cosi leggiermenteabbraccialequerellecon principi,anzi
perfuggirleha levata la congregatione delta giu;isdiUione
ecclesiastica : (in another place he says, chiefly with refer-
ence to Spain,) Estima di potereperquesta via concluder
con maggior facility le cose e di sopportare con manco in-
dignity quelle che saranno trattate secrelamenle da lui
solo. [He is a pope who does not readily embark in quar-
rels with princes ; so to avoid these he lias suppressed the
congregation of ecclesiastical jurisdiction, whereby he
thinks he can more easily conduct his negotiations, and
sustain with less discredit matters secretly managed by
himself alone.]
144
COURT AND STATE.
[a. d. 1585-90.
Naples and Milan to obey the commands of
the pope no less strictly than his own. Sixius
was moved to tears that the greatest monarcli
in the world should, as he expressed himself,
so honour a poor monk like him. Tuscany
manifested its devotedness; Venice was satis-
fied. Those states now adopted a new line
of policy. Banditti who had fled to the neigh-
bouring frontiers were sent from all quarters
to the pope. Venice hindered their return
mto the ecclesiastical states, and forbade her
vessels to receive them wiien they touched at
the Roman coasts. The pope was in raptures
at this. He said he would remember it to the
republic ; lie would, such were his words, suffer
himself to be flayed alive for her, he would give
his blood for her. It was in this way he became
complete master of the banditti, because tiiey
no longer found asylum and aid in any quarter.
In his own dominions likewise he kept far
aloof from the severe measures adopted by
Gregory in favour of the treasury. After he
had "banished the offending feudatories, he
souo-ht rather to conciliate the other barons
and'' attach them to himself. He bound the
two great famalies of Colonna and Orsini both
to his own house and to each other by mar-
riage. Gregory had seized the castles of the
Cofonnas; Sixtus himself regulated their
household expenditure, and made them advan-
ces of money.* He gave one of his grand-nieces
to the contestabile AI. A. Colonna ; another to
the duke of Virginio Orsini. He bestowed
the like dowry on both, and very equal marks
of favour; and he adjusted their contending
claims for precedence by always according it
to the elder of either house. Donna Camilla,
the pope's sister, now enjoyed a position of
exalted dignity, surrounded by her children,
by sons-in-law of such high birth, and by her
married grandchildren.
Sixtus took special pleasure in imparting
privileges. The people of the March, in par-
ticular^had reason to regard him as a benevo-
lent fellow-countryman. He restored some
of their ancient immunities to the inhabitants
of Ancona: he instituted a supreme tribunal
in Macerata for the whole province, and dis-
tinguished the college of advocates in that
province by the grant of new privileges. He
erected Fermo into an archbishopric, Tolen-
tino into a bishopric: the little village of
Montalto, in which his ancestors had first
taken up their abode, he raised by a special
bull to the rank of an episcopal city ; " for,"
said he, " it gave our race its fortunate origin."
Already as cardinal he had founded a learned
school there, and now as pope he establislied
in the university of Bologna the college of
Montalto for fifty students from the March,^
of whom Montalto alone liad the nomination of
eight, and even the little Grotto a Mare of two.f
* Dispaccio degli Ambasciatori estraordinarii, 19 Ou.,
25 Nov. 1585. . .,, . r
+ He included Ihe neighbouring villages too, as pari of
He resolved also to erect Loreto into a city.
Fontana represented to hini the difficulties of
the attempt. " Don't give yourself any unea-
siness, Fontana," said he, " I found it harder
to make up my mind to it than I shall to
accomplish it." A part of the land was bought
from the inhabitants of Recana; valleys were
filled up, hills levelled, lines of streets were
marked out; the communes of the March were
encouraged to build houses on the spot; car-
dinal Gallo placed new civil authorities in the
holy chapel. By this measure the pope grati-
fied at once his patriotism and his devotion to
the blessed Virgin.
The several towns of all the other provinces
were likewise objects of his care. He adopt-
ed means for controlling the increase of their
debts, and set limits to their alienations and
mortgages ; he caused a strict inquiry to be
made into their finances, and to his regula-
tions was ascribable the gradual revival of
prosperity among the communes.*
He every where encouraged agriculture.
He undertook to drain the Chiana of Orvieto
and the Pontine marshes. The latter he vis-
ited in person: the Fiume Sisto, the most
useful contrivance with regard to them until
the days of Pius VI., owed its origin to him.
The promotion of manufactures was equally
an object of his solicitude. A certain Peter
of Valencia, a citizen of Rome, had proposed
to establish the silk trade. The high handed
measure by which the pope sought to aid him
was highly characteristic. He gave orders
that throughout his whole dominions, in every
garden and vineyard, meadow and grove, hill
and valley where no corn grew, mulberry-trees
should be planted: he fixed the number at five
for every rubbio of land, threatening each
commune with a heavy fine in case of non-
compliance.f He also sought to promote the
Montalto. Viti Sixti V. ipsius manu emenilata. Porcu-
lam, Patrignorum, et Minlenoruni, quia Montalto haud
ferine longius absunt quam ad leli jactura, el crebris affin-
itatibus inter se et cominerciis reruni omnium et agrorum
quadam communitate conjunguntur, haud secus quam pa-
triae partem Sixtus fovit semper alque dilexit, omniaque
iis in commune est elargilus, quo paulatim velul in unam
coalescerent civitalem. [Porcula, PatrignoiO, and Min-
lenoro being generally but a bow-shot from Montalto, and
being all connected with it by frequent intermarriages,
general traffic, and some community of lands, were always
cherished and beloved by Sixtus as poitions of his native
place, and he bestowed all favours on them in common,
to the end that they might gradually coalece as it were
into one city.]
* Gualterius: Ad ipsarum (universitatem) statum cog-
noscendum, corrigendum, constituendum, quinque cam-
era aposlolicae clericos inisit. [He sent five members of
the apostolic chamber to inciuire into the state of ihra uni-
versities, and to amend and orcanize them.] The Memorie
also afford evidence of the utility of these measures. Con
le quali provision! si diede principio a rehaversi le com-
munilci dello stalo ecclesiastico: le quali pol de tulto ritor-
norono in piedi: con quanto I'istesso provedimenlo per-
feziont) Clemente VIII. [These arrangements were the
beginnina of a better condition of things in the communi-
ties of the Italian states, which subspqu»nlly recovered
themselves in general ; so mucli did Clement VIII. com-
plete the same judicious measures.]
t Cum sicut'accopimus,23 Maii, 1583. Bull Cocq. iv.
4, 218. Gualterius : Bombicinam, sericam, lanificiam, vi-
Ireamque artes in urbem vel induxitvel amplificavil. Ul
A. D. 1585-90.]
SIXTUS V. ADMINISTRATION.
145
woollen manufacture, " so that the poor," as
he said, " mig-ht have the means of earning
something." He aided the first person wlio
undertook the business with funds from the
trea'-ury, hi return for which he was to deliver
a certam number of pieces of cloth.
It would be unjust to the predecessors of
Sixtus V. to attribute to him alone projects of
this kind. Pius V. and Gregory XIII. like-
wise tavoured agriculture and manufactures.
Sixtus distinguished himself not so mucli by
entering on a new course, as by the more
rapid and successful impetus he gave to one
already begun. This it was that fixed his
name in the memory of men.
The assertion that he founded the congre-
gations of cardinals must not be taken in an
unqualified sense. The seven most important,
those regarding the inquisition, the index, the
affairs of councils, the bishops, the monks, the
segnatura, and the consulta, were already
establitihed. Nor was the state wholly ne-
glected in their constitution; the last two
named embraced matters of justice and ad-
ministration. Sixtus now resolved to add
eight new congregations to those already
existing, of which, however, only two were to
occupy themselves with ecclesiastical matters ;
the one with the establishment of new bishop-
rics, the other with the maintenance and
renovation of church usages :* the other six
were intended to apply to special branches of
administration, — corn laws, roads, repeal of
oppressive taxes, building of ships-of-war, the
Vatican press, and the university of Rome.f
It is obvious with how little regard to system
the pope proceeded in this; how much alike
he dealt with permanent and transient inter-
ests: nevertheless his arrangements worked
well, and have, with .slight modifications en-
dured for centuries.
He fixed a high standard for the personal
character of the cardinals. They were all to
be distinguished men, their morals exemplary,
their words oracles, their judgments rules of
life and opinion for other men ; they were to
vero serica ars frequentoir esset, mororum arborum SRitii-
naria et pUntaria per universam ecclesiaslicam ililionem
fieri proecepiijob eamque rem Maino, cuidam Hebraeo, ex
bombicibus bis in anno fructum el sericam aniplilicalu-
ruin sedulo pollicenii ac recipienli, maxima privilegia
impenivil. [He introduced inlo Ihe city, or extended,
the culture of silkworms, and the silk, woollen, and glass-
making arts. But the silk trade being the most in vogue,
he caused nurseries and plantations of mulberry- trees to
be made thioughout all the ecclesiastical states, and for
the saiiie reason bestowed vast privileges on a certain Jew,
named iMain, who i)roduced two sets of cocoons anntuilly
from silk-worms, and promised sedulously to enlarge the
manufacture of silk.]
* Congregation de' sacri riti e ceremonie ecclesiastiche,
dclle provisioni consisioriali : a questa voile appartenesse
la CO rniiione delle cause dell' ereltione di nove cattedrali.
f "So;)ra alia grascia el annona — sopra alia fabrica,
armamento, e manienimento delle galere— sopra gli aggra-
vi del popolo — sopra le strade, acque, ponti e confini —
sopra alia stamperia Vaticana" (he gave the first mana-
ger of the ecclesiastical press a residence in Ihe Vatican,
and 20,000 scudi, for ten years |) " sopra I'univwsUi dello
studio Komano."
19
be the salt of the earth, the lights set on the
candlestick.* It must not be imagined, for
all that, that on every occasion he exercised
the right of nomination very conscientiously.
In favour of Gallo, whom he raised to that
dignity, he had nothing to allege but that he
was his servant, for whom he had much rea-
son to feel regard, and who had once enter-
tained him well on a journey.f But even in
this department he set an example, which, if
subsequently not always followed, has yet
been generally kept in view. He limited the
number of cardinals to seventy, "as Moses,"
he said, " chose out seventy elders from the
whole people to take counsel with them."
The abolition of nepotism has not unfre-
quently been ascribed to this pope: but on
more close examination the facts of the case
will appear otherwise. Already, as we have
seen under Pius IV., Pius V., and Gregory
XIII., the privileges of the papal families had
become very insignificant. If special praise
is at all due to any of them in this respect, it
is to Pius v., who expressly forbade the alien-
ation of church lands. As we have already
said, the old system of nepotism had ceased
before the reign of Sixtus V., but another
form grew up under the popes of the succeed-
ing century. There were always two favour-
ed nephews or kinsmen, of whom the one,
being raised to the cardinalate, was entrusted
with the supreme administration of ecclesiasti-
cal and political affairs ; the other a layman, con-
tracting a wealthy marriage, endowed with
lands and '' luoghi di monte," established a ma-
jorat, and laid the foundation of a princely
house. If we inquire when this form of nepo-
tism first arose, we find that it grew up gradual-
ly, but that it reached its maturity under Sixtus
V. Cardinal Montalto, whom the pope tender-
ly loved, so that he even bridled his natural
impetuosity with regard to him, was admitted
into the consulta, and had at least a share in
foreign affairs : his brother Miciiele was made
a marquis, and founded a wealthy house.
It would, however, be a capital mistake to
suppo.se that Sixtus had thus introduced a sys-
tem of governing by nepotism. The marquis
had no influence whatever, and the cardinal
none at least of any importance.]; It would
have been quite at variance with the habits
of mind of Sixtus to have allowed them any.
* Bulla: Postquam varus ille, 3 Dec. 1586. Bullar. M.
iv. 4. 279.
t Though Sixtus would not endure any other form of
contradiction, he had to bear with that of the pulpit. The
Jesuit Francis Toledo said in a sermon, in allusion to this
subject that it was sinful to bestow a public appointment
in requital for private services. " Non perche," he went
on to say, " una sia buon coppiere o scalco, gli si conimette
sr^nza nota d'iniprudenza o un vescovato o un cardinal-
alo." [It is not because a man is a good cupbearer or
carver, that he may be safely entrusted with a bislw>pric
ora cardinilate.] Gallo had been head-cooli. (Mtfmorie
della vita di Sisto V.)
t Bcnti voglio, Memorie, p. 90. Noa aveva qusai, alctuia
parlecipatione nel governo.
146
COURT AND STATE.
[a. d. 1585-90.
There was something' cordial and unaffected
in his marks of favour ; they laid a foundation
of good-will for him in the minds of the public
and of individuals : but he never surrendered
the helm to another hand, he always g-overn-
ed for himself. Much as he seemed to favour
the congregations, much as he even invited to
freedom of speech, he nevertheless always
betrayed impatience and petulence the mo-
ment any one availed himself of the permis-
sion.* He always obstinately carried out his
own will. " With him," says Giov. Gritti,
"hardly any one has a counselling', not to
say a deciding voice."f Even in all those acts
of favour to individuals and provinces to which
we have alluded, his administration maintained
a determined, rigid, and arbitrary character. .
This was no where more strongly exhibited
than in the department of finance.
Finances.
The Chigi family in Rome are in posses-
sion of a small autograph memorandum-book
of Sixtus V. which he kept when a monk. J
This document possesses great interest. The
writer has carefully noted down in it every
thing of moment that occurred to him during
his life, the places he preached in every Lent,
the commissions he received and discharged,
even tiie hooks he possessed, which of them
were single, which bound up together, and,
finally, all the petty details of his monkish
economy. We read in it, for instance, how
his brother-in-law, Baptista, bought twelve
sheep for him ; how he, the friar, paid for
them, first twelve, then again two florins
twenty bolognins, so that they became his
own property : his brother-in-law kept them
by him upon the terms, usual in Montalto, of
half profits. In this way it goes on through-
out. We see how he nursed his little savings,
how carefully he kept account of them, and
how they gradually grew into an amount of
some two hundred florins. W-'e trace this
little history with pleasure and sympathy; it
exhibits the same economical temper which
this Franciscan shortly afterwards brought to
bear on the administration of the popedom.
His frugality was a quality of which he boast-
ed in every bull that allowed him any oppor-
tunity thereto, and in many inscriptions. In
* Guallerius : Tametsi congregationibus aliisque negotia
mandaret, ilia tamei) ipsa cognoscere atque conficere con-
suevil. Diligenlja incredibilis sciendi cognoscendique
omnia qua a recloribus urbis, provinciarum, populorum
omnium, a ceteris niagislralibus sedis apostolicae ageban-
tur. [Although he referred matters to the congregations
and to others, it was nevertheless his custom to take cc-
nizance of them, aijd to e.xecute them himself. It is in-
credible with what zeal he investigated all the'procecdines
of the administralorg of the city, the provinces, and of all
the nations, as well as that of ilie other magistrates of the
apostolic see.]
t Ghitti, Relatione : Non ci d chi abbi con lui voto deci-
livo, ma quasi ne anche consultivo.
t Memoire auiografe di papa Si»io V.
truth, no pope before or since his times ad-
ministered the revenues of his states with so
much success.
On ascending the throne he found the
treasury utterly exhausted : he complains bit-
terly of pope Gregory, who had squandered a
considerable part of the revenues both of his
predecessor and his successor.* He conceived
so bad an opinion of him, that he once ordered
masses to be said for his soul, having dreamed
that he beheld his punishment in the other
world. The revenues were pledged in ad-
vance up to the following October.
He therefore applied himself the more sed-
ulously to the task of replenishing the public
coffers, and in this he succeeded beyond all
expectation. By the close of his first year in
the papacy, in April, 1586, he had already
amassed a million of gold scudi, a second in
November, 1587, and in April, 1588 a third ;
an amount in all equivalent to upwards of
four and a half millions of silver scudi.
When he had got together the first million,
he deposited it in the castle of St. Angelo,
dedicating it, as he expressed himself, to the
holy virgin Mary, the mother of God, and to
the holy apostles Peter and Paul. " He
casts his eyes," he says in one of his bulls,
" not alone over the billows on which Peter's
little bark is now sometimes tossed, but upon
the storms, likewise, that threaten from afar.
The rancour of the heretics is implacable; the
powerful Turk, Assur, the rod of God's wrath,
threatens the faithful. By that God on whom
he relies in these perils, he is also taught that
the fiither of the household must watch by
night. He follows the example of the Old
Testament fathers, by whom a large sum of
money was always kept in the temple of the
Lord." He fixed, as is well known, the contin-
gencies under which alone it should be allowa-
ble to have recourse to that fund. They are as
follows : the undertaking of war for the con-
quest of the Holy Land, or of a general cam-
paign against the Turks ; the occurrence of
famine or pestilence ; manifest danger of
losing a province of catholic Christendom ;
hostile invasion of the states of the church ;
the possibility of reconquering a city belonging
to the Roman see. He pledged his successors
to these terms, under penalty of God's wrath,
and that of the holy apostles Peter and Paul.*
* Vita e success) del cardinal di Santaseverina. MS.
Bibl. Alb. Mentre glj parlavo del coUegio de' neofiti e di
quel degli Arnieni, che avevano bjsogno di soccorso, mi
rispose con qualche alteratione, che in castello non vi
erano danari e che non vi erano entrata ; che il papa pas-
sato havea mangiato il pontificato di Pio V. e sue, dolen-
dosi acremente dello stato nel quale haveva trovato la
sede apostolica. [When I spoke to him of the college of
the neophytes, and of that of the Armenians, which wers
in want of assistance, he answered with some irritation,
that there was no money in the castle, and that there was
no revenue ; for the last pope had squandered the income
of Pius V. 'a pontificate and his loo; and he complained
bitterly of the condition in which he had found the apos-
tolic see.]
* Ad clavum : 21 Apr. 1585. Cocq. ir. ir. 206.
A. D. 1585-90.]
SIXTUS V. FINANCES.
147
We will leave the utility of these regula-
tions for the present untouched, and inquire
into the means Sixtus employed to gather to-
gether wealth so prodigious tor those days.
It was not tlie product of the direct revenue
of the papal see. Sixtus liinisclf often said
that this did not exceed 200,000 scudi.*
Neither is it to be considered as the imme-
diate fruit of his savings. He did practice
retrenchment indeed, limited the expenses of
his table to six paoli a day, abolished many
useless places at court, and reduced the num-
ber of his troops ; but we have the testimony
ofDelfinothe Venetian, that all this did not
reduce the outgoings of the treasury by more
than 150,000 scudi. JSixtus himself once cal-
culated the retrenchments for which the
treasury was indebted to him at only 146,000
scudi.f
And thus, by his own declaration, with all
his economy, his direct income amounted only
to 350,000 scudi. This was hardly enough
for the buildings he erected, much less tor
amassing so enormous a treasure.
We have already considered the singular
system of finance established in this state, the
continual increase of taxes and burdens with-
out any augmentation in the net revenue, the
multiplicity of loans by sale of offices and by
monti, the growing incumbrances of the state
for sake of the church. The many evils at-
tending this system are manifest and glaring;
and when we hear of the praises so liberally
bestowed on Sixtus V., we are naturally dis-
posed to conjecture that he put an end to
these mischiefs. What is our astonishment
then, to find that, on the contrary, he actually
pursued the self-same course in the most reck-
less manner, and established this system on
such a basis as put it forever beyond the reach
of control !
One of his most considerable sources of
profit was the sale of places. In the first
place, he raised the price of many that were
already used to be sold. The price, for in-
stance, of a treasurership of the camera had
been fixed at 15,000 scudi: he sold tliis, first,
to a Giustiniani for 50,000 scudi; then on the
latter being made cardinal, he sold it to a
Pepoli for 72,000 scudi; and on the advance
of Pepoli to the purple, he lopped oft' a full
half, 5,000 scudi, from the income of the of-
fice, which he applied to a monti ; the office
thus shorn he still disposed of for 50,000 gold
scudi. In the second place he began the
practice of selling offices that before had
always been conferred gratuitously, such as
notariates, fiscalates, the places of conunie-
sioner-general, of solicitor to the camera, and
advocate of the poor, often for considerable
sums; the post of commissioner-general for
20,000 scudi, the notariate for 30,000 scudi.
Lastly, he created a multitude of new offices,
some of them very considerable ; a treasurer-
ship of tiie dataria, a prefecture of the prisons,
twenty-four refendaryships, two hundred ca-
valierships, and notariates in the chief places
of the states, — every one of these he sold.
Undoubtedly he amassed large sums in this
way : the sale of offices brought him in
608,510 gold scudi, and 401,805 silver, mak-
ing together near a million and a half silver
scudi :* but if the sale of places had been al-
ready a fruitful source of mischief to the state,
occasioning, as we have shown, a portioning
out, on the principle of a loan, of the rights of
government, — rights which were for that
very reason enforced with the utmost rigour
against those who were liable to pay, while
the duties of the several offices were quite
neglected, — how vastly was the evil now in-
creased ! It came, as we have said, wholly
to this, that every office was regarded as a
property which conferred rights, not as an
obligation which exacted labour.
But; furthermore, Sixtus made an extraor-
ditary augmentation of the number of monti,
instituting three more monti non vacabili, and
eight more monti vacabili, than any one of his
predecessors.
We have seen that the monti were always
founded of necessity on new taxes. Sixtus V.,
too, found no other means of effecting them,
though he was averse to it at first. The first
time he spoke in the consistory of an investment,
cardinal Farnese remarked, in objection to his
proposal, that his grandfather, Paul III., had en-
tertained the same intention, but had seen that
it could not be effected without an augmenta-
tion of imposts, and had therefore abandoned
it. Sixtus turned fiercely upon him ; the hint
that a former pope had been wiser than him-
self set him in a rage. " That was," he re-
torted, " because in the days of pope Paul III.
there were certain great spendthrifts, who,
thank God, do not exist in ours." Farnese
coloured up, and held his peace.f Things
turned out, however, as he had predicted. In
the year 1587, Sixtus threw aside all conside-
♦ Dispaccio, Gritti, 7 Giuino, 1586. The pope finds
fault with Henry III. because with fourteen millions of
revenue he saved nothing. Con addur I'essempio di se
medesiino nel governo del pontificalo, chedice non haver
di netlo piu di 200,000 sc. all' anno, baltuti li interressi de'
Eonletici passati e le spese che convien fare. [Adducing
is own e.vample in the administration of the popedom,
the nel annual income of which was no more, he said,
than 200,000 scudi, deducting the interest payable on
account of former popes, and the incidental expenses.]
■j- Dispaccio, Badoer, 2 Gius;io, 15S9.
♦ Calculation in a circumstantial MS. on the Roman
finances under Clement VIII. (Bibl. Barberina in Rome.)
tMemorie del Pontificato di Sisto V. Mulatosi per
lanto nel volto mentre Farnese parlava, irato piu tosto
che grave gli risposse: Non 6 maraviglio, Monsignore,
che a tempo di vostro avo non si poiesse mettere in opera
il disegno di far tesoro per lo chiesa con Tenlraie a pro-
venli ordinarii, perche vi erano di molli e grandi sciala-
(juatori (a word he was very fond of), i quali non sono, Dio
gratia, a tempi nostri ; nolando am.iramcnte la moltitu-
dine di fisli e fis^lie e nepoli d'ogni sorle di queslo ponte-
fice. Arrossi alquanto a quel dire Farnese e lacque.
148
COURT AND STATE.
[a. d. 1585-90.
rations of prudence. He imposed new taxes
on the most laborious callings, such, for in-
stance, as that of towing vessels up the Tiber
with oxen and horses, and on the most indis-
pensable necessaries of life, as firewood and
the pint of wine in retail, and immediately
founded new monti with the proceeds. He
debased the coinage, and as a petty money-
changing trade started up in consequence at
every corner of the streets, he turned even
that to account, by selling licenses to carry it
on.* Much as he favoured the March, he
nevertheless burdened the commerce of An-
cona with an additional two per cent, on its
imposts. He forced the infant manufactures
of his states to afford him at least an indirect
advantage.! In these and other similar ope-
rations, his constant adviser was a Portuguese
Jew named Lopez, who had fled his country
to escape the inquisition, and who succeeded
in ingratiating himself with the datary, with
Signora Camilla, and at last with the pope
himself. After the manner in which Farnese
had been so summarily put down, not a cardi-
nal dared to offer a word of objection. When
the tax on wine was talked of, Albano of Ber-
gamo said, " I approve of all your holiness
proposes ; but my approbation would be still
greater if your holiness disliked this tax."
In this way Sixlus contrived so great an
addition to his revenues, that he was able to
take up a loan on monti of two and a half
millions of scudi (accurately 2,424,725) and
to pay interest thereon.
It must be owned, however, that there is
something incomprehensible in such a system
cl political economy.
New and doubtless very oppressive burdens
were imposed on the country by the new tax-
es and by the multitude of places; the emol-
uments of the latter were made to depend on
perquisites, a system most fitted to embarrass
the course of justice and of the administra-
tion ; the taxes were imposed on trade, whole-
sale and retail, and could not but impair its
activity. And to what end, after all, was the
money thus raised applied '!
If we reckon up the total proceeds of monti
and offices, we shall find them amount to
about the sum that was locked up in the cas-
tle of St. Angelo, four and a half million
*For an old giulio, besides ten bajocchi of the coin of
Sixtus, there was given a premium of from four to six
quatrini.
t A good example of his administration. Le Stesse Me-
morie: Ordini) nun si vendessi^ seta o sciolta o lessiita in
drappi n6 lana o panni, se non approbati da officiali cre-
ali a tel efFello, n6 si pstracssero senza licenza decli stes-
si : inventione utile contro alle fraudi, ma molio piu in
pro della camero, perche pagandosi i srgni e le licenze
se n'imborsava gran danaro dal pontificp. [He enacted
that no silk, raw or woven, nor wool or cloths, should be
sold without the approval of officers aj)] ointed to that
end, nor be admitted to market without license from
them; an expedient serviceable against fraud, but still
more so in favour of the treasury, because the fees on stamps
and licens' s brought the pope in a great deal of money.]
This could not have been very beneficial to trade.
scudi, not much more. All the undertakings
by which this pope acquired renown, he might
have accomplished out of the amount of his
savings.
To collect and hoard up superfluous reve-
nues is an intelligible proceeding: to raise
loans, in order to meet present necessities, is
in the common course of things; but to raise
loans, and impose burdens, in order to lock up
funds for future necessities in a fortified cas-
tle, is in the highest degree extraordinary.
Yet this is the very thing which posterity
have always most admired in Sixtus V.
It is true there was something odious and
tyrannical in the measures of Gregory XIII.,
and their reaction was very pernicious. Nev-
ertheless, I am inclined to think, that had he
succeeded in rendering the papal treasury in-
dependent for the future both of new taxes
and of loans, the result would have been high-
ly beneficial, and the condition of the ecclesi-
astical states would probably have become
much more prosperous.
But Gregory lacked, especially in his latter
years, the strength to carry out his projects.
That practical and effective strength was
precisely the distinguishing quality of Sixtus.
His accumulation of treasure, by Jo:ins, sales
of offices, and new taxes, heaped burden upon
burden : we shall see the consequences to
which this led ; but its success dazzled the
world, and for the moment did really give the
papacy new importance.
Surrounded by states that for the most part
were scant of money, the popes enjoyed
through their possession of treasure a great
confidence in themselves, and a higher conse-
quence in the eyes of others.
In fact, this scheme of administration was
essentially part of the catholic system of those
times.
That system, by committing all the finan-
cial power of the state to the head of the
church, first made it completely an organ of
spiritual power. For to what other purpose
could this money be applied, than to the de-
fence and dissemination of the catholic tJiith'?
Sixtus V. passed his whole life in projects
to that end ; sometimes directed against the
East and the Turks, more frequently against
the West and the Protestants. A war broke
out between the two systems, the catholic
and the protestant, in which the popes took
the most earnest part.
We shall treat of this in the following book.
For the present we shall dwell a little longer
on Rome, which once more made her milu-
ence felt by the whole world.
Architectural Enterprises of Sixtus V.
For the third time, Rome now assumed in
externa! appearance, as well as intrinsically,
the aspect of a capital of the world.
A. D. 1585-90.] ARCHITECTURAL ENTERPRISES OF SIXTUS V.
149
We know the pomp and magnitude of an-
cient Rome : its ruins and its lii.stury have
been explored in every direction, to bring its
image before our imagination. The Rome of
the middle ages, too, might well be the ob-
ject of a similar diligence. It, too, was a no-
ble city, with its majestic basilicae ; its grotto
and catacomb worship ; its patriarchal tem-
ples of the popes, in which were preserved
the monuments of the earliest Christianity ;
the still splendid imperial palace, which be-
longed to the German kings ; and the fort-
resses erected by independent races in defi-
ance of the numerous powers around them.
During the absence of the popes in Avig-
non, this Rome of the middle ages fell equal-
ly into decay with the long-ruined Rome of
antiquity.
When Eugenius IV. returned thither in
1443, it was become a town of cowherds : its
inhabitants differed in nothing from the pea-
sants and herds of the surrounding country.
The hills had long been abandoned, the dwel-
lings were all accumulated in the plain along
the windings of the Tiber ; there was no pave-
ment in the narrow streets, which were fur-
ther darkened by the projecting balconies and
bowed windows, that almost met from side to
side ; cattle were seen strolling about as in a
village. From San Silvestro to the Porta
del Popolo there was nothing but gardens and
morasses, the resort of wild ducks. The very
memory of antiquity had almost vanished.
The capitol was become the Goat's Mountain,
the Forum Romanum the Cowfield ; the
strangest legends were attached to some mon-
uments that still remained. St. Peter's
church was in danger of falling down.
When at last Nicholas once more comman-
ded the alleg-iance of all Christendom, and
had become rich through the contributions of
the pilgrims that flocked in shoals to Rome
on the occasion of the jubilee, he conceived
the idea of so adorning Rome with buildings,
that every one who beheld it should be im-
pressed with the feeling that it was indeed
tlie capital of the world.
To bring this about was not, however, a
work for one man. The succeedmg popes
laboured at it for centuries.
I will not recapitulate all their exertions,
accounts of which may be found in their seve-
ral biographies. The most remarkable, both
for their consequences and their mutual con-
trasts, were the epochs of Julius II. and Six-
tus V.
Under Julius II. the lower city on the banks
of the Tiber, whither it had withdrawn itself,
was completely renovated. After Sixtus IV.
had made a better connexion between the two
opposite banks of the river by that simple and
substantial bridge of travertine, which to this
day bears his name, building v.'as carried on
on both sides with great spirit. On the south-
ern side Julius did not content himself with
undertaking the church of St. Peter, which
rose majestically under his direction, but also
renewed the Vatican palace. In the depres-
sion between the old edifice and the country-
seat of Innocent VIII., the Belvedere, he laid
the foundation of the Loggie, one of the best-
designed works in existence. Not far from
thence his kinsmen the Riari, and his trea-
surer Agostino Chigi, vied for the fame of
erecting the more beautiful dwelling. Chigi
undoubtedly deserves the palm : his building
was the Farnesina, admirable indeed in its
construction, but incomparably enhanced by
the beauties bestowed on it by Raphael's
hand. On the north side we owe to Julius
II. the completion of the Cancellaria, withit3
cortile, constructed in chaste and happily-
conceived proportions, the most beautiful
court in the world. His cardinals and barons
emulated his example : Farnese, whose palace
has been regarded for its magnificent entrance
as the most perfect in Rome ; Francesco di
Rio, who boasted of his own, that it would
stand till tortoises crawled over the face of
the earth ; the Medici, whose house was filled
with treasures of art and literature of all
kinds; and the Orsini, adorned their palace
on Campofiore with statues and pictures with-
in and without* The remains of that inter-
esting period, when men so boldly rivalled
antiquity, all round Campofiore and the Piaz-
za Farnese, do not always meet from the
stranger the attention they deserve. Here
all was emulation, genius, fertility ; a period
of universal prospenty. As the population
augmented, buildings were erected on the
Campo Marzo, round the mausoleum of Au-
gustus. These increased still more under
Leo, but even Julius found occasion to lay
out the Lungara on the south side, and oppo-
site it, on the north, the Strada Julia. The
inscription is still to be seen, in which the
Conservatori publish to his fame, that he had
laid out and opened new streets " proportion-
ed to the majesty of his newly-acquired sove-
reignty."
The plague, and the sack of the city, a^ain
diminished the population ; the commotions
under Paul IV. also did great damage : it did
not recover for some time after, when the
number of the inhabitants began to keep pace
with the augmenting obedience of the Catho-
lic world.
Already Pius IV. contemplated building
again on the abandoned hills. He laid the
foundation of the palace of the Conservatori
on the Capitoline ; on the Viminal, Michael
Angelo erected for him the church of Santa
Maria degli Angeli out of the ruins of the
* Opusculum de Minibilibus novae n veteris urbis Ro-
nise piliium a Francisco Albenino, 1015, especially in the
second part, De nova Urbe.
150
COURT AND STATE.
[a. d. 1585-90.
baths of Dioclesian; the Porta Pia on the
Quirinal bears his mark to this day,* Gre-
gory XIII. also built on this spot.
But these were all vain efforts so long as
the hills were destitute of water.
Here it was that Sixtus V. achieved for
himself a fame surpassing that of all other
popes, rivalling the old Caesars in supplying
the city's want of water by means of colossal
aqueducts. He did so, he said, "that those
hills, adorned in early Christian times with
basilicas, distinguished for the salubrity of
their air, their pleasing situation and agree-
able prospects, might again become inhabit-
ed." " Therefore," he adds, " we have not
suffered ourselves to be deterred by any diffi-
culty or any cost." Indeed, he told the archi-
tects from the first, that he desired to have a
work that should bear comparison with the
splendour of imperial Rome. He brought the
Aqua Martia from the Agro Colonna to Rome,
a distance of tvvo-and-twenty miles, in defi-
ance of all obstacles, carrying it partly under
ground, partly on lofty arches. With great
satisfaction the pope at last saw a stream of
this water gush into his own vineyard : he
carried it still further to the Quirinal; he
called it after his own name Aqua Felice ;
and it was with no little self-complacency he
had a statue set up by the fountain represent-
ing Moses in the act of striking water from
the rock with his staff. f
This work was of vast advantage to the
neighbourhood, and to the whole city. The
Aqua Fontana furnishes 20,.537 cubic metres
of water every twenty-four hours, and feeds
twenty-seven fountains.
Building was now actively resumed on the
hills, and enterprise was encouraged by the
grant of peculiar privileges. He levelled the
ground about Trinita de' Monti, and laid the
foundation of the steps to the Piazza di Spag-
na, which affords the nearest communication
between the lower town and that height.|
Here he laid out the Via Felice and the Bor-
go Felice, and opened those streets that to the
present day lead from all sides to the church
of Santa Maria Maggiore, purposing to con-
nect all the basilicas with that churcli by spa-
cious roads. The poets boast that Rome al-
most doubled herself, and sought again her
old abodes.
* Luigi Contarini, AntichilSl di Roma, p. 7G, bestows
the highest praise on the efforts of Pius IV. S'egli viveva
ancora 4 anni Roma sarebbe d'editicii un altra Roma.
[Had he lived four years longer, Rome would have been
a different city for its buildings.]
t Tasso hasleftus "Sianze air acquafelice di Roma"
(Rime, ii. 311.), describing how the water at first rolls
along a gloomy path, and then bursts joyfully into the
light of day, to look on Rome as Augustus beheld it.
J Gualterius. Ut viam a freciuentioribus urbis locis
per Pincium coUem ad Esquilias coiiimo.le strueret, Pin-
cium ipsum coUem ante sanctissimae Trinilatis templu n
humiliorem fecit, et carpentis rhedisque pervium reddi-
dit, scalasque ad templum illud ab utroijue ponas latere
commodas perpulchrasque ad moJum exlruxit, e quibus
jucundissinius in loiam urbem prospectus est.
These architectural works on the hills were
not, however, the only ones by which Sixtus
V. distinguished himself from former popes.
He entertained projects directly opposed to
those of his more remote predecessors.
The ruins of ancient Rome were regarded
with a sort of religious veneration under Leo
X. ; the divine sparks of ancient genius were
discovered in them with feelings of rapture:
that pope lent a ready ear to the reccommenda-
dation to preserve them, " the all that yet re-
mains to us of the ancient mother of Italy's
greatness and renown."*
Such a spirit as this was as remote from the
conception of Sixtus V. as earth from heaven.
The Franciscan was utterly insensible to the
beauty of the remains of antiquity. The Sep-
tizonium of Severus, a most remarkable work,
that had survived the storms of so many cen-
turies, found no favour in his eyes ; he de-
molished it to the very foundation, and carried
away some of its pillars to the church of St.
Peter's.f His rage for destroying was fully
equal to his zeal in building ; every one feared
that he would carry it beyond all bounds of
moderation. Let us hear what Cardinal
Santa Severina relates: it would appear in-
credible, had he not spoken of his own per-
sonal knowledge. "It being perceived," he
says, " that the pope was wholly bent on the
demolition of the Roman antiquities, a number
of Roman nobles came to me one day, and
begged me to exert my eflbrts to dissuade hia
holiness from so extravagant a design." They
applied to that cardinal, who was undoubtedly
to be regarded as the greatest bigot of the day.
Cardinal Collona coincided with their views.
The pope replied to them that he would clear
away the ugly antiquities, but restore such of
the others as stood in need of it. Imagine
what he was pleased to consider ugly ! He
thought of utterly demolishing the tomb of
CsBcilia Metella, an admirable sublime monu-
* Passages from Castiglione's well-known letter to Leo
X., Lettere di Castiglione, Padova, 1796, p. 149. I can
find nothing, however, in the letter hinting at a plan for
aregular excavation of the ancient city. It seems obvious
to me, that it is a preface to a description of Rome, with a
filan, to both of which there is constant reference made,
t is highly probable that it was even Raphael's works to
which this preface was to serve as an introduction. This
appears particularly from the coincidences of expression
between the well-known epigram on Raphael's death
and this letter. For instance, " Vedendo quasi il cadave-
ro di quella nobil palria cosi miseramente lacerato;"
" urbis lacerum ferro, igni, annisque cadaver
Ad vitam revocas."
This, indeed, betokens a restoration, but only in idea
and description. This opinion is not essentially at va-
riance witli the views heretofore expressed, but only con-
firms them. I think we may conclude that the labour on
which Raphael employed tlie latter years of his life was
already far advanced, since a dedication of it was already
composed in his name. What a name to add to those of
the astyojraphers ! The papers and the plan may have
fallen into the hands of Fulvius, who probably had a con-
siderable share in the researches.
t Gualterius. Praecipue Severi Septizonii, quod incre-
dibili Romanorum dolore deiiiolienduiii curavit, columnis
maniioribusque usus est, passimque per urbem caveae
videbamur undo lapides omnis generis effodiebantur.
A. D. 1585-90.] ARCHITECTURAL ENTERPRISES OF SIXTUS V.
151
ment, even then the only important relic of
the republican times. How much may have
perished under his hand !
It went hard with him to endure the pres-
ence of the Lacoon and the Belvedere Apollo
in the Vatican ; nor would he suffer the ancient
statues, with which the Roman citizens had
adorned the capitol, to remain even there, but
declared he would pull down the capitol itself
if they were not removed. They were a Ju-
piter Tonans, and on either side a JMinerva
and an Apollo. The two former were ac-
tually removed, but the Minerva was tolerated
in its place. As Sixtus would have it, how-
ever, the statue was to represent Rome —
Christian Rome ; to which end he took away
the spear of the goddess, and put a huge cross
in her hand.*
In the same style he restored the colums of
Trajan and Antonius, taking from the former
the urn which was said to contain the ashes
of the emperor. He dedicated it to St, Peter,
and Antonine's column to St. Paul; and ever
since the statues of the two apostles have stood
perched opposite each other upon those airy
sites above the dwellings of men. This he
considered bestowing a triumph upon Chris-
tianity over paganism.f
He had set his heart on erecting the obelisk
before St. Peter's, the more because he wished
to see the monuments of infidelity subjected
to the cross on the very spot where the Chris-
tians once suffered crucifixion. |
A magnificent design, indeed, but one which
he carried out wholly afler his own fashion,
with a singular mixture of despotism, great-
ness, pomp, and bigotry.
He threatened even with punishment the
architect, DomenicoFontana, who had worked
his way up under his own eyes from the con-
dition of a mason's boy, if he failed in the at-
tempt, or damaged the obelisk.
It was a task of extreme difficulty toupheave
it from its basis by the sacristy of the old
church of St. Peter, to let it down again,
transport it to another site, and there finally
set it up again.
It was entered upon with the feeling that
the work in hand was one that would claim
renown throughout all ages. The workmen,
nine hundred in number, began by hearing
mass, confessing, and receiving the commu-
nion. They then entered the space that was
marked off for their operations by a barrier,
the master of the works being raised on an
elevated platform. The obelisk was sheathed
* A passage from the Vita Sixti V. ipsiua manu emen-
data, extracted in Bunson's Beschreibung von Rom, I. S.
702.
f So thinks, among others, J. P. Maffei, Hisloriarum ab
excessu Gregorii XIII. lib. i. p. 5.
t Sixti V. i. m. e.: Ui ubi grassatum olim suppliciis in
Christianos et passim tixEe cruces, in quas innoxia natio
^ublata leterrimis crucialibus necaretur, ibisuppositacru-
ci, el in crucis versa honorem cultumque, ipsa impietatie
monumenta ceruerentur.
in straw mats and planks, which were em-
braced by iron rings. Thirty-five windlasses
were employed to put the enormous machine
in motion that was to lit\ it up with strong
hempen ropes; each windlass was worked by
two horses and ten men. At last the signal
was given by sound of trumpet. The very
first strain succeeded admirably ; the obelisk
rose from the base on which it had rested one
thousand five hundred years ; at the twelfth
it had been raised two and three quarter palms,
at which height it was made fast ; the archi-
tect saw the huge mass with its coating,
weighing upwards of a million of Roman
pounds, in his power. This, it has been re-
corded with scrupulous care, took place on
the 30th of April, 1586, about the twentieth
hour (towards three in the afternoon.) A salvo
was fired from the castle of St, Angelo, all
the bells of the city pealed, and the workmen
carried their architect in triumph round the
barrier with never-ending hurrahs.
Seven days afterwards, the obelisk was let
down with no less dexterity; after which it
was conveyed on rollers to its new site. It
was not till the hot months were passed that
its re-erection was attempted.
The pope chose the lO.th of September for
this enterprise, the day being Wednesday,
which had been always found lucky, and the
eve of the Elevation of the Cross, to which the
obelisk was to be dedicated. On this occasion,
too, the workmen began with commending
themselves and their work to God, falling on
their knees as they entered the enclosure.
Fontana had made his arrangements, not with-
out reference to the last elevation of an obelisk
described by Ammianus Marcellinus, but he
had provided himself with a force of one hun-
dred and forty horses. It was likewise re-
garded as a special piece of good fortune that
the sky was overcast on that day. Every
thing proceeded just as was desired. The
obelisk was moved in three great efforts ; an
hour before sunset it sank on its pedestal on
the backs of the four bronze lions that served
to support it. The exultation of the people
was indescribable; the pope's satifaction was
complete : many a predecessor of his had
longed to effect this task, many a writer had
recommended it ; now had he accomplished
it. He set it down in his diary, that he had
achieved the greatest and most difficult work
it was possible for the human mind to con-
ceive. He caused medals commemorative of
it to be struck, received congratulatory poems
in every language, and sent official announce-
ments of the event to foreign powers.*
*The despatches of Gritti, May 3, 10, July 12, and Oct.
II, treat of this elevation of the obelisk. The effect is not
badly described in the Vita Sixti V. ipsiusmanu emenda-
ta. Tenuitque universae civitatis oculos novse et post 1500
amplius annog relatx rei spectaculo,cum aul sedibussuis
avulsam toUeret molem, uno tempore eiduodenis veclibua
impulsam et quinis tricenia ergatis quas equi bini, homi-
TIMES OF GREGORY XIII. AND SIXTUS V. [a. d. 1585-90.
modern Catholicism permeates every vein of
society in its most diversified directions.
General changes in the intellectual tendency
of the age.
It vv'ould be a mistake to suppose that the
pope alone was under the dominion of this
spirit : towards the close of the sixteenth cen-
tury a tendency manifested itself in every de-
partment of mind, opposed to that which had
prevailed at its commencement.
A leading circumstance of the times was,
that the study of the ancients, which had been
the mainspring of every thing in the first part
of the century, had now vastly declined: Even
now an Aldus Manutius appeared in Rome as
professor of eloquence; but he found no ad-
mirers of his Greek nor yet of his Latin. In
the hours appointed for his lectures he was
seen walking up and down before the portal
of the university with one or two hearers, the
only persons who evinced any interest in his
erudition. How incredible was the progress
of Greek learning in the beginning of the
century ! At its close there did not exist a
single distinguished Hellenist in Italy.
Now I am not disposed to represent this
change altogether in the light of an intellec-
tual decline : in a certain respect it was con-
nected with the necessary progress of litera-
ture and science.
For whereas these had formerly been de-
rived immediately from the ancients, this
was now no longer possible. On tlie one
hand, materials had enormously accumulated.
For instance, how vastly did the mass of
knowledge pertaining to natural history col-
lected by Ulysse Aldrovandi, by the ceaseless
etForts of a long life and during numerous
journeys, surpass that possessed by any of the
ancients. In the construction of his museum
he had aimed at a real completeness of the
science ; and what was wanting in actual
specimens, he supplied by means of drawings,
and each specimen was described in detail.
How had the science of geography been
extended beyond every conception of anti-
quity ! — On the other hand, a more profound
system of inquiry had arisen. The mathema-
ticians sought at first only to fill up the
omissions of the ancients. Commandm, for
instance, imagined that Archimedes must
have either read, or even composed, some-
thing on gravitation, which was subsequently
lost ; and this notion served as a motive to
induce him personally to investigate the sub-
ject. But this very process led to \ery en-
larged results; helped forward even by the
ancients, men acquired strength to emanci-
pate themselves from their tutelage. Disco-
veries were made that led far beyond the
circle they had traced, and that opened new
paths for further exploration.
152
It was a strange inscription which he set
up, boasting that he had wrested this monu-
ment from the emperors Augustus and Tibe-
rius, and dedicated it to the holy cross. He
had a cross erected upon it, in which was en-
closed a piece of the supposed true cross.
This is expressive of his whole tone of thought.
Even the monuments of paganism were to
minister to the glorification of the cross.
He devoted himself with his whole soul to
these his architectural pursuits. The herd-
boy, who had grown up among gardens and
open fields, was a lover of the town; he would
never hear of a villegiatura, saying, " his
recreation was to look upon many roofs." I
can well imagine that his buildmg-projects
aftbrded him the highest gratification.
Many thousand hands were constantly em-
ployed : he was not deterred by any difticulty.
The cupola of St. Peter's was still wanting,
and the architects required ten years for its
completion. Sixtus was willing to expend
his money on the work, but so that his own
eyes might be gratified with beholding it.
He set six hundred men to work, who wrought
day and night, and in the twenty-second
month the cupola was completed. He did
not live, however, to see the leaden casing
placed on the roof.
Even in such works as these he set no
bounds to his arbitrary disposition. He pulled
down without pity the remains of the Patriar-
chium of the popes near the Lateran, which
were by no means inconsiderable, and were
of singular interest, — antiquities belonging to
the dignity he himself filled; and in their
place he erected his Lateran palace, which
was not at all wanted, and which has acquired
a very ambiguous reputation, merely as one
of the earliest examples of the monotonous
regularity of modern architecture.
What a complete revolution had taken place
in the relation of the age to antiquity ! Both
in former times and now, men vied with the
ancients ; but the earlier efibrts were directed
towards equalling them in beauty and grace
of form, now men strove to match, or even sur-
pass them in undertakings of vast magnitude.
Formerly, the most trifiing monument was
reverenced as a relic of the antique spirit;
now there was much greater proneness to de-
stroy those relics. Men followed a single
idea, which claimed sole predominance, and
would tolerate none other by its side, — that
same, namely, which had acquu'ed sovereignly
in the church, and had made the state an in-
strument of the latter. This ruling idea of
nes deni, agpbanl in sublime elatam, aul cum suspensam
inde sensiiu de|joiierel extenderelque humi, junctis ira-
bibus alque ex his ingenti coinposila Iraha quae jacenlem
exciperel, aul cum supposilis cylindris (sunt hae lignese
coluiiinae leretes et volubilcs) (lualernis ergatis proliacia
paulaliui per ediium ei ad aluiuilinem basis cui impouen
da eiat excilalum aggerem aiquo undicjue egregie iiiuni-
tum incederei, denique cum iierum erecia libralaque suis
reposiu sedibua est.
A. D. 1572-90.] THE INTELLECTUAL TENDENCY OF THE AGE.
153
The study of nature was especially prose-
cuted with zeal and self-reliance. For a
moment, men wavered between the admis-
sion of mystic virtues in natural tilings, and
the bold deep-searching investigation of phe-
nomena. But the latter, the more scientific
course, presently prevailed. Ere long an
attempt was made after a rational classification
of the vegetable kingdom : in Padua there
lived a professor who was called the "Colum-
bus of the human body." Inquiry was pushed
forward continually in every direction ; science
was no longer lodged alone within the works
of antiquity.
It followed as a matter of course, if I am
not mistaken, that the study of antiquity,
when it could no longer claim such engross-
ing attention for the matter's sake, could
neither with regard to the form produce the
effect it had hitherto done.
Men began, in the composition of learned
works, to aim chiefly at the accumulation of
matter. In the beginning of the century,
Cortesius had conveyed the essence of the
scholastic philosophy, untractable as it might
seem, in a well-written classical work, full of
talent and wit: now, on the other hand, a
Natal Conte compiled a dry uninteresting
quarto upon an antique subject, that invited
the most genial and exalted treatment, name-
ly, mythology. The same author wrote a
history too : his book is tricked out with sen-
tences, almost all of which he took immedi-
ately from the ancients, citing the passages
from which they are borrowed ; but he does
not appear to have possessed the least notion
of genuine description. The mere crude
compilation of facts was enough for his con-
temporaries. It may be safely asserted that
a work like the Annals of Baronius, so desti-
tute of form — written in Latin, yet without a
trace of elegance even in detached phrases —
cpuld not once have been thought of in the
beginning of the century.
Whilst the track of the ancients was thus
abandoned not only in scientific pursuits, but
still more in form and expression, clianges
took place in the social habits of the nation,
that exercised an incalculable influence on all
literary and artistical ettbrts.
Republican, independent Italy, on whose
peculiar circumstances the earlier develop-
ments, those even of the mind included, had
depended, now fell forever. All the freedom,
and simplicity of intellectual intercourse dis-
appeared. It is worthy of note, that the use
of titles began to prevail. As early as the
year 1520, some persons remarked with dis-
gust that every one claimed to be called
"sir:" this was ascribed to the influence of
tlie Spaniards. By the year 1.550, cumbrous
ceremonious designations had supplanted the
simple form of address, both in discourse and
epistolary correspondence. Towards the end
20
of the century, the titles of " marchese" and
"duca" came generally into vogue. Every
one would have them ; every one would be
"excellency." It is idle to say that this was
of small moment ; if it has its effect even now,
when the system is become a mere habit, the
meaning of which has grown obsolete, bow
much more must that have been the case
when it was first introduced ! But, besides
this, in every other respect society was be-
come more rigid, fixed, and exclusive ; its
former cheerful, easy tone, the frank and
simple intercourse of man with man were
by-gone things.
Be the cause what it may, — be it, if you
will, a change incident to the constitution of
the human soul, — thus much is manifest, that
already, about the middle of the century, a
different spirit pervaded all its productions ;
and that society, both in its essence and its
outward character, became conscious of new
wants.
Of all the phenomena that betoken this
change, the most striking, perhaps, is the
recast of Boiardo's "Orlando Innamorato," by
Berni. It is the same work, yet altogether
different. All the charm, all the freshness of
the original poem are obliterated. If we ex-
amine somewhat more closely, we shall find
that the author has every where substituted
general for individual notions, and for the
unfettered expression of a lovely and loving
nature, a sort of conventional decorum suited
to the demands of Italian manners in his own
and in later times.* His success was com-
plete. His work was received with incredi-
ble approbation ; the rifacciamento entirely
exploded the original poem. How suddenly,
too, was this revolution effected ! Fifty years
had not elapsed since the publication of Bo-
iardo's work.
We may trace this altered key-note, this
infusion of another spirit, through most of the
productions of those days.
It is not downright want of talent that
makes the poems of Alamanni and Bernardo
Tasso so tedious and uninteresting; at least,
it is not so with those of the latter. But the
very conception of both authors is cold. In
accordance with the tastes of a public by no
means remarkable for virtue, but one that had
grown serious and staid, they selected imma-
culate heroes. Bernardo chose Amadis de
Gaule, of whom the younger Tasso says,
" Dante would have recalled the condemna-
tion he pronounces on romances of chivalry,
if he had known the Amadis de Guale or de
Grece ; so full are their characters of noble-
ness and constancy." Alamanni took for his
subject Giron le Courtoys, the mirror of all
knightly virtues. His declared object was to
* I have endeavoured to pursue this more in detail in
the academical essay before mentiuaed.
154
THE TIMES OF GREGORY XIII. AND SIXTUS V. [a. d. 1572-90.
hold up to youth an example how to endure
hunger and vigils, cold and sunshine, — how
to practice arms, to display justice and cour-
tesy to every one, and to forgive enemies.
As both authors carried out their moral and
didactic designs exactly in the manner of
Berni, and deliberately tore away the poetic
groundwork from their fables, their works, as
might naturally have been expected, turned
out intolerably prolix and insipid.
It seemed, if wo may so speak, as though
the nation had used up the stock of poetic
conceptions that had descended to it from its
past history, from the ideas of the middle ages,
and that it retained not even the capacity to
understand them. It cast about for something
new : but neither would creative genius arise,
nor did the existing state of society ofter any
fresh material. Till towards the middle of
the century, Italian prose, though naturally
didactic, was still imaginative, warm, pliant,
and graceful. Gradually it, too, grew stiff
and frigid.
It fared with art as with poetry. It lost
the inspiration that had formerly given it its
religious subjects, and, soon after, that which
had suggested its profane works. It was
only in the Venetian school that some traces
of this remained. With one single exception,
how completely did Raffaelle's scholars fall off
from their master's example ! Aping him,
they fell into artificial beauty, theatrical pos-
ture-making, and affected graces ; and their
works speak plainly of the coldness and insen-
sibility to beauty in which they were con-
ceived. The followers of Michael Angelo did
no better. Art was no longer conscious of its
true objects ; it had abandoned the ideas it had
once strained all its powers to embody ; nothing
remained to it but the externals of method.
In this state of things, when men had al-
ready deserted antiquity, no longer imitated
its forms, and had outgrown its science, —
when tlie old national poetry and all religious
colouring were scorned both by literature and
art, — the new exaltation of the church occur-
red; it seized voluntary or involuntary hold of
every mind, and produced a thorough change
in the whole system of literature and art.
The church, however, if I am not mistaken,
exercised a far different influence over science
from that it manifested upon art.
Philosophy and science in general now
passed through a very important epoch. After
the genuine Aristotle had been restored, men
began in philosophy, too, (as well as in other
departments and with other ancient writers)
to cast themselves loose from his authority,
and to enter upon a free investigation of the
highest problems. It was not in the nature
of things that the church should favour this
tendency. She herself had prescribed the
highest principles in a manner that forbade
all doubt. Now, whereas Aristotle's adherents
had frequently owned opinions at variance with
the church and savouring of naturalism, some-
thing similar might be apprehended on the part
of his opponents. They wished, as one of thera
expressed himself, to compare the dogmas of
the existing race of teachers with God's ori-
ginal handwriting, the world and nature ; a
project the issue of which could not be fore-
seen, though whether it led to discoveries or
to errors, it could not fail to be highly peril-
ous; the church, therefore, set its veto upon
it. Telesius, though he never ventured be-
yond the strict domain of science, was never-
theless all his life confined to his little native
town ; Campanella was forced to live an exile, ^
and, finally, to endure the torture; the pro-
foundest of them all, Giordano Bruno, a true
philosopher, after many persecutions and long
wanderings, fell at last under the censure of
the inquisition, was arrested, carried to Rome,
and sentenced to be burned, "not only," as
the original document states, "as a heretic,
but as a heresiarch, who had written some
things that affected religion, and that were
not seemly.* After such examples where
was the man would venture upon the free
exercise of his understanding. Of all the
innovators of the century only one, Francesco
* In a Venetian MS. in the Vienna archives, under the
rubric Roma, Exposition!, 1592, 28 Sett., is contained the
original of a protocol respecting the surrender of Giordano
Bruno. The patriarch's vicar, the father inquisitor, and
Toinmaso Morosini, the assistant of the inquisition, ap-
peared before the college. The vicar stated, "li giorni
passati esser stato ritenuto, e tuttavia ritrovarsi nf lie pri-
gioni di questa citt^ deputate al servicio del sanlo ufflcio,
Giordano Bruno da Nola, imputato non solo di heretica,
nia anco di heresiarca, havendo composto diversi libri nei
quali laudando assai la regina d'lnghilterra et allri prin-
cipi heretic!, scriveva alcune cose concernenti il particu-
lar della religions che non convenivano, sebene egli
parlava filosoticainente ; e che cestui era apostata, essendo
stalo prima frate Dominicano, che era vissuto molt' anni
in Ginevra et Inghilterra, e che in Napoli et altri luoghi
era slato inquisito della medesima imputatione : e che es-
sendosi saputa a Roma la prigionia di coslui, lo illm"'
Santa Severina supremo inquisitors aveva scritto e dato
ordine che fusss inviato a Koma .... con prima sicura
occasions." [That within the last few days iad been
arrested, and was still retained in the prisons of this city
destined to the service of the holy office, Giordano Bruno
da Nola, charged not only as a heretic, but as a heresi-
arch ; he having composed divers books in which, besides
praising not a little the queen of England and other he-
retic sovereigns, he had written things concerning reli-
gion which were not becoming, even though he spoke
philosophically : moreover, thaf he was an apostate, hav-
ing been originally a Dominican friar, who had lived
many years in Geneva and in England, and had been an
object of inquisition upon the same charge in Naples and
other places; and that the imprisonment" of the said Gior-
dano Bruno having been made known at Rome, the most
illustrious Santa Severina, supreme inquisitor, had written
to give orders that lie should be sent to Rome .... by the
first safe opportunity.] Such an opponunity, the vicar
stated, now presented itself. The answer was not imme-
diately given. After dinner, the father inquisitor ap-
peared again, and was very urgent, for the boat was about
to depart. The savi, however, answered, " Che essendo
la cosa di momenlo e consideratione e le occupationi di
questo stato molle e gravi non si haveva per allhora poluto
faie risolutione." [That the matter being of weight and
demanding consideration, and the concerns of tlie state
being numerous and serious, it had not been possible to
come to any resolution for the present.] This time, there-
fiu-e, the boat departed without the prisoner. I have not
been able to ascertain whether his subsequent surrender
was occasuj^jed or not by new negociations.
A. D. 1572-90.] THE INTELLECTUAL TENDENCY OF THE AGE.
155
Patrizi, found favour in Rome. He, too, at- 1
tacked Aristotle, but only on the ground tliat
his principles were opposed to the church and
to Christianity. In opposition to the Aristo-
telic notions, he sought to indicate a genuine
philosophical tradition, handed down through
successive ages from the supposed Hermes
Trismegistus, and in which he aflected to find
a clearer exposition of the doctrine of the
Trinity than even in the writings of Moses.
This tradition he strove to revive and restore,
and to substitute it in the place of the Aristo-
telic philosophy. In all his dedications he sets
forth this purpose of his, and the utility and
necessity of its execution. He was a man of
singularly constituted mind, not without criti-
cal discernment, but that only as regarded
what he rejected, not what he adopted. He
was called to Rome, and there maintained a
high credit through the peculiar spirit of sub-
serviency to the church displayed in his works,
but not by reason of the effects they produced,
which were inconsiderable.
The investigations of physics and of natural
history were in those times almost inseparably
connected with those of philosophy. The
whole system of opinion that had hitherto pre-
vailed was called in question. In fact, the
Italians of that epoch manifested a grand ten-
dency to searching thought, to vigorous prose-
cution of truth, and lofty forecasting specula-
tion. Who shall say at w"hat they might have
arrived ] But the Church marked out a line
for them they were not to overstep. Woe to
him who ventured beyond it.
If, as was unquestionably the case, the reno-
vation of Catholicism operated thus repres-
al spirit, and truth of character, and it has
upheld Tasso's name high in the favour and
admiration of his countrymen to the present
day. But what a contrast between him and
Ariosto ! The poetic art had fallen off from
the Church ; it now renewed its allegiance to
the renovated might of religion.
In Bologna, not far from Ferrara, where
Tasso composed his poem, the school of the
Caracci arose immediately after, and its rise
marked a general revolution in painting.
If we ask what were the causes of this
change, we are told of the anatomical studies
of the Bolognese academy, their electic imita-
tion, and the erudition of their manner in art;
and certainly the zeal with which they sought
in their way to seize upon the appearances of
nature, was highly meritorious. But the pro-
blems they proposed to themselves, and their
manner of treating them, appear to me no less
important considerations.
Ludovico Caracci employed himself much
upon the ideal of Christ. He is not always,
though occasionally, successful (as in his pic-
ture of the calling of Matthew) in depicting
the mild and earnest man, full of truth and
fervour, of benignity, and majesty, under a
form that has so often been the model for suc-
ceeding painters. It is true he imitates pre-
ceding masters, but his manner of doing so is
characteristic. He evidently had Raphael's
Transfiguration before his eyes ; but even in
appropriating it, he makes his Christ raise his
hand towards Moses with the gesture of a
teacher. Agostino Caracci's masterpiece is
unquestionably his St. Jerome, an old man at
the point of death, no longer capable of motion,
sively on science, the contrary was rather the hut who to his last gasp gazes in fervent long-
case as regarded poetry and art. These lack
ed a copious material, a lining object, and this
the Church afforded them.
Torquato Tasso presents an example of the
dominion exercised over men's minds by the
renovation of religion. His father had sought
him out a morally spotless hero ; the son went
a step further. As another poet of that age
chose the crusades for his subject, " because
it was better to treat a true argument in
Christian rtyle, than to seek a little Christian
fame m a fictitious one," so likewise did Tor-
quato Tasso ; he adopted a hero not from fable,
but from history, a Christian hero. Godfrey
is more than yEneas; he is like a saint sated
with the world and its fleeting fame. The
poet would, however, have produced a very
insipid work, if he had contented himself with
portraying such an individual : but Tasso
seized at once on the sentimental and enthu-
siastic part of religion, which happily har-
monized with that fairy imagery whose
rainbow hues he wrought into the web of his
story. The poem is here and there somewhat
prolix ; the style is not always finished ; still
the work is full of fancy and feeling, of nation-
ing upon the host presented to him. Annibal's
Ecce Homo, in the Borghese palace, a figure
strongly shaded, with delicate transparent
skin, and m tears, is Ludovico's ideal exalted
to a higher pitch. That ideal is admirably
embodied, with all the fulness of youth, even
in the rigidity of death, in the Pieta, a work
in which the dismal event is conceived and
expressed with original feeling. In the lunet-
tis in the Doria palace, the landscape is strik-
ingly enlivened by the simple expression of
human events in the sacred histories.
We see, that although these masters applied
themselves occasionally to profane subjects,
they wrought upon sacred ones with peculiar
zeal. It is not, therefore, wholly to their ex-
ternal technical merits they owe the rank they
occupy ; their grand distinction is, that they
once more caught the full inspiration of their
subjects ; that the religious conceptions they
set before us, had for themselves once more
some significancy.
This same tendency distinguishes their pu-
pils. Domenichino elaborated the idea of St.
Jerome conceived by Agostino, with suc^
happy diligence, that in variety of grouping,
156
TIMES OF GREGORY XIII. AND SIXTUS V. [a, d. 1572-90.
and fulness of expression, he perhaps surpassed
his master. His head of St. Nilus appears to
me a noble work, from its mingled expression
of anguish and reflection : his prophetesses
are full of youth, innocence, and deep medi-
tation. He loved, above all, to contrast the
joys of heaven with the woes of earth ; in
like manner has he, in the Madonna del Ro-
sario, most strikingly contrasted the divine
Mother, full of grace, with the needy and
wretched son of earth.
Guido Reni, too, may be said sometimes to
adopt this system, though it be only in placing
the Virgin, glowing in eternal loveliness, in
juxtaposition with emaciated monkish saints.
Guido has racy vigour and original conception.
How noble is his Judith, towering in the con-
sciousness of the deed she has accomplished,
and of the gratitude she owes for Heaven's
aid ! Who is there that knows not his enrap-
tured Madonnas, almost dissolving in their
raptures 1 Even in his saints he embodies an
ideal of sentimental reverie.
We have not yet, however, indicated all the
peculiarities of this epoch of art : it has ano-
ther less attractive side. There is sometimes
a tone of quaint incongruity in the conceptions
of these painters. The lovely group of the
holy family, for instance, is figured with a St.
John ceremoniously kissing the foot of the
infant Jesus, or the apostles come to condole,
as the phrase is, with the Virgin, deliberately
prepared to wipe away their tears. How often
too is the horrible represented without the
least mitigation ! In the St. Agnes of Domeni-
chino, we see the blood spouting out under
the sword. Guido portrays the murder of the
infants in Bethlehem in all its horrors : the
women are all screaming, open-mouthed, while
the blood-thirsty soldiers are butchering the
children.
Relic-ion had resumed its former empire over
men's minds, but its influence over art was
very different from that it exercised in former
times. Then art was sensuous, simple, and
true : now it often exhibited something fan-
tastic and constrained.
No one will withhold his admiration from
the talent of Guercino: but what a John is
that from his hand, preserved in the Sciarra
gallery ! With brawny arms, huge naked
knees, gloomy, and inspired assuredly, but
who can say whether the inspiration be of a
heavenly or an earthly nature. His St.
Thomas lays his hand so forcibly on the wound
in the Redeemer's side, that his rude touch
must give it pain. Guercino depicts Peter
Martyr, precisely at the moment the sword
cleaves his head. By the side of that duke of
Aquitaine, whom St. Bernard is investing with
the cowl, he introduces a monk in the act of
converting an esquire, and the spectator sees
himself inexorably condemned to witness a
scene of premeditated devotion.
We will not here inquire how far the bounds
of art were overpassed by this mode of treat-
ment, sometimes unsubstantially ideal, some-
times hard and unnatural ; suffice it to say,
that the church acquired complete dominion
over painting in its renovated slate. It animat-
ed the art with the breath of poetry, and with
the principles of positive religion, but it gave
it at the same time an ecclesiastical, sacer-
dotal, and modern dogmatic character.
Such a consummation must have been still
easier for the Church with regard to architec-
ture, which was engaged in her immediate
service. I am not aware that any one has
investigated the progression in modern con-
structions, from the imitation of the ancients
to the canon for the building of the churches
devised by Barozzi, and since his day, contin-
ually observed in Rome and throughout the
catholic world. The lightness and general
freedom that characterized the beginning of
the century, here too became transformed into
gravity, and pomp, and religious magnificence.
As regarded one art alone, it long remained
questionable, whether or not it would render
itself subservient to the purposes of the church.
About the middle of the sixteenth century,
music had merged into the most intricate
technicality. Variations, proportions, imita-
tions, riddles, and fugues, constituted the glory
of the composer. The meaning of the words
was utterly disregarded : we meet with a
whole hostof masses of that period, the themes
for which were furnished by profane melodies.
The human voice was treated as a mere in-
strument.*
It is no wonder that the council of Trent
took ofl^ence at the introduction of such music
into the churches. In the course of the proceed-
ings, Pius IV. instituted a commission for the
express purpose of inquiring, whether music
should be tolerated in the churches or not.
The question was very doubtful. The church
required that the words sung should be intel-
ligible ; and that there should be an accord-
ance between them and the expression of the
music : this the musicians asserted was unat-
tainable by the laws of their art. Cardinal
Borromeo was one of the commissioners, and
his austerity might easily have led to the
adoption of a harsh resolution.
Happily, the right man once more present-
ed himself at the right moment.
Among the Roman composers of that day,
was Pier Luigi Palestrina.
The rigid Paul IV. had expelled him from
the papal chapel, because he was married ;
since which event he had lived retired and
forgotten, in a sorry cottage among the vine-
yards of xMonte Celio. His was a mind inca-
pable of succumbing to adverse fortune. Even
* Giuseppe Baini : Blemoriestoricho-criuchp della vita
I e (JpHr opere di Giovanni Pier Lui^i ili Par-strinn, Koina,
1 1828, convey the information of which I have made use.
I
1572-90.]
THE CURIA.
157
in his solitude he devoted himself to his art
with an ardour that rewarded his creative
powers with freedom, and originality of pro-
duction. Here he wrote the improperie, that
to this day ennoble the solemnities of Good
Friday in the Sixtine chapel. Never, per-
haps, has any musician seized with more genius
on the profound meaning of a scriptural text,
its symbolical significance, and its bearing on
the human soul and on religion.
If any man were especially qualified to
make the experiment, whether it was possible
to apply that method to the whole complicated
work of a mass, that man was Palestrina ; and
to him the commission referred the subject.
He was thoroughly sensible that on the result
of his experiment rested, so to speak, the life
or death of the grand music of the mass, and
he entered on it with the deliberate resolution
to strain all his powers for its success. On
his manuscript were found the words, " Lord,
enlighten my eyes !"
He did not immediately succeed ; his first
two works were failures ; but at last, in happy
hour, he completed the mass which is known
by the name of " The mass of Pope Marcel-
lus," and which surpassed all expectation. It
is full of simple melody, and yet will bear
comparison, in point of richness and variety,
with any that preceded it ; its chorusses sepa-
rate and meet again; the meaning of the text
is incomparably expressed ; the Kyrie is all
prostration, the Agnus is very lowliness, the
Credo majesty. Pope Pius IV., before whom
it was performed, was delighted, and com-
pared it with the heavenly melodies, such
as the apostle John may have heard in his
ecstasy.
By this one great example the question was
set at rest forever, and a course was opened,
in which have been produced the most beauti-
ful works, and the most touching too, even to
those who do not own the Romish faith. Who
can listen to them and not? feel his spirit stir
within him? It is as though nature became
endowed with tone and voice, as though the
elements spoke, and the sounds of universal
life mingled in spontaneous harmony to hallow
and adore, now undulating like the sea, now
soaring heavenward in exulting bursts of
jubilee. The soul is borne aloft to the regions
of religious ecstasy, on the wings of universal
sympathy.
This art, which had perhaps most widely
alienated itself from the church, was now,
above all others, that which became most
closely attached to it. Nothing could have
been of more moment for Catholicism. Even
in its dogmas, if we mistake not, it had ad-
mitted something of reverie and enthusiasm ;
and in its most impressive penitential and
didactic books, these constituted a leading
characteristic. Spiritual sentimentality and
rapture were the favourite subjects of poetry
and painting, whilst music, more direct, more
penetrating and irresistible in its appeals than
any other expositor or any otlier art, embodied
those feelings in all the abundance of a more
kindred and more purely ideal language, and
spell-bound every mind.
The Curia.
Whilst all the elements of society and men-
tal activity were thus seized and transformed
by the ecclesiastical spirit, the court of Rome,
in which they all met and mingled, was like-
wise greatly changed.
This change was already noticed under
Paul IV. ; the example of Pius V. was of ex-
traordinary influence upon it ; under Gregory
XIII., it became palpable to every one. " It
has contributed immeasurably to the welfare
of the church," says P. Tiepolo, in 1.576,
"that several successive popes have been men
of irreproachable lives. This has induced
other men too to become better, or at least to
put on that appearance. Cardinals and pre-
lates are diligent in their attendance on mass ;
in their households every thing that would
give scandal is sedulously avoided ; the whole
city has laid aside its old disregard to morality,
and is become much more Christian than be-
fore in its manners and habits. We may ven-
ture to assert, that in matters of religion Rome
is not far from such a degree of perfection as
it is given to man to attain."
Not that the papal court was all made up
of puritans and canters : it consisted unques-
tionably of distinguished men, but who had
committed themselves in a high degree to a
rigorous tone of sentiment in ecclesiastical
matters.
If we picture it to ourselves as it existed
under Sixtus V., we shall find in it no few
cardinals who played a considerable part in
the politics of world: — Gallio of Como, first
minister during two pontificates, who possessed
the art of ruling by compliancy ; he now fur-
ther distinguished himself by the application
of his great income to ecclesiastical endow-
ments ; — Rusticucci, already powerful under
Pius v., and not without great influence un-
der Sixtus, a man full of penetration and good-
ness of heart, industrious, and the more cir-
cumspect and irreproachable, inasmuch as he
aimed at the papacy ; — Salviati, who had ad-
quired reputation by his well-ordered govern-
ment of Bologna, a man of blameless life and
simple habits, and not serious merely, but even
austere ; — Santorio, cardinal of San Severina,
the man of the inquisition, long in the com-
mand of paramount influence in all spirit-
ual afl^airs ; obstinate in his opinions, severe
with his servants, full of harshness even to-
wards his own relations, much more so to-
wards oihers, inaccessible to every one; —
contrasted with him Madruzzi, who always
158
TIMES OF GREGORY XIII. AND SIXTUS V. [a. d. 1572—90.
possessed the secret of the policy of the house
of Austria, both of the Spanish and the Ger-
man line, and who was called the Cato of the
college, only however for his learning and his
blameless virtue, not his censorious preten-
sions, for he was modesty itself. Sirletto was
still living, of all the cardinals of his times,
unquestionably the most versed in science and
in languages, a living library, as Muret said ;
yet when he rose up from his books, he would
call the boys to him as they carried their
fagots to market in winter, instruct them in
the mysteries of faith, and then buy their
wood of them : he was, in truth, a cordially
good natured and compassionate man.* The
example of Carlo Borromeo, whose memory
gradually ripened into the glory of sainthood,
had great influence. Federico Borromeo was
by nature irritable and impetuous, but, follow-
ing the pattern set before him by his uncle, he
led a religious life, and sutFered not the mor-
tifications he not unfrequently endured to dis-
turb his composure. But the truest copy of
that exemplary man was Agostino Valiere, a
man of a nature as noble and pure as his eru-
dition was rare, who followed the voice of his
conscience alone, and who now, at an ad-
vanced age, seemed to present the type of a
bishop of the primitive times.
The rest of the prelates followed the exam-
ple of the cardinals, whose associates they
were in the congregation, and whose places
they were one day to occupy.
Among the members of tlie highest tribunal
of Rome, the Auditori di Rota, two in particu-
lar distinguished themselves at this period ;
they being at the same time men of opposite
characters. The one'was Mantica, who lived
only among books and legal documents, who
served the forum and the schools by his
judicial works, and was in the habit of ex-
pressing himself briefly, and without much
ceremony. The other was Arigone, who gave
himself up not so much to books as to the
world, the court, and politics, and who was
remarkable for judgment and for suppleness
of character. Both, however, strove alike to
maintain a reputation for purity of conduct
and religious fervour. Of the bishops about
the court, those were particularly noticed who
had been engaged in nunciatures: Torres,
who had had a great part in the conclusion of
I*ius V.'s league against the Turks; Malas
pina, who had watched over the interests of
the catholic church in Germany and the
North; Bolognetti, to whom had been com-
mitted the laborious visitation of the Venetian
churches ; all of them men who had risen by
their talents and their zeal for religion.
* Ciaconius, Vitae Paparum, iii. p. 978, where also is
given the epitaph on Sii'leto, in wliich he is described
as " eniditorum pauperumque patronus" [pa.lron of the
learned anl of the poor.] Cardella's Meruorie Sioriche
de' Cardinali contain no more than the notices of Ciaco-
nius put into Italian.
The learned men of the court occupied a
distinguished rank: — Bellarmine, professor,
grammarian, the greatest controversialist of
the catholic church, who left behind him the
reputation of an apostolic life ; another Jesuit,
Matfei, who wrote the history of the Portu-
guese conquests in India, particularly as they
regarded the propagation of Christianity in
the South and in the East, and who also com-
posed the life of Loyola, a work in which
phrase follows phrase with deliberate diffuse-
ness and nicely poised elegance.* Some-
times there were strangers, such as the Ger-
man Clavius, who combined profound science
with Jjlamelessness of life, and enjoyed the
esteem of every one ; or Muret, a French-
man, the best latinist of that day, who after
he had long expounded the pandects in an
original and classic manner (he was as wittty
as he was eloquent,) became a priest in his
old age, applied himself to theological studies,
and read mass every day; or the Spanish
canonist Azpilcueta, whose responsa were re-
garded as oracles by the court, and the whole
catholic world : Pope Gregory XIII. was often
seen to stop tor hours before his house to con-
verse with him; yet he humbled himself to
the lowest offices in the hospitals.
Among these remarkable personages, Filip-
po Neri, founder of the congregation of the
Oratory, an eminent confessor and guide of
souls, obtained great and extensive influence.
He was good-natured, playful, strict in essen-
tials, indulgent in trifles. He never com-
manded, but only gave counsels: he even
seemed to request : he did not dissertate, but
conversed : he possessed the requisite pene-
tration todistinguish the peculiar bent of every
mind. The Oratory he founded grew up out
of the visits made him, and the attachment of
some young men, who looked on themselves
as his disciples, and wished to live with him.
The most famous among them is Cesar Ba-
ronius, the annalilt ' of the church. Filippo
Neri recognized his talent, and persuaded him
to set forth the history of the church in the
meetings of the Oratory, though at first he
showed no inclination to the task.f Baronius
applied himself for thirty years continuously
to his historical labours, and even when he
had become cardinal he used to rise before
day to pursue them. He regularly ate at the
same table with his household ; nor was any-
thing ever observable in his character incon-
sistent with humility and godliness. Both in
the Oratory and as cardinal, he maintained a
strict intimacy with Tarugi, who was in high
consideration as a confessor and preacher, and
who was like himself remarkable for guileless
piety. Their friendship lasted till death, and
was" a source of happiness to both : they were
t Vita J. P. Mallei Serassio auclore. In the edition of
Maffi'i's works, Berg. 1747.
t Gallonius, Vila Phil. Nerii. Mog. 1602. p. 163.
1572—90.]
THE CURIA.
159
buried side by side. A third disciple of San
Fillippo's was Silvio Antoniano, whose incli-
nations indeed tended rather to literature and
poetic labours, and who subsequently dis-
played extraordinary literary skill in the corn-
position of papal briefs, when that duty was
consigned to him. lie was a man of the gen-
tlest manners, humble and affable, all good-
ness and piety.
All the prominent features of this court,
politics, administration, poetry, art, and learn-
ing, wore the same complexion.
What a change from the curia of the be-
ginning of the century, when the cardinals
were at open war with the popes ; when the
latter buckled on the sword, and in court and
in person repudiated every thing that called
to mind their Christian vocation. Now, on
the other hand, how still and conventlike were
the habits of the cardinals. The failure of
Cardinal Tosco, who once had the nearest
prospect of the papacy, was chiefly owing to
his habitual use of two or three Lombard pro-
verbs that W'Ore considered objectionable. So
punctilious and so easily ofl'ended was public
opinion.
But we must not conceal, that in social
habits too, as well as in literature and art,
another, and to our feelings less agreeable,
aspect of things, unfolded itself Miracles,
that had not been seen for a long time, were
renewed. An image of the Virgin at San
Silvestro began to speak, an event that pro-
duced such an impression upon the people,
that the waste district round the church was
very soon put under cultivation. In Rione de'
Monti a miraculous image of the Virgin ap-
peared in a hayrick, and the inhabitants of
the neighbourhood looked on this as such a
special token of Divine favour, that they rose
in arms to resist its removal. We hear of
similar phenomena in Narni, Lodi, and San
Severino; and from the States of the Church
they spread over the whole Catholic world.
The popes, too, resumed the practice of
canonization, which had been disused for a
considerable time. All confessors were not
so judicious as Filippo Neri : a barren work-
seeking pietism was encouraged, and the con-
ception of Divine things was mingled with
fantastic superstition.
Would we could, at least, cherish the be-
lief, that even with these false notions, the
multitude had imbibed a thorough devotion
to the precepts of religion !
But it resulted from the very nature of the
court, that along with its religious efforts
those of the most vehemently secular ten-
dency manifested themselves likewise.
The curia was not exclusively an ecclesi-
astical institution, it had a state, and indi-
rectly a great portion of the world to rule.
In proportion as any individual acquired a
eliare in that power, he won consequence, the
gifts of fortune, influence, and every thing
that man is prone to covet. Human nature
could not have so changed, that men should
have struggled only by spiritual means for the
prizes offered by society and politics. The
same courses were here adopted as at other
courts, but with very peculiar modifications,
consonant with the nature of the arena.
Of all the cities in the world, Rome proba-
bly possessed in those days the most fluctuat-
ing population. Under Leo X. it had swelled
to more than eighty thousand souls, and it had
sunk again to forty-five thousand under Paul
IV., from whose rigour every one fled. Im-
mediately after his days it rose again in a few
years to seventy thousand, and to upwards of
one hundred thousand under Sixtus V. The
most remarkable circumstance was, that the
fixed residents bore no proportion to these
numbers. The city was peopled rather by
long sojourners than by natives ; it might be
compared to a fair or a diet, without countinu-
ance or stability, without the cement of blood.
Numbers flocked to Rome, because they could
not find any preferment in the land of their
birth. Wounded pride drove some thither,
wayward ambition others. Many thought
there was more liberty there than elsewhere.
Every man sought to rise in his own way.
The heterogenous elements were still far
from coalescing into one compact body; the
various races were still numerous, and so
distinct, that the diversities of national and pro-
vincial character were easily to be seen. The
courteous docile Lombard was distinguished
from the Genoese, who thought to carry all
before him by the force of his money, and the
Venetian, alert to discover the secrets of
others. There might be seen the frugal
loquacious Florentine, the Romagnese with
his instinctive staunchness in the chase of his
own interest, and the assuming and ceremo-
nious Neapolitan. The men from the north
were simple in their habits, and fond of com-
fort, even Clavius the German was the butt of
many a joke, for his two very substantial
breakfasts. The French kept apart, and had
the most difficulty in relinquishing their na-
tional habits. The Spaniard stalked about
wrapped in his sottana and his cloak, full of
pretension and ambitious schemes, and de-
spised all the rest.
There was nothing which an individual in
the multitude might not venture to set his
heart on. People were fond of the recollec-
tion, that John XXIII., when he was asked
why he was going to Rome, answered, he
wished to become pope, — and pope he was.
In like manner Pius V. and Sixtus V. had
risen from the lowest grade to supreme digni-
ty. Every man deemed himself capable of
every thing, and hoped for every thing.
It was a frequent remark in those days,
and a perfectly just one, that there was some-
160
TIMES OF GREGORY XIII. AND SIXTUS V. [a. d. 1572-96.
thinf of a republican character in the prelacy
and the curia ; this consisted in the circum-
stance that all might pretend to all, and that
individuals continually rose from humble ori-
gin to the highest dignities. Nevertheless,
that republic was one of the most singular
constitution : on the one hand was the uni-
versal qualification of individuals for public
honours, on the other the absolute power of a
single man, upon whose arbitrary decision
depended every endowment and every pro-
motion. And who was that man 1 He on
whom an utterly incalculable combination
bestowed the victory in the elective contest.
Previously of little weight, he suddenly be-
came invested with the fulness of authority.
Beino- under the conviction that he had been
raised by the operation of the Holy Ghost to
the highest dignity, he had so much the less
motive to forego any of his personal inclina-
tions. He usually began forthwith, with a
thorough alteration of existing arrangements.
The legates and governors were changed in
all the provinces : in the capital there were
places that, as a matter of course, always fell
to the pope's kinsmen and nephews. Even
when nepotism was restricted, as it was in
the period under our immediate consideration,
still every pope favoured his old confidants
and retainers. It was quite natural that he
should not break oft' his habitual intercourse
with them. Thus the secretary, who had
long served the Cardinal Montalto, was also
the most acceptable to Pope Sixtus V. Each
pope, of necessity, brought forward with him-
self the partisans of the opinions to which he
himself inclined. Thus did every new acces-
sion to the papal chair bring about a kind of
revolution in all prospects and expectations,
in the approaches to power, and in ecclesias-
tical and temporal dignities. " It is," says
Commendone, "as though the site of the
princely castle in a city were changed, and
all the streets were made to run towards the
new edifice : how many houses must be pulled
down, how often must the road be carried
through a palace, while new lanes and passa-
ges begin to be thronged." This comparison
does not unaptly depict the violent changes
occurring on each occasion, and the degree of
stability of the consequent arrangements.
A circumstance of a most peculiar kind rose
inevitably out of this.
From the frequent recurrence of these mu-
tations, and the accession of the popes at so
much a more advanced age than usual with
other sovereigns, and the momentarily im-
pending possibility of a transition of power in-
to other hands, every man's life was, as it
were, a continuous game of chance ; no man
could calculate the upshot, but his hopes were
kept continually alive by the uncertainty.
Each individual's hopes of fortune and pro-
motion depended especially on personal fa-
vour ; and where all personal influence was
in such a continual state of fluctuation, the
calculations of ambition must necessarily have
assumed a corresponding tone, and cast them-
selves upon very peculiar devices.
In our manuscript collections are to be
found a multitude of directions respecting the
behaviour expedient to be observed at the
papal court.* The manner in which each
man plies his schemes, and seeks to make his
fortune, appears to me no uninteresting ob-
ject of notice. Human nature is inexhaust-
ible in its plastic capacity for adaptation to
circumstances ; the more rigidly defined the
data imposed on it, the more unexpected are
the forms into which it throws itself
All cannot adopt the same course : he who
possesses nothing must be content to take
service. A liberal domestication in the houses
of cardinals and princes was still open to lite-
rary men. If a man felt compelled to place
himself in such a position, it became the ob-
ject of his chief solicitude to ingratiate him-
self with the head of the house, to acquire
merit in his eyes, to penetrate his secrets, and
to become indispensable to him. Everything
was patiently endured at his hands, even in-
justice was borne with cheerfulness ; for how
soon, on a change in the papacy, might his
star too rise in the ascendant, and his retain-
ers partake of its splendour. Fortune ebbs
and flows : the man remains the same.
Others, perhaps, directed their efibrts to the
attainment of a little place, that with zeal
and activity might open a certain field to
their ambition. But in truth, it is always an
irksome thing — and so it was then and there
as much as in any other city and other times
— to be obliged to look to necessary wants in
the first place, and to honour afterwards.
How much more fortunate was the condi-
tion of those who had a competency ! The
monti, in which they purchased shares, yielded
thern a certain income every month : they
they bought a place, in right of whicii they
entered directly into the prelacy, and not
only attained an independence, but also an
opportunity of brilliantly displaying their
talents. Whoso has to him shall be given-
At this court it was doubly advantageous to
possess something, because the possession re-
verted to the camera, so that the pope himself
had an interest in its increase.
In such a situation there was no more need
of so slavishly attaching oneself to a great
man ; so strongly renounced partisanship
* For instance: Instrutlione al signor cardinale dl
Medici del modo como si deve governare nella cone di
Roma.— Avverlimenli air illnio- cardinal Montallo sopra
il modo col quale si possa e debba ben governare com
cardinale e nepote del papa. Inform xii.— Avvertimenli
politici et utilissimi per la cone di Koma: seventy-eight
very questionable maxims: inform xxv.— Tiie most im-
ponant of all, Discorso over ritratto della cone di Koma
di W. Illmo. Commendone. Codd. Rang, al Vienna.
A. D. 1572-90.]
THE CURIA.
161
would rather, indeed, have stood in the wayi
of a man's promotion, if it ran counter to the
caprices of fortune. The most essential pre-
caution to be observed was, to avoid ^ivinsf
oiFence to any one ; a precaution most sensi-
tively and watchfully attended to in the
slightest and most superficial intercourses of
life. Care was taken, for instance, not to
treat any man with more honour than he was
exactly entitled to; equality of comportment
towards persons of different degrees would be
inequality, and might produce an unfavoura-
ble impression. Even of the absent nothing
but good was to be spoken, not only because
words once uttered are no longer in our
power, they fly one knows not whither, but
also because very few love a keen scrutinizer.
It behoved a man to make a moderate use of
his knowledge, and to avoid rendering it tedi-
ous to any one. It was not advisable to be
the bearer of bad news, a part of the unfa-
vourable impression always recoiling upon
the bearer of the tidings. Tlie only difficulty
on the other hand was to avoiiso strict a si-
lence as would render one's purpose apparent.
Elevation to higher dignities, even to that
of cardinal, conferred no exemption from these
duties ; it only obliged the individual to be
more assiduous of observance of them in his
own sphere. Who should venture to betray
his belief that any member of the college of
cardinals was unfit for the papal dignity 1
There was not one of them so insignificant on
whom the choice might not possibly fall.
A cardinal's first concern was to cultivate
the favourable opinion of the reigning pope :
on it depended fortune and dignity, universal
deference and obsequiousness. Great discre-
tion, however, was necessary in the manner
of paying his court. Profound silence was to
be observed as to all the personal concerns of
the pope, whilst, at the same time, no pains
were to be spared to come at the bottom of
theoi, so as secretly to shape one's proceedings
accordingly. The pope might, indeed, now
and then be addressed in praise of his nephews,
their fidelity and their talents : such topics
were usually welcome. To learn the secrets
of the papal house, use might be made of the
monks, who under pretence of religion pene-
trate further than any one imagines.
The importance and the rapid vicissitude
of personal relations, imposes especially on
ambassadors a necessity for extraordinary vi-
gilance. Like a skilful pilot, the envoy ob-
serves how tlie wind blows : he spares no
money to get hold of persons who may give
\^m information; all his outlay is well repaid
by a single valuable intelligence, which may
indicate to him the seasonable moment for
pushing forward his negociations. If he has
a request to make of the pope, he makes it
his business insensibly to interweave its pur-
port with the pope's own interests, however
21
remote from each other the two may really
be. Above all, he strains every efibrt to win
over the favourite kinsman, and to convince
him that from no court, so much as his own,
has the latter reason to expect wealth and
permanent greatness. He also endeavours to
secure the good will of the cardinals. To
none will he absolutely promise the papacy,
but he flatters the hopes of all. He will not
commit himself wholly to any of them, but he
will occasionally bestow marks of his favour
even on those who are hostilely disposed. He
does like the falconer, who shows the piece of
meat to the hawk, but only gives him a little
of it from time to time.
So lived and moved among each other, car-
dinals, ambassadors, princes, public and pri-
vate possessors of power; full of ceremony,
of which Rome was the classic ground, of ob-
sequiousness and submissiveness, but egotists
all to the very core ; ever craving only to
accomplish some private end, and to over-
reach others.
Curious it is to note how the struggle for
what all covet, power, honour, wealth, and
enjoyment, elsewhere the fruitful source of
rancour and feud, here took the shape of cour-
tesy and officiousness ; how, the better to
gratify his own passions, each flattered in
others those of which he was in some mea-
sure conscious in himself Here self-denial
was full of greed, and passion stole onward
with v/ary step.
We have seen the dignity, the earnestness,
the religion, that prevailed at this court; we
now see its worldly side likewise, ambition,
covetousness, dissimulation, and craft.
Were it our purpose to pronounce an eulo-
gy on the Roman court, we need select only
the former of these its constituent elements :
were we inclined to inveigh against it, we
might look exclusively to the latter. But
when we rise to the heights of clear and un-
prejudiced observation, we take both into our
contemplation, nay, admit the necessary deri-
vation of both from the nature of man and the
force of circumstances.
That phase in the world's history which
we have been considering," gave more vivid
coerciveness than ever to the demand for de-
corum, purity of life, and religion ; it coin-
cided with the principle of the court, whose
position with regard to the world rested on
the maintenance of those qualities. It fol-
lowed, of necessity, that tliose men rose to
most eminence whose characters most amply
accorded with that demand : had it been
otherwise, public opinion would not only have
been untrue to itself, but suicidal. The hap-
pening however, as it did, that the goods of
fortune were so immediately connected with
spiritual qualities, was an enormous provoca-
tive of the spirit of this world.
We cannot doubt the genuine nature of the
162
COUNTER REFORMATIONS. FIRST PERIOD.
[a. d. 1563-89,
temper and sentiments not unfrequently de-
picted to us by our observant and discreet
authorities. But how many a man may yet
have sought to secure his fortunes by mere
outward show ] Into how many other minds
may mere worldly tendencies have forced
their way along with those of religion, in the
misty dimness of half-developed motives.
It was with the curia as with literature and
art. All alike had fallen off from the church,
and rushed upon paths verging almost upon
paganism. Yonder march of events awoke
the dormant principle of the cliurch, moved all
the energies of society as with a new breath
of life, and gave a new colouring to the whole
body of the limes. How broadly marked the
difference between Ariosto and Tasso, be-
tween Giulio Romano and Guercino, between
Pomponazzo and Patrizi ! A great epoch lies
between them. Yet is there something com-
mon to the former and the latter, and they
have a mutual point of contact. The curia,
too, retained its old form, and preserved many
other particulars of its old nature. Yet this
did not prevent its being swayed by a new
spirit ; what the latter could not wholly trans-
form and assimilate to itself, it animated, at
least, with its own impulse.
As I contemplate the mingling of the vari-
ous elements, I call to mind a natural specta-
cle, that may, perhaps, serve as a sort of type
and similitude to aid our conception of this
state of things.
Near Terni, the Nera is seen approaching
through the lengthened valley, between woods
and meadows, in calm unruffled flow. On the
other side, the Velino, pent up between rocks,
rushes on with giant speed, till at last it dashes
headlong from the cliffs in splendid cascades,
that f(xini and sparkle with a thousand hues.
Meeting immediately with the Nera, in an
instant it communicates to it its own commotion.
Roaring and surging, the mingled waters
sweep torrent-like along.
Thus did the newly-awakened spirit of the
catholic church give a new impetus to all the
organs of literature and art, to the whole being
of society. The curia was at once devout and
restless, spiritual and warlike ; on the one
hand full of dignity, pomp, and ceremony; on
the other, unparalleled for calculating sub-
tilty, and unwearied lust of sway. Its piety
and its ambitious projects, both reposing on
the idea of an exclusive orthodoxy, coalesced
into one system. Thus constituted, it once
more essayed to subdue the world.
BOOK THE FIFTH.
COUNTER REFORMATIONS. FIRST PERIOD. 1563—1589.
Introduction.
It is one of the most difficult problems in
the history of a nation or of a power, to appre-
ciate the connexion of its special relations
with those of the world at large.
It is true the individual life of the body
politic grows in obedience to inherent laws
assorted to its peculiar moral constitution, and
displays a characteristic consistency through-
out the progress of ages. Still it is incessant-
ly under the operation of general influences,
that powerfully affect the course of its devel-
opment.
We may lay it down as a maxim, that the
character of modern Europe is founded on this
contrast of forces. It states that races are
for ever parted from each other, but at the
same time they are knit together in an insep-
arable system of community. There are no
national annals in which universal history
does not play an important part. So bound
by the laws of necessity, so all-embracing is
the consecutive series of ages, that even the
mightiest state often appears but as a member
of the great commonwealth, involved in, and
ruled by its destinies. Whoever has once
attempted to consider the history of a people
in the whole, and to survey its course, without
arbitrarily straining truth, and without illu-
sion, will have experienced the difficulty
arising from this source. In the several phases
of a nation's progressive existence, we discern
the various currents of the world's general
destiny.
But this difficulty becomes double when,
as sometimes occurs, a power sets on foot a
movement that involves the whole world, and
of the principle of which it is itself the pecu-
liar representative. Such a power then takes
so potent a share in the collective operations
of the age, it enters into such vivid relations
with all the active forces of the world, that
its history expands in a certain sense into
universal history.
On such a phase as this, the papacy entered
after the council of Trent.
Shaken to its very centre, perilled in the
very ground-work of its being, it had yet been
able to bide the brunt, and to arm itself with
renovated vigour. In both peninsulas it had
promptly swept aside all the hostile efforts by
A. D. 1563-1589.] SITUATION OF PROTESTANTISM ABOUT 1563.
163
whicli it had been assailed, and had once more
gathered to itself and pervaded all the ele-
ments of life. It now conceived the project
of re-subduing the revolted in all other parts
of the world. Rome became once more a
conquering power, it formed projects, and en-
gaged ill enterprises, such as in ancient times
and in the middle ages had issued from the
seven-hilled city.
We should make but little progress in the
history of tiie renovated papacy, vyere we to
limit our observation to its centre only. Its
actual significance is perfectly to be seen but
in its operation upon the world in general.
Let us begin with contemplating the strength
and position of its rival.
Situation of Protestantism about the year
1563.
North of the Alps and the Pyrenees, the
Protestant opinions had been in vigorous and
incessant progress till the period of the council
of Trent: their dominion extended far and
wide over German, Sclavonian, and Latin
nations.
In the Scandinavian realms they had estab-
lished themselves the more impregnably, be-
cause there their introduction was coincident
with the establishment of new dynasties, and
the re-modelling of all political institutions.
From the very first they were hailed with joy,
as though there was in their nature a primi-
tive affinity to the national feelings. Bugen-
hagen, the founder of Lutheranism in Den-
mark, cannot find words enough to describe
the zeal with which his preaching was listened
to in that country, " even on work-days," as
he expresses himself, " even before day, on
holidays and all day long."* The Protestant
doctrines had now spread to the very remotest
boundaries of Scandinavia. How the Faro
Isles became Protestant is unknown, so easy
and spontaneous was the change.f In the
year 1552, the last representatives of Catholi-
cism in Iceland succumbed : a Lutheran bi-
shopric was founded in VViborg in 1554 :
evangelic preachers travelled to far Lapland
in company with the Swedish governors. In
1560, Gustavus Vasa earnestly enjoined his
heir in his will, that he and all his poster-
ity should hold fast by the evangelical doc-
trine, and tolerate no false teachers. He
made this almost a condition to the inheritance
of the throne.]:
On the Southern shores too of the Baltic,
Lutheranism had achieved complete predomi-
nance, at least among the population of Ger-
man tongue. Prussia had set the first exam-
ple of secularization on a grand scale : this
* Narrative of D. Pomerani, 1539. Sabb. p. visit, in
Miillers Entdecktem Slaatsc.abinet 4te ErotTn. p. 365.
f Miinter: Kircliengeschichte vun Diinemark, iii. 429.
i Testamentuin religiosum Gustavi I. in Baaz: Inven-
tarium Ecclesise Sueogolh. p. 282.
having been followed by Livonia in 1.561, the
first condition stipulated for by that province
on its submission to Poland, was, that it should
be at liberty to abide by the Augsburg con-
fession. Their connexion with those coun-
tries, whose subjection was based on the Pro-
testant principle, operated as a check upon
the Jagellon kings, to prevent their opposing
the progress of tiie new faith. The great
cities of Polish Prussia were, in the years
1557, 15.58, confirmed in the exercise of their
religion according to the Lutheran ritual by
express charters ; and the privileges soon after
acquired by the smaller towns, which had
previously been exposed to the attacks of pow-
erful bishops,* were still more explicit. In
fact, even in Poland Proper a considerable
part of the nobility had been gained over to
the Protestant opinions, grateful as these were
to the feelings of independence nurtured by
the constitution of the state. It was a com-
mon saying, " A Polish nobleman is not sub-
ject to the king ; is he to be so to the pope !"
So far were matters carried, that Protestants
made their way even into the episcopal sees,
and even constituted the majority of the
senate under Sigismund Augustus. That
sovereign was unquestionably catholic ; he
heard mass daily, and catholic preaching eve-
ry Sunday ; he joined the singers of his choir
in the Benedictus; observed the seasons of
confession and communion, which latter he
received in one kind : still he seemed to give
himself little concern about the creed of his
court or his subjects, and was not disposed to
embitter the last years of his lite, by a contest
against so vigorously progressive a system of
belieff
Such an attempt at resistance had, to say
the least of it, not been beneficial to the gov-
ernment in the neighbouring dominions of
Hungary. Ferdinand I. could never force
the diet to any resolutions unfavourable to Pro-
testantism. In the year 1554, a Lutheran
was elected palatine of the empire, and soon
after concessions were extorted in favour of
the Helvetic confession in the vale of Erlan.
Transylvania separated itself altogether ; the
ecclesiastical possessions in that country were
confiscated by a formal decree of the diet, in
the year 1556, the princess even appropriating
to herself the greater part of the tithes.
We come now to Germany, where the new
* Lengnich: Nachricht von der Religionsanderung in
Preussen vor dein 4ten Theil derGeschichte der Preussi-
schen Lande, § W.
t Kelalione di Polonia del vescovo di Camerino, about
1555. MS. in tlie Chigi library. A molti di questi (wlio
reside at court) compona che vivano come li piace, perche
si vede che S. Maesti 6 tanto benigna clie non von ia mai
far cosa che dispiacesse ad alciino, ed iovorreiche nelle
cose della religione fosse un poco piu severa. [Many of
those who reside at court, are at liberty to live as they
please, because it is evident his majesty is so benignant,
he could never consent to molest any one. For my part
I could wish that in matters of religion he waa a little
more severe.]
164
COUNTER REFORMATIONS. FIRST PERIOD, [a. d. 1563-89.
form ofthe church had first unfolded itself spon
taneously out ofthe national mind, upheld itself
throughout a long and formidable war, achiev-
ed a legalized existence, and was now in the
act of taking full possession of the several
states. In this it had already made extensive
progress. Protestantism not only reigned
paramount in Northern Germany, where it
had originated, and in those districts of Upper
Germany where it had always maintained
itself; its grasp had been extended much more
widely in every direction.
In Franconia, the bishoprics vainly opposed
it. In Wurzburg, and Bamberg, by far the
greater part of the nobility and of the episco-
pal functionaries, the magistrates, and the
burghers of the towns, at least the majority of
them, and the bulk of the rural population,
had passed over to the reforming party. In
the territories of Bamberg, we trace the name
of a Lutheran pastor attached to almost every
single parish.* Such was the tone prevailing
in the administration, which moreover was
principally in the hands of the estates, regu-
larly constituted bodies corporate, invested
even with the right of imposing taxes and
duties : such too was the tone prevailing in
the tribunals, and the observation was com-
monly made, that the greater number of de-
cisions were hostile to the catholic interests.!
The bishops had little weight; those even
who, " with Teutonic and Frankish fidelity,"
reverenced them as princes, could not yet en-
dure to see them parade, mitred and decked
in their clerical trappings.
The movement had not been much less en-
ergetic in Bavaria. The great majority of
the nobility had adopted the protestant doc-
trine, and a considerable portion ofthe towns
was decidedly inclined to it : the duke was
compelled in his diets, for instance, in the year
1556, to grant concessions, such as elsewhere
led to the complete introduction of the Augs-
burg confession, and which here seemed to
promise the same result. The duke himself
was not so inveterately opposed to that con-
fession as not occasionally to listen to a pro-
testant sermon.];
Far more than this, however, had been done
in Austria. The nobility of that country
studied in Wittemberg: all the colleges ofthe
land were filled with Protestants; it was said
to be ascertained, that not more perhaps than
the thirtieth part of the population had re-
mained catholic : step by step, a national con-
stitution unfolded itself, formed upon the prin-
ciple of Protestantism.
The archbishop of Salzberg too, encompass-
ed by Bavaria and Austria, had been unable
* Jack has specially occJipied himself with this matter,
in the second and third parts of his Geschichte von Bam-
berg.
I Gropp, Dissertatio do Statu Rfligionis in Franconia
Lulheranismo infecta. Sc.riptores Wirceb. i. p. 42.
t Siizinger in Strobel : Beitrage zur Literatur, i. 313.
to keep their dominions stedfast to the ancient
faith. True, they admitted no protestant
preacher, but the disposition ofthe population
was not the less decidedly pronounced. The
mass was no longer frequented in the capital ;
nor fasts nor holidays observed. Those who
were too remote to attend the preachers in
Austrian localities, edified themselves at home
with Spangenberg's postiles. The people of
the mountains were not content with this. In
the Rauris and the Gastein, in St. Veit, Tam-
sweg, and Radstadt, the inhabitants loudly
demanded the sacramental cup, and this being
refused them, they ceased altogether to attend
the sacrament: they withheld their children
too from the schools ; and it actually occurred
in the church, that a peasant rose and cried
out to the preacher, "Thou liest." The pea-
sants preached to each other.* We need not
be surprised, if under the suppression of all
worship accordant with their newly adopted
convictions, notions of a visionary and roman-
tic character grew up among those inhabi-
tants of the lonely Alps.
How advantageously contrasted with this
picture, is that which presents itself to us in
the dominions of the spiritual electors on the
Rhine, where the nobihty had independence
enough to procure for their vassals a freedom,
which could hardly be granted by the spiritual
lord. The Rhenish nobility had early embra-
ced protestantism ; they allowed no encroach-
ments of the sovereigns upon their domains,
not even of a religious kind. In all the towns
there existed already a protestant party. It
showed its activity by reiterated petitions in
Cologne; in Trier it was already so strong as
to invite a preacher from Geneva, and to main-
tain him in defiance ofthe elector: in Aix la
Chapelle it strove for absolute supremacy;
the inhabitants of Mainz too did not hesitate
to send their children to protestant schools,
for instance to Niirnberg. Commendone, who
was in Germany in the year 1561, cannot ex-
press the dependence ofthe prelates upon the
Lutheran princes, and their complaisance
towards protestantism. f He declares he has
known protestants of the most violent opinions
in their very privy councils.| He is amazed
that time had so utterly failed to bring relief to
Catholicism.
It was the same in Westphalia as else-
where. The whole rural population was busy
with the harvest on St. Peter's day : the ap.
pointed festivals were generally no longer ob-
served. The town-council of Paderborn watch-
ed with a kind of jealousy over its protestant
* Extract from a report by the canon Wilh. v. Traut-
mannsdorfof the ye^ir 1555, in Zauneis, Chronik von
Salzburg, vi. 327.
I Gratiani, Vie de Commendon, p. 116.
t De' piu arrabbiati heretici. Mi e parso che il tempo
non habbia apportalo aU'un giovaraento. Commendone,
Relatione della state della religions in Gerniania. MS.
Vallicell.
^
A. D. 1563-98.] SITUATION OF PROTESTANTISM ABOUT 1563.
165
confepsion. In Miinster more than one bishop I were wrested from it: these were followed in
had the reputation of Lutheran sentiments,
and most of the priests were formally married :
duke Wilhelm of Cleves adhered indeed on
the whole to Catholicism ; in his private chap-
el, nevertheless, he received the sacrament in
both kinds; the greater part of his council
were avowed protestants ; no essential obsta-
cle was offered to the evangelical ritual in his
dominions.*
In short, from west to east, and from north
to south, throughout all Germany, protestant-
ism had unquestionably the preponderance.
The nobility were attached to it from the very
first: the body of public functionaries, already
in those days numerous and important, was
trained up in the new doctrine: the common
people would hear no more of certain articles,
such for instance as purgatory, or of certain
ceremonies, such as the pilgrimages: not a
man durst come forward w^ith holy relics. A
Venetian ambassador calculates, in the year
1558, that but a tenth part of the inhabitants
of Germany still clung to the ancient faith.
It is not surprising if the losses sustained by
Catholicism in power and property, kept pace
with the continual decay of its spiritual influ-
ence. The canons in most of the ecclesiasti-
cal foundations were either devoted to the
reformed doctrine, or were lukewarm and in-
different. What was to hin/ler them then
from proposing protestant bishops when op-
portunity occurred, should that seem to them
advantageous in other respects'? True, it
was ordained by the treaty of Augsburg, that
a spiritual prince should lose both his rank
and his revenues if he abandoned the old faith ;
this it was thought, however, by no means
aimed at preventing a chapter already pro-
testant, from choosing an evangelical bishop ;
all that could be insisted on was, that the en-
dowments should not be made hereditary.
Thus it occurred, that a Brandenburg prince
received the archbishopric of Magdeburg, a
Lauenburg prince that of Bremen, and a prince
of Brunswick thatof Halberstadt. The bishop-
rics too of Liibek, Verden, and Munden, and
the abbey of Quedlingburg, fell into protestant
hands.f
Nor was the confiscation of church property
less energetically carried on. How great
were the losses sustained, for instance, within
a few years by the bishopric of Augsburg. In
the year 1537 all the convents in VVirtemberg
♦ Tempesti, Vita di Sisto V. from the Anonymo di Cam-
pidoglio, I. xxiii. Da moll' anni si commiinicava con ambe
le specie, quantunqueil suocapellano clien' havesse par-
lalo, inducendolo a comnuinicarsi cosi'nrlla sua capella
segreta, per non dar mal essempio a' sudditi. In a letter
given in Niesen's Miinstersche Urkundensaiiiniluns, I.
xxi. it is said with similar significance of the bisliop of
Miinster and the court of Cleves: Wilhelnius episco-
pus (W. V. Rettler) religionem semilutheranam hausit in
in aula Juliacensi. [Bishop Wilhelm imbibed a senii-
lutheran religion at the coun of Cleves.]
t See also my Hist. Pol. Zeitschrifl, I. ii, 269 elseq.
1553 by the convents and pari.shesof the county
of Oettingen. It was not till ajler the peace
of Augsburg, that the protestants rose to an
equality with their rivals in Diinkelsbiihl and
Donauwerth, and to supremacy in Nordingen
and Memmingen. Thereupon tlie convents
in those towns, among them the rich precept-
oryofSt. Anthony in Memmingen, and the
parochial livings, were irretrievably lost.*
In addition to all this, there was but little
of a cheering nature in the future prospect of
Catholicism.
Protestant opinions had triumphed in the
universities and educational establishments.
Those old champions of Catholicism who had
withstood Luther were dead, or in advanced
years: young men capable of supplying their
places had not yet arisen. Twenty years had
elapsed in Vienna since a single student of
the university had taken priest's orders. Even
in Ingoldstadt, pre-eminently catholic as it
was, no competent candidates of the faculty of
theology presented themselves to fill the places
that had hitherto been always occupied by ec-
clesiastics.! The city of Cologne founded an
endowed school ; but when all the arrange-
ments for it had been made, it was found that
the regent was a protestant.|; Cardinal Otto
Truchess established a new university in his
city of Dillingen, with the express design of
resisting the progress of protestantism. The
credit of this institution was maintained for
some years by a few distinguished Spanish
theologians, but as soon as tliese left it, not a
single scholar could be found in all Germany
to succeed to their places; and even the.se
were likewise filled with protestants. About
this period the teachers in Germany were all,
almost without exception, protestants; the
whole body of the rising generation sat at
their feet, and imbibed a hatred of the pope
with the first rudiments of learning.
Such was the state of things in the north
and east of Europe : in many places catholic-
ism was entirely exploded, in all it was sub-
dued and despoiled. While it was struggling
to defend itself, enemies still more formidable
rose against it in the west and south.
For assuredly the Calvinistic system was
still more pointedly opposed to the Romish
doctrines than was Lutheranism : just at the
epoch before us. Galvanism took possession of
men's minds with resistless force.
It had arisen on the frontiers of Italy, Ger-
many, and France, and had spread thence in
all directions. Eastward, in Germany, Hun-
* Placidus Braun : Geschichte der Bischiife von Augs-
burg, Band iii. 533, 535 et seq., on this head from authea-
tic sources.
t Agricolo, Hisioria provincia» socieiatis Jesu Germanise
superioris, i. p. 29.
t Orlandinus, Historia Societatis Jesu, torn. i. lib. xvi.
n. 25. Hujus novae bursae regens, quem prinium prafeca-
rant, Jacobus Lichius, Lutheranus laudem apparuit.
166
COUNTER REFORMATIONS. FIRST PERIOD. [a. d. 1563-89.
gary, and Poland, it constituted a subordinate
but still very important element of the pro-
testant movement ; in western Europe it had
already risen to independent power.
Whereas the Scandinavian kingdoms had
become Lutherean, the British had adopted
the Calvinistic faith : in the latter, the new
church had assumed two opposite aspects.
In Scotland, where its power had been won
during its struggles with the government,
it was poor, popular, and democratic : so much
the more resistless was the fervour with which
it animated its votaries. In England, where
it had risen to eminence in league with the
government of the day, it was rich, monarchi-
cal, and magnificent ; and it declared itself
content with mere forbearance from opposition
to its ritual. The church of Scotland naturally
approximated infinitely more to the model of
Geneva, and was infinitely more in accord
ance with the spirit of Calvin.
The French had embraced the doctrines of
their countryman Calvin, with all theircharac-
teristic vivacity. In defiance of every perse-
cution, the French churches modelled them-
on the type of that of Geneva : they held a
synod as early as the year 1559. In the year
1561, the Venetian ambassador Micheli finds
not one province free from protestantism, and
three-fourths of the realm filled with it, — Bre-
tagne and Normandy, Gascony and Langue-
doc, Poictou, Touraine, Provence, and Dau-
phine. " In many places in these provinces,"
he says, " meetings and preachings are held,
and rules of life laid down, exactly after the
pattern set by Geneva, without the least re-
gard to the royal prohibitions. Every one has
adopted these opinions, even, what is most
remarkable, the clergy; not only priests,
monks, and nuns — there may possibly be a
few convents uninfected by them — but the
very bishops, and many of the more eminent
prelates." " Your highness:" he says to the
doge, — " with the exception of the common
people, that is still zealous in frequenting the
churches, all the rest of the nation are fallen
away, especially the nobles, and the younger
men under forty years of age, almost without
exception. For although many of them still
go to mass, they do so only for appearance
sake, and out of fear: when they think them-
selves unobserved, they turn their backs on
mass and church." When Micheli arrived
in Geneva, he learned that immediately after
the death of Francis 11. fifty preachers had set
out from that city to different towns in France.
He was amazed to see the consideration in
which Calvin was held, and the quantity of
money that poured in upon him in aid of the
multitudes that had fled ibr refuge to Geneva.*
He finds it unavoidable that religious freedom
should be accorded to the French protestants,
at least for an interim, as he expressed him-
self, if a deluge of blood was to be avoided.
In fact, this report was soon followed by the
edict of Jan. 1562, which granted a recognized
and legal existence to protestantism in France,
and is the basis of the privileges it has since
enjoyed there.
All these changes on every side, in Ger-
many, France, and England, could not fail of
affecting the Netherlands. The German in-
fluence had first prevailed there. One of the
most cogent motives that impelled Charles V.
to the war of Schmalcalde was, that the sym- 1
patliy the German protestants excited in the |
Netherlands, daily increased the difliiculty of
governing those provinces, which constituted
so important a part of his dominions. By put-
ting down the German princes, he guarded
himself at the same time from insun-ection on
the part of his Flemish subjects.* All his
laws, however, ihough he enforced them with
extraordinary rigour, all the executions in-
flicted in almost incredible number, particular-
ly in the early part of his successor's reign
(it was calculated at the time, that up to 1562
thirty thousands protestants, men and women,
had been put to death,!) were unable to stop
the progress of the new opinions. The only
result was, that in the Netherlands these as-
sumed rather the French Calvinistic tone than
the German Lutheran. In this country, too,
in defiance of all persecution, a formal con-
fession was put forward so early as in the year
1.561 : churches were established on the Gen-
evese model ; and the protestants, connecting
themselves with local rights and their defend-
ers, acquired a political basis, from which they
might expect not only safety and support, but
even political importance for the time to come.
* Micheli, Relatione delle cose di Francia, I'anno I5G1.
Da poi che fu conosciuto che col mettere in prigioni e con
casligare e con I'abbrucidre uon solo non si emendavano,
ma si dieordinavano piu, fu deliberalo che non si proce-
desse piu contra alcuno, eccetto che contra quelli che
andavano predicando, seducendo e facendo publicamenle
le congregalioni e le asseniblce, e gli altri si lassassero
vivere: ondi ne fuiono liberati ecavati di prigioni di Par-
igi e di lulli le altre lerre del regno un grandisssimo nu-
mero, che rimasero poi nel regno pralicando liberamente
e parlando con ogn'uuo e gloriandosi che aveano guadag-
nato la lite contra i Papisti ; cosi chiamavano e chiamano
li loro adversarii. [After it was ascertained that im-
prisonment, chastisement, and burning did not mend
them, but made them more disorderly, it was determined
to proceed no more against any one, except those who per-
sisted in preaching, misleading, and publicly holding
meetings, and that all others should be left unharmed.
Accordfngly, a great number of them were let loose from
the prisons of Paris, and a vast multitude from all the
other parts of the kingdom, who continued in it freely
exercising their religion, talking to every one, and boast-
ing that they had been victorious over the Papists. So
they called, and still call their adversaries.]
* A view taken by the then Florentine resident at the
imperial court, on very good grounds as I think.
t In a report concerntng Spain in 1562, apparently by
Paolo Tiepolo, to be found in the Venetian archives, it is
said: Unagradissima parte di quei paesi bassi e guasta e
corrotta da queste nuove opinioni e per tutte le pro-
vision! che si abbiano fatte e per la morte data a molte
migliara de homeni (che da setle anni o poco piu in qua
per quel che mi e stalo affermalo da persone principal!
di que' paesi, sono stall morti di giustitia pi 3Gni. ffa hom-
ine e donne) no solamenle (non) si 6 rimediato, ma, etc.
A.D. 1563-89.] SITUATION OF PROTESTANTISM ABOUT 1563.
167
Under these circumstances new energies
were also infused into the older oppositions
to Rome. The Moravian brethren had been
formally recognized in the year 1562, by
Maximilian II., and they availed themselves
of that fortunate event to elect that very same
year in their synod a great number of new
clergy, as many it is said, as one hundred and
eighty-eight.* In the year 1561, the duke
of Savoy, too, saw himself compelled to ac-
cord new privileges to the poor congregations
of Waldenses in the mountains.! The pro-
testant notions extended their vivifying ener-
gies to the most remote and most forgotten
corners of Europe. What an immense domain
had they conquered within the space of forty
years 1 From Iceland to the Pyrenees, from
Finland to the heights of the Italian Alps.
Even beyond the latter mountains opinions
analogous had once, as we are aware, pre-
vailed. Protestantism embraced the whole
range of the Latin church : it had laid hold on
a vast majority of the higher classes, and of
the minds that took part in public life : wliole
nations clung to it with enthusiasm, and
states had been remodelled by it.J This is
the more deserving of our wonder, inasmuch
as protestantism was by no means a mere
antithesis, a negation of the papacy, or an
emancipation from its rule : it was in tlie
highest degree positive; a renovation of Chris-
tian notions and principles, that sway human
life even to the profoundest mysteries of the
soul.
Capacities of the Papacy for Contest.
The papacy and Catholicism had for a long
time maintained a defensive attitude against
the progress of their foe, but passively only,
* Regenvolscii Ecclesias Slavonicae, i. p. 63.
t Leger: Histoire des Eglises Vaudoises, ii. p. 38, gives
the trpaty.
t In this light the loss was regarded in Rome itself.
Tiepolo, Relatione di Pio IV. e V. Parlando solamente
di quelli (popoli) d'Europa che nonsoleobedivano lui (al
papa) ma ancora seguivano in tutlo i riti e le consuetudini
della chiesa romana, celebrando ancora li officii nella
lingua Lalina, si sa che I'lnghillerra, la Scotia, la Dania,
la Norvegia, la Suetia, e tinalmente tutti i paesi selten-
Irionali, si sono alienati da lei : la Gennania e quasi lutta
norduta, la Bohemia e la Polonia si trovano in gran parte
mfette, li paesi bassi della Fiandra sono cosi corotti che
per rimedio che vi si sforzi dar loro il diica d'Alva dilBcil-
mente rilorneranno alia prima sanita, e finalmente la
Francia per rispetto di questi mal humori e lutta ripiena
di confusioni, in modo che non pare che sia restato aliro
di sano e di sicuro al pontefice che la .Spagna e I'ltalia,
con alcune poche isole e con quel paeso che e dalla Serti.
V"' in Dalmatia et in Grecia posseduto. [Speaking only
of those nations of Europe, which not only used to obey
the pope, but also followed in every particular the rites
and usages of the Roman church, celebrating public wor-
ship too in the Latin language, it is notorious that Eng-
land, Scotland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and in a
word all the countries of the North, are alienated from il.
Germany is almost wholly lost, Bohemia and Poland are
In a great degree infected, the Low Countries of Flanders
are so corrupted, that notwithstanding all the efforts of
the duke of Alva to remedy the evil, they will hardly
ever return to their original liealthy condition ; and lastly
France, by means of these morbid humours, is all replete
with confusion, so that it appears nothing remains to the
and without power to offer it any effectual
resistance.
Now, however, matters assumed a different
aspect.
We have seen the inward evolutions through
which Catholicism began the work of self-re-
generation. On the whole we may say, that
it again manifested a living power, regene-
rated its creed in the spirit of the age, and
created reforms in general accordance with
the demands of tlie times. It did not suffer
the religious tendencies existing in southern
Europe to grow up there also into hostile de-
monstrations, but adopted and governed them,
and so infused new vigour into its own sys-
tem. Hitherto the spirit of protestantism
alone had successfully filled the theatre of the
world, and captivated the minds of men ;
another spirit, equally, perhaps, deserving of
esteem, when regarded from a loftier point of
contemplation, though of the most decidedly
opposite character, now entered the lists
against the former, skilled likev^^ise to win
and sway the minds of men, and to kindle
them to activity.
The restored catholic system first obtained
mastery over the two southern peninsulas.
This it did not accomplish without extraor-
dinary rigour: the Spanish inquisition was
seconded by that which had been revived in
Rome, and all demonstrations of protestantism
were violently suppressed. But at the same
time those inward sentiments and promptings
which renovated Catholicism especially ad-
dressed and claimed as her own, were pecu-
liarly powerful in those countries. The
sovereigns, too, attached themselves to the
interests of the church.
It was a circumstance of singular moment,
that Philip II., the mightiest of them all, so
decidedly adhered to the papacy. He repu-
diated all opinions opposed to Catholicism
with the pride of a Spaniard, by whom imma-
culate Catholicism was regarded as the token
of purity of blood and noble descent. Nor
was it, after all, his personal inclinations only
that stamped the character of his policy. From
remote times, and especially since the mea-
sures instituted by Isabella, the kingly dignity
had worn an ecclesiastical complexion in
Spain : in every province the royal authority
was strengthened by a supplement of spiritual
power ; its rule would have been at an end
had it been deprived of the inquisition : even
in his American possessions, the king ap-
peared above all in the light of a disseminator
of the Christian and catholic faith : this was
the thought that combined all his territories
in allegiance to him, nor could he have aban-
doned it without real danger. The spread of
the Huguenots in the south of France excited
pope intact and secure but Spain and Italy, with some
few islands, and with those countries possessed by your
Serenity in Dalmatia and in Greece,
166
COUNTER REFORMATIONS. FIRST PERIOD. [a. d. 1563-89.
gary, and Poland, it constituted a subordinate
but still very important element of the pro-
testant movement ; in western Europe it had
already risen to independent power.
Whereas the Scandinavian kina^doms had
become Lutherean, tlie British had adopted
the Calvinistic faith : in the latter, the new
church had assumed two opposite aspects.
In Scotland, where its power had been won
during its struggles with the government,
it was poor, popular, and democratic : so much
the more resistless was the fervour with which
it animated its votaries. In England, where
it had risen to eminence in league with the
government of the day, it was rich, monarchi-
cal, and magnificent ; and it declared itself
content with mere forbearance from opposition
to its ritual. The church of Scotland naturally
approximated infinitely more to the model of
Geneva, and was infinitely more in accord-
ance with the spirit of Calvin.
The French had embraced the doctrines of
their countryman Calvin, with all theircharac-
teristic vivacity. In defiance of every perse-
cution, the French churches modelled them-
on the type of that of Geneva : they held a
synod as early as the year 1559. In the year
1561, the Venetian ambassador Micheli finds
not one province free from protestantism, and
three-fourths of the realm filled with it, — Bre-
tagne and Normandy, Gascony and Langue-
doc, Poictou, Touraine, Provence, and Dau-
phine. " In many places in these provinces,"
he says, " meetings and preachings are held,
and rules of life laid down, exactly after the
pattern set by Geneva, without the least re-
gard to the royal prohibitions. Every one has
adopted these opinions, even, what is most
remarkable, the clergy; not only priests,
monks, and nuns — there may possibly be a
few convents uninfected by them — but the
very bishops, and many of the more eminent
prelates." " Your highness:" he says to the
doge, — " with the exception of the common
people, that is still zealous in frequenting the
churches, all the rest of the nation are fallen
away, especially the nobles, and the younger
men under forty years of age, almost without
exception. For although many of them still
go to mass, they do so only for appearance
sake, and out of fear: when they think them-
selves unobserved, they turn their backs on
mass and church." When Micheli arrived
in Geneva, he learned that immediately after
the death of Francis II. fifty preachers had set
out from that city to different towns in France.
He was amazed to see the consideration in
which Calvin was held, and the quantity of
money that poured in upon him in aid of the
multitudes that had fled lor refuge to Geneva.*
He finds it unavoidable that religious freedom
should be accorded to the French protestants,
at least for an interim, as he expressed him-
self, if a deluge of blood was to be avoided.
In fact, this report was soon followed by the
edict of Jan. 1562, which granted a recognized
and legal existence to protestantism in France,
and is the basis of the privileges it has since
enjoyed there.
All these changes on every side, in Ger-
many, France, and England, could not fail of
affecting the Netherlands. The German in-
fluence had first prevailed there. One of the
most cogent motives that impelled Charles V.
to the war of Schmalcalde was, that the sym-
pathy the German protestants excited in the
Netherlands, daily increased the difficulty of
governing those provinces, which constituted
so important a part of his dominions. By put-
ting down the German princes, he guarded
himself at the same time from insurrection on
the part of his Flemish subjects.* All his
laws, however, though he enforced them with
extraordinary rigour, all the executions in-
flicted in almost incredible number, particular-
ly in the early part of his successor's reign
(it was calculated at the time, that up to 1562
thirty thousands protestants, men and women,
had been put to death,f) were unable to stop
the progress of the new opinions. The only
result was, that in the Netherlands these as-
sumed rather the French Calvinistic tone than
the German Lutheran. In this country, too,
in defiance of all persecution, a formal con-
fession was put forward so early as in the year
1561 : churches were established on the Gen-
evese model ; and the protestants, connecting
themselves with local rights and their defend-
ers, acquired a political basis, from which they
might expect not only safety and support, but
even political importance for the time to come.
* Micheli, Relatione delle cose di Francia, Tanno 15C1.
Da poi che fu conosciuto che col mettere in prigioni e con
casligare e con I'abbruciare non solo non si emendavano,
ma si disordiuavauo piu, I'u deliberate che uun si proce-
desse piu contra alcuno, eccetto che contra quelli che
andavano predicando, seducendo e facendo publicamente
le congregationi 6 le assemblce, e gli altri si lassassero
vivere: ondi ne furono liberati ecavati di prigioni di Par-
igi e di tutti le altre lerre del regno tin grandisssimo nu-
mero, che rimasero poi nel regno praticando liberamente
e parlando con ogn'uno e gloriandosi che aveano giiadag-
nato la lite contra i Papisti : cosi chiamavano e chiamano
li loro adversarii. [After it was ascertained that im-
prisonment, chastisement, and burning did not mend
them, but made them more disorderly, it was determined
to proceed no more against any one, except those who per-
sisted in preaching, misleading, and publicly holding
meetings, and that all others sliould be left unharmed.
Accordmgly, a great number of them were let loose from
the prisons of Paris, and a vast multitude from all the
other parts of the kingdom, who continued in it freely
exercising their religion, talking to every one, and boast-
ing that they had been victorious over the Papists. So
they called, and still call their adversaries.]
* A view taken by the then Florentine resident at the
imperial court, on very good grounds as I think.
f In a report concerning Spain in 1562, apparently by
Paolo Tiepolo, to be found in the Venetian archives, it is
said : Unagradissima parte di quei paesi bassi e guasta e
corrotta da queste nuove opinioni e per tutte le pro-
visioni che si abbiano fatte e per la morte data a molte
migliara de hoaieni (che da sette anni o poco piu in qua
pel- quel che mi e stalo atfermato da persone principal!
di que' paesi, sono stati morti di giustitia pi SGni. fra hom-
ine e donae) no solameute (non) si 6 rimediato, ma, etc.
,D. 1563-89.] SITUATION OF PROTESTANTISM ABOUT 1563.
167
Under these circumstances new energies
were also infused into thie older oppositions
to Rome. The Moravian brethren had been
formally recognized in the year 1562, by
Maximilian II., and they availed themselves
of that fortunate event to elect that very same
year in their synod a great number of new
clergy, as many it is said, as one hundred and
eighty-eight.* In the year 1561, the duke
of Savoy, too, saw himself compelled to ac-
cord new privileges to the poor congregations
of Waldenses in the mountains.! The pro-
testant notions extended their vivifying ener-
gies to the most remote and most forgotten
corners of Europe. What an immense domain
had they conquered within the space of forty
years ] From Iceland to the Pyrenees, from
Finland to the heights of the Italian Alps.
Even beyond the latter mountains opinions
analogous had once, as we are aware, pre-
vailed. Protestantism embraced the whole
range of the Latin church : it had laid hold on
a vast majority of the higher classes, and of
the minds that took part in public life : whole
nations clung to it with enthusiasm, and
states had been remodelled by it.| This is
the more deserving of our wonder, inasmuch
as protestantism was by no means a mere
antithesis, a negation of the papacy, or an
emancipation from its rule : it was in the
highest degree positive ; a renovation of Chris-
tian notions and principles, that sway human
life even to the profoundest mysteries of the
Boul.
Capacities of the Papacy for Contest.
The papacy and Catholicism had for a long
time maintained a defensive attitude against
the progress of their foe, but passively only.
* Regenvolscii Ecclesise Slavonics, i. p. 63.
t Leger: Hisloire des Eglises Vaudoises, ii. p. 38, gives
the trpaly.
t In ihis light the loss was regardpcl in Rome itself.
Tiepolo, Relatione di Pio IV. e V. Parlando solamente
di quelli (popoli) d'Europa die nonsoleobedivano lui (al
papa) ma ancora seguivano in tulto i riii e le consuetudini
flplla chiesa romana, celebrando ancora li officii nella
lingua Lalina, si sa che I'lnghilterra, la Scotia, la Dania,
la Norvegia, la Suetia, e finalmente tutti i paesi setten-
Irionali, si sono alienati da lei : la Gennania e quasi lutta
perduta, la Bohemia e la Polonia si trovano in gran parte
iufette, li paesi bassi della Fiandra sono cosi corotti che
per rimedio che vi si sforzi dar loro il duca d'Alva difficil-
mente rilorneranno alia prima saniti, e finalmente la
Francia per rispetto di questi mal humori e tutta ripiena
di confusioni, in modo che non pare che sia reslato allro
di sano e di sicuro al pontefice che la Spagna e I'ltalia,
con alcune poche isole e con quel paeso che e dalla Serti.
Yn- in Dalinatia et in Grecia possedulo. [Speaking only
of those nations of Europe, which not only used to obey
the pope, but also followed in every particular the ritea
and usages of the Roman clturch, celebrating public wor-
ship too in the Latin language, it is notorious that Eng-
land, Scotland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and in a
word all the countries of the North, are alienated from it.
Germany is almost wholly lost, Bohemia and Poland are
In a great degree infected, the Low Countries of Flanders
are so corrupted, that notwithstanding all the etforts of
the duke of Alva to remedy the evil, they will hardly
ever return to their original Iriealthy condition ; and lastly
France, by means of these morbid humours, is all replete
Willi confusion, so that it appears nothing remains lo the
and without power to offer it any effectual
resistance.
Now, however, matters assumed a different
aspect.
We have seen the inward evolutions through
which Catholicism began the work of self-re-
generation. On the whole we may say, that
it again manifested a living power, regene-
rated its creed in the spirit of the age, and
created reforms in general accordance with
the demands of the times. It did not suffer
the religious tendencies existing in soutliern
Europe to grow up there also into hostile de-
monstrations, but adopted and governed them,
and so infused new vigour into its own sys-
tem. Hitherto the spirit of protestantism
alone had successfully filled the theatre of the
world, and captivated the minds of men ;
another spirit, equally, perhaps, deserving of
esteem, when regarded from a loftier point of
contemplation, though of the most decidedly
opposite character, now entered the lists
against the former, skilled likevv'ise to win
and sway the minds of men, and to kindle
them to activity.
The restored catholic system first obtained
mastery over the two southern peninsulas.
This it did not accomplish without extraor-
dinary rigour: the Spanish inquisition was
seconded by that which had been revived in
Rome, and all demonstrations of protestantism
were violently suppressed. But at the same
time those inward sentiments and promptings
which renovated Catholicism especially ad-
dressed and claimed as her own, were pecu-
liarly powerful in those countries. The
sovereigns, too, attached themselves to the
interests of the church.
It was a circumstance of singular moment,
that Philip II., the mightiest of them all, so
decidedly adhered to the papacy. He repu-
diated all opinions opposed to Catholicism
with the pride of a Spaniard, by whom imma-
culate Catholicism was regarded as the token
of purity of blood and noble descent. Nor
was it, after all, his personal inclinations only
that stamped the character of his policy. From
remote times, and especially since the mea-
sures instituted by Isabella, the kingly dignity
had worn an ecclesiastical complexion in
Spain : in every province the royal authority
was strengthened by a supplement of spiritual
power ; its rule would have been at an end
had it been deprived of the inquisition : even
in his American possessions, the king ap-
peared above all in the light of a disseminator
of the Christian and catholic faith : this was
the thought that combined all his territories
in allegiance to him, nor could he have aban-
doned it without real danger. The spread of
the Huffuenots in the south of France excited
pope intact and secure but Spain and Italy, with some
few islands, and with those countries possessed by your
Serenity in Dalmatia and in Greece.
16S
COUNTER REFORMATIOxNS. FIRST PERIOD, [a. d. 1563-89.
the greatest anxiety in Spain ; the inquisition
deemed itself bound to double vigilance. " I
assure your highness," the Venetian ambassa-
dor says in a letter to his sovereign, Aug. 25,
1562, " no great religious excitement is to be
wished for, for this country : there are many
in it who long for a change of religion."* The
papal nuncio was of opinion, that the progress
of the council then sitting was a matter that
no less concerned the royal than the papal
authority. " For," said he, " the obedience
paid to tlie king and his whole government
depend upon the inquisition. Should this lose
its consideration, insurrections would be the
immediate consequence."
The southern system would have acquired
immediate influence upon the affairs of Europe
collectively, from the mere circumstance that
Philip was master of the Netherlands ; but
besides this, all was far from having been lost
in the other kingdoms. The emperor, the
kings of France and of Poland, and the dukes
of Bavaria, still adhered to the catholic church.
There were on all sides spiritual princes,
whose extinguished zeal might yet be rekin-
dled ; and in many places protestantism had
not yet seized upon the mass of the popula-
tion. The majority of the rural inhabitants
of France, and likewise of Hungaryf and Po-
land, were still catholic ; Paris, which already
in those days exercised a great influence over
the other French cities, had not been tainted
with innovation. In England a great part of
the nobles and commons, and in Ireland the
whole of the primitive stock, had remained
catholic. Protestantism had gained no admis-
sion into the Tyrolese or the Swiss Alps.
Among the rural population of Bavaria, too,
it had made no great progress. At all events,
Canisius compared the Tyrolese and the Ba-
varians wnth the two tribes of Israel, " who
alone remained faithful to the Lord." It
would be well worth while to inquire more
closely what were the internal causes of this
pertinacity, this imperturbable attachment to
tradition evidenced by so many various and
dissimilar races. The same phenomenon was
likewise presented in the Walloon provinces
of the Netherlands.
And now the papacy resumed a position in
which it could once more command all these
* Diapaccio, Soranzo : Perpignan, 28 Maggio. Essendo
in quesla provincia (Spagna) molti Ugonoui quasi non
osano moslrarsi per la severissima dimostratione che qui
fanno contra. Dubilano che non si mettano insieme es-
sendone molti per lutta la Spagna. [Whereas there are
many HuL'uenots in Spain, they scarcely dare to show
themselves, on account of the very severe demonstrations
egainst them. They waver about combining, there being
many of them throughout all Spain.]
+ If it were not ignorance in this case, as, at least, is
asserted by Lazarus Schwendi: "En Ungarie tout est
confusion el misfire: ils sont de la plus part Huguenots,
mais avec une extreme ignorance du people." [In Hun-
fary all is confusion and wretchedness: the majority are
luguenols, but the common people are extremely igno-
rant.] Schwendi an prince d'Orange. Archives de la
Maison d'Orange-Nassau, i. p. 288.
inclinations, and knit them indissolubly to
itself. Though it too had to undergo muta-
tions, it still enjoyed the inestimable advan-
tage of having on its side the externals of the
past, and the habit of obedience. In the
council they had brought to a happy termina-
tion, the popes had even succeeded in enlarg-
ing their own authority, which there had been
an intention of curtailing, and in acquiring aug-
mented influence over the national churches.
Furthermore, they abandoned that temporal
policy by which they had previously involved
Italy and Europe in confusion ; they attached
themselves confidentially and without reserve
to Spain, and reciprocated her devotion to the
church of Rome. The Italian sovereignty,
the extended dominions of the pope, were
pre-eminently subservient to the promotion of
ecclesiastical enterprises : for awhile the whole
.surplus revenue was devoted to the interests
of the entire body of the catholic church.
Thus intrinsically strong, and backed by '
powerful adherents, and by the might of an
idea associated with their names, the popes
passed from the defensive system, to which
they had hitherto been forced to confine them- '
selves, and became assailants. The attack
they made, its course and consequences, it is
the principal object of this work to consider,
A boundless theatre opens before us. The
action began simultaneously in several places ;
we are called on to direct our attention to the
most remote and distinct parts of the world.
The religious action is most intimately con-
nected with political impulses; combinations
arise embracing the whole world, under the
influence of which tlie scheme of conquest
succeeds or fails ; we shall keep in view the
great changes manifested in the events of
general politics the more steadily, because
they often immediately coincided with the
results of the religious contest.
We must not, however, confine ourselves
to generalities. Religious conquests can still
less than temporal be accomplished without
some native sympathies of the conquered with
the conquerors. We must fathom the inte-
rests of the several countries, in order to com-
prehend the inward movements by which the
designs of Rome were favoured.
Such is the abundance and diversity of
occurrences and of aspects of life here pre-
sented to us, that we have almost reason to
fear they can hardly be comprehended in one
view. A great plastic movement is before us,
actuated throughout by kindred principles,
and sometimes combining grand universal
crises, but which offers an infinite diversity of
phenomena.
Let us begin with Germany, where the pa-
pacy first sustained its great losses, and where
now, too, the strife between the two princi-
ples was chiefly fought out.
Here pre-eminently good service was ren-
A. D. 1563-89 ] THE FIRST JESUIT SCHOOLS IN GERMANY.
169
dered the church of Rome by the society of
the Jesuits, which combined worklly prudence
with religious zeal, and was penetrated by
the spirit of modern Catholicism. Let us
first bestow our attention on the eftective
power of this body.
The first Jesuit Schools in Germany,
Ferdinand I. had with him his confessor
Bishop Urban of Laibach at tlie diet of Augs-
burg-, in the year 1550. The latter was one
of those few prelates who had not suffered
themselves to be shaken in their faith. At
home he often mounted the pulpit to exhort
the people in the local dialect to stand fast by
the faith of their fathers, preaching to them
of the one fold, and the one Shepherd.* The
Jesuit Le Jay was also present in Augsburg
on that occasion, and gained consideration by
some conversions. Bishop Urban became ac-
quainted with him, and heard from him, for the
first time, of the colleges the Jesuits had found-
ed in several universities. Upon this the
bishop advised his imperial master to found a
• similar college in Vienna, seeing how great
was the decay of catholic theology in Germany.
Ferdinand warmly embraced the suggestion ;
in a letter he wrote to Loyola on the subject,
he declares his conviction, that the only means
to uphold the declining cause of Catholicism in
Germany, was to give the rising generation
learned and pious catholics for teachers.f The
preliminaries were easily arranged. In the
year 1551 thirteen Jesuits, among them Le
Jay himself, arrived in Vienna, and were, in
the first instance, granted a dwelling, chapel,
and pension, by Ferdinand, until shortly after
he incorporated them with the university, and
even assigned to them the visitation of it.
Soon after this they rose to consideration in
Cologne, where they had already resided for
two years, but had met with so little success,
that they had even been compelled to live
separate. It was not till the year 1556 that
the endowed school we have spoken of, gov-
erned by a protestant regent, gave them an
opportunity of gaining a firmer footing. For
since there was a party in the city bent above
all things on maintaining the catholic cha-
racter of the university, the advice given by
the patrons of the Jesuits, to hand over the
establishment to that order,! "'^t with atten-
tion. Their chief supporters were the prior
of the Carthusians, the provincial of the Car-
melites, and especially Doctor John Groppor,
who now and then gave an entertainment, to
which he invited the most influential citizens,
that he might have an opportunity of helping
forward the cause he had most at heart in
* Valvassor: Ehre dea Herzogthums Krain, Theil ii
Buch vii. p. 433.
t Printed in Soctier'sHistoriaProTinciae AusUiiB Socie-
latis Jesu, i. 21.
22
good old German fashion, over a glass of wine.
Fortunately for the Jesuits, there was amongf
the members of the order a native of Cologne,
John Rhetius, a man of patrician family, to
whom the endowed school could be more par-
ticularly entrusted. But this was not done
without strict limitations. The Jesuits were
rigorously forbidden to introduce into the
school the monastic rules of life usual in their
colleges.*
At this same period they also gained a firm
footing in Ingoldstadt. Their previous at-
tempts had been frustrated by the resistance
of the younger members of the university, who
were unwilling that any privileged school
should interfere with the private instruction
they were in the habit of giving. In the year
1556, however, when, as we have said, the
duke had been forced to large concessions in
favour of the prolestants, his catholic counsel-
lors deemed it imperatively necessary to adopt
some substantial measures for upholding the
ancient faith. The foremost among these men
were the chancellor Wiguleus Hund, equally
remarkable for his zeal in supporting the
church, as in investigating all the particulars
of its ancient history, and Heinrich Schwigger,
the duke's private secretary. ThrougJi their
instrumentality the Jesuits were all recalled.
Eighteen of them entered Ingoldstadt on St.
Wilibald's day, 1.556, having selected that day
because St. Wilibald was regarded as the first
bishop of that diocese. They had still many
difficulties to encounter in the city and the
university, but they were gradually enabled
to overcome them by the aid of the same
patronage to which they owed their establish-
ment.
From these three metropolitan centres, the
Jesuits now spread out in every direction.
From Vienna they extended immediately
over the Austrian territories. Ferdinand L
introduced them in 1556 into Prague, where
he founded for them a school, destined chiefly
for the education of sons of the nobility. He
himself sent his pages thither, and the order
met with countenance and support, at least, at
the hands of the catholic part of the Bohemian
nobility, particularly the Rosenbergs and Lob-
kowitz. One of the most eminent men in
Hungary at that time was Nicolaus Olahus,
archbishop of Gran, a Wallachian by descent,
as his name testifies. His father, in his horror
at the murder of a waiwode of his house, had
dedicated him to the church, and in that career
the son had made the most auspicious pro-
gress. He had already filled the important
post of private secretary under the last native
kings ; and, subsequently, he had risen still
higher in the service of the Austrian party.
Contemplating the general decay of Catholi-
cism in Hungary, he saw that the last hope
♦ Sacchinus, Hist. Socieialis Jesu, pars ii. lib. i. n. 103.
170
COUNTER REFORMATIONS. FIRST PERIOD.
left for it, was that of maintaining its hold on
the common people, who had not yet wholly
lapsed from its rule. To this end, however,
there lacked teachers of catholic principles, to
form whom, he founded a college of Jesuits at
Tyrnau in the year 1561, bestowing on them
a pension out of his own revenues, to which
the emperor Ferdinand added the gift of an
abbey. Jifst at the period the Jesuits arrived,
there was an assembly of the diocesan clergy
convened : the first efforts of the Jesuits were
directed towards recalling those Hungarian
priests and pastors from the heterodox doctrine
to which they inclined. By this time, too,
there was a call for the Jesuits in Moravia.
Wilhelin Prussinowski, bishop of Olmutz, who
had become acquainted with the order whilst
pursuing his studies in Italy, invited them
thither. Hurtado Perez, a Spaniard, was the
first rector in Olmutz. Soon after, we meet
wiih members of the society in Brvmn like-
wise.
From Cologne the society spread over the
whole territory of the Rhine. Protestantism
had found adherents, as already noticed, in
Trier too, and occasioned fernaents there.
John von Stein, the archbishop, resolved to
inflict only slight punishment on the refrac-
tory, and to rely chiefly on doctrinal means for
counteractmg the movements of their party.
He invited to Coblentz the two heads of the
Jesuit school of Cologne, and stated to them
that he wished for some members of their
order, " to the end," as he expressed himself,
" that he might maintain the discipline of the
flock entrusted to him rather by admonition
and friendly instruction, than by weapons and
threats." He also turned to Rome, and an
agreement was speedily concluded. Six Je-
suits were sent from Rome ; Cologne furnish-
ed the rest. They opened their college on
the 3rd of February, 1561, and undertook to
preach during the ensuing Lent.*
Two privy councillors of the elector Daniel
of Mainz, namely, Peter Echter and Simon
Bagen, conceived likewise that the admission
of the Jesuits was the only means that pro-
mised the recovery of the decayed university
of Mainz. In despite of the opposition made by
the canons and feudal proprietors, they found-
ed a college of the order in Mainz, and a pre-
paratory school in Aschaffenburg.
The society continued to advance continu-
ally up the Rhine. They particularly coveted
a settlement at Spires, both because amongst
the assessors of the Kammergericht assembled
there, there were so many distinguished men,
over whom it would be of extraordinary mo-
ment to possess influence ; and also in order
to be placed near the Heidelberg university,
which at that day enjoyed the highest repute
[a. d. 1563-89.
They gradually
* Browerus: Annales Trevirenses, torn. ii. lib. xxi.
106—125.
for its protestant professors.*
carried their point.
They tried their fortune also along the
Maine, and that without delay. Though
Frankfurt was wholly protestant, they had
hopes of accomplishing something there too
during the fair. This, however, was a peril-
ous experiment ; and, to avoid discovery, they
were obliged to change their lodgings every
night.f But equal to the difficulties they
encountered here, were the security and the
welcome they experienced at Wiirzburg. It
would seem as though the admonition addres-
sed to the bishops by the emperor Ferdinand,
in the diet of 1559, that they too should, at
length, put out their strength for the mainten-
ance of the catholic church, had greatly con-
tributed to the brilliant success of the order in
the ecclesiastical principalities. From Wiirz-
burg they spread through Franconia.
Meanwhile the Tyrol had been opened to
them from another quarter. At the desire of
the emperor's daughter they seated them-
selves in Inspruck, and, afterwards, in Halle
in its vicinity. In Bavaria their progress was
continual. At Munich, where they had
arrived in 1559, they were even better satis-
fied than at Ingoldstadt ; they declared it the
Rome of Germany. And already a new great
colony had been planted not far from Ingold-
stadt. In order to bring back his university
of Dillingen to its original purpose, cardinal
Truchsess resolved to dismiss all the profes-
sors who still taught there, and to commit the
establishment entirely to the Jesuits. A for-
mal convention on this subject was agreed to
at Botzen between German and Italian com-
missioners, on the part of the cardinal and of
the order. The Jesuits arrived in Dillingen
in 1563, and took possession of their profes-
sorships. They relate with much complacency
how the cardinal, who shortly after, on his
return from a journey, entered Dillingen in
state, turned with marked preference to the
Jesuits amongst all those who had gone out to
receive him, offered them his hand to kiss,
greeted them as his brethren, visited their
cells in person, and dined with them. He
promoted their interests to the utmost of his
power, and soon established a mission for them
in Augsburg.
This was an extraordinary progress made
by the society in so brief a space of time. In
the year 1551 they had not yet any fixed posi-
tion in Germany ; in 1556 they had extended
over Bavaria and the Tyrol, Franconia, and
Swabia, a great part of Rhineland, and Aus-
tria, and they had penetrated into Hungary,
Bohemia, and Moravia. The effects of their
* E. g. Neuser says in his famous letter to the sultan,
that he was a teacher and a preacher at Heidelberg, "to
which place the most learned of the whole German peopla
now-a-days resort." Arnold, Ketzerhist, ii. 1133.
t Gropp, Wirzburgische Chronik der letztereu Zeiten,
Th. i. p. 237.
A. D. 1563-89.] THE FIRST JESUIT SCHOOLS IN GERMANY.
171
proceedinsfs had already become manifest. In
the year 1561 the papal nuncio asserts, that
*' they are winning many souls, and doing
great service to the holy see." This was the
first enduring anti-protestant impression made
on Germany.
Their labours were above all devoted to the
universities. They were ambitious of rival-
ling the fame of tiiose of the protestants. The
whole learned education of those times was
based on the study of the ancient languages.
This they prosecuted with lively zeal, and ere
long it was thought, here and there at least,
that tlie Jesuit teachers deserved a place
beside the restorers of classical learning. They
likewise cultivated the sciences : Franz Ros-
ier expounded astronomy at Cologne, in a
manner as attractive as it was instructive.
But their main concern was, of course, theolo-
gical discipline. The Jesuits lectured with
the greatest industry even during the holi-
days ; they revived the practice of disputa-
tion, without which, as they said, all instruc-
tion was a dead letter. Their disputations,
which were held in public, were conducted
with dignity and decorum, were full of matter,
and the most brilliant that had ever been wit-
nessed. In Ingoldstadt they soon persuaded
themselves that they had made such good
speed, that the university could compete with
any other in Germany, at least, in the faculty
of theology. Ingoldstadt acquired, though in
an opposite direction, an influence parallel to
that possessed by Wittenberg and Geneva.
I^he Jesuits displayed no less assiduity in
the conduct of their Latin schools. It was
one of the leading maxims of Lainez, that the
lower grammatical classes should be supplied
with good teachers, since lirst impressions
exercise the greatest influence over the whole
future life of the individual. He sought with
just discernment for men, who having once
adopted that more limited department of edu-
cation, were content to devote themselves to
it for their whole lives ; for time alone could
enable the teacher to learn so difficult a busi-
ness, or to acquire the becoming authority.
In this the Jesuits succeeded to admiration.
It was found that young persons learned more
under them in half a year than with others in
two years : even protestants called back their
children from distant schools, and put them
under the care of the Jesuits.
Schools for the poor, modes of instruction
adapted for children, and catechizing followed.
Canisius composed a catecliism, that satisfied
the wants of the learner by its well-connected
questions and its apposite answers.
The instruction of the Jesuits was conveyed
wholly in the spirit of that enthusiastic devo-
tion, which had from the first so peculiarly
characterized their order. The first rector in
Vienna was a Spaniard named John Vittoria,
a man who had once, in Rome, marked his
admission into the order, by going about the
Corso during the festivities of the carnival
clad in sackclotii, scourging himself all the
while till the blood ran down in streams. Ere
long the children, who frequented the schools
of the Jesuits in Vienna, were distinguished
for their resolute refusal to partake on fast
days of forbidden meats, which their parents
ate without scruple. In Cologne it was once
more regarded as an honour to wear tlie ro-
sary. Relics began to be honoured in Trier,
where for many years no one had ventured
to exhibit them. Already, in the year 1.560,
the youth of Ingoldstadt went in procession
two and two from the Jesuit school to Eich-
stiidt, in order to be strengthened at their
confirmation " with the dew that distilled
from the tomb of St. Walpurgi." The feel-
ings thus engendered in the schools were pro-
pagated throughout the mass of the popula-
tion by preaching and confession.
This is a case for which, perhaps, the world
has never exiiibited an exact parallel.
Whenever a new intellectual movement
has seized mankind, it has always been eftect-
ed by grand personal qualities, or by the cap-
tivatmg force of new ideas. The efiects pro-
duced in this case were accomplished inde-
pendently of any remarkable original concep-
tions. The Jesuits may have been learned
and pious in their way ; but no one will pre-
tend that their science was the fruit of spon-
taneous genius, or that their piety aroSe out
of the depth and the ingenuousness of a single
heart. They were learned enough to acquire
reputation, to excite confidence, to form and
attach scholars : more than this they did not
aspire to. Their piety not merely shunned
all moral taint, but was positively conspicuous,
and so much tlie less questionable : this was
enough for them. Neither their piety nor
their learning ventured upon undefined or
untrodden paths : but they had one quality
that particularly distinguished them — strict
method. With them every thing was subject
of calculation, for every thing had its special
end. Such a combination of competent know-
ledge and indefatigable zeal, of study and
persuasiveness, of pomp and asceticism, of
world-wide influence and of unity in the go-
verning principle, was never beheld before or
since. They were assiduous and visionary,
worldly-wise and filled with enthusiasm ;
well-comported men, whose society was glad-
ly courted; devoid of personal interests, each
labouring for the advancement of the rest.
No wonder that they were successful.
Another consideration connected with this
subject forces itself upon a German writer.
Papal theology had, as we have said, all but
perished in Germany : the Jesuits arose to
revive it. Who were those Jesuits who first
arrived in that country 1 they were Spaniards,
Italians, and Flemings ; the name of their
172
COUNTER REFORMATIONS. FIRST PERIOD. [a. d. 1563-89.
order was long unknown: they were called
Spanish priests. They occupied the profes-
sors' chairs, and found pupils who attached
themselves to their doctrines. They received
nothing from the Germans ; their doctrines
and their constitution were complete before
they appeared among them. The general
progress of their institution in Germany may
be regarded as a new instance of the influence
of the Latin portion of Europe on the Ger-
manic. They conquered the Germans on
their own soil, in their very home, and wrest-
ed from them a part of their native land.
Undoubtedly the cause of this was, that the
German theologians were neither agreed
among themselves, nor were magnanimous
enough to mutually tolerate minor discrepan-
cies. Extreme points of opinion were seized
upon ; opponents attacked eacli other with
reckless fierceness, so that those who were
not yet fully convinced were perplexed, and
a path was opened to those foreigners who
now seized on men's minds with a shrewdly
constructed doctrine, finished to its meanest
details, and leaving not a shadow of cause for
doubt.
Beginning of the Counter-Reformation in
Germany.
Notwithstanding all this, it is manifest that
the Jesuits could not have succeeded so easi-
ly, h&d it not been for the aid of the secular
arm, and the favour of the princes of the em-
pire.
For it had fared with theological as with
political questions : no measure had been
brought about by which the intrinsically hie-
rarchical constitution of the empire might
have been made to harmonize with the new
circumstances of religion. The sum and sub-
stance of the peace of Augsburg, as it was
understood from the first, and was subsequent-
ly interpreted, was a new extension of the
civil sovereignty. The several principalities,
too, acquired a degree of independence in
respect of religion. Thenceforth it depended
solely on the creed of the prince, and on the
understanding between him and his estates,
what ecclesiastical position any territory
should assume.
This was a consummation that seemed to
have been devised in favour of protestantism,
but which has actually served only to promote
Catholicism. The former was already estab-
lished when the principle was laid down ; the
latter re-established itself only by resting
upon it.
This occurred first in Bavaria ; and the
manner in which it took place there is worth
notice, from the immense influence it exer-
cised.
The Bavarian diet presents us, during a
considerable period, with a series of struggles
between the sovereign and the estates. We
see the duke continually in want of money,
loaded with debt, forced to the imposition of
new taxes, and incessantly constrained to so-
licit the aid of his estates. In return for this
the latter demanded concessions, chiefly of a
religious kind. A similar state of things to
that which had long prevailed in Austria
seemed inevitable in Bavaria ; a legitimate
opposition of the estates against the sovereign,
grounded at once on religion and on privi-
leges, unless the prince himself should become
a convert to protestantism.
Undoubtedly, it was this state of things
through which the introduction of the Jesuits,
as we have mentioned, was mainly prompted.
It may possibly be true, that their preaching
made a personal impression on duke Albert
V. ; he subsequently declared, that whatever
he knew of God's law he had learned from
Hoflaus and Canisius, both of them Jesuits.
But another agency co-operated. Pius IV.
not only set before the duke that every reli-
gious concession would diminish the obedi-
ence of his subjects,* (which in the actual
condition of German sovereignties was hardly
to be denied,) but he gave force to his admo-
nitions by marks of favour ; he abandoned to
him a tenth of the property of his clergy.
Thus rendering him independent of the plea-
sure of his estates, he showed him at the same
time what advantages he had to expect from
a connexion with the Roman church.
The main question now was, whether the
duke would be able to put down the religious
opposition actually constituted among his
estates.
He entered on the task in a diet at Ingold-
stadt, in the year 1563. The prelates were
already well-inclined to him : he next
wrought upon the cities. Whether it were
that the doctrines of reviving Catholicism, and
the activity of the Jesuits, who insinuated
themselves every where, had gained ground
with the cities, and especially with the lead-
ing members of their assemblies, or that other
considerations swayed them, it is enough to
say, that the cities desisted from the demands
of new religious concessions they had always
hitherto urged with earnestness, and proceed-
ed to grant supplies without stipulating for
new privileges. Now then the nobles alone
remained to be dealt with. They left the
diet in discontent, nay bitterness ; threaten-
ing expressions that had dropped from various
members of the body were reported to the
duke ;f at last, the foremost of them all, the
* Legationes paparuni ad puces Bavarias. MS. in the
library of Municli. " Quod si Sua Celsiludo Ill'»a absque
sedis apostolicae autorilale usum calicis concedat, ipsi
priiicipi eliani plurimuni decederel de ejus apud subdiios
autorilale." Tliey complained in Ihe Bavarian diel ihal
ihe prince had lei himself be dazzled by the decimation
grant.
t Private inciuiry and report respecting the unbecoming
A. D. 1563-89.] BEGINNING OF COUNTER REFORMATION IN GERMANY. 173
count of Ortenburg, who claimed for his coun-
ty an unmediatized position disputed by the
duke, resolved forthwith to introduce the evan-
gelical confession into that territory. But by
that very means the duke found the best wea-
pons placed in his hands. Above all, when
he discovered in one of the castles he seized,
a correspondence between the Bavarian lords,
containnig violently acrimonious language,
in which he was designated as a hardened
Pharaoh, and his council as thirsting for the
blood of poor Christians, besides other expres-
sions which seemed to indicate the existence
of a conspiracy, he had now a fair pretext for
calling to account all the members of the
nobility that were opposed to him.* The
punishments he inflicted upon them cannot be
called rigorous, but they effected his purpose.
He excluded all the individuals compromised
from the Bavarian diet, and as they constitut-
ed the only remaining opposition in that body,
he thus became complete master of his es-
tates, which from that time forth never stirred
any question of religion.
The great importance of this result was
forthwith made apparent. For a long time
duke Albert had been urgent in his demands
to the pope and the council for permission to
the laity to partake of the cup; he seemed to
set the whole fortune of his dominions on that
point : at last his suit was granted, in April,
1564. Could it be believed ! he did not even
make the fact known. Circumstances were
altered : a privilege departing from the strict
tenour of Catholicism, now seemed to him ra-
ther hurtful than advantageous; he put down
by force some communities in Lower Bava-
ria that boisterously renewed their former
demands.!
In a short time there was not in Germany
a more decided catholic prince than duke Al-
bert. He set himself with the utmost earnest-
ness to the task of making his country once
more wholly catholic.
The professors in Ingoldstadt were compel-
led to subscribe the confession of faith tliat
had been published in pursuance of the de-
crees of the council of Trent. All the officers
in the duke's employ were obliged to pledge
themselves by oath to an unambiguous catho-
lic confession : if any refused to do so, they
were dismissed. Even among the common
people, duke Albert gave no toleration to pro-
testantism. In Lower Bavaria, in the first
instance, whither he had sent some Jesuits
for the conversion of the inhabitants, not only
were the protestant preachers, but every in-
dividual who adhered to their doctrine, corn-
seditious speeches, in Freiberg: Geschichte der baieris-
chen Lanilsiilnde, ii. 352.
* Huschberg: Geschichte des Hauses Ortenberg, S.
390.
+ Adlzreitter, Annalea Bnicae gentis, ii. xi. n. 22. Al-
bertus earn indulgeuliam juris publici in Boica esse
Qoluit.
pelled to sell their property and quit the coun-
try.* The same course was afterwards pur-
sued in all other parts of the duke's domin-
ions. It would not have been advisable for
any magistrate to tolerate protestants : he
would thereby have drawn down the severest
punishment on himself.
Now with this renovation of Catholicism, '
all its modern forms passed over from Italy
into Germany. An index of prohibited books
was drawn up : they were picked out from
the libraries, and burned in heaps: on the
other hand, books of rigidly catholic principles
were treated with marked favour ; the duke
failed not to encourage their authors. He
caused the Sacred History of Surius to be
translated into German, and printed at his
own cost. The utmost veneration was paid
to relics; St. Benno, of whom in another part
of Germany (Meissen) they would no longer
hear, was solemnly declared the patron saint
of Bavaria. Architecture and music, in ac-
cordance with the taste of the revived church,
were first introduced in Munich : above all,
the Jesuit institutions were encouraged, by
means of which the rising generation was
thoroughly educated in'the orthodox spirit.
The Jesuits on their part could never suffi-
ciently extol the duke, that second Josias, as
they said, another Theodosius.
Only one question remains for considera-
tion.
The more considerable the augmentation of
sovereign authority, which accrued to the
Protestant princes from their agency in the
affairs of religion, the more glaring would it
have been, had the catholic sovereigns found
their own power shackled by the restoration
of the ecclesiastical authority.
This, however, was provided against. The
popes saw plainly that they could not succeed
in upholding their declining power, or in re-
newing that they had lost, but through the aid
of the sovereigns ; they practised no illusion on
themselves on this score; accordingly they
made it the essence of their policy to knit
themselves to the reigning princes.
In the instruction addressed by Gregory to
the very first nuncio he sent to Bavaria, this
purpose is declared without any circumlocu-
tion. He says, " the most ardent wish of his
holiness, is to restore the fallen discipline of
the Church ; at the same time he sees that to
attain so important an end, he must enter into
combination with the sovereigns ; by their
piety has religion been upheld ; with their
laelp alone can Church discipline and morals
be restored."! Accordingly, the pope endows
* Agricola: Ps. i. Dec. iii. 115—120.
t Legatio Gregorii XIH. 1573. " S. S. in earn curam
incumbit qua ecclesiastica disciplina jam ferine in Ger-
niania collapsa aliquo modo inslauretur, quod cum ante-
cessores sui aul neglexerint aut leviter atligerint non tarn
bene quam par erat de republica Christiana meritos esse
aniinadvertit: adjungendos sibi ad tale lanlumque opu3
174
COUNTER REFORMATION. FIRST PERIOD. [a. d. 1563-89.
the duke with authority to stimulate the ne-
gligent bishops : to carry into effect the reso-
lutions of a synod that had been held in Salz-
berg ; to constrain the bishop of Ratisbon and
his chapter to erect a seminary ; in short, lie
confers on him a sort of ecclesiastical super-
vision, and he takes council with him as to
whether it were not advisable to institute
seminaries for monastic clergy, in addition to
those already existing- for the secular clergy.
To this the duke very cheerfully assents; he
only demands that the bishops should not be
allowed to trespass too far on the rights of the
sovereign, whether traditional or newly be-
stowed, and that the clergy should be kept in
discipline and subordination by their superiors.
There exist edicts, in which the prince treats
convents as state property, and subjects them
to secular administration.
If protestant princes in the course of the
reformation appropriated clerical attributes,
the same thing was now accomplished by the
catholic princes likewise. What in the one
case was done in opposition to the papacy, in
the other took place in union with it. If the
protestant princes placed their younger sons
as administrators of the neighbouring evan-
gelical foundations, in the countries that had
remained catholic the sons of catholic princes
were directly advanced to episcopal dignities.
Gregory had promised duke Albert from the
very first, " to neglect nothing that might be
for the advantage of himself or his sons." We
soon find two of the latter in possession of the
most sumptuous preferments; one of them
gradually rose to the highest dignities of the
empire.*
But besides all this, Bavaria acquired a high
degree of instrinsic importance from the posi-
tion it took up. It championed a great prin-
ciple, which was in the act of rising to new
power. The inferior German princes of the
same persuasion for some time regarded Ba-
varia as their chief.
For as far as ever the duke could stretch
catholicos principes sapientissime statuil." [His Holi-
ness is intent upon the consideration how ecclesiastical
discipline, now generally decayed in Germany, may be
restored, and he remarks that his predecessors in neglect-
ing this, or treating it with but slight attention, have not
done lh"ir duty by the Christian commonwealth :— he has
most wisely determined on conjoining the catholicprinces
with him in so excellent, and so great a work.] The am-
bassador Bartolomeo, count of Porzia, expressly promises,
"Suam Sanctilatem nihil unquam praetermissurum esse
quod est e re sua (duels Bavariae) aut filiorum."
* Even Pius V. moderated the rigour of his principles
in favour of the duke of Bavaria. Tiepolo : Relatione di
Pio IV. e V. " D'altri principi secolari di Germania, non
ei sa che allro veramente sia cattolico che il duca di Ba-
Tiera: pert) in gralificatione sua il pontefice ha concesso
che il.figliuclo, che di gran lunga non ha ancora 1 ' et a deter-
minato dal (;oncilio,habbiail vescovaloFrisingense; cosa
che non 6diluislataconcessaadaUri." [Of the'oiher secu-
lar princes of Germany, hardly one seems really catholic,
witfi the exception of the duke of Bavaria: accordingly
for his sake the pope has allowed that his son, who is very
far from havineattainedtheage fixed by the council, shall
have the bishopric of Friesingen: such a concession he
lias never made to any one else.]
his power, he exercised it zealously for the
restoration of the catholic doctrine. No soon-
er had the county of Haag passed into his
hands, than he expelled the Protestants, who
had been tolerated by the last count, and
caused the catholic faith and ritual to be rein-
stated. Margrave Philip of Baden-Baden,
having fallen in the battle of Moncontour, his
son Philip, a boy ten years of age, was placed
under the guardianship of Albert, and brought
up in Munich, of course in the catholic creed.
But the duke did not wait to see what the
young Margrave would do, when he took the
reins of government into his hands, but in-
stantly sent his grand steward, count Schwarz-
enberg, and the Jesuit, George Schorich, who
had already wrought together in the conver-
sion of Lower Bavaria, into the Baden terri-
tory, to convert it to Catholicism by the same
means. True, the Protestant inhabitants ad-
duced imperial edicts in opposition to those
practices, but no heed was paid to them : " the
plenipotentiaries proceeded," as the historian
of the Jesuits complacently says, " to clear
the ears and the minds of the simple multi-
tude for the reception of heavenly doctrine."
That is to say, they removed the protestant
preachers, compelled the monks who had not
continued quite orthodox to abjure all dissent-
ing doctrines, filled the schools and colleges
with catholic teachers, and banished such of
the laity as would not conform to the ordinan-
ces of the Church. Within two years, 1570,
1571, the whole country had once more be-
come catholic*
While these transactions were taking place
in the secular principalities, a similar move-
ment arose by a still more inevitable necessity
in the ecclesiastical.
The German spiritual princes were above
all things bishops, and the popes lost not a
moment in exerting in Germany too, the aug-
mented power over the episcopal office, ac-
corded to them by the decisions come to in
Trent.
Canisius was sent in the first place to the
several spiritual courts, with copies of the
resolutions of the council. He conveyed them
to Mainz, Trier, Cologne, Osnabruck, and
Wiirzburg.f He gave force and meaning to
the official courtesies with which he was
received, by his activity and address. The
* Sacchinus, pars iii. lib. vi. n. 88. lib. vii. n. 67. Agri-
cola, i. iv. 17, 18. The pope duly valued the duke for this.
" Mira perfunditur laetitia," it is said in the account of
that embaasy, " cum audit ill. Sis Yne opera et industria
marchionem Badensemin religione catholica educari, ad
quod accedit cur i ingens quam adhibuit in comitatu de
Hag ut catholica fides, a qua turpiter defecerant, restitua-
tur." [He is filled with exceeding joy at hearing, that by
the care and application of your serene highness, the
Margravate of Baden is trained in the catholic faith, be-
sides the great care your serene highness has taken in the
county of Haag, that the catholic faith, from which it had
shamefully lapsed, should be restored.]
t Maderus de vita P. Ganisii, lib. ii. c. ii. Sacchinus,
iii. ii.22.
A. D. 1563-89.] BEGINNING OF COUNTER REFORMATION IN GERMANY. 175
matter then came under discussion in the diet
of Augsburg of 1566.
Pope Pius V. had feared that protestantism
would make new demands, and obtain new
concessions in that assembly. He had alrea-
dy instructed his nuncio, in case of urgency,
to come forward with a protest, threatening
the emperor and the princes with privation of
all their rights, nay, he even thought the
moment for this was now come.* The nuncio,
who saw more closely into the state of things,
did not hold this expedient. He perceived
there was nothing more to be feared. The
protestants were divided, the catholics held
together. They often assembled at the house
of the nuncio, to concert measures in common ;
Canisius, by his irreproachable life, his perfect
orthodoxy, and his prudence, possessed great
personal influence among them : no concession
was to be thought of; on the contrary, this
diet was the first in which the catholic princes
set up a successful resistance. The pope's
admonitions received attention ; the resolu-
tions of the council of Trent were prelimina-
rily adopted in a special assembly of spiritual
princes. From this moment begins a new
life in the catholic church in Germany. The
decrees in question were successively publish-
ed in the several provincial synods: semina-
ries were erected in the episcopal sees, the
first who complied with this order being, as well
as I can ascertain, the bishop of Eichstadt, who
founded the collegium Wilibaldinum :f the
professio Jidei was subscribed by all classes,
high and low. It is a very important fact,
that subscription to this document was also
imposed on the universities. This was a
regulation proposed by Lainez, approved of
by the pope, and now generally carried into
etfect throughout Germany, through the zeal
of Canisius. Not only were no appointments,
but not even were degrees, though it were
but in the faculty of medicine, to be granted
witJiout a subscription of the professio Jidei.
The first university where the regulation was
enforced, was to the best of my knowledge
that of Dillingen : the others followed in their
turn. The most rigid visitation of the church-
es was began. The bishops, who hitherto
had been very remiss, now displayed zeal and
devotion.
One of the most zealous among them was
doubtless Jacob von Eltz, from the year 1567
to 1581 elector of Trier. He had been edu-
cated in the old Louvain discipline, and had
long devoted his literary powers to the cause
of Catholicism : he had himself compiled a
martyrology, and composed prayers tor the
hours : he had already, under the reign of his
predecessor, taken very great part in the in-
troduction of the Jesuits, and he now, on his
* Catena, Vita di Pio V. 49, gives an extract from this
instruction. Gratiani, Vita Commeadoni, lib. iii. c. ii.
t Falkenstejn, Nordgauische Altenhiiuier, i. 222.
own accession, committed to them the visita-
tion of his diocese. Even schoolmasters were
obliged to subscribe the professio fidei. Rigid
discipline and subordination after the methodic
spirit of the Jesuits was introduced among the
clergy : the parish priests were required to
report monthly to the dean, the dean quarterly
to the bishops : all who refused obedience were
dismissed without delay. A part of the Trent
decrees were printed for the dioceses, and
published for every body's behoof, and a new
edition of the missal was published, in order
to put an end to all discrepancies in the ritual.
The spiritual tribunals received a new rigor-
ous organization, to which Bartholomew Bo-
deghem of Delft, principally contributed. No-
thing seemed to afford the archbishop such
high delight, as the discovery of any one who
was ready to cast off" protestantism : on such
returning penitents he never failed personally
to bestow the benediction,*
But other motives, besides those of connec-
tion with Rome, now further prompted to these
duties of the spiritual electorate. The spi-
ritual princes were urged by the same mo-
tives as the secular, to bring back their domin-
ions to their own faith, nay, periiaps it was
more imperative upon them, since a popula-
tion inclined to protestantism would necessa-
rily evince a more decided opposition to them,
on account of their priestly character.
This important aspect of the German history
first presents itself to us at Trier. The arch-
bishops, like the rest of the spiritual princes,
had long been at strife with their capital. In
the sixteenth century, protestantism added
another source of discord ; the ecclesiastical
tribunal in particular met with obstinate re-
sistance. Jacob von Eltz found himself com-
pelled at last formally to besiege the city. He
subdued it, and then produced a decree of the
emperor favourable to his own claims. Thus
he reduced the citizens to temporal and spi-
ritual obedience.
One other step he took, the effects of which
were generally felt. In the year 1.572, he
irrevocably excluded the protestants from his
court. This was a most serious matter, par-
ticularly for the nobility of the countr}', who
looked to the court for advancement. All
their future prospects were cut off, and it is
likely that many an one of them may have
been moved by that consideration to return to
the old religion.
A neighbouring prince too, Daniel Brendel,
elector of Mainz, was a staunch catholic.
Contrary to the advice of all about him, he
revived the procession of Corpus Christi day,
and figured in it himself: he would on no ac-
count have omitted vespers ; always bestowed
his attention on spiritual in preference to all
* Browerus, Annales Trevirenses, ii. xiii. 25. in geno-
' ral our best authority on these topics.
COUNTER REFORMATION. FIRST PERIOD.
[a. d. 1563-89.
Orange suspected, have availed themselves
of the first flush of victory, to induce the
king to some violent resolution.* In fact,
towards the end of the year 1565, an edict fol-
lowed, that surpassed in harshness all that had
preceded it.
The penal edicts, the resolutions of the
council, and of the provincial synods that had
been subsequently held, were to be enforced
undeviatingly, and the inquisitors alone were
to take cognizance of spiritual transgressions.
All functionaries were commanded to aid in
carrying out these provisions : a commis-
sioner was also specially charged with this
duty in every province, and was to report pro-
gress quarterly.!
It is manifest that these measures tended
to the certain introduction of a spiritual domi-
nation, if not exactly like that of Spain, at
least similar to that established in Italy.
The first result was, that the people took
up arms, the demolition of images began, and
the whole country became a scene of the
fiercest turbulence. There was a moment
when the authorities seemed disposed to give
way ; but, as usual in such cases, the violence
of the insurgents was fatal to their own cause :
the moderate and peaceable inhabitants were
alarmed and incited to aid the government.
The governess was victorious. As soon as
she had seized possession of the rebellious
places, she felt herself at once in a condition
to impose an oath on the government func-
tionaries, nay, on the king's vassals in gene-
ral, by whicli they formally pledged them-
selves to the maintenance of the catholic
faith, and to the prosecution of war against
the heretics.]:
But even this was not enough for the king.
The moment was that unhappy one which
was marked by the dismal end of his son Don
Carlos : never was he more stern and unbend-
ing. The pope exhorted him once more to
grant no concessions prejudicial to Catholi-
cism, and tlie king assured his holiness " that
he would not sutler the root of a noxious
plant to remain in the soil of the Nether-
lands ; he would either lose the provinces, or
maintain the catholic religion there in its in-
tegrity."^ For the fulfilment of his purpose
he sent, even after the troubles had been
allayed, his best general, the duke of Alva,
and an imposing army, into the Netherlands.
* The prince held Granvella in suspicion. See his
letters in the Archives de la Maison d 'Orange-Nassau, i.
2d9.
fSlrada, after a formula of the 18th Dec. 1565, lib. iv.
p. 94.
t Brandt, Hisloire de la reformation des pays bas, i,
156.
§ Cavalli, Dispaccio di Spagna, 7 Aug. 1567. Riapose il
re che quanto alle cose della religione S. Sta- stasse di
buon animo, che ovvero si han da perder lulti quei stati,
0 che si conserveri in essi la vera cattolica religione; n6
comporteri che vi rimanghi, per quanto potrcl far lui, al-
cuna radice di mala pianta.
Let ns investigate at least the fundamental
principles that dictated Alva's proceedings.
Alva was convinced that in a country dis-
tracted with the violence of revolution, every
thing requisite to the re-establishment of order
was effected, when the heads of the move-
ment were disposed of. That Charles V.,
after so many. and such great victories, had
yet been in a manner thrust out of the Ger-
man empire, he attributed to the indulgent
spirit of that monarch, who spared the ene-
mies who fell into his hands. Frequent men-
tion has been made of the alliance between
the French and the Spaniards, concluded at
the congress of Bayonne in 1565, and of the
measures concerted there : of all that has
been said on the subject, thus much only is
certain, that the duke of Alva urged the queen
of France to get rid of the chiefs of the Hu-
guenots, no matter how. What he then
advised, he now scrupled not to practice.
Philip II. had furnished him with some blank
warrants bearing the royal signature. The
first use he made of them was for the arrest
of Egmont and Horn, whom he assumed to
have been implicated in the recent distur-
bances. " May it please your sacred catholic
majesty," begins the letter which he .wrote
thereupon to the king, and which seems to
warrant the inference that he had no special
commands from the king for what he had
done, "after my arrival in Brussels, I pro-
cured the necessary information from proper
quarters, and thereupon secured the person of
the count von Egmont, and also caused the
count von Horn and others to be imprisoned."*
The reader perhaps will ask, why he sen-
tenced the prisoners to be executed a year
afterwards. It was not for any demonstration
of their guilt produced on their trial ; it lay
heavier at their door that they had not hin-
dered the disturbancps than that they had
occasioned them ; nor was it in consequence
of any command of the king's, who rather left
it to the duke's discretion to execute the pri-
soners or not, as he thought expedient. — The
reason was as follows : A small body of pro-
testants had invaded tlie country : they had
not indeed eftected any thing of moment, but
they had engaged the king's troops with ad-
vantage at Heiligerlee, and a royal general
of high reputation, tlie duke of Arenberg, had
fallen on the occasion. In his consequent
despatch to the king, Alva says he had no-
* Dispaccio di Cavalli, 16 Sett. The governess ad-
dressed complaints to the king concerning the arrest, to
which he replied that he had not given orders for it. In
proof of this, he showed Alva's letter, from which the pas-
sage adduced in proof is here given. It runs thus: "Sacra
caTtolica Maesttl, dapoi ch'iogionsi in Brusselles, pigliai
le information da chi dovea Helle cose di qua, onde poi
mi son assicuralo del conte di Agmon e fatlo ritener il
conte d'Orno con alquanti altri. Sari ben che V. M.
per bon rispetto ordini ancor lei che sia fatto istesso di
Montigni (who was in Spain) e suo ajutante di camera."
Hereupon followed the arrest of Montigny.
A. D. 1563-89.] TROUBLES IN THE NETHERLANDS AND IN FRANCE. 179
ticed that this untoward event had set the
people in a ferment, and rendered them auda-
cious ; he held it expedient to let the folks
see he did not fear them in any wise ; also he
proposed to prevent any desire, on their part,
to excite new commotions with a view to the
rescue of the prisoners: he had therefore
come to the resolution of causing their imme-
diate execution. Thus were these noble men
doomed to die, to whom no guilt worthy of
death could be brought Jjome, whose sole
crime was that they had defended the ancient
liberties of their native land : they fell a sai^-
rifice, not so much to right and law, as to the
momentary considerations of a ferocious po-
licy. Even then Alva bethought him of
Charles V., whose errors he was resolved not
to imitate.*
Alva was cruel, we see, on principle. Who
could have looked for mercy to the dreadful
tribunal which he founded by the title of the
Council of Disturbances'! Arrests and exe-
cutions were the means by which he ruled
the provinces ; he pulled down the houses of
the condemned, and confiscated their proper-
ty. With his ecclesiastical he simultaneously
prosecuted his political views : the old power
of the estates was set at nought; Spanish
troops filled the whole country, and a citadel
was erected -for them in the most important
commercial city : Alva insisted with despotic
obstinacy on the payment of the most odious
taxes; and the only wonder expressed in
Spain — for he drew considerable sums from
that quarter too — was what he could do with
all that money. It is, however, perfectly true,
that the land was obedient; no mal-content
raised his head ; every trace of protestantism
disappeared ; and the exiles in the neighbour-
ing countries remained still.
" Monsignor," said a privy councillor of
Philip II. to the papal nuncio while these
events were in progress, "are you now con-
tent with the king's proceedings ]" " Per-
fectly content," replied the nuncio with a
smile.
Alva himself believed he had accomplished
a master-stroke of policy, and looked with
scorn on the French government, that could
never make their authority respected in their
own country.
In Francfe, after the vast strides made by
protestantism in the year 1562, a great re-
action had set in, especially in the capital.
The most injurious circumstance to protes-
tantism in France, was unquestionably its
close connexion with the court factions. For
a while there seemed to be a general leaning
towards the protestant confession: but when
its adherents, hurried on by their association
with some leading men, took up arms and
committed acts of violence such as are always
inseparable from war, they lost ground in
public opinion. " What sort of a religion is
this?" men asked: "where has Christ com-
manded to plunder one's neighbour, and to
shed his blood !" When at last the Parisians
found it necessary to put themselves in a pos-
ture of defence against the aggressions of
Conde, who was regarded as the head of the
Huguenots, all public bodies assumed an anti-
protestant complexion. All the male inhabi-
tants of the city capable of bearing arms were
put into military training, and the captains
appointed to command them were required,
above all things, to be catholic. The mem-
bers of the university and of the parliament,
including the very numerous class of advo-
vates, were called on to subscribe purely
catholic articles of faith.
Backed by this state of piJblic feeling, the
Jesuits established themselves in France.
They began there on a somewhat small scale,
being constrained to content themselves with
colleges thrown open to them by a few eccle-
siastics, ardent partisans of theirs in Billon
and Tournon, places remote from the grand
central point, and where nothing of conse-
quence was at all likely to be accomplished.
They encountered, at first, the most obsti-
nate resistance in the great cities, especially
in Paris, on the part of the Sarbonne, the
parliament, and the archbishop, who were all
apprehensive lest their own interests should
be prejudiced by the privileges and the spirit
of the order. But as the latter won favour
with the zealous catholics, and particularly
with the court, which was never tired of
recommending them "for their exemplary
lives, and the purity of their doctrine, such
that many apostates had been brought back
by them to the faith, and East and West
through their exertions acknowledged the
presence of the Lord ;"* and as that change
in public opinion just mentioned happened
opportunely for them, they at last forced their
way through all impediments, and were ad-
mitted in the year 1564 to the privilege of
* In a manuscript in the Berlin library, MSS. Gall. n.
75, the following document is given among others : Deli-
* Cavalli, July 3, 1568, also gives this dispatch in the
extract. It is, if possible, still more remarkable than the
former. Capilt) qui I'avviso della giuslitia falla in Fian-
dra contra di quelli poveri signori prigioni, inlorno alia
quale scrive il D. d'Alvar che havendo facolti di S. M.
di far tal esecutione o sopraslare, secondo che avesse ripu-
tato piu espediente del suo servitio, che perO vedendo li
Eopoli un poco alterati et insuperbili per la morte d'Aren-
erg e rotta di quelli Spagnoli, havea giudicato tempo
opportuno e necessario pertal effetlo per dimostrar di non , .„, v..„ ^ — ^ j "o v. nt
lemer di loro in conto alcuno, e poner cnn nues'to terrors beralions et Consultations au parlement de fans loucnani
a molti, levandoli la speranza di tumultuar per la loro
liberatione, e fuggir di cascar nel errore nel quale incorse
I'imperaiore C^rlo, il qual per tener vivo Sa.xonia e Lan-
gravio diede occasione di nova congiura, per la quale S.
M. fu cacciata con poca digniia della Germania e quasi
dell' impero.
I'establissement des Jesuites en France, in which are con-
tained in particular, the messages of the court to the par-
liament in favour of the Jesuits: " infracta et ferocia
pectora," it is said therein, "gladio fidei acuto penetra-
runt." [They have pierced rude and unyielding bosoms
with the sharp sword of the faith.]
180
COUNTER REFORMATION. FIRST PERIOD.
[a. d. 1563-89.
teaching. Lyons had already received them.
Whether it was the result of good fortune or
of merit, they were enabled at once to pro-
duce some men of brilliant talents from
amongst them. In opposition to the Hugue-
not preachers, they put forward Edmund Au-
gier, who was born in France, but educated
at Rome under Ignatius, and of whom protes-
tants themselves have said, that had he not
worn the catholic vestments, there would
never have been a greater orator. He pro-
duced an extraordinary impression both by
his preaching and his writings. In Lyons,
especially, the Huguenots were completely
routed, their preachers exiled, their churches
demolished, and their books burned ; whilst,
on the other hand, a splendid college was
erected for the Jesuits in 1567. They had
also a distinguished professor, Maldonat, whose
exposition of the bible attracted crowds of
charmed and attentive youth. From these
chief towns they now spread over the king-
dom in every direction ; they formed settle-
ments in Toulouse and Bourdeaux ; wherever
they appeared, the number of catholic com-
municants increased. Augier's Catechism had
prodigious success ; within the space of eight
years thirty- eight thousand copies of it were
sold in Paris alone.*
It is very possible that this revived popu-
larity of catholic* ideas, particularly as it was
most remarkable in the capital, may have had
its action on the court. At any rate it afford-
ed the latter one prop the more, when after
protracted fluctuations it once again, in the
year 1568, declared itself decidedly catholic.
This arose more particularly from the fact
that Catherine of Medici felt her power much
more secure since the majority of her son,
and had no longer need to conciliate the Hu-
guenots as she had done before. Alva's ex-
ample showed how much could be accomplish-
ed by a resolute will. The pope, who never
ceased exhorting the court not to suffer the
further growth of the rebels' insolence, nor to
tolerate them a moment longer, at last backed
her admonitions with the permission to alien-
ate church property, from which a million
and a half of French livres accrued to the
royal treasury. f Accordingly, Catherine of
Medici, following the precedent set the year
before by the government of the Netherlands,
imposed an oath on the French nobility, by
virtue of which they were to forego every
engagement contracted without the previous
knowledge of the king.]: She demanded the
dismissal of all magistrates of cities, who had
incurred suspicion of a leaning to the new
* These details are given by Orlandinus and by the
author of the conlinuation of his work, pars i. lib. vi. n.
30, ii. iv. 84. iii. iii. 169 el seq. Juvencius, v. 24, 769,
gives a biography of Augier.
t Catena, Vila di Pio V. p. 79.
t The oath is given by Sorranus, Commeniarii de Statu
Religionis in regno GalliiE, iii. 103.
opinions ; and she declared to Philip II., in
1563, that she would tolerate no other reli-
gion than the catholic.
Such a resolution was not to be carried into
effect in France without recourse to arms.
War instantly broke out.
It was entered on with extraordinary spirit
on the catholic side. At the pope's request
the king of Spain sent practised troops under
skilful leaders to the aid of the orthodox.
Pius V. caused collections to be made in the
states of the church, gathered contributions
from the Italian princes ; nay, himself, the
holy father, sent a little army of his own
across the Alps, that same to which he gave
the ferocious order to kill every Huguenot
that fell into their hands, to grant quarter to
none.
The Huguenots also bestirred themselves ;
they, too, were full of religious zeal ; they
looked on the catholic soldiers as the army of
antichrist arrayed against them ; they, too,
gave no quarter; they were equally well
provided with foreign aid ; and yet they were
completely beaten at Moncontour.
With what exaltation did Pius V. hang up
the Huguenot standards sent him by the vic-
tors in the churches of St. Peter and St. John
Lateran ! He conceived the boldest hopes.
This was the very moment when he pro-
nounced sentence of excommunication against
Queen Elizabeth. He sometimes flattered
himself with the thought of leading an expe-
dition against England in person.
But fortune did not favour his schemes so
far.
As had so often before occurred, a revolu-
tion in opinion took place at this crisis in the
French court, which, though founded on tri-
vial circumstances of a personal nature,
brought about a grand alteration in matters
of the highest moment.
The king grudged his brother, who had
commanded at Moncontour, the honour of
vanquishing the Huguenots, and giving peace
to the kingdom. In this he was confirmed by
those around him, who were also jealous of
Anjou's suite, fearing that power would go
hand in hand with glory. Now, therefore,
not only were the advantages already gained
very languidly followed up, but ere long, in
opposition to the strict catholic party that
rallied round Anjou, another moderate one
sprang up at court, which adopted a directly
contrary system of policy, made peace with
the Huguenots, and invited its leaders to
court. The French, in alliance with Spain
and the pope, had attempted to overthrow the
queen of England in the year 1.569 : in the
summer of l')72 we see them leagued with
that same queen to wrest the Netherlands
from Spain.
The change, however, had been too sud-
den, too imperfectly matured to endure. The
A. D.
1563—89.] RESISTANCE IN THE NETHERLANDS, &c.
181
most violent explosion ensued, and all things
recoiled into their former course.
It can hardly be doubted, but that while
queen Catherine engaged with alacrity and
zeal in the policy and plans of the dominant
party, which favoured her interests, at least
in so far as they seemed to tend towards plac-
ing her youngest son Alengon on the throne
of England, she was still concerting all requi-
site measures to carry an opposite stroke of
policy into execution. She contributed every
thing in her power towards bringing the
Huguenots to Paris, where numerous as they
were, they were surrounded and held in
check by a far larger population, possessed of
military organization, and prone to fanatical
excitement. She gave the pope beforehand
pretty clearly to understand what it was she
contemplated: but even had she wavered, the
circumstances that arose just at this moment
must have determined her. The Huguenots
won over the king himself; they seemed to
cast the consequence of the queen-mother
into the shade. Thus personally endangered,
she hesitated no longer. With the irresisti-
ble magic power she possessed over her chil-
dren, she roused in the king's mind all his
slumbering fanaticism : it cost her but a word
to make the people- fly to arms ; she spoke it ;
each of the most eminent Huguenots was con-
signed to the special vengeance of his per-
sonal foes. Catherine has said she had only
designed the death of six men ; these were
all she would take upon her conscience : the
numbers that fell amounted to 50,000.*
Thus the French surpassed the doings of
the Spaniards in the Netherlands. What the
latter did with calculating policy, with the
observance of legal forms, and by degrees, the
latter accomplished in the heat of passion,
without regard to forms, with the help of a
fanatical multitude. The result appeared the
same. Not a leader was left whose name
could furnish a rallying-point for the scattered
Huguenots: many fled; vast numbers sur-
rendered ; place after place resumed the prac-
tice of the mass; the protestant preachers
were silenced. With pleasure Philip II. saw
himself imitated and surpassed ; and he offer-
ed Charles IX., who had now for the first time
earned a right to the title of " Most Christian
King," the aid of his arms to complete the
good work he had begun. Pope Gregory XIII.
celebrated this great event by a solemn pro-
cession to the church of San Luigi. The Ve-
netians, who seemed to have no special inte-
rest in the matter, expressed in their official
despatches to their ambassador their satisfac-
tion at "this grace of God."
But can it be that such bloody atrocities
should ever be permanently successful] Are
* For the sake of brevity I refer the reader on this sub-
ject to my Essay on the Massacre of St. Bartholomew in
the Histor. Polil. Zeitschrift, ii. iii.
they not repugnant to the profounder myste-
ries of human life and action, to the unde-
fined, inviolable principles that inwardly actu-
ate the unchanging order of nature '! The
minds of men may be dazzled ; but the moral
laws of their nature they cannot shake ;
they are swayed by them with a necessity
as cogent as that which rules the stars of
heaven.
Resistance made by the Protestants in the
Netherlands, France, and Germany.
Machiavel advises his prince to dispatch in
rapid succession the cruelties he deems neces-
sary, and then gradually to adopt more merci-
ful proceedings.
It seemed as though the Spaniards desired
to act to the letter upon this maxim in the
Netherlands.
It seemed as though they were even them-
selves at last of opinion, that property enough
had been confiscated, that heads enough had
fallen, and that the time for mercy had ar-
rived. In the year 1572 the Venetian am-
bassador at Madrid expresses his confident
belief that the prince of Orange would receive
his pardon, were he to entreat for it. The
king very graciously received the deputies
from the Netherlands, who waited on him to
sound him with regard to the repeal of the
tax of the tenth penny, and even thanked
them for their pains : he had resolved to recal
Alva, and to send a milder viceroy in his
stead.
But it was now too late : the insurrection
broke out in the sequel of that Anglo-French
alliance which preceded the bloody day of
St. Bartholomew. Alva had imagined his
work was ended ; but it was now the struggle
properly began. Alva beat the enemy as
often as he showed himself in the open field ;
on the other hand, in the towns of Holland
and Zealand, where the religious movement
had deepest stirred men's minds, and where
protestantism had instantly acquired an organ-
ized vitality, he encountered an opposition he
was unable to overcome.
In Haarlem, when all the provisions were
consumed to the very grass that grew between
the stones in the streets, the inhabitants re-
solved to cut their way through the besiegers,
with their wives and children. The dissen-
sions of the garrison, indeed, compelled them
at last to surrender, but still they had shown
that the Spaniards were not irresistible. The
people of Alkmar declared in favour of the
prince of Orange at the very moment the
enemy was at their gates. Their defence
was as heroical as their resolution ; not a
man would quit his place, however severely
wounded : the pride of the Spanish arms was
first humbled before the walls of Alkmar.
The country breathed again ; fresh courage
182
COUNTER REFORMATION. FIRST PERIOD. [a. d. 1563-89.
filled the hearts of the people. The men of
Leyden declared that, rather than surrender,
they would eat their left arms, so they might
still defend themselves with their right. They
conceived the bold project of breaking down
their dams, and calling to their aid the waves
of the Northern Ocean. Their distress had
reached its utmost limit, when a wind from
the north-west, setting in at the critical mo-
ment, flooded the land to the depth of some
feet, and put the foe to flight.
By this time the French protestants had
likewise resumed courage. As soon as they
perceived that their government, notwith-
standing its recent act of ferocity, pursued a
wavering, dilatory, and contradictory policy,
they stood to their arms, and war broke out
afresh. Sancerreand Rochelle, defended them-
selves with the courage of Leyden and Alka-
mar. The preacher of peace was heard call-
ing to arms. The women vied with the men.
It was the heroic age of prote.stantisra in west-
ern Europe.
Tlie cruel deeds committed or applauded by
the most powerful sovereigns encountered in
isolated nameless points a resistance that no
force could overcome, for its secret spring was
deep religious conviction.
It is not at all our purpose in this place to
detail the course and vicissitudes of the war
in France and the Netherlands; it would
lead us too far from the main body of our sub-
ject ; besides, it has been done in many other
works : suffice it to say, the protestants held
their ground.
In France, the government was forced, even
in 1573, and frequently afterwards in the en-
suing years, to consent to terms, by which the
old concessions to the Huguenots were re-
newed.
In the Netherlands, the power of the go-
vernment had utterly fallen to ruin in the year
1576. The Spanish troops having broken out
into open mutiny, in consequence of the pay
being withheld, all the provinces had again
combined together; those that had hitherto
maintained their allegiance, with the revolted,
— those that were still chiefly catholic, with
the wholly protestant. The states-general
took the government into their own hands,
appointed captains-general, deputies, and ma-
gistrates, and garrisoned the fortresses with
their own, not with the king's troops.* The
league of Ghent was concluded, by which the
provinces mutually pledged themselves to
drive out the Spaniards, and keep them out
of the country. The king sent his brother,
who might be considered as a native of the
Netherlands, to govern them as they had
been governed by Charles V. But don John
was not even recognized, till he had promised
to fulfil the principal conditions demanded of
♦ This turn of aifairs ia made particularly clear in Tas-
Bis, iii. 15—19.
him : he was compelled to accept the treaty
of Ghent, and to dismiss the Spanish troops ;
and no sooner did he make a movement of re-
sistance to the restraints that encumbered him,
than all parties rose up against him. He was
declared an enemy to the country, and the
heads of the provinces called for another prince
of the family in his stead.
The principle of local authority overcame
the monarchical ; the native power was victo-
rious over the Spanish.
Other consequences were necessarily asso-
ciated with this consummation. The north-
ern provinces, which had carried on the war,
and thereby conduced to the existing posture
of affairs, at once acquired a natural prepon-
derance in all that related to the war and the
governn)ent ; and this led again to the propa-
gation of the protestant religion over the whole
range of the Netherlands. It found its way into
iVIechlin, JJruges, and Ypres; the churches
were divided in Antwerp between the two '
confessions, and the catholics were in some
cases obliged to content themselves with the
choirs of those churches, of which they had so
lately been sole possessors ; in Ghent the pro-
testant tendency was mixed up with a civil
movement, and acquired complete ascendancy.
The treaty of Ghent had fiilly ratified the old
supremacy of the catholic religion : but now
the states-general issued an edict confirming
an equal degree of freedom to both confessions.
Thenceforth protestant demonstrations arose
in every direction, and even in those provinces
where Catholicism predominated : there seem- %
ed reason to anticipate that protestantism
would prove universally victorious.
What a position was that now occupied by
the prince of Orange ! But recently an exile
and solicitous for pardon, now the possessor
of a firmly established power in the northern
provinces, Ruwart in Brabant, and all-potent
in the assembly of the estates ; recognized as
their chief and leader by a great and rapidly
advancing politico-religious party ; united by
close ties with all the protestants of Eu-
rope,— above all, with his neighbours, the
Germans.
In Germany, too, the aggressive measures
of the catholics were met by a resistance on
the part of the protestants, that promised great
results.
We remark this resistance in the general
transactions of the empire, in the assemblies
of the electors, and in the diets ; although here
the German system of public proceedings for-
bade its being matured to any direct result.
In general, it was most active, as was also the
aggression, in the several territories and dis-
tricts.
The spiritual principalities were now for
the most part, as we have seen, the scenes
where this strife was carried on. There was
A. D. 1563-89.] RESISTANCE IN THE NETHERLANDS, &c.
183
hardly one in which the prince had not made
an attempt to restore the supremacy of Catholi-
cism. Protestantism, which also felt its own
strength, retaliated with no less far-reaching
endeavours to bring over the spiritual princi-
palities themselves to its own side.
In the year 1577, Gebbard Truchsess be-
came archbishop of Cologne, chiefly through
the personal influence of count Nuenar with
the chapter, and very well did that great
protestant know who it was he recommended.
In truth, his acquaintance with Agnes von
Mansfield was not needed, as has been said,
to give him his first anti-catholic bent. Upon
his very first entrance in state into Cologne,
when the clergy met him in procession, he
did not, according to established usuage, alight
from his horse to kiss the cross ; he made his
appearance in the church in military dress,
nor did he choose to perform high mass. He
attached himself from the outset to the prince
of Orange, and his chief counsellors were
Calvinists.* As he did not hesitate to grant
mortgages in order to raise troops, as he sought
to secure the nobility to his side, and favoured
a party among the guilds of Cologne that was
beginning to oppose the catholic usages, all
his acts tended to that purpose which he af-
terwards openly manifested, — the conversion
of the spiritual into a secular electorate.
Gebhard Truchsess was still, occasionally
at least, outwardly a catholic : the neighbour-
ing sees of Westphalia and Lower Saxony
fell on the other hand, as we have seen, im-
mediately into protestant hands. The eleva-
tion of duke Henry of Saxe Lauenburg was
of peculiar importance. While still very
young, he was elected, though a staunch Lu-
theran, to the archbishopric of Bremen, then
to the bishopric of Osnabriick, and in 1577, to
the bishopric of Paderborn.f He had even in
Miinster a great party, consisting of all the
younger members of the chapter, in his fa-
vour ; and it was only by the direct interven-
tion of Gregory XHI., who declared a resig-
nation actually made of no effect, and by the
strenuous opposition of the rigid catholic party,
that his elevation to that see was prevented.
But the adverse party were not able to carry
the election of another bishop.
It is obvious what an impulse this disposi-
tion, on the part of the ecclesiastical chiefs,
must have given to protestantism in Rhenish
Westphalia, where, independently of this, it
had already spread widely. There needed
but a happy combination of circumstances, a
stroke that told home, to give it a decided
preponderance in those regions.
Nay, all Germany must have sensibly felt
the influence of such an event. The bishoprics
of Upper Germany were open to the same con-
tingencies as those in the lower division of the
♦ Maffei, Annali di Gregorio X[I. torn. i. p. 331.
t Hamelmann, Oldenburgishea Chronikon, s. 43S.
empire ; even within the territories where the
restoration had begun, the opposition was not
long suppressed.
Sorely did abbot Balthazar of Fulda expe-
rience this. When it was found that the
solicitations of neighbouring princes, and the
complaints laid before the diet, were of no
avail, and that the abbot recklessly persisted
in his restoration of the ancient faith, going
from place to place to enforce it in every quar-
ter, it came to pass one day, in the summer of
1576, as he happened to be in Hamelberg upon
that very business, that he was set upon by
his nobles with arms in their hands, and be-
sieged in his own house : public resentment
running high against him, his neighbours look-
ed on his distress with satisfaction, the bishop
of Wiirzburg even lent a hand to his assail-
ants, and he was forced to abdicate the govern-
ment of his dominions.*
Even in Bavaria, duke Albert did not carry
all before him. He complained to the pope
that his nobility chose rather to forego the
sacrament altogether, than receive it only in
one kind.
But what was of still more moment, protes-
tantism was continually advancing in the
Austrian territories to a more legitimate
power and recognized existence. Under the
prudent conduct of Maximilian II. it not only
obtained firm footing, as we have mentioned,
in Austria Proper, above and below the Ens,
but had also spread through all the other dis-
tricts. Hardly, for instance, had that empe-
ror redeemed the county of Glatz from the
dukes of Bavaria who held it in pledge, (in
the year 1567,) when here too, nobles, public
functionaries, cities, and finally the majority
of the people, went over to the evangelical
confession: the governor-general Hans von
Pubschiitz, of his own authority, founded a
protestant consistory, with which he often
went further than the emperor could have
wished. Here, too, the estates gradually ac-
quired a high degree of independence and
inherent authority : altogether it was the most
prosperous period in the annals of the county :
agriculture was on the rise : the towns were
wealthy and flourishing : the nobility educat-
ed and polished ; waste lands were every
where reclaimed, and covered with villages.!
The church of Albendorf, where at this day
crowds of pilgrims assemble to kiss an old
* Schannat, Historia Fuldensis,parsiii. p. 268. A letter
from the abbot lo pope Gregory, dated August 1,1576, given
in that place, is exceedingly remarkable. " Clamantes,"
he says of the threats of his enemies, " nisi consentiam ut
administratio ditionis mese episcopo iradalur non aliter se
me ac caaem rabidum interlecturos, turn Saxoniae et Has-
siae principes in meum gregem immissuros." [Vociferat-
ing that, if I do not consent to the transference of my
authority to the bisliop, they will kill me as they would a
mad dog, and then let in the princes of Saxony and Hesse
upon my flock.] tt /■ « ««>
t Joseph KiiglersChronik von Glatz. Bd. i. Heft 2 p.TZ.
The author was a catholic ; his work is very substantial
and useful.
184
COUNTER REFORMATION. FIRST PERIOD. [a. d. 1563-89-
image of the Virgin, was then for sixty years
under the ministry of Protestant pastors;* in
the capital there were reckoned some few
half-score years later only nine catholic burg-
hers, while the numbers of the evangelical
burghers amounted to three hundred. It is
no wonder, therefore, that pope Pius V.
cherished an inexpressible animosity against
the emperor. The subject of Maximilian's
war with the Turks, being once discussed in
his presence, he said outright, he knew not
which side he less wished to see victorious.f
Protestantism, however, made increasing way
under these circumstances, even in the dis-
tricts of inner Austria, over which the empe-
ror did not exercise immediate control. In
the year 1568, there were as many as twenty-
four evangelical preachers in Krain ; in the
capital of Styria there was in the year 1571
but one catholic member in the council. Not
that protestantism enjoyed the support of the
ruler, the archduke Charles, who, on the con-
trary, introduced the Jesuits into the country,
and favoured them with all his might; but
the estates were evangelical.| They had the
upper hand in the diets, where the business of
the administration and of the defence of the
country was mixed up with the affairs of reli-
gion ; they exacted religious concessions in
return for every consenting vote they gave.
In the year 1578, the archduke was compel-
led in the diet at Bruck on the Muhr to accord
the free exercise of the Augsburg confession,
not only in the domains of the nobles and
landed proprietors, where he could under no
circumstances have prevented it, but also in
the four leading towns, Gratz, Judenburg,
Klagenfurt, and Laibach.^ , Hereupon protes-
tantism became organized in these provinces
equally as in the imperial. A protestant
ministry for church affairs was established,
and rules laid down for the management of
churches and schools, modelled on those of
Wiirtemberg : in some places, for instance, in
St. Veit, catholics were excluded from vot-
ing in the election of councillors,!! and
they were no longer admitted to provincial
offices; circumstances under favour of which,
protestantism first obtained decidedly the
* From 1563 to 1623. Documentirte Beschreibung von
Albendorf, (an earlier printed fragment of the same chro-
nicle,) p. 36.
t Tiepolo, Relatione di Pio IV. e V. He adds : In pro-
posito della morte del principe di Spagna apertamente
aisse il papa haverla sentita con grandissimo dispiacere,
perche non vorria che le stati del re cattolico capitassero
in mano de' Tedeschi. [Talking of ihedeath of theprince
of Spain, the pope said he had heard of it with great grief,
because he would not have the dominions of the catholic
king fall into the hands of the Germans.]
t Socher, Historia Societatis Jesu provinciae Austriae, i.
iv. 166. 184. V. 33.
§ Supplication to his Imp. Rom. Maj. and intercession
of the three principalities in the country, in Lehmann,
DePace Ileligionis, p. 461 ; a document which serves to
correct the account of Khevenhiller, Ann. Ferdinandei,
i.e.
II Hermann in the Kartnerische Zeitschrift, v. p, 189.
upper hand in those regions that so nearly
bordered on Italy. The impulse given by the
Jesuits was here steadfastly counteracted.
In all the provinces of Austria, — German,
Sclavonic, and Hungarian, — with the single
exception of the Tyrol, protestantism might be
regarded as ruling paramount in the year
1578.
Thus we see that throughout all Germany
it successfully withstood the advance of Catho-
licism, and met every step it made by an
onward movement of its own.
Contrasts exhibited throughout the rest of
Europe.
It was a memorable epoch, in which the two
great religious tendencies were once more in
active strife, with equal anticipation of victory
and dominion.
The posture of things had now undergone
an essential change. Formerly the two
parties had been willing to treat with each
other : a reconciliation had been attempted in
Germany ; in France it had been entered on,
in the Netherlands demanded ; for a while it
appeared feasible, and in some places tolera-
tion was actually practised. But now the
contrasts between the two seemed to stand out
more prominently, and with greater show of
hostility. They challenged each other, so to
speak, throughout all Europe. It is well worth
the pains to cast a glance over the state of
things as they appeared in the years 1578,
1579.
Let us begin eastwards with Poland.
The Jesuits had made their way into this
country likewise, countenanced by the bishops,
who looked to them for the strengthening of
their own power. Cardinal Hosius, bishop of
Ermeland, founded a college for them in
Braunsberg, in 1569 : they tixed themselves
in Pultusk and Posen, with the help of the
bishops of those places. Bishop Valerian, of
VVilna, deemed it a matter of paramount mo-
ment to counteract the Lithuanian Lutherans,
who proposed erecting an university on their
own principles, by founding a Jesuit institu-
tion in his episcopal see : he was grown old
and feeble, and wished to mark his last days
by this meritorious act. The iirst member of
the society arrived in his see in the year
1570.*
Now here, too, the immediate consequence
of these eflx)rts was but that the protestants
took measures to maintain their power. They
carried a resolution in the convocation diet of
1573, by virtue of which, no one was to be
injured or prejudiced on account of his reli-
gion.f The bishops were forced to comply ;
the example of the troubles in the Netherlands
* Sacchinus, Historia Societatis Jesu, pars ii. lib. viii.
114. Pars iii. lib. i. 112; lib. vi. 103—108.
t Fredro, Henricus I. rex Polonorum, p. 114.
A. D. 1563-89.] CONTRASTS EXHIBITED IN THE REST OF EUROPE.
185
was held out to them, to show the danger of
refusal ; and the succeeding kings were oblig-
ed to swear to maintain the resolution. In the
year 1579, the payment of tithes to the clergy
was absolutely suspended ; in consequence of
which, the nuncio asserted it for fact, that
twelve hundred parish priests had been ruined.
In the same year, a supreme tribunal was con-
stituted of laymen and clergy, which decided
all disputes, even touching ecclesiastical mat-
ters. It was a matter of amazement at Rome,
that the Polish clergy had suflered this mea-
sure to be carried. ,
The contest was no less sharp in Sweden
than in Poland, and there its course, indeed,
was most singular : it had immediate refer-
ence to the sovereign, and was waged around
his person.
In all the sons of Gustavus Vasa — " the
brood of king Gustavus," as the Swedes call
them — there is noticeable a most unusual mix-
ture of reflection and wilfulness, of religion
and violence.
The most learned of them was the second
John. Being married to a catholic princess,
Catherine of Poland, who had shared with
him the prison, in the narrow solitude of which
he had often received the consolations of a
catholic priest, his feelings were especially
interested by the current controversies. He
studied the fathers, to arrive at a clearer con-
ception of the primitive condition of the church ;
he was fond of those books that treated of the
possibility of religious union, and earnestly
pondered the questions that bore upon the
subject. When he became king, he accord-
ingly approached some steps nearer to the
catholic church. He published a liturgy imi-
tated from that of Trent, in which the Swedish •
divines discovered with amazement not only
usages of the Roman church, but even certain
of its distinguishing doctrines.* As the pope's
intercession as well with the catholic princes
in general with regard to the Russian war, as
with Spain in particular respecting his wife's
maternal inheritance, might be of much service
to him, he did not hesitate to send a nobleman
of his kingdom as ambassador to Rome. He
even gave private permission to a couple of
Jesuits from the Netherlands to come to Stock-
holm, where he committed an important edu-
cational institution to their charge.
Such conduct naturally excited high hopes
in Rome; and Antonio Possevin, one of the
most adroit members of the society of Jesus,
was selected to make an earnest attempt for
the conversion of kmg John.
Possevin made his appearance in Sweden in
the year 1578. The king was not disposed to
give way on all points. He demanded per-
mission for priests to marry, the accordance of
♦ They are all sel forth in the Indicium prsdicatomm
Kolmenss. de publicala liturgia in Baaz : Invenurium
ecclesiarum Sueogoih. p. 393.
24
tlie sacramental cup to the laity, the celebra-
tion of the mass in the vernacular tongue, an
abandonment of the ciiurch's claims to confis-
cated property, and so forth. Possevin had no
authority to go into these questions ; and pro-
mising merely that he would communicate the
king's demands to the apostolic see, ho hasten-
ed to plunge with him into dogmatical contro-
versy. In this he was much more happy.
After two or three conversations, and a short
time for reflection, the king declared himself
resolved to make the professio Jidtd, according
to the formula of the council of Trent. He
actually did so, and he confessed ; whereupon
Possevin asked him once more, whether he
submitted himself to the judgment of the pope
as regarded the communion in one kind. John
declaring he did, Possevin solemnly granted
him absolution. It would almost seem that
this absolution had been the grand object of
the king's longing desires. He had caused
his brother to be put to death, with the previ-
ous approbation, indeed, of his estates; but
put him to death he had, and that in the most
violent manner ! The absolution granted him
seemed to tranquillize his soul. Possevin
besought God that he might now be able
completely to convert the heart of the king :
the latter rose, cast himself into his confes-
sor's arms, and cried, " Even as I thus embrace
thee, do I embrace the Roman catholic faith
forever." He then received the Lord's supper
after the catholic ritual.
Having thus satisfactorily accomplished his
task, Possevin hastened back to Rome. He
communicated the intelligence to the pope,
and, under the seal of secresy, to the most
powerful catholic princes. It now only re-
mained to take into consideration those de-
mands of the king on which he made the
general restoration of Catholicism in his king-
dom dependent. Possevin was a man of great
address, eloquent, and of much talent for ne-
gociation ; but he persuaded himself too readily
that he had attained his end. According to
the account he gave, it appeared unnecessary
to pope Gregory to make any concession ; on
the contrary, he called on the king to come
over freely and unconditionally to the catholic
church. He furnished the Jesuit with des-
patches to this effect on his second departure,
and with indulgences for all who would re-
cant.
Meanwhile, however, the opposite party
had not been idle ; protestant princes had sent
warning letters to the king — for the news had
instantly spread all over Europe; — Cin-ytraug
had dedicated to the king his work on the
Augsburg confession, which had had made a
certain impression on the learned monarch.
The protestants no longer lost sight of him
for a moment.
Possevin now arrived, not, as before, in the
garb of a civilian, but the usual costume of
COUNTER REFORMATION. FIRST PERIOD. [a. d. 1563-89.
bis order, and brought witb him a heap of
qatholic books. Even his mere appearance
produced any thing but a favourable impres-
sion. For a moment he hesitated to produce
the pope's reply ; but at last he could pro-
crastinate no longer, and he laid it before the
Ijing in an audience of two hours' duration.
yVho shall explore the secrets of a wavering
and unstable soul? It may be, the monarch's
sjelf-esieem was wounded by so peremptory a
refusal of his demands; besides, he was con-
vinced that without the concessions he had
Stipulated for, nothing waste be accomplished
ifl Sweden, and he had no inclination to lay
(lowa his crown for religion's sake. In short,
the audience was a decisive one. From that
hour the king manifested coldness and aver-
sion-to the pope's ambassador. He required
his Jesuit schoolmen to receive the sacrament
in both kinds, and to read mass in the Swedish
tpngue: as they did not obey, which, indeed,
they could not, he refused them the provision he
had hitherto allowed them. Their departure
fronvStockholm, which took place shortly after,
\^as doubtless not caused alone, as they wish-
ed it,to be supposed, by the presence of the
plague in that city. The protestant nobles,
Charles of Sudermania, the king's younger
brother, who was disposed to Calvinism, and
the ambassadors of Liibeck, omitted nothing to
augment the king's growing aversion. The
catholic^' sole stay and hope were in the
queen, and, after her death, in the heir to the
dirone. For the present, the sovereign power
iO: Sweden remained essentially protestant.*
This was daily more and more the case in
l^ipglaqd under queen Elizabeth. But in that
kingdom there; were assailable points of a
different kind; it was full of catholics. Not
qnJy did. th^ Irish population stedfastly ad-
here to the old iaith and ritual ; in England,
probably one half the nation, if not a still
larger portion, as has been asserted, were
likewise devoted to Catholicism. It is singular,
ijfldeed, how the English catholics submitted,
at. leEist during the first fifteen years of her
reign, to that queen's protestant laws. They
t»ok the. oath required of them, though it dia-
metrically opposed the papal authority ; they
frequented tbO; protestant churches, and
thought they did all that was necessary, if, in
going and returning, they kept together and
avoided the society of the protestants.f
* Iti this whole account I adhere to the reports of the
.Jesuits, (never so far as 1 know, hitherto used,) which are
lo.be found in detail in Sacchinus, Hist. Socielalis Jesu,
pars iv. lib,, vi. ri. 64— 7G, and lib. vii. n. 83—111. I am
curious to Jjhow whether the continuation of Theiner's
.Schweden und seine Slellung zum heiligen Siuhl will
really coniniunirate any thing new that may be worth
nftiice. 'Hitherto this work, with all its scurrility, excites
pity rather than altenjlion. It is to be hoped " they know
not what they do."
I; Relatione del presente state d'lnghilterra cavata da
analellera Bcritta;di Xondrei, etc. Roma, 1590, (printed
p^ro|^kl£tj^),ciose2y,^j:ee3 ou this subject with a passage
Rome, however, felt secure of their secret
attachment, and was persuaded that nothing
was wanting but an opportunity, a slight ad-
vantage, to rouse all the catholics in the
country to resistance. Pius V. had longed to
shed his blood in an expedition against Eng-
land ; and Gregory XIII., who never abandon-
ed the idea of such an enterprise, thought of
availing himself to that end of the martial
spirit and exalted station of don John of Aus-
tria. He sent his nuncio Sega, who had been
with don John in the Netherlands, to Spain for
that exMjress purpose, that he might gain the
consent of king Phillip.
Partly, however, m consequence of the
king's dislike to his brother's ambitious views,
and to any new political entanglements,
partly by reason of other obstacles, these vast
schemes broke down, and their projectors
were forced to content themselves with less
brilliant attempts.
Pope Gregory next fixed his eyes on Ireland.
It was represented to him that there was no
nation more strictly and immovably catholic
than the Irish ; but that it was most tyran-
nously ill-used and plundered by the English
government, kept diligently in discord and
barbarism, and coerced in its religious con-
victions : it was, therefore, ready for war at
a moment's notice ; there needed but to second
it with a small force ; five thousand men would
suffice for the conquest of Ireland, where there
was not a fortress that could hold out beyond
four days.f Pope Gregory was persuaded
without difficulty. There was then at Rome
an English refugee, one Thomas Stukeley, an
adventurer by nature, but one who possessed
in a high degree the art of gaining access to
the great, and winning their confidence.
The pope made him his chamberlain, created
him marquis of Leinster, and went to the ex-
pense of forty thousand scudi to furnish him
with vessels and men. He was to take in
from Ribadeneira de Schismata, quoted by Hallam (Con-
stitutional History of England, i.p. 162,) and is, doubu
less, the original of the latter: "Si peruiettevano giura-
menti impii contra I'auio.itidella sedeapostolica ecjues-
to con poco o nissun scrupulo di coscienza. Allora lutti
andavano connnunemente alle sinagoghe degli eretici
et alle prediche loro menandovi li figli e famiglie: . . .
si teneva allora per segno distintive sufficienie venire
alle chiese prima degli eretici e non panirsi in com-
pagnia loro."
+ Discorso sopra il regno d'Irlanda e della genie che
bisogneria per conquistarlo, fattoaGregorioXllI. Vienna
Library, Fugger MSS. The government of the queen is
fironounced a tyranny : " lasciando il governo a niinistri
nglesi i quali per arrichire se stessi usavano tutta I'arte
deTla lirannide in quel regno, come transportando le
commodity, del paese in Inghilterra, tassando il popolo
contra le leggi e privilegi antichi, e manienendo guerra e
fatlioni tra i paesani, . . . non volendo gli Inglesi
che gli habitanli imparassero la difterenza fra il
viver libero e la servitu." [Leaving the govern-
ment to English ministers, who, to enrich themselves,
employed the whole art of tyranny in that kingdoiu, such
as transporting the commodities of the country to Eng-
land, taxing the people contrary to the laws and to an-
cient privileges, and keeping up war and factions among
the peasants, . . . the English not wishing that the in-
habitants should learn the difference between servitude
and living free.]
A. D. 1563-89.] CONTRASTS EXHIBITED IN THE REST OF EUROPE.
18^
a small body of men upon the French coast,
collected there by Geraldine, an Irish refuijee,
likewise with the aid of papal funds. King
Philip, who, though he had no inclination to
involve himself in a war, was glad enough to
see Elizabeth provided with occupation at
home, also contributed some money towards
the enterprise,* Stukeley, however, unex-
pectedly suffered himself to be persuaded to
take part in king Sebastian's African expe-
dition, with the forces intended for Ireland,
and perished in it. Geraldine was left to
pursue his fortunes alone: he landed in June,
1579, and actually made some progress. He
made himself master of the fort commanding
the harbour of Smerwick : the earl of Desmond
was now in arms against the queen ; the whole
island was in commotion. But presently re-
verse after reverse befel the insurgents, the
most serious of them being the fall of Geral-
dine himself in a skirmish. Upon this the
earl of Desmond could make head no longer.
The aid supplied by the pope was not sufficient;
the money counted on did not arrive : the
English, therefore were victorious. They
punished the insurgents with horrible cruelty ;
men and women were driven into barns, and
there burned to death ; children were stran-
gled ; all Munster was laid waste : English
colonists overran the desolated region.
If ever again Catholicism was to achieve
any thing in that kingdom, it could only be
by direct experiments on England itself: and
this could manifestly take place only under an
altered aspect of European affairs. But that
the catholic population might not, when the
moment arrived, be found wholly changed,
that they might still be catholic, it was neces-
sary to stand by them with spiritual aid.
William Allen first conceived the idea of
uniting the young English catholics who re-
sided on the continent for the prosecution of
their studies, and, chiefly through the support
of Pope Gregory, he established a college for
them at Douay. This, however, did not seem
to the pope to be adequate to the purpose in
view. He wished to provide for those fugi-
tives, under his own eyes, a more tranquil and
less dangerous retreat than could be tbund in
the disturbed Netherlands: accordingly he
founded an English college in Rome, endowed
it with a rich abbey, and consigned it, in 1579,
to the care of the Jesuits.f
* Twenty thousand scudi, according to the nuncio Sega,
in his Relatione compendiosa, (MS. in the Berlin library,)
" altre mercedi fece fare al barone d'Acres, al Signer
Carlo Buono et altri nobili Inglesi che si trovavano in
Madrid, ch' egli spinse andare a quesia impresa insieme
col vescovo Lionese d'Irlanda." [He caused other grants
to be made to the baron D'Acres, to signor Carlo Buono,
and other English noblemen who were in Madrid, and
whom he urged to go upon this expedition along with
bishop Lionese of Ireland.]
+ We may here compare the report of the Jesuits, in
Sacchinus, pars iv. lib. vi. 6, lib. vii. 10 — 30, with Cam-
den's narratives Berura Britanuiee, torn. i. p. 315.
No one was admitted into the college who
did not pledge himself, on the completion off
his studies, to return to England, and to preach
there the faith of the Roman church. This
was the exclusive end to which the students
were trained. Kindled as they were into re*-
ligious enthusiasm by the spiritual exercises
of Ignatius, their teachers set before them as
models for their imitation those who had con-
verted souls to the faith, such as the men
whom Gregory the Great had once sent amon*
the Anglo-Saxons.
Ere long, some of the elder students lied the
way. Two English Jesuits, Parsons and
Campian, went back to their native country.
Constantly pursued, constantly under feigned
names, and various disguises, they reached
the capital, whence they travelled, the former
through the northern, the latter through the
southern counties. They took up their abode
principally in the mansions of catholic noble-
men : their coming was announced before-
hand, but the precaution was adopted of ac-
costing them as strangers on their arrival.
Meanwhile a chapel had been got in readiness
in the innermost chamber of the house, int-o
which they were conducted, and there they
bestowed their benediction on the members of
the family assembled there to receive them.
The missionary usually remained but one
night. The evening was employed in re-
ligious preparation and confession : the next
morning mass was read, and the Lord's supper
administered, after which there was a sermon.
All the neighbouring adherents of the catholic
faith attended, sometimes in great numbers.
The religion that for nine hundred years had
ruled supreme in the island, was again promul-
gated with all the charms of mystery and nov-
elty. Synods were secretly held ; a printing
press was set up, first in a village near Londoii,
then in a lonely house in a neighbouring wood-:
suddenly, once more catholic works made their
appearance, written with all the ability de-
rived from constant practice in controversy,
and often not void of elegance : the sensation
they produced was the greater, the more im-
penetrable was the secret of their origin.
The immediate consequences of these pro-
ceedings were, that the catholics ceased to
attend protectant worship, and to observe the
queen's ecclesiastical laws, and that the op-
posite party became more polemical in doc-
trine, and more severe and crushing in their
persecutions.*
Wherever the principle of catholic restora-
tion was not strong enough to become para-
mount, it served, at least, to exasperate the
opposite party, and to render it more implaca-
ble.
Switzerland, too, afforded examples of this, al-
* Besides Sacchinus, see also Campiani Vita et Mar-
tyrium, Ingolstadii, 1584.
188
COUNTER REFORMATION. FIRST PERIOD. [ v. d. 1563-89.
though each canton had long possessed the right
of self-government in matters of religion, and
the disputes that had from time to time arisen*
respecting the condition of the confederacy,
and the interpretation of the religious provi-
sions in the covenant of public peace (des
Landfriedens,) had been to a considerable de-
gree set at rest.
But now the Jesuits made their way into
this country too. Upon the solicitation of a
colonel in the Swiss guard in Rome, they ar-
rived in Lucern in 1574, where they met with
a cordial reception and support, especially
from the family of Pfyffer.i Ludwig Pfyffer
alone spent probably thirty thousand guilders
upon the erection of the Jesuit college; Phi-
lip II. and the Guises contributed something,
nor did Gregory XJII, fail of his wonted libe-
rality in such cases, but gave the funds for
the establishment of a library. The people
of Lucern were delighted. They addressed
an express memorial to the general of the
order, entreating him not to deprive them of
the fathers of the society who had already
arrived among them : " they had it at heart,
above all things, to see their young people
brought up in sound learning, and especially
in piety and Christian life :" they promised
him in return that they would spare no toil
or trouble, neither their means nor their
blood, to serve the society in every thing they
could desire. I
An opportunity soon presented itself to
them of proving their renewed zeal for Catho-
licism in no unimportant matter.
The city of Geneva had placed itself under
the special protection of Bern, and now sought
to draw into the same connexion both Solo-
thurn and Freiburg, which were wont to ad-
here, politically at least, though not ecclesi-
astically, to Bern. They succeeded in this
as regarded Solothurn. A catholic city took
the focus of western protestantism under its
protection. Gregory XIII. was horrified, and
strove with all his might to keep back Frei-
burg at least from the union, and in this the
Lucerners now lent him their aid. An em-
bassy from that canton co-operated with the
papal nuncio, and Freiburg not only rejected
the proposed alliance, but even invited the
Jesuits, who founded a college in the canton,
with the assistance of the pope.
Meanwhile Carlo Borromeo's exertions be-
gan to produce their effect. He had connex-
♦ The most important undoubtedly related to the fate of
the evangelical party thai had grown up in Locaino, re-
specting which F. Meyer produced, In 1836, an account
derivedfrom original documents. Tlie proteslant can-
tons assented, in 155.5, to that interprelation of the dispu-
ted article which favoured the catholics, and allowed that
the evangelical inhabitants should be forced lo quit their
native land. They had wholly disappeared from it about
the year 1580.
f Agricola, 177.
j Literae Lucernensium ad Everardum Mercurianum,
'«jt Sacchinus, Hisiona Socieiatis Jesu, iv. v. 143.
[ions, particularly in the Wald cantons ; Mel-
chior Lussi, landammann of Unterwalden,
was regarded as his intimate friend. Borro-
meo sent thither Capuchins first of all, who
produced a considerable impression by the
rigour and simplicity of their lives : after
them followed pupils of the Helvetian col-
lege, which he had founded solely for this
purpose.
Their influence was soon to be traced in
all public concerns. In the autumn of 1579,
the catholic cantons concluded a treaty with
the bishop of Basel, in which they not only
promised to protect him in religious matters,
but also, as occasion served, to bring back
" to the true catholic faith," such of his sub-
jects as had become proteslant : engagements
which naturally caused much excitement
among the evangelical cantons. The breach
became more decided than it had been for a
long time. A papal nuncio arrived : he was
received with the highest possible marks of
reverence in the catholic cantons ; in the
proteslant he was scorned and insulted.
Crisis in the Netherlands.
The following was the general state of
things in that day. Renovated Catholicism,
in the form it had assumed in Spain and Italy,
had made a vigorous inroad upon the rest of
Europe. It had made important conquests in
Germany, and had pushed forward into many
other countries; nevertheless, it had every-
where encountered powerful resistance. In
France the protestants were secured by com-
prehensive concessions, and by their strong
politico-military attitude ; in the Netherlands
they had the preponderence ; they were tri-
umphant in England, Scotland, and the North.
In Poland they had exacted peremptory laws
in their favour, and had gained a large share
of influence on the general concerns of the
kingdom. Throughout the territories of Aus-
tria they confronted the government, armed
with old provincial immunities. In Lower
Germany a decisive change in the ecclesias-
tical institutions seemed to be begun.
In this state of things an immensity was at
stake on the issue of the contest in the Neth-
erlands, where arms were continually resort-
ed to afresh.
Now it was impossible khig Philip II.
should have thought of repealing the mea-
sures that had already so signally failed ; nor
could he have done so even if he would. For-
tunately for him, friends offered thomselves
to him spontaneously, and protestantism in its
new and thriving career, found yet in its way
an unexpected and insuperable resistance. It
is well worth while to dwell a moment upon
this momentous contingency.
In the first place, to see the prince of
Orange attaining to such great power in the
A. D. 1563-89.]
CRISIS IN THE NETHERLANDS.
189
provinces was far from affording' satisfaction
to all partie.-, and least of all to the Walloon
nobility.
Under the king's government that nobility
had always been the first to take horse, espe-
cially in the French wars; whence the lead-
ers of note, whom the people were used to
follow, had acquired a certain independence
and authority. The nobles now saw them-
selves thrust into the back ground under the
rule of the estates; pay was not regularly
forthcoming ; the army of the estates consist-
ed principally of Dutch, English, and Ger-
mans, who were treated with most confidence
as unquestionably protestant.
When the Walloons acceded to the pacifi-
cation of Ghent, they flattered themselves
with the hope of obtaining a leading influ-
ence over the general concerns of the coun-
try. But the reverse was much rather the
case. Power fell almost exclusively into the
hands of the prince of Orange, and his friends
from Holland and Zealand.
With the disgusts thus excited, were com-
bined likewise special religious considera-
tions.
Whatever may have been the cause, cer-
tain it is, that the protestant movement ex-
cited but little sympathy in the Walloon pro-
vinces.
Their new bishops, almost all of them men
of great practical ability, had been quietly
installed. The bishop of Arras was FranQois
de Richardot, who had fully imbibed the prin-
ciple of catholic restoration in the council of
Trent, and who was the subject of unceasing
panegyric, for the striking combination of so-
lidity and force in his preaching, with exqui-
site refinement and polish, and for the zeal
tempered with knowledge of the world dis-
played in his life.* In Namur we meet with
Antoine Havet, a Dominican, a man, perhaps,
of less worldly prudence, but who had also
been a member of the council of Trent, and
displayed no less earnestness in giving effect
to its maxims.f The see of St. Omer was
filled by Gerard de Hamericourt, one of the
richest prelates in all the provinces, abbot
likewise of St. Bertin, who now made it the
grand object of his ambition to promote the
education of youth, and to found schools, and
who was the first to establish in the Nether-
lands a college for the Jesuits, supported by
fixed revenues. Under these and other eccle-
siastical heads, Artois, Hennegau, and Na-
mur, kept themselves free from the contagion
of the iconoclastic mania, that filled all the
*GazPt: Histoire Eccl^siastique Aea Pays-Bas, p. 143,
describes him as " subtile el solide en doctrine, nerveux
en raisons, riche en sentences, copieux en discours, poly-
en son lan^age et grave en actions ; niais suitout I'excel-
lenta pieie et virtu, qui reluisoit en sa vie, rendoit son
oraison persuasive."
+ Hivensius, De Erectione novoi'um Episcopatuum in
Belgio, p. 50.
other provinces with turbulence and fury ;*
accordingly, these localities had not suffered
so violently from the reaction under Alva.f
The resolutions of the council of Trent were
without long delay discussed in the provincial
and diocesan synods, and put in force. The
influence of the Jesuits spread vigorously
from St. Omer, and still more from Douay,
where Philip II. had founded an university,
to afford his subjects who spoke the French
language an opportunity of prosecuting their
studies in their own country. This was in
keeping with the close ecclesiastical consti-
tution which it was his purpose to introduce
generally in his dominions. Not far from
Douay is the Benedictine abbey of Anchin.
At the period when the greater part of the
rest of the Netherlands endured the havoc of
the iconoclastic storm, John Lentailleur, ab-
bot of Anchin, continued with his monks to
practice all the spiritual exercises of Ignatius
Loyola. Filled with their spirit, he resolved
out of the revenues of the abbey to found in
the new university a Jesuit college, which
was opened in the year 1563, was immediate-
ly granted a certain independence of the uni-
versity functionaries, and became rapidly and
unusually prosperous. Eight years afterwards
the flourishing condition of the university,
and that, too, with regard to literature, was
ascribed to the Jesuits. Not only was their
college filled with pious and diligent youth,
but the other colleges, too, profited by their
emulation of its example; it ah'eady furnished
the university itself with excellent theolo-
gians, and all Artois and Hennegau with pas-
tors.]: Gradually this college became a centre
of modern Catholicism for all the surrounding
districts. In the year 1578 the Walloon pro-
vinces had the reputation among contempora-
ries, as one of them expresses himself, of be-
ing in the highest degree catholic. ^
But this state of things in religion, no less
than the political pretensionsof the provinces,
was threatened by the ascendency of protes-
tantism.
Protestantism had assumed in Ghent an
aspect such as in the present day we should
designate as revolutionary. There the old
liberties were not yet forgotten, which
* Hopper: Recueil et Memorial des Troubles des Pays-
Bas, 93. 98.
f According to Viglii Commentarius rerum acturum su-
per impositione decimi denarii, in Papendrecht, Analec-
ta, I. i. 292 ; the tenth penny was imposed on them, with
the assurance that it should not be rigorously exacted.
t Testimonium ThoniEe Slapletoni (rector of the univer-
sity) of the year 1576, in Sacchinus iv. iv. 124. " Pluri-
mos ex hoc patrum collegio (the collegium Acquicintin-
ense) Artpsia et Hannonia paslores, multos schola nostra
Iheologos opii ne institutos et comparatosaccepit." Other,
and siill stronger, encomiums follow, which we may the
more readily pass by as Slapleton himself was a Jesuit.
§ Michiel: Relatione di Francia. "II conte (ihe gov-
ernor of Hennegau) 6 cattolichisimo, come 6 tulto quel
contado insieme con quel d'Artoes, che li 6 propinquo."
[The count is in the highest degree catholic, as is the
whole of that province, together with the adjoining one of
Artois.]
190
COUNTER REFORMATION. FIRST PERIOD.
[a. d. 1563-89.
Charles V. had broken down in 1539 : Alva's
atrocities had here especially engendered ill
blood ; the populace were fierce and impetu-
ous, given to image breaking, and outrage-
ously exasperated against the priests. Two
daring declaimers, Imbize and Ryhove, took
advantage of these passions. Imbize con-
ceived the project of establishing a republic,
and dreamed that Ghent would become a se-
cond Rome. They began their proceedings
at the moment Arschot, the governor, was
holding a meeting with some bishops and
catholic leaders of the neighbouring towns,
by taking them all prisoners. Thereupon
they restored the old constitution, of course
with some modifications which secured them-
selves in the possession of power ; they then
laid hands on the property of the church,
abolished the bishopric, and confiscated the
abbeys ; they converted the hospitals and
monasteries into barracks ; and, lastly, they
endeavoured by force of arms to propagate
their system among their neighbours.*
Now some of the imprisoned leaders be-
longed to the Walloon provinces : the troops
of Ghent were already making incursions
into those lands ; all that part of their popu-
lation who were disposed to protestantism
were beginning to bestir themselves, and to
follow the example of Ghent in mingling the
passions of democracy with those excited by
religious matters. In Arras an insurrection
broke out against the council. From Douay
itself the Jesuits were expelled by a popular
commotion in despite of the council ; their
exile lasted indeed but fourteen days, but
even this is an important occurrence. In St.
Omer they held their ground only through
the special protection of the council.
The city magistracy, the provincial nobili-
ty, and the clergy, were all alike beset with
dangers and difficulty ; they felt themselves
threatened with the same destructive pro-
ceedings that had taken place in Ghent. No
wonder, therefore, if in their peril they strove
after every possible means of protection, first
sending out their troops, which cruelly rav-
aged the territory of Ghent, and then casting
about to devise another confederation, which
should afford them more security than that
they had derived from their connexion with
the general union of the Netherlands.
Don John of Austria failed not to turn this
disposition of theirs to account.
When we take a general survey of all
Don John's proceedings in the Netherlands,
it almost strikes us that he effected nothing,
that his whole career passed away, leaving
no more trace of its existence than to himself
it had been productive of satisfaction. But
when we more narrowly consider what was
* Van der Vynkts Geschichle der Niederlande, Bd. II.,
Buch v., Abschn. 2. This section is probably the most
important in the whole work.
his position, what were his acts, and what the
consequences of his measures, we are forced
to attribute to him above all other individuals,
the settlement of the Spanish Netherlands.
For a while he sought to abide by the treaty
of Ghent; but the independent position as-
sumed by the estates, the circumstances of
the prince of Orange, who was far more potent
than himself, the viceroy, and the mutual sus-
picions of the two parties, rendered a breach
inevitable. Don John resolved to begin the
war. Undoubtedly this was contrary to the
king's wishes, but it was unavoidable. It was
the only means that promised to enable him,
as enable him it did, to become master of a
tract of country that recognized the Spanish
sovereignty. He kept possession of Luxem-
burg ; he invested Namur ; the battle of
Gemblours threw Louvain and Limburg into
his hands. If the king desired to become once
more sovereign of the Netherlands, the end
was not to be obtained by treaty with the
states general, the impossibility of which was
apparent, but by a gradual subjection of the
several districts, either in the way of negoti-
ation or by force of arms. The latter was the
course adopted by Don John, and already
opened out the most extensive prospects. He
awoke again the old feelings of attachment
of the Walloon provinces to the Burgundian
race : and in particular he gained over to his
side two powerful individuals, Pardieu de la
Motte, governor of Gravelines, and Matthieu
JMoulart, bishop of Arras.*
These were the men, who after the early
death of John, conducted the negotiations on
which every thing depended with gi-eat zeal
and fortunate address.
De la Motte availed himself of the growing
hatred against the protestants. He effected
the removal from many fortresses of the gar-
risons placed in them by the estates, on the
express grounds that they might become pro-
testant, and prevailed on the nobility of Ar-
tois to determine as early as November on the
expulsion of all protestants from that pro-
vince, and to carry the resolution into opera-
ration. Hereupon Matthieu Molart sought to
bring about a complete reconciliation with the
king, beginning his proceedings with a formal
procession through the city to invoke God's
aid. In truth, he had a difficult task to per-
form, having sometimes to effect a coalition
between men whose claims were directly op-
I
* That they were won over in Don John's time appears
from the two following passages. 1. Strada ii. 1, p. 19.
Pardiaeus Mottae dominus non redilurum modo se ad regis
obedienliam, sed eliam quampluressecumlracturum, jam
pridemsignificaratJoanni Austriaco, [Pardieu de laMolte
had already signified to Don John of Austria, not only that
he would himself return to his allegiance to the king, but
that he would bring over as many as he could with him.]
2. Tassis: Episcopum Alrebalensem qui vivenie adhuc
Austriaco se regi conciliarat. [The bishop of Arras, who
had become reconciled to the king during the life of Don
John.]
A. D. 1563-89.]
CRISIS IN THE NETHERLANDS.
191
posed to each other. He proved himself inde-
fatigable, shrewd, and supple, and his efforts
were crowned with success.
Alexander Farnese, Don John's successor,
possessed the valuable gift of persuading, con-
ciliating, and inspiring lasting confidence.
He was supported by Francjois Richardot,
nephew of the bishop, '* a man," says Cabrera,
"of sound penetration in many things, and
practised in all ; one who knew how to con-
duct every business, be it of what kind it
might ; and Sarrazin, abbot of Vaast, accord-
ing to the portraiture of the same Cabrera,
" a great statesman under the show of still-
ness, very ambitious under the show of humil-
ity, and one who knew how to maintain his
consequence in every one's eyes."*
We cannot follow the whole course of the
negociations till they gradually reached their
object.
It is enough to observe, that on the side of
the protestants the interests of self-preserva-
tion and of religion pointed directly to the
king, while on the part of the latter nothing
was omitted that priestly influence and dex-
terous negociation, combined with the return-
ing favour of the sovereign, could effect. In
1579 Emanuel de Montigny, whom the Wal-
loon arn)y owned for their leader, accepted
the king's pay. His example was followed
by the count de Lalaing, but for whom Hen-
negau could never have been taken. At last,
on the 17th of May, 1579, the treaty was con-
cluded in the camp at Maestricht. But to
what conditions was the king constrained to
yield ! it was a restoration of his authority,
but under the strictest limitations. He not
only promised to dismiss all foreigners from
his army, and to employ no troops but those
raised m the Netherlands ; but he even con-
firmed all existing functionaries in the ap-
pointments they had received during the trou-
bles. The inhabitants even pledged them-
selves to receive no garrison, of which infor-
mation had not previously been given to the
estates of the country. Two-thirds of the
council of state were to consist of men who
had been implicated in the troubles. All the
other articles are in the same spirit.f The
provinces acquired an independence such as
they had never before possessed.
This event involved a turn of affairs of uni-
versal importance. Hitherto, throughout all
the west of Europe, the maintenance and re-
introduction of Catholicism had only been at-
tempted through the agency of public author-
ity ; the sovereign power had endeavoured
under this pretext completely to crush all
provmcial rights. But now it felt itself com-
pelled to adopt another course. If it would
restore Catholicism and uphold its own author-
♦ Cabrera: Felipe segundo, p. 1021.
t TasBis gives this treaty in all its details, book t. 394—
405.
ity, it could only efiect that in unison with con-
stitutional assemblies and public privileges.
Yet with all the restrictions imposed on it,
the royal power had gained immensely : it
once more commanded the allegiance of those
regions on which the greatness of the house
of Burgundy had been founded. Alexander
Farnese carried on the war with the Walloon
troops, and though its course was slow, he
continued to make advances. In 1.580 he
look Courtray, Tournay in 1581, and Oude-
narde in 1582.
But matters were not decided at once by
these events. Probably the union of the catho-
lic provinces with the king was the very
cause that induced the northern, and wholly
protestant provinces, not only forthwith to
form a more intimate confederacy among
themselves, but finally to shake off the king's
yoke altogether.
Let us here cast a glance over the general
field of the history of the Netherlands. In all
the provinces there was a strife of long stand-
ing, between the provincial rights and the
sovereign authority. In Alva's time the lat-
ter acquired an ampler ascendancy than it
had ever before possessed, but it was not long
able to retain it. The treaty of Ghent aft'ords
proof of the complete superiority the estates
had won over the government. The northern
provinces had no advantage in this respect
over the southern : had they both been united
in religion they would have founded a general
republic of the Netherlands: but their sepa-
ration was caused, as we have seen, by their
difference in faith. The first consequence
was, that the catholics returned beneath the
king's protection, and bound themselves with
him above all things to the maintenance of
the catholic religion: the next was, that the
protestants, after so long maintaining their
ground in war, at last repudiated even the
name of subjection, and wholly renounced
their allegiance to the king. Though we
give the name of the subject provinces to the
one set, and distinguish the others by the title
of republic, we must not yet suppose that the
intrinsic difference between them was at first
very great. Even the subject provinces main-
tained all constitutional rights with the great-
est zeal ; whilst the republican could not dis-
pense with an institution, that of the stadt-
holdership, which was analagous to the royal
authority. The grand distinction consisted in
religion.
It was this alone that brought out the true
principles of the contest, and matured the
consummation.
Philip II. had just conquered Portugal : at
the moment when he was stimulated by the
happy achievement of so great a conquest
to embark in new enterprizes, the Walloon
estates consented at last to the return of the
Spanish troops.
192
COUNTER REFORMATION. FIRST PERIOD. [a. d. 1563-89.
Lalaing was won over, and with him his
wife, who had always been a strenuous oppo-
nent of the Spaniards, and to whom their ex-
clusion was principally ascribed : the whole
Walloon nobility followed their example.
Every one felt assured there was no reason
to apprehend a return of Alva's despotism
and its horrors. The Spanish army already
sent away, brought back, and again dismissed,
arrived once more in the country. With the
troops of the Netherlands alone the war
must have been endlessly protracted: but
the superior force and discipline of the
Spanish veterans brought the conflict to a
crisis.
As in Germany it was colonies of Jesuits,
consisting of Spaniards, Italians, and some
Netherlander?, that restored the reign of
Catholicism by the force of education and the
inculcation of dogmas; so in the Nether-
lands, an Italico-Spanish army presented
itself, to unite with the Walloon element in
bringing about the ascendancy of the catholic
faith.
At this point of history it is impossible to
avoid speaking of the war : its course was
likewise that of the destinies of religion.
In July, 1583, the port and town of Dun-
kirk were taken in six days ; and after that
Nieuport and the whole coast as far as Ostend,
Dixnuiyden, and Fumes.
Here at once the character of the war de-
veloped itself. In every thing relating to
politics the Spaniards evinced moderation,
but they were inexorable in every thing per-
taining to the church. It was not to be
thought of that a church, or even the right of
private worship should be accorded to the
protestants ; all the preachers of that per-
suasion who were caught were hanged. The
war was deliberately carried on as a war of
religion. This was, indeed, in a certain
sense, the most prudent system under the ex-
isting state of things : no complete subjection
of the protestants could ever have been eflfect-
ed ; while on the other hand, so decided a
line of conduct allied to the Spanish side
every jot of Catholicism the provinces con-
tained, and bespoke their spontaneous co-ope-
ration. The baillui Servaes of Zealand gave
up the whole country of Waes to the royal-
ists; Hulst and Axel voluntarily surrendered.
Alexander Farnese was soon strong enough
to contemplate an attack on the great cities ;
he was already master of the inland country
and the coasts. One after the other, Ypres
in the month of April, then Bruges, and finally
Ghent, where Imbize himself had become a
partisan of the reconciliation with Spain,
were forced to surrender. Very tolerable
terms were granted to the communes in their
corporate capacity ; they were left for the
most part in possession of their privileges :
only the protestants were proscribed without
mercy. The chief conditions were in every
case that the catholic clergy should return,
and that the churches should be appropriated
to the exercise of the catholic ritual.
But notwithstanding all this, nothing per-
manent seemed effected, no security seemed
gained, so long as the prince of Orange lived
to give stability and force to the opposition,
and to keep alive a spark of hope even in the
vanquished.
The Spaniards had set a price of twenty-
five thousand crowns on his head, and amidst
all the fierce excitement of the times, there
could be no lack of men who would seek to
earn it, prompted at once by avarice and
fanaticism. I know not if there exist a more
shocking example of blasphemy than that ex-
hibited in the papers of the Biscayan Jaure-
guy, which were found upon him on the occa-
sion of his attempting the life of the prince.
He carried about him, in the fashion of an amu-
let, prayers, in which he invoked the merciful
Deity, who appeared to men in the person of
Christ, to aid the murder with his favour, pro-
mising that Being a part of the booty, as it
were, should the deed be successful, viz. for
the mother of God of Bayonne a garment, a
lamp, and a crown ; for the mother of God of
Aranzosu a crown, and for the Lord Christ
himself a very rich curtain"!* Fortunately
this fanatic was seized, but another was alrea-
dy meditating the same crime. The thought
of perpetrating it had possessed the mind of a
Burgundian, Balthazar Gerard, who resided
in Maestricht, at the moment the act of out-
lawry was proclaimed in that city.f The
hopes he cherished of earthly fortune and
glory should he succeed, of the fame of a mar-
tyr should he perish in the attempt, hopes in
* Contemporary copy of a vow, and of certain prayers
found in ihe form of an amulet upon Jameguy ; in Lord
F. Egerton's collection. "A vos, Senor Jesus Chrislo,
redemplor y Salvador del mundo, criador del cielo y de la
tierra, os oft'rezco, siendo os seivido librarme con vida
despues de haver etfeciuado mi desi o, un belo muy rico."
[To you Lord Jesus Christ, Redeemer and Saviour of the
world, creator of heaven and earth, I offer, on your bring-
ing me otf with life, after having etfected my purpose, a
very rich curtain.] And so it goes on.
t Relatione del successo della morte di Guilielmodi
Nassau principe di Orange, e delli tormenti patiti del
generosissimo giovane Baldassarre Gerardi Boriiognone :
Inf Polilt. xii. [An account of the d ath of William of
Nassau, Prince of Orange, and of the tortures endured by
that most gallant youth Balthazar Gerard,] contains some
particulars at variance with the ordinary statements.
" Gerard i, la cui mad re, 6 di Bisansone, d'anni-i8 incirca,
giovane non nieno dolto che eloquente." [Gerard, whose
mother is from Besangon, aged about twenty eight, a
young man no less learned than eloquent.] He had en-
tertained this project six years and a half " Otferendosi
dunque ropportunili di portar le letteredel duca d'Alan-
sone al Nassau, essendogiiXluigenlilhuomodi casa, alii 7
Luglio un hora e mezzo dopo pranso, uscendo il principe
della tavola, scargandoli un archibugelto, con tre pallo gli
colse solto la zinna manca e gli fece una ferita di due diti,
coUa quale I'ammazzo." [The opportunity, therefore,
presenting itself of carrying tlie duke d'Alenron's letters,
he being a gentleman of his household, on the 7lh uf July,
an hour and a half after dinner, as the prince came from
table, he discharged an arquebuss at him, and struck un-
der the left breast with three balls, inflicting a wound two
fingers' breadth, of which he died.]
A. D. 1563-89.]
CRISIS IN THE NETHERLANDS.
193
which he had been confirmed by a Jesuit of
Trier, had ever since given him no rest till
he set out to accomplish the deed. He repre-
sented himself to the prince as a fugitive, and
so having- gained admission to him and a fa-
vourable moment, he shot him dead in the
month of July, 1584. He was seized : but not
all the tortures inflicted on him could force
from him one groan : he persisted in saying,
were the deed yet to be done, he would do it.
Whilst he was expiring in Delft amidst the
the execrations of the people, the canons in
Herzogenbusch performed a solemn Te Deum
for his achievement.
The passions of both parties were in fierce
commotion; but the impulse they gave the
catholics was the stronger : it accomplished
its purpose, and bore away the victory.
Had the prince lived he would, it is thought,
have found means to relieve Antwerp, which
was besieged, according to his promise. As
it was, there was no one capable of taking
his place.
Now the enterprize against Antwerp was
so comprehensive in its scope, that the other
important towns of Brabant were directly as-
sailed by it. The prince of Parma cut them
all off from supplies of provisions. Brussels
was the first to surrender, being forced thereto
by the factions that broke out as soon as that
city, habituated to the enjoyment of lavish
abundance, saw itself threatened with want.
Mechlin fell next, and finally Antwerp was
obliged to yield, on the failure of its last at-
tempt to break its dams, and efl^ect a means of
transit for provisions from the country.
The mildest conditions were imposed on
these Brabantish cities too, as well as on those
of Flanders. Brussels was exempted from
the payment of contributions; Antwerp receiv-
ed the assurance that no Spanish garrison
should be quartered in the city, and that the
citadel was not to be repaired. One sole
obligation was imposed on them all, that
the churches and chapels should be restored,
and the exiled priests and regular clergy re-
called. The king insisted on this with im-
movable firmness : he said it must be the first
and the last stipulation in every agreement.
The only grace to which he would consent
was, that two years should be allowed the
residents in each place either to change their
religion, or to sell their property and quit the
Spanish territories.
How completely changed were the times.
The day had been when iMiilip II. himself had
scrupled to permit the establishment of the
Jesuits in the Netherlands, and subsequently
they had frequently been menaced, assailed,
and banished. They now returned in the
sequel of the events of the war, and that under
the decided protection of the government.
The Farnesi were moreover special patrons
of the society : Alexander had a Jesuit for his
25
confessor, and he looked on the order as the
most efficient instrument for entirely recover-
ing to Catholicism tiie half protestant country
he had conquered, and so completing the main
design of the war.* The first place to which
they returned was the same that liad been
first conquered, Courtray. The parish priest
of the town, Jean David, had become ac<iuaint-
ed with the Jesuits during his exile at Douay :
on his return now, his first step was to enter
the order, admonishing the inhabitants in his
farewell discourse, no longer to suffer them-
selves to be deprived of the spiritual aid of
the society, nor were they slow to follow his
advice. Next the aged John Montagna, who
had been the first to introduce the society into
Tournay, whence he had more than once been
forced to fly, returned to establish it tliere for-
ever. The Jesuits entered Ypres and Bruges
instantly on their surrender ; the king cheer-
fully granted them certain convents that had
been deserted during the troubles. In Ghent
the house of the great demagogue Imbize,
who had originated all mischief to Catholicism,
was fitted up for their reception. The people
of Antwerp endeavoured to stipulate, on their
surrender, that no other orders should be forced
upon them than those which had existed
among them in the days of Charles V. ; but
this was not conceded ; they were compelled
to receive back the Jesuits, and to restore the
buildings to them they had formerly possessed.
The historian of the order complacently re-
lates this circumstance, and remarks it as a
special instance of divine favour, that the
society received back free from debt what
they had left encumbered : the property had
passed in the interim through more than two
or three diflferent hands, but it was now re-
stored to them without further inquiry. Brus-
sels could not escape the common lot: the
town council declared its assent : the prince
of Parma granted a subsidy from the royal
cofters, and very soon the Jesuits were estab-
lished in that city likewise. The prince had
already solemnly granted them the right to
hold real estates under ecclesiastical jurisdic-
tion, and freely to enjoy in these provinces
the privileges conferred on them by the apos-
tolic see.
* Sacchinus : Alexandre el privati ejus consilii viris ea
stabat sententia, utquaeqiiereci|)iebaturex haereliciscivi-
tas, continue fere iueam inmiui socittatemdebc re: valere
id turn ad pielatein privaiam civium lum ad pacem Iran-
ciuillitatemque intelligebant. (Pars v. lib. iv. n. 58.) [It
was the decided opinion of Alexander and his inlimate
advisers, tliat the society sliould be immediately in-
troduced into every city recovered from the heretics,
believing this to be equally conducive to the piety
of the citizens as individuals, and to the public peace
and tranquillity.] According to the Imago primi seculi,
this was also llie will of the king, "qui recens datis da
hoc argumento Uteris ducem cum cura monuerat ut socie_-
tatis praesidio munire satageret praecipuas quasipie Belgii
civitaies'' [who had recently given his sedulous injunc-
tions to the general, in dispatches on this subject, to fill
all the chief cilies of Belgium with members of the soci-
ety] ; statements which are sufficiently borne out by the
facts.
194
COUNTER REFORMATION. FIRST PERIOD. [a. d. 1563-89.
The order of Jesuits was not the only one
that was favoured with his protection. In the
year 1585, he was joined by some Capucliins,
for whose permanent residence in the Nether-
lands he obtained permission by a special let-
ter to the pope: he then purchased a house
for them in Antwerp. They produced a great
effect even upon the members of the other
branch of their own order. The pope found
it necessary to forbid the other Franciscans,
by express command, from adopting the re-
forms instituted by the Capuchins.
All these arrangements gradually brought
forth immense results. They converted Bel-
gium, already half protestant, into one of the
most catholic countries in the world. It is
also undeniable that they contributed, at least
in the beginning, to the re-establishment of
the kingly authority.
Owing to these results, the opinion grew
to be more and more firmly entertained, that
only one religion ought to be tolerated in a
Btate. This is one of the main principles of
policy as expounded by Justus Lipsius. " In
matters of religion," he says, " no favour or
indulgence is admissible : the true mercy is to
be merciless ; to save many we must not shrink
from getting rid of a few :" — a maxim that no
where found greater currency than in Ger-
many.
Progress of the Counter-Reformation in
Germany.
Now the Netherlands were, after all, a cir-
cle of the Germanic empire : naturally, there-
fore, the events that occurred in them must
have exercised a great influence over the
concerns of Germany. The decision of the
affairs of Cologne was amongst their imme-
diate results.
The Spanish troops had not yet returned,
much less had the great triumphs of Catholi-
cism been achieved, when the elector Truch-
sess of Cologne resolved, in November 1.562,
to confess the reformed doctrine and take a
wife, without designing the more to surrender
his archbishopric. He had on his side the
greater part of the nobility, the counts of Nue-
nar, Sohns, Wittgenstein, Wied, Nassau, the
whole duchy of VVestphalia, and all those who
professed tlie evangelical creed. The elector
marched into Bonn with ihe Bible in one
hand, and the sword in the other ; whilst Casi-
mir of the Palatinate took the field with no
inconsiderable force to reduce the city of Co-
logne, the chapter, and the archiepiscopal
functionaries who opposed Truchsess.
We meet with this Casimir of the Palatinate
in all the transactions of those times : we find
him always ready to mount his horse, and to
draw his sword, always havingathisback war-
like troops of protestant sentiments: but rarely
do we see him obtain any important success.
He waged war neither with the entire ear-
nestness of purpose demanded by a religious
cause (having, in every instance, his own
private interest in view,) nor with the energy
and science that were brought against him.
\n the present case he laid waste the flat
country of his antagonists, but for the main
object of the war he accomplished a mere
nothing.* He made no conquests, and was
unable to procure himself further aid among
the protestants of Germany.
The catholic powers, on the contrary, gath-
ered together all their strength. Pope Gre-
gory did not abandon the matter to the delays
of a curial process, deeming that a simple con-
sistory of cardinals was competent, in the ex-
isting emergency, to decide so weighty a case,
and to despoil a German elector of his archi-
episcopal dignily.f His nuncio, Malaspina,
had hastened at once to Cologne, where, with
the special co-operation of the learned mem-
bers of the chapter, he succeeded not only in
unseating all those who were less decided par-
tisans of Rome, but also in advancing to the
archiepiscopal throne, a prince of the only still
thoroughly catholic house, duke Earnest of
Bavaria, bishop of Freisingen. Hereupon a
German catholic army appeared in the field,
furnished by the duke of Bavaria, not without
subsidies from the pope. The emperor lost
no time in threatening the count palatine Casi-
mir with ban and double ban, and in sending
warning letters to his troops, which eventual-
ly caused the breaking up of the army of the
Palatinate. When matters had come to thia
pass, the Spaniards likevv^ise made their ap-
pearance. They had taken Ziitphen in the
summer of 15S3: they now threw 3500 Belgian
veterans into the archbishopric. Gebhard
Truchsess was forced to succumb to the num-
bers of his enemies : his troops would not serve
in defiance of an imperial mandate; his prin-
cipal fortress surrendered to the Bavaro-Span-
ish army ; he himself was compelled to fly and
seek refuge and asylum with the prince of
Orange, by whose side he had hoped to stand
as a defender of protestantism.
These events were, as may be supposed,
most influential towards the complete estab-
lishment of Catholicism in the electorate.
From the first outbreak of the troubles the
clergy of the archbishopric had suspended all
their internal dissensions ; the nuncio removed
all suspected members; amidst all the din of
arms a Jesuit church was founded ; when the
victory was won, no more was needed than to
continue the course already pursued. Truch-
sess had driven out the catliolic clergy from
Westphalia ; they now returned along with
* Isselt, Historia belli Coloniensis, p. 1092: Toto hac
Eeslate nihil hoc e.xercitu (lignum egit.
f Maffei, Annali di Gregorio XIII. ii. 12. 8. Letter from
Malaspina to duke Wm- of Bavaria in Adlzreilter, ii. 12.
295. "Quod cupicbamur," it is said ia it, " impetra-
vimus."
1563-89.] PROGRESS OF COUNTER REFORMATION IN GERMANY. 195
all other fiig-itives, and were held in high hon-
our.* The evangelical canons remained ex-
cluded from their benefices, and, what was
unprecedented, they did not even receive their
incomes any lon^-er. The papal nuncios were,
it is true, obliged to deal tenderly with tiie
catholics; pope Sixtus was well aware of this,
and commanded his nuncio by no means to
begin the reforms he deemed necessary, so
long as he was not aware that all were inclin-
ed to adopt them. But even in this cautious
way the desired object was imperceptibly ob-
tained; the canons, however illustrious might
be their descent, at last began again to fulfil
their clerical duties in the cathedral. The
Cologne council, which was opposed by a pro-
testant party in the city, afforded a vigorous
support to catholic opinion.
The effects of this great revolution could
not but be felt in all the other spiritual terri-
tories, and they were further corroborated in
the neighbouriiood of Cologne by a particular
incident. Henry Saxe Lauenburg (the same
whom we have seen disposed to imitate Geb-
hard's example, had he been successful),
bishop of Paderborn and Osnabriick, and arch-
bishop of Bremen, rode on Sunday in April
1585 from the house of Vohrde to church ; on
his way back his horse fell, and though he
was young and vigorous, and had not received
any serious wound, he died, nevertheless, of
the consequences of the fall in the same month.
The elections that ensued turned out greatly
to the advantage of Catholicism. The new
bishop of Osnabriick, at least, signed the pro-
fessio Jidei;\ but a more decided zealot for
Catholicism was the new bishop of Paderborn,
Theodor von Fiirstenberg. As canon he had
formerly opposed his predecessor, and had, in
the year 1580, etFected the passing of a sta-
tute to the effect that, for the future, only
catholics should be admitted into the chapter.]:
He had already, too, admitted a few Jesuits,
and allowed them to preach in the cathedral,
and to take charge of the upper classes in the
gymnasium ; the latter upon the condition that
they should not wear the dress of their order.
But now that he was himself become the
bishop, it was vastly more easy for him to
carry out the views of his party. There was
* "The elector Ernest," says Khevenhiller, "has es-
tablished anew, in accordance with ancient usage, both
the catholic religion and the temporal government."
t According to Strunck, Anuales Paderbornenses, p.
514, Bernard Von Waldeck had, at an earlier period, in-
clined to protestantism; during the troubles in Cobigne
he had remained neuter, and now he professed the catho-
lic creed. Chrytraeus (Saxonia, 812) does not contradict
him,
t Bessen, Geschichte von Paderborn, il. 123. In Reif-
fenberg, Historia provinciae ad Rhenum inferiorem, lib.
viil. c. 1, p. 185, there is a letter from pope Gregory XIII.,
"dilectis filiis canonicis et capitulo ecclesiae Paderbor-
nensis," 6ih Febr. 1.581, in which he praises this refrac-
tory disposition : " It is right it should be thus : the more
you are attacked the more vigorous must be your resist-
ance ; he, the pope, bears iu hia heart the fathers of the
society of Jesus."
no longer any occasion for the Jesuits to con-
ceal their presence ; the gymnasium was
openly transferred to them ; and they were
permitted not only to preach but to cate-
chize. They had abundant occupation. The
town council was thoroughly protestant, and
there were hardly any catholics amongst the
burghers. The Jesuits compared Paderborn
to a sterile field that gave the husbandman
extraordinary toil, and yet would yield him no
return. At last, however, as we shall see by
and by, by the beginning of the seventeenth
century their obstinate industry had prevailed.
The death of Henry of ISaxe Lauenburg
was an event of moment for Miinster like-
wise, where no election had hitherto been
made, since the younger canons were for
Henry, and the elder against him. Now was
duke Ernest of Bavaria, elector of Cologne,
and bishop of Liege, chosen bishop also of
JNliinster. This was effected chiefly by dean
Raesfeld, the most decided catholic in the
diocese, who dying bequeathed twelve thou-
sand rix dollars to found a Jesuit college.
The first Jesuits arrived in the year 1587.
They met with resistance on the part of the
canons, the preachers, and the burghers, but
they were supported by the council and by the
prince. Their schools gradually displayed
their extraordinary merits : in the third year
they are said to have counted a thousand pu-
pils. At the same period, 1.590, they were
put on a thoroughly independent footing, by a
voluntary grant of church property conferred
on them by the prince.*
Elector Ernest possessed also the bishopric
of Hildesheim. Although his power was
much more circumscribed in that diocese,
still he contributed even there to the intro-
duction of the Jesuits. The first Jesuit who
entered Hildesheim was a native of that place,
John Hammer, who had been educated in the
Lutheran faith, (his father was still living,)
but who was filled with all the zeal of a pro-
selyte. He preached with exceeding clear-
ness, and succeeded in making some brilliant
conversions. He gradually made good his
tooting, and in 1590 the Jesuits had a resi-
dence and a pension in Hildesheim.
We perceive how important the Catholicism
of the house of Bavaria now became for Lower
as well as Upper Germany. We see a Ba-
varian prince appearing at once in so many
dioceses as the great supporter of the catholic
faith.
But it must not be imagined that this prince
was personally very zealous and devout. He
had natural children ; and the opinion was at
one time entertained, that he would end by
adopting the same course as Gebhard Truch-
sess. It is very remarkable how cautiously
pope Sixtus dealt with him. He careful!'
* Sacchinus, pars v., lib. 8, n. 83—91. Reiffenberg, His-
toria provinciae ad Khenum inferiorera, i. ix. vi.
196
COUNTER REFORMATION. FIRST PERIOD. [a. d. 1563-89.
avoided letting Ernest know that he was
aware of his irregularities, well as he was
acquainted with them ; for otherwise there
would have been need of admonitions and de-
monstrations, that mig-ht easily have driven
the self-willed prince to resolutions to be
deprecated.*
In fact, for a long time yet, the affairs of
Germany would not bear to be treated in the
same style as that pursued in the Netherlands.
They demanded the most delicate attention
to personal considerations.
Though duke William of Cleves adhered
outwardly to the catholic confession, his po-
licy was nevertheless wholly protestant; he
cheerfully afforded shelter and protection to
protestant fugitives ; excluded his son, John
William, who was a zealous catholic, from
all share in public affairs. Rome might easily
have been tempted to evince displeasure and
resentment at such conduct, and to favour the
opposition to that prince's government. But
Sixtus V. was tar too prudent to do any such
thing. It was not till the prince pressed for
it so earnestly that it could no longer be
avoided without offence, that the nuncio ven-
tured to hold a meeting with him in Diissel-
V dorf, and then he exhorted him above all
things to patience. The pope would not have
him receive the order of the golden fleece, for
that might have excited suspicion. Again,
he did not intercede directly with the father
in favour of the son; any connexion of the
latter with Rome would have given umbrage;
it was only through the emperor's mediation,
prompted by himself, that Sixtus endeavoured
to obtain for the prince a position more suit-
able to iiis birth. He instructed his nuncio
to let certain things pass as though he noticed
them not. This considerate forbearance on
the part of a fully recognized authority, failed
not of Its natural effect. The nuncio, after
all, gradually acquired influence, so that
when the protestants applied to the diet for
some concessions, it was chiefly owing to his
representations that they Vt^ere refused.f
Thus, throughout a great part of Lower
Germany, Catholicism, if not instantaneously
restored, was yet upheld in its hour of peril,
fixed and corroborated : it acquired a superi-
ority that in course of time might grow into
complete ascendency.
A similar course of events took place im-
mediately in Upper Germany.
We have mentioned the condition of the
bishoprics in Franconia. A resolute bishop * l^^^,. ^f Hermann von derDecken, (for Becken must
might readily have conceived the project of i be a false reading,) ti Dec. 1582, in Schmidt. Pliiseldeck,
employing them towards the attainment of Hisioi-ischen Miscrllaneen, i. 25 "Upon the suuemema
, y. ^ and Eoljcitalion of the legate, the bishop ol Wurzburg
neredltary power. | begged a little time lor reflection, instantly ordered his
1 1 was probably such a thought as this that i horses and his retinue to be in readiness, and determined
i„ T,,i; _ w„i i „*• i\i„„ iV, , u .11 ' to mount and ride over to the elector of Saiony, and corn-
made Julius Echter, of Mespelbronn, who still pi^^^ ^f ^^^^ unheard of impoaunity on the pope's part,
very young and enterprising by nature, was " ' ' ' ' ' ' "~
appointed bishop of Wiirzburg in the year
1573, hesitate a moment as to what line of
politics he should adopt.
He took an active part in the expulsion of
the abbot of Fulda, and it cannot certainly
have been any strongly pronounced catholic
sentiments, that brought the chapter and the
states of Fulda in contact with him. The
restoration of Catholicism was precisely the
main charge they brought against their abbot.
This affair also caused the bishop to fall into
a misunderstanding with Rome : Gregory
XIII. commanded him to restore Fulda ; and
he did this at the very moment when Truch-
sess declared his revolt. Hereupon bishop
Julius prepared to return to Saxony, and
invoke the aid of the head of the Lutherans
against the pope. He was in close connec-
tion with Truchsess, and the latter conceived
the hope that the bishop of Wurzburg would
follow his example. The envoy of Henry of
Saxe Lauenburg, archbishop of Bremen, an-
nounces this with great satisfaction to his
master.*
Under these circumstances, it is hard to say
vvliat bishop Julius would have done, had
Truchsess kept his ground in Cologne: but
after the latter's complete failure, not only
could he not think of imitating him, but, on
the contrary, he adopted a totally opposite
course.
May it be, that the sum and substance of
his wishes had only been to acquire absolute
power in his own dominions? Or was he
really, and at heart, possessed by strictly
catholic convictions? He was, after all, a
pupil of the Jesuits, brought up in the Colle-
gium Romanum. Suffice it to say, that he
undertook, in the year 1584, a visitation of
the churches in a catholic spirit, such as had
never before been paralleled in Germany, and
he carried it through in person with all the
vigour of a determined will.
He travelled through his dominions accom-
panied by some Jesuits. He first went to
Gmiinden ; from thence to Arnstein, Werneck,
and Ilassfurt; and so on from circle to circle.
In every town he summoned the burgomaster
and the council before him, and announced to
them his resolution of extirpating the errors
of protestantism. The preachers were re-
moved, and their places filled by pupils of the
Jesuits. If any functionary refused to attend
catholic worship, he was dismissed without
* Tempesti, Vita di Sislo V., torn. 1, p. 354.
t Tempesti : Vila di Sisio V. I. i. p. 359.
and to press for counsel, help, and consolation.
The lord elector (of Cologne) had great hopes of the most
reverend bishops, that their princely graces would revolt
from the pope."
D. 1563-89.] PROGRESS OF COUNTER REFORMATION IN GERMANY. 197
mercy, and there were always orthodox can-
didates ready to till the vacant place. But
even all private individuals were compelled
to attend catholic worship; they were left to
choose only between the mass and exile :
whoever regarded the religion of his prince as
an abomination, was not to have lot or part in
his territory.* It was in vain the neighbour-
ing- princes remonstrated against these pro-
ceedings. Bishop Julius used to say, it was
not what he did that gave him any qualms of
conscience, but that he was so lute in doing
it. The Jesuits seconded him most zealously.
Among them was particularly noticed father
Gerhard Weller, who went about preaching
from place to place, alone, on foot, and with-
out even a change of raiment. In the single
year, 1586, fourteen cities and market-towns,
upwards of two hundred villages, and as many
as sixty-two thousand souls, were brought
back to Catholicism. The capital of the dio-
cese alone remained to be converted, and this
was done by the archbishop, in March, 1587.
He called the city council before him, and
appointed commissioners for each quarter and
each parish, to interrogate every citizen sepa-
rately. The result of the investigation was,
that half of them were protestant in their
opinions. Many were but weak and unset-
tled in their faith ; they soon gave way, and
the solemn communion appointed by the bish-
op to be held at Easter in the cathedral, and
at which he himself officiated, was numerously
attended. Others held out longer, and some
chose rather to sell all they had, and depart
from the country : among these were tour
members of the council.
The example here set excited the strenuous
emulation of the bishop of Bamberg, the near-
est neighbour of Wiirzbtirg. Gosweinstein,
above the Muggendorf valley, is a well-known
hill, whither, to this day, pilgrims re.-ort,
flocking thither by steep and lonely paths,
through majestic woods and ravines, from all
the sun-ounding valleys. Tliere is an old
sanctuary of the Trinity there, which in tho.se
days was unvisited and deserted. The bishop
of Bamberg, Ernest von Mengersdorf, visiting
the spot, in the year 1587, took this sorely to
heart. Fired by his neighbour's example, he
too declared he would again "direct his sub-
jects to the true faith ; and no dangers should
hold him back from so saoced a duty." We
shall see with what earnestness his successor
applied himself to the task.
While measures were but in a preliminary
stage in the Bamberg territory, bishop Julius
was carrying out a total transformation in
* Biography of bishop Julius, in Gropp's Chronik von
Wiirzburs, p. 33'}. "They were ordered lo give up their
places anil eniploymenls, and to seelc their livins out of
the diocese." I li'ave already made use of this biography,
and with it specially Christophori Muriani Augustani En-
caenia et Tricennalia Juliana, in Gropp's Scripit. VVirceb.
torn. i.
that of Wurzbnrg. All the old ordinances
were renewed; the prayers to the mother of
God, the pilgrimages, the brotherhoods of the
assumption of the Blessed Virgin, of her birth,
and so forth, were revived, and other devo-
tional practices of the kind were invented.
The streets were filled with procession?;, and
the bells admonished the whole land at the
stated hour of the Ave Maria.* Relics were
again collected and deposited with great
pomp in their shrines. The convents were
occupied once more ; churches were built in
every locality ; it is reckoned that bishop Ju-
lius laid the foundations of three hundred,
which the traveller may recognize by their
tall tapering spires. In a few years men
looked with amazement on the revolution
that had been wrought. " What recently,"
exclaims a panegyrist of the bishop, " had
passed for superstitious, nay, for disgraceful,
is now regarded as holy ; that which was ad-
mitted as gospel, is now seen to be a deceit."
Such grand results had not been looked for
even in Rome. Bishop Julius had been for
some time engaged in the progress of his en-
terprize before pope Sixtus had any knowledge
of it. After the autumn holidays of 1586,
Aquaviva, the general of the Jesuits, appeared
before him to communicate the intelligence of
the new conquests achieved by his order.
Sixtus was in raptures, and hastened to ex-
press his acknowledgments to the bishop, be-
stowing on him the right of disposing of all
benefices that had fallen vacant, even in the
month reserved to the holy see, stating that
the bishop was the best judge of those whom
he ought to reward.
But the pope's gratification was the greater,
inasmuch as Aqua viva's news coincided with
similar intelligence from the Austrian pro-
vinces, especially from Styria.
The change began in Styria even in the
very year when the estates of that province
acquired, through the resolutions of the diet
of Brucker, so great a degree of independence,
that they might even compare with those of
Austria, which had their council lor religious
matters, their superintendents and synods, and
an almost republican constitution.
Immediately upon Rudolf II. receiving the
homage of his subjects, it was remarked, how
thoroughly he differed from his father. He
practised all acts of devotion in their utmost
strictness, and it was with astonishment he
was beheld taking part in processions, even in
the severest winter, bareheaded, with his
torch in his hand.
This disposition of the sovereign, and the
* Julii Episcopi Statula Ruralia. Gropp: Scriptt. torn,
i. His meaning is, that the religious movement, which
emanates from the supreme head of the church ol Christ,
coniuiunicates itself downwards through every member of
the body. See p. 444, de capitulis ruralibus.
193
COUNTER REFORMATION. FIRST PERIOD. [a. d. 1563-S9.
favour he extended to the Jesuits, instantly
excited alarm and anxiety, and called forth,
in accordance with the character of the times,
vehement counter-movements. Joshua Opitz,
a follower of Flaccius, preached in the Land-
haus, in Vienna, no reg-uiar church heing- al-
lowed the protestants, with all the vehe-
mence peculiar to his sect. Whilst he sys-
tematically poured forth invectives against
the Jesuits and the priests, and " thundered
against all the abominations of popery," he
excited not so much conviction as rao-e in the
minds of liis hearers, so that, as a contempo-
rary says,* when they came out from his
church, " they were ready to tear the papists
to pieces with their own hands. The conse-
quence was, that the emperor entertained the
design of suppressing the meetings in the
Landhaus. This having been remarket]. Cor-
pus Christi day, 1.578, arrived, whilst the mat-
ter was still passionately discussed pro and
con, and threats were uttered by the body of
knights to whom the Landhaus belonged.
The emperor was resolved to celebrate that
feast in the most solemn manner. After he
had heard a mass in St. Stephen's, the pro-
cession began, the first that had been seen for
a long time, with priests, monks, and guilds,
and in the midst of them the emperor and the
princess: in this way the host was accompa-
nied through the streets. But suddenly proof
appeared of the extraordinary excitement that
prevailed in the city. When the procession
reached the peasants' market, it was neces-
sary to remove some stalls to make way for it.
This was sufficient to create a general tumult.
The cry was heard. We are betrayed : to
arms ! The choir-boys and priests abandoned
the host, the halberdiers and horse-guards dis-
persed in all directions, the emperor found
himself in the midst of the furious multitude;
he apprehended an attack on his person, and
laid his hand on his sword; the princes drew
theirs, and rallied round him.f It may well
be conceived that this incident must have
made the worst impression on the grave prince,
attached as he was to Spanish dignity and
stateliness. The papal nuncio took the oppor-
tunity to represent to him the danger that
hung over him in this state of things; assert-
ing that God himself had thus given him evi-
dent token how necessary it was that he
should fulfil the promises he had made the
pope. The Spanish ambassador joined in the
same strain. Magius, the Jesuit provincial,
had often urged the emperor to adopt some
decisive measures : he now obtained a hear-
ing. On the 21st of June 1.'j78, the emperor
issued an injunction to Opitz and all his as-
sistants in church and school, to leave the city
that very day, " while the sun shone," and
within fourteen days, all the hereditary do-
minions of the emperor. The emperor appre-
hending a riot, kept a number of trusty per-
sons under arms, to be provided against any
emergency. But how should any one have
ventured to rise up against the sovereign, who
had the letter of the law on his side ] The
people contented themselves with escorting
the exiles with marks of poignant compas-
sion .*
From that day forth there began a catholic
reaction in Austria, which every year ac-
quired more force and efficacy.
The design was conceived of first expelling
protestantism from the imperial towns. The •
towns east of the Ens, which twenty years
before had separated from the baronial and
knightly orders, could in reality make no
resistance. The evangelical clergy were ban-
ished from many localities, and their places
filled by catholics, whilst private individuals
were subjected to a strict scrutiny. A for-
mula employed on the occasion has come down
to us. " Dost thou believe," says one article,
" that every thing is true which the Church
of Rome has laid down, touching life and doc-
trine]" "Dost thou believe," adds another,
" that the pope is the head of the sole apos-
tolic Church!" Not a doubt was to be left
uncleared. t The protestants were removed
from offices of state, no burgher was any
longer admitted who was not found to be
catholic. Every candidate in the university
of Vienna for the degree of doctor was
forced to subscribe the professio fidei. A
new regulation for schools enjoined catholic
formularies, fasts, and public worship, and the
exclusive use of the catechism of Canisius.
In Vienna protestant books were carried off
from the booksellers' shops, and carried in
heaps to the episcopal court. All packages
arriving at the custom houses on the river
were searched, and such books and pictures
as were not soundly catholic, were confis-
cated.!
But notwithstanding all these measures, suc-
cess was not yet complete. It is true thirteen
cities and market towns were reformed in a
short space of time in Lower Austria ; the
crown lands too, and the mortgaged property,
were under the disposal of the catholic party :
but still the nobility constituted a formidable
* Dr. George Eber, who indeed was an adversary: ex-
tract from his Warnungssiihrifl, in Raupuch: Evang.
Oestreich. ii. 286.
-t-MilTKi: Annali di Gregorio XIII. torn. i. p. 281. 335,
no doubi from the nuncio's repons.
* Sacchinus, pars iv. lib. vi. n. 78. "Pudel referre
quam exeunies sacrileges omnique execralione dignissi-
mos prosecuta sit numerosa imillitudo, quoique benevo-
lenliae documenlis, ut vel inde mali gravilas aestiinari
possit." [I blush to relate what a multitude escorted the
departing exiles, sacrilegious as they were, and worthy of
all execration, and what marks of good will they bestowed
on them, by that very fact affording evidence of the mag-
nitude of tlie evil.]
t Papal, Austrian, and Bavarian articles of confession
in Riupach: Bvang. Oestreich. ii. 307.
t Khevenhiller, Ferd. Jahrb. i. 90. Hansitz, Germania
Sacra, 1. 632.
A D. 1563-89.] PROGRESS OF COUNTER REFORMATION IN GERMANY. 199
opposition, and the towns west of the Ens
were closely leagued with them, and were
too strong to be assailed.*
Nevertheless, many ot'the government mea-
his resolutions. He adhered firmly to his
purpose of exterminating protestantism from
his towns; the treaty of Augsburg, he said,
gave him still ampler rights, extend inar even
sures had, as may be supposed, a general co- over the nobility, and any further opposition
gency, from which no man could escape : in
Styria they produced an immediate reaction.
In thnt province, the archduke Charles had
been forced to grant concessions at the very
moment when the catholic reaction was tak-
ing its course in so many other places. His
kindred could not forgive him for this. His
brother-in -law, duke Albert of Bavaria, repre-
sented to him, that the treaty of Augsburg
justified him in compelling his subjects to
adopt the religion he himself professed. He
counselled the archduke to three things; first,
to fill all his offices, and especially his court
and privy council, only with catholics; se-
condly, to part the several estates in the diet,
so as to manage them more easily one by one:
and lastly, to enter into a good understanding
with the pope, and solicit a nuncio from him.
Gregory XIII. of his own accord made ad-
vances to the archduke. Knowing that it was
chiefly want of money that had forced the lat-
ter to the concessions he had made, the pope
took the best means of making him independ-
ent of his vassals, by sending him funds in the
year 1.586, to the amount, very considerable
for those times, of 40,000 scudi. The pope
also deposited another and larger sum in Ve-
nice, to be used by the archduke in case dis-
orders should break out in his dominions in
consequence of his catholic efforts.
Thus encouraged by example, admonition,
and substantial aid, the archduke Charles as-
sumed from the year 1580 a very different
attitude.
In that year he put an interpretation upon
his former concessions, tantamount to their
revocation. The estates prostrated themselves
before him, and their pathetic entreaties may
for a moment have touched him ;f but the
measures already proclaimed, were on the
whole persisted in, and the expulsion of the
evangelical pastors began here as elsewhere.
The year 1.584 was a decisive one. In that
year, the papal nuncio Malaspina appeared in
the diet. He had succeeded in separating the
prelates from the secular estates, to which
they had always before adhered, and in form-
ing between them, the archducal functiona-
ries, and all the catholics in the country, a
close league, of which he was himself the
centre. Hitherto it had seemed as though the
whole country was protestant, but the nuncio
succeeded in forming a strong party round the
prince, which made the latter immovable in
would provoke him to put those rights in
force : he would then like to see the man who
would venture to prove himself a rebel. De-
cidedly anti-protestant as these declarations
sounded, circumstances enabled him to fulfil
them to as great an extent as ever before he
had carried his concessions. The estates were
unable to refuse the supplies urgently called
for by other considerations.*
Thenceforth the counter reformation began
as elsewhere in the whole archducal territory.
The parishes and the town councils were
filled with catholics : no citizen durst attend
any other than the catholic church, or send his
children to any besides the catholic schools.
The change was not in every instance
peaceably effected. The catholic pastors, and
the archducal commissioners, were sometimes
rudely treated and driven away. The arch-
duke himself once incurred peril when en-
gaged in the chase. The rumour had spread
that a neighbouring preacher had been taken
prisoner: the people rushed together in arms,
and the poor persecuted preacher had to
go among them in person, and protect his
ungracious sovereign from the peasants.f In
spite of this the matter took its course. The
harshest measures were employed ; the papal
historian sums them up in a few words, viz. :
confiscation, exile, and severe chastisement
of all the refractory. The spiritual princes
who had any possessions in those districts,
lent their aid to the secular officers. The
archbishop of Cologne, bishop of Freisingen,
changed the council of his town of Lack, and
visited the Protestant burghers with imprison-
ment or fines: the bishop of Brixen was even
inclined to go the length of a new agrarian
distribution in his lordship of Veldes. This
spirit was manifested over the whole range of
the .Austrian possessions. Though the Tyrol
had remained catholic, the archduke Ferdi-
nand did not fail to insist on the strict subor-
dination of his Clergy of Inspruck, and to see
to it that every one received the sacrament.
Sunday schools were established for the com-
mon people. Cardinal Andrew, Ferdinand's
son, had catechisms printed, which he distri-
buted to the youths in the schools, and to the
unlearned. I But in those districts where pro-
testantism had in some degree gained admis-
sion, Ferdinand did not content himself with
such mild measures. In the mare-ravate of
* RaupachjKIeine Nachlese, Evang. Oestreich, i v. p. 17.
f'Seinem anseborenen inildreichen landsfiirstlichen
deutschen Gemiith nach," [afler the promptings of his
natural, benignant, princely, and German disposition,]
Bays the supplication of the three states.
* Valvassor, Ehre des Herzogthums Krain, contains au-
thentic and circumstantial information on all these mat-
ters. Bui MallVi's account is particularly important, in
the Annali di Gregorio XIII. lib. ix. c. xx. lib. xiii. c. i.
No doubt hp had the nuncio's report before him.
tKhevenhiller, Annales Ferdinandei, ii. p. 523.
t Puteo in Tempesii: Vila di Sislo V. torn. i. 375.
200
COUNTER REFORMATION. FIRST PERIOD. [a. d. 1563-89.
Burgan, though but a recent acquisition, and
in the bailiwick of Svvabia, although his juris-
diction there was disputed, he adopted pre-
cisely the same course as that pursued by the
archduke Charles in Styria.
Pope Sixtus V. set no bounds to his ap-
plause of all these things. He extolled the
Austrian princes as the firmest pillars of
Christianity ; and to the archduke Charles in
particular, he addressed the most flattering
briefs.* The acquisition of a county which
reverted to the latter at that time, was regard-
ed at the court of Griitz as a remuneration of
heaven for such valuable services rendered to
Christianity.
Whereas the catholic spirit owed its
triumph in the Netherlands, chiefly to its
accommodating itself to existing privileges,
that was not the case in Germany. Here, on
the contrary, the several sovereigns had so
greatly enlarged their prerogatives and their
power, that they were m a condition to pro-
mote the restoration of the church. The
strictness of this union between ecclesiastical
and political power, and the length to which
it was carried, are most strikingly exemplified
in the case of Wolf Dietrich of Raittenau,
archbishop of Salzburg.
The archbishops of former days, who had
lived amidst the agitations of the reformation,
contented themselves with now and then issu-
ing an edict against innovations, with decree-
ing a punishment, or making an attempt at
conversion, but only, as archbishop Jacob says,
"by gentle, fatherly, and upright means."!
Far different was the temper of the young
archbishop Wolf Dietrich of Raittenau, who
mounted the throne of Salzburg in 1587. He
had been educated in the Collegium Germani-
cum in Rome, and was possessed with the
ideas of the ecclesiastical restoration in all
their force. He had been an eye-witness to
the brilliant commencement of the pontificate
of Sixtus v., and been filled with admiration
for him. Furthermore, it operated on him as
a special incitement, that his uncle Altemps,
in whose house he had been brought up at
Rome, was a cardinal. In the year 1588, on
his return from a journey in which he had once
more visited Rome, he proceeded to put in
execution the projects he had conceived under
the influence of these impressions. He called
on all the burghers of his capital to make
public profession of tiie catholic faith. Many
of them hanging back, he gave them a few
weeks for reflection ; after these were expired,
on the 3rd of September, 1588, he commanded
them to quit the city and the diocese within a
month. Only that month, and another afler-
* Extract from the briefs : in Tempesti, i. 203.
t A more severe edict, it is true, was published in
Jacob's name, but not till he had been obliged to commit
the administration to a coadjutor.
wards added to it, at their urgent petition, was
allowed them to sell off" their property, of
which they were required to give a computa-
tion to the archbishop, nor were they permit-
ted to dispose of it to any persons but those
approved of by him.* But few reconciled
themselves to a recantation of their faith, these
were then constrained to do penance in the
church with burning tapers in their hands:
but by far the greater number, including the
wealthiest burghers, became exiles. This loss
gave the prince no concern. He thought he
had discovered other means of maintaining
the splendour of the archbishopric. He had
already considerably augmented the taxes,
customs, and tolls, laid new charges on the
salt of Hallein and Schellenberg, converted
the contributions in aid of the Turki.sh war
into a regular land-tax, and introduced duties
on wine, and income and inheritance-tax. He
paid no regard to any prescriptive immunity.
The dean committed suicide, in a fit of melan-
choly, occasioned, as it was thought, by the
loss of the chapter's rights. The bishop's
enactments respecting the salt works and the
whole business of mining, aimed at destroying
the independence of those trades, and incor-
porating them all with his treasury. Germany
presents no similar instance in this century of
a regular fiscal system. The young arch-
bishop had brought with him from beyond the
Alps the idea of an Italian principality. To
get hold of money appeared to him the first
grand problem of statesmanship. He had
taken Sixtus V. for his model, and his great
object was, like him, to be master of an obe-
dient, thoroughly catholic, tribute-paying state.
The removal of the citizens of Salzburg, whom
he regarded as rel)els, afforded him even plea-
sure. He caused their evacuated houses to
be pulled down, and palaces in the Roman
style to be erected in their stead. f
For above all things he loved splendour.
He never refused knightly entertainment to
any foreigner, and once he was seen proceed-
ing to the diet followed by a suite of four hun-
dred persons. He was twenty-nine years of
age in the year 1588, was full of vivacity and
ambition, and already fixed his eyes on the
highest spiritual dignity.
The course pursued in the spiritual and
secular principalities was also followed, wher-
ever it was practicable, in the cities. How
bitterly did the Lutheran burghers of Gmim-
den complain that they had been struck off"
the roll of candidates for the town council. In
Biberach, the council established by the com-
* Edict respecting the reformation in Giickingk: Voll-
konimene Eniigrationsgeschichte von denen aus dem
Erzbisihum Salzburg vertriebenen Lulheranern, i. p. 88.
t Zauner's Salzbu'rger Chronik, Siebenter Theil, is our
most important authority on this head. This part of the
chronicl3 was itself constructed upon a contemporaneous
biography of the archbishop.
A. D. 1563-89.] PROGRESS OF COUNTER REFORMATION IN GERMANY. 201
missioner of Charles V., on the occasion of the
Interim, still maintained its position; the
whole town was protestant, but the council
was catholic, and sedulously excluded every
protestant from its body.* What oppressions
the protestants suffered in Cologne and Aix la
Chapelle ! The council of Cologne declared
it had promised the elector and the emperor to
tolerate no other religion than the catholic,
and it sometimes punished attendance on a
catholic sermon with fine and imprisonment.f
In Augsburg, too, the catholics gained the
upper hand. Disputes arose on the introduc-
tion of the new calendiir ; 'in the year 1580,
the evangelical superintendent was first ex-
pelled, then eleven clergymen at once, and,
lastly, a number of the most pertinacious citi-
zens. Something of the sort occurred on
similar grounds in Ratisbon in 1587. The
towns began to pretend to the right of remo-
delling their religious institutions; nay, indi-
vidual counts and lords, individual knights of
the empire even, come fresh from the convert-
ing hand of some Jesuit, believed they might
use a similar right, and began to revive Catho-
licism in their petty domains.
It was a measureless reaction. Protestan-
tism was now repulsed with as much energy
as it had betbre swept onwards. Preaching
and doctrine contributed to this, but infinitely
more was done by policy, command, and open
violence.
As once the Italian protestants had fled over
the Alps to Switzerland and Germany, so now,
far more numerous bodies of German fugitives
were driven from the western and southern
districts to the northern and eastern. So
likewise the Belgians retreated to Holland.
It was a mighty victory of Catholicism that
marched on from land to land.
None now surpassed in their efforts to favour
and extend its progress than the nuncios, who
at that time began to reside regularly in
Germany.
A memoir of the nuncio Minuccio Minucci,
of the year 158S, has come down to us, from
which we learn the nature of the views con-
ceived and acted upon in those times.^
Special consideration was given to educa-
tion. It was earnestly desired that the catho-
lic universities had been better endowed, so
as to attract distinguished teachers: Ingold-
stadt vi'as the only one possessed of means
sufficiently ample. As matters now stood,
every thing rested on the Jesuit seminaries.
Minuccio Alinucci wished that, in the latter,
care should be devoted not so much to form
great scholars or profound theologians, as able
preachers. A man of moderate knowledge,
* Lehmann de Pace Religionis, ii. p. 268. 480.
t Lehmann, 436. 270.
i Discorso del molto illustrate e rcvmo- JMonsignor Mi-
nuccio Minucci sopra il modo di resliluire la caltolica re-
ligione in Alemagna, 1588. MS. Barb.
26
content not to aspire to the summit of learn-
ing, and never thinking of acquiring fame,
was, in his estimation, perhaps, the most uni-
versally serviceable and profitable man for the
church. He recommended the same principle
to be kept in view as regarded also the insti-
tutions lor German catholics in Italy. In the
Collegivm Germanicinn there had originally
been a distinction made between the youths
of the middle classes and those of noble blood.
Minuccio Minucci blames the departure from
the principle. Not only were the nobles now
averse to remaining in the college, but, fur-
thermore, an ambition was awakened in the
minds of the students of the middle class that
could never afterwards be satisfied, a longing
for high places that would prove prejudicial
to the perfect fulfilment of the inferior ap-
pointments. We learn also that endeavours
were made to attract another and intermediate
class to the college, the sons, namely, of the
higher functionaries, into whose hands, accord-
ing to the usual course of things, the greatest
share in the administration of their native pro-
vinces would fall. Gregory XIII. had already
made arrangements for their reception in
Perugia and Bologna. Thus we see, that the
distinction of rank even now prevailing in
German society were already marked in those
days.
The main dependence of the church was
always on the nobility, to which the nuncio
especially ascribed the maintenance of Catho-
licism in Germany ; for since they possessed
an exclusive right to the great benetlces, they
defended the church as their own inheritance.
For this very reason they now opposed the
introduction of religious freedom into the dio-
ceses,* lest the very numerous protestant
princes should, in that case, engross all the
benefices. For this cause the church ought,
in its turn, to conciliate and protect the nobi-
lity. They were by no means to be teased
with any law against pluralities: beside, fre-
quent changes of residence had their use,
suice they tended to unite the nobility from
the several provinces in defence of the church.
Nor ought attempts to be made towards bes-
towing ecclesiastical appointments on men of
the burgher class ; it was very useful to have
a few scholars in a chapter, as had been seen
* Especially in Upper Germany. "L'esempio delta
suppressione dell' allre" (those of Lower Germany) "ha
avverlili i nobili a metter cura maggiore nella difesa di
queste, concorrendo in cio tanlo gli eretici quanlo li cat-
tolici, acconi gia., che nel occupalione delli principi si
leva a luro et a' posteri la speranza dell' utile che cavano
dai canonical! e dagli altri Iseneficii e che possono prelen-
dere del vescovato menire a' canonici resta libera I'elet-
tione." [The example of the suppression of the other
spiritualities warned the nobles to be more careful in
defending these, and in this the heretics fully concurred
with the catholics, both parties agreeing in regarding their
occupation by the princes as aifording themselves and
their posterity the hope of the advantages to be derived
from the canonries and other benefices, and in thinking
that they could aspire to the bishopric so long as the
canons retained the right of free election.]
202
COUNTER REFORMATION. FIRST PERIOD. [a. d. 1563-89.
in Cologne ; but any attempt to carry this
further would be the ruin of the German
church.
The question next arose, how far it might
be possible to reclaim the districts that had
become wholly protestant.
The nuncio is far from recommending open
violence. The protestant princes appear to
him vastly too strong for this. Still he sug-
gests some means likely to lead gradually to
the desired end.
Above all things he holds it necessary to
maintain the good understanding subsisting
between the catholic princes, especially be-
tween Bavaria and Austria. The league of
Landsberg is still in existence ; it ought to be
renewed and strengthened, and king Philip of
Spain micht be comprehended in it.
And might it not be possible even to gain
over some protestant princes'? The elector
Augustus of Saxony, liad long been thought
to evince some leaning towards Catholicism.
Attempts had from time to time been made
upon him, especially through the medium of
Bavaria ; but it could only be done with great
caution ; and as the elector's wife, Anne of
Denmark, was a stedfast Lutheran, all these
attempts had been fruitless. Anne died in
1585. This was not only a day of emancipa-
tion for the oppressed Calvinists, but aflbrded
the catholics, too, an opportunity of approach-
ing nearer to their prince. It would seem
that Bavaria thought itself now called on to
effect something in the matter in which it had
always exerted itself; and pope Sixlus V.
held himself in readiness 'to send absolution
to the elector.* Meanwhile Augustus died
* As early as 1574, Gregory XIII. encouraged duke Al-
bert v., " Lit duni elector Saxonise Calvanistarum seclani
ex imperii sui finibus extuibaie conabatur, vtUet seniio-
nes cum principe illo aliquando habiios de religione ca-
tliolica in Saxonia intioducenda renovare." [That
wliereas the elector of Saxony was endeavouring to ha-
rass and drive the Calvinists out of his dominions, he, the
duke, should cause a renewal of the negociations once
carried on with tliat prince for the introduction of ihe ca-
tholic religion inio Saxony.] He thought it would, per-
haps, be advisable to send an agent thither. But the duke
was al.ogether against this, because the matter would
come immediately to the ears of the elector's privy-coun-
cillors, " ad consiliarios et familiarirs : a quiLius quid ex-
pectandum aliud quam quod totam rem pervertanf?"
[And what then could be expected but the frustration of
the whole business 1] He goes on to say, " Aite hie opus
esse judicatur quo tanquam aliud agens errantem pie cir-
cuinveniat.— Uxor, quo ex sexu impotentiori concitatior
est, eo impor uniora sufi'undet consilia, si resciscat banc
apud mariium rem agi." Legationes paparum ad duces
Bavaria. MS. in the library of Munich. [The matter
must be skilfully managed, so that, under cover of some
other apparent design, the elector may be led unawares
into our pious toils. If his wife comes to know of these
pioceedings with her husband, she will beset him with
all the passionate importunity of her excitable sex.] Mi-
nucci rtlates that the first overtures were made so early
as in the days of Pius V. The whole passage is remarka-
ble. "Con duca Augusto di Sassonia giii morto si tratt6
sin a tempi della s. m. di papa Pio V. il duca Alberto di
Baviera, che vive in cielo, c ridusse la pratica lanto inan-
zi che si prometteva sicura riuscita: ma piacque a Dio
benedetto di chiamarlo, nfi d'opera di tanta importanza
fu chi pailasse o pensasse, se non ch' a tempi di Gregorio
di gl. mem. il padre Possevino s'ingegno di fabricare so
pra quei fundamenti : et in fine nel presenie felicissimo
before any thing was accomplished, but the
catholics had other princes in view : Louis,
count palatine of Neuburg, who was .said to
evince an estrangement to all interests hos-
tile to Catholicism, and a peculiar forbearance
towards all catholic priests who casually vi-
sited his territories; — and William IV. of
Hesse, who was learned and pacific, and had
occasionally accepted the dedication of catho-
lic works. Some likewise of the superior
nobility of northern Germany were not lost
sight of: hopes were entertained with regard
to Henry Ranzau.
But if the result of these experiments was
remote, and not to be counted on, there were
yet other schemes, the accomplishment of
which depended more on the resolution and
the will of their concocters.
The majority of the assessors of the Kam-
mergericht (so at least the nuncio asserts)
were still inclined to protestantism. There
still survived men of the earlier times, when
in most lands, even in those that were catho-
lic, secret or professed protestants sat in the
sovereign councils. The nuncio regards this
circumstance as calculated to drive the catho-
lics to despair, and is urgent in demanding its
remedy. lie thinks it an ea.sy matter to com-
pel all the assessors of catholic countries to
make a profession of faith, and to oblige all
who should be appointed for the future, to
pledge themselves by oath not to change their
religion, or else to give up their places. To
the catholics, he maintained, belonged of right
the preponderance in that court.
He did not yet abandon the hope of retriev-
ing possession of the lost bishoprics without
violence, if efficient use were made of exist-
ing prerogatives. These bishoprics were not
yet wholly severed from all coimexion with
Home ; the old right of the curia to fill up the
vacancies in benefices occurring during the
reserved months was not absolutely repudiat-
ed. Even the protestant bishops believed at
bottom that their nomination required to be
ratified by the pope's sanction, and Henry of
Saxe Lauenburg constantly kept an agent at
Rome to procure him this. If the papal see
pontificato di Sislo, sendo morta la moglie d'esso duca
Augusto, fu chi ricordo I'occasione esser opportuna per
Iraltare di nuova la conversions di quel principe: ma la
providentia divina non li diede tempo di poter aspettare
la benedittione che S. Beatne- pur per mezzo del signer
duca Guilieln.o di Baviera s'apparecchiava di mandarli
sin acasasua." [Duke Albert of Bavaria, who lives in
heaven, plied the late duke Augustus of Saxony in the
reign of pope Pius V.. and the negociation was so far ad-
vanced as to promise certain success. But it pleased God
to call him away, and none remained to speak or think
of so important a work, till in the days of Gregory of glo-
rious memory, father Possevino bethought him of building
on that foundation ; and, finally, in the present most aus-
picious pontificate of Sixlus, tlie wife of duke Augustus
being now dead, the opportunity was thought favourable
for again essaying the conversion of that prince. Divine
providence, however, did not graiit him time to receive
the benediction which his holiness was preparing to send
and bestow on him, within his own doors, through the
mediation of duke William of Bavaria.] We see how
early that line of Saxony was practised upon.
1563-89.]
THE LIGUE.
had not yet been able to take advantaj^e of
this tbelino', it was because tiie emperor sup-
plied by indultoes the want of tlie pope's con-
firmation, and the appointments made at
Rome to the vacant benefices always occur-
red too late, or contained some flaw in their
form, so that the chapters could always act
with legal freedom. Minucci now urged the
necessity of the emperor's abstaining alto-
gether from granting indultoes : nor had he
much difficulty in effecting tliis in tlie exist-
ing state of feeling in the court. Duke Wil-
liam of Bavaria had already proposed com-
mitting the patronage of the benefices to the
nuncio, or to some trustworthy German
bishop. Minucci gives it as his opinion, that
a special dataria for Germany should be es-
tablished in Rome, in which should be kept
a list of qualified noble catholics, which might
easily be procured through the nuncio or the
Jesuits, and that all vacancies should be forth-
with filled up in accordance with the stand-
ard thus obtained. No chapter would ven-
ture to reject the candidates legitimately
nominated by Rome. What consequence
too, what influence, would this contrivance
confer on the curia.
We see clearly how earnestly the thought
of a complete restoration of the church's old
authority was still pursued. To conciliate
the nobility, to bring up the higher classes of
citizens in the interests of Rome, to educate
youth in the same spirit, to renew the old
influence over the chapters and dioceses, even
though these had become protestant, to reco-
ver the ascendency in the Kammergericht, to
convert powerful princes of the empire, to
give the leading catholic powers a voice in
the affairs of the German confederation — thus
numerous were the projects simultaneously
pursued.
Nor must we suppose that these counsels
were slighted. At the moment they were
proposed in Rome, their execution was in pro-
gress in Germany.
The efficiency and sound regulation of the
Kammergericht mainly depended on the year-
ly visitation, held during the sittings of the
diet, by seven estates of the empire in rota-
tion. Commonly the majority on these occa-
sions was catholic, but in the year 15S8, it
was for once protestant ; the protestant arch-
bishop of Magdeburg, among others, was to
take part in it. It was resolved, on the cath-
olic side, to prevent this. On the elector of
Mainz proceeding to summon the estates, the
emperor, of his own authority, commanded
him to postpone the visitation for that year.
But a year's respite would have availed little,
since the rotation remained still the same ; a
protestant archbishop of Magdeburg long stood
in the way : the consequence was, that the
prorogation was repeated from year to year,
nay, even that a regular visitation never af-
terwards took place, to the irremediable inju-
ry of this noble institution of the highest tri-
bunal of the empire.* Ere long, we hear
complaints that unlearned catholics were ad-
mitted into that body in preference to learned
protestants. The emperor, too, desisted from
granting indultoes. In the year 1.588, Mi-
nucci recommended that efforts should be
made for the conversion of protestant princes ;
and in 1-590, we meet with the first convert,
Jacob von Baden, the foremost of a long se-
ries.
The Ligue.
Whilst these great movements were taking
place in Germany and the Netherlands, they
seized on France, too, with resistless force.
The affairs of the Netherlands had, from re-
mote periods, been most closely connected
with those of France : how often had the pro-
testants of the latter, and the catholics of the
former, respectively aided their brethren of
the neighbouring country'! The downfall of
protestantism in the Belgian provinces was a
direct blow to the Huguenots of Prance.
But independently of this, the tendency to
a restoration of Catholicism, manifest in other
countries, had likewise taken increasing hold
in France.
We have already noticed the first appear-
ance of the Jesuits, and since then they had
been continually spreading. The house of
Lorraine, as may be imagined, were their
special patrons. Cardinal Guise founded an
academy for them, in 1577, at I^ont a Mous-
son, which was resorted to by the princes of
his house. The duke established a college at
Eu in Normandy, which was intended for the
exiled English.
But they found many other patrons besides.
Sometimes it was a cardinal, a bishop, or an
abbot; sometimes a prince, or a high func-
tionary, that took on himself the cost of a new
establishment. Within a short space of time,
the Jesuits settled in Rouen, Verdun, Dijon,
Bourges, and Nevers. Their missionaries
traversed the kingdom in a multitude of di-
rections.
They met with assistants, however, in
France, whose aid they had been obliged to
dispense with, at least in Germany.
Cardinal Lorraine had brought some Capu-
chins with him from the council of Trent, and
assigned them his palace at Meudon for their
* Minucci had written, besides, on the special subject
of the Kammergericht. There are good grounds for "sur-
mising lh:it the inhibition was brought about by his repre-
genlalions. The protestant majority, as we have said, he
retarded with detestation : " Non vole dir altro I'aver gli
eretici I'autoritd. maggiore e li piu voli in quel smato che
un redurre i catolici d'Alemagna adisperatione." [That
the heretics should possess the greater weight, and the
more numerous votes in that senate, is tantamount to no-
thing short of reducing the catholics of Germany to des-
pair:]
204
COUNTER REFORMATION. FIRST PERIOD. [a. d. 1563-89.
dwelling: but after his death they again de-
parted, the order being still limited by its
statutes to Italy. In the year 1573, the chap-
ter-general sent a few members across the
Alps, at first with the intention only to ex-
plore the ground. These having been well
received, so that on their return they promised
" the richest harvest," the pope did not hesi-
tate to remove that restriction. In the year
1574, the first colony of Capuchins crossed
the Alps, under the conduct of Fra Pacifico
di San Gervaso, who chose his own associ-
ates.
They were all Italians, and naturally at-
tached themselves first of all to their own
countrymen.
Queen Catherine welcomed them with joy,
and forthwith endowed a convent for them in
Paris. By the year 1575, we find them in
Lyons, where, through the queen's recom-
mendations, they received the support of some
Italian money-changers.
From these towns they now spread more
widely ; from Paris to Caen and Rouen ;
from Lyons to Marseilles, where queen Cath-
erine purchased a site for them to build on :
new colonies settled in Toulouse in 1582, and
in 1585 in Verdun. They very speedily
succeeded in making the most brilliant con-
versions, as, for instance, that of Henri Joy-
euse, one of the first men of France in that
day.*
Now, in one respect at least, these religious
movements produced more powerful effects in
France than in Germany, inasmuch as they
gave rise to institutions imitated from exist-
ing ones, but with characteristic peculiarities.
Jean de la Barrieie, who, in accordance with
the singular abuses that had crept into
France, had been granted in commendam, in
his nineteenth year, the cistercian abbey of
Feuillans, near Toulouse, caused himself to
be consecrated as a regular abbot, in the year
1577, and received novices, with whom he
tried, not only to revive, but even to surpass
the austerity of the original institution of
Citeaux. Solitude, silence, and self-denial,
were pushed to the utmost possible extent.
These monks never left their convent, except
to preach in some neighbouring place ; with-
in its walls they wore neither shoe, nor cov-
ering for the head ; they abstained not only
from meat and wine, but even from fish and
eggs, living on bread and water, with the ad-
dition, at the very most, of a few vegetables.!
Such austerity failed not to excite reverence
and imitation : Dom Jean de la Barriere was
very soon invited to the court ofVincennes.
He traversed the greater part of France with
sixty-two companions, without any interrup-
tion to the usual exercises of the convent.
* Boverio: Annali dei frati Capucini, i. 546. ii. 45, f.
I Felibien: Histoire de Paris, torn. ii. p. H58.
Presently his institute was confirmed by the
pope, and spread itself over the country.
It seemed, too, as though a new zeal had
animated the entire body ofthe secular clergy,
although they held their appointments free
from all responsibility. The parish priests
once more devoted themselves earnestly to
the care of souls. The bishops, in the year
1570, called not only for the adoption of the
decrees of the council of Trent, but even for
the abrogation of that very concordat to which
they owed their own existence : these propo-
sals they renewed from time to time in in-
creasing force.*
Who shall pretend accurately to assign all
the causes that impelled the public mind in
this direction] Thus much alone is certain,
that the greatest change was manifest about
the year 1580. A Venetian asserts that the
number of French protestants had fallen
seventy per cent., and that the common people
were again completely catholic. Animation,
novelty, and impulsive force, were again on
the side of Catholicism. f
Under these circumstances, however, it as-
sumed a new position as regarded the royal
authority.
The court was a medley of self-contradic-
tions. It is not to be doubted but that Henry
III. was a good catholic; no one stood well
with him who did not frequent the mass, and
he would not suffer any protestant magistrates
in the towns ; but notwithstanding all this,
he continued from first to last, to dispose of
ecclesiastical appointments in accordance with
court favour, regardless of worth and talent,
and to appropriate and squander the property
of the church. He was fond of religious ex-
ercises and processions, and spared himself no
penance; but this did not prevent his leading
the most scandalous of lives, and of sanctioning
similar immorality in others. The most aban-
doned debauchery was the order ofthe day at
court. The dissolute practices of the carnival
provoked the indignation of the preachers.
Sometimes Christian burial was refused to
courtiers, on account of the manner of their
deaths, and their last expressions, and this in
the case ofthe very favourites ofthe king.
Hence the rigid catholic spirit, though in
* Remontrance de I'Assenibl^e G^n^rale du Clerg^ de
France convoquee en la Ville de Melun, faile au roi Henri
in. le SJuillel, 1579. Recueildes Actes du Cleig6, torn,
xiv. Thuanus also gives an extract.
•t Lorenzo Pritili: Relatione di Franza, 5 Guisno, 1582.
Dovemo maravigliarci, umanamente parlando, che le cose
non siano in peggiore sta di quelloche si trnvano : poiche,
pergratia de Dio, con lutti il poco pensiero clie Ii 6 stato
messo e che se Ii melte, 6 sminuto il numero degii Ugon-
olti 700-0 et 6 grandc 11 zelo et il fervor che niontrano
cattolici nelle delle religione. [We have reason to
wonder, humanly speaking, that matters are in no worse
a condition: fn,' by God's crace, notwithstanding the little
consideration that has been given, and that is sliU givea
to the matter, the number ofthe heretics is diminished
seventy per cent., and great is the zeal and fervour dia»
played by catholics in matters of religion.]
A. D. 1563-89.]
THE LIGUE.
205
various ways favoured by the court, was yet
inwardly and essentially opposed thereto.
But, furthermore, the kinji' persevered in
the old systeui of politics, which displayed it-
self chicHy in hostility to Spain. At any other
time this would have siijnified nothing; but in
those days ihe religious element was stronger
in France than the sense of national interests.
As the Huguenots felt themselves linked with
the protestants of the Netherlands, so the
French catholics felt themselves the natural
allies of Philip H. and of Farnese. The Je-
suits, who had rendered such great services
to those princes in the Netherlands, could not
see, without uneasiness, that the very foes
they had combated there found favour and
help in France.
In addition to this came the death of the
duke d'Alengon, in the year 1584, whereby,
since the king neither had, nor was likely to
have, issue, Henry of Navarre became heir
apparent to the throne.
Anxiety for the future has, perhaps, more
influence over men than present calamity.
This prospect threw all the French catholics
into the greatest agitation,* above all, of course,
the old opponents and foes of Navarre, the
Guises, who already dreaded the influence he
must possess as heir to the throne, still more
the power he would have as king. It is no
wonder if they looked for support to king
Philip.
Nor could any thing be more welcome to
that monarch in the general condition of his
policy : he hesitated not to enter into a formal
league with the subjects of a foreign kingdom.
The only remaining question was, whether
at Rome, where an union of princes with the
church had been so often talked of, they would
now sanction an insurrection of powerful vas-
sals against their sovereign.
Now it cannot be denied that this sanction
was given. Among the Guises there were
some consciences uneasy at the step about to
be taken. Matthieu, the Jesuit, went to Rome
to procure a declaration from the pope which
might appease their scruples. Gregory XIH.
declared, upon hearing the representations of
Matthieu, that he fully approved of the French
princes taking up arms against the heretics;
that he removed every scruple they might
entertain on the subject; that the king would
surely approve of their conduct, but, should
that not be the case, they must nevertheless
prosecute their plan till they achieved the
* An essay was immediately composed at the time in
Rome, sliowing how desirable it was that a Guise should
succeed to the throne: Delia inclinalione de' callolici
verso la casa di Ghisa e del servitio che riceveri le chris-
tianiii et il re cattolico delta successions d' uno di rjuei
principi. [On the inclination of the catholics towards
the house of Guise, and on the service to be derived by
Christianity and by the catholic kins; from the succession
of oneofthoae princes.] It was sent to Spain, and was as-
cribed to cardinal Este. Dispaccio Veneto, 1584, Imo. Dcbr.
grand object of exterminating the heretics.*
The process against Henry of Navarre was
already begun; by the time it was concluded
[ Si.xtus V. had ascended the papal throne, and
he pronounced sentence of excommunication
on Navarre and Conde. By this means he lent
more support to the intentions of the Ligue
than he could in any other way have done.f
The Guises were by this time already in
arms, and they endeavoured immediately to
secure as many provinces and places as they
possibly could.
At the first movement, they took such inn-
portant towns as Verdun, 'i'oul, Lyons, Bour-
ges, Orleans, and Mezieres with a blow. The
king, that he might not be vanquished by
them by force, adopted the expedient he had
once before resorted to, of declaring their
cause his own. But before they would re-
ceive him into their alliance, they obliged him
to ratify and extend their conquests by a for-
mal treaty. He surrendered to them Bur-
gogne. Champagne, agreatpartof Picardy, and
a multitude of places in other parts of the
kingdom. I
Hereupon, the king and the Guises under-
took the war conjointly against the Protest-
ants; but in how different a manner! All
the king's measures were lame and inconclu-
sive : the catholics even believed he wished
success to the protestant arms, so that he
might be able under the apparent compulsion
of their alarming strength, to conclude a peace
with them disadvantageous to the catholic
cause. Guise, on the contrary, swore that if
God granted him victory, he would not dis-
mount from his horse till he had forever
established the catholic religion in France.
With his own troops, not with those of the
king, he surprised at Auneau the Germans,
who were coming to the aid of the Huguenots,
and on whom the latter built all their hopes,
and cut them to pieces.
The pope compared him to Judas Macca-
baeus. He possessed a grandeur of character
that captivated the willing veneration of the
populace. He became the idol of all the
catholics.
The king, on the other hand, found himself
altogether in a false position : he knew not
what to do, nor even what he should devise.
The papal ambassador Morosini, remarks, that
he consisted as it were of two persons : he
wished for the subjugation of the Huguenots,
* Claude Matthieu, au due de Nevers, 11 F^vr. 1585,
perhaps the most important piece of information in the
whole Iburih vol. of Capeligue: Keforme, etc. p. 173.
f Maffei, Historiarum ab excessu Gregorii XIII. lib. i.
p. 10. Infinitis fctderalorum precibus, et regis Philippi
supplicatione hoitatuque, haud aegre se adduci est passus
ul Hug(motas eorumque duces cctlestibus armis insf ctare-
lur. [He easily sutfered himself to be induced by the re-
iterated entreaties of the leaguers, and by the su|,iplication
and advice of king Philip, to assail the Huguenots and
their leaders with divine arms.]
t Reflections of cardinal Ossat on the effects of tho
Ligue in P'rance : Life of cardinal Ossat, i. 44.
206
COUNTER REFORMATION. FIRST PERIOD.
[a. d. 1563-89.
and he dreaded it quite as much ; he dreaded
the overthrow of the catholics, and yet he
wished for it: such was the etfect of this
mental discord, that he no longer followed
the natural bent of his inclination, that he no
longer trusted his own thoughts.*
A state of mind like this, necessarily de-
stroys all confidence in the subject of it, and
leads him headlong to destruction.
The catholics were firmly convinced that
the very man who stood at their head was
their secret enemy ; they set down in the ac-
count against him, every transient intercourse
with Navarre's people, every trifling mark of
favour bestowed on a protestant; they held
that the most Christian king himself hindered
the complete re-establishment of Catholicism;
and they cherished so much the more bitter
hatred against his favourites, especially Eper-
non, since the king set him up against the
Guises, and entrusted the important govern-
ments to his hands.
Under these circumstances, there grew up
side by side with the league of the princes,
an union too of the burgher class in the in-
terest of Catholicism. In all the towns the
populace were wrought on by preachers, who
combined a furious opposition to the govern-
ment, with a vehement religious zeal. In
Paris they went still further. ' It was three
preachers and an eminent citizen, who first
conceived the project of forming a popular
combination for the defence of Catholicism. f
They bound themselves to each other by oatJi
in the first place, to shed the last drop of blood
for the cause ; each of them nominated a few
trusty friends, with whom they held their first
meeting in a monk's cell in the Sorbonne.
They soon perceived the possibility of their
embracing the whole city in their union. A
select committee was chosen to conduct the
movement, and even to levy money in case
of need. One inspector was appointed in each
of the sixteen quarters of the city. The re-
* Dispaccio Morosini in Tempesli, Vila di SistoV. p.
346. II re, tulto che sia monarca si grande, 6 altrettanto
povero: e quanto 6 poveio, 6 altrettanio prodigo: dimos-
tre insigne pieti, e npl stesso tempo aborrisce la sagra
lega : 6 in campo contra gli erelici, e pure 6 geloso de'
progressi catolici. [The king, as great a monarch as he
IS, is equally poor; and poor as he is, he is equally prodi-
gal ; he displayssingular piety, and at the same lime ab-
hors the sacred law ; he is at war with the heretics, and
yet he is jealoiisof the prouress of the catholic cause.]
t The Anoniino Capitol ino on the life of Sixtas V. con-
tains peculiar notices on this subject. He names as the
founder Carlo Otloniani "cittadiho onorato," [a respect-
able citizen] who first communicated its existence to
the preachers. At this very first meeting, Ottomani pro-
posed an union with the princes; on the second, Jan. 25,
1587', it was resolved to nominate sixteen persons, one for
each quarter, " a cui si riferisse da persone fidate quanto
■vi si facesse e dicesse appartenentea fatti publici" [to
whom should be reported by trusty persons, whatever
was done or said in them, relating to public affairs.] In
the third meeting on Candlemas day, a council often was
named, with the right of levying contributions, and a de-
putation was forthwith dispatched to Guise. This ac-
count gives some additional weight to all we find related
by Cayet from Manaut and Maheutre, by Poulain, de
Thou and Davila.
crniting went on in the most rapid and secret
manner. The qualifications of candidates for
admission were first discussed in the com-
mittee: no further communication was made
to those who were not approved of They
had agents in all the colleges; one in the
Chambre des Comptes, one for the Procureurs
de la Cour, one for the Clerks, and one for the
Greffiers, and so forth. Ere long the city, which
had already received a catholico-militaiy or-
ganii^ation, was comprehended in this more
secret and effective league. It was noi con-
fined to Paris ; it was propagated through
Orleans, Lyons, Toulouse, Bordeau.x, and
Rouen, and delegates from the confederates
appeared in Paris. They all bound them-
selves to tolerate no Huguenot in France, and
to remove the abuses of the government.
This is the so called League of the tSi.xteen.
As soon as it found itself in some strength it
gave information to the Guises; upon which
Mayenne, the duke's brother, arrived with
extreme secrecy in Paris, and the union be-
tween the princes and the citizens was con-
cluded.*
Henry III. already felt the ground rocking
beneath his feet. The movements of his
enemies were reported to him from day to
day. To such a pitch of boldness had they
advanced in the Sorbonne, as publicly to pro-
pose the question, whether it was right to
withdraw allegiance from the prince who did
not perform his duty. It was decided in the
affirmative in a council of from thirty to forty
doctors. The king was highly incensed, and
threatened to do like Pope Sixtns, and send
the refractory preachers in chains to the gal-
leys. But he did not possess the pope's energy;
he did nothing more than order the advance
of the SvvLss who were in his service to the
neighbourhood of the capital.
Alarmed at this threatening proceeding, the
citizens sent to Guise, entreating him to come
to their assistance. The king gave him to
understand that the step would not be pleas-
ing to him. Guise came nevertheless.
Everything was ripe for a great explosion.
It burst forth when the king ordered the
Swiss to march into Paris, 'i'he city was
barricadoed in an instant. The Swiss were
driven back, the Louvre was threatened, and
the king was compelled to fly.f
Cuise had already the command of a great
part of France, and now he was master of
Paris. The bastile, the arsenal, the hotel de
ville, and all the surrounding places fell into
his hands. The king was completely over-
* Nel palazzo di Rens dietro alia chiesa di S. Agostino
. . . guirarano tutti una scambievol lega non solo defen-
siva maassoluta. (Anon. Capit.
t Maffei blames Guise for having suffered this. "In-
anis popularis aurae et infaustae ostentatione contentus
Henricum incolumem abire permittit." (1. 1. ;^8.) [Con-
tent with the parade of empty popularity and ill-oaiened
power, he suffered Henry to depart in safety.]
A. D. 1563-89 ]
SAVOY AND SWITZERLAND.
207
powered. Ere ]ong he was compelled to pro-
hibit the protestant relioion, and to cede still
more places to the Guises tlian they already
held. The duke of Guise might be regarded
as master of half of France, and over the other
half he derived a legitimate authority from
the ran^c of lieutenant general conlerred on
him by Henry III. The estates were convok-
ed, and there was no doubt that the catholic
opinions would preponderate in that assembly.
The most decided steps were to be expected
from it, from the destruction of the llugue-
nots, and in favour of the catholic party.
Savoy and Switzerland.
The predominance of Catholicism in the
powerful realm of France, must of course
have elicited a kindred result in the neigh-
boring territories.
The catholic cantons of Switzerland clung
still closer to the ecclesiastical principle, and
to the Spanish alliance.
It is strikingly ren)arkable what immense
effects ensued, from the establishment of a
permanent nunciature in Switzerland, as well
as in Germany.
Immediately after the adoption of this mea-
sure, in 1586, the catholic cantons united in
the so called gol^len, or Borromean league, in
which they bound themselves and their de-
scendants forever " to live and die in the true,
indubitable, ancient, apostolic, Roman qalholic
faith."* Thereupon they received the host
from the hands of tlie nuncio.
Had the party that seized the powers of
government at Miihlhausen in 1587, gone
over actually, and at the right time to the
catholic faith, as they seemed disposed to do,
they would doubtless have been supported by
the catholics : conferences were held on the
subject in the house of the nuncio at Lucern.
But the people of Miihlhausen deliberated too
long, while the protestants on the other hand
pushed on their expedition with the utmost
rapidity, and re-established the old govern-
ment, which was in the main favourable to
themselves.!
At this moment, however, the three forest
cantons took a new and important step, in
conjunction with Zug, Lucern, and Freiburg.
After long negociations, they concluded a
league with Spain on the 12th of May 1587,
I in which they pledged enduring friencif-hip to
° the king, and confirmed to him the right of
recruiting in their territories, and of marching
his troops through their mountains, whilst
* "Ihreewigen Nachkommen," [their eternal poster-
ity] as it is expressed in the documents relating to the
league. Lauffer: BeschreibungHelvetischerGcschichte,
Bdfx. S. 331.
t The importance of the Miihlhausen affair in a reli-
gious point of view, is strikingly manifested in the narra-
tive of the Anonimo Capitol, founded on the reports of the
nuncio, lo which we shall again advert, when wb come to
examine Tempesti.
Philip II. on his part, made them correspond-
ing concessions. The principal engagement
to each other, was to give their utmost mutual
aid in all cases of war on behalf of the holy
apostolic religion.* In this the six canrons
made no exception, not even with regard to
their confederates : on the contrary, the league
was rather directly aimed against these, for
there was no other power with which they
could entertain any likelihood of being involv-
ed in war on account of religion.
Here too how much stronger were religious
than national considerations ! Community of
faith now bouna together the old Schwytzers,
and the house of Austria ! The confederation
was discarded for the moment.
Fortunately, however, no immediate provo-
cation for war arose. The operation of the
league was immediately felt only by Geneva.
Charles Emanuel, duke of Savoy, a prince
throughout all his life of restless ambition,
had often shown a disposition to seize a favour-
able opportunity of again reducing Geneva,
of which he regarded himself as the legitimate
sovereign; but his views had always been
promptly met by the resistance of the Swiss
and the French, and by the aid those powers
extended to the citizens of Geneva,
But the state of things was now changed.
In the summer of 1588, at the instigation of
Guise, Henry III. promised no longer to inter-
fere against an enterprize upon Geneva : nor
was it now opposed by the catholic cantons,
at least, of Switzerland. Thus much only I
find they demanded, that Geneva, if taken,
should not be maintained as a fortified place.
Now, then, the duke prepared tor the attack.
The Genevese did not lose heart ; but some-
times even made inroads into the territory of
Savoy. But on this occasion Bern afforded
them but very dubious aid. The catholic
party had pushed their association into the
midst of that city, closely knit though it was
to all the protestant interests : a party existed
there, to which it would not have been unv^'el-
come, had Geneva fallen into the duke's
hands.f The consequence was that the duke
soon had the advantage. Hitherto he had
held the countries bordering on Switzerland,
under very restrictive conditions, imposed on
him by the terms of former treaties of peace
with Bern ; he took this opportunity of becom-
ing, for the first time, more completely master
in those territories. He expelled the protes-
tants, whom he had previously been constrain-
ed to tolerate, and he inade the whole country
exclusively catholic. Till now he had been
* Trait6 d'AUiance fait entre Philip II. etc. Duniont:
Corps Diplomatique, v. i. p. 459.
t The fifth article of the projected treaty leaves no
doubt on the subject, even ihougii the judicial evidenceof
guilt on Wallenwyl's pan is involved in a certain degree
of obscurity. Some extracts from contemporaneous, pam-
phlets, and from the acts of the council ot Bern, are to be
found in Gelzer: Die drei letzien Jahrhunderte der
Schweizergeschichle, Bd. i. p. 123. 137.
208
COUNTER REFORMATION. FIRST PERIOD.
[a. d. 1563-89.
prohibited from erecting fortresses in this part
of his dominions; he now began to build ihem
in places where tJiey would serve him, not
only for defence, but also for harrassing Ge-
neva.
But before these aftairs were further devel-
oped, other undertakings had been set on foot,
which promised incomparably more important
results, and gave reason to expect a total re-
volution in ail the political relations of Europe.
Attempt on England.
The greater part of the Netherlands were
subdu'^d, and negotiations were actually on
foot for the voluntary submission of the re-
mainder: in Germany the efforts of the catho-
lics had been triumphant, as we have seen in
so many territories, and the project was enter-
tained of mastering those that still adhered to
the opposite party. His victories, his invest-
ment of the fortresses, the attachment of the
people, and his legitimate authority, enabled
the champion of French Catholicism to pursue
a course that seemed inevitably destined to
lead him to the attainment of sovereign pow-
er. The old metropolis of protestant doctrine,
the city of Geneva, was no longer protected
by her former allies. At this moment the
plan was conceived of laying the axe to the
root of the tree, by an attack on England.
The whole body of the protestant power and
policy had its centre unquestionably in Eng-
land. The yet unsubdued provinces of the
Netherlands, and the Huguenots in France,
rested their main support on queen Elizabeth.
But in England, too, an internal struggle
had, as we have seen, already begun. Impel-
led at once by the longing after the land of
their birth, and by a religious enthusiasm stu-
diously nurtured and directed to this special
end, fresh swarms of pupils from the semina-
ries, flocks upon flocks of the Jesuits, were
constantly passing over to the island. Queen
Elizabeth enacted severe laws against them.
In 1582 it was absolutely declared high trea-
son to attempt to seduce one of her subjects
from the established religion of the realm to
that of Rome.* In 1.585 she commanded all
the Jesuits and seminarists to quit England
within forty days, under pain of being dealt
with as traitors ; pretty much in the same way
as so many catholic princes had expelled the
protestant preachers from their dominions.!
In this spirit she then brought into operation
the high commission, a court expressly appoint-
ed to mquire into all violations of the acts of
supremacy and of uniformity, not merely in
accordance with the customary legal forms,
but by all ways and means whatever that
should seem advisable, even to the exaction
* Camden, Rerum Anglicarum Annales regnanle Eli-
zabelha, i. p. 349.
t Ibid. p. 396.
of a corporal oath : — a kind of protestant in-
quisition.* And yet, for all that, Elizabeth
was constantly desirous of avoiding any ap-
pearance of offending against liberty of con-
science. She declared, that what the Jesuits
had at heart, was not the re-establishment of
religion ; that their purpose was only to lead
the country into sedition and revolt, and so
to prepare the way for foreign enemies. The
missionaries protested " before God and the
saints," as they said, " in the sight of heaven
and earth," that their aim was purely of a
religious kind, and in no wise regarded the
queen's majesty.f But what understanding
could have been capable of discriminating be-
tween these two classes of motives'? The
queen's inquisitors would not be put off with
mere assertions. They required a declaration
as to whether, or not, the curse pronounced
against the queen by Pius V. was lawful and
binding on Englishmen ; prisoners were oblig-
ed to say what they would do, and to which
side they would adhere, in case the pope
should absolve them from their oath of alle-
j*iance, and an attack should be made on Eng-
land. The unfortunate harassed men knew
not how to extricate themselves from their
dilemma. They answered, indeed, that they
would render unto Caesar the things that were
Caesar's, and unto God the things that were
God's; but even this subterfuge was consider-
ed by their judges as tantamount to a confes-
sion. The prisons accordingly were crowded ;
execution followed execution, and Catholicism,
too, had its martyrs ; their number, under the
reign of Elizabeth, has been computed at
about two hundred. This, however, as was
natural, failed to crush the spirit of the mis-
sionaries ; the numbers of the refractory, of
the recusan's, as they were called, kept pace
with the increasing severity of the laws, and
their bitterness augmented in the same pro-
portion. Pamphlets found their way to the
court itself, in which the slaughter of Holo-
fernes by Judith was extolled as a deed of
piety and heroism deserving of imitation. The
eyes of the multitude were still turned to-
wards the imprisoned queen of Scotland, who,
according to the papal declarations, was the
legitimate sovereign of England ; and they
cherished a constant hope of a general revo-
lution, to be brought about by an attack on
the part of the catholic powers. The most,
* "As well by the oaths of twelve good and lawful men,
as also by witnesses, and all other means and ways you
can devise." It should, at least, have been " lawful ways
and means." Neal's History of the Puritans, vol. i. p.
414.
t Campiani Vita et Martyrlum, p. 159. " Coram Deo
profiteer et angelis ejus, coram coelo terraque, coram
mundo et hoc cui adsto tribunal!, me nee criminis laesae
majestalis nee perduellionis nee ullius in patriam conju-
ralionis esse reum," etc. [I declare before God and his
angels, before heaven and earth, before the world and
ami this tribunal before which I stand, that I am not
guilty of lese majesty, nor of sedition, nor of any conspi-
racy against the country.]
A. D. 1563-89.]
ATTEMPT ON ENGLAND.
209
revolting' accounts were propagated through
Italy and Spain of the cruelties to which the
orthodox were exposed in England, accounts
which could not fail to arouse every catholic
heart to vengeance.*
None felt more strongly on this subject than
pope Sixtus. It is perfectly true that he en-
tertained a certain esteem for the magnani-
mity and courage manifested in the character
of Elizabeth, and he did actually once pro[>«se
to her that she should return to the bosom of
the catholic church. Singular proposal ! As
if she had been in a condition to choose ; as if
all her previous history, the whole import of
her being, her political position, admitting
even that her conviction had not been sound,
had not bound her fast to the protestant inte-
rests. Elizabeth answered not a word, and
only laughed. When this was told the pope,
he said he must bethink him of wresting her
kingdom from her by force.
Previously he had but hinted at this ; but
in the spring of 1596 he openly declared his
purpose, and boasted that he would lend the
king of Spain a far different aid in an enter-
prise against England, from that afforded by
former popes to Charles V.f
In January, 1587, he loudly complained of
the backwardness of the Spaniards, and num-
bered up the advantages a victory over Eng-
land would afford them towards the reconquest
of the rest of the Netherlands. J
He soon grew bitter on the subject. When
Philip II. issued a pragmatica, imposing res-
trictions on the spiritual dignities generally,
including those over which the Roman curia
asserted claims, the pope's fury knew no
bounds. " What !" he exclaimed, " does don
Philip think to bluster with us, and lets him-
self be bullied by a woman ■?"§
In truth the king was not spared. Eliza-
beth openly espoused the cause of the Nether-
lands, and her admiral, Drake, rendered every
coast of America and Europe unsafe. What
pope Sixtus uttered was at bottom the opinion
of all catholics. They were perplexed at the
* Thealrum cnidelitatum liEereticorum nostri temporis.
[Theatre of the cmelties of the heretics of our day.] It
begins witli a "Peculiaris descriptio crudelitatiini et ini-
manitatum schisrnaticorum Angliae regnante Henrico
VIII." [A special description of the cruelties and atroci-
ties of the schismatics of England in the reign of Henry
VIII.], and ends with " Inciuisitionis Anglicanae et facin-
orum crudelium Machiavelanorum in Anglia et Hibernia
a Calvinistis protestantibus sub Elizabetha etiamnum
regnante peractorum descriptiones." [Descriptions of
the Anglican Inquisition, and of the Machiavelian deeds
of cruelty perpetrated by the Calvinistic protestants in
England and Ireland during Elizabeth's reign.] Plates
are given exhibiting all sorts of unheard-of tortures : a
horrible sight.
+ Dispaccio Gritti, 31 Maggie, 1.586 : "Accresciuto qua-
Iro volte tanto. U papa vorria die si fingesse d'andar
contra Draco e si piegasse poi in Inghilterra." [Four
limes as much. The pope would wish that a feint should
be made of proceeding to encounter Drake, and that the
expedition sliould then turn aside towards England.]
t Dispaccio, Gritti, 10 Genn. 1587.
§ Dolendosi che '1 re si lascia strapazzar da una donna
e vuol poj bravar con lei (Sua Sanliti).
27
strange endurance of that mighty king. The
cortes of Castile conjured him to avenge him-
self.
Philip was even personally insulted. He
was made a mock of in comedies and masques.
Once when this was reported to him, the aged
monarch, long used only to adulation, sprang
from his chair; never had he shown such
irritation.
Such was the temper of the pope and the
king, when the news arrived that Elizabeth
had caused the imprisoned queen of Scotland
to be executed. This is not the place to in-
quire what legal right she may have had to
take such a step: it is principally to be regard-
ed as an act of political justice. The first
tliought of it arose, so far as I can learn, at
the time of the massacre of St. Bartholomew.
In one of his letters to lord Burleigh, the then
bishop of London expresses his anxiety lest so
treacherous an act should find its parallel in
England, and states his opinion that the main
cause of danger was presented by the Scot-
tish queen. " The safety of the realm," he
says, " demands that her head should be cut
oft!"* But how much more powerful was the
catholic party now become in Europe ; how
much more was it in ferment and commotion
in England itself! Mary Stuart continually
maintained a secret connexion with her cou-
sins the Guises, with the malcontents in the
country, with the king of Spain and the pope.
She represented the catholic principle, inasfar
as it was by nature hostile to the existing
government : upon the first success of the
catholic party, she would infallibly have been
proclaimed queen of England. For this her
position, arising out of the circumstances of
the times, but from which she certainly did
not attempt to withdraw, she paid the forfeit
of her life.
Her execution, however, brought the Span-
ish and papal schemes at last to maturity. It
exceeded all measure of catholic endurance.
Sixtus filled the consistory with his vocifera-
tions against the English Jezebel, who had
smote the annointed head of a sovereign, sub-
ject to none but to Jesus Christ, and, as she
had herself professed, to his vicegerent. To
show his cordial approval of the efforts of the
catholic opposition in England, he created
William Allen, who had been the first founder
of the seminaries, a cardinal of the church ; a
nomination which was at once regarded, at
least in Rome, as a declaration of war against
England. A formal league was now also
concluded between Philip II. and the pope.f
* Edwin Sandys to Lord Burghley, Fulhani, 5th of Sept.
1572: " The saftie of our quene and realme yf God wil ;
furtwith to cutte of the Scotish queue's heade: ipsa est
nostri fundi calamitas."— Ellis's Letters, second series,
vol. iii. p. 2.5.
t The pope's original views, Dispaccio Gritti, 27 Giug-
no, 1587. "II papa fa gran oflferta al re per I'impresa
d'Inghilterra, ma vuole la denomination del re, e che 'i
210
COUNTER REFORMATION. FIRST PERIOD. [a. d. 1563-8^
The latter promised the king a subsidy of a
million of scudi towards his enterprise : but
as he was always on his guard, particularly
where money was concerned, he bound him-
self to payment only so soon as the king
should have made himself master of an Eng-
lish port. " Let your majesty delay no longer,"
he wrote to the latter, "every delay would
change a good intention into a bad perform-
ance." The king strained all the resources
of his kingdom, and fitted out that armada
that received the name of the "Invincible."
Thus did the Italico-Spanish powers, from
which such mighty influences had gone forth
over the whole world, now bend their ener-
gies to an attack on England. The king had
caused the archives of Simancas to be search-
ed, and a statement to be drawn up of the
claims he himself possessed to the throne of
that kingdom, after the extinction of the
Stuart line. He founded brilliant anticipa-
tions on this expedition, especially that of the
universal dominion of the seas.
Every thing seemed to combine to one end
— the ascendancy of Catholicism in Germany,
the renewed attack on the Huguenots m
France, the attempt on Geneva, and the enter-
prise against England. At the same moment
occurred an event that we shall hereafter
consider more nearly, the elevation of a de-
cidedly catholic sovereign, Sigismund III., to
the Polish throne, with the prospect also of
one day succeeding to that of Sweden.
Brt whenever any principle, be it what it
may, aspires to absolute dominion in Europe,
it invariably encounters a vigorous resistance,
arising out of the deepest springs of human
nature.
Philip's path was crossed in England by
the national energies in the full glow of youth,
and fired with the sense of their future desti-
nies. The bold corsairs, who had rendered
every sea insecure, gathered around the coasts
of their native land. The whole body of the
protestants, the very puritans themselves,
though they had been forced to endure oppres-
sions as severe as the catholics, rallied round
the queen, who now gave admirable proof of
her masculine courage, and her princely talent
for winning and guiding and steadily control-
ling the minds of men. The insular position
of the country, the very elements leagued
with the defenders of England ; the invincible
armada was annihilated even before it had
made its attack; the enterprise entirely failed.
It must, however, be understood, that the
plan, the grand purpose itself, was not forth-
with abandoned.
The catholics were reminded by the wri-
ters of their party, that Julius Csesar, that
regno sia feudo della chiesa." [The pope made large
oflfers to ihe kin? in favour of the entfrprise airainst Eng-
land, but he desires to have the noniination of the king,
OMd that the kirgdorn should be afiefofthe church.^
Henry VII., the grandfather of Elizabeth, had
both of them been unlucky in their first
attempts on England, though they had after-
wards become lords of the country. "God,"
they said, "often delayed to give the victory
to his faithful servants. The children of
Israel were twice beaten with great loss in
the war they had undertaken by God's ex-
press command against the children of Benja-
min; it was not till the third attempt they
proved successful, 'then did the devourmg
flames lay waste the towns and villages of
Benjamin, and the edge of the sword smote
both men and cattle.' " " Let the English,"
they exclaimed, " ponder this, and not be
pufl'ed up because their punishment tarries."*
Philip II. too was by no means disheartened.
It was his intention to equip smaller and more
manageable vessels, with which an attempt
should at once be made to land on the English
coasts, without previously endeavouring to
fall in with the fleet of the Netherlands in the
channel. The utmost activity prevailed in
the arsenal at Lisbon. The king was re-
solved to stake every thing upon the enter-
prise, though, as he said once at table, he
should be driven to sell the silver candlesticks
that stood before him.f
But whilst his mind was still busy with
these thoughts, new prospects opened out
before him, a new theatre presented itself for
the display of the powers of Roman catholic-
ism, as represented by Italy and Spain,
The assassination of Henry III.
Shortly after the disaster of the Spanish
fleet, a reaction took place in France, unex-
pected, as so often the case, violent, and
bloody.
At the moment when Guise, who swayed
the states of Blois as he willed, seemed des-
* Andreae Philopatri (Parsoni) ad Elizabelhas reginse
Anglise ediclum lesponsio. § 146, 147. " Nulla," he adds,
" ipsorum fortitudine repuisa vis est, sed iis potius casibus
qui saepissime in res bellicas solent incidere, aeris nimi-
runi inclementia, maris incogniti inexperientia, nonnul-
lorumquo fortassis hominum vel neeligentia vel inscilia,
Dei denique voluntate, quia forte micericors Dominus ar-
borem infructuosam diniiltere adhuc voluit ad terlium
annum evangelicum." [The assault was repulsed by no
valour of their own, but rather by those casualties so com-
mon to warfare, viz. by the inclemency of the weather,
want of acquaintance with unfrequented seas, by the
negligence and unskilfulness, perhaps, of some individu-
als, and, finally, by the will of God, because it may be,
the Lord in his mercy was pleased to spare the unlruitl'ul
tree to the third gospel year.]
t Dispacci Gradenigo, 29 Sett. 1588. Si come il re ha
sentilo molto questoaccidente di mala Ibrtuna, cosi mostra
di esser piu che mai risoluto di seguiiar la impresa con
tutte le sue forze. — 11 Olt. S. Mii- sta ardemissima nel
pensar e trattar le provisioni per I'anno fuluro. 1 Nov.
"Si venderanno,"tne king had exclaimed, " esti candel-
lieri, quando non vi sia allro modo di far danari." [How-
ever much his majesty has felt this painful mischance,
still he gives proof that he is more than ever resolved on
pursuing the enterprise with all his might. 11 Oct. His
majesty is most ardent in devising and directing arrange-
ments for next year. 1 Nov. " These candlesticks shall
be sold," exclaimed the king, " if no other means remain
of raising money. "j
A. D. 1563-89.]
THE ASSASSINATION OF HENRY III.
211
lined through his office of constable to rule
all the affairs of the whole realm, Henry III.
had him despatched. That king, finding him-
self circumvented by the Spanish or catholic
party, and made their tool, tore himself from
them at once, and threw himself into the arras
of the opposition.
But the death of Guise was not the extinc-
tion of his party, or of the Ligue ; this now
for the first time assumed a position of undis-
guised hostility, and attached itself more
closely than ever to Spain.
Pope Sixtus was wholly on its side.
The murder of the duke whom he loved
and admired, and in whom he beheld a pillar
of the church, was of itself enough to fill him
with grief and resentment;* but it appeared
to him beyond all endurance that cardinal
Guise had also been assassinated, "a priest-
cardinal," he exclaimed in the consistory, "a
noble member of the holy see, without process
or sentence, by the secular authority, just as
though there were no pope in the world, as
though there were no longer a God !" He
upbraided his legate Morosini for not having
instantly excommunicated the king; he should
have done it had it cost him a hundred lives.f
The king made small account of the pope's
anger. Nothing could move him to release
the cardinal of Bourbon or the archbishop of
Lyons, whom he kept imprisoned. He was
incessantly plied with demands from Rome
that he should declare Henry of Navarre in-
capacitated from succeeding to tlie throne ;
but instead of doing so he made him his ally.
Upon this the pope on his part resolved on
the uttermost measures. He cited the king
personally to Rome to answer for the cardi-
nal's assassination, and he menaced him with
excommunication if he did not release his pri-
soners within a stated time.
He was bound to act thus, he declared ;
did he not do so, God would call him to ac-
count as the most unprofitable of all popes :
now that he discharged his duty he needed
not to fear the whole world ; he doubted not
that Henry HI. would perish like king Saul.]:
* The pope further complained, especially, that the
king had extracted a brief from him: " che li concesse
poier esser assolto da qualsivoglia peccato anco riservato
alia sede apostolica, col quale si voglia hora coprire il
grave peccato che ha fatto," [which conceded to him the
possibility of being absolved from any sin yet reserved to
the apostolic see, and wherewith he now seeks to cover
the grievous sin he has committed.]
+ Tempesti, ii. 137, gives both the pope's speech at full
length, and the letter to Morosini : " Essendo ammazzato
il cardinalp," it says, " in faccia di V. &'''">■■ Illmi', legato a
latere, come non ha publicato i'interdetto, ancorchfi gli-
ene fossero andale cento vite V
JDispaccio Veneto, 2U Maggio, 1589. " II papa accusa
la sua negligentia di non haver fatto, dipoi mesi 5 che gli
6 stato ammazzato un cardinale e tenuto ne un'altro pri-
gione con un arcivescovo, alcune riraostratione o provi-
sione. Dubita del ira di Dio, etc." [The pope blames
his negligence in not having made any remonstrance, or
taken -any suitable step, during all the five months
elapsed, since one cardinal had been put to death, and
another with an archbishop had been kept a prisoner. He
apprehends the wrath of God, &c.]
As it was, the king was abhorred by the
zealously catholic and the adherents of the
Ligue as accursed and reprobate, but the
pope's proceedings strengthened them in their
furious opposition. The pope's foreboding
was fulfilled sooner than could have been ex-
pected. The monitorium was published in
France on the 23rd of June : on the 1st of
August the king was murdered by Clement.
The pope himself was amazed. " In the
midst of his army," he exclaimed, " on the
very point of conquering Paris, in his own
closet he has been dispatched at one blow by
a poor monk." He ascribed this to the imme-
diate interposition of God, who thereby showed
that he would not abandon France.*
How is it that the empire of an illusion can
become so universal ! This was a conviction
prevailing over the minds of innumerable
catholics. "To nothing but the hand of the
Almighty himself," says Mendoza in his dis-
patch to Philip, " that we are to ascribe this
happy event."! Young Maximilian of Bava-
ria was then pursuing his studies in the dis-
tant city of Ingolstadt : in one of the earliest
of his letters extant, he expresses to his
mother the joy with which the intelligence
had filled him, " that the king of France had
been dispatched."]:
Nevertheless, the event had another aspect,
Henry of Navarre, whom the pope had ex-
communicated, and the Guises had pursued
with such rancorous animosity, now succeeded
to his legitimate rights. A protestant assumed
the title of king of France.
The Ligue, Philip II. , and the pope, were
resolved on no condition to suffer him to at-
tain the enjoyment of his rights. In place of
Morosini, who appeared far too lukewarm,
the pope sent another legate to France, Gae-
tano, who was considered to be inclined to
Spain, and gave him, contrary to what he had
ever done before, a sum of money to be aplied
to the purposes of the Ligue. The grand ob-
ject of his care was to be, that none but a
catholic should be king of France. The crown
was by all means to belong to a prince of the
blood ; but that was not the sole condition to
be insisted on : there had been occasions on
which the strict order of inheritance had been
disregarded, but never had an instance occur-
red of the acceptance of a heretic. The main
thing, in short, was, that the king should be a
good catholic.}
*Dsipaccio Veneto, 1 Sett. II papa nel consistorio dis-
corre, che'l successo della niorte del re di Francia si ha
da conoscer dal voler espresso del signorDio, e che perci6
si doveva confidar che continuarebbe al haver quel regno
nella sua protetiione.
+ Cappfieue, v. 290.
t Wolf :'^Maximilian, I. Th. I. S. 107.
§ Dispaccio Veneto, 30 Sett. The pope declares, "che
non importava che'l fosse eletto piu del sangue che di
altro famiglia, essendo cio al re volte occoiso, ma mai
erelico dopo la nostra religione: che Savoia, Lorena e
forse anche Umena pretendeva lacarona: che S. S'»" non
vuol favorir I'uno piu che'l altro."
212
COUNTER REFORMATION. FIRST PERIOD. [a. d. 1563-89.
In this state of feeling the pope even thought
it laudable in the duke of Savoy, that he had
taken advantage of the disorders of France to
possess himself of Saluzzo, which then be-
longed to the French. It was better, Sixtus
said, that the duke should take it, than that
it should fall into the hands of the Hugue-
nots.*
And now every thing depended on enabling
the Ligue to be victorious in its contest with
Henry IV.
For this end a new treaty was planned be-
tween Spain and the pope. Cardinal Sanse-
verina, the most zealous of the inquisitors,
was commissioned under the seal of confes-
sion to arrange the project. The pope pro-
mised actually to send an army of fifteen
thousand foot and eight hundred horse into
France, and he furthermore declared himself
ready to come forward with subsidies so soon
as the king should have entered France with
a powerful army. The papal forces were to be
commanded by the duke of Urbino, a subject
* Reproaches were cast against him on that account:
il papa si giuslifica con inolle ragioni dellaimpressache'l
sopradetto duca ha fatlo del marchesato di Saluzzo con
sua participalione. (Dispaccio Venelo.)
of the pope, and an adherent to his majes-
ty.*
In this manner did the united powers of
Italy and Spain prepare in combination with
their adherents in France, to secure forever
the throne of that kingdom to their own
party.
No greater prospect could present itself
either to Spain or to the pope. The former
would be forever freed from that ancient
rivalry that had so long crippled her. The
sequel showed how much Philip II. had this
at heart. It would have been an immense
stride for the papal power to have exercised
an active influence in placing a king upon
the throne of France. Gaetano was instructed
to demand the introduction of the inquisition
and the repeal of the Gallican liberties. But
it would have been of still greater signifi-
cance, that a legitimate prince should have
been excluded from the throne upon religious
considerations. The ecclesiastical impulses,
already pervading the world in every direc-
tion, would thereby have achieved complete
supremacy.
* Authentic account in the autobiography of the cardi-
nal adopted by Tempesti, ii. 236.
END OF THE FIRST PART.
THE POPES OF EOME,
THEIR CHURCH AND STATE
SIXTEENTH AND SEVENTEENTH CENTURIES.
PART THE SECOND.
BOOK THE SIXTH.
RADICAL DISCREPANCIES, DOCTRINAL AND POLITICAL.
1589—1607.
Introduction.
The moral and intellectual growth of the
century had now assumed a totally different
bent from that which might justly have been
anticipated at its commencement.
In the beginning of the century the bonds of
ecclesiastical authority gav^e way ; the nations
sought to cast off their connexion with their
common spiritual head ; the principles on
which the hierarchy was based were treated
with mockery in the very court of Rome ; a
profane spirit predominated in literature and
art ; and the maxims of pagan morality were
professed without disguise.
How wholly otherwise was it now ! Wars
were entered upon, conquests achieved, and
states revolutionized in the name of religion !
Never has there been a period when theolo-
gians were more powerful than in the latter
part of the sixteenth century. They sat in
the councils of sovereigns, and discussed poli-
tical matters in presence of the whole people
from the pulpit ; they controlled the establish-
ments for education, the labours of the learn-
ed, and the general range of literature ; the
confessional yielded them opportunity to spy
out the self-contradictions of the soul, and to
give the decisive bias in all the doubtful con-
tingencies of private life. We may perhaps
assert, that the very vehemence of their mu-
tual opposition, the fact that within their own
body each of its two great sections found its
direct antagonist, was precisely the cause
that made their influence so comprehensive
and pervading.
If this was true of both parties, it was more
particularly manifest with regard to the catho-
lics. Among them the ideas and institutions
that exert the most immediate discipline and
guidance over the minds of men had been
wrought up to the highest degree of practical
efficiency : there was absolutely no living
without father confessors. Among them the
clergy, whether as brethren of some order, or
as members of the hierarchy in general, con-
stituted a corporation held together in strict
subordination, and acting in entire unison.
The head of this hierarchical body, the pope
of Rome, again acquired an influence not
much less than that he had possessed in the
eleventh and twelfth centuries ; he kept the
world perpetually astir by the enterprises
to which he was prompted by his religious in-
terests.
Under these circumstances were revived
the boldest pretensions of the days of Hilde-
brand : principles that had hitherto lain by
rather as relics of antiquity in the lumber-
rooms of the canon law, once more came
forth in full force and efficacy.
The European commonwealth has never
been subjected to the despotism of mere force ;
thoughts and opinions have been rife within it
in every stage of its history ; no enterprize of
moment can succeed, no power can rise to
general importance, without immediately sug-
gesting the conception of a forthcoming new
order of society. Hence the origin of theories.
They express the moral import and signifi-
cance of a fact, and present it in the light of
a general truth, as a deduct on from reason or
from religion, as a result arrived at by reflec-
tion. Thus they anticipate, as it were, the
214
DISCREPANCIES, DOCTRINAL AND POLITICAL. [a. d. 1589-1607.
fulfilment of the event, which at the same time
they mightily promote.
Let us observe how this is exemplified in the
case before us.
Ecclesiastico-political theory.
The catholic principle has not unfrequently
been regarded as characterised by a special
importance with regard to monarchy or aris-
tocracy, an intrinsic sympathy for those forms
of government. A century like the sixteenth,
in which tliat principle stood forth in the ple-
nitude of its vigour and self control, affords
the amplest data for investigating the truth of
this opinion.
Now we find that in those times it adhered
in Italy and Spain to the existing order of
things; in Germany it was subservient
towards conferring on the sovereign autiiority
a new preponderance over the estates; in the
Netherlands it helped forward the subjuga-
tion of the country ; and in Upper Germany
and in the Walloon provinces it was main-
tained with peculiar preference and attach-
ment by the nobility.
But if we carry our inquiries further, we
find that these were not the only sympathies
it awakened. If in Cologne it was adhered
to by the patricians, in the neighbouring city
of Trier it commanded no less the affections
of the common people. In France it was
every where associated with the claims and
struggles of the populace. The only conside-
ration it looked to was this, where might it
find its surest and strongest supports If the
existing authorities were inimical to it, far
was it indeed, from sparing them, — nay, even
from acknowledging them. It corroborated
the Irish nation in its spontaneous refractori-
ness against the English government ; in
England itself it undermined to the utmost of
its power the allegiance demanded by the
queen, and frequently broke out into active
rebellion ; finally, in France it confirmed its
adherents in their insurrection against their
legitimate sovereigns. Intrinsically, the reli-
gious principle in general has no special par-
tiality for any one form of government.
During the short period of its renovation,
Catholicism displayed the most diversified in-
clinations : first, to the monarchical authority
in Italy and Spain, and to the strengthening
of feudalism in Germany ; next, in the
Netherlands to the conservation of the rights
of aristocratic bodies; lastly, at the close of
the century it allied itself decidedly with the
spirit of democracy. This was the more im-
portant, since Catholicism was now in the
acme of its vigour, and the movements in
which it took part were the most serious
events of the political world in those days.
Had the popes been successful then, they
would have secured forever a paramount in-
fluence over the state. They advanced
claims, their adherents and champions put
forth opinions and principles, that threatened
kingdoms and states both with internal revo-
lutions and with loss of independence.
It was the Jesuits principally who appeared
on the arena as propounders and champions of
doctrines of this sort.
First of all they claimed for the church an
unlimited supremacy over the state.
To this a certain necessity impelled them
in England, where the queen had by the laws
of the land been declared head of the church.
The leaders of the catholic opposition met this
principle with contrary pretensions of the most
violent kind. William Allen pronounced not
only the right, but the duty, of a nation, espe-
cially when further sanctioned by the pope's
command, to refuse allegiance to a sovereign
who had fallen off" from the catholic church.*
Parsons stated it as the fundamental condition
of a sovereign's whole authority, that he
should cherish and protect the Roman catho-
lic faith ; such was the tenour of his baptis-
mal vows, and of his coronation oath ; it
would be blindness to regard him as capable
of reigning should he fail to fulfil that condi-
tion : much rather would his subjects be bound^
in such a case to expel him from the throne.f
All this was perfectly natural in these authors:
they beheld in the exercise of religion the
grand aim and duty of life ; they regarded
the Roman catholic church as the only true
one ; that authority they concluded, there-
fore, could never be legitimate which resisted
this religion : they made the existence of a
government and the allegiance paid to it, to
depend on the application of its power to the
interests of the catholic church.
This was indeed the general tenour of the
* In the letter : Ad persecutores Anglos pro Christianis
responsio (1582), I remark the following passage: "Si
reges Deo et Dei populo tidem datam fregerim, vicissim
populo non solum permitlitur, sed etiani ab eo requiritur
ut jubente Chrisli vicario, supremo nimirum populorum
omnium paslore, ipse quoque fidem datam tali principi
non servet." [If liings violate the faith pledged to God
and to God's people, it is in turn not only allowed the
people, but it is even demanded of them, that at the be-
hest of Christ's vicar, the supreme pastor assuredly of all
peoples, that they too should cease to observe the faith
pledged to such a sovereign.]
tAndrese Philopatri (Parsons) ad Elizabethse reginae
edictum responsio. No. 162: " Non tautum licet sed sum-
ma etiam juris divini necessitate ac preceplo, inio con-
scienliae vinculo arctissimo et extreme animarum suarum
periculo ac discrimine christianis omnibus hoc ipsum in-
cumbit, si praestare rem possunt. No. 163: Incumbit
vero tum maxime . . . cum res jam ab ecclesia ac
supremo ejus moderatore, pontifice nimirum Romano,
judicata est: ad ilium enim ex officio pertinet religionis
ac divini cultus incolumitali prospicere etleprosos amun-
dis, ne inficiantur, secernere." [This is not only lawful,
but it is even incumbent on all Christians, with the utmost
force, and by the precepts of the divine law,— nay, by the
strictest bonds of conscience, and at the utmost hazard of
their souls, if they can accomplish it. But it is especially
incumbent . . . when the matter has already been
judged and decided by the church and its supreme direc-
tor, the pope of Rome; for to him, by virtue of his office,
it belongs to provide for the safety of religion and of divine
worship, and to separate the leprous from the clean, thai
the latter be not infected.]
A. D. 1589-1607.] ECCLESIASTICO-POLITICAL THEORY.
215
doctrines now gaining ground. What in
England was thrown out in the heat of con-
troversy, Bellarmine repeated from the soli-
tude of his study in circumstantial works, in
a consistent and well-weighed system. He
laid down the proposition, that the pope is set
over the whole church as its guardian and
head immediately by God himself* For this
reason the fulness of the spiritual authority is
his ; it is granted to him that he cannot err ;
he judges all, and may not be judged of any :
whence there accrues to him a great share in
the secular authority. Bellarmine does not
go the length of ascribing a secular power to
the pope directly of divine right ;f though
Sextus V. cherished this opinion, and was
even displeased when any abandoned it ; but
he nevertheless distinctly attributes to him an
indirect power of the kind. He compares the
secular authority to the body, the spiritual to
the soul of man, and ascribes to the church the
same sway over the state which the soul exer-
cises over the body. It is the right and the
duty of the spiritual authority to curb the
secular whenever the latter becomes prejudi-
cial to the purposes of religion. It cannot be
said that to the pope belongs a regular influ-
ence over the legislation of the state ;| but
should a law be necessary to the welfare of
souls, and the sovereign refuse to pass it, or
should a law be noxious to the welfare of souls,
and the sovereign obstinately persist in main-
taining it, then is the pope by all means justi-
fied in enjoining the one and abrogating the
other. This same principle carries him very
far indeed. Does not the soul command even
the death of the body if it be necessary ] In
the common routine the pope can certainly
not depose a prince ; but should it be neces-
sary to the welfare of souls, in that case he
possesses the right of changing the govern-
ment, and transferring it from one occupant to
another. 5
*BeUaniiiQus de conciliorum auloritale, c. 17: "Sum-
mits ponlifex simpliciter el absolute est supra ecclesiam
universam et supra concilium generalf>, ita ut nullum in
lerris supra se judicium agnoscat." [The supreme pon-
tifi" is simply and absolutely above the universal church
and above the general council, so that he owns no judg-
ment on earth over him.]
t Bellanninus de Romano pontifice v. VI. : " Asserimus
pontificem ut pontificem etsi non habeat ullam merara
lemporalempotestalem, tamen habere inordine adbonum
spirituale summain potestatem disponendi de temporali-
bus rebus omnium cliristianorum." [We assert that the
pope, as pope, though he has no mere temporal authority,
yet has, in order to spiritual good, supreme power of dis-
posing of the temporal things of all Clirislians.]
J Bellarminus de Romano pontifice V. VI. : " Quantum
ad personas, non potest papa ut papaordinarie temporales
principes deponere, etiam justa de causa, eo modo quo de-
ponet episcopos, id est tanquam ordinarius judex : tamen
potest mutare regna et uni auferre atque alleri conferre
tanquam summus princeps spiritualis, si id necessarium
sit ad animarum salutem," etc. etc. [As regards persons,
Ihe pope cannot, as pope, ordinarily depose temporal
princes, even for just causes, in the same way as he de-
poses bishops,— that is, as ordinary judge; nevertheless,
as supreme spiritual prince, he can change kingdoms, and
take them from one sovereign and bestow them on ano-
ther, if that be necessary to tlie weal of souls, &c. &c.]
§ These doctrines are, in fact, but a recapituation of the
But these assertions were exposed to the
objection, that the royal authority was like-
wise based on divine rigjit.
If not, what was its origin ? — what its inhe-
rent force and import'!
The Jesuits did not hesitate to deduce the
princely power from the people. They blend-
ed together into one system the thcoiy of the
sovereignty of the people, with their doctrine
of the pope's omnipotence. That theory had
already been virtually put forth with more or
less explicitness by Allen and Parsons; Bel-
larmine sought to establish it in detail. He
finds that God has not bestowed the temporal
authority on any one in particular ; whence it
follows that he has bestowed it on the masses.
The authority of the state therefore is lodged
in the people, and the people consign it some-
times to a single person, sometimes to several :
it perpetually retains the right of changing
the forms of government, of retracting its
grant of authority and disposing of" it anew.
Let it not be supposed that these are only the
author's individual views; they are, in fact,
identical with the prevailing doctrine of the
Jesuit schools of those times. In a manual for
confessors, which obtained currency through-
out the whole catholic world, and which had
been revived by the Magister Sacri Palatii, the
monarchiai authority is not merely considered
as subject to the pope in as far as weal of the
souls demands ;* it is roundly asserted, that a
king may be deposed by the people for tyr-
anny, or for neglect of his duties, and another
be elected in his stead by the majority of the
nation. t Francis Suarez, professor primarius
of theology in Coimbra, makes it his espe-
cial business, in his defence of the catholic
church against the Anglican, to expound and
confirm Bellarmine's doctrine.| But it is
above all- Mariana who elaborates with pecu-
liar zest the idea of the sovereignty of the
people. He suggests all the questions that
maxims put forward in the thirteenth century. Thomas
Aquinas had already employed the comparison that here
plays so important a part: "Potestas secularis subditur
spiritual! sicut corpus animae." [The secular power is
subordinate to the spiritual, as the body is to the soul.]
Bellarmine, in his Tractatus de potestate'summi pontificis
in rebus temporalibus adversus G. Barclaium, cites up-
wards of seventy authors of difterent countries, by whom
the power of the pope was regarded nearly in the same
light as by himself
* Aphorismi confessariorum ex doctorum sententiis col-
lecti, auctore Emanuele Sa, nuper accurate expurgati a
revnio- sacri palalii ed. Antv. p. 480. The author adds,
however, as though he had not said enough : " Quidam
tamen juris periti putarunt sunimuni pontificem suprema
civili potestate pollers. " [Some jurists, however, have
been of opinion, that the pope is endowed with supreme
civil authority.]
t Ibid. p. 5118 (ed. Colon, p. 313). " Rex potest per rem-
publicam privari ob tyrannidem et si non facial officium
suum et cum est aliqua causa justa, et eligi potest alius a
majore parte populi : quidem tamen solum tyrannidem
causam putani."
t R. P. Franc. Suarez Granatensis, etc. defensio fidei
catholica et apostolicae adversus Anglicanaesectae errores
lib. III. : desummi pontificis supra temporales regesexcel-
lentia et potestate. It is evident that Bellarmine's doc-
trine of the right of the people to revoke the delegated
1 authority, had excited special opposition.
216
DISCREPANCIES, DOCTRINAL AND POLITICAL. [a. d. 1589-1607.
could be raised on the subject, and uncompro-
misingly decides them in favour of tlie people,
and to the prejudice of the royal authority.
He doubts not that a prince may be deposed,
nay, put to death, if iiis conduct be hurtful to
religion. He pronounces an euloguim full of
pathetic declamation on Jacques Clement, who,
after taking counsel with theologians, went
and slew his king.* He is at least perfectly
logical and consistent in this ; these very doc-
trines had unquestionably kindled the fanati-
cism of the assassin.
For no where were they promulgated with
such furious violence as in France. It is im-
possible to meet with any thing more anti-
royal than the diatribes thundered out from
the pulpit by Jean Boucher. That preacher
finds centred in the estates of the nation the
public might and majesty, the power to bind
and to loose, the indefeasible sovereignty, and
the judicial sway over sceptre and realm : for
in them subsists the very fountain of all these ;
from the people comes the prince, not by neces-
sity and compulsion, but by free choice. He
takes the same view with Bellarmine of the
relation between church and state, and repeats
the comparison of body and soul. One condi-
tion alone, he says, limits the freedom of the
popular choice : one thing alone is forbidden
the people, namely, to accept a heretic king ;
it would thereby draw down upon it the curse
ofGod.t
Strange combination of ecclesiastical pre-
tensions and democratic notions, of absolute
freedom and complete subjection, — self-con-
tradictory and anti-national, — but which yet
cast an inexplicable spell over the minds of men.
The Sorbonne had hitherto constantly de-
fended the royal and national privileges
* Mariana de rege et regis insiitutione. The follow-
ing among other expressions : " Jac. Clemens . . cognilo
a theologis, quos erat sciscitalus, lyrannum jure inierimi
posse . . cseso rege ingens sibi nomen fecit." [Jacques
Clement . . having learned from the divines he had
consulted, that a tyrant might justly be put to death, . . .
achieved a great name by liilling the king.]
f Jean Boucher : Sermons, Paris, 1594, in several pas-
sages. He says,p.l94, '"L'Egliseseigneurieles royaumes
et estates de la chrelient^, non pour y usurper puissance
directe comme sur son propre temporel, mais bien indi-
reclemenl pour empescher que rien ne se passe au tem-
porel qui soit au prejudice du royaume de Jesus Christ,
comme par cydevant il a est6 declare par la similitude de
la puissance de I'esprit surle corps." Further on, p. 162 :
" La difference du prestre et du roi nous eclaircit cette
maliere, le pretre eslant de Dieu seul, ce qui ne se peut
dire du roi. Car si tous les rois estoient morls, les peuples
s'en pourroient bien faire d'aulres: mais s'il n'y avoit
plus aucun prestre, il faudroit que Jesus Christ vint en
personne pour en faire de nouveaux." [The church has
aominion over the kingdoms and states of Christendom,
not to usurp direct power over them as in its own tempora-
lities, but indirectly to prevent any thing occurring in the
temporal government prejudicial to the kingdom of Jesus
Christ, as heretofore it has been set forth by the similitude
of the power of the mind over the body. . . The dilfer-
ence between the priest and the king elucidates this mat-
ter to us; the priest being of God alone, which cannot be
said of the king. For if all kings were dead, the people
might readily make them others in their places ; but if
there was no longer a priest in existence, it would be ne-
cessary that Jesus Christ should come in person to make
new ones.]
against these ultra-montane sacerdotal pre-
tensions. When now, after the murder of the
Guises, these doctrines were preached from all
the pulpits, — when it was proclaimed aloud in
the streets, and typified by symbols on the
altars and in processions, that king Henry HI.
had forfeited his crown, " the good citizens
and inhabitants of the city," as they called
themselves, turned, "in their scruples of con-
science," to the theological faculty of the
university of Paris, to obtain from it a valid
decision respecting the legitimacy of their
withstanding their sovereign. Thereupon the
Sorbonne assembled on the 7th of January,
1589. " After," says their decision, " having
heard the nature and free counsels of all the
magistri, — after many and divers arguments
heard, drawn for the most part verbatim from
holy writ, the canon law, and the papal ordin-
ances,— it has been concluded by the dean of
the faculty, without any dissenting voice :
first, that the people of this realm are absolved
from the oath of fidelity and obedience sworn
by them to king Henry. Furthermore, that
the said people may, without scruple of con-
science, combine together, arm themselves,
and collect money for the maintenance of the
Roman catholic apostolic religion against the
abominable proceedings ofthe aforesaid king."*
Seventy members of the faculty were present,
the younger of them in particular voted for
the resolution with fierce enthusiasm.f
The general acquiescence which these theo-
ries obtained, was doubtless owing chiefly to
their being at this moment the real expression
of the phenomena, of the occurrences. In the
French troubles, popular and ecclesiastical
opposition had actually come forward from
their respective sides and met in alliance ; the
citizens of Paris had been countenanced and
confirmed in their insurrection against their
lawful sovereign by the pope's legate. Bel-
larmine himself had long been in the suite of
the latter : the doctrines he had wrought out
in his learned solitude, and put forward with
such logical consistency and Vv'ith such great
success, announced themselves in the event
which he witnessed and in part elicited.
It accords too with this view of the case,
that the Spaniards approved of these doctrines,
and that they were tolerated by a sovereign
so jealous as Philip II. The Spanish mon-
archy was a power essentially supported by
ecclesiastical attributes. Numerous passages
from Lope de Vega manliest that it was so
understood by tiie nation, and that it was the
religious majesty they loved, and liked to see
represented, in their sovereigns. But besides
* Responsum facultatis theologiae Parisiensis: printed
in the Additions au Journal de Henry HI. p. 317.
t Thuanus, lib. 94, p. 258, states the members present at
but sixty, and will not allow of their unanimity, although
the document cited says verbatim : " audita omnivun et
singulorum magistrorum, quid ad septuagintaconveuerant,
deliberatione , . conclusum est nemine refragante."
A. D. 15S9-1607.]
CONFLICT OF DOCTRINES,
217
this, the king was linked in the efforts for the
renovation of Catholicism, not with the priests
alone, but also with the revolted people. The
people of Paris reposed greater confidence in
him than in the French princes at the head of
the Ligue. A new ally, as it were, now pre-
sented itself to the king in the doctrine of the
Jesuits. There seemed no reason to foresee
that he should have any thing to fear from
them ; they rather afforded his policy a justi-
fication both legal and religious, highly advan-
tageous to his dignity and consideration even
in Spain, and immediately conducive to the
success of his foreign enterprizes. The king
dwelt more on this momentary utility of the
Jesuit doctrines, than on their general purport
and tendency.*
Now is not this commonly the case with
regard to political notions ] Whether do they
rather arise out of the events, or originate
them] For which of the two are they more
cherished, for their own sake, or for the use to
which it is thought they can be turned !
However this may be, their force remains
the same. Whilst the Jesuit doctrines express
the efforts of the papacy in its crisis of restora-
tion, or rather those of the world at large in
the midst of wiiich the papacy was placed,
they gave it new strength by furnishing it
with a systematic foundation in accordance
with the predominant convictions in theology,
and they promoted a spirit in the minds of
men, on the prevalence of which the victory
was dependent.
Conflict of doctrines.
Never, however, in Europe has either a
power or a doctrine, least of all a political
doctrine, attained to complete and sole domi-
nion.
Nor can any be conceived which shall not
appear partial and narrow when compared
with the highest abstract standard.
At every period the notions that strove for
exclusive dominion have been met by a resis-
tance which, springing from the inexhausti-
ble soil of common daily life, has called new
and vigorous powers into action.
Whilst we perceive that no power can rise
to eminence unless it rests upon a basis of
opinion, we may add to this, that, in opinion
too it finds its limits ; the conflicts of ideas
* Pedro Ribadeneira, in his book against Machiavelli,
which was produced as early as ihe year 1595, and dedi-
cated to the prince of Spain, repeated them, in a moderdt-
ed form it is true, but he did repeat them. Tratado de la
religion y viitudes que deve tener el principe Christiano
para governar y conservarsus estados, contro lo que Nicolo
Machiavello y los politicos d'este tiempo ensenan. Anve-
res, 1597. Princes, according lo him, are the servants of
the church, but not its judges, armed to chastise heretics,
the enemies of the church, and rebels against it: but not
to give laws to it, nor to be expositors of God's will. He
abides by the illustration of body and soul. The earthly
kingdom, as St. Gregory says, must obey the kingdom of
heaven.
28
that engender great social results always find
their accomplislimcnt too in the regions of
conviction and thought.
Thus in the present case the idea of a sa-
cerdotal religion ruling supreme over all the
temporalities of the world, encountered a
mighty resistance in that national indepen-
dence, which is the proper expression of the
temporal element of society.
The Germanic institution of monarchy dif-
fused through the nations of Romish origin,
and deeply rooted amongst them, has invari-
ably triumphed over every attempt to over-
throw it, whether by the pretensions of the
priesthood, or by the fiction of the sovereignty
of the people, which has always finally proved
untenable.
The extravagant connexion into which
these two principles had entered in the times
under consideration, was met by the doctrine
of the divine right of monarchy.
It was next attacked by the protestants,
though at first they may possibly have wa-
vered, with all the ardour of an enemy who
sees his opponent venturing on a desperate
game, and entering upon a path that must
lead him to destruction.
God alone, the protestants maintained, sets
princes and sovereigns over the human race :
Me has reserved to Himself to lift up and
bring low, to apportion and moderate authori-
ty. True, He no longer descends from hea-
ven to point out with his finger those to whom
dominion is due, but through his eternal pro-
vidence there have been introduced into every
kingdom laws and an established order of
things, according to which the ruler is chosen.
If by virtue of this appointed order a prince
accedes to command, his title is to th" fill
the same as though God's voice declared,
This shall be your king. Time was when
God did point out Moses, the judges, and the
first kings personally to his people, but after
a fixed order had been established, those who
subsequently ascended the throne were equal-
ly God's anointed as the former.*
Arguing from these principles, the protest-
ants now insisted on the necessity of submit-
ting even to unjust and censurable sovereigns.
No man is perfect. Now, if it were once
deemed allowable to deviate from the order
appointed by God, even trifling defects would
be seized on to justify the deposition of a so-
vereign. Not even heresy on the monarch's
part could, they said, on the whole, absolve
subjects from their allegiance. The son must
not indeed obey the impious father in what is
contrary to God's commands, in other re-
* Explicatio controversiamm quse a nonnullis moventur
ex Henrici Borbonii ragis in regnum Franciae constitu-
lione, . . . opus ... a Tossano Bercheto Lingonensi e
Gallico in Latinum sennonem conversum. Sedani, 1590.
Cap. ii.
218
DISCREPANCIES, DOCTRINAL AND POLITICAL, [a. d. 1589-1607.
spects, however, he continues to owe him
reverence and subjection.
The matter would not have been insignifi-
cant had tlie protestants even been alone in
devising and adhering to these principles ; but
what was of still more moment, these also
found acceptance among a part of the French
catholics, or rather the latter arrived sponta-
neously at analogous conclusions.
In spite of the papal excommunication, no
inconsiderable body of good catholics main-
tained unswerving fidelity to Henry III., and
transferred their allegiance to his successor,
Henry IV. The Jesuit doctrines did not take
with this party, who were not wanting in ar-
guments to defend their position, without yet
apostatising from Catholicism.
This party next endeavoured to define the
authority of the clergy, and its relation to the
temporal power, upon opposite views to those
of the Jesuits. They held that the spiritual
kingdom is not of this world ; that the power
of the clergy relates only to spiritual things;
that excommunication can, by its very na-
ture, only afi^ect communion with the church,
but can detract nothing from temporal rights.
Now a king of France can never, on any ac-
count, be excluded from the communion of
the church ; for this is one of the privileges
belonging to the lilies; how much less allow-
able is it to attempt to strip him of his inher-
itance. And where is it to be found distinct-
ly written that the subject may rebel against
his king, and adopt measures of force against
him 1 God has appointed him ; he calls him-
self king by the grace of God ; in one solitary
case may the subject refuse him allegiance,
namely, when he exacts any thing contrary
to God's commands.*
From these principles of divine right they
drew the conclusion, that not only was it law-
ful for them, but that it was their duty to
obey even a protestant king. The subject
must accept the king such as God imposes
him; obedience to him is God's command;
there can exist absolutely nothing to justify
depriving a prince of his rights.f They even
maintained that their proceedings were the
most advantageous for the catholic interests.
Henry IV. was intelligent, gracious, and up-
right ; nothing but good was to be expected
of him ; but if France should reject him, petty
potentates would spring up in every direc-
tion, till the general discord would enable
the protestant party to acquire complete as-
cendency.]:
Thus within the limits of Catholicism itself
arose an opposition against the endeavours of
* I follow in this place the extract from an anonymous
writing which appeared in Paris in 1588, in Cayet, Col-
lection Univprselle de M^iiioires, tome 56, p. 44.
t Elienne Pasquier, Recherches de France, 341. 344.
i Explanation in Thuanus, lib. 97, p. 316. Sectanos
dissoliito imperio et singulis regni partibus a reliquo cor-
pore divisis potentiores lore.
the papacy which had grown out of the revi-
val ; and it was dubious from the very first
whether Rome would be able to put down
these antagonists. It might be, the doctrine
of the opposition was not fully wrought out ;
it might be it possessed less practised cham-
pions, but it was more firmly rooted in the
convictions of the European comnmnity ; its
whole position was in itself just and blame-
less ; and what above all gave it accessory
strength was, that the papal doctrines were
in alliance with the Spanish power.
The monarchy of Philip II. seemed day by
day to become more menacing to the general
freedom, and it awoke throughout all Europe
that jealous dislike, which arises less from
actual aggressions than from apprehension of
them, and from that sense of endangered li-
berty which seizes on men's minds, though
they cannot fully account to themselves for
their motives.
So close an imion now subsisted between
Rome and Spain, that those who gainsayed
the pretensions of the Church, thereby at the
same time resisted the progress of the Span-
ish power. They thereby fulfilled a course
become necessary in Europe, and were in
consequence secure of approbation and sup-
port. A secret sympathy links nations to-
gether. Resolute allies arose unsolicited and
from unexpected quarters in aid of the nation-
al party of French catholics, and. this, too, in
Italy itself, before the pope's eyes.
The Venetians were the first.
In Venice some few years previously — in
the year 1.582 — there had taken place a
noiseless change, almost wholly overlooked
in the history of the republic, but not the less
highly influential. Hitherto important mat-
ters had been confined to the hands of a few
old patricians chosen out of a small circle of
families. But at this period a discontented
majority in the senate, consisting chiefly of
the younger members, were successful in
their struggles to obtain a share in the admin-
istration, such as they were by all means en-
titled to according to the letter of the consti-
tution.
Now the former government had never, in-
deed, been backward in- carefully upholding
its own independence, but still it had always,
as far as practicable, coalesced in the mea-
sures of the Spaniards and of the Church.
The new government no longer observed this
policy, but rather, for mere opposition's sake,
were disposed to cross the designs of those
powers.
The Venetians had naturally a strong in-
terest in so doing.
On the one hand they remarked with dis-
pleasure that the doctrine of the pope's omni-
potence, and of the blind obedience due to
him, was preached even in their own domin-
ions ; on the other they dreaded the complete
A. D. 1589-1607.]
LATTER TIMES OF SIXTUS V.
219
destruction of the European balance of power
if the Spaniards succeeded in acquiring a pre-
dominant influence in France. Hitherto the
liberties of Europe had seemed to depend on
the mutual hostility of those two countries.
The coarse of events in France was, there-
fore, watched with redoubled interest. Those
writings which defended the royal preroga-
tive were fastened on with avidity. Especial
influence was exercised by a society consist-
ing of statesmen and men of letters, which
assembled at the house of Andrea Morosini,
and which numbered among its members Le-
onardo Donate and Niccolo Conterini, both of
them afterwards doges, Domenico Molini,
subsequently a leading chief of the republic,
fra Paolo Sarpi, and other distinguished men,
all of them at an age when men are disposed
not only to adopt new opinions, but also to
adhere to them and carry them out ; and all
of them declared adversaries of the assump
tionsof the Church, and of the ascendency of
the Spaniards.* It is always highly impor-
tant towards working out a political system,
and giving it efficacy, even when it is found-
ed on fact, that there should exist men of
talent who may represent it in their own per-
sons, and who are agreed among themselves
to propagate it each in his own circle : but
this is doubly important in a republic.
Under these circumstances, matters were
not left at the point of mere thought and in-
clination. From the very first the Venetians
had conceived a confidence in Henry IV. that
he would prove capable of raising up France
again, and restoring the lost balance of power.
Though themselves under manifold obliga-
tions to the pope who had excommunicated
him, though encompassed both by land and
sea by the Spaniards, who wished for his
downfall, and though possessed of no vast and
commanding power, they were yet of all ca-
tholics the first who had the spirit to recog-
nize that king. On the notification of their
ambassador, Mocenigo, they empowered him
to congratulate Henry IV. on his accession.!
This example was not lost on others. Though
the archduke Ferdinand of Tuscany had not
the courage to commit himself to an open re-
cognition, he yet engaged in a friendly per-
sonal correspondence with the new king.|
The protestant monarch suddenly saw him-
self surrounded by catholic allies, nay, pro-
* In the anonymous Vita di Fra Paolo Sarpi (by Fra
Fulgentio) p. 104, in Griselini's Memorabilia of Fra Pao-
lo, p. p. 40. 78, and in some passages in Foscarini, we find
accounts of this " ridotto Mauroceno." Besides the above-
named meiubers of the society, there belonged to it like-
wise Pielro and Giacopo Contarini, Giacopo Morosini,
Leonardo Mocenigo, who, however, did not attend as reg-
ularly as the others, Antonio Quirini, Giacopo Marcello,
Marino Zane, and Alessandro Malipiero, who, old as he
was, always accompanied Fra Paolo home.
t Andreae Mauroceni Historiarum Venelarum, lib. xiii.
p. 548.
tGalluzzi. Isloria del Granducalo di Toscana, lib. v.
(torn. V. p. 78.)
tected by them against the head of their own
Church.
In every crisis of great moment the public
opinion of Europe invariably declares its bias
in a manner that admits of no ambiguity.
Fortunate is he on whose side it ranges itself;
all his cnterprizes proceed thencetbrth with
so much the more facility. Henry IV. was
now the favourite. The ideas coupled with
his name had hardly found utterance, yet
were they already so mighty, the}' could even
venture to attempt winning over the papacy
to own their validity.
Latter times of Sixtus V.
We return once more to Sixtus V. Hav-
ing already spoken of his internal administra-
tion, and of his share in the ecclesiastical re-
vival, we must now say a word or two about
his policy in general.
It is exceedingly remarkable how the inex-
orable justice he practised, the severe finan-
cial system he introduced, and his rigid eco-
nomy, were yet associated with an extraor-
dinary propensity to fantastical plans of po-
licy.
What a medley of strange projects entered
his head !
For a long while he flattered himself with
the hope of being able to annihilate the Turk-
ish empire. He entered into correspondences
in the East, with the Persians, some Arab
chiefs, and the Druses; he fitted out galleys,
and others were to be furnished him by Spain
and Tuscany. Thus he thought he should be
able to second by sea the efforts of Stephen
Bathory, king of Poland, who was to make
the main attack by land. The pope hoped to
combine all the powers of the north-east and
south-west in this undertaking, and persuaded
himself that Russia would not only coalesce
with the king of Poland, but even become
subject to his authority.
Another time he indulged the thought of
conquering' Egypt, either alone, or with no
other alliance than that of Tuscany. On this
project he founded the most extensive views
and schemes — the connection of the Red Sea
with the Mediterranean,* the revival of the
old commercial system between the east and
the west, and the conquest of the holy sepul-
chre. Supposing, however, that this should
not appear immediately practicable, what was
* Dispaccio Gritti, 23 Agosto, 1587. " (II papa) entrf) a
parla della fossa che li re dell' Egitto havevano fatta per
passar del inare rosso nel mare mediterraneo." [Tha
pope began to talk of the canal the kings of Egypt had
made in order to pass from the Red Sea into the Mediter-
ranean.] Sometimes he contemplated attacking Egypt
single handed. " Scopri la causa del desiderar danari
per implegarli in unaarmata che vorria far solo per leim-
presa dell' Egitto e pasar quelle ealee che ajulassero a
far quella impresa." [He made known the cause of his
wishing for money, namely, to spend it on an expedition
to be fitted out by himself alone against Egypt, and to pay
those galleys which should aid in the enterprize.]
220
DISCREPANCIES, DOCTRINAL AND POLITICAL.
[a. d. 1589-1607.
to hinder at least an expedition to Syria, in
order to have the tomb of the Saviour cut out
from the rock by skilful artists, and conveyed,
carefully wrapt up, to Italy? He already in-
dulged the hope of yet setting' up in Montalto
that most holy of all shrines; then would his
native land, the March, where already stood
the sacred house of Loretto, comprise within
its boundaries the birthplace and the grave of
the Saviour.
One other idea I find attributed to him,
which surpasses all the others in extrava-
gance. It is said that after the murder of the
Guises, the proposal was made to Henry III.
that he should nominate a nephew of the
pope's as heir to the throne. The legate, it is
said, made this proposal with the pope's know-
ledge. If the nomination was made with all
due formality, his holiness was convinced that
the king of Spain would give the infanta in
marriage to the declared heir: such a suc-
cessor would be recognized by every one, and
an end would be put to all troubles. It is as-
serted that Henry III. was really for a mo-
ment caught by these representations, until it
was set before him what a reputation, if he
yielded to them, he would leave behind for
cowardice and pusillanimity.*
Projects these, or rather, for the word is al-
most too definite, fantasies, castles in the
air of the most extraordinary kind. How
strangely discordant do they seem with this
pope's active measures, so strenuously practi-
cal and to the purpose !
And yet, might we not venture to assert,
that these were often based on extravagant,
impracticable thoughts'? The elevation of
Rome into a regular metropolis of Christen-
dom, to be visited after the lapse of an ap-
pointed number of years by the people of
every country, even of America; the conver-
sion of the monuments of antiquity into memo-
rials of the subjugation of paganism by the
Christian religion; the hoarding up of money
borrowed at interest, to form a treasure on
which the temporal power of the Church was
* This account is contained in a Menioire du seii^neur
de Schomberg, Marechal de France sous Henri III., in
the Hohendorf MSS. of the imp. library in Vienna, No.
114. "Quelque temps apr6s la mort de Mr. de Guise
avenue en Blois il lut propose par le cardinal de More-
sino de la part de Sa Saintel^, que si S. M. vouloit de-
clarer le marquis de Pom 0 probably misspelt) son neveu
herilier de la couronne et le faire recevoir pour tel avec
solemnitez requises, que S. S. s'assuroil que le roy d'Es-
pEigne bailleroit en niariajre audit marquis rinlanie et
qu'en ce faisant tous les troubles de France prendroient
fin. A quoi le roy estant prest a se laisser aller, et ce par
la persuasion de ((uehiu'uns (pii pour lors esloient pres de
S. M., Mr. de Schomberg rompitce coup partelles raisons,
que ce seroit I'invenir i'ordre do !•' ranee, abolir les loix
fondamenlales, laisser A la posterity un argument certain
de la lachet6 et pusillanimit6 de S. M." It is very true
that Schomberg makes a merit of having prevented this
intention, but I should not on that account be inclined at
once to pronounce it altogether imaginary. The memoir
which sets forth the legitimacy of Henry IV. 's claims
gives this warrant for its genuineness, that it lies ob-
scurely among other papers. It is only surprising that
nothing more should have been said on the matter.
to be founded ; all of them plans surmounting
the limits of practicability, and whose origin
is to be sought in the fire of religious enthu-
siasm, and yet which mainly determined the
active character of this pope's life.
From youth upwards, hopes and desires
sway all the conduct and feelings of men;
the present is as it were compassed round by
the future, and the soul is never weary of
committing itself to the expectation of a per-
sonal good fortune. But the more a man's
condition rises, the more do these longings
and anticipations attach themselves to gene-
ral interests, to some great purpose in science,
in politics, or in the general concerns of life.
In our Franciscan, the stimulus and impulse
of personal hopes had always been the stronger
inasmuch, as he found himself on a career that
opened out to him the noblest prospects ; they
had led him on from step to step, and nurtured
and sustained his spirit in the days of his pe-
nury ; he had caught up every prophetic word
and treasured it in his heart, and linked with
it, against the time of success, exalted plans
suggested by monkish enthusiasm. At last all
his hopes were fulfilled ; from a mean and un-
promising beginning he had reached the high-
est eminence in Christendom, a dignity of the
importance of which he entertained an ex-
aggerated conception : he believed himself
chosen by a special providence to carry into
effect the ideas that floated before him.
Even in the possession of the supreme au-
thority he did not abandon his habit of dis-
cerning, amidst all the bustle of general busi-
ness, the possibility of brilliant enterprizes,
and of forming projects for their execution.
There was in all of them an element of a
very personal nature : power and renown had
charms for him; he loved to difluse his own
splendour over all that belonged to him, his
family, his birth-place, and his native pro-
vince ; but these desires were always subordi-
nate to the general interests of catholic Chris-
tendom ; his mind was always open to grand
ideas. Only this difference is to be taken
into account ; one part of his projects he could
himself carry out; another he had to leave
for the most part to other agents. To the
former he applied himself with that inex-
haustible activity which springs from convic-
tion, enthusiasm, and ambition ; in the latter,
on the contrary, we find him display far less
zeal, either because he was by nature dis-
trustful, or because the chief part of the exe-
cution, and consequently of the fame and ad-
vantage, was to be consigned to others. If
we ask what he really did towards the accom-
plishment, for instance, of his oriental schemes,
we find it amounts after all to no more than
this, that he cemented alliances, interchanged
letters, issued admonitions, and made prepa-
rations; we do not observe that he ever
.adopted serious measures adequate to the end
A. D. 1589-1607.]
LATTER TIMES OF SIXTUS V.
221
in view. He grasped the plan with the ar-
dour of an enthusiastic imagination ; but as he
could not forthwith set his own hand to the
work, as the accomplishment was remote, his
will was not really effective ; the scheme that
had so busily occupied his mind he let drop
again, and its place was taken by another.
At the moment before us the pope was full
of the grand anticipations connected with the
undertaking against Henry IV., anticipations
of a complete victory for strict Catholicism,
and of renovated power over the world for the
popedom : with these thoughts he was wholly
engrossed. Nor did he doubt but that all
catholic states were fully agreed, that they
would make cominon cause against that pro-
testant who pretended to the throne of France.
Such was the tone of his mind, such his
ardour, when the fact obtruded itself upon him,
that a catholic power with which he thought
he was on peculiarly good terms, that Venice
had offered her congratulations to that very
protestant. He was profoundly mortified by
the intelligence. For a while he endeavoured
to restrain the public from taking further
steps; he entreated her to wait ; time, he said,
bore marvellous fruit ; he had himself learned
from the good old senators to let them come
to maturity.* Venice for all that recognized
the existing ambassador from France, de
Maisse, after he had received his credentials
as plenipotentiary from Henry IV. Upon this
the pope proceeded from admonitions to threats.
He exclaimed that he would know what it
behoved him to do : he had the old nionito-
ria which Julius II. had issued against the
Venetians brought tbrth, and a draft of a new
one against them prepared.
Still it v;as not without pain and inward
repugnance he did this. Let us hear for a
moment how he expressed himself to the am-
bassador whom the Venetians sent him on the
subject.
"To fall out with those one does not love,"
said the pope, " is no such great mischance ;
but to quarrel with those one loves, is indeed
painful. Yes ; it will give us pain" — he
laid his hand on his breast — " to break with
Venice.
" But Venice has aggrieved us. Navarre,"
so he called Henry IV., " is a heretic excom-
municated by the holy see ; yet has Venice
recognized him in defiance of all our admo-
nitions.
"Is the Signory then the first among the
sovereigns of the earth, v;hose place it is
to set an example to others ? There is still
a king of Spain, there is still an emperor.
" Is it that the republic has any fear of Na-
varre ? We will defend it, if necessary with
all our might ; we have the strength thereto.
* 9 SeU. 1589. " Che per amor di Dio non si vada tanto
avanti con questo Navarre, che si stia a veder," &c.
Or does the republic think to inflict any in-
jury on us? God himself would stand by us.
"The republic should prize our friendship
higher than that of Navarre. We can better
aid it.
" I entreat you recall one step ! The catho-
lic king has retracted many a thing because
we desired it; not from fear of us, for our
power against his is but as that of a fly against
an elephant's, but from love, because it was
the pope who made the request, the vicege-
rent of Christ, who prescribes the rules of
faith to him and to all others. Let the Signory
do likewise ; let it find some pretext of escape,
it will be no difficult matter ; it has men
enough full of years and wisdom, every one of
whom might rule a world."*
But one cannot speak forever without re-
ceiving an answer. The ambassador extraor-
dinary from Venice was Leonardo Donato, a
memijer of Andrea Morosini's society ; wholly
imbued with the spirit of the ecclesiastico-
political opposition ; a man as we should say
in the present day, of the greatest diplomatic
dexterity, who had already conducted many
difficult negociations to a prosperous issue.
Donato could not explain in Rome all the
motives that wrought on the Venetians; he
put forward those which were likely to find
acceptance with the pope, since their import
concerned himself in common with Venice.
For was it not manifest that the Spanish
ascendancy in the south of Europe was
mightily augmenting from year to year ! The
pope felt this as distinctly as any other Italian
sovereign : even now he could not take one
step in Italy without the approbation and con-
sent of the Spaniards; what would be the
state of things when they should have become
masters of France 1 Donato most prominently
put forward this consideration, dwelling on the
balance of power in Europe, and the necessity
of its restoration. He laboured to show that
the republic had not conceived the thought of
injuring the pope, but rather of favouring and
protectmg a grand interest of the Roman see
itself.
* Dispaccio Donato, 25 Nov. 1589. The pope spoke so
long, that the ambassadors said were they to write it all
down, it would take an hour and a half to read it in the
senate. Among other things he insisted continually on
the effects of excommunication. " Tre sono stali scom-
niunicati, il re passato, il principe di Conde, il re di Na-
varra. Due sono malamente moni, il lerzo ci Ira vagi ia e
Dio per nostro esercito lo manliene : ma finira anche esso
e lerminari male : dubitiamo punto di lui. — 2. Dec. II papa
publicaun solennissimo eiubileo per invitar ogn' uno a
dover pregar S. Divina M-i. per la quiete el augumento
della fede cattolica." [There were three excommuni-
cated, the late king, the prince of Cond6, and the king of
Navarre. Two of them came to a bad end ; the third is
labouring under the burthen, and God for our trial still
supports him, but he too will at last end badly : let us not
have any doubt about him.— 2 Dec. The pope publishes a
very solemn jubilee, inviting every one to pray to the
Divine Majesty for the quiet and increase of the catho-
lic faith.] During this jubilee he would see no one per
viver a se slesso el a sue divotioni." [That he might pasa
his time with himself and his devotions.]
222
DISCREPANCIES, DOCTRINAL AND POLITICAL. [a. d. 1589-1607,
The pope listened to him, but appeared im-
movable and not to be convinced. Donato
despaired of effecting any thing with him,
and applied for an audience to leave. He re-
ceived it on the 16th of December, 1589, and
the pope appeared disposed to refuse him his
blessing.* Sixtus V., however, was not so
blinded by prejudice, that substantial argu-
ments could make no impression on him. He
was self-opinionated, high-handed, dogmati-
cal, and obstinate, yet with all that, his in-
ward thoughts were not unsusceptible of
change, he was capable of being gained over
to new views, and at bottom he was good na-
tured. Even whilst he was still disputing,
and stubbornly upholding his principles, he
felt himself in his heart shaken and convinced.
In the middle of the audience he became all at
once mild and complying.! " He who has a
colleague," he exclaimed, " has a master: I
will talk with the congregation ; I will tell it
that I have been angry with you, but that I
have been overcome by you." The ambassa-
dors waited a few days longer ; the pope then
declared, that he could not approve of what
the republic had done, still he would not adopt
the measures he had contemplated against it.
He gave Donato his blessing and kissed him.
Here was an almost insensible change of
personal feeling, and yet it was pregnant with
the greatest results. The pope himself re-
laxed the rigour with which he persecuted
the protestant king; nor would he absolutely
condemn the catholic party that had adhered
to that monarch in opposition to the policy
hitherto pursued by Sixtus. A first step is of
much importance, as it determines the whole
subsequent course. This was palpably per-
ceived on the part of the opposition : origin-
ally it had only sought to excuse itself, but
now it forthwith endeavoured to win over and
subdue the pope himself.
Commissioned by the princes of the blood
and by the catholic peers that had sided with
Henry IV., monseigneur de Luxembourg
made his appearance in Italy. In spite of
the warnings of the Spaniards, Sixtus V. ad-
mitted him into Rome in January, 1590, and
gave him an audience. The envoy dwelt
particularly on Henry's personal qualities, and
set forth in glowing colours his valour, his
magnanimity and goodness of heart. The pope
was quite charmed with the picture. " Now
truly," he cried, " I grieve that I have ex-
communicated him." Luxembourg said his
lord and king would even yet make himself
worthy of absolution, and return at the feet of
his holiness into the bosom of the catholic
church. " In that case," replied the pope,
"I will embrace and comfort him."
His imagination was already strongly pos-
sessed : these advances at once suggested to
him the boldest hopes. He gave admission to
the notion that it was rather political aversion
to Spain, than any religious conviction hostile
to the Roman see, that withheld the protest-
ants from returning to the catholic church, and
thought that he ought by no means to repulse
them.* An English envoy was already in
Rome ; one from Saxony was announced. He
was very ready to hear them : " Would to
God," he said, " they would all come to our
feet."
The extent of the change that had taken
place in him was manifested, among other
proofs, by his behaviour to cardinal Morosini,
his legate in France. The cardinal's com-
pliancy towards Henry III. had formerly been
regarded as criminal, and he had returned to
Italy loaded with the pope's displeasure : he
was now introduced into the consistory by
cardinal Montalto, and the pope received him
with the declaration that he rejoiced that a
cardinal of his own choice had obtained such
universal approbation.! Donna Camilla led
him to table.
How amazed must the rigid catholics have
been at this change. The pope showed a
leaning towards a protestant he had himself
excommunicated, and who, according to the
old principles of the church, was incapacitated
for absolution as a double apostate.
It is in the nature of things that this should
have produced a re-action. The strict catholic
parly was not so thoroughly dependent on the
pope that it could not offer him resistance :
the Spanish power afibrded it a stay to which
it eagerly clung.
The liguists in France upbraided the pope
with avarice : he would not draw his purse
strings ; he wanted, they said, to economise
the gold accumulated in the castle of St. An-
gelo for his nephews and his relations. In
* Disp. Donato Dec. 16. " Dope si lungo negotio restan-
do quasi privi d'osni aperanza."
f Ibid. " Finalinente inspiraladel signorDio . . . disse
di conieniarsene (lo give him bis blessing) e di essersi
lascialo viucer da noi,"
* Dispaccio Donato, 13 Genn. 1590. "11 papa biasima
1' opinione, de' cardinali e d'altri prelati che lo stimulano
a dover licentiar esso signor di Lucenburg e li accusa clie
vogliano farsi siio pedants (liis prompter, as we should
say) in quello che ha studiato tutto il tempo (Je la vita sua.
SoL'giunse che haveria caro che la regina d' Inghilterra,
il liuca di Sassonia e tulti gli altri andassero a suoi piedi
con bona dispositione. Che dispiaceri a Si- che andassero
ad altri principi (catholic that is) et havessero communi-
catione con loro, ma si consolava quande vadino a suoi
piedi a dimandar perdono." [The pope finds fault with
the opinions of the cardinals and other prelates, who urge
him to dismiss this monseigneur Luxembourg, and charges
them with a desire to malje themselves his prompter in a
matter he had studied all his life. He added, that he
would be glad if the queen of England, the duke of Sax-
ony, and all the rest of them would approach his feet in a
becoming disposition: that it was displeasing to his holi-
ness that they should have recourse to other princes, but
that it would be cheering to him if they betook them-
selves to his feet to ask for pardon.] He repeated these
sentiments in various forms in every audience.
•t Dispaccio, 3 Marzo. " Dice di consolarsi assai ch' egli
soa creatura fusse di tutti tanto celebrato. II clmo- Moro-
sini acquisla niolto honore e reputatione per la soa rela-
tione delle cosi di Francia." [ . . • His eminence cardi-
dal Morosini acquired much honour and reputation by his
report of the affairs of France.]
A. D. 1589-1607.]
LATTER TIMES OF SIXTUS V.
223
Spain a Jesuit preached upon the deplorable
condition in which the church was then
placed. "Not only does the republic of Ve-
nice countenance the heretics, but — hush !
hush !" he said, laying his finger on his lips,
" but even the pope himself." This was
echoed in Italy. Sixtus V. was already grown
so captious, that the admonition issued by the
general of the capuchins for general prayers,
" to invoke God's grace on the aflairs of the
church," was regarded by him in the light of
a personal insult, and he suspended the gen-
eral.
Hints and private complaints were not all
the effect produced. On the ■22nd of March,
1.590, the Spanish ambassador appeared in the
papal apartments, to make a formal protest in
his master's name, against the pope's con-
duct.* There was, we see, a system of opi-
nion more orthodox and more catholic than
the pope himself: the Spanish ambassador
stood forth to give it expression and words be-
fore the pope's face. Strange incident ! The
ambassador knelt on one knee, and besought
his holiness to permit him to execute his mas-
ter's commands. The pope endeavoured to
raise him up, saying, ♦' it was a heresy to con-
duct himself towards Christ's vicegerent in
the manner he purposed." The ambassador
was not to be put out of his course. " May it
please your holiness," he began, " to proclaim
Navarre's adherents excommunicated without
distinction, and to declare Navarre incapable
under all circumstances and forever, of hold-
ing the crown of France. If not, the catholic
king will renounce his allegiance to your ho-
liness, for he cannot suffer the cause of Christ
to be ruined. "t The pope hardly let him utter
thus much ; he cried out that this was not the
king's business. The ambassador stood up,
threw himself on his knees again, and tried
to proceed. The pope called him a stone of
offence and went away. But Olivarez was
not to be put off so ; he declared that he
would and must finish his protestation, though
* Already on the 10th of March, the ambassador had
laid the following questions before the pope. "Li ha
ricercato la risposla sopra le tre cose, cio6 di licentiarLu-
cenburg, iscommunicar li cardinali et altri prelati die
seguono il Navarra e promettar di non habilitar mai esso
Navarra allasuccessione della corona:" [he demanded
a reply touching three things ; viz. the dismissal of Lux-
emburg, the excommunication of the cardinals and other
prelates who followed Navarre, and a promise never to
capacitate the said Navarre for succeeding to the crown.]
He had also given notice of a protest. Upon this the pope
had threatened excommunication. " Minaccia di iscom-
municar quei e castigarli nella vita che ardiranno di ten-
lar quanio egli li havea detlo, cacciandolo inanzi e seran-
dogli in faccia la porta." [He threatens to excommuni-
cate and to punish capitally, those who shall dare to at-
tempt what he (the ambassador) had said to him, turning
him out and slamming the door in his face.]
f'Che S. Si' dichiari iscommunicati lutti quei che
seguitano in Francia il Navarra e tulti gli altri che quo-
vismodo il desseroa juto, e che dichiari es.so Navarra inca-
pace perpetualmente alia corona di Francia: altramente
chp il re suo si leveri dalla obedicnza della chiesa, e pro-
cureri che non sia fatta ingiuria alia causa di Christo e
che la pieii e la religione soa sia conosciuta."
the pope should cut off his head ; he knew
well that his king would avenge him, and
reward his fidelity in the persons of his chil-
dren. Sixtus V. on the other hand was infu-
riated. " No prince in the world," he said,
" was entitled to dictate to a pope, to him
who is set by God as master over others : the
ambassador's conduct was quite indecent : his
instructions empowered him to protest only
in case the pope should manifest coldness in
the cause of the Ligue : how did he know
that such was the ca.se 1 Did the ambassa-
dor pretend to direct the steps of his holi-
ness !"
Genuine Catholicism seemed to have only
one aim, one undivided system of thought, it
seemed to be borne along on the full tide to vic-
tory, to be at the very point of success; when,
unexpectedly, there arose within it two parties,
two systems of opinion, politically and ecclesi-
astically opposed to each other ; the one ag-
gressive, the other opposed to resistance. The
commencement of their warfare was marked
by the efforts which each made with all its
might to gain over the head of the church to
itself The one party had already possessed
the pope, and now with bitter exasperation,
with threats, and almost by force, strove to
retain him. To the other he had been in-
clined by a secret emotion in a critical mo-
ment, and it now sought to get complete hold
of him, offering alluring promises, and setting
before him the most brilliant prospects. It
was of the greatest moment as regarded the
struggle, to which of the two parties he should
give his countenance.
The behaviour of this pope, so renowned
for his energy and decision of character, fills
us with amazement.
Does he receive letters from Philip II. de-
claring that sovereign would defend the right-
ful cause, and that he would support the
Ligue with the strength of his dominions, and
at the cost of his own blood ; the pope, too, is
full of zeal, and vows he will not bring upon
himself the disgrace of having failed to op-
pose a- heretic like Navarre.*
Yet for all that, he inclined again to the
other side. When the difficulties in which
the affairs of France involved him were re-
presented to him, he exclaimed that, " were
Navarre present he would beseech him on his
knees to become catholic."
* He declares even in the consistory , " di haver scritto
al re con sua propria mano, che procurera sempre con
tutte le sue forze spirituali e temporali che mai riesca re
di Francia alojuo che non sia di compita sodisfattione
alia Sua Catolica Maesli:" [that he had written to the
king with his own hand saying, that he would always en-
deavour with all his might, spiritual and tenporl, that
no one should ever succeed to the throne of France, who
was not fully satisfactory to his catholic majesty.] In
Jan. 1590, the ambassadors say : " II papa nelle traltationi
parla con unoad un modo con suoi disegni ed ad un altro
con altri (disegni)." [He in tlie discussion of business,
holds one sort of language touching his designs with one
party, and a different one with another.],
224
DISCREPANCIES, DOCTRINAL AND POLITICAL. [a. d. 15891607.
Never surely did any prince stand in a
stranger relation to his plenipotentiary than
did pope Sixtus to the legate Gaetano, whom
he had sent to France during the period of
his close union with Spain. At present the
pope had not indeed passed over to the side of
the French, but he had been brought to an ir-
resolute, neutral way of thinking. The legate
followed his original instructions without the
least consideration for the change in his mas-
ter's sentiments. When Henry IV. besieged
Paris after his victory at Ivry, it was the
pope's legate who offered him the most resist-
ance. Captains and magistrates took the
oath administered by him never to capitulate
with Navarre ; and by the dignity of his of-
fice, and by a deportment equally adroit and
firm, he succeeded in keeping them fast to
their engagements.*
In the end, however, the rigidly orthodox
opinions manifested the greatest strength.
Olivarez obliged the pope to send away
Luxemburg, though it were only under the
pretext of a pilgrimage to Loreto. The pope
had designed to send as legate to France
Monsignor Serafino, who was reputed to hold
French opinions: Olivarez complained loudly,
and threatened he would not present himself
at another audience; to which the pope re-
plied, "he might depart in God's name:"
finally, however, Olivarez was victorious, and
the mission of Serafino was postponed. There
is an incredible power in an onthodox system
adhered to with unwavering stedfastness,
especially when it is advocated by a man of
capacity. Olivarez had on his side the con-
gregation which managed the French de-
partment of business, and which had been
constituted in earlier times. In 1590 a new
alliance between Spain and the pope, was
taken into consideration,! and the pope de-
clared he must do something in favour of
Spain.
Let it not be supposed, however, that he
had meanwhile given up the other party. He
had at his court at the very same time, the
* Discours veritable et notable du siege de la ville de
Paris en I'an 1590; in Villeroy, M6moires d'estat, t. ii.
p. 417.
t The king was to equip 20,000 infantry, and 3000 cav-
alry, the pope 15,000 infantry, and 2,0U0 cavalry. "Li
ambasciatori sollicitano con li cardinali la conclusione e
soltoscritlione del capitolalo (Disp. 14. Luglio)." [The
ambassadors were urgent with tlie cardinals for the con-
clusion and subscription of the convention, Desp. 14.
July.] The pope proposed in the congregation the ques-
tions: an electio regis Franciae, vacante principe ex cor-
pora sanguinis, spectet ad pontificem." [Whether the
election of a king of France, failing a prince of the
blood, belongs to thn sovereign pontiff.] " Esortato a star
neutrale, laudando il consiglio risponde non polerreslara
far qualche cosa (Disp. 28 Luglio.)" [Being exhorted to
remain neutral, he replied, while he commended the
counsel, that he could not refrain from doing something.
(Desp. July 28.)] It is said, however, in the dispatch of tlie
2Isl of July ; " Laodigeres haveva mandalo un suo huoiiio
a trattar con S. Si' il quale ha tratlalo lungamente seco."
[Lesdiguieres had sent a man of his to treat with his
Holiness, which said person had treated with him at much
length.]
agent of Lesdiguieres, a leader of the Hugue-
nots ; a minister of the landgrave, and an
English ambassador were also there, and the
imperial ambassador was already bestirring
himself to make head against the suggestions
he apprehended on the part of the Saxon en-
voy, who was once more expected : the ma-
ncEuvres of chancellor Crell extended even
to Rome.*
Such was the position of the potent eccle-
siastical sovereign, who cherished the belief,
that he was invested with direct authority
over the whole earth, and who had amassed a
treasure that might well have enabled him to
give a grand decisive impetus to the course of
events ; thus irresolute and vacillating was
he at the critical moment.
May this fairly be charged upon him as a
fault ! I fear in judging thus we should do
him wrong. He saw through the posture of
things ; he saw the dangers on either side ;
he gave admission to contending opinions; no
conjuncture occurred to force him to a final
decision. His own soul was filled with the
strife of those elements that parted the world
between them, none obtained the mastery
over the rest.
But hence assuredly it became impossible
for him to constrain the course of European
affairs, or to exert any vast influence over
them. On the contrary, the forces agitating
society reacted upon himself; this re-action
took place under the most peculiar form.
Sixtus had succeeded in putting down the
banditti, chiefly in consequence of the good
understanding into which he entered with
his neighbours. But this being now interrupt-
ed, different opinions prevailing in Tuscany
and Venice from those entertained in Naples
and Milan, and the pope not declaringdecided-
ly for either, he incurred the suspicion now of
one, now of another of his neiglibours, and the
banditti sprung up once more.
They made their appearance again in April
1590, led by Sacripante in the Maremma, by
Piccolomini in Romagna, and by Battistella
in the campagna of Rome. They were
abundantly provided with money, and it was
said to have been noticed that they passed
many Spanish doubloons. Their chief ad-
herents were of the Guelphish party; already
they marched through the land in regular
bodies, with banners flying, and drums beat-
ing; nor had the papal troops any mind to
engage them.f This state of things imme-
* We cannot otherwise account for the fact that the
imperial ambassador warned the pope against Saxon in-
sinuations. " L'ambasciatore dell' imperatore prega il
pontefice di non voler ascollare quel huoino che viendetto
esser mandato dal duca di Sassonia, in quello che fusse
di pregiuditio del suo patron e della casa d'Auslria: ecosl
li vien promesso." [The ambassador from the emperor
entreated the pope not to lend an ear to that man who
was said to be sent by the duke of Saxony, in what might
be to thp prejudice of his master, and of tlte house of Aus-
tria : and tlie same was promised him.]
t Disp. 21 Luglio. " f fuorusciti corrouo fine su le porte
A. D. 1589-1607.] URBAN VII., GREGORY XIV., INNOCENT IX.
225
diately made itself felt throughout all the re-
lations of the country. The Bolognese op-
posed, with a boldness and independence of
spirit long unexampled, the pope's design of
augmenting the number of senators in their
city.
In this situation, beset by so many near and
pressing vexations, without having even at-
tempted to come to a decision, or to adopt any
resolution in the weightiest matters, died pope
Sixtus V. on the 27th of August, 1590.
Just at the moment he breathed his last, a
storm burst over the Quirinal. The stupid
multitude persuaded themselves that Fra Fe-
lice had made a compact with the evil one,
by whose help he had climbed from step to
step, and that now on the expiration of the
stipulated time, his soul was fetched away in
the midst of the tempest. In this way they
symbolized their dissatisfaction at the many
new taxes he had imposed, and the doubts as
to his perfect ortliodoxy which had so often
been agitated of late years. In an excess of
tumultuous fury they pulled down the statues
they had once erected to him ; nay a resolu-
tion was passed in the capitol, tliat never again
should a statue be erected to a pope during
his life time.
Urban VII., Gregory XIV., Innocent IX.,
and their conclaves, 1590, 1591.
The new election was now doubly moment-
ous. It depended mainly on the personal
disposition of the pope to be chosen, for which
of the two parties, whose strife had just be-
gun, he would declare himself, and there was
no doubt that his determination might lead to
results whose influence would be universally
felt. Hence the intrigues and the election-
eering struggles of the conclave derived a pe-
culiar significancy, and compel us to devote
a few words to them in this place.
In the first half of the sixteenth century,
the ascendancy of the imperial or of the French
faction commonly prevailed among the elec-
tors; the cardinals, as a pope once said, en-
joyed no longer any freedom of election. After
the middle of the same century this influence
of foreign powers had greatly diminished, and
the curia was left much more to the course of
its own inclinations. Thereupon there arose
out of the ferment of its internal agitations a
principle or a custom of a very singular kind.
Each pope was wont to nominate a number
of cardinals, who, in the next conclave con-
sorted with the nephews of the deceased, con-
stituted a new power, and usually sought to
advance one of their own party to the throne.
It is a remarkable fact that they never suc-
ceeded in this, that the opposition was always
victorious, and commonly promoted an ad-
versary of the last pope.
I Will not attempt to investigate this matter
in detail. We are m possession of documents
relating to these elections, which are not al-
together unworthy of credit ; still it would be
impossible to bring fully and fairly before our
eyes all the personal considerations that ope-
rated in them ; our delineations would always
remain mere shadows.
It is enough that we direct attention to the
principle. During the period in question, it
was without exception not the adherents but
the antagonists of the last pope, that is to say,
the creatures of the last but one, who were
victorious. Paul IV. was elected by the crea-
tures of Paul III. ; Pius IV. by the enemies of
Caiaffa and of Paul IV. The nephew of Pius
IV., Borromeo, had the self-denial voluntarily
to give his support to a man of the opposite
parly, whom he esteemed the most devout,
namely, Pius V. ; but he did so not without
the most vehement remonstrances on the part
of his uncle's creatures, who, as it is said in
the report, hardly believed they saw what they
saw or did what they did. Nor did they neglect
to turn their compliance to account on the next
occasion. They endeavoured to give a recog-
nized validity to the precedent, and to constitute
it a rule ; and in tact they chose the successor of
Plus V. out of the creatures of Pius IV. The
same was the case in the election of Sixtus
v., who was elevated from among the adver-
saries of his predecessor, Gregory Alll.
Under these circumstances it is no wonder
that we always encounter men of opposite
character in the successive occupants of the
papal sees. The several factions alternately
drove each other out.
On the present occasion this usage ofl^ered
a great prospect to the antagonists of iSixtua
V. especially to the opponents of his latter
policy. iSixtus V. had made his nephew ex-
ceedingly powerful, and the latter now entered
the conclave wiih a body of cardinals devoted
to his interest as nunierous as had ever betbre
been combined together. Notwithstanding
all this he was obliged to give way. The
creatures ot Gregory carried the election of
an opponent of ttie last pope, one who had
even been peculiarly offended by him, and
who was unquestionably attached to the Span-
ish party — Giambattista Castagna, Urban
VII.*
di Roma." [The outlaws make incursions up to llie
very gates of Rome.] The dispatches of March 17tti,
April 7ih, April 28th, May 12th, June 2aJ, contain de-
tails on this subject.]
29
♦ Conclave di papa Urbano VII. MS. "Lapratica (di
quesla elettione) lu guidala dal cardinal Sforza (capo delle
ciBalure di papa Gregono Aill.) e da cardinal! Geuovesi."
[I'he proceedings of this election were directed by cardi-
nal Sioiza (vhi head of the creatures of On gory XIII.,)
and by Genoese cardinals.] In a despatch fio.n Maisse,
the trench ambassador at Venice, in F. v. Raumer's
Histor. Briefen, i. 360, it is staled that Sforza had dragged
down Colonna from the papal chair, after he had already
seated himself theie; this, however, is not to be under-
stood literally.
226
DISCREPANCIES, DOCTRINAL AND POLITICAL. [a. d. 1590-1.
But they were unfortunate in this choice.
Urban VII. died before he had even been
crowned, before he had nominated a single
prelate, on the twelfth day of his pontificate,
and the contest broke out afresh.
It was distinguished by the circumstance that
the Spaniards again took the most earnest part
in it. They saw plainly how much depended
on the result with regard to the affairs of
France. The king resolved on a step which
was charged upon him in Rome as a dangerous
innovation, and which even his adherents
could only attempt to justify on the ground of
the urgent circumstances in which he was
placed :* he named seven cardinals who seem-
ed likely to be of service to him, and would
not accept any other. At the head of these
nominees stood the name of Madruzzi, and the
Spanish cardinals forthwith made an effort to
to effect his election.
But they met with obstinate resistance.
The cardinals would not have Madruzzi, be-
cause he was a German, and they could not
bear to have the papacy pass again into the
hands of the barbarians,t nor would Montalto
allow the election ofany of the others. Montalto
would, indeed, in vain have attempted to raise
any of his own party to the papal chair, but
at least he was able to exclude from it those
whom he opposed. The conclave was im-
moderately protracted ; the banditti were
masters in the land ; accounts were daily
heard of property plundered and villages burn-
ed ; commotions were to be apprehended in
Rome itself.
One only means presented itself of reaching
the desired end ; that was to select from
amongst the proposed candidates him who was
least objectionable to the kinsmen of Sixtus
V. In the Florentine memoirs I it is stated
that the grand duke of Tuscany, in the Roman
that cardinal Sforza, the chief of the Gregor-
ian cardinals, contributed most to bring this
about. Cardinal Sfondrato, one of the seven,
was passing his days in the retirement of his
cell, perhaps because he had been told that
his interests would be best promoted by silence,
and was suffering there from fever. The two
parties accorded in choosing him, and an union
between the two houses of Sfondrato and Mon-
talto was immediately discussed by way of
preliminary. Upon this Montalto visited the
cardinal in his cell, and found him praying
before a crucifix, and not wholly free from
fever; he told him that he should be elected
the next morning. On the morrow (Dec. 5,
1590) he accompanied him, along with Sforza,
* " II grande interesse del re caUolico e la sppsa nella
quale si Irova spnza ajulo nissuno per servitio della chris-
tianili fa che gli si debbia condonare."
t Cardinal Morosiiii said, " Italia andercbbein predaa'
barbari, che farrebbe una vergogna. Concl. della seJe
vacanle di UrXjano VII." [Italy would become the booty
of the barbarians, which would be a sliaiiic.]
t Galluzzi. Sloria del graiiducalo di Toscano, v. 99.
to the chapel where the votes were taken.
Sfondrato was chosen, and assumed the name
of Gregory XIV.*
He was a man who fasted twice every week,
read mass every day, always repeated the
appointed number of prayers on his knees, and
then devoted an hour to his favourite author,
St. Bernard, out of whom he carefully noted
the sentences that particularly struck him; —
a soul of virgin innocence. It was remarked,
however, half in jest, that as he had come
prematurely into the world, in the seventh
month, and had been reared but with diffi-
culty, he had on the whole too little earthly
stuff about him. He had never been able to
comprehend any thing of the practice or the
intrigues of the curia. The cause which was
upheld by the Spaniards he regarded purely
and simply as the cause of the Church. He
was a subject born of Philip 11., and a man
after his own heart. He declared himself,
without the least wavering or hesitation, in
favour of the Ligue.f
" Do you," he wrote to the Parisians, "who
have made so praiseworthy a beginning, per-
severe still, and halt not till you are arrived
at the goal of your course. Inspired by God,
we have resolved to come to your aid. First,
we bestow upon you a subsidy in money, and
that even beyond our means. Next, we des-
patch our nuncio, Landriano, to France, in
order to bring back all deserters to your
union. Lastly, we send to you, though not
without heavily bnrthening the Church, our
dear son and nephew, Ercole Sfondrato, duke
of Montemarciano, with cavalry and infantry,
to employ their weapons in your defence.
Should you, however, have need of more, we
will supply you therewith."!
The whole policy of Gregory XIV. is com-
prised in this letter. It was very efTective.
The declaration itself, the repetition of the
excommunication of Henry IV. which was
connected with it, and then the call which
Landriano was charged to make on all the
clergy, the nobles, the officers of justice, and
the tiers etat, to separate from Henry on pain
of heavy punishment, produced a deep impres-
sion.J There were on the side of Henry IV.
many strict catholics, who were at last throw^n
* Torquato Tasso celebrated his accession in a splendid
canzone, "Dagranlode immortal."
+ Cicarella, de vita Gregorii XIV., to be found in all the
later editions of Platina.
t Gregoire, pape XIV., i mes fits bien-aymez les gens
du conseil des seize quartiers de la villa de Paris, in
Cayet. Chronologie novenaire. M6moires coll. univ.
lorn. Ivii. p. 62.
§ Cayet remarks this. "Le party du roy estoit sans
aucune division. Ce qui fut enlretenu jusques au temps
de la publication des buUes monitoriales du pape Gre-
goire AlV., que d'aucuns voulurent engendrer un tiers
party et le former des calholiques, qui estoit dans le party
royal." [The party of the king was without any division.
This continued till the time of the publication of the
monitorial bulls of pope Gregory XIV., when certain per-
sons wished 10 form a tiers parti, and to constitute it from
among the catholics belonging lo the royal party.
A. D. 1590-1.]
GREGORY XIV., INNOCENT IX.
227
into perplexity by this decisive step on the
part of the head of their Church. They de-
clared, that not only the kingdom but the
Church, too, had a succession, tliat the reli-
gion of the state was no more to be changed
than tlie dynasty. From this time forth there
arose among the king's adherents the so-called
third party, that incessantly pressed him to
return to Catholicism, remained faitliful to
him only on this condition and with this anti-
cipation, and was of the more moment, inas-
much as the most powerful men immediately
about him became its adherents.
But still greater results were to be expect-
ed from the other measures which the pope
announced in this letter, and which he de-
layed not to carry into effect. He sup>piied
the Parisians with a montiily subsidy of 1.5,000
scudi; he sent colonel Lusi into Switzerland
to raise troops ; and after he had solemnly
committed the standard of the Church in S.
Maria Maggiore to his nephew Ercole as
their general, he sent him to Milan, where
his forces were to assemble. The commis-
sary who accompanied him, archbishop Mat-
teucci, was plentifully furnished with money.
Under such auspices Philip 11. did not
hesitate longer to engage earnestly in French
affairs. His troops advanced into Brittany,
and took possession of Toulouse and Montpel-
lier. He thought he had peculiar claims on
some provinces ; in others he was in close
confederacy with the leading chiefs, capu-
chins having in some cases cemented and
continued to uphold the union. In many
places he was looked on as " the sole protec-
tor of the orthodox against the Huguenots,"
and he was invited most earnestly even to
Paris. Meanwhile the Piedmontese assailed
Provence, and the papal army formed a com-
binatiou in Verdun with that of the Ligue.
There was a general movement of the powers
of Spain and Italy designed to drag France
along by force in the safiie strictly catholic
direction which prevailed in those countries.
The treasures which pope Sixtus had amassed
with such efforts, and had so carefully econo-
mized, were now converted to the profit of
the Spaniards. After Gregory XIV. had taken
from the castle of St. Angelo those sums, the
expenditure of which was limited by no con-
dition, he seized upon those, too, that were
most strictly tied up. He was of opinion that
no more urgent need could ever befal the
Church.
The decision with which proceedings were
begun, the prudence of the king, the wealth
of the pope, and the influence which their
combined authority and dignity possessed in
France, put it, indeed, beyond the possibility
of calculating what success might have attend-
ed this twofold ambition, secular and spiritual,
had not Gregory XIV. died in the midst of the
enterprize. He had occupied the Roman see
but ten months and ten days, and yet had
brought about such great changes; what
would have ensued had he possessed his power
for some years! The loss of him was the
greatest that the party of Spain and of the
Ligue could have sustained.
The Spaniards, indeed, once more carried
everything before them in the conclave. They
had named seven candidates as before,* one
of whom, Giovanni Antonio Fachinetto, was
chosen pope by the title of Iimocent JX. He,
too, as far as can be judged, was of the Span-
ish party ; at least he sent money to the Ligue,
and there is a letter of his extant, in which
he urges Alessandro Farnese to hasten his
armament, penetrate into France, and invest
Rouen, services which that leader performed
with much ability and success.f But the
misfortune was, that Innocent IX. was already
very old and feeble ; he hardly ever left his
bed, even giving audience there: from the
death-bed of an aged man, himself now inca-
pable of a movement, proceeded exhortations
to war that set France, nay, all Europe, in
commotion. Hardly had Innocent IX. been
two months in possession of the papal see,
when he too died.
Thus were the struggles of the conclave
renewed a fourth time. They were the more
important, since these incessant changes had
led to the settled conviction, that a man of
vigour, and likely to live long, was above all
things what was wanted. A definite decision
for a lengthened period was now imperatively
necessary. The conclave became an impor-
tant item in the history of the world.
Election and character of Clement VIIL
The Spaniards in the prosperous course of
their interests in Rome during the last year
had finally succeeded in gaining over even
Montalto. His tamily had purchased estates
in the Neapolitan territory. Whilst Montalto
pledged himself no longer to oppose the wishes
of the king, the latter promised in return,
that ho would not absolutely exclude all the
creatures of Sixtus V. Thus were they
bound together, and the Spaniards no longer
delayed to put forward that claimant from
whom they might promise themselves the
most effectual co-operation in the French
war.
Of all the cardinals, Santorio, who bore the
surname of Sanseverina, might be regarded
* In the Histoire des Conclaves, i. 2JI, it is staled, " Lps
Espagnols voulaient retablir leur reputation." This,
however, is but a mistranslation. In the MS. on which
this book is founded, Conclave di Innocenzio IX. (Inlf.
Polilt.) it is said, "Per non perder laracquistala autorita"
[not to lose the authority they had re-acquired], which
actually accords with the then exislina slate of tilings.
+ From Davila, Hisloria delle Guerre Civili di Francia
XII. p. 763, il would appear that Innocent was not so en-
tirely in favour of the Ligue; but the letter mentioned (in
Cayet, p. 3oG) removes all doubt on the matter.
228
DISCREPANCIES, DOCTRINAL AND POLITICAL. [a. d. 1590-1.
as the most zealous. In his youth he had i They had acceded to the wishes of the king
sustained many a contest with the protestants and of Montalto, but still they only wanted an
of Naples. In his autobiography, which is
extant in manuscript, he designates the Pari-
sian massacre as " the celebrated day of St.
Bartholomew, most cheering to the catho-
lics."* He had always owned the most vehe-
ment opinions: he was the leading member
in the congregation for French affairs, had long
been the soul of the inquisition, and was still
in good health and of tolerably vigorous years.
This man the Spaniards wished to invest
with the supreme dignity, and none could
they have found more devoted to them. Oli-
varez too had made every preparation ;t no
doubt of his success seemed to exist ; out of
fiftv-two votes thirty-six were counted in his
favour, just enough to secure his election, for
which there were always required two thirds
of the votes. Accordingly the very next
morning after the conclave had been closed,
they proceeded to the formalities of election.
Montalto and Madrucci, the heads of the uni-
ted factions, brought out Sanseverina from
his cell, which was stripped by his servants,
according to the customary practice in the
case of a pope elect. Thirty-six cardinals
accompanied him to the Capella Paolina; his
pardon was already solicited for his oppo-
nents; he would forgive them all, and as a
first token of his disposition, adopt the name
of Clement : peoples and realms were com-
mended to his favour.
^Meanwhile, one circumstance had escaped
notice in the selection of this candidate.
Sanseverina had such a character for seve-
rity, that every one feared him.
This was enough with many to make them
inaccessible to all attempts at gaining them
over, younger cardinals, for instance, and old
personal adversaries. These assembled in
the Capella Sistina; they were but sixteen
indeed when they came together, one vote
was wanting to give them the power of ex-
clusion, and several of them seemed inclined
to yield to circumstances and declare for
Sanseverina ; the experienced Altemps how-
ever had sufficient influence over them to
make them still hold out. They relied on
him, that he saw more clearly into the matter
than themselves.
Now the fact was, the same repugnance
felt by them, prevailed among those too who
had given their promises to iSanseverina ; no
few of them abhorred him in their hearts.
* He speaks of a " giusto sdegno del re Carlo IX. lii
gloriosa memoria in quel celebre giorno di S. Bartolonieo
lietissinio a' caltolici." [Jusl wralh of king Charles IX.
of glorious memory on thai celebrated day of S. Bartholo-
mew, most cheering to catholics. 1
t Conclave di Clemente VIII. MS. "11 conle di Oliva-
rez, fedele el insepar.ibile aniico di S. Severina, aveva
prima di partire di Ko.na per il governo di Sicilia lulto
preordinato." [Count Olivarez, the true and inseparable
friend of S. Severina, had arranged everylhins before his
departure from Rome for the governmeni of Sicily.]
opportunity to desert. Upon the entry into
the chapel where the election was to be held,
there was manifest a restlessness, an agita-
tion quite unusual in cases where the choice
was already determined. The counting of
the votes began; there seemed a reluctance
to complete it; Sanseverina's own country-
men threw obstacles in the way.* There
wanted only some one who should set the
example of expressing the sentiments enter-
tained by so many. At last Ascanio Colonna
summoned up the courage to do this. He
was of the number of the Roman barons, who
dreaded above all things the inquisitorial harsh-
ness of Sanseverina. He cried out, "I see
that God will not have Sanseverina, neither
will Ascanio Colonna." He left the Capella
Paolina, and betook himself to the opposition
in the Sistina.
This step secured the victory to the latter.
A secret scrutiny was resolved on. Some
there were who would never have ventured
openly and loudly to retract the promise they
had already given, who nevertheless did it
privily, as soon as they knew that their votes
would remain concealed. When the ballot-
ing papers were opened, there were found
only thirty votes for the nominee.
Sanseverina had come secure of his elec-
tion : he thought himself already in possession
of that fulness of spiritual authority which he
had rated so highly, and in behalf of which he
had so often combated ; between the fulfil-
ment of his most aspiring wishes, and a future
forever marred by the sense of rejection,
between the condition of ruling and being
doomed to obey, he had passed seven hours as
though between life and death. At last the
lot was cast, and he went back robbed of his
hopes to his dismantled cell. "The next
night," he says in his autobiography, "was to
me more full of pSngs than any moment of
misfortune I ever experienced. The heavy
affliction of my soul, and my intense anguish,
incredible as it may sound, forced bloody
sweat from me."
He knew enough of the nature of a con-
clave to indulge in no further hopes. His
friends subsequently put him forward as a
candidate, but it was only a hopeless attempt.
The Spaniards themselves too had been
losers by this event. The king had proposed
five names, but on none of them could the
choice be made to fall. At last it was neces-
sary to proceed to the sixth, set down by the
Spaniards as a supernumerary.
The king, more to oblige his confederate
Montalto than of his own accord, had subjoin-
ed the name of cardinal Aldobrandini, a crea-
♦ Besides the accounts of this matter in printed and
MS. Conclaves, we have also the narrative of Sanseve*
rina himself, which I will give in the Appendix.
A. D. 1592.] ELECTION AND CHARACTER OF CLEMENT VIIL
229
ture of Sixtus V., whom he himself had reject-
ed a year before. He was now recurred to
as the only one whose election was possible.
He had, as may be supposed, Montalto's wish-
es in his favour ; and the Spaniards could not
object against him, as he was in the list of
nominees ; he was not unwelcome to the rest
of the conclave, being universally beloved :
accordingly he was chosen without much op-
position, January 20th, 1592. He took the
name of Clement VOL
The fate of the Spaniards in this matter is
very curious. They had brought over Mont-
alto to their side in order to carry the election
of one of their own party, and this very con-
nexion it was that forced them to lend their
aid towards placing a friend of Montalto and
a creature of Sixtus V. on the pontifical
throne.
We have to observe, that a change origin-
ated on this occasion in the course of papal
elections, which cannot be looked upon as
unimportant. For a length of time men of
opposite factions had alternately followed each
other. The same thing had now occurred,
the cardinals created by Sixtus V. had thrice
been forced to give way ; but the elected popes
had in each instance enjoyed but a transient
possession of power, and could not found any
new strong faction : deaths, funerals, and new
conclaves had followed one upon the other.
The first who again ascended the papal throne
in the full vigour of life was Clement VHL
There ensued a dominion of the same party
which had been the last to enjoy a longer
lease of power.
Universal attention was now directed to the
question, who was the new pontiff, and what
might be expected of him !
Clement VUL had been born an exile. His
father, Salvestro Aldrobrandino, of a distin-
guished Florentine family, but an earnest and
active adversary of the Medici, had, upon the
final triumph of the latter house in the year
1531, been expelled, and forced to seek his
fortune in other lands.* He was a doctor of
laws, and had, previously to these occurrences,
once given lectures in Pisa. After his ban-
ishment we' find him at one time in Venice,
where he had a share in the reform of the
Venetian statutes, and in an edition of the
institutes ; at another in Ferrara or Urbino,
employed in the duke's councils and tribunals;
but longest in the service now of this cardinal,
now of that, and entrusted in their stead with
judicial and administrative functions in some
* Varthi: Storia Fioremina, iii. 4-2. CI. Mazzuchelli,
Scriuori d' Italia, I. i. p. 372. gives as usual a very indus-
triously compiled and instructive article on this name,
elill it is not complete. Among other things he omits to
mention his employment in Venice, with llie mention of
which Gio. Delfino opens his report, so that there can be
no doubt of the matter: ''Silvestro Aldobrandini ne' tem-
pi della rebellione di Firenza caccialo da quella cilti se
ne vene qui, riforma li noslri statuti e rivedde le leggi el
ordini della republica."
one town or another of the ecclesiastical states.
What most distinguished him was perhaps the
fact that, though leading the unstable life he
did, he was able to bring up five superior sons.
The most highly endowed of them all was
probably the eldest, John, who was called the
charioteer of the house: it was he who opened
the path they followed, and he rose in the
career of judicial dignities to the cardinalate
in 1570. Had he lived longer it is thought
he might have entertained hopes of the tiara.
Bernardo attained distinction in arms; Tomaso
was an able philologist ; his translation of Dio-
genes Laertius has been frequently reprinted ;
Pietro had the reputation of an eminent prac-
tical jurist. The youngest son, Ippolito, born
at Fano* in the year 1536, at first caused some
anxiety to his father, who feared he should
not be able to afford him the education his
talents merited. But first of all cardinal Al-
essandro Farnese took up the boy, and granted
him a yearly allowance out of his bithopric of
Spoleto; afterwards the rising fortunes of his
brother were enough to help him forward.
He soon got a footing in the prelacy, and
speedily thereupon succeeded to his brother's
place in the tribunal of the rota. Sixtus V.
nominated him a cardinal, and entrusted him
with a nunciature to Poland, which was his
first step to a certain degree of connexion
with the house of Austria. The whole stock
of that house felt bound in gratitude to the
cardinal, because, through the discreet and
efficient use he made of his authority, he ac-
complished the liberation of the archduke
Maximilian from the captivity in which the
I'oles held him. When Philip determined to
nominate a creature of Sixtus V. as a super-
numerary candidate, it was this circumstance
that induced him to prefer Aldobrandino to all
others. Thus was the highest dignity in catho-
lic Christendom reached by the son of a home-
less outcast, for whom it was once feared that
he should be all his life long doomed to the
functions of a scribe.
No one can behold without gratified feel-
ing the monument in the church della Miner-
va, erected by Salvestro Aldobrandino to the
mother of so noble a band of sons, — " to his
dear wife Lesa, of the house of Deti, with
whom he lived in harmony seven-and-thirty
years."
The new pope now brought to his high office
all that active energy which belongs to i. fam-
ily that had worked it way out of manifold
difficulties. The sittings were held early, the
audiences in the afternoon ;t all reports were
received and investigated; all despatches
were read and discussed ; legal arguu:ients
* In the Libro di battrsnio della parochia cattedrale di
Fano, it is recordr^d : " A di 4 Marzo 1556, fu batlezaio un
puito di Mr- Salvestro, che fu luoioientnte qui: hebbe
nome Ippolyto."
t Bentivoglio, Meraorie i., p. 54, gives the disposal of a
whole week.
228
DISCREPANCIES, DOCTRINAL AND POLITICAL. [a. d. 1590-1.
as the most zealous. In his youth he had i They had acceded to the wishes of the king
sustained many a contest with the protestants and of Montalto, but still they only wanted an
of Naples. In his autobiography, which is
extant in manuscript, he designates the Pari-
sian massacre as " the celebrated day of St.
Bartholomew, most cheering to the catho-
lics."* He had always owned the most vehe-
ment opinions: he was the leading member
in the congregation for French aifairs, had long
been the soul of the inquisition, and was still
in good health and of tolerably vigorous years.
This man the Spaniards wished to mvest
with the supreme dignity, and none could
they have found more devoted to them. Oli-
varez too had made every preparation ;t no
doubt of his success seemed to exist ; out of
fiflv-two votes thirty-six were counted in his
favour, just enough to secure his election, for
which there were always required two thirds
of the votes. Accordingly the very next
morning after the conclave had been closed,
they proceeded to the formalities of election.
Montalto and Madrucci, the heads of the uni-
ted factions, brought out Sanseverina from
his cell, which was stripped by his servants,
according to the customary practice in the
case of a pope elect. Thirty-six cardinals
accompanied him to the Capella Paolina; his
pardon was already solicited for his oppo-
nents; he would forgive them all, and as a
first token of his disposition, adopt the name
of Clement : peoples and realms were com-
mended to his favour.
^Meanwhile, one circumstance had escaped
notice in the selection of this candidate.
Sanseverina had such a character for seve-
rity, that every one feared him.
This was enough with many to make them
inaccessible to all attempts at gaining them
over, younger cardinals, for instance, and old
personal adversaries. These assembled in
the Capella Sistina; they were but sixteen
indeed when they came together, one vote
was wanting to give them the power of ex-
clusion, and several of them seemed inclined
to yield to circumstances and declare for
Sanseverina; the experienced Altemps how-
ever had sufficient influence over them to
make them still hold out. They relied on
him, that he saw more clearly into the matter
than themselves.
Now the fact was, the same repugnance
felt by them, prevailed among those too who
had given their promises to ISanseverina ; no
few of them abhorred him in their hearts.
* He speaks of a " t^iusto sdegno del re Carlo IX. di
gloriosa memoria in quel celebre giorno di S. Barlolomeo
lietissiino a' cauolici." [Jusl wraih of king Charles IX.
of glorious memory on thai celebrated day of S. Barlholo-
mew, most cheering lo catholics. 1
j Conclave di Clemenle VIII. MS. " II conte di Oliva.
rez, fedi^le el inseparabile amico di S. Severina, aveva
prima di paitire di Rcna per il governo di Sicilia luuo
preordinato." [Count Olivarez.lhe true and inseparable
friend of S. Severina, had arranged everything before his
departure from Kome for the governnieni of Sicily.]
opportunity to desert. Upon the entry into
the chapel where the election was to be held,
there was manifest a restlessness, an agita-
tion quite unusual in cases where the choice
was already determined. The counting of
the votes began ; there seemed a reluctance
to complete it; Sanseverina's own country-
men threw obstacles in the way.* There
wanted only some one who should set the
example of expressing the sentiments enter-
tained by so many. At last Ascanio Colonna
summoned up the courage to do this. He
was of the number of the Roman barons, who
dreaded above all things the inquisitorial harsh-
ness of Sanseverina. He cried out, "I see
that God will not have Sanseverina, neither
will Ascanio Colonna." He left the Capella
Paolina, and betook himself to the opposition
in the Sistina.
Tills step secured the victory to the latter.
A secret scrutiny was resolved on. Some
there were who would never have ventured
openly and loudly to retract the promise they
had already given, who nevertheless did it
privily, as soon as they knew that their votes
would remain concealed. When the ballot-
ing papers were opened, there were found
only thirty votes for the nominee.
Sanseverina had come secure of his elec-
tion : he thought himself already in possession
of that fulness of spiritual authority which he
had rated so highly, and in behalf of which he
had so often combated ; between the fulfil-
ment of his most aspiring wishes, and a future
forever marred by the sense of rejection,
between the condition of ruling and being
doomed to obey, he had passed seven hours as
though between life and death. At last the
lot was cast, and he went back robbed of his
hopes to his dismantled cell. "The next
night," he says in his autobiography, "was to
me more full of pangs than any moment of
misfortune I ever experienced. The heavy
affliction of my soul, and my intense anguish,
incredible as it may sound, forced bloody
sweat from me."
He knew enough of the nature of a con-
clave to indulge in no further hopes. His
friends subsequently put him forward as a
candidate, but it was only a hopeless attempt.
The Spaniards themselves too had been
losers by this event. The king had proposed
five names, but on none of them could the
choice be made to fall. At last it was neces-
sary to proceed to the sixth, set down by the
Spaniards as a supernumerary.
'i'he king, more to oblige his confederate
Montalto than of his own accord, had subjoin-
ed the name of cardinal Aldobrandini, a crea-
* Besides the accounts of this matter in printed and
MS. Conclaves, we havp also the narrative of Sanseve-
rina himself, which 1 will give in the Appendix.
A. D. 1592.] ELECTION AND CHARACTER OP CLEMENT VIIL
229
ture of Sixtus V., whom he himself had reject-
ed a year before. He was now recurred to
as the only one whose election was possible.
He had, as may be supposed, Montalto's wish-
es in his favour; and the Spaniards could not
object against him, as he was in the list of
nominees ; he was not unwelcome to the rest
of the conclave, being universally beloved :
accordingly he was choseTi without much op-
position, January 20th, 1592. He took the
name of Clement VDL
The fate of the Spaniards in this matter is
very curious. They had brought over Mont-
alto to their side in order to carry the election
of one of their own party, and this very con-
nexion it was that forced them to lend their
aid towards placing a friend of MontaJto and
a creature of Sixtus V. on the pontifical
throne.
We have to observe, that a change origin-
ated on this occasion in the course of papal
elections, which cannot be looked upon as
unimportant. For a length of time men of
opposite factions had alternately followed each
other. The same thing had now occurred,
the cardinals created by Sixtus V. had thrice
been forced to give way ; but the elected popes
had in each instance enjoyed but a transient
possession of power, and could not found any
new strong faction : deaths, funerals, and new
conclaves had followed one upon the other.
The first who again ascended the papal throne
in the full vigour of life was Clement VIII.
There ensued a dominion of the same party
which had been the last to enjoy a longer
lease of power.
Universal attention was now directed to the
question, who was the new pontiff, and what
might be expected of him 1
Clement VIIL had been born an exile. His
father, Salvestro Aldrobrandino, of a distin-
guished Florentine family, but an earnest and
active adversary of the Medici, had, upon the
final triumph of the latter house in the year
1531, been expelled, and forced to seek his
fortune in other lands.* He was a doctor of
laws, and had, previously to these occurrences,
once given lectures in Pisa. After his ban-
ishment we find him at one time in Venice,
where he had a share in the reform of the
Venetian statutes, and in an edition of the
institutes ; at another in Ferrara or Urbino,
employed in the duke's councils and tribunals ;
but longest in the service now of this cardinal,
now of that, and entrusted in their stead with
judicial and administrative functions in some
* Varchi: Storia Fiorenlina, iii. 4-2. 01. Mazzuchelli,
Scritlori d' Italia, 1. i. p. 372. gives as usual a very indus-
triously compiled and instructive article on tliis name,
Blill it is not complete. Among other thini;s he omits to
mention his employment in Venice, w'ah tile mention of
which Gio. Delfino opens his report, so that there can be
no doubt of the matter: "Silvestro Aldobrandini ne' tem-
pi della rebellione di Firenza caccialo da quella citti se
ne vene qui, riformo li nostri staluti e rivedde le leggi et
ordini della republica."
one town or another of the ecclesiastical states.
What most distinguished him was perhaps the
fact that, though leading the unstable life he
did, he was able to bring up five superior sons.
The most highly endowed of them all was
probably the eldest, John, who was called the
charioteer of the house: it was he who opened
the path they followed, and he rose in the
career of judicial dignities to the cardinalate
in 1570. Had he lived longer it is thought
he might have entertained hopes of the tiara.
Bernardo attained distinction in arms; Tomaso
was an able philologist ; his translation of Dio-
genes Laertius has been frequently reprinted ;
Pietro had the reputation of an eminent prac-
tical jurist. The youngest son, Ippolito, born
at Fano* in the year 15:36, at first caused some
anxiety to his father, who feared he should
not be able to afford him the education his
talents merited. But first of all cardinal Al-
essandro Farnese took up the boy, and granted
him a yearly allowance out of his bishopric of
Spoleto; afterwards the rising fortunes of his
brother were enough to help him forward.
He soon got a footing in the prelacy, and
speedily thereupon succeeded to his brother's
place in the tribunal of the rota. Sixtus V.
nominated him a cardinal, and entrusted him
with a nunciature to Poland, which was his
first step to a certain degree of connexion
with the house of Austria. The whole stock
of that house felt bound in gratitude to the
cardinal, because, through the discreet and
efficient use he made of his authority, he ac-
complished the liberation of the archduke
Maximilian from the captivity in which the
Poles held him. When Philip determined to
nominate a creature of Sixtus V. as a super-
numerary candidate, it was this circumstance
that induced him to prefer Aldobrandino to all
others. Thus was the highest dignity in catho-
lic Christendom reached by the son of a home-
less outcast, for whom it was once feared that
he should be all his lite long doomed to the
functions of a scribe.
No one can behold without gratified feel-
ing the monument in the church della Miner-
va, erected by Salvestro Aldobrandino to the
mother of so noble a band of sons, — " to his
dear wife Lesa, of the house of Deti, with
whom he lived in harmony seven-and-thirty
years."
The new pope now brought to his high office
all that active energy which belongs to & fam-
ily that had worked it way out of manifold
difficulties. The sittings were held early, the
audiences in the afternoon ;t all reports were
received and investigated ; all despatches
were read and discussed ; legal arguments
* In the Libro di battesn.0 della parochia caltedrale di
Fano, it is recorded : " A di 4 Marzo 1556, fu battezato un
puiio di Mr- Salvestro, che fu luoioienente qui: hebbe
nome Ippolyto."
t Bentivoglio, Memorie i., p. 54, gives the disposal of a
whole week.
232
DISCREPANCIES, DOCTRINAL AND POLITICAL. [a. d. 1593.
abide by the side which he had once adopted,
and which seemed most consonant with the
nature of his office. Only this is to be ob-
served, that he did not altogether repudiate
the other party, nor wislf to provoke its deter-
mined hostility. By means of secret advan-
ces and indirect expressions he held out to it
the prospect of a reconciliation at some future
time. He satisfied the Spaniards ; yet might
their adversaries persuade themselves tliat
his proceedings were not wholly free, — that,
whatever they were, they were such in defe-
rence to the Spaniards. In Sixtus it was the
strife of contending thoughts that finally pre-
vented his adopting any decided line of poli-
cy ; in Clement it was regard for the senti-
ments of both parties, and prudence and cir-
cumspection, the results of large experience,
and of a desire to avoid hostilities. The con-
sequence, however, certainly was, that he too
exerted no decisive influence.
lieft accordingly to themselves, the affairs
of France proceeded in obedience to their
natural bent.
The most important thing was, that dissen-
sion broke out between the chiefs of the
Ligue. The Sixteen adhered closely to
Spain ; Mayenne pursued the aims of his per-
sonal ambition. The jealousy of the Sixteen
became the more exasperated, and they pro-
ceeded to the most cruel atrocities against
those who were suspected or known to be de-
serters from them, — for instance, to the mur-
der of the president Brisson. Mayenne held
it good to punish them, and caused their most
violent ringleader to be executed. Promoted
by this discord, there grew up, even in Paris,
from the beginning of 1593, a more moderate
temper, political and religious; one still ca-
tholic indeed, but opposed to the course hith-
erto pursued by the Ligue, and, above all, to
the Sixteen and the Spaniards. A confede-
racy was formed, nearly in the same way as
the Ligue itself, the object of which was, in
the very first place, to put all the offices of
the city into the hands of moderate men of
accordant sentiments ; and this was tolerably
well accomplished in the course of that year.*
Similar tendencies were manifested through-
out the whole kingdom. They were very
influential over the result of the elections for
the assembly of the estates. Hence it was
that the Spaniards found all their proposals
met by so resolute an opposition. Whilst the
furious preachers pronounced every one ex-
comnmnicated who should venture but to speak
of peace with the heretic, even though he
should return to the mass, the parliament re-
called to memory the fundamental laws of
the realm, by which foreign princes were ex-
cluded from the throne. It was not to be
mistaken, that the wh(de party which was
* Cayel, lib. iv. (tome 58, p. 5,) communicates the pro-
positions which were made in the first assembly. j
designated as the political, only waited for
Henry's conversion to submit to him.
What difference was there then between
them and the catholic royalists in the camp
of Henry IV. 1 The only one was, that the
former required before their submission to see
a step taken, which the latter thought they
might venture to wait for. For even the ca-
tholic royalists were unanimous in thinking
that the king must return to their church
though they did not make his right and his
legitimacy depend on his doing so. Perhaps
too their ill-will to the protestants immediate-
ly about the king continually urged them to
insist the more on this point. The princes
of the blood, the most eminent statesmen, and
the majority of the court joined the tiers-par-
ti, the distinctive characteristic of which lay
in this demand.*
As soon as matters had assumed this as-
pect, every one said, and the protestants
themselves did not deny, that if Henry was
ever to be king, he must become catholic. It
is not necessary to investigate the pretensions
of those who assert that they gave the final
impulse towards this consummation. The
chief part was effected by the great combina-
tion, the necessity of things.f In completing
the act that brought him over to Catholicism,
Henry linked himself with that national sen-
timent of French catholics, which was repre-
sented by the tiers-parti and the political
party, and which now had a prospect of be-
coming predominant in France.
Now this was at bottom precisely the very
spirit of that catholic opposition, which had
rallied round the banners of legitimacy and
national independence, to resist the attempts
of the ecclesiastico-Spanish party. How
vastly had it now augmented in power and
consequence ! It had unquestionably the as-
cendency in the public opinion of France ;
throughout all the country the people de-
clared, if not openly, at least privately in its
favour; it acquired intrinsic firmness by the
conversion of the sovereign, a sovereign too
who was so warlike, courageous, and victor-
ious. Thus invigorated, it appeared once
more before the pope, and besought his recog-
nition and his blessing. What renown, what
cogent influence were to be obtained if he
now at least declared himself without ambi-
guity in its favour ! So much stiH depended
on this. The prelates even who had received
the king into the bosom of the church, had
done so only on the anticipated condition of
papal absolution ;l and this was urgently soli-
* It is so represented by Sully, v. 249.
t That Henry was resolved on the step in April 1593, is
shown by his letter to the grand duke of Tuscany of the
2Gth. IVi. Galluzzi, Istoria del Granducato, t. v. p. 160.
t " Messieurs du clerg6 luy avoient donn6 I'absolution
a la charge qu' il envoyerait vers sa S'e- le requerir d'ap-
prouver ce qu'ils avoient fait." [The clergy had given
him absolution, conditioned that he should send to his
D. 1594.]
ABSOLUTION OF HENRY IV.
233
cited by the most powerful leaders of the
Ligue, with whom the king had entered into
negociations.* Thoiigli promises are not al-
ways fulfilled, it cannot yet be doubted that
the pope's absolution granted at this moment
would have mightily affected the course of
things. Henry sent a grandee of the realm,
the duke of Nevers, to sue to the pope in the
matter. A truce was agreed on till the an-
swer should be received.
The pope was distrustful and wary. As
the hopes of spiritual ambition had fired Six-
tus, so the dread of being overreached and ex-
posed to irksome consequences, kept back
Clement Vlll. He still apprehended that
Henry IV. would probably relapse into pro-
testantism as he had once already done, and
declared he would not believe that the king
was a genuine convert unless an angel from
heaven came and whispered it in his ear. He
looked around him and saw the majority of
the curia still averse to the French ; from
time to time too, pamphlets appeared reiterat-
ing, that Henry, as a " hiereticus relapsus,"
could not be absolved even by the pope : Cle-
ment had still no heart to set himself against
the Spaniards, who were the foremost main-
tainers of this opinion. f And was not the
party that applied to him for pardon actually
engaged in hostility to the claims of the Ro-
man see ] Were they not, as he expressed
himself, " faithless to the crown and to the
Church, bastards, children of the handmaid
and not of the wife, whilst they of the Ligue
had proved themselves the true sons'!"! ^g^-
tainly on this ground too it would have de-
manded some resolution to grant their request,
and Clement could not nerve himself up to
that point. 5 Nevers entered Rome with the
double confidence inspired by his high rank,
and by the importance of his mission ; he
doubted not that he would be received with
joy; he expressed himself in language to that
effect, and the king's letter whicii he con-
veyed was also composed in the same tone.
The pope fancied it read as though the king
was not only a catholic of long standing, but
as though he were returning, like a second
Charlemagne, from a victory over the foes of
the church. Nevers was quite amazed at
holiness to petition him to approve of what they had
done.] Cayet, 58. 290.
* Villeroy, M6moires Coll. Univ. 62. 186.
+ Les iniiinidaiionsqui furent faites au pape Clement
VIII. par le due de Sessa ; not very authentic, however,
and long ago printed in the Mf^moires de M""- le due de
Nevers, ii. p. 716, yet given as something new in Capeti-
gue's Hisloire de la Reforme, toai. vii.
$ Disp. 2 J Ag. 1533. Report of Henry's conversion.
""11 papa non s'era per tali avisi molto alierato etuttavia
restava con I'animo molto involto nelli suoi solili dubbj
e perplessiti." [The pope was not much displeased at
such aecouiils, and yet remained much involved as usual
in doubt and perplexity.] He said to the Venetian am-
bassador, that Henry remained a hae.-elicus relapsus, and
that no one could rely upon his conversion.
§ Relatio dictoi-uai aClem^nteVlH. papa die 28 Dec.
1593, in consislorio. ]\I6m. de Neveis, ii. 638.
30
finding how coldly he was received. All his
efiwts proving fruitless, he at last asked the
pope what the king was to do to merit the fa-
vour of his holiness. The pope answered,
there were theologians enough in France to
point tiiat out to him. " Will your holi-
ness be satisfied with what the theologians
say ]" The pope refused to answer the ques-
tion. He would never even acknowledge
him as Henry's ambassador, but as Louis Gon-
zaga, duke of Nevers; and all that passed be-
tween them he would have regarded only in
the light of private discourse, not as official
negociation. He was not to be prevailed on
to communicate any resolution on his part in
writing. " Nothing remains for me," said
Nevers to cardinal Toledo, who made known
to him this conclusion of the pope's, " but to
bewail the evils which the fury of the sol-
diery will bring on France upon the new out-
break of war." The cardinal said not a word,
but smiled : Nevers left Rome, and vented
his dissatisfaction in bitter reports.*
Men have in general no feeling but for their
personal situation. The Roman curia knew
only what was for its own advantage ; we dis-
cover in it no true sympathy for the fate of
France.
We know indeed enough of this pope, to be-
lieve that he would not absolutely repulse the
adherents of Henry, and least of all now, when
their strength was so greatly increased. On
the contrary, he assured a secret agent, that
so soon as the king should show himself tho-
roughly catholic, he should not fail to receive
an absolution. It is characteristic of him, that
whilst in public he so decidedly disavowed any
interest in the king's return to the catholic
I'aith, he privately gave the archduke of Tus-
cany to know, that he nevertheless would offer
no objection to whatever the clergy of France
should think fit to do. The grand duke was
also instructed to communicate favourable
declarations on the pope's part to the catholic
royal ists.f Yet with all this, his real care was
only for his own prospects ; in France there-
fore things were left to proceed as they might.
The truce was expired ; the sword wa.s
again drawn, and the fortune of war was once
more invoked.
But Henry's superiority was now made in-
stantly and decisively manifest. The com-
manders of the forces opposed to him, lacked
that security of conviction which previously
had ensured them so strong a position : the
doctrines of the political party, the king's con-
version, and the prosperous course of his for-
* Two documents, almost entirely of the same import:
Discours de ce que fit M^- de Nevers i son voyage de
Koine en l'ann6e 1593, and Discours dela legation de M'"
leduc de Nevers, both in the 2d volume of the before-men-
tioaed Memoirs of Nevers, the first neatly verbatim in
Cayet. Extracts in Thuanus, Davila, and recently, as if
from unknown documents, in Capefigue.
t Davila, lib. xiv. p. 939.
234
DISCREPANCIES, DOCTRINAL AND POLITICAL. [a. d. 1594.
tune, had made them all quail in their hearts.
One after tlie other they passed over to him
without waiting for the papal absolution.
Vitri, the commandant in Meaux, no longer
receiving pay for his troops of the Spaniards,
set the example; it was followed in Orleans,
Bourges, and Rouen. The chief considera-
tion now was, how matters would turn out in
Paris. There the political or national French
party, after many oscillations, had gained
complete ascendancy, gathered the first fami-
lies to itself, and filled the most important
places with individuals from among them.
The armed citizens were already officered by
men of the party; the hotel de Ville was di-
rected in the same spirit ; the provost des
marchands and the echevins were to a man
of these opinions. Under these circumstances
there could no longer be any impediment to
the king's return. It took place on May 22d,
1594. Henry IV. was astonished to find him-
self received with such joyous acclamations
by the same people that had so long stood out
against him, and was disposed to think, that it
must till then have been under the yoke of
tyrannous rulers. This however was not pre-
cisely the fact; the minds of the people had
really been swayed by the sentiments that
pervaded the Ligue, but others had now taken
their places. The king's return was mainly
a victory of political opinion. The party of
the Ligue now endured a persecution similar
to that they had so often inflicted. With the
departure of the Spanish troops, the most influ-
ential founders and chiefs of the Ligue, such
as the despotic Boucher, quitted the city: more
than a hundred of the others who were deem-
ed the most dangerous were formally banished.
All authorities, and the entire people, took the
oath of allegiance. Even the Sorbonne, the
most obstinate members of which, including
the rector himself, were banished, acquiesced
in the doctrines that had become dominant.
How very different were their resolutions now,
from those they had passed in 1589. Now
the Sorbonne too admitted that all power is of
God, according to the 13th chapter of Romans,
and that whosoever resists th.e king withstands
God and falls under condemnation. It repro-
bated the opinion, that a subject may refuse
obedience to a king, because he is not yet re-
cognized by the pope, as a suggestion of wicked
and evil advised men. All the members of the
university, rectors, deans, theologians, decre-
tists, physicians, artists, monks and conventi-
cals, students and officers, now swore fidelity
and allegiance to Henry IV., and pledged them-
selves to spill their blood for him. Nay, what
was more, on the strength of this new ortho-
doxy the university began a campaign against
the Jesuits. It reproached them with their sedi-
tious principles, which indeed it had itself pre-
viously shared, and with their leaning to the
Spanish interests. For a long while the Jesuits
defended themselves not unsuccessfully. But
since, in the same year, Jean Chastel,* a man
who attended their schools, made an attempt
to murder the king, and admitted on his exa-
mination that he had often heard from the
Jesuits, that it was lawful to kill a king who
was not reconciled to the church, they could
no longer resist the general success of the
party to which they had always been opposed.
The people was with difliiculty restrained from
sacking their college ; at last all the members
of the order were condemned, as seducers of
youth, disturbers of the public peace, and ene-
mies of the king and the state, to quit the
kingdom within fourteen days.f Thus the
opinions which had taken up their position as
opposition by small and feeble beginnings,
now gradually overspread Paris and the^whole
kingdom, and drove their antagonists out of
the field. Similar movements took place in
all quarters. New submissions daily occur-
red ; the king was crowned and anointed at
Chartres ; prayers were offered up for him in
all the churches ; the monastic orders recog-
nized him ; he exercised the ecclesiastical
prerogatives of the crown, important as these
are, without gainsay. In this matter he
evinced the soundness of his Catholicism ;
where the ritual of the church had suffered
any detriment during the late troubles, he en-
deavoured to restore it; where the exclusive
practice of it had been m.aintained, he confir-
med that right to it by solemn privileges. All
this he did without having yet been reconciled
with the pope.
But it had now become for the latter urgent-
ly necessary to think of reconciliation-! Had
he delayed longer there was a possibility of
schism ; an actually separate church of France
might have arisen.
The Spaniards, it is true, still held out
against the measure. They maintained that
decidedly Henry's conversion was not real ;
* Juvenciiis, partis v. lib. xii. n. 13, gives the following
description of the criminal: "Indoles juveni tristis ac
tetrica, mores iiiiprobi, mens anxiarecordatione criminum
alque unius potissiraum quod matrem aliquando vi'rberas-
set . . . Conscientia, criminum ultrix, meniem etferatam
diro vexare pergebal metti: quein ut leniret immane par-
ricidium imposlnemis an potius erebi furiis incitatus de-
signat, quo tamquam de religions ac regno bene merilua
peccatorum veniam facilius, ut demons repulabat, conse-
queretur." [The young man's disposition was gloomy
and morose, liis morals depraved, his mind was harassed
by the remembrance of crimes, and of one especially,
namely, that he had once beaten his mother .... Con-
science, the avenger of crimes, continued to torture his
brutalized mind v/ith dire fears: to mitigate these he con-
ceived in his insanity, or rather incited by hellish rage,
the design of committing a monstrous parricide, whereby,
as though having done service to religion and the realm,
he migiitthe more easily, as the madman imagined, obtain
foreiveness of his sins.]
f Annuce Literae Societatis Jesu, 159G, p. 3-50. " Tanta
superat adhuc preeterili naufragii fluctuatio ul nondum ta-
bulas omnes alque arraamenta disjecta collegerimus."
[Such is still the surge left behind by the late shipwreck,
that we have not yet^coUected all our scattered goods and
cliauels.]
t Not until Nov. 5, 1594, the Venetian ambassador finds
the pope with respect to tlie affairs of France " meglio
incliaaio che nel passato" [beuer disposed than formerly.]
A. D. 1594.]
ABSOLUTION OF HENRY IV.
235
that the true grounds for apprehending a
schism would only make themselves felt when
he received absolution ;* they even pointed
out the occasion on which it would break out.
It still required resolution on the pope's part,
to set himself in opposition to those whose
power encompassed liim, and who possessed a
great party in the curia, to separate from opi-
nions which passed for orthodox, for which his
predecessors had so often wielded the spiritual
and temporal weapon, nay, which he himself
had countenanced for so many years. He saw,
however, that every delay would be pernicious,
and that he had nothing more to expect from
the opposite party ; he felt that the party
triumphant in France, though to a certain
extent at variance with the strict doctrines,
nevertheless in temporal matters exhibited a
manifest sympathy with the interests of Rome ;
the former feeling might perhaps be removed
and the latter turned to better account : in
short, Clement now manifested a willing
alacrity upon the very first word addressed to
him. We have the account of his negocia-
tions written by the French plenipotentiary
D'Ossat ; they are amusing, instructive, and
worth reading ; but I do not find that he had
great difficulties to overcome. It would be
useless to follow the proceedings in detail ;
the general posture of things had already de-
cided the pope. The only question was, would
the king too on his part make some conces-
sions to the pope. Those who were averse
to the reconciliation, would fain have raised
the demand for these as high as possible, alleg-
ing that the church required the strongest
securities in such cases ; the pope, however,
remained satisfied with more moderate terms.
He demanded especially the restoration of
Catholicism in Beam, the introduction of the
regulations of the council of Trent, so far as
this was consistent with the laws of the land,
close observance of the concordat, and the
education of the prince of Conde, the presump-
tive heir to the throne, in the catholic faith.
On the king's part it still continued highly
desirable that he should be reconciled to the
Roman see. His power was based on his con-
version to Catholicism, an act which could only
derive full authenticity from the pope's absolu-
tion : although by far the greater number
were compliant on this point, still there were
6ome who availed themselves of the want of
this sanction to justify their continued resist-
ance.! Henry IV. agreed to the stipulations
* Ossat a Mr- de ViUeroy, Kome, Dec. G, 1594. LeUers
d' OssLil, i. 53.
t Du Perron au Roi, Nov. G, 1595. " De toucher icy com-
bien I'aulhoriie et la faveiir de ce siege eslaiil eiilre vos
mains vous pent servir d'un utile instrumenl noa seule-
nienl pour reinetlre et conserver vos sujeis en paix et en
obeissance, niais aussi pour vous preparer toules sortes de
grandeur hors de voire royaume, et 4 tout le moins pour
lenirvds ennemis en quelque crainte el devoir par I'ap-
prehension de la mesme autliorite dont il at sont aydez
pour troubler vos estats et vos peuples, ce seroit un dis-
cours superflu." — Les ambassades du cardinal du Perron,
with no great difficulty. He had already
spontaneously prepared their fulfilment in
part. He had it at heart to show himself a
good catholic. Much as his power now ex-
ceeded what it was at the period of the duke
de Nevers's mission, still the letter in which
he now solicited absolution of the pope, was
much more humble and submissive than the
former. " The king," it said,* " returns to
the feet of your Holiness, and beseeches you
in all humility by the bowels of our Lord Jesus
Christ, to deign to accord him your holy bles-
sing and your highest absolution." The pope
felt perfectly satisfied.!
It now only remained that the college of
cardinals should declare its assent. The pope,
however, would not let the matter be brought
before a regular consistory, in which incon-
venience might easily have resulted from the
observance of old resolutions : he invited the
cardinals to give him their several opinions in
special audiences, an expedient often before
resorted to on similar occasions. Having heard
them all, he declared that two-thirds of the
votes were in favour of absolution.
Accordingly on the ITth of Dec. 1595, the
ceremony was performed. The pope's throne
was erected before the church of St. Peter,
and the cardinals and the curia reverently
surrounded their head. The king's petition
and the conditions to which he had agreed
were read. Thereupon the representative of
the most Christian king cast himself at the
pope's feet, who striking him slightly with a
rod, bestowed absolution upon him. Once
more the papal see appeared in all the undi-
minished splendour of its ancient traditional
authority. J
i. 27. [Du Perron to the king, Nov. 6, 1595. To discuss
in this place how much the authority and favour of this
see placed in your hands may serve you as an useful instru-
ment not only to reduce your subjects to peace and obedi-
ence and to maintain the same, but also to prepare for you
all kinds of greatness beyond the limits of your kingdom,
and at the very least to keep your enemies in some fear
and duty by the apprehension of the same authority,
whereof they have availed themselves to trouble your
states and your subjects, would be asuperfluous discourse.]
* Requete du Roi, in Amelot's remark, cited by Ossat,
i. ICO.
t The court of Rome still considered the resolution rash
and hazardous. Doltino, Relatione ; " I piu gravi negotii
il [lapa ha saputo espedire e molto bene e ancora con gran
celeriti; perche con tanti contrarj quanti ogn' uno sa
benedisse il re di Francia, lo accetto nel grembo della
chiesa, mando li un legato nel tempo che tutti lo ributta-
vano sotto pretesto che non fosse sua dignity mandarlo
avanti che il re mandasse il suo ambasciatore a Roma, et
in quelle I'autoriti della Sna- Vra- giovo assai, che cosi
mi disse S. Si- per diversi offlci cheaque! tempo io aveva
latte a nome di lei." [The pope succeeded in dispatch-
ing the gravest atfairs, not only very well but with the
greatest expedition: for in spite of so many notorious ob-
stacles, he gave his benediction to the king of France, re-
ceived him into the bosom of the church, and sent him a
legale, at the time when every one op[)osed this ujion the
pretext that it was not consistent with his dignity to do so,
till the king had first sent an ambassador on liis jjart ; and
in this matter the authority of your signory assisted not a
little, as his Holiness told me, in respect to various ser-
vices I perforuied at that time in the name thereof]
t Ossai, who on other occasions is very circumstantial,
passes very lighly overihis ceremony (i. 168.) " Tout s'y
est pass6," he says, " convenablemenl a. la dignity de la
236
DISCREPANCIES, DOCTRINAL AND POLITICAL, [a. d. 1560-97.
And in truth the ceremony was indicative
of a greal result obtained. The ruling power
in France, now strong and firmly rooted, was
again catholic ; it had consequently an inter-
est in standing well with the pope. A new
focus of Catholicism was formed in that coun-
try, from which great influences would of
necessity emanate.
More closely considered, this result present-
ed two different aspects.
It was not by the immediate efforts of the
pope, or by a victory achieved by the strict
party, that France had been won back to the
church ; it was rather by an union of the mo-
derate opinions lying midway between both
extremes, by the paramount strength of a party
that had first appeared as an opposition. Hence
it was that the French church assumed quite
a different position from that of Italy, or of the
Netherlands, or that newly erected in Germa-
ny. It submitted to the pope, but it did so
with a freedom and an intrinsic independence
founded on its origin, the sentiment of which
was never again lost. So far the papal see
could by no means regard France as an abso-
lute conquest.
But its advantages on the other, the politi-
cal side, were very great indeed. The lost
balance of power was restored : — two great
powers, jealous of each other, involved in in-
cessant mutual struggles, held each other in
check. Both were catholic, and might after
all fall into the same views ; but between the
two the pope assumed a far more independent
position than had been possible for any of his
predecessors for a long period. He was now
to a great degree liberated from the bondage
in which the superiority of Spain had hitherto
held him.
This political result came to light only with
the progress of events. The French influence
for the first time re-appeared in Italy upon
the lapse of Ferrara to the holy see, an event
in other respects also of great moment, as
regarded the growth of the political power of
the ecclesiastical states, and which we may
here suffer to interrupt our attention to the
affairs of religion, as it then did that of con-
temporaries. We shall begin with a re-
view of the country under its last sover-
eigns.
Ferrara under Alfonso II.
It is frequently assumed that Ferrara was
peculiarly prosperous and flourishing under
the last Edtes: this, however, is but an illu-
sion, like so many others, originating from the
aversion entertained for the secular dominion
of Rome.
Montaigne visited Ferrara under Alfonso
couronnc irSschrelienae. [The whole was conducted in
a manner befiuing the dignity of the most Christian
crown.] Every one was of that opinion. I
II. He admired the broad streets of the city,
and its beautiful palaces, but even he made
the remark that occurs to modern travellers,
that they were lonely and deserted.* The
prosperity of the country depended on the
maintenance of the dams, and the regulation
of the waters; but neither dams, nor streams,
nor canals were kept in proper order ; inun-
dations were not unfrequent; Volana and Pri-
maroo became choked with sand, so that their
navigation ceased entirely.f
But it were a still greater error to look on
the subjects of that house as free and happy.
Alfonso most severely enforced the rights of
his exchequer. On every contract, though it
only related to a loan, a tenth accrued to the
duke, and he levied a tenth on every thing
that entered the city. He had the monopoly
of salt ; he burthened the commerce in oil with
a new tax: at the advice of his minister of
taxes, Christofano da Fiume, he finally appro-
priated to himself the trade in flour and bread,
and no one could procure those necessaries of
life from any (jther than the ducal officers; no
neighbour would have dared to lend a few
handfuls of flour to another.^ Even the nobil-
ity were allowed the privilege of hunting only
a iew days, and never with more than three
dogs. One day six men were seen hanging
in the market-place, with dead pheasants tied
to their feet. This was a token, it was said,
that they had been shot in the act of poaching
in the duke's presferves.
If, therefore, writers speak of the flourishing
condition and the activity of Ferrara, they
cannot mean the country and the city, but
only the court.
In the tempestuous days of the early part
of the sixteenth century, when so many flour-
ishing families, so many powerful principali-
ties perished, and all Italy underwent a radi-
cal revolution, the house of Este had, by its
dexterous policy, and its stout-hearted selt-
* Montaigne: Voyage i. 226. 231.
I A report respecting the state of the church belonging
to tiie beginning of the seventeenth century, cisserls that
the duke had transferred lo liis country seat, Mesola, the
peasants whose tasli i was to work on the Po, so that eve-
ry thing connected with the latter had fallen into ruin,
and could not be repaired. (Inf. Poliil. t. ix.)
t Frizzi : ftlemorie per la storia di Ferrara, torn. iv. p.
3G4. More particularly Manolesso, Relatione di Ferrara.
" II duca non e cost aiiiaio come le suoi precessori e questo
per I'austeritS. e esattioni che fa Christofano da Fiume
cognominato il Frisaio (Sfregiato) suo gabelllere ... II
Frisato s'oil'erse di vendere iriiglior mercato le robbe a
beneficio del popolo di quello che facevano gli allri e
darne mollu utile a S. Eccz»': piacque il partilo la duca : —
ma se bene il Frisato paga al duca quello che gli ha data
inteniione, non sudisfa pero al popolo, vendendo la robba
cattivaquantoallaqualitu. e mollocara quanloal prezzo."
[The duke is not so beloved as his predecessor, by reason
of the harshness and the ej<actions of Christofano da Fi-
ume, surnamed il Frisato (the scarred), his comptroller of
taxes ... 11 Frisato oifered lo sell goods lo the profit of
the i)eople, at lower prices than others, and lo derive
much advantage thence for his excellence. The dulce
approved the propo,sal : — but though il Frisato pays the
duke what he gave him to expect, yet he does not satisfy
the people, since he sells goods of bad quality, and very
high priced.]
A. D. 1560-97.]
FERRARA UNDER ALFONSO II.
237
defence, contrived to weather through all
dangers. With these qualities, however, it
united others. Who has not read of that
stock which, as Bojardo expressed himself,
was destined to be the great preserver of all
valour, goodness, courtesy, love, grace, and
gaiety.* Who has not read of its residence,
which he, as well as Ariosto, says, was adorn-
ed not only with ample royal palaces, but also
with fair studies and excellent manners !f If
the Estes had the merit of patronizing poetry
and learning, they have been abundantly re-
warded. The memory of that splendour and
power which rapidly pass away, has been pro-
pagated in the works of great writers that
Jive forever.
Alfonso II. sought to keep up the same state
of things that had existed under his predeces-
sors. He, too, held the same views.
He had not, indeed to sustain the same rude
conflicts as they; nevertheless, since he was
in constant dissension with Florence, and was
not always secure of his liege lord, the pope,
he always held himself in a posture of defence.
Ferrara was esteemed, next to Padua, the
strongest hold in Italy : 27,000 men were en-
rolled in the militia.]: Alfonso strove to en-
courage the martial spirit. In order adequate-
ly to counterbalance the partiality displayed
towards Tuscany by the papal court, he attach-
ed himself to the German emperors. He fre-
quently crossed the Alps with a splendid
retinue, united himself in marriage with an
Austrian princess, spoke German, it is said,
and in 1566 marched with a body of troops,
amounting to some four thousand men, to the
aid of the emperor in his war against the
Turks.
In like manner the cause of literature throve
under his patronage. I know not that this
world has ever elsewhere seen a closer union
between literature and the court and govern-
ment of a country. Pigna and Montecatino,
two professors of the university, were succes-
sively prime ministers of the country ; nor did
The poet, Battista Guarini, the author of Pas-
tor Fido, was sent ambassador to Venice and
Poland. Even Francesco I'atrizi, though en-
gaged upon abstruse subjects, extols the sym-
pathy he met with at the court. All liberal
pursuits met with like measure of encourage-
ment. The contests of science alternated
with disputations touching controverted ques-
tions of love : Torquato Tasso, for instance,
who had long occupied a place in the univer-
sity, originated one of these. Sometimes a
play was produced by the university, some-
times by the court: the theatre, in addition to
its ordinary attractions, possessed one of a
literary kind, since continual efforts were
made after new forms, and just at this time it
perfected the pastoral drama, and laid the
foundation of the opera. Sometimes Ferrara
was visited by foreign ambassadors, cardinals,
and princes, at least by those of the neigh-
bouring cities of Mantua, Guastalla, Urbino,
and now and then even by an archduke. Upon
these occasions the court slione forth in all its
splendour ; tournaments were held in which
the nobility of the land spared no cost; at
times a hundred cavaliers tilted in the court-
yard of the palace. The festivities were ar-
ranged to represent some fabulous legend or
poeiic tale, as their names sufficiently indicate
— the Temple of Love,* the Island of Bliss ;
enchanted castles were defended and stormed.
Thus did the court of Ferrara display the
closest union of poetry, learning, politics, and
chivalry. There splendour was ennobled by
the spirit that animated it, and the defect of
means by the wealth of mind.
The "Rime" and the epic poems of Tasso,
gives us a living portraiture of this court, of
the sovereign "in whom are obvious loftiness of
heart and vigour, and of whom it cannot be said
whether he is better as a knight or as a leader,"
of his wife, and above all, of his sisters. The
elder, Lucrecia, resided but a short while with
her husband in Urbino, and afterwards contin-
ally in Ferrara, where, likewise, she had in-
they, therefore, give up their literary labours ; I fluence in public affairs, though her chief care
at least Pigna, whilst he had the conduct of
public business, continued his academical lec-
tures, and from time id time published a book. 5
* Bojardo: Orlando Innamorato, ii. 22.
Da qupsta (stirpe) fia servato ogni valore,
Ogni bonlade et ogni cortesia,
Amore, Ipggiadria, stalo giocundo
Tra quplla genie fiorila nel mundo.
+ Arioslo, Orlando Furioso, xxxv. 6.
Nor pur di nuira e d' ampli lelli rpgi,
Ma (ii bei studi e di costumi pgregi.
t Relationp sopra la Komagna di Ferrara : " Erano des-
critti nelli rolli della militia dal commissario ilella batla-
gliaa cio deputato luui i sudili alti a portar arnii. Erano
coslrelli aslarne rovisli per haver daservi e nel occasioni
was to kindle and foster literary and musical
efforts ; it was she who patronized Tasso. The
younger, Leonora, moved in a more limited
sphere ; she was delicate, quiet, and retiring,
na, per mano del quale passano tutti negotii. Legge pub-
licamenli la filosofia morale, e scrive 1 isloria della casa
d'Este: 6 oralore filosofo e poela molto eccelente: pos-
siede benissimo la lingua Greca, e servendo il suo prin-
cipe ne' negotii e irattando e iscrivendo quanlo occorre,
non tralascia pert) i studi, et in tutte le profrssioni 6 tale
che pare che ad una sola atlenda." [His private secretary-
is Signor Giovamb. Pigna, through whose hands all busi-
ness passes. He gives public lectures on moral |)hiloso-
phy, and is engaged in writing the history of the house of
isle : he is a very excellent orator, philosopher, and poel ;
a piedi 0 a cavallo secondo le forze delle loro facolti a he is exceedingly well versed in the Greek language, and
godevano essi alcune esentioni." [All subjects capable while employed in the public service of his prince, and
of bearing arms were inscribed in the rolls of the miliiia transacting and writins whatever his office requires, he
by the commissioner of war appointed to that duty. They yet docs not neelecl his studies, and in all hisoccujjations
were required Ui hold themselves ready to serve when he acquits himself as if he attended to but one alone.]
called on, on fool oron horseback according to their means, j * Extracts from descriptions which appeared at the
and they enjoyed certain exemptions.] time, for instance from the Tempio d'Amore, may ba
§ Manolesso ; " Segretano iutimo 6 il Sf Giovamb. Pig. | seen in Muralori, Serassi, and Frizzi.
DISCREPANCIES, DOCTRINAL AND POLITICAL, [a. d. 1560-97.
but, like her sister, possessed a mind of strong-
ly marked lineaments.* Once, during' an
earthquake, they both refused to leave the
castle ; Leonora especially felt pleasure in in-
dulging- a stoical indifference ; when at last
they did give way, it was a moment in the
last degree critical ; the roof fell in imme-
diately behind them. Leonora was looked on
almost as a saint ; to her prayers people as-
cribed their preservation from an inundation. f
Tasso paid them his court in a manner suited
to their respective dispositions ; towards the
younger his tone was subdued, his language
sparing and unfrequent, and always appearing
as if he purposely abstained from a full ex-
pression of his sentiments; the elder he
addresses without any reserve; he compares
her to the full blown fragrant rose, which
maturity has not divqsted of its charms, &c.
Other ladies besides graced the court of Fer-
rara, such as Barbara Sanseverina and her
daughter Leonora Sanvitale; Tasso has in-
comparably pourtrayed the calm self-posses-
sion of the matron, and the gladness and
grace of the daughter's youthful beauty ; no
limner could place them more perfectly before
us. Then follow descriptions of the villegia-
ture frequented by the court, the hunting
parties, and the sports, the whole round of
their pursuits. Who can resist the impres-
sion wrought by these descriptions, with all
their gushing fulness of melody !
Still must we forbear from yielding our-
selves up wholly to this impression. The
same arbitrary force that held the whole land
in such strict obedience, made itself likewise
felt at court.
Those scenes of poetry and sport were
sometimes dashed with very discordant inci-
dents. The nobles were treated with as
little forbearance as the common people.
A Gonzaga had been murdered. Every
one laid the crime at the door of the young
Ercole Contrario; at all events the murderers
had taken refuge on an estate belonging to
him. The duke demanded that they should
be given up. Young Contrario, to avoid being
criminated by them, himself caused them to
be put to death, and their corpses only were
delivered over to the duke. Upon this he
was one day summoned to the court, and on
the 2d of Aug., 1575, he had his audience.
The Contrarj were the wealthiest and most
ancient family in Ferrara ; Ercole was the
last scion of the house. Not long after he
entered the palace he was carried out of it a
corpse. The duke said, that the young man,
* She acted as regent during the Duke's absence in the
year 155G, accordins; to Manolesso, " con infiniia sodisfat-
lione de' suddlli" [to the subjects' infinite satisfaction]
" Non ha preso," he continues, "n6 vunl prendere mariio
per esser di debolissima complessione : 6 peio di gran
spirito." [She is not married, nor will she marry, being
of a very feeble constitution ; and yetshe possesses a great
spirit.]
t Serassi ; Vita di Torquato Tasso, p. 150.
while conversing with him, had been suddenly
struck with apoplexy ; but no one believed
him. Traces of violence were discovered on
the body, and the duke's friends acknowledged
that their master had caused Contrario to be
put to death, excusing the act on the ground
that he had been loath to sully an illustrious
name by a more ignominious death.*
Such justice as this struck terror into every
one. The worst was, that the property of the
family was now to lapse to the duke.
But on the whole it would have been no
prudent thing for any one to offer even the
slightest resistance to the sovereign. f The
court was a perilously slippery ground. Sub-
tle as was Montecatino, he could not yet
maintain himself in the end. Panigarola, in
those days the most distinguished preacher in
Italy, had been allured, not without difficult)',
to Ferrara : suddenly he was banished with
boisterous violence. Men asked what was his
offence, and nothing was discovered against
him, but that he had entertained a correspon-
dence respecting an invitation from another
quarter. In such a scene the unstable, irri-
table, melancholy Tasso was not fitted to hold
up long. The duke seemed to like him, list-
ened to him with pleasure, and even conde-
scended to correct the military descriptions
that occur in the Gerusalemme Liberata.
But from the moment Tasso showed a dispo-
sition to pass into the service of the Medici,
there was an end to all cordiality between
them. The poor poet withdrew from Ferrara,
but an irresistible longing having brought him
back again, some satirical expressions which
had escaped him in one of his melancholy fits,
were enough to determine the duke to keep
the unhappy man imprisoned seven long
years. I
Here we behold the whole character of the
Italian principality, precisely as it was in the
fifteenth century ; reposing on well-weighed
political telations, unlimited and arbitrary at
home, surrounded with splendour, allied with
literature, jealous even of the show of power.
Strange aspect of human things ! The re-
sources of the country produced the court, the
centre of the court was* the prince, the ulti-
mate product of the whole social existence
was the autocracy of the sovereign. From
his position in the world, the obedience ren-
* Frizzi : Memorie, iv. 382.
f W^hen Tasso is not in good humour he e.vpresses him-
self otherwise than as above. "Perche io conosceva,"
he says, in a letter to the duke of Urbino, " il duca per
natural inclinalione dispostissimo alia maligniti e pieno
d'una certa ambitiosa alterezza, la quale pgli trae della
nobilta del sangue e della conoscenza ch'egli ha del suo
valore, del quafe in molte cose non si da punto ad inten-
dere il false."— (Lettere n. 284. Opere, torn. ix. 188.)'
[Because I knew the duke to be naturally very prone to
malice, and full of a certain overweening arrogance,
which he derives from the nobility of his blood, and from
the consciousness of his own wortli, which in many paiti-
culars is not to be mistaken.]
t Serassi : Vita del Tasso, p. 282.
A. D. 1560-97.]
FERRARA UNDER ALFONSO II.
239
dered him, and the homage paid him, he
derived the feeling of his own value and
importance.
It was the fate of Alfonso II. to be childless
th^jugh thrice married. His whole policy
was exemplified in the mode he adopted to
remedy that disadvantage.
His purpose was twofold ; first, to prevent
his subjects from believing that they could
pass under the rule of any other house than
his own ; and next, to hold the nomination of
his successor in his own hand, and not by any
chance to set up a rival against himself.
In September, 1589, he went to Loretto,
where Donna Camilla, the sister of Sixtus V.,
was then staying ; he spared neither presents
nor promises to gain her over. Through her
instrumentality he expected to be empowered
to name as his successor that one of his ne-
phews who seemed to him most fitted for the
choice. And hardly had his negociations been
really begun when Sixtus V. died, -
By similar means, presents to the pope's
sister-in-law, and oificious complaisance to his
nephews, Alfonso succeeded, in the year 1.591,
in gaining the ear of Gregory XIV. When
he saw that he might entertain hope, he went
to Rome to ply the negociation in person.
The first question was, whether the bull of
Pius v., which forbade the reinfeudation of
lapsed papal fiefs, was applicable to Ferrara.
Alfonso denied this, because it had never yet
lapsed. Still the words were but too plain ;
the congregation decided that the bull by all
means comprehended Ferrara. All that re-
mained, then, to be asked was, whether a
pope had not the power to make special deter-
minations in special cases'? The congrega-
tion did not venture to give a negative to
this ; it laid it down, however, as a condition,
that the necessity should be urgent, and the
utility obvious.* A great step was thus gain-
ed. It is not improbable tliat had speed been
used, and a new investiture prepared forth-
with in favour of some individual by name,
the object desired might have been accom-
plished. Alfonso, however, would not name
his heir. Moreover the Sfondrati and he
were not fully agreed on this subject ; they
would have preferred the marchese Filippo di
Este, while the duke was more inclined to his
nearer kinsman, Cesare. Time was wasted
in discussions on this matter, and Gregory,
too, died before any thing was settled.f
* Dispaccio Donato: " Quando ci fusse evidentissima
ulilita et urgente necessity . . . . il che fu fatto per aprire
lastrada all' inlenlione del Sf Duca." Cardinal S. Se-
verina asserls that il was he who principally frustrated
this design, though with much difficulty and against much
opposition, and liial the pope afterwards repented of that
addition.
t Cronica di Ferrara, MS. Bibl. Albani also states
there is no doubt Gregory XIV. would have done some-
thing for Ferrara ; that he left the congregation in a pas-
sion, and was seized with illness in consequence. Al-
fonso went to a villa of Cardinal Farnese's "aspeltando o
vita 0 morte di questo papa. Venne la morte. II duca
Meanwhile negociations had also been en-
tered into with the imperial court. Ferrara
was indeed a papal, but Modena and Reggio
were imperial fiefs. Tlie duke's previous
line of policy now stood him in good stead ; he
was on the best of terms with the emperor's
leading minister. Wolf Rumpf Rudolph II.
actually accorded him the renewal of the fief,
and even allowed him an interval during
which he should be free to choose whom he
would name as his successor.
But Clement VIII. showed himself altoge-
ther as intractable as the emperor was com-
pliant. It seemed more catholic, more eccle-
siastical, to call in a fief than to bestow it
again ; such had been the rule laid down by
the sainted pope Pius V. Even in the year
1592, Clement in a private consistory pro-
posed to confirm the before-mentioned bull in
Its original tenour, without the addition made
by Gregory XIV. ; in tliis state it was passed.*
And now the delay allowed by the empe-
ror was expired, and the duke was called on
to designate his successor. Alfonso I. had,
late in life, married Laura Eustochia, after
she had already borne him a son, from whom
was sprung don Cesare d'Este, whom the
duke, after much hesitation, fixed on as his
heir. But even yet he did not abandon the
most cautious secrecy. Without communica-
ting his intentions to any one else, he made
known his choice to the emperor in an auto-
graph letter, most urgently requesting him at
the same time not to divulge the matter to
any one, not even to his own ambassador at
the imperial court, and only to express his
approval of the measure by sending back the
letter with his imperial signature.!
He was resolved to retain, unshared with
any one to his last gasp, the highest conse-
quence in his little territory ; he would not
have his court direct their attention to the
rising sun. Cesar himself was not made at
all acquainted with the favour bestowed on
him, he was still forced to make an appear-
ance somewhat restricted in splendour (he
was never allowed to have more than three
gentlemen in his suite), and it was not till the
duke's life was at the last ebb, and the physi-
cians had given up all hope, that he called
for the young man to announce to him his
good fortune. His will was opened in pre-
sence of the most distmguished inhabitants of
ritorni)." [Wating to see whether the pope would live
or die. He died. The duke returned.]
* Dispaccio Donato, Tl Dec. 1592.
f Relatione di quello che 6 successo in Ferrara dopo la
morte del duca Alfonso. MS. Barber. " II duca fra
I'anno concessogli di tempo alia dichiaratione scrisse di
suo pugno una lettera all' imperatore e nomin6 Don Ce-
sare, pregando caUlamente S. M. Cesi- che in confirma-
tione del nominate soltoscrivesse la sua, quale sigillata
senza publicare il falto la rimandasse indietro per il conte
Ercole Rondinelli, non conferendogli altramente il ne-
gotio. II lulio faceva S. A. accif) Don Cesare non s'insu-
perbisse, ne della nobiltti fusse riverito e corteggialo come
lor principe."
240
DISCREPANCIES, DOCTRINAL AND POLITICAL. [a. d. 1597.
Ferrara, who were admonished by the minis-
ter to be true to the house of fiste. The duke
told Cesar he left him the fairest state in the
world, strong in arms, population, and allies
within and beyond Italy, from whom he might
expect every aid. Thereupon, on the same
day, died Alfonso II. Oct. 27, 1597.
Conquest of Ferrara.
Cesar took possession of the imperial fiefs
without question : even those of the pope did
him homage. In Ferrara he was decked with
the ducal mantle by the magistrates, and
hailed with loud acclamations by the people
as their sovereign.
Now if his predecessor had told him of na-
tive strength and foreign aid, he was very
soon in a condition to put their value to the
test.
Clement remained unmovable in his reso-
lution to resume Ferrara. Many popes before
him had made the attempt. On the receipt
of the news of Alfonso's death, he declared he
lamented that the duke had left no son, but
that the church must repossess itself of its
own. He would not hear Cesar's ambassa-
dors, and he designated his taking possession
as an usurpation, threatening him with the
ban if he did not resign within fourteen days.
To give force to his words he began forthwith
to prepare for war. A new loan was taken
up, and a new monte founded, in order to
avoid touching the money in the castle of St.
Angelo.* Cardinal Pietro Aldobrandino be-
took himself soon after to Ancona with a suite
of experienced military men, to gather toge-
ther an army. Recruiting parties were sent
out in every direction, and the provinces were
forced to contribute considerable levies.
Cesar, too, displayed spirit at first.f He
declared that he would defend his just rights
to the last drop of his blood ; that neither his
religion nor his salvation would suffer for his
doing so. Accordingly he renewed the forti-
fications of his strongholds; the militia were
put under arms ; a body of troops advanced to
the frontiers of the papal states, and we find
♦ Though many asserted that this was done, Delfino
says on the contrary : " Con gran stretlezza de' danari,
senza metier mano a quelli del castello, per coiiservar la
repulatione della chiesa, in poco piu di un mese ha posto
insienie un esercito di 2-2 m. fanti e 3 m. cavalli."
[Though very much pinched for money, without touching
that in the castle, to preserve the reputation of the church,
he brought together in little more than a month an army
of 22,fX)0 infantry and 3003 cavalry.]
+ Niccolo Contarini delle historic Venetiane, MS. torn,
i. lib. i. "Cesare n;l principio si iriosiro mtlio corag-
gioso in voler defender Ic sue ragioni, o perch6 non pre-
vedeva il contra^o o pur perch6 gl' inesperti come nei
vicini pericoli s'atterriscono cosi nelli lonlanisi manifes-
tano inlrepidi." [Cesar at first appeared very courage-
ously resolved on defending his claims, either because
he did not foresee the struggle he would have to make, or
because the inexperienced are as intrepid when danger
is remote as they are terrified upon its near approach.]
Coniarini's narrative contains very good, exact, and
Striking information on this event.
an invitation addressed to him to enter Ro-
magna, where the inhabitants were dissatis-
fied with the papal government, and only
desired an opportunity to shake it off. la
addition to this, it was his good fortune to
have the neighbouring Italian states on his
side. His brother-in-law, the archduke of
Tuscany, declared he would not abandon him.
The republic of Venice hindered the pope
from recruiting in Dalmatia, and refused him
the arms and muniments of war he wished to
draw from Brescia. All heartily abhorred
the augmentation of the ecclesiastical states.
Had Italy been in a condition like that
which had existed a hundred years before,
tolerably independent of foreign influence,
and left to take its own course, Clement VIII.
would probably not have effected more than
Sixtus IV. did in his day; but those times
were gone by ; every thing now depended on
the general state of European affairs, and on
the great powers of that time, France and
Spain.
The inclinations of the Spaniards did not
now admit of much doubt. Cesar d'Este re-
lied so strongly on Philip II. that he proposed
him to the pope as an arbitrator in their dis-
pute. The royal governor in Milan declared
roundly in favour of Cesar, and offered him
Spanish garrisons for his fortresses. There
was, however, no mistaking but that the king,
who all his life had deprecated every commo-
tion in Italy, now hesitated in his advanced
years to give occasion to a war, and conduct-
ed himself with extraordinary caution, as did
likewise his ambassador in Rome.*
Under these circumstances so much the
more depended on the position of Henry IV.,
the restoration of France as a mighty catholic
power was immediately followed by impor-
tant consequences for Italy. Henry IV. had
retrieved his fortunes through his understand-
ing with the Italian princes; they doubted
not but that he would now evince his grati-
tude, and side with them in their differences
with the holy see. Moreover the crown of
France was under great obligations to the
house of Este. During the civil war the
Estes had advanced upwards of a million of
Scudi to the royal family, which were not yet
paid, and which at this moment would have
been sufficient to raise such an army as no
pope could have withstood.
These, however, were not the considerations
that Henry IV. regarded. Notwithstanding
* Delfino relates how much was feared from him in
Rome : " Vi e un pensiero radicato a buon fundamento
che la benedizione data el re di Franza sia stata ofifesa
tale al callolico et a Spagnuoli che non siano perscordar-
sela mai, e pare a S. Si- esserne molto ben chiarila in
questa occasione di Ferrara." [The opinion has taken
firm hold there that the benediction bestowed oti the king
of France has so offen led his catholic majesty and the
Spaniards, that they will never forget it, and of this his
holiness thinks he has had very evident token in thi»
affair of Ferrara.]
A. D. 1597.]
CONQUEST OF FERRARA.
241
his conversion to Catholicism, he would yet
be forced to do many thing-s that could not
tail to displease the court of Rome. He saw
in the affiiir of Ferrara only an opportunity
of casting- these things into oblivion, and of
raising the lilies (as his statesmen expressed
it) once more at the court of Rome. With-
out the slightest hesitation or wavering, he
offered the aid of France to the holy father.
Not only did he declare himself ready, so soon
as tlie pope should desire it, to send an army
across the mountains, but also, in case of need,
to come to his support in person, with his whole
power.
It was this declaration that decided the
matter. The Roman court, that had already
become sensible to all the perplexities in
which the coldness of its neighbours and the
open resistance of Ferrara might plunge it,
breathed again. " I cannot express," said
Ossat, in his dispatch to the king, " what cor-
diality, praise, and blessing your majesty has
obtained through your offer." He promises
his master, if he fulfils it, a place in relation
to the church like that of Pepin, or Charle-
magne. On his side the pope now made in-
stant preparations for the formal excommuni-
cation of his adversary.
The princes were deeply shocked and
alarmed : they talked of black ingratitude ;
they lost courage to support Ferrara, which
otherwise they undoubtedly would have
done, either openly or secretly, with all their
might.
This had an immediate effect on the men
of Ferrara. Alfonso's harsh sway had neces-
sarily created many malcontents. Cesar was
new in the affairs of government, without re-
quisite talents, and altogether unpractised. It
was in the sittings he held as sovereign that,
for the first time, he became more intnnately
acquainted with the members of the privy
council :* having sent away to the various
courts his older friends, who knew him, and
* Niccol6 Contarini. " Cesare si ridusse in camera co'
suoi sol iconsiglieri, ill quali molti, perlaritiralezzanella
quale era vissuto, cosl volendo chi commandava, non cono-
scevase noa di I'accia, el egli non sufficieme di prender
resolutione dase, vacillava nei concetli, perciie quelli clie
consigliavano erano pieni di passioni panicolari e per le
speraaze di Koma, in qui miravano, infelti di grandi conta-
minationi." [Cesar held a meeting willi his privy coun-
cillors, many of whom were only known to him by sight,
in consequence of the great retirement in which it had
been the pleasure of the late ruler that he should live;
and as he was incapable of adopting any resolution by
himself, his tlioughts were all unsettled, for those who ad-
vised him were full of their own private interests, and
their fidelity sorely infected with the hopes they reposed
in Rome.] Ossat also, Lettres, i. 495, states as the cause
of his ill success: " le peu de fidelity de ses conseillers
niesmes, qui parlie pour son peu de resolution, partie pour
avoir des rentes et autres biens en I'estat de I'eglise, et
esperer et craindre plus du St. Siege que de lul, regar-
doient autant ou plus vers le pape que vers lui." [The
scanty tidelity of his councillors themselves, who, partly
on account of his own lacli of resolution, paitly to acquire
rents and other advantages in the states of the church,
and because of their having more to hope and to fear from
the holy see than from him, looked as much, or rather
more, to the pope than to the duke.]
81
in whom he personally confided, he had no
one about him on whom he could repose real
trust, or with whom he could have any suita-
ble communion of opinion. It was not possi-
ble that he should escape making false steps.
From himself downwards there spread a
feeling of insecurity, such as is the usual
forerunner of ruin. The more prominent in-
dividuals, who had a share in the power of
the state, already began to calculate what
they might gain by a change, and tried to
conclude a secret treaty with the pope. An-
tonio Montecatino betook himself to Rome.
But unquestionably the most startling misfor-
tune was, that dissension had broken out in
the house of Este itself. Lucrecia had hated
Cesar's father, she hated himself no less; and
could not bear to be his subject : she herself,
the sister of the late duke, scrupled not to
enter into a confederacy with the pope and
cardinal Aldobrandini.
Meanwhile the pope had performed the act
of excommunication. On the 22nd of De-
cember, 1597, he went in state to St, Peter's
and ascended the loggia of that church with
his more immediate retinue. A cardinal read
the bull. Don Cesare d'Este was declared
therein an enemy to the Roman church, guilty
of treason, fallen under the heaviest censure,
and under the sentence of anathema ; his
subjects were absolved from their oath of
allegiance, and his officers were exhorted to
quit his service. After the bull had been
read, the pope, with angry looks, threw down
a burning candle on the ground beneath ;
trumpets and drums sounded, cannons were
discharged, and louder than all rose the cries
of the populace.
Circumstances were in such a posture, that
this excommunication could not but produce
its full effect. An inhabitant of Ferrara
itself conveyed a copy of the bull, sowed up
in his clothes, into the city, and delivered it
to the bishop.* A canon was to be buried the
next morning, Dec. 81, 1597: the church
was hung with black; the people were assem-
bled to hear the funeral sermon. The bishop
ascended the pulpit and began to speak of
death. " But far worse still," he said, with
a sudden turn of his discourse, "than the
death of the body, is the destruction of the
soul that now threatens us all." He paused,
and had the bull read, wherein all who would
♦A certain Coralta. " Ributtato al primo ingresso da'
soldati se excusu che lui ivi dimorava n6 era ancora par-
tito per Bologna (whence he was just arrived : he had dis-
mounted from his horse some distance from the gate) e
ragionando si pose fra loro a sedere ; finalinente assicurato,
si licentiodellaguardia, eniriinellacitti, presentC)al ves-
covo la scommunica con la lettera del arcivescovo di Bo-
logna." (Relatione di quello che, &c.) Being repulsed
by the soldiers on his first attempt to enter, he excused
himself, saying that he lived there, and had not yet set
out for Bologna ; he then sat down and conversed with
them, and when he had made all safe he left the guard,
entered the city, and presented the e.xcomiuunication to
the bishop, with the archbishop of Bologna's letter.]
242
DISCREPANCIES, DOCTRINAL AND POLITICAL.
[a. d. 1598.
not separate from Don Cesare were threaten-
ed " to be lopped off as withered branches
from the tree of spiritual life." Upon this the
bull was affixed to the door, the church was
filled with cries and sobs, and dismay spread
through the city.
Don Cesar was not the man to stay the
course of such an agitation. He had been
, counselled to enlist Swiss and Germans in his
service, but he could not make up his mind to
do so. Catholics he would not have, because
they were adherents of the pope, but still less
would he have to do with protestants, because
they were heretics: "just as if," saysNiccolo
Contarini, " it was for him to fill the office of
an inquisitor." He now asked his father con-
fessor what he ought to do"? This was Bene-
detto Palma, a Jesuit, and by him he was ad-
vised to submit.
To such a pass was Don Cesar brought, that,
to enable him to make this submission under
favourable conditions, he was obliged to have
recourse even to her whom he knew to be his
most vehement enemy. He was obliged, in
order to escape on tolerable terms, to avail
himself of the secret, and in a certain sense
treasonable, connexion into which Lucrecia
had entered with Rome.* At the duke's re-
quest Lucrecia rapaired with her accustomed
pomp to the hostile camp.
Cesar's adherents always maintained that
she might have obtained better conditions ;
but that, allured by the promise of possession
for life of Bertinoro, with the title of duchess,
and personally captivated by the young and
witty cardinal, she had assented to every
thing demanded of her. On the 12th of Jan-
uary, 1598, the treaty was drawn up, by vir-
tue of which Cesar surrendered his interest
in Ferrara, Comacchio, and his portion of
Romagna : in return for which he was to re-
ceive absolution from the church's ban. He
had flattered himself with the hope of saving-
something at least ; so sweeping a loss ap-
peared to him very hard. He once more called
together the leadmg magistrates of the city,
the giudice de' savi, some doctors and nobles,
to consult with them. They gave him no com-
fort or encouragement ; every one already
thought only how he might place himself on
a good footmg with the expected new author-
ity ; everywhere men vied with each other
* Contarini : " Come chi abandona ogni speranza pin
facilniente si reinelle nel arbltrio dell' ininiico che nella
confideiiza ddl'amico, ando (Cesare) a rilrovare laduch-
essa d'Urbino, » la lei, la qual ben sapeva haver purlrop-
po inlelligenza col c'- Aldobrandino, remise ogni sua for-
tuna. Accello ella allegraniente I'impressa ridotla ilove
al principle haveva desideralo. — Con niolta coinitiva
quasi trionfante, acconipagnala dal niarchi seBemivoglio,
capo delle mililie del duca, faceva il suo viaggio." He
describes Lucrecia as " di pensieri torbidi : bench6 simu-
lasse altrimente, era non di meno di lungo tempo acer-
rima nrniica di Ton Cesare." [A woman of foul and
troubled thoughts: though she pretended otherwise, slie
tiad neverthefess long been the most rancorous enemy to
Don Cesare.]
in pulling down the arms of the house of Este
and expelling its officers. Nothing remained
for the prince but to sign the act of abdi-
cation, and to quit the inheritance of hia
fathers.
Thus did the house of Este lose Ferrara.
The archives, the museum, the library, and a
part of the artillery which Alfonso I. had cast
with his own hand, were transferred to Mode-
na: everything else was lost. The widow of
Alfonso II. carried away fifty wagons full of
her property : his sister, having married in
France, asserted in her own favour the claims
of her family on the crown of that country ;
but the conduct of Lucrecia was the most un-
expected. She had no opportunity of taking
possession of her duchy. Exactly a month
after the conclusion of the treaty, she died,
Feb. 12. When her will was opened, it was
found that she had constituted her universal
legatee that very man, cardinal Aldobrandini,
who had driven out their family from their
ancient possessions. She had even transferred
to him her claims which were now to be con-
tested against Cesar himself. It would seem
as though she had wished to bequeath her old
foe an adversary who might embitter all his
days. There is something fiendish in the
character of this woman, who felt pleasure
and satisfaction in contributing to the ruin of
her own house.
Now then the ecclesiastical supplanted the
ducal rule. On the 8th of May the pope
himself entered Ferrara. He wished to en-
joy a sight of his new conquest, and at the
same time to bind it to the church by suitable
institutions.
He began with gentleness and clemency.
Ecclesiastical dignities were bestowed on a
number of the principal men of Ferrara ;*
cardinals' hats, bishoprics, and auditorships
fell to their lot. Among otliers, young^Benti-
voglio the historian was made privy chamber-
lain of the pope. The duke's power had been
founded on the usurpation of municipal rights :
the pope resolved to restore the burghers their
ancient privileges. He instituted a conseglio
of three classes ; one of the superior nobility,
including twenty-seven members, one of the
inferior nobility and the eminent citizens con-
taining fifty-five, and one of the trades with
eighteen members. Their rights were care-
fully defined : those of the first class were the
most important, but in return, the filling up
of vacancies in their numbers rested prmci-
pally with the pope. To this conseglio the
pope committed the superintendence of provi-
* Contarini: "Al Bevilacqua, che era di molto potere,
fu dato il patriarcalo latino di Constantinopoli. II Sacialo
fu creato auditor di rota. Ad altri si dispensarono abba-
tie." [The latin patriarchate of Constantinople was given
to Bevilacque, who was a man of great weight. Saciato
was created auditor di rota. Abbeys were conferred ou
others.]
1598.]
COMMOTIONS AMONG THE JESUITS.
243
sions, the regulation of water courses, the
nommation of judges and podestas, and even
the appointment to places in the university :
all of them rights which the duke had for-
merly jealously reserved to himself. This, as
may be imagined, was the beginning of a new
order of things. The lower classes too were
not forgotten : considerable relaxations were
made in the rigid fiscal regulations.*
But every thing could not be arranged in
this spirit : even the ecclesiastical sway was
not all mildness. The judicial duties of the
papal officials presently became burdensome
to tbe nobility : the first giudice de' savi, Mon-
tecatino, took offence at the restrictions im-
posed on the rights of his office, and resigned.
it excited universal discontent that pope Cle-
ment deemed it necessary to secure his con-
(juest by a fortress. The representations made
by the inhabitants against this proceeding,
urgent and imploring as they were, were in
vam : precisely the most populous part of the
city was chosen for the site of the castle. f
Whole streets were pulled down, churches,
oratories, and hospitals, the pleasure houses
ofthe duke and the court, and the beautiful
Belvidere, extolled by so many poets.
Perhaps it had been expected that this de-
vastation would completely obliterate from
men's minds the memory of the ducual house :
on the contrary, it proved the means of reviv-
ing it ; the smouldering affection for the here-
ditary race of sovereigns shot up again. All
those who had belonged to the court turned to
Modena, — Ferrara, never very animated, bo-
came still more deserted.
But it was not possible for all to follow the
court who desired to do so. There is extant
a manuscript chronicle by an old servant of
the ducal house, in which he recounts with
delight the doings of Alfonso's court, its plea-
sures, its concerts, and its sermons. " But
now," he says at the conclusion, " all this is
gone by. Now there is no duke in Ferrara,
no princesses, no concerts or concert-givers :
so passes the glory of this world. For others
the world may be made pleasant by changes,
but not for me, who am left lonely, aged,
toothless, and poor. Nevertheless, praised
be God."t
Commotions among the Jesuits.
It is manifest that the great advantages
* Frizzi : Metnorie, v. p. 25.
tDispaccio Delfino, 7 Giugno, 1.598. "Si pensa dal
papa di far una ciladella parte verso Bologna, per la poca
sodisfattione che ha la nobillii per non esser rispeuata
dalli minislri della giiistiiia e che non li siano per esser
restiluite le enlrate vecchie della community — dolendosi
di esser ingannali." [The pope thinks of construcling a
citadel on the side next Bologna, because of the dissatis-
faction the nobility express at the little respect paid them
by the ministers of justice, and at the refusal to restore to
Ihera the old revenues of the corporation— complaining
that they have been deceived.]
t Cronica di Ferrara " Sic transit gloria mundi. E per
tale variare naiura 6 bella, ma non per me, che ioson res-
which accrued to Clement VIII., in conse-
quence of his amicable relation to the policy
of France, must have made him feel more and
more bound to that power. He now reaped
the benefit of tlie moderation with which he
had mingled in tlie affairs ofthe Ligue, of his
having opposed no serious obstacle to the na-
tural course of events in France, and of his
having, at least at the last moment, resolved
on granting absolution to Henry. The war
which was now waged on the frontiers of the
Netherlands and France, excited as much in-
terest in Rome as thougli the cause had been
its own : that interest was decidedly in fa-
vour of France. The conquest of Calais and
Amiens achieved by the Spanish, excited at
the Roman court a dissatisfaction " that can-
not be described," says d'Ossat, " an extreme
melancholy, shame, and indignation."* The
pope and his nephews feared, we are told by
Delfino, that the Spaniards might be inclined
to vent upon thein their displeasure at the
grant of absolution. Fortunately Henry IV.
soon retrieved the check his reputation had
sustained, by the re-conquest of Amiens.
It was not that they had begun at Rome to
love those with whom they had formerly been
at strife : the conduct of those heads of the
clergy who had first attached themselves to
Henry IV., and founded the party of the oppo-
sition, was never forgotten or forgiven : pro-
motion was much more willingly bestowed on
the adherents of the Ligue, provided only they
at last spontaneously retraced their steps,
that is to say, provided they were pretty
nearly in the predicament of the curia itself.
But as all human opinions, however nearly
they may approximate to each other, yet mani-
fest varieties of character and tendency, there
very soon arose among the king's adherents
themselves a party deliberately professing
rigid catholic principles, and aiming above all
things, at maintaining a good understanding
with the court of Rome. The pope clung
particularly to this party : he hoped that he
should succeed in equalizing all the differ-
ences that might still exist between the
tato senza patrone, vecchio, pri vo di tutti i denti, e povero.
Laudetur Deus."
* Ossal a Villeroy, 14 Mai, 1596, 20 April 1591. i. 251,
4-58. Delfino: "Li pericoli di Marsiglia fecero stare il
papa in gran timore e li nepoli : la perdita di Cales e poi
quella di Amiens apport6 loro gran mestitia, e massime
che si dubito allora per le voci che andavano altorno di
peggio, leniendo quelli che ogni poco che cadeva piu la
riputatione de' Francesi. i Spagnoli non avessero mostrata
apertamente lo sdegno che hanno avuto de la resolutione
(absolutione ?) loro e la sua mala volonti: per questa
causa principalmente hanno avuto carissimo il bene della
Franza." [The danger of Marseilles put the pope and
his nephews in great fear ; the loss of Calais and then
that of Amiens caused them great grief, and especially be-
cause rumours of worse things were afloat; they feared
that with every little diminution of reputation sustained
by France, the Spaniards would more openly display
their resentment respecting the absolution granted to
Henry, and the pope's backwardness in their cause: for
this reason chiefly, the pope and his nephews were most
warmly interested in the prospects of France.]
244
DISCREPANCIES, DOCTRINAL AND POLITICAL.
[a. d. 1573-92.
French and Roman institutions: above all, his
wishes and his efforts were directed towards
the restoration of the Jesuits, who as we have
seen had been expelled from F'rance, whereby
in defiance of the course things had taken in
that country, a freer field would be procured
there for the Roman doctrines.
In this project he was aided by a move-
ment in the Jesuit order, which, though ori-
ginating from within, had j^et a great analogy
to the change in the general tendency of the
Roman court.
Such is often the strange complication in
which the affairs of the world are involved,
that at the moment in which the Parisian
university urged no criminal charge so strong-
ly against the Jesuits as their connexion with
Spain, in which it was said, and believed in
France, that the Jesuits pra,yed daily for their
king Philip,* and were bound by a fifth vow
to devotion towards Spain, that even then the
society was sustaining in Spain the rudest
assaults on the part of the malcontent mem-
bers of the inquisition, of another order, and
lastly of the royal authority.
This turn of things arose out of more than
one cause, but its immediate origin was as
follows.
At first the elder and already educated men
who entered the society, were for the most
part Spaniards ; the members wbo joined them
from other nations were generally young men
who had yet to be trained. The natural con-
sequence was, that the government of the so-
ciety in the earlier years of its existence fell
chiefly into Spanish hands. The first general
congregation consisted of twenty-five mem-
bers, eighteen of whom were Spaniards.! The
first three generals belonged to the same na-
tion ; after the death of Borgia, the third of
them, in 157J^, it was once more a Spaniard,
Polanco, who had the best prospect of succeed-
ing him.
It became apparent, hoAvever, that his elec-
tion would not have been favourably regarded
even in Spain. There were many new con-
verts in the society, christianized Jews, to
which class Polanco too belonged. It was not
desired in that country that the chief autho-
rity in so powerful and so monarchically con-
stituted a society should fall into such hands.|
Pope Gregory XIIl. who had received a hint
on this subject, deemed a change advisable on
other grounds likewise. When a deputation
from tiie congregation assembled for the elec-
tion presented themselves before him, he asked
* " Pro rege noslrorhilippo."
f Sacchinus v. 7. 99. In the second general consrega-
lion, the disproporlion was diminished, though but slight-
ly. Of ihirly-iiine members twemy-four were Spaniards.
t Sacchinus, Historia Societatis Jesu, pars iv. sive Eve-
rardus, lib. i: "Horuni origo nioluum duplex fuil, studia
n.itionum, el neoi)hylorum in Hispania odium." [The
origin of these movements was two-fold, national jeal-
ousies, and the dislike of new converls felt in Spain.]
them how many votes each nation possessed :
it appeared that the Spaniards had more than
all the others put together. He further in-
quired, from what nation the general of the
order had hitherto been taken. He was told
that the order had had three generals, all of
them Spaniards. " It is reasonable," replied
Gregory, " that you should for once choose
one from some of the other nations." He even
himself proposed a candidate to them.
The Jesuits for a moment strove against
this as an encroachment on their privileges ;
but at last they elected the very candidate the
pope had proposed. This was Ebei'hard Mer-
curianus.
This election marked the commencement
of an important change. Mercurianus, a weak
and irresolute man, left the management of
affairs first of all to a Spaniard, and after-
wards to a Frenchman, his appointed admoni-
tor. Factions sprang up; the one expelled
the other from offices of moment ; the domin-
ant ranks at times met with resistance on the
part of the inferior.
It was however a much more important cir-
cumstance, that upon occasion of the next
vacancy in 1581, the office was bestowed on
Claudius Aquaviva, a Neapolitan, sprung from
a family that had formerly belonged to the
French party, a vigorous man, whose age did
not exceed thirty-eight.
The Spaniards imagined for a time, that
their nation, which had founded the society
and guided its early steps, was forever ex-
cluded from the generalship ; they were dis-
contented at this, and refractory,* and con-
ceived the design of making themselves inde-
pendent of Rome in some way or other, such
as setting up a special commissioner general
for the Spanish provinces. Aquaviva on the
other hand had no thought of foregoing the
least particle of the authority accorded him by
the letter of the constitution. In order to
curb the malcontents, he set over them supe-
riors on whose devotion to his own person he
could rely, young men who were more as-
similated lo himself in years and disposition,!
also members of inferior merit, coadjutors not
possessed of all the rights of the order, who
all alike ])eheld their protector in the general,
and lastly countrymen of his own, Neapo-
litans.!
* Mariana : Discurso de las enfermedades de la com-
pania, c. xii. " La nacion espanola esl4 persuadida queda
para sempre excliiida del generalato. Esta persuasion,
sea verdadera sea falsa, non puede dexar de causar dis-
gustos y disunion tanto masque esta nacion fuuda la com-
pania, la honro, la ensen6, y aun sustent6 largo tiempo
con su substancid."
t Mariana, c. xii. "Ponen en los gobiernos homes
mozos— porque son mas enlremetidos saben lamer a sus
lieiTipos."
t Besides Mariana, the reports to Clement VIII. are also
important on this subject: they are printed in the Tuba
magnum clangens sonuni ad Clementem XI. p. 5S3.
" Videmus cum magno detrimento religionis nostrae et
scandalo mundi quod general is ulla hai)ita ratione nee
aniiquitatis nee laborum nee meritorum facit quos vuJt
A. D. 1591.]
COxM MOTIONS AMONG THE JESUITS.
245
The aged, learned and experienced fathers
beheld themselves excluded not only from the
highest dignity, but also from the appoint-
ments in the provinces. Aquaviva pretended
that this vi'as caused by their own defects ;
one was choleric, another melancholy ; natu-
rally, says Mariana, distinguished men are
commonly wont to be afflicted with some de-
fect : but the real ground was, that he feared
them, and wished tor tools more suitable for
the execution of his commands. In general
men have a craving for an active share in
public matters, and there is nothing a man is
so little disposed to submit to as expulsion from
his own holding. Bickerings began in all the
colleges. The new superiors were received
with sullen animosity ; they could carry out
no essential measures, and were glad enough
if they could come off without commotions and
disturbances. Yet they had power enough to
retaliate. They too filled the inferior offices
only with their personal adherents, for such
they could not long fail to have, seeing the
monarchical constitution of the order, and the
ambition of the members ; they sent their most
pertinacious opponents abroad to other pro-
vinces, and this more particularly at the very
juncture when an important debate was pend-
ing. Thus every thing merged into a system
of personal offence and retaliation. It was not
only the right, but even the duty of a mem-
ber to point out the defects he remarked in
another, a regulation, that in the innocence of
a small association might have some good
moral tendency, but which now was converted
into the most loathsome espionage ; it was an
instrument of private ambition, of hatred con-
cealed under the mask of friendship ; " if any
one would search the archives in Rome," ex-
claims Mariana, " he would perhaps not find
a single honest man at least among us who
are at a distance :" universal distrust crept
in ; no man would have spoken his mind unre-
servedly to his brother.
To this was added that Aquaviva could not
be induced to quit Rome and visit the pro-
vinces, as Lainez and Borgia had done. The
excuse offered ibr this was, that there was
even some advantage in having things stated
in writing, in an unbroken series, without the
interruption arising out of the contingencies
of a journey. Still in any case it followed di-
rectly from the practice, that the provincials,
superiores el ut pluriraum juvenes el novicios, qui sine
ullis meritis el sine iilla experienlia cum maxima arro-
pantia praesunl senioribus : el denique generalis, quia
homo est, liabel eliam suos affeclus parliculares, . . . et quia
esl Neapolilanus, melioris condilionis sunt Neapolilani."
[We see liovv to the great detriment of our religion and to
Ihe scandal of the world, the general, utterly regardless of
antiquity, and of labours and desert, appoints whomsoever
he pleases as superio.s, and generally young men and
novices, who, entirely destitute alike of merit and expe-
rience, rule with great arrogance over their seniors : . . .
and finally the general, since he is a man, has also his
private affections, and since he is a Neapolitan, the Nea-
politans are in better case.]
in whose hands the correspondence lay, ac-
quired a greater degree of independence. It
was in vain to complain of them ; they could
easily anticipate every thing of the kind, and
render it nugatory before hand, the more so
inasmuch as Aquaviva was wholly favourable
to them. They retained their places virtually
for life.
Under these circumstances the old Jesuits
in Spain felt that a state of things, which they
regarded as a tyranny, would never receive
any change from within the pale of society :
they resolved therefore to look round for ex-
ternal aid.
First they turned to the national spiritual
authority of their country, the inquisition. A
multitude of transgressions, as is well known,
were specially reserved to the tribunal of the
inquisition. A malcontent Jesuit, impelled as
he said by conscientious scruples, accused his
order of concealing and even remitting offen-
ces of this kind when they were committed
by its own members. Suddenly the inquisi-
tion caused the provincial, who was implicat-
ed in a case of this kind, and some of his most
active associates, to be arrested.* Other ac-
cusations being preferred after this beginning,
the inquisition caused the statutes of tlie order
to be delivered up, and proceeded to further
arrests. There arose among the true believ-
ing Spaniards an excitement the more vehe-
ment, inasmuch as its cause was so obscure,
and the opinion became current that the Je-
suits had been arrested on account of some
heresy.
The inquisition however was competent
only to inflict punishment, but not to make any
change in the constitution of the order. When
matters had gone thus far, the malcontents
turned likewise to the king, and beset him
with memorials complaining of the defects in
their constitution. That constitution had
never been satisfactory to Philip II. ; he used
to say that he could see through all other
orders, but the Jesuits alone he could not
understand : he was particularly struck with
the apparent truth of what was said to him
respecting tlie abuse of absolute authority, and
the monstrous system of secret accusation.
Amidst the occupations of the great European
struggle in which he was engaged, he bent
his attention on this matter too. He pointedly
enjoined bishop Manrique of Carthagena to
hold a visitation of the order, especially with
regard to those two points.
This was obviously an attack affecting the
* Sacchinua, pars v. lib. vi. no. 85. " Quidam econfes-
sariis, seu vereseu falso, delatusadprovincialem tumCas-
lellae, Antonium Marcenium ; eral de tentata puellae per
sacras confessiones pudicitia, quod crimen in Hispania
sacrorum quaesitorum judicio reservabatur." [A certain
confessor was informed against, whether truly or falsely,
to the then provincial of "Castile, Antonio Marcenis, for
having perverted the sanctity of confession to attempt the
chastity of a young female, a crime which in Spain waa
reserved for the jurisdiction of the holy inquisitors.]
246
DISCREPANCIES, DOCTRINAL AND POLITICAL.
[a. d. 1592.
character of the institution, and its chief him-
self: the more serious, since it originated in
the country from which the soqiety had sprung,
and where it had first established itself
Aquaviva was not dismayed. He was a
man who concealed a profound inflexibility
under an aspect of great mildness and great
suavity of manners, of a character, like that
of Clement VIII. and many another of that
age, in the utmost degree deliberate, moderate,
prudent, and taciturn. He had never ven-
tured to pronounce a positive judgment ; he
would not even suffer one to be uttered in his
presence, least of all upon a whole nation.
His secretaries were expressly directed to
avoid every offensive, every bitter word. He
loved piety, and even its own outward appear-
ance. In his bearing at the altar he expres-
sed a rapt enjoyment of the service ; still he
kept aloof from every tincture of enthusiasm.
He refused permission to print an exposition
of Solomon's song, because he thought it offen-
sive, that the language fluctuated on the con-
fines of sensual and spiritual love. Even
when he chided he had the art of winning the
feelings: he manifested the superiority of
calmness : he led the erring into the right
path by substantial arguments; the young
clung to him with ardour. " One must love
him," writes Maximilian of Bavaria to his
father from Rome, "if one but looks on him."
These qualities, his indefatigable activity,
even his noble descent, and the constantly in-
creasing importance of his order, procured him
an eminent position in Rome. Ifhisadversaries
succeeded in gaining over the national autho-
rities in Spain, he on the other hand had in
his favour the Roman court, which he had
known from his youth upwards (he was cham-
berlain when he entered the order) and with
which he knew how to deal with the mastery
of innate and practised talents.*
It was particularly easy for him, consider-
ing the character of Sixtus V., to excite the
antipathies of that pope against the efforts of
the Spaniards. It was the conception of pope
Sixtus, as we are aware, to make Rome, still
more than it was, the metropolis of Christen-
dom. Aquaviva represented to him that the
object sought in Spain was no less to make
themselves independent of Rome. Pope Sixtus
hated nothing so much as illegitimate birth :
Aquaviva intimated to him that Manrique, the
bishop selected to make the visitation, was a
bastard. This was reason enough for the pope
to recal the approval he had already given of
the visitation. He likewise evoked the pro-
ceedmgs against the provincial to Rome.
Under Gregory XIV, the general succeeded
in obtaining a formal confirmation of the insti-
tutes of the order.
* Sacchinus, and particularly Juvencius, Hist. Soc.
Jesu, partis quintae tomus posterior, xi. 21. and xxv. 33—
41.
But the hostile party was too obstinate and
crat\y. They saw clearly that they must
assail the general himself at the Roman court.
They availed themselves of a momentary ab-
sence of his (he had been charged with the
task of accommodating a dispute between
Mantua and Parma) to gain the ear of Clement
VIII. Upon the solicitation of the Spanish
Jesuits and of Philip II., Clement, in the sum-
mer of L592, commanded a general congrega-
tion without Aquaviva's knowledge.
Astonished and alarmed, Aquaviva hasten-
ed back. General congregations were as
irksome to the general of the Jesuits, as a con-
vocation of the church to the pope. If they
were sedulously avoided by every other gene-
ral, how much more were they to be deprecat-
ed by Aquaviva, against whom there prevailed
such violent hatred. But soon observing that
the arrangement was irrevocable,* he com-
posed himself, and said, " We are obedient
sons, the will of the holy father be done." He
then hastened to take his measures.
He contrived to possess himself of great
influence in the elections, and it was his good
fortune to see many of his most formidable
opponents, for example Mariana, rejected even
in Spain.
When the assembly was now met, he did
not wait until he was assailed. In the very
first sitting he declared that, since he had the
misfortune to labour under the displeasure of
some of his brethren, he begged for an inquiry
into his conduct before any other business was
entered on. A committee was named ; grie-
vances were specified : but how should it have
been possible to convict him of the violation of
a positive law "! He was much too prudent to
expose himself to such an accusation : he was
triumphantly acquitted.
Thus personally secured, he joined with the
assembly in investigating the topics advanced
with respect to the institute.
King I'hilip had demanded some things, and
others he had recommended for consideration.
* In a Consulta del padre C'- Aquaviva coi siioi padri
assigtenle, MS. in the Bibl. Corsini, n. 10,55, which sets
forth the facts of the internal dissensions of the order on
the whole very correctly and in accordance with Ma-
riana's account, Aquaviva is made to eive the following
statement of a conversation he had with the pope : " S. S4*
disse clie io non avevasufflciente notiziade'soggetti della
religione, che io veniva ingannato da falsi delatorl, che io
mi dimostrava troppo credulo." [His holiness said that I
was not in possession of sufficient information respecting
the affairs of religion, that I was deceived by false accu-
sers, that I manifested too much credulity.] The follow-
ing was also included in the list of causes rendering a con-
gregation necessary : " Perche molti soggetti di valore, che
per non esser conosciuti piu che tanto da' generali, non
hanno mai parte alcuna nel governo, venendo a Koma in
occasione delle congrcgationi sarebbero meglio conosciuti
e per consoquenza verrobbero piu facilmente in parte del
medesimo governo, senza che questo fosse quasi sempre
ristretto a pochi." [Because many able men, being but
slightly known to the generals, never have any share in
the government of the order, btU on coming to Kome to
attend the congregations, they would be belter known, and
consequently could more e.asily acquire a share in the said
government, so that it should no longer be almost invari-
ably confined to a few.]
A. .D 1692-4.1
COMMOTIONS AMONG THE JESUITS.
247
His demands were two, the abandonment of
certain papal privileges, for instance, those of
reading forbidden books, and of absolving from
the crime of heresy, and a law, by virtue of
which every novice on entering the order
should surrender any majorate he might pos-
sess, and even all his benerices. These were
points on which the society clashed with the
inquisition and the government. After some
deliberation tliese demands were conceded,
chieHy through Aquaviva's own influence.
But those points which the king had merely
recommended for consideration, were far more
important. Foremost among them were the
questions, whether tlie authority of superiors
ought not to be limited to a definite period,
and whether a renewal of tlie general congre-
gation after a fixed interval should not be ap- j
pointed. The essence of the institution, the
right of absolute command, was thus brought!
in question. On this subject Aquaviva did not
show himself equally compliant. After ani- 1
mated debates, the congregation rejected these
suggestions of the king. But the pope too
was persuaded of their necessity. The pope
now commanded what had been refused to the
king; in his apostolic plenitude of power, he
determined that the superiors and rectors of
the order should be changed every three years,
and that every si.x years the general congre-
gation should be assembled.*
It is true, however, tliat the execution of
these ordinances did not eli'cct so much as was
expected of them. The congregations could
be gained over : the rectors were changed i
indeed, but within a narrow range, and the i
same men soon returned. But at all events [
it was a serious blow to the society, that it had
l)een brought by insurrection within, and by i
interference from without, to make a change '
in its laws. |
And already another storm broke out in the
same region.
The Jesuits had at first adhered to the
docrinal system of the Thomists, generally
prevalent m the schools ofthatciay. Ignatius
had expressly enjoined upon his disciples the
doctrines of the Doctor Angelicus.
But they very soon began to think that this
doctrine helped but little in their debates with
the protestants. They wished to be indepen-
dent in doctrine as well as in life. It was not
to their mind to follow in the track of the
Dominicans, to whom St. Thomas had be-
longed, and who were regarded as tlie natural
expounders of his opinions. After they had
already given many tokens of this feeling, so
that at times mention was made in the incjui-
sition of the somewhat free turn of thought of
the Jesuit fathers,* Aquaviva in the year 1.584,
openly advanced these sentiments in his Rule
of Studies. He declares his opinion that St.
Thomas was indeed tlie autlior most worthy
of approbation, but that it would be an intol-
erable yoke to be bound to follow his footsteps
in all things, and to entertain absolutely no
free opinions; tiiat many old doctrines had
been better established by recent theologians,
many new ones brought forward by them of
admirable service in combating the heretics,
and that in all these it was allowable to follow
these doctors.
This was enough tocccasion a powerful ex-
citement in Spain, where the theological cliairs
were for the most part occupied by Domini-
cans. The Rule of Studies was pronounced
to be the most audacious, presumptuous, dan-
gerous book of its kind : both the king and
tiie pope were assailed with remonstrances
on the subject.f
But how much greater must have been the
commotion when the Thomist system was de-
parted from in one of the most important doc-
trinal works of the Jesuits.
Throughout the whole range of theology,
catholic as well as protestant, the question re-
specting grace and merits, free will and pre-
destmation, were still the most important and
the most exciting : they still occupied the
minds, the erudition, and the speculative pow-
ers of clergy and laity. On the protestant
side, the majority were at this period in favour
of Calvin's rigid doctrine of God's special de-
crees, according to which, "some were fore-
doomed to everlasting blessedness, and others
to damnation :" the Lutherans with their
milder notions were at disadvantage, and sus-
tained losses in sundry quarters. An opposite
course of opinion took place on the catholic
side. Whenever any leaning towards the
notions of even the mildest protestant, or even
a more rigid construction of St. Augustine's
expositions, showed itself (as in the case
of Bajus in Lou vain,) it was combated and put
down. The Jesuits evinced especial zeal in
this matter. 'J'hey defended against every
bias towards the abjured and abandoned sys-
tem, that body of doctrine which had been set
up in the council of Trent, and which more-
over had been established in part through the
influence of their brethren Laiiiezand Salme-
ron. And even this system was not always
enough to content their polemical zeal. In
the year 1588, Luis Molina of Evora produced
a book, in which he handled those disputed
* Juvencius jives in hia first book, which he calls his
eleventh, ".Socielas ilomesticis moiihus agitulii,'' detuiled
information oa this head, on which the account in the text
J3 founded.
* Lainez himself was regarded with suspicion by the
Spanish in(|uisitioa. Llorentc, iii. 83.
t Pegna in Serry : Historia congregationum de auxiliis
divinae gralite, p. 8. " Ydado a censurar, fue dicho por
aquellos censores (Mariana and Serry speak of the in-
quisition) que aquel libro era el mas pel igroso, temerario
y arrogaute (iud jamas havia salido in spmejante materia,
y quesi se metia en pralica lo que conienia, causaria in-
finitos dauos y alborolos en la republica Christiana."
248
DISCREPANCIES, DOCTRINAL AND POLITICAL. [a. d. 1594-6.
points anew, and sought to explain the diffi-
culties still affecting them in a novel manner.*
His principal design in this book, was to vin-
dicate for man's free will a still wider sphere
of action than was admitted by the doctrines
of St. Thomas or of Trent. At Trent the work
of salvation had been declared to be based
chiefly on the inherent righteousness of Christ,
which being infused into us, excites love, leads
to all virtues and good works, and finally pro-
duces justification. Molina goes an important
step further. He maintains that free will can,
without the help of grace, produce morally
good works ; that it can resist temptation, that
it can elevate itself to various acts of hope,
faith, charity, and repentance.f When a man
has advanced thus far, then, as he asserts,
God, for the sake of Christ's merits accords
him grace,| whereby he experiences the su-
pernatural operations of sanctification ; but
even in the reception of this grace, and with
regard to its growth, free will continue as be-
fore incessantly active. Every thing in fact
depends on it : it rests with ourselves to make
God's grace effectual or the reverse. Justifi-
cation rests upon the union of the will and of
grace, they are bound together like two men
rowing in the same boat. It is manifest that
Molina could not admit the notion of predesti-
nation, as entertained by Augustine or Thomas
Aquinas. He considers it too stern and cruel.
He will own no other predestination than such
an one as is properly foreknowledge. God
from his omniscient insight into the nature of
each man's will, knows beforehand what each
will do in any contingency, even though it be
in his power to do the contrary. But a thing
does not occur by reason of the fact that God
forsees it ; but God forsees it because it will
occur.
This was a doctrine assuredly most directly
opposed to that of Calvin ; it was at the same
time the first that undertook to rationalize this
mystery, if we may so speak. It is intelligible,
acute, and superficial, and therefore it could
not fail of certain success. It may be com-
pared with the doctrine of the sovereignty of
* Liberi arbilrii cum gratiae donos concordia. In these
controversies it was always held necessary carefully to
distinguish between the editions of Lisbon 155S, of Ant-
werp 1595, and of Venice, as they all vary.
■f The " concursus generalis Dei" [the general co-ope-
ration of God] is always presupposed ; but by that is
meant no more than the natural condition of free will,
which certainly is not what it is without God. " Deus
semper praesto est per concursum generaleni libero arbi-
trio, ut naturaliter velitaut nolitprout placuerit." Pretty
nearly in the same way Bellarmine identifies natural and
divine law, because God is the author of nature.
t This grace he also explains very naturally : Disput.
54. " Dum homo expend it res credendas . . . pernotitias
concionaloris aul aliunde comparalas, influit Deus in eas-
dem notitias inlluxu quodam i)articulari quo cognitionem
illara adjuvat." [Whilst a man weighs matters of belief
. . . collected from the discourses of the preacher, or
from other sources, God's influence enters in some special
manner into those means of information, whereby the
perception in question is assisted.]
the people, which the Jesuits produced about
the same period.*
It could not be, however, but that by such
doctrines they should excite opposition in their
own church, if it were only because they de-
parted from the Doctor Angelicus, whose
" Summa Theologige" still constituted the
most esteemed manual of catholic theologians.
Some members even of the order, such as
Henriquez and Mariana, openly censured
them. But the zeal of the Dominicans in
defence of their patriarch was far more
energetic. They wrote and preached against
Molina, and attacked him in his preelections.
At last a disputation was agreed to be held
between the two parties in Valladolid on the
4th of March, 1-594. The Dominicans, who
thought themselves the peculiar possessors of
orthodoxy, were violent, "Are then," ex-
claimed a Jesuit, " the keys of wisdom in
your hands'?" The Dominicans cried out
at this, considering it as an attack on St.
Thomas himself.
Thenceforth the two orders became com-
pletely estranged from each other. The
Dominicans would have nothing more to do with
the Jesuits. Of the latter, if not all, at least
by far the greater number sided with Molina.
Among these were Aquaviva himself and his
assistants.
But here too the inquisition interfered. The
grand inquisitor, that same Geronimo Man-
rique who had been designed for visiter of the
order, seemed disposed to condemn Molina;
he gave him to understand that his book would
perhaps not escape with a single sentence of
reprobation, but be condemned to the flames.
He refused to receive Molina's counter-com-
plaints against the Dominicans.
This quarrel set the whole catholic world
in agitation, boih on account of the doctrines
and of their champions, and the hostility to
the Jesuit institution, which had begun in
Spain, became greatly strengthened in conse-
quence.
* This tendency towards rationalism had also exhibited
itself elsewhere, as e. g. in the propositions of the Jesuits
Less and Hamel in 1585, at Lnuvain: Proposiliones in
Lsssio et Hamelio a iheologis Lovaniensibus notate: " ut
quid sit scrplura sacra, non est necessarium singula ejus
verba inspiralaesse a Spiriiu Sancto." [That to the con-
stitution of holy scripture, it is not necessary that every
word of it should have been inspired by the Holy Si)iril.J
From the words of Scripture they immediately proceed to
its truths : " non est necessarium ut singulEe veritates el
sententia; sint immediate a Spiriiu Sancto ipsi scriptori
inspiratas." [It is not necessary that each several truth
and doctrine should be immediately communicated to the
writer himself by the Holy Spirit.] These maxims in-
volve at least in parttheessenceof Molina's propositions;
attention is also drawn in them to their total disagreement
with those of the protpstants: " Haec sentenlia . . . quam
longissime a sententia Liitheri et Calvini et reliquorum
haereticorum hujus temporis recedit, a quorum sententia
et argumentig diihcile est alteram sententiam (the Augus-
tine and Thomist) vindicare." [How widely this doc-
trine departs from that of Luther and Calvin and the other
heretics of the day, from whose doctrine and arguments it
is hard to clear the other doctrines.]
A. D. 1596-1603.]
COMMOTIONS AMONG THE JESUITS.
249
And now occurred the singular anomaly,
that whilst the Jesuits were expelled fi-om
France on account of their leaning towards
Spain, they were by the latter country sub-
jected to the most formidable attacks. Po-
litical and doctrinal considerations co-operated
towards this result in both countries. The
political motive was at bottom the same in
both, a national opposition to the privileges
and immunities of the order. In France it
was more fierce and impetuous, but in Spain
it was more definite and better founded. With
regard to doctrine, it was the new opinions
that drew down hatred and persecution on the
Jesuits. Their doctrine of the sovereignty of
the people, and of the lawfulness of regicide,
were ruinous to them in France ; so were in
Spain their opinions respecting free will.
This was a moment in the history of the
order, of great importance in determining its
future bent.
Aquaviva sought aid against the assaults of
the national authorities, the parliament, and
the inquisition, in the head of the church, the
pope.
He seized the favourable moment when the
grand inquisitor was dead, and his place had
not yet been filled up, to determine the pope
on evoking to Rome the decision of the dis-
puted questions of faith. Much were gained
if the decision could only be procrastinated
for a brief space, since a variety of influences
were to be found in Rome which might be turn-
ed to account at a critical moment. The acts re-
lating to tlie proceedings were sent to Rome
on the 9th of Oct. 1596, and the most learned
divines on both sides, arrived to fight their
battle out, under the eyes of the pope.*
In French matters, Clement took part un-
reservedly with the Jesuits. He thought it
unjustifiable to banish a whole order on ac-
count of a single member who might have de-
served punishment, and that order the very
one that had contributed the most to the res-
toration of Catholicism, and that was so strong
a prop to the church. Was it not the case
in fact, that the order suffered for its devotion
to the papal see, and for the earnestness with
which it advocated the claims of that see to
supreme power on earth ? It was of the last
importance to the pope to put an end com-
* Pegna: " Roiae Romanae decanus, istarum rerum tes-
tis loiuplelissiiiius ;" as Serry calls him [Dean of the
Roman Rota, whose observation and knowU'dpe in these
matters was most abundant] " Cerniendo (Molina) lo que
verisimilmente podia sureder de que su libro fuesse pro-
hibido y quemado, por(]iie assi se lo avia asomado el in-
quisitor general, luego lo aviso a Roma, donde per obra y
negociacion de su general su Santidad avoco a se esta
causa, ordinando a la inquisicion seneral que no la con-
cluyesse ni diesse sentenlia." [Molina foreseeing what
would very probably be the consequence if his book was
condemned and burned, of which intention the inquisitor-
general had given evidence, immediately notitied it to
Rome, when, through the interposition of the general of
the Jesuits, his Holiness evoked the cause before himself,
and commanded the inquisition not to conclude the mat-
ter nor pronounce sentence.]
32
pletely to the opposition still subsisting against
him in France. The closer became his con-
nection with Henry IV., and the greater the
harmony between their respective systems of
policy, the more effective did his representa-
tions become : Henry's declarations wore
continually a more and more decided aspect
of concession.*
The cautious and discreet conduct of the
order greatly aided the pope's efforts on their
behalf.
The Jesuits carefully abstained from dis-
playing any irritation or aversion towards the
king of France, nor were they inclined to
plunge again into danger for the sake of the
hopeless cause of the Ligue : as soon as they
were aware of the turn taken by the papal
policj^ they adopted a similar course. Father
Commolet, who even after Henry's conversion
had exclaimed from the pulpit that there
needed some Ehud against him, and who had
been obliged to take flight on the victorious
issue of the king's arms, had changed his
mind when he came to Rome, and declared
himself in favour of absolving the king.
Amongst all the cardinals, none certainly
contributed so much to the grant of absolu-
tion, as did the Jesuit Toledo,f by his spirit of
concession, his conciliatory measures, and his
personal influence over the pope. The Jesu-
its acted thus, even whilst the parliament
was constantly passing fresh resolutions
against them, resolutions against which
Aquaviva remonstrated, without, however,
being betrayed into violence or intemperate
zeal. It had been impossible to expel all the
Jesuits ; those that remained behind now de-
clared for the king, and exhorted the people
to be faithful to him and to love him. Some
were beginning to make their way back to
the places they had left; but Aquaviva did
not approve of this, and directed them to wait
for the king's permission. Care was taken
that both f'acts should be made known to Hen-
ry, whereat he was highly delighted, and
thanked the general in special letters. Nor
did the Jesuits neglect to confirm him to the
utmost of their power in these feelings. Fa-
ther Rocheomo, who was styled the French
Cicero, composed a popular apology for the
order, which appeared particularly convincing
to the king.J
* The Jesuits would fain have denied that their con-
cerns had beco ne mixed up with politics ; it appears
nevertheless from BentivoErlio, Memorie, ii. 6. p. 395, how
closely cardinal Aldobrandini regarded their interests in
the negociations of Lyons, and the king at the very same
time made a declaration in their favour (Le Roi au cardi-
nal Ossat, 26 Jan v. 1601.)
+ Du Perron a Villeroy: Ambassades, i. 23. " Seule-
mentvous diray-je que Mr- le cl- Tolela fait des miracles
et s'est monstr6 bon Francois." [I will only tell you that
cardinal Tolet has done wonders, and has shown himself
a good Frenchman.]
t Gretser has translated it into Latin for the benefit of
those who do not understand French. Grelseri Opera,
torn. xi. p. 280.
250
DISCREPANCIES, DOCTRINAL AND POLITICAL, [a. d. 1596-1603.
These combined efforts of the pope and the
order were now seconded by political consi-
derations on the part of Henry himself. He
saw, as he says in a despatch, that by perse-
cuting- an order that numbered so many mem-
bers of talent and learning, that possessed so
much power and such a body of followers, he
would raise up against himself implacable
foes, and occasion conspiracies among the still
so numerous class of zealous catholics. He
saw that the Jesuits could not be expelled
from the places where they still remained ;
had he attempted to do so, he would have had
reason to apprehend an outbreak of popular
violence.* Besides this, Henry had by the
edict of Nantes made such large concessions
to the Huguenots, that he owed some fresh
guarantee to Catholicism ; murmurs likewise
were already heard in Rome ; sometimes the
pope hinted that he feared he had been be-
trayed.f At last, however, the king stood
Iiigh enough to obtain a more commanding
view of the general posture of things than his
parliament, and to cease to entertain fear of
the Jesuits' alliance with Spain. Father Lo-
renzo Maggio hastened in the general's name
to Paris, to assure the king with solemn oaths
of the tidelity of the society. " Should it turn
out otherwise, let himself and his brethren be
held the blackest of traitors."J The king
deemed it more expedient to make trial of
their friendship than of their enmity. He
saw that he could make use of them to his
own advantage against Spain. ^
Induced by so many motives of external
policy and internal necessity, the king de-
clared himself, during the negociations of
Lyons in the year 1600, ready to admit the
return of the order. He himself chose the
Jesuit Cotton for his confessor. After many
preliminary indications of favour, the edict
re-establishing the Jesuits in France, appear-
ed in Sept. 1603. Some conditions were
imposed on them, of which the most import-
ant was, that for the future both the superiors
and the members of the society in France,
should be exclusively Frenchmen. || Henry
doubted not that he had arranged everything
m,a manner to justify his entire confidence.
He bestowed his favour on them frankly
and unreservedly, and gave them his support
♦ Dispaccio del Re de' 13 Agosto 1603 al re Jacopo d'
Inghilierra, abridged in Siri: Memorie reconditi, i. p.
247. ^
+ Ossal a Villeroy, i. 503.
t Sully, liv. xvii. p. 307.
§ " Ricouobbe chiaramente d'esserne per ritrarre servi-
gio e coaienlamenio in varie occorenze a pro proprio e
de' suoi amici contra gli Spagnoli slessi." (Dispaccio,
Siri.)
II Edictum regium, Juvencius, p. v. lib. xii. n. 59. Ju-
vencius gives all that was said in those limes in favour
of tlie Jesuits: Ludovicus Lucius, Historia Jesuitica, Ba-
silese, 1G27, lib. ii. c. ii. all tlial was said against them.
Neither of them acquaints us with the points on which
the decision turned; they are, however, more nearly in-
dicated by the defender than by the accuser of the order.
in their ovim affairs, particularly in their dis-
putes with the Dominicans.
Clement VIII. displayed a lively theologi-
cal interest in this matter. There were held
in his presence sixty-five meetings, and thir-
ty-seven disputations upon all the points
which could be brought in question : he him-
self wrote much on the subject, and so far as
we can judge, he seemed to lean to the old
established doctrine, and to be disposed to give
his award in favour of the Dominicans. Even
Bellarmine said, he did not deny that the pope
was inclined to declare himself against the
Jesuits, but he knew that the event would not
be so. It would have been too hazardous, at
a period when the Jesuits were in all the
world the foremost apostles of the faith, to
break with them upon an article of faith ;
and in fact, they already showed symptoms
of a purpose to demand a general council ;
the pope is said to have cried out, " They
dare every thing — everything!"* The French
too took part with them too decidedly. Hen-
ry IV. was for them ; whether it was that
their expositions carried conviction to his
mind, which may certainly have been the
case, or that he supported the order that com-
bated protestantism the better to put his own
orthodoxy beyond doubt. Cardinal du Per-
ron took part in the congregation, and upheld
the Jesuit party with dexterous zeal. He
told the pope that even a protestant might
subscribe to the doctrines of the Dominicans,
an assertion that was well calculated to make
an impression on his holiness.
The contest between Spain and France
that stirred the whole world, was also mixed
up with this controversy. The Dominicans
were as energetically protected by the Span-
iards, as the Jesuits by the French.f
* Contarini also asserts that they had uttered threats:
" Portata la disputatione a Roma, ventilata tra theologi, il
papa e la maggior parte de' consultori inclinavano nell'
opinione de' Domenicani. Ma Ii Gesuiti, vedendosi in
pericolo di cader da quel crediio per il quale pretendono
d'haver il primo luoco di dottrina nella chiesa cattolica,
erano resoluti di mover ogni machina per non ricever il
colpo." [The disputation being transferred to Rome,
and the matter discussed ajnong theologians, the pope and
the majority of the consultors were inclined to the opin-
ion of the Dominicans. But the Jesuits seeing the dan-
ger that threatened them, of losing somewhat of that cre-
dit on which they based their pretensions to be the lead-
ers of doctrine in the catholic church, were resolved to
use every expedient to ward off the blow.] The doctrine
which, according to Contarini, they threatened to put for-
ward, was that the pope was certainly infallible, but that
there was no articleol faith commanding to acknowledge
this pope or that. " La potenza di questi e I'autoritil di
chi Ii proteggeva era tanta che ogni cosa era dissimulata
e si mostrava di non sentirlo e sopra diffinire della con-
troversia si andava temporeggiando per non tirarsi carica
maggiore." [Their own influence and the authority of
their protectors was so great, that everything was dissem-
bled and overlooked, and a temporising conclusion was
put to the controversy, to avoid incurring graver inconve-
niences.]
t Principal passage in Du Perron: Ambassades et Ne-
gociations, lib. iii. torn. ii. p. 389. Lettre du 23 Janv.
1606: "Des Espagnols font profession ouvrrtement de
proteger les Jacobins (the Dominicans) en haine, comme
je croy, de I'affeciion que le pere general des Jesuits et
A. D. 1592-1605.] POLITICAL SITUATION OF CLEMENT VIII.
251
Hence it ensued that Clement VIII. actu-
ally pronounced no decision. To offend the
one or the other of such powerful orders, such
puissant sovereigns, would have involved him
in new perplexities.
Political situation of Clement VIII.
On the whole it was now one of the fore-
most considerations of the papal see, not to
estrange from it either of the two great
powers, on which rested the balance of the
catholic world, to allay their mutual animosi-
ties, or at least to prevent their ever breaking
out into open war, and to preserve its influ-
ence over both.
The papacy here appears to us in its lau-
dable vocation, as a mediator and peace-ma-
ker.
The world was indebted chiefly to Clement
VIII. for the peace of Vervins, concluded May
2nd, 1598. He seized the auspicious moment
when the kings of France and Spain were
both constrained to think of an accommoda-
tion, the former by the shattered state of his
finances, the latter by the increasing feeble-
ness of his years. He devised the prelimina-
ries, and made the first overtures. Fra Bo-
naventura Calatagirona, the general of the
Franciscans, whom by a happy choice he had
sent to France upon this matter, overcame
the first and most formidable difficnlties.
The Spaniards were in possession of a multi-
tude of places in France; they were willing
to give them all up with the exception of
Calais : tlie French insisted on the surrender
of that town likewise, and it was Fra Calata-
girona who prevailed on them to consent.
This preliminary being arranged, the nego-
ciations were formally begun at Vervins. A
legate and a nuncio presided ; the general of
the Franciscans continued to mediate with
the greatest skill, and his secretary Soto like-
wise acquitted himself with great credit.
The most important result was that the king
of France resolved to detach himself from his
allies, England and Holland. This was re-
garded as an advantage to Catholicism, since
it appeared the crowning act of Henry's se-
cession from the protestant system. Henry
presqu^ tous ceux de son ordre, except^ ceux qui depen-
dent des peres Mendozze et Personuis, comme particu-
lieremenl Ips Jesuiies Ansilois, onl inonstr6 de porter a
vostre Majesty : et semble que d'une dispute de religion
ils en veuillenl fairs unequerelle d'estat." [Tlie Span-
iards openly profess to protect the Dominicans, out of
rancour, as I think, against the affection towards your ma-
jesty manifested by the father-general, and all tlie mem-
Ders of the order, except those dependent on the fathers
Blendoza and Parsons, and especially the English Jesu-
its ; and it seems that they are disposed to convert a reli-
gious dispute into astate quarrel.] We see from this that
the Jesuits, with the exception of a small fraction of the
ijody, were now considered in the interests of France. It
appears from Serry, p. 440, that the Dominic:ins were at
that period excluded from the French court. " Praedica-
tores turn temporis in Gallia minus accept! et a publicis
curiae muneribus nuper amoti."
consented to the measure after long hesita-
tion, and thereupon the Spaniards actually
surrendered all their conquests, and the right
of possessorship reverted to the condition in
which it had been in the year 1559. The
legate declared that his holiness would be
more delighted at this consummation, than
he had been by the acquisition of Ferrara: of
far more significance than that temporal con-
quest, was a peace that embraced and tran-
quillized all Christendom.*
At this peace there was left unsettled only
one point, namely, the dispute between
France and Savoy. The duke of Savoy, as
we have mentioned, appropriated Saluzzo to
himself, and would not consent to restore it.
After much negociation to no purpose, Henry
IV. had recourse to arms against him. The
pope, who had been expressly charged at
Vervins with the mediation of this affair, felt
the greatest possible interest in the restora-
tion of peace, and urged it on every occasion
and in every audience. As often as the king
offered him assurances of his attachment, he
demanded this peace as a proof of his sinceri-
ty, as a favour which must be granted to him-
self. The special difiiculty of the case con-
sisted in this, that the restitution of Saluzzo
appeared fraught with injury to the general
interests of Italy. The Italians were unwil-
ling that the French should possess any terri-
tory in their country. So far as I can disco-
ver, the minorite Calatagirona was the first
to propose the accommodation, that Saluzzo
should be left to the duke, and that France
should be indemnified with Bresse and some
adjoining districts of Savoy.f Cardinal Al-
dobrandino deserves the credit of having car-
ried this proposal into effect at Lyons in the
year 1600. The French, too, were grateful
to him, since Lyons, by the arrangement, ac-
quired a more extended boundary, such as it
had long desired. f
Under such auspicious circumstances, pope
Clement sometimes thought of giving to the
catholic world united under him a common
impulse against its ancient hereditary foe.
The Turkish war had again broken out in
Hungary. Even at that time people thought
they could detect symptoms of a constant de-
cline of the Ottoman strength : the personal
imbecility of the sultans, the influence of the
seraglio, and the incessant insurrections, es-
pecially in Asia, seemed to promise the possi-
bility of some successful attempt against
Turkey. The pope, at least, did not fail to
* At the end of the edition of the " M6moires d' Angou-
leme," Didot, 17.56, i. 1.31—363, there is given under the
title " Autres Memoires," a circumstantial account of the
negociations of Vervins, remarkable for its accuracy and
impartiality: the accounts in the text are derived from
it, the last p. .3.37.
t Ossat to Villeroy, 23lh March, 1599.
t Bentivoglio, in the principal portion of the 2nd book
of his" Meuiorie," (c. 2— c. G) gives these transactions in
\ detail.
252
DISCREPANCIES, DOCTRINAL AND POLITICAL, [a. d. 1592-1605.
afford the project aid on his part. Already
in the year 1599 the sum he had expended on
this war amounted to a million and a half
scudi. Shortly afterwards we find a papal
army of 12,000 men on the Danube. But
how much grander results might there not
have been expected, if ever the powers of the
west were to unite on a large scale for an
eastern expedition, and if Henry IV., in par-
ticular, resolved to unite his forces to those
of Austria ! The pope never ceased to encou-
rage him to this, and Henry actually wrote
to the Venetians, immediately after the peace
of Vervins, that he hoped within a short while
to take ship at Venice, like the French of
former times, for an expedition against Con-
stantinople. He repeated his promise on the
conclusion of the peace with Savoy.* But
assuredly the execution of the project required
that it should be preceded by a more thorough
and cordial understanding, than could imme-
diately take place after such rude collisions.
On the other hand, the antagonism still
subsisting between the two leading powers
more than once turned to the advantage of
the papal see in its own concerns. Pope Cle-
ment himself had once more occasion to turn
this strife to account in the aflairs of the
ecclesiastical states.
Amidst his numerous brilliant undertakings,
and his great success abroad, Clement exer-
cised a rigorous and very monarchical authority
in his court and government.
The new modifications Sixtus V. had im-
posed on the college of cardinals seemed to
promise it for the future a due legitimate
influence in public affairs. But forms are not
substance; the direct contrary was the result.
The course of business, encumbered with all
the tedious technicalities of legal practice, —
the immobility to which a deliberative assem-
bly is condemned, chiefly on account of the
conflicting opinions that are wont to appear
in it, made it impossible for Clement to en-
trust affairs of weight to the congregations.
At first he used to consult them : but even
then he often departed from their judgments ;
afterwards he made it his practice to commu-
nicate matters to them only when on the
point of being concluded : the congregations
served rather as a means of publication than
of counsel ; lastly, he employed them only in
subordinate affairs, or in formalities.!
Undoubtedly the new turn which Clement
* Lettre du roy, in the appendix to the 2d vol. of Ossat's
Letters, p. 11.
t Delfino : " Ora li cnnsistoij non servano per altro che
per comunitare in essi la collMtiondPlle chiese e per pub-
licar le resolutioni d'o^'ni qualitii fivtte dal papa ; e le con-
gregation!, da quella dill' inquisitione in poi, che si 6
pur conservala in qualche decoro e si riduce ogni setti-
uiana, tutte le allre, anche quelle che sono de' regolari e
de" vpscovj, sono in sola apparenza: perchesebene resol-
vono ad un jnodo il papa eseguisce ad un altro, e nelle
cose piu iiuporianti, come neldar ajulo a principi, di spe-
dir legati, dichiarar cap!."
gave to the policy of the Roman court ren-
dered this mode of proceeding necessary on
his part; but a personal proneness to autocra-
tic power had also its share in determining
him. The country was ruled on the same
style : new taxes were imposed without advice
asked of any one, the revenues of the com-
munes were put under special inspection, and
the barons subjected to the most rigorous
application of the laws, — no respect was any
longer paid to descent and privilege.
So long as the pope conducted all business
in person, every thing went on well. The
cardinals at least, although they did not carry
all their thoughts on the surface, were full of
admiration and submissiveness.
But gradually with the pope's advancing
years the possession and the exercise of this
monarchical power fell into the hands of the
pope's nephew, Pietro Aldobrandino. He
was the son of that Pietro Aldobrandino who
had distinguished himself among the brothers
as a practical jurist. At first sight he seemed
to promise little. His person was insignifi-
cant, he was pitted with the small-pox, suf-
fered from asthma, was continually coughing,
and in youth he had even made but little pro-
gress in his studies. But when his uncle
admitted him to public business, he showed a
cleverness and flexibility such as no one ever
expected of him. Not only did he contrive
to adapt himself very well to the pope's cha-
racter, to become as it were supplementary to
it, to soften its asperity, and to make the
weaknesses, that gradually appeared, less
striking and injurious;* but he also gave such
satisfaction to foreign ambassadors, and so
won their confidence, that they all wished to
see business placed in his hands. Originally
it had been intended that he should divide
the management of public affairs with his
cousin Cinthio, who likewise was not without
talent, particularly for literature ; but Pietro
had very soon shaken off his associate. In
the year 1603 we find cardinal Pietro all
powerful in the court. "All negociations,"
says a report of this year, "all grace and
favour depend on him ; prelates, nobles, cour-
tiers, and ambassadors throng his house. It
may be said that every thing enters his ear,
every thing depends on his judgment, all
projects issue from his mouth, all execution
lies in his hands."f
* Relatione al Cl- Este. " Dove il papa inasprisce, Al"
dobrandino mitiga ; dove rompe, consolida: dove comanda
giustitia, intercede per gratia."
f " Orbis in urbe." Yet even Aldobrandino was subject
to secret influences. "Ha diversi servitori," says the
same narrative, "ma quel che absorbi i favori di tutti 6 il
caV' Clemente Sennesio, mastro di camera, salito a quel
grado di privatissiina fortuna, e che per ampliar maggior-
mente la sua autorita. ha fatlo salire it fratello al segreta-
riato della consulta, cosi possedeiidolra lor due la somma,
I'una della gratia del cardinale, 1' altro della provisione
d'officj e delle maggiori espeditioni." [He has several
servants, but he who absorbs all favours is the cavalier
Clemente Senuesio, mastro di camera, who has risen to
A. D. 1592-1605.] POLITICAL SITUATION OF CLEMENT VIIL
253
Such a power, so unlimited, so searching,
and at the same time by no means legitimate,
in spite of all the friends it might own, ex-
cited among others a secret, profound, and
general repugnance; and this burst forth
unexpectedly upon a trivial provocation.
A man who had been arrested for debt
managed to break his fetters at the right mo-
ment, and to rush into the Farnese palace,
before which he was just then passing with
his captors.
For a long while the popes had set their
faces against the assumed right of illustrious
families to grant asylum to criminals in their
houses. Cardinal Farnese, though related to
the pope by the marriage of an Aldobrandini
into the house of Farnese, now asserted this
right again. He had the sbirri forcibly eject-
ed as they were proceeding to search the
palace for their prisoner. He replied to the
governor, who interfered in the matter, that
it was not the custom of his house to surrender
the accused ; he gave an evasive answer to
cardinal Aldobrandino, who wished to avoid
scandal, and went in person to arrange the
matter amicably : and he notified to him that,
after the death of the pope, which might
shortly be expected, a Farnese would be of
more consequence than an Aldobrandino.
What encouraged him to such audacious
conduct was, above all, his connexion with
the Spaniards. From the renunciation of
Saluzzo by Henry IV., which was regarded
in Rome as rather mean-spirited, it had been
concluded that the French king would not
concern himself with the affairs of Italy.
Upon the strength of this opinion the Span-
iards rose again in consideration ; and since
the Aldobrandini manifestly displayed so
strong a bias towards France, the adversaries
of that family attached themselves to Spain.
The Spanish ambassador Viglienna expressed
his full approbation of Farnese's conduct.*
Backed by a foreign power, protected by a
great family, what more was wanting to the
discontent of the Roman nobility to make it
break forth openly) Cavaliers and nobles
thronged into the Farnese palace. Some
cardinals openly sided with these; others
favoured them in secret.f Every one cried
that station from great obscurity, and who, the more to
enhance his interest, has had his brother raised to the
secretaryship of the consuUa. Thus between them they
engross, the one the cardinal's favour, the other the sup-
ply of officei and of the greater expeditions.]
*Coniarini: Historia Veneta, torn. iii. lib. xiii., MS.,
on this subject the most circumstantial and trustworthy of
all authors of that day: " Viglienna manda ordine a tutti
i baroni e cavalieri Komani'obligati alia corona che per
servitio del re fossero immediate nella casa del cardinal
Farnese." [Viglienna gave orders to all the Roman ba-
rons and cavaliers who were bound to the Spanish crown,
to repair immediately on the king's service to the palace
of cardinal Farnese.]
tConlarini: "Diedo grand' assenso al fatto la venuta
de' cardinali Sfondralo e Santiquatro, clie nienie mirarono
trattandosi di Spagnaal debitode' cardinali verso il papa:
ed a questi che apertamente si dichiaravano, diversi altrj
that the pope and the church must be freed
from the captivity in which they were held
by cardinal Aldobrandino. When the pope
summoned troops to Rome, the Spanish am-
bassador advised the confederates, to whom he
even promised rewards, to invite on their
part some armed bands which just then made
their appearance on the Neapolitan frontier.
Things were come to such a pass, that a feud,
like those of former centuries, had all but
broken out in Rome itself.
Cardinal Farnese, however, was resolved
to prevent such an extremity. It was enough
for him to have shown his independence, his
power, the possibility of a resistance. He
resolved to withdraw to Castro, his private
property. He did this in grand style. He
secured a gate, and had troops posted at it,
and then letl; the city with an escort of ten
carriages and 300 horsemen ; and in fact, by
this means, he accomplished all he desired.
His insubordination was quite triumphant.
A formal negociation was commenced ; the
pope's party affected to consider the affair as
chargeable upon the governor, and set about
effecting a reconciliation between him and
the house of Farnesi. The cardinal then
returned with no less pomp than he had de-
parted. All the streets, windows, and roofs
were filled with spectators. Never had the
Farnesi in the time of their sway been so
brilliantly received, or greeted with such loud
acclamations.*
If cardinal Pietro Aldobrandino suffered all
this to occur, his conduct was not to be im-
puted to mere weakness or forced compliance.
The Farnesi were, after all, nearly related to
the papal family ; besides, it would have been
to no purpose to display iiDplacable resent-
ment: the first thing necessary was to remove
the origin of the evil, which consisted in the
condition of political affairs. No change of
their system was to be obtained from the
Spaniards, not even the recall of so unbecom-
ing an ambassador. Aldobrandino's only
in occulto adherivano, tra quail il Ci' Conli. . . . Ma
il popolo, la plebe senza nome, sempre avida di cangiar
stato, favoriva al cardinale, e per le piazze, per le strade
a gran caterve applaudivano al partito di lui." [Great
strength was gained by the arrival of the cardinals Sfon-
drato and Santiquatro, who in their attachment to Spain
paid no regard to what was due by cardinals to the pope ;
and, in adclition to these who had declared themselves
openly, there were many who did so in secret, such as
cardinal Conti. . . . But the p0])ulace, the nameless
mob, always greedy of change, favoured the cardinal, and
followed him in great multitudes through the streets and
squares, loudly applauding.]
* Contarini : " S'invi6 in Roma entrando in guisa tri-
onfante con clamori popolari che andavano al cielo, in-
contrato in forma di re dall' ambasciator di Cesare, di
Spagna, dalli cardinali Sfondrato, Santiquatro, San Cesa-
reo e Conli, d il general Georgio suo cognate, tutta la
cavalleria e tutte le guardie del papa, confluendo li cava-
lieri e baroni." [He entered Rome in triumphant guise
amidst the shouts of the people, that resounded to the sky,
met with royal honours by the ambassadors of the empe-
ror and of Spain, by Cardinals Sfondrato, Santiquatro,
San Cesareo and Conti, by general Georgio, his brother-
in-law, and all the cavalry and guards of the pope, cava-
liers and barons flocking round him.]
254
DISCREPANCIES, DOCTRINAL AND POLITICAL, [a. d. 1592-1605.
prospect of help lay in his inducing Henry
IV. to take a more lively interest in the
affairs of Italy.
It was as refreshing to him, say his friends,
"as a soft cool wind on a sultry day," when
in December, 1604, three French cardinals,
all of them distinguished men, arrived in
Rome together. It was once more possible
to form a French party there. They were
welcomed with joy. The cardinal's sister,
Signora Olimpia, declared to the new arrivals
a thousand times, that her house would always
confide itself, unconditionally, to French pro-
tection. Baronius asserted that he had learn-
ed, from historical research, that to no nation
was the Roman see so much indebted as to
the French. Upon seeing a picture of the
king he broke out into loud vivas. He sought
to acquaint himself whether, since the loss of
Saluzzo, no Alpine pass by any chance re-
mained in the hands of the French. Now
this Baronius was not merely a historian ; he
was the pope's confessor, and saw him daily.
The pope and Aidobrandino were more guard-
ed, and did not go such lengths as Baronius ;
but the upshot seemed the same when the
nearest attendants spoke out so undisguis-
edly : they seemed but to repeat their masters'
sentiments. As Henry IV. now resolved even
to grant pensions, he had soon a party to
counterpoise tliat of the Spaniards.
But Aldobrandino's views went still farther.
He often represented to the Venetian ambas-
sador and cardinals the necessity of setting
bounds to the presumption of the Spaniards.
Was it to be borne, that they should presume
to act as masters in another's house 7* It was
hazardous indeed for one who had soon to re-
turn to private life, to bring down on himself
the dislike of that power, yet his honour
would not endure that he should allow the
papacy to lose in reputation under his uncle's
sway. In fine, he proposed to the Venetians
an unioH of the Italian states against Spain,
under the auspices and protection of France.
He had already entered into negociations
with the other states. He loved not Tuscany,
— he was constantly in dispute with iVIodena.
— Parma was implicated in the proceedings
of cardinal Farnese; but he seemed to forget
every thing to be revenged on Spain. He
devoted himself passionately to that purpose ;
he spoke of nothing else, — seemed to think of
nothing else. To be nearer the states with
which he wished to ally himself, he went to
Ancona in the beginning of the year 160.5.
He had not yet effected anything, when
his uncle died, and therewith perished his
authority.
The mere agitation of the design, however,
this assiduous renovation of the French in-
fluence in Rome and Italy, was of itself of
* Du Perron au Roi, 25 Jany. 1605. (Ambass. I., 509.)
much importance. It indicates a tendency of
the entire policy of the Aldobrandini.
We do not, I think, push matters too far
when we suffer our thoughts to be led by this
association to the original position of this
family in Florence. It had always belonged
to the French party. Messer Salvestro espe-
cially participated in producing the insurrec-
tion in the year 1-527, by which the Medici
were expelled. For this he had been doomed
to quit his native place, when it was again oc-
cupied by his adversaries, the Spaniards and
the Medici. Could pope Clement forget this?
Could he love the Spaniards and the Medici 1
He was of a close and reserved temper ; it
was but occasionally he unfolded himself to
his confidential friends : when he did so, he
was sure to utter the text, " Ask the fore-
fathers, and they will show thee thy way."*
It is certain that he once had it in contempla-
tion to reform, as he expressed himself, the
government of Florence. His leaning to
France was manifest : he found the papacy in
the closest alliance with Spain, he led it all
but to an alliance with France against Spain.
If the restoration of a national power in France
was called for by the interests of the church,
it was likewise with him a matter of inclina-
tion and of personal gratification. Still this
pope was deliberate, forecasting, and wary ;
he attempted nothing that he did not go
through with. Instead of reforming Florence,
he reformed, as a Venetian said, his own de-
sign when he saw that it could not be put in
execution without general danger. | It was
never his thought to invite the French arms
into Italy. It was enough for him to restore
the balance of power, to rid himself of the
despotism of Spain, to give a wider basis to
the policy of the church, and to do all this by
peaceful means, gradually, without shock or
noise, but so much the more securely.
Election and first proceedings of Paul V.
The influence of the French prevailed in
the very next conclave. Aidobrandino joined
them, and united they were invincible. They
raised to the papal dignity a cardinal whom
the king of Spain had excepted against by
name, a member of the Medici family, and a
near relation of the queen of France. The
letters in which du Perron announces this un-
expected success to Henry IV. are.full of ex-
ultation : the event was celebrated with fes-
*Delfino: "La poca inclinatione che per natura e per
hereditfi ha il papa a Spagnoli." [The little leaning the
pope has by nature and inheritance towards the Span-
iards,]
f Venier: " Venendo le preparazioni e risolutioni di
Vra- S?i- et anco del granduca e che la nostra republica
s'era dichiarata col mandar un ambasciatore espresso per
questo negotio a S. Si-, conosccndo ella che si sarebbe
acceso un gran fuoco in Italia e con pericolo di gravissimo
incendio della chiesa, in luogo di tenlar la riforma della
stato di Firenze rifonnC* i suoi pensieri."
1592-1605.] ELECTION AND FIRST PROCEEDINGS OF PAUL V.
255
tivities in France.* It was, however, but a ,
brief triumpli. Leo XL, as this pope was
named, survived liis election only twenty-six
days. It is asserted that the thought of his
dignity, the sense of the difficulty of his office,
had completely crushed the feeble powers of
the old man's life.
The tumultuous scenes of an election were
now renewed with so much the more violence,
since Aldobrandino was no longer on such
close terms of friendship with the French.
Montalto powerfully opposed him. A contest
began, as in former elections, between the
creatures of the last and of a former pope.
Sometimes each of the two rivals, surrounded
by his adherents, conducted the man of his
choice into one or other of the chapels ; they
planted themselves opposite to each other;
attempts were made sometimes with one,
sometimes with another ; even Baronius,
though he struggled with might and main,
was once forced away to the Capella Paolina;
still, on every occasion, the opposition ap-
peared stronger and stronger, and of not one
of all the candidates proposed was it possible
to carry the election. In the choice of a pope,
as in other competitions, it gradually came to
be of more moment who had fewest enemies
than who had most merit.
At last Aldebrandino cast his eyes on a man
amongst his uncle's creatures who had conci-
liated general approbation, and had been suc-
cessful in avoiding formidable enemies, Car-
dinal Borghese. He succeeded in gaining
for him the favour of the French, wlio had
already effected some degree of reconcilia-
tion between Aldobrandino and Montalto.
The latter, too, assented to the choice, and
Borghese was elected before the Spaniards
had even learned that he was proposed,! May
16, 1605.
On this occasion, therefore, as in previous
cases, the nephew of the last pope deter-
mined the election of the new one. The
* Histoire de la (vie de Messire Philippe de Mornay,
Seigneur du Plessis, p. 305. " Ce pape de la maison des
Medicis, dit Leo XL, qui avoit cousl6 au roi 300,000 escus
k faire, en la faveur duquel il faisoil grand fondenient, et
pour I'eleclion duquel parun example nouveaufurenl fails
feux de joie et lir6 le canon en France, qui vescut peu
de jours el na laissa au roy que le reproche par les Espag-
nols d'une largesse si mal employee el le doute de ren-
contrer une succession, comme il advinl, plus Ikvorable a
I'Espagnol." [Thai pope of the house of Medici, named
Leo XL, whose eleclion had cosl Ihe king 300,000 crowns,
on whose favour he buill great hopes, and for whose elec-
tion the unprecedented spectacle of feux de joie and dis-
charges of cannon was exhibited in France, who lived but
a few days, and left the king nothing but the reproach cast
against liim by the Spaniards for such ill-direcied profu-
sion, and the apprehension, which the event fulfilled, of
seeing a pope succeed more favourably disposed towards
the Spaniards.
t It is possible, however, that Montalto and Aldobran-
dino had come to a ]jrevious understanding in favour of
Borghese. The Conclave di Paolo V. p. 370, says of them
both: "Dope d'haver proposli molti, elessero Borghese
amico de Montalto e crealura confidente di Aldobrandi-
no.'' [After having proposed many candidates, they
elected Borghese, the friend of Montallo, and the creature
and trusty friend of Aldobrandino.]
Borghese family was similarly circumstanced
as that of the Aldobrandini. The former
had emigrated from Siena, as the latter had
from Florence, to avoid submitting to the do-
minion of the Medici. This was a further
reason for supposing that the new govern-
ment would be a direct continuation of the
former.
Paul v., however, instantly displayed a
harsh and eccentric character.
He had risen from the station of an advo-
cate through all the grades of ecclesiastical
dignity ;* he had been vice-legate in Bologna,
auditor di camera, pope's vicar, and inquisitor;
he had lived quietly buried among his books
and papers, and had mixed in no political af-
fairs, for which reason he had incurred no
enmity ; no party looked on him as an adver-
sary, neither Aldobrandino nor Montalto,
neither the French nor the Spaniards, and this
it was that procured him the tiara.
He himself, however, interpreted this event
otherwise. His advancement to the papacy
without any interference on his own part,
without the use of any artful means, appeared
to him a direct interposition of the Holy Ghost.
He felt exalted thereby above himself; the
change in his carriage and gesture, his coun-
tenance and the tone of his speech, excited
the astonishment even of that court so used
to metamorphoses of every kind. But he felt
himself at the same time bound and pledged
to solemn duties. He proposed to himself to
administer the supreme authority with the
same inflexibility with which he dealt out the
letter of the law in the various offices he had
hitherto discharged.
Other popes had been wont to mark their
elevation by acts of grace. Paul V. began
with passing a sentence that even to this day
excites horror.
A poor author named Piccinardi, a Cremo-
nese by birth, impelled by I know not what
disgust, had occupied himself in his solitude
in composing a life of Clement VIII., in
which he compared that pope with the em-
peror Tiberius, small as was the resemblance
between those two rulers. Not only had he
not printed his strange work, but he had kept
it wholly to himself, and not communicated
it to any one. A woman whom he had for-
merly had in his house denounced him. Paul
V. at first expressed himself very calmly on
the subject, and seemed to care the less about
it since some powerful individuals, and even
ambassadors, interfered for the author. But
* Relatione di IV. ambasciatori mandali a Roma, 15
Genn. 1605 ra. V. i. e. 1606. " II padre Camillo noa
volendo piu habitare Siena caduta aella liberti, se ne
ando a Roma. Di buono spirito, d'ingegno aculo, riusci
nella professions d'avvocalo. — li papa von vuol esser
Sanese ma Romano." [Father Camillo, not choosing to
reside any longer at Siena, which had lost its liberty,
departed for Rome. Being of a forward spirit, and of
subtle wit, he succeeded in the profession of an advocate.
—The pope will not be called a Sienese, but a Roman.]
256
DISCREPANCIES, DOCTRINAL AND POLITICAL, [a. d. 1605-1607.
what was the astonishment of all, when one
day Piccinardi was beheaded on the bridge of
St. Angelo. Whatever might be said in his
excuse, still he had committed the crime of
lese-majesty, for which the law appointed the
punishment of decapitation. Mercy was not
to be looked for at the hands of a pope like
Paul ; even the poor man's little all was con-
fiscated.*
At court the pope forthwith renewed the
regulations of the council of Trent with re-
spect to residence. He declared it a mortal
sin for a bishop to reside away from his see,
and yet to enjoy its revenues. He did not
except even the cardinals, nor did he admit
the occupation of posts in the administration
to be pleaded in excuse. Accordingly many
actually retired from court, others only in-
treated for delay ;t others again, to avoid be-
ing compelled to quit Rome, without at the
same time incurring the charge of neglecting
their duties, gave in their resignations.
But the most serious thing was, that his
canonical studies had filled him with a most
overweening conception of the importance >of
the papacy. He was bent on upholding, in
its fullest significancy, the doctrine that the
pope was the sole vicegerent of Jesus Christ,
that to his good pleasure was committed the
power of the keys, and that he was to be hum-
bly reverenced by all nations and princes.J
He said, that not by men, but by God's Spirit
had he been raised to that chair, with the obli-
gation of watching over the immunities of
the church and the prerogatives of God, and
that he was bound in conscience to lend all
his strength towards liberating the church
from usurpation and violence. He would
rather risk his life in the discharge of his
duty, than have to answer for its neglect
when he should stand before the throne of God.
With lawyer-like keenness he identified
the pretensions of the church with her rights,
and made it a point of conscience to renew
them, and carry them out in all their strict-
ness.
Disputes with Venice.
From the time that the papal power had
♦ The four ambassadors relate this occurrence. " Si
congettura," they add, '• fondamente che abbi ad esser il
ponlifice severe e rigorosissimo et inexoribile in fallo di
giustitia." [Il is conjectured that the pope must be at
bottom severe and most rigorous and inexorable in matter
of justice.]
t Du Perron k Villeroy, 17 May, 1606. " Le pape ayant
fait entendre que sa volonte etoit que tous les cardinaux
qui avoient des eveschez y allassent ou bien les resignas-
sent ou y missent descoadjuteurs .... j'ay pens6 . . . ."
[The pope having made linown that it was liis will that
all cardinals who had bishoprics should go to them, or
resign them, or place coadjutors in them .... I have
thought . . . .]
t Relatione di IV. ambasciatori : " Conoscendo il pon-
tefice presente sua grandezza spirituale, e quanlo se le
debba da tutti li popoli Christiani attribuir di ossequio e
di obedienza, non eccettuando qualsivo^lia grandissiuao
principe."
again made good its footing as an opponent of
protestantism, and revived the ideas on which
the hierarchy is mainly founded, it had also
enforced all its canonical rights with regard
to the internal affairs of catholic states.
With its victory over its opponents grew
likewise its authority over its own adherents.
After the bishops had been bound to more
strict obedience, the monastic orders attached
more closely to the curia, and all reforms
completed with a view to the utmost promo-
tion of the pope's power, there were establish-
ed in every capital of Europe regular nuncia-
tures, combining with the dignity belonging
to embassies from an influential power, juris-
dictional rights that afforded them an essen-
tial control over the most important affairs of
social life and of public policy.
Even where the church had re-established
herself in unison with the state, where they
had made common cause in resisting the ad-
vancement of protestant opinions, this same
circumstance very soon gave rise to disagree-
ments.
In those days as now the Roman court was
particularly intent on upholding* its pretensions
in Italy : we find the Italian states incessantly
involved in disputes with the ecclesiastical
power on this account. The old controversies
between church and state had not been dis-
posed of either in general by any decisive
principle, nor severally by treaty and agree-
ment. The popes themselves were not always
consistent. Pius V., and Gregory XIII., at
least in the first half of his reign, insisted most
pertinaciously on their claims : Sixtus V. was
much more indulgent in individual cases.
The states and their envoys sought to escape
out of difficult contingencies with as little pre-
judice as they could, and to profit by favoura-
ble moments ; nor could they wholly fail of
success in this: the interest of popes was
transient and shifting, those of the states were
permanent. Hence, in every case, the ques-
tions which arose for decision were far less
concerns of the jus canonicum and of legal
inquiry, than of policy, and of reciprocal de-
mands and concessions.
The view, however, taken of his rights by
pope Paul V. was once more wholly that of a
lawyer. He held the canonical regulations
of the decretals as laws of God. He ascribed
not to the intrinsic necessity of things, but to
the personal remissness of his predecessors,
whatever concessions or connivances they
might have stooped to, and deemed himself
called to repair these lapses. We find him
shortly after his accession involved in angry
disputes with all his Italian neighbours on tliis
account.
In Naples the regent Ponte, president of
the royal council, had condemned to the gal-
leys an ecclesiastical notary who had refused
to give the civil court information respecting
A. D. 1605-1607.]
DISPUTES WITH VENICE.
257
a marriage, and a bookseller who, in defiance
of a royal order, had disseminated a book by
Baronius against the Sicilian monarchy. A
rnonitorium of (/lement VIII. against the re-
gent's proceedings had remained without ef-
fect Pope Paul V. delayed not a moment to
pronounce excommunication.*
The duke of Savoy had disposed of some
benefices, the right of conferring which was
claimed by the court of Rome: Genoa had in-
terdicted societies that were held at the Jesuit
colleges, because attempts were made in them
to control the elections to public offices: Lucca
had wholly forbidden in general the execution
of the decrees of papal functionaries without
the previous assent of the native magistrates:
in Venice lastly a couple of clergymen, who
were guilty of grave crimes, had been brought
before the civil tribunal. Precisely the univer-
sality of this resistance against the authority of
the church was what kindled the official zeal
and the indignation of the pope. In every
quarter he interposed with stern commands and
threats. Nay, at this moment he even enlarged
upon the existing pretensions of church author-
ity. He even made the unheard-of assertion,
that it was not for the state to forbid the com-
merce of its subjects with protestants, that
this was an affair of the church, and belonged
exclusively to the ecclesiastical jurisdiction.
Most of the Italian states looked on these
steps as extravagances that, with more expe-
rience, would die away of their own accord.
None wished to be the first to break witli the
pope. The grand duke of Tuscany declared
he had matters on hand that would drive the
pope to frenzy, but that he endeavoured to
keep them back ; that Paul V. was a man who
judged of the world from a little town of the
ecclesiastical states, where everything pro-
ceeded according to the letter of the law ;f
but there would soon be a change in this ; the
Spaniards would be caught, and they must
either be let go, or they would rend the net;
such an example was to be expected. Some-
thing like this was the thought of the others,
and they gave way at first. Genoa repealed
its edict; the duke of Savoy transferred the
disputed benefices to a nephew of the pope ;
the Spaniards themselves allowed that the
regent should solicit and receive absolution in
presence of numerous witnesses.
The Venetians alone, usually so prudent
and compliant, scorned to adopt this policy.
But Venice in truth had been more irritated
than the rest. The case aflbrded a striking
example how offensive the encroachments of
the Roman court could be, especially towards
a neisfhbourinij state.
* Lps ambassades du cardinal du Perron, ii. 683. 736.
+ Rplalione di IV. ainbasciatori : "II granduca ricor-
dava che il poniefice non era nso a governar come prin-
cipe grandp, perche aver avulo qualr.hi? governo di cillii
della chiesa, dove si procede col rigor eoclesiaslico e da
prete, non basla per saper govornare come capo supremo. ' '
33
This neighbourhood proved in itself a very
inconvenient circumstance, especially since
the acquisition of Ferrara by the church. The
disputes about bounrlaries which the republic
had had with the dukes were prosecuted far
more earnestly by the Roman court: Venice
was disturbed in the regulation of the Po,
which she was engaged in carrying into effect
at a great cost, and in the time-honoured pos-
session of her fisheries ; she had no alternative
but to protect her hydraulic works with armed
vessels, and to seize on papal subjects by way
of reprisal for the confiscation of some of the
fishing boats by the legate of Ferrara.
iVIeanwhile pope Paul V. laid claim to the
rights of sovereignty which for centuries Ven-
ice had exercised undisturbed over Ceneda :
he made an attempt to carry to Rome the
appeals from the episcopal court which had
jurisdiction there. A sharp altercation ensu-
ed on the subject ; the papal nuncio proceeded
to excommunication, whilst the Venetian sen-
ate made it its care that this should be attend-
ed by no evil consequences.*
Not less bitter were the disputes concerning
the tenths of the clergy. The Venetians
maintained that they had collected them in
former times without question asked of the
pope ; they would not admit that the pope's
sanction was requisite to the levying of this
tax. But it was a still sorer grievance to
them that the Romans day by day increased
the number of exemptions therefrom. The
cardinals who possessed very rich benefices,
the knights of Malta, the convents, half the
mendicant orders, besides all who were en»
gaged abroad in the service of the church, or
who were numbered under any title in the
household of the pope, lastly those too to whom
the court had assigned pensions payable out
of the Venetian benefices, were declared ex-
empt. It followed that the rich were not call-
ed on to pay anything, that the whole burden
fell on the poor who could not pay. The in-
come of the Venetian clergy was computed at
eleven millions of ducats ; the net tenths did
not amount to more than 12,000 ducats.f
* Nicole Contarini : "Mentre si disputava, pareva che
da alciino fusse fugitalaconversalione de' censurati, (offi-
cers of the republic who had opposed the appeals to Rome),
la qual cosa giudicando il senate apportarli offesa, primi-
eraniente fece publicare un bando tontro chi lo havessea
schivo, e dopo a qiiesti tulti in vita 11 fu data annua pro-
vjsione quale era corrispondente alia loio furluna."
[While the dispute was going on, it appeared that some
sliunned intercourse with the persons censured, which
thinj, the senate regarding as an offence to iiself, first
published an ordinance against any one who should shun
those persons, and the latter were subsequently granted
annual allowances equivalent to their fortunes.]
f From a statement given in tothe government in Rome.
" Mentre s'esagera so\na. la serveritS del magistrate, non
si ritrovava fin hora essersi conseguiti piu di 12in. ducati,
per li quali non si doveva far tanti richianii, a le fortune
ilFlla republica per gratia di Dio non erano t.ili che ne
dovesse far conto piu che tanto." [Whilst exaggerated
representations were made of the severity of the magistra-
cy, it was not found that more than 12(K)1) ducats had been
raised up to the current period, a sum which was not
worth so many remonstrances being made about il, and
253
DISCREPANCIES, DOCTRINAL AND POLITICAL, [a. d, 1505-07
To these subjects of dispute were added an
immense multitude of others, affecting indivi-
duals more than the state. I \yill cite but one
of them.
It is well known how flourishing was the
Venetian press in the beginning of the six-
teenth century : the republic was proud of this
honourable branch of trade, but the regulations
of the curia gradually wrought its downfall.
There was no end to the prohibition of books
in Rome, first of those of a protestant cast,
then of books reflecting on the morals of the
clergy, or the immunities of the church, of all
that in the least degree departed from its dog-
mas, and of the entire works of an author who
had once incurred censure. The book trade
could only be carried on in works of indispu-
table orthodoxy ; commercially speaking, it
was a little revived by the splendid decorated
missals and breviaries, for which the revival
of religious sentiments provided a fair sale.
But now, even this trade had declined. An
emendation of these books was set on foot in
Rome, where it was decided that they should
be published in their new form.* The Vene-
tians remarked with that indignation wliich
is always excited by the perversion of public
authority to the advancement of private inter-
ests, that some functionaries belonging to the
congregation of the index, which had the
control of matters relating to the press, had a
share in the pecuniary profits of the Roman
printing offices.
Under these circumstances, the relations
between Rome and Venice assumed the cha-
racter of utter hatred and vindictiveness.
How much must this have contributed to
promote that disposition to ecclesiastico-poli-
tical opposition, which already, in 1589, had
proved so serviceable to Henry IV. That
king's triumph, and the whole course of Euro-
pean events, confirmed and advanced it. The
disputes with the pope himself conduced to-
wards gradually investing the representatives
of this disposition with the conduct of public
affairs. None seemed more fit than they to
guard the interests of the republic against the
encroachments of the church. In January
1606, Leonardo Donate, the leader of the
anti-Roman party, was raised to the rank of
doge, and he brought into power all the friends
by whose aid he had been successful in the
struggle of parties.
Whilst a pope arose, who with reckless zeal
overstrained the disputed pretensions of his
the fortunes of the republic, by God's gracp, were not such
that a larger sum need have been seriously regarded.]
Hereupon some arransemonts were made with a view to
meet the evil. But Conlarini says: "In eftetlo mont6
poco, perciocche il foro era gii fatlo e I'abuso tropo con-
fermato che distornarlo era piu che nialagevole." [But
little was actually effrcted, because the mischief was al-
ready done, and the abuse was so confirmed, that to undo
il was more than difBcult.]
* Conlarini: " Al presente s'era devenulo in Roma in
quesio pensiero di risiarnpar messali et aliro, levando di
poterlo far ad altri."
authority, the administration of Venice passed
into the hands of men, with whom opposition
to the dominion of Rome had become a per-
sonal feeling, who had risen by its means, and
who now urged their favourite principle with
the more energy, inasmuch as it enabled them
at the same time to defeat and put down their
adversaries in the republic itself
It followed from the nature of the two pow-
ers, that the collisions between them should
every day become more hostile and more ex-
tensive.
The pope insisted not only on the surrender
of the clerical malefactors, but also demanded
the repeal of two laws, a short while previous-
ly renewed in the Venetian senate, whereby
the alienation of real estates to the clergy was
forbidden, and the erection of new churches
was made contingent on the sanction of the
civil magistrate. He declared that he would
not tolerate regulations so directly opposed to
the resolutions of the councils, the constitu-
tions of his predecessors, and all the maxims
of the canon law. The Venetians did not
yield a hair's breadth. They said that such
were the fundamental laws of their state,
handed down to them from their forefathers,
who had rendered such services to Christen-
dom, and that the republic could not violate
them.
The disputants, however, did not long con-
fine themselves to the immediate subject of
quarrel, but both parties speedily proceeded
to allege further grievances. The church,
on'its part, considered itself prejudiced by the
constitution of Venice in general. The re-
public forbade recourse to Rome, excluded,
under the title of papalists, from consultations
on ecclesiastical matters, those who by means
of clerical offices had entered into connexion
with the Roman curia, and even burthened
the clergy with taxes. The Venetians on the
other hand declared these restrictions far from
adequate. They required that ecclesiastical
benefices should be bestowed only on natives,
that these alone should take part in the inqui-
sition, that every bull should be submitted for
the sanction of the state, that every ecclesias-
tical assembly should be presided over by a
layman, and that all remittances of money to
Rome should be forbidden.
But matters did not stop here : from the
immediate subjects of the dispute, the parties
proceeded to general principles.
The .Jesuits had long since deduced from
their doctrine of the pope's power, the most
important consequences in favour of the rights
of the church, and they delayed not to repeat
them.
The spirit, says Bellarmine, guides and
bridles the flesh, not vice versa. Just so the
temporal authority must not presume to exalt
itself above the spiritual, to guide, command,
or punish it; this would be rebellion, a hea-
A. D. 1606.]
DISPUTES WITH VENICE.
259
thenish tyranny.* The priesthood have their
prince, who commands them not only in spiri-
tual, but also in temporal aftairs; it is impos-
sible that they should acknowledge a special
temporal superior : no man can serve two
masters. It is for the priest to judge the em-
peror, not ihe emperor the priest : it would be
absurd were the sheep to think of judging the
shepherd.f Neither must the prince exact
any taxes from the property of the clergy. He
may take his tribute from the laity; from the
priesthood he will receive the far greater aid
of prayer and sacrifice. The clergyman is
exempt from all real and personal burthens,
he belongs to the family of Christ. Even
though this exemption be not founded on the
express commands of holy writ, it is yet found-
ed on the consequences that follow from thence
and on analogy. To the clergy of the New
Testament belongs exactly the same right
that was formerly conceded to the Levites
under the old dispensation.}
This was a doctrine which promised that
spiritual republic, to which was to accrue so
great an influence over the state, a no less
complete independence of any reaction on the
part of the latter ; one which it was sought in
Rome to establish by innumerable proofs from
scripture, from councils, and from imperial and
papal constitutions, and which was considered
on the whole as irrefutable. Where was the
man in Venice who should venture to stand
before a Bellarmine or a Baronius?
The Venetians possessed in Paul Sarpi,
their consultor of state, a man whom nature
and circumstances had moulded to such a
frame of mind, and conducted to such a posi-
tion, that he could venture to take up arms
agamst the power of the clergy.
Paul Sarpi was the son of a merchant who
had come from St. Veit to Venice, and of a
lady of the Venetian family of Morelli, which
enjoyed the privileges of cittadinanza. His
father was a little, swarthy, impetuous, quar-
relsome man, who had ruined himself by
erroneous speculations. His mother was one
of those beautiful Venetian blondes not unfre-
quently to be seen ; her figure was large, and
her character marked by modesty and good
* Risposta del Ci- Bellarmino ad una lettera senza nome
dell' auLore (Pamphlet of lliOB.) " La raggione indrizza
et regge e comanda alia carne e talvolia la casliga con
digiuni e vigitie, ma la carne non indiizza ne regge ne
comanda n6 punisce la ragione: cosi lapoiesli spiriiuale
6 superiore alia secolare e pero la pub e deve drizzare e
reggere e comandarla epunirlaquando si porta male ; ma
la potesti secolare non 6 superiore alia spiriiuale n6 la
pu6 drizzare n6 reggere nftgli puocomandare n6 punirla,
se non di fatto per ribellione e tirannide, come hanno fat-
10 talvolta li principi geutili o heretici."
t Bell irminus, de Clericis, i. c. 30. '' Respondeo prin-
cipem quidem ove ii ac spiritualem filium pontificis esse,
sed sacenloLem nullo modo filium vel ovem principis dici
possp, quoniam sacerdoles et o nnes clerici suuin habent
principem spiritualem, a quo non in spiritualibus solum
sed etiam in temporalibus reguntur."
t Tliese maxims are to be found verbatim either in the
above named Rispost;i, or in Bellarmine's book, De Cleri-
cis, panicularly in lib. i. c. 30.
sense. Her son resembled her in his fea-
tures.*
A brother of hers, Ambrosio Morelli, was
then at the head of a school which enjoyed
peculiar reputation, and was principally de-
voted to the education of the young nobility.
Of course the master's nephew was admitted
to share the instruction. Nicolo Contarini
and Andrea Morosini were Paolo's school-
fellows, and were very intimate with him. In
the very threshold of his life he formed the
most important connexions.
Nevertheless, he did not suffer himself to be
restrained either by his mother or by his
uncle, or by these connexions, from following
his inclination for solitude, and entering a
convent of Servites as early as in his four-
teenth or fifteenth year.
He spoke little, and was always serious.
He never ate meat, and till his thirtieth year
drank no wine; he abhorred lewd discourse :
" Here comes the maiden," his companions
used to say when he appeared, " let us talk
of something else." Every wish, inclination,
or desire he was capable of, was fixed on those
studies for which he was endowed with re-
markable aptitude.
He possessed the inestimable gift of rapid
and just apprehension ; for instance, he always
recognized again a person he had once seen,
or when he entered a garden, he saw and re-
marked every thing in it at a glance ; his
vision, both mental and bodily, was clear and
penetrating.! Hence he applied himself with
particular success to natural sciences. His
admirers ascribe to him the discovery of the
valves in the blood vessels, and of the dilata-
tion and contraction of the pupil,|; the first
observation of the dip of the needle, and of a
great many other magnetic phenomena, and it
cannot be denied that he took a lively share
both in the way of suggestion and discovery,
in the labours of Aquapendente, and still more
of Porta.J To his physical studies he added
* Sarpi, born August 14, 1552. His father's name was
Francesco, his mother's Elizabetta. Fra Fulgentio, Vita
di Paolo Sarpi. Griselini, Memorie di Fra Paolo Sarpi,
translated into German by Lebrel, p. 13.
t According to Fra Fulgentio, he himself spoke of his
"gran passibiliti, perche non solo I'oggetlo in lui facesse
moto, ma anco ogni minima reliquia." "Come perito
suonatore," continues Fulgentio, " ad un sol locco fa giu-
ditio del instroinento, cosi con far parla le persone con
prestezza ammirabile cono ceva i fini, gl' inleressi," &c.
[his great delicacy of perception, for not only did present
objects impress him, but even the least traces of them. As
a man of practised ear, continues Fulgentio, judges of an
instrument upon a single touch, so he, by causing people
to speak, discovered with admirable quickness, their pur-
poses, their intentions, &c.]
t See also Fischer: Geschichte der Physik, i. 167.
§ " A quo," says Porta of him, "aliqua didicisse non
solum fateri non erubesciinus, sed gloriamur, quum eo
docliorem, subliliorem, ([uotquol adhuc videre contigerit,
neminem cognoverimus ad encyclopsediam" Magiae
Natur. lib. viii. praef Grisellini, I. § 20. 24. [Not only do
we not blush to own that we have learned some things
from him, but we are even proud of it, never, among all
tliose it has bpen our lot to meet, having known any man
more learned or more acute than he, in the whole circle
of knowledge.]
260
DISCREPANCIES, DOCTRINAL AND POLITICAL. [a. d. 1606.
mathematical calculations, and the observation
of intellectual phenomena. In the Servite
library in Venice, was kept a copy of the
works of V^ieta, in which many errors of that
author were corrected by the hand of Fra
Paolo : there was also preserved there, a little
treatise of his on the orgin and decline of opi-
nions among men, which, if we may judge
from the extracts given from it by Foscarmi,
contained a theory of the intellectual powers,
which regarded sensation and reflexion as
their foundations, and had much analogy to
the theory of Locke,* if it did not quite so
strictly coincide with it, as some have assert-
ed. Fra Paolo wrote only as much as was
necessary : he had no natural promptings to
original composition : he read continually,
and appropriated what he read or observed :
his intellect was sober and capacious, metho-
dical and bold ; he trod the path of free
inquiry.
With these powers he now advanced to
questions of theology and of ecclesiastical
law.
It has been said that he was in secret a pro-
testant; but his protestanism could hardly
have gone beyond the first simple propositions
of the Augsburg confession, even if he sub-
scribed to these : at all events, Fra Paolo read
mass daily all his life. It is impossible to
specify the form of religion to which he in-
wardly adhered : it was of a kind often em-
braced in those days, especially by men who
devoted themselves to natural science, — a
mode of opinion shackled by none of the exist-
ing systems of doctrine, dissentient and spe-
culative, but neither accurately defined nor
fully worked out.
1'hus much, however, is certain, that Fra
Paolo bore a decided and implacable hatred to
the temporal authority of the pope. This was
perhaps the only passion he cherished. At-
tempts have been made to attribute it to the
refusal of a bishopric for which he had been
proposed : and who may deny the efl'ect which
a mortifying rejection, barring the path of
natural ambition, may have even on a manly
spirit '.' Nevertheless, the true cause lay tar
deeper. It was a politico-religious habit of
thought, bound up with every other conviction
of iSarpi's mind, corroborated by study and ex-
perience, and shared with his friends, his con-
temporaries, the men who once had assembled
at iMorosim's, and who now swayed the hehn
of the state. Before the keenness of his pene-
* The explanation of substance would be a particularly
striking point of tomparison. Paolo Sarpi, according to
Foscarmi and Griselini, inlers substance from the multi-
plicity of ideas, resting on a basis we cannot comprehend ;
and in this basis, he says, consists what we call substance.
Griselini, i. p. 46, Gennati translation. Locke, Human
Understanding, book ii. ch. 23. " Not imagining how the
simple ideas can suLsist by thrmsilves, we accustom our-
selves to suppose some subsiratuni wherein they dosubsist,
and from which ihey do result, which therelore we call
aubatauce."
trating observation vanished those chimerical
arguments, with which the Jesuits laboured
to prop up their assertions, and those doctrines,
the real foundation of which was, in fact, to
be looked for only in a devotion to the Roman
see, created by a by-gone condition of society.
It was not without difficulty that Sarpi first
convinced the minds of the jurists in his own
country. Some held, with Bellarmine, that
the exemption of the clergy was an ordinance
of Divine law : others asserted, that at least
the pope had a right to appoint it ; they ap-
pealed to the resolutions of the councils in
which the exemption was proclaimed. Now
what a council might do was surely much
more within the competence of a pope. The
first class of objectors were easily refuted ; to
the others, Fra Paolo proved chiefly that the
councils on which their arguments relied, hav-
ing been called by the sovereign, were to be
regarded as assemblies of the empire, from
which, too, a multitude of other political enact-
ments had issued.* This is a point on which
the doctrines put forward by Fra Paolo and
his friends were mainly grounded.
They set out from the principle which had
been triumphantly asserted in France, that
the sovereign authority is derived immediately
from God, and is subject to no one. It is not
for the pope even to inquire whether the pro-
ceedings of a stale are sinful or not. For
whereto should this tend ? Was there any
that might not be sinful, — at least, as regard-
ed its object ] The pope would have to probe
every thing, to interfere in every thing : the
temporal authority would by such means be
annihilated.
To this authority the clergyman is equally
subject as the layman. All powers, says the
apostle, are of God. No one is exempt from
the obedience due to the magistracy, any more
than from tlie obedience due to God. The
prince imposes the laws, he judges every man,
he exacts tribute : in all these respects the
clergy owe him the same obedience as the
laity.f
The hope by all means possesses a jurisdic-
tion, but one purely spiritual. Did Christ
exercise a temporal jurisdiction 1 .He cannot
have transferred either to St. Peter or his fol-
* Letter from Sarpi loLeschasser,3rd Feb., 1G19, in Le-
brefs Magazine, i. 479. Anobservationlhe more import-
ant lor those times, inasmuch as Mariana, for instance,
deduced the most extensive temporal preiogatives for the
clergy from the decrees of the Sjianish councils. It may,
however, be constantly remarked, that already in those
times spiritual and temporal pretensions were either con-
founded together or were at variance. The old Gothic
monarcliv in Spain possessed, in reality, a very strong
infusion of spirituality ; for old laws are generally based
on old conditions of things.
t Kisjiosta d' un doitore in iheologia ad una lettera
scritiagli sopra il breve delle censure. "Sonodunque
lutli gli ecclesiastic! et i secolari de jure divino soggetti al
principesecolari. Omnibus anima potesiatibus sublimi-
oribus subdila sit. E laragionesi 6, perchesitcome niuno
6 eccettuato dair ubidienzachedevealprincipe; perche,
come seggionge I'apostolo, Omnia poieslas a Deo."
A. D, 1606.]
DISPUTES WITH VENICE.
261
lowers what he did not claim in his own per-
son.
In no degree, therefore, can the exemption
of the clergy be traced to an original Divine
right:* it depends alone on the consent of the
prince. The prince has bestowed possession
and jurisdiction on the church ; he is her pro-
tector, her common patron ; on him, of right,
depends the nomination of the clergy, and tiie
publication of bulls.
The prince cannot surrender this power
even if he would; it is a trust committed to
him; he is bound in conscience to transmit it
unimpaired to his successor.
Thus boldly did the theory of the state and
its claims array themselves against those of
the church. The tendencies of conflicting
powers manifest themselves in opposite sys-
tems. The intimate blending of spiritual and
temporal interests in the European slates af-
ford a wide field of action in which both meet
and mingle. The church had long claimed
this whole field as her own, and now did so
anew. The state on its part had at times as-
serted similar pretensions ; but never before,
perhaps, had it put them forward so boldly and
systematically as in the doctrines before us.
These claims on either side could never be
adjusted legally : politically it was possible
only by mutual concessions ; so soon as these
were withheld war was the alternative. Each
party was impelled to try the utn'.ost reach of
its strength ; and when the contest was con-
cernmg ihe right of obedience, it remained to
be shown broadly and palpably which of the
two was able to enforce it.
On the 17th of April, 1606, the pope pro-
nounced sentence of excommunication in the
stern tbrm of past ages, with express refer-
ence to predecessors as omnipotent as Inno-
cent III., on the doge, the senate, and the
whole body of the Venetian authorities, and
especially upon the consultors. He granted
the condemned only the shortest intervals for
recantation, three of eight and one of three
days. After the lapse of these, all the churches
in the Venetian territory — those of the con-
vents and private chapels not excepted — lay
under interdict, divine service in them was
forbidden. The clergy of the land were en-
joined to publish this damnatory brief before
the assembled congregations, and to have it
aflixed to the church doors.f The whole body.
* Difesadi Giovanni Marsilio a favore della risposta
delle olio proposilioni, contra la quale ha scritlo I'illn'O' e
revmo- S"- Ci- Btllarmino: Venezia, 1605. The author,
who has expressed himself somewhat obscurely, explains
himself in the following way, and the explanation is at
least authentic, as coming from the same quarter: " Dice
I'autore due cose: la prima si 6 che le persone ecclesiaa-
tiche non siano esenle dalla prolesti aecolare ne meno i
beni di esse, inlendendo in quelle cose alle quali la detta
polesa. si eslende (i. e. not in purely spiritual matters) : la
secondachel'esentioiiech' hanno Udelti ecclfsjasticinon
6 de jure divino, ma de jure humano." (p. 62.)
f JWentre in esse si tioveriiadunatamaggior moltitudine
di popolo per senlir li divini olScj." [When a consider-
from the patriarch to the parish priests, were
commanded to do this, under pain of heavy
punishment, human and divine.
Such was the attack : the defence was not
so vigorous.
It was proposed, in the college of Venice,
to make a solemn protestation, as had been
done in times past; this, however, was not
approved of, on the principle that the pope's
sentence was in itself null and void, and had
not even a show of justice. In a short pro-
clamation, contained in a quarto sheet, Leon-
ardo Donato made known to the clergy the
resolution of the republic to uphold the sove-
reign authority, " which in temporal things
acknowledges no superior but God ;" her faith-
ful clergy would of themselves perceive the
nullity of the censure issued against them,
and would continue uninterruptedly in the
discharge of their functions, in the care of
souls, and the service of God. No alarm, no
threats were uttered : the proclamation was
simply a declaration of confidence. Probably,
however, something more was expressed by
word of mouth.*
And now, out of the question of claim and
of right, arose immediately a question of power
and of possession. Challenged by their two
chiefs, the pope and the republic, to tender
contradictory proofs of obedience, the Vene-
tian clergy had to decide with which of the
two calls they would comply.
They did not hesitate, but clung to the re-
public. Not a single copy of the papal brief
was posted up.f The delay allowed by the
pope expired. The clergy every where con-
ducted public worship as usual. The regular
clergy acted like the secular.
The newly-founded orders formed the only
exception: those orders namely which more
particularly represented the principle of eccle-
siastical restoration, — the Jesuits, the Thea-
tines, and the Capuchins. The Jesuits were
not very well decided in their own minds;
they consulted their provincial in Ferrara,
and the general in Rome, and the latter ajv
plied to the pope ; the answer of Paul V. was,
they must either observe the interdict, or
shake the dust from off their feet and quit
Venice. A hard resolve, assuredly, since ihey
were flatly told there they should never be
permitted to return. But their principles al-
lowed them no choice; they betook them-
selves in a few vessels to the papal domi-
able number of persons shall have assembled there to
hear divine service] which had been done in Ferrara with
such vast effect. Breve di censure el inlerdetto della
Sii. de NSre. P. Paolo V. contio li S". Veneiiaui, 1G06.
* This proclamation of the IJth of May, 1606, is printed
by Rarapazetto, stampator ducale. On the title-page is
represented St. Mark, with the gospel and the drawQ
sword. In the senate they investigated, as Priuli says,
" le nullita molte e notorie" [the many and notorious
nullities] (if the papal brief.
t P. Sarpi, Hisioria parlicularp, lib. ii.p. 55, affirms that
persons who had attempted to post the bull were arrested
by the inhabitants themselves.
262
DISCREPANCIES, DOCTRINAL AND POLITICAL.
[a. d. 1607.
nions.* Their example was followed by the
other two orders.f A middle course, which
the Theatines had proposed, was rejected, as
inexpedient, by the Venetians, who were un-
willing- to have any division in their land;
they required either obedience or departure.
The deserted churches were easily supplied
with other priests, and care was taken that no
one should detect any lack of spiritual aid.
The next Corpus Christi day was celebrated
with special pomp, and an unusually nume-
rous procession. I
At all events, here was a complete rupture.
The pope was astounded; the reality of
things stood in rude contrast with his over-
strained pretensions ; — were there any means
of overcoming it 1
Paul V. thought at times of the employment
of armed force, and in the congregation, too,
warlike views once predominated. Cardinal
Sauli cried out that the Venetians should be
chastised ; legates were appointed, and an
army was equipped. But at bottom they
durst not venture on war. They would have
had reason to dread that Venice should call in
protestant aid, and cast Italy, — nay, the whole
catholic world, — into the most perilous com-
motion.
The settlement of questions of ecclesiasti-
cal right was after all to be attempted, as in
former instances, by political means : not that
this could be done by the contending parties,
the rupture between whom was too violent;
but it devolved on the mediation of the two
leading powers, Spain and France. The pri-
vate interests of the mediators would of course
likewise play a part in the matter.
There was a party in both kingdoms that
would have welcomed the outbreak of hostili-
ties. Among the Spaniards it consisted of the
zealous catholics, who hoped once more to en-
slave the Roman see to the monarchy, and the
governors of Italian districts, whose power
would be augmented by war: Viglienna, the
ambassador at Rome, also entertained this
wisl), expecting, by means of the event, to
promote his house to ecclesiastical dignities.
In France, on the other hand, the war party
was comprized of the zealous protestants.
Sully and his adherents would have gladly
hailed an Italian war, were it for no other
reason than its causing a diversion in favour
of the Netherlands, which were then pressed
hard by Spinoia. On both sides these parties
came to open demonstrations. The king of
Spain dispatched a letter to the pope, in which
he promised him aid, at least in general terms.
In France the Venetian ambassador also re-
ceived offers from men of eminence ; it was
♦ Juvencius, Hist. Soc. Jpsu, v. ii. p. 93.
I The inr-nlion made by V. Sanili (vi. 1110,) of "i rifor-
mail di S. Fr.incisco,'' an error into which many authors
have fallen, as well as he, arose out of the fact that the
Capuchins are reformed Franciscans, and were SO desig-
nated by A. Morisini on this cxasion.
J A. Maurocensis, Hist. Ven. torn. iii. p. 350.
his belief that he could bring together an army
of 1.5,000 Frenchmen within a month. Tlie.se
impulses, however, did not prevail. The lead-
ing ministers, Lerma in Spain, and Villeroy
in France, wished for tranquillity. The for-
mer rested his reputation above all on the re-
storation of peace ; the latter belonged to the
strict catholic party, and would never have
consented to an attack by the French on the
pope.* The princes agreed with their minis-
ters. Henry IV. justly observed that, should
he draw his sword for the republic, he would
hazard his reputation as a good catholic.
Philip III. sent a new declaration to the pope.
He would willingly assist him, but not with-
out security for the expense to be incurred,
and if he aided him it should be for good and
not for evil.f
Thus perished the possibility of war. Both
the great powers only vied which should most
contribute towards peace, and thereby best
secure its own influence. To this end Fran-
cisco de Castro, Lerma's nephew, was sent
from Spain to Venice, and cardinal Joyeuse
from France.
I have neither the disposition nor the means
of detailing the whole course of their negotia-
tions ; it is enough if we touch only on the
most important pomts.
The tirst difficulty consisted in this, that
the pope demanded above all things the repeal
of the Venetian laws that had given him such
offence, and he made the suspension of his
ecclesiastical censure dependent thereon.
J
* Relatione di Pietro Priuli rito'-nato di Francia, 4 Sett.
1608, contains a copious account of the interest talien by
the French in these proceedings. Villeroy declared;
" Esser questa opponunissima e propria occasione di gua-
dagnare I'animo del papa. — II re assicuralo dal suo am-
basciatore presso la rejjublica che V. Sa. non nietteria in
mano d'altri queslo negotio che della Mi. S. ebbe miradi
guadagnare etobbligarsi con questa occasione I'animo del
pontelice." [Tliat this was a most opportune and fitting
occasion for conciliating the pope. — The liing, assured by
his ambassador to tlie republic, that your Signory would
not put this atfair into any other hands than his majesty's,
aimed at employing this opportunity to gain a hold upon
the pope's good will.]
fl^rancesco Priuli: Relatione di Spagna, 20 Ag. 1608.
" Venne il contestabile a trovarmi a casa, e mi disse con-
stantamente che gli ordini dell' aramassar genti non
erano per altro se non per non star in olio menire lutti
potenze del mondo si armavano, ma che pero non s'erano
proveduti di danaro: raccomandij la pace d'ltalia, non
potendo perder la republica nell' esser liberate di parole
ossequenti, per haver in effetloquelloche desiderava. . . .
In quel tempo che il duca di Lerma delle forzi da amas-
sarsi parlo iperbolicamenle al ambasciaior d'lnghilterra,
. . . scrissono al papa che S. Mi. gli aveva ben promesso
d'ajutarlo, ma che cio s'iniendeva al bene e non al male,
. . . che il cominciar le guerre stava in mano degli uomini
et il finire in quelle di Dio." [The constable came to my
house and assured me, that the orders for levying men
were given only to avoid being idle while all other powers
of the world were arming, but that nevertheless they were
not provided with money : he recommended peace in
Italy, whereby the republic would obtain in reality what
it desired, while on the other hand it could not lose by
any liberality in obsequious words. ... At the time that
the dulie of Lerma spoke hyperbolically to the ambassa-
dor of England of the forces in process of collecting, . . .
they wrote to the pope that his majesty had indeed pro-
mispd to aid him, but that thereby was meant for good but
ml forbad, . . . that the beginning of war was in the hands
of men, its termination in those of God.J
A. D. 1607.]
DISPUTES WITH VENICE.
263
Now the Venetians were wont, with a cer-
tain republican pride, to declare their laws
sacred and inviolable. When the pope's de-
mand came to be discussed in January 1007,
although the colleg-e vacillated, it was at last
decidedly rejected.* The French, who had
pledged their word to the pope, succeeded in
bringing the question forward again in March,
upon which occasion one, at least, of the four
opponents of the measure in the college gave
way. After the arguments on both sides had
been gone over a second time, the result on
this occasion was not indeed a formal and ex-
press repeal of the laws in question, but a re-
solution was passed in which it was said, that
"the republic would conduct itself with its
accustomed piety." Obscure as was the lan-
guage, the ambassador and the pope never-
theless regarded it as importing the fulfilment
of their wisiies. The pope now, on his part,
suspended his censure.
But another very unexpected difficulty now
presented itself. The Venetians refused to
receive back the Jesuits, who, after their de-
parture from tjie dominions of the republic,
had been excluded by a solemn decree.
But could the pope suffer his faithful fol-
lowers, whose only fault was their inviolable
attachment to him, to be left at such disadvan-
tage !
He employed every device to change the
purpose of the Venetians. The Jesuits, too,
had the French on their side ; they had, by a
special mission, secured the king's favour on
this emergency, and Joyeuse interested him-
self strongly for them. The Venetians, how-
ever, remamed imtnovable.t
The most striking thing was, that the Spa-
* Ger. Priuli: Cronicca Venela, 20 Zener. 1600(1607):
" Dopo lunsa dispula di otto giorni e varie pedentie di
^iudicio dt libfro il senaio rispondere agli ainbasciatori di
Francia e di Sjiagna, che il devenir a (iiialsivoelia forma
di sospensione nonsi puiiaccomodarlareiiublica, essendo
cosa di perpMuo prejudicio: il che fu proposlo da S.
Bembo el Al. Zorzi savj del coiisilio el A. Mula ei S. Ve-
nier savj della terra ferma." [After a lengthened debate
of eight days, and various fluctuations of opinion, the
senate resolved to reply to the ambassadors of France and
Spain thai ihe republic cannot consent to any forms of
suspension whatever, inasmuch as the same would be per-
manently injurious; this was proposed by, &c.] Otliers
were for amore moderate decision. Norwas it improbable
ihal they would carry their point; but meanwhile news
arrived that there was nothing to be feared from the Span-
ish arms in consequence of the troubles in Naples. "E
fu perciO preso la total negativa di sospensione." [For
ihat reason the question of suspension was absolutely ne-
gatived] by ninety-nine votes to seventy-eight, thai is to
say a majority of twenty one. On the 9lh of March, how-
ever, Bembo withdrew his support from hi30wnpro|josal.
The more moderate decision was carried on the 14th of
March in spite of the opposition of Zorgi, Mula, and
Venier.
+ Pielro Priuli: Relatione di Francia, adds to this," So-
lamente Fufficio dell'ambasciatore ritenne la Jisposilione
che avevaS. Ma., eccilala dall' efficaci instanze che fur-
ono fatte da un padre Barisoni Padoano mandato in Fran-
cia espressamenie dalla sua congregaijone con pensiero
d'oltener di interessarsi acciocch6 fussero di nuovo rice-
vuti." [Only the embassy continues in the disposition
excited in his majesty by the efficacious appeals of father
Barisoni of Padua, who was sent expressly to France by
his congregation, with the intention that he should take
such measures as might lead to their recall.]
niards rather declared against the order than
for it. The Dominican interest was predom-
inant in Spain : Lerma did not like Jesuits,
and held it to be a bad principle in general
that a state should be compelled to receive
back disobedient subjects. In short, Francis-
co de Castro avoided at first making mention
of the Jesuits, and at last directly opposed the
intercession made for them by the French.*
This phenomenon, though naturally arising
out of the position of things, was yet so strik-
ing that the pope himself was startled by it,
and suspecting some deep mystery at the bot-
tom of it, gave up insisting on the restoration
of the Jesuits.f
But the resolution must have cost him dear.
He had seemed determined to embroil the
world for the sake of a couple of insignificant
laws, and now he abandoned his most trusty
adherents to perpetual exile from a catholic,
an Italian territory.J
On the other hand the republic now con-
sented to deliver up the two clergymen she
had imprisoned.
But even while doing so, she claimed a
right to make a protest, which the pope ab-
solutely refused to hear of. The expedient
at last resolved on to end the difficulty was a
very singular one. 5 'I'he secretary of the
Venetian senate led the prisoners into the
palace of the French ambassador, and deliver-
ed them up to him "out of consideration," he
he said, " for the most Christian king, and
with the proviso that the right of the republic
to judge of its own ecclesiastics should not
thereby be impaired or diminished." " So I
receive them," replied the ambassador, and
led them before the cardinal, who was walk-
ing up and down in the loggia. " These are
the prisoners," ho said, " who are to be de-
livered up to the pope;" but he made no men-
tion of the proviso. The cardinal, tiien, with-
out uttering one word, handed them over to
the papal commissioner, who received them
witli the sign of the cross.
How far were the several parties from any
thing like a good understanding : all they
* Francesco Priuli : Relatione di Spagna: " Sentendo
(i Spagnuoli) che Franciosi insistevanonell' introduzione
de' Gesuiii, scrJsseroaRoma eta Veneziache non irattas-
sero di cii), dando raginne alia republica di non volar
capitolare con gente suddita che I'aveva si gravemente
oft'esa."
f Francesco Priuli : " Venuto I'avviso dell' intiero ac-
comodamenio, desisterono dal procurare che si trattasse
di loro con la S'i. V., non solo per aon aver voluioparlar
di loro, ma per essersi attraversati agli gagliardi ufficj di
Francesi : che fece dubitare il papa di qualche recondito
mistero, e non vi volse insistere con che essi non sapeva-
nochedire."
t Ger. Priuli : " Peso molto a S. S'i. questa cosa de'
Gesuiti, non per loro, ma per la sua propria riputatione."
[His holiness felt sorely this aft'air of the Jesuits, not on
their account, but for his own reputation.]
§ Joyeuse thus mentions il as a condition: "Chelevan-
dosi le censure siaiio con.signati li due prigioni a chi li
riceve in nome di S. Santiil, li quali, se bene S. Serenity
(Venice) dice di darliin gralificatione di S. M. Chrma., si
dovessero consignare senza dir ultro."
264
DISCREPANCIES, DOCTRINAL AND POLITICAL. [a. d. 1607.
desired was an outward show of reconcilia-
tion.
To this end the removal of the censure
and the grant of absolution were still requisite.
But even upon these points the Venetians
had objections to propose. Tiiey persisted in
asserting that the censure was in itself null
and void, and in no way whatever affected
them, consequently that they needed no abso-
lution. Joyeuse declared to them that he could
not change the forms of the church. At last
it was agreed on that the absolution should
not be performed with the usual publicity:
Joyeuse appeared in the college, and pro-
nounced it privately as it were. The Vene-
tians have always persuaded themselves that
they came off altogether without absolution.*
It is true, indeed, it was not given in full form,
but given it certainly was.
On the whole, it is plain that the strife did
not terminate so thoroughly to the advantage
of the Venetians as is commonly asserted.
The laws which the pope complained of
were suspended ; the clergymen whose sur-
render he demanded were delivered up to him ;
absolution even was received. Still all this
took place but under extraordinary restrictions,
The Venetians proceeded as in an affair of
honour, with a painful sensitiveness to the
preservation of their reputation ; they narrow-
ed every concession they made with restrict-
ive clauses, and stifled its force to the utmost
of their power. The pope, on the other hand,
was in the disadvantageous position of being
constrained to a remarkable and little credit-
able concession, which attracted the attention
of the whole world.
Subsequently the relations between Rome
and Venice returned, outwardly at least, to
to their old course. Paul V. cried out to the
first ambassador of the Venetians, " Let old
things be done away with, let all things be-
come new." He complained at times that Ve-
nice would not forget what he on his part had
forgotten, and he displayed as much mildness
and indulgence as any of his predecessors.f
But alter all, this in reality but enabled him
to avoid fresh hostilities: the latent discords
remained : a proper mutual confidence was
not very speedily restored.
Issue of the affairs of the Jesuits.
Meanwhile the contest between the Jesuits
and the Dominicans was settled in a similar,
that is to say, an imperfect manner.
* Daru, at the clo.«!e of his twenty-ninth book, gives
Joyeuae's letter, doubtless the only thing of importance
he brings forward concerning the mailer, but he makes
some objections to it, very untenable, as 1 think.
+ Kfilatione di Mocenisio. IGI'2. The pope declared,
"Che conveniva per servitio d' Italia che fosse sempro
buona jntdlinenzafia quella sede e quesla repiiblica." j
[That it was fur the interest of Italy that there should al-
ways be a cooJ understanding between that see and thai I
republic] . \
Clement died, as we have seen, before pro-
nouncing his decision. Paul V. who took the
matter up with all the zeal which in general
marked the beginning of his reign (from Sep-
tember, 1(J05 till February, 1606, seventeen
assemblies were held in his presence,) was no
less inclined than his predecessor to the old
system, and to the views of the Dominicans.
In October and November, 1006, assemblies
were already held to fix on the form in which
the doctrine of the Jesuits was to be condemn-
ed. The Dominicansthought the victory was
in their hands.*
But just then the Venetian affairs had as-
sumed the perplexed aspect we have just been
considering : the Jesuits had given the Roman
see a proof of attachment, in which they far
surpassed every other order, and Venice made
them pay the penalty of their fidelity.
Under the circumstances, it would have
seemed barbarous had the Roman see thought
of visiting these it most faithful servants with
a decree of condemnation. When everything
was prepared for the act, the pope paused.
He let the matter drop for a while, and at last,
on the 29th of August, 1607, he published a
declaration, by which Disputatores and Con-
sultores were dismissed to their homes : the
decision would be made known in due time ;
meanwhile, it was the pope's most earnest de-
sire that neither party should revile the
other.f
Thus did the Jesuits, after all, reap an ad-
vantage from the loss they had sustained in
Venice. It was a great gain for them, that
their assailed doctrine, though not formally
ratified, had yet not been repudiated. They
even boasted of victory. With the public
prejudice once for all enlisted in favour of
their orthodoxy, they now followed up with
unabating ardour that line of doctrinal specu-
lation to which they had begun to apply tiiom-
selves.
The only question was, would they be able
to put an end to their own internal discords.
There was still a violent fermentation in
the order. The alterations in the constitution
proved insufficient, and the Spanish party did
not desist from their efforts to displace Aqua-
viva. At last, the procurators of all the pro-
vinces took the yet unprecedented step of de-
claring a general congregation necessary. It
met in the year 1607, and sweeping changes
were once more talked of
We have already frequently remarked the
close connexion into which the Jesuits had
entered with France, and the favour which
Henry IV. extended to them. He took an
f Serry, Historia congre£;ationum de auxiliis, p. 5G2, el
seq., gives the documents relating to this alf'air. " Gratia;
viclri'ci," he sayg himself, "jam canebantur'Iotriumphe.' "
t Coionelli, secretary to the congregation, in Serry, p.
589: " Tratanlo haordinato (S. S^.) molto seriumente che
nel tratlare di quesle maierie nrwuno ardisca Ui qualili-
cari e censui-are I'aUra parte."
A. D. 1607.]
CONCLUSION.
265
interest also in the internal dissensions of the
order, and was entirely for Aquaviva. He
not only assured the latter in a special letter
of his good will, but also intimated his wish
to the congregation, that no change should be
made in the constitution of the society.*
Aquaviva managed to turn so powerful a
protection to admirable account.
The resistance offered him existed prin-
cipally in the provincial congregations. He
now carried a law, by virtue of which, in the
first place no proposition should be regarded
as adopted by a provincial assembly, unless it
was supported by two-thirds of the whole
number of votes, and secondly, that even a
proposition so approved, should not be admit-
ted for discussion in the general assembly un-
less a majority of the latter previously gave
their assent thereto. By these regulations, it
is manifest that the influence of the provincial
congregations was diminished in an extraor-
dinary degree.
But besides this, a formal condemnation
was also pronounced on the adversaries of the
general, and the provincial superiors were ex
pressly enjoined to proceed against the so
called disturbers of tranquillity. Hereupon
peace was gradually restored. The Spanish
members gave way, and ceased to contend
against the new tenour of their order. A
more plastic generation gradually arose under
the ruling influence. On the other hand, the
general endeavoured by double devotedness,
to make a return to Henry IV. for the favours
he had receieved at his hand.
Conclusion.
Thus all these dissensions once more gave
promise of being allayed.
But if we reflect on their course, and the
events by which it was marked, we shall
perceive that they introduced the greatest
changes into the heart of the catholic church.
We began from the point at which the pa-
pal power, engaged in a career of victory, was
advancing to still greater plenitude of might.
Closely allied with the policy of Spain, it con-
ceived the design of hurrying onward all catho-
lic powers in one direction, and of overpower-
ing the refractory in one great current. Had
it succeeded, it would have exalted the eccle-
siastical spirit to unlimited supremacy, bound
together all catholic countries in an unity em-
bracing ideas, faith, social existence and policy,
and thereby have likewise acquired a para-
mount influence in their domestic concerns.
But at this very moment the most violent
internal dissensions manifested themselves.
In France, the feeling of nationality array-
* Lilerse Chrislianissirai regis ad concregalos palres, iv.
Kal. Dec. 160", in Juvencius v. ii. lib. ix. n. 108 ; " Vosque
hortamur ad retinendara instituti vestri inlegriialem et
splendorem."
34
ed itself against the pretensions of the hierar-
chy. The very adherents of the catholic faith
would not make themselves dependent on all
points upon the actuating principles of the
church, or upon the guidance of its head ;
there remained other principles of temporal
policy, and of national independence, which
resisted the designs of the pope with uncon-
querable energy. We may assert on the
whole, that these principles proved triumph-
ant: the pope was constrained to acknowledge
them ; the French church itself sanctioned
them by assuming them for its own basi.s.
Hence, however, it ensued, that France
was again plunged into hostilities against the
Spanish monarchy, that two great powers, na-
tural rivals, and always prone to strife, con-
fronted each other in the midst of the catho-
lic world. So little possibility was there of
maintaining unity. The circumstances of
Italy had even the effect of making this dis-
cord, and the balance of power that thence
ensued, a source of advantage to the Roman
see.
Meanwhile, new theological ruptures like-
wise occurred. Acutely conceived, and point-
ed as were the decisions of the council of
Trent, they could not yet prevent this ; even
within the boundaries traced by them, there
was still room for new controversies of faith.
The two most powerful orders met each other
in the li.sts ; the two great powers even took
part, in some degree, in the conflict ; and
Rome had not the courage to pronounce a
decision of the strife.
Next came the disputes respecting the
boundaries between the ecclesiastical and the
secular jurisdiction, disputes which had a lo-
cal origin, carried on with a neighbour of no
very great strength, but maintained on the
part of that neighbour with a spirit and force
that elevated them to general importance.*
Justly is the memory of Paolo Sarpi held in
high estimation in all catholic lands. He it
was, that successfully established the basis
for those ecclesiastical rights which they all
enjoy. The pope was not able to put him
down.
These conflicts between ideas and dogmas,
between constitutions and might, now vio-
lently impeded and threatened utterly to an-
nihilate that ecclesiasticosecular unity, which
the pope desired to establish.
Tlie course of events shows, however, that
the conservative ideas were the strono-er.
The internal discord there was no preventine-,
but an open conflict was avoided. Peace
was restored and maintained between the
* " V. Sti-," exclaims P. Priuli on liis return from
France, " ha dichiarilo, si puO dire, sin a qu?,i termini sia
permesso al pontefice estendere la sua lemriorale e spirit-
uale authority." (Relatione di Francia, 'iGOS.) [Your
serenity may be said to have declared to what limits the
pope may be allowed lo extend his temporal and spiritual
authority.]
266
COUNTER REFORMATION. SECOND PERIOD. [a. d. 1590-1617.
great powers; the Italian states had not yet
risen to full consciousness of their strength,
nor to an effective use of it; silence was im-
posed on the contending orders. The dis-
putes between church and state were not
pushed to extremities. Venice accepted the
proffered accommodation.
The policy of the papacy was, to assume
as much as possible a position raised above
partie.s, and to act as a mediator in their dif-
ferences. It still possessed authority enough
to effect this.
Without doubt this policy was reacted
upon by that which was in part its effect, the
continued progress of the movement without,
of the march of reform, and of the conflict
with protestantism.
We must now return to this latter subject.
BOOK THE SEVENTH.
COUNTER REFORMATION. SECOND PERIOD.
1590—1630.
Introduction.
I DO not think I deceive myself, or that I
wander from tlie province of history, if I here
take note of what appears to me to be a gen-
eral law of life.
It is indisputable that the great movements
that stir society from the very bottom, are
always impressed on it by forces of the living
mind. Prepared through the foregone ages,
these forces arise when their time is come, at
the call of some master spirits, out of the un-
fathomed depths of the human soul. It is
their nature to strive to carry the world with
them, to possess it wholly with their impulse.
But the more they succeed in this, and the
wider the range of their action becomes, the
more do they encounter peculiar and inde-
pendent elements of social life, which they
cannot wholly subdue or absorb. Hence it
happens, since they are in a state of ceaseless
fashioning, that they themselves experience
a transformation. The foreign elements they
embrace, become, in fact, incorporated with
them ; tendencies spring up in them, and they
exhibit manifestations that are not unfre-
quenlly at variance with their general charac-
ter: nor can these fail to grow and expand
with the general progre.ss of the movement.
The only matter of importance is, that they
do not become predominant; otherwise, they
would utterly destroy all unity and the prin-
ciple on which it rests.
We have seen how violently internal dis-
crepancies and profound contrasts wrought
within the restorative papacy ; still the pri-
mary idea triumphed : the higher principle of
unity maintained the ascendancy, even
though it were not with its ancient all-em-
bracing power, and it advanced incessantly to
new conquests even in the moments of in-
ward strife, from which it rather seemed
even to gather fresh energy for conflict.
These enterprises now solicit our attention.
It is a very weighty consideration for the
world how far they succeeded, what meta-
morphoses ensued from them, what resistance
they encountered from within or from with-
out.
CHAPTER I.
PROGRESS OF THE RESTORATION OF CATHOLI-
CI.SM.
1590—1617.
5 1. — Measures taken on behalf of Catholi-
cism in Poland and the adjoining coun-
tries.
The opinion has been expressed, that the
protestants, who, as we have seen, long pos-
sessed the upper hand in Poland, might have
been able to put a king of their own creed on
the throne : but that they themselves, after
all, thought a catholic king preferable, as
having in the pope a higher authority, and a
judge over him.
If they thought so, these very unprotestant
sentiments were the means of drawing down
on them a heavy chastisement.
For it was precisely through a catholic
king that the pope was enabled to make war
on them.
Of all foreign ambassadors in Poland, the
papal nuncios alone had the right of discours-
ing with the king without the presence of a
senator. We know well what sort of men
they were ; they had prudence and skill
enough to cultivate and profit by the more
confidential intercourse thus afforded them.
At the beginning of the eightieth year of
the sixteenth century, cardmal Bolognetto
was nuncio in Poland. He complains of the
A. D. 1590-1617.]
CATHOLICISM IN POLAND.
267
inconveniences of the climate, the cold,
which was doubly painful t» an Italian, the
dampness of the small heated apartments, and
the mode of life altogether strang-e to him ;
but, notwithstanding all this, he accompanied
king Stephen from Warsaw to Cracow, from
Wilna to Lublin, — throughout the kingdom:
at times in rather a melancholy mood, but not
the less indefatigable. During the cam-
pains he kept up a correspondence with the
king, and altogether he kept the Roman in-
terests in unbroken connexion with the royal
person.
We have a circumstantial report of the
manner in which he exercised the duties of
his office, from which we learn what were
his undertakings, and how far they pros-
pered.*
Above all things, he called on the king to
fill the offices of state with none but catho-
lics, to allow no other than the catholic wor-
ship in his towns, and to re-establish tithes ;
measures which were adopted about the same
time in other countries, and which promoted
or marked the renovation of Catholicism.
But he was not successful. King Stephen
did not think he could venture so far, and de-
clared that his power was not sufficient.
Yet that sovereign was not only inspired
with catholic convictions, but even with an
innate zeal for the interests of the church.
In many other particulars he yielded to the
nuncio's representations.
The Jesuit colleges in Cracow, Grodno, and
Pultusk were established by the direct pa-
tronage of the king, the new calendar was
introduced without difficulty, and the regula-
tions of the council of Trent fully enforced.
But the most important point was the royal
determination for the future to bestow the va-
cant bishoprics only on catholics.! Protes-
tants had made their way even into those ex-
alted spiritual offices; these the nuncio was
now empowered to summon before him and
to depose : a matter of the more consequence,
since the episcopal rank conferred likewise a
seat and a vote in the senate. The nuncio
sought to turn this political significance of
the spiritual institution to account. He ur-
gently required of the bishops unanimity of
proceedings in the diet, and prescribed to
them the measures they should pursue. He
formed a close personal intimacy with the
most powerful of them, tlie archbishop of Gne-
sen and the bishop of Cracow, which was of
singular advantage to him. In this way he
succeeded not only in infusing a new fire of
* Spannochi :" Relatione all lUmo- Rpv'^''- Cardinal
Ruslicucci, segrelario di N. S. Papa Sislo V., dflle cose
di Polonia inlorno alia religions e delle azi < i del cardi-
nal Bolognetlo in quatlro anni ch' egli e stato nunziu in
quella piov ncia."
t " Sendosi (11 re) delerminalo die nessuno possa le-
nere chiese che non sia della vera fede romana." (Span-
no cchi.)
zeal into the clergy, but acquired also a great
influence in secular affairs. The English
were proposing a commercial treaty with
Poland, that promised great advantages for
Dantzig in particular ; it was the nuncio
alone who defeated the project, chiefly be-
cause the English demanded the express pro-
mise that they should be allowed peacefully
to ply their traffic without being troubled on
account of their religion.*
In short, however moderate king Stephen
may have been, under him Catholicism first
essentially resumed its empire.
Now this was of the more consequence,
since the most powerful party in the country,
the Zamoisky faction, to which, through the
king's favour, the most important posts in the
country accrued,! also assumed a catholic
complexion, and since it was this party that
after Stephen's death determined the election
of his successor. The Zamoiskys placed on
the throne that Swedish prince whom Catha-
rine Jagellonica had borne in captivity, and
who, from his youth up, had, in the midst of a
protestant country, remained unswervingly
steadfast in the catholic faith, whether it were
from natural inclination, or from the influence
of his mother, or from the hope he entertained
of the Polish crown, or from all these causes
together. This was tSigismund III., a sover-
eign, the bent of whose mind was in thorough
accordance with those catholic impulses which
then agitated Europe.
Pope Clement says in one of his instruc-
tions, that he had, when cardinal legate to
Poland, counselled that prince for the future
to bestow all public posts only on catholics.
The advice had already been frequently given,
by Paul IV., by cardinal Hosius,| and by Bo-
♦ Spannochi: "II che non prima venne agli orecchj
del Bologneilo, che andO a irovar S. Mta- e con efficacis-
sime ragloni moslro quanta esorbitante cosa sarebbe slata
che avesse concesso per publico decreio una tamo obbro-
briosa setta, e come non senza nascosto inganno e srieran-
za d'importanussime conseguenze quella scelerata don-
na voleva che si dichiarasse cosi per decreto potersi eser-
citar la setta Anglicana in quel regno, dove tutlo il niondo
pur troppo sa che si permetta il credere In materia di re-
liglone quel che piace a chi si sia: ton queste ad altre
elficacissime ragioni il re Stcfano riraase talmente persu-
aso che promesse non voler mai I'ar menzione alcuna di
religions in qualunijue accordo avesse fatlo con quella
regina o suoi mercantl." [This no sooner came to the
ears of Bolognetto than he went lo his majesty and point-
ed out 10 him, with tlie most cogent arguinents, what a
monstrous thing it would be, were he, by public decree,
to acl£nowledge so scandalous a sect, and that It was not
williout some lurking trlclcery, and hope of most impor-
tant conseijuences, that nefarious woman soucht to have
him proclaim permission for the exercise of the English
sect in that kingdom, where it is but too universally no-
torious that every one is at liberty to believe in matters
of religion just what he pleases. These and olher most
imjjressive arguments so prevailed with king Stephen,
that he promised he would never make any mention of
religion In whatever compact he should enter into with
that queen or her merchants.]
t Spannocchi: "AUedigniia senatorie et all' entrate
del regno dicono hosgi non anmiettersi se non i depen-
dent! da esso cancplllero, acciii che da n'^ssuno venga
impedito di far quello che ad esso ed al re piu torneri di
piacere di fare."
$ In a despatch of the 14th of March, 1368, he requests
268
COUNTER REFORMATION. SECOND PERIOD, [a. d. 1590-1617.
lognetto. But now it fell upon an ear more
ready to receive it. What could not be ob-
tained either from Sig-ismund Augustus, or
from Stephen, Sigismund III. assented to with
alacrity. He made it his principle, in fact to
promote none but catholics, and pope Clement
was perfectly right in ascribing the progress
of Catholicism in" Poland to this regulation.
The highest attribute of the kingly power
in Poland consisted in the bestowal of offices
and dignities. The king disposed of all spi-
ritual and secular places, great and small, of
which there were said to be twenty thousand.
What an effect it must have had when Sigis-
mund III. began to fill, not alone all the ec-
clesiastical places, but those of every descrip-
tion whatever, exclusively with catholics, to
extend the beneficence of the state, as the Ital-
ians once expressed it, the full right of citizen-
ship in the highest sense of the words, only to
his co-religionists. A man's success in life
was proportioned to his credit with the bishops
and the Jesuits. The Starost Ludwig von
Mortangen owed his advancement to the wai-
wodeship of Pomerellia principally to his hav-
ing bestowed his house on the society of
Jesus. In consequence of this system, there
arose, at least in Polish Prussia, a feud be-
tween the towns and the nobility, which
assumed a religious complexion. Originally
both had adopted protestantism, but now the
nobility recanted. The examples of Kostka,
Dzialinsky, and Konopat, who had risen to
power by a change of faith, had a great influ-
ence on the rest. The schools of the Jesuits
were frequented chiefly by the you,ng nobility.
We soon find quarrels breaking out between
the pupils of the Jesuits and the citizens' sons
in the towns that continued protestant. But
the new measures displayed their effects prin-
cipally among the nobility. The college of
Pultusk numbered four hundred students, all
of noble blood.* The general impulse com-
menced by the spirit of the times, the teaching
of the Jesuits, the newly-awakened zeal of
the whole body of the clergy, and the favour
of the court, all these combined to dispose the
Polish nobility to return to Catholicism.
But, as matter of course, the government
went still further, and let those who would not
recant feel the weight of its displeasure.
In Poland tlie catholic clergy insisted par-
ticularly on the principle, that the ecclesiasti-
cal edifices, having been founded by orthodox
catholics, with the co-operation of the bishops,
and in many cases of the popes, were the un-
alienable property of their church. In every
place where the catholic worship was exclud-
ed from the parish churches, the bishops took
the king to declare " millis sr deinceps vrl honores vel
praefecluras vel quaecuiKiue landeiii alia munera publice
mandalururn nisi qui Cliristuin aperle confessus fuerit el
omni perfidire sive Lutherislicae sive Calvinislicoe sive
anabapiistarum nuntium remisent."
* Maflfei, ii. 140.
legal proceedings, relying on this principle.
The tribunals were now filled with zealous
catholics ; the same suits were prosecuted
against town after town, and the same judg-
ments were pronounced. In vain were ap-
peals made to the king, — in vain was he re-
minded of the confederation by which equal
protection had been promised to both confes-
sions ; the answer was, that equal protection
consisted exactly in helping each party to its
lawful rights; that the confederation did not
comprise any assurance of the possession of
church buildings.* In a few years the cath-
olics were in possession of all the parish
churches in the towns. " In the parish church-
es," exclaimed the pope, " the ancient God is
worshipped." In the smaller towns of Prus-
sia the evangelical service could only be per-
formed in a room in the council-house; of the
larger towns Dantzig alone retained its par-
ish church. f
Thus rapidly prosperous, the catholics did
not confine their aggressions to the protes-
tants, but began to turn their eyes upon the
Greek community.
On this point too the king and the pope
combined their influence ; but what had most
efficacy, as far as I can learn, was the threat
of excluding the Greek bishops from sitting
and voting in the senate ; the result was, that
the Wladika of Wladimir and some other
Greek bishops resolved, in the year 1595, to
unite themselves to the Roman church accord-
ing to the standard fixed by the council of
Florence. Their delegates proceeded to Rome ;
Roman and royal envoys appeared in the pro-
vinces; the ceremony of reconciliation was
gone through, and a Jesuit, the king's confes-
sor, delivered an animated discourse on the
occasion. In this part of the Polish dominions
likewise, some churches were restored to the
catholics.
This was an extraordinary advance to be
made in a few years. "A little while ago,"
says a papal nuncio in the year 1598, "it
might have seemed as though heresy would
totally supplant Catholicism in Poland ; but
now Catholicism is carrying heresy to the
grave."
If we inquire what were the chief causes
of this revoUition, we shall find them to have
consisted above all things in the personal in-
clinations of the king; and to tliese the pecu-
liar position of that monarch immediately
opened out still wider prospects.
Attempt on Sweden.
By the death of his father John in the year
1.592, Sigismund became king of Sweden.
* The circumstantial letter of the Waywode of Culm,
translated in Lengnich:Polnisch-preussischeG'^schichle;
Theil iv. S. 291, pailicularly exjilains these nuHivrs.
t Lengnich: Nachricht von der Religionsiinderung in
PreussKn, § 27,
A. D. 1590-1617.]
ATTEMPT ON SWEDEN.
269
In that king-dom indeed neither was his
authority intrinsically absolute, nor was he
personally free from the ties of engagements.
He had signed an undertaking in the year
1587, that he would make no change in the
ceremonies of the church, and that he would
even promote no one who was not a protes-
tant ; and now too he further bound himself,
that he would maintain the privileges both of
the clergy and the laity, that he would neither
love nor hate any one for religion's sake, and
that he would in no wise seek to prejudice the
national church. Notwithstanding all this,
all the hopes of the catholics were instantly
awakened, and all the anxieties of the pro-
testants.
The catholics had now attained what had
always been an object of their fervent desires,
the accession of a king of their own faith to
the crown of Sweden. Attended by a catho-
lic suite, in which there lacked not even a
papal nuncio, Malaspina, Sigismun.l arrived
in his hereditary dominions in July 1593. His
journey through the Prussian provinces was
marked by benefits conferred on Catholicism.
In Dantzig a papal envoy, Bartholomaeus Pow-
sinsky, hastened to meet him with a present
of 20,000 scudi, " a small contribution," as his
introduction stated, " towards the expenses
which the restoration of Catholicism might oc-
casion."
This instruction is very remarkable. It
shows us how unconditionally this restoration
was expected and commanded in Rome.*
" Powsinsky," it states, "a confidential ser-
vant of his holiness and vassal of his majesty,
was sent to testify the pope's interest in the
welcome events that had occurred to his ma-
jesty ; the delivery of his consort, the happy
issue of the last diet, and above all that great-
est good fortune that could befal him, namely,
that he had now an opportunity of re-establish-
ing Catholicism in his native land." The
pope delayed not to indicate some points of
view in which this work might be consid-
ered.
" Doubtless through God's providence," he
says, " several bishoprics, among others the
archiepiscopal see of Upsala, are just now
vacant. t Should the king delay a moment to
depose the protestant bishops who are yet in
the country, he will without fail fill the va-
cant sees with orthodox catholics." The en-
voy carried with him a list of Swedish catho-
lics, which seemed designed to this end. The
pope was convinced that those bishops would
then make it their business to provide catholic
parish priests and schoolmasters. Only care
* Instnillione al S^' Banolommeo Powsinsky alia Mi
del re di Polonia e Sueiia. (MS. Koiii.)
t " Inlfndernlosi restar vacante I'arcivpscovato di Up-
salia, che 1 1 divina providenza per piti facilitare le cose
del suo seivitio, non ha pennesso che in dueaniii sia slalo
provedulo dal re mono, haveri S. M's- pailiculare pen-
siere a pigliare un arcivescovo cauolico."
was to be taken to provide them with the
means of doing so.
" Perhaps," he suggests, "a catholic college
might be forthwith founded in Stockholm. But
should this not be done, the king will assuredly
send as many young Swedes as he can to Po-
land, to be educated at his court in the catho-
lic faith, under the most zealous bishops, or in
the Polish Jesuit colleges."
The first object aimed at in this, as in other
cases, was to become master again of the
clergy : meanwhile the nuncio had conceived
another. He thought of setting on the catho-
lics that were yet to be found in Sweden, to
allege grievances against the protestants.
Upon this the king would assume a position
above the two parties, and every innovation
would bear the appearance of a legal decision.*
He only regretted that Sigismund was not
accompanied by a stronger armed force to
give cogency to his resolutions.
There is indeed no proof that the king forth-
with adopted as his own the views of the
Roman court. As far as can be collected from
his own declarations, his thoughts may have
been in the first instance no more than to be-
stow some privileges on the catholics, without
destroying the protestant constitution. But
could he hope to check the strong religious
impulse that possessed those about him, and
the representatives of which he brought with
him into the country 1 Could it be hoped that
when he had reached that point he would stop
there ]
The protestants did not chose to wait the
issue. The designs cherished on the one side
called forth on the other an immediate and
almost unconscious opposition.
Immediately after the death of John, the
Swedish councillors of state, — names renown-
ed in earlier and latter times : Gyllenstern,
Bielk, Bauer, Sparre, Oxenstern — with the
brother of the deceased and uncle of the new
king, another of the sons of Gustavus Vasa,
the zealous protestant duke Charles, "assem-
bled to acknowledge him as governor of the
realm in his nephew'sabsence, and to promise
him obedience in all he should do for the
maintenance of the Augsburg confession in
Sweden." With the same view a council
was held in Upsala in March 1593. The
Augsburg confe.ssion was then proclaimed
anew, kmg John's liturgy condemned, and eve-
* Rasguaglio dell' andata del re di Polonia in Suetia.
(MS. Rom.) " Erano luUavia nel regno alcune reliquie
de' cattolici : et il nunlio seguendo la forma gii tenuta da
Cl- Madruzzo per forliticar I'auloriti dell' iniperatore,
cercava di costiluire il re giudice ira gli cattolici e gli
heretic! di Suetia, inducendo cjuelli a querelarsi appresso
il re del insolenza e delle ingiurie di qiiesti." [There
were still in the kingdom soiiTe remnants of the catholic
body ; and the nuncio, following the course already pur-
sued by cardinal Madruzzo to strengthen the aullioiity of
the emperor, endeavoured to constitute the king judge
between the catholics and the heretics of Sweden, incit-
ing the former to compl.iin to the king of the insolence
and injurious conduct of the latter.]
270
COUNTER REFORMATION. SECOND PERIOD, [a. d. 1590-1617.
ry thing even in the oldest ritual modified,
that seemed to recall to mind the usages of Ca-
tholicism,— exorcism was retained, but in mild-
er terms, ,and tor the sake of its moral signifi-
cance;* a declaration was also drawn up that no
heresy, popish or calvinistic, should be tole-
rated in the country. f The vacant places
were now filled in the same spirit. Many old
defenders of the liturgy abjured it; but all
did not escape even so ; some were deposed
notwithstanding. The bishoprics, on the va-
cancy of which such great hopes had been
founded in Rome, were conferred on Luther-
ans; the archbishopric of Upsala was given to
the most ardent opponent of the liturgy, M.
Abraham Angermaunns, the clergy thus plac-
ing at their head the most zealous Lutheran
they could find, and by an overwhelming ma-
jority, there being two hundred and lorty-three
voices for him, and for his nearest competitor
but thirty-eight.
Under king John there had existed to the
last a more temperate state of public feeling,
less keenly opposed to the papacy than in other
protestant countries: Sigismund might have
easily founded on this such a change as the
catholics desired, but the other party were
beforehand with him ; protestantism had estab-
lished itself more firmly than ever.
Nor were Sigismund's royal prerogatives
spared. He was in reality no longer looked
on purely as the king, but rather as a for-
eigner laying claim to the throne, as an apos-
tate whom it was necessary to watch closely
as dangerous to religion. The great majority
of the nation, unanimous in their protestant
convictions, adhered to duke Charles.
The king on his arrival fully felt his iso-
lated position. He could do nothing, and only
sought to parry the demands that were made
upon him.
But while he held his peace and waited,
the two hostile parties came into collision.
The evangelical preachers stormed against
the papists ; the Jesuits who preached in the
royal ciiapel, did not remain behindhand with
their assailants. The catholics of the royal
suite took possession of an evangelical church
on the occasion of a funeral ; whereupon the
protestants deemed it necessary for a while to
forego the use of their desecrated sanctuary.
Matters speedily advanced to open violence.
The heretics used force to possess themselves
* For we are not to believe, with Messenius, that it
was don ^ away willi. The only change was thai of the
words "Faar har uth," into " Wick har ifra;" and when
duke Charles required the total abolition of the form, he
was answered, " riiin^ndu n esse exorcisinum lanqiiam
liberain ceremoniam pr0j)ter utilem comiiioiiefactionein
ad auditorium el baplis.ui spectatores pennanantem :" a
view of the matter in which duke Charl s ac(iuifsced.
Baaz : Invenlarium iv. x. 525. In B laz may be found the
doctrines in general tolerably coaipl>^le.
t "Concilium definit," it says further, " ne haerelicis
advenientibus deiur locus publice convpniendi." [The
council enacts thai no alien heretics be allowed to assem-
ble publicly.]
of a pulpit which was closed : the nuncio
was charged with having suffered their choir
boys to be pelted with stones from his house,
'i he rancour of either party augmented every
moment.
At last the court proceeded to Upsala to
celebrate the coronation. The Swedes de-
manded, above all things, the ratification of
the decrees of their council. The king re-
sisted. He desired only toleration for Catho-
licism ; he would have been content had he
been allowed merely the prospect of confirm-
ing this at some future time: but the Swedish
protestants were not to be moved. It is as-
serted that the king's own sister* told them
that it was his character, after long and sted-
fast resistance to give way at last, and that
she inculcated upon them that they should
beset him again and again. They demanded
peremptorily that the doctrine of the Augs-
burg confession should alone be propounded
everywhere in schools and churches.f Duke
Charles stood at their head. The position in
which he had been placed gave him such an
independence and power as he could never
have anticipated. His personal relations with
the king grew continually more disagreeable
and bitter. The king, as we have said, was
almost wholly without armed force; the duke
collected a couple of thousand men upon his
e.states round the city. At last the estates
flatly declared to the king, that they would
not tender him their homage if he did not
comply with tiieir demands J
The poor monarch was placed in a painful
dilemma. To accede to the demands made
on lum was revolting to his conscience ; to re-
fuse was to lose his crown.
In his distress he first addressed himself to
the nuncio, asking hirn if they might not give
way. There was no prevailing on Malaspina
to sanction this.
Upon this the king turned to the Jesuits in
his suite. What the nuncio had not ventured
to do, that they took upon themselves. They
declared that, in consideration of the necessi-
ty and the manifest danger in which the king
was involved, he might, without offence to
God, grant the heretics what they demanded.
The king was not sati.^fied until he had this
opinion from them in writing.
Then, and not till then, he complied with
the desires of his subjects. He ratified the de-
crees of Upsala, and the exclusive use of the
unaltered Augsburg confession, without the
* The Ragguaglio calls her " ostinatissima eretica." [A
most obstinate heretic]
t Messenius vii. 19. "Absolute urgebant ut confessio
Augustana, ([Ualis sub ultimo Guslavi regimine et primi
Johannis in palria viguisset, talis in posterum unica sola
el ubKiue lam in ecclesiis quam in scholis perpeluo flo-
rerpt."
$ Supplicalio ordinum: " Quodsi cl. rex denegaverii
subditis regiani approbalionem honim postulalorum, inhi-
benl nostri fratres donii remanenles publicum homagium
esse b. H. M.praesiandum."
A. D. 1590-1617.]
ATTEMPT ON SWEDEN.
271
admission of any admixture of foreign doc-
trine either in church or school, and with a
pledge that no one should be employed in the
public service who was not ready to stand up
in its defence.* He recognized the prelates
who had been appointed against his will.
But could his catholic heart be tranquil
under these circumstances? Could his Ro-
manist court be satisfied with a result it must
have so thoroughly condemned ? This was
not to be expected.
Accordingly the catholic party proceeded
at last to a protest, similar to many other
elsewhere made on like occasions.
" The nuncio," says the report sent to Rome
respecting these events, the words of which 1
cannot do better than quote, " the nuncio ex-
erted himself zealously to remedy the irregu-
larity which had occurred. He caused the
king to draw up a written protest for the se-
curity of his conscience, wherein he declared
that what he had granted, he granted not
with his will, but wholly and solely compelled
thereto by force. Furthermore the nuncio
induced his majesty to grant corresponding
concessions to the catholics, so as to be in
Sweden as in Poland, under pledges to both
parties, a condition under which the German
emperor is also placed. The king was con-
tent to do this."t
A singular device this. A protest was not
considered enough. To be rid in some de-
gree of an obligation contracted upon oath,
a contrary oath is pledged to the other party:
thus an engagement entered into with both
parties, and the necessity incurred of extend-
ing equal rights to both.
The Swedes were astonished that the king,
after such solemn pledges, immediately ex-
tended an ill-concealed protection to the ca-
tholics. This was undoubtedly the result of
this secret obligation. " Before his depar-
* The words, however, were such as to leave open a
chance of evasion. "Ad officia publica nulli proinove-
bunlur in palria qui religionem evangelicam nolunt salv-
am, quin potius qui earn serio defendere volunl publicis
officiis praeficianiur." Generalis confirmatio postulato-
rum regis Sigisniundi in Baaz, p. 537.
t Relatione dello stato spiriiuale e politico del regno di
Suezia, 1598. " Mandi) alcuni senatori Polacchi a darle
parte dello stato delle cose in le sue circoslanze e conse-
guenze, e detli patri dichiararono che presuppostn la ne-
cessity e pericolo nel quale era costituita la M'^' S. la po-
tesse senza otfender Dio concedere alii heretici cio che
ricercavano, e la IVIt»- S. per sua giustificazioiie ne voile
uno scritlo da detli patri. — Horafatla lacoronalione e con-
cessione pose ogni studio il nunzio per applicare qu tlche
remedio al disordine seguilo, onde opero per sicurezza
della conscienzadi S. M'»' che ella faresso una protesta in
scrilto, come ella non con la volonl^ sua ma per pura for-
za si era indoita a concedere cii> che aveva concesso ; e
persuase al smo- re che concedesse da parte agli cattolici
altrettanto quanto aveva conceduto alii heretici, di modo
che a guisa dell' imperalore e del re di Polonia restasse
la M<a- S. giurala ulrique parti. S. !«'•»■ si contento di
farlo, et iminediatamente mise in esecutione le dette con-
cessioni : perche avanti la sua partenza diede ufficj e dig-
nita a cattolici, e lascic) in quattro luoghi r(scerciliodplla
religione a fece giurare a quattro governatori, se ben erano
heretici, quali lascif) nel regno, che haverebbero proletto
la religioae e le cattolici.
ture," continues the author of our report with
much complacency, " the king bestowed of-
fices and dignities on catholics, and caused
four governors, although they were heretics,
to swear to protect the catholics and their re-
ligion. In four places he re-e.~tablished the
exercise of the catholic service."
Such measures as these might serve per-
haps to Foothe the troubled conscience of a
devout king, but could have no other than a
prejudicial efl^ect on the course of events.
For these precisely were the causes that the
Swedish estates, being kept in a state of con-
tinual excitement, rushed into more decided
opposition.
The clergy reformed their schools in a spi-
rit of rigid Lutheranism, and ordained a so-
lemn thanksgiving for the maintenance of the
true religion " against the designs and devices
of the Jesuits." In 1-595 a resolution was
passed in the diet of Siidercoping, that the
use of the catholic ritual, wherever the king
had established it, should be again abolished.
" We unanimously resolve," say the estates,
" that all sectarians, who are opposed to the
evangelical religion, and who have taken up
their abode in the country, shall within six
weeks be removed out of the whole realm;"*
a resolution which was most strictly enforced.
The convent of Wadstena, that had subsisted
for two hundred and eleven years, and had
stood its ground in the midst of so many com-
motions, was now dissolved and destroyed.
Angermanniis held a visitation such as was
never paralleled. Whoever neglected to at-
tend the evangelical church was scourged
with rods; the archbishop took with him a
stout student who inflicted the chastisement
under his own eyes. The altars of the saints
were destroyed, their relics scattered, and
the ceremonies which in 1593 had been de-
clared indifferent, were abolished in many
places in 1.597.
The relative position of Sigismund and
Charles to each other, gave a cast of person-
ality to this movement.
Every thing that was done was in opposi-
tion to the well-known wishes and regulations
of the king, and in all duke Charles had a
commanding influence. The duke held the
diets against the express commands of Sigis-
mund, all attempts on whose part to interfere
in the national concerns, the former endea-
voured to prevent. Charles procured the
passing of a resolution, by virtue of which, no
rescript of the king's was to be offeree, till it
had first received the sanction of the Swedish
administration.!
Charles was already virtually lord and sov-
* Acta ecclesiae in conventu Sudercop. in Baaz 567.
+ "Ausa illuslrissimi principis doniini Caroli Suder-
manniEe ducis adversus serenissimum et potcntis.simum
dominum Sigismundum III. regem Sueciae et Poloniae sus-
cepta, scripta et publicata ex mandate S. R. MajeslaiiB
proprio." Dani. 1598.
272
COUNTER REFORMATION. SECOND PERIOD, [a. d. 1590-1617*
ereign of Sweden, and the thought began to
present itself to him of making himself so in
name. This is indicated among other circum-
stances by a dream he had in 1595. It seemed
to him that at a banquet in Finland, a covered
double dish was set before him : he raised
the cover, and beheld in one dish the insignia
of royalty, in the other a death's head. Simi-
lar thoughts were afloat in the nation.
A story was current in the country, that at
Linkoping a crowned eagle had been seen
combating with one uncrowned : the un-
crowned bird had been victorious.
But when matters had gone thus far, when
protestant principles had been asserted with
such rio-our, and their champion seemed to
pretend to royal power, a party at last arose
on behalf of the king. Some nobles who had
recourse to his authority for support against
the duke were banished ; their adherents re-
mained in the country : the country-people
were dissatisfied with the abolition of all cer-
emonies, and attributed various evils that
befel the country to that cause. In Finland
the governor Fleming set up the royal stand-
ard.
This was a state of things that made it on
the one hand necessary, on the other expedi-
ent, for king Sigismund to as.say his fortune
once more. This was, perhaps, the last mo-
ment in which it was possible for him to re-
establish his authority. In the summer of
1598 he once more set out to take possession
of his hereditary dominions.
He was this time if possible, more strictly
catholic than before. The good soul believed
that many an evil which had befallen him
since his last journey, amongst others, the
death of his wife, had been inflicted on him
because, on that occasion, he had made con-
cessions to the heretics: with anguish of heart
he divulged these painful thoughts to the
nuncio. He declared he would rather die than
again ratify anything that could sully the
purity of his conscience.
But the interests of Sigismund had now
acquired some community with those of
Europe in general. Catholicism was making
such vast progress, that it regarded an enter-
prize in so remote a country as Sweden, prin-
cipally in the light of a portion of a general
scheme.
Already, in former times, the Spaniards
had cast their eyes on the Swedish coasts
during their contests with England ; it had
appea'red to them that the possession of a '
Swedish port would be of the greatest utility '
to them, and they had entered into negocia-
tions on the subject. It was now not doubted
that Sigismund, as soon as he was master in
his own dominions, would grant them Elfsborg
in West Gothland. In that port a fleet might
easily be built, kept in readiness for service,
and manned with Poles and Swedes. How
much more advantageously might war be
waged against England from that port than
from Spain; she would then very soon be
taught to cease molesting India. The king's
authority, too, in Sweden, could not but de-
rive advantage from an alliance with the
catholic king.*
But there was yet more to be considered :
the catholics contemplated the probability of
their acquiring mastery in Finland, and on
the shores of the Baltic. From Finland they
hoped to make a successful attack on Russia,
and by the possession of the Baltic sea, to be
able to reduce the duchy of Prussia under
their dominion. The electoral house of Bran-
denburg had not yet been able, by any nego-
ciation, to obtain the investiture of this fief;
the nuncio asserted that the king was resolved
not to grant it, but to annex the duchy to the
crown. He strove with all his might to con-
firm him in that design, chiefly, of course,
from religious considerations ; for never would
the house of Brandenburg consent to the re-
establishment of Catholicism in Prussia.!
If we reflect, on the one hand, on the range
of ulterior views which depended on the
king's success, — no very improbable event
after all, — and, on the other, on the general
importance to which Sweden would be raised
if protestantism proved victorious in that
kingdom, we shall then perceive that the
present moment was that of a great crisis in
the history of Europe.
Zamoisky had advised the king to advance
at the head of a strong army, and subdue
Sweden by force. Sigismund held such a
course unnecessary ; he would not believe
that there was any thought of offering him a
forcible resistance in his hereditary domi-
nions. He had with him, however, about
five thousand men, with whom he landed
without opposition in Calmar, whence he set
out for Stockholm ; another division of his
troops had already arrived there, and been
admitted into the city, whilst a body of Fin-
landers advanced upon Upland.
Meanwhile duke Charles had also taken up
arras. If the king triumphed, there was
plainly an end to the duke's power, and to
the ascendancy of protestantism. Whilst his
Upland peasants held the Finlanders in check,
* Relatione dello stato spiriluale e politico. The pro-
posal was: "Che a spese del cattolico si mantenga un
presidio nella fortezza che guardi il porio, sopra lo quale
njuna superiority habbia il cattolico, ma consegni lo sti-
pendio per esso presidio al re di Polonia." [That a garri-
son should be maintained at the expense of h:s catholic
majesty in the fortress commanding the port, over which
garrison his catholic majesty should have no authority,
but should consign its pay to the king of Poland.]
t Relatione di Polonia, 1598. '-Atteso che si rimarri
il ducato nelle Brandeburehesi non si pu:) aspetlare d'
introdurre la religione cattolica, si moslra S. M'a- risoluto
di voler ricuperare il detlo ducato." [Seeing that if the
duchy remains in the hands of the Brandenburgh family,
there can be no hope of introducing the catholic religion
there, his majesty appears resolved on recovering posses-
sion of the said duchy.]
A. D. 1590-1617.]
DESIGNS ON RUSSIA,
273
he himself, with a regular military force,
threw himself in the king's way as he march-
ed by Stegeborg, demanding the withdrawal
of the royal army, and the reference of all
matters in dispute to a diet ; on these terms
being agreed to, he would disband his forces.
The king would not yield to them, and the
two hostile bodies advanced against each
other.
Their numbers were inconsiderable, — a few
thousand men on either side; but the result
of the conflict was not the less serious and of
enduring effect, than if it had been brought
about by vast armies.
Every thing depended on the personal cha-
racter of the princes. Charles, his own ad-
viser, was a daring, resolute man ; and, what
was most important, he was in actual posses-
sion. Sigismund, dependent on others, was
weak, good-natured, no soldier ; and now he
was placed under the unhappy necessity of
conquering the kingdom that was his own of
right ; the legitimate king indeed, but com-
pelled to do battle against the king de facto.
Twice the troops engaged each other near
Stangebro. On the first occasion they met
rather by chance than design ; the king had
the advantage, and is said himself to have
checked the carnage of the Swedes ; but in
the second engagement, the Dalecarlians hav-
ing come to the duke's support, and his fleet
being arrived, he had the upper hand. No
one checked the slaughter of the Poles. Sig-
ismund sufiered a total defeat, and was forced
to yield to whatever was demanded of him.*
He even consented to deliver up the few
faithful adherents he had found, to be judged
by a Swedish tribunal. For himself, he pro-
mised to submit to the decision of the diet.
This, however, was only a subterfuge,
caught at in the perplexities of the moment.
Instead of attending the diet, where he would
have had but to play the melancholy part of
the vanquished, he set sail with the first
favourable wind for Dantzig.
He flattered himself with the hope that
some other time, in some happier moment, he
would at last become master of his inherit-
ance ; but by thus withdrawing from it, he,
in fact, abandoned it to itself, and to the para-
mount influence of his uncle, who did not
scruple, after some time, to assume the title,
as well as the authority, of king ; and then,
so far from waiting the assault of war on
Swedish ground, carried it himself into Po-
land, where it was waged with varying
success on either side.
Designs on Russia.
In a short while, however, it seemed as if
* Piacessi Chronicon gestorum in Europa singulariunn
p. 159. Extracts from the letters of the princes in Geijer ■'
Schwedische Geschichie ii. § 305.
35
the frustration of this enterprise was to be
made good by happy results elsewhere.
It is well known how often already the
pope had conceived hopes of gaining over
Russia. Adrian VI. and Clement VII. had
made the attempt ; then Passevin, the Jesuit,
had tried his fortune with Iwan VVasiljowitsch.
Again, in 1594, Clement VIII. sent a cer-
tain Comuleo to Moscow, with more than
usual confidence in his success, since he was
acquainted with the language. But all these
efforts were vain. Boris Godunow broadly
asserted that " Moscow was now the true
orthodox Rome," and caused himself to be
prayed for as " the only Christian ruler in the
world."
The more welcome, under these circum-
stances, was the prospect most unexpectedly
presented by the rise of the false Demetrius.
Demetrius attached himself almost more to
the religious than to the political interests of
Poland.
It was to a catholic confessor he first re-
vealed himself Fathers of the company of
Jesus were despatched to examine him; atler
which Rangone, the nuncio, espoused his
cause. The latter declared to him, at their
very first meeting, that he had nothing to
hope, unless he abjured the schismatic reli-
gion and adopted the catholic. Demetrius
made no great difficulty in complying ; he had
already given a previous promise to that
effect. On the following Sunday his recan-
tation took place.* To his great delight Sig-
ismund hereupon acknowledged him, which
he justly ascribed to the interposition of the
legate, promising him in return that he would
do all tliat lay in his power for the propaga-
tion and defence of the catholic faith.f
The promise forthwith acquired vast im-
portance. His tale was hardly believed in
Poland ; but how great was the astonishment
of all, when the needy fugitive shortly after-
wards actually took possession of the palace
of the czars. The sudden death of his prede-
cessor, which was looked on by the populace
as a Divine judgment, very probably contri-
buted most to the event.
Demetrius now renewed his pledge ; he
welcomed the nephew of the nuncio with
marks of high esteem and reverence ; and on
the arrival, soon afterwards, of his Polish
consort, with a numerous suite, not only of
cavaliers and ladies, but, above all, of monks,
— Dominicans, Franciscans, and Jesuits,^ he
* Allessandro Cilli : Hisloria di Moscovia, p. 11. CiUi
was present at this act. In Karamiin, x. p. 109, of the
translation, there is a passage not taken so accurately
from Cilli as it may appear. Karamsin did not even
understand Cilli. We tio not find in the latter anything
lilce the words Karamsin has put into the mouth of Deme-
t Cilli: -'Con rinnovare insieme la promessa dell
auguiiiento e difesa per quanto havessero poiuio le sue
forze e nel suo imperio e fuori di quello della santo fede
cattolica."
t Cilli, p. 66.
274
COUNTER REFORMATION. SECOND PERIOD, [a. d. 1590-1617.
seemed bent on faithfully executing his pro-
mise.
But this was the very means that most
contributed to his downfall. That which pro-
cured him the support of the Poles, deprived
him of the goodwill of the Russians. They
said he did not eat and bathe like them ; that
he did not revere the saints ; that he was a
heathen, and had placed an unbaptized hea-
then bride on the throne of Moscow; — it was
impossible that he should be a son of the
czars.*
Some inexplicable conviction had induced
them to recognize him ; by another that pos-
sessed them with still greater force, they felt
themselves impelled to hurl him from the
throne.
The true primary force in this case, too,
was religion. In Russia, as well as in Swe-
den, a power arose, which, from its very origin
and nature, was opposed to the tendencies of
Catholicism.
Internal commotions in Poland.
Abortive enterprises against a foreign foe
have commonly the eflect of stirring up do-
mestic troubles. A movement now began in
Poland, that made it doubtful whether the
king would be able to persist in the system
with which he had begun his reign. Its
causes were as follows.
King Sigismund did not always maintain a
good understanding with those by whose ef-
forts he had obtained the crown. They had
called on him to oppose Austria; whereas he,
on the contrary, closely allied himself with
that power. Twice he selected his consort
from the line of Gratz, and he once incurred
suspicion of a design to make the crown pass
to that family.
This conduct had been enough to disgust
the chancellor Zamoisky ; but what exaspe-
rated him still more was, that the king, to
make himself independent even of his friends
and supporters, not unfrequently advanced
their rivals to the more important places, and
admitted them into the senate. f
For the senate was the chief instrument of
power which Sigismund endeavoured to em-
ploy. He filled it with individuals devoted to
his own person, and made it likewise entirely
catholic ; the bishops, nominated under the
influence of the legate, constituted in that
* Miiller: Sammlung Russischer Gesch. v. 377, re-
marks, thai Iplters from the pope were found upon him.
t Cilli : Historia deUe sollevalioni di Polonia, 160G-
1608, Pisloria, 1627 — an anlhorihe more trustworthy, as he
was long in the king's service — sets forth in the very be-
ginning how powerful was Zamoisky : " Zamoskhi si
voleva alquanio della regia aulorit^ usurpare.' [Za-
moisky was disposed to usurp somewhat of the royal
authority :] but he tells, too, how the king withstood him,
"essendo patrons S. Mti' nnii solo di conferire le digniti
del regno, ma anco le stesse entrate." [His majesty
having at his absolute disposal not only the dignities of
the kingdom, but also the revenues themselves]
assembly a strong, and gradually a dominant
party.
But this system was directly productive of
a twofold opposition of extreme moment, as
regarded the constitution of Poland, and the
interests of religion.
The provincial deputies set themselves in
opposition to the senate as a political body.
As the latter adhered to the king, so the for-
mer attached themselves to Zamoisky,* whom
they held in unbounded reverence, and who
derived from their devotion, a consequence
almost equal to that of royalty. Such a posi-
tion must have had peculiar charms for an
enterprising magnate. It was filled after the
chancellor's death, by Zebrzydowski, palatine
of Cracow.
The protestants joined this party. It was,
in fact, to the bishops they both alike attribu-
ted their grievances, these on account of their
temporal, those on account of then* spiritual
influence. The protestants were indignant,
that in a commonwealth like that of Poland,
based on the free consent of parties, well-won
rights were continually violated, that men of
low grade were raised to eminent offices, and
men of good blood were forced to obey them.
These sentiments were shared by many ca-
tholics.f
There can be no question that this admix-
ture of religious motives gave additional viru-
lence to the political commotions.
After the repeated allegation of grievances,
the refusal of subsidies, and the dissolution of
the diet, all in vain, — the malcontents at last
adopted the only remaining means, and sum-
moded the whole body of nobility, to the Ro-
koss. The Rokoss was a legal form of insur-
rection, whereby the assembled nobles as-
sumed the right of putting the senate and the
king on their trial. In this assembly, the pro-
testants were the more important, inasmuch
as they combined with the followers of the
Greek faith.
The king, however, had likewise his adhe-
rents. The nuncio kept the bishops together ;|
the bishops gave the senate its bias : a league
was resolved on in defence of the king and of
religion, and the favourable moment was pru-
dently seized, to put an end to the old dissen-
sions between the laity and the clergy. The
king's firmness proved inflexible even in the
hour of danger; his cause was just, and he
relied on God.
And, in fact, he gained the upper hand.
He dissolved the Rokoss in October 1606, just
♦ Piasecius: "Zamoyscius cujus autoritate potissimum
nitebatur ordo nunciorum." From this time forth the
country delegates grew powerful; one party supported
the other.
tCelli: " Gli eretici spalleggiati da cattivi cattolici
facevano gran forza pel- otlenerela confederatione."
t " II nuntio Rangone con sua destrezza e diligenza
tenno e conserve) in fede niolti di principali." [The nun-
cio Rangone, by his address and perseverance, kept many
leading men fast in their faith.]
A.D. 1590-1617.] INTERNAL COMMOTIONS IN POLAND.
275
at the time when a great number of its mem-
bers had withdrawn : in July 1607, the par-
ties came to a reofular engagement. With
the cry of "Jesu Maria," they royal troops
rushed upon the enemy and routed them.
Zebrzydowski, fo«r a while, still kepi the field,
but he was compelled to submit in 1608. A
general amnesty was proclaimed.
Now, therefore, the administration was at
liberty to pursue the catholic course it had
entered upon.
The anti-catholics were excluded from pub-
lic employment, and Rome was incessant in
its praises of the effects produced by this sys-
tem.* " A protestant prince, — a prince who
should bestow appointments in equal propor-
tions on both parties, would fill the land with
heretics; for men are evermore ruled by pri-
vate interest : but since the king is so stead-
fast, the nobility follow his will."
Restraints were also imposed on the pro-
testant service in the royal towns. " With-
out recurring to open force," says a papal in-
struction, •' the inhabitants are yet compelled
to become converts. f
The nuncio took care that the supreme
courts should be filled with judges well dis-
posed to the catholic church, and conducted
" in accordance with the holy canonical max-
ims." Mixed marriages were then matters
of peculiar importance. The supreme court
would not acknowledge any which were not
solemnized in presence of the parish priest
and some witnesses : but the parish priests
refused to hallow mixed marrriages ; it was
no wonder therefore, if many persons became
catholics simply to avoid prejudicing their
children. Others were compelled to take the
same course, because the possession of church
patronage by protestants, was made subject
of litigation. A state possesses a thousand
means of promoting a system of opinion which
it regards with favour; and these were all
employed in the present case, as far as was
possible without direct compulsion ; the work
of conversion went on noiselessly, but unceas-
ingly. Undoubtedly the earnestness and en-
ergy with which the nuncios administered the
* Instruclione e V. Sria. M^. di Torrps : " II re benchfi
nalo di patre e fra popoli ereclici, 6 taiilo pio e lanto di-
volo e di santi costumi guernito, che denuo a Roma non
avrebbe potuto nascere o allevaisene un mi.^liore, impe-
rocch^ havendo esso con la longhezza del rpgnare miitati
i senatori eretici, che se ire ne WxW erano tuUi, gli ha
fatto divenire, levaline due o Ire, luUi quanli caliolici."
[The kins, though born of a heretic father, and among a
heretic people, is so pious and devout, and adorned with
such sanctity of conduct, that a better man could not have
been born or reared in Rome ; for having, in the course of
his reign, changed the senators from heretics, as they
were all except three, he has made them, all but two or
three, become catholics.] Their principle was: " Le
cose spiriluali seguono il corso delle lemporali." [Spi-
ritual things follow the course of temporal.]
t Instruttione a Mr. Lancelotti : " La conforti (the king)
grandemente a vietareche nella citti retria, che da lei di-
pendono altro esercitio di religione che il cattolico si
comporti, n6 permetta che v' abbiano tempi "^ sinagoge
loro : poich6 si vengono per tal dolce modo senza violenza
espressa a far converiire o a mutar paese."
affairs of the church, had a great share in this
result. They made it their care that the
bishoprics should be filled by none but well
qualified men, they visited the convents, and
put a stop to the practice of sending to Poland
disobedient and turbulent members from other
places, where they were glad to be rid of
them. They also directed their attention to
the parochial clergy, and they endeavoured to
introduce psalmody and schools into the par-
ishes. They insisted on the establishment of
episcopal seminaries.
The Jesuits were particularly active agents
of the nuncios. We find them at work in all
the provinces, among the docile Livonians ; in
Lithuania, where they had to root out the lin-
gering relics of the old serpent worship;
among the Greeks, where the Jesuits were
frequently the only catholic priests ; they had
often to baptize youths of eighteen, and they
fell in with men in years who had never par-
taken of the Lord's supper. But above all,
they were employed in Poland Proper, where,
as a member of the order boasts, " hundreds
of learned, orthodox, and godly men of the
order, were busy in rooting out errors, and
sowing the seeds of catholic piety, by schools
and associations, with voice and pen."*
Here too, they awoke the same enthusiasm
as usual in the minds of their followers ; but
it was most unhappily combined with the in-
solence of an overbearing young nobility.
The king avoided overt acts of violence : the
pupils of the Jesuits deemed themselves au-
thorized to commit them.
They not unfrequently celebrated Ascen-
sion day by making an assault upon the evan-
gelical party, breaking into their houses, pil-
laging and destroying. Woe to him whom
they caught in his house, or even met in the
streets.
In 1606, the church of the evangelists in
Cracow was stormed, and the church yard in
1607: the dead bodies were torn out of the
graves. In 1611, the churches of the protest-
ants in Wilna, were demolished, and the
priests abused or killed. In IGl.^, there ap-
peared, in Posen, a book maintaining that the
evangelicals had no right to reside in that
city : next year the Jesuit students destroyed
the Bohemian church, not leaving one stone
on another, and the Lutheran church was
burnt. The like doings were seen in other
places: in some, the protestants were con-
strained by the incessant attacks on them to
dispose of their churches. Ere long, the mis-
chief was not confined to the towns : the stu-
dents of Cracow burned the neighbouring
churches in the country. In Podlachia an
aged evangelical clergyman named Burkuw,
was walking before his carriage, leaning on
his staff; a Polish nobleman, driving in the
* Argentus de rebus socielalis Jesu in regno Poloniae,
1615 : il might easily be more instmctive.
276
COUNTER REFORMATION. SECOND PERIOD, [a. d. 1590-1617,
opposite direction, ordered his coachman to
run his horses straight at him ; before the old
man could step aside, he was knocked down,
and he died of the injuries he received.*
But with all that was done, protestantism
was not to be extinguished. The king was
bound by a promise which he had not the
power to retract. The nobles remained free
from constraint, and did not all recant imme-
diately. At times, after numerous judgments
unfavourable to the protestant cause, a favour-
able one was given, and here and there a
church was restored to the Lutherans. In the
towns of Polish Prussia, the protestants al-
ways constituted the majority. It was still
more difficult to get rid of the Greeks; the
union of 1595, excited disgust much more
than imitation. The dissenting party consist-
ing of protestants and Greeks, was always
oneof great importance ; the most industrious
towns, and the most warlike tribes, such as
the Cossacks, lent peculiar cogency to their
demands. Their opposition was the more^
formidable, as it was day by day more strongly
backed by their neighbours the Russians and
Swedes, who had successfully withstood all
efforts to subdue them.
5 2. Continuation of a counter-reformat ioii
in Germany.
"Wholly different were the principles enter-
tained in Germany, where every prince held
it to be his undoubted right to arrange the re-
ligion of his own dominions according to his
own notions.
The movement begun in favour of Catholi-
cism proceeded therelbre without much assist-
ance from the imperial power, and without
attracting extraordinary attention.
The ecclesiastical princes in particular, con-
ceived it to be their duty to bring back their
territories to Catholicism.
We now find among them men trained in
the schools of the Jesuits : Johann Adam von
Bicken, elector of Mainz from 1601 to 1604,
was a pupil of the Collegium Germanicum in
Rome. He once heard in the castle of Kon-
igstein, the Lutheran congregation of the
place singing hyms in the funeral service over
their deceased pastor. " Let them," he ex-
claimed, "give their synagogue decent bu-
rial !" The next Sunday a Jesuit ascended
the pulpit, and from that day forth it was
never again filled by a Lutheran preacher.
The same occurred elsevvhere.f What Bicken
left incomplete, his successor Johann Schweik-'
ard zealously continued. He was a man who
loved the pleasures of the table, but he held
the reins of government for all that in his own
liands, and displayed uncommon talent as a
* Wengerscii Sluvonia reformala, p. 224. 232. 23G. 211.
247.
t Serarius: Res Moguniinae, p. 973.
ruler. He succeeded in completing the coun-
ter reformation in his whole diocese, and even
in Eichsfeld. He sent a commission to Heili-
genstadt, which, within the space of two years,
brought back 200 citizens to the catholic faith,
among them many who had grown grey in
protestantism. Some still held out, whom
he admonished personally "as their father
and shepherd," as he said, "out of the sin-
cerity of his inmost heart," and he prevailed
on them to conform. It was with extraordi-
nary satisfaction he saw a city return to Catho-
licism, that for forty years had been entirely
protestant.*
Similar were the proceedings of Ernest and
Ferdinand of Cologne, both of them Bavarian
princes, and of the elector Lothaire of the
house of Metternich of Trier, a distinguished
prince of shrewd understanding, with a happy
talent for overcoming the difficulties that be-
set him, prompt in his justice, vigilant in pro-
moting the interests both of his dominions and
of his family, and in general an affable man
and not over rigorous, provided religion was
not in question : he tolerated no protestants at
his coirrt.f To these distinguished names
Neithard von Thiingen, bishf)p of Bamberg,
added his own. When he took possession of
his capital he found the great council wholly
protestant, with the exception of two members.
He had already stood by bishop Julian in
Wiirzburg, and now resolved to adopt the
measures of that prince in Bamberg. He im-
mediately published his reformation edict to
take effect at Christmas 1595. Its tenour was,
the Lord's Supper according to the catholic
ritual, or banishment; and although chapter,
nobles, and landed proprietors opposed him,
and the most urgent remonstrances were ad-
dressed to him by his neighbours, yet we find
the reformation edict regularly published every
year, and enforced in all its provisions.| Theo-
dore von Fiirstenberg, rivalled in Paderborn
the efforts of the bishop of Bamberg. In the
year 1596, he imprisoned all the priests of his
diocese who administered the Lord's Supper
in the two kinds. This naturally produced a
rupture between him and his nobility, and we
find bishops and nobles engaged in driving
each other's cattle and horses. He also be-
came involved at last in an open feud with
the city. Unfortunately a turbulent dema-
gogue arose in Paderborn, who was not pos-
sessed of the powers adequate to the high sta-
tion into which he had thrust himself In the
year 1601, Paderborn was forced to do homage
anew. Thereupon the Jesuit college was
most sumptuously endowed, and an edict was
*Wolf: Geschichte vonlleiligpnstadt, S. 63. Between
1581 and ICOl there were counted 497 converts, of which
15118 had proportionally the greatest number, viz. 73.
I Masenius, Continuatio Broweri, p. 474.
t Jiick : Geschichte von Bamberg, e. g. iii. 212. 199 ; or,
indeed, passim, for this history irtats particularly of the
anli-reforniation.
A. D. 1590-1617.] COUNTER REFORMATION IN GERMANY.
277
promulgated as in Bamberg, allowing but the
alternative of the mass or exile. Bamberg
and Paderborn gradually became wholly ca-
tholic*
Most remarkable is the rapid, yet persistent
change which was effected in all these coun-
tries. Are we to suppose that protestantism
had not taken firm root in the heart of the
multitude, or are we to attribute the pheno-
menon to the operations of the Jesuits 1 At
least they showed no lack of zeal and pru-
dence. From every point where they fixed
themselves they spread in wide circles. They
possessed the arts requisite to captivate the
crowd ; their churches were the most fre-
quented ; they always boldly grappled with
the most prominent difficulties ; was there
any where a Lutheran strong in Scriptural
knowledge, in whose judgment his neighbours
placed some reliance, they used every effort
to gain him over, and in this, their practised
skill in controversy seldom left them without
success. They were forward in acts of charity
and kindness, they healed the sick and strove
to reconcile enemies. Those whom they pre-
vailed over and converted they bound to them
by sacred oaths. Multitudes of the faithful
were seen visiting every place of pilgrimage
under iheir banners ; men who had been the
most zealous of protestants joined the proces-
sions.
The Jesuits had educated not only spiritual
but also temporal princes. At the close of the
sixteenth century their two illustrious pupils
Ferdinand II. and Maximilian I. came forward
on the stage of Europe.
It is asserted, tliat when the young arch-
duke Ferdinand celebrated Easter in the year
1596 in his capital of Gratz, he was the only
individual who received the sacrament accord-
ing to the catholic ritual, and that there were
but three catholics in the whole city.f
In fact, afler the death of the archduke
Charles, the efforts in favour of Catholicism
had dwindled away during the minority of his
successor, under a not very strong regency.
The protestants had resumed the churches of
which they had been despoiled, and streng-
thened their schools at Gratz by the accession
of new and able teachers, and the nobility had
formed a committee to resist all attempts that
might be made to the prejudice of protestan-
tism.
Despite of all this, Ferdinand instantly re-
solved on proceeding to the prosecution and
completion of the counter reformation. To
this he was impelled by motives of religion
* Slrunk: Annates Paderborn, lib. xxii. p. 720.
t Hansiiz Gerniania Sacra, ii. p. 712. "NumerusLu-
theri seclatonimtantusut ex inquilinis Gracensibus paene
cunclis invenirentur avitae ficlei cullores ires non amp-
lius." [Such is the number of Luther's sectaries, Ihatnol
more than three adherents to the ancient fftith could be
found among almost all the inhabitants of Griitz.] The
"psene cunclis," [almost all] it must be owned, makes
the matter ambiguous.
and policy combined. He too, he said, was
determined to be master in his own dominions,
as well as the elector of Saxony, or the elec-
tor of Palatine. If the peril was suggested
to him which might attend an inroad of the
Turks during the existence of civil discord in
his dominions, his answer was, that it was not
till afler the act of conversion should have
been accomplished, that his people could count
on Divine assistance. In the year 1.597, Fer-
dinand betook himself to Rome by way of
Loretto to cast himself at the feet of Clement
VIII. He made a vow to devote himself to
the restoration of Catholicism in his hereditary
estates even at the peril of his life, and in this
design he was strengthened by the pope. He
returned home with the same feelings, and
proceeded immediately to work. In Septem-
ber 1598, appeared his decree, commanding
all Lutheran preachers to quit Gratz within
fourteen days.*
Gratz was the focus of protestant doctrine
and strength. No effort was left untried to
shake the archduke's resolution, neither en-
treaties, nor warnings, nor even threats ; but
th"e duke was, to use the expression of the
historian of Carniola, " fixt as marble. "f A
similar decree was promulgated in Carniola
in October, and in December in Carinthia.
And now the estates displayed the utmost
intractability, and that even in their separate
local assemblies, for Ferdinand no longer sanc-
tioned a general assembly. They refused to
pay their subsidies, and the soldiers on the
frontiers already showed symptoms of turbul-
ence. But the archduke declared he would
rather lose all he had derived from God's
grace, than yield a single step. The danger
to be apprehended from the Turks, who mean-
while had taken Canischa, and were daily
advancing and showing a more threatening
aspect, at last obliged the estates to vole the
supplies, without having previously been
granted any concessions.
After this there was no longer any check
on the archduke's proceedings. In October
1599, the protestant church in Gratz was shut
up, and the evangelical service forbidden on
pain of corporal or capital punishment. A
commission was formed which traversed the
country with an armed retinue. Styria was
first reformed, then Carinthia, and lastly Car-
niola. From place to place the cry resounded,
" The reformation is coming." The churches
were pulled down, the preachers banished or
imprisoned, the inhabitants compelled either
to conform to the catholic faith or to quit the
country. There were many, however, as for
* Khevenhiller: Annales Ferdinandei, iv. 1718.
t Valvassor: Ehre des Herzogthums Krain, Th. 2, Buch
7, p. 464; undoubtedly the most valuable account of this
occurrence. " Such a petition, mingled with warning, fell
upon a block of marble, which no pen of theirs could
pierce or soften."
278
COUNTER REEORMATION. SECOND PERIOD, [a. d. 1590-1617.
instance fifty citizens in the little town of St.
Veit, who preferred exile to apostacy.* The
exiles were compelled to pay the tenth penny,
which was for them no sliglit burden.
Such was the extreme rigour of the pro-
ceedings, in return for which their author had
the satisfaction of reckoning, in the year 1603,
upwards of 40,000 communicants more than
before.
This immediately produced ftirther effects
upon all the Austrian provinces.
The emperor Rudolf had at first given his
advice against the proceedings of his young
cousin, but when these proved successful, he
himself imitated them. From 1599 to 1601,
we find a reforming commission actively em-
ployed in Upper Austria, and from 1602 to
1603 in Lower Austria.f Preachers and
schoolmasters who had grown grey in the
service of the Gospel, were driven out from
Linz and Steier : the blow was a painful one :
" Now," cried the rector of Steier, " in the
the decrepitude of age I am driven into beg-
gary and exile."|: " Ruin daily threatens us,"
writes one of those who remained behind ;
" our adversaries lie in wait for us, mock us,
and thirst for our blood. "§
In Bohemia the protestants thought them-
selves better protected by the ancient privi-
leges of the Utraquists, in Hungary by the
independence and power of the estates. But
Rudolf seemed now disposed to disregard both
alike. He had . been persuaded that the old
Utraquists had ceased to exist, and that the
Lutherans had no title to the enjoyment of
those privileges. In 1602 he promulgated an
edict commanding the immediate closing of
the Moravian brethren's churches, and forbid-
ding their meetings. || All the other sects felt
that the case was their own, and they were
not left in doubt as to what they might expect.'
Open violence was already exercised in Hun-
gary. Basta and Belgioso, who commanded
the imperial troops in that country, took pos-
session of the churches of Caschau and Clau-
senburg ; and the archbishop of Colocsa endea-
voured with their help to bring back the
thirteen towns of Zips to Catholicism. In reply
to the complaints of the Hungarians, the em-
peror issued the following resolution : — " His
majesty, who from his heart acknowledges the
holy Roman faith, wishes also to propagate it
in all his realms, and especially in the Hun-
garian : and hereby confirms all the decrees
that have been issued in favour of that faith
* Hermann: St. Veit in the Karnthnerischen Zeit-
schrifl, V. 3. p. 163.
t Raupach: Evangel. Oestreich, i. 215.
t " Jam senio squalens trudor in exiliu^i." "Valentin
Pruenhuebers, Annales Slyrenses, p. 326.
§ Hofinarius ail Lyserum : Raupach, iv. 151.
II Schmidt: Neuere Gesi-.hichte der Deutschen,iii 260,
an e,xtract from the appendices to the apology for the Bo-
hemians of the year 1618, which are frequently wanting in
the later editions.
since the times of St. Stephen, the apostle of
Hungary."*
Thus, in spite of his advanced age, the wary
emperor had thrown aside his moderation ; the
whole body of the catholic princes pursued the
same policy. The flood of Catholicism spread
its inundations as far as their power extended ;
moral influence and force combined to urge it
onwards, and the constitution of the empire
presented no means of checking its progress.
On the contrary, the efforts of Catholicism
were so strong and so bold, that at this mo-
ment they even began to interfere with the
affairs of the empire, and to put in peril the
still existing rights of the protestant party. f
Changes in the constitution of the imperial
tribunals, which afforded both opportunity and
means to this end, had already occurred,
through the influence in some degree of the
papal nuncios, especially of cardinal Madruzzi,
who was the first to turn his attention to the
matter.
The Kammergericht too had at last, towards
the beginning of the seventeenth century, ac-
quired a more catholic complexion : judgments
had been pronounced by it, that accorded with
the catholic interpretation of the peace of
Augsburg. The worsted parties had adopted
the legal remedy of suing for a revision of
judgment ; but revisions had been suspended
as well as visitations ; business accumulated
and was left untouched. J
The consequence of these things was, that
the Aulic council rose in credit. In that court
there was at least a hope of seeing business
terminated, since the beaten party could not
have recourse to a legal process that could
never be executed. But the Aulic council
was not only still more decidedly catholic than
the Kammergericht, but it was also entirely
* Art. xxii. Anno 1604. In Ribiny, Memorabilia Augus-
tanae Confessionis, i. 321.
t Relatione del nuntio Ferrero, 1606, gives a summary
of the results : " Da alcuni anni in qua si e convertito alia
nostra santa religione una grandissima quanlili d'anime,
restorate le chiese, rivocati molti religioni di regolari alii
loro antichi monasteri, restituile in bona parte le ceremo-
nie ecclesiastiche, moderata alquanto la licenza degli
ecclesiastici, e domesticato il nome del pontefice Romano
riconosciuto per capo della chiesa universale." [Within
some few years past there have been a vast number of
souls converted to our holy religion, churches restored,
many monks recalled to monasteries, the ceremonies of
the church re-established to a considerable extent, the
licentiousness of the clergy somewhat abated, and the
name of the Roman Pontitfbrought home to men's minds
as the recognized head of the universal church.]
t Missive and memorial from the Reichskammergericht
to the diet of 1608, in the Acts of the Diet at Frankfort on
Main, of which 1 was only permitted to take a cursory
view. The Kammergericht declares it to be " land- und
reichskiindig in wass grosser und merklicher Anzall seit
Ao. 86 die Revisionen deren von gedachtem Kammer.
gericht ergangenen und aussgesprochenen Urthell sich
gehaufl, dergestalt dass derselben nunmehr in die Einhun-
dert allbereit beim kaiserlichen Collegio denuncirit und
deren vielleicht taglich mehr zu gewarten." [known to
the country and the empire in how much greater and more
notable number the revisions of the judgments passed and
pronounced by the said Kammergericht had accumulated
since the year 86, insomuch that a hundred of them were
already notified to the Imperial College, and more were,
perhaps, daily to be expected.]
A. D. 1590-1617.] COUNTER REFORMATION IN GERMANY.
279
dependent on the court. " The Aulic coun-
cil," says the Florentine minister Alidosi,
" pronounces no definitive judgment till it has
previously communicated it to the emperor
and the privy council, who seldom send it back
w^ithout some alterations."*
But what generally effective institutions
were there in the empire besides the judicial
ones? The unity of the nation was bound
up with them. But they too were now under
the influence of Catholicism, and subservient
to the convenience of the court. Complaints
were already heard from various quarters of
partial judgments, and arbitary executions,
when the affair of Donauwerth prominently
displayed the danger impending over the
country from this source.
The conduct of the populace in interrupting
and insulting a catholic abbot in a protestant
town, who wished to celebrate his processions
with more publicity and solemnity than usual.f
was considered by the^Aulic council sufficient
ground for visiting the town with a harassing
process, with mandates, citations, and commis-
sions, and finally placing it under the ban of
the empire. A neighbouring prince of rigid
catholic princples, Maximilian of Bavaria, was
charged with the execution of the sentence.
He did not content himself with taking pos-
session of Donauwerth, but immediately called
thither Jesuits, permitted no other religion
than the catholic, and proceeded in the usual
course of counter-reformation.
Maximilian himself regarded this matter
in its true light, as one of general signifi-
cance. He wrote to the pope that it might
be looked on as a test of the decline of the
protestant cause.
He was deceived, however, if he thought
that the protestants would submit patiently.
They saw clearly what they had to expect if
things went on in the same course.
The Jesuits already made bold to deny the
validity of the peace of Augsburg, asserting
that it could not be authentically ratified
without the consent of the pope ; that in any
case it could only have been binding down to
* Relatione del S"- Rod. Alidosi, 1607-1609. "E vero
che il consiglio aulico a questo di meno che tuttle le defi-
nitioni che anno virtu di definitiva, non le pronuntia se
prima non dia parte a S. Mti- o in sue luogho al consiglio
di stalo, il quale alle volte o augmenta o loglie o mortera
I'opiiiione di questo consiglio, e cosl fatto si rimanda a
dello consiglio lal deliberatione e cosl si publica."
+ The report " respecting the Donawerth execution" in
the Acts of the Diet of the 4lh of Feb., 1608, states, in com-
mon with the other reports and informations, that the abbot
had " allein so viel herbracht dass er mit niedergelegten
und zusammengewickelten Fahnen, ohne Gesang und
Klang, und zwar allein durch einsonderes Gasslein beim
Kloster hinab bis ausser der Sladt und ihrem Bezirk gan-
gen, und die Fahnen nicht eher aufrichten und fliegen
Oder singen und klingen lassen, or sey denn ausser deren
von Donawerth Grund." [AU the abbot could claim by
custom was, the right to walk with banners folded and
depressed, without singing or ringing, only through a spe-
cial bye-lane along by the convent beyond the town and
its jurisdiction, and not to lift or unfurl his banners, or to
sing or ring till he should be out of Donawerth ground.]
The abbot now broke through these restrtctioQS.
the time of the council of Trent, and was to
be looked on as a kind of interim.
Even those who recognized the validity of
the treaty, were yet of opinion that at least
all the property confiscated by the protestants
since its ratification must be restored. They
paid no regard to the construction put upon
it by protestants.
What now if these views, as already began
to be the case, were adopted by the highest
tribunal of the empire, and judgments pro-
nounced and executed in accordance with
them 1
When the diet assembled in Ratisbon in
the year 1608, the protestants would proceed
to no deliberative measures till the validity
of the treaty of Augsburg should have been
absolutely confirmed.* Even Saxony, which
on other occasions always inclined to the em-
peror's side, now required the abolition of
processes of the Aulic council, in so far as
they were at variance with ancient usage,
reforms in the administration of justice, and
not only the renewal of the religious peace
as concluded in Augsburg in 1555, but also a
pragmatic sanction, whereby the Jesuits
should be prohibited from writing against it.
But on the other side, the catholics were
zealous and united. The bishop of Ratisbon
had previously issued a circular letter, in
which he admonished his brethren in the faith
to inculcate on the delegates above all things
unanimity in defence of the catholic religion,
" to stand together firm and fast as a wall ;"
by no means to temporize ; they was nothing
at present to be feared, since they had staunch
and zealous defenders in most illustrious
princely houses. Though the catholics actu-
ally showed a disposition to ratify the peace
of Augsburg, still it was with the addition of
the clause, " that whatever was done in con-
travention to the same, should be abolished,
and things restored as before," a clause which
contained just what the protestants feared
and wished to avoid.
This disunion on the main question made it
impossible that an unanimous resolution
should be adopted on any point, or that the
emperor should be granted the aid he needed
and desired against the Turks.
Now it would seem that this had made
some impression on the emperor ; that a re-
* Protocollum in Correspondensrath, 5th April, 1608, in
the acts of the diet: "Die Hauplconsultation jetziger
Reichsversammlung sey bisher darumben eingestelt ver-
bliben, das die Stend evangelischer Religionsfriden zu
confirmir en begert, und der papistische Theil die Clau-
sulam dem Abschied zu inseriren haben wollen ; das
alle Gliter die sinthero a. 55 von den Evangel ischen
Stenden eingezogen worden restituirt werden sollen."
[The chief consultation of the present imperial assembly
has hitherto stood still, because the estates professingthe
evangelical religion have desired to confirm the peace of
Augsburg, whilst the papal party have deen desirous of
inserting in the edict the clause, that all possessions
which had been laid hold on by the evangelical estates
since the year 55 should be restored.]
280
COUNTER REFORMATION. SECOND PERIOD. [a. d. 1590-1617.
solution was once for all taken at court to
comply without subterfuge with the desires
of the protestants.
Such at least is the import of a very re-
markable statement of the proceedings of the
diet by the papal envoy.
The emperor had not attended in person,
the archduke Ferdinand supplied his place :
neither was the nuncio in Ratisbon, but he
had sent thither in his own name Fra Felice
Milensio, an Augustine friar, and vicar-gen-
eral of his order, who laboured with uncom-
mon zeal in support of the interests of Catho-
licism.
This Fra Milensio, the author of our re-
port, assures us that the emperor had actually
determined on promulgating an edict in ac-
cordance with the wishes of the protestants.
This purpose he attributes to the direct influ-
ence of Satan ; the suggestor of it had un-
doubtedly been one of the emperor's privy
chamberlains, of whom one was a Jew and
the other a heretic*
Let us hear from himself the further ac-
count he gives of the matter. " Upon re-
ceiving intelligence of the edict that had
come to hand," he says, "and which was
communicated to me and some others, I went
to the archduke and asked him was such a
decree arrived 1 The archduke replied in the
affirmative. And does your imperial high-
ness intend to publish it? The archduke
answered : Such are the commands of the
imperial privy council : the reverend father
himself sees in what a situation we are placed.
Upon this I replied:! Your imperial highness
will not belie the piety in which you have
been educated, the piety with which you re-
cently dared in defiance of so many dangers
to expel all heretics without exception from
your territories. I cannot believe that your
highness will sanction by this new conces-
* Ragguaglio della dieta imperiale falla in Ratisbona,
1608, nella quale in luogho dell' eccmo- e revmo- Monsf
Antonio Gaelano arcivescovo di Capua nunlio aposlolico,
rimaslo in Praga appresso la Mti- Cesarea, fu residents il
padre Felice Milensio maestro Agostiniano vicario gene-
rale sopra le provincie aquilonari. " E cerlo fu machina-
te dal demonio e promosso da suoi ministri, di quali erano
i duecameriere intimi di RodoUo, heretico I'uno, Hebreo
. I'aliro, e quie del consiglio ch' eran Hussiti o peggiori."
f " Sovenga le, Ser-na- Altezza, di quella cattolica pie-
tci con la quale ella da que nacque fu allevata, e per la
quale pochi anni a dietro non teniendo pericolo alcuno,
anzi a riscliio di perdere i suoi slati, ne bandi tutti gli he-
retic! con ordini che fra pochi mesi o si dichiarassero cat-
tolici o venduti gli stabili sgombrassero via dal paese : so-
vengale che nella tavola dipinla della chiesa dei padri
Capuccini in Gratz ella sta effigiata con la lancia impug-
nala come un altro Michele e con Luthero sotto i piedi in
alto di passarli la gola : ed ora essendo ella qui in perso-
na di Cesare, non devo credere che sia per sotiVire se per-
dano i beni dolali della chiesa il patrimonio di Christo, e
molto meno che la diabolica selta di Luthero sia con
questa moderna concessione confirmata, e per peggio
quella ancor di Calvino giil incorporata, la quale non ri-
cevfi mai loUeranza alcuna imperiale. Questo e pill dis-
si el ascoltO il piissinio principe. . . Priegola, dissi, asos-
pender questa materia fino alia resposta del somnio pon-
lefice: e cosl fece, differendo i decreti degli huomini per
non offendere i decreli di Dio."
sion the loss of the church's property, and
the establishment of the devilish sect of Lu-
ther, and that of the still worse Calvin, which
have never yet enjoyed legal and public tole-
ration in the empire. The pious prince lis-
tened to me. But what is to be done? he
said. I entreat your highness, I said, to lay
this matter before his holiness the pope, and
to take no step before receiving his answer.
The archduke did so, having more regard to
the commands of God than to the decrees of
men."
If all this actually occurred, we see what
an important place this obscure Augustine
friar occupies in the history of Germany. He
postponed at the critical moment the publica-
tion of a concession which would perhaps
have satisfied the protestants. In its place
Ferdinand put forth an edict of interposition,
which left the chance of establishing the ob-
jectionable clause as open as before. At a
meeting on the 5th of April, 1608, the pro-
testants agreed in determination not to give
way, and not to receive the edict.* But since
the other party too did not yield, and as no-
thing was to be obtained from the emperor
or his representative which could allay the
fears of the protestants, they resorted to the
extreme measure of quitting the diet. For
the first time the diet separated without pass-
ing any decree, much less voting any sup-
plies : it was the moment in which the unity
of the nation was virtually destroyed.
It was impossible that things could remain
at this point. The protestants severally were
too weak to maintain singly the position they
had taken up; in the exigency of the mo-
ment, therefore, they now carried into effect
such an union as they had long contemplated,
discussed, and projected. Immediately after
the diet, two palatine princes, the elector
Frederick, and the count Palatine of Neu-
burg, two Brandenburg princes, the Mar-
graves Joachim and Christian Ernest, the
duke of Wiirtemburg and the margrave of
Baden, met together at Ahausen, and con-
cluded a league known by the name of the
Union. They pledged themselves to stand
by each other in every way, even with arms,
especially with respect to the grievances
brought forward at the late diet. Thej im-
mediately put themselves into a state of mili-
tary organization, and each member took
* Vote of the Palatinate in the Correspondenzrath :
" Dass die Confirmation des Religionsfriedens keines-
wees einzugehn, vvie die Interpositionsschrift mil sich
bringe : dann selbige den evangelischen Stenden undi-
enlich, weilen der Abschied anno 66 eben die Clausulam
habe so jetzt dispulirt werde." [That ihe confirmation
of the peace of Augsburg, as laid down in the edict of in-
terposition, is by no means to be received : for the same
is of no servicelo the evangelical estates, since the decree
of the year 66 contains the very clause that is now con-
tested.] It was nol contained in the decrees of 1557 and
1559. The edict of interposition referred only to 1560.
It was also rejected because il treated the emperor as
judge in matters of religion.
A. D. 1590-1617.] COUNTER REFORMATION IN GERMANY.
281
upon himself to engage such of his neighbours
as he could in the confederacy. Their pur-
pose was, since the existing state of things in
the empire atforded them no security, to look
to their own safety, and to help themselves.
This was an innovation full of the most
wide-spreading consequences, the more so
since an event in close correspondence with
it took place in the hereditary dominions of
the emperor.
The emperor was at variance with his bro-
ther Matthias on many grounds, and the es-
tates of Austria, oppressed in their civil and
religious freedom, looked upon this dissension
as affording them an opportunity of maintain-
ing both, and sided with the archduke.
In the year 1606, the archduke, with their
concurrence, concluded a peace with Hunga-
ry without consulting the emperor. They
alleged in excuse, that the emperor neglected
public affairs, and that they had been con-
strained by the situation of things. But upon
Rudolf's refusing to ratify the peace, they
forthwith rose in insurrection, in pursuance
of their mutual agreement.* The Hungarian
and Austrian estates first entered into a con-
federacy for mutual aid and protection ; after-
wards they were joined by the Moravians,
chiefly through the interposition of a member
of the house of Lichtenstein, and all pledged
themselves to stake life and fortune in the
cause of the archduke. Thus disposed, they
took the field under their self-elected captain
on May 1608, on the very day the diet of Ra-
tisbon broke up. Rudolf was forced to aban-
don Hungary, Austria, and Moravia to his
brother.
Now it followed of course that Matthias
should make concessions to the estates, in re-
compense for the services they had rendered
him. The emperor had abstained for forty-
eight years, from naming a palatine in Hun-
gary : but now a protestant was advanced to
that dignity. Religious freedom was most
solemly secured not only to the magnates,
but also to the towns, and to all conditions of
men, even to the soldiers on the frontiers.!
The Austrians refrained from doing homage
till they were granted the free exercise of
their religion in castles and villages, as well
as in private houses of the towns.
What the Austrians and the Hungarians
* The treaty contained the clause : " Quodsi propter
vel contra tractationem Viennensem et Turcicam . . hos-
lis aut turbator aliquis ingrueret, turn seienissimum arch-
iducem el omnes status et ordines regni Hungarias et
archiducatus superioris et inferioris Ausliiaj mutuis auxi-
liis sibi et suppetiis non defutuios." Keva ap. Schev-
andtner- Scriptt. Rerum Ung. ii. Kurz : Beitriige zur
Geschichte des Landea Oestreich ob der Ens B iv. p. 21.
[But if, on account of, or in contravention of, the Vien-
nese and Turkish treaty, any enemy or disturber should
come forward, then the most serene archduke, and all the
estates and orders of the kingdom of Hungary, and of the
archduchy of Upper and Lower Austria, will stand by
each other with aid and assistance.]
+ The article is given by Ribini, v. 358.
36
gained by aggressive, defensive measures
procured for the Bohemians. From the very
first, Rudolf was forced to consent to great
concessions, in order, in some degree, to make
head against his brother. After the high pri-
vileges acquired from the latter by Hungary
and Austria, the emperor, on his part, could
not deny the demands of the Bohemians, not-
withstanding all the papal nuncio and the
Spanish ambassador could urge in objection.
He bestowed on them the imperial letter,
which not only renewed the old concessions
made by Maximilian II., but also sanctioned
the establishment of a special magistracy for
their protection.
The aspect of affairs in the hereditary do-
minions of the imperial house, and that of the
rest of Germany, now suddenly assumed a
marked contrast. The Union spread widely
in Germany, and vigilantly repulsed every ag-
gression made by Catholicism. In the Aus-
trian provinces, the estates had wrought out
their old claims into the shape of a well con-
structed constitutional power. The difference
between the two cases was not inconsiderable.
In the empire, Catholicism had again filled
the territories of the catholic princes ; it was
not till it proceeded to ulterior measures, not
till it interfered arbitrarily in matters pertain-
ing to the empire at large, and perilled the
existence of free estates, that it encountered
resistance. In the hereditary dominions it
was insuperably opposed by the strength of
protestant land-holders, even within the range
of the territorial prerogatives of the house of
Austria. On the whole, however, one com-
mon feeling actuated both divisions of the op-
position. Jn Austria, it was said, very signi-
ficantly, that one sword must be kept in the
scabbard by another.
For the other party too immediately put it-
self in an attitude for war. On the 11th of
July, 1609, a defensive league was made be-
tween Maximilian of Bavaria, and seven ec-
clesiastical lords, the bishop of VViirtzburg,
Constance, Augsburg, Passau, and Ratisbon,
the provost of Ellwagen and the abbot of
Kempten, by which, after the pattern of the
ancient treaty of Landsperg,* the duke of Ba-
varia was invested with extraordinary powers.
Ere long, the three spiritual electors joined
the league, retaining, however, a certain
degree of independence. The archduke Fer-
dinand wished to be admitted a member;
Spain declared its approval ; and the pope
promised to leave nothing undone to promote
the object of the confederacy. It is not to be
doubted that the pope, chiefly through Span-
ish influence, became gradually more and
* Maximilian makes mention of this treaty of Lands-
perg in an instruction to his ambassador to MainE: see
Wolf, ii. p. 470.
282
COUNTER REFORMATION. SECOND PERIOD, [a. d. 1590-1617.
more strongly engaged in the interests of this
league.*
Thus, two hostile parties stood forth against
each other, both armed, both in constant dread
of being surprised and attacked, and neither
capable of bringing matters to a decisive crisis
It necessarily followed, that it was hence-
forth impossible to overcome any difficulty in
Germany, or to dispatch any afiair relating to
the common weal.
In the year 1611, a king of the Romans
should have been elected : the electors as-
sembled to no purpose: they could not come
to an agreement.
Even after the death of Rudolf in 1612, it
was long before a new election could be ef-
fected. The three temporal electors demanded
the establishment by the elective capitulation
of an aulic council equably constituted : the
three spiritual electors opposed this demand.
No election could have taken place, had it
not been that Saxony, which in all these mat-
ters manifested great deference to the house
of Austria, went over to the catholic side.
But what could not be carried in the elect-
oral council, was demanded with so much the
more impetuosity by the union of princes in
the diet of 1613, whilst the catholics resisted
them with equal determination. All delibe-
ration ceased ; the protestants would no long-
er submit to the yoke of the majority.
In Jiilich and Cleves, where in spite of the
vacillating views of the weak government of
the last native prince, strong measures for the
re-establishment of Catholicism had been at
last adopted through the influence of his wife,
a princess of the house of Lorraine, it seemed
for a while inevitable that protestantism should
gain the upper hand : the next heirs were
both protestants. But even here the principle
of religious disunion prevailed. One of the
protestant pretenders went over to Catholicism,
and upon this the parties divided. As they
recognized no supreme arbiter, they proceeded
to acts of violence in 1614. Aided, the one
party by Spanish, the other by Netherlandish
support, they each seized all they could lay
iheir hands on, and straightway reformed, af-
ter their own way, the portions that had fallen
to their several shares.
Attempts indeed were made at reconcila-
tion. An electoral diet was suggested but
the elector palatine would not hear of it, be-
cause he had no confidence in his colleague of
Saxony : again a general diet of composition
was proposed ; but the catholic estates had
innumerable objections to make to this. Others
looked to the emperor, and advised him to sup-
port his authority, and his dignity by an im-
posing muster of troops. But what could have
been expected of Matthias, who by tlie very
* The documenls on this subject have not been publish-
ed : for the present we may not rest aalisfied with the as-
sertions of the Venetian ambassador.
origin of his authority belonged to both parties,
and who, crippled by the clogs he had imposed
on himself, could display no independent
energy.
The pope complained loudly of him, declared
him unfit to occupy so high a station in such
times, remonstrated with him in the strongest
language, and only wondered that the empe-
ror took it as he did. Subsequently the catho-
lics were not so-dissatisfied with Matthias.
Even the zealots among them declared that
he had proved more serviceable to their church
than they could ever have expected. But in
the affairs of the empire he was altogether
impotent. In the year 1617, he made an at-
tempt to dissolve the two leagues ; but the
Union immediately gathered fresh strength,
and the League was re-constructed with in-
creased vigour.
Nunciature in Switzerland.
A conditionof equilibrium, such as had long
existed in Switzerland, had now become es-
tablished upon a more peaceful basis.
The independence of the several portions of
the Swiss confederacy had long been pro-
nounced: it was not competent to the general
diets to entertain any mention whatever of re-
ligious matters. In the beginning of the
seventeenth century, the catholics had quite
abandoned all hope of mastering the protest-
ants ; the latter were not only the richer and
more powerful party, but they had also among
them abler and more practically experienced
men.*
The nuncios, who fixed their abode in Lu-
cern, were under no illusion on this point ; it
is even to them we owe the delineation of this
state of things. Yet notwithstanding their
sphere of operation was thus limited, they
still maintained a highly important position
in the midst of the catholics.
Their foremost care was to hold the bishops
strictly to their duty.f The bishops of Ger-
* tnformatione mandaladel Sr. Card'. d'Aquinoa Monsr.
Feliciano vescovo di Folieno per il paese de' Suizzeri e
Grisoni (IntT. Politl. ix.) adds liliewise : " Li canloni cat-
tolici sino a questi tempi sono tenuli piu bellicosi che i
cantoni herelici, ancora che quelli siano piu potenti di
genti al doppio e di denari : ma hoggi li caltolici si mos-
trano tanto affetlionali e mutati de quelli antichi Suizzeri
che se non fosse particolare gratia del Signore, huniana-
menie parlando, poco o veruno avvantaggio haverebbero
questi sopra gli avversarii heretici, e non sarebbe sicuro
senza ajuto straniero il venira rottura con essi, oltre che
li medesimi prolestante hanno persone piu dotle, pratti-
che, giudiciose e potenti in ogni alTare." [The catholic
cantons have continued to these times more warlike than
the heretic Cuntons, although these have twice the popu-
lation and more wealth : but now a days the catholics are
BO changed and degenerated from the character of the
Swiss of old, that if it were not the Lord's peculiar grace,
humanly speaking, they would have little or no advantage
over their enemies, the heretics; nor could they safely
venture upon a rupture with them without foreign aid,
considering, moreover, that the protestants number among
them persons of more learning, practical experience,
judgment, and ability in every matter.]
t Relatione della nuntialura de' Suizzeri : " L'esperi-
enza mi ha mostrato che per far frulto nella nuntiatura
A. D. 1590-1617.]
NUNCIATURE IN SWITZERLAND.
283
man race were fond of regarding themselves
as princes: the nuncios were incessant in
their representations to them that they owed
that rank only to their special calling-, the
high responsibilities of which tliey constantly
urged upon them. We find indeed a very
lively spirit animating the Swiss church.
Visitations were held, synods appointed, con-
vents reformed, and seminaries established.
The nuncios endeavoured to keep up a good
understanding between the spiritual and sec-
ular authority, and in this they succeeded
tolerably well by gentleness and persuasion.
They were enabled to prevent the importation
of protestant books, though they were obliged
to resign themselves to the people's retaining
their bibles and their German prayer books.
The Jesuits and Capuchins laboured with
great success. Confraternities of the Blessed
Virgin were founded, including old and young ;
preaching and the confessional were zealously
attended, pilgrimages to miracle-working im-
ages were again in vogue, and it even be-
came necessary at times to mitigate the se-
verities which some devotees inflicted on them-
selves.* The nuncios were unbounded in
their praise of the services rendered them.
Conversions of course were effected. The
nuncios took up the converts, supported and
recommended them, and endeavoured to es-
tablish funds from the contributions of the
faithful, to be employed under the direction
of prelates for the benefit of their proselytes.
Occasionally they succeed in recovering ju-
risdictions that had been lost, and then the
mass was renewed with all speed. In this
the bishop of Basel and the abbot of St. Gall
displayed distinguished zeal.
All these efforts of the nuncios were greatly
furthered by the circumstance, that the king
of Spain had made for himself a party in catho-
lic Switzerland. The adherents of Spain, for
instance, the Lusi in Unterwalden, the Amli
in Lucern, the Biihler in Schwyz, and so forth,
were also usually the most devoted of all to
non 6 bene che i nuntii si ingerischino nelle> cose che
possono fare i vescovi eche speltanoagli ordinarii,se non
in sussidio e con vera necessity. : perch6 metlendosi mano
ad ogni cosa inditferentemente non solo essi vescovi se
sdegnano, ma si oppongono spesse volti e rendono vana
ogni fatica del minislro apostolico, ollre che C contro la
mente di monsignore e delli canoni che si mella mano
nella messe aliena, mandandoli i nunlii per ajutare e
non per dislniggere I'autoriia. degli ordinarii." [Report
of the Swiss nunciature: Experience has shown me that
to obtain useful results from the nunciature, it is not ad-
visable that the nuncios should interfere in matters which
may be transacted by the bishops, and which belong to
the ordinaries, except in the way of assistance, and in
case of real necessity; for the consequence of their put-
ting their hands to everything inditTerently is, that the
bishops take offence, and often oppose and frustrate every
effort of the apostolic minister; besides which his ex-
cellency's sentiments and the canons are against med-
dling with another's harvest, the nuncios being sent to
aid, not to destroy, the authority of the ordinaries. 1
* An example is given in Liter* AnnuseSoiietatis Jesu,
1596, p. 187. " Blodus tamen rigidoilli jeiunio est a con-
fesaario adhibitus." [Such rigorous fasiiiig waa modera-
ted, however, by the confessor.]
the Roman see. The nuncios failed not to
foster that disposition with all their might.
They complied with every conceivable claim
of courtesy; they listened patiently to the
longest and most wearying discourses, were
no niggardsof titles, and professed themselves
intense admirers of the ancient deeds of the
nation, and of the wisdom of the republican
institutions. They found it particularly neces-
sary to keep their friends together by means of
regularly recurring entertainments; they even
replied to every invitation, every mark of re-
spect made to them with a present. Presents
were here found peculiarly efiBcacious : he who
v/as named a knight of the golden spur, and re-
ceived in addition to the honour a gold chain
or medal, felt himself bound to them forever.
All they had to guard against was promising
more than they could perform ; if they per-
formed more than they promised so much the
better. It was necessary that their domestic
economy should always be well ordered, and
allow no room for censure.
Thus it happened that the catholic interests,
even in Switzerland, in general attained a
fair state of prosperity and smooth progress.
There was only one point where the dis-
crepancies between catholics and protestants,
coinciding in one and the same district with
an unsettled condition of politics, might occa-
sion danger and strife.
In the Grisons the government was essen-
tially protestant, while among their depend-
encies the Italian, especially Valtellina, were
unshakably catholic.
Hence arose interminable bickerings. The
government tolerated no foreign priest in the
valley ; and had even forbidden the inhabitants
to send their children abroad to a foreign
school ; it had prohibited the bishop of Como,
in whose diocese Valtellina lay, from dis-
charging his episcopal functions there. On
the other hand, the natives beheld with great
dissatisfaction protestants residing in their
country, and that too as lords and masters ;
they clung with secret attachment to the
Italians, to orthodox Milan, and their zeal was
constantly kept warm by a succession of young
theologians from the Collegium Helveticum,
in which alone six places were reserved for
the Valtelline.*
Now this state of things was the more per-
ilous, since France, Spain, and Venice, were
labouring with all their might, each to estab-
lish a party in the Grisons : these parties not
unfrequently came to open violence, and drove
each other from their places. In the year
1607 the Spanish party first, the Venetian
immediately afterwards, seized possession of
Coire. The former broke the league, the
* Relatione della nuntiatura; "II collegio Elvetico di
Milano 6 di gran giovamenlo, et 6 la salute in parlicolare
della V;il Telina,'che quanti preti ha, sono soggetli di
dettocoUegio, e quasi tutii Uotioraii in theologia."
COUNTER REFORMATION. SECOND PERIOD, [a. d. 1590-1617,
284
latter restored it. The Spanish party had
catholic, the Venetian protestant sympathies,
and in accordance with these the whole policy
of the country was shaped. The main ques-
tion now was with which party would France
side. The French had their pensioners
throughout all Switzerland, not only in the
cathofic, but also in the protestant cantons,
and they possessed an ancient influence in
the Orisons. About the year 1612, they de-
clared for the catholic interest; the nuncio
succeeded in gaining their friends for Rome :
the Venetian alliance was even formally dis-
solved.
These party feuds would merit of themselves
but little attention, but they acquired a higher
importance from tlie fact, that upon them de-
pended the opening or the closing of the
Orison passes for the one or the other of the
great powers. We shall see that their
weight affected the balance, in which hung
the general relations of European politics and
religion.
Regeneration of Catholicism in France.
The question of most moment at this junc-
ture is, what was the general position assumed
by France with respect to religion ?
The first glance shows us that the pro-
testants were still in great strength in that
country.
Henry IV. had granted them the edict of
Nantes, whereby not only were they confirm-
ed in the possession of the churches actually
in their hands, but they had also conferred
upon them a share in the public educational
institutions, equality with the catholics as re-
garded the composition of the chambers of
parliament, and the occupation of a great
number of fortified places ; and in general
they were allowed a degree of independence,
of which it might well be questioned, whether
it was consistent v/ith the idea of a state.
About the year 1600, there were reckoned
seven hundred and sixty parishes of French
protestants, all well ordered : four thousand
of the nobility belonged to that confession,
and it was computed that they could bring
with ease twenty-five thousand men into the
field, and possessed about two hundred forti-
fied places : a power capable of exacting
respect, and not to be assailed with impu-
nity.*
But close by them and opposed to them,
there rose at the same moment another
power, the corporation of the catholic clergy
of France.
The great possessions of the French clergy,
gave them a certain degree of intrinsic inde-
pendence which was made obvious and palpa-
* Badoer: Relatione di Francia, 1605.
ble when they took upon themselves a part of
the public debt.*
For their obligation in this respect was not
so involuntary, as not to require that it should
from time to time be renewed with the forms
of a freewill act.
Under Henry IV., the meetings which
were held to this end, acquired a more regu-
lar form. They were to be renewed every
ten years, to take place each time in May
when the days are long, and allow of the
transaction of much business. Lesser meet-
ings were to be held every two years to pass
accounts.
It was not to be expected that these meet-
ings, especially the greater ones, should con-
fine themselves to their mere financial objects.
The fulfilment of these was enough to give
them courage for wider purposes. In the
years 1595 and 1596, they resolved to renew
the provincial councils, to withstand the inter-
ference of the civil jurisdiction in matters
pertaining to spiritual functions, and to per-
mit no simony ; and what was of still more
moment, the king after some wavering gave
his sanction to these determinations.! It was
customary for the clergy to make general
representations in relation to churches and
church discipline. The king could not pos-
sibly withhold his attention from these, and
they never failed to produce new concessions.
At their next meeting the first inquiry entered
into by the clergy was, whether their sug-
gestions had been carried into effect.
Henry's position was thus very peculiar,
placed as he was between two corporations,
both possessed of a certain independence,
both holding their meetings at certain stated
times, and then besetting him with conflicting
representations, which he could not well op-
pose, whether coming from the one side or
from the other.
His general intention undoubtedly was, to
maintain an equilibrium between them both,
and not suffer them again to come in collision
with each other ; but if we a^k to which of
the two he was the more inclined, and which
of them he more actively promoted, the an-
swer is, manifestly the catholic party, al-
* In the M^moires du clerg6 de France, torn. ix. — Re-
cueil des conlrats passes par le cleig6 avec les rois — are
to be found the documents relating to this matter from the
year 15G1. In the convocation of Poisy in that year, the
clergy took upon itself to pay not only the interest but the
capital of a considerable portion of the public debt. The
payment of the capital did not lake place, but the obliga-
tion to pay the interest remained. The debts answered
for by the clergy were principally those contracted by
the Hotel de Ville of Paris, and the interest accrued to
that city ; a fixed rent was yearly paid it by the clergy.
We perceive why Paris, even had it not been so thoroughly
catholic, could never have been brought to consent to the
ruin of the clergy, and the destruction of church property
which was mortgaged to itself
t Relation des principales choses qui ont est<5 resolues
dans I'assejnbl^e generale du clerg6 tenue & Paris les
ann6es 1595 el 1596 envoy6e k toutea les dioceses. M6ni-
oires du clerg6, torn, viii., p. 6.
A. D. 1590-1617.] REGENERATION OF CATHOLICISM IN FRANCE.
though his own rise had been due to the pro-
testant.
Henry's gratitude was not a whit stronger
than his vindictiveness : he was more bent on
gaining new friends, than on rewarding and
favouring his old ones.
Had not the protestants, in fact, found it
necessary to extort the edict of Nantz from
him ] He granted it to them only at the mo-
ment when he was pressed by the forces of
Spain, and when the protestants, too, had put
themselves in a very warlike attitude.* The
use they made of their immunities corres-
ponded with the mode in which they had won
them. They constituted themselves into a
republic, over which the king had but little
influence ; and from time to time they even
talked of seeking for themselves some foreign
protector.
The clergy, on the contrary, attached
themselves to the king ; they asked for no aid,
but bestowed it ; their independence could
not become formidable, since the king held in
his own hand the nomination to vacancies.
In so far as the position of the Huguenots im-
posed restrictions, as it manifestly did, on the
royal authority, the extension of the latter
was clearly identified with the progress of
Catholicism. f
As early as the year 1598, the king de-
clared to the clergy, that it was his purpose
to make the catholic church once more as
flourishing as it had been in the preceding
century : all he asked of them was patience
and confidence ; Paris had not been built in a
day-t
The rights of the concordat were now ex-
ercised in a totally different manner from that
of former times : benefices were no longer
bestowed on women and children ; in the col-
lation to ecclesiastical posts the king looked
narrowly to learning, mental disposition, and
exemplary conduct.
" In all outward things," says a Venetian,
" he shows himself personally devoted to the
Roman catholic religion, and averse to her
opponent."
It was this feeling that prompted him to
recall the Jesuits. He thought that their
zeal would surely contribute to the re-estab-
* This appears beyond question from the account given
by Benoist, Hisloire de I'^dit de Nantes, i. 185.
fNiccolo Contarini : " II re, se ben andava temporeggi-
ando con le parti, e li suoi ministri e consiglieri fussero
deir una e I'altra religione, pur sempre piii si moslrava
alienarsi dagli Ugonotti e desiderale niinori : la ragione
principal era perche tenendo essi per li edilti di piace
molte piazze nelle loro mani, dellequali bentrentaerano
di niolto momento, senza di queste li pareva non essere
assolutamenle re del suo regno." [Although the king
temporized with the parties, and though his ministers
and councillors were of both religions, nevertheless he
seemed constantly to become more alienated from the
Huguenots, and to wish for their reduction : the principal
reason was, that the edict of pacification havihg put many
places into their hands, of which fully thirty were of
much moment, the king seemed to himself without these
not to be absolutely king of his own realm.]
t Memoires du clerg6, torn. xiv. p. 259.
285
lishment of Catholicism, and thereby to the
enlargement likewise of the royal authority,
in the light in which he now contemplated
it.*
Yet all this would have availed but little,
had not the internal regeneration of the catho-
lic church already at this period made vast
progress in France. Within the first twenty
years of that century it had assumed a new
form. Let us cast a glance at this change,
especially as regards the renewal of monastic
discipline, which was its most characteristic
feature.
Great zeal was displayed in the reformation
of the old orders, — the Dominicans, Francis-
cans, and Benedictines.
The sisterhoods vied with them in zeal.
The Feuillantines practised such exaggerated
penances, that it is said fourteen of them per-
ished thereby in one week; the pope was
obliged to admonish them to mitigate the
austerity of their discipline.! Community of
goods, silence and vigils, were again intro-
duced in Port Royal, and the mystery of the
eucharist was adored there day and nightj
The nuns of Calvary observed the rules of
St. Benedict in all their rigour ; by incessant
prayer before the cross, they sought to make
a sort of expiation for the outrages offered by
the protestants to the tree of life.^
At that time St. Theresa had, in a some-
what different spirit, reformed the order of
the Carmelites in Spain. She, too, enjoined
the strictest seclusion ; she strove to resist
even the visits of relations at the grating,
and even the confessor was subject to inspec-
tion. Still she did not regard austerity as the
aim and end of monastic institutions. She
sought to elicit a condition of the soul attuned
to a nearer harmony with the Divine nature.
She now found that no seclusion from the
world, no self-denial, no discipline of the
mind, was sufficient to keep the votary within
the needful bonds, unless some further help
was added; and this she sought in work,
plain household occupation and female handi-
work,— the salt that preserves the soul of
woman from corruption, the guardian that
shuts the door against unprofitable wandering
thoughts. But this work, as she further di-
rected, was not to be costly or curious, or to
be set for an appointed time ; it was not to be
of a kind to busy the mind. Her object was
* "Per abbassamento del quale (del partite degli Ugo-
notti) s'imagint) di poter dar gran colpo col richiamar li
Gesuiti, pensando anco in questa nianiera di toglier la
radice a molte congiure." [He thought he could strike a
great blow towards lowering the Huguenot party by call-
ing back the Jesuits, and that he would hereby also eradi-
cate many conspiracies.] He made answer to the P^"'*"
ments, let but his life be secured, and the exile of the
Jesuits should never cease.
t Helyot : Histoires des ordres monastiques, v., p. 41-4.
t Felibien : Histoire de Paris, ii. 1339 : a work generally
valuable as regards the history of this restoration, and in
many places grounded on original authorities.
§ La vie du veritable pere Josef, p. 53. 73.
286
COUNTER REFORMATION. SECOND PERIOD, [a. d. 1590-1617.
to promote the tranquillity of a soul conscious
of its existence in God, — " a soul," as she
says, " that ever lives as though it stood be-
fore the face of God, that knows no pain but
that of not enjoying his presence." She de-
sired to produce what she calls the prayer of
love, " in which the soul forgets itself, and
hears the heavenly Master's voice."* This
was an enthusiasm which, in her at least, vv^as
pure, noble, and unaffected, and it made the
greatest impression on the whole catholic
world. It was very soon admitted in France,
that something more was needful than mere
penitential practices. Piere Berulle was spe-
cially deputed to visit the order in Spain, and
he at last succeeded, though not without diffi-
culty, in propagating it in France, where it
very soon took root, and bore the fairest
fruit.
The monasteries founded by Frangois de
Sales were also of this milder character. In
all his occupations de Sales used to comport
himself vi^ith cheerful serenity of soul, with-
out painful effort or hurry. VVith his associ-
ate. Mere Chantal, he founded the order of
Visitation, expressly for such as were forbid-
den, by the delicacy of their bodily constitu-
tion, from entering the more austere commu-
nities. In his rules, he not only avoided all
direct penance, and dispensed them from per-
formance of severer duties, but he warned
also against all inward aspirations. " We
must," he said, " place ourselves simply, and
without overcurious pondering, in the sight of
God, and not to desire to enjoy more than He
is pleased to vouchsafe ; pride readily beguiles
us under the guise of religious rapture ; our
vvalk must be only in the common path of the
virtues." For this reason he enjoined upon
his nuns the care of the sick as their foremost
duty. The sisters were always to go abroad
two by two, a superior and an associate, and
visit the needy sick in their dwellings.
Works and labours of love are our best
prayers, was the maxim of Frangois de Sales.f
His order exercised a beneficent influence
over all France.
It is easy to perceive in this course of
things a progress from austerity to modera-
tion, from extacy to calmness, from ascetical
seclusion to the fulfilment of social duties.
The Ursuline nuns, whose fourth vow it is
to devote themselves to the instruction of
young girls,— a vow they fulfilled with admi-
rable zeal, — had already been received in
France.
* Diego de Yepes : Vitadella gloriosa vergine S. Ter-
esa di Giesu, fondatrice de' carmeliiani Scalzi, Roma,
1623, p. 303. Constituzioni principali, § 3, p. 208. The
Exclamaciones o medilaciones de S. Teresa, con algunos
otros iraladillos, Brusselas, 1682, exhibit an enthusiasm
almost too highly pitched for our taste.
■f E. g. in Gallitia: Leben des h. Franz von Sales, ii.
285. Rut his sentiments are most clearly and most pleas-
ingly puuitrayed in his own works, particularly in his
Introduction to a devotional life.
A similar spirit, as might of course be ex-
pected, was also in vigorous activity among
the religious communities for men.
Jean Baptiste Romillon, who till his 26th
year had borne arms against Catholicism, but
who then became a convert to that faith,
founded, in conjunction with a friend of simi-
lar views, the order of the Fathers of Chris-
tian Doctrine, which established a new-mo-
delled system of elementary instruction in
France.
We have already made mention of Berulle,
one of the most distinguished ecclesiastics of
France in those times. From his earliest
youth he had manifested a hearty zeal to fit
himself for the service of the church : to that
end he had daily, as he said, kept before him
" the truest and most intimate thought of his
heart," which was " to strive after the great-
est perfection." Perhaps the difficulty he
experienced in this task may have had some
share in impressing him with the paramount
necessity of an institution for the education of
clergymen with an immediate view to the
service of the church. He took Philip Neri
for his example, and like him he established
priests of the oratory. He permitted no vows,
and only imposed simple obligations : he had
sufficient largeness of mind to allow that
every one who did not discover in himself the
requisite cast of mind should be at liberty to
retire. His institution had great success : its
mildness attracted pupils even of higher rank ;
and ere long Berulle found himself at the head
of a brilliant body of able and docile youth.
Episcopal seminaries and high schools were
entrusted to him; a new and lively spirit
animated the clergy formed in his institution.
It gave to the world a host of eminent preach-
ers ; from its day was determined the charac-
ter of the French pulpit.*
Can we in this place omit mentioning the
congregation of St. Maur? The French
Benedictines, in adhering to the reformation
of that order effected in Lorraine, added to
their other obligations that of devoting them-
selves to the education of the young nobility
and to the pursuits of learning. At the very
commencement of this change appeared among
them that justly famous man, Nicolas Hugo
Menard, who gave their studies that bent
towards ecclesiastical antiquities, to which we
are indebted for so many noble works.f
Mary of Medici had already introduced into
France the Brothers of Mercy ; an order
founded by that indefatigable minister to the
sick, Johannes a Deo, a Portuguese, to whom
a Spanish bishop had given that by-name in a
moment of admiration. In France the order
adopted still stricter rules, but its success was
so much the greater. Within a short space
* Tabaraud: Histoire de Pierre de Berulle, Paris, 1817.
t Filipe le Cerf: Bibliolhequehisloriqueet critique des
auleurs de le congregation de S. Maur, p. 355.
A. D. 1617-1623.] REGENERATION OF CATHOLICISM IN FRANCE.
287
of time we find thirty hospitals established
by it.*
But what a task it is to remodel the reli-
gion of a whole kingdom, — to give a new
direction to its faith and doctrine ! In the
more sequestered regions, among the rural
population, and even among the parish priests,
the old abuses were still in many places in
full operation. At last, amidst the general
religious excitement, appeared likewise the
great missionary of the common people, Vin-
cent de Paul, who founded the congregation
of the Mission, the members of which, passing
from place to place, served to spread the
devotional spirit into the remotest corners of
the land. Vincent was himself the son of a
peasant, — humble, full of zeal and practical
good sense.f To him also is due the estab-
lishment of the order of the Sisters of Charity,
in which the more delicate sex, at an age
when its hopes might naturally be fixed on
domestic happiness or worldly splendour, de-
votes itself to the service of the sick, often of
the reprobate, without being permitted to give
outwardly more than a passing expression to
the religious feelings that prompt to all this
earnest labour.
Efforts like these for the nurture and in-
struction of the young, the teaching of the
pulpit, encouragement of sound learning, and
the exercise of benevolence, have happily
been ever renewed in Christian countries.
No where can they succeed without the union
of manifold powers with religious enthusiasm.
Elsewhere, their cultivation was left to each
successive generation, to the promptings of
present necessity : but here it was sought to
give an unalterable basis to the associations
for these purposes, an established form to the
religious impulses directed towards them; and
this, in order to devote them all to the service
of the church, and insensibly to mould the
minds of future generations to the same shape
and bent.
The most important results were soon
manifested in France. Even in the reign of
Henry IV. the protestants felt themselves
crippled and endangered by the searching
and extensive activity of their antagonists :
for a while they ceased to make any progress,
and ere long they began to experience losses:
already under Henry IV., they complain that
desertion from their ranks had begun.
And yet Henry was constrained by the very
nature of his policy to deal favourably with
them, and to reject the suggestions of the
pope, such, for instance, as his proposal, that
they should be excluded from all public offices.
* Approbatio coneregationis fralrum Johannis Dei, 1572.
Kal. Jan. (Bullar. Cocquel. iv. Ill, 190.)
+ Slolberg: Leben des heiligen Vincentius von Paulus.
Munsler, 1818. Honest Stolberg, however, should not
have looked on his hero in the light of'einen Mann
durch den Franlcreich erneuert ward" (p. 6. p. 399) [A
man by whom France was regenerated.]
But this line of policy was abandoned under
Mary of Medici ; a much closer connexion
was formed with Spain, and a decidedly ca-
tholic spirit predominated in all public affaira
domestic and foreign. That spirit ruled both
at court and in the assemblies of the estates.
The first two estates expressly demanded in
the year 1614, not only the publication of the
system of Trent, but even the restoration of
church property in Beam.
It was highly fortunate for the preservation
of those protestant institutions which were
likewise fostered with a lively zeal, that the
party of their defenders was still so strong,
and its attitude so martial. When the govern-
ment coalesced with the adversaries of the
protestants, the latter found support and help
at the hands of powerful malcontents, of whom
there never has been, and never will be a lack
in that country. Some space of time yet
elapsed before their enemies could directly
assail them.
CHAPTER II,
GENERAL WAR, — TRIUMPH OF CATHOLICISM.
1617—1623.
Breaking out of war.
However various may have been the cir-
cumstances of which we have traced the
growth, they all nevertheless coincide in one
grand result. On all sides Catholicism had
made powerful strides ; on all sides too it had
encountered vigorous resistance. In Poland
it was unable to master its opponents, because
they were invincibly backed by their neigh-
bours. In Germany a close knit opposition
had thrown itself in the way of the advancing
creed and of the returning priesthood. The
king of Spain had been constrained to grant
the Netherlands a truce, which was very
nearly tantamount to a formal recognition.
The French Huguenots were provided against
every attack by means of fortresses, troops
well equipped for war, and pertinent financial
arrangements. In Switzerland the balance
of parties had long been established, and
even regenerated Catholicism was unable to
shake it.
Europe has parted into two worlds, at every
point mutually encompassed, restricted, re-
pulsed and assailed.
If we institute a general comparison be-
tween them, we are struck in the first place,
by an appearance of far greater unity on the
catholic side. We know indeed, that it was
not without its internal animosities, but these
now for the first time mitigated. Above all,
,there subsisted a good, nay a confidential
understanding between France and Spain ;
288
COUNTER REFORMATION. SECOND PERIOD, [a. d. 1617-1623.
for the occasional outbreak of the old ill-will
of Venice or Savoy was not of much weight ;
even such formidable attempts as the conspi-
racy against Venice passed off without any
violent shock. Pope Paul V., after the severe
lessons taught him by his first experience,
remained quiet and moderate ; he found means
to uphold peace between the catholic powers,
and from time to time he gave an impulse to
the common policy. The protestants, on the
contrary, had not only no common centre, but
since the death of Elizabeth of England, and
the accession of James I., who observed a
rather ambiguous policy, they had not even a
leader. Lutherans and Calvinists stood op-
posed to each with a mutual ill-will that
necessarily led to opposite political measures.
And even the Calvinists again were divided
among themselves; episcopalians and puri-
tans, Arminians and Gomarists, assailed each
other with fierce hatred. In the assembly of
the Huguenots at Saumar in 1611 a rupture
occurred, which it was never afterwards pos-
sible entirely to heal.
Certainly this difference is not to be ascribed
to a less vivacity in the religious movements
on the catholic side ; the very contrary is
apparent. The fact is rather to be imputed
to the following cause. Catholicism knew
nothing of that energy of exclusive doctrine
which ruled over protestantism ; there were
important controversies which the former left
undecided ; enthusiasm, mysticism, and that
profounder habit of feeling, scarce admitting
of being shaped into the more palpable form
of thought, which ever arises from time to
time as the necessary product of religious
tendencies, had been adopted by Catholicism,
reduced to rule, and made serviceable under
the forms of monastic asceticism, whilst on
the contrary they were rejected, condemned,
and repudiated by protestantism. For this
very reason, such feelings thus left to them-
selves among the protestants, manifested
themselves in the shape of numerous sects,
and struck out their own paths with partial
views but in uncontrolled freedom.
It accords with these facts, that literature
in general had assumed much more shapeli-
ness and regularity on the catholic side. It
may be laid down that the modern classic
forms were first established in Italy under the
auspices of the church : in Spain an approach
was made to them as far as was permitted by
the genius of the nation ; and a similar pro-
cess was already begun in France, where it
afterwards was so actively developed, and
produced such brilliant results. Malherbe
arose ; he who first voluntarily submitted to
rules, and deliberately rejected all license,*
* Respecting Malherbe's genius, and his style of wri-
ting, new and valuable additions to tlie poet's biography
have been made by Racan in the M6moires or rather
Historiettes de Tallemeni des Reaux, published by Mon-
inerqu6, 1834, i. p. 195.
and who gave new cogency to the monarchi-
cal and catholic sentiments that inspired him,
by the epigrammatic precision, and the some-
what prosaic but characteristically French
popularity and elegance of the language in
which he expressed them. Among the Ger-
man nations this classical tendency failed to
obtain sway in those days, even on the catho-
lic side; its first action was only on Latin
poetry, in which, however, it sometimes look-
ed like parody, and that even in the works of
so able a writer as Balde. All compositions
in the vernacular tongue retained the simple
expression of nature. Now there was still
less possibility of the imitation of the ancients
gaining ground among the protestants of the
German stock. Shakespeare set before men's
eyes the import and spirit of romantic litera-
ture in imperishable forms, the spontaneous
productions of a mind to which history and
antiquity were but as handmaids. From the
workshop of a German shoemaker* issued
poems darkling, shapeless, and unfathomable,
but with irresistible power of fascination,
poems marked with German depth of feeling,
and a religious view of the world and of na-
ture that have never been equalled, — sponta-
neous offsprings of nature.
I will not, however, attempt to poutray the
contrasts of these two opposite intellectual
worlds ; in order to their full comprehension,
we ought to have devoted more attention to
the protestant side. Let it be allowed me
to bring forward one particular that had an
immediate influence in determining the course
of events.
The monarchical tendency was now para-
mount in Catholicism. Ideas of popular rights,
of legitimate opposition to the sovereign, of
the sovereignty of the people, and of the law-
fulness of regicide, such as had been vehe-
mently maintained thirty years before even by
zealous catholics, were no longer in fashion.
There was now no notable contest between a
catholic population and a protestant prince :
even James I. v/as borne with, and the old
theories found no application. It followed
from this that the religious principle became
more closely linked with the dynastical one,
and the union, if 1 mistake not, was further
promoted by the circumstance that there was
a certain personal superiority on the side of
the catholic princes : such at least was cer-
tainly the case in Germany. In that country
still lived the aged bishop Julius of VViirz-
burg, the first who had there attempted a
thorough measure of counter-reformation ;
elector Schweikard of Mainz filled the office
of arch-chancellor, with talents quickened by
warm and hearty interest in public affairs,
and once more greatly extended its credit and
efficacy ;t both the other Rhenish electors
* Hans Sachs.
i Montorio; Relatione dlGermania, 1624: "Dicostumi
A. D. 1617-1623.]
BREAKING OUT OF WAR.
289
were resolute active men ; by their side stood
the manly, sagacious, indefatigable Maximilian
of Bavaria, an ableadministrator, full of enlarg-
ed and grand designs of policy, and archduke
Ferdinand, invincible in the strength of the
faith he clung to with all the ardour of a vig-
orous soul. Almost all these men had been
educated by Jesuits, who still found means to
stir the minds of their pupils to great impulses :
they were reformers too in their way, and it
was they who had laboriously, and by force of
mind, brought about the existing state of things.
The protestant princes, on the contrary,
were rather inheritors than founders: they
were already the third or fourth generation.
Only in some few among them was seen, I
will not say energy and strength of mind, but
ambition and restlessness.
On the other hand, manifest tendencies to
republicanism, or at least to aristocratic free-
dom, appeared among the protestants. In
many places in France, in Poland, and in all
the Austrian dominions, a powerful nobility of
protestant persuasion was at open war with
the government authorities. What might be
gained in such a contest, was brilliantly evi-
denced by the republic of the Netherlands,
which was daily increasing in prosperity.
Unquestionably the thought was then enter-
tained in Austria, of throwing off the yoke of
the reigning house, and constituting the coun-
try a republic on the model of Switzerland or
the Low Countries. The success of such a
project promised the estates of the German
empire the only chance of again acquiring
high importance, and they took part in it with
vivacity. The internal constitution of the
Huguenot body was already republican, and
even with a mixture of democracy. This
latter spirit was also arrayed in the persons
of the English puritans against a protestant
king. There is a small work extant of an
imperial ambassador at the court of Paris in
those days, in which the attention of European
potentates is earnestly drawn to the common
danger that threatened them from the ad-
vancement of such a spirit.*
The catholic world was at this period unani-
mous, classical, monarciiical ; the protestant
divided, romantic, republican.
In the year 1617, every thing was ripe for
a decided conflict between the two. The
catholic party, it seems, felt its own superio-
gravi, molto iniento alle cose del governo cogi spirituale
come temporale, mollo bene affello verso il servigio di
cotesta Santa sede,desideroso del progressodella religione,
uno de' prirai prelali della Gennania." [A man of serious
habits, very intent on the affairs of government both spiri-
tual and temporal, very well disposed towards the service
of that holy see, desirous of the progress of religion, one of
the first prelates of Germany.]
* Advis sur les causes des mouvemenls de I'Europe,
envoy6 aux rois et princes pour la conservation de leurs
royaumes et principaut^s, fail par Messer. Al. Cunr. baron
de Fridembourg et present^ au roy trfis chrestien par le
comte de Furstemberg ainbassadeur de I'empereur. In-
sened in the Mercure Francois, torn. ix. p. 342.
37
rity ; it is not to be disputed that it was the
first aggressor.
On the 15th of June, 1617, there was issued
in France an edict, long demanded by the
catholic clergy, but which the court had al-
ways refused to grant, in its awe of the power
of the Huguenots, and the high consideration
of their leaders, whereby the church property
in Beam was to be surrendered back. It was
obtained from Luines, who, though the protes-
tants counted on him at first,* had yet gra-
dually attached himself to the Jesuit or papal
party. Relying on this disposition of the head
of the government, the populace had already
here and there riotously attacked the protes-
tants, and sometimes at the summons of the
tocsin. The parliament also took part against
them.
The Polish prince Wladislaw once more
took up arms, in the confident expectation that
he should now make himself master of the
Russian throne. It was thought that his arma-
ment was made with a view also against
Sweden, and war was instantly resumed be-
tween Poland and Sweden.f
But by far the most important events were
ripening in the hereditary dominions of the
house of Austria. The archdukes had come
to a reconciliation and mutual understanding.
With the magnanimity often displayed by that
house in moments of peril, the other brother
surrendered in favour of archduke Ferdinand,
the pretensions that would naturally accrue
to them on the death of the emperor Matthias,
who had no issue ; and he was shortly after-
wards actually acknowledged heir to the
throne in Hungary and Bohemia. This was
in reality but an adjustment of personal claims ;
still it was pregnant with results important to
the general interests.
It was certainly not to be expected from a
man of Ferdinand's determined zeal, but that
he should forthwith seek to establish the su-
premacy of his own faith in his future domin-
ions, and then endeavour to bend their whole
strength towards the propagation of Catholi-
cism.
Here was a common danger, threatening
all the protestants in the Austrian dominions,
in Germany, and in Europe.
An opposition speedily arose out of this
* This appears among other proofs from a letter from
Duplessis Mornay, Saumur, April 26, 1617: "Sur ce coup
de majority," as he calls the murder of the mar^chal tf'
Ancre'. La vie de Du Plessis, p. 465.
t Hiiirn: Esih-Lyf-und Lettlandische Geschichte, p.
418. " The Swedes knew that the king of Poland had sent
his son 10 Russia with a powerful army, to the end that he
might surprise the fortresses which the Muscovites had
ceded to the Swedes, so that if the enterprize were suc-
cessful he might himself be the better enabled to attack
the kingdom of Sweden : for he had been promised aid
towards the reconqiiest of Sweden, both by the estates in
the Polish diet and by the liouse oi" Austria : therefore he
had bent all his thoughts on this matter more than on any
thing else."
290
COUNTER REFORMATION. SECOND PERIOD, [a. d. 1617-1623.
clanger, immediately affecting its cause. The
protestants, who set themselves in array
against the progress of Catholicism, were not
only provided for defence, but they had the
courage forthwith to change their tactics into
those of aggression.
The elements of European protestantism
were concentrated in the person of Frederick,
the elector palatine. His consort was the
daughter of the king of England, and niece of
the king of Denmark ; prince Maurice of
Orange was his uncle ; the duke de Bouillon,
the leader of the less peacefully inclined sec-
tion of the French Huguenots, was his nearest
relation. He himself stood at the head of
the German union. He was a grave prince,
who had sufficient self-command to abstain
from the bad habits then prevalent in the
German courts, and who made it much more
his care to fulfil his duties as a ruler, and dili-
gently to attend the sittings of his privy coun-
cil : he was of a somewhat melancholy dis-
position, proud, and full of lofty thoughts.* In
his father's time there were tables in the elec-
toral dining hall for councillors and nobles ;
Frederick caused them all to be removed, and
ate only with princes and persons of the
highest rank. A lively feeling of a great poli-
tical destiny was cherished at this court, which
industriously engaged in a thousand connex-
ions tending to far-sought views. So long a
time had elapsed since any serious war, that
no clear perception was entertained of what
might be achieved, of what the future might
have in store : the most extravagant projects
were indulged.
Such was the tone and temper of the court
of Heidelberg, when the Bohemians, who, im-
pelled especially by the threatened danger to
protestantism, had broken out into dissensions
with the house of Austria, that every day
grew more violent and implacable, resolved
to reject Ferdinand, although he already
possessed their promise, and to offer their crown
to the elector palatine.
Frederick pondered for a moment. It was
an unexampled thing, that a German prince
* Relatione di Germania, 1617: " Federico V. d'eti di
anni 20, di mezzana slalura, d'aspetlo grave, di nalura
malinconico, di carnaggione buona, uomo di alti pensieri,
e rare voile si rallegra, e coll' appoggio del accasamento
fallo con la figliuola del re d'Inghillerra e di altri parent!
e confederal! aspirarebbe a cose maggiori se segli appre-
Benlasse occasione a proposilo : onde essendo ben conos-
ciuio suo nalurale per il colonello di Scomburg gii suo ajo,
seppe cosi ben valersene, accomodandosi al suo umore,
che mentre visse fu piu d'ogni altro suo confidenie."
[Frederick V. is about iwenly years of age, of middle sta-
ture, of a grave countenance, of a melancholy disposition,
of good constitution, a man of lofty thoughts, and one who
rarely indulges in gaiety. Relying on the support afford-
ed him by his marriage with the daughter of the king of
England, and on that of other relations and confederates,
'he would aspire to higher things, were a favourable oppor-
tunity presented to him. His disposition being well
known to colonel Schomburg, formerly his tutor, the latter
made such good use of the knowledge, and so accommo-
dated himself to Frederick's humour, that, whilst the
colonel lived, he was more in his confidence than any one
Isee.J
should attempt to wrest from another the
crown that devolved on him by legitimate suc-
cession ! But all his friends, — Maurice, who
could not endure the truce with Spain ; the
duke of Bouillon; Christian von Anhalt, who
had reviewed the whole mechanism of Euro-
pean politics, and firmly believed that no one
would have the courage and the power to
gainsay the event when once accomplished, —
these, and all his most confidential advisers,
spurred him on. The immense prospect open-
ed to him, his ambition, and his zeal for reli-
gion, combined with these counsels to urge
his resolution, and he accepted the crown
(Aug. 1619). How vast must have been the
consequences, had he been able to retain it!
The power of the house of Austria in Eastern
Europe would have been broken, and the pro-
gress of Catholicism barred forever.
And already strong sympathies awoke on
his behalf in every quarter. In France a
general movement took place among the Hu-
guenots; the Bearnese opposed the royal
commands; the assembly of Loudun espoused
their cause ; nothing would have been more
welcome to the queen mother than to gain
over that warlike opposition to her own side ;
Rohan had already joined her, and promised
to bring over to her the rest of his co-religion-
ists. In the ever restless Grisons, too, the
Spanish catholic party had now been once
more put down, and the protestant had risen
on its fall. The court at Davos received with
pleasure the ambassador of the new king of
Bohemia, and promised him to keep the
passes of the Alps forever closed against the
Spaniards.*
It is well worthy of remark, that these
movements were likewise accompanied by
the display of republican tendencies. Not
only did the Bohemian estates maintain a nat-
ural independence towards their elected king,
but attempts were made to follow their ex-
ample in all the hereditary dominions of Aus-
tria. The estates of the German empire con-
ceived new hopes, and, in fact, the amplest
supplies of money Frederick received towards
his enterprise came to him from that quarter.
But precisely for these reasons, on the
double motives of religion and policy, the
catholic princes also now bestirred themselves
more than ever.
Maximilian of Bavaria, and Ferdinand, who
had had the good tbrtune to be chosen empe-
ror at this period, formed the strictest league
with each other ; the king of Spain armed and
prepared to afibrd effectual aid, and pope Paul
V. consented to contribute considerable and
very welcome subsidies.
As the wind sometimes in the stormy sea-
* Contemporaries fell the connexion of these events,
which in subsequent limes was no longer attended to.
Fiirstl. Auhallische Geh. Canzlei Fortsetzung, p. 6".
A. D. 1617-1623.]
GREGORY XV.
291
sons of the year shifts suddenly round, so the
current of fortune and success now all at once
turned back.
The catholics succeeded in gaining" over
the elector of Saxony, one of the most power-
ful protestant princes, but who, as a Lutheran,
cordially detested the movements which had
been set on foot by Calvinism.
This alone sufficed to inspire their rising in
the assured hope of victory. A single battle,
that of the Weiss Berg, fought on the 8th of
November, 1620, put an end to the power of
the elector palatine, and to all his projects.
For even the Union did not support its lead-
er with sufficient energy. It may very possi-
bly be, that the republican temper we have
spoken of may have alarmed the confederate
princes; they refused to open the Rhine to
the Dutch, fearing the analogies which their
constitution might awaken in Germany. The
catholics in Upper Germany likewise achieved
an instantaneous victory. The Upper Pala-
tinate was invaded by the Bavarians, the Low-
er by the Spaniards; and in April, 1621, the
Union was dissolved. All who bestirred them-
selves, or took up arms in favour of Frederick,
were driven out of the country or utterly
crushed. In a moment, immediately after the
greatest danger, the catholic principle was
omnipotent in Upper Germany, and in the
Austrian provinces.
Meanwhile a decisive struggle was com-
pleted in France likewise. After a success-
ful battle fought by the royal forces, against
the opposing court factions and the party of
the queen mother, with whom the Huguenots
were certainly in close correspondence,* the
papal nuncio insisted that the happy moment
should be seized for an enterprise against
protestantism in general. He would hear of
no postponement, asserting that whatever was
once postponed in France was forever aban-
doned ;t and he forced de Liiines and the king
to coincide in his views. The old factions of
the Beaumonts and the Grammonts, that had
been at feud for centuries, still subsisted in
Beam, and gave occasion to the king to make
continual incursions into the country, disband
its forces, annul its constitution, and restore
the ascendancy of the catholic church. True,
the protestants in France proper made a show
of seconding their co-religionists, but they
were beaten in the year 1621 in every quarter.
About this time Jacopo Robustelli, a cap-
tain of the Valtelline, had gathered round him
the catholic exiles from the country, and some
banditti from the JVIilanese and Venetian ter-
ritories, with the determination of putting an
end to the domination of the Grisons, whose
* Even Benoist saya, ii. 291, "Les reform^s n'auroient
attendu que les premiers succfes pour se ranger au meme
farli (de la reine)." [The Huguenots would immediate-
y, upon the first successes oftlie queen's arms, have join-
ed her parly.]
t Siri : Memorie recondite, v. p. 148.
protestant tendencies were so oppressive to
his countrymen. A capuchin friar fired a
bloodthirsty band to fanaticism ; they broke
into Tirano on the night of the 19th of July,
1620 ; at the dawn of day they rang the bells,
and when the protestants rushed out of their
houses at the sound, they were attacked, over-
powered, and massacred. The fate of the
Tirano was shared by the whole valley. In
vain did the Grisons sally more than once
from the heights of the mountains to retrieve
their lost dominion : as often as they came
they were beaten. In the year 1621 the Aus-
trians penetrated from the Tyrol, the Spaniards
from Milan, into the very heart of the Grison
confederacy. " The bleak mountain was filled
with murderous yells, and fearfully illumined
by the flames of lonely dwellings." Posses-
sion was taken of the passes, and of the entire
country.
These grand successes awoke all the hopes
of the catholics.
The papal court represented to the Spanish
that the Netherlands were divided, and now
without allies; there could not be a more
favourable opportunity for making war upon
those ancient rebels to Spain : these represen-
tations produced their intended effect.* Peter
Pectius, chancellor of Brabant, appeared in
the Hague on the 25th of March, 1621, and
instead of proposing the renewal of the truce,
which just then expired, he proposed the re-
cognition of the legitimate sovereign.! The
states general declared this suggestion to be
unjust, unexpected, nay, inhuman ; — hostilities
broke out again. Here, too, the Spaniards
had the advantage in the first instance. They
wrested Juliers from the Netherlands, thus
putting a grand conclusion to their operations
on the Rhine. They were masters of the left
bank of the Rhine, from Emmerich to Stras-
burg.
These numerous concurring victories hap-
pening at once in so many various quarters,
and brought about by such diversified means,
when viewed in the light thrown on them by
the general course of European affairs, do
really constitute but a single fact. Let us
now contemplate that which is the most im-
portant point for our consideration, namely,
the use to which these victories were applied.
Gregory XV.
In the procession held to celebrate the vic-
tory of Weiss Berg, PaulV. had an apoplectic
stroke, which was shortly after followed by
* Instnittione a Mre- Sangro. " La onde S. M'i- non
pu6 voltare le sue forze in miglior tempo ovvero opponu-
nitCi."
f The proposal was literally for an union " sub agnitione
dominorum principumque legitimorum." [Under the
cognizance of legitimate lords and princes.] The de-
mand and the reply are to be found in Leonis abAilzema,
HLsloria Tractatuum Pacis Belgicse, pp. 3. 4.
292
COUNTER REFORMATION. SECOND PERIOD, [a. d. 1617-1623.
another, from the effects of which he died, Jan.
28, 1621.
The new election was effected on the whole
after the manner of preceding ones. Paul V.
had reigned so long, that he had seen nearly
the whole college filled anew; accordingly,
by far the greater part of the cardinals were
attached to his nephew, cardinal Borghese.
After some hesitation, the latter pitched upon
the man whom all his adherents united in
approving, — Alessandro Ludovisio, of Bologna,
who was forthwith elected on the 9th of Feb-
ruary, 1621, and took the name of Gregory
XV.
He was a little, phlegmatic man, who in
earlier years had acquired a reputation for
dexterous negociation, and for the art of quiet-
ly and unobservedly compassing his ends.*
At present, however, he was bent with years,
weakly, and in ill health.
What was to be expected befitting that strife
on which hung the destinies of the world, from
a pope to whom people often feared to com-
municate important business, lest any shock
should be given to his feeble constitution 1\
But by the side of this tottering old man
stood a vigorous man of five-and-twenty, his
nephew Ludovico Ludovisio, who immediately
possessed himself of the powers of the papacy,
and displayed talents and boldness fully ade-
quate to all that was demanded by the existing
state of things.
Ludovico was a lover of pomp and splendour,
and was not negligent in securing wealth,
forming advantageous family connections, and
favouring and prompting his friends : he lived,
and let live : still he bore a watchful eye to
tlie great interest of the church : even his
enemies grant him the possession of genuine
talents for the conduct of affairs, a sound saga-
city that could discover a satisfactory issue out
of the most embarrassing perplexities, and all
the coolness and presence of mind required to
d'escry a possible contingency through the dim
haze of the future, and to shape his course
accordingly.! Had he not been crippled by
* Relatione di iv. ambascialori, 1631: " Di pelo che
avvicinasseal biontio. Lanaturasuaesempreconosciuta
piacida et flemnialica, lontano dall' imbarraciarsi in rot-
ture, amicissimo d' andjtre in negolio deslreggiando et
avanzando li proprj fini."
+ Rainier Zeno: Relatione di Roma, 1623: "Aggiugen-
dosi air el4 cadenle una fiachissinia complessiune in un
corpiccivolo stenualo e nial atfetto."
t Rainier Zeno: "E d'ingegno vivacissimo: I'hadimos-
irato nel suo governo per I'abondanza dei partili clie in
ogni grave Iratlatione gli suggerivano suoi spiriti nati per
coniandare, i quali se bene in mnlte parti aberravano del' I
uopodclla bona politica, nondimeno I'inlrepidezza con I
la quale si niostrava pronto ad abbracciare ogni ripi- i
ego appreso da lui per buuno, poco curandosi di^consigli
di chi gli haveria poluto esser maestro, davano a credere
che la sua natura sdegnava una pri vata conditione." [He
is a manof most lively genius, of which he liasgiven proof
in his government by the abundant resources furnished '
him in every difficult occasion of business by the powers
of a mind naturally fitted to couuiiand ; and although those
powers have in many instances wandered from ih
his uncle's infirmities, which forbade him to
hope for any long duration of his power, no
timid suggestions of expediency would ever
have moved him.
It was a very important circumstance that
the nephew, as well as the uncle, was filled
with the idea that the world's weal was iden-
tified with the outspread of Catholicism. Car-
dinal Ludovisio had been educated by the
Jesuits, and was their earnest patron. The
church of St. Ignatius at Rome was built chiefly
at his expense : he laid considerable stress on
the fact that he was protector of the Capuchins,
declaring that he thought this the most im-
portant patronage he enjoyed. He devoted
himself with warm predilection to the most
rigid and orthodox forms of Romanistopinions.*
To form a general conception of the spirit
of the new administration, we need but call to
mind that it was Gregory XV. under whose
pontificate the Propaganda was founded, and
Ignatius and Xavier, the founders of the Je-
suits, were canonized.
The origin of the Propaganda is properly
to be sought in an edict of Gregory XIII., by
which the superintendence of missions in the
east, and the printing of the catechism in the
less known tongues, was committed to a num-
ber of cardinals.f Still the institution was
neither firmly established, nor provided with
the requisite means ; nor was it comprehensive
in its purposes. Now there flourished in those
days in Rome a great preacher, named Giro-
lamo da Narni, universally venerated for a life
that had gained him the reputation of a saint;
and whose discourses from the pulpit displayed
a richness of thought, a purity of expression,
and a majesty of delivery that enchanted all
hearers. Bellarmine once said, in coming out
from hearing a sermon by him, he believed he
had just been granted one of St. Augustine's
three wishes, — that of hearing St. Paul. Car-
dinal Ludovisio was likewise one of his pa-
trons : he defrayed the expense of printing his
sermons. This Capuchin now conceived the
idea of extending the institution in question. |
By his advice a congregation was established
in due form, which was to hold regular sittings
for the guidance and government of the mis-
sions in all parts of the world : it was to assem-
ble at least once every month in presence of
the pope. Gregory XV. supplied the first
funds ; his nephew contributed from his pri-
vate resources ; and as the institution was
ests of sound policy, nevertheless his intrepidity and
promptness in seizing on every remedy he judged ser-
viceable, regardless of councils backed by whatever
weight of authority, gave reason to believe thai his nature
disdained a private condition.]
* Giunti : Vita e fatti di Ludovico Ludovisio, MS.
t Cocquelines: Praefatio ad Maffei Annales Gregorii
XIII. p. 5.
t Fr. Hierothei Epitome Historica reruni Franciscana-
rum, etc. p. 362. Fra Girolamo had incited the pope,
" publicis suasionibus et consiliisprivatis," [to public ex-
hortations and private councils.] Compare Cerri, Etat
inter- 1 present de Tdclise Roraaine, p. 289, where is also to be
nd a circumstantial account of the institution and of
the increase of its wealth.
A. D. 1617-1623.] BOHEMIA— HEREDITARY DOMINIONS OF AUSTRIA.
293
adapted to meet an actual want, the pressure
of which was just then felt, its prosperity grew
day by day more brilliant. Who is there that
knows not what the Propaganda has done for
philological learning 1 In all respects indeed
it has ever striven, and perhaps most success-
fully in its earliest periods, to fulfil its calling
upon a vast and noble scale.
The canonization of the two Jesuits coin-
cided with the same views. " At the time,"
says the bull, " when new worlds had been
discovered, and when Luther had stood up in
the old to assail the catholic church, the soul
of Ignatius Loyola was stirred to found a soci-
ety, which should devote itself especially to
the conversion of the heathen and the bringing
back of the heretics to the fold. But, above
all its members, Francis Xavier proved him-
self worthy to be the apostle of the newly dis-
covered nations. Therefore they are now
both of them received into the list of the saints :
churches and altars, on which men shall offer
their sacrifice to God, shall be consecrated to
them."*
In the spirit that breathes in this document,
the new administration made instant arrange-
ments for following up the triumphs of the
catholic arms with conversions, and justifying
and consolidating their conquests by the re-
storation of religion. " We must bend all our
thoughts," says one of the first instructions
issued by Gregory XV., "towards deriving
the utmost possible advantage from the happy
change and victorious condition of the affairs
of the church." A purpose most brilliantly
fulfilled.
CHAPTER III.
GENERAL OUTSPREAD OF CATHOLICISM.
1. Bohemia and the hereditary dominions of
Austria.
The attention of the papal power was first
directed to the rising fortunes of Catholicism
in the Austrian provinces.
Gregory XV., whilst granting the emperor
double the subsidies previously paid to him,f
and promising him at the same time no in-
considerable extraordinary present, though,
as he said, he had hardly left himself enough
to support life, urged him not to lose a mo-
ment in following up his victory with the
utmost speed, and proceeding therewith in
the restoration of the catholic religion. | By
that restoration alone could he evince his
gratitude to the God of Victory. He argues
from the principle that rebellion had entailed
upon the nations the necessity of more rigor-
ous control, and that they should be compelled
by force to abandon their godless ways.
The nuncio wliom Gregory XV. sent to the
emperor was Carlo Caraffa, well known to
German history. From the two reports of
his that have been preserved, the one printed,
the other in manuscript, we may confidently
infer what measures he adopted to obtain the
ends proposed by the pope.
His first care in Bohemia, where his offi-
cial duties began, was to remove the protest-
ant preachers and schoolmasters, " who were
guilty of treason against human and divine
majesty."
This was no very easy task. The mem-
bers of the imperial government at Prague
thought it still too hazardous ; nor did they
venture upon it till the 13th of December,
1621, when Mansfield had been driven out of
the Upper Palatinate, all danger from with-
out had been repelled, and a couple of regi-
ments, enrolled at the request of the nuncio,
had marched into Prague; and even then the
two Lutheran preachers were spared in de-
ference to the elector of Saxony. The nun-
cio, representing a principle that knew no
respect of persons, would not hear of this, and
complained that the whole people clung to
those men ; that a catholic priest had nothing
to do, and could not procure a subsistence.*
He carried his point at last in October, 1622,
and the Lutheran preachers were banished.
For a moment the fears of the government
counsellors seemed likely to be justified by
the event ; the elector of Saxony issued a
threatening letter, and assumed a hostile atti-
tude : with regard to the most important
questions, even the emperor said once to the
nuncio that he had been too precipitate, and
that he would have done better to wait a
more favourable opportunity.! The fit means.
* Bullarium, Cocquelines, v. 131. 137.
•|- The subsidy was raised from 20,000 gulden to 20,000
scudi. The present amounted to 200,000 scudi. He would
have wished that regiments had been supported out of this
money under papal authority.
t Instruitione al vescovo d'Aversa, 12 Apr. 1G21 ; " Non
6 tempo di indugi nfi di coperli andamenti." [It is no
time for delays or for covert proceedings.] They thought
at Rome that Bucquoi in particular was far too slow.
" La prestezza apporlarebbe 11 remedio di tanti mali, se
dal come de Bucquoi per allro valoroso capilano ella si
potesse sperare." [Prompt proceedings would afford a
remedy for a great number of evils, if they could be ex-
pected of count Bucquoi, valorous captain though he be.]
* Caraffa, Kagguaglio, MS. ; " Conaucevano m dispera-
tione i parochi catolici per vedersi da essi (Luterani) le-
varsi ogni emolumenlo." [The catholic parish priests
were driven to desperation by seeing themselves deprived
by the Lutherans of all emolument.] The printed Com-
mentarii, however, contain a more plausible ground of
complaint: " Quamdiu illi haerebant, tamdiu adhucsper-
abant sectarii S. Majestatem concessurumaliquandolibe-
ram facultatem." (p. 130.) [As long as they remained
in their posts, so long the sectarians thought that his ma-
jesty would grant toleration.]
t Caraffa, Ragguaglio: "Sua M'a- mi si dimo3tr6 con
questo di qualche pensiere, ed usci a dirmi che si haveva
havuto troppo prescia e che saria stato meglio cacciare
quel predicanti in allro tempo dopo che si fosse tenuto il
convento in Ratisbona. Al che ioreplicai che Sua Maesta.
poleva avere piu losto errato nella tardanza che nella
fretta circa quest6 fatto, poich6 se il Sassone fosse venule
al convento, di che non ammettono che egli avesse avuta
294
COUNTER REFORMATION. SECOND PERIOD, [a. d. 1617-1623.
however, to hold Ferdinand stedfast to his
purpose were known ; the old bishop of
Wiirzhurg represented to him •' that danger
would never appal a glorious emperor ; it were
better for him in any case to fall into the
power of men than into the hands of the living
God." The emperor yielded. The nuncio
had the triumph of seeing the elector of Sax-
ony submit at last to the removal of the
preachers, and withdraw his opposition.
The way was now smoothed. Dominicans,
Augustines, and Carmelites, succeeded to the
places of the protestant preachers, for as yet
there was a sensible dearth of secular clergy,
A whole colony of Franciscans arrived from
Gnesen; Jesuits were not wanting; when a
dispatch arrived from the Propaganda, re-
questing them to take upon themselves the
duties of parish priests, they had already done
so.*
And now the only possible question re-
maining was, whether the national Utraquist
ritual might not be partially at least retained,
according to the determination of the council
of Basel. The government council, and the
governor himself, prince Lichtenstein, were
for it.-f they allowed the administration of
the Lord's Supper to take place once more in
both kinds on Holy Thursday, 1622, and a
feeling already began to find voice among
the people against their being despoiled of
that ancient hereditary usage. But no argu-
ments could bend the nuncio's determination:
he adhered inflexibly to the views of the
curia, well knowing that the emperor would
in the end sanction the course he took ; and
in fact he succeeded in procuring from him a
declaration that his temporal government had
no right to interfere in religious matters.
Hereupon the mass was performed every-
where exclusively after the Roman ritual, in
Latin, with aspersion of holy water, and invo-
cation of the saints : all thought of the cele-
bration of the Lord's Supper in both kinds was
out of the question ; the boldest upholders of
that usage were cast into prison. Finally,
too, the symbal of Utraquism, the great cup,
mai la volonta, si sapeva per ognuno che haverebbe dom-
andato a Maesli, che a sua contemplazione permettesse
in Praga I'esercizio Luterano che gii vi era." [His ma-
jesty manifested some concern at this, and told me there
had been too much haste in the matter, and that it would
have been better to expel those preachers some other
I™'', ^^^^'' l^e convention at Ralisbon. To which I re-
plied, that possibly his majesty had rather erred in the
matter in the way of tardiness than of speed, since, if the
elector of Saxony had come to the meeting, of which they
do not admit that he ever entertained an intention, it was
notorious that he would have demanded of his majesty
that he should endure the exercise of Lutheranisin in
Prague as it already existed.]
* Cordara, Historia Societatis Jesu, torn. vi. lib. vii.
p. 38.
t According to the received notions, e. g. in Senkenberg,
continuation of the Reichshistorie by Haberlin, v. '25, p.
156, note k, we should believe the contrary of Lichten-
stein : this, however, would be quite erroneous, as appears
from Caraffa. The nuncio, on the other hand, met with
support from Plateis.
with the sword, displayed on the Thein
church, the sight of which kept the old remi-
niscences alive, was taken down. On the
10th of July, which day had always been kept
as a holiday sacred to the memory of John
Huss, the churches were carefully closed.
This extreme enforcement of Romish dog-
mas and usages was now backed by the polit-
ical measures of the government. Confisca-
tions brought a considerable part of the land-
ed property of the country into catholic hands;
the acquisition of real estates by protestants
was rendered next to impossible ;* the coun-
cils were changed in all the royal cities ; no
member would have been tolerated in them
whose Catholicism was liable to suspicion ;
the rebels were pardoned as soon as they be-
came converts ; while the refractory, those
who could not be persuaded, and would not
hearken to ghostly admonitions, had troops
quartered in their houses, " in order," as the
nuncio says, in express terms, " that vexation
might bring them to their senses."f
The effect of these combined efforts of force
and argument surpassed even the nuncio's
expectations. He was astonished to see how
numerously the churches in Prague were at-
tended, there being present on many Sunday
mornings from two to three thousand persons ;
and how decent, devout, and, to outward ap-
pearance, catholic was their deportment. He
attributed this to the fact, that the feelings
and reminiscences of Catholicism had never
been wholly extinguished in Prague ; as was
instanced in the people refusing to allow the
great crucifix on the bridge to be removed
even by the wife of King Frederick : the real
cause was, doubtless, that protestant convic-
tion had never thoroughly pervaded the
masses. Conversions proceeded without in-
terruption : the Jesuits alone asserted that in
the year 1624 they had brought back sixteen
thousand souls to the catholic church. | In
Tabor, where protestantism seemed to prevail
exclusively, fifty families conformed to the
church in Easter, 1622, and all the remaining
families in Easter, 1623. In course of time
Bohemia became completely catholic.
The like events happened in Moravia as in
Bohemia ; and that with the more rapidity,
since cardinal Dietrichstein, being at once
governor of the country and bishop of 01-
miitz, united the powers of the spiritual and
* Caraffa: "Con ordine che non si potessero inserire
nelle tavole del regno, il che apport6 indicible giova-
mento alia riforma par tutto quel tempo." [With a
regulation to the effect, that they could not be inscribed
in the registers of the realm, a measure of unspeakable
advantage in furthering the reform during all that lime.]
I Acci6 il Iravaglio desse loro sense ed inielletto."
This is also repeated in the printed work : " Cognitunique
fuit solam vexationem posse Bohemis intellectum prae-
bere."
t Caraffa : " Messovi un sacerdote catolico di molta dot-
trina, e poi facendosi missioni ad alcuni padri Gesuiti."
[A catholic priest of much learning having been senlthi-
tner, and afterwards some Jesuit missionaries.]
A. D. 1617-1623.] BOHEMIA— HEREDITARY DOMINIONS OF AUSTRIA. 295
the secular authority to the end in view. But
a peculiar difficulty presented itself here.
The nobility would not submit to be deprived
of the Moravian brethren, whose don^stic
and agricultural services were invaluable,
and the localities occupied by whom were the
most thriving in the country:* speakers were
found on their behalf even iu the emperor's
privy council. Nevertheless, here too the
the nuncio, and the principle of which he was
the instrument, were victorious. About fif-
teen thousand were expelled.
The young count Thurn had once more led
the protestant arms to victory in the Glatz
country, but the Poles came to the asistance
of the imperialists; the country was over-
powered, the town too was captured, and the
catholic worship restored with the usual rig-
our. Some sixty preachers were banished ;
they were followed by no small number of
their flock, whose property was confiscated in
consequence : the multitude returned to Catho-
licism.f
Under these circumstances, the so often
repeated and so often abortive attempts
to restore catholism in Austria proper
were at last renewed with decided suc-
cess.J The preachers who were charged
* Ragiruaglio di Caraffa : " Essendo essi lenuti huomini
d'induslria e d'inlegriti venivano impiegati nella cusio-
dia de' terreni, delle casp, delle canline e de' molino,
oltre che lavorando eccellenlemente in alcuni meslieri
erano divenuli ricchi e coniribuivano gran parte del loro
guadagno a' signori de' liioghi ne' quali habitavano, seb-
bene da qualche tempo indietro havevano cominciato a
corrompersi, essendo entralo ira di loro Tambizione e
I'avarizia con qualche pane di lusso per comoditi della
vita. Costoro si erano sempre andali argumenladoin Mo-
ravia, perciocche oltre a quelli che seducevano nella pro-
vincia e ne' luoghi convicini havevano corrispondenza
per tutti li luoghi della Germania, di dove ricorrevano alia
loro fratellanza luui quelli che per debito o poverty dis-
peravano poiersi soslenlare, especialmente venivaad essi
gran numeri di poveri Grisoni e di Svevia lasciandosi
rapire da quel nome di fratellanza e sicurtd. di havere
sempre del pane, che in casa loro diffidavano potersi col
proprio sudore guadagnare : onde si sono avvanzati alle
volte sino al numcro di centomila." [Being esteemed
men of diligence and integrity, they were employed in
the care of lands, houses, cellars, and mills; besides
which, being excellent workmen in some trades, ihe'y
were become rich, and contributed a large part of their
gains to the lords of the soil where they resided, though for
some time past they have begun to be corrupted, ambition
and avarice having crept in among them, with some de-
gree of luxury in their habits of life. Their numbers
have been constantly on the increase in Moravia, because,
in addition to those whom they inveigled in the province
and the adjacent parts, they kept up a correspondence
with all parts of Germany, whence there flocked to their
fraternity all those who, either from debt or poverty, de-
spaired of maintaining themselves; and especially they
received a great number of poor people from the Grisons,
and from Suabia, who suffered themselves to be caught
by the name of brotherhood, and by the assurance of
always having a sufficiency of bread, which they despaired
of earning al home by their own e.verlions, whence their
numbers have amounted at times to a hundred thousand.]
t Koglers Chronik von Glatz : i. iii. 92.
t This had been the emperor's first thought, even be-
fore the battle of Prague, when Maximilian first entered
theterritory of Upper Austria: he urged the latter to depose
the preachers instanter, " so that the pipers might be dis-
missed and a stop put to the dance," His letter is in
Breier's continuation of Wolf's Maximilian, iv. 414. In
the year 1624 the Jesuits got the university of Vienna com-
pletely into their hands. " Imperator societatem acade-
miae intexuit et in unum quasi corpus conflavit, data illi
with rebellion were first banished, and after-
wards all others : provided with a scanty viat-
icum, the poor men slowly ascended the Dan-
ube, taunted with the cry, " Where now is
your strong tower]"* The emperor roundly
declared to the estates of the country " that
he wholly and decidedly reserved to himself
and his posterity the disposal of all things per-
taining to religion." In October, 1624, ap-
peared a commission, which apppointed an
interval for the inhabitants, during which
they were to make up their minds either to
profess Catholicism or to quit the country.
The nobility alone were granted .some mo-
mentary indulgence.
It was not possible to proceed so violently
in Hungary, conquered though it was; but
there too the course of events, the favour of
the government, and, above all, the exertions
of archbishop Pazmany, brought about a
change. Pazmany possessed extraordinary
skill as a writer in his mother tongue. His
book, called " Kalauz,"f full of talent and
learning, was irresistible among his country-
men. He was also endowed with the power
of eloquence, and is said to have personally
eflJected the conversion of fifty families ; among
whom we find the names of Zrinyi, Forgacz,
Erdody, Balassa, Jakusith, Homonay, and
Adam Thurzo. Count Adam Zrinyi alone
expelled twenty protestant parish clergymen,
and placed catholic priests in their stead.
Under such influences, the political affairs of
the kingdom of Hungary likewise took a new
turn. The catholic Austrian party had a
majority in the diet of 1625. A convert, rec-
ommended by the court, an Esterhazy, was
made palatine.
But a distinction is to be noticed in this
case. The conversions in Hungary were far
more voluntary than in the other provinces;
the magnates surrendered not a single right
in consequence, but may rather be considered
to have gained new ones. In the Austro-Bo-
hemian territories, on the contrary, the entire
independence, energy, and power of the es-
tates, had thrown themselves into the forms
of protestantism ; their conversion was, if not
in every case, yet on the whole compulsory :
in those provinces the restoration of catholic-
ism was accompanied by the establishment of
the government's absolute authority.
amplissima poteslate docendi literas humaniores,linguam
Latinam, Graecam, Hebraicam, philosophiam denique
omnem ac theologiam." Monitumad statuta acad. Vin-
dob. recentiora. "Kollar Anal. ii. p. 282. [The emperor
interwove the society into the university, and incorporated
them as it were into one body, conferring on it the most
ample power of teaching polite letters, the Latin, Greek,
and Hebrew tongues, the whole body of philosophy, and
theology.]
* "Woistnun eure feste Burg'!" In allusion, doubt-
less, to Luther's noble hymn, beginning with
" Ein' feste Burg ist unser Gott."
" A tower of strength our God is still."— [Translator.]
t Hodoegus, Isgazs^gra vez^rlo Kalauz; Presb. 1613,
1623.
296
COUNTER REFORMATION. SECOND PERIOD, [a. d. 1617-1623.
II. The Empire. Transfer of the Electorate.
We know how much greater progress had
already been made in the German empire
than in the hereditary dominions of Austria ;
notwithstanding this, the new events had an
indescribable effect there.
The counter reformation at once acquired a
fresh impetus and a new field of action.
After Maximilian had taken possession of
the Upper Palatinate, he did not lose much
time in changing the religion established
there. He divided the country into twenty
stations, in which fifty Jesuits were employed :
the churches were forcibly transferred to them,
and the use of the protestant services univer-
sally forbidden. The more the probability
increased that the country would remain per-
manently annexed to Bavaria, the more ready
were the inhabitants to conform.*
The conquerors looked on the lower Palati-
nate as their own property. Maximilian even
made a present of the Heidelberg library to
the pope !
Before the conquest the pope had solicited
that favour of the duke through Montorio the
nuncio in Cologne, and the duke had promised
it with his usual alacrity. Upon the first in-
telligence of the capture of Heidelberg, Mon-
torio enforced his claim. He had been told
that the MSS. in particular were of inesti-
mable value, and he sent a special entreaty to
Tilly to protect them carefully from injury in
the pillage. f The pope then sent doctor Leo-
ne Allacci, scriptor of the Vatican, to Germa-
ny to take possession of the books. Gregory
XV. regarded this matter in a very exalted
point of view. He declared it one of the most
fortunate events of his pontificate, which
would tend to the honour and advantage of
the holy see, the church, and the sciences : it
would also redound to the glory of the Bava-
rian name, that so precious a booty should be
preserved to everlasting memory in the world's
great theatre, Rome.]:
The duke manifested in the Palatinate his
usual indefatigable zeal for reform, surpassing
even the Spaniards, who were yet no indiffer-
ent catholics. 5 With rapture the nuncio be-
held the mass celebrated, and conversions
taking place in Heidelberg, " whence had is-
sued the norma of the Calvinists, the notori-
ous catechism."
Meanwhile the elector Schweikard reform-
♦ Kropff, Historia societalis Jesu in Germania superior!,
iv. p.271.
t Relatione di Mr. Montorio ritornato nuncio di Colo-
nia, 1624. Tlie passage is in the Appendix, No. 109.
t " die cosi pretiosi spoglio e cosl nobil trofeo si con-
Bervi a perpetua memoria in questo tealro del mondo."
Instruttione al dottore Leon Allatio per andare in Germa-
nia per la liberia del Palatine. We will examine its
authenticity in the Appendix, No. 101.
§ Montorio: "Benclie nelle terre che occupano i Spa-
gnuoli non si camini con quel fervore con quale si camina
in quelle che occupa il S'. D». di Baviera alia con versione
de' popoli."
ed the Bergstrasse, of which he had taken pos-
session, and margrave William, Upper Baden,
which had been adjudged his after a long
litigation, though his birth was scarcely le-
gitimate, not to say of due nobility through both
parents : he had previously given a distinct
pledge to Caraffa that he would pursue that
line of conduct in the event of his succeed-
ing.* Even in countries not immediately
affected by the political occurences of the day,
the old efforts were renewed with fresh zeal,
in Bamberg,f Fulda, Eichsfeld, in Paderborn,
where two catholics had successively filled,
the episcopal chair, above all in the diocese of
Miinster, where Meppen, Vechta, Halteren,
and many other districts were made catholic
in the year 1624. Archbishop Ferdinand es-
tablished missions in nearly all the towns, and
a college of JesuitsJ in Coesfield " for the re-
vival of the ancient and much chilled catholic
religion." We meet with Jesuit missionaries
as far as Halberstadt and Magdeburg, and
they set themselves down in Altona to learn
the language, and then to advance into Den-
mark and Norway.
We see with what vehemence Catholicism
gushed from Upper into Lower Germany,
from south to north. Meanwhile an attempt
was made to carry a new position, bearing
upon the general affairs of the empire.
Immediately upon the conclusion of the
League, Ferdinand II. had given a promise to
duke Maximilian, that in case of success the
electorate should be transferred to him. J
It cannot be a question what was the chief
consideration that actuated the catholic party
in this matter. The majority of votes which
that party possessed in the council of princes,
had hitherto been counter-balanced by the
equality of voices possessed by the protestants
in the electoral college ; the transfer of the
electorate would for ever remove that check. ||
* Caraffa, Germania reslaurata, p. 129.
t Johann Georg Fuchs, of Dornheim, was particularly
active, and brought baclt to Catholicism twenty-three
knights' parishes. Jiick : Geschichte von Bamberg, ii. 120.
t A letter from one of his assistants, Joh. Dr.ichter, dean
of Diilmen, is conceived in very curious terms : " Ungern
hab ich I. Ch. D. einen grossen Anzhall der hirnlosen
Schaifen iiberschreiben willen, und michufdie heulige
Stunde noch lieberbearbeitet noch alle mil einander rait
swebender Furcht in den rechten Schaifstall hineinzuja-
gen, wie dann och Balthasar Bilderbeck uud Caspar Karl
mit zwen Fiissen schon hineingestiegen." [I liave been
loth to report to your electoral highness a great multitude
of the brainless sheep, and I have rather exerted myself
up to the present hour to drive tlie whole flock in a panic
into the right fold, and already Balthasar Bilderbeck and
Caspar Karl have made a leap and gone in.] Compare
generally the documents given by Niesert, Miinsterche
tJrkundensamlung, i. p. 402.
§ Letter from the emperor to Baltazar de Zuniga, 15
Oct. 1621, printed in Sattler: Wiirtemburg, Geschichte
vi. p. 162. .
II Instruttione a Mr. Sacchetti, nuntio in Spagno, desig-
nates the restitution of the Palatinate as an " irieparabile
perdita della reputatione di questo fatto edellachiesa
cattolica se il papa ci avesse condisceso, con indici-
bit danno della religione cattolica e dell' imperio:
che tanti e tanti anni hanno bramato senza po-
lerio sapere, non che ottenere, il quarto ellettor
catlolico in servilio ancora del sangue Austriaco."
[Irreparable loss of the credit of that achievement and of
A. D. 1617-1623.] THE EMPIRE. TRANSFER OF THE ELECTORATE.
297
A close friendship had long subsisted be-
tween the papal court and Bavaria, and Greg-
ory XV. now made this matter his own per-
sonal concern.
He caused the king to be exhorted by the
very first nuncio he sent to Spain, to contribute
to the ruin of the count Palatine, and to the
transfer of the electorate, measures which
would for ever secure the imperial crown to
the catholics.* The Spaniards were not very
easily to be moved to that course. They were
engaged in the most in)portant negociations
with the king of England, and scrupled to
offend him in the person of his son-in-law, the
count palatine Frederick, to whom the elect-
orate belonged. The pope grew but more
zealous in the cause ; he was not content to
employ the nuncio only, but in the year 1622,
we find also the adroit Capuchin brother Hya-
cinth, who possessed the special confidence of
Maximilian, engaged in a special mission from
the pope to the Spanish court.f It was with
extreme reluctance the Spaniards ventured to
commit themselves more explicitly in the mat-
ter: all that could at last be obtained from the
king, was a declaration that he would rather
see the electorate in the house of Bavaria than
in his own. This was sufficient for brother
Hyacinth, and with that declaration he hasten-
ed to Vienna, to allay whatever scruples the
emperor might have conceived in deference
to Spain. 'I'here he was aided by the wonted
influence of the nuncio Caraffa, and even by
a fresh brief from the pope himself: " Behold,"
exclaimed the pope to the emperor in that
document, " the gates of heaven are opened,
the heavenly hosts urge thee on to win so
great an honour ; they will fight for thee in
thy camp." The emperor was further wrought
upon by a special consideration which very
strikingly characterizes the man. He had
long pondered the transfer, and had given ex-
pression to that purpose in a letter which fell
into the hands of the protestants, and was pub-
lished by them. The emperor felt himself as
it were bound by this. He thought it essen-
tial to the maintenance of his imperial dignity
to adhere to a purpose once conceived by him,
so soon as its existence was made known. In
fine he made up his mind to proceed to the
transfer at the next diet.|
The only question was, as to whether the
princes of the eu)pire would consent. Most
depended on Schweikard of Mainz, and the
nuncio Montorio at least assures us that at
the catholic church, if the pope had condescended to it,
to. the inexpressible injury of the catholic religion, and of
the empire ; for many and many a year they have longed,
■without being able to devise or effect it, to have a fourth
catholic elector in the interest of the house of Austria.]
* Inslriutione a Mons. Sangro. He is exhorted " di in-
fervorare S. Mti. acciu non si lasci risorgere il Palatino
e si metta I'elettorato in persona cattolica, e si assicuri
I'impero eternamente fra caltolici."
t Khevenhiller, ix. p. 1766.
i Caraffa: Germania realaurata, p. 120.
39
first that thoughtful prince was averse to the
measure ; that he had declared to the empe-
ror that war would break out afresh, and rage
more fiercely than before ; that moreover, if a
change was by all means to take place, the
count Palatine of Neuberg had the nearer
right to the electorate, and could not possibly
be passed over. The nuncio does not tell us
how he at last persuaded the prince. His
words are : " In four or five days I passed with
him at Aschaffenburg I obtained the desired
decision." All we know is, that earnest sup-
port was promised on the pope's part, should
war break out anew.
But the resolution of the elector of Mainz
was decisive of the matter. His two Rhenish
colleagues followed his opinion. Though
Brandenburg and Saxony still opposed the
measure (the opposition of Saxony was not
overcome till a later period by the archbishop
of Mainz,)* though the Spanish ambassador
now declared directly against it,f still the
emperor steadily persisted. On the 21st of
February, 1623, he transferred the electorate
to his victorious ally; at first indeed the pos-
session was to be but personal, the Palatine
heirs and agnates retaining their rights for
the future.
Even upon this condition, however, an im-
mensity had been gained, above all the pre-
ponderance in the supreme council of the em-
pire, whose assent henceforth gave a legal
sanction to every new resolution in favour of
Catholicism.
Maximilian saw clearly how much he was
indebted to pope Gregory XV. in this business.
" Your holiness," he writes to him, " has not
only forwarded this matter, but absolutely ac-
complished it by your admonitions, your au-
thority, and your zealous exertions. It must
be ascribed wholly and solely to the favour
and vigilance of your holiness."
" Thy letter, O son," replied Gregory XV.,
" has filled our breast with a flood of delight,
sweet as manna from heaven : at last may the
daughter of Sion cast from her head the ashes
of mourning, and clothe herself in festive gar-
ments."]:
* Montorio calls Schweikard " unico instigatore a far
voltare Sassonia a favore dell' imperatore nella transla-
tions deir elettorato." [The sole instigator of the elector
of Saxony's change of sentiments in favour of the empe-
ror, with regard to the transfer of the electorate.]
f Onate's declaration, and the violent letter of Ludovi-
sio against the restoration of an electorate to a blasphemous
Calvinist, are in Khevenhiller, x. 67, 68.
JGiunti, Vita diLudovisioLudovisi, gives the chief cre-
dit to the nephew. " Da. S. Sii edal C'e. furonoscritle mol-
te leltereanche di proprio pugnopiene d'ardoreet efficacia
per disporre Cesare, et in ollre fu mandato Mor. Verospi au-
ditir di rota e dopoil P. F. Giaciniodi CasaleCapuccino."
[His holiness and the cardinal wrote many letters, and
with their own hands too, full of earnest and cogent argu-
ments to urge the emperor on ; and, furthermore, IVIons.
Verospi, auditor di rota, was sent on a mission on the sub-
ject, and after him father Giancinlo di Casale, a Capu-
chin.] By these persons the emperor was told, " che il
vicario di Christo per parte del S^e. fin cion le lacrime lo
pregava e acongiurava e le ne prometieva felicity e sicu-
298
COUNTER REFORMATION. SECOND PERIOD, [a. d. 1617-1623.
3. France.
At the same time as these things were pass-
ing- in Germany, the great tide in the affairs
of France set in.
Upon inquiring whence chiefly arose the
losses of protestantism in the year 1621, we
shall find them to have originated in the dis-
cord of the party, and the apostacy of the no-
bles. It is very possible that the latter was
due in part to those republican tendencies
which were founded as well on a municipal
as a theological basis, and were unfavourable
to the influence of the nobility. The nobles
probably thought it more to their advantage
to attach themselves to the king and the court,
than to let themselves be ruled by preachers
and burgomasters. Be it as it may, in the
year 1621, the governors of the fortified towns
vied with each other in giving them up : each
man sought only to bargain for an advan-
tageous post for himself. This was repeated
in the year 1622. La Force and Chatillon
received the truncheons of marshal on desert-
ing their co-religionists: the aged Lesdiguie-
res became catholic,* and even commanded
a division against the protestants: many
others were led away by these examples.!
Under these circumstances, it was but a very
unfavourable peace that could be concluded
in 1622, nor durst the Huguenots flatter them-
selves with the hope that it would be pre-
served. Formerly, when the protestants were
powerful, the king had many times exceeded
and broken through his treaties with them :
was it likely he would observe them now
when their strength was lost! The stipula-
tions of the treaty were set at nought in
every particular ; the exercise of the protest-
ant religion was in many places absolutely
prevented ; the Huguenots were prohibited
from singing their psalms in the streets and
m the shops; their rights in the universities
were curtailed ;| Fort Louys, which accord-
ing to promise should have been razed, was
kept standing ; an attempt was made to get
the election of magistrates in the protestant
towns into the royal hands ;^ by an edict of
the 17th of April, 1622, a commissioner for
the convocations of the protestants was ap-
pointed, and after the party had once submit-
ted to such violent inroads upon their ancient
immunities, the government interposed in their
affairs of a purely ecclesiastical nature : the
rezza della sua salute." [Thai Christ's vicar besought
and conjured him, on the part of the Saviour, even with
tears, and promised him, in consideration of obedience,
felicity and assured salvation.]
* M^moires de Deageant, p. 190: several other passages
are also very iniiiortanl respecting this conversion.
t Liste des gentilshommes de la religion reduils au roi,
in Malingre, Histoire des derniers troubles arrives en
P>ance, p". 780. Rohan also concluded his treaty : but
unfortunately the particulars of it given in the Mercure
de France, vii. p. 845, are not authentic.
t Benoist, ii. 419.
§ Rohan, M^m. i. iii.
Huguenots were hindered by the commis-
sioner from accepting the decrees of the synod
of Dort.
Their independence was gone; they were
no longer capable of any stedfast resistance.
Conversions spread widely amongst them on
all sides.
The Capuchins filled Poitou and Languedoc
with missions;* the Jesuits who possessed
new establishments in Aix, Lyon, Pau, and
many other places, made the greatest pro-
gress in the towns and throughout the coun-
try ; their brotherhoods of the Virgin attracted
universal notice and approbation, by their ex-
ertions on behalf of the wounded in the last
war.f
Some Franciscans, too, distinguished them-
selves ; such as father Villele of Bourdeaux,
of whom the almost fabulous story is told, that
after he had brought over the whole town of
Foix, he effected likewise the conversion of a
man of upwards of a hundred years of age, the
very same who had once received the first
protestant preacher from Calvin's hand, and
introduced him into Foix. The protestant
church was pulled down, and the triumphant
fathers had the banished preacher accompa-
nied from town by a trumpeter.^
In a word, the work of conversion made
rapid progress ; high and low, and even the
learned, I'ecanted : the latter were particu-
larly moved by the demonstration that the an-
cient church, even previously to the council
of Nice, had invoked the saints, prayed for the
dead, and possessed a hierarchy, and many
catholic usages.
There have come down to us reports of
some bishops, from which we can collect the
numerical proportions of the two confessions,
as fixed under these circumstances. In the
diocese of Poitiers half the inhabitants of
some towns were protestants, as for instance
Lusignan and St. Mairant ; in others a third,
such as Chauvigney and Niort; a fourth in
Loudun; in Poitiers itself only a twentieth;
and a far lesser proportion still in the country
parts. § The bishops were in immediate com-
munication with Rome with respect to the
conversions, sending in reports and mention-
ing their wishes : the nuncio was instructed
to lay before the king, and to back with his
recommendation whatever they should com-
municate to him. In these reports they often
went into very minute particulars. The bishop
of Vienne, for instance, finds the missionaries
especially obstructed by a preacher in St.
Marcellin, whom there was no defeating ; the
nuncio is engaged to exert himself at court
for his removal. He is called on to support
the Bishop of St. Malo, who complains that
* Instruttione all' arcivescovo di Daniniata, MS.
t Cordara: Historia societatis Jesu, vii. 95. 118.
t Relation catholique inserted in the Mercure Fran-
gois, viii. 489.
§ Relatione del vescovo di Portiero, 1623, MS.
A. D. 1617-1623.] STATE OF CATHOLICISM IN ENGLAND.
299
catholic worship is not tolerated in a castle of
his diocese. He is to procure for the bishop
of Xaintes an able proselytizer, who is point-
ed out to him by name. Sometimes the bisli-
ops are called on, when they encounter obsta-
cles, to state more explicitly wjiat can be
done, so that the nuncio may propose it to the
king.*
The period was marked by a close union of
all spiritual authorities with the Propaganda,
which, as we have said, displayed most activity
and efficacy in its early years, and with the
pope; by zeal and lively assiduity in follow-
ing up the consequences of a decisive victory
in arms; and by the cordial co-operation
therein of the court, which discerned its own
great political interest in the struggle. It
was therefore a period in which was for-
ever decided the downfall of protestantism in
France.
4. United Netherlands.
Now these advances of Catholicism were
not confined to countries where the govern-
ment was of that faith ; they manifested tliem-
selves at the same moment under protestant
rulers.
We are astonished when we read in Benti-
voglio, that in those cities of the Netherlands
which had so heroically and so long withstood
the king of Spain, chiefly in behalf of their
religion, probably the greater part of the emi-
nent families had gone over again to Catholi-
cism ;f but it is still more startling when we
find a very minute and circumstantial report
of the year 1622, detailing the increase and
. * Instrmtione al arcivescovo di Damiata: — one example
may suffice. "Dalla relatione del vescovo di Candon si
cava die ha il dello vescovo la lena di Neaco, ove sono
molli eretiii, con una niissione di Gesuili, li quali in
danno s'affaticano se con I'autoriti temporale il renonda
qualche buon ordine : ed ^lla potr^ scrivereal delto ves-
covo che avvisi cio che pu6 fare SuaM'^., perche nel la re-
latione non lo specifica. Da quelladel vescovo di S. Blalo
s'intende che in un castello e villa del marchese di Moiis-
saye e solo lecito di predicare a Calvinisli: per6 sarebbe
bene di ricordare alia M'a. del re che levasse i predica-
tori acciocchS i missionarj del vescovo potessero far frut-
10 : il castello e villa non 6 nominate nella relatione, e
pero si potrCl scrivere al vescovo per saperlo. II vescovo
di Monpellier avvisa di haver carestia d'operarj e che
dagli eretici sonosentili volontieri i padri Cappucini,onde
segli potrebbe procurare una missione di questi padri."
[It appears from the report of the bishop of Candon, that
he has introduced into the country of Neaco, where there
are many heretics, Jesuit missionaries, whose labours will
be all fruitless if the king does not interpose his temporal
authority: you may write to the said bishop and desire
him to state what his majesty can do, for he does not sjie-
cify it in his report. From the rpport of the bisliop of .St.
Malo, it appears, that in a castle and town belonging to
the marquis of Moussayp,the Calvinisls alone are allowed
to preach ; wherefore it would be well to put his majesty
in mind of removing the preachers, so that the bishop's
missionaries might have opportunity of labouring with ef-
fect. The castle and city are not named in the report, so
the bishop may be written to, to name them. The bishop
of Montpellier writes that he lacks labourers, and that
the heretics listen with alacrity to the Capuchins, for
which reason a mission of those fathers might be furnished
him.]
+ Relatione delle provincie ubbidienti, parte ii. c. II,
in which the state of religion in Holland is discussed.
progress of Catholicism under such unfavour-
able circumstances. It was in the year 1592
the first Jesuit arrived in the Netherlands,
and in 1622 the order counted there twenty-
two members. New labourers were continu-
ally pouring in from the colleges of Cologne
and Louvain ; in the year 1622 there were
two hundred and twenty secular priests em-
ployed in the country, but their numbers were
far from adequate to the calls made on them.
According to the above-mentioned report, the
number of catholics in the arch-diocese of
Utrecht amounted to one hundred and fifty
thousand ; in the diocese of Haarlem, to which
Amsterdam belonged, to one hundred thou-
sand souls ; Leu warden possessed fifteen thou-
sand, Groningen twenty thousand, Deventer
sixty thousand catholics. The apostolic vicar
sent at that time from the see of Rome to
Deventer, imparted in three towns and a few
villages in that diocese, confirmation to twelve
ihousand persons. The numbers in this report
are no doubt much exaggerated ; still we see
that this pre-eminently protestant country was
yet strongly leavened with Catholicism. Even
those bishoprics which Philip II. had endeav-
oured to introduce there were constantly re-
cognized by the catholics. f It was probably
this state of things that inspired the Spaniards
with courage to renew the war against the
Low Countries.
5. State of Catholicism in England.
Meanwhile more peaceful prospects had un-
folded themselves in England. The son of
Mary Stuart united the crowns of Great Bri-
tain, and he now approximated more decidedly
than ever to the catholic powers.
Previously to the accession of James I. to
the English throne, Clement VIII. sent him
word "that he prayed for him as the son of so
virtuous a mother; that he wished him all
temporal and spiritual welfare, and trusted
yet to see him a catholic." James's advent to
the throne was celebrated in Rome with so-
lemn prayers and processions.
James could not have ventured to make any
corre.spoiiding return to these advances, even
had he been so disposed ; but he allowed Parry,
his ambassador to Paris, to enter into confi-
dential relations with Bubalis, the nuncio at
the same court. The latter produced a letter
from the pope's nephew, Cardinal Aldobrandi-
ni; wherein the latter admonished the English
catholics to obey James as their king and natu-
ral lord, and even to pray for him. This was
* Compendium status in quo nunc est religio catholica
in Hollandia et confederalis Belgii provinciis, 2 Dec.
IG22: "His non obstautibus— laus Deo— quotidie crescit
catholicorum numerus, praesertim accedente dissensions
hsreticorum inter se." [Notwithstanding these things,
thanks be to God, the number of the catholics daily in-
creases, especially since the lieretics have fallen out
among themselves.]
300
COUNTER REFORMATION. SECOND PERIOD. [a. d. 1617-1623.
met on Parry's part by an instruction from
James, in which he promised to let the peace-
able catholics live without molestation.*
In fact, in the north of England people began
again openly to attend mass : the puritans com-
plained that within a short period fifty thou-
sand Englishmen had gone over to Catholicism ;
to which James is said to have made answer,
that "they might go and convert an equal
number of Spaniards and Italians."
These successes may have prompted the
catholics to strain their hopes too far. But as
the king persisted in his preference for the
opposite side, as the old acts of parliament
were renewed, and fresh persecutions were
set on foot, their irritation grew proportion-
ally intense, till at last it found fearful expres-
sion in the gunpowder plot.
After that event there was no possibility of
any toleration on the king's part. The most
seyere laws were enacted and enforced : domi-
ciliary visits, imprisonments, and fines, were
inflicted ; the priests, more especially the Je-
suits, were persecuted and banished ; the ut-
most rigour was deemed necessary to check
such enterprising foes.
But in private interviews the king's expres-
sions were very moderate. He said outright
to a prince of the house of Lorraine, who once
visited him not without the knowledge of Paul
v., that after all there was but little differ-
ence between the two confessions. He thought
his own indeed the best ; he adopted it from
conviction, and not from motives of policy :
still he was fond of hearing other opinions ;
and since the calling of a council was beset
by insuperable difficulties, he would very
gladly see a convention of learned men estab-
lished for the purpose of effecting a reconcili-
ation. If the pope would advance but one
step to meet him, he would himself advance
four. He too acknowledged the authority of
the holy father. Augustine was of more
■weight with him than Luther, St. Bernard
than Calvin ; nay, he beheld in the Roman
church, even in that of the day, the true church,
the mother of all others ; only she needed pu-
rification. He admitted (though indeed he
would not say as much to a nuncio, however
he might go so far in confidence to a friend
and a cousin) that the pope was the head of
the church, the supreme bishop.f It was
therefore doing him great wrong to regard
him as a heretic or schismatic : a heretic he
* Breve relatione tli cjuanto si 6 Irattalo tra S. S'i- ed il
re d'InshiUerra. (MS. Kom.)
•f "Che riconosce la chiesa Romana, etiandio quella
d'adesso, per la vera chiesa e niadre di luUc, ma ch'ella
aveva bisogna d'esser piircala, e di piu ch'egli sapeva die
V. S'*. e capo di essa chiesa e primo vescovo." [That he
owns the church of Roine, even that of the present day,
for the true mother church, though il needed purification,
and that he linows your holiness is head of that church,
and first bishop,] expressions aliogether incapable of be-
ing reconciled with the principle of the English church,
though they were attributed from other quarters likewise
to that prince. (Relatione di Sr. di Breval al papa.)
was not, for he believed the very same as the
pope believed, only the pope admitted some
fow articles of faith more than he ; neither
was he a schismatic, for he held the pope to
be the head of the church.
Entertaining such views as these, and a
corresponding aversion to the puritanical side
of protestantism, the king would certainly have
much more gladly come to a peaceable un-
derstanding with the catholics than have kept
them down by force, and at his own incessant
peril.
They were still numerous and powerflil in
England. In spite of great defeats and losses,
or perhaps exactly in consequence of these,
Ireland was in a continual state of ferment :
it was of serious moment to the king to put
an end to the insubordination of that country.*
Now it must be observed that both the
English and the Irish catholics were attached
to Spain. The Spanish ambassadors in Lon-
don, dexterous, shrewd, and sumptuous men,
had gathered round them an extraordinary
body of hangers on : their chapels were al-
ways full, and Passion-week was celebrated
there with great solemnity. The ambassa-
dors, moreover, often opened their doors to
their co-religionists : they were looked on, as
a Venetian says, in the light of legates from
the apostolic see.
I do not apprehend we should greatly err
in conjecturing, that it was principally this
cause that suggested to king James the thought
of marrying his heir to a Spanish princess.
He hoped thereby to make sure of the catho-
lics, and conciliate for his own house the re-
gard in which the latter held that of Spain.
Foreign relations contributed a fresh motive:
for it was to be expected that the house of
Austria, when so nearly related to him, would
be more favourable to his son-in-law the elec-
tor palatine.
The only question was, whether the thing
was practicable. The diflference in point of
religion, constituted a difficulty of a nature in
those days really very hard to overcome.
The real world, and the common place
course of things are always encompassed by a
fantastic element, that finds its expression in
poetry and romantic narrations, through which
it readily affects the minds of youth, and re-
acts on the events of life. The negociations
respecting the marriage being tediously pro-
tracted from day to day, and from month to
month, the prince of Wales, in concert with
his confidant and companion Buckingham,
conceived the romantic design of setting out
* Relatione di D. Lazzari, 1621. He founds his opinions
on the timidity of the king: "havendo io tsperimentalo
per manifest! segni che prevale in lui ph\ il timore che
I'ira." [since I have had manifest proof that fear is a more
cogent passion with him than anger.] Moreover " per la
pratica che ho di lui (del re) lo stimoindiflferente in qual-
sivoglia religione." [From the practical experience I
have had of his character, I believe him to be indifferent
as to religion.]
A. D. 1617-1623.] STATE OF CATHOLICISM IN ENGLAND.
301
in person to fetch his bride.* The Spanish
ambassador Gondemar, seems not to have been
altogether without some share in the project.
He told the prince that his presence would
put an end to all difficulties.
Great was the surprise of Lord Digby, the
English ambassador in Madrid, who up to this
lime had conducted the negociations for the
marriage, when one day he was called from
his room to meet two cavaliers who desired
to speak with him, and beheld in them the son
and the favourite of his sovereign.
And now indeed, the removal of the exist-
ing religious obstacles was set about in good
earnest.
The pope's approval was a necessary con-
dition, and king James had not shrunk from
entering upon formal negociations with Paul
V. on the subject. But that pope would only
give his consent upon the stipulation that the
king would grant entire religious freedom to
his catholic subjects. So strong, on the con-
trary, was the impression made on Gregory
XV., by the very significant fact of the prince's
journey, that he was ready to accept of less
weighty concessions. In a letter to the prince
he expresses his hope, that " the antique seed
of Christian piety, that had bloomed so fair in
English kings, would yet revive in him : in no
case could he, intending to wed a catholic
lady, desire to oppress the catholic church."
The prince replied, that he would never ex-
ercise any hostility towards the Roman church ;
he would endeavour to bring it about, that " in
like manner as we all acknowledge one triune
God, so we may all likewise unite in one faith
and one church. "f We see how great were
the mutual advances on both sides. Olivarez
averred that he had most urgently solicited
the pope to grant the dispensation, and that
the king could deny the prince nothing that
lay within the compass of his kingdom. J The
English catholics too were pressing with the
pope, representing to him that his refusal of
the dispensation would draw down fresh per-
secutions on their heads.
Next the two parties agreed upon the points
to which the king was to pledge himself.
Not only were the infanta and her suite to
be allowed the exercise of their own religion
in a chapel at court, but the early education
of the princes to be born of that marriage was
* Papers relative to the Spanish match in the Hard-
■wicke Papers, i. p. 399. They contain a correspondence
between James I. and the two travellers, that excites a
very strong interest in the persons concerned. The fail-
insjs of James appear at least those of a very kindly na-
tui-e. His first begins : " My sweet boys and dear venirous
knights, worthy to be put in a new romanso." — "My
eweet boys," is his usual mode of addressing them, theirs
is " Dear dad and gossip."
t Frequently printed. I follow the copy in Clarendon
and in the Hardwicke Papers, said to be taken from the
original.
t In the first impulse of his joy he even said, according
to Buckingham's narration, (March 20) " tliat if the pope
would not give a dispensation for a wife, they would give
the infanta to thy son Baby as his wench."
to be in her hands : no penal laws were to be
of force against her children, or to affect their
right of succession to the throne, even though
they should remain catholics.* Furthermore
the king promised in general, " not to inter-
fere with the private practice of the catholic
worship, not to constrain the catholics to take
any oath repugnant to their faith, and to pro-
vide that the laws against the catholics should
be repealed by parliament."
King James swore to these articles in Au-
gust 1623, and no doubt seemed left of the
completion of the marriage.
Festivities were held in Spain ; the court
received congratulations ; formal intimation
was given to the ambassadors ; and the infan-
ta's ladies of honour and her father confessor
were enjoined not to let fall a word unfavoura-
ble to the match.
King James reminded his son, that he should
not in his joy at these happy events forget his
nephews, who were despoiled of their inheri-
tance, nor his sister bathed in tears. The
cause of the palatine was warmly taken up.
A project was conceived of interweaving the
imperial line and the palatine house into the
new alliance, by uniting the son of the pro-
scribed elector in marriage with the daughter
of the emperor : and to avoid giving offence to
Bavaria, the establishment of an eighth elec-
torate was proposed. The emperor forthwith
opened the matter to Maximilian of Bavaria,
who showed no disinclination to it on his part,
and only required that he should be left in
possession, as before, of the palatine electorate,
and that the eighth electorate proposed to be
established, should be conferred on the pala-
tine house. This made no important differ-
ence to the catholic interests. The catholics
were to enjoy freedom of religion in the re-
stored palatinate ; and they would still retain
a majority in the electoral college.f
Thus the power, which under the former
reign had constituted the main bulwark of
protestantism, now entered into the most
friendly relations with ancient foes, to which
it seemed to have vowed implacable hatred,
the pope and Spain. Already the catholics
began to meet with totally different treat-
ment in England. Domiciliary visits and
persecution ceased ; certain oaths were no
longer exacted ; catholic chapels were reared,
to the sore annoyance of the protestants ; and
the puritanical zealots, who censured the
match, were punished. King James doubted
not that before winter set in he should em-
brace his son and his young bride, and his
* The most important point and the source of much
mischief The article runs thus: "Quod leges contra
catholicos Romanos lat3e vel ferendae in Anglia et aliis
regnis regi magnae Britanniae subjectis non attingent lib-
eros ex hoc matrimoniooriundos, et libere jure succession-
is in regnis et dominijs magnae Britannise fruantur."
(Mer. Franc, ix. Appendice ii. 18.)
t Khevenhiller, x. 114.
COUNTER REFORMATION. SECOND PERIOD, [a. d. 1617-1623.
favourite. All his letters breathe a heart-felt
longing- for this consummation.
It is manifest what advantages would have
sprung from the execution of the above named
articles: but the marriage itself gave reason
to expect consequences altogether distinct, the
extent of which could not have been foreseen.
What force has failed to secure, namely, an
influence over the administration of England,
seemed now to be obtained in the most peace-
fal and natural course.
6. Missions.
Arrived at this point in our review of the
brilliant progress of Catholicism in Europe,
we may pause, and cast our eyes towards
those distant regions, in which it likewise
made vast strides through the force of kindred
impulses.
Religion had part in the very first idea,
which prompted the discoveries and conquests
of the Spanish and Portuguese; it constantly
accompanied and animated them, and came
forth in great strength in the newly founded
empires both of the East and of the West.
In the beginning of the seventeenth century,
we find the stately fabric of the catholic
church in South America fully reared. It
included five archbishoprics, twenty-seven
bishoprics, four hundred convents, and innu-
merable parishes and doctrinas.* Magnifi-
cent cathedrals had risen, the most gorgeous
of which was perhaps that of Los Angeles.
The Jesuits taught grammar and the liberal
arts, and a theological seminary was connect-
ed with their college of San Ildefonso. All
branches of theological study were taught in
the universities of Mexico and Lima. The
Americans of European descent were observed
to be distinguished for their remarkable acute-
ness : only as they themselves complained,
they were too remote from the gracious
countenance of royalty, to hope to be reward-
ed accorded to their desert. Meanwhile the
mendicant orders especially had begun stea-
dily to propagate Christianity over the whole
South American continent. Conquest had
passed into missionary effort, and missions
were the parents of civilization. The monks
and friars taught conjointly the arts of sowing
and reaping, planting trees, building houses,
reading and singing, and they were regarded
with proportionate affection. When the priest
came among his flock, he was welcomed with
ringing of bells and music; flowers were
strewed in his path, and women held out their
children to him and besought him to bless
them. The Indians manifested a great liking
for the externals of worship. They were
never weary of attending mass, singing ves-
pers, and waiting in the choir for the perform-
ance of service. They had talents for music,
and to adorn a church was for them a source
of guileless delight. They seemed indeed
susceptible in a very high degree to whatever
could impress a simple and infantile fancy.*
In their dreams they beheld the joys of Para-
dise. To the sick appeared the queen of
heaven in all her pomp, surrounded by youth-
ful attendants who ministered to and refreshed
the fainting sufferer. Or she would present
herself alone, and teach her worshipper a song
of her crucified Son, " whose head is bent like
the yellow ear of corn."
Such were the particulars of Catholicism
that were here most effective. The monks
only complain that the bad examples set by
the Spaniards, and their tyranny, corrupted
the natives, and were an obstacle to the pro-
gress of conversion.
The work of proselytizing went on nearly
in the same manner in the East Indies, as far
as the sway of the Spaniards and the Portu-
guese extended. Goa became a great focus
of proselytism : year after year thousands
were converted. As early as 1563, there
were reckoned three hundred thousand new
Christians in Goa, in the mountains of Cochin,
and at Cape Comorin.f But the general
relations of foreigners to the natives were
here altogether different from those subsist-
ing in America. Here a vast, peculiar, and
unconquered world defied the force alike of
arms and of argument; primeval religions,
the ceremonials of which captivated both soul
and sense, and were intimately associated
with the manners and habits of thought of the
inhabitants.
It was the natural tendency of Catholicism
to overcome even such a world as this.
This was the fundamental idea on which
were founded the whole course and proceed-
ings of Francis Xavier, who had arrived in
the East Indies as early as 1.542. He tra-
versed India in its whole length and breadth.
He prayed at the tomb of the apostle Thomas
in Maliapur ; preached from a tree to the peo-
ple of Travancore, taught spiritual songs in
the Moluccas, which were repeated by the
boys in the market-place, and by the fisher-
men on the sea. But he was not designed
by nature to complete what he began ; his
motto was Amplius! amplius ! his zeal for
proselytizing was in some sort identified with
a kind of passion for travelling. He had
* Herrera, Description de las Indias, p. 80.
* Compendio y descripcion de las Indias ocidentales,
MS. " Tienen miicha caridad con los necessilados y en
particular con los sacerdoles : que los respetan y reveren-
cien como minislros de Chrislos, abracan los maa tal
suerte las cosas de nueslra santa fe, que solo el mal exeni-
plo que nos demos es causa que no aya entre ellos gran-
des santos, como lo experimenle el liempo que esluve en
aquellos regnos." The Lilera annuae provincise Para-
guarioB missae a Nicolao Duran, Anlv. 1630, are pariieu-
iarly interesting, because the Jesuits kept the Spaniards
away from that province.
t Maffei, Commeniarius de rebus Indicis, p. 21.
A. D. 1542-1623.]
MISSIONS.
303
already reached Japan, and was about to seek
the focus and birth place of the opinions and
habits he fell in with there, when he died.*
It was consonant with the nature of man
that his example, and the difficulties of his
undertaking-, should challenge rather than
deter imitation. The most varied activity
prevailed in the East in the first decades of
the seventeenth century.
From the year 1606, we find father Nobili
in Madaura. He was astonished to see the
small progress Christianity had made in such
a length of time, and believed that circum-
stance was attributable solely to the fact, that
the Portuguese had addressed themselves to
the parias. Christ was regarded as a God of
the parias. He adopted a totally different
course, insisting tliat conversion, to be effec-
tual, must begin with the higher castes. He
declared on his arrival that he was of the
purest race of nobility, of which he had proofs
by him, and he attached himself to the Brah-
mins. He assumed their dress and modes of
life, submitted to their penitential practices,
learned Sanscrit, and entered into their ideas.f
There was an opinion among them, that there
had formerly existed in India four ways of truth
of which one had been lost. Nobili affirmed
that he was come to point out that lost, but
most direct spiritual way to immortality. By
the year 1600, he had already gained over
seventy Brahmins. He was sedulous to avoid
offending their prejudices, and tolerated even
their distinctions of castes, only giving them
another signification : he separated the castes
from each other in the churches, and ex-
changed the expressions in which the doc-
trines of Christianity had previously been
clothed, for others more elegant and of more
literary dignity. His proceedings were in all
respects so judicious, that he soon saw crowds
of converts around him. Though his method
caused great scandal, still it seemed the only
one fitted to obtain extensive success, Gre-
gory XV. pronounced his approval of it in the
year 1621.
The attempts made about this time at the
court of the emperor Akbar are no less worthy
of note.
It will be remembered that the old Mon-
ghol Khans, the conquerors of Asia, had long
maintained a peculiarly indifferent position
amongst the various religions that divided the
world. It would almost seem that the em-
peror Akbar held similar views. On sum-
* Maffei, Historiarum Indicarum lib. xiii. el xiv.
t Jiivencius, Historiae Societ. Jesu, pars v. lorn. ii. lib.
xviii. § ix. n. 49. " Biachmanum insliluta omnia cjere-
inoniasque cognoscit; linguani vernaculani diclam vulgo
Tamulicaiii, quae lalissime pertinet,addiscit ; addil Bada-
gicam, qui principum el aulse sermo, denique Grandoni-
cam sive Samutcradam, quae lingua erudilorum esl,
caeteruui lol obsila ditBcullalibiis, nuUi ut Kuropaeo bene
cognita fuisset ad earn diem atque inter ipsosmet Indos
plurimum scire videantur qui hanc ulcunque aorint elsi
aliud nihil noriat."
moning the Jesuits to his presence, he told
them that "he had taken pains to become
acquainted with all tlie religions on earth ; he
now wished to be made acquainted with the
Christian religion with the help of the fathers,
whom he honoured and prized," Geronimo
Xavier, the nephew of Francis, was the first
who took up his residence permanently at
Akbar's court in the year 1595; the insurrec-
tions of the Mahometans contributed to make
the emperor incline to the Christians. Christ-
mas was celebrated in tlie most solemn man-
ner at Lahore in the year 1599; the holy
manger was exposed to view for twenty suc-
cessive days ; numerous proselytes entered
the church in procession, with palms in their
hands, and received baptism. The emperor
expressed much pleasure on reading a life of
Christ composed in Persian, and he had an
image of the Virgin, executed after the model
of the Madonna del popolo in Rome, brought
into his palace to show to his women. The
Christians indeed drew from this inferences
larger than the circumstances warranted,
still they did really accomplish a great deal :
after Akbar's death in 1610, three princes of
the blood royal solemnly received baptism.
They rode on white elephants to the church,
where they were received by father Geronimo
with trumpets sounding and drums beating.*
Gradually Christianity appeared to gain some
firmness of footing, though here too opinions
and dispositions fluctuated with the more or
less friendly political understanding subsist-
ing with the Portuguese. In 1621, a college
was established in Agra, and a station in
Patna: and in 1624, the emperor Jehangir
gave hopes that he would become a convert.
At the same period the Jesuits had already
penetrated into China, where they sought to
allure the skilful, scientific, studious people
of that empire through the inventions of the
west. Ricci obtained his first success by
teaching mathematics, and by getting by
heart and reciting striking passages from the
writings of Confucius. A present he made
the emperor of a striking clock, gained him
admission into Pekin, where nothing raised
him so highly in the favour and good graces
of his imperial majesty as the construction of
a map, that far surpassed all the attempts
which had ever been made in that way by the
native artists. It was characteristic of Ricci,
that on receiving an order from the emperor
to make him ten such maps on silk, to be
hung up in his apartments, he took the oppor-
tunity of doing something for the promotion
of Christianity, and filled the vacant places
on the maps with Christian symbols and texts.
Such was the general spirit of his teaching :
he began usually with mathematics, and ended
with religion ; his scientific talents procured
♦ Juvencius, 1. 1. n. 1—33.
304
COUNTER REFORMATION. SECOND PERIOD, [a. d. 1542-1623.
respect for his religious instruction. Not
only were his immediate pupils gained over,
but many mandarins, too, whose garb he
assumed, joined him : a society of the Blessed
Virgin was formed in Pekin as early as the
year 1605. Ricci died in 1610, worn out not
only by excessive labour, but chiefly by the
numerous visits, the long dinners, and all the
other exactions of Chinese social etiquette:
but after his death others observed the advice
he had given, " to go to work without parade
or noise, and in such stormy seas to keep close
to the shore," and they followed his example
as regarded science. An eclipse of the moon
occurred in 1610 : the predictions of the na-
tive astronomers and of the Jesuits differed
by a whole hour : the event provmg that the
latter were right, added greatly to their cre-
dit.* Not only were they charged, in con-
junction with some mandarins, their pupils,
with the reform of the astronomical tables, but
Christianity, too, was promoted by their suc-
cess. In 1611, the first church was conse-
crated in Nankin ; in 1616, there were
Christian churches in five provinces of the
empire. In the opposition the Jesuits some-
times encountered, nothing was of so much
service to them as the fact that their pupils
had written books which met with the appro-
bation of the learned. They had the art to
elude the storms that threatened them ; they
complied, too, as closely as possible, with the
usages of the country, and this they were
empowered to do in several points by the pope
in the year 1619. The consequence was,
that not a year passed in which thousands
were not converted ; their opponents gradu-
ally died ofl"; in 1624, Adam tSchall appeared,
and the accurate description of two eclipses
of the moon which happened in that year, and
a treatise by Lombardo on the earthquake,
added fresh lustre to their reputation.f
* Juvency has devoted the whole of his 19th book to the
undertakings in China, and added at p. 561 a treatise,
Imperii Sinici recens at uberior notitia, which is still
worth reading.
f Relatione della Cina dell' anno 1621. " Lo stato pre-
sents di questa chiesa mi pare in universale molto simile
ad una nave a cui e li venti e le nuvole minaccino di
coito grave borasca, e per cio li marinari ammainando le
vele e calando le antenne fermino il corso, estiano aspet-
lando che si chiarisca il cielo e cessino i contrast! de'
venti : ma bene spesso avviene che tutto il male si risolve
in paura, e che sgombrale le furie de' venti svanisce la
lempesta contenta delle sole minaccie. Cos! appunto
pare che sia accaduto alia navedi questa chiesa. Quattro
anni fa se le levo contro una gagliarda borasca, la quale
pareva che la dovesse sommergere ad un tratlo ; li piloti
accomodandosi al tempo raccolsero le vele delle opere
lore e si rilirarono alquanto; ma in modo che polevano
essere trovati da chiunque voleva I'aiuto loro per aspet-
tare donee aspiret dies et inclinentur umbrae. Sin hora
il male non C slate di altro che di timore." [The present
state of this church appears to me on the whole very simi-
lar to that of a ship which the winds and the clouds
threaten with a speedy and violent tempest; wherefore
tlie mariners, shortening sail and lowering the yards, lie
to, and wail till the sky clears and the winds cease their
conflicts : but very often il happens that the whole danger
is resolved into tear, and that the winds having spent
their fury, the tempest vanishes, content with mere
threata. This is precisely what seems to have happened
The Jesuits had struck into a different
course in the warlike Japan, incessantly rent
by factions. From the beginning they made
themselves partisans. In the year 1554 they
were fortunate enough to declare for the par-
ty that proved victorious ; they were secure
of its favour, and by its aid they made extra-
ordinary progress. By the year 1579 they
counted there 300,000 Christians : Father
Valignano, who died in 1606, a man whose
advice Philip II. gladly consulted on East In-
dian affairs, founded 300 churches and thirty
Jesuit houses in Japan.
But this very connexion of the Jesuits with
Mexico and Spain provoked the jealousy of
the native Japanese authorities : they had no
longer their tbrmer good fortune in the civil
wars ; the party they had adopted was de-
feated, and from the year 1612 it was sub-
jected to fearful persecutions.
But they made a very bold stand. Their
proselytes invoked the death of martyrs :
they had formed a martyr society, the mem-
bers of which encouraged each other to en-
dure all sufferings: they distinguished those
years as the ^ra Martyrum. Violent as
waxed the persecution, says their historian,
yet every year produced new converts.*
They will have it that from 1603 to 1622,
exactly 239,339 Japanese embraced Christi-
anity.
In all these countries the Jesuits displayed
a character equally marked with pliant con-
formity to circumstances, and stedfast un-
bending pertinacity. They made progress to
an extent that could never have been antici-
pated, and succeeded in vanquishing, at least
in part, the opposition of the established na-
tional religions of the East.
Nor did they neglect to take measures for
the union of the oriental Christians with the
church of Rome.
In India proper they had fallen in with that
primitive -Nestorian community which is
known by the name of Christians of St. Tho-
mas ; and as these recognized as their head
and as shepherd of the universal church, not
the pope of Rome, of whom they had never
heard, but the patriarch of Babylon (at Mo-
to the vessel of this church. Four years ago a sharp gale
arose against it, which seemed likely to sink it at a guet:
the pilots, obedient to the weather, furled their sails and
retired a space, but so that they might be found by who-
ever required their aid, to wait till day should break and
the shadows melt away. Up to the present lime the
whole evil has amounted to no more than alarm.]
* Lettere annuo del Giappone dell' anno 1622, furnish
an example : " I gloriosi campion! che morirono quest'
anno furono 121 : gli adulti che per opera de' padri della
compagnia a visla di cosi crudele perseculione hanno ri-
cevuto il sanlo bettesirao arrivano al numero di 2236, sen-
za numerar quelli che per mezzo d' altri religiosi e sacer-
doti Giapponesi si battezorno." [The glorious cham-
pions who died this year were 121 : the adults who re-
ceived holy baptism at the hands of the fathers of the
company in the face of such cruel persecution, amounted
to the number of 2236, without counting those who were
baptized through the instrumentality of other Japanese
monks and priests.]
A. D. 1542-1623.]
MISSIONS.
3a5
sul,) measures were speedily taken to draw
them into the communion of the Roman
church. Neither force nor persuasion were
spared. In 1601, the most eminent among
them seemed won, and a Jesuit was appoint-
ed bishop over them. The Roman ritual was
printed in Chaldaic : the errors of Nestorius
were anathematized in a diocesan council ; a
Jesuit college was erected in Cranganor ; the
new installation in the episcopal see took
place in the year 1624, with the approbation
of the most obstinate of the former oppo-
nents.*
Of course the political superiority of the
Portuguese and Spanish power conduced
largely to these results. It was also highly
influential in Abyssinia about the same time.
All former efforts in that country had been
ineffectual. It was not till the year 1608
that the Portuguese of Fremona, having ren-
dered essential service to the Abyssinians in
a battle, obtained high credit for themselves
and their religion. Just then Father Paez
arrived, an able Jesuit, who preached in the
language of the country, and gained access
at court. The victorious sovereign wished
to form a closer connection with the king of
Spain, chiefly with a view to that monarch's
support against his foes in the interior. Paez
represented to him as the only means towards
his eflJecting this, the necessity of his abjur-
ing his scJiismatic doctrines and conforcning
to the Roman church. His arguments had
the more weight, inasmuch as the Portuguese
really displayed fidelity and courage in the
intestine commotions of the country. Dispu-
tations were appointed ; the unlettered monks
were easily put down ; the bravest man in
the kingdom, Sela-Christos, a brother of the
emperor Sela Segued (Socinius,) was con-
verted, and his example was followed by
countless others : an alliance was then formed
with Paul V. and Philip III. The represen-
tatives of the established religion naturally
bestirred themselves at this; the civil wars
of Abyssinia, like those of Europe, assumed a
religious colour; tlie abuna and his monks
were always on the side of the rebels, Sela-
Christos, the Portuguese, and the converts,
on that of the emperor. Battles were fought
year after year ; success and danger alterna-
ted ; at last the emperor and his party were
victorious. The victory was shared b}' Ca-
tholicism and the Jesuits. In the year 1021,
Seltan Segued decided the old controversy
respecting the two-fold nature of Christ ac-
cording to the views of the Roman church:
he prohibited the offering up of prayers lor
the patriarch of Alexandria ; catholic church-
es and chapels were erected in his towns and
in his gardens.f In 1622, after having con-
* Cordara: Historia Societ. Jesu, vi. ix. p. 5.35.
+ Juvenciiis, p. 705. Cordara, vi. p. 330. Ludolf calls
the emperor Susneus.
39
fessed to Paez, he received the Eucharist af-
ter the catholic ritual. The court of Rome
had long been solicited to send a Latin patri-
arch to Abyssinia ; but it hesitated to do so
as long as the emperor's disposition or his
power was doubtful ; at present he had van-
quished all his adversaries, and never could
he display more good will. On the 19th of
Dec. Gregory XV. nominated doctor Alfonzo
Mendez, a Portuguese, of the society of Jesus,
proposed by king Philip, to be patriarch of
yEthiopia.* After Mendez had at last ar-
rived, the emperor solemnly tendered his obe-
dience to the pope of Rome.
Meanwhile attention was directed also to
all the Greek Christians : the popes sent mis-
sion after mission to them. The Roman pro-
fessio fidei had been introduced among the
Maronites by some Jesuits. In 1604, we
find a Nestorian archimandrite at Rome,
where he renounced the doctrine of Nestorius
in the name of a great multitude of his fol-
lowers. A Jesuit mission was founded in
Constantinople, where, through the influence
of the French ambassador, it attained a cer-
tain degree of stability and credit, and suc-
ceeded among other things, in the year 1621,
in procuring the removal, at least for a while,
of the patriarch Cyrillus Lucaris, who inclined
to protestantism.
How prodigious was this world-wide range
of activity ! forcing its way at once amidst
the Andes and the Alps, sending out its scouts
and pioneers to Scandinavia and to Thibet,
and insinuating itself into the favour of the
governments in England and in China ; yet
everywhere on this immense theatre fresh,
and unbroken, and indefatigable : the im-
pulse at work in its centre animating, and
that perhaps with more intense vivacity,
every labourer on the outermost bounds.
CHAPTER IV.
CONFLICTING POLITICAL RELATIONS. NEW
VICTORIES OP CATHOLICISM.
1623—1628.
It is not solely resistance from without that
always, or perhaps ever, sets bounds to the
career of a conquering power : in general
this change of fortune is greatly promoted,
if not directly provoked, by internal dissen-
sions.
Had Catholicism remained one in spirit,
and pursued its purpose with united forces, it
can hardly be conceived how northern Ger-
manic Europe, entangled for the most part as
it was in its interests, and circumvented by
♦Sagripanli: Discorso della religione dell' Etiopia,
MS. from the Atti Consistoriali.
306
COUNTER REFORMATION. SECOND PERIOD, [a. d. 1623-1628.
its policy, could long have been disposed to
resist it.
But was it not natural, that at this stage in
the progress of its power, Catholicism should
once more display those early marked discre-
pancies, which, though superficially conceal-
ed, had never ceased to work within it !
The peculiarity in the progress of religion
in the period before us is, that it was every-
where founded on political and military supe-
riority. Missions marched in the train of
war. The consequence was, that with them
were associated the greatest political changes,
of no little importance in themselves, and
which could not fail of exciting reactions,
the result of whicii there was no foreseeing.
Of all these changes the most important
undoubtedly was, that the German line of the
house of Austria, which hitiierto, engrossed
by the troubles in the hereditary dominions,
had taken less part in the affairs of Europe in
general, at once attained to the independence,
importance, and strength of a great European
power. The elevation of German- Austria
had the effect of making Spain, which had re-
mained pacific since the times of Philip II.,
awake with fresh martial ardour to the asser-
tion of its former pretensions and hopes. The
two powers had already come into direct con-
nexion, in consequence of the Grisons' trans-
actions : the Alpine passes on the Italian side
were taken possession of by Spain, those on
the German side by Austria. On those lofty
mountains they seemed to tender each other
mutual aid for enterprizes directed towards
all quarters of the world.
Certainly this position of things involved
on the one hand a great prospect for Catholi-
cism, to which the two lines had devoted
themselves with inviolable attachment; but,
on the other hand likewise, a great danger of
internal discord. How much jealousy had
the Spanish monarchy under Philip II. pro-
voked ! But the combined force of the house
was now uprisen in far greater vigour and
Bolidity, through the increase of its German
resources. The old antipathies to it would
of necessity be aroused in a still higher de-
gree.
This was first manifested in Italy.
The small Italian states, severally incapa-
ble of standing by themselves, were above all
others in those times in need of and keenly
sensitive as to the preservation of the balance
of power. To find themselves hemmed in,
as they now were, on both sides, and appa-
rently cut off from all foreign aid by the occu-
pation of the Alpine passes, appeared to them
pregnant with imminent peril. Without
much regarding what advantage their creed
might derive from the combination in ques-
tion, they applied to France, which alone
could help them, in order to its annihilation.
Louis XIII. was alarmed too, lest he should
lose his influence in Italy. Immediately after
the peace of 1622, before he had yet returned
to his capital, he concluded a treaty with Sa-
voy and Venice, by virtue of which their unit-
ed forces should compel the house of Austria
to surrender the passes and fortresses of the
Grisons.*
This intention contemplated it is true but
a single point, but it was one that might easi-
ly lead to the disturbance of the whole exist-
ing state of things.
Gregory XV. was fully aware of this, of
the danger to the peace of the catholic world,
to the progress of the interests of religion,
and thereby to the revival of the dignity and
importance of the papal see. With the same
zeal with which he promoted missions and ef-
forts for conversion, he now, in his lively
perception of the necessary concatenation,
laboured to prevent the outbreak of hostili-
ties.
The reverence felt for the papal see, or ra-
ther the feeling of the unity in the catholic
world, was still in such force, that both Spain
and France declared they would leave the
decision of this matter to the pope. Nay, he
was himself requested to take those fortresses
which excited so much jealous uneasiness
into his own hands as a deposit, pending the
fuller adjustment of the dispute, and to garri-
son them with his own troops.f
Pope Gregory deliberated for a moment
whether he ought to take this active and
doubtless expensive part in foreign transac-
tions; but since it was manifest how much
depended thereon, as regarded the peace of
the catholic world, he at last caused a couple
of companies to be raised, and sent them, un-
der the command of his brother the duke of
Fiano, to the Grisons. The Spaniards could
have wished to retain at least Riva and Chia-
venna ; but even these they surrendered to
the papal troops. J Archduke Leopold of the
Tyrol also consented at last to transfer to
them those districts and fortresses, to the pos-
session of which he did not happen to have
some personal claim.
By this means the danger seemed really
averted that had most excited alarm among
the Italian states. The main consideration
now was to provide for the interests of Catho-
licism in the subsequent arrangements. It
was proposed that, as the Valtelline was not
again to fall into the hands of the Spaniards,
so neither should it be suffered to revert to
the Grisons, since that would be so likely to
interrupt the restoration of Catholicism in the
valley. It was to be annexed to the three
ancient Rhcetian leagues as a fourth indepen-
* Nani : Storia Veneta, p. 255.
t Dispaccio, Sillery, Nov. 28, 1622. Corsini, 13. 21
Genu. 1623, in Siri, Meraorie reconditf,lom. v. p. 435. 442.
Scriuura dtl deposito della Vallellina, ib. 459.
t Siri : Memorie recondite, v. 519.
A. D. 1623-1628.] NEW VICTORIES OF CATHOLICISM.
307
dent member, with equal privilesjes. From
the same motives the pope would not com-
pletely sever that union of the two Austrian
lines which seemed so necessary to the pro-
gress of Catholicism in Germany. The passes
throuj^h Worms and the Valtelline were to
remain open to the Spaniards, with tiie full
understanding- that this should be for the pur-
pose of marching tlieir troops towards Ger-
many, but not from thence to Italy.*
Thus far had things proceeded ; nothing
indeed had been actually concluded, but every
thing was ripe thereto, when Gregory XV.
died, July 8, 1628. He had lived long enough
to enjoy the satisfaction of having allayed
these formidable dissensions, and of seeing the
progress of the church maintained uninterrup-
tedly. A new combination between Spain and
France for an attack on Rochelle and Holland
had even come under consideration in the
course of the negotiations.
But after Gregory's death these schemes
were far from being realized.
In the first place, the new pope, Urban
VIII., was not yet looked up to with that con-
fidence which is begotten by the tried and
continual exercise of thorough impartiality :
again, the Italians were far from being satis-
fied with the terms of the treaty : but what was
most important of all, Vieuvilleand Richelieu
had come to the helm in France ; men who
plied the opposition to Spain, not at the solici-
tation of others, as their predecessors had done,
or as mere auxiliaries, but of their own spon-
taneous impulse, and as the grand object of
the French policy.
There was perhaps in this less of choice
than one is apt to suppose. France, too, as
well as the Austro-Spanish power, was ex-
panding all her resources: the victory over
the Huguenots had vastly exalted the royal
authority, and the unity and national feeling
of the country ; and as her claims grew with
her strength, every thing conduced to urge
her upon a bolder line of policy than she had
hitherto pursued. This national tendency
called forth its appropriate organs ; men who
were able and willing to give it effect. From
the first Richelieu was resolved to make head
against the commanding influence which the
house of Austria had always possessed, and
which had recently become more vigorous and
lofty than ever, and to wrestle with it for su-
premacy in Europe.
This was a resolution that imported a far
more perilous rupture in the catholic world
than that which had recently been healed. The
two foremost powers would necessarily engage
in open war with each other. All thoughts
of carrying out the provisions of the Roman
treaty were at an end, and Urban VIII. labour-
ed in vain to hold the French to the conces-
sions to which they had consented. But the
French were not content with a mere alliance
with the catholic opposition. Though a car-
dinal of the Roman church, Richelieu did not
scruple to league liimself openly with the
protestants.
He first made advances to the English, with
a view of preventing the Spanish match, from
which the house of Austria would necessarily
derive so great an accession of strength.
Personal circumstances furthered his views :
the impatience of James I., who longed for
the return of his son and his favourite with the
yearning of an old man who thought his death
approaching, and a misunderstanding between
the two prime ministers, Olivarez and Buck-
ingham : but chiefly the result was deter-
mined by the thing itself. The aftairs of the
Palatinate presented insurmountable difficul-
ties in the course of the negociation with
Austria, Spain, Bavaria, and the Palatinate.*
An alliance with France, on the other hand,
seeing the new direction that power was tak-
ing, promised a speedy solution of those diffi-
culties by way of arms. And since this alli-
ance not only secured the king of England so
considerable a dowry, but also held out the
prospect of reconciling the English catholics
with the throne, he preferred marrying his
son to a French princess, granting her the
same concessions, as regarded religion, that
he had made to the Spaniards.
Preparations were accordingly forthwith
made for the attack. Richelieu struck out
one of those vast and comprehensive plans,
which before his time were unknown in the
policy of Europe, though so peculiarly appro-
priate thereto. It was his purpose at once to
crush the Austro-Spanish power by a simul-
taneous assault upon it from all sides.
He himself was to fall on Italy, in combina-
tion with Savoy and Venice. Without the
least deference to the pope, he caused the
French troops to advance unexpectedly into
the Grisons, and to expel the papal garrisons
from the fortresses there.f He had renewed
the alliance with Holland at the same time as
that with England. The Hollanders were to
assail South America, the English the coasts
of Spain. The Turks were set in motion
through the instrumentality of King James,
and threatened an inroad into Hungary. But
the grand blow was to be struck in Germany.
The king of Denmark, who had been long in
* Art. ix. of the scheme of the convention.
* From a letter of the count palatine's, dated Oct. 30, it
appears lliat nothing but force could have induced him to
accept the terms proposed to him.
t Relatione di iv.ambasciatori, 16ij. " II papasi doleva
che mai Beitune gli haveva parlato chiaro, e che dellesue
parole non aveva compreso mai che si djvessero ponare U
arrai della lega contra li suoi presidii." [The pope com-
plained that Belhune had never spoken plainly to him,
and that he had never understood from his language
that the arms of the league were to be turned against bis
garrisons.] The visual policy pursued in France.
308
COUNTER REFORMATION. SECOND PERIOD, [a. d. 1623-1628.
a state of preparation, was resolved at last to
lead the forces of Denmark and Lower Ger-
many into the field on behalf of his kindred
of the Palatinate. Not only did England
promise him aid, but Richelieu too engaged to
contribute a million of livres towards the
expenses of the war.* Supported by both,
Mansfeld was to form a junction with the
king, and to march upon the hereditary domi-
nions of Austria.
Here then were the two foremost catholic
powers arrayed against each other in this gen-
eral assault.
Unquestionably this must have directly
tended to stay the progress of Catholicism.
Though the French league was one of a poli-
tical nature, protestantism must have beheld
in it, by reason of this close association of poli-
tical and ecclesiastical interests, a great source
of advantage to its own cause. It breathed
again. A new champion, the king of Den-
mark, was in the field for it in Germany, with
fresh and unimpaired strength, and supported
by the grand combination of European policy.
His triumph would have undone all the suc-
cesses of the imperial house and of the catho-
lic restoration.
But it is the attempt that makes manifest
the difficulties involved in any undertaking.
Brilliant as may have been the talents of Rich-
elieu, he had yet plunged too rashly in the
enterprize to which his inclinations prompted,
and to which he looked forward, whether in
full consciousness or in dim presentiment, as
the aim of his life. His project generated
danger for himself
Not only did the German protestants, the
adversaries of the house of Austria, take heart,
but the French protestants too, Richelieu's
own enemies, gathered fresh courage under
the new political combination. According to
their own statement, they hoped in the worst
case to be reconciled with the king, tlirough
the instrumentality of his present allies.f
* Extract from Blainville's instruction in Siri, vi. G2,
ManstelJ was 10 co-operate with him " nel fondodi Alenia-
gna [in the heart of Germany]. (Siri, 641.) Relatione di
Caraffa: " (I Francesi) haniio tutlavia conlinuato sine al
giorno d'hoggi a tener corrispondenza con li nemici di S.
M'a- Ces-1-, a dar loro ajulo in gente e danari, si ben con
coperta, quale pero nori 6 stala tale che per molle letters
intercelle e per molii altri rincontri non si siano scoperli
tulli I'andamenti e corrispondenze: onde prima e doppo
la rotta data dal Tilly al re di Danimarca sempre I'impe-
ralore nel palatinalo inferiore e nelli conlorni d'Alsatia v'
ha tenuto nervo di gente, dubitando che da quelle parti
polesse venire qualche ruina." [The French have always
continued up to this day to Iceep up a correspondence with
the enemies of his imperial majesty, and to furnish them
aid in men and money covertly, yet not so secretly but
that all their manoeuvres and correspondence have been
discovered by intercepted letters and other accidents. F^or
which reason, both before and since the rout of the king
of Denmark by Tilly, the emperor has always kept a
strong force in the Lower Palatinate and in the Alsace
district, apprehensive that some mischief might occur in
that quarter.]
t Memoires de Rohan, p. i. p. 146. " Esp^rant que s'il
■venoit d. bout, les allies et liguesavec leioi le porteroient
plus facilement it. un accommodement."
Rohan set himself in motion by land, Soubise
by sea. In May, 1625, the Huguenots were
in arms all over the country.
And at the same moment enemies, still more
formidable perhaps, arose against Richelieu
amongst the other party. With all his good
will to France, Urban VIII. had too much pride
easily to digest such an afl^ront as the ejection
of his garrisons from the Grisons.* He raised
troops, and dispatched them to the Milanese,
with the declared intention of joining with the
Spaniards in recovering the lost fortresses. It
may possibly be that these warlike threats
really meant but little : but so much the more
significant was the religious eftect associated
with them. The complaints of the papal
nuncio, that the most Christian king was lend-
ing his aid to heretic princes, found an echo
in France. The Jesuits came forward with
their ultra-montane doctrines, and Richelieu
was violently assailed by the strict church
party. True, he found support in the Gallican
principles, and protection at the hands of the
parliaments ; but notwithstanding this, he
durst not long remain the pope's enemy. The
catholic principle was too intimately bound up
with the restored monarchy : who could war-
rant Richelieu against the impression which
the admonitions of the clergy might make on
his sovereign ?
Thus Richelieu found himself assailed even
in France, and that by the two opposite par-
ties at once. Whatever he might contrive
against Spain, this was not a position to be
retained : he must hasten to escape from it.
Now, as in his plan of attack he had dis-
played a genius for immense combinations and
bold home-striking projects, so now he exhi-
bited that treacherous dexterity in making his
allies his mere tools, and then abandoning
them, which was all his life peculiar to him.
He first prevailed on his new confederates
to assist him against Soubise. He had him-
self no naval force. With protestant re-
sources from foreign countries, with Dutch
and English ships, he overcame his protestant
foes at home in September, 1625. He em-
ployed their mediation to force the Huguenots
to an unfavourable peace; they not doubting
that as soon as he had got rid of those domes-
tic foes, he would renew the attack to which
he was engaged with them.
But what was their astonishment when,
instead of this, the news of the peace of Mon-
zon, concluded in March, 1626, between
France and Spain, was suddenly noised
abroad. A papal legate had proceeded to
both courts on that account. It is true, he
+ Relatione di P. Contarini : " S. S'i' (he speaks of the
time immediately after the news was received) somma-
mentedisgustata, stimando pocorispetlo s'havesse portato
alle sue insegne,del continue egranden)ente se ne quere-
lava." [His holiness, incensed to the highest degree al
the little respect paid to his flag, complained loudly and
continually.]
A. D. 1623-1628.]
NEW VICTORIES OF CATHOLICISM.
309
does not appear to have had much influence
in fixing the terms of the treaty, but at all
events he set the catholic principle in motion.
Whilst Richelieu employed the protestants to
his own ends, under a show of the strictest
conlidence, he had eng-aged with still greater
earnestness in negociations with Spain for
their destruction. On the subject of the Val-
telline he agreed with Olivarez, that it should
return indeed under the sway of the Grisons,
but that it should have an independent voice
in the election of its own functionaries, and
undiminished freedom in the exercise of ca-
tholic worship.* The catholic powers, that
had seemed on the point of engaging in a
struggle for life or death, in one more moment
stood reunited.
It contributed to this result, that angry feel-
ings had arisen between the French and the
English respecting the completion of the
engagements contracted in the treaty of mar-
riage.
A pause naturally ensued to all enterprises
hostile to Spain.
The Italian princes, however reluctantly,
were forced to accommodate themselves to
what was inevitable. Savoy concluded a
truce with Genoa. Venice thought herself
fortunate in not having yet attacked Milan,
and disbanded her forces. It was asserted
that the vacillating conduct of the French
hindered the succour of Breda in the year
162.5, so that to them was ascribable the loss
of that important fortress to the Spaniards.
The grand and decisive stroke of ill fortune
occurred, however, in Germany.
The forces of Lower Germany had rallied
round the king of Denmark, under the pro-
tection, as it was thought, of the general
alliance against Spain. Mansfeld advanced
towards the Elbe. The emperor had armed
against him with double diligence, knowing
well how much was at stake.
When the two armies came to blows, the
alliance no longer existed ; the French subsi-
dies were not paid : the English succours
arrived far too slowly ; and the imperial
troops were much more practised in war.
The consequence was, that the king of Den-
mark lost the battle of Luiter, and was driven
back upon his own territory, and that Mans-
feld was driven as a fugitive into the Austrian
provinces, through which he had hoped to
march as a victor and restorer.
This was a success which must necessarily
have produced eiiects as universal as its
causes.
First, as to the imperial dominions. We
may describe them in a word. The last
* Du Mont, V. 2, 4S~, § 2. " Qu'ils ne puissent avoir ci
apr6s autre religion que la catholique ... § 3. Qu'ils puis-
senl 61ire par election entre eux leurs juges, gouverneurs
et auires magistrals luus catholiques." Then follow some
lintitatioQs.
movement that was here undertaken for pro-
testantism, in reliance on the general confe-
deracy, was suppressed. The nobility, who
had hitherto remained free from personal
molestation, were now compelled to conform.
The emperor declared, on St. Ignatius's day,
1627, that, afler the course of six months, he
would no longer tolerate in his hereditary
kingdom of Bavaria any one, even though of
the degree of lord and knight, who did not
agree with himself and the apostolic church
in the only true faith.* Similar edicts were
issued in Upper Austria, in Carinthia, Car-
niola, and Syria, in the year 1628, and, after
some time, in Lower Austria. It was in vain
to entreat even for a respite : the nuncio
Caraffa represented that the request was
prompted only by the hope of a general
change of fortune. From that time forth
those countries became once more thoroughly
catholic. How had the nobility of Austria
opposed the archducal house eighty years
before ! Now the sovereign power, orthodox,
victorious, and unlimited, towered above every
resistance.
And still more extensive were the effects
of the new victory in the rest of Germany.
Lower Saxony was taken possession of; the
population subject to the immediate sway of
the emperor readied as far as to the Cattegat;
Brandenburg and Pomerania were invested ;
Mecklenburg was in the hands of the impe-
rial generals; all these chief seats of protes-
tantism were overruled by a catholic army.
Proof was immediately given of the use to
which it was purposed to apply this state of
things. An imperial prince was nominated
bishop of Halberstadt, and the pope then in
his apostolic authority named him archbishop
of Magdeburg. There could not be a ques-
tion but that, if a catholic archducal govern-
ment established itself in that place, it would
needs insist on the restoration of Catholicism
throughout the whole diocese, with the same
rigour as the rest of the ecclesiastical princes.
Meanwhile the counter reformation pro-
ceeded with new zeal in Upper Germany.
It is worth casting a look at the list of decrees
of the imperial chancery of this year, given
by Carafia ; what a multitude of admonitions,
resolutions, decisions, recommendations, all
in favour of Catholicism. f The young count
* Caraffa: Relatione, MS. "Havendo il S^- Cardinale
ed io iiiesso in consideratione a S. M'a' che come nou si
rifoniiassero i baroni e nobile eretiei si poteva poco o
nulla sperare della conversione delli loro sudditi, e per
conseguenza havriano potulo ancora infettare pian piano
gli aliri, piacque a S. M'i- di aggiungere al S"" C'e' ed
agli altri comniissarj autoriti di riformareauche li nobili."
[The cardinal and I having submitted to his majesty's
consideriiion that so long as the heretic barons and nobles
were not reformed, little or nothing could be expected
from the conversion of their subjects, and they would con-
sequently be able gradually to infect the rest, his majesty
was pleased to confer on the cardinal and the other com-
missioners authority to reform the nobles likewise.]
+ " Brevis enumeratio aliquorum negotioruni quae. . . .
in puncio reforniationis in cancellaria imperii tractata
810
COUNTER REFORMATION. SECOND PERIOD, [a. d. 1623-1628.
of Nassau-Siegen, the younger count palatine
of Neuburg, and the grand master of the Teu-
tonic order, undertook new reformations; in
the Upper Palatinate the nobility themselves
were now forced to adopt Catholicism.
The old legal processes of spiritual lords
against temporal estates, respecting confisca-
ted church property, now took a different
course from that of former times. How sorely
tried was Wiirtemberg ! All the old com-
plainants, the bishops of Constance and Augs-
burg, the abbots of Monchsreit and Kaiser-
sheim prosecuted their claims against the
ducal house, the very existence of which was
endangered.* The bishops everywhere car-
ried their point against the towns ; the bish-
ops of Eichstadt against Fiirnberg, the chapter
against the town of Strasburg : Schwabisch-
Hall, Memmingen, Ulm, Lindau, and several
other towns were compelled to restore to the
catholics the churches that had been wrested
from them.
If the letter of the treaty of Augsburg be-
gan now to be everywhere insisted on, how
important became a more general application
of its principles, as they were now under-
stood, f
" After the battle of Lutter," says Caraffa,
" the emperor seemed as it were to awake
out of a long sleep; liberated from a great
fear that had hitherto held his predecessors
and himself enthralled, he conceived the de-
sign of bringing back all Germany to the form
prescribed by the peace of Augsburg."
Besides JVlagdeburg and Halberstadt, Catho-
licism had been re-established in Bremen,
Verden, Minden, Camin, Havelberg, Schwe-
rin, and almost all the North German ecclesi-
astical endowments. This had always been
the remote aim which the pope and the Je-
suits had held in view in the most brilliant
moments of their success. For this very
reason, however, the emperor looked cauti-
ously on the matter. He doubted, says
Caraffa, not of the equity, but of the possibility
■ of executing the measure. The zeal of the
Jesuits, however, particularly of his confessor
Lamormain, the favourable opinion of the four
catholic electors, and the unwearied perti-
nacity of the papal nuncio, who himself
informs us that it cost a month's labour to
carry his point, at last overcame all scruples.
As early as August 1628, the edict of restitu-
tion was drawn up in the same terms in
which it subsequently appeared.]; Before
publication it was to be submitted once more
to the consideration of the catholic electors.
But a more extensive plan was connected
herewith: the hope was indulged of concilia-
ting the good-will of the Lutheran princes.
This was to be attempted, not by theolo-
gians, but by the emperor, or some catholic
princes of the empire. It was intended to
argue on the principle, that the notions enter-
tained of Catholicism in Germany were erro-
neous, that the discrepancies between the
unaltered Augsburg confession and the genuine
catholic doctrine were but trifling. It was
thought that the elector of Saxony would be
gained by conceding to him the patronage of
the three great chapters in his dominions.*
Not a doubt was entertained of the possibility
of exciting the hatred of the Lutherans against
Calvinism, and then turning that feelmg to
the advantage of the complete restoration of
Catholicism.
This design was warmly embraced in Rome,
and worked out into a detailed project. Ur-
ban VIII. by no means purposed to content
himself with the articles of the treaty of
Augsburg, which no pope indeed had ever
sanctioned.! Nothing less would satisfy him
than a full restoration of all church property,
and an entire repudiation of all protestants.
But in this moment of prosperty, the pope
had risen to a design, if possible, bolder still,
that of an attack on England. This thought
re-appeared from time to time among the
great schemes of Catholicism, by a sort of
natural necessity as it were. The pope now
hoped to promote its success by means of the
renewed understanding between the two
crowns.]:
He first represented to the French ambas-
sunt ab anno 1G20 ad annum 1629," in the appendix to
German ia Sacra Keslaurala, p. 34.
* Saltier: Gcschichie von Wiirtemberg unter den Her-
zogen, Th. vi. p. 2-2ii.
t Senkenberg; Fonsetzung der HSberlinschen Reiclis-
geschiclite, Bd. 25, p. 633.
t This period of the drawing up of the edict is made
known to us by Caraffa, Commcntar. de Germ. Sacra Re-
Staurala, p. 356. He stales that the edict was drawn up
in 1628, and published in 1629 ; he then goes on to say :
" Annuit ipse Deus, dum post paucosab ipsa deliberatione
dies Cssarem insigni victoria remuneratus est." [God
himself expressed his approval, by rewarding the empe-
ror wilh a signal victory a few days after the deliberation
of the matter.] He alludes to the victory of Wolgasl,
gained on the 22nd of August.
* As early as 162i hopes were entertained in Rome of
the conversion of this prince. Instrultione a Mon?i- Ca-
raffa. " Venne ancora qualche novella della sperata
riunione con la chiesa catlolica del signor duca di Sas-
sonia, ma ella svani ben presto: con tutto ci6 il vederlo
non infenso a' catlolici e nemicissimo de' Calvinisli et
amicissimo del Magontino e convenuto nell' elouorato di
Baviera ci fa sperare bene : laonde non sari inutile che
S. Sta- lenga proposito col detto Magontino di queslo desi-
derate acquisto." [Some fuither intelligence was received
of the expected reconciliation of the duke of Saxony to
the Catholic church, but the hope soon vanished. Never-
theless, the fact that he is not hostile to the catholics, but
exceedingly so to the Calvinisls, that he is most friendly
to the elector of Mainz, and that he agreed in the affair of
the elector of Bavaria, promises well : wherefore it will
not be inexpedient that his holiness confer with the elec-
tor of Blainz respecting this desirable acquisition.]
t " A cui," says the pope, of the treaty of Passau, in a
letter to the emperor, " non haveva giammai assenlito la
sede apostolica."
t In Siri's Memorie, vi. 257, some account, though very
incomplete, is given of this affair. That, too, which is
contained in Richelieu's Memoires, xxiii- 283, is but par-
tial. The statement given by Nicoletti is much more
circumstantial and authentic, and we have made use of
it in this place.
A. D. 1623-1628.]
NEW VICTORIES OF CATHOLICISM.
311
sador, how insulting' it was to France that
England utterly disregarded the pledges given
in the contract of marriage. Either Louis
XIII. must compel the English to observe
their pledges, or hurl from the throne a prince,
who as a heretic in the sight of God, and a
violator of his word in that of man, was un-
worthy to fill it.*
Next he turned to the Spanish ambassador
Ofiate. The pope argued, that as a good
knight, Philip IV. was bound to succour the
queen of England, so near a relation of his
own (she was his sister-in-law), in the oppres-
sion she now endured on behalf of her religion.
When the pope saw that he might enter-
tain hopes, he put the negociation into the
hands of Spada, the nuncio in Paris.
Among the influential men in France, none
took up this subject with more warmth than
Cardinal Berulle, who had conducted the ne-
gociations for the marriage. He calculated
how the English vessels might be seized on
the coasts of France; how their fleets might
even ^ be burned in their own harbours. In
Spain, Olivarez entered on their scheme with-
out much hesitation. Former instances of
perfidy might indeed have given him reason
to pause ; and another high functionary of
state, Cardinal Bedmar, decided against the
measure on this ground: but the conception
was too grand, too vast, to be rejected by Oli-
varez, who in all things loved the dazzling
and the magnificent.
The negociations were carried on with the
utmost secrecy : even the French ambassador
in Rome, to whom the matter was first open-
ed, learned nothing of its further progress.
Richelieu drew up the draft of the treaty;
Olivarez amended it; and to this Richelieu
assented: it was ratified on the 20th of April,
1627. The French pledged themselves to
begin their military preparations forthwith,
and to set their harbours in a posture of de-
fence. The Spaniards were ready for action
that same year, 1627 ; and it was arranged
* T.'ie pope is made to say in Nicoletli: "Essere il re
di Francia offeso nello slato, pel fomenlo che I'Inghillerra
dava agli Ueonoui ribelli : nella vila rispetlo agli incita-
menii e fellonia di Sciales,il quale haveva indouo il duca
di Orleans a macchinare coniro S. M'i', per lo cui deliuo
fu poscia falto morire : nella reputazione, rjspello a lanli
mancamenli di promesse: e finalmenle nel prnprio san-
gue, rispelto agli strapazzi fatli alia regina sua sorella:
ma quello che voleva dir lutto, nel anima, insidiando
I'Inslese alia salute di quella della regina ed insieine a
queila del christianissinio stesso e di luiti coloro che pur
troppo hebbero vogliadi fare quello infelice iiialrjinonio."
[That, the king of France was oti'ended in his slate,
through the comfort and encouragement given by England
to the rebellious Huguonois; in his life, through the insti-
gations and the felony of Sciales, who had induced the
duke of Orleans to plot against his majesty, for which
crime he was afterwards put lo death ; in reputation, in
respect to so many breaches of promise; and tinally, in
his own blood, by reason of the insults heaped on the
queen, hissislor: but to sum up all offences in one, he
was injured in his soul, since the English plotted against
the salvation of that of the queen, and thereby against the
soul's salvation of the most Christian king himself, and
of all those who had been too forward in effecting that
unhappy marriage.]
that the French should join them the next
spring with their whole force.*
It does not appear very clearly from our
authorities how France and Spain were to di-
vide the spoils between them: thus much
only is to be collected, that the pope's inte-
rests were regarded in this respect likewise.
Berulle communicated to the nuncio in the
most profound confidence, that should the en-
terprize succeed, Ireland should be consigned
to the papal see, and might then be governed
by the pope, through the medium of a viceroy.
The nuncio received this offer with extraor-
dinary satisfaction ; only he recommended his
holiness not to let a hint of it escape him, lest
it should appear that he was in any degree
actuated by secular views.
Germany and Italy, too, were brought
within the scope of this plan.
There still appeared a possibility of putting'
down the naval supremacy of the English and
Dutch by a general combination. The idea
was conceived of forming an armed company;
under the protection of which a direct traffic
should be carried on between the Baltic,
Flanders, the French coasts, Spain, and Italy,
without any participation on the part of the
two great naval powers. The emperor actu-
ally made proposals with this view to the
Hans towns ; — the infanta in Brussels wished
that a harbour might be conceded to the
Spaniards on the Baltic.f Negotiations were
entered into with the grand duke of Tuscany,
with a view to directing the Spanish and Por-
tuguese trade to Leghorn.]:
* Lettere del nunzio, Aprile 9, 162". " Torno a Parigi
il prefaio corriere di Spagna con avvisi che il re caitolico
contentavasi di muoversi il primo, come veniva deside-
rato da Frances), purch6 da quesli si concedessero unita-
mente le due ofteitealtre volte allernativamente proposte,
cio6 che il chrislianisimo si obligasse di muoversi nel
mese di maggio o di giugno del anno sequente, o che pre-
senteraenie accomodasse I'arraala cattolica di alcune
galere ed altri legni. Porto anche ni;ova il medessimo
corriere che il come duca haveva in Ispagna staccata la
pratica e data ordine che se ne stacasse una simile in
Fiandra col re d' Inghilterra, il quale offriva al caitolico
suspensione d'armi per tre anni o altjo piu lunio tempo,
tanlo al nome del re di Danimarca quanto degli Olandesi."
[The aforesaid courier from Spain returned to Paris with
advices, that the catholic king was content to make the
first move, as had been requested by the king of France,
provided the French would concede the two offers pro-
posed before by way of alternative; i. e. that the most
Christian king should pledge himself lo move in the fol-
lowing May or June, and that he should at present furnish
the catholic armament with some galleys and other ves-
sels. The said courier also brought news, ihat the count
duke had broken off intercourse with thekingof Enuland,
and caused the same lo be done in Flanders, and that the
king of England offered his catholic majesty suspension
of arms for three years, or other longer period, both in the
name of the king of Denmark, and in that of the Hol-
landers.]
t Pope Urban states this as an instruction to Ginetti, in
Siri, Mercurio, ii. 984.
t Scritiura sopra la compagnia militante, MS. in the
Archivio Mediceo, contains a discussion concerning the
practicability of this plan. " Si propone che i popoli
delle citta ansealiche entreranno nella compagnia mili-
tante per fame piacere all' imperatore e che i Toscani
non abbino a ricusare come chiamati da si gran mon-
archi." [It is conceived that the inhabitants of the Hans
Towns would enter into the warlike confederacy to
oblige the emperor, and that the Tuscans could not
312
COUNTER REFORMATION. SECOND PERIOD. [a. d. 1623-1628.
Things indeed were not carried to the ex-
tent proposed. In consequence of the intri-
cacy of the interests concerned, the event
took a very different course, but one that
finally led to a result very favourable to the
cause of Catholicism.
Whilst plans of such magnitude w^ere in
contemplation for an attack on England, it so
befel that the projectors were themselves at-
tacked by that country.
In July, 1627, Buckingham appeared with a
stately fleet off the French coast : he landed
on the island of Rhe, and seized it as far as
to the citadel of St. Martin, to which he im-
mediately laid siege. He summoned the
Huguenots to make a new stand for their
privileges and their religious independence,
which assuredly was every day more and more
endangered.
The English historians are in the habit of
ascribing this expedition to a singular passion
of Buckingham's for queen Anne of France.
Be the fact that such a passion existed as it
may, still there was in the great course of
circumstances another, and assuredly a more
substantial reason for the enterprise. Was
Buckingham to await in England the project-
ed attack on' his country] Unquestionably it
was more expedient to anticipate it, and to
carry the war into France.* A more auspi-
cious moment there could not be. Louis XIII.
was dangerously ill, and Richelieu was strug-
gling with powerful factions. After some de-
liberation, the Huguenots actually resumed
their arms, and their warlike leaders appear-
ed once more in the field.
But Buckingham ought to have carried on
the war with more vigour, and to have been
better supported. King Charles I. admits, in
all his letters, that this was not sufficiently
the case. As matters were conducted, the
enemy were soon no match for cardinal Rich-
elieu, whose genius unfolded its resources
with double energy in moments of difficulty,
and who never proved himself more resolute,
stedfast, and indefatigable, than now. Buck-
ingham saved himself by retreat ; and his
expedition, which might have been in the
utmost degree perilous to the French govern-
refuse to do the like when called on by such great mo-
narchs.]
♦ It may be asked, had not Buckingham learned some-
thing of the secret design in question"? It is at least very
probable ; for how seldom is a secret so well kept that
nothing of it transpires. At any rate Zorzo Zorzi, the
Venetian ambassador, who arrived in France about the
time when the preliminaries were under discussion,
heard of them immediately. " Si ag<;iungeva che le due
corone tenevano insieme machinalio'ni e'trattali di assa-
lire con pari forze e disjjosilioni I'iiola d'lnghilterra." [It
was added that the two crowns plotted and conspired
toi-'Plher to make a joint and e(iual attack on tlie island
of England.] It is very imlikcly tlien that no intelli-
gence of the matter had reached England. The Vene-
tians were in very close correspondence with that coun-
try, and had even incurred suspicion of having advised
the expedition against the isle of Rh6. (Rel. di Francia,
1628.)
ment, had no other result than that the whole
strength of the country flung itself, with re-
newed impetuosity, under the conduct of the
cardinal, upon the Huguenots.
Rochelle was unquestionably the central
point of the Huguenot strength. Richelieu
had already in former years reflected on the
possibility of capturing that stronghold, at the
time when he resided in his bishopric of Lu-
Qon, in the neighbourhood. He now felt
himself called on to head such an enterprize,
and he resolved to accomplish it, cost what it
might.
Strange to tell, nothing so much furthered
his efforts, as the fanaticism of the English
puritans.
Buckingham had at last taken up arms
again to relieve Rochelle : his honour was
pledged thereto, his position in England and
in the world, depended on his execution of
that task, and undoubtedly he had bent to it
all his powers and resourses. This was the
moment chosen by a fanatic, instigated by re-
venge and mistaken religious zeal, to assassi-
nate Buckingham.
In grand and decisive struggles, it is neces-
sary that powerful men should make an en-
terprize their own personal aftair. The siege
of Rochelle was like a duel between the two
ministers. ]\ow Richelieu alone survived.
In England there was no one to take Buck-
ingham's place, or cordially to vindicate the
honour of the deceased. The English fleet
appeared in the roads, but effected nothing of
consequence. It is said that Richelieu was
aware that this would be the case. He per-
severed unswervingly, and Rochelle surren-
dered to him in October, 1628.
After the fall of the principal fortressos, the
neighbouring ones despaired of being able to
hold out : their only care was to obtain tolera-
rable terms.*
Thus out of all these political complexities,
which at first seemed propitious to the pro-
testants, there ensued after all in the last re-
* Zorzo Zorzi : Relatione di Francia, 1629 : " L'acquisto
di Rocella ultimato sugli occhi dell' armata Inglese, che
professava di scioglere I'assedio et introdurvi il soccorso,
I'impresa contro Koano, capo et animo di questa fattione,
i progress! contra gli Ugonolti nella Linguadocca colla
ricuperatione di benoOpiazze hanno sgomentato i cuori
e spozzato la foriuna di qeul panito che perdute le forze
interne e mancategli le intelligenze straniere si 6 intier-
araenle rimesso alia volanti e clemenza del re." [The
concjuest of Rochelle achieved before the eyes of the En-
glish forces, which professed the intention of relieving
the besieged and throwing succour into the tgvvn; the
enterprize against Rohan, tlie head and soul of the fac-
tion, the successes against the Huguenots in Languodoo,
with the recovery of fully fifty fortresses, have disheart-
ened the party, and given a blow to their fortunes; so
that, deprived of their home resources, and disappointed
of aid from abroad, they have cast themselves entirely
upon the good pleasure and the clemency of the king.]
He remarks that the Spaniards, though late, indeed, did
actually arrive witli fourteen ships to lake part in the
siege of Rochelle. He ascribes their accession to the
"certezza del line" [the certainly of the issue,] and to
the desire "parliciparagli onori" [of participating in the
honour]
A. D. 1623-1628.]
MANTUAN SUCCESSION.
313
suit decisive victories and mighty advances on
the part of Catholicism. North-eastern Ger-
many, and south-western France, which had
held out so long, were both subdued. All that
now seemed requisite was to subject the con-
quered foe forever by laws and permanently
effective institutions.
The aid which Denmark had afforded to the
Germans, and England to the French, had
proved rather pernicious than advantageous :
it had first provoked the superior strength of
the enemy; and these powers were now them-
selves endangered or attacked. The imperial
troops penetrated to Jutland. Fresh negotia-
tions between France and Spain, respecting a
combined attack on England, were set on foot
in the year 1628, and plied with the utmost
earnestness.
CHAPTER V.
MANTUAN WAR. — THIRTY YEARs' WAR. — REVO-
LUTION IN THE STATE OF THINGS.
At the first glance at the course of events,
the progress of a system of movements once
begun presents an aspect of unchangeable
persistency.
But if we examine more narrowly, we
shall not unfrequently see that the funda-
mental circumstance on which the whole
group depends is slight and feeble, — often
little more than personal regard or aversion,
which it would not be very difficult to shake.
If we inquire what was the principal agency
that produced the recent vast advantages on
the side of Catholicism, we shall find it was
not so much the armies of Tilly and Wallen-
stein, or the military superiority of Richelieu
over the Huguenots, as the renewed and ex-
isting war between France and Spain, with-
out which neither the two former nor the lat-
ter would have been able to effect much.
All power of self-sustained resistence had
passed away from protestantism by the year
1628 ; thenceforth nothing but the discord of
the catholic powers encouraged it to make a
stand ; their reconciliation was its ruin.
But who could fail to perceive how easily
that union might be rent asunder.
Within the pale of Catholicism two opposite
impulses had arisen by an equal necessity ;
the one i-eligious, the other political.
The former demanded union, propagation
of the faitii, and disregard of all other con-
siderations; the latter unceasingly provoked
the strife of the great powers lor pre-emi-
nence.
It could scarcely be asserted that the
course of events had as yet destroyed the
balance of power in Europe. That balance
rested in those days on the antagonism of
40
France and the Austro-Spanish power ; and
France, as well as the latter, had vastly aug-
mented in strength in the course of these oc-
currences.
But political action is prompted and go-
verned no less by anticipations of the future
tlian by the pressure of present evils. The
natural course of things seemed now to lead
inevitably towards a state of universal peril.
The outspread of Wallenstein's troops over
the northern countries of Germany, the an-
cient abodes of protestantism, seemed to
countenance the possibility of again raising
the imperial authority, which, with the ex-
ception of a moment in the life of Charles
v., had for centuries been a mere sha-
dow, to a condition of true power and es-
sential importance. Such would be the ine-
vitable result if the restoration of Catholicism
proceeded as it had begun,
France, on the other hand, had no equiva-
lent advantage to expect : from the instant it
had mastered the Huguenots, there remained
for it no other object to be won. But the
Italians had the greatest cause for anxiety.
To them the renovation of a mighty imperial
power, asserting so many claims in Italy, and
so immediately connected with the detested
power of the Spaniards, appeared perilous,
nay intolerable.
The question was once more, whether the
catholic efforts should be prosecuted without
regard to these considerations, and should
again overbear every thing else, or whether
political motives would gain the upper hand,
and put a stop to these exertions.
Whilst the current of catholic restoration
was sweeping in full force over France and
Germany, a movement took place in Italy
which was destined to decide the question.
Mantuan Succession.
At the close of the year 1627 died Vincen-
zo II., duke of Mantua, of the house of Gon-
zoga, without issue. His next of kin was Carlo
Conzaga, due de Nevers.
Simply considered, this succession present-
ed no difficulty : no doubt could prevail as to
the rights of the next of kin. But it involved
a political change of great importance.
Charles de Nevers was born in France, and
was necessarily to be regarded as a French-
man : it was thought that the Spaniards would
not endure the acquisition of power by a
Frenchman in Upper Italy, which they had
also sought with peculiar jealousy to keep
free from all French influence.
If, after the lapse of so long a time, we en-
deavour to search the matter to the bottom,
we shall find, that at first the thought of ex-
cluding Nevers was not entertained either at
the Spanish or the Austrian court. In fact, he
was related to the house of Austria ; the em-
312
COUNTER REFORMATION. SECOND PERIOD. [a. d. 1623-1628.
Things indeed were not carried to the ex-
tent proposed. In consequence of the intri-
cacy of the interests concerned, the event
took a very different course, but one that
finally led to a result very favourable to the
cause of Catholicism.
Whilst plans of such magnitude were in
contemplation for an attack on England, it so
befel that the projectors were themselves at-
tacked by that country.
In July, 1627, Buckingham appeared with a
stately fleet off tlie French coast : he landed
on the island of Rhe, and seized it as far as
to the citadel of St. Martin, to which he im-
mediately laid siege. He summoned the
Huguenots to make a new stand for their
privileges and their religious independence,
which assuredly was every day more and more
endangered.
The English historians are in the habit of
ascribing this expedition to a singular passion
of Buckingham's for queen Anne of France.
Be the fact that such a passion existed as it
may, still there was in the great course of
circumstances another, and assuredly a more
substantial reason for the enterprise. Was
Buckingham to await in England the project-
ed attack on his country! Unquestionably it
was more expedient to anticipate it, and to
carry the war into France.* A more auspi-
cious moment there could not be. Louis XIII.
was dangerously ill, and Richelieu was strug-
gling with powerful factions. After some de-
liberation, the Huguenots actually resumed
their arms, and their warlike leaders appear-
ed once more in the field.
But Buckingham ouglit to have carried on
the war with more vigour, and to have been
better supported. King Charles I. admits, in
all his letters, that this was not sufficiently
the case. As matters were conducted, the
enemy were soon no match for cardinal Rich-
elieu, whose genius unfolded its resources
with double energy in moments of difficulty,
and who never proved himself more resolute,
stedfast, and indefatigable, than now. Buck-
ingham saved himself by retreat ; and his
expedition, which might have been in the
utmost degree perilous to the French govern-
refuse to do ihe like when called on by such great mo-
narchs.]
♦ It may be asked, liad not Buckingham learned some-
thing of the secret desisn in question"? it is at least very
probable ; for how seldom is a secret so well kept that
nothing of it transpires. At any rate Zorzo Zorzi, the
Venetian ambassador, who arrived in France about the
lime when the preliminaries were under discussion,
heard of them immediately. " Si aggiungeva che le due
corona tenevano insieme machinationi e'trattali di assa-
lire con pari forze e disi)osiiioni I'itola d'Inghilterra." [It
was added that the two crowns plotted and conspired
together to make a joint and equal attack on the island
of England.] It is very unlikely then that no intelli-
gence of the matter had reached England. The Vene-
tians were in very close correspondence with that coun-
try, and had even incurred suspicion of having advised
the expedition against the isle of Kh6. (Rel. di Francia,
1628.)
ment, had no other result than that the whole
strength of the country flung itself, with re-
newed impetuosity, under the conduct of the
cardinal, upon the Huguenots.
Rochelle was unquestionably the central
point of the Huguenot strength. Richelieu
had already in former years reflected on the
possibility of capturing that stronghold, at the
time when he resided in his bishopric of Lu-
Qon, in the neighbourhood. He now felt
himself called on to head such an enterprize,
and he resolved to accomplish it, cost what it
might.
Strange to tell, nothing so much furthered
his efforts, as the fanaticism of the English
puritans.
Buckingham had at last taken up arms
again to relieve Rochelle : his honour was
pledged thereto, his position in England and
in the world, depended on his execution of
that task, and undoubtedly he had bent to it
all his powers and resourses. This was the
moment chosen by a fanatic, instigated by re-
venge and mistaken religious zeal, to assassi-
nate Buckingham.
In grand and decisive struggles, it is neces-
sary that powerful men should make an en-
terprize their own personal afi'air. The siege
of Rochelle was like a duel between the two
ministers. Now Richelieu alone survived.
In England there was no one to take Buck-
ingham's place, or cordially to vindicate the
honour of the deceased. The English fleet
appeared in the roads, but effected nothing of
consequence. It is said that Richelieu was
aware that this would be the case. He per-
severed unswervingly, and Rochelle surren-
dered to him in October, 1628.
After the fall of the principal fortresses, the
neighbouring ones despaired of being able to
hold out : their only care was to obtain tolera-
rable terms.*
Thus out of all these political complexities,
which at first seemed propitious to the pro-
testants, there ensued after all in the last re-
* Zorzo Zorzi : Relatione di Francia, 1629 : " L'acquisto
di Rocella ultimato sugli occhi dell' armata Inglese, che
professava di scioglere I'assedio et inlrodurvi il soccorso,
I'impresa contro Roano, capo et animo di questa fattione,
i progress! contra gli Ugonotti nella Linguadocca coUa
ricuperatione di ben 50 piazze hanno sgomentalo i cuorl
e spozzato la fonuna di qeul paniio che perduie le forze
interne e mancategli le intelligenze straniere si 6 intier-
amente rimesso alia volanti e cleuienza del re." [The
conquest of Rochelle achieved before the eyes of ilie En-
glish forces, which professed the intention of relieving
the besieged and throwing succour into the tgwn ; the
enterprize against Rohan, tlie head and soul oi the fac-
tion, the successes against the Huguenots in Languodoc,
with the recovery of fully fifty fortresses, have disheart-
ened the party, and given a blow to their fortunes; so
that, deprived of tiieir home resources, and disapjiointed
of aid from abroad, they have cast themselves entirely
upon the good pleasure and the clemency of the king.]
He remarks that the Spaniards, though late, indeed, did
actually arrive witli fourteen ships to take part in the
siege of Rochelle. He ascribes their accession to the
"certezza del fine" [the certainty of the issue,] and to
the desire "participaragli onori" [of participating in the
honour]
X. D. 1623-1628.]
MANTUAN SUCCESSION.
313
suit decisive victories and mighty advances on
the part of Catholicism. North-eastern Ger-
many, and south-western France, which had
held out so long, were both subdued. All that
now seemed requisite was to subject the con-
quered foe forever by laws and permanently
effective institutions.
The aid which Denmark had affiirded to the
Germans, and England to the French, had
proved rather pernicious than advantageous :
it had first provoked the superior strength of
the enemy; and these powers were now them-
selves endangered or attacked. The imperial
troops penetrated to Jutland. Fresh negotia-
tions between France and Spain, respecting a
combined attack on England, were set on foot
in the year 1628, and plied with the utmost
earnestness.
CHAPTER V.
MANTUAN WAR. THIRTY YEARs' WAR. REVO-
LUTION IN THE STATE OF THINGS.
At the first glance at the course of events,
the progress of a system of movements once
begun presents an aspect of unchangeable
persistency.
But if we examine more narrowly, we
shall not unfrequently see that the funda-
mental circumstance on which the whole
group depends is slight and feeble, — often
little more than personal regard or aversion,
which it would not be very difficult to shake.
If we inquire what was the principal agency
that produced the recent vast advantages on
the side of Catholicism, we shall find it was
not so much the armies of Tilly and Wallen-
stein, or the military superiority of Richelieu
over the Huguenots, as the renewed and ex-
isting war between France and Spain, with-
out which neither the two former nor the lat-
ter would have been able to effect much.
All power of self-sustained resistence had
passed away from protestantism by the year
1628 ; thenceforth nothing but the discord of
the catholic powers encouraged it to make a
stand ; their reconciliation was its ruin.
But who could fail to perceive how easily
that union might be rent asunder.
Within the pale of Catholicism two opposite
impulses had arisen by an equal necessity ;
the one religious, the other political.
The former demanded union, propagation
of the faith, and disregard of all other con-
siderations ; the latter unceasingly provoked
the strife of the great powers lor pre-emi-
nence.
It could scarcely be asserted that the
course of events had as yet destroyed the
balance of power in Europe. That balance
rested in those days on the antagonism of
40
France and the Austro-Spanish power ; and
France, as well as the latter, had vastly aug-
mented in strength in the course of these oc-
currences.
But political action is prompted and go-
verned no less by anticipations of the future
tlian by the pressure of present evils. The
natural course of things seemed now to lead
inevitably towards a state of universal peril.
The outspread of Wallenstein's troops over
the northern countries of Germany, the an-
cient abodes of protestantism, seemed to
countenance the possibility of again raising
the imperial authority, which, with the ex-
ception of a moment in the life of Charles
v., had for centuries been a mere sha-
dow, to a condition of true power and es-
sential importance. Such would be the ine-
vitable result if the restoration of Catholicism
proceeded as it had begun.
France, on the other hand, had no equiva-
lent advantage to expect : from the instant it
had mastered the Huguenots, there remained
for it no other object to be won. But the
Italians had the greatest cause for anxiety.
To them the renovation of a mighty imperial
power, asserting so many claims in Italy, and
so immediately connected with the detested
power of the Spaniards, appeared perilous,
nay intolerable.
The question was once more, whether the
catholic efforts should be prosecuted without
regard to these considerations, and should
again overbear every thing else, or whether
political motives would gain the upper hand,
and put a stop to these exertions.
Whilst the current of catholic restoration
was sweeping in full force over France and
Germany, a movement took place in Italy
which was destined to decide the question.
Mantuan Succession.
At the close of the year 1627 died Vincen-
zo II., duke of Mantua, of the house of Gon-
zoga, without issue. His next of kin was Carlo
Conzaga, due de Nevers.
Simply considered, this succession present-
ed no difficulty: no doubt could prevail as to
the rights of the next of kin. But it involved
a political change of great importance.
Charles de Nevers was born in France, and
was necessarily to be regarded as a French-
man : it was thought that the Spaniards would
not endure the acquisition of power by a
Frenchman in Upper Italy, which they had
also sought with peculiar jealousy to keep
free from all French influence.
If, after the lapse of so long a time, we en*
deavour to search the matter to the bottom,
we shall find, that at first the thought of ex-
cluding Nevers was not entertained either at
the Spanish or the Austrian court. In fact, he
was related to the house of Austria ; the em-
314
COUNTER REFORMATION. SECOND PERIOD, [a. d. 1623-1628.
press was a Mantuan princess, and always
strongly in his favour. " At first," says Khe-
venhiller, who was employed in the affairs of
Mantua, "no objection was entertained to
him : means were rather sought to conciliate
his devotion to the imperial house."* Oliva-
rez, too, expressly asserted this ; he tells us,
that when news were received of the danger-
ous illness of don Vincenzo, it was resolved to
send a courier to the duke of Nevers, and
offer him the protection of Spain in taking
peaceable possession of Mantua and Montfer-
rat.f It is very possible that conditions would
have been prescribed to him, and securities
demanded; but of his rights there was no
thought of despoiling him.
The mode in which this natural course of
things was prevented is remarkable.
Credit was not given to the Spaniards in
Italy for a disposition to act so equitably. No
one would ever believe of them, frequent as
had been their previous assurances of good
faith, that they would not oppose the succes-
sion of Nevers.l The Spanish rulers in Italy
had once for all drawn down on themselves
the suspicion that they were ready to grasp,
even by unlawful means, at the possession of
unlimited power. Noone would be persuaded
that they would not now endeavour to bestow
the duchy on some member of the house of
Gonozaga more devoted to their own interests.
Let us confess, however, that the desire of
the Italians to see Mantua ruled by a prince
naturally connected with France, and inde-
pendent of the Spaniards, had much share in
engendering that opinion. They would not
believe that Spain would accede to anything
which they themselves so longed for in their
antipathy to that country. They even com-
municated their own belief to the rightful heir,
so that he deemed it expedient to take posses-
sion of his inheritance with all speed, and in
whatever way he could.
Like as it occurs in the animal constitution,
the internal disease sought only an occasion,
an injured part, to break out.
Previously to the decease of Vincenzo, the
young Gonzago Nevers, duke of Rethel, arri-
* Annales Ferdinandei, xi. p. 30.
+ Francesco degli Albizi, negotiator di Monsr. Cesare
Monte: " S. MtiV' says Olivarez, "in sentire la grave
indisposilione del duca Vincenzo ordinf) che si dispiacci-
asse corriero in Francia al medesimo Nevers prometten-
dogli la protellione sua accio egli potesse pacificamenli
otienere il possesso di Mantova e del Monferrato ; ma
appenaconsegnati eli ordini, si era con altro corrieri ven-
uto d'ltaliaimesa la morte di Vincenzo, il matrimonio di
Retel sfnza participatione del re," etc.
■f " N6 si deve dar credonza," says Mulla, the Vene-
tian ambassador in Mannia in 1G15, "a quello che si 6
hisciato intender piu volte il niarchese di Inoiosa, gii
governator di Milano, che Spangolilnon porterebbono quan-
do venisse il caso, niai altri alio stalo di Manloa che il duca
di Nevers." [No credit is to be given to what has been
frequently staled by the marchese d'Inoiosa, formerly
governor of Milan, that should the opportunity occur, the
Spaniards would never place any other than the duke of
Nevers on the throne of Milan]— but wliy not ■? We have
only the fact ; the governor asserts it ; the Italians do not
believe it ; still it is so beyond doubt.
ved in the profoundest secrecy in Mantua,
where every thing had been pre-arranged by .
a Mantuan minister, of the name of Striggio,
who belonged to the anti-Spanish party. The
old duke made no difficulty of recognizing the
rights of his kinsman. There was still ex-
isting a female descendant of the direct native
line, a great granddaughter of Philip II.,
through his younger daughter, who had married
into the house of Savoy, and it seemed to be
most important that the young duke should
wed her. Casual circumstances delayed the
affair, and Vincenzo was already dead,* when
one night the lady was brought from the con-
vent where she had been educated and carried
into the palace, where the marriage was per-
formed and consummated without much loss
of time. Not till after this was the death of
the late duke made public, and Rethel saluted
as sovereign of Mantua, and homage tendered
him. A Milanese envoy was kept at a dis-
tance till all was completed, and then, not
without a sort of mockery, was made acquain-
ted with the whole transaction.
Accounts of these proceedings arrived in
Madrid and Vienna at the same moment as
the news of the duke's death.
It must be admitted that such things were
peculiarly of a nature to exasperate such great
sovereigns as the emperor and the king of
Spain, who piqued themselves on a character
of sac red majesty. So near a relation married
without their consent, — nay, without their
knowledge, — with a sort of violence ! An
important fief taken possession of without the
least deference for the liege lord !
The measures taken by the two courts were
nevertheless different.
Olivarez, proud as a Spaniard, doubly so as
minister of so powerful a king, always full of
the most overweening sense of his own im-
portance, was now far from disposed to make
any advances to the duke: he resolved that,
if he did no more, he would at least, to use his
own expression, mortify him.f Was not his
conduct openly hostile] After such a proof
of his inclination, could he be trusted with the
important city of Montferrat, which was to be
regarded as an outwork of Milan ] The duke
of Guastala made pretensions to Mantua, the
* Nani, Storia Veneta 1. 7, p. 3-50, Siri, Memorie recon-
dite vi. 309, state this fact, the last-mentioned from a let-
ter of Sabran's to the French court.
t Nicoletti : Vita di papa Urbano, from a despatch of
the nuncio Pamfilio: '• Dichiaravasi il conte duca che per
lo nieno voleva niortificare il duca di Nevers per lo poco
rispetio porlato al re nella conclusione del matrimonio
senza paiticiparlo; ma a quel segno potesse giungere la
niortificatione non poteva il nuntio fame congettura, e
tanlo piu che le ragioni che avevano mosso il papa a con-
cedere la dispensa, erano acerbamenie impugnate dal
medesimo conte duca." [The count duke declared that,
at the least, he would mortify the duke of Nevers for the
little respect shown the king in concluding the marriage
without communicating it to him: but in what particular
this mortification was to be inflicted the nuncio could not
conjecture, the more so because the motives that had in-
duced the pope to grant the dispensation were bitterly
impugned by the count duke.]
A. D. 1623-1628.]
URBAN Vlir.
315
duke of Savoy to Montferrat ; the Spaniards
now entered into connexion witii both ; arms
were appealed to; the duke of Savoy advanced
on Montferrat from one side, Don Gonzalez,
governor of Milan, from the other. The French
had already retreated to Casale. Don Gonza-
lez hastened to besiege it, and doubted not
that he would speedily reduce it, since he
counted on an understanding with the parties
within the walls.
The emperor was not so precipitate. He
%vas convinced that God would protect him,
because he trod the path of righteousness. He
disapproved of the conduct of the Spaniards,
and caused formal notice of his disapprobation
to be made to Don Gonzalez. On the other
hand, he was determined to exercise his right
of supreme adjudication in the most unrestrict-
ed manner, and pronounced the sequestration
of Mantua, till he should have decided to
which of the several claimants the inheritance
belonged. As the new duke of Mantua, who
was now arrived in person, would not submit,
the most severe mandates were issued against
him.*
Now, however, the measures of the two
courts differed in origin and in spirit, they co-
incided, after all, in their effects. Nevers
found himself threatened no less by the legal
claims of the German branch of the house of
Austria, than by the violent measures of
the Spanish branch ; in thinking to avoid
the danger, he had drawn it down on his
head.
At first his prospects were indeed but bad.
* The views of the imperial court may be collected
from the report of Palotla, June 10, 1628, an extract from
which is to be found in Nicoletti. " II nunzioogni di piii
accorgevasi che era malissima I'impressione conlo il duca
di Nevers, che avresse disprezzato 11 re di Spagno e raolto
piu I'imperatore conchiudendo matrimonio senza sua par-
ticipazione, col possesso dello slaio senza investitura,
anzi senza indulto imperiale; che fosse nemico della
casa d'Austria, che avesse intelligenza e disegno co' Fran-
cesi di dare loro mano nell' invasione dello stato di Mila-
no : e che non di meno S. M'i. Ces^. havesse grandissima
inclinalione alia pace, e con questo fine havesse fatlo il
decrelo del sequestro per levare I'arrai dalle mani di
Spagnuoli e di Savojardi stanti le ragioni che pretende-
vano Guastalla, Savoja, Lorena e Spagn i negli stali di
Manlova e Monferrato : che dapoi il duca havesse di nu-
ovo olTeso I'imperatore col disprezzo de' commissarj, non
dando lore la mano dritta e non gli ammettendo in Man-
lova e sopra tutto col appellazione e protesta che I'im-
peratore fosse caduto dalla ragione e superiority di delti
feudi." [The nuncio was daily more and more convinced
that the impression entertained against the duke of Nev-
ers was very bad, because he had treated the king of
Spain with contempt, and still more the emperor, in con-
cluding the marriage without their privity and consent,
and tailing possession of the stale without investiture or
any imperial indult; because he was an enemy of the
house of Austria, and was leagued and confederate with
the French to give them assistance in their invasion of
the state of Milan ; and it was said, notwithstanding all
this, the emperor was strongly inclined to peace, to which
end he had issued the proclamation of sequestration, to
disarm the Spaniards and the Savoyards pending the dis-
cussion of the pretensions to the states of Mantua and
Montferrat alleged by Guastalla, Savoy, Lorraine, and
Spain ; that subsequently the duke had offended the em-
peror afresh, by his contempt of the commissioners in not
countenancing them or admitting them into Mantua, and
above all, by his appeal and protest that the emperor had
lost his rights and his superiority over the said fiefs.]
It is true some Italian states regarded his
cause as identical with their own ; they
neglected nothing that could confirm him in
his resolution to hold out, but they had not
strength sufficient to afford him any effectual
succour.
Richelieu, too, had promised that he would
not let him sink if he could only maintain his
position till France could come to his aid. But
the question was when might that be ?
The circumstances of Mantua had reached
a very perilous pitch, while the siege of Ro-
chelle was yet pending. Before its fall Riche-
lieu could not move a step. He durst not
venture to engage in fresh hostilities against
Spain, so long as there was a chance of there-
by occasioning a dangerous rising of the Hu-
guenots.
But yet another consideration was forced
upon him by his former experience. On no
account durst he quarrel with the devout,
rigorously catholic party in his native country.
He durst not break with the pope, or even
venture on a line of policy that might be dis-
pleasing to his holiness.
An immensity now once more depended on
the personal disposition of the pope. His posi-
tion, the nature of his office, called on him to
make every effort for the maintenance of peace
in the catholic world. As an Italian sovereign,
he had an unquestionable influence over his
neighbours, while even France, as we have
seen, was obliged to model her conduct upon
his. Every thing depended on whether he
would avert the outbreak of the quarrel, or him-
self take a part in it.
In the former political conjunctures Urban
VIII. had found the bent of his policy deter-
mined, its path marked out. On this occa-
sion his own turn of mind first came to view
more completely, and at the same time with
more decisive influence on the affairs of the
world.
Urban VIII.
Among the foreigners who attained to a
hio-h degree of wealth by the commerce of
Ancona, which was in considerable vigour in
the sixteenth century, the Florentine house
of Barberini distinguished itself by its shrewd-
ness and success in business. Maffeo, a scion
of the house, born in Florence in the year
1568, was taken, after the early death of his
father, to Rome, where lived an uncle of his
who had gained a certain station in the curia.
Maffeo also entered on the same career, in
which he was furthered by the easy circuni-
stances of his house, while he likewise mani-
fested distinguished talents. At every step
of his rise his colleagues recognized his supe-
riority. It was chiefly through a nunciature
in France, where he won the entire regard
of the French court, that higher prospects
316
COUNTER REFORMATION. SECOND PERIOD. [a. d. 1623-1628.
opened upon him. After the death of Gre-
gory XV., the French party, from the very
first, fixed on him to succeed to the papal see.
The character of the conclave on that occa-
sion differed from former ones, from the fact
that the last pope had reigned but a short
time. Though he had named a considerable
number of cardinals, still those created by his
predecessor were quite as numerous : the last
nephew and the last but one met each other
in tolerably equal strength in the conclave.
MafFeo Barberini is said to have secretly inti-
mated to each of them that he was an adver-
sary of the other, and to have been in conse-
quence supported by each out of hostility
to his rival. But doubtless it contributed
still more to his election, that he had always
proved himself the champion of the jurisdic-
tional pretensions of the Roman curia, and
had thereby recommended himself to the ma-
jority of the cardinals. In a word, helped
forward alike by his own merit, and by others'
support, Maffeo Barberini carried the day,
and ascended the pontifical throne at the vi-
gorous age of 55.
The court very soon discovered a marked
difference between him and his immediate
predecessors. Clement VIII. was usually to
be found engaged with the works of St. Ber-
nard, Paul V. with those of Justinian of Ve-
nice ; while on the study table of the new
pope, Urban VIII., were to be seen the last
new poems, or even plans of fortifications.
It will generally be found that the period
in which a man's character assumes its decid-
ed bent, is that of the first bloom of manhood,
when he begins to take an independent share
in public business, or in literature. The
youth of Paul V., born in 1552, and of Gre-
gory XV., born in 1554, belonged loan epoch
in which the principle of catliolic restoration
strode onwards in the full unbroken vigour of
its march. The first active years of Urban
VIII., born 1568, coincided, on the contrary,
with the period of the opposition of the papal
sovereignty against Spain, and of the re-es-
tablishment of Catholicism in France. We
find that his inclinations now followed the
bent thus acquired.
Urban VIII. regarded himself principally
in the light of a temporal prince.
He entertained the opinion, that the states
of the church required to be secured by fort-
resses, and rendered formidable by the force
of its own arms. The marble statues of his
predecessors being shown him, he said he
would have statues of iron erected to himself.
He built on the borders of the Bolognese Cas-
telfranco, which has received the name of
Fort Urbano, though its military purpose was
so little apparent, that the Bolognese suspect-
ed it was rather designed against them, than
for their protection. In Rome he began as
early as the year 1625 to strengthen the cas-
tle of St. Angelo with new breastworks ; and
he stored it without delay with ammunition
and provisions, just as though war were im-
mediately at hand ; he built the lofty wall on
Monte Cavallo, which encloses the papal gar-
den, regardless of the destruction thereby
caused of some noble monuments of antiquity
in the Colonna gardens. He erected a man-
ufactory for arms in Tivoli ;* the rooms of the
Vatican library were used as arsenals ; sol-
diers swarmed in Rome, and the seat of the
supreme spiritual authority in Christendom,
the peaceful compass of the eternal city, re-
sounded to the din of arms. A free port was
also an indispensable requisite to a well-con-
stituted state, accordingly Civita Vecchia
was at great cost adapted to that end. But
the result was more in accordance with the
situation of things than with the intentions of
the pope. The Barbary corsairs sold in that
very harbour the booty plundered from Chris-
tian vessels. And this was the issue of the
labours of the chief pastor of Christendom.
But in all these things pope Urban acted
with unlimited autocratic power. At least,
in the early years of his reign, he surpassed
the despotism of his predecessors.
If it was proposed to him to call the college
together, to aid him with their counsels, his
answer was, that he understood more than all
the cardinals put together. Consistories
were held but rarely, and even then few had
the courage to speak their minds freely. The
congregations assembled as usual, but no
questions of importance were laid before
♦ A Conlarini: Relatione de 1635, " Quantoalle armi,
i papi n' erano per 1' addielro totalniente sproveduti,
perch6 confidavano piu nell' obligarsi i principi can le
gratie che nelle difese temporali. Hora si 6 niulalo regis-
tro et il papa presente in particolare vi sla applicalissimo.
A Tivoli egli ha condotto un lal Ripa Bresciano, suddilo
di V. Sena- il quale poi di tempo in tempo 6 andato svi-
ando niolli operai della terra di Garden. Quivi costui fa
lavorare gran quantity d' arme, prima facendo condurre
il ferrogrezzo dal Bresciano et hora lavorandone qualche
ponione ancora di certe miniere ritrovate nell' Unibria ;
di che tutto diede avviso con mie letlere a sue tempo, che
m' imaginopassassero senza reflessione. Di queste armi
ha il papasotto la libreria del Vaticano accomodate un'
arsenale dove con buon ordine stanno riposti moschetti,
picche, carabine e pistole per armare trentamila fanti e
cinquemila cavdlli,oltre buon numero che dalla medesi-
mal'ucina di Tivoli si 6 mandate a Ferrara e Castelfranco
in queste ultime, occorrenze." [As for arms, the popes
had formerly been totally unprovided with them, because
they confided more in binding princes to them by favours,
than in means of material defence. This is now changed ,
and the present pope is most intent on the matter. He
has engaged at Tivoli a certain Ripa of Brescia, a subject
of your serenity, who has from time to time procured nu-
merous workmen from the Gardon country. Ripa manu-
factures a great quantity of weapons, to which end he al
first had crude iron brought from the neighbourhood of
Brescia, but at present he also works up some portion of
certain ores found in Umbria : all this I notified in my
letters in due time, but I rather think they were passed
over without consideration. The arms then manufactured
have been stored up by the pope in an arsenal under the
Vatican library, in which are arranged in good order rnus-
kets, pikes, carbines, and pistols, sufficient for thirty
thousand infantry and five thousand cavalry ; in addition
to which a large quantity has also been sent from the
same factory at Tivoli to Ferrara and Castelfranco on the
late occasions.]
A. D. 1623-1628.]
URBAN VIII.
317
them ; and whatever resolutions they passed
were but little regarded.* Even for the ad-
ministration of the state, Urban formed no
regular consulta, as his predecessors had
done. His nephew, Francesco Uarberini,
was perfectly right in refusing, during the
first ten years of his pontificate, to take on
himself the responsibility of any measure
that had been adopted, be its nature what it
might.
Foreign ambassadors were unfortunate in
being able to make but little way in business
with the pope. At the audiences he himself
spoke more than any one,f harangued, and
continued with one envoy the conversation
he had begun with his predecessor. He ex-
pected to be listened to, admired, and accost-
ed with the greatest reverence, even when
he rejected requests. Other popes had often
given refusals to suitors, but that upon some
principle, whether of religion or policy; in
Urban this appeared attributable to caprice.
No one could ever tell whether he was to e.x-
pect a Yes or a No of him. The adroit Vene-
tians found out that he loved contradiction, —
that he leaned by an almost involuntary instinct
to the opposite of what was proposed to him ;
to obtain their ends they adopted the expedi-
ent of starting objections, in combating which
the pope of his own accord fell into designs
to which no possible persuasion could have
won his consent.
Such a temper as this may exhibit itself
even in subordinate stations, and was in those
days not unfrequent among Italians and Span-
iards. It regards a public station in the light
of a tribute due to merit and personal impor-
tance ; and consequently, in the discharge of
official duties, it is much more obedient to
* Le " congregalioni servono," says Aluise Conlarini,
"per coprire lalvolla qualche errore." [The congrega-
tions serve occasionally to cloali some errors.]
i Pietro Conlarini : Relatione di 1G27. " Abbonda con
grande facondia nelli discorsi, 6 copioso nelli suoi ragio-
iiamenli di cose varie, argomenla e tralta nelli negolj con
tutie la ragione che inlende e sa, a segno che le audienze
si rendono altrettanlo e piii lunglie di quelle de' preces-
sori suoi ; e nelli congregalioni dove interviene seque pur
il medisimo con grande disavantaggio di chi tratla seco,
menire togliendo egli la maggior parte del tempo poco ne
lascia agli allri : et ho udito iio dire ad un cardie che an-
dava per non ricever 1' audienza ma per darla al papa,
poich6 era certo che la S'i' S. piu avrebbe volulo discor-
rere che ascoltarlo ; e molle volte 6 accaduto che alcuni
entrati per esporre le proprie loro islanze, se ne sono us-
citi senza poter de' loro interessi dirle cosa alcuna."
[He harangues with great fluency und eloquence, copi-
ously debates a variety of topics, and brings all the argu-
ments he can think of to bear on the discussion of busi-
ness, in proof of which, the audiences last as long again
or more than those of his predecessors: he proceeds after
the same fashion in the congregations, to the great disad-
vantaee of all who have to do with him, for he lakes up
the greatest part of the time and leaves little to oihers:
indeed I have heard of a cardinal, who said that he went
not to receive audience of the pope, but to give him audi-
ence, because he knew very well his Holiness would be
more inclined to harangue than to listen to him ; and it
has repeatedly happened, to persons who have presented
themselves before him lo urge their own views, that after
he had once taken up the discourse, they left his pre-
sence without being able to put in a word upon their bu-
siness.]
these personal impulses than to the exigen-
cies of the case : somewhat as an author,
filled with a sense of his own talents,
does not so much contemplate the object be-
fore him, as give free scope to the play of his
fancy.
Nay, Urban was actually one of this class
of authors! The poems of his that have sur-
vived display wit and suppleness ; but how
strangely are sacred subjects handled in
them ! The songs and sayings of the Old
and New Testaments are forced to accommo-
date themselves to the Horatian metres, and
the song of praise of the aged Simeon must
figure in two Sapphic strophes ! No charac-
teristic of the text of course survives such a
process : the matter is forced to bend to a
form discordant with it, because it was a fa-
vourite with the author.
But these talents, the brilliancy with which
they surrounded the person of the pope, even
the robust health he enjoyed, only exaggerat-
ed the feelings of self-importance with which
his lofty station inspired him.*
I know not any pope in whom that feeling
existed in so high a degree. An objection
drawn from the old papal constitutions was
once set before him : he replied that the opin-
ion pronounced by a living pope was worth
more than the maxims of a hundred dead
ones.
He set aside the resolution that had been
adopted by the Roman people, never again tO'
erect a statue to a pope in his lifetime, say-
ing, that " such a resolution could be of no force-
with regard to a pope such as he."
Some one spoke to him in praise of th?
conduct of one of his nuncios in a matter cf'
difficulty, which he met by saying, that " the
nuncio had acted upon his instructions."
Such a man was Urban VIII.; so filled
with the idea of being a mighty prince ; so
attached to France, both through his former
employments, and through the support he had.
received from that power ; finally, so self-
willed, energetic, and full of himself; — such
was the man who at this moment was put in
possession of the highest spiritual authority in
catholic Christendom.
Upon his resolves, on the attitude he as-
sumed in the midst of the catholic powers,
mightily depended the progress or the inter-
ruption of the universal restoration which
now occupied mankind.
Now, on many occasions, the pope had al-
* This was noticed in him from the very first. Rela-
tione de' quattro ambasciatori, 1624: "Ama le proprie
opinione e si lascia lusingare dal suo genio ; a che conse-
guila una salda tenaciia del proprj pensieri: • • . 6 sem-
pre iniento a quelle cose che possono ringrandire il con-
cetto della sua persona." [He loves his own opinions,
and is vain of his genius : the consequence of which is a
rigid tenacity of his own notions : ... he is always in-
tent on whatever can enhance the thought ol his personal
importance.]
318
COUNTER REFORMATION. SECOND PERIOD, [a. d. 1623-1628.
ready seemed to give proof of aversion to the
Austro-Spanish party.*
As early as in the year 1625, cardinal Bor-
gia complained of his stubborn hardness : the
king could not obtain the least concession
from him, — every thing was denied him.
Cardinal Borgia asserted that Urban VIII.
did not willingly terminate the affair of the
Valtelline ; the king had offered to give up
the contested passes, but the pope had never
paid any attention to the offer.
Nor can it be denied that Urban was in
part to blame, that the connexion between
the houses of Austria and Stuart had not ta-
ken place. When he executed the dispensa-
tion which had been drawn up by his prede-
cessor, he added to the old conditions the
clause, that in every county of England pub-
lic churches should be erected for the catho-
lics,— a demand that could never be acceded
to by an irritated protestant population form-
ing a majority of the nation, and which the
pope himself subsequently abandoned on the
occasion of the French marriage. The truth
was, he seemed to view with ill-will the in-
crease of power which Spain would have ac-
quired by an alliance with England. The
nuncio then resident in Brussels treated in the
utmost secresy for a marriage between the
electoral prince palatine and a princess, not
of Austria, but of Bavaria.f
The pope, too was not less essentially im-
plicated in the entangled affair of the Mantuan
succession. The secret marriage of the young
princess with Rethel, on which every thing
turned, could not have taken place without a
papal dispensation. Pope Urban granted it
without one question asked of the bride's near-
est relations, the emperor, and the king of
Spain ; and granted it, moreover, precisely at
the critical moment.
All this being the case, there was no mis-
taking the pope's sentiments. Like all the
other Italian potentates, there was nothing he
desired so much as to see an independent
prince in Mantua.
Nor did he wait till some step or another
should have been taken by Richelieu. Fail-
ing in all his applications to the imperial court,
the proceedings of which were more and more
hostile, and seeing that the siege of Casale
was still persisted in, the pope himself turned
to France.
He made the most urgent entreaties " that
the king would send an army into the field,
even before Rochelle should have been taken ;
* Marquemont (Lettres, in Aubery : M6moiresde Rich-
elieu, i. p. 65) remarks this from the very first. It will
not be difficult, he says, to deal with the pope: his incli-
nations are for the king and for France ; from prudence,
however, he will endeavour to satisfy the other sover-
eigns. The pope became immediately aware of the aver-
sion of the Spaniards.
+ The nuncio's emissary was a Capuchin, Francesco
della Rota. Rusdorf, Negotiations, i. 205, is particularly
circumstantial on the subject of his transactions.
an enterprise in the cause of Mantua was as
pleasing to God as the beleaguering even of
that main citadel of the Huguenots; let but
the king appear in Lyons and declare for the
freedom of Italy, and the pope would not de-
lay to send an army into the field and form a
junction with the king."*
Richelieu, therefore had nothing to fear
from that quarter if he should renew the oppo-
sition against Spain, which had broken down
three years before. But he wished to be per-
fectly sure of his ground ; he had none of the
pope's precipitancy, and he did not suffer him-
self to be disturbed from prosecuting that siege
to which his ambition was bound.
But he only appeared the more determined
when Rochelle had fallen. " Monsignor," he
said to the papal nuncio, whom he immediately
sent for, " now are we too resolved not to lose
another minute : the king will engage with
all his might in the affairs of Italy."f
Now then that enmity to Spain and Austria,
which had so frequently displayed itself, burst
forth more vehemently than ever. The jeal-
ousy of Italy once more aroused the ambition
of France. The state of things appeared so
pressing, that Louis XIII. would not wait till
the spring, but at once left Paris in the middle of
the year 1629, and took the route across the
Alps, the duke of Savoy, who, as we have
showed adhered to Spain, in vain opposed him ;
his passes, which he had caused to be barri-
caded, were carried at the first assault ; Susa
was taken and he was compelled to come to
terms in the month of March, whilst the Span-
iards were constrained to raise the siege of
Casale. J
And so the two foremost catholic powers
were once more opposed to each other in arms.
Richelieu resumed his boldest designs against
the Austro-Spanish power.
But a comparison of the times with each
other, shows that his footing on the present
occasion was far more substantial and tenable
than it had been in his former interference in
the affairs of the Grisons and of the Palatinate.
Then the Huguenots were still in a condition
to seize the opportunity, and perplex him by
the renewal of civil war. Even now they
were not indeed fully subdued, but since they
had lost Rochelle they were no longer capable
of giving him any uneasiness ; their defeats
and losses proceeded without interruption, and
they were incapable of making so much as a
mere diversion. Besides, it was perhaps of
still more moment that Richelieu now had the
pope on his side. In his former undertaking,
the state of variance with the Roman policy
in which he became involved was perilous
* Extract from Bethune's despatches of the 23rd Sept.
and 8th Oct. 1628, in Siri: Meniorie, vi. p. 478.
+ Dispaccio, Bagni, 2 Nov. 1628.
± Recueil de diverses relations des guerres d'ltalie,
1 629-31 . Bourg en Bresse, 1 632.
A. D. 1629.] THE POWER OF THE EMPEROR FERDINAND IN 1629.
319
even to his position in France : his present one,
on the contrary, had been called forth by
Rome itself in the interests of the papal sover-
eignty. Richelieu found it expedient on the
whole to attach himself as closely as possible
to the papacy: accordinfjly, in the collisions
between the Roman and the Galilean doctrines,
he now adhered to the former and repudiated
the latter.
How important in this way, became the
hostility of Urban VIII. to the house of Aus-
tria !
With the development of religious opin-
ions, and the progress of the catholic restora-
tion, were associated political changes, the
principles of which incessantly gathered
strength, and now set themselves in array
against that of the church itself.
The pope entered the lists against those
powers who made the restoration of Catholi-
cism their most earnest care.
The question now was, what position those
powers, especially the emperor Ferdinand, in
whose hands the task of effecting that restora-
tion chiefly lay, would take against so mighty
and so formidable an opposition.
The power of the emferor Ferdinand in the
year 1629.
The emperor appeared as though nothing
were the matter.
It is true he could not under existing cir-
cumstances promise himself any sort of favour
from the pope. In the most trifling things,
as for instance, in the affair of the abbey of
St. Maximian, he met with resistance, and
received nothing but refusal : so it was like-
wise in the most pious proposals, as when he
desired to have St. Stephen and St. Winces-
laus admitted into the Roman calendar, be-
cause the one was an object of high veneration
in Hungary, the other in Bohemia. Notwith-
standing all this, he published the edict of
restoration in the empire on the 6th of March,
1629. That document may be regarded as
the final sentence in the suit which had been
pending upwards of a century. The evange-
lists were utterly condemned, the catholics
had judgment entirely in their favour. "No-
thing more remains for us to do," says the
emperor, " than to stand by the injured party,
and to order our commissioners to demand back
from their wrongful holders all archbishoprics,
bishoprics, prelacies, convents, and other eccle-
siastical possessions seized since the treaty of
Passau." Commissions were forthwith insti-
tuted, one of which was put in activity in each
several circle of the empire, and the most
sweeping and indiscriminate execution of the
edict began. Now was not this enough to
propitiate the pope, and move him to favour and
good will ■} Pope Urban regarded it all as a
bare discharge of duty. The emperor solicit-
ed the right of nominating, at least for the first
time, to the ecclesiastical posts made vacant
by the operations of the edict ; the pope refus-
ed this, saying, "that he durst not violate
the concordats, which were observed even
in France."* This mode of refusal was al-
most a mockery, for the French concordat
actually secured to the king the privilege de-
manded by the emperor. The emperor wish-
ed to be allowed to convert the recovered
convents into colleges, especially for the Je-
suits: the pope replied, that the convents
must be delivered up directly to the bishops.
Meanwhile the emperor held on his course
without regarding the pope's disfavour : he
looked on himself as the great champion of
the catholic church.
He brought three armies at once into the
field. The first lent its aid to the Poles against
the Swedes, and actually restored the fortune
of their arms to a certain extent. But this
was not the sole object aimed at : the cam-
paign was likewise designed with a view to
bring back Prussia to the empire and the
Teutonic order, from which it had been
wrested. t
Another army marched against the Nether-
lands to the support of the Spaniards. It
swept the plain from Utrecht to Amsterdam,
and it was only a chance surprise at Wesel
that hindered its obtaining the most impor-
tant success.
Meanwhile a third host assembled at Mem-
mingan and Linden, destined for Italy, where
it was to decide the Mantuan affair with the
sword. The Swiss could not be prevailed on
by fair means to grant a passage through their
country ; they were therefore compelled by
force, and in a moment Luciensteig, Coire,
and all the Grison passes as far as the lake of
Como were occupied, and the army, amount-
ing to thirty-five thousand, descended the val-
leys of the Adda and the Oglio. The duke
of Mantua was once more summoned to sub-
mit. He declared that he was under the pro-
tection of the king of France, and that that
monarch alone was to be addressed on the
subject in question. While the Germans now
moved upon Mantua, and the Spaniards on
Montferrat, the French too made their appear-
ance a second time, and somf^ success attend-
ed their arms; they took Saluzzo, and Pine-
* Lettere di Segreteria di stato al nuntio Palotta li 2.3
Aprile, 1629. The pope dispatched Pier Luigi Caraffa,
his nuncio in Cologne, to Lower Saxony, "con tilolo per
la restitutione de' beni ecclesiastici, e delibero di dargli
anche le facolli a parte se fosse stale bisogno li usarle,
nelle controversie fraecclesiastici edecclesiaslici" [with
powers for the restitution of ecclesiastical possessions, and
he thought also of giving him special authority to decide,
if necessary, in disputes between clergy and clergy.]
t M^moires et negotiations de Rusdorf, ii.724." Comiti
Negroinonl;ino(Schwarzenberg). " Vionnig nupe] Claris
verbis a consiliariis et ministris Caesaris dictumfuit, im-
peratorem scilicet sibi et imperio subjecturum quicquid
milite suo in Borussia occuparit et ceperit." [It was re-
cently declared in plain terms by the councillors and
ministers of the emperor at Vienna, that the emperor
would subject to himself and to the empire whatever hia
arms should obtain posaessioa of in Prussia.]
320
COUNTER REFORMATION, SECOND PERIOD. [a. d. 1629-30.
rolo, but they effected nothing as regarded the
main design, nor were they even able again to
force the duke of Savoy to bend to their w^ish-
es. Tlie Spaniards began to besiege Casale,
and the Germans Mantua, after a short sus-
pension of hostilities,* and had a decided supe-
riority.
It is not to be wondered at, if in this state
of things reminiscences of the ancient supre-
macy of the emperors began to be rife, and to
find a tongue in Vienna.
"The Italians shall be taught that there is
still an emperor : they shall be brought to a
rigorous account."
Venice had especially brought down on
itself the hatred of the house of Austria. It
was judged at Vienna, that when once Mantua
should have fallen, the terra firma of Venice
would be incapable of resisting. In a couple
of months it would infallibly be reduced, and
then the imperial fiefs might be reclaimed.
The Spanish ambassador went still further ;
he compared the Austro-Spanish power to the
Roman, the Venetian to the Carthagenian:
" Aut Roma," he exclaimed, " aui Carthago
delenda est."
The temporal rights of the empire were
likewise called to mind as against the papacy.
Ferdinand II. purposed to have himself
crowned, and demanded that the pope should
come and meet him at Bologna or at Ferrara :
the pope durst neither promise nor refuse, and
sought to evade the difficulty by a mental re-
servation.! The feudal rights of the empire
over Urbino and Montefeltro came under dis-
cussion, and the papal nuncio was told with-
out more ceremony, that Wallenstein would
make further inquiries on the subject when he
came to Italy. This in fact was Wallenstein's
intention. He had formerly been averse to
the Italian war, but now he declared that he
was in favour of it, since he perceived that the
pope wished in concert with his allies to put
down the house of Austria.^ He hinted that
* The eleventh book of the Istoria di Pietio Giov. Ca-
priata, investigates the particular bearings of these events.
t "Se bene Urbano una volta uscl coll' aiiibasciatore
Savelli, che bisognando si saria trasferito a Bologna o
Ferrara, non imese perO dire in correspettivita di quello
che espresse il principe di Eckenberg." [Though Urban
once said to the ambassador Savelli, that if need were he
vi'ould go to Bologna or Ferrara, he did not yet mean to
say so in the sense expressed by the prince of Eckenberg.]
t What was the general opinion entertained of the pope
in Vienna appears'frornalelterofPalotta, August 10, 1628.
" E state qui rappresantato da' maligni, che son quelli che
vogliono la guerra, che lo state di Milano staingrandissi-
mo pericolo, essendo cosa sicura che papa Urbano haven-
do vastissiaii |)ensieri sia di cativo animo verso la casa
d'Austria; che percii) si habbia da lemere di S. S'a- non
meno che di Veneziani e di Francesi, havendo gli slati
cosl vicini al ducato di Milano e potendo in un tralto met-
tare potente esercito incampagna: e di piu gli stessi ma-
ligni hanno rappresenlato per cosa gi-k stabilila che S. S'a-
vuole in ogni mode far fare re de'lloraani il re di Francia,
ed in confirmazione di cio hanno allegato che essendo la
S'i- S. nunzio di Francia dicessealla regina ches'egli ar-
rivava ad esser papa, voleva procurare di fare re de' Ko-
mani il suo figliuolo il quale ancora era fanciullo." [It
has been represented by the evil disposed here, who are
those tltat desire war, that the stale of Milan is in e.xtreme
a hundred years had elapsed since Rome had
been plundered, and that it must now be far
richer than it had been in those days.
Meanwhile France too was not to have been
spared. The emperor thought of resuming by
force of arms the three alienated bishoprics,
his plan being to procure Cossacks from Po-
land, and send them against France. The
quarrels of Louis XIII. with his brother and
his mother, seemed to offer him a desirable
opportunity.
Thus the house of Austria took up a posi-
tion, in which it followed up its efforts against
the protestants in the boldest manner, but still
strenuously kept down and curbed the catholic
opposition, and even the pope himself
Negociations with Sweden,
at Ratisbon.
Electoral diet
As often in former times as a contingency
of this kind had been but remotely foreseen or
apprehended, so often had every power in Eu-
rope retaining any independence combined. It
had now actually taken place, and the catho-
lic opposition looked round for aid beyond the
pale of Catholicism, no longer prompted by
mere jealousy, but with a view to defence and
salvation. But to whom could they turn ]
England had her hands full at home, in conse-
quence of the rupture between the king and
the parliament, and moreover had actually
entered on fresh negociations with Spain : the
Netherlands were themselves invested by the
enemy ; the German protestants were either
beaten or kept in awe by the imperial armies,
and the king of Denmark had been forced to
accept a disadvantageous peace. None else
remained besides the king of Sweden.
V\^hilst the protestants had been defeated
on all sides, Gustavus Adolphus alone had
achieved victories. He had conquered Riga,
all Livonia as far as Dunamiinde, and of Li-
thunia, as the Poles expressed it, " as much
as he pleased." Next he made his appearance
in Prussia in 1626, principally, as he said, to
visit the clergy in tiie bishopric of Ermeland.
He took Frauenburgand Braunsberg, the chief
seats of restored Catholicism in those parts,
and afforded new and strong support to the
oppressed protestants there. All eyes were
turned upon him. "Above all other men,"
Rusdorf writes in the year 1624, '-do 1 prize
peril, it being known for certain that pope Urban, enter-
taining most vast designs, is ill disposed to the house of
Austria, and that therefore there is no less to be feared
from his Holiness than from the Venetians and the French,
he having possession of states so near to the duchy of Mi-
lan, and being in a condition at once to send powerful
armies into the field. Moreover, the said evil disposed
persons have represented as a thing already fixed, that
his Holiness is bent by all means on making the king of
France king of the Komans, in confirmation of which
they affirm, that when his Holiness was nuncio in France,
he told the queen that if he came to be pope he would en-
deavour to have her son, who was then a boy, made king
of the Romans.]
A. D. 1629-30.]
NEGOTIATIONS WITH SWEDEN.
321
this victorious hero ; I revere him as the sole
protector of our cause, and as the terror of our
common foes ; my prayers wait on his renown,
which is elevated above the reach of all
envy."* True, Gustavus Adolphus had sus-
tained a loss in the battle of the plain of
Stumm, and had narrowly escaped being taken
prisoner; but the chivalrous valour with
which he cut his way through shed fresh
lustre on his name, and he kept the field in
spite of tliis disadvantage.
To this prince the French turned on the
present emergency. In the first place, they
effected a truce between him and the Poles ;
and it is very possible that tiie emperor's Prus-
sian views contributed to make, if not the
king, yet the nobles at least of Poland, dispos-
ed to peace.f Then they made a further step
towards their main object, namely, enticing
the king of Sweden into Germany. The only
caution they observed in this matter, was to
introduce into the treaty some stipulations in^
favour of Catholicism. With these reserva-
tions, they declared themselves ready to aid
the king, who had an imposing army prepared
to take the field, with a proportional subsidy
in money. After some hesitation, king Gus-
tavus accepted the proposal. He avoided all
mention of religion in his instructions, and put
forth as the aim of the confederacy merely the
restoration of the German estates to their an-
cient privileges, the removal of the imperial
troops, and the security of the seas and of
commerce. I A treaty was drawn up, in which
the king promised to tolerate the catholic
worship wherever he found it, and in matters
of religion to abide by the laws of the empire
(such was the expression). This stipulation
was necessary for the pope's sake, to whom
notice was immediately given of the treaty.
The ratification was obstructed indeed by some
formalities ; still the measure was regarded
as definitive as early as the summer of 1630.^
The papal nuncio in France asserts that
Venice had pledged herself to pay a third of
the subsidies.il I have not been able to ascer.
* Rusdorf, Memoires, ii. 3. "Ejus gloriam invidiae
metas elijctatam, extelsam infracli animi magnitudinem,
et virtutis niagis ac magis per merita enitescentis et assur-
genlis iavictuin robur cum slupore adoro el supplici voto
prosequor."
t Rusdorf, 1.1. 724. " Polonia proceres, si unquam, vel
nunc maxiiiip, pacem desiderabunt."
t " Tenor mandatorum qua S. R. Maj. Sueciae clemenier
vult, ut consil^arius ejus .... Dn. Ciimerarius observare
debeat, Upsaliae, 18 Dec. 1629." Mosers palriotisches
Archiv. b. vi. p. 133.
§ Bagni, IS, Guigno 1G30. He gives in the following
form, with slight variations, the article, which is also lobe
found in the treaty of the 6ih of January, 1631 : " Si rex
aliquos progressus faciei, in caplis aul deditis locis, quan-
tum ad ea quae ad religionem apectanl, observabii leges
imperii." He also shows how this article was understood.
" Le quali legge," he adds, " dicevano dovere inlendersi
delta religione cattolica e della confessione Augustana."
[Which laws, he says, were lo be understood as concern-
ing the catholic religion and the confession of Augsburg.]
— So that Calvinism was to be excluded
tain what grounds there are for this assertion :
at least, it was consistent with the situation
of things.
But could hopes be fairly entertained that
Gustavus Adolphus would be able, single-
handed, to break the might of the imperial
allied armies, and to conquer them in the
field ? It appeared, above all things, desira-
ble to elicit a movement in Germany itself,
that should fall in with and second his enter-
prize.
Now in this respect the piotestants might
safely be counted on. Whatever might be
the policy urged on individual princes by per-
sonal motives or by fear, still was the general
mind possessed by that ferment that stirs
the very depths of society, and rouses the
mightiest storms. I will mention but one
thought that spread widely in those days.
When the edict of restitution began to be en-
forced here and there, and the Jesuits mani-
fested a disposition to disregard altogether the
terms of the peace of Augsburg, the protes-
tants intimated, that before matters should be
allowed to go such lengths, utter destruction
should befal the German empire and nations,
" rather would they fling from them all law
and all usages of civil society, and cast back
Germany into its ancient state of forest wild-
ness."
But on the catholic side discontent and dis-
union appeared.
It is impossible to describe the commotion,
excited among the clergy by the purpose of
the Jesuits to possess themselves of the res-
tored monastic possessions. The Jesuits are
said to have declared that there were no longer
any Benedictines, that they had all gone
astray, and were no longer qualified to resume
their lost places. On the other hand, the
merits of the Jesuits were disputed ; their
adversaries would not admit that they had
eftected conversions ; what appeared to be
such were no more, they said, tlian the effect
of force.* Even before the ecclesiastical pos-
aggiunta larepublica di Venelia, la quale obligavasi a con-
iribuire per la terza parte."
* The vehement controversial writings, attacks, and
replies, which appeared on this subject, do not enable us
to get at the truth of the main facts, butlhey make known
to us the points of dispute. "E verissirao,"says the papal
nuncio, in a letter in cypher, " che i padri Gesuiti hanno
procurato e procurano col favore dell' imperatore, chenon
put) esser maggiore, di non solo soprastare agli altri reli-
giosi, ma di escluderli dove essi v' hanno alcun interesse
o politico o spiriiuale." [It is most true that the Jesuits
have contrived and do contrive, through the favour of the
emperor, which cannot be greater, not only to make their
own order superior to all others, but to exclude the latter
where they have any political or spiritual interest.] I
find, however, that strongly as the emperor then leaned to
the Jesuits, he was yet disposed, in the year 1629, to make
an unreserved restitution of their possessions to the old
orders. PierLuigi Caraffn, nuncio at Cologne, relates this.
But at this juncture the Jesuits had already carried their
point at Rome, where, in July, 1629, a deci'ee was issued,
" che alcuna parte (dei beni ricuperali) potesse converters!
in erezioni di seminarj, di scuole e di coUegj lanlo de'
padri Gesuile, quali in gran parte furono motori dell' ediito
di Cesare, come di allri religiosi." [that some part of the
II Bagni, 16Luglio, 1630. " Sopragiunsero," it is said in '
the extract, " nuove letters del Bagni coll' aviso che alia 1 , „ ^ ^
prefata coafederalione fra il re di Francia e lo Suaco erasi ' recovered possessions might be applied to the erection of
4U
322
COUNTER REFORMATION. SECOND PERIOD.
[a. d. 1630.
sessions were yet recovered, they excited dis-
cord and wrangling- between the orders, with
respect to their several claims to possess them,
and between the emperor and the pope, res-
pecting the right of collation.
But to these ecclesiastical misunderstand-
ings were added temporal ones, of far more
serious and extensive nature. The imperial
troops were an intolerable burthen to the
country ; their marches exhausted the resour-
ces of the land and of its inhabitants ; the
soldier maltreated the burgher and the pea-
sant, as the general did the prince. Wallen-
stein held the most insolent language. Even
the emperor's old allies, the heads of the
League, particularly Maximilian of Bavaria,
were dissatisfied with the present, and uneasy
about the future.
Things being in this state, it befel that
Ferdinand, with a view to the election of his
son as king of the Romans, assembled the ca-
tholic electors at Ratisbon in the summer of
1630. The opportunity could not pass away
without mention of all other public affairs.
The emperor saw clearly that he must give
way somewhat. His intention was to make
concessions in German affairs : he showed a
disposition to suspend the edict of restitution,
as regarded the territories of Brandenburg and
electoral Saxony, to come to an arrangement
respecting the Palatinate and Mecklenburg,
and even to effect a reconciliation with Swe-
den ; to which end negociations were actually
entered on, whilst in the mean time he should
concentrate all his strength upon Italy, bring
the Mantuan war to an end, and constrain the
pope to recognize his ecclesiastical claims.*
He was fain to believe that, having to do
with German princes, he should obtain most
by a tone of concession in German matters.
But the situation of things was not so simple.
The spirit of the Italico-French opposition
seminaries, endowments, schools, and colleges, as well of
the Jesuits, who had been in great part the instigators of
the emperor's edict, as of other orders of the clergy.] The
Jesuit schools would thus have spread over all North
Germany.
* Dispaccio Pallotla, 2 Ag. 16.30, mentions among the
points that were to be discussed : " 1°. Se si doveva sos-
pendere o lirare avanti 1 ' editto della ricuperatione de' beni
ecclci- : 2°. Se havendosi da procedere avanti si avesse da
sospendere quanto a quelli che erano neglistatidell' elel-
tori di Sassonia e di Brandenburgo : ed inclinavasi a sos-
penderlo: 3°. Quanto ai beneficii e beni ecclci- che si
erano ricuperati, pretendevasi che alii imperatori spet-
tase la nominazione ... 6°. Trattavasi di reslituire il
ducalo di Mechelburgh agli anlichi padroni, siccome il
palatinato almeno inferiore al palatino, con perpetuo pre-
giudittio della religione cattolica, come era seguito con
Danimarca." [1. Whether the edict for the restitution of
ecclesiastical possessions should be suspended or put in
force. 2. Whether, in case it was to be enforced, it should
be suspended as far as regarded those in the states of the
electors of Saxony and Brandenburgh: and opinions in-
clined toward^s suspending it. 3. As for the benefices and
other ecclesiastical cmoluiiienis recovered, it was main-
tained that the nomination to them belonged to the empe-
ror 6. The restitution of the duchy of Mecklen-
burgh to its old possessors was discussed, as well as that
of at least the Lower Palatinate to the Palatine, to the per-
manent detriment of the catholic religion, as had been
the case in Denmark.]
had crept in among the catholic electors, and
its leaders sought to turn the discontent of
those princes to the furtherance of their own
ends.
First appeared Rocci, the papal nuncio in
Ratisbon. He had every cause to employ all
arts that could impede the execution of the
emperor's Italian and anti-papal schemes.
The pope had enjoined him., above all things,
to enter into and maintain a good understand-
ing with the elector of Bavaria ; in a short
time he announced that this understanding
was kept up in the profoundest secresy :* he
produced a declaration of the catholic electors,
that in all ecclesiastical matters they would
continue in union with him, and that they
would especially uphold the jurisdiction and
the dignity of the papal see.
But, to give matters a decisive turn, father
Joseph, Richelieu's confidant, came to the
nuncio's aid. Never was the consummate
crafl of this capuchin more active, more ef-
fective, or more obvious to those who were
privy to the proceedings, than on this occa-
sion. Monsieur de Leon, his colleague in
Ratisbon, who gave his name to the embassy,
said that father Joseph had no soul, but in its
stead shallows and quicksands, into which
whoever dealt with him was sure to fall.
Through these mediators the emperor's
German confederates were speedily made to
coalesce with the Italico-French opposition to
him. Nothing was done towards a reconcili-
ation of the empire with Sweden, or towards
tranquillizing the protestants ; never would
the pope have consented to the suspension of
the edict of restitution. On the other hand,
the electors insisted on the restoration of
peace in Italy, and demanded the dismissal of
the imperial generalissimo, who comported
himself as an unlimited dictator.
And so mighty was this influence, so adroit-
ly was it pressed, that the puissant emperor,
in the zenith of his power, gave way without
resistance or condition.
Whilst these negotiations were pending, his
troops had conquered Mantua, and he might
regard himself as lord ,and master pf Italy.
At this moment he submitted to cede Mantua
to the duke of Nevers, in exchange for the
unmeaning formality of an apology. But the
other demands of the confederates were per-
haps still more significant. The German
princes, France, and the pope, were alike
threatened by the general, to whose person
was bound the success of the imperial arms!
It is no wonder that they hated him, and
wished to get rid of him. The emperor, for
peace sake, gave him up.
At the moment when he could master Italy
* Dispaccio Rocci, 9 Sett. 1630. " E questa correspon-
denza riuscl moltofruttuosa, perchS Baviera di buon cuore
oper6 che in quel convento non si tratto delle operationi
sopra meniovaie."
A. D. 1631.]
SWEDISH WAR.— POSITION OF THE POPE,
328
he let it it slip out of his hands ! At the mo-
ment when the most formidable and warlike
enemy attacked iiim in Germany, he dis-
missed the general who alone could have
been in a condition to defend him ! Never
did policy and negociation produce more vast
results.
Swedish vmr. — Position of the Pope.
And now the war really begun. It cannot
be denied that Gustavus Adolphus entered
upon it under favourable auspices. For had
not the imperial army been raised in Wallen-
stein's name, and been personally devoted and
pledged to him ? The emperor even dismiss-
ed a part of it, and subjected the contribu-
tions levied by the generals, which had hith-
erto been discretional with themselves, to the
control of the circles of the empire.* Assur-
edly the emperor, by dismissing his general
at the same time broke up his army, and took
from it its moral force. Torquato Conti, an
Italian, who had previously been in the ser-
vice of the pope, was with such a body to
make head against the emboldened and zeal-
ous foe. As a matter of course, he failed out-
right : the imperial army no longer was what
it had been : nothing was seen in it but inde-
cision, vaccillation, panic, and defeat. Gus-
tavus Adolphus drove it utterly out of the
field, and took up a strong position on the
lower Oder.
At first it was believed in Upper Germany
that this was of little moment to the rest
of the empire; and Tilly continued with
great composure to pursue his operation on
the Elbe. When at last he took Madgeburg,
the pope regarded it as a great victory, and
the most brilliant hopes were founded on the
event. A commissioner was actually ap-
pointed, at Tilly's suggestion, " to arrange
the afluirs of the archbishopric, in accordance
with the laws of the catholic church."
But this very measure was the cause that all
the protestant princes who v/ere yet undecided
now attached themselves to Gustavus Adol-
phus, and on Tilly's endeavouring to prevent
thera, became involved in a hostility with the
League, which put an end to all further dis-
tinction between leaguers and imperialists.
The battle of Leipsig followed : Tilly was
completely routed, and the protestant forces
poured alike over tiie countries of the leaguers
and of the imperialists. Wi'n-zburg and Bam-
berg fell into the king's hands; on the Rhine
the protestants of the remote north met the
old champions of Catholicism, the Spanish
troops, — their mingled skulls are to be seen
at Oppenheim; Mainz was conquered; all
* Adlzreitler, iii. xv. 48. " Cesar slatuit ne in posierum
slipendia pro tribunorum arbiirio seU ex circuloruiu piae-
scripta moderatione penderenlur."
oppres.sed princes joined the king ; the exiled
palatine appeared in his camp.
The inevitable result of an enterprize called
forth and sanctioned by the catholic opposition,
from political views, was an advantage to pro-
testantism. Tlie party that had been over-
powered and oppressed, found itself once more
suddenly victorious. It is true, the king ex-
tended his protection to the catholics gener-
ally, as he was bound to do by the terms of
his engagement; but at the same time he de-
clared that he was come to rescue his breth-
ren in faith from the violence done to their
consciences.* He took under his special pro-
tection the evangelical ministers who were
subject to catholic governments, — as, for in-
stance, those of Erfurt; he also everywhere
proclaimed the Augsburg confession ; the ex-
iled parish clergy returned to the palatinate,
and the preaching of Lutheranism once more
ranged the land in the train of the victorious
army.
Such were the strange perplexities into
which fell the policy of Urban VIII. In so
far as the king attacked and overcome the
Austrian power, he was the natural ally of
the pope. This was at once made apparent
in the affairs of Italy. Influenced by his
losses in Germany, the emperor consented, in
the year 16-31, to still more unfavourable con-
ditions in the affair of INIantua, than he had
submitted to the year before at Ratisbon.
Nay, there even subsisted, if not direct, yet
indirect ties, between the papal see and the
once more victorious protestant powers. " I
speak of the matter from good authority,"
says Aloys Contarini, who was first at the
French, and afterwards at the Roman court ;
"I was present at every negociation: the
pope's nuncios always seconded Richelieu's
undertakings, both when they concerned his
own safety, and when they had for their ob-
ject to unite Bavaria and the league with
France. With regard to his alliance with
Holland, and with the protestant powers in
general, they held their peace, not to say
they sanctioned it. Other popes would per-
haps have felt some compunctious visitings at
this : Urban's nimcios acquired by such means
increased consideration and personal advan-
tages."!
Loud and bitter were the emperor's com-
plaints. " The Roman court had first induced
him to publish the edict of restoration, and
now abandoned him in the war that ensued
from thence ; the pope had frustrated the
election of his son as king of tiie Romans ; he
encouraged the elector of Bavaria, by word
and deed, to pursue a separate line of policy,
and to ally himself with France ; it was vani
* Letter from the king to the town of Schweinfurt in
Chemnitz : Schwcdischer Krieg, Th. i. ]>. 231.
I Aluise Contarini : Relatione Ui Roma, 11535.
324
COUNTER REFORMATION. SECOND PERIOD.
[a. d. 1631-5.
to solicit of Urban such aid in money or men
as other popes had often afforded : he even
refused to condemn the alliance of the French
with the heretics, or to declare the existing
war a war of religion."* In the year 1632
we find the imperial ambassadors in Rome
urging, above all things, the last-mentioned
point. The pope's declaration, they said,
could even yet produce the most important
effects ; even yet it was not altogether im-
possible to repulse' the king of Sweden: he
had not more than thirty thousand men.
The pope replied, with frigid erudition,
"With thirty thousand men Alexander con-
quered the world."
He persisted in it that it was no war of re-
ligion; it related only to affairs of state.
Furthermore, the papal treasury was exhaust-
ed, he could do nothing.
The members of the curia and the inhabi-
tants of Rome were amazed. " Amidst the
conflagration of catholic churches and con-
vents,"— so they expressed themselves, —
" the pope stands as cold and as rigid as ice.
The king of Sweden has more zeal for his
Lutheranism than the holy father for the sole
saving faith."
The Spaniards had once more recourse to
a protest. Cardinal Borgia appeared before
Urban VIII. as once Olivarez did before Six-
tus v., to protest solemnly against the con-
duct of his holiness. The scene that ensued
was, perhaps, still more violent than that on
the former occasion. Whilst the pope burst
into a boiling i"age, and interrupted the am-
bassador, the cardinals present took part with
the one side or the other. The ambassador
was forced to content himelf with delivering
in his protest in writing.f But this was not
enough for the zealous catholic party : the
thought presently arose, particularly at the
instigation of the Ludovisio, the cardinal ne-
phew of the last reign, of calling a council in
opposition to the pope.}
* Aluise Contarini: "Gli Aleraanni si pretendono de-
lusi dal papa, perche dopo aver egli reiteratamente per-
suaso 1' imperalore di ripetero dalli eretici i beni ecclesi-
aslici d' Alemagna ch' erano in loro mani, origine di lante
guerre, resislesse S. Sta- poi alle reiterate spedizioni di
card'i- e d' auibri- nelle assistenze di danaro, nel mandar
gente e bandiere con I'esempio de' precessori, nel piibli-
car la guerradi religionn, nell' impedirecoUescomuniche
gli appoggi ai medesimi heretici della Francia: anzi nel
niedesimo tempo ritardata 1' elettione del re de' Romani,
confermalo il duca di Baviera con la lega cattolica all'
unione di Francia, assislendo lo medesimo di danari e di
consiglio per sostenersi in corpo separalo. II papa si
lagna d'esser tenuto erclico et aniatore di buoni progressi
de' proteslanli, com talvolla in effetto non li ebbs dis-
cari."
t "Nelli quale," says cardinal Cecchini, in his autobi-
ography, "concludeva che tutti li danni che per le pre-
sent! turbolenze erano per venire alia christianitii, sariano
stati attribuiti alia negligenza del papa." [In which it
laid it down, that all tlie evils which should come upon
Christendom through the present troubles, would be attri-
butable to the pope's negligence.]
t Al. Contarini speaks of the " orecchio che si prestava
in Spagna alio praliche di Ludovisio per un concilio"
[the ear that was lent in Spain to Ludovisio's suggestions
and eflbns for a council.]
But what a flame would this have kindled !
Events already took a turn which left no
doubt as to their nature, and which would
of necessity give a difierent bent to the papal
policy.
Urban VIII. flattered himself for a while
that the king would conclude a treaty of neu-
trality with Bavaria, and replace the spiritual
princes in their dominions. But every attempt
at a reconciliation of interests so diametrically
opposed very speedily failed. The Swedish
forces poured into Bavaria; Tilly fell; Mu-
nich was conquered ; and duke Bernhard
pressed forward towards the Tyrol.
No doubt could now be any longer enter-
tained of what the pope and Catholicism had
to expect from the Swedes. How utterly was
the state of things changed in a moment!
But now the hope had been cherished of win-
ning back to Catholicism the dioceses of
Northern Germany, and now the king con-
ceived the plan of converting the South Ger-
man endowments which were in his hands
into temporal principalities. He already be-
gan to talk of his duchy of Franconia, and
seemed disposed to fix his royal court at
Augsburg.
Two years before, the pope had reason to
dread the descent of the Austrians upon Italy,
and had been threatened with an attack upon
Rome. Now the Swedes appeared on the con-
fines of Italy : with the name of a king of
Sweden and Gothland, borne by Gustavus
Adolphus, were associated reminiscences that
awoke in the minds of either party.*
Restoration of the balance of the two confes-
sions.
It is not my intention to go into the details
of the strife that filled Germany for sixteen
years longer. Enough if we have remarked
how that mighty progress of Catholicism,
which was in the act of forever mastering
Germany, was checked in its career, even at
the moment it was about to annihilate pro-
testantism at its source, and encountered a
victorious re.sistance. It may be laid down
as a general maxim, that Catholicism, regard-
ed as an unity, was not capable of enduring
its own victories. The head of the church
himself thought it necessary, for political rea-
sons, to set himself against the powers that
had most upheld and extended his spiritual
authority. Catholics, in concert with the
pope, called forth the yet uncrushed powers
of protestantism, and prepared its path.
* Neverthelesa Al. Contarini avers: "L'opinione vivo
tuttavia che a S. Sii- sia dispiaciuta la morie del re di
Suezia e che piu gode o per dir meglio manco tema i pro.
gressi de' protestanli che degli Austriaci." [that the opi-
nion still prevails thathis holiness regrets the death of the
king of Sweden, and that he is better pleased with, or
rather fears less, the success of the protestants than that
of the Austrians,]
A. D. 1635-40.] THE BALANCE OF THE TWO CONFESSIONS.
329
Plans of such magnitude as those enter-
tained by Gustavus Adolphus, in the plenitude
of his power, could not, indeed, be carried out
after the untimely death of that sovereign :
and for this reason, that the triumphs of pro-
testantism were hy no means to be ascribed
to its own intrinsic power. But neither was
Catholicism able ever more to overpower pro-
testantism, not even when it had better com-
bined its strength, when Bavaria had again
joined the emperor, and Urban, too, once more
paid subsidies.
This conviction was speedily arrived at, at
least in Germany. In fact, the peace of
Prague was founded upon it. The emperor
suffered his edict of restitution to drop, while
the elector of Saxony, and the states in alli-
ance with him, gave up the idea of a re-esta-
blishment of protestantism in the hereditary
dominions of Austria.
Pope Urban, it is true, opposed every mea-
sure at variance with the edict of restitution,
and in the emperor's spiritual council he had
the Jesuits on his side, especially father La-
mormain, who was frequently lauded as "a
worthy father confessor, a man iniluenced by
no worldly consideration* ;" but the majority
were against him, including the capuchins
Quiroga and Valerian, and cardinals Die-
trichstein and Pazmany, who asserted that,
provided the catholic religion was preserved
in its purity in the hereditary Austrian do-
minions, freedom of conscience might be al-
lowed the rest of the empire. The peace of
Prague was proclaimed in Vienna from all the
pulpits : the capuchins boasted of their share
in that " honourable and holy" work, and cele-
brated it with special solemnities : hardly
could the nuncio hinder Te Deum being
sung.f
* Lettera del card'. Barberino al nuntio Baglione, 17
Marzo, 1635 : " Essendo azionc de generoso Chrisliano e |
degno confessore di un pio iniperalore, ci6 che egli ha i
fatlo rimirando piii il cielo che il mondo."
I From Baelioni's correspondence, as extracted in the |
6th vol. of Nicoletli, e. g. April 14, 16;i3. "Disse un
giorno il conte di Ognate che assolutamente il re di
Spagna non avrebbe dalo ajuto alcuno all' imperatore se
non in caso che seguisse la pace con Sassonia: di che
maravigllandosi il nunzio disse che la pieti del re calto-
lico richiedeva che si cumulassero gli ajuti non seguendo
detta pace, laquale doveva piuttoslo disturbarsi, traltan-
dosi con eretici, ed applicare 1' animo alia pace univer-
sale coi principi caltolici. FuUi risposto che ciO segui-
rebbe quando la guerra si fosse fatla per la salute delle
anime e non per la ricuperazione de' beni ecclesiastic),
ed il padre Quiroga soggiunse al nunzio che 1' imperatore
era slato gabbalo da quelli che 1' liavevano persuaso a fare
1' edilto della ricuperazione d' beni ecclesiastici, volendo
intendere d' Gesuiti, e che tulto erasi fatlo per interesse
proprio: ma avendo il nunzio risposto che la persuasione
erastata interposta con buona inlenzione, il padre Qui-
roga si accese in raaniera che proruppe in termini esor-
bilanti, sicch6 al nunzio fu diflicile il ripigliario, perch6
maggiormente noneccedesse. Ma Ognate passu piu oltre,
dicendo che I'imperatore non poteva in conic alcuno riti-
rarsi dalla pace con Sassonia per la necessitil in cui tro-
vavasi, non potente resistere a tanti nemici, e che non
eraobbligalo a rimettervi I'havere de' suoi stall heredi-
tarj, ma solamente quelli dell' imperio che erano tenuis-
simi, e che non conipliva di tirare avanti con pericolo di
perdere gli uni e gli allri." [The count Onate one day i
said, that decidedly the king of Spain would not have I
Whilst Urban VIII., though practically he
contributed so much to the frustation of the
catholic schemes, still in theory refused to
abandon the least of his pretensions, all he
etfected was, that the papacy assumed a posi-
tion apart from the living and effective inte-
rests of the world. Nothing more stongly
demonstrated this than the instructions he
gave Ginetti, his legate in Cologne, on the
occasion of an attempt at concluding a gene-
ral peace in the year 1636. The envoy's
hands were tied precisely on all weighty
points on which the negotiation absolutely and
directly depended. One of the most urgent
necessities, for example, was the re-establish-
ment of the palatinate; nevertheless, the legate
was enjoined to resist the restoration of the pa-
latinate to an uncatholic prince.* That which
had early appeared as unavoidable in Prague,
the granting some concessions to the protest-
ants with respect to ecclesiastical possessions,
became subsequently still more so ; neverthe-
less, the legate was admonished " to extraor-
dinary zeal not to yield any thing in respect
to ecclesiastical possessions that might turn
out to the advantage of the protestants." The
pope would not even sanction the treaties of
peace with protestant powers. The envoy
was not to give his support to any design of
including the Hollanders in the peace : he
was to stand out against every transfer or
surrender to Sweden, — the only thought of
the kind at the time relating to one sea-
port : " the Divine mercy would soon find
means to remove that nation out of Ger-
many."
The Roman see could no longer entertain
any reasonable hope of mastering the protest-
ants ; it was, however, of vast importance,
that, however involuntary, yet, by its obsti-
nate pertinacity in upholding pretensions that
could never be realized, it put it out of its
power to exercise any essential influence
given any aid to the emperor except on condition of
peace with Saxony : whereat the nuncio marvelling said,
that the piety of the catholic king demanded that such
aid should be afforded in abundance witliout regard to
that peace, which the king would have done better to in-
terrupt, it being a matter that concerned heretics, and to
apply liis mind to an universal peace with the catholic
sovereigns. He was answered, that his reasoning would
be just had the war been undertaken for the weal of souls,
and not for the recovery of ecclesiastical properly ; and
father Quiroga further told the nuncio, that the emperor
had been imposed upon by those who had persuaded him
to issue the edict of restitution, meaning thereby the Je-
suits, and that everything had been done from interested
motives. But the nuncio replying that the advice had
been given with a good intention, father Quiroga was so
excited that he burst out into very intemperate language,
and the nuncio had great difficulty in rebuking his vio-
lence and preventing him from going still further. But
Onate went even beyond this, saying, that the emperor
could on no account withdraw from the peace with
Saxony, by reason of the exigency of his contlitiou, being
unable to resist so many enemies; and that he was not
obliged thereby to cede the rights of his hereditary domi-
nions, but only those of the empire, which were very in-
considerable, and not worth insisting on to the hazard of
the whole.]
* Siri : Mercurio, ii. p. 987.
326
COUNTER REFORMATION. SECOND PERIOD. [a. d. 1635-45.
over the relations of its own adherents to the
protestants.
Rome continued, indeed, to send her am-
bassadors to the congress assembled for the
arrangement of a peace. Gmetti was suc-
ceeded by Machiavelli, Rosetti, and Chigi.
Ginetti, it was said, was very frugal, and
thereby prejudiced his own efficiency ; JMachi-
avelli was thought to make his functions sub-
servient only to his own exaltation in rank ;
Rosetti was unacceptable to the French ; —
such are the explanations offered for the in-
significance of their influence ;* but the truth
is, that the thing itself, tlie position the pope
had taken up, rendered any effectual interfe-
rence on the part of his nuncios impossible.
Chigi was able and popular ; yet he accom-
plished nothing-. A peace was concluded be-
fore his eyes, precisely such as the papal see
had deprecated. The elector palatine and all
the exiled princes were restored. So far from
anything like a confirmation of the edict of
restitution being thought of, many spiritual
endowments were absolutely secularized and
surrendered to the protestants. Spain re-
solved at last to recognize the independence
of the Hollanders, those rebels to pope and
king. The Swedes retained a considerable
part of the empire. The curia could not ap-
prove of even the emperor's treaty of peace
with France, since it contained stipulations
respecting Metz, Toul, and Verdun, by which
it conceived its own rights were invaded.
The papacy felt itself under the painful ne-
cessity of protesting-, determined at least to
utter tlie principles it had been unable to carry
into effect. But even this had been foreseen
and provided for. The articles of the West-
phalian treaty touching ecclesiastical matters
began with a declaration, that no heed siiould
be given to any one who should gainsay them,
be he who he might, whether of secular or
spiritual station.f
By this peace a termination was at last put
to the grand struggle between protestants and
catholics; but one wholly different from that
which had been attempted in the edict of re-
stitution. Catholicism still retained vast ac-
quisitions, since the year 1624 was taken as
the standard, to the condition existing in
which all things were to return. On the
other hand, the protestant party obtained that
parity in the diet which was so indispensable
for it, and which had been so long withheld.
All the relations of the empire were arranged
in accordance with that principle.
Manifestly there was now an utter end to
undertakings such as had formerly been at-
tempted, and with success.
On the contrary, the results of the struggle
in Germany reacted on the adjoining countries.
* Pallavicini : Vita di papa Alrssandro VII. MS.
f Oenabriickischen Friedensschluss, Art. v. § 1.
Though the emperor had been able to up-
hold Catholicism in his hereditary dominion,
still he was compelled to make concessions to
the protestants in Hungary. In the year 1645
he found himself constrained to give them
back no inconsiderable nunfter of churches.
After the leap Sweden had made, to a sta-
tion of universal importance, what hope re-
mained for Poland that it should ever realize
its old pretensions respecting that kingdom f
Wladislav IV. even eschewed the proselytiz-
ing zeal of his father, and was a jgracious king
to his dissident subjects.
Even in France Richelieu favoured the
Huguenots after they had been despoiled of
their political independence. But he ren-
dered a far greater service to the principle of
protestantism, by continuing- to wage with
that foremost champion of Catholicism, the
Spanish monarchy, a war for life or death,
that shook its very foundations. This was the
only discord which the pope might have al-
layed without a scruple; but whilst all the
others were actually appeased, this continued
to rage, and incessantly convulsed the bosom
of the catholic world.
Up to the peace of Westphalia, the Dutch
had taken the most successful part in the war
against Spain. It was the golden age of their
power and their wealth. But in striving after
the ascendency in the east, they came in vio-
lent collision with the progress of catholic
missions in those regions.
In England alone Catholicism, or something
analogous to its outward forms, seemed at
times likely to gain footing. We find ambas-
sadors from the English court at Rome, and
papal agents in England. The queen, who
was treated at Rome with a sort of official
recognition,* exercised an influence over her
husband which seemed likely inevitably to
extend to religion': an approximation to the
usages of Catholicism was already made in
many ceremonies. But the final result in this
case was the very opposite to what was ex-
pect^. Charles I. in his heart hardly ever
lapsed from protestant doctrine ; but even
those slight approaches which he permitted
himself towards the catholic ritual, resulted
in his ruin. It seemed as though the violent
excitement, which had produced such long,
universal, and incessant conflicts in the pro-
* Nani : Relatione di Roma, 1G40: "Con la regina d|
Ineliilterra passa comniunicatione de' minislri con officii
e donativi di cortesia, e si concede a quella Mw. noinina-
tione di cardinal! a pare decli altri re." Spada: Rela-
tione della nunziatura di Fiancia, 1641: "II Sr. conle
Rosselii, residenie in quel regno, bene corrisponde nell'
ossequio gli ordini del Sr. Oardi. Barberini protetlore
tulli pieni dell' ardore e zelo di S. Emza." [Ministerial
comnnmications are kept up with the queen of England,
with offices and gifts of courtesy, and her ni:ijtsty is al-
lowed the privilege of nominating cardinals in like man-
ner as other sovereigns. . . . Count Rosetti, resident in
that kingdom, duly and obsequiously reciprocates the or-
ders of cardinal Barberini, the protector, all filled with
the ardour and zeal of his eminence.]
A. D. 1635-45.] THE BALANCE OF THE TWO CONFESSIONS.
327
testant world at large, was becoming concen-
trated in the puritans. Ireland in vain en-
deavoured to withdraw from their sway, and
to organize herself as a catholic country : she
was subjected to but the severer thraldom.
The aristocracy and commons of England con-
stituted a power, the rise of which marks a
revival of protestantism throughout all Eu-
rope.
By these events, bounds were forever set to
Catholicism. It was assigned its definite limits,
and could never again seriously contemplate
those schemes of universal conquest it had
previously entertained.
Indeed, the intellectual development of
Europe had taken a turn that rendered this
impossible.
Impulses, perilous to the higher principle
of unity, had become predominant: the force
of the religious element had waned; political
considerations swayed the world.
For it was not by their own arms the pro-
testants were saved. It was, above all things,
a rent in the bosom of Catholicism, that en-
abled them to recover their lost ground. In
the year 1631 we find the two great catholic
powers in league with the protestants, France
openly so, and Spain at least in secret. It is
certain tiiat the Spaniards at this period had
established an understanding with the French
Huguenots.
But there was just as little unanimity
amongst the protestants. It was not alone
that the Lutherans and the catholics attacked
each other, — that was an old occurrence ; but
the decided Calvinists, though they undoubt-
edly had a common interest to defend, were
marshalled against each other in this war.
The maritime power of the French Hugue-
nots was only broken through the aid which
their brethren in religion and ancient allies
were induced to afford the crown of France.
The very head of Catholicism, the pope of
Rome, who had hitherto led the attacks against
the protestants, at last put aside these the
highest interests of the spiritual authority ; he
took part against the power that had most
zealously pursued the task of restoring Catho-
licism ; his conduct was shaped solely in ac-
cordance wilh the views befitting a temporal
prince. He returned to the policy that had
been given up since the days of Paul III. We
remember that protestantism, in the first half
of the sixteenth century, had owed its pros-
perity to nothing so much as to the political
endeavours of the popes. These it was, hu-
manly speaking, that had saved and upheld
protestantism.
Now this example could not possibly fail of
its effect on the other powers. German-Aus-
tria, which had so long remained unswerving-
ly orthodo.x, adopted the same policy ; the atti-
tude it assumed after the peace of Westphalia
rested on its intimate connexion with North-
ern Germany, England, and Holland.
Do we ask what were the more profound
causes of this phenomenon ; I think we should
err in identifying them with the exhaustion
and decay of religious impulses: I think we
must take a different view of the import and
significance of the fact.
In the first place, the great spiritual strug-
gle had wrought its effects on the minds of men.
In former times Christianity was rather an
afluir of surrender and acquiescence, of sim-
ple acceptance, and of faith untouched by
doubt; now it was become a thing of convic-
tion, of deliberate adoption. It is a point of
much moment that men had now to chose be-
tween the various confessions, that men could
repudiate, dissent, and change. The individ-
ual was directly appealed to, his freedom of
judgment was invoked. The consequence
was, that the ideas of Christianity more deep-
ly and thoroughly imbued every ramification
of life and thought.
To this was added another important con-
sideration.
It is very true that the predominance of
inward discrepancies rent the unity of collect-
ive Christianity; but, if we are not mistaken,
it accords with another law of humanity that
this very circumstance prepared a higher and
more large development.
In the turmoil of the universal fray, reli-
gion was diversely seized by the nations in
the several modifications ofits dogmatic forms:
the chosen body of dogmas had become blend-
ed with the feelings of nationalty, becoming
as it were a possession of the community, of
the state, or of the people. Weapons were
wielded in its defence ; it was upheld amid a
thousand perils; it liad wrought itself into
the very flesli and blood of the nation.
Hence the states arrayed on either side grew
into vast ecclesiastico-political bodies, whose
individuality was marked on the catholic side
by the measure of their devotion to the Roman
see, and by their toleration or exclusion of
non-catholics : and still more pointedly de-
fined on the side of the protestants, among
whom, the departure from the symbolical
books adopted as standards of doctrine, the
mingling of the Lutheran and the Calvinistic
confessions, and the more or less near approxi-
mation to the episcopal constitution, gave rise
to so many obvious distinctions. It became
the first question respecting each country,
what was the dominant religion there 1 Chris-
tianity appears under manifold aspects. How-
ever great may be the discrepancies between
them, the votaries of no one form can deny
the rest the possession of the fundamentals of
the faith. On the contrary, these various
forms are guaranteed by compacts and treaties
of peace, in which all have part, and which
are, as it were, fundamental laws of an uni-
328
POPES ABOUT THE MIDDLE OF THE 17TH CENTURY, [a. d. 1670-98.
versal republic. The thought can never again
be entertained of exalting any one confession
to supreme dominion. The sole point for con-
sideration is, how each state, each people may-
be enabled to develope its energies in obedi-
ence to its own politico-religious principles.
On this depends the future condition of the
world.
BOOK THE EIGHTH.
THE POPES ABOUT THE MIDDLE OF THE SEVENTEETH CENTURY.
LATER EPOCHS.
Introduction.
After the attempt of the popes to renew
their domination over the world had reached
so far, but finally miscarried, a general change
took place in their position, and in the kind
of interest they excite in us. The affairs of
their principality, its administration, and its
internal progress, once more command our
chief attention.
Like the traveller who descends from the
lofty mountain, with its grand and ample pros-
pects, into the valley, where his view is limi-
ted and tied to a narrow range, so we now
turn from contemplating the events of the
world at large, in which the papacy once more
played so important a part, to scrutinize the
more particular occurences of the ecclesiasti-
cal states.
The states of the church first attained their
complete development in the times of Urban
Vllt. Let us begin with the history of this
circumstance.
The escheat of Urbino.
The duchy of Urbino comprised seven towns
and about three hundred castles: it had a
productive sea-coast, well situated for com-
merce, and a healthy and cheerful mountain
district, formed by the Apennines.
The dukes of Urbino, like those of Ferrara,
won renown, sometimes by deeds of arms,
sometimes by literary endeavours, sometimes
by the munificence and splendour of their
court.* Guidobaldo II. had in the year 1570
established four court households, including,
besides his own, separate establishments for
his consort, for the prince, and for the princess :
they were all brilliant, eagerly frequented by
the native nobility, and open to those of other
lands.f Every foreigner enjoyed the hospi-
* Bernardo Tasso has addres.sed a splendid panegyric
to them in llie 47tli book of the Amadigi:
" Vedete i qualtro a cui il vecchio Apennino
Ornerel, il pello suo di fiori e d'erba . . ."
+ Relatione di Lazzaro Mocenigoritornatoda Guidobal-
do d' Urbino, 1570. " Vuole alloggiar luui li personnaggi
che passano per il suo slalo, il numero de' (juali alia fine
dell' anno si trova esser grandissinw." [It is his pleasure
to lodge all the personages who pass through hiaierri-
tality of the palace after the fashion of the old
times. The revenues of the country would
not indeed have been adequate to supply an
expenditure, amounting as they did, even
when the corn trade prospered in Sinigaglia,
to no more than some hundred thousand scudi.
But the sovereigns were always, at least nom-
inally, in the service of some foreign potentate ;
whilst the fortunate position of the country,
in the midst of Italy, caused the neighbouring
states to vie in securing its good by marks of
favour and grants of money.
It was a remark made in the country, that
the prince brought in more than he cost.
Attempts indeed were made here, as every
where elese, to increase the imposts ; but they
were attended with so much difficulty, espe-
cially in Urbino itself, that partly from good
feeling, partly from necessity, the govern-
ment contented itself with its customary rev-
enue. The privileges, too, and the statutes
of the country remained unimpaired. San
Marino preserved its inoffensive freedom un-
der the protection of the ducal house.* Whilst
throughout all the rest of Italy the princely
authority became more unrestricted and des-
potic, here it remained confined within its
ancient limits.
Hence the inhabitants clung with the clo-
sest attachment to their dynasty; to which
they were the more devoted, since an union
with the states of the church would undoubted-
ly prove the demolition of all the traditional
relations of the country, and the downfal of
its ancient liberties.
The lineal continuation of the ducal family
was therefore an object of intense interest to
the subjects of the house.
Francesco Maria, the prince of Urbino, re-
sided for a while at the court of Philip Il.f
tory, the number of whom is found by the end' of the year
to be very great.]
* " Ha humor d' esser republica." [It has a fancy for
being a republic] a Discorso a N. S. Urbano VIII. sopra
lo stato d' Urbino, says of San Marino. On being trans-
ferred to the church, it acquired an increase of privileges.
fin the Amadigi he is very prettily described in boy-
hood , as
" Quel piccolo fanciul, che gli occhi alzando
Par che si speeclii nel avo e nel padre
E I'alla gloria lor quasi pensando."
A. D. 1570-98.]
THE ESCHEAT OF URBINO.
329
There he formed, it is said, a very serious at-
tachment to a Spanish lady, and thought of
wedding her. But his fiither Guidobaklo set
his face decidedly ag-ainst the match, being
resolved to receive into his house none but a
daughter-in-law of equal rank. He compelled
his son to return home, and to give his hand to
the Princess Lucrezia d'Este, of the house
of Ferrara.
It would have seemed that they were well
suited tor each other ; the prince, agile and
strong, accomplished in the use of arms, and not
without learning, especially of a military kind ;
the princess, gifted with talent, and full of
majesty and grace. The hope was fondly en-
couraged that the match would secure the
perpetuation of the ducal line ; the towns of
the duchy vied in receiving the married pair
with triumphal arches and fair presents.
But the misfortune was, that the prince was
but twenty-five, whilst the princess numbered
nearly forty years. Francesco's father had
overlooked this circumstance in his eager-
ness, by so exalted, brilliant, and likewise
wealthy a match, to gloss over the rejection
of the Spanish lady, which was regarded in
no favourable light at the court of Philip II.
But the marriage turned out worse than he
could well have imagined. After Guidobal-
do's death, Lucrezia was forced to return to
Ferrara, and all hope of posterity was at an
end.*
We have already noticed the decisive in-
fluence Lucrezia d'Este had on the fate and
the extinction of the duchy of Ferrara : we
now find her most unhappily implicated in the
affairs of Urbino. From the moment Ferrara
was taken, the escheat of Urbino seemed cer-
tain; the more so since there were here no
agnates who could pretend to the succession.
But the aspect of things changed once more.
Lucrezia died in February, 1598, and Fran-
cesco Maria was free to take another bride.
The country was in ectasy when it came to
be known that their good lord, whose whole
reign had been one of gentleness and tranquil-
ity, and who was universally loved, had hopes,
though already advanced in years, that his
[That little lad, who with uplifted eyes
IVIirrors him in his grandsire and his sire,
Pond'ring their lofty glory in his heart.]
Mocenigo describes him at the period of his marriage.
" Giostra leggiadramente, studia et 6 intelligente delle
matematiche e delle fortificationi: tanto gagliardi souo i
suoi esercitii — come giuocare alia balla, andare alia cac-
cia a pledi per habituarsi all' incomodo della giierra — e
cosi continui, che molti dubilano che gli abbino col tempo
a nuocere." [He jousts beautifully, studies and is profi-
cient in mathematics and foitification ; so vehement are
his exercises— such as playing at ball, hunting on foot to
inure himself to thehardsiiipsof war— and so continually,
that many fear they will be injurious to him.]
* Matthio Zane, Relatione del duca d' Urbino 1574,
finds Lucrezia already a " Signora di bellazza raanco che
mediocre, ma si tien ben acconcia: . . . si dispera quasi
di poter veder da questo matrimonio figliuoli." [a lady
of less than ordinary beauiy, but she sets herself oft" to
advantage . . . almost all liope of oftspring from this
marriage is at an end.]
42
line would not end with him. Vows were
universally offered for the safe delivery of the
new duchess ; and when her time approached,
the nobles of the land assembled, with the
magistrates of the towns in Pesaro, where
the princess resided, and during her labour
the piazza before the palace and the neigh-
bouring streets were thronged with people.
At last the duke appeared at the window.
" God," he cried with a loud voice, " God has
given us a boy." Indescribable was the ex-
ultation with which the news was received.
The towns built churches, and founded pioua
endowments in fulfilment of their vows.*
But how treacherous are the hopes that are
built on men ! The prince was well brought
up, and displayed at least literary talent ; the
old duke had the pleasure to marry him to a
princess of Tuscany. Upon this he himself
withdrew to the retirement of Castelduante,
and resigned the functions of government to
his son.
But no sooner was the prince his own mas-
ter, and master of the country, than he was
seized with the intoxication of power. At
this period the taste for theatrical amusements
had just become predominant in Italy : the
young prince was the more strongly seized
with it, in consequence of his having con-
ceived a passion for an actress. By day his
pleasure was, like Nero's, to play the chario-
teer ; in the evening he used to appear on the
stage, and he indulged in a thousand other
licentious acts. The honest citizens looked
sorrowfully in each other's faces. They knew
not whether to grieve or to rejoice, when one
morning, after a night of wild debauchery,
the young prince was found dead in his bed.
The aged Francesco Maria had now to re-
sume the reins of government : full of deep
grief that he was the last of the line of Rovere,
ihat his house was utterly at an end, his mind
racked at having to bear the burthen of public
affairs against his will, and to endure the bit-
ter insults and injuries of the Roman see.f
At first he dreaded that the Barberini
would possess themselves of the daughter left
by his son, an infant of a year old. Forever
to frustrate their suit, he betrothed her to a
prince of Tuscany, and removed her immedi-
ately to the adjacent state.
But another unhappy circumstance imme-
diately arose.
As the emperor put forward claims to cer-
tain portions of the territory of Urbino, Urban
VIII., for his own security, demanded a decla-
ration from the duke that he held all he
possessed as a fief from the Roman see.
* La devoluzione'a S. Chiesa degli stati di Francesco
Maria II., della Rovere, ultimo duca d' Urbino, descritta
dair illoio. s. Antonio Donati nobile Venetiano. (luff.
Politl. it has also been printed.
i P. Contarini : " Trovandosl il duca per gli anni e per
I'indisposiiione gii cadenle prosternaio e avvililo d'
animo."
330 POPES ABOUT THE MIDDLE OF THE 17TH CENTURY, [a. d.1585-1643.
Francesco Maria long demurred ; such a de-
claration was revolting to his conscience ; at
last, however, he made it; "but from that
moment," says our authority, " he was never
cheerful again ; he felt his soul weighed down
by the act?'
He was soon after obliged to consent that
the commandants of his fortresses should
swear allegiance to the pope. At last — it
was in fact the best thing he could do — he
resigned the government of the country abso-
lutely into the hands of the pope's plenipoten-
tiaries.
Weary of life, enfeebled by age, broken
down by sorrow, after seeing all his confiden-
tial friends die around him, the duke found
his only consolation in the practices of devo-
tion. He died in the year 1631.
Taddeo Barberini instantly hastened to take
possession of the country. The allodial inhe-
ritance passed to Florence. The territory of
Urbino was subjected to the same system as
that on which the other dominions of the
papacy were governed ; and we very soon
find there all the complaints which the govern-
ment of priests used every where to excite.*
We now come to speak of this administra-
tion in general ; and first of that most impor-
tant point, on which all others depend, its
finances.
Increase of the debts of the ecclesiastical
states.
If Sixtus V. limited the public expenditure,
and collected a treasure, still he at the same
time increased the revenue and the taxes, and
founded a great mass of debt upon them.
To set bounds to expenditure, and to amass
money, were not things to the taste of every
one. The wants, too, of the church and of
the state grew more urgent from year to year.
Sometimes recourse was had to the reserved
treasure, but the application of that fund was
fettered by so many conditions, that this could
only occur in rare cases. Strange to say, it
was much easier to raise loans than to use the
ready money actually in hand. The popes
pursued the former practice in the most pre-
cipitate and inconsiderate manner.
It is very well worth observing the ratio of
the revenue to the total of debt and interest
in the several years, for which we possess
authentic estimates.
In the year 1587 the revenue amounted to
1,358,456 scndi, the debts to six and a half
millions scudi. About one half of the revenue,
* In the year 1635, Alcuise Contarini finds the inhabi-
tants very much discontented : " Quei sudditi s'aggravano
molto della mutatione, chiamando liraniuco ll governo
de' nreli i quali altro interesse che d' arnchusi e d' avan-
zarsi noA vi lengono." [These subjects complain greatly
of the change, calling the government of the priests ty-
rannical, and declaring that they have no other object in
view but that of enriching and advancing themselves,]
715,913 scudi, was assigned to pay the inte-
rest.
In the year 1592 the revenue had risen to
1,585,520 scudi, the debts to 12,242,620.
The increase of the debt was already much
greater than that of the revenue. 1,088,600
scudi, that is about two-thirds of the income
of the state, were appropriated to the interest
of the debt, in the shape of places, and luoghi
di monte.*
This state of things was in itself sufBciently
inconvenient to cause extreme anxiety. The
government would have been glad to have
recourse once to a diminution of the rate of
interest, and it was proposed that a million
should be drawn out from the castle to pay off
those who would not accede to a reduction of
the interest. A considerable augmentation
of the net income would have been effected
by this measure. The bull of Si.xtus V.,
however, and the precautions against the
squandering of the reserved fund, prevented
arrangements of this kind, and there was no-
thing for it but to pursue the old course.
It may perhaps be supposed that the acqui-
sition of so wealthy a territory as Ferrara
would have afforded peculiar relief to the em-
barrassments of the government ; but this was
not the case.
Already, in the year 1599, the interest of
the debt swallowed up nearly three-fourths of
the gross revenue.
But in the year 1605, at the accession of
Paul v., there remained but 70,000 scudi of
the whole sums accruing to the treasury,
unappropriated to the payment of interest.f
Cardinal de Perron affirms, that the pope's
regular income would not have sufficed him
for half a year, though the expenditure of his
palace was very moderate.
Hence it became so much the more impos-
sible to avoid heaping debt on debt. We
learn from authentic accounts how systemati-
cally Paul V. had recourse to this expedient,
in November, 1607, twice in January, 1608,
in March, June, and July, 1608, twice in
September of the same year, and so on through
every year of his reign. His loans were not
large apparently; petty wants were met aa
they arose, by the establishment of luoghi di
monte, in greater or smaller number. These
were founded sometimes on the tolls of An-
* Circumstantial account of the papal finances in the
first year of Clement VIII., without any particular title.
Bibliol. Barb. N"- 1639, on eighty leaves.
f Per sollevare la camera aposlolica. Discorso di M.
Malvasia, 1606. "Gli interessi che hoggi paga la sede
apostolico assorbono quasi tutte 1' entrate, di maniera che
si Vive in continua angustia e difficoUa di provedere alle
spese ordinarie e necessarie, e venendo occasione di
qualche spesa straordinaria non ci 6 dove voltarsi." [The
interests now paid by the apostolic see absorb almost all
its revenues, so that the condition of the government is
that of continual embarrassment and diffii ully in provid-
ing for ordinary and necessary expenses, and when any
extraordinary occasion of expenditure occurs, it knows
not which way to turn ]
A. D. 1585-1643.]
FOUNDATION OF NEW FAMILIES.
331
cona, sometimes on the dogana of Rome, or of
a province, now on an augmentation in the
price of salt, and now on the proceeds of the
post. But they gradually increased to a very
great extent. Paul V. alone incurred two
millions of debt by way of luoghi di monte.*
This, however, would have been impracti-
cable had not that pope been aided by a
circumstance of a special nature.
Power always attracts money. So long as
the Spanish monarchy pursued its thriving
career, and its influence swayed the world,
the Genoese, then the richest monied capital-
ists, invested their funds in the royal loans ;
nor were they deterred from doing so by some
arbitrary reductions and exactions of Philip
II. But gradually, when the great movement
abated, and war and its demands ceased, they
called in their capital. They turned to Rome,
which had meanwhile assumed so powerful a
position, and the treasures of Europe once
more flowed into that city. The Roman
luoghi di monte were in extraordinary re-
quest. As they afforded considerable inte-
rest, and offered satisfactory security, their
price sometimes rose to 150 per cent. The
pope was sure to find purchasers in abundance
for as many of them as he chose to establish.
Hence it came to pass that the debts of the
state unceasingly increased. In the begin-
ning of the reign of Clement VIII. they
amounted to eighteen millions. The system
of the Roman court obliged the revenue too
to rise in the same proportion ; it was cal-
culated in the beginning of the reign at
1,818,104 scudi, 96 baj.f I cannot ascertain
exactly how much of this sum was expended
in the payment of interest, but it must have
been considerably the largest part. If we
examine the several items of the computa-,
tions, we shall perceive that the demands
often exceed the income. In the year 1592
the doganaof Rome yielded 162,450 scudi, in
the year 162-5, 209,000 scudi; but in the for-
mer, 16,956 scudi had passed into the coffers
of the treasury; in the latter, the outgoings
exceeded the income about 13,260 scudi.
The salara di Roma had in that period risen
from 27,654 to 40,000 scudi; but in 1592
there had been a surplus of 7482 scudi, while
in 1625 there was a deficit of 2321 scudi, 98
baj.
It is obvious how little could be effected in
such a case by any strictness of household
economy.
How strongly too does this remark apply to
a government like that of Urban VIII., who
was so often led by his political jealousy to
engage in armaments and works of fortifica-
tion.
* Nota de' luoghi di monte eretti in tempo del pontifi-
cato della felice memoria di Paolo V. 1606-1618.
+ Entrata el usciia della sede aposlolica del tempo di
Urbane VIII.
Urbino indeed was added to the possessions
of the church; but it contributed little to the
wealth of the government, especially at first.
After the loss of the ajlodial lands, the reve-
nue of the territory amounted to but 40,000
scudi. On the other hand, considerable ex-
penses had attended the act of taking posses-
sion, important concessions being made to the
heirs.*
But the year 1635 had augmented the
public debt to thirty millions of scudi. To
procure the necessary funds for meeting the
interest thereon, he had already either created
or increased ten different taxes. But even
this was far from effecting hi.s purpose. Cir-
cumstances occurred which obliged him to go
still further ; but these we shall be in a better
condition to understand when we shall have
considered another series of events.
Foundation of new families.
If we inquire what became of all these
revenues, and on what they were expended,
it will appear undeniable that they were for
the most part made serviceable to the general
efforts in the catholic cause.
Armies, such as Gregory XIV. sent into
France, and which his successors had to main-
tain for a considerable time, the active parti-
cipation of Clement VIII. in the Turkish war,
subsidies like those which were so often
granted under Paul V. to the League and to
the house of Austria, which Gregory XV.
doubled, and which Urban VIII. transferred,
at least in part, to Maximilian of Bavaria,
must have cost the Roman see enormous
sums.
The necessities, too, of the ecclesiastical
states often made extraordinary outlays re-
quisite ; — the conquest of Ferrara under Cle-
ment VIII., Paul V.'s projects against Venice,
and all the warlike proceedings of Urban VIII.
To these sources of expense were added the
splendid erections, whether for the beautify-
ing of the city or for the defence of the
country, in which each new pope vied with
the memory of his predecessor.
But there grew up one more institution
which contributed not a little to the accumu-
lation of this mass of debt, and one which re-
ally benefited neither Christendom, nor the
state, nor the city, but solely the families of
the popes.
The custom had become general (and it
was one which naturally consisted with the
relative position of the priesthood to a very
extensive organization of family interests,)
that the surplus of the ecclesiastical revenues
should devolve on the relations of the several
incumbents.
* Remark of Francesco Barberini to the nuncio in
Vienna, when the emperor founded claims on that acqui-
.'jition.
332 POPES ABOUT THE MIDDLE OF THE 17TH CENTURY. [\. d. 1585-1643.
The popes of those days were prevented by
the bulls of their predecessors from granting
principalities in fee to their connexions, as
had been attempted in former times : but they
did not therefore forego the general practice
of the ecclesiastical body, but only made it so
much the more their care to secure the here-
ditary dignity of their kindred by wealth and
stable possessions.
In doing this they did not neglect to pro-
vide themselves with arguments for their jus-
tification. They set out from the principle
that they were not bound by any vow to po-
verty ; and as they decided that they might
fairly regard the surplus proceeds of the spi-
ritual office as their own property, they judg-
ed that they had a right to bestovv^ the same
on their relations.
But far more potent than such considera-
tions as these were the feelings of family and
of blood, and the natural inclination of men to
leave some lasting endowment after their
death.
The first who struck out the form to which
subsequent popes adhered was Sixtus V.
He raised one of his grand-nephews to the
rank of cardinal, intrusted him with a share
in public business, and assigned him an eccle-
siastical income of 100,000 scudi. The other
he married to a Sommaglia, and made him
marquis of Mentana ; to which estates were
afterwards added the principality of Venafro
and the county of Celano in Naples. The
house of Peretti long maintained itself in high
consideration; we repeatedly encounter mem-
bers of it in the college of cardinals.
But the Aldobrandini were far more power-
ful.* We have seen the influence possessed
by Pietro Aldobrandino during his uncle's
reign. As early as the year 1599 he had as
much as 60,000 scudi of ecclesiastical in-
come, and we may guess how greatly this
must have subsequently increased. The in-
heritance of Lucrezia d'Este helped him
greatly; he purchased land, and we find that
he invested money in the bank of Venice.
But whatever wealth he might accumulate
was all destined to pass at last to the family
of his sister and her husband, Giovanni Fran-
cesco Aldobrandini, who held the offices of
castellan of St. Angelo, governor of the Bor-
go, captain of the guard, and general of the
church. He too had as early as 1599, 60,000
scudi income, and he frequently received
sums of ready money from the pope. I find
an account, according to which Clement
VIII. bestowed on his kinsmen in the thirteen
* NicoU) Contarini : Storia Veneta : " Clemente VIII.
nel conferir li beneficii ecclesiastici alii nepoti non heb-
be alcun lennine, el andi) eliandio di gran lunga supe-
riore a Sisto V. sua precessore, clie spalanco quesla por-
ta." [Clemnni, VIII. set no bounds to his bestowal of ec-
clasiastical bpnefices on his nephews, and in this he even
vastly outdid Sixius V. his predecessor, wlio opened the
door to the practice.]
years of his reign upwards of a million in
hard cash. This wealth was increased by
the judicious management of Giovan-Frances-
co. He bought the property of Ridolfo Pio,
which brought in to its original owner no
more than 3000 scudi yearly, and made it
yield him 12,000. The marriage of his
daughter Margareta with Rainuccio Farnese
was not effected without a great outlay : she
brought her husband a dowry of 400,000 scu-
di, besides other advantages ;* although sub-
sequently the connexion between the families,
as we have seen, did not prove as cordial as
had been expected.
The example of the Aldobi-andini was fol-
lowed, and almost outdone in recklessness, by
the Borghesi.
The influence possessed by cardinal Scipi-
one Cafarelli Borghese over Paul V. was fully
equal to that of Pietro Aldobrandino over Cle-
ment VHI., and he even surpassed him in
the wealth he accumulated. Already in the
year 1612 the income of his benefices was
estimated at 150,000 scudi. He strove by
kindness and courteous affability to appease
the envy which so much power and riches in-
evitably provoked ; but we must not wonder
if in this he did not fully succeed.
The temporal offices were conferred on
Marc Antonio Borghese, on whom the pope
moreover bestowed the principality of Salmo-
na in Naples, with palaces in Rome, and the
most beautiful villas in the neighbourhood.
He loaded his nephews with presents, of
which we have a detailed list extending
through his whole reign up to the year 1620.
They comprised jewels, silver vessels, splen-
did furniture, taken directly from the stores
of the palace and sent to the nephews; car-
riages, and even muskets and falconets; but
the main thing is always hard money. It
appears that they received, up to the year
1620, in all, 689,727 scudi 31 baj. in cash,
24,600 scudi in luoghi di monte, taken at their
nominal value, and in places estimated at the
price it would have cost to purchase them,
268,176 scudi ; making on the whole, as in
the case of the Aldobrandini, pretty nearly a
million.!
The Borghesi, too, neglected not to invest
their wealth in real estates. They purchased
nearly eighty estates in the campagna of
Rome, the Roman nobility being readily in-
duced to part with their ancient hereditary
possessions on consideration of the tempting
* " II papa monstvando dolors di esser condotto da ne-
poti da fiir cosi contro la propria conscienza, non poteva
tamo nasconder nel cupo del cviore che non dironipesse
la soprabondanza dell' allegrezza." [The pope, though
making a show of grief at being led by his nephews lo
act so contrary to liis own conscience, could not yet so
conceal his joy at the bottom of his heart, that its excess
should not break out.]
t Nota di danari, officii e mobili donati da papa Paolo
V. aeuoi parent! e concessioni fattegli. MS.
A. D. 1621-1639.J
FOUNDATION OF NEW FAMILIES.
833
price paid them, and the high rate of interest
they obtained by investing the purchase-mo-
ney in liioghi di monte. They also establish-
ed themselves in many other districts of the
ecclesiastical states, which the pope facilitat-
ed by granting them peculiar privileges.
Sometimes they were allowed the right of
restoring exiles, of holding markets, or of
having their vassals endowed with certain
immunities; they were exempted from du-
ties, and they even obtained a bull, by virtue
of which their possessions were never to be
confiscated.
The Borghesi were the most powerful and
wealthy family that had yet risen in Rome.
Now this system of nepotism was brought
into such vogue by these precedents, that
even a short reign afforded means for accu-
mulating a brilliant fortune.*
Undoubtedly cardinal Ludovico Ludovisio,
the nephew of Gregory XV., ruled still more
absolutely than any of his predecessors. It
was his good fortune that, during his adminis-
tration, the two most important offices of the
curia, — the vice-chancellorship and the cham-
berlainship — became vacant and fell to his
lot. He acquired upwards of 200,000 scudi
of ecclesiastical income. The temporal power,
the generalship of the church, and several
other proritable posts, devolved on the pope's
brother, Don Orazio, a senator of Bologna.
As the pope gave little promise of a long life,
his family made so much the more speed to
enrich themselves. They acquired in a short
time luoghi di monte to the amount of 800,000
scudi. The duchy of Fiano was purchased
for them from the Sforza, and the principality
of Zagarolo from the Farnesi. The young
Niccolo Ludovisio could already aspire to the
most brilliant and wealthy matrimonial alli-
ances. By a first marriage he brought Ve-
nosa into his house, and Piombino by a sec-
ond. The favour of the king of Spain further
contributed, in a special manner, to his pros-
perity.
Emulating these splendid examples, the
Barberini now entered on the same career.
By the side of Urban VIII. stood his elder-
brother, Don Carlo, as general of the church ;
a grave, practised man of business, of few
words; one who did not suffer himself to be
dazzled by the dawn of his fortunes, or se-»
duced into empty arrogance ; and yet, who
never lost sight of his grand object of found-
* Pietro Coularini : Relatione di 1627. "Quelle che
possede la casa PereUa, Aldobrandina, Borghese e Ludo-
visia, li loio principati, le grossissime rendite. lante emi-
nemissiine fabrjche, superlDJssime supelletili, con estra-
ordinarii ornamenti e delizii, non solo superano le condi-
tioni di signori e principi privali, ma s' ugiiagliano e 3'
avanzano a quelle del inedesimi re." [The possessions
of the houses of the Peretii, Aldobrandini, Borghesi, and
Ludovisi, their principalities, Iheir great revenues, their
numerous splendid fabrics, sumptuous furniture, with
extraordinary ornaments and luxuries of all kinds, sur-
pass not only the fortunes of lords and private princes, but
equal or exceed those of kings themselves.]
ing a great family.* " He knows," says the
report of 1625, "that the possession of money
distinguishes a man from the multitude, and
does not deem it seemly, that he who has
once been on the footing of a pope's relation,
should after his death appear in straitened cir-
cumstances." Don Carlo had three sons,
Francesco, Antonio, and Taddeo, who now
necessarily rose to high consideration. The
first two entered the service of the church.
Francesco, whose modesty and kindness won
universal confidence, and who also had the
skill to accommodate his uncle's humours, ob-
tained the leading influence in the govern-
ment, from which, although on the whole he
acted with moderation, considerable wealth
could not fail to accrue spontaneously to him
in so long a course of years. His income
amounted, in the year 1625, to 40,000 scudi,
and already in 1627 to nearly 100,000 scu-
di.f It was not entirely with his consent that
Antonio was likewise made cardinal, and his
advancement w^as coupled with the express
condition, that he should have no share in the
government. Antonio was aspiring, stubborn
and proud, though weak in body. In order
that he might not be eclipsed in every respect
by his brother, he strained hard to possess
himself of a multitude of places with great
revenues, which as early as the year 1635
amounted to 100,000 scudi. He engrossed to
his single share six commanderies of Malta,
whicii could not be very agreeable to the
knights of that order. He accepted presents,
too ; but he also bestowed many, being sys-
tematically liberal, with a view to make him-
self adherents among the Roman nobility.
Don Taddeo, the second of the brothers, was
the one selected to found a family by the ac-
quisition of hereditary possessions. To his
share fell the dignities of the secular nephew,
and he became, after his father's death, gene-
ral of the church, castellan of St. Angelo, and
governor of the Borgo. By the year 1635,
he was master of so many possessions, that
he, too, enjoyed an income of 100,000 scudi,f
* Relatione de' quattro ambasciatori, 1625. " Nellasua
casa 6 buon economo et ha mira di far danari, assai sapen-
doe^li moUobene che I'oro accresce la reputatione agli
uomini, anzi 1' oro eli inalza e gli distingue vantaggiosa-
mente nel cospello del mondo." [He is a good economist
in his household, and aims at making money, knowing
very well that gold increases men's reputations, so does
it exalt and advantageously distinguish them in the eyes
of men.] . . , j
f Pietro Contarini, 1627. " E di oUimi virtuosi e lode-
voli costumi, di soave natura, e con esempio unico non
vuole ricever donativi o presente alcuno. Sara nondi-
meno vivendo il ponlefice al pare d' ogni altro cardinale
grande e ricco. Hor deve haver inlorno 80,000 scudi a
entrala di beneficii ecclci-, e con li goveini e legationi
che tiene deve avvicinarsi a 100m- scudi." [He is a man
of excellent, virtuous, and laudable habits, ot a genue
disposition, and srts the rare example ot retusing an oo-
natives and presents whatever. Nevertheless, it IM pope
lives, he will be equal in wealth and splendour to any
among the cardinals, (fcc] -.aina
t That is to say, such was the yearly income arising
from his landed properly : " Per li novi acquisti, s*y^i"-
Contarini, " di Palestrina, Monterolondo a Valmonioae,
334
POPES ABOUT THE MIDDLE OF THE 17TH CENTURY, [a. d. 1639-40-
and he was constantly receiving additions to
his property. Don Taddeo lived in great re-
tirement, and his household economy was
exemplary. Ere long the united yearly in-
comes of the three brothers w^as computed at
half a million of scudi. The most important
offices belonged to them : Antonio had the
chamberlainship, Francesco the vice-chancel-
lorship, and Taddeo the prefecture, which
had become vacant by the death of the duke
ofUrbino. It was commonly computed that,
during his pontificate, the incredible sum of
one hundred and five millions of scudi passed
into the hands of the Barberini family.*
" The palaces," continues the author of this
account, " for instance, that at Quattro Fon-
tane, a regal work, the vineyards, pictures,
statues, wrought gold and silver, and the
jewels, that came into their possession, are
of greater value than can be believed or ex-
pressed." The pope himself, however, seems
at times to have felt scruples about the be-
stowal of such vast wealth on his family; in
the year 1640 he formally appointed a com-
mission to examine into the legality of the
means by which it was acquired.! In the
first place the commission laid down the prin-
ciple, that with the popedom was conjoined
a temporal sovereignty, out of the surplus re-
•venue or savings of which, the pope might
make donations to his kindred. Next, the
commission estimated the circumstances of
the said sovereignty, to determine to what
extent the pope might safely extend his libe-
rality. After full calculation, they were of
opinion that the pope miglit with a safe con-
science found a majorat of 80,000 scudi net
income, and, besides this, an inheritance for
the second son; and that dowries of the
daughters of the house might amount to
180,000 scudi. Vitelleschi, too, the general
of the Jesuits, — for the order must needs
have a hand in every thing, — was asked his
opinion ; he declared these decisions mode-
rate, and gave them his approval.
In this manner new families continued to
rise to hereditary power in each successive
pontificate ; they ascended immediately into
the rank of the high aristocracy of the land, a
place in which was willingly conceded to them.
It was not to be supposed that they should
fatto venders e forza dai Colonnesi e Sforzeschi per pa-
gare i debiii loro." [From his new acquisitions ot Pales-
irina, Monierolondo, and Valmontone, which the Colon-
na and the Sforza lam i lies had been compelled to sell to
pay their debts.] The post of general of the church
brought in 20,000 scudi.
* Conclave di Innocenza X. " Si contano caduti nello
Barberina, come risulta da sincera notitia di panite dis-
linte 105 milioni di contanti." The sum is so incredible
that it miaht well be looked on as an error of the tran-
scriber. But it exactly corresponds in several MSS.,
anion? others in the Foscarini in Vienna and in my own.
+ Niccolini treats of this subject. I have also seen a
special treatise: "Motivi a far liecidere quid possit papa
donare, al 7 di Luglio, 1640," by a member of the com-
mission.
escape collisions. The conflicts between pre-
decessors and successors, which had formerly
been carried on by the factions of the conclave,
were now waged between the nepotist fami-
lies. The family that had recently risen to
power clung jealously to its supremacy of
rank, and usually exercised hostility, nay,
persecution, towards that which had immedi-
ately preceded it. Great as was the share
the Aldobrandini had had in the elevation of
Paul v., yet were they thrust aside by the
connexions of that pope, treated with enmity,
and visited with costly and hazardous law-
suits :* they called him " the great ungrate-
ful." The nephews of Paul V. found just as
little favour at the hands of the Ludovisi ; and
cardinal Ludovisio himself was obliged to quit
Rome immediately after the entry into power
of the Barberini.
For the Barberini made a very ambitious
use of the authority which the deputed power
of the pope gave them over the native nobility
and the Italian princes. Urban VIII. bestowed
on his secular nephew the dignity of a prefetto
di Roma expressly because honorary rights
were attached to that office, which it seemed
certain would secure to his house a perpetual
precedence over all others in the country.
But this was productive at last of a move-
ment, which though not of much consequence
to the world at large, yet marks an important
epoch as regards the position of the papacy,
both within its own dominions and in relation
to all Italy.
War of Castro.
The highest rank among the non-regnant
papal families was always maintained by the
Farnesi, since they had not only secured to
themselves great possessions in the country,
as the others had done, but likewise no incon-
siderable principalities ; and it was at all times
a difficult task for the ruling nephew to keep
this house in allegiance and due subordination.
When duke Odoardo Farnese came to Rome
in 1639, all possible honours were paid him.f
•The pope assigned him lodgings, and noble-
men to wait on him, and he lent him aid in
money matters. The Barberini feasted him,
and made him presents of pictures and horses.
But with all their courtesies they could not
win him to them. Odoardo Farnese, a prince
of talent, spirit, and self-reliance, cherished
in a high degree the ambition of those times,
* For an example of this in the Vila del C'- Cecchini,
see Appendix No. 121.
+ Deone: Diario di Roma, torn. i. "E fatale a sigri-
Barberini di non trovare corrispondenzane'beneficati da
loro. II duca di Parma fu da loro alloggialo, accarezzato,
servito di genlil' huomini e carozze, beneficalo con la re-
dultione del iiionte Farnese, con utile di grossasomma del
duca e danno grandissimo di molti poveri particulari,cor-
leggiato 8 paitoggialo da ambi li fratelli cardH- per spatio
di piu settiiuane, e regalato di cavalli, quadri e altre ga-
lanierie, e si parti da Koraasenza pur salularli."
A D. 1639-40.]
WAR OF CASTRO.
335
which delighted in the jealous observance of
slight distinctions. He was not to be induced
to pay due respeat to Taddeo's dignity as pre-
fect, and to concede to him the rank appropri-
ate to his otHce. Even when he visited the
pope, he displayed in an offensive manner
his thorougli sense of the pre-eminence of
his own house, and even of his personal
superiority. Misunderstandings arose, which
were the less easy to remove, since they
sprang from indelible personal impres-
sions.
It now became a weighty question, how the
duke should be escorted on his departure. |
Odoardo demanded the same treatment as had j
been sltown to the grand duke of Tuscany; i
he required that the ruling nephew, cardinal ,
Francesco Barberini, should escort him in per-
son. The latter would only do so on condition
that the duke should first pay hirn a formal |
leave-taking visit in the Vatican, which Odo-
ardo did not think himself called on to do. To
this cause of disagreement were added some \
difficulties thrown in the way of his money !
transactions, so that his doubly offended self-
love was violently exasperated. After taking
leave of the pope in a few words, — and even
those few containing complaints of the ne- ;
phew, — he quitted the palace and the city
without having even saluted cardinal Fran-
cesco. He hoped thereby to have mortified
him to the heart.* |
But the Barberini, possessed of absolute '
authority in the country, had the means of
taking a still keener vengeance. j
The financial system adopted in the state
found likewise acceptance and imitation among ;
all the princely houses that constituted its
aristocracy: they Jiad all tbunded nionti, and
assigned to their creditors the proceeds of
their property, just as the popes had assigned
the treasury dues : their luoghi di monte passed
from hand to hand in the same manner as the
papal ones. These monti, however would
hardly have obtained credit had they not been
placed underthesupervisionof the supreme au-
thority : it was only with the special approval
of the pope that they could be either tbunded
or modified. It constituted part of the prero-
gatives of the reigning house, that it could by
means of this supervision exert an important
control over the domestic affairs of all the oth-
ers. Reductions of the rate of interest on the
monti were of ordinary occurrence ; they de-
* Among the numerous controversial writings on this
subject which are extant in manuscript, the following ap-
pears to me very dispassionate an<l trustworthy: Risposta
in forma di lettera al libro di duca di Parma, in the 45th
vol. of the Information! : " II due i Odoardo fu dal papa e
ringrazioUo, soggiunse di non si poter lodare del Sr- C'e-
Barberino. Dal papa gli fu brevemente risposto che con-
osceva 1' afFetto di S. Emza- verso di lui.. Licenliatosi da
S. Beat°e' sonza far motoal S-- cardinale se n'andoal suo
palazzo, dovendo se voleva esscr accompagnato da S.
Eni^a- rimanere nelle slanze del Vaticano e licentiarsi
parimente da S. Emza- come 6 usanza de' principi. La
maltina finalmente parti senza far aliro."
pended on the good pleasure and the disposi-
tion of the reigning family.
Now the Farnesi were loaded with consid-
erable debts. The monte Farnese Vecchio
owed its origin to the necessities and the ex-
penses of Alessandro Farnese in the cam-
paigns of the Flanders. A new one iiad been
founded; indults of the popes had increased
the mass, and new luoghi had been established
with lower rates of interest, whilst the old
were not abolished, and the various operations
were conducted by different commercial hous-
es, all jealous of each other; every thing had
become involved in confusion.*
To this was now added, that the Barberini
had had recourse to some measures which en-
tailed great injury on the duke.
The two monti Farnesi were charged upon
the revenues of Castro and Ronciglione. The
Siri, farmers of the taxes of Castro, paid the
duke 94,000 scudi, with which it was just
possible to pay the interest of the monti. But
it was in consequence of some grants made to
his hotise by Paul V. that the proceeds were
so high. To this end Paul V. turned the
great road from Sutri to Ronciglione, and
granted that district a greater freedom in ex-
porting corn than was possessed by the rest
of the provinces. The Barberini now resolved
to withdraw these privileges. They turned
back the road to Sutri, and then published a
prohibition against the export of corn in Mon-
talto di Maremma, where the grain from Cas-
tro was usually shipped.f
Their intention was instantly fulfilled. The
Siri, who had already been irritated against
the duke in consequence of the financial oper-
ations between them, and who now were
backed by the palace, — besides which, it is
said they were specially instigated by some
prelates who had a secret share in their busi-
ness,— refused to abide by their contract, and
ceased to pay the interests of the monte Far-
* Deone, t. i. " Fu ultimamente 1' uno et 1' altro stato,
cio6 Castro e Ronciglione, affitlato per 94"i- scudi 1' anno
a gli Siri. Sopra questa entrata 6 fonduta la dote dell'
uno e dell altro monte Farnese, vecchio cio6 e nuovo. 11
vecchio fu fatto dal duca Alessandro di 54'i>' scudi 1' anno,
denari tutti spesi in Fiandra: al quale il presente duca
Odoardo aggiunse somma per 300"i. scudi in sorte princi-
pale a ragione di 4^ per cento: e di piii impose alcuni
censi : di niodo che poco o nulla rimane per lui, si che se
li leva la tratla del grana, non ci sari il pago per li credi-
tori (Jel monte, non che de' censuarii." [Finally both
states, that is, Castro and Ronciglione, were farmed out
for 94,000 scudi annually to the Siri. On this revenue
were founded the two monti Farnesi, the old and the new.
The old one paying 54 000 scudi a year, was founded by
dulve Alessandro, tlie capital of which was wholly spent
in Flanders: to this debt duke Odoardo added a capital
sum of 300,000 scudi, paying 4J- per cent : he also granted
some mortgages : the consequence is, thai should the corn
trade be taken away from those states, no means will be
left of paying the creditors of the monte or the mortgagees.]
t They relied on the words {if the bull of Paul III , by
which was granted them only, "facultas frumenla ad
qusecunque etiam prsefatse Romanae ecclesiae e nobis im-
mediate vel mediate subjecta conducendi." [tlie privi-
lege of exporting corn to all pansirnmediately or mediate-
ly subject to the Roujan cliurch.]— general freedom of ex-
poitation had however grown up in 'the course of lime.
336
POPES ABOUT THE MIDDLE OF THE 17TH CENTURY, [a. d. 1642-44.
nese. The montists, whose income suddenly
failed, insisted on their rights, and applied to
the papal government. The duke, seeing
himself so intentionally prejudiced, scorned to
make any arrangements to satisfy them. But
the complaints of the montists were so vehe-
ment, urgent, and general, that the pope
thought himself justitied in taking the mort-
gaged property into his own possession, in or-
der to help so many Roman citizens to the
money due to them. With this view he sent
a small force to Castro. The affair was not
effected without some resistance. " We have
been compelled," he exclaims in unusuaUn-
dignation in his monitorium, " to fire four
great gun shots, by which one of the enemy
has been slain."* On the i:^th of October,
1641, he took possession of Castro ; and he
was resolved not even to stop here. Excom-
munication was pronounced in January, 1642,
against the duke, who would not allow the
revenues to be touched ; he was declared di-
vested of all his fiefs, and troops were marched
into the field to wrest from him Parma and
Piacenza. The pope would not hear of a pa-
cification, declaring that between the lord and
his vassal, no such proceeding could find place ;
he would humble the duke; he had money,
courage, and soldiers ; God and the world
were on his side.
The affair hence acquired a more general
importance. The Italian states had long been
jealous of the repeated extensions of the states
of the church. They would not endure that
Parma should be merged in them, like Urbino
and Ferrara. The Estes had not yet given up
their claims to the latter, nor the Medici cer-
tain pretensions they made to the former:
they were all offended by the arrogance of
Don Taddeo ; the Venetians doubly so, because
Urban VIII. had shortly before had an inscrip-
tion obliterated in the Sala Regia, in which
they were extolled for their fabulous defence j
of Alexander III. ; an act which they regarded {
as a great insult.f To these particular causes
of animosity were added considerations ofi
more general politics. The ascendancy of.
the French now excited uneasiness among;
the Italians, as that of the Spaniards had for- ;
merly done. In every direction the Spanish |
monarchy sustained the greatest losses. The ,
Italians dreaded lest a general revohition
might be the consequence even among them-
selves, if Urban VIII., whom they regarded |
as the decided ally of the French, should be- ;
come still more powerful. Upon all these I
grounds they resolved to oppose him. Their [
* This took place at a bridge. "Dictus dominis Mar-
chio ex quo milites niimero 40 circiler, qui in eisdem
ponte el vallo ad pusnandum apposili fueninl, amicabili-
ler ex eis recedere recusabant, imnio hoslililer pontificio
exercilui se opponebani, fuil coaclus pro illorutn expug- ,
nalione quatuor maenoiuin loriiienioruni ictus explodere, i
quorum formidine lioslos perterrili, fugam latidom arri-
puerunl, in qua unus ipsorum interteclus remansit."
■f This subject is touched on in the Appendix No. 117.
troops formed a junction in the territory of
Modena. The Barberini were obliged to give
up the attempt to march through that region,
and the papal troops opposed to the confede-
rates took up their quarters round Ferrara.
There was in some sort re-enacted here that
conflict between the French and Spanish fn-
terests which kept Europe at large in commo-
tion. But how much weaker were the mo-
tives, the forces, and the efforts that were
here engaged in this petty strife.
An expedition undertaken of his own auth-
ority by the duke of Parma, who now saw
himself, without much exertion on his own
part, protected and yet not fettered, strikingly
displays the singularity of the existihg posi-
tion of the parties.
Odoardo made an incursion into the states
of the church without artillery or infantry,
with only three thousand cavalry. He was
not checked either by the fort of Urbino,
which had cost such large sums, nor by the
assembled militia, which had never seen an
armed foe in the field. The Bolognese shut
themselves up within their walls, and the
duke marched through the land without ever
getting sight even of the papal troops. Imola
opened its gates to him : he made the papal
commandant a visit, and admonished the town
to be true to the papal see ; for he declared
that it was not against Rome, not by any
means against Urban VIII., but only against
his nephews, he had taken up arms: he
marched, he said, under the banner of the
gonfaloniere of the church, on which were
beheld the semblances of St. Peter and St
Paul ; he demanded to pass through in the
name of the church. The gates of Faenza
had been barricaded ; but when the governor
caught sight of the foe, he let himself down
from the walls by a rope, in order to have a
personal conversation with the duke ; the re-
sult of the interview was that the gates were
opened. The same things look place in Forli.
The inhabitants of all these towns looked qui-
etly out of their v/indows upon the enemy as
they marched through. The duke crossed the
mountains to Tuscany, and then entered the
ecclesiastical slates again from Arezzo. Cas-
tiglione di Lago and (^itta del Pieve opened
their gates to him : he hastened onwards un-
checked, and filled the land with the terror
of his name.* Rome, above all, was in con-
sternation : the pope dreaded the fate of Cle-
ment VII. He endeavoured to arm his Ro-
mans. But it was necessary to impose a new
tax, contributions had to be levied from house
to house, whereat there arose no slight com-
plaints, before a small body of horse could be
equipped. Had the duke of Parma presented
himself at that moment, there is no doubt but
that a couple of cardinals would have been
* For a circumstantial account of this enterprize, see
Siri's Mercurio, lorn. ii. p. 1289.
A. D. 1642-44.]
WAR OF CASTRO.
337
despatched to meet him at the Ponte Molle,
and that all his demands would have been
complied with.
Bat he was no warrior. Heaven knows
what considerations, what apprehensions, may
have held him back. He suffered himself to
be seduced into neg'otiations, from which he
could expect nothing. The pope breathed
again. With a zeal quickened by danger, he
fortified .Rome,* and sent a fresh army into
the field, which quickly drove the duke,
whose forces did not even hold together, out
of the states of the church. As there was
now nothing more to fear, Urban again im-
posed the harshest conditions: the ambassa-
dors of the sovereigns quitted Rome ; and
even the inhabitants of unwarlike Italy be-
stirred themselves once more to try the force
of their native weapons.
The confederates made their first attack on
the country of Ferrara in May, 1643. The
duke of Parma took two fortresses, Bondeno
and Stellata. The Venetians and the Mode-
nese joined forces, and penetrated further into
the heart of the country. But the pope, too,
as we have said, had meanwhile rallied all
his forces; he had gotten together thirty thou-
sand infantry and six thousand cavalry. The
Venetians feared to encounter so imposing an
army, and fell back ; and presently we find
the papal troops advancing into the territory
of Modena, and on Polesme di Rovigo.f
The grand duke of Tuscany next made an
ineffectual attempt on Perugia : the pope's
troops made irregular incursions even into the
Tuscan territory.
What a singular aspect do these move-
ments present! On both sides so utterly in-
effective and nerveless, when compared with
the contemporaneous struggles in Germany,
with the march of the Swedish arms from the
Baltic to the vicinity of Vienna, from Mora-
via to Jutland. And yet the conflict was not
purely Italian : foreigners served on both
sides : Germans constituted a majority in the
army of the confederates, Frenchmen in that
of the pope.
The consequence, however, of the Italian
* Deone : " Si seguilano le fortificationi non solo di Bor-
go ma del rinianenie delle mura di Roma, alle quali son
deputati Ire cardinali, Pallolia, Gabrieli el Orsino, che
giornalmente cavalcano de una porta all'allra: e si lag-
liano tutte le vigne chesono appresso le mura per la pane
di dentro di Roma, cio6 fanno strada ira le mura e le vigne
e giardini con danno grandissimo de' padroni di esso : e
cosi verri ancho locco il bellissimo giardino de' Medici, e
perderi la parlicella che haveva nelle mura di Roma."
[The fortification not only of the Bor^^o is proceeding,
but also that of the unfinished part of the walls of Rojne :
the business is entrusted to the three cardinals, Pallotta,
Gabrieli, and Orsino, who ride daily from one gale to the
other. All the vineyards near the walls on the city
side are removed : that is, they are making a road be-
tween the walls and the vineyards and gardens, to the
great injury of the proprietors of the latter. Thus the
very beautiful garden of the Medici will suffer, and will
lose the small portion contained within the walls of
Rome.]
f Frizzi: Memorie per la storia di Ferrara, v. p. 100.
43
war, no less than of that waged in Germany,
was, that the country was exhausted, and the
papal treasury plunged into extreme embar-
rassment.*
Urban VIII. tried many an expedient to
procure the money of which he stood in need.
As early as September, 1642, the bull of Si'x-
tus V. underwent a fresh discussion, the re-
sult of which was a resolution to draw 50,000
scudi from the castle.f Of course that sum
could not avail much, and the practice was
begun of borrowing from them what was left
of the reserved fund ; that is to say, it was
positively resolved to pay back at a future
time the money that should be drawn from
it. We have already seen recourse had to
personal taxation ; the expedient was fre-
quently repeated : the pope made known to
the conservatori what sums he needed, where-
upon the inhabitants, foreigners even not ex-
cepted, had their quota imposed on them.
But the chief source of income was still the
duties. At first they were little felt, being,
for instance, levied on such things as coarse
ground corn for fowls ; but these were soon
followed by others more oppressive upon the
most indispensable necessaries of life, fire-
wood, salt, bread, and wine.| They now
reached their second great pitch, rising in
1644 to 2,200,000 scudi. We are prepared
to understand that all the money raised by an
augmentation or new creation of duties was
immediately funded, and new montes founded
upon it, and sold. Cardinal Cesi, the former
treasurer, calculated that in this way new debts
were contracted to the amount of 7,200,000
scudi, though there were still 60,000 scudi
in the treasury. The whole expense of the
* Riccius: Rerum Italicarum sui temporis narrationes,
Marr. xix. p. 590: " Ingens opinioneque niajus bellura
exarsit, sed primo impetu validum, mox senescens, pos-
tremo neutrius partis fructu, imomilitum rapinis indigenis
exitiale: irritis conatibus prorsus inane in mutua siudia
olficiaque abiit." [The war raged violently and beyond
expeciation, but beginning impetuously it languished by
and by, and finally proved of no advantage to either pany,
or rather highly pernicious from the rapineof the soldiery.
The end was, that after fruitless efforts the contest died
away, without one result gained, in mutual compliments
and concessions.]
t Deone, 20Sptt. 1G42. " Havendo il papa fatto studiare
da legisti e theologi di potere conforme labolladi Sisto V.
cessare denari dal tesoro del castel Sam' Angelo, il lune-
di 2-2 del mese il papa lenne consisloro per il medesimo
affare ... Fu resoluto di cessare 500m. scudi d'oro, a
lOQm. per volte, e non prima che sia spesi quelli che al
presente sono ancora in essere della camera."
t Deone, 29 Nov. 1642. " Si sono imposte .3 nuove ga-
belle, una sopra il sale sopra 1' altre, la 2a- sopra lalegna,
la 3i' sojpra la dogana, la quale in tutte le mercanlie che
vengono per terra riscuote 7 per cento, per acqua 10 per
cento. Si 6 cresciulo uno per cento d' awantaggio, e si
aspeltano altre Ire gabelle per le necessity correnti, una
sopra le case, 1' altra sopra li censi, la lerza sopra li cas-
ali, cio6 poderi nelle campagna." [Three new duties
have been imposed, one on sail in addition to those alrea-
dy existing, a second on wood, the third on the customs,
which exact 7 per cent, on all merchandize carried by
land an, 10 per cent, on those by water: this is raised
one per cent, more, and under the present exigencies
three new duties are expected, one on houses, one on
mortgages, and another on li casali, that is to say, on
estates in the country.]
POPES ABOUT THE MIDDLE OF THE 17TH CENTURY. [a. d. 1644.
war was reported to the Venetian ambassa-
dor in the year 1645 at more than twelve
millions.*
Every moment brought more sensibly home
to men's minds the serious consequences like-
ly to result from such a system, which would
gradually exhaust every resource of the state.
The war too did not always proceed as could
be wished. In a skirmish at Lagoscuro, on
the 17th of March, 1644, Cardinal Antonio
owed his escape from behig taken prisoner
only to the speed of his horse.f As the pope
daily felt his infirmities grow upon him, he
was constrained to think of peace.
The French undertook to act as mediators.
The Spaniards had so little influence at the
papal court, and had moreover lost so much
of their authority elsewhere, that on this oc-
casion they were wholly excluded.
The pope had formerly often said he well
knew the purpose of the Venetians was to
harass and vex him to death, but they should
not succeed ; he well knew how to make
head against them : but now he was compelled
to accede to all their demands, to revoke the
ban pronounced against the duke of Parma,
and to reinstate him in Castro. Never could
he have anticipated being reduced to such an
extremity : he felt it most poignantly.
Another trouble beset him. He was as-
sailed with fresh doubts that he had unduly
favoured his nephews, and that this would lie
heavy on his conscience when he stood in the
presence of God. He once more called to-
gether some divines, in whom he placed pe-
culiar confidence — among them cardinal Lugo
and father Lupis, a Jesuit, to hold a consulta-
tion in his presence. The answer was, that
since the nephews of his holiness had found
so many enemies, it was just, nay even neces-
sary, for the honour of the apostolic see, to
leave them the means of maintaining after
the decease of the pope an undiminished rank
and consequence in defiance of their foes. J
Amidst such harassing doubts as these, and
with the bitter feelings produced by an abor-
tive enterprize, the pope felt his death ap-
proaching. His physician has affirmed, that
at the moment when he had to sign the treaty
of peace of Castro, he fainted, overcome by
anguish : this was the beginning of the illness
of which he died. He prayed to Heaven to
avenge him on the godless princes who had
forced him to war, and expired on the 29th of
July, 1644.
Hardly had the papal see retreated from its
central position in the affairs of Europe, when
it endured a defeat in those of Italy, and even
* Relatione d' iv. ambasciatori : " L'erario si trova noli-
bilmente esausto, essendoci stato affermato da piii C"' aver
epesi i Barberini nella guerra passale sopra 12 milioni
d'oro."
t Mani : Sioria Veneta, lib. xii. s. 470.
i Nicoletti : Vita di papa Urbano, torn. viii.
in its own domestic affairs, such as for many a
day had not befallen it.
Pope Clement VIII. had likewise fallen out
with the Farnesi, and had been constrained to
pardon them at last. But he did so only be-
cause he required the aid of the other Italian
princes to revenge himself on the Spaniards.
Now, however, the state of things was far
different. Urban VIII. had attacked the duke
of Parma with all his might: the united
forces of Italy had exhausted his own, and
forced him to a disadvantageous peace. It
could not be denied that the papacy was once
more decidedly worsted.
Innocent X.
The effect of this state of things was forth-
with manifested in the new conclave.* The
nephews of Urban VIII. introduced eight-and-
forty cardinals, their uncle's creatures : never
had there been so strong a faction. Notwith-
standing this, they soon perceived that they
could not carry the election of their favourite,
Sacchetti : the scrutinies every day turned
out more and more against him. To bar at
least the accession of a decided adversary to
the tiara. Cardinal Francesco at last decided
to support Cardinal Pamfili, who at any rate
was a creature of Urban VIII., though he
leaned strongly to the Spanish party, and
though the French court had expressly except-
ed against him. Cardinal Pamfili was elected
on the 16th of September, 1644. He took the
name ofilnnocent X., in memory it is supposed
of Innocent VIII., under whom his house had
come to Rome.
His accession at once changed the policy of
the Roman court.
The confederate princes, particularly the
Medici, to whom the pope was chiefly indeb-
ted for his elevation, now acquired influence
over that authority against which they had
just been arrayed in arms : the obliterated
inscriptions relating to the Venetians were
restored ;f and the first promotions fell almost
* The old violence and disorder of an interregnum were
once more seen. J. Nicii Erylhrsei Epist. Ixviil. ad Tyrr-
henum, iii. noa Aug. 1644. "Civilas sine jure est, sine
dignitaie respublica. Tantus in urbe armatorum Hume-
rus cernitur quantum me alias vidi.sse non memini. Nulla
domus est paulo locupletiorqua; non militurn iiiullorum
praesidio munialur: ac si in unum omnes cogerenlur,
magnus ex eis exercilus confici posset. Summa in urbe
armorum impunilas, summa licentia: passim caedes ho-
minum fiunt: nil ita frequenter auditurquam, hie vel ills
notus homo est interfeclus." [The stale is without law,
the coramonweallh without dignity. The number of
armed men visible in the city, surpasses any thing I re-
member to have elsewhere seen. There is not a house
possessing some riches that is not defended by a numerous
garrison of soldiers, enough if they were all collected to-
gether to form an army. Armed violence and license
are at their utmost pitch in the city; assassinations
abound ; and nothing is more common than to hear it
said, such or such a man of note has been killed.]
t Relatione de' iv. ambasciatori, 1645. " II presente
pontefice nel bel principio del suo governo ha con publi-
che dimostralioni registrate in marmi detestato le opinion!
del preceasore, rendendo il lustro alle glorie degli ante-
A. D. 1644-46.]
INNOCENT X.
339
exclusively to the lot of the friends of Spain.
The whole Spanish party revived again, and
once more equipoised that of the French, at
least in Rome.
The Barberini were the first to feel this
revolution in affairs. It is impossible at the
present day to determine clearly how much of
what was laid to their charge was well found-
ed. They were said to have allowed justice
to be violated, to have seized on benefices not
properly belonging to them, and, above all, to
have embezzled the public money. The pope
resolved to call the nephews of his predeces-
sor to account for their administration of the
public funds during the war of Castro.*
At first the Barberiiii thought they could
secure themselves through the protection of
France. As Mazarine had obtained his pro-
motion in their house, and through their pat-
ronage, he did not fail to support them now.
They affixed the French arms to their dwel-
lings, and put themselves formally under the
protection of France. But Pope Innocent
declared that he sat in the chair he occupied
to administer justice, and that he could not
desist from doing so, though Bourbon stood
before the gates.
Upon this, Antonio, who was in most dan-
ger, first took flight in October, 1645 ; and
some months later, Francesco and Taddeo,
with his children, also withdrew.
The pope caused their palaces to be seized,
their offices to be given away, and their luoghi
di moute to be sequestered. The Roman peo-
ple applauded all he did. They held a meeting
in the capital on the 20th of February, 1646.
It was the most brilliant within the memory
of man ; so many nobles of illustrious rank and
title took part in it. A resolution was passed
to solicit the pope to repeal at least that most
oppressive of the duties imposed by Urban
VIII., the tax on flour. This wasopposed by the
adherents of the Barberini, in their apprehen-
sion lest if the tax were taken off" their fortunes
would be made to pay the debts founded upon
it. Donna Anna Colonna, the wife of Taddeo
Barberini, presented a memorial, in which she
called to mind the services rendered by Urban
VIII. to the city, and his zeal for the admin-
istration of justice, and pronounced it unseemly
to appeal against the lawful taxes imposed by
so meritorious a pope. The resolution was
nali di VV. EE." [The present pope, in the noble com-
mencement of his pontificate, has by demonstrations regis-
tered in murble abjured the opinions of liis predecessor,
restoring their lustre to the glories of your excellencies'
ancestors.] We see in what a high tone they took the
matter up.
* Relatione delle cose correnli, 2o Maegio, 1646. MS.
Chigi. " I Barberini, come affatto esclusi del matrimonio
del novello poniefice, comincioronoa machinar vastitd. di
pensieri stimali da loro nobili. II papa conlinuo ad invi-
gilare con ogni accuratezza che la discanierata camera
fusse da loro soiisfatta." [The Barberini, seeing them-
selves wholly divorced by the new pope, began to devise
a multitude of plans of great merit in their own eyes. The
pope continued to watch very sharply that the untrea-
suried treasury should be satisfied by them.]
passed notwithstanding. Innocent X. proceed-
ed to act on it without delay. The deficit
which would be occasioned thereby was to be
made good, as had been justly anticipated, out
of the fortune of Don Taddeo.*
Whilst the family of the late pope was thus
violently assailed and persecuted, the question
remained to be asked, — now the most impor-
tant question in every pontificate, — how would
the new family arrange its measures ? It is
an important point in the history of the papacy
in general, that that this did not take place on
the present exactly as on former occasions;
although the scandal given by the court was
now actually aggravated.
Pope Innocent was under obligations to his
sister-in-law. Donna Olimpia Maidalchina di
Viterbo, particularly because she had brought
a considerable fortune to the house of Pamfili.
He esteemed it a high merit in her that she
had chosen not to marry again after the death
of her husband, his brother.f He had himself
derived advantages from this. He had long
committed the economical affairs of his family
to her guidance : no wonder, then, if she now
obtained influence over the administration of
the papacy.
She very quickly rose to distinguished con-
sequence. She was the first whom ambassa-
dors visited on their arrival ; cardinals had her
picture placed in their apartments, as people
hangup the portraitof their sovereign ; foreign
courts sought to conciliate her favour by pre-
sents. As the same course was pursued by
all who had any thing to solicit of the curia, —
some having even gone so far as to assert that
she exacted a monthly commission for all the
small places which she was the instrument of
procuring, — wealth of course poured in upon
her. She soon formed a grand establishment,
gave festivals and comedies, travelled, and
purchased estates. Her daughters married
into the most distinguished and wealthy fami-
lies ; one of them wedded a Ludovisi, the other
a Giustiniani. For her son, Don Camillo, who
had but little capacity, she thought it at first
more advisable that he should become an
ecclesiastic, and assume at least in appearance
the position of cardinal-nephew ;l but when
an opportunity offered for him too to make a
* For the passage from the Diario Deone, see Appendix
No. 122.
+ Bussi: Storia di Viterbo, p. 331. At first she bore a
good reputation. " Donna Olimpia," say the Venetian am-
bassadors of 164.5, "6 dama di gran pruJenza e valore,
conosce il posto in cui si trova di cognata del pontefice,
gode 1' estiiiia e I'afFettione della S'i' S. ha seco molta au-
toriti." [Donna Olimpia is a lady of great prudence and
worth, she knows her place as the pope's relation, she
enjoys the esteem and affection of his holiness, and has
great influence with him.]
t This excited from the very first the surprise of every-
body. " lo stimo," says Deone, 19 Nov. 1644, "chesia
opera della S"- Donna Olimpia, che ha voluto vedere il
figlio cardinale e desidera piii tosto genero che nora." [I
am of opinion that it is Signora Olimpia's doin?, and that
it was her choice that her son should be a cardinal, wish
ing rather to have a son-in-law than a daughler-in-law.]
340 POPES ABOUT THE MIDDLE OF THE 17TH CENTURY, [a. d. 1644-55
brilliant matrimonial connexion, — the richest
heiress in Rome, Donna Olimpia Aldobran-
dini, having recently lost her husband, — he
recounced the church and contracted this
marriage.
Don Camillo was now as happy as it was
possible for him to be. His bride was not
only rich, but also still in her bloom, and
full of grace and talent : she supplied his
deficiencies by her own rare qualities.
But she too wished to rule. There never
was one moment's peace between the mo-
ther-in-law and the daughter-in-law. The
pope's palace rang with the bickerings of two
women. The new married pair were obliged
at first to depart ; but they did not endure this
long : they returned against the pope's will,
and the discord now became obvious to every
one. Donna Olimpia Maidalchina, for instance,
appeared once during the carnival with a
magnificent equipage in the Corso ; her son
and daughter-in-law were standing at a win-
dow, and as soon as they caught sight of her
carriage they turned away. Every one re-
marked it: it was the talk of all Rome.* The
several parties strove to get hold of the rivals.
Unfortunately pope Innocent was of a cha-
racter and disposition more calculated to exas-
perate than to allay dissensions of this kind.
Personally he was a man of by no means
common qualities. In his earlier career, in
the rota, as nuncio and as cardinal, he had
proved active, irreproachable, and upright, and
this reputation he still maintained. His exer-
tions were regarded as the more remarkable,
since he was already seventy-two years old
when he was elected. " Labour," it was said,
"does not weary him ; he is as fresh after it
as before it ; he takes pleasure in speaking to
people, and he lets every one say out what he
has to say." Instead of the haughty reserve
of Urban VIII., he displayed atlability and
cheerful good humour. He was particularly
anxious to preserve peace and good order in
Rome. It was his ambition to maintain the
security of property, to ensure the safely of
the person by day and night, and to suffer no
ill-usage of the low by the high, or of the weak
by the strong.f He obliged the barons to pay
their debts. As the duke of Parma still refus-
ed to satisfy his creditors, and the pope could
not show himself in Rome without being ac-
costed with cries beseeching him to see justice
* Diario Deone. On another occasion he relates as fol-
lows :— " Mercordi la tarda (Aug. 1648,) la Sra- Olimpia con
ambedue le figliuole con niolta comitivapasso per longo il
corso: ogn'uno credeva che ella andasse a visitare la
nuora, ma pass6 avanti la casa senza guardarla. [On
Wednesday evening, Aug. 1648, Signora Olimpia went
through the corso with her two daughters and a numerous
suite: every one thought she was going to visit her daugh-
ter- in-law, but she passed before the house without looking
towards it.]
I Relatione di Contarini, 1648. "Rimirasolamente con
applicatione alia quiete dello stale ecclesiasiico e partico-
larmente di Koma, accio godp ciascheduno delle proprie
facoltie della libertiidfl pralicare la nolle e non rimanga
I'inferiore liranneggialo dal superiore."
done to the montists; and as, moreover, the
bishop of Castro was murdered at the instiga-
tion, as it was supposed, of the ducal govern-
ment, it was resolved at last to take decisive
steps in the matter. The estates of the Far-
nesi were again put up to sale : soldiers and
sbirri were sent to Castro to lake possession of
it in the name of the montists.* The duke
again resisted, and made attempts to penetrate
into the states of the church. But on this
occasion he met with no aid. Innocent X. was
not, like Urban, feared by the Italian princes :
he was rather their ally. Castro was taken
and razed to the ground : the duke was forced
to yield the country to the administration of
the papal camera, which on its part undertook
to satisfy his creditors' claims ; the duke even
assented to the arrangement, that he should
absolutely lose his title to the land if he did
not redeem the monti Farnesi within eight
years. The capital amounted to 1,700,000
scudi, the accumulated interest to 400,000
scudi. The duke did not appear capable of
raising so large a sum, so that the agreement
— which, however, was brought about by
Spanish mediation — was tantamount from the
first to an enforced, and all but admitted, re-
nunciation.
In all these transactions Innocent appears
vigorous, prudent, and determined ; but he
laboured under one defect which made it hard
to deal with him, and which even embittered
his life : he reposed unswerving confidence in
no one ; with him favour and displeasure alter-
nated according to the impression of the mo-
ment.
This was experienced among others by the
datary Cecchini. After having long stood
well in the pope's good graces, he found him-
self suddenly an object of suspicion, assailed,
reproached, and supplanted by his deputy, —
that same Mascambruno who was afterwards
convicted of the most extraordinary forgeries.f
But still more painful perplexities arose in
the papal family, already vexed enough with
dissension.
After the marriage of Don Camillo Pamfili,
Innocent X. had no longer a nephew in the
church, — a description of person hitherto long
deemed requisite to a papal court. He once
felt his heart moved to peculiar affection,
* Diario Deone; 16 Giugno, 1649. "11 papa in questo
negotio sta poslo totalmente, e mi disse: Non possiamo
andare per le strade di Roma, che non si venga gridato
dietro, che facciamo pagare il duca di Parma. Sono setiB
anni che non paga, e di' ()uesla entrata devon viver molti
luoghi pii e vedove e pupilli. [The pope is positively re-
solved in this matter, and said to me: We cannot pass
through the streets of Rome, without being accosted with
cries beseeching us to make the duke of Parma pay his
debts. He has not paid these seven years, and on tlie
income withheld depend many luoghi pii, widows, and
minors.] We see that the pope's motives were not to be
despised.
+ Vita del Cl- Cecchini scritta dalui medesimo. "Scrit-
Itira contro Monsr- Mascambruno, con la quale s' intende
ches' intruisca il processo che contro il medesimo si va
fabricando :" and the still more circumstantial stalemenl,
Pro R. P. D. Mascambruno, MS.
A. D. 1644-55.]
INNOCENT X.
341
when Don Camillo Astelli, a distinguished
relation of his house, was presented to him ;
and he made up his mind to raise the young
man to the rank of cardinal-nephew. He
received him into his household, assigned him
apartments in the palace, and gave him a
share in public business. He caused this
elevation to be proclaimed by public festivi-
ties and by salvos from tlie castle.
Yet nothing else resulted from it but new
jarrings.
The rest of the pope's relations thouglit
themselves slighted : even the cardinals pre-
viously nominated by Innocent took offence
at the preference bestowed on a new comer;*
but no one was so much displeased as Donna
Olimpia Maidalchina. She had sounded the
praises of young Astelli ; she had proposed his
being made cardinal ; but she had never
dreamed of his attaining such high favour.
In the first place she herself was sent
away. The secular nephew and his wife,
who, as a contemporary expresses himself,
" was as far above ordinary women as he was
below ordinary men," entered the palace.
But the secular nephew and the adoptive
ecclesiastical nephew did not long agree. Old
Donna Olimpia was again sent for to establish
order in the house.
She speedily recovered her wonted autho-
rity.!
In a chamber in the villa Pamfili stand the
busts of the pope and his sister-in-law. Who-
ever compares them together, the lineaments
of the female, which breathe resolution and
talent, with the inexpressive countenance of
the pope, will feel convinced that it was not
only possible, but even unavoidable, that he
should be ruled by her.
But after she had been re-admitted into the
palace, she too would not endure that the
advantages belonging to the position of a
pope's nephew should be shared by any other
house than her own. As Astelli did not par-
ticipate his power with her in the way she
wished, she never rested till he lost the pope's
favour, was pulled down from his high station,
* Diario, Deone, 10 Sett. 1650. " Discorre la corte che
il papa ha perduto il beneticio conferilo a tulle le sue
creature, che si tengono oll'esi, che papa habbia preferito
un giovane senza esperienza a tutti loro, tra quali son
huoinini di iriolto valore, segno che tutti 1' ha perdiffi-
denli overo ineiti alia carica." [Il is the talk of the court
that the pope has lost his labour in the benefits he has
conferred on all his creatures, who are offended that the
pope has preferred a youth without experience to them
all, among whom are men of much worth : they look on
this as a proof that he considers them not trustworthy, or
not qualified for otRce.] The subject is also largely dis-
cussed in a work, Osservationi sopra la futura eletlione,
1652. " lo credo che sia solamente un caprice io che al
improvise gli venne . . . conoscendo appena Mods'" Ca-
millo Aslaili." [It is my belief il is only a caprice that
has suddenly seized him . . . hardly knowing Monsignor
Camillo Astelli.]
+ Pallavicino: Vita di papa Alessandro VII. "Lascal-
tra vecchia passu con breve mezzo dal estremo della dis-
gralia all' estremo della gratia." [The crafty old woman
passed with brief interval from the extremity of disgrace
lo the extremity of favour.]
and driven from the palace, and she herself
ruled there without a rival. On the other
hand, conciliated by presents, she entered into
close alliance with the Barberini, who had
now returned.
How sorely must the poor old pope have
been tormented by all these changes of favour
and disfavour, these incessant quarrels of those
by whom he was most immediately and inti-
mately surrounded ! Even a formally pro-
nounced rupture cannot undo the inward
yearnings of the heart : it only makes them
sources of restlessness and pain, instead of
producing, as they ought, gladness and com-
fort. Besides this, the old man felt after all
that he was but the tool of a woman's lust of
power and pelf; it revolted him, and he would
gladly have shaken off the yoke, but he had
not the resolution : in fact too, he knew not
how to do without her. His pontificate,
which glided away without any notable mis-
chances, deserves in other respects to be
numbered among the fortunate ones : but its
reputation has suffered from these disorders
in the family and in the palace. They made
Innocent X. still more than he was by nature,
capricious, fickle, self-willed, and a burthen
to himself.* Even in the last days of his life
we find him busied in despoiling and inflicting
fresh banishment on his other relations. In
this miserable state of mind he died Jan. 5,
1655.
Three days the corpse lay, without a thought
bestowed on its interment by any of those be-
longing to him, on whom, according to the
usages of the court, the duty devolved. Donna
Olimpia said .she was a poor widow, that the
matter was beyond all her means : no one
else thought himself bound by any obligation
to the deceased. A canon who had formerly
been in the pope's service, but who had long
been dismissed, at last spent half a scudi, and
caused the last honours to be paid to the dead
man.
But let us not suppose that those domestic
jars produced no more than personal conse-
quences.
It is manifest that the system of ruling by
nephews, which had in previous pontificates
exercised so entire an authority in the state,
and so potent an influence in the affairs of the
Church, after deceiving such a severe shock
in the last years of Urban VIII., had in this
reign given no manifestation of its existence,
and was indeed approaching its downfall.
* Pallavicini: "Fra preliosa arredi oggetto felente e
stomachevole . . . proruppe a varie dimostralioni quasi
di smanie. . . . Assai temuto, niente amato, non senza
qualche gloria e feliciia ne' successi esterni, ma inglorioso
e miserabile per le continue o tragedie o comedie domes-
liche." [A fetid and loathsome object in the midst of
splendid furniture ... he burst out into various indica-
tions of almost frenzy. . . . Feared a good deal, loved not
al all, not without glory and prosperity in outward events,
but inglorious and" miserable by reason of his perpetual
domestic traigedies or comedies.]
842 POPES ABOUT THE MIDDLE OF THE 17TH CENTURY, [a. d. 1655-6.
Alexander VII. and Clement IX.
The new conclave immediately presented
an unwonted spectacle.
Hitherto the nephews had appeared, escort-
ed by numerous trains of devoted creatures,
to sway the new election. Innocent X. left
behind no nephew who could keep together
the votes of the cardinals, or unite them into
a faction. They were not indebted for their
promotion to Astelli, who had been but a
short while at the helm, and had exercised no
commanding influence, nor could they feel
themselves in any way bound to him. For
the first time for many centuries the new
cardinals entered the conclave perfectly free
and unfettered. It was proposed to them
voluntarily to unite under one head, to which
they are said to have answered, that every
one of them had a head and feet of his o.wn.
They were for the most part distinguished men,
of independent ways of thinking: they held
indeed together, (they were designated by the
name of the squadrone volante,*) but they
were resolved for once to follow not the beck
of a pope's nephew, but their own convictions
and judgment.
Beside the very death-bed of Innocent X.,
one of them, carc^nal Ottobuono, cried out,
*' We must look out for an upright man." " If
you want an unright man," rejoined Azzolino,
another of them, " there he stands," pointing
to Chigi.f Not only had Chigi gained for
himself in general the reputation of an able
and well intentioned man, but he had also
particularly distinguished himself as an oppo-
nent of the abuses prevailing in the existing
form of government, which indeed had never
been more crying than in those days. But
though he had friends, he had also powerful
adversaries, especially in the French. When
Mazarin, driven from France by the troubles
of the Fronde, travelled to the frontiers of
Germany, to procure armed aid towards reco-
vering his lost authority, he had not received
from Chigi, who was the nuncio at Cologne,
the assistance on which he thought he had
reason to count : from that time forth he bore
him a personal ill-will. Hence the election
was not effected without great labour : the
contest was again very prolonged ; but at last
the now members of the college, the squad-
ronists, carried their point. Fabio Chigi was
elected on the 7th of April, 1655, and took
the name of Alexander VII.
An obligation was imposed on the new pope
by the very principle that had led to hia elec-
* Pallavicini mentions the following members of the
confederacy: Imperiale, Omodei, Borromei, Odescalco,
Pio, Aquaviva, Ottobuono, Albizi, Gualtieri, and Azzolino.
The name of Squadrone was started by the Spanish am-
bassador.
+ " Se vogliamo un uomo da bene, quegli 6 desso, et
addit6 C' Chigi, che era indi lonlano alquanto nella me-
desima camera." (Pallavicini.)
tion, to adopt a different system of govern-
ment from that pursued by his more recent
predecessors : he seemed to resolve on doing
so.
For a considerable time he did not allow
his nephews to come to Rome, and he boasted
that he did not put a single penny in their
pockets. His confessor, Pallavicini, who was
engaged in writing the history of the council
of Trent, hastened to insert in his work a
passage, in which he extols Alexander VII.,
and promises him immortal renown, particu-
larly on account of his forbearance with
regard to those of his own blood.*
But it is never an easy thing to break ^
through a custom once established ; it could
never indeed have become prevalent had it
not something commendable, something natu-
ral to give it credit: at every court there are
persons who put forward this better aspect of
a custom, and who endeavour to hold fast by
usage, even though its abuses stare them in
the face.
By degrees one person afler another repre-
sented to Alexander VII. that it was not
becoming that the relations of a pope should
remain simple citizens of some town, nor
indeed was it even possible ; the people of
Sienna would not refrain from paying princely
honours to his house ; in this way he might
easily involve the Roman see in misunder-
standings with Tuscany. Others not only
corroborated this, but added moreover, that
the pope would set a still better example if he
a^^ually received his nephews, but managed
tcWieep them within bounds, than if he kept
them entirely at a distance. But the greatest
impression undoubtedly was made by Oliva
the rector of the Jesuit college, who declared
outright that the pope indulged a sin if he did
not call his nephews to him : foreign ambas-
sadors would never place so much reliance in
a mere minister as in a blood relation of the
pope's; the holy father would be so much the
* "Populus," he says in his Latin biography of Alexan-
der VII., " qui prae multis vectigalibus humeris sibi ferra
videbatur recentiores pontificias domos tot opibus onustas,
huic Alexandri Smi- magnanimitati mirifice plaudebal;
. . . inexplicabili detrimento erat et sacro imperio dislri-
bulione minus sequa beneficiorum el perpetuis populi
oneribus." [The people, which by reason of the many
taxes imposed on it, seemed to carry on its shoulders the
new papal families laden with so much wealth, wonder-
fully applauded this magnanimity of Alexander; . . .
immense injury had been done to the holy see through
the unfair distribution of benefices, and to the people by
the perpetual burthens imposed on them.] Relatione de'
iv. ambascialori, 1655. "E contiuenza sin ora eroica
quella di che S. S'i' si mostra armata, escludendo dall'
adito di Roma il fratello, i nepoti, e qualunque si pregia
di congionlione di sangue seco : et 6 tanto piu da ammi-
rarsi questa parsinionia d' aflfetti verso i suoi congiunti,
quanto che non 6 distillala nella mente dalle persuasione,
ma 6 volontaria e natavi per propria elettione." [His
holiness's moderation continues heroic, in forbidding ac-
cess to Rome to his brother, his nephews, and all who
boast relationship with him : and we have the more rea-
son to admire this thriftiness of affection towards his
kindred, since it has not been instilled into him by the
arguments of others, but is the voluntary and native
growth of his own free will.]
A. D. 1656-57.]
ALEXANDER VII. AND CLEMENT IX.
343
worse supplied with information, and so much
the loss enabled to discharge the duties of his
office.*
It hardly needed so many arguments to
move the pope to what he was of himself well
enough inclined to. On the 24th of April,
1656, he proposed the question to the consis-
tory, whether it seemed good to his brethren
the cardinals, that he should employ his rela-
tions in the service of the holy see. No one
ventured to speak in the negative, and shortly
afterwards the relations arrived. f The pope's
brother, Don Marco, had the secular offices
assigned to him, the inspection of the annona,
and the administration of justice in the Borgo:
his sun Flavio became cardinal padrone, and
had in a short time 100,000 scudi of ecclesi-
astical revenue. Another brotherof the pope's,
whom he particularly loved, was already
dead ; his son Agostino was selected to found
the family, and was endowed by degrees with
the fairest possessions, the incomparable Aric-
cia, the principality of Farnese, the palace in
the Piazza Colonna, and numerous luoghi di
monte, and he was married to a Borghese.|
Nay, the pope's favour extended even to more
remote connexions of the family, for instance
to the commendatore Bichi, who appears
occasionally in the Candian war, and indeed
to the Siennese in general.
Thus everything seemed to have returned
to the old course. This nevertheless was not
the case.
Flavio Chigi was far from possessing such
authority as Pietro Aldobrandino, or Scipione
Cafarelli, or Francesco Barberino ; nor did he
aim at it ; sway had no charms for him ; he
rather envied his cousin Agostino the layman,
to whose share the real enjoyment of high
station seemed to fall without much pains or
labour on his part.
Indeed Alexander VII. himself no longer
ruled with anything like the despotic power
of his predecessors.
Under Urban VIII. there had been institu-
♦ Scritture politiche, etc. "Un giorna Oliva presa
occasione di dire al padre Luti, [Father Luli had been
brought up with the pope, frequently visited him, and
was desirous that the nephews should be called to Rome]
che il papa era in oblige sotto peccato mortale di chla-
niare a Roma i suoi nepoti." He then gave his reasons
as above.
t Pallavicini : "In quel primi giorni i partiali d' Ales-
sandro non potean coniparir in publico senza soggiacere a
mordaci scherni." [In those early days the friends of
Alexander could not appear in public without being ex-
posed 10 caustic raillery.]
t Vitadi Alessandro VII. I6G6. " II principato Farnese,
che vale IflOm- scudi, la Riccia, che costa altretlanto, il
palazzo in piazza Colonna, che finite arriveri ad altri
lOOm- scudi, formano bellissimi slabili per Don Augustine,
et aggiuntosi i luoghi di monte et altri officii cemprali
farannogli slabili di una sola testa piii di mezzo milione
senza le annue rendiie di ijm- scueli che gode il commen-
dator Bichi, e senza ben 100m- e piu scudi d' entrata che
ogni anni enlrano nella borsa del C'- Chigi." These are
01 course such calculations as might have been made in
the talk of the day, and to which no great value can be
attached.
ted a congregatione di stato, in which the
weightiest matters of state were to be discus-
sed and determined, but its functions were
really of little moment. It became much more
important under Innocent X. Pancirolo, the
secretary of that congregation, the first dis-
tinguished man who filled the post, and who
laid the foundation of its subsequent high
credit, retained to his death a very great share
in the administration of Innocent X., and to
him it is especially ascribed that no nepotism
prevailed in that reign. Chigi himself long
filled the same office. It now devolved on
Rospigliosi, who had already the whole range
of tbreign affairs in his hands. Associated
with him was cardinal Corrado of Ferrara,
who had great weight in matters of ecclesias-
tical immunity. Monsignore Fugnano had
the control of monastic orders, and Pallavicini
decided theological questions. The congrega-
tions, which had been insignificant under for-
mer popes, again rose to consequence and dis-
charged special functions. Already some
were heard to maintain, that the absolute
right of deciding by his own personal authori-
ty belonged to the pope only in spiritual mat-
ters; while in all secular matters, such as
declaring war, concluding peace, alienating
a territory, or imposing a tax, he was bound
to consult the cardinals.* In fact Alexander
VII. took but little active part in state admin-
istration. He used to go for two months into
the country to Castelgandolfo, and on these
occasions business was sedulously avoided :
when he was in Rome the afternoons were
devoted to literature ; authors presented them-
selves and read their works before him, the
pope delighting in suggesting emendations.
Even in the early part of the day it was diffi-
cult to obtain an audience of him on matters
of actual business. " I was forty-two months,"
says Giacomo Quirini, " in the service of pope
Alexander, and I perceived that he had but
the name of a pope, not the real power. Of
those qualities which he displayed when car-
dinal, vivacity of intellect, talent for discrimi-
nation, resolution in trying cases, and facility
in expressing himself, not a trace remained :
business was put aside ; his only thought was,
how he might pass his life in unruffled tran-
quillity."!
Sometimes Alexander himself was conscious
of this, and felt it with displeasure. When his
projects failed, he laid the blame upon the in-
terested motives of the cardinals. He was
heard to speak to that effect even in his de-
lirium shortly before his death.
But as this state of things was the natural
* Giac. Quirini. " I cardinal!, particolannente CL Al-
bicci, pretendevano che il papa potesse disporre d'indul-
genze, . . . ma per pace e guerra, alienatione di stall,
impositione di gabelle dovrebbe ricorrere ai cardinali.
t " Datosi quel capo alia quieta dell' animo, al solo pen-
siere di vivere, e con severe diviete ripudialo il negotio."
344
POPES ABOUT THE MIDDLE OF THE 17TH CENTURY.
[1667.
result of circumstances, it continued as be-
fore.
Those cardinals of the squadrone who had
contributed most to the election of Alexander
VII., and who had maintained a high import-
ance throug'hout his whole reign, had likewise
the casting voice in the conclave that ensued
upon his death. The only difference was, that
on this occasion they were on better terms with
France. On the 20th of June 1667, Rospi-
gliosi, hitherto secretary of state, was raised
to the papal throne under the name of Cle-
ment IX.*
All voices united in declaring that he was
the best and kindest man that could be found
in that day. True, his activity was not equal
to his good intentions. He was compared to
a tree perfect in branch and foliage, adorned
perhaps with blossoms, but bearing no fruit :
he possessed however, in a high degree, all
those moral virtues which consist in a freedom
from faults, — purity of manners, modesty and
moderation. He was the first pope who actu-
ally observed moderation in promoting his
kinsmen. They were not absolutely repuls-
ed from court, they obtained the usual posts,
and even founded new families : but this hap-
pened only in consequence of an opportunity
occurring to marry a young Rospigliosi to a
rich heiress, a Pallavicina of Genoa. The
favours they received at their uncle's hand
were but very moderate ; they did not appro-
priate the public wealth to themselves, even
though luoghi de monte were bestowed on
them, nor did they partition out among them
the business and the authority of the state.
Here was indeed a vast alteration.
Hitherto on every accession of a pope the
public functionaries were either wholly or for
the most part changed : the character and
proceedings of the court were based on this
system. Clement IX. was the first who abol-
ished it : he was averse to giving any one
pain ; with the exception of a few of the high-
er places, he confirmed all functionaries in
their posts as he found them.f In those he
*Quirini: " Dalle pratiche di volanti, ch' in vero eb-
bero il merito della presenie eleuione, successe cheChi-
gi con mal regolato consiglio, e fuori di tempo el ordine,
si dichiai'u in sala regia nell' enirare in capella alio
scrulino, the acconsenliva all nomina di Rospigliosi . . .
Ouoboni inanzi dell adoratione fu dichiaralo prodatario,
Azzolini segretario distato." [Il was broughl aboul by
the practices of the squadionisis, who had really all the
credit of this election, that Chigi imprudently and inop-
portunely declared in sala regia on entering the chapel
to VOIP, thai he consented to The nomination of Rospigli-
osi. Otloboni was declared prodatario before the adoration,
and Azzolini secretary of stale.]
f Grimani: Relatione. " I suoi corteggiani sono mal
sodisfalti, per non haver volsuto rimuovere alcuno de'
ministri el officiali di quelli dell' antecedente pontefice,
come sempre costumarono di far gli altri pontefici." He
was blamed for this, because il would leave his nephews
without due support. " Quelli che havevano ricevute le
cariche di Alessandro VII., bench6 non rimossi da Cle-
mente, conseveranno I'obligatione agli eredi di Alessan-
dro." [Those who have received their offices from Alex-
ander VII., though not removed by Clement, will retain
their obligation lo the heirs of Alexander.]
caused to be vacated, he placed cardinals,
such as Ottobuono and Azzolino, members of
the squadrone who had been leaders in the
last election, and who, independently of this,
were men of weight. He was far from copy-
ing the proceedings of so many former popes,
in persecuting the nephews of his predecessor.
The recommendations of Flavio Chigi had not
much less weight with him than with Alex-
ander : favours continued to be bestowed
through his hand ; all things remained as they
had been.
How grievously did this pope's countrymen,
the Pistojese, find themselves deceived. They
had calculated on favours like those but re-
cently bestowed on so many Siennese ; every
man of them in Rome, it is said, had already
assumed airs of consequence, and begun to
swear on his honour as a nobleman. How
bitter was their surprise when they found
that the places on which they counted, were
not even vacated, not to say bestowed on them.
But Clement IX. did not fail of the munifi-
cence with which the popes were accustomed
to mark their elevation to the throne : he even
went unusual lengths in this respect, bestow-
ing upwards of 600,000 scudi in presents in
the first month of his reign. But this bounty
devolved neither on his countrymen nor even
on his nephews, to whom indeed representa-
tions were made as to this neglect of their
interests,! but it was shared among the car-
dinals and the leading members of the curia
in general. People pretended to say that
certain stipulations made with the conclave
were at the bottom of the matter, but no clear
trace of anything of the kind is discoverable.
This conduct is much rather to be looked on
as in accordance with the general modification
of opinion which had taken place during this
epoch throughout all Europe.
There never was a period more favourable
to the aristocracy than the middle of the
seventeenth century; in which throughout the
whole range of the Spanish monarchy, the
power of the state, which former kings had
withdrawn from the higher nobility, again fell
into their hands ; in which the English con-
stitution moulded itself amidst the most peril-
ous struggles into the aristocratic form which
it wears to this day ; in which the French par-
liaments persuaded themselves they could
play a similar part to that of the English parlia-
ment ; in which, in all the German territories
the nobility acquired a decided ascendancy,
with the exception of one or two, where reso-
lute princes beat down all efforts for indepen-
dence ; in which the states of Sweden strove
* Considerandogli che con tanta profusione d'oro e d'ar-
genle una lunga catena per la poverli della loro casa la-
voravano." [The thought occurring to them, that with
such a profusion of gold and silver they were fabri-
cating a long chain for the poverty of their house.] Qui-
rini.
ELEMENTS OF THE ROMAN POPULATION.
345
to impose intolerable restraints on the sove-
reign authority, and the Polish nobility achiev-
ed complete independence. So also it came to
pass in Rome. A numerous, wealthy, and
powerful aristocracy surrounded the papal
throne; the families already established cur-
tailed the growth of the new ones ; from the
absolute will and straightforward boldness of
monarchy the spiritual authority lapsed into
the deliberation, the quietude, and the phleg-
matic slowness characteristic of an aristocratic
constitution.
Under these circumstances the court as-
sumed an altered aspect. A remarkable pause
occurred to that immigration of foreigners, who
used to seek their fortunes there, and to the
incessant flux and reflu.\ of new successful
adventurers. A fixed population had grown
up, whose numbers continued to increase in
much less rapid ratio. Let us cast a glance
over its composition.
Elements of the Roman population.
Let us begin with the highest classes of
whom we have just been speaking.
Among them flourished the time-honoured
stocks of the Savelli, Conti, Orsini, Collona,
and Gaetani. The Savelli still possessed their
ancient jurisdiction of the Corte Savella, with
the privilege of every year delivering one.
criminal from the punishment of death ;* ac-
cording to immemorial custom, the ladies of
this family never left their palaces, or if at all,
only in carriages carefully closed on all sides.
The Conti preserved in their halls the por-
traits of the popes who had sprung from their
house. The Gaetani dwelt with no little pride
on the memory of Bonifacius VIIL, aflirming
— and people were inclined to concede the
fact — that the spirit of that pope rested upon
them. The Colonna and the Orsini boasted
that for eight centuries, no peace had been
concluded among ihe sovereigns of Christen-
dom in which they had not been included by
name.f But however powerful they might
have been in former times, they had owed
their importance to their connexion with the
curia and the popes. Though the Orsini were
masters of the fairest possessions, which ought
to have brought them in 80,000 scudi, they
had been greatly reduced by an inconsiderate
liberality, and stood in need of the aid of ec-
clesiastical oEBces. The contestabile, Don
Filippo Colonna, had but just succeeded in re-
establishing his pecuniary circumstances,
through the permission granted him by Urban
VIIL to reduce the rate of interest on his
debts, and by the ecclesiastical benefices to
which that pope advanced his four sons.|
* Discorso del dominio temporals e spiriluale del sommo
ponipfice, 1664.
t Descriitione delle famiglie nobili Komane: MS. in
the library of St. Mark, vi. 237 & 284.
t Alraaden : Relatione di Koma. " II primogenito 6
44
For it was long an established custom, that
the rising families should enter into close re-
lations with those ancient princely houses.
There existed for a long while under Inno-
cent two great clans, or factions. The Orsini,
Cesarini, Borghesi, Aldobrandini, Ludovisi,
and Giustiniani, were connected with the
Pamfili; opposed to them were the Colon-
nesi and the Barberini. The reconciliation
of Donna Olimpia with the Barberini made
the union general; it embraced all the fami-
lies of note.
Even in this class we now remark a change.
Formerly the reigning family had always
played the leading part, and thrown their pre-
decessors into the shade by the acquisition of
great wealth. This had now ceased to be
practicable : in the first place, because the
old families had, either through mutual inter-
marriages or by sound economy, become too
rich for this ; secondly, because the resources
of the papacy had become gradually exhausted.
The Chigi could no longer pretend to surpass
their predecessors ; the Rospigliosi were far
from having any such desire, being quite con-
tent if they could succeed in obtaining a foot-
ing among them.
Every society is sure to be represented, to
mirror itself, if we may use the expression, in
some intellectual phenomenon, — some custom,
or peculiarity of manners : the most peculiar
phenomenon of this Roman society and its in-
tercourse was the ceremonial of the court.
Never, on the whole, has there been an epoch
in which ceremony was more rigorously in-
sisted on than in those days. This was in
general keeping with the aristocratic tenden-
cies of the age : the fact that it was more par-
ticularly observable at Rome, may have arisen
from the pre-eminence claimed by that court
over all others, which it sought to express in
certain externals,* and from the contests for
precedency that had been waged there from
remote times by the ambassadors of Spain and
France. Hence tliere were innumerable dis-
putes about rank ; between the ambassadors
and the higher functionaries, such, for in-
stance, as the governatore ; between the car-
dinals who had places in the rota and those
who had not ; between a vast number of other
bodies of public officers ; and between the va-
rious families, such as the Orsini and the Co-
lonna. Pope Sixtus V. in vain decided that
the eldest of either house should always have
the precedence ; if this chanced to be a Co-
Don Fedencoprincipe di Botero ; il secondo Don Girolamo
cardinal e, cuore del padre emeritamentepcressersignore
di tutta bonta ; il terzo Don Carlo, il quale dopo diversi
soldi di Fiandra e di Germania si fece monaco ed abate
Casinense: il quarto Don Marc Antonio, accasato in Sicilia:
il quinto Don Prospero coramendatore di S. Giovannii: il
sesto Don Pietro abbate secolare, stroppio della persona,
ma allrettanto fatica d'ingegno."
* Complaints of these attempts were made among others
by the French ambassador Bethune, Feb. 23, 1G27. See
Siri, Meraorie rec. vi. p. 262.
846
THE POPES ABOUT THE MIDDLE OF THE 17TH CENTURY.
lonna, the Orsiiii did not make their appear-
ance : if it were an Orsini, the Colonna stayed
away. But even to these illustrious families
the Conti and the Savelli gave way with
great reluctance, and only under incessant
protestations. The distinctions of rank were
most minutely defined. The relations of the
pope, for instance, had both wings of the door
thrown open for them as they entered the
papal apartments : other barons or cardinals
were obliged to content themselves with the
opening of one wing. A singular fashion of
displaying respect was introduced : one who
was driving in his carriage would stop when
he met the equipage of a person superior to
him in rank, or of a patron. It is said that
marchese Mattel was the first who paid this
compliment to cardinal Alessandro Farnese,
and upon that occasion the cardinal also drew
up, and they interchanged a few words.*
Others soon followed the example. Ambas-
sadors received this mark of respect from their
countrymen : it became an universal usage,
an universal duty, nothwithstanding its ex-
treme inconvenience. Trifles are precisely
what vanity clings to with most pertinacity ;
they excused a man for exacting them to the
uttermost from his dependants or equals.
Let us go a step lower in the scale.
In the middle of the seventeenth century
they counted in Rome about fifty noble families,
three hundred years old ; five-and-thirty, two
hundred ; sixteen, one hundred. None were
considered of higher antiquity, and they were
generally referred to a mean and obscure
origin.f A large proportion of them had ori-
ginally settled in the campagna. Unfor-
tunately, however, at the period when luoghi
di monti bore high interest, the majority of
them were induced to sell their estates to the
families founded by the pope's nephews, and
to invest the proceeds in papal monti. At
first this seemed to afibrd them no trifling ad-
vantage. The nepotes paid very liberally,
often beyond the value of their purchase, while
the interest drawn without any personal exer-
tions from the luoghi di monte, amounted to
more than the net profit which the most care-
ful husbandry could have extracted from the
cultivation of the land. But the vendors soon
found out that they had exchanged real estates
for fluctuating capital. Alexander VII. was
driven to reductions of the monti, by which a
* I have seen a special treatise on this subject in the
Barberini library: Circa il fermar le caruzze per compli-
nienlo e come s' introdiisse in use.
I Almaden : " La maggior parte delle famiglie oggi sli-
male a Roma nobili vengono da basso principo, como da-
notaro, speziale, che sarebbe da supportare, ma dell' arte
puzzolente della concia di corame. lo bench6 sappia
particolarmenie I'origine, non pero lo scrivo per non of-
fendere alcuno." [The greater part of the families now
deemed noble in Rome sprang from base beginnings,
such as notaries and apothecaries, wpU enough in their
way, though slinking like tan pits. Though I am parti-
cularly acquainted with the origin of the several families,
still, to avoid giving offence, 1 will not mention it.]
shock was given to credit, and the value of
the luoghi was greatly depressed. There was
not a family that did not lose by the event.
But numerous new families arose by the
side of the old ones. The cardinals and pre-
lates of the curia proceeded in exact imita-
tion of the popes, each according to the mea-
sure of his fortune. They, too, failed not to
employ the surplus of their ecclesiastical re-
venues in enriching their kinsmen, and found-
ing families. Others rose to eminence through
judicial appointments. No few owed their
elevation to their employment as money-
changers in connexion with the dataria. In
the time we are treating of, there were reck-
oned fifteen Florentine, eleven Genoese, nine
Portuguese, and four French families, who in
this way had risen to more or less distinction,
according to their good fortune, or their ta-
lents : some there were among them whose
reputation no longer depended on the affairs
of the day, money-kings, such as, under Ur-
ban VIII., the Guicciardini and the Doni,
with whom Giustiniani, Primi, and Pallavi-
cini associated themselves.* And even with-
out business of this kind families of note were
constantly resorting to Rome, not only from
Urbino, Rieti, and Bologna, but also from
Parma and Florence. The establishment of
the monti, and the saleable offices, were strong
allurements. For a long while luoghi di
monte were a kind of property in much de-
mand, especially the vacabili, which were a
sort of life-annuity, and therefore yielded an
interest of ten and a half per cent. : but which
were not only transferred from more aged to
younger members of a family, but even where
this had been neglected, passed absolutely in
the way of inheritance, — a practice which the
curia made no difficulty of furthering. The
same was the case with the saleable offices.
They ought to have reverted to the camera
on the death of the holder, and for this reason
the salaries paid on them bore so high a pro-
portion to the capital originally paid in ; they
were, in fact, purely and simply rent-charges,
since the holder was bound to no official du-
ties : and even these offices could be trans-
mitted without much difficulty. Many a one
of them was not vacant for a century to-
gether.
The union of the public functionaries, and
of the montists, in colleges, gave them a sort
of corporate character ; and although gradual
infringements were made on their rights, still
they always maintained an independent posi-
tion. They found their advantage in the
aristocratic principle blended with the system
* Almaden: "Non passano ancora la seconda genera-
tione di cittadinanza Romana, . . . son venule da Fio-
renza e Genova coll' occasione del danaro . . . molte
volte mojono nelle fascie." [Their Roman citizenship
is not older yet than the second generation . . . they came
hither from Florence and Genoa on money matters . . .
they often die in swaddling clothes.]
EDIFICES ERECTED BY THE POPES.
347
of credit and public debt. Strangers, indeed,
found them at times very overbearing.
The lower classes grew continually in num-
bers and solidity, grouped round the many fa-
milies established, or rising, and daily increas-
ing in stability, into whose hands passed the
bulk of the church revenues.
Lists of the Roman population have come
down to us, which exhibit, on a comparison
of various years, a very remarkable result re-
specting its growth and formation. It cannot
be said, on the whole, that its advance was
very rapid. In the year 1600 we find the
number of inhabitants about 110,000, and fifty-
six years afterwards, somewhat above 120,000,
no extraordinary increase. But another cir-
cumstance particularly merits our attention.
Formerly the population of Rome had been
very fluctuating; its numbers sank under
Paul IV. from 80,000 to 50,000, and rose
again, after the lapse of a few decenniums, to
more than 100,000. The reason of this was
that the court was made up for the most part
of unmarried men, who had no permanent
abode there. Now, on the contrary, the popu-
lation consisted chiefly of resident families.
This began towards the end of the sixteenth
century, but it was carried to its greatest
height in the first half of the seventeenth.
Rome numbered in the
year 1600, 109,729 inhabit's, 20,019 families,
1614, 115,643
— 1619, 106,0.50
— 1628, 115,374
— 1644, 110,608
— 1653, 118,882
1656, 120,596
21,422
24,380
24,429
27,279
29,081
30,103
We perceive that the number of inhabit-
ants occasionally diminishes, while that of the
families constantly augments: it rose up-
wards of 10,000 in the course of these fifty-
six years, which is the more remarkable, since
the increase in the number of inhabitants dur-
ing that period is exactly the same. The
multitude of single men passing to and fro
declined, whilst the mass of the population
became stationary. The proportion has con-
tinued the same up to the present time, with
the exception of slight modifications resulting
from maladies, and from the natural tendency
of population to repair its own losses.
After the return of the popes from Avignon
and the cessation of the schism, the city,
vi^hich had seemed hastening to the condition
of a mere village, grew up round the curia.
But it was only after the papal families had
risen to power and opulence, when all fears
of intestine disorders and foreign foes had
passed away, and the rent-charges derived
from the income of the church or of the state
* The tables from which these numbers are extracted
exist in manuscript in the Barberini library. A later one
from 1702 to 1816, is given in Canoellieri, Del taraniismo
di Roma, p. 73.
afforded the means of enjoying life without
labour, that a numerous resident population
grew up in Rome, [ts prosperity and its
wealth were always dependent, whether in
respect to direct donations, or of the indirect
advantages, on the importance of the church
and the court. All were indeed upstarts, like
the papal families themselves.
Hitherto the families already established in
Rome had continually received accessions to
their numbers in the persons of new settlers
who flocked thither, particularly from the na-
tive town of each successive pope : but the
aspect now assumed by the court put an end
to this. The capital itself had assumed its
character and constitution under the influence
of that vast agency in the affairs of the world,
which the Roman see had acquired through
the general restoration of Catholicism ; it was
in the course of that great evolution, that
those Roman families arose which flourish to
til is day : from the moment the spiritual do-
minion ceased to spread, the population like-
wise desisted from its growth. It was alto-
gether a creation of that epoch.
Nay, the modern city itself, such as it still
captivates the attention of travellers, belongs
for the most part to the same period of the
catholic restoration. Let us advert briefly to
its history.
Edifices erected by the Popes.
We have noticed the magnificence of the
architectural schemes projected and executed
by Sixtus, and have inquired into the views,
with regard to religion and the church, by
which they were prompted.
Clement VII. imitated him in this respect.
Some of the most beautiful chapels in the
churches of San Giovanni and San Pietro owe
their erection to him : he laid the foundation
of the new palace of the Vatican : the pope
and his secretary of state reside at this day in
the apartments built by Clement.
But it was, above all, Paul V. who made it his
ambition to rival the Franciscan. " Through-
out the whole city," says a contemporaneous
life of him, " he has levelled hills, opened long
vistas where before there were crooks and
corners, laid out great squares, and rendered
them still more stately with new buildings :
he has constructed water- works, that throw
out no mere jets from pipes, but that gush in
streams. The variety of the gardens he has
planned, vies with the splendour of his pal-
aces. The whole interiors of his private cha-
pels glisten with silver and gold; they are
not so much adorned as filled with jewels.
The public chapels tower like basilicse, the
basilicaj like temples, the temples like moun-
tains of marble."*
* Vila Paulj V. compendiose scripta. MS. Barb.
348
POPES ABOUT THE MIDDLE OF THE 17TH CENTURY.
It is not, we perceive, tlie beauty and the
symmetry, but the splendour and colossal
mag-nitude of his works that excite our author's
praise ; and such indeed were their chief cha-
racteristics.
In the church of S. Maria Mag-giore, he
erected opposite to the Sistine chapel one far
more gorgeous, constructed entirely of the
most costly marble.
He brought the water that bears his name,
the Aqua Paolina, to the Janiculus, from a
distance of five and thirty miles, a much longer
course than that run by the Aqua Felice.
Opposite the fountain and the Moses of Sixtus
V. but at a distance from them, it bursts forth
with five times the force, in four copious
branches. Who is there knows not that hill
of ancient renown, the site of Porsenna's at-
tack, now clothed all over with vineyards,
orchards, and ruins'? from its height the eye
wanders over the city and the surrounding
country, to the distant mountains wrapped in
their transparent veil wrought out of the many-
coloured mists of evening. The solitude is
sublimely enlivened by the noise of the gush-
ing waters. What distinguishes Rome from
all other cities, is the profusion of its waters,
and the multitude of its fountains. The Aqua
Paolina contributes the largest share towards
this charming feature. It fills the incompar-
able fountains of the Piazza S. Pietro, it is con-
ducted under the Ponte Sisto into the city
proper, and it feeds the fountains in the Far-
nese palace, and many others.
As Sixtus V. reared ihe cupola of St. Pe-
ter's, Paul V. undertook the general comple-
tion of the edifice.* This he accomplished
on the largest scale, in accordance with the
taste of his age. In these days we should, no
doubt, prefer seeing the original plan of Bra-
mante and Michael Angelo fully carried out;
but the work of Paul V. entirely satisfied the
tastes of the seventeenth and eighteenth cen-
turies. It is true the dimensions are enormous :
who can admire that facade ? Still an air of
cheerfulness, convenience, and grandeur per-
vades the whole fabric. The colossal propor-
tions of the buildings, the piazza, the obelisk,
and the entire range of objects around, pro-
duce that impression of the gigantic which
was intended, and which forces itself irresist-
ably on the beholder.
Short as was the reign of the Ludovisi, they
yet left behind them imperishable memorials
in the church of S. Ignatio, and in their villa
in the city. Niccolo Ludovisio once possessed
six palaces, all of which he repaired or beau-
tified.
* MagnificentiaPauli V., scu piiblicaeutilitatisetsplen-
doris opera a Paulo vel in urbe vel alibi insliluta. MS.
Unius Pauli jussu impensisque instrucia ejus lempli pars
cum reliquis ab omnibus retro ponlificibus exstruciis par-
libus meiito conferri potest." [That part of the temple
erected at Paul's sole order and expense, may justly be
compared with the parts constructed by all the popes that
preceded him.]
We find reminiscences of Urban VIII. not
only in numerous churches, such as S. Bibi-
ana, S. Quirico, S. Sebastiano on the Palatine,
but also, more in accordance with his tastes,
in palaces, and fortifications. After he had
surrounded St. Angelo with ditches and ram-
parts, and thoroughly fortified it, as he boasts
on his coins, he constructed the wall round
the Vatican and the Belvidere garden, as far
as the Porta Cavalleggieri, according to the
plan of the accomplished architect, cardinal
Maculano. At the last named point, it met
with other defensive works, which were in-
tended to embrace the Lungara, Trastevere,
and the Janiculus, and to reach as far as the
priory on the Aventine : Porta Portuense was
principally erected by Urban VIII. It was
not till he had thus fenced himself in that he
felt secure. He carefully restored the bridge
that leads from the papal residence to the
castle.*
Pope Innocent X. was a zealous architect,
and left marks of his taste on the Capitol, the
two sides of which he endeavoured to harmon-
ize, in the Lateran church, (where he deserves
the credit of having dealt with more regard
to ancient forms than was usual in his times)
and, above all, in the Piazza Navona. It was
noticed, that when he crossed the Piazza S.
Pietro, he never took his eyes oft' the fountain
which Paul V. had erected there.f He would
gladly have vied with that pope, and adorned
his favourite piazza with one still more beau-
tiful. Bernini exerted all the powers of his
art to that end. An obelisk was brought from
Caracalla's circus, and on it were fixed the
arms of the house of Pamfili. Houses were
pulled down to give the piazza a new form ;
the church of S. Agnete was rebuilt from the
foundations, and near it was constructed the
palazzo Pamfili, richly adorned with statues,
pictures, and costly internal decorations. The
vigna which his family possessed beyond the
Vatican, he transformed into one of the most
beautiful of villas, comprising within it every
thing that can render a country life delightful.
Tlie modern taste for regularity comes forth
in the works of Alexander VII. Many were
the houses he pulled down to obtain straight
streets : the palazzo Salviati was doomed to
fall to form the Piazza del Collegio Romano;
and the Piazza Colonna, where stood the pal-
ace of his family, was transformed by him.
He restored the Sapienza and the Propaganda.
But his most illustrious monument is unques-
tionably the colonnades with which he sur-
* Cancellieri copied into his work, Del tarantismo di
Roma, p. 55, the passages which belong here from the
Diario of Giacinto Gigli, which wasunfortiniat'--ly purloin-
ed from me at Kome,— the greatest loss my collection has
sustained.
f Diario, Deone ; 4 Luslio, 1648. He remarks, however,
" La quale (la fontana di^ papa Paolo— there was then only-
one) difficilmente potra superare n6 in bellezza nfi in
quantity d' acque." [He will not find it easy to surpass
Paul's fountain, either for beauty or quantity of water. J
EDIFICES ERECTED BY THE POPES.
349
rounded the upper portion of the Piazza S.
Pietro, a colossal work of twelve hundred and
eighty-four columns, and eighty-eight pilas-
ters. Whatever may have been urged against
it, both then and subsequently,* it cannot be
denied that it is in keeping with the pervading
idea of the building it adjoins, and that it con-
tributes to the mingled sense of the immensity
and of cheerfulness which is called up by the
whole place.
Such was the gradual growth of the city,
which has since been the object of so many a
traveller's pilgrimage. Treasuries of art of
every description accumulated in it as it rose.
Extensive libraries were collected ; not only
the Vatican, the Augustine, and Dominican
monasteries, and the houses of the fathers of
the oratory, but likewise the palaces too, were
furnished with them : men vied with each other
in amassing printed books, and gathered to-
gether rare MSS. It was not that science
was pursued with very great assiduity ; men
studied indeed, but leisurely, and less with
the desire of novel discovei-ies, than with a
view to acquire and reproduce what was al-
ready known. Out of all those academies
that sprang up year by year, here and there
one devoted itself to some branch of natural
science, such as botany for instance, though
not with any marked success;! but all the
rest, the Good-humoured,]: the Orderly, the
Maidenlike, the Fantastics, the Uniform, or
whatever other strange names they bore, em-
ployed themselves with poetry and rhetoric,
or with exercises of intellectual skill, which
remained confined to a narrow range of
thought, and yet wasted the abilities of many
a promising mind. Nor were books the only
objects in request to adorn the palaces of
Rome : works of art of ancient and recent
times, antiquities of various kinds, statues,
relievos, and inscriptions, were likewise con-
sidered indispensable. In the times we are
considering, the dwellings of the Cesi, the
Giustiniani, the Strozzi, and the Massimi, and
* Sagredo. " I colonnati che si vanno intorno alia pi-
azza origendo, di quatro ordini di questi restar cinla doven-
do, tuui in forma ovala; quali formeranno tre portici
coperti con tre magnifici ingressi, e sopra da un corridore
che sari d' altro ordine di picciole colonne e di statue
adornalo ; il papa prelende che sevir debbano per ricevere
della pioggia e del sole alle corrozze." [The colonnades
now in the course of erection round the place, which is
to be encircled by four orders of them, are all of them of
an oval form, and will constitute three covered porticos
with three magnificent entrances ; and over them will be
a corridore with another order of small columns and adorn-
ed with statues. The pope's intention is, that they shall
shelter carriages from the sun and rain.] The expenses
amounted already to 900,000 scudi, which were drawn
from the funds of Fabriea di S. Pietro.
•f I allude to the Lincei founded in 1603, by Federigo
Cesi, which accom])li3hed indeed little more than the
Italian Version of the Natural History of Mexico by Fer-
nandez. Tiraboschi : Storia della Letteratura Italiana,
viii. p. 195.
t Die Gutgelaunten,— for so we must translate Umoristi,
according to llie accounts given by Erythoeus, which are
extremely well put together in Fischer's Vita Eryihraei,
p. 4. 41.
the gardens of the Mattel, were the most fa-
mous in this respect ; besides which, collec-
tions like that of Kircher at the Jesuits' col-
lege excited no less admiration among con-
temporaries. It was more, however, curiosity
and antiquarian pedantry that prompted to
the formation of these collections, than sus-
ceptibility to the beauty of form or profound
understanding of art. It is remarkable, that
at the bottom the men of those days still
thought on the subject as Sixtus V. had done.
They were very far as yet from bestowing on
the remains of antiquity that attention and
guardian care which they have met with in
later times. What could be expected of an
age in which we find one of the privileges of
the Borghese to have been, that they were
not to incur punishment for any kind of demo-
lition. It is hardly credible what things were
permitted in the seventeenth century. The
Thermae of Constantino for example, had tol-
erably survived the vicissitudes of so many
ages, and assuredly gratitude to their erector,
who had done so much for the dominion of the
Christian church, should have proved their
safeguard ; nevertheless they were demolished
to the foundation under Paul V., and convert-
ed, in accordance with the taste of the day,
into a palace and gardens, which were after-
wards exchanged for the Villa Mondragone in
Frascati. Even the Temple of Peace, at that
time in tolerable preservation, found no favour
at the hands of Paul V. He conceived the
strange idea of erecting a colossal cast iron
statue to the Virgin and Child, and to elevate
it to such a height, that the whole city might
be overlooked by its protectress. Now a col-
umn of unusual length was requisite for that
purpose ; and such an one he found at last in
the Temple of Peace. Without troubling
himself to reflect, that in its place it was in
keeping with the general structure, and that
when isolated it would rather look odd and
startling than beautiful and appropriate, he
carried it off, and placed on it that colossus
which we now behold.
Admitting even that all is not true which
has been laid to the charge of the Barberini,
it cannot yet be denied that on the whole they
proceeded in this self-same style. Under Ur-
ban VIII. the intention was actually revived
of demolishing that sole surviving and incom-
parable monument of the republican times,
the monument of Coecilia Metella, in order to
employ the travertine of which it was built
on the Fontana di Trevi. The project was
suggested by Bernini, the most renowned
statuary and architect of the day, and the
pope gave him a brief sanctioning its execu-
tion. The work of destruction was actually
begun, when the Roman people, who loved
their antiquities, became acquainted with the
matter and resisted it by force. For the sec-
350
POPES ABOUT THE MIDDLE OF THE 17TH CENTURY. [1644.
ond time it rescued this, its oldest relic, from
the spoiler's hand : the workmen were obliged
to desist to avoid a tumult.*
Now all these acts of destruction were part
and parcel of the general spirit of the age.
The epoch of the restoration had its own pecu-
liar ideas and impulses, which strove for sole
dominion even in art and literature, and could
neither understand nor appreciate any thing
foreign to their own nature, but were resolved
on demolishing if they could not subdue it.
Notwithstanding this, Rome was still the
metropolis of civilization, unrivalled in its
erudite zeal for collecting, and in the practice
of art after the fashion sanctioned by the taste
of the age : it was still creative in the depart-
ment of music ; the concerted style of the
cantata arose then by the side of the church
style, and enraptured all travellers. " A man
must be by nature perverted," exclaims Spon,
who visited Rome in 1674, " who does not
find himself satisfied in some branch or anoth-
er."t He goes through all these branches,
the libraries in which the rarest books may
be studied; the concerts in the churches and
palaces, where the finest voices are daily to
be heard ; the multitude of the collections of
statuary and painting, ancient and modern ;
the many noble fabrics of all times, whole
villas covered with bas-reliefs and inscriptions,
of which he singly copied upwards of a thou-
sand ; the presence of so many foreigners of
all na.tions and tongues ; the enjoyment of na-
ture in the enchanting gardens ; and he adds,
that any one who loves devotion will find in
churches, relics and processions enough to
engage his whole life.
Undoubtedly other places displayed nobler
intellectual movements; but the complete-
ness and rounded fulness of the Roman world,
the abundance of wealth, and the tranquil en-
joyment, heightened by security and content,
which the faithful derived from the uninter-
rupted contemplation of the objects of their
veneration, exerted a mighty charm, some-
times appealing to one feeling, sometimes to
another, and at times to all alike.
Let us consider the force of this charm in
its most striking example, one too which had
a lively reaction on the court of Rome.
Digression concerning queen Christina of
Sweden.
We have often had occasion to turn our at-
tention to Sweden.
In that same country where Lutheranism
had first revolutionized the whole political
constitution, where the anti-reformation in so
unusual a manner found representatives and
adversaries in the highest personages, and
from whence went forth the power that chief-
* Deone relates this at full length.
f Spon et Wheler : Voyage d'llalie et de Grfice, i. p. 39.
ly decided the great struggle that engaged
the world, in that country Catholicism, under
the new aspect it had assumed, now made
the most unexpected conquest, gaining over
to itself the daughter of the great protestant
champion, queen Christina of Sweden. How
this took place is a matter well worthy of
consideration, both intrinsically, and as re-
gards our subject.
Let us begin by investigating the position
occupied by the young queen in her native
dominions.
After the death of Gustavus Adolphus, the
question was for a moment agitated in Swe-
den, (just as it had been in Austria in 1619,
in Portugal in 1640, and in many other places
at that time,) whether the country should not
throw off the royal yoke, and constitute itself
a republic*
The proposal indeed was rejected ; homage
was paid to the daughter of the deceased
king ; but the circumstance that she was a
child but six years old, and that there was no
one of royal blood capable of grasping the
reins of government, threw the powers of the
state into the hands of a few. The anti-mo-
narchical tendencies of the times found cor-
dial acceptance in Sweden ; the conduct of
the long parliament in England aroused such
feelings, and still more so the movements of
the Fronde,, inasmuch as they were more de-
cidedly aristocratic. " I see plainly," Chris-
tina herself once said in the senate, " that
people here wish that Sweden may become
an elective monarchy or an aristocracy."!
But the young sovereign had no inclination
to suffer the decay of the royal authority ; she
strove to be queen in the full sense of the
word. From the moment she entered on the
functions of government, in the year 1644,
she devoted herself to public business with
admirable zeal. She never neglected a sit-
ting of the senate : we hear of her sufl^ering
from fever, and having recourse to blood-let-
ting, yet attending the sittings notwithstand-
ing. She was careful to prepare herself be-
forehand, reading through state-papers many
sheets in length, and making herself mistress
of their contents: in the evening before retir-
ing to rest, and in the morning on waking,
* La vie de la riene Christine faite par elle mfeme in
Arckenholtz, M^moirea pour servir ii I'histoire de Chris-
line, torn. iii.p.41 : " On m' a voulu persuader qu'on niit
en deliberation en certaines assemblees paniculi6res s'il
falloit se mettre en liberie n'ayant qu'un enfant en Idle,
dont il 6toit ais6 de se d^faire, et de s'^riger en r6pub-
lique." Compare the note by Arckenhollz.
t A remarkable proof of this aristocratic tendency is
the judgment passed on the constitution by the greater
part of the estates and "good patriots" of the year 1644,
that has recently been published. See Geijer, Schwe-
dische Geschichte, iii. 357. None of the five high offices
of state were to be filled u]) in any other way than by the
nomination of three candidates by the states, one of whom
should be elected. None but one of three proposed by
the house of Knights itself should be elected Grand Mar-
shal. A Consistorium politico-ecclesiasticum was de-
manded, with a president and assessors freely chosen by
the estates, &c.
A. D. 1644-54.]
QUEEN CHRISTINA OF SWEDEN.
351
she pondered over the points of difficulty.*
She had the art of stating questions for dis-
cussion with great dexterity, never letting it
appear to which side lier own sentiments in-
clined. After hearing the opinions of the
members, she used to pronounce her own,
which was always found substantially based,
and was usually adopted. Foreign ambassa-
dors were astonished at the personal influ-
ence she contrived to acquire in the senate,t
though she herself was never satisfied with
it. She had a considerable share in an event
of such universal importance as the peace of
Westphalia. The officers of the army, and
even one of her ambassadors to the congress,
were averse to the measure ; and there were
also in Sweden persons who disapproved of
the concessions made to the catholics, parti
cularly those of the hereditary dominions of
Austria. But Christina did not choose to ap-
peal incessantly to fortune ; Sweden had
never been so glorious, or so powerful ; her
pride was gratified in confirming that condi-
tion of her kingdom, and restoring peace to
Christendom.
She not only repressed the ambition of the
aristocracy with all her might, but left them
no hope of obtaining in future the power they
coveted. Young as she was, she very soon
brought forward a proposal for tlie nomination
of her cousin, the count palatine Charles Gus-
tavus, as her successor. She asserts that the
prince had never ventured to hope for such a
measure ; that she carried it through single-
handed against the will of the senate, which
had objected even to take it into considera-
tion, and against the will of the estates,
which assented to it only in deference to her ;
in short, it was wholly her own suggestion,
and she realized it in spite of all difficulties.
The succession was irrevocably settled. J
It is doubly remarkable, that, with all this
* Paolo Casati al papa Alessandro VII. sopra la regina
di Suecia, MS. " Ella m' ha piu d' una volta assicurato
di non aver portalo avanli alcun negotio grave a cui non
avesse quasi due anni prima pensato, e che molte hore
delld rnalina, dopo clie s' era svegliata da quel poco son-
no clie era solita di prendere, impiegava nel considerare
i negolii e conseguenze loro benchfi lonlane." [Slie has
more than oiice assured me that she never carried out any
great measure to which she had not previously given
nearly two years thought, and that she was in the habit of
employing many hours in tlte morning, on waking from
the short sleep she was used to take, in considering mat-
ters of slate and their consequences however remote.]
t Memoires de cequi est passe en Suede tirez des de-
pesches de Mr- Chanut, i. p. 24.5. (1648 F6vr.) " II est
incroyable comment elle est puissante dans son conseil,
car elle ajoute t la quality dareine la grace, le credit, les
bienfails et la force de persuader." [It is incredible
what power she possesses with her council, for she com-
bines with the dignity of queen, grace, credit, benefi-
cence, and persuasive force.] In a copy of these Me-
moires which appeared in 167.5, there have been found
marginal notes in the queen's handwriting. These in-
deed express more the dissatisfaction of a later period,
than accurate recollections of the first years of her reign ;
but at any rate we must lake them as modifying Chanut's
assertions.
t R6gne de Christine jusqu' t. sa resignation, in Arck
enholtz, ill. 162, Notes.
zeal for business, she devoted herself at the
same time to study, with an ardour amount-
ing almost to a passion. Even in her child-
ish years nothing had more delighted her
than her lessons. This might have been
attributable to her residing with her mother,
who surrendered herself wholly to grief for
the loss of her husband : the child used daily
to long impatiently for the moment when she
should escape from the gloomy chambers of
mourning. But she possessed extraordinary
natural talents too, especially for languages ;
she relates that she learned most of them
without a teacher,* which was the more re-
markable, as in some of them she really at-
tained to the proficiency of a native. As she
grew up, she became continually more fasci-
nated by the charms of literature. It was the
epoch in which learning gradually emanci-
pated itself from the fetters of theological
controversy, and universally acknowledged
reputations towered above the strife of par-
ties. It was her ambition to have men of
celebrity about her, and to avail herself of
their instruction.
First came a few German philologists and
hitorians, such as P'reinsheim, at whose soli-
citation she remitted his native town of
Ulm the chief part of the war contributions
imposed on it.f Next followed Nether-
ianders: Isaac Vossius brought into vogue
the study of Greek; Christina soon made
acquaintance with the best authors of anti-
quity, and even the fathers of the church did
not remain unknown to her. Nicolaus Hein-
sius boasts it as iiis first good fortune, that he
was born in the queen's time : as the second,
that he became known to her ; for the third
and best, he wishes posterity to learn, that he
was not wholly displeasing to her. She em-
ployed him chiefly to procure her costly MSS.
antl rare books from Italy, which he did con-
scientiously, and with success. The Italians
began to complain that ships were freighted
with the spoils of their libraries, that the ap-
pliances of learning were carried off from
them to the extremity of the north. | In 1650
Salmasius made his appearance : the queen
had sent to him to say, that if he would not
come to her, she would be forced to go to him.
He resided a year in her palace. Lastly, Des
Cartes was also induced to visit her. Every
* La vie de Christine 4ct. p. e. m. p. 53 ; " Je savois Hi
I'age de quatorze ans toutes les langues, toutes les sci-
ences et lous les exercises dont on vouloit m'inslruire.
Mais depuis j'en ai appris bien d'autres sans le secours
d'aucun maitre: et il est certain que je n'en eus jamais
pour apprendre la langue AUemande, la Frangoise, I'lta-
lienne, ni I'Espaguole." [I knew at the age of fourteen
all the languages, all the sciences, and all the accom-
plishments they chose to teach me. But since then I have
learned many others without the help of any master, and
it is certain that I never had one to learn the German,
French, Italian, and Spanish languages.]
t Harangue pan6gyrique de Freinshemius ii Christine
1647, in Arckenholiz, second appendix, p. 104.
t Compare Grauert : Konigin Christina und ihr Hof, p.
I 379. 407.
352 POPES ABOUT THE MIDDLE OF THE 17TH CENTURY. [ v. d. 1644-54.
morning at five o'clock he had the honour to
see her in her library. It is asserted that, to
his amazement, he found she had succeeded
in deducing his own ideas from Plato. It is
certain that in her conferences with the
learned, as in her discussions with the senate
she displayed a most felicitous memory, and
a rapid apprehension and penetration. " Her
genius is in the highest degree extraordi-
nary," exclaimed JNaudoeus in amazement.
" She has seen every thing, read every thing,
and knows every thing."*
A wonderful production she was of nature
and fortune : a young lady free from all per-
sonal vanity ; she never sought to conceal
from herself that she had one shoulder higher
than the other. She was told that her great-
est beauty consisted in luxuriant hair, yet she
did not even devote the most ordinary atten-
tion upon it ; she was wholly a stranger to all
the petty cares of life : never troubled her-
self about her table, never complained of any
food set before her, and drank nothing but
water. She never could understand any
womanly work : on the other hand, she de-
lio-hted to be told, that at her birth she had
been mistaken for a boy ; that in her earliest
childhood, instead of being terrified at the
discharge of artillery, she clapped her hands,
and proved herself a genuine soldiers child.
She sat her horse with great boldness: no
sooner had she set one foot in the saddle, than
she would start off at speed ; in hunting she
would bring down the game at the first shot.
She studied Tacitus and Plato, and some-
times understood those authors better than
philologists by profession. Young as she was,
she was capable of conceiving independent
and just opinions, and of triumphantly main-
taining them among senators grown grey in
worldly experience. She plunged into busi-
ness with the quick spirit of innate acuteness;
above all things, she was penetrated with a
sense of the high importance conferred on her
by her descent, and by the necessity of ruling
by herself. She never referred an ambassa-
dor to her minister; she would never suffer a
subject of her's to wear a foreign order ;^ she
would not, she said, have a member of her
flock marked by another's hand. She knew
how to assume a countenance that struck
generals mute before whom Germany had
quailed : had a new war broken out, she would
undoubtedly have placed herself at the head of
her troops.
Such tastes as these, and so imperious a
disposition, made the thought of marrying — of
giving a man rights over her person — intole-
* Naud6 a Gassendi, 19 Oct. 1652. " La reine de la
quelle je puis dire sans flallerie qu'ello lienl mieux sa
parlie fes conferences qu'elle lieni assez souvenl avec
MessiPurs Bochart, Bourdelol, du Fresno el moi, qu'an-
cum de la compaL'nie, el si je vous dis que son esprit est
tout a fait extraordinaire je he mentirai point car elle a
lout vu, elle a tout lus, elle sail loul.
rable to her. Whatever obligation she might
be under to her kingdom to contract such an
engagement, she thought herself sufficiently
absolved from it by the settlement of the suc-
cession. After her coronation, she declared
she would rather die than marry.*
But could such a position as hers be main-
tained ] There was something forced and
laboured in it ; it wanted the equilibrium of
health, the security of a natural and self-
satisfied state of existence. It was not love
of business that plunged her into it so impe-
tuously : ambition and the pride of the sove-
reign impelled her, but she found no pleasure
in it. Neither Avas she fond of her native
land, its pleasures or its habits, its religion,
or its political constitution ; nor yet of its past
history, with which she had no sympathy.
The ceremonies of state, the long harangues
to which she was obliged to listen, every offi-
cial duty in which she was called on to engage
personally, was absolutely hateful to her ; the
range of education and learning to which her
countrymen were content to confine them-
selves, was contemptible in her eyes. Had
she not occupied the throne of Sweden from
her childhood, it would perhaps have appeared
an object of desire to her ; but having been a
queen from the earliest moment her memory
could recal, all the longings that shape men's
future destinies had in her taken a bent that
averted her from her native land. Fancy,
and love of all that was unusual, began to
obtain mastery over her : she knew no pru-
dential considerations, nor ever thought of
opposing to the chance impulses of the mo-
ment the superior force of that moral symme-
try that became her position. True, she was
highminded, courageous, full of elasticity and
energy, magnanimous; but unbridled, impe-
tuous, elaborately unfeminine, by no means
amiable, unfilial even, and that not to her
mother alone ; she spared not even the sacred
memory of her father for the sake of a caustic
retort: it would seem at times as though she
knew not what she said.f Exalted as was
her station, such conduct could not fail to
produce its natural results, and to make her
proportionally incapable of feeling contented,
attached to her home, or happy.
This spirit of discontent fastened above all
on matters of religion, and the following were
the results.
The queen dwelt with peculiar pleasure on
the memory of her instructor, doctor Johann
Matthise, whose simple, pure, and gentle
* " Jeme serois," she says in her autobiography, p. 57,
"sans doute marine si je n'eusse reconnueen moi la force
de me passer dos plaisirs de I'amour." [I should no
doubt have married, had I not felt myself capable of fore-
coing the pleasures of love.] And we may the more rea-
dily believeherassertion,since this work is a sort of con-
fession.
t No other conclusion can be drawn from her conversa-
tion with her mother, given in Chanut, iii. 365. May,
1654.
A. D. 1644-54.]
QUEEN CHRISTINA OF SWEDEN.
353
spirit had gained her affection from the first,
and who was her earliest confidant even in
all the little affairs of ciiildhood.* Immedi-
ately after it had become obvious that none of
the existing chnrch parties would be able to
overpower the rest, an inclination to unite
them arose here and there m some right-
thinking minds. Matthias was one of those
who cherished this desire, and he published a
book in which he discussed the question of an
union between the two protestant churches.
The queen shared his sentiments, and con-
ceived the design of founding a theological
academy, which was to undertake the recon-
ciliation of the two confessions. But the
unbridled zeal of inflexible Lutherans was
immediately let loose against the project. A
superintendent of Calmar made an indignant
attack on Matthias's book, and the estates took
part against him. The bishops admonished
the council of state to watch over the national
religion, and the grand chancellor appeared
before the queen with representations that
forced tears of vexation from her eyes.f
It is probable she now thought she could
clearly perceive that it was no pure zeal
which stirred her Lutheran subjects. She
was of opinion that an attempt was made to
delude her by the idea of God that was set
before her, with a view only to bend her to
the purposes of the party. The representa-
tions made to her of God struck her as unwor-
thy of that great Being.J
The prolix sermons, which had always been
wearying to her, and to which she had been
compelled by the ordinances of the kingdom
to listen, now became intolerable to her. She
often manifested her impatience, shifting her
chair, and playing with her lap-dog; the in-
exorable preachers only strove to keep her
the longer.
She was presently confirmed, by the arrival
of foreigners of learning, in the temper pro-
duced by these annoyances, which had excited
in her an inward aversion to the established
religion of the country. Some of these stran-
gers were catholics ; others, for instance
Isaac Vossius, gave reason to suspect them of
infidelity ; Bourdelot, who had the most influ-
ence with her, since he had ably and success-
fully treated her for a dangerous illness, — the
* " Trfis capable," she says in her Autobiography, p. 51,
"de bien insiruire un enfant tel que j'^tois, ayant une
honn6lete, une discretion el une douceur qui le faisoienl
aimer et estiiner." [A very tit and able instructor for a
child such as I was, his integrity, discretion, and gentle-
ness being such as made him loved and resijeciod.]
f Letter from Axel Oxenstierna, 2 May, 1647, in Arck-
enholz, iv. App. n. 21, and particularly one from count
Brahe, Arcken. iv. p. 229. — Matthise's work is the " Idea
boni ordinis in ecclesia Christi."
t " Je crus," she says, in a note given by Goldenblad,
" que les homines vous faisoient parler t leur mode el
qu'ils me vouloient tromper et me faire peur pour me
gouverner Ji la leur." Arckenholtz, tom. iii. p. 209. [I
believed that men represented you speaking in their own
style, and that they wished to deceive and to frighten me,
that ihey might govern me in their own way.]
45
very man for courts, full of information and
talent for conversation, and totally divested
of pedantry, — ^jested at every thing, the poly-
histors and the national crcjeds, and was held
a downright antisupernaturalist.
The young queen gradually fell into incu-
rable doubts. It seemed to her that all posi-
tive religions were inventions of men, that
every argument was of equal force against
them all indiscriminately, and that it was in
the end a matter of indifference which of them
an individual embraced.
With all this, however, she never went the
length of absolute irreligion; some convictions
she still retained, that were not to be shaken :
in her royal solitude of a throne, she could
not forego the idea of God, nay she even
thought she was placed one step nearer to
Him. " Thou knowest," she cried, " how
often in language unknown to common souls,
I have implored thy grace to enlighten me,
and vowed to thee to obey thee, though it
should be at the sacrifice of life and happi-
ness." She connected this with her other
peculiar notions: "I renounce," she said, "all
other love, and devote myself to this."
But could it be that God had left man with-
out the knowledge of the true religion "] She
was particularly struck by an expression of
Cicero's, that the true religion could be but
one, and tiiat all others must be false.*
The question was, which was this one]
Let us not think to ask what were her ar-
guments and proofs. She often declared that
she discovered no essential error of doctrine
in protestantism. But as her disinclination
for that creed sprang from an original feeling
whicii was now not to be overcome, and
which circumstances but made more intense,
so did she rush towards Catholicism with an
equally inexplicable inclination and entire
sympathy.
She was nine years old when she first
received any precise account of the catholic
church, and it was told her among other
things, tliat in that communion the unmarried
state was considered honourable. " O !" she
cried, " how fine that is ! That is the religion
ibr me."
This was gravely rebuked ; but she only
persisted the more obstinately in her deter-
mination.
Other impressions of a congenial nature
were associated with this. "If one is catho-
lic," she says, "one has the comfort of believ-
ing what so many noble souls have believed
for sixteen centuries, of belonging to a religion
ratified by millions of miracles, and millions
of martyrs; one," she adds, "which, lastly,
has produced so many illustrious virgins, who
have triumphed over the weaknesses of their
sex, and consecrated themselves to God."
* Pallavicini Vita Alexandri VII. For the passage, see
Appendix No. 130.
354
POPES ABOUT THE MIDDLE OF THE 17TH CENTURY, [a. d. 1644-54.
The constitution of Sweden is based on
protestantism : on it repose the fame, the
power of that country, and the position it
occupies amidst the nations of Europe. But
on Christina protestantism was imposed by
necessity: disgusted by a thousand accidental
circumstances, untouched by its spirit, she
asserted her own free will, and broke loose
from its bondage : the opposite system, of
which she had but a glimmering preconcep-
tion, attracted her ; that the pope was invested
with infallible authority, appeared to her an
institution in accordance with the goodness of
God ; day by day she clung more decidedly to
this idea : it would seem as though she thus
felt the cravings of her womenly nature satis-
fied, as though faith sprung up in her heart,
and took the place in others occupied by love,
that love which is born of unconscious instinct,
which is condemned by the world and must
be concealed, but which therefore only strikes
the deeper root, and which makes the che-
rished bliss of a woman's heart, who is pre-
pared to sacrifice all for it.
It is at least certain, that Christina, in her
desire of approximating to the court of Rome,
had recourse to that mystery and craft which
are commonly displayed only in the concerns
of passion or of ambition ; she engaged, as it
were, in an intrigue to become a catholic. In
this she showed herself wholly a woman.
The first to whom she made known her
inclination was a Jesuit, Antonio Macedo,
father confessor to the Portuguese ambassa-
dor, Pinto Pereira.* Pereira spoke nothing
but Portuguese, and brought with him his
confessor to act as interpreter. The queen
took a strange pleasure, in the audiences she
gave the ambassador, in discussing with his
interpreter, not state affairs, as the ambassador
sujjposed, but religious controversies, and in
confiding to him, in presence of a third party,
who did not understand a word of what was
passing, her most secret thoughts and specu-
lations.f
Macedo suddenly disappeared from Stock-
holm. The queen affected to have him sought
for and followed; but, in reality, she had
herself sent him to Rome tomakeknown her
intention to the general of the Jesuits, and
request him to send her a couple of members
of his order.
In February 1652 they arrived in Stockholm.
They were two young men, who represented
* A certain Gottfried Fraiiken has sometimes been re-
presented 10 have been the author of her conversion.
According to the account of the matter given by Arckeii-
holtz, i. 4(;5,lhefirstthoughlufsendingKrankentoStock-
holij; arose on the return of Salmasius from thence, which
took place in IGal. Now Macedo had been there as early
a.- ISoO: his claims are indisputable.
t Pallavicini: "Arctius idcirco sermones et colloquia
miscuit, non tunc solum quum ad earn Macedus ab legato
niittebatur, sed etiam ipso przesente, qui nihil intelligens
animadvertebat tamen longiores esse inter eos sermones
quain res ferrenl ab se imerpreli propositce et sibi ab inier-
preie relaiae."
themselves to be noblemen on their travels
from Italy, upon which they were invited to
the royal table. She instantly surmised what
they were, and as they went immediately
before her into the dining-room, she said in a
whisper to one of them, perhaps he had letters
for her. He answered in the affirmative
without turning, upon which she hurriedly
enjoined him to silence, and immediately after
dinner sent her most confidential servant,
Johann Holm, to conduct them to the palace
next morning with the utmost secresy.*
In the royal palace of Gustavus Adolphus,
ambassadors from Rome met his daughter, to
treat with her of her conversion to the Roman
church. The peculiar charm the transaction
had for Christina, was that no one had the
least suspicion of it.
The two Jesuits proposed at first, to observe
the rules of the catechism ; but they soon
perceived that in this case they could not be
applied. The queen proposed to them ques-
tions altogether different from those adverted
to in that document ; — whether there was any
ultimate distinction between good and evil,
or whether all depended on the utility or
mischief of an action ; how the doubts were
to be set at rest which might be suggested
against the belief in a Providence ; whether
the soul of man is really immortal ; whether
it were not most expedient to conform exter-
nally to the established religion of one's coun-
try, and inwardly to live in accordance with
the laws of reason. The Jesuits do not in-
form us how they replied to these questions :
they tell us, that during the parley, thoughts
occurred to them which had never crossed
their minds before, and which they immedi-
ately forgot again ; that the Holy Ghost acted
directly on the queen's mind. In fact, she
was already possessed by a decided bias that
supplied whatever was wanting to each argu-
ment, and to conviction itself. The most fre-
quent stress was laid on the prime maxim,
that the world cannot be left destitute of the
true religion, and then the assertion was sub-
joined, that of all existing religions, the catho-
lic is the most reasonable. " Our grand effort,"
say the Jesuits, " was to prove that the points
of our holy faith are above reason, but by no
means contrary to it." The principal diffi-
culty concerned the invocation of saints, and
the adoration of images and relics. " But her
majesty," they continue, "conceived with
great penetration the whole force of the argu-
ments we set before her ; otherwise we should
have needed a great length of time." She
also talked with them of the difficulty there
would be, should she resolve on conforming
to the church of Rome, in putting her design
into effect. These difficulties seemed at times
insurmountable, and one day the queen told
* Relatione di Paolo Casali al papa Alessandro VII.
For an extract, see Appendix, No. 131.
A. D. 1652-54.]
QUEEN CHRISTINA OF SWEDEN.
355
the Jesuits when she received them, that they
had better return home, that the project was
impracticable, and that she could hardly ever
become a catholic in her heart. The good fath-
ers were amazed ; they urged every argument
to fix her to her purpose, set before her God and
eternity, and pronounced her doubts to be
suggestions of Satan. It was highly charac-
acteristic of her, that she was more decided
at this very moment than at any previous in-
terview, " What would you say," she ejac-
ulated suddenly, " if I were nearer to becom-
ing catholic than you imagine ]" " I cannot
describe the emotions we felt," says the Je-
suit narrator," " we were like men raised from
the dead." The queen asked if the pope
could not give her a dispensation to receive
the sacrament once every year, according to
the Lutheran ritual. " VVe answered no ;
then, said she, there is no help for it, I must
abdicate."
In truth her thoughts daily tended more and
more towards that step.
The affairs of the country did not always
proceed as could be wished. Contrasted with
the powerful aristocracy which was closely
knit together, the queen, with her retinue
and adherents gathered from so many foreign
lands, with the heir to the throne whom she
had forced on the country, and count Magnus
de la Gardie whom she honoured with her
confidence, but whom tlie Swedish nobility
would never acknowledge as their equal in
birth, constituted a party that was regarded
almost as foreign. Her unbounded liberality
had exhausted the finances, and the moment
was seen approaching when every resource
would be dried up. Already in October, 1651,
she had announced to the estates her intention
of resigning. This was at the moment when
she sent Antonio Macedo to Rome. She,
however, suffered herself to be dissuaded for
the time from her design. The chancellor of
the realm entreated her not to be determined
by the financial difficulties of the country ; due
care should be taken that the splendour of the
crown should not be impaired.* She saw
plainly too, that her conduct would not wear
that heroic aspect in the world's eye she at
first supposed. When prince Frederick of
Hesse shortly afterwards meditated a similar
step, she exhorted him expressly against it;
not exactly on religious grounds ; she only
reminded him that those who change their
religion are hated by the party they abandon,
and despised by that to which they go over.f
But by degrees these considerations ceased to
influence herself It was in vain she endea-
voured by frequent nominations to make a
party in her favour in the council of state,
which she increased from twenty-eight mem-
bers to thirty-nine : the credit and consequence
of the house of Oxenstierna, wliich had been
for a while obscured, acquired fresh lustre by
means of family connexions, by the force of
habit, and by a talent that seemed as it were
hereditary in the race. In many important
affairs, as for instance, in the adjustment of
matters with Brandenburg, the queen was left
in the minority. Count Magnus de la Gardie
too lost her favour. Money began to be sen-
sibly scarce, and there was often not sufficient
for the daily necessities of the royal house-
hold.* Were it not really better that she
should live abroad after the fashion of her own
heart upon a stipulated yearly income, without
being subjected to the endless interference of
fanatic preachers, who saw in all her ways
and doings nothing but romantic singularity
and apostacy from the faith and the manners
of the country ! Business was already be-
come irksome to her, and she felt unhappy
when she saw her secretaries approach her.
Already the only intercourse she took pleasure
in was that of the Spanish ambassador Don
Antonio Pimentel, who took part in all her
social pleasures and amusements, and in the
meetings of the order of the amaranth, which
she founded, and the memljers of which were
obliged to pledge themselves to a kind of ce-
libacy. Don Antonio was privy to her catho-
lic intentions, and communicated them to his
sovereign, who offered the queen an abode in
his dominions, and promised to prepare the
pope for her conversion.! Meanwhile pre-
liminaries had been arranged in Italy by the
Jesuits, who by this time had returned thither.
She was now no longer to be dissuaded by
any arguments from her purpose. Her letter
to the French ambassador Chanut, proves how
little she counted on approval : at the same
time she affirms that this gave her no concern.
tShe should be happy, strong in herself, with-
out fear before God and man, and behold from
the harbour the sufferings of those, who were
still tossed on the stormy waves of life. Her
only care was to secure her pension in such a
manner, that she could never again be depriv-
ed of it.
* Pufendorf, rerum Suecicarum lib. 23, p. 447.
+ LeUre de Christine au prince Frederic Landgrave de
Hesse, in Arckenlioliz, i. p. 218. "Pouvez-vous ignorer
combien ceux qui changent sont ha'is de ceux df s senli-
niens desquels ils s'^loigne nl, el ne saurez-vous pas par
tanl d'illnstres exemples qu'ils sont mepris6s de ct-ux
aupr6s desquels ils se rangent]"
* Motivi onde si crede la reginadi Suezia averpresala
resolulione di rinnnciare la corona, in Arckenholtz, ii.
App. No. 47, probably by Raymond Montecuculi.
+ Pallavicini, Vita Alexandri VII. " Aiilae Hispanicae
adminislri,cum priinuni rem proposuit Malines (who had
been sent thither), omnino voluissent ab regini regnum
retineri, ob emolumenta quae tum in religionem luiii in
regem catholicum redundassent; sed cogniio id fieri non
posse nisi Isesa religione, placuit regi patronum esse lacti
tam gf nerosi." [The ministers of the Spanish court,
wheii^ihe affair was first piojiosed to the king by Malines,
would by all means have had the queen rinain her crown,
on account of the advantages which would thent,e accrue
both to religion and to his catholic majesty ; but when it
was known that this could not be done without detriment
to religion, the king was pleased to become the patron of
so higli-souled an act.]
356
POPES ABOUT THE MIDDLE OF THE 17TH CENTURY, [a. d. 1654.
On the 24th of June, 1654, the ceremony
of abdication took place. However numerous
the causes of complaint the queen's adminis-
tration had given, yet high and low were
deeply affected by this renunciation of her
native kingdom by the last scion of the stock
of Gustavus Vasa. Old count Brahe refused
to take from her the crown he had placed on
her head three years before :* he held the tie
between sovereign and subject to be indisso-
luble, and deemed such a proceeding unlaw-
ful.! '-fhe queen was obliged herself to take
the crown from her head ; it was only from
her hand he would receive it. Stripped of
the insignia of royalty, and in a plain white
dress, the queen now received the parting
homage of her estates. After the rest appear-
ed tiie speaker of the peasantry, "a plain
country fellow in his clouted shoon and all
other habits answerable." He knelt down
before the queen, "took her by the hand and
shaked it heartily, and kissed it two or three
times; then turning his back to her he pulled
out of his pocket a foul handkerchief, and
wiped the tears from his eyes, and in the same
posture as he came up he returned back to
his place again."|
Meanwhile all her thoughts and schemes
were directed to foreign lands : she would not
remain one moment in a country in which
she had resigned^ the sovereign authority to
other hands. She had already sent off" her
valuables: while the fleet was getting ready
that was to convey her to Wismar, she seized
the first favourable opportunity to escape in
disguise with a few trusty attendants from the
irksome supervision exercised over her by her
late subjects, and to betake herself to Ham-
burg.
She now began her travels through Europe.
On arriving in Brussels she secretly con-
formed to Catholicism, and afterwards publicly
in Insbruck : attracted by the promise of the
pope's benediction she hastened to Italy, where
she laid down her crown and sceptre at the
shrine of our lady of Loretio. The Venetian
ambassadors were astonished at the sumptuous
preparations made for her reception in all the
towns of the ecclesiastical states. Pope Al-
exander, whose ambition was gratified by the
occurrence of so brilliant a conversion during
his pontificate, exhausted the apostolic coffers
to celebrate the event with due solemnity.
Christina entered Home, not as a penitent but
in triumph. § During the first years of her pri-
* She had assuineil ihe reigns of govpinment in 1544:
her coronation look place some years later.
t " It was opposed to God, to the common 1 w of nations,
and to the oath by which she was bound to the realm of
Sweden and to her subjects — he could be no honest man
who gave her majesty such advice." Life of count Peter
Brahe, i^ SchliJzer's Schwedischer Bio'^'raphie, ii. p. 409.
f Whitelocke's Journal, ii p. 1(30.
§ Relatione de' Iv. ariibasciatori : " II sospetloche prese
papa Innocenlio che il ricevimento dovesse coslarli caro
ritardo il suo arrivo in Koiria: e contenioquel biion ponte-
fice del risparmio del danaro lascio la gloria entiera al
vate life we oflen find her travelling; we meet
her in Germany, twice in France, and even
in Sweden. She did not always remain so
much aloof from political struggles as she had
at first intended. She once exerted herself
in down'right earnestness and not without some
prospect of success, to obtain the crown of
Poland, which she might at least have been
able to wear as a catholic. Another time she
incurred suspicion of designing to attack Na-
ples in the interests of France. The necessity
of seeing after her pension, the payment of
which was often in arrear, seldom left her
entire repose. Her pretensions, though not
wearing a crown, to exercise the independent
prerogatives of a crowned head, especially in
the way she herself understood them, were
twice attended with very serious consequences.
Who can excuse the cruel sentence she pro-
nounced at Fontainebleau in her own cause
on Monaldeschi, a member of her household,
and which she caused to be executed by his
accusers and enemies ? She granted him only
an hour to prepare for death.* She regarded
as high treason the breach of faith, of which
the victim was said to have been guilty to-
wards her ; and she deemed it beneath her
dignity to summon him before any tribunal
whatever. " To own no power above one,"
she exclaimed, " is worth more than to rule
over the whole earth." She even despised
public opinion. Monaldeschi's execution ex-
cited universal abhorrence in Rome, where
the wranglings of her household v/ere better
known than to herself; yet nevertheless she
hastened back thither. Where else indeed
could she have lived but in Rome] She
would have-been involved in incessant colli-
sion with any secular power, with pretensions
of a similar character to her own. She often
quarrelled bitterly even with the popes, with
Alexander himself, whose name she had added
to hers on conforming to the church.
Gradually, however, her temper grew mild-
er, her habits more tranquil ; she forced herself
to observe some considerations of propriety,
and recognized the necessities incident to her
abode in a city where, after all, the ecclesias-
tical rule allowed ample scope to aristocratical
privileges and personal independence. She
took more part in the splendour, the business,
and the life of the curia : habituated herself to
suo successore d' accomplire a qiiesla memoranda fun-
tione. Intorno a ci6 ritrovammo al nostro giongere in
Eoiria occupate le niaggiori application! della corte, et al
riiorno ci si fece vedere tutto lo stato della chiesa invollo
in facende et a gara 1' una cilli dell' altra chi sapeva fare
maggiore ostentatione di pomposi accoglimenti." [Pope
Innocent's surmise, that the reception would cost hini
dear, retarded her arrival in Rome ; and that worthy pon-
tiff, content with saving his money, left to his successor
the sole glory of discharging that memoiable luiiction.
On arriving in Rome we found the court engrossed witli
preparations for this affair, and on our return we beheld
the whole ecclesiasiical si te engaged in making arrange-
ments, and every city vieing with the rest, which should
make the grandest show of welcome.]
* Pallavicini. See Appendix No. 130.
A. D. 1654-89.]
QUEEN CHRISTINA OF SWEDEN.
357
the tone of Roman society, and gradually
made herself fully at home. She now increas-
ed the collections she had brought from Swe-
den, at so much cost, and with such taste and
success, that she surpassed liie native families,
and elevated the pursuit from merely minister-
ing to curiosity, to a higher importance with
regard to learning and art. Men like Span-
heim and Havercamp have thought it worth
their while to illustrate her coins and medals,
and Sante Bartolo devoted his practised hand
to her engraved gems. Tlie Correggios of her
collection have always been the brightest or-
naments of the galleries into which time and
chance may have carried them. The MSS.
of her library have contributed in no small de-
gree to uphold the fame of the Vatican, in
which they were included at a late period.
Acquisitions and possessions of this kind fill
up the hours of every day life with harmless
enjoyment. She also took a lively interest in
the pursuits of science. It is highly to her
honour, that she supported with all her power
the exiled Borelli, who was reduced in his old
age to give instruction, and that she had print-
ed, at her own cost, his celebrated and still
unsurpassed work on the mechanics of animal
motions, which has had such an influence on
the progress of physiology. Nay, I think we
may even venture to assert, that she herself,
after her mind had been improved and matur-
ed, exerted a strong and enduring influence
on her age, and especially on Italian litera-
ture. It is well known what extravagant
turgid ity, tar-fetched conceits, and vapid tri-
fling, prevailed in the Italian poetry and rhe-
toric of those days. Queen Christina had too
much taste and intellect to be caught by this
fashion ; it was her aversion. In the year
1680 she founded an academy in her house
for political and literary discussion, one of the
most prominent statutes of which was, that
the members should abstain from the modern
inflated and metaphor-crammed style and fol-
low only the dictates of sound sense and the
models of the Augustan and Medicean ages.*
The impression made on us is singular, when
we light on the labours of this academy in the
Albini library in Rome : essays by Italian ab-
bati corrected by the hand of a northern
queen; but this strange association is not
without its significancy. From Christina's
academy issued men like Alessandro Guidi,
* Constituzioni dell' academia reale, in Arckenholtz,
iv. p. 28. § 28. " In qupsl' academia si studj la purjti la
gravilii e la maeslil delta lineua Toscana ; s' imilino per
quanlo si puo i maestri delta vera eloquenza de' se-
coli d' Augiislo 8 di Leone X . . . e per6 si dia bando
alio stile nioderno uirgido et ampoUoso, ai traslali, meia-
fore, figure etc." Another paragraph (II) prohibits all
eulogy of the queen, — a very necessary provision. There
is a description of this academy in the fourth vol. of Nico-
letli's life of Urban VIII., the chief point in which is, that
its most distinguished members, Ang^lo della Noce,
Guiseppe Suarez, Giovanni Francesco Albani (afterwards
pope), Steflfano (jradi, Ottavio Falconieri, and Steftano
Pignatelli, had all been domesticated with cardinal Fran-
cesco Barberini.
who had formerly adopted the usual style of
the day, but who, after he had come in con-
tact with the queen, resolutely renounced it,
and leagued himself with a few friends, in
order, if possible, to abolish- it altogether.
The Arcadia, an academy to which has been
ascribed the merit of accomplishing this good
work, arose out of queen Christina's associa-
tion. On the whole, it is not to be denied,
that, amidst the multitude of influences with
which she was surrounded, the queen pre-
served a noble independence of mind. She
had no mind to exhibit that ostentatious piety
which the world or themselves are wont to
exact of converts. Catholic as she was, and
frequently as she reiterated her conviction of
the pope's infallibility, and of the necessity of
believing whatever was enjoined by him and
by the church, still she entertainecl a cordial
hatred of bigots, and abhorred the direction
of confessors, who then tyrannized over the
whole course of life. She would not be with-
held from enjoying carnivals, concerts, and
comedies, and all the other amusements of
Rome ; above all, the internal movement of
an intellectual and animated society. She
owned she loved satire ; Pasquin was her de-
light. She was always mixed up in the in-
trigues of the court, the quarrels of the papal
houses, and the factions of the cardinals. She
adhered to the squadronists, the head of which
party was her friend Azzolini, a man whom
others besides herself regarded as the most
gifted member of the curia, but whom she for
her part looked upon as a god-like, incompa-
rable man, the only one she thought superior
to the venerable chancellor Axel Oxenstierna.
She wished to erect a monument to him in
her memoirs. Unfortunately but a small part
of them has been made public; but this dis-
plays an earnestness, a truth in her dealings
with herself, a freedom and firmness of mind,
before which calumny is dumb. Not less re-
markable, are the apophthegms and scattered
thoughts, the productions of her leisure hours,
which have come down to us.* They be-
speak much knowledge of the world, an in-
sight into the play of the passions attainable
only through experience, and observations
upon them of the subtlest kind, yet withal a
decided bent towards the essential ; a lively
conviction of the power of self-direction, and
of the nobility of the mind; a just apprecia-
tion of earthly things, which are estimated
neither too meanly nor too highly; and a
mental constitution that seeks only to satisfy
God and itself. The great intellectual move-
ment that manifested itself towards the close
of the seventeenth century in every branch
of human activity, and opened a new era,
* We have Iheni edited in two forms, varying some-
what from each other. Ouvrage de loisir de Christine
reine de Suede, in the appendix to the second, and Sen-
timens et diis ni^morabiles de Christine, in the appen-
dix to the fourth volume of Arkenholtz.
358
POPES ABOUT THE MIDDLE OF THE 17TH CENTURY.
wrought also in the person of this princess.
Hence a residence in the centre of European
civilization, and the leisure of private life,
were, if not absolutely necessary to her for
the completion of that mental development,
yet unquestionably highly advantageous.
Passionate was her love for all that the life of
that great city presented to her: she thought
it impossible to live, if she did not breathe
the atmosphere of Rome.
Administration of Church and State.
There was hardly, besides the court of
Rome, another spot in the then world that
could exhibit so much social refinement, such
manifold efforts in literature and art, so much
racy, intellectual enjoyment, and, in fine, an
existence so filled with interests that capti-
vated the feelings and engaged all the pow-
ers of the mind. The yoke of government
was little felt : power and splendour were in
reality shared among them by the ruling fa-
milies. Nor could the cliurch any longer
enforce its claims in their full rigour: the
temper of the times imposed upon them no
inconsiderable check. This was rather an
age of enjoyment, a lusty harmonious revel
of time-won personal advantages and intellec-
tual impulses.
The question now was, how church and
state were to be governed' under these cir-
cumstances of the tunes.
For undoubtedly the court — or rather the
prelacy, which properly included only the
really efficient members of the curia — had
the administration of both in its own hands.
The institution of the prelacy had grown
to its modern form as early as the pontificate
of Alexander VII. To become referendario
di segnatura, a step on which all future pro-
motion depended, it was required that the
candidate should be a doctor juris, that he
should have studied three years with an ad-
vocate, have reached a certain age, possess a
certain fortune, and furtliermore, that his cha-
racter should be irreproachable. The age
had originally been fixed at twenty-five years,
the fortune at an income of 1000 scudi.
Alexander made the somewhat aristocratic
change, by which twenty-one years were
held sufficient in point of age, but the income
required was raised to 1500 scudi. The can-
didate who could prove his possession of these
requisites, was invested by the prefetto di
segnatura, and appointed to plead two causes
before the assembled segnatura.* In this
way he took possession of his office, and was
thereby qualified for every other. From the
governorship of a town or a district, he rose
to a nunciature, or a vice-legation, or he ob-
* Discorso del dominio temporale e spirituale del S.
Pontefice Romano, 1664. MS.
tainad a place in the rota, or in the congre-
gations; then followed the cardinal's hat,
and the rank of legate. On the appearance
of the legate in a town, certain honorary pri-
vileges of the bishop were suspended : the le-
gate bestowed the benediction on the people
in like manner as the pope. The members
of the curia passed incessantly to and fro be-
tween spiritual and secular offices. Let us
first advert to the latter, to the administra-
tion of the state.
Every thing depended on the wants of go-
vernment, on the demands made on the sub-
ject, on the state of the finances.
We have seen to what a ruinous pitch the
system of debt had risen under Urban, chiefly
through the war of Castro ; but even then
loans were successfully effected, and the luo-
ghi di monte maintained a high price : the
popes pursued the beaten path without reflec-
tion or hesitation.
In 1644, Innocent X. found the number of
luoghi di monte 182,1031, and left it 264,129i
in 1655, so that the capital represented by
them had risen from eighteen to twenty-six
millions. Though with this sum he had dis-
charged debts of another kind, and paid off
other loans, there was still a serious augmen-
tation of the public debt, which was reckoned
at his decease at forty-eight millions of scudi.
He had been fortunate enough to derive a
surplus revenue from the taxes imposed by
Urban VIII., on which he founded the new
monti. On Alexander's accession an aug-
mentation of the taxes was palpably imprac-
ticable : loans had become so habitual, that
it was in a measure impossible to dispense
with them. Alexander resolved to seek a
new source of profit in the reduction of the
rate of interest.
The monti vacabile, which paid ten and a
half per cent., stood at one hundred and fifly :
he determined to pay them ofiT. Though he
did so at the current price, still he had a
great profit on the transaction, since the ca-
mera raised money in general at four per
cent. ; and hence, though it should pay with
borrowed money, it would for the future have
to disburse, instead of ten and a half, only
six per cent, interest.
Upon this, pope Alexander bethought him
of reducing all the non vacabili which bore
more than four per cent, to that rate of inte-
rest.* But as in this operation he took no
♦ Pallavicini: Vitadi Alessandro VII. " Perciocche in
nessiin allro paese d' Italia la rendita del danaro avease
tanto pingue e tanto sicura, pian piano Piasuccedulo che
quei luoglii del primitivo lor prezzo di 100 fussero cresci-
uli nella piazza al valor di 116. Hor la camera valendo-
si del suo dirilto, come avrebbe potuto qualsivoplia priva-
10, rendeva il prezzo originario di 100 non permittendo la
vastiii della somma (he calculates 26 millions) n6 per-
suadendo laqualit^de' padroni, in gran parte ricchi e fo-
reslieri, che ad aggravi de' pover),alle cui spalle slanno
lulti i publici pesi, il pontefice usasse piii la liberalitii
usato da liu nell' esiiniione de' monti vacabili." [Be-
ADMINISTRATION OF CHURCH AND STATE.
359
account of the market price, which was one
hundred and sixteen per cent, but paid the
holders the bare nominal value to which he
was pledged, of one hundred to the luogo, he
was here too a very considerable gainer.
The amount of all these interests was defray-
ed, as we have seen, by the taxes, and it is
possible that the first intention may have
been to remit the most oppressive of these ;
but the old system of economy being persisted
in, this turned out to be impracticable. A
reduction of the price of salt was very soon
followed by an augmentation of the tax on
flour : the whole profit realized in the finan-
cial operations above-mentioned was swallow-
ed up by the administration, or by nepotism.
If the savings effected by the reductions be
summed up, it will be seen that they must
have amounted to about 140,000 scudi, the
employment of which, by way of interest on
new loans, would signify an augmentation of
the debt by about three millions.
Clement IX., too, had no other device for
carrying on the administration besides that
of new loans. But he soon found himself
brought to such a pass, that he was forced at
last to lay hands on the proceeds of the data-
ria, which hitherto had always been spared,
being, in fact, the fund appropriated to the
support of the papal court. He founded upon
it 13,200 new luoghi di monte. In the year
1670 the papal debts may have amounted to
some fifty-two million scudi.
The result of all this was, in the first place,
that with the best inclinations it was not pos-
sible to effect more than imperceptible and
transient diminutions of the burthens that so
sorely pressed a country destitute both of ma-
nufactures and commerce.
Another complaint was, that foreigners
were among the shareholders in the monti,
and enjoyed the interest yielded by them
without contributing anything to the taxes.
It was estimated that 600,000 scudi were an-
nually sent to Genoa. The country thus be-
came the debtor of the foreigner, a circum-
stance which could by no means be favoura-
ble to the free development of its powers.
Another effect that wrought still more
deeply was observable.
How could it fail to be that the holders of
the annuities, the monied men, should obtain
great influence over the state and its adminis-
tration '!
The great commercial houses acquired a
ause no other country in Italy afiforded such ample and
well-secured return for money, it gradually came to pass
that these luoghi rose from their original price of 100 the
luoghoto 116. At present the treasury, availing itself of its
rights, as any private person might liave done, returned
the original price of 100, the magnitude of tlie sum not
permitting the pope, nor the ranic of the proprietors, a
jarge proportion of whom were rich and foreigners, induc-
ing him, to exercise his usual liberality in the extinction
of the monte vacabili, to tlie increased suffering of Iho
poor, on whose shoulders rest all the public burdens.]
direct participation in public bu.siness. With
the tesoriere was always associated a commer-
cial house, which received and paid out all
moneys : the coffers of the state were in point
of fact always in the hands of traders; and
these were also farmers of the revenue, and
treasurers in the provinces. Numerous offices
were saleable, and these they had the means
of making their own. Then again, no incon-
siderable pecuniary means were requisite
towards obtaining promotion in the curia.
About the year 106.^, we find the most impor-
tant places in the administration, filled by Flo-
rentines and Genoese. So mercantile a spirit
pervaded the court, that by and by promotion
depended far less on desert than on money.
" A merchant with his purse in his hand," ex-
claimed Grimani, "in the end has always the
preference. The court is becoming filled with
mercenaries, whose only desire js gain, who
look on themselves only as traffickers, not as
statesmen, and who have not a thought that is
not low and sordid."*
Now this was the more serious, forasmuch
as there was no longer any independence in
the country. Bologna alone displayed at times
a sturdy resistance, so that they even thought
once in Rome of building a citadel there.
Other communities indeed stood out now and
then against the government : the inhabitants
of Fermo once refused to permit grain, of
which they thought they themselves stood in
need, to be carried out of their country :t the
people of Perugia refused to pay arrears of
taxes : but the commissioners general of the
papal court easily put down these movements,
and then enforced so much the more rigid sub-
ordination : by degrees the administration of
the property of the communes was subjected
to the disposal of the court.
The institution of the annona affords a re-
markable instance of the course of this admin-
istration.
The principle of discouraging the export of
the necessaries of life being universally acted
on in the sixteenth century, the popes too took
measures to that end, especially with a view-
to prevent the rise of the price of bread. But
the prefetto dell' annona, to whom was com-
mitted this branch of the executive, possessed
originally but very limited powers. These
were first enlarged by Gregory XIII. The
corn gathered was not to be carried out of the
country without the permission of the prefetto,
* Antonio Grimani. "Per la vendita della maggior
parte degli officii piu considerabili si viene a riempire la
corte d' uomini mercenarj e uiejcanti, restanti indietio
quelli che potrebbero posseder tali officii per meriio e per
virtu ; male veramente notabile che smacca il crediio con-
cepito della grandezza della corte Komana, non avendo
detti mercenarj d' officii invollo 1' animo che in cose me-
caniche e basse e piii tosto mercantile che politiche."
t Memoriale presentato alia Sti- di N. Sre- papa Inno-
centio dalli deputati della cilti di Fermo per il tumulto
ivi seguito alii G di Luglio, 1648, MS. See Bisaccioni,
Historia della guerre civili, p. 271, in which Fermo ap-
pears by the sideof England, France, Poland, andNaples.
360
POPES ABOUT THE MIDDLE OF THE 17TH CENTURY.
nor even from one district in it to another.
This permission was only to be obtained in
case grain was below a certain price on the
1st of March. Clement VIII. fixed this price
at six, Paul V. at five and a half scudi the
rubbio. A special tariff was fixed for bread
according to the varying price of corn.*
By and by it was found that the wants of
Rome increased from year to year. The
number of the inhabitants augmented, whilst
agriculture declined in the Campagna. The
decay of the Campagna took place chiefly in
the first half of the seventeenth century, and
was attributable, if I mistake not, to two
causes: first, to the alienation of the small
estates to the great farmers; for the soil of
that country demands the most careful culti-
vation, such as is usually bestowed only by
small proprietors, whose whole incomes are
involved in the employment : secondly, to the
increasing deterioration of the atmosphere.
Gregory XIH. had exerted himself to extend
the cultivation of grain, Sixtus V., to destroy
the lurking places of the banditti, and so the
former had cleared the low lands near the sea
of their trees and underwood, and the latter
had stripped the hills of their forests.f Neither
the one nor the other can have been advanta-
geous : the aria cattiva spread, and conduced
to the depopulation of the Campagna, the pro-
duce of which diminished from year to year.
This disproportion between the demand and
supply, occasioned Urban Vill. to render the
system of inspection more strict, and to aug-
ment the powers of the prefetto. By one of
his first constitutions he prohibited outright the
exportation of corn, cattle, or oil, whether out
of the state or from one district in it to ano-
ther, and empowered the prefetto to fix the
price of corn at Campofiore according to the
yield of each harvest, and prescribe to the
bakers the weight of bread in proportion.
This rendered the prefetto all powerful, and
he failed not to turn the privileges conferred
on him to account for himself and his friends.
He had actually the monopoly of corn, oil,
meat, and all the prime necessaries of life in
his hands. It cannot be said that the cheap-
ness of these articles was much improved in
consequence ; favoured parties were even
permitted to export, and little other result was
experienced from the new measures, than the
vexations imposed on purchase and sale. It
was forthwith remarked that agriculture still
more sensibly declined. |
* A long lisl of papal edicts on the subject is to be found
in a work of Nicola Maria Nicolai, Memorie, vol. ii. Leggi
et osservationi sulle campagna e suU' annone di Roma,
1803.
t Relatione dello stalo di Roma presente, or Almaden.
See Appendix No. 123.
t Pietro Contarini, 1627: "II pontefice avendo levato le
tratte concesse a diversi da suoi precessori . . . hora ven-
dendole ne cava bonna souinia di danaro : non vole i prezzi
troppo vili n6 grano forestiere : 1' arte del campo vienead
abbandonarsi per il poco o nitin guadagno che ne trag-
gono." [The pope having resumed the tracts granted to
Now began those complaints of the general
decay of the States of the Church which have
never since ceased. " On our journeys from
one place to another," say the Venetian ambas-
sadors in 1621, in whose reports I find the first
mention of them, " we noticed great poverty
among the peasants and common people, and
small signs of thriving, not to say very strai-
tened circumstances among all the other
classes. This is the fruit of the system (^
government, and more especially of the scant-
iness of commerce. Bologna and Ferrara
derive a certain degree of splendour from their
palaces and their nobility ; Ancona has some
trade with Ragusa and Turkey : but all the
other towns are sunk very low." About the
year 1650, the opinion universally prevailed
that an ecclesiastical government was fatal to
its subjects.* The inhabitants already began
to complain bitterly. " The taxes imposed by
the Barberini," exclaims a contemporary bio-
grapher, " have exhausted the country ; the
rapacity of Donna Olimpia, the court : the
virtues of Alexander VII. gave hope of an
amelioration ; but all Sienna has poured in
upon the iStates of the Church, to suck them
utterly dry."f Yet still the exactions made
on the country never abated.
A cardinal once compared the country under
such a system of administration, to a jaded
horse that is goaded to fresh exertion, and sets
off anew till it falls exhausted. That moment
of utter exhaustion seemed now arrived.
There had arisen the worst spirit that can
animate a body of public functionaries : every
man looked on the commonwealth chiefly as
subservient to his own advantage, often but as
an object for the indulgence of his rapacity.
How frightfully did corruption stalk through
the land !
At the court of Innocent X., Donna Olimpia
procured places for aspirants, bargaining with
them for a monthly testification of their grati-
tude. Would we could say she was alone in
this practice. But Donna dementia, the
sister-in-law of the datario Cecchini, followed
the same course. Christmas was particularly
the great harvest time of presents.
The refusal of Don Camillo on one occasion
various persons by his predecessors now gained a
considerable sum of money by selling them : he does not
wish for loo low prices or foreign grain: agriculture is fall-
ing into disuse from the little or no profit it yields.]
* Diario, Deone, tom. iv. 1649,21 Ag. "E dovere di
favorir lachiesa: pero veggiamo che tutto quel lo che passa
a lei 6 in prejudicio dei publico, come che le lerre sue
subito sono dishabilate e le possessioni nial coltivate, si
vede in Ferrara, in Urbino, inNepe, inNeltuno et in lutte
le piazze che sono passate nel domlnio dellachiesa." [It
is right to favour the church : still we spe that all that falls
into Its hands is prejudicial to the public, and the sudden
depopulation of its finds, and their bad state of cultiva-
tion, are manifest in Ferrara, Urbino, Nepe, Netluno, and
all those places which have fallen under the rule of the
church.]
t Vita di Alpssandro VII. " Spolpatoe quasi in teschio
ridotto dalle gabelle Barberine lo slato ecclesiastico e
smunta la corte dall' ingordigia di Olimpia confidavano
generoso ristoro della bomi d' Alessandro."
ADMINISTRATION OF CHURCH AND STATE.
361
to share with Donna Olimpia, as he had given
her reason to expect, excited her violent indig-
nation, and was the primary cause of his
downfall. What forgeries was Mascambruno
induced by bribes to commit ! He subjoined
false summaries to the decrees which he laid
before the pope ; and as the latter read nothing
but the summaries, he signed things of which
he had no conception, and which covered the
Roman court with infamy.* Nothing can be
more painful than to read that the brother of
Alexander VII., Don Mario, owed his wealth
among other things to his having in his hands
the jurisdiction of the Borgo.
For unhappily this foul plague had tainted
even the administration of justice.
A catalogue has come down to us of the
abuses in the court of the rota, delivered to
pope Alexander, by a man who had for twenty-
eight years practised in it as an advocate.t
He reckons that there was not one auditor di
rota who did not receive 500 scudi in presents
every Christmas. Those who could not gain
access to the auditors in person, still contrived
to reach their relations, assistants, or servants.
But no less pernicious were the effects
wrought by the recommendation of the court
or of the great. There were even instances
of the judge apologizing to the parties them-
selves for the unjust judgments he pronounced
against them, declaring that justice was con-
strained by force.
What a system of jurisdiction was this !
The vacations lasted four months; during all
the rest of the year business was carried on in
a desultory, fitful, and fretting manner ; judg-
ment was inordinately procrastinated, and yet
finally displayed every mark of precipitation.
Appeals would have been all in vain. The
cause no doubt would thereby be transferred
to the arbitration of other members; but what
more remote would they be than their brethren
from the same corrupting influences } In
addition to this, their judgment was even
biassed by the decision previously given.
These evils beginning from the supreme
tribunal, diffused themselves through all the
the others, and affected the course of justice
and of government in the provinces.^
In a paper which has been preserved to our
times, cardinal Sacchetti represented in the
most urgent manner to pope Alexander, the
* Pallavicini endeavours to palliate this on the ground
that the transactions of the dataria were written " di carat-
tere francese come 6 restato in uso della dataria dapoi che
lasediafu in Avignone," [in French characters, as had
been the practice in the dataria since the residence of the
popes in Avignon,] and which the pope did not like to
read.
f Disordini che occorrono nel supremo tribunale della
rota nella corte Roniana e gli ordini con I quali si poirebbe
riformare, scrittura falta da \\n avvocalo da presentarsi alia
Sta- di N. Sre- Alessaiidro VII. MS. Rangone in Vienna,
No. 2.3.
t Disordini " Con le male decisioni di ciueslo tribunale
supremo (della rota) si corrompe la giustitia a tutti gli altri
minori, almeno dello stalo ecclesiastico, vedendosi da giu-
dici dare sentenze con decisioni si fatte."
46
oppression of the poor, who had none to help
them, by the powerful ; the perversion of jus-
tice through the intrigues of cardinals, princes,
and retainers of the palace : the procrastina-
tion for years and tens of years of causes that
might be dispatched in two days ; the tyranny
practised against those who ventured to appeal
from an inferior functionary to a superior ; the
impoundings and executions employed in
exacting the taxes; cruel expedients, the only
use of which was to make the sovereign hated,
and his servants wealthy : " Sufferings, most
holy father," he exclaims, •' worse than those
of the Israelites in Egypt. People, not con-
quered by the sword, but which have become
subject to the Roman see, either through the
donations of princes, or of their own free ac-
cord, are more inhumanly treated than the
slaves in Syria or in Africa. Who can behold
this without tears!"*
Such was already the condition of the states
of the church in the middle of the seventeenth
century.
Now was it to be expected that the adminis-
tration of the church should remain free from
abuses of this kind 1
It was, equally with the administration of
the state, dependent on the court, and its
course was shaped by the spirit of the latter.
No doubt restrictions were imposed on the
curia with regard to ecclesiastical affairs. In
France the crown possessed prerogatives of
the highest importance ; in Germany the
chapters maintained their independence. On
the other hand, the curia had free scope in
Italy and Spain, and in those countries it
recklessly insisted on its lucrative rights.
The Roman court possessed the right of
nomination to all the inferior ecelesiastical
posts and benefices in Spain, and to all with-
out exception in Italy. It is almost incredible
what sums flowed into the dataria from Spain
from installations, spolia, and the incomes of
vacant benefices. The curia, however, re-
garded as a whole, derived, perhaps, still
greater advantages from its relations to Italy;
the richest bishoprics and abbeys, a multitude
of priories, commanderies, and other bene-
fices, went immediately to enrich its members.
Well had it been if this were all 1
Buton these rights, in themselves sufficiently
objectionable, were superinduced the most
pernicious abuses. I will mention but one of
* Lettredu cardinal Sacchetti 6crite peu avant sa mort
au pape Alexandre VII. en 1663, copie tir^e des Manu-
scriiti della regina di Suezia in Arckenholtz, M6moires,
tom. iv. App. No. xxxii. : a very instructive document,
which is corroborated by many others, as for instance a
Scrittura sopra il governo di Koma, of the same period,
(Bibl. All.) " I popoli, non avendo piii argento ne rame,
n6 biancherie n6 matarezze, per sodisfare alia indiscre-
lionede' commissarj, converrS, che si venderanno schiavi
per pagare i pesi camerali." [The people having no
longer silver or copper, or linen or bedding, to satisfy the
rutiiless commissioners, nothing remains but that they sell
themselves for slaves to pay the exactions of the camera.]
362
THE POPES ABOUT THE MIDDLE OF THE 17TH CENTURY.
them, but that indeed the worst. The practice
crept in, and obtained full vogue in the middle
of the seventeenth century, of encumbering
all benefices conferred, with pensions in fa-
vour of some member or another of the curia.
In Spain this was expressly prohibited : in
that country none but natives could hold bene-
fices, nor could pensions be conferred on any
others. But contrivances were found at Rome
for evading this regulation. Pensions were
nominally assigned to native or naturalized
Spaniards, who bound themselves by a civil
contract to pay a stipulated sum yearly to
some Roman commercial house on account of
the actual receivers of the pensions. There was
no need in Italy of adopting this subterfuge:
the bishoprics there were often encumbered to
an intolerable degree. Monsignor de Angelis,
bishop of Urbino, complained in the year 1663,
that his whole net income from that rich see
amounted to no more than 60 scudi yearly,
and that he had already tendered his resigna-
tion, which the court refused to accept. For
years together no one would accept the sees
ofAnconaand Pesaro, subject to the heavy
conditions imposed on them. In the year
1667, twenty-eight bishops and archbishops
were counted in Naples, who were deprived
of their sees, because they did not pay the
pensions to which they were liable. This
monstrous abuse passed down from the bishop-
rics to the parishes. The incumbent of the
richest parish often derived from it only a
scanty means of subsistence, while the poor
country priests often found their casual fees
burthened with charges.* Some revolted
against this and threw up their livings; but
new candidates always presented themselves
sooner or later ; nay, even vied with each
other in bidding higher pensions to the curia.
Judge what must have been the character
of men concerned in these foul transactions,
which could have no other result than the
* The malicious Bc^ssadonasays : " Bisogna conch iudere
cheosni beneficio capace di pensione riinanga caricalo
oome r asino di Apuipjo, che non potpndo piii sosienere
il peso meditava di getlarsi in lerra qiiando il veder caduto
il compagno eiosio de' vetiurini scoiiicalohebbe per bene
euppoitare 1' insopponabil soma." [In fine, every bene-
fice must remain charged like the ass of Apxileius, which,
unable longer lo bear up its burden was thinking oi"
fitretching itself oh the ground, when seeing its fallen
oonirade instantly flayed by the drivers, il thought it best
to support jts insuppoitable load.] All contemporary
writers agree in thc-irdnatription oftheevil. The practice
>yas revived of makihgchurctiesover to others, with a reser-
vation of a part of the proceeds. Deone, Diario, 7 Genn. 1645,
after speaking of the archbishopric of Bolosna transferred
by cardinal Colonna to Albregati, proceeds" to say: ''Con
questo esempio si 6 aprrta la poita d' ammettere le ris-
egne; e cosl slamanasi 6 publicalalarisegnadellachiesa
di Bavenna fatta dal cardinal Capponi nella persona di
mongr, Tungianni suo nijjote con riseivadi pensione a
suo favore e dopo la morie sua d'una buona parte al cardi.
Pamfilio." [This example has opened the door to the
practice of transfers: thus there has been published this
morning the transfer of the church of Ravenna, made by
cardinal Capponi to his nephew monsignorTugianni, with
the reservation lo himselfof a pension, and of a consider,
ble interest for cardinal Pamfilio after his own death.]
corruption of the parochial clergy, and the
neglect of the common people.
The protestant church did far better in at
once abolishing all superfluities, and establish-
ing the authority of law and order.
It is very true that the wealth of the catho-
lic church, and the worldly rank conferred by
ecclesiastical dignity, had the effect of attract-
ing the higher aristocracy. Pope Alexander
even made it a maxim to select men of good
birth, by preference, for promotion, upon the
strange principle, that as earthly princes like
to see aroimd them servants of illustrious de-
scent, so it must be pleasing to God that his
service should be discharged by persons of ex-
alted station. But this was, assuredly, not
the way in which the church had risen in
early times, nor yet that in which it had been
restored in later days. The convents and
congregations which had contributed so much
to the revival of Catholicism, were now suf-
fered to fall into contempt. The nepotes
liked none who were bound by monastic obli-
gations, if it were only because such persons
could not incessantly pay them court. The
secular clergy were now the successful com-
petitors for place, however inferior they might
be to the regular in merit or learning. " It
seems to be held for certain," says Grimani,
"that the episcopal office or the purple would
be disgraced, if bestowed on a member of a
monastic order." He thinks he can perceive
that monks no longer like to show themselves
at court, since they meet there with nothing
but mockery and insult. It was already be-
come apparent, thatnone but persons of humble
birth were disposed to enter the convents.
"Even a bankrupt shopkeeper," he exclaims,
" thinks himself too good to assume the
hood."*
Whilst the convents thus actually declined
in intrinsic importance, it is no wonder if
people already began to look on them as
superfluous. It is a memorable fact, that this
opinion first unfolded itself in Rome, and that
there it was first thought necessary to put re-
strictions on monasticism. In the year 1649,
Innocent X. prohibited by bull all new ad-
missions into any regular order, till the in-
comes of the several convents were computed,
and the number of persons they were capable
of containing was determined.! Still more
♦ Grimani adds : " Si toglie ad ognunoaffatola vogliadi
studiare e la curadi difendere la religione. Deteriorandosi
il numero de' religiosi dotti e esemplari, potrebbg in breve
sotfiirne non poco delrimento la corte : onde al mio cre-
dere farebbono bene i pontefici di procurar di rimeltere i
regolari nel primoposto di slima partecipandoli di ((uando
in quando cariche . . . e cosi nelle religioni vi entrereb-
bero huomini eminent!. " [All wish for study and care
for the defence of religion are smothered. The court may
soon suffer not a little from the diminution in the number
of learned and exemplary men : wherefore, in my opinion,
the popes would do well to endeavour to restore the regu-
lar clergy to their former credit, by bestowing employ-
iiienis on them from time to time ... in this way supe-
rior men would be induced to enter the orders.]
t Our journal describes the impression made by the
ADMINISTRATION OF CHURCH AND STATE.
363
important was a bull of the 15lh of October,
1652, wherein the pope complained that there
were so many small convents, in which the
offices could not be duly performed, either by
day or nio^ht, nor spiritual exercises practised,
nor monastic seclusion observed, — mere asy-
lums for licentiousness and crime : theirnum-
ber was now increased beyond all measure.
He suppressed them all at one blow ; for the
tares, he said, must be separated from the
wheat.* The thought soon suggested itself,
and that too first of all in Rome, of alleviating
the financial difficulties even of foreign states
by confiscations, not of convents alone, but of
whole institutions. When Alexander VII.
shortly after his accession, was solicited by
the Venetians to support them in the war of
Candia against the Turks, he proposed to them
of his own accord, the suppression of some
orders in their country. The Venetians were
rather averse to this, since these orders af-
forded provision for poor nobili : but the pope
accomplished his design. The existence of
those convents, he said, was rather a cause of
offence than of edification to the faithful ; he
would do like the gardener who cuts away
useless branches from the vine, to make it
more fruitful.f
It could not be pretended that any very
shining talents were conspicuous among those
who wer.e selected for promotion. Complaints
of the dearth of distinguished men were uni-
versal in the seventeenth century.]: Men of
talent were in many cases excluded from the
prelacy, because their poverty prevented their
complying with the conditions required for
admission :5 but besides this, promotion was
too absolutely dependent on the favour of the
nepotes, which was only to be attained by a
fawning suppleness that could not be propiti-
ous to tiie growth of high mental endowments.
constitution on the 1st of January 1650. " Non entrando
quella ragione ne' cappucini et allri i-iforinati che non
possedono enlrata, lemono che la prohibitionp sia perpet-
uii, e cost cred' io, fin a tamo che il nuniero de' regolari
ho2£;i eccessivo sia ridotlo a numero competente e la re-
publica da loro non venga oppressa." [This condition
not subsisting among the Capuchins and other reformed
orders which do not possess revenues, they are afraid that
the prohibition will be perpetual, and I tliink so too, till
the now excessive numbers of the regular clergy be re
duced to a fit standard, so that the conmionweallh be no
longer overburdened with them.]
* Constitulio super extinctione el suppressione parvor-
um conventuum, eorumque reductione ad statum secular-
em, et bonorum applicatinne, et prohibitione erigendi
nova loca regulario in Italia el insulisadjacelibus. Idibus
Oct. 1652.
t Relatione de' iv. ambasciatori 1656. See Appendix,
No. 129.
+ Grimani. " Tolti 1' economia esteriore ogni altra
cosa si deteriora; . . . d' huomini di valore eftettiva-
mente scarseggia al presente la corte al maggior segno."
§ Relatione di Roma sotto Clemente IX. " Poitando lo
stile che le cariche si transferiscono solamente a' prelati
e che la prelalura si concede solo a quelli che hanno en-
lrata sufficienle per mantenere il decoro, ne siegue pero
che la masgior parte di soggetti capaci ne resta esclusa."
[It being the established usage that higli offices are en-
trusted only to prelates, and those only being admitted to
the rank oi^ prelates who have sufficient income to keep
up a becoming appearance, the result is that the majority
of able men are excluded.]
This bad its effect on the whole body of the
clergy.
It is certainly a striking fact, that the age
presented scarcely a single Italian author of
originality in the most important branches of
theology ; neither in the exposition of Scrip-
ture, in which nothing was done besides re-
peating the works of the 16th century; nor
in morals, though these were elsewhere cul-
tivated with great assiduily ; nor in dogmatic
theology. Foreigners alone figured in the
congregations that debated the question of the
means of grace; and in the later controversies
concerning freewill and faith, Italians took
little part. No distinguished preacher ap-
peared even in Rome after Girolamoda Narni.
The fact is remarked with astonishment in
the diary already quoted, extending from 1640
to 1650, and composed by a very strict catho-
lic. "With the carnival," it states, "com-
edies cease in theatres and houses, and begin
in the pulpits of our churches. The sacred
office of the preacher is made subservient to
the passion for applause, or to flattery. Mela-
physics are propounded, of which the speaker
understands little, and his hearers nothing at
all. Instead of admonishing and censuring,
the preacher deals in encomiums with a view
to his own advancement. The selection too
of a preacher no longer depends on merit, but
on connexion and favour."
In fine, that mighty inward impulse which
had formerly swayed court, church, and state,
and given their strict religious character, was
now extinct; the tendency towards restora-
tion and conquest had passed away ; other
springs were now in action, which urged only
towards the acquisition of power and enjoy-
ment, and once more obtruded a worldly
character upon spiritual afl^airs.
The question naturally presents itself, what
under these circumstances was the course
adopted by that society which was so peculiar-
ly founded on the principles of the restoration,
namely, the order of Jesuits!
The Jesuits in the middle of the seventeenth
century.
The most prominent change in the internal
constitution of the society of Jesu.s, consisted
in the advancement of the professed members
to the possession of power.
At first the professed members who took
the four vows were but few. Removed from
the colleges, and subsisting solely on alms, they
had confined themselves to the exercise of
spiritual authority. The places which re-
quired the active talents of men of tiie world,
— such as those of rectors, provincials, and
college offices in general, — fell to the lot of
the coadjutors. But this was now altered.
The proiessed members themselves attained
to the administrative posts; they had part in
364
POPES ABOUT THE MIDDLE OF THE 17TH CENTURY.
the revenues of the colleges, and they became
rectors and provincials.*
The first result of this was the gradual
cooling of that fervent spirit of personal de-
votion which had been peculiarly fostered in
the isolation of the houses of the professed.
Even upon the admission of members it was
no longer possible to look narrowly into their
fitness for ascetic vocations. Vitelleschi in
particular admitted many who were nowise
thus qualified. All strove after the highest
station, because it conferred at once spiritual
consideration and temporal power. The union
of these was in every respect prejudicial.
Coadjutors and professed had formerly acted
as a check on each other ; but now practical
importance and spiritual pretensions were
united in the same individuals. The shal-
lowest among them had a high conceit of
their own abilities, because no one ventured
to gainsay them. In possession of exclusive
power, they began to enjoy at their ease the
wealth, which the colleges had acquired in
the course of time, and to bend their thoughts
only on increasing it. They abandoned to
the younger members the real discharge of
duty, both in the schools and in the churches.f
They even assumed a very independent posi-
tion with regard to the general. I
The magnitude of the change is particu-
larly manifested in the character and for-
tunes of the generals, — in the sort of men
who were chosen for heads of the society,
and in the manner in which they were dealt
•with.
How different was Muteo Vitelleschi from
his absolute, crafty, indomitable predecessor,
Aquaviva ! Vitelleschi was by nature gentle,
indulgent, and conciliatory: his acquaint-
ances called him the angel of peace ; and on
his death -bed he derived comfort from the
assurance that he had never injured any man.
These admirable qualities of his amiable dis-
position were far, however, from suflicing for
the government of so widely diffused, active,
and powerful an order. He was unable to
enforce strict discipline even in the article of
dress, not to speak of his resisting the de-
mands of resolute ambition. It was under
his administration, from 1615 to 1645, that the
change noticed above took place.
His example was followed by his more im-
mediate followers. VincenzoCarafl'a (1645-9),
a man who even rejected all personal attend-
* In a collection of Scritture poliiiche, morali e satiriche
sopra la massinie, insliluti e governo della compagnia Ui
Gesu (MS. Rom.) there is a circumstantial essay of "nearly
4(X) leaves : " Discorso sopra la religione de' paUri Gesuili
e loro modo di governare," — written between 1681 and
1G86, evidently by a man fully initiated, from which the
statements in the text are chiefly derived.
t Discorso. " Molli compariscan", pochi opcrano: i
goveri non si visilano, i terreni non si coltivano . . .
scludendo quei pochi, d'ordinariogiovani, chealtendono
at insegnare nelld scuole, lutli gli aIlri,o chesonoconfes-
sori o procurator! o reltori o ininistri, appena hanno occu-
paiionedi rilievo."
ance, and was full of humility and piety,*
but who could effect nothing either by his
example or his admonitions : Piccolomini
(1649-51), who renounced the disposition to
vigorous and decisive measures that was
natural to him, and only pondered how he
might give satisfaction to his brethren of the
order.
For by this time it wa% no longer advisable
to attempt any change in the society. Ales-
sandro Gottofredi (from January to March,
1651) would fain have done this, and strove
at least to set bounds to the aspiring ambi-
tion of the members; but the two months of
his tenure of office were enough to make him
universally hated in the order ; his death was
liailed as a release from tyranny. Still greater
was the aversion which the next general,
Goswin Nickel, drew down on himself. He
could not be charged with contemplating any
very sweeping measures of reform : he left
things on the whole to go on as they were ;
only he was used to adhere obstinately to
opinions once adopted, and his demeanour
was rude, discourteous, and repulsive ; but
this was enough to wound the self-love of
powerful members of the order so deeply and
so keenly, that the general congregation of
1661 proceeded to measures against him, the
possibility of which the monarchical nature of
the Jesuit institution would not have led us to
anticipate.
They first begged permission of pope Alex-
ander VII. to associate with their general a
vicar with the right of succession. The per-
mission was readily obtained, the court even
pointing out a candidate lor the proposed
office, — that same Oliva who had first advised
the calling of the pope's nephews to court,
and the order was complaisant enough to
elect that favourite of the palace. The only
question now was, in what mode the power of
the general might be tranferred from his
hands to the vicar's. The order could not
prevail on themselves to pronounce the word
deposition. To get at the thing, and yet
evade the word, the question was proposed,
whether the vicar should have a cumulative
power, i. e., jointly with the general or a
privative power, i. e., without hiin 1 The con-
* Diario, Deone, 12 Giiigno, 1649. i' Marled! mattina
mori generale de' Gesuiti : fu di poche lettere, ma di san-
tit&. di vita non ordinaria: quanto alia sua persona, egli
non ha mai voluto carozza al suo servigio, n^ esser differ-
enlialo da qualsivoglia minimoira di loro nel traltar del
vitto o veslito: quanto agli allri, voleva che i padri Gesu-
ili fossero e vivessero da religiosi, lasciando i trailali poli-
lici e '1 frequentare le corti, nel die havendo trovatodiffi-
colii impossi bile gli hanno cagionaloilsedio del la morle."
[On Tuesday morning died the general of the Jesuits. He
was a man of little learning, but of no common sanctity
of life : as for his own person, he would never have a car-
riasre for his use, nor be treated in any respect differently
as to food or raiment from the humblest of the brethren ;
as for the others, he wished that the Jesuit fathers should
truly lead the lives of religious men, ceasing to meddleiu
politics and to frequent courts; the insurmountable diffi-
culties he en( ouniered in trying to effect this, were the
primary cause of his death.]
THE JESUITS.
365
gregation of course decided for the privative,
and, in consequence of this decision, declared
expressly that the general had forfeited all
his authority, which w^as to be entirely trans-
ferred to the vicar.*
Thus it came to pass that the society, the
principle of which was unconditional obe-
dience, itself deposed its chief, and that
without anj"^ real transgression on his part.
It is manifest how much this act established
in this order too the predominance of aristo-
cratical tendencies.
Oliva was a man who loved outward repose,
good living and political intrigue. He had a
villa not far from Albano, where he cultivated
the rarest foreign plants ; even when he was
in the city, he used to retire from time to
time to the noviciate house of Santo Andrea,
where he gave audiences to no one ; his table
was furnished with none but the choicest
meats; he never went abroad on foot; in his
dwelling comfort was carried to an excessive
degree of refinement; he enjoyed his posi-
tion and his power ; — assuredly such a man
was not fitted to revive the ancient spirit of
the order.
In fact, it daily departed more and more
from the principles on which it had been
founded.
Had it not been pledged, above all things,
to defend the interests of the Roman see, and
been founded for that special purpose ! But
to such a pitch had it now carried its con-
nexion with France, and with the house of
Bourbon, that in the competition gradually
arising between the Roman and the French
interests, it almost invariably sided with the
latter.f Occasionally Jesuit works were con-
demned by the inquisition at Rome, because
they too vehemently defended the rights of
the crown. The heads of the French Jesuits
avoided intercourse with the papal nuncio, to
avoid incurring the suspicion of entertaining
ultramontane opinions. ■ Nor could the Roman
see boast of the obedience of the order in other
respects in those days : in the missions espe-
cially, the pope's enactments were almost
always treated with contempt.
Another fundamental principle of the order
was, that they should renounce all worldly
ties, and devote themselves solely to spiritual
duties. How rigidly had it been insisted on
* Detailed account in a contemporary Discorso. " Ve-
nendo noi," the author says at the conclusion, "in tal
tempo a Kona ed andando a fargli riverenza (to Nickel)
. . . conchiuse con dire queste parole: lo mi irovo qui
abandouaio e non posso piu niente." [On arriving in
Rome at that lime, and going to pay our respects to him
... he ended by saying these words : "I am left here
alone, and h:tve not the least power left."]
t Relatione della nuntialura di monsr- Scotti nunzio
alia Mta- del re Xmo- 1639-1641. " I Gesuiti, che dov-
rebbero esserecomealtre volte defensor! della santasede,
piudegli altri la pongono in compromesso. — Professano
totale ritiralezza (dalla nuntiatura) dubbiosi semprenell'
accostarai al nuniio di non perdere appresso ministri
regj."
in past times, that every one on entering the
order should abandon all his possessions !
First, the act was postponed for a while, and
then it was performed but conditionally, be-
cause the member was liable after all to ex-
pulsion ; at last the custom became establish-
ed, for the member to make over his property
to the society itself, — always, however, with
a clear understanding, that it should fall to
the share of the college into which he himself
entered, in such wise that he often retained
the management of it in his own hands, only
under another title.* The members of the
colleges had often more leisure than their
relations who were engaged in active life,
whose business therefore they managed, col-
lected their money, and carried on their law-
suits.f
But the mercantile spirit seized the col-
leges too in their corporate capacity. They
wished to secure their prosperity, and as large
donations ceased to be made to them, they en-
deavoured to make up for them by means of
trade. The Jesuits admitted no marked dif-
ference between tilling the ground, as the
earliest monks had done, and carrying on
business in the way they themselves pursued.
The collegio Romano engaged in the manu-
facture of cloth at Macerata, at first only for
its own use, then for that of all the colleges
in the province, and finally for the public;
their agents attended the fairs. The close
connexion between the several colleges gave
rise to a money-changing traffic. The Por-
tuguese ambassador at Rome was directed to
draw upon the Jesuits of his own country.
Their transactions in the colonies were par-
ticularly prosperous: the commercial con-
nexions of the order spread like a net over
the two continents, having its centre in Lis-
bon.
This was a spirit which, when once evoked,
necessarily affected the entire internal econo-
my of the order.
It still held fast to the principle of giving
gratuitous instruction. Presents however
were accepted on the admission of pupils,
and on certain festival occasions, occurring
twice at least yearly,]: wealthy pupils were
*. Vincentii Carrafae epislola de mediis conservandi pri-
maevum spiritum societatis : " Definitis pro arbitrio dantis
domibus sive coUegiis in quibus aul sedem sibi fixtunis
est aut jam animo fixerit . . . anxie agunt ut quae socie-
tati reliquerunl ipsimet per se administrent."
t Epistola Goswini Nickel de amore et studio perfectas
paupertatis: "Illud inlolerabile, si et lites inferant et ad
tribunalia confligantet violentaspecuniarum repetitiones
faciant, aut palam negotiantur ad quaeslum, . . . specie
quidem prime aspeclu etiam honesta, caritate, in consan-
guinpos, decepti."
$ Discorso; "Perlo menol' anno due volte cio6 al natale
e nel giorno della propria festa si fanno le loro offerte ov-
vero mancie, le quale ascendono a somma considerabile.
— 11 danaro poi di queste otferte o che venga impiegato in
argemi, quadri o tappezzerie, calici o altri addobbi some-
glianti tutto ridonda in utility de' collegi medesiini.
Avegna che i rettori locali se ne servono indiiferente-
mente, dal che ne derivano infinite oflfensioni, p0i.o o
nulla slimano i lamenii de' propri scolari." [At least
366
POPES ABOUT THE MIDDLE OF THE 17TH CENTURY.
welcomerl by preference. Now the conse-
quence of this was, that these youths felt a
proportionate consciousness of independence,
and would no longer submit to the strictness
of the ancient discipline. A Jesuit who raised
his stick aarainst a pupil was stabbed by him
with a poinard; a young- man in Gubbio, who
was treated too harshly by the father prefetto,
killed him. Even in Rome the commotions
in the colleo^e were the incessant theme of
conversation in the city and the palace. The
teachers were once actually imprisoned a
whole day by their pupils; and finally, it
was found necessary to comply with their de-
mand, and actually to dismiss the rector.
These may be resfarded as symptoms of a
general conflict between the old order of
thinofs and the new tendencies. In the end
the latter prevailed. The Jesuits were no
lono-er able to maintain the influence with
which, in earlier days, they had swayed the
minds of men.
On the whole, it was no longer their aim
to subjugate the world, or to imbue it with
the spirit of religion; rather had their own
spirit stooped to the world's ways ; their only
endeavour was to make themselves indispen-
sable to mankind, effect it how they might.
Not only were the rules of the institution,
but even its religious and moral doctrines,
modified with this view. They gave a turn
forever memorable to the oftice of confession,
that office through which they exercised so
direct an influence over the innermost springs
of individual conduct.
We possess unquestionable documents bear-
ing on this point. The Jesuits have laid
down, in numerous elaborate works, the prin-
ciples they themselves observed in the con-
fessional, and which they commended to
others. These are, in general, the very same
with which they have been so often re-
proached. Let us endeavour to comprehend
at least the main principles on which they
built their general system of the confessional.
In confession everything will infallibly de-
pend on the particular view taken of trans-
gression and sin.
Sin they define to be a voluntary departure
from God's commands.*
And wherein, we may further inquire, con-
sists this freedom of volition? Their answer
is, in thorough understanding of the misdeed,
and perfect consent of the will.f
twice a year, thai is on birthdays and patron saints' days,
they malie their offRrin^s, which amount to aconsiderable
sum. — The mon^y of these otTerinss, or that which is ex-
pended in plate, pictures, tapestry, chalices, and other
rich furniture of the kind, is all applied to ihe use of the
same college. The local rectors make use of it indis-
criminately, which gives rise to endless offence, but
they care lillle or nothing for the complaints of their
pupils.]
* Definition by Fr. Toledo: " Voluntarius recessus a
reaula divina "'
This principle they embraced, with the am-
bition of propounding something novel, and
with the anxious desire to accommodate them-
selves to the common practices of life. With
scholastic subtlety, and with a comprehensive
view of the various occurring cases, they
worked it out to the most revolting deduc-
tions.
According to their doctrine, it is enough
only not to will tlie commission of sin as such:
the sinner has the more reason to hope for
pardon the less he thought of God in the per-
petration of his evil deed, and the more vio-
lent was the passion by which he felt himself
impelled : custom, and even bad example, in-
asmuch as they restrict the freedom of the
will, avail in excuse. What a narrowing is
this of the range of transgression ! Surely
no one loves sin for its own sake. But, be-
sides this, they admit other grounds of excuse
of a different kind. Duelling, for instance, is
by all means forbidden by the church : never-
theless the Jesuits are of opinion, that if any
one incur the risk of being deemed a coward,
or of losing a place, or the favour of his sove-
reign, by avoiding a duel, in that case he is
not to be condemned if he fight.* To take a
false oath were in itself a grievous sin : but,
say the Jesuits, he only swears outwardly,
without inwardly intending it, is not bound by
his oath ; for he does not swear, but jests.f
These doctrines are laid down in books that
expressly profess to be moderate. Now that
their day is past, who would seek to explore
the further perversions of ingenuity to the an-
nihilation of all morality, in which the pro-
pounders of these doctrines vied, with literary
emulation, in outdoing each other. But it
cannot be denied, that the most repulsive
tenets of individual doctors were rendered
very dangerous through another principle of
the Jesuits, namely, their doctrine of proba-
bility. They maintained that, in certain cases,
a man might act upon an opinion, of the truth
of which he was not convinced, provided it
was vindicated by an author of credit. J; They
not only held it allowable to follow the most
+ Busembaum, Medulla theologiae moralis, lib. v. c. ii.
dub. iii. expresses himself thus ; " Tria requirunlur ad opinio alicujus gravis autoris.'
peccatum mortale (quod gratiam et amicitiam cum Deo
solvit,) quorum si unum desit, fit veniale (quod ob suani
levitatem gratiam el amicitiam non toUit:) 1. ex parte
intellectus, plena advertentia et deliberatio; 2. ex parte
volunlalis, perfeclus consensus; 3. gravitas materise."
[Three things are requisite to mortal sin (which cuts off
grace and friendship with God,) whereof if one be want-
ing the sin becomes venial, (which by reason of its light-
ness does not take away grace and friendship:) 1. on
the part of the intellect, lull perception and deliberation;
2. on the part of the will, perfect consent; 3. gravity of
the thing itself]
*"Privanilus alioqui, ob suspicionem ignavise, digni-
tate, officio vel favore principis." Busembaum, lib. iii.
tract, iv. cap. i. dub. v. art. i. n. 6.
i " Qui exterius tanlum juravit sine animo jurandi,
non obligatur nisi forte ratione scandali. cum non jurave-
rit sed luseril." (lib. iii. tract, ii. cap. ii. dub. iv. n. 8.)
t Era. Si.: Aphorismi Confpssariorum s. v. dubium,
" Potest quia facere quod probabili ratione vel auctoritate
putallicere, eliamsi opposilimi tuliussit: sufficil autem
THE JANSENISTS.
367
indulgent teachers, but they even counselled 1 adopted the stricter doctrines that had never
it. Scruples of conscience were to be de-
spised ; naj', the true way to get rid of them,
was to follow the easiest opinions, even though
tlieir soundness was not very certain.* How
strongly did all this tend to convert the most
inward and secret promptings of conscience
into mere outward deed. In the manuals of
the Jesuits all possible contingencies of life
are treated of, nearly in the same way as is
usual in the systems of civil law, and exam-
ined with regard to their degree of veniality :
one needs but to open one of these books, and
regulate himself in accordance with what he
finds there, without any conviction of his own
mind, to be sure of absolution from God and
the church. A slight turn of the thoughts
unburthened from all guilt. With some sort
of decency, the Jesuits themselves occasion-
ally marvelled how easy the yoke of Christ
was rendered by their doctrines.
The Jansenists.
All life must have been extinct in the cath-
indced been lost in Loiivain, and conceived a
vehement dislike to the Jesuits. Du Verger
was a man of family and fortune : he took his
friend with him to Bayonne. There they
plunged deeply and unceasingly into repeated
study of the works of St. Augustine, and im-
bibed for that father's doctrines of grace and
free will an enthusiasm that shaped the whole
subsequent tenor of their lives.*
Jansenius, who became professor in Louvain
and bishop of Ypres, adopted rather the theo-
retical course, du Verger, who was appointed
to the abbey of St. Cyran, rather the practi-
cal and ascetic, with a view towards reviving
those doctrines in their full force.
The book, entitled Augustinus, in which
Jansenius elaborately and systematically un-
folded his convictions, is highly deserving of
note, not only for the bold front with which it
met the Jesuits, on the ground of their dog-
matic and moral tendencies, but also for the
mode of its opposition, which consisted in its
working out anew into living thoughts, the
traditionary formulae of grace, sin, and for-
olic church, if no opposition had been evoked I giveness.
in it on the instant against such pernicious] Jansenius sets out from the principle of the
doctrines, and all the causes and consequences nonfreedom of the human will ; laying it down
in the state of society connected therewith. that it is tied and enthralled by the lusts after
Most of the orders were already ill-disposed earthly things; that it cannot of its own
to the Jesuits; the Dominicans on account of strength raise itself out of that condition;
their dissent from the views of Thomas Aqui-
nas ; the Capuchins and Franciscans, on ac-
count of the exclusive power they arrogated
to themselves in the missions to further Asia :
at times they were opposed by the bishops,
whose authority they narrowed ; at times by
the parish clergy, on whose functions they en-
croached ; in the universities too, at least in
those of France and the Netherlands, adver-
saries often rose up against them. But all
these desultory efforts were not equivalent to
that effective resistance which could only
flow from more profound convictions, embraced
with a fresh and lively spirit.
For, after all, the moral doctrines of the
Jesuits were in close keeping with their dog-
matic notions. In the former, as well as in
the latter, they gave great scope to the free-
dom of the will.
This was the very point upon which was
directed the greatest resistance the Jesuits
ever encountered. It arose in the following
manner.
During the years when the catholic theolo-
gical world was intensely occupied with the
controversy on the means of grace, two young
men were studying at Louvain, Cornelius
Janse, a Hollander, and Jean du Verger, from
Gascony, who, with kindred convictions,
that it needs the aid of grace, of grace which
is not so much the forgiveness of sin, as the
liberation of the soul from the bonds of lust.f
And here his distinctive views presented
themselves. He attributes the influx of grace
to the higher and purer pleasure which the
soul derives from heavenly things. The ef-
fectual grace of the Saviour is nothing else,
he says, than a spiritual delight, by which the
will is moved to will and to do what God has
decreed : it is the involuntary impulse im-
pressed by God upon the will, by which man
is made to take pleasure in good, and to strive
after ii.\ He insists, again and again, that
good must be done, not from fear of punish-
ment, but from love for righteousness.
From this point he next proceeds to the
higher question. What is this righteousness?
He answers, God himself.
* Busembaum, lib. i. c. iii. " Remedia conscientiae
scrupulosas sunt, 1. scrupulos contemnere, 4. assuefacere
se ad sequendas sentenlias mitiores et minus etiam
cenas."
* Synopsis vitae Jansenii, prefixed to the Augustinus:
" In Cantabriain rteinde raigravit, ubi erudiiissimorum
viroruni consueiudine et fainiliari studioium coininunione
in SS. Patrum et praesertim Augustini intelligentia mag-
nos progressus fecisse, saepe testalus est." [He then re-
moved to Gascony, where in the society and familiar stu-
dious intercourse of very learned men, he has frequently
testified that he made great progress in understanding the
holy fathers, especially Augustine.]
+ Corn. Jansenii Augustinus, torn, iii.lib. i. c. ii. "Libe-
ratio voluntatis non est peccati remissio, sed relaxatio
qutedam deleciabilis vinculi concupiscentialis, cui in-
nexus servit animus quoad per gratiam infusa ctelestiali
dulcedine ad suprema diligenda transferatur." This is
likewise Pascal's view of "this doctrine. "Dieu change
le cneur de I'homme par une duoceur celeste qu'il y r6-
pand." Les Provinciales, 1. xviii. torn. iii. p. 413.
X Tom. iii. lib. iv. c. i.
368
POPES ABOUT THE MIDDLE OF THE 17TH CENTURY.
We must not think of God as a corporeal
being, nor under any material similitude, not
even that of light. We must contemplate
Him and love Him as the eternal truth, the
fountain of all truth and wisdom, as righteous-
ness, not in its acceptatitm as a quality of the
soul, but as it comes before it as an idea, as a
supreme inviolable rule. The rules for our
conduct flow from the eternal law ; they are
a reflection of its light : he who loves righ-
teousness loves God himself*
Man does not become good by bending his
soul upon this good or that, but by fixing his
eyes upon tlie unchangeable, indivisible, su-
preme good, which is truth, which is God
Himself Virtue is the love of God.
And in this very love consists the liberation
of the will : its ineffable sweetness extin-
guishes the pleasures of our lusts ; there arises
a voluntary and blissful necessity of not sin-
ning, but of leading a good life,t the true free
will, that is, a will freed from evil and filled
with good.
It is a characteristic of this work, deserving
of admiration, with what a high degree of
philosophic clearness the development of its
dogmatic principles is followed out, even
amidst the polemical zeal of a hostile discus-
sion : its fundamental ideas are at once moral
and religious, speculative and practical ; it
opposes to the outward self-accommodating
precepts of the Jesuit doctrines, strict require-
ments of the inward man, the ideal of a sys-
tem of action springing from the love of God.
Now whilst Jansenius was engaged upon
the completion of this work, his friend was
already occupied with the endeavour to show
forth in his own life, and practically to difliise
among those about him, the ideas on which it
was founded.
St. Cyran, for so du Verger was now called,
had made him a learned ascetic hermitage in
the midst of Paris. Unweared in his study
of the sacred scriptures, and of the fathers of
the church, he strove to penetrate himself
with their spirit. The peculiarity of the doc-
trine in which he agreed with Jansenius,
would of necessity lead him at once to the
sacrament of penance. The penitential ordi-
nances of the church were not sufficient for
him : he was often heard to say, that the
church had been purer at its commencement,
as are streams nearer tlieir source ; that many
a gospel truth was now obscure.J His de-
mands, on the other hand, were extremely
* Tom. iii. lib. v. c. iii. "Rpgulae vivendi et quasi
lumina virluluin immutabilia et sempilerna non sum
aliud quam lex aelerna, quae in ipsa Dei aelerna verilate
splenilel, quam proinde drligendo non aliud dillgil nisi
ipsura Deum seu veritalern el jusliliam ejus incommula-
bilera, a qua promanat el ex cujus refulgenlia lucis fulget
quicquid velul justum el recluiii approbanius."
+ Tom. iii. lib. vii. c. ix. " Voluntas felix, immulabilis
el necessaria non peccandl recteque vivendi."
t Extracts from his trial in Ruechlin : Geschichle von
Ponroyal, i. p. 151.
rigorous. To humble oneself, to endure, to
depend on God, utterly to renounce the
world,* and to devote oneself and all one's
acts and aims to the love of God, that alone
appeared to him Christianity. So profound
was his apprehension of the necessity of in-
ward conversion, that according to his doc-
trine, grace must precede penance. " If God
wills to rescue a soul, he begins from with-
in : — is the heart once changed, then and not
till then is true repentance felt, and all the
rest follows: absolution can but betoken the
first beam of grace : as a physician has but to
follow the movements and inward workings
of nature, so the physician of souls must fol-
low the workings of grace." He often re-
peats, that he had himself traversed the entire
road from temptation and sin, to contrition,
prayer, and exaltation. He communicated
his feelings to but few, and always without
many words, in a manner expressive of tran-
quillity : but as his whole soul was filled with
what he uttered, as he always waited a fit
season and frame of mind both in himself and
in those he addressed, the impression he made
was irresistible ; his hearers involuntarily
felt themselves transformed ; tears burst from
their eyes before they suspected itf Very
speedily some distinguished men attached
themselves to him as decided proselytes : Ar-
nauld d'Andilly, who was in close connexion
with cardinal Richelieu and Anne of Austria,
and was employed in the most important af-
fairs ; his nephew, Le Maitre, who was ad-
mired in those days as the first orator in par-
liament, and who had the most brilliant ca-
reer open to him, but now actually retired to
a hermitage near Paris; Angelique Arnauld,
to whom we have already alluded, and her
nuns of Portroyal, attached themselves to
St. Cyran with all the unbounded affection
which pious women are wont to feel for their
prophet.
Jansenius died before he saw his book in
print; St. Cyran was cast into prison, imme-
diately after he had effected his first conver-
sions, by Richelieu, who had a natural anti-
pathy to efforts of such a character and such
efficacy : but these mischances did not hinder
the progress of their doctrines.
The work of Jansenius gradually produced
a general and profound impression, both from
its intrinsic merit, and from its polemical
boldness.| St. Cyran continued his career
♦ " S'humilier, souffrir et d^pendre de Dieu est touts la
vie Chr6tienne."
t M^moires pour servir ii I'histoire de Portroyal, par
Mr- Fontaine, i p. 225. Racine: Hist, de Portroyal, p.
134.
t Gerberon : Histoire du Jans6nisme, 63. " Leg th^o-
logiens de Paris s'appliquerent lellemenl i l'6tudede
I'Auguslin d'Ipres, ou il reconnoissoient celui d'Hippone,
. . . qu'on commensoit a n'entendre plus parmi ceslh^-
ologiens que les noms de Jansenius el de S. Auguslin."
[Tlie theologians of Paris applied themselves to such a
degree to the study of the Augustine of Ypres, in whom
THE JANSENISTS.
369
of conversion even from within his prison
walls. His unmerited sufferings, which he
bore with great resignation, exalted him in
the public eye : when he was set at liberty
after the death of Richelieu, he was regarded
as a saint, as a John the Baptist. He died
indeed a few months after, ((Jet. 11, 1643,)
but he had established a school which saw
their gospel in his own and in his friends'
doctrines: " his disciples," says one of them-
selves, " went forth like young eagles under
his wings; inheritors of his virtue and his
piety, they transmitted to others what tiiey
had received from him. Elijah left behind
him Elisha to prosecute his work."
If we seek to define the general relation in
which the Jansenists stood to the dominant
church party, it strikes us as manifestly ana
logons to that of protestantism. They insist
Pelagian notions for Augustin^an. Luther's
mind had been aroused by St. Augustine, but
he had immediately and unconditionally fall-
en back on the primary source of knowledge,
the scriptures, the word of God : in contrast
with him, Catholicism had held fast by the
entire system accumulated in the course of
centuries ; the Jansenists sought to assert the
creed of St. Augustine as that which had first
comprised the earlier system, and laid the
basis for the latter. Protestantism repudi-
ates tradition, Catholicism clings to it, Jansen-
ism seeks to purify it, to re-establish it in its
primitive form, expecting thereby to regene-
rate life and doctrine.
Already there was gathered together round
Le Maitre, in the hermitage of Portroyal des
Champs, to which he had retired, an assem-
blage of persons of no mean consideration,
ed with the like zeal on purification of life, who held the principles we have described.
It is not to be denied that the society was ori-
ginally somewhat limited, consisting chiefly
of members and friends of the Arnauld family.
Le Maitre drew afler him his four brothers;
their mother, who had instilled their spiritual
feelings into their minds, was an Arnauld :
St. Cyran's oldest friend, to whom he be-
queathed his heart, was Arnauld d'Andilly,
and he too at last joined the society ; the first
important work on its behalf, was the pro-
duction of the brother of d'Andilly, Antoine
Arnauld. These first members were follow-
ed by a great number of friends and relations.
The convent too of Portroyal in Paris was al-
most exclusively in the hands of the family.
D'Andilly relates that his mother, who at last
joined, was accompanied by twelve daughters
and granddaughters.* We may mention in
passing, that it was the elder Antoine Ar-
nauld, from whom all the others we have
mentioned were descended, by whose brilliant
plaidoyer in the year 1594, the banishment
of the Jesuits from Paris was chiefly decided.
The aversion to the order seemed, as it were,
hereditary in the family.
But this narrow circle of friends was very
rapidly and vastly extended.
In the first place many joined it, attracted
by no other kinship than that of sentiment.
An influential preacher of Paris, Singliu, an
adherent of St. Cyran, was particularly ac-
tive in the cause. It was Singlin's strange
peculiarity, that in common life lie expressed
himself but with difficulty, but as soon as he_
mounted the pulpit, an overpowering flow of
eloquence burst from his lips.f He sent
those who adhered most zealously to him to
Portroyal, where they were gladly wel-
comed. They were young clergymen and
scholars, substantial merchants, men of the
best families, physicians already of considera-
and strove no less eagerly to give a new as-
pect to doctrine, by removing from it the in-
terpolations of the schoolmen. But this is by
no means sufficient, in my opinion, to warrant
us in looking on them as a kind of uncon-
scious protestants. The grand distinguishing
point, historically considered, consists in this,
that they willingly assented to a principle to
which, from the very first, the protestants re-
fused to be reconciled ; they held fast by
those most eminent fathers of the Latin
church, who had been abandoned in Germany
as early as 15*23 — St. Ambrose, St. Augus-
tine, St. Gregory, and added to them, some
Greek fathers besides, above all St. Chrysos-
tom : in the works of these fathers they be-
lieved they possessed a pure and unvitiated
tradition, from which St. Bernard in his day
had never departed, but which after that
" last of the fathers" had become obscured by
the intrusion of the Aristotelic doctrines.
We find them therefore far remote from that
energetic zeal with which the protestants
reverted directly to the doctrines of Holy
Writ: their perceptive powers were satisfied
with the first formations, which served for the
basis of the latter system. They abide by
the principle that the visible church, in spite
of temporary darkness and deformity, is yet
one in spirit, nay one in body with Christ, in-
fallible, and imperishable : they adhere most
earnestly to the episcopal hierarchy ; they
live in the faith that St. Augustine had been
inspired of God to communicate to the world
in all its bearings that doctrine of grace which
is the essence of the new covenant; in him,
to their minds. Christian theology received
its completion ; they wish to grasp this at the
very root, to understand it in its very core,
for many had been the instances of mistaking
they recognized him of Hippo . . . that by and by no-
thing was heard among ihem but the names of Jansenius
and St. Augustine.]
47
* M6moires d'Arnauld d'Andilly, i. p. 341.
t IV16moires de Fontaine, ii. p. 283.
372
POPES ABOUT THE MIDDLE OF THE 17TH CENTURY.
superadded a question touching the limits of
the papal authority : in their undeniable oppo-
sition to the Roman see, the Jansenists still
knew how to maintain the character of good
catholics.
This party was no longer to be put down.
Attempts were occasionally made to that end
on the part of the crown : formularies were
issued in accordance with the bull of condem-
nation, which were to be subscribed by all
ecclesiastics, and even by schoolmasters and
nuns. The Jansenists made no difficulty of
condemning the five propositions, which, as
we have mentioned, admitted of a heterodox
interpretation ; they only refused to acknow-
ledge, by an unconditional subscription, that
they were contained in Jansenius, that they
were the doctrines of their master. Such was
the effect of their stedfastness, that their num-
bers and their credit rose day by day ; ere
long there were even among the bishops nume-
rous champions of their opinions.*
Torestore peace, at least outwardly, Clement
IX. was constrained, in the year 1668, to de-
clare himself content with such a mode of
subscription as even a Jansenist could comply
with. He was satisfied with a general con-
demnation of the five propositions, without
insisting that they had actually been put forth
by Jansenius.f Now this in reality implied
an essential concession on the part of the
court of Rome : not only did it allow its claim
to decide on matters of fact to fall to the
ground, but it even acquiesced in seeing its
* Letter from nineteen bishops to the pope, Dec. 1, 1GG7.
"Novuin et inauditum apud nos nonnuUi dogma procude-
nint, ecclesiae nempe decretisquibusquolidiana necreve-
lata divinitus facta deciduntur,certam elinfallibilem con-
stare verilatem." [Some persons have set up a new and
unprecedented doctrine among us, to wit, that decrees de-
ciding on every day matters of fact, not matters of divine
revelation, are marked by certain and infallible truth.]
This is, in fact, the recognized solution of the question of
"droit" and "fait."
t The last formulary of Alexander VIT. (15th Feb. 16G.5,)
runs thus; " Je rejette et condamne sinc6rement les cinq
propositions exiraitesdulivre de Cornelius Jansenius inti-
tule Augustinus, et dans le sens du meme auteur, comme
le saint si6ge aposlolique les a condamn6es par les susdi-
tes constitutions." [I reject and condemn sincerely the
five propositions extracted from the book of Cornelius Jan-
senius, entitled 'Augustinus,' and in 1 he sense of the same
author, as the holy apostolic see has condemned them by
the aforesaid constitutions.] On the other hand, there is
the II ore circumstantial declaration of peace: " Vous
devez vousobligericondemnersinc6rement,pleinemenl,
sans aucune reserve ni exception lous lessens que I'eglise
et le pape out condamnds et coudamnent dans les cinq
propositions." [You are to hold yourself bound to con-
demn sincerely, fully, and without any reserve or excep-
tion, all the senses which the church and the pope have
condemned and do condemn in the five propositions.] A
second article follows: " U^clarons que ce seroil faire
injure i. I'eglise de couiprendreenire les sens condanm^s
dans ces propositions la doctrine de St. Augustine el de
St. Thomas, touchant la grace efficace par ellem^nie n6-
cessaire a. loutes Its actions de la pi6t6 Chr6tieane et la
predestination gratuite des eius." [We declare that it
would be an insult to the church, to include within the
meanings condemned in these propositions, the doctiine of
St. Auirus ine and of St. Thomas, touching grace efficaci-
ous of Itself, and necessary to all the actions of Christian
piety, and touching the gratuitous predestination of the
elect.]
sentence of condemnation pronounced upon
Jansenius remain null and void.
From that period the party of St. Cyran and
Jansenius rose more and more in strength and
importance, tolerated by the curia, on a
friendly footing with the royal court (the well
known minister Pompone was a son of Andilly),
and encouraged by some of the nobles. Its
literary activity now wrought its full efi'ect
upon the nation. But, simultaneously with
the rise of the society, there had grown up a
lively opposition to the Roman see ; the Jan-
senists well knew, that, had matters gone as
the curia intended, they could never have sub-
sisted as a party.
Relation of the Roman see to the temporal
power.
By this time there had likewise arisen in
another quarter an opposition, to say the least
of it, not less dangerous than that of the Jan-
senists, and one that constantly increased in
vehemence, and spread more Vvidely.
The Roman see began, in the seventeenth
century, to assert its jurisdictional preroga-
tives, I know not whether with more vivacity
and effect, but certainly with more system and
unbending rigour. Urban VIII., who owed
his elevation in part to the distinction he had
acquired as a zealous champion of these
claims,* established a special Congregation of
Immunities. He entrusted to a few cardinals
— who, as usual with their class, were in cor-
respondence with the powers of Europe, and
who, as young prelates, would hope to be pro-
moted according to the zeal with v\hich they
discharged the duty — the task of keeping a
watchful eye upon all the encroachments of
sovereigns upon the jurisdiction of the church.
From that time the vigilance exercised was
much keener and more regular, and the ad-
monitions more urgent; official zeal and per-
sonal interest co-operated ; the public spirit of
the court regarded it as a proof of piety, to
watch jealously over every item of those an-
cient hereditary rights.f
* Relatione de' iv ainbasciatori, 1625. " Professa sopra
tutte le cose haver I'animo inflessibile e che la sua inde-
pendenza non ammetta alcuna ragione degl' interessi de'
principi. Ma quello in che preme con insistenza et a che
tende I'impiego di lutto il suo spirito 6 di conservare e di
accrescer la giurisditlione ecclesiaslica. Questo mede-
sinio concetto fu sempre sostenuto dal pontefice nella sua
minor fortuna, e ci6 6 stato anchegrandissimacausa della
sua esaltatione." [He i)rofess( s above all things, inflexi-
ble determination and independence, not to be swayed by
any consideration of ihe inleresis of sovereigns. But what
he most urgently insists on, and what he bends all the
power of his mind to, is the conservation and the augmen-
tation of the ecclesiastical Jurisdiction. This samelhought
was always cherished by the pope when in lower station,
and it likewise proved in a very great measure the cause
of his elevation.]
t Joh. Bapt. de Luca S. R. E. Cardinalis : Relatio curiae
Romanae, 1G83. Disc. xvii. p. 109. " Etiam apud bonos et
zelantes ecclesiaslicos remanet quaestio, an hujus congre-
gationis erectio ecclesiasticae immunitati et jurisdiction!
proficua vel praejudicialis fuerit, potissime quia bonus
quidem sad forte indiscretus vel asper zelus aliquorum,
RELATION OF THE ROMAN SEE TO THE TEMPORAL POWER. 373
But was it likely that the states would wil-
lingly submit to this more strict supervision?
The feeling of religious union, that had been
kindled in the conflict with protestantism,
was grown cold ; every effort of the nations
was bent towards tlie attainment of internal
strength and political compactness; the court
of Ronie found itself involved in rancorous
disputes with all the catholic states.
Even the Spaniards at times made attempts
to restrict the influential interfei'ence of Rome,
as for instance in Naples, where they desired
to introduce some civil assessors to the tribu-
nal of the inquisition. The court of Rome
rather hesitated about admitting the emperor's
claim to the patriarchate of Aquileia, for fear
he should use it for the purpose of acquiring
a greater degree of ecclesiastical indepen-
dence. The estates of the German empire
sought in the election capitulations of 16.5-1
and 1658 to limit the jurisdiction of the nun-
cios and of the curia by stricter provisions.
Venice was incessantly in commotion con-
cerning the influence of the court of Rome
over the nomination to spiritual appointments
in the country, the pensions and the arrogant
pretensions of the nepotes: sometimes Genoa,
sometimes Savoy found occasion to recal their
ambassadors from Rome : but the most vehe-
ment opposition to Rome, was that which it
encountered from the French church, as might
have been expected from the principle on
which the restoration of the latter had been
eftected.* There was no end to the cry of
grievances set up by the nuncios, particularly
as regarded the restrictions imposed on the
spiritual jurisdiction : before they took a single
step, appeals were lodged against them ; ques-
tions of marriage were taken out of their hands
under the pretence that there was abduction
in the given case ; they were excluded from
interference in criminal trials; clergymen
were sometimes executed without having been
previously degraded ; the king, of his own sole
authority, issued edicts touching heresy and
simony ; the tentlis to the crown had gradually
become a permanent tax. The more appre-
hensive retainers of the curia looked on these
usurpations as harbingers of schism.
qui circa initia earn regebant, aliqua produxil inconveni-
enlia prsejuilicialia, aique asppritatis vel nimiuni exactae
et exorbilanlis defensionis opinionem impressil apud secu-
lares." [Il remains a question even among good and zeal-
ous ecclesiastics, whether the establishment of this congre-
gation has been advantageous or prejudicial to ecclesias-
tical privilege and jurisdiction, especially because the
honest but perhaps indiscreet or harsh zeal of some persons
who had the direction of it in the beginning, produced some
hurtful inconveniences, and conveyed to the minds of the
laity an impression of harshness, or of too rigorous and ex-
orbitant an assertion of right.] A very important confes-
aion to be .made by a cardinal.
* Relatione dcUa niintialura di Francladi Monsr- Scot-
ti, IGll, 3 Aprile. He has a distinct section, Del impedl-
menti dell i nuntiarura ordinaria: " Li gludici regj si pu6
dire che levino lutta la giurisdittione occl"- in Francia
alii prelati." [It is a fict that the royal judges take the
entire ecclesiastical jurisdiction in France out of the
hands of the prelates.]
The mutual bearing of the parties resulting
from these disputes, was necessarily connected
with other circumstinces besides, especially
with the political altitude assumed by the court
of Rome.
Out of deference to Spain, neither Innocent
nor Alexander ventured to recognize Portu-
gal, which had separated from that monarchy,
nor to grant canonical institution to the bishops
nominated there. Almost the whole legiti-
mate episcopacy of Portugal died out; church
property was in great part assigned to the
officers of the army ; king, clergy, and laity,
lost the habit of their former submissiveness
to Rome.
But independently of this, the popes after
Urban VIII. again inclined to the side of Spain
and Austria.
This need not excite surprise, since the su-
perior strength of France so soon put on a
character formidable to the general freedom
of Europe. In addition to this, these same
popes had owed their elevation to Spanish in-
fluence, and both were personal enemies of
Mazarin.* In Alexander this enmity display-
ed itself with ever increasing force : he could
not forgive the cardinal that he had allied
himself with Cromwell, and long prevented
peace with Spain from personal motives.
Now the consequence of this was, that the
opposition to the Roman see became more
and more inveterate in France, and broke out
from time to time into violent explosions.
Severely was Alexander made to experience
this !
A dispute which arose in Rome between the
suite of the French ambassador de Crequy and
the Corsican city guard, in which de Crequy
was at last personally insulted, gave the king
an opportunity of interfering in the quarrels
of the Roman see with the houses of Este and
Farnese, and finalfy of absolutely marching
troops into Italy. The unfortunate pope en-
deavoured to save himself by means of a secret
protest: but he was obliged in the face of the
world, to concede all the king's demands in
the treaty of Pisa. The fondness of the popes
for inscriptions in their honour is well known ;
not a stone, it is said, did they suffer to be set
in a wall without their cyphers. Alexander
was compelled to endure the erection of a
pyramid in one of the most frequented squares
of his capital, the inscription on which was to
perpetuate his humiliation.
* Deone, Oltobre, 1644 : " Si sa veramente che 1' esclu-
sione di Panfilio fatta da cardinali Frances! nel conclave
non era volonti regia, n6 instanza del C'- Antonio, ma
opera del C' Mazzarini emulo e poco ben affetto al C'-
Panziroli, il quale prevedea che doveva aver gran pane
in questo pontfficato." [It is known for certain the ex-
clusion of the Panfilio, effected by the French cardinals
in the conclave, was not in pursuance of the royal will,
nor at the instance of cardinal Antonio, but was the work
of cardinal Mazarin, the rival and enemy of cardinal
Panzirolo, whohe foresaw was likely to play an important
part in that pontificate.] As was actually ih e case.
J74
POPES IN THE LATTER PART OF THE 17TH CENTURY.
This act alone was sure greatly to degrade
the dignity of the papacy.
But furthermore, that dignity had already
begun to decline from about the year 1660.
The papal see had originated the peace of
Vervins, and by its negotiations furthered it
and brought it to a conclusion : it had been
present by its ambassadors at the arrangement
of the peace of Westphalia, but even then it
had felt constrained to protest against the
stipulations agreed on : lastly, it did not even
ostensibly take any part in the peace of the
Pyrenees ; the contracting parties avoided
admitting its envoys to the conference ; scarce-
ly was it thought of in the transaction.* How
soon afterwards followed treaties of peace, in
which papal fiefs were disposed of without so
much as consulting the pope !
Transition to the later epochs of the papacy.
It is by all means a most remarkable fact,
and one that affords us an insight into the gen-
eral course of human affairs, that at the mo-
ment the papacy broke down in the execution
of its plans for the renovation of its universal
supremacy, it began likewise to fall into inter-
nal decay.
Everything pertaining to it had undergone
a fundamental repair during the period of pro-
gress and restoration. The doctrines of the
church had been renovated, its privileges more
strongly centralized, alliances had been form-
ed with sovereigns, fresh life had been infused
into the old orders, and new ones had been
founded, the force of the ecclesiastical states
had been firmly compacted, and converted into
an instrument of church policy, the curia had
been reformed morally and intellectually, and
everything brought to bear on the one object
of the restoration of the papal aiithority and
of the catholic faith.
This, as we have seen, was not a new cre-
ation; it was a reanimation through the might
of new ideas, which, abolishing some abuses,
did but carry along with a fresh impulse the
already existing elements of social life.
Now undoubtedly a renovation of this sort
is more exposed to the decay of the vivifying
principle than is a radically new creation.
The first check which the catholic restora-
tion encountered befel it in France. The pa-
pal authority could not force its way upon the
beaten path ; it was doomed to see the growth
and elevation of a church, catholic indeed,
but not moulded under the influences it in-
tended, and to be reduced to enter on a com-
promise with that church.
There followed other occurrences tending
* Galeazzo Gualdo Priorato dfilla pace conclusa fra )e
due corone, 1664, has at p. 120, " Osservaiioni sopra le
cause per le quale si conclude la pace senza intervemo
del papa." We learn hence that the bad feeling between
the pope and Mazaria in those limes was mailer of noto-
riety.
to the same end : — violent internal dissensions
arose, controversies upon the most important
points of faith, and upon the relation of the
spiritual to the temporal authority ; nepotism
unfolded itself in the curia in a perilous man-
ner ; the financial resources, instead of being
wholly directed to their legitimate purpose,
were rendered mainly subservient to the ad-
vantage of single families.
But Rome had still a grand and universal
object, towards which it strode onwards with
extraordinary good fortune. In this high en-
deavour all contradictions were reconciled,
the conflicts concerning doctrine and the tem-
poral pretensions of the church were assuaged,
the discords of the sovereign powers healed,
the progress of the common enterprises sus-
tained : the curia was the centre and the bea-
con of the catholic world ; the work of conver-
sion sped on the grandest scale.
Yet we have seen how it came to pass, that
the desired end was not reached, but that the
aspiring church was, through dissensions with-
in and resistance without, flung back upon
itself.
Thenceforth all the affairs of the state, and
the whole internal condition of the papal do-
minions likewise assumed another aspect.
Devotedness is a feeling inseparable from
the spirit of conquest and acquisition that aims
at a great purpo.se ; it is incompatible with a
narrow selfishness. The curia Vv^as now pos-
sessed by the spirit of worldly enjoyment and
of lucre. A society of annuitants sprung up,
which thought itself fully entitled to the reve-
nues of the state, and the proceeds of the
ecclesiastical administration. Whilst they
fatally abused their usurped rights, they still
clung to it with the same zeal as though it
were bound up with the very essence of the
faith.
This it was that provoked implacable resist-
ance from opposite quarters.
A doctrine came forth, which, originating
from a new view of the profounder principles
of religion, was condemned and persecuted by
the Roman court, but could never be put
down. The several states assumed a more
independent position ; they emancipated them-
selves from their subservience to the papal
policy ; they challenged for themselves a right
of absolute control over their own internal
aflairs, that continually narrowed the influ-
ence of the curia even in ecclesiastical mat-
ters.
On these two grand points hang all the
subsequent history of the papacy.
Epochs followed, in which, so far from mani-
festing any spontaneous activity, it rather
seem.s, while assailed now on this side and'
now on that, to have been every moment oc-
cupied with the sole thought how it might
best defend itself.
The attention of mankind is usually attract-
LOUIS XIV. AND INNOCENT XI.
375
ed by energy and power, and it is only by I
following^ out the efScient cause that the event
can be understood ; nor does it come within
the design of this worii to describe the later
epochs of the papacy. Nevertheless they pre-
sent an exceedingly remarkable spectacle ;
and as we began with a review of the earlier
ages, so we can hardly close the subject with-
out making an attempt, though but a brief one,
to survey the papacy likewise in its more re-
cent stage.
The first thing that presents itself to our
notice is the attack on the part of the states.
It was most intimately connected with the
division of the catholic world into two hostile
portions, the Austrian and the French party,
which the pope was no longer in a condition
to master or to appease. The political atti-
tude assumed by Rome, determined the mea-
sure of ecclesiastical devotedness which it
encountered. We have already seen the
manner in which this state of things began:
let us now observe its further progress.
Louis XIV. and Innocent XL
However staunch a catholic was Louis
XIV., it yet seemed intolerable to him that
the Roman see should pursue an independent
policy, nay, one that often ran counter to his
own.
Clement X. (1670 to 1676.) and his nephew
Pauluzzi Altieri, inclined to the side of the
Spaniards,* as had Innocent and Alexander,
and if not Clement IX., at least his court and
adherents. Louis XIV. revenged himself lor
this by incessant inroads upon the spiritual
power.
He arbitrarily confiscated church property,
oppressed various monastic orders, claimed
the privilege of burthening the church livings
with military pensions; he sought to extend
to provinces in which it had never been in
force, the right which had become so cele-
brated under the name of regale, of appro-
priating the revenues of vacant bishoprics,
and filling up the benefices dependent upon
them ; he inflicted the most severe wound on
the Roman annuitants, by subjecting the
remission of moneys to the court of Rome to
a crippling supervision. f
♦ Morosini: Relatione di Francia, 1671. " Conosciula
naturale pariialiii del card'' Altieri per la corona cattoli
ca rende alia Xma- sospelta ogni sua atlione. II pontpfice
presented considerato come un imasine del dominio che
risiede veramenie nell' arbiirio del nipoie." [The known
partiality of cardinal Altieri for the catholic crown ren-
ders every action of his suspicious to the most Christian
kins;. The present pope is considered but an effisy of the
power of the see, which really resides in the will of his
nephew.]
t Instruttione per Mons"- Arcivegcovo di Patrasso, 1G74.
" Questo fatto arrivato alia corte sicome eccitC) lo stupore
e lo scandolo universale, cosi pervenulo alia notitia di N.
Sre- mosse un estremo cordoglio nrdl'animodi S. Beatne-"
[On this fact becoming known to the court, it excited
universal amazement and scandal, and when it came to
He continued the same course during the
pontificate of Innocent XI., who on the whole
pursued the same system of policy, but from
him Louis encountered resistance.
Innocent XL, of the house of Odescalchi of
Como, had arrived in Rome in his twenty-fifth
year, with sword and pistol, to settle himself
in some secular employment, perhaps in the
military service of Naples. The advice of a
cardinal, who penetrated better into his cha-
racter than he himself had done, induced him
to enter on tlie career of the curia. This he
did with so much devotedness and zeal, gra-
dually winning for himself such a reputation
for ability and good intentions, that during
the conclave the people shouted his name
under the porticoes of St. Peter, and public
opinion was gratified, when he came forth
from that church decked with the tiara (Sept.
21, 1676).
He was a man who would summon his ser-
vants to attend him, provided always they
were quite at leisure ; one, of whom his con-
fessor averred that he had never discovered
anything in him which could sever the soul
from God ; a gentle and placid being, whom
yet the same conscientiousness that ruled his
private life, now also impelled to fulfil the
obligations of his office without fear or truck-
ling.
How vigorously did he grapple with the
existing abuses, particularly those in the
financial department. The out-goings had
risen to 2,578,106 scudi, 91 baj. ; the incom-
ings, dataria and spolia included, amounted to
but 2,408,.500 scudi, 71 baj. ; so huge a deficit,
170,000 scudi yearly, threatened a public
bankruptcy.* To Innocent XI. is undoubt-
edly due the merit of having prevented mat-
ters reaching that extreme. He forbore alto-
gether from the practice of nepotism. He
declared that he loved his nephew Don Livio,
whose modesty deserved his love, but for that
very reason he would not have him in the
palace. He absolutely confiscated all the
offices and revenues which before his time had
been the perquisite of the pope's nephews.
He did the same with many other places, the
existence of which was more burthensome to
the state. He abolished innumerable abuses
and exemptions ; and when the state of the
market at last made it practicable, he did not
hesitate still further to reduce the interest on
the monti from four to three per centf In a
the ears of our lord the pope, it caused his holiness extreme
affliction.]
* Slato della camera nel presente ponteficato di Inno-
cenzo XI. MS. (Bibl. Alb.)
t In a MS. of 763 pages of the year 174.3, " Erettione et
aggionte de' monti camerali," are to be found the decrees
and briefs concerning this matter. In a brief of the year
1684 to the treasurer Negroni, Innocent first declares hia
intention " d' andar liberando la camera del fnitto di 4 p.
c. . . che in questi tempi 6 troppo rigoroso." [to relieve
the camera of the burthen of interest at 4 per cent. — too
oppressive in these times.]
376 POPES IN THE LATTER PART OF THE 17TH CENTURY.
few years he actually succeeded in raising
the public income to no insignificant excess
above the expenditure.
With the same resolute spirit, this pope
now withstood the attacks of Louis XIV.
Two Jansenist bishops, who opposed the
extension of the regale before mentioned,
were harassed and persecuted by the court on
that account; the bishop of Pamiers was re-
duced for a while to subsist on charity. They
appealed to the pope, and Innocent did not
delay to espouse their cause.*
Once, twice, he admonished the king not
to give ear to flatterers, not to lay hands on
the liberties of the church ; and bade him be-
ware, lest he should cause the fountains of
Divine grace to dry up for his kingdom.
Receiving no answer, he repeated his admoni-
tions a third time, but now he added that he
would not content himself with mere admo-
nitions, but would employ every instrument
of that power which God had put into his
hands. No danger, no storm should appal
him; his glory was in the cross of Christ.f
It had always been a maxim of the French
court to use the papal power as a check upon
its clergy, and to employ the latter to restrict
the influence of the former. But never did a
sovereign hold his clergy in more perfect
command than did Louis XIV. The addresses
they presented to him on ceremonial occa-
sions breathe a spirit of submissiveness that
has never been equalled. " We hardly ven-
ture," they say, " to make requests, for fear
of setting a limit to your majesty's zeal for
the church. The unhappy privilege of sta-
ting grievances, is now transformed into the
delightful necessity of praising our benefac-
tor."f The prince of Conde gave it as his
opinion, that if the king were of a mind to
pass over to the protestant church, the clergy
would follow him with all speed.
At any rate the clergy stood by their king
against the pope without scruple ! year after
year they put forth more decided declarations
in favour of the royal authority. At last
ensued the convocation of 1682. "It was
summoned and dissolved," says a Venetian
ambassador, " at the convenience of the king's
minister's, and guided by their suggestions."^
The four articles it drew up have ever since
been regarded as the manifesto of the Galilean
liberties. The first three reiterated princi-
* Racine: Hisloire EecWsiaslique, x. p. 328.
t Brief of ihe 27th Dec. 1679.
i Remonirance du clere6 de France (assemble a St.
Germain en Laye en 1' ann6e, 1680) faile au roi le 10 juil-
let par rill"«- el r^vwi^' J Bapi. Adheimar de Blonleil de
Grienan. M6m. du clerg6, lorn. xiv. p. 787.
ftoscarini: Relatione di Francia, 1681. "Con non
dissimile dipendenza segue 1' ordine ecclco- le massiine
e 1' inieresse della corte, come 1' ha fallo conoscere 1' as-
sembleasopra le vertonze della regalia, uuiia, diretla e
disciolta secondo le convenienze ed ispiralioni del minis-
tero politico, Provenendo della mano del re 1' esallatioiie
e forluna de' soggelii che lo coiupongono, dominati sem-
pre da nuove pretensione e speranze, si grorgono piu atlac-
cati alia compiacenze del monarca che gli siessi secolari."
pies asserted before, — the independence of
the secular power as regarded the spiritual,
the superiority of councils over the pope,
and the inviolability of the Galilean usages.
But the fourth is particularly remarkable,
since it limits even the spiritual authority of
the pope. " Even in questions of faith the
pope's decision is not incapable of amendment,
so long as it has not received the assent of
the church." We see that the two national
authorities supported each other. The king
was emancipated from the interference of the
pope's temporal power, the clergy from the
unconditional authority of his spiritual power.
It was the opinion of contemporaries, that
though France was still within the pale of the
catholic church, yet its foot was on the thresh-
hold to depart from out it. The king exalted
the propositions above mentioned into a sort
of articles of faith, or symbolical book. The
teaching in all schools was to be in con-
formity therewith ; no one was to obtain a
degree in the faculties of law or theology
who did not swear to those propositions.
But the pope too had his weapon. The
king advanced to episcopal offices the authors
of the declaration, and the members of the
convocation, in preference to all other candi-
dates. Innocent refused to grant them spiri-
tual institution. They might enjoy the reve-
nues of their sees, but they received no
ordinations, and could not exercise one spi-
ritual function of episcopacy.
The quarrel became more complicated from
the fact, that at this juncture Louis XIV.,
chiefly for the purpose of evincing his perfect
orthodoxy, proceeded to his cruel extirpation
of the Huguenots. He thought thereby to
render a great service to the catholic church.
It has also been alleged that pope Innocent
was privy and consenting to the design :*
but in reality this was not the case. The
Roman court would now have nothing to do
with a conversion effected by armed apostles :
"Christ had not employed that method ; men
should be led but not dragged into the tem-
ple."t
Still fresh dissensions constantly arose.
The French ambassador entered Rome in the
year 1687, with so strong a retinue, not less
than a couple of squadrons of cavalry, that it
would not have been easy to dispute his claim
to the right of asylum, to which the ambassa-
dors in those days pretended, not only for
* Bonamici, Vita Innocentii in Lebrat: Magazin viii.
p. 98, and Lebrel's note "Also ist es nicht zu widerspre-
chen," &c.
tVenier: Relatione di Francia, 1689. "Nell' opera
tentata nella conversion degli Ugonotli dlspiacque al re,
non ripoitar dal pontefice lode che sperava, riceve il papa
in mala parte che fosse intrapresa senza sua panicipa-
tione et eseguila con i noti rigori, . . . publicando che non
fosse propria fare niisssioni d' apostoli arinati, e che questo
motodo nuovo non fosse il niigliore, giiiche Uhrislo non se
n' era servito per convertire il mondo: in oltre parve ini-
poiluno il tempo di guadagnar gli eretici all' ora che
erano piu boUenti le coutroversie col papa."
LOUIS XIV. AND INNOCENT XI.
377
their palaces, but likewise for the neighboiir-
ing streets, althouirh the pope had solemnly
repealed the privilege. Willi armed force he
braved the pope in his own capital. "They
come with horses, and with chariots," said
Innocent, •' but we will walk in the name of
the Lord." He pronounced the censure of
the church upon the ambassador; the church
of San Luigi, at which that functionary had
been present at a solemn high mass, was laid
under an interdict.*
Upon this the king had recourse on his part
to the most extreme steps. He appealed to
a general council, caused Avignon to be taken
possession of, and the nuncio to be shut up in
St. Olon. It was thought he had in view to
create archbishop Harlai, who had sanctioned,
if not prompted all these steps, patriarch of
France.
To such a length had matters gone : the
French ambassador excommunicated in Rome,
the papal nuncio in France forcibly detained ;
thirty-five French bishops without canonical
institution ; a papal territory seized by the
king : here was schism in fact already broken
out. Notwithstanding all this, Innocent XL
did not yield a foot.
If we ask on what he relied in this trying
emergency, it was not on any effect of his
censure in France, not on the might of his
apostolic dignity ; but it was above all things
on that general resistance which had been
aroused by the enterprises of Louis XIV.
which threatened the freedom of Europe in
its very being : in this the pope likewise
joined.
He aided Austria in its Turkish war to the
utmost of his ability :f the prosperous issue of
that undertaking placed the vviiole party, and
the pope with it, in a new position.
It can hardly indeed be proved that Inno-
cent, as it has been alleged, was in direct
alliance with William III., and was person-
ally cognizant of his designs upon England. |
But we may with unhesitating coniidence
assert that his ministers were privy to them.
♦ " Legatio marcliionis Lavartlini Romam ejusque cum
Romano pomifice dissiilium, 1G97." A refutation of La-
vaiJin, which Investigates this atfair with much dispas-
sionate judgment: it belongs to the series of excellent
political papers which werecalled forth in Germany, the_
Netlierlands, Spain, and Italy, by the assumptions of
Louis XIV.
t Relaliene di Roma di Giov. Lando, 1689. The sub-
sidies are here computed at two millions of scudi.
$ This assertion is made in the M6moires sur le r6gne
de Frederic i. roi de Priisse, par lecomte de Dohna, p. 78.
It is slated that the letters passed through queen Chris-
tina's hands to his father, "qui les fesoit passer par le
comt6 de Lippe, d'oii un certain Paget les portoit k la
Haye" [who forwarded ihern through the county of Lippe,
whence one Paget carried them to the Hague]. In spile
of these details, we nuist doubt the fact, when we consi-
der, that during all this period queen OhrisUna was at
variance with the pope. Her position with regard to the
pope, as set forth ni her correspondence, makes me think
it impossible that the pope, who once said of her with a
shrug, "e una donda," [she is a woman,] would have
trusted her with such a secret. There may, for all that,
have been secret despatches from Rome.
48
The pope was only told that the prince of
Orange was to have the command on the
lihine, and to defend the rigiits of the empire,
and of the church against Louis XIV,; to this
object he promised considerable subsidies.
But his secretary of state, count Cassoni, had
by the end of the year 16S7, positive intelli-
gence that the plan of the English malcontents
was to dethrone king James, and to transfer
the crown to the princess of Orange. The
count was ill-served : the French had got hold
of a traitor in his household. It was from the
papers which that man had an opportunity of
inspecting in his master's most secret cabinet,
that the courts of France and England de-
rived their first knowledge of those plans.
Strange complication ! It was at the court
of Rome that the threads of a machination
were destined to meet, which had for its aim
and its result, to liberate protestantism in the
West of Europe from the last great danger
that threatened it, and to secure the English
throne for ever to that creed.* Even, as we
said before, though Innocent XI. knew noth-
ing of this whole scheme, still it is undeni-
able that he adhered to an opposition based
for the most part on protestant resources, and
urged by protestant impulses. His resistance
to the candidate for the archbishopric of Co-
logne favoured by France, was in the interest
of that opposition, and was the main incentive
to the outbreak of war.
A war, however, which, as regarded France,
turned out very favourable to the papal prin-
ciple. If the pope by his policy promoted
protestantism, the protestants in their turn,
whilst maintaining the European balance
against " the exorbitant power" of France,
were thereby co-operating to compel that
power to assent to the spiritual pretensions of
the papacy.
It is true Innocent XL did not live to wit-
ness that consummation ; but the very first
ambassador who appeared in Rome after his
death (August 10, 16S9,) abandoned the claim
to the right of asylum; the king's bearing
was changed; he restored Avignon, and be-
gan to negotiate.
This was the more necessary, inasmuch as
the new pope, Alexander VIII., however
widely he departed in other respects from the
strict example of his predecessor, in this point
* Little notice has been taken, (though it is decisive
upon the subject), of the Lettre ecrile par le C'' d'Etr^ps,
ainbassadeur exlraord. de Louis XIV. k M. de Louvois, IS
Dec. 11)87. Giuvres de Louis XIV. torn. vi. p. 497. It
shows how early James II. was informed of the projects
on fool. Young lord Norfolk, who was incognito in Ronie,
instantly dispatched a courier to him. Mackintosh (His-
tory of the Revolution, ii. 157) is of opinion that James
was convinced by ihe first week in May, 1688, of the
prince's designs upon England. But, as early as the 10th
orlllhofMarch, he had said to the papal nuncio, " il
principe aver in principal mira 1' Inghilteira" [that the
prince's chief aim was England]. (Leltera di Monsieur
d'Adda, ibid. p. 346.) His misfortune was that he did not
conade in himself.
878
THE POPES SUBSEQUENTLY TO THE 17TH CENTURY.
at least adhered firmly to Innocent's princi-
ples. Alexander proclaimed anew the reso-
lutions of 1682* to be invalid and void, null
and of no effect, not binding, even though
backed by theforceofan oalh ; declaring that,
day and night, he thought on them with a
heart full of bitterness, and lifted up his eyes
with tears and sobs.
After the early death of Alexander VIII.
the French strained every effort to procure
the election of a pope of pacific temper and
disposed to a reconciliation ;f such an one
they obtamed in the person of Antonio Pigna-
telli,— Innocent XII. (July 12, 1691.)
But this pope, too, was little disposed in
any respect to compromise the dignity of the
Roman see ; and just as little had he any ur-
gent motive for so doing, since the allied
arms plied Louis XIV., with such formidable
energy.
Negotiations were carried on for two years.
Innocent more than once rejected the formuliB
proposed to him by the French clergy. At
last they were forced to declare, that all that
had been discussed and determined in the as-
sembly, should be looked on as not discussed
and not determined : " prostrate at the feet
of your holiness we profess our unspeakable
sorrow for the same."| It was not till this
absolute recantation that Innocent granted
them canonical institution.
Peace was restored only on these conditions.
* "In diclis comiliis anni 1682, tam circa extensionem
juris regalise quani circa declaralionem de proteslate ec-
clesiastica aclorum ac eliam omnium el singulorum man-
datorum, arrestomm, confirmalionum, declarationum,
epislolarum, ediclorum, decretorum quavis auclorilate
sive ecclesiastica sive etiani laicali editorum, necnon ali-
orum quomodolibet pisjudicialuiu prsefatorum in regno
supradicioquandocunque et a quibusvis et ex quacunque
causa el quovis modo factorum et gesiorum ac inde secu-
torum quoiumcunque lenores. 4lhAug. 16S0." Cocquel.
ix. p. 33.
t Domenico Contarini : Relatione di Roma, 1696 : " Te-
nendosi questa volia da Francesi bisogno d' un papa fa-
cile e d' anirao assai rlmesso, e clie poiesse facilraenie
esser indotlo a modificare la bolla falta nell' agonia di
Alessand'.o VIII. sopra le proposilioni dell' assembleadel
clero del anno 168i, diedero mano alia elellione di esso."
J It has, indeed, been asserted, and Petitol among
others (Notice sur Portioyal, p. 240) is of opinion, that
this letter was an invention of the Jansenists, " pour r6-
pandre du ridicule et de I'odieux sur les nouveaux ^v6-
ques; [to cast ridicule and odium on the new bishops;]
but, in the first place, no other formula was ever produced
by the opposite parly; secondly, the above has always
been acknowledged, at least indirectly, by the Roman
writers, as, for instance, by Novaes, Storia de' Pontefici,
torn. xi. p. 117 ; lastly, it was at the very time universally
regarded, and even at court, as indisputably genuine.
Domenico Con anni says, " Poco dopo fu preso per mano
da Francesi il negolio delle chiese di Francia proponendo
diverse formule di dichiarazione, . . . materia venlildta
fier il corso di due anni e conclusa ed aggiustata con quella
etlera scrittada vescovi al papa che si e difusa in ogni
parte." [Shortly afterwards the French took in hand the
affair of the churches of their country, and proposed
various forms of declaration, . . . the atfair was under
discussion for the space of two years, and was concluded
and adjusted by means of that letter from tlie bishops to
the pope, which has been made jiublic in all quarters.]
Now this is the very formula in question. None other
has ever been made known. Daunou too, (Essai histo-
rique sur la puissance lemporelle des papes, ii. p. 196,)
gives this letter as authentic.
J^ouis XIV. wrote to the pope that he re-
tailed his orders respecting the observance of
he four articles. Thus do we see that the
Roman see once more stood fast upon its pre-
rogatives, in opposition to the most powerful
of monarchs.
But was it not in itself a grievous disad-
vantage, that assertions so decidedly hostile
had enjoyed a validity legally authorized by
the government? They had been proclaimed
with noisy ostentation, as though they had
been decrees of the empire ; their retraction
was made privately, in the quietest way,
in the form of letters, and that only on the
part of individuals who were particularly in
need of the favour of the court of Rome. Louis
XIV. permitted this; but we must not believe
that he recalled the four articles, though the
matter was sometimes looked on in that light
in Rome. At a much later period he would
not endure that the Roman court should re-
fuse institution to the adherents of the four
articles. He declared that he had only re-
voked the obligation of teaching them ; but
it was just as little reasonable that any one
should be prohibited from acknowledging
them.* There is also another observation we
have to make. It was by no means by its
own strength the Roman court had maintain-
ed its ground, but only in consequence of a
great political combination, only by reason
of the fact that France had been forced gene-
rally to retreat within narrower limits. What
then would be the result should this state of
things change, — should it come to pass that
there was no longer any one to protect the
see of Rome against the aggressive party'!
The Spanish succession.
The extinction of the Spanish line of the
* The king's words, in his letter to Innocent XII., Ver-
sailles, loth Sept. 1693, are: "J'ai donn6 les ordres n6-
cessaires afin cite les choses contenues dans mon 6dil du
22 Mars, 1682, louchant la declaration faite par le clerg6
de France (i quoi les conjonctures pass6es m'avoyent
oblig^) ne soyent pas observ^es." [I have given the
necessary orders, to the end that the matters contained in
my edict of the 22nd March, 1682, touching the declara-
tion made by the clergy of France, (to which past con-
junctures had compelled me,) be not observed.] In a let-
ter of the 7th of July, 1713, madeknowit to us by Anaud,
(Historie du Pape Pie Vll. 1836, torn. ii. p. 16,) it is said:
" On lui (au Pape C16ment XI.) a suppos6, contre la v6ril6,
que j'ai contrevenu i I'engageraent pris pas la lettre que
j'ecrivis d. son pr6d6cesseur, car je n'ai oblig6 personne
i soutenir contre sa propre opinion les propositions du
clerg6 de France ; mais il n'est pas juste que j'emp^che
mes sujets de dire et de soutenir leurs sentiments sur une
mati^re qu'il est libra de soutenir de part et d'autre:"
[It has been insinuated to him, contrary to the truth, that
I have contravened the engagement entered into by the
letter I wrote to his predecessor, for I have not obliged
any one to maintain, contrary to his own opinion, the pro-
positions of the clergy of France; but it is not just thai
I should hinder my subjects from expressing and main-
taining their senlimenis on an open question.] Wo see
that even in his latter years, Louis XIV. was not quite so
devoted a Romanist as is commonly supposed. He says
decidedly, "Je ne puis admettre aucun expedient." [I
cannot admit any compromise.]
THE SPANISH SUCCESSION.
379
house of Austria was an event of the greatest
importance for the papacJ^
On the antagonism in which the Spanish
monarchy stood with regard to Franco, which
determined the general character of European
politics, rested also in the last result the free-
dom and independence of the papal see : for
a century and a half the principles of the
Spaniards had kept the ecclesiastical states
at peace. Whatever might be the upshot, it
was in any case perilous, that a state of
things with which every habit of existence
was bound up, should be put in jeopardy.
But it was still more perilous that a dispute
prevailed concerning the succession to the
crown, threatening to create a general war, —
a war which in that case would be chiefly
fought out in Italy. The pope himself could
hardly avoid the necessity of adopting one
party or another, even though he could not
flatter himself with the prospect of contributing
any thing essential to the triumph of the
cause he should espouse.
I find it stated,* that Innocent XII., who
was now reconciled to France, had counselled
Charles H. of Spain to declare the French
prince his heir, and that this advice of the holy
father had been the chief among the causes
that conduced to the drawing up of that will
on which so much depended.
At any rate the Roman see abandoned the
anti-French policy which it had pursued al-
most uninterruptedly since the times of
Urban VIII. : it may possibly have regarded
it as the more trifling change, and the lesser
evil, if the whole monarchy devolved without
partition on a prince of a house which then
showed itself so pre-eminently catholic. Cle-
mentXI., Gianfranc Albani, elected November
16, 1700, publicly lauded the resolution of
Louis XIV. to accept the inheritance. He
addressed a letter of congratulation to Philip
v., and granted him subsidies raised upon ec-
clesiastical property, just as if no doubt sub-
sisted as to his rights.t Clement XI. might
be looked on as a perfect and genuine repre-
* Morosini : Relatione di Roma, 1707. " Se il papa ab-
bia avulo mano o participatione nel lestamenlo di Carlo
II., io non ardiru d' asserirlo ; n6 6 facile di peneirare il
vera con sicurezza. Bensl addurro solo due laiii. L'uno
che qupslo arcano, non si sa con verili, fu espuslo in un
manifesto uscito alle stampe in Roaia ne' prinii niesi del
niio ingresso all' anibasciata, all' ora che dall' uno el' al-
tro panito si tratlava la guerra non menu con 1' armi che
con le carte. L'allrociie il papa non s' astenne di far
publici eloga al Christmo. d'essersi ritiralo dal partaggio,
ricevendo la monarchia intiera per il nepole.'' [I will
not pretend to affirm whether or not the pope had hand or
pan in the will uf Charles II., nor is il easy to arrive with
certainly at the truth. I will cite, however, but two facts.
The one is that this secret was published, whether with
truth or not is not If nown, in a manifesto which issued from
the Roman press in the first months of my embassy, at the
time when war was actually waged between tlie two
parties. The other fact is, that the pope did not abstain
from publicly eulogizing the most Christian king, because
he had discountenanced the partition of Spain, and ac-
cepted the monarchy entire for his npphew.]
tBuder: Leben und Thaten Clemens XI. torn. i. p.
148.
sentative of the Roman court, which he had
never quitted ; affability, literary talent, and
an irreproachable life, had won him universal
popularity.* He had contrived greatly to in-
gratiate himself with the three last popes,
difl'erent as they were in character, and to
render himself indispensable to them. He
won his way upwards by tried, practical, yet
never formidable, talents. If, as he once said,
he had been able to give good advice as car-
dinal, but as pope knew not how to serve him-
self, this may be taken as an indication that
he felt himself better qualified to seize and
carry out a given impulse, than to conceive
an original resolution and to carry it into ef-
fect. In taking up, for instance, the jurisdic-
tional question with renewed vigour imme-
diately on his accession, he only followed the
bent of public opinion and the interests of the
curia. In like manner he was a believer in
the fortune and might of the great king. He
did not doubt that Louis XIV. would be tri-
umphant in the end. The Venetian ambassa-
dor avers, that he could not conceal his joy
and satisfaction at the progress made by the
French arms in relation to the German and
Italian enterprize against Vienna in the year
170;^, which promised to be final and decisive.
But the fortune of war changed at that mo-
ment. The king's German and English an-
tagonists, with whom Innocent XI. had con-
nected himself, but from whom Clement XI.
had gradually estranged himself, achieved
unprecedented victories: the imperial troops,
in conjunction with those of Prussia, poured
down on Italy; they were not disposed to
show forbearance to a pope whose conduct
was so ainbiguous ; the old pretensions of the
imperial power, which had not been thought
of since the days of Charles V., awoke again.
We will not enter upon all the bitter ani-
mosities in which Clement XI. became in-
volved.! At last the imperialists assigned
him a term within which he was to accept
their proposals for peace, among which the
most important was, the recognition of the
Austrian claimant to the Spanish throne. In
vain the pope looked round for help. He
waited till the appointed day, January 15,
1709, after the lapse of which, should he come
*Erizzo: Relatione di Roma, 1702. " Infatti pareva
euli la delizia di Roma, e non eravi ministro regie n6
natione che non credesse tutto suo il cardinale Albani.
Tanto bene," he adds, "sapeva fingere alTelti e variare
linguaggio con tutti. [In fact, he appeared the darling of
Rome, and there was not a royal minister or nation that
was not certain of engrossing all cardinal Albani's good-
will. So well did heknow how to assume the appearance
of sympathy, and to adapt his language to every one.]
■f For instance, those respecting the troops quartered in
Parma and Piacenza, where the clergy were compelled
to furnish contributions of war. "Accord avec les d6-
put^s du due et de la ville de Plaisance, 11 d6c. 1706. art.
ix. que pour soulager I'^tat tous les particuliers, quoique
tres privil^gi^s, contribueroient i. la susdite somme."
This the pope would not submit to. The imperial claims
were thereupon re-asserled with increased vehemence.
Contred^claralion de I'empereur, in Lamberty, v. 85.
380
THE POPES SUBSEQUENTLY TO THE 17TH CENTURY.
to no decision, the imperialists had threatened
to overrun his capital and his dominious. It
was not till the last hour of that day, eleven
o'clock, p. M., that he gave his signature.
He had formerly congratulated Philip V. : he
now found himself compelled to acknowledge
his rival Charles III., as the catholic king.*
This event not only gave a severe blow to
the authority of the papal see as umpire, but
even despoiled it of its freedom and independ-
ence. I'he French ambassador left Rome,
declaring it was no longer the seat of the
church.f
The whole aspect of European affairs was
changed. It was, after all, protestant Eng-
land that had finally decided the destiny of
the Spanish and catholic monarchy; what
further influence could the pope exercise over
the movements of general policy?
By the peace of Utrecht, Sicily and Sar-
dinia,— countries which he regarded as his
own fief, — were consigned to new sovereigns
without his being so much as consulted. J
The convenience of the great powers super-
seded the infallible decision of the chief pastor
of the church.
Nay, a peculiar misfortune befel the papal
see in this crisis.
It had always been one of the foremost
aims of its policy to possess influence over the
Italian states, to assert as far as possible an
indirect sovereignty over them.
But now, not only had German Austria,
while almost at open war with the pope, made
good its footing in Italy, but the duke of
Savoy too had attained to royal power, and a
great augmentation of his possessions, in defi-
ance of the pope's opposition.
And so it went on in other instances.
In order to appease the dispute between the
houses of Bourbon and Austria, the allied
powers acceded to the wi.sh of the queen of
Spain, that they should grant Parma and
Piacenza to one of her sons. For two centu-
ries the feudal suzerainty of the popes over
that duchy had never been questioned ; the
dukes had received it as a fief, and paid tri-
bute : but now that this right assumed a new
importance, now that it was foreseen that the
male line of the house of Farnese would soon
become extinct, it was no longer respected.
The emperor assigned the country as a fief to
an infant of Spain. Notliing remained for the
pope but to put forth protests which no one
heeded. 5
The peace between the two houses was,
however, but momentary. In the year 1733,
* The conditions, which were at first kept secret, were
made known by a letter from the Austrian ambassador to
the Duke of Marlboroush. Lambeny, v. 24-2.
t Lettre du mar^chal Thesse au pape, 12 juillet, 1709.
t For proofs of the ambisruous conduct of the duke of
Savoy, see Lafitau, Vie de (/lemenl XI. loin. ii. p. 78.
% " Protestatio nomine sedis aposloliise emissa in con-
vemu Catneracensi, in Roussei : Supplement au corps
diplomat. Ue Dumont, iii. ii. p. 173.
the Bourbons revived their pretensions to Na-
ples, which was in the hands of Austria; and
the Spanish ambassador offered palfrey and
tribute to the pope. Clement XH. would now
have been glad to leave matters as they stood ;
he nominated a commission of cardinals, which
decided in favour of the imperial claims. But
on this occasion too the fortune of war was
contrary to the judgment of the pope : the
Spanish arms were victorious. Ere long Cle-
ment was forced to grant investiture of Na-
ples and Sicily to that same infant whom he
had beheld with such mortification take pos-
sessions of Parma.
The final result of all these straggles was
truly not very difl^erent from what the Roman
court had originally contemplated; the house
of Bourbon spread over Spain and a great
part of Italy : but under what widely differ-
ent circumstances had all this taken place
from those anticipated in the first instance !
Sentence in the great strife had been pro-
nounced by England ; it was in open contra-
diction to the papal see that the Bourbons had
forced their way into Italy; that separation
of the provinces which it was sought to avoid,
had taken place, and filled Italy and the states
of the church unceasingly with hostile arms.
The temporal authority of the papal see was
thereby annihilated even in its immediate
neighbourhood.
Hence would necessarily ensue a great re-
action upon the controversies touching the
ecclesiastical rights of Rome, which were so
intimately connected with the course of poli-
tical events.
How severely had Clement XL already been
made to feel this!
More than once his nuncio was sent out of
Naples: in Sicily the clergy in the interests
of Rome were once seized in a body, and
transported to the ecclesiastical states;* an
intention was displayed in all the Italian
states, of admitting none but natives to eccle-
siastical dignities;! in Spain too the nuncia-
ture was closed,! and Clement XI. at one
time thought it would be necessary to cite
Alberoni tlie prime minister of Spain before
the inquisition.
Year after year these differences became
more serious. The court of Rome possessed
not the force and inward energy requisite to
hold together those who owned its faith.
" I cannot deny," says the Venetian ambas-
sador Mocenigo, 1737, " there is something
unnatural in seeing all the catholic govern-
571.
Buder, Leben and Thaten Clemens XL torn. iii. p.
f We learn from Lorenzo Tiepolo, Relatione di Roma,
1712, that the imoerialists in Naples as well as in Milan,
had it in view "che Ii beneficii ecclesiastici siano sola-
nienle dati a national!, colpo di non picciolo danna alia
tone di Roiiia se si effectuasse."
t Saa Felipe, Contributions to the history of Spain, iii.
214.
THE SPANISH SUCCESSION.
381
ments engaged in such violent altercations
with the Roman court, that no means of re-
conciliation can be thought of, but such as
wouk! be fatal to the vitality of that court.
Whether it proceed, as i?o many suppose, from
the difi'usiun of more enlightened views, or from
the disposition to tyrannize over the weak,
certain it is that the sovereigns of Europe are
making rapid progress towards stripping the
Roman see of all its temporal rights.*"
In those days a man needed but to open his
eyes and behold what was passing round him
in Rome, to be convinced that every thing
was in jfopardy unless peace was concluded.
The memory of Benedict X. (Prospero Lam-
bertina, 1740 — 1758,) is blessed, because he re-
solved on making the indispensable concessions.
It is well known how little Benedict XIV.
suffered himself to be dazzled or made over-
weening by the imposing greatness of his
dignity. lie did not forego his good-humour-
ed jocularity or his Bolognese wit because
he was pope. He would get up from busi-
ness, join his courtiers, utter some fancy that
had crossed his mind while at work, and then
go back to his desk.f His mind was ever
lixed on essentials. He cast a bold and com-
prehensive glance over the relations of the
papa! see to the European powers, and dis-
cerned what it was possible to hold, what ne-
cessary to surrender. He was too sound a
canonist and likewise too thoroughly a pope
to suffer himself to be carried too far in the
latter course.
The most extraordinary act of his pontifi-
cate, was the concordat which he concluded
in the year 1753 with Spain. He brought
himself to renounce the right of collation to
the smaller benefices in that country, which
the curia still retained, though it was now ve-
hemently contested. But was the court to be
deprived, without any compensation, of the
large sums it had hitherto drawn from that
source ! Was the papal authority once for
all to abandon its influence over individuals'!
Benedict hit upon the following expedient to
escape from these difficulties; fifty-two of the
benefices in question were specially reserved
for the pope's nomination, " that he might
therewith reward those Spanish ecclesiastics
who should earn a claim to them by their vir-
tue, purity, learning, or services to the Roman
see.J;" The pecuniary value of the loss sus-
* Aluise Mocenigo IV. Relatione di Roma, 16 April,
1737. (Appendix, No. 162.)
t Relnuone di F. Venier di Roma, 1714: "Ascesso il
papa al uoiio di S. Pieiro, non Beppe cambiare I'indole
sua. Egli era di temperariienlo aff'abile, insieme vivace,
e vi restj: spargeva fin da prelalo li suoi discorsi con
giocosi sdli, ed ancor li conserva: dolalo di cuore aperlo
e sincero trascurO sempre ogn' una di quelle arli die si
chiamano romanesche."
t " Accio non meno S. S'i. che i suoi successor! abbiano
il modo di provedere e premiare quegli ecclesiaslici che
per prubita e per illibatezza de'cosuinii o per iiisigne lel-
leraiura or per servizi prestili alia S. sede se ne rende-
ranno meiilevoli." (VVords of the Concordat, quoted in
the Report of the English Committee, 1816, p. 317.)
tained by the curia, was computed, and found
to amount to 34,300 scudi yearly. The king
engaged to pay down a sum of 1,143,330
scudi, the interest of which at three percent,
would be equal to the above amount of loss.
Gold, the universal rectifier, proved its con-
ciliatory power even in ecclesiastical affairs.
With most of the other courts too Benedict
XIV. concluded treaties containing conces-
sions. The right of patronage already pos-
sessed by the king of Portugal was extended,
and the title of Most Faithful was conferred
upon him, in addition to the other spiritual
honours and privileges he had acquired. The
Sardinian court, doubly displeased because
the concessions it had obtained in auspicious
moments had been revoked under the last
pontificate, was appeased by the instructions
tantamount to concordats of the years 1741
and 1750.* In Naples, where, under the pa-
tronage of the imperial government, and par-
ticularly by the exertions of Gaetano Argento,
a school of law had been established, which
made it its chief study to contest the jurisdic-
tional rights of the church, and which vehe-
mently combated the pretensions of the pope,f
Benedict XIV. permitted the rights of the
nunciature to be curtailed in no small degree,
and the clergy compelled to contribute their
share to the public charges. To the imperial
court he conceded that diminution of the num-
ber of appointed holidays, which made so great
a noise at the time, for whereas the pope had
simply granted permission to work on those
days, the imperial court did not scruple to em-
ploy force and make it compulsory.
Thus the catholic courts became once more
reconciled to their ecclesiastical head ; once
more peace was restored.
But could it be fairly supposed that every-
thing was fully and finally settled ] Could it
be hoped that the strife between church and
state, which seems almost identified with an
inward necessity of Catholicism, could have
been set at rest by such slight compromises'?
These could give content but for the moment
that had called them forth. Already the up-
heaved deep was giving token of other and
far more violent storms.
Altered state of Europe. Internal ferments.
Suppression oj the order of Jesuits.
The greatest change had taken place, not
only in Italy and the south of Europe, but in
the entire condition of the political world.
Where were now the days in which the
papacy might entertain the hope, and not
without reason, of once more subjecting Eu-
rope and the world to its sway 1
* Risposta alls nolizie dimandaie intorno alia giuris-
dittione ecclesiaslica nello stato di S. M'a. Turino, 5
Marzo, 1816. Ibid. p. 250.
t Giannoae : Storia di Napoli, vi. 387.
382
THE POPES SUBSEQUENTLY TO THE 17TH CENTURY.
Amoncr the five great powers, that as early
as the eighteenth century determined the
policy of Europe, there were three anticath-
olic. We mentioned the attempts made by
the popes in earlier times, to master Russia
and Prussia through Poland, and England
through France and Spain. Those same three
nations were now among the great ruling
powers of the world, nay, we may fearlessly
assert that they had the preponderance over
the catholic section of Europe.
It was not sim.ply that one dogmatic system
had triumphed over another, that the protest-
ant had put down the catholic theology ; the
conflict was no longer waged on this field :
but the change had been brought about by those
internal national evolutions, the main features
of which we have already noticed : the anti-
catholic states displayed a general superiority
over the catholic ; the monarchical and united
spirit of tlie Russians had triumphed over the
discordant and factious aristocracy of Poland;
the industry, the practical sense, and the
nautical skill of the English, over the indo-
lence of the Spaniards, and the vacillating
policy of the French, ever contingent upon
the accidental changes in their domestic af-
fairs ; the energetic organization and military
discipline of Prussia, over the principles of a
federative monarchy, such as was then exhi-
bited in Austria.
But though this superiority was in no re-
spect the result of religion, still it could not
but react on church affairs.
In the first place because religious parties
rose with the rise of states. Russia, for in-
stance, arbitrarily established Greek bishops
in the united provinces of Poland ;* the ele-
vation of Prussia gradually revived among
the Germans a sense of independence and
strength, such as they had long ceased to
feel ; the more decided became the naval
supremacy of protestant England, the more
were the catholic missions cast into the shade,
and stinted of that efficacy which they had
once derived from the force of political influ-
ence.
Nor was this all. So late as in the latter
half of the seventeenth century, when Eng-
land was bound to the policy of France, Rus-
sia virtually severed from the rest of Europe,
and the power of the house of Brandenburg
but in its infancy, the catholic powers, France,
Spain, Austria, and Poland, divided even as
they were, had ruled the European world.
The conviction how vastly all this was
changed must, I think have gradually forced
its way into the minds of the catholic powers,
and obliterated the proud consciousness of a
politico-religious vitality, unrestricted by any
superior force. The pope was now aware
that he no longer stood at the liead of the
powers that swayed the world.
* Kulhi^re: Hisloire de I'anarchie de Pologne, i. 181.
But lastly, would not the thought arise,
whence came this change 1 Every defeat,
every check, will call forth on the part of the
vanquished, if they do not despair, an inter-
nal revolution, an imitation and a rivalry of
the triumphant foe. The strictly monarchi-
cal, military, and commercial tendencies of
the anti-catholic nations now insinuated them-
selves into the catholic states. As it is now
plain and unquestionable that the inferiority
into which they had fallen was connected
with their ecclesiastical constitution, the
movement of the public mind was first di-
rected to that point.
But here it came in contact with other
mighty ferments, which had meanwhile seized
on faith and opinion within the pale of Catho-
licism.
The Jansenist controversies, of which we
have noticed the commencement, were re-
newed from the beinning of the eighteenth
century with redoubled vehemence. They
began from the highest places. The confes-
sor of the king of France, who was usually a
Jesuit, and the archbishop of Paris, were wont
to exercise paramount influence in the supreme
spiritual council of the nation. From that
assembly la Chaise and Harlai had in strict
unanimity directed the measures of the
crown against the papacy. Their successors,
le Tellier and Noailles, were not on so good
an understanding with each other. Slight
diversities of opinion may have been the first
occasion of their dis-union ; — the stricter
adherence of the one to the Jesuit or Molinist
notions, and the tolerant leaning of the other
towards those of the Jansenists; — gradually,
however, a total rupture ensued between
them, and the rent spread from the king's
cabinet throughout the whole body of the na-
tion. The confessor succeeded not only in
maintaining himself in power, and gaining
over the king, but even in inducing the pope
to have recourse to the bull Unigenitus, con-
demning the Jansenist doctrines of sin, grace,
justification and the church, even in their
more mitigated form, in some instances ver-
batim as their partizans professed to find them
in St. Augustine, and in far wider extension
than in the five propositions before mentioned.*
This was the final decision of the whole con-
trovery agitated by Molina; after such length-
* The M^moires secrets sur la buUe Unigenitus, i. p.
123, pourtray the first impression it produced. "Les uns
publioienl qu'on y altaquoit de front les premiers princi-
pes de la foi et de la morale ; les aulres qu'on y condam-
noit les sentiments el les expressions des saints pftres;
d'autres qu'on y enlevoit a la charity sa preeminence et
sa force ; d'autres qu'on leur arrachoit des mains le pain
celeste des ^critures ;— les noiiveaux r^unis a. I'^glise se
disoient tromp6s," &c. &c. [Some gave it out that the
bull contained an open attack on the first principles of
faith and morals; others that it condemned the senti-
ments and expressions of the holy fathers ; others that it
aimed at divesting charity of its pre-eminence and its
force ; others that it tore the heavenly bread of the Scrip-
tures from their hands;— the lately reconciled with the
church declared themselves deceived, &c. &c.]
ALTERED STATE OF EUROPE.
ened hesitation, the Roman see at last unam-
biguously sided with the Jesuits. It thereby
succeeded in gaining to its side that powerful
order, which thenceforth most vigorously de-
fended the ultramontane doctrines and the
pretensions of the papal autiiority, a thing,
which, as we have seen, it had by no means
invariably done before. The see of Rome
succeeded likewise in maintaining a good
understanding with the French government,
which had indeed provoked this decision ; ere
long preferment was bestowed exclusively on
those who submitted to the bull. But the most
serious opposition likewise started up from
the other side ; on the part of the learned,
who adhered to St. Augustine, on that of the
orders, who clung to Thomas Aquinas, on that
of the parliaments, which beheld in every act
of the Roman Court a fresh attack upon the
Gallican rights. The Jansenists now at
length stood forth as earnest champions of
those liberties ; with more and more boldness
they propounded doctrines concerning the
church, at variance with those of Rome; nay,
they even proceeded to work out their princi-
ples under the protection of a protestant gov-
ernment ; an archiepiscopal church arose at
Utrecht, catholic in its general tenour, but
maintaining a complete independence of
Rome, and which waged incessant war
against the ultramontane principles of the
the Jesuits. It would be well worth while
to investigate the development, propagation,
and influence of these opinions throughout
Europe. In France the Jansenists were ha-
rassed, persecuted, and excluded from office ;
but, as commonly happens, this did not hurt
their cause in the main ; during the persecu-
tions with which they were visited, a large
part of the public declared in their favour.
Well would it have been for them had they
not by their superstitious extravagance brought
discredit even on their sound doctrines. But
at any rate their life and doctrine were in
close keeping with a pure morality, and a
profounder faith, and this everywhere told in
their favour. We mark their tracks in Vien-
na and Brussels, in Spain and Portugal, and
throughout all Italy. Their doctrines over-
spread all Christendom, sometimes openly,
oftener in secret.
Undoubtedly this schism in the clergy was
one of the causes that prepared the way for
the progress of still more dangerous opinions.
It is an ever memorable phenomenon, what
an influence the efforts of Louis XIV. in reli-
gious matters had upon the French mind, nay,
on that of Europe in general. He had strained
despotism to the utmost, he had violated divine
and human laws, in order to root out protest-
antism, and annihilate in France even the
shadow of dissent; he had made it his whole
endeavour to give his kingdom a perfectly
orthodox catholic complexion. But no sooner
were his eyes closed than his whole system
was dashed down. The pent up spirit rushed
forth with irrepressible impetuosity.
Disgust at the conduct of Louis XIV. was
the immediate parent of opinions at open war
with Catholicism, nay, with all positive reli-
gions whatever. From year to year these
opinions gained inward strength and outward
diffusion. The kingdoms of Southern Europe
were based on the most intimate union of
church and state. In those very kingdoms
there arose a cast of thought, which developed
antipathy to the church and to religion, into
a system affecting all notions of God and his
world, all political and social principles, all
sciences, — a literature of opposition, which
took captive the minds of men, and bound
them in indissoluble bonds.
It is manifest how little accordance there
was between these tendencies : the reforming
principle was in its nature monarchical, which
cannot be said of the philosophical, which very
soon set itself no less against the state than
against the church ; the Jansenist principle
clung to convictions that were indifl^erent if
not hateful to both the others : yet after all,
they all three co-operated to the one end.
They promoted that spirit of innovation, which
spreads the more contagiously the less it has
a definite aim, and the more it lays claim to
the whole future, and which daily imbibes
fresh strength from the abuses in the existing
order of things. This spirit now invaded the
catholic church. It generally originated,
consciously or unconsciously, from what has
been called the philosophy of the eighteenth
century ; the Jansenist theories gave it an
ecclesiastical form and bearing ; its activity
was prompted by the wants of states, and by
the events of the moment. In every country
and at every court two parties arose, of which
the one waged war on the curia and the estab-
lished constitution and doctrine, the other
strove to uphold things as they were, and to
maintain the prerogatives of the universal
church.
The latter was particularly represented by
the Jesuits, whose order appeared as the main
bulward of the ultramontane principles: upon
it therefore was the violence of the storm first
directed.
Suppression of the order of the Jesuits.
The Jesuits were still very powerful in the
eighteenth century, chiefly, as in former times,
because they were confessors of the great and
of princes, and the education of youth was
under their guidance ; their enterprizes,
whether pertaining to religion, though these
were not plied with the same energy as of
old, or to commerce, still embraced the whole
world. They now adhered unswervingly to
the doctrines of ecclesiastical orthodoxy and
384 THE POPES SUBSEQUENTLY TO THE 17TH CENTURY.
subordination : whatever was at variance
with these, whether actual unbelief, Jansen-
ist notions, or reforming tendencies, all alike
fell with them under the same condemnation.
The first attack made on them was in the
domain of thought and literature. It cannot
be denied that they opposed to the multitude
and vigour of their assailants rather a stubborn
tenacity to doctrines once adopted, indirect
influence over the great and anathematizing
zeal, than the genuine weapons of intellectual
warfare. It is almost incomprehensible that
neither ihey themselves nor any of their col-
leagues in faith, produced a single original and
effective book in defence of their cause,
whilst the works of their antagonists inun-
dated the world, and fixed the character of
public opinion.
But after they had been once defeated in
the field of doctrine, of science, and of intel-
lect, it was impossible for them long to main-
tain their hold of power.
In the middle of the eighteenth century,
during the struggle of these two tendencies,
reforming ministers came to the helm in al-
most all the catholic states ; in France, Choi-
seul,* in Spain Wall and Squillace, in Naples
Tanucci, in Portugal Carvalho ; all of them
men who had made it the great aim of their
lives to bring down the ascendancy of the
church and its principles. In them the eccle-
siastical opposition obtained representatives
and power ; their personal position was found-
ed upon it ; open warfare was the more una-
voidable, since the Jesuits obstructed them by
personal counteraction, and by their influence
in the highest circles.
The first thought did not go the length of
contemplating the extinction of the order ; it
was intended at first only to exclude them
from courts, and to strip them of their credit,
and if possible of their wealth. It was thought
that the aid even of the Roman court could
be obtained to that end. Even there the
schism that rent the catholic world had in a
measure presented itself; there was a more
rigid and a milder party; Benedict XIV., who
represented the latter, had long been dissatis-
fied with the Jesuits : he had often loudly
condemned their conduct in the missions.f
After Carvalho, amidst all the turbulence of
faction in the Portuguese court, and in defi-
ance of the Jesuits, who sought his downfall,
had finally proved lord and master of the
powers of state, and even of the royal will, he
* In the appendix to the Memoirs of Mad. du Hausset,
there is a treatis<^, Ue la desi ruction des Jesuiies en
France, in wliich Clioiseursdislilie to the Jesuits is traced
10 the circumstance, that the general of the order had
once given him to understand in Rome, that he was ac-
nuainled with what had been spoken at a supper in Paris.
But this is a tale that has been repeated in numerous
forms, and which can scarcely be thought of much
weiglil. The causes lay so newhat deeper.
t When he was yet only bishop Lamberiini. Memoires
du pfere Norbert, ii. 20.
urged the pope to a reform of the order.* He
put forward, as might be expected, that point
in their case which was most obnoxious to cen-
sure, namely, the mercantile spirit of the
society, by which, moreover, he was greatly
inconvenienced in his commercial projects.
The pope did not hesitate to entertain the pro-
posal. At Carvalho's suggestion he entrusted
a friend of that minister's — cardinal Saldanha,
a Portuguese — with the visitation of the order.
A decree was soon issued by that visiter,
strongly reprobating the traffic of the Jesuits,
and empowering the royal officers to confiscate
all commercial effects belonging to those eccle-
siastics.
A similar attack had also been by this time
made on the society in France. The bank-
ruptcy of a commercial house in Martinique
connected with father Lavalette, which
brought in its train a great number of other
failures, occasioned the sufferers to appeal to
the tribunals, which took the matter up very
warmly.f
Had Benedict XIV. lived longer, it is very
probable that he would not have gone so far as
to abolish the order, but that he would have
gradually subjected it to a thorough and radi-
cal reform.
But Benedict died just at this crisis. A
man of opposite disposition, Clement XIII.,
came forth from the conclave, as pope, July 6,
1758.
Clement was pure in soul and in purpose ;
he prayed much and fervently ; his highest
ambition was to obtain canonization. At the
same time he cherished the belief, that all the
pretensions of the papacy were sacred and
inviolable ; he complained bitterly that some
of them had been allowed to drop ; he was re-
solved to make no concessions ; — nay, he was
fully possessed with the conviction, that, by
stedfast pertinacity, every thing might yet be
retrieved, and the tarnished lustre of Rome
once more restored. J He beheld in the Jesuits
the most faithful champions of the papal see
and of religion ; he approved of them as they
were, and thought they needed no reform. In
all this he was confirmed by those about him,
who shared in his devotions.
But as matters now stood, his determination
could have no other effect than that of exas-
perating the rancour of the assailants, and
exposing the Roman see to share their attacks
in common with the Jesuits.
In Portugal the Jesuits were implicated,
whether justly or not there is no clearly ascer-
taining, in the judicial proceedings arising out
* A Jesuit view of this strife of factions is very vividly
given in a history of the Jesuits in Portugal, translated by
Murr from an llalian manuscript.
t Vie priv6e de Louis XV. iv. p. 88.
i Collection of the most remarkable works relating to
the suppression of the Jesuits, 1773, i. p. 211. How strongly
public opinion was against it, may be seen in Winkel-
mann'8 letters.
SUPPRESSION OF THE ORDER OF JESUITS.
385
of an attempt on the king's life.* Blow follow-
ed blow; and at last they were banished with
merciless violence, and actually transported to
the coasts of the Ecclesiastical States.
Meanwhile, in France, the above-mentioned
trial had placed them within the gripe of the
parliaments, by which they had all along been
detested. Their business was debated with
great noise and ostentation ; and at last the
entire body of the society was condemned to
make good Lavalette's engagements. Nor
was this all. The unlimited authority of the
general of the order, which was incompatible
with the laws of the realm, was objected anew
to the Jesuits as a crime, and was made a
ground for questioning the legality of their
existence in general.
Louis XV, would fain have saved the order.
It was with no view to its destruction, but to
protect it as far as possible, and only because
he was forced to it by the public voice, tiie
sentences of the tribunals, and the majority of
his council, that he proposed to the general to
nominate a vicar in France.f
Had there been a man like Aquaviva at the
head of the order, undoubtedly some expedi-
ent, some conciliatory course, would have been
devised even at this moment. But the society
had now the most inflexible of men for its
chief, Lorenzo Ricci, who felt nothing but the
injustice that befel it. He replied, that so
essential an alteration of the constitution was
not within his power. Application was made
to the pope ; Clement XIII. made answer, that
this constitution had been too fully sanctioned
by the holy council of Trent, and by so many
decrees of his predecessors, to allow of his
changing it.f They rejected every modifica-
tion. Ricci's whole mind was expressed in
the words, — " Sint ut sunt, aut non siiit."
The result was, that they ceased to be. On
the 6th of August, 1762, the parliament of
Paris pronounced the suppression of the Je-
suits in France. It is true the pope in consis-
tory declared this decree null and void;^ but
* In the sentence pronounced on the 12th of. January,
1759, the chief stress was laid on certain " legal presump-
tions" against "the corrupt members of the society of
Jesus." The principal of these are, their ambition to get
possession of the reins of government, (§ 2.5,) their arro-
gance before the treasonable act, their downcast bearing
after its failure (§ 26) ; lastly, and certainly a far graver
charge, their close connection with the chief culprit,
Mascarenhas, with whom they had formerly quarrelled.
Father Costa was alleged to have said, that in committing
regicide, "a man would not be guilty even of a venial
siH." (§4.) But, on the other hanil, it has been remarked,
that the confessions on which these charges were founded,
had been extorted by the rack, and that the documents
belonging to the trial are, on the whole, full of marks of
precipitation and of informalities. The sentence can
certainly never be justified in a judicial point of view.
Compare Von Olfers, on the attempt to assassinate the
king of Portugal, Sept. 3, l~o8. Berlin, 1789.
t Letter from Praslen, 16 Jan. 1762, in Flassan : Histoire
de la diplo natie francaise. vi. 498. The whole statement
is very instructive.
t Narrativeof the Jesuits in Wolf, Geschichte derjesui-
ten, iii. 365. This book is only useful as regards the sup-
pression of the order.
§ " Protesiatein ipsam Jesu Christi in terris vicario ejus
49
matters were already gone so far, that he did
not venture to publish the allocution in which
his sentence was delivered.
The movement now spread irresistibly
through the countries under the Bourbon sway.
Charles III. of Spain was persuaded that it
was a scheme of the Jesuits to raise his brother
Don Luis to the throne in his stead.* Upon
this he took all necessary measures with that
determined taciturnity which distinguished
his whole character, and had the houses of the
Jesuits throughout Spain all closed on the
same day. The example was followed with-
out delay in Naples and Parma.
All in vain did the pope admonish, beseech,
and conjure. At last he made one more ex-
periment. When the duke of Parma went
the length of prohibiting all recourse to the
Roman tribunals, and all bestowal of the bene-
fices in the duchy on others than natives, the
pope nerved himself to issue a monitorium,
pronouncing the censure of the church upon
his feudatory, the duke ;t thus once more ven-
turing on retaliation. But the worst conse-
quences ensued : the duke replied in a manner
the mightiest sovereigns in former centuries
would not have dared to attempt, and all the
Bourbons made common cause with him.
Avignon, Benevento, and Pontecorvo were
seized by them.
The hostility of the Bourbon courts, thus
roused, did not end here : from persecuting the
Jesuits, they proceeded directly to attack the
papal see.
To whom could the pope turn "! All the
Italian states, Genoa, Modena, and Venice,
took part against him. He cast his eyes once
more on Austria, and wrote to the empress,
Maria Theresa, that she was his only consola-
tion on earth ; he besought her that she would
not suffer his old age to be the victim of vio-
lence.
The empress returned him the answer that
had once been given by Urban VIII. to the
emperor Ferdinand, that the affair was one of
state policy, not of religion, and that she
should do amiss to interfere in it.
The spirit»of Clement XIII. was broken. In
the beginning of the year 1769, the ambassa-
unicetributam sibi temerearroganleslotiussocietatiscom-
pagem in Gallico regno dissolvant," &c. Daunou gives
this document.
* Letter from the French ambassador quoted in Lebrel's
History of the bull In Coena Domini, iv. 205, from the
Italian work Delle cagionidell' espulsionede' Gesuiti. A
Relatione al conte di Permian, 1767, 7 Apr. (MS. in the
Brera) affirms that the Jesuits had some presentiment of
their fate. " Non fu senza forte motivoche poco prima di
detta espulsione diinandarono al re la confirmo de' loro
privilegi e del loro instiluto, il che solamenle in oggi si 6
sapulo." [It was not without strong motives, that shortly
before the said expulsion, they peUtioned the king for a
confirmation of their privileges and of their in tilution, a
fact which did not come out till the present times.] They
had concealed their money and their papers. Charles III.
however considered the advantage gained by the crown
so great, that after the success of the measure, he cried out,
that he had conquered a new world.
t Bona : Sloria d' Italia, torn. xiv. p. 147.
386
THE POPES SUBSEQUENTLY TO THE 17TH CENTURY.
dors of the Bourbon courts came forward one
after the other, — first the Neapolitan, then
the Spanish, and lastly the French, — with
demands for the irrevocable suppression of the
whole order* On the 3rd of Feb. the pope
called a consistory, in which he seemed dispos-
ed at least to take the matter into consideration.
But he was not destined to undergo such deep
humiliation, being seized on the evening before
the meeting with convulsions, which carried
him off!
The attitude assumed by the courts was too
threatening, their influence too mighty, to fail
of carrying all before them in the conclave
that ensued, and conferring the triple crown
on such a man as they needed.
Of all the cardinals, Lorenzo Ganganelli
was, without doubt, the mildest and most
moderate. In his youth one of his teachers
said of him, it was no wonder if he loved
music, since every thing in his own nature
was harmony. f He grew up in the same
temper, in innocent intercourse with his fami-
liars, retirement from the world, and solitary
study that led him deeper and deeper into the
mysteries of true theology. In like manner
as he turned from Aristotle to Plato, who
better satisfied his soul, so did he quit the
schoolmen for the fathers of the church, and
these for the holy scriptures, which he em-
braced witli the fervour of a soul convinced of
the revelation of the Word, and from which
he imbibed that calm and pure enthusiasm
which sees God in all things, and devotes itself
to the service of its neighbour. His religion
was not zeal, persecution, lust of sway, po-
lemical violence, but peace, lowliness, and in-
ward understanding. IVom his heart he
abhorred the incessant wrangling of the papal
see with the catholic governments, which
shook the foundations of the church. His
moderation was not weakness, nor the off"-
spring of necessity, but spontaneous and cor-
dial.
Out of the bosom of religion arose a tone of
thought, which however different in its origin
* Continuazione degli annali d' Italia di Muralori, xiv.
I,p.l97.
f Anf'dilotli rigiiardanli lafaniigliae I'oppredi Clemente
XIV. in iheLetiere pd allreOpere di Ganganelli ; Firenze,
1829. As rpgarils these works and letters tliemselves, they
may possibly be interpolated ; but, in the main, I believe
Ihem to be genuine: 1st, because the defence of them in
Ringraliarnento deU' ediiore all' autor dell' Anno Litera-
rio, is on the whole natural and satisfactory, though an
unjustifiable use had been made of them before their pub-
lication; 2ndly, because trustworthy persons, e. g. car-
dinal Bernis, aver that they had seeii the originals; the
real collector was the Florentine man of letters, Lauri ;
accordingto a letter of the Abb^ Bellegarde in Potter's Vie
de Ricci, i. p. 328, those who jjossessed the originals and
granted the copies confirmed their authenticity: 3rdly,
because they bear the stamp of originality, of a peculiar
turn of thought, unvarying under all circumstances of life,
such as no falsifier couUl have invented. There is indivi-
dual life in them. Least of all can tliese letters have been
the production of Caracciolo. One needs but reiid his Vie
de Cleihent XIV. tn be assured how far are all his remariis
below the the level of those of Clement XIV. All that is
good in this work is but a reflection of Ganganelli 's spirit.
from the worldly tendencies of courts, yet in
other respects coalesced with them.
Ganganelli's election was effected chiefly
by the Bourbons, and more immediately upon
the proposal of the Spanish and French car-
dinals. He took the name of Clement XIV.
The Roman curia, as already mentioned,
was broken like the other courts into two par-
ties ; the Zelanti, who strove to uphold all
ancient privileges, and the party of the crown-
ed heads, the Regalisti, who thought the wel-
fare of the church best promoted by a wise
spirit of concession : this party now rose to
power in the person of Ganganelli, and the
same change took place in Rome which had
already occurred in all the sovereign courts.
Ganganelli began with prohibiting the read-
ing of the bull, In Coena Domini ; he also
enlarged the concessions which Benedict XIV.
had made to the king of Sardinia, and which
his successors had refused to recognize : on
the very day of his accession he declared that
he would send a nuncio to Portugal ; he sus-
pended the monitorium against Parma ; and
then he applied himself most earnestly to the
affair of the Jesuits. A commission of car-
dinals was appointed, the archives of the pro-
paganda searched through, and the arguments
on either side deliberately weighted. Clement
XIV. was unfavourably predisposed with re-
gard to the order. He belonged to that of
the Franciscans, which had always been at
war with the Jesuits, particularly in the mis-
sions: he was an adherent of the Augustinian
and Thorn ist theology, so utterly at variance
with that of the society ; nor was he altoge-
tiier free from Jansenist notions. Then there
were the numerous charges against the Je-
suits, which could not be argued away, and,
above all, the impossibility of restoring peace
to the church in any other way. His sentence
was pronounced on the 21st of July, 1773.
" Inspired by the Divine Spirit, as we trust,
urged by the duty of restoring concord to the
church, convinced that the society of Jesus
can no longer effect those purposes for which
it was founded, and moved by other motives of
prudence and wise government, which we
keep locked in our own breast, we abolish and
annul the society of Jesus, its offices, houses,
and institutions."*
This was a step of immense importance.
In the first place, as regarded the relation
of the catholic church to the protestants. It
was to combat the latter tiiat the society had
been originally founded and constituted in all
its parts (its theology even was principally
.shaped in opposition to that of Calvin), and
this was tiie character which the Jesuits had
renewed and confirmed for themselves at the
close of the seventeenth century, during the
persecutions of the Huguenots. But this con-
♦ ContiBuazioae degli annali, torn. xiv. P. ii., p. 107.
JOSEPH II.
387
flict was now at an end ; the most sedulous
self-delusion could no lonj^er flatter itself with
the hope of any essential advantages to be
gained ' in that way : the anti-catholic states
possessed an unquestionable superiority in the
great political relations of Europe, and tiic
catholic states sought rather to approximate
to them than to draw them over to their own
side. In this, it strikes me, lay the principal
and the deepest cause of the suppression of
the order. It was an institution of war, and
was no longer suitable to a time of peace.
Since it now refused to yield a hair's breadth,
and doggedly rejected every reform, much as
it needed it on other grounds besides, it in
fact pronounced its own doom. It is a mo-
mentous fact that the papal see had no power
to sustain an order that was established ex-
pressly to wage war on protestantism, that a
pope abandoned it, and that too of his own
free impulse.
This event had the most immediate effect
on the catholic countries. The Jesuits were
assailed and overthrown chiefly in consequence
of their defending the supremacy of the Ro-
man see in its strictest acceptation ; but when
Rome now abandoned the order, it gave up at
the same time the strict idea of supremacy
and its consequences. The efforts of the op-
position were signally victorious. The de-
struction at one blow, without the least warn-
ing, of the society which made the instruction
of youth its special business, and which was
still engaged in it to so great an extent, could
not but occasion a convulsion of the catholic
world to its very basis, even to where new
generations are formed.* The outworks be-
ing carried, a still more vigorous assault by
the victorious party would necessarily follow.
The agitation increased from day to day, de-
sertion from the church spread more and
more ; what was to be looked for now that the
commotion affected even Austria, the very
realm whose existence and might were most
intimately connected with the results of the
catholic efforts in the epoch of the church's
restoration ]
Joseph II.
It was the actuating principle of Joseph II.
to combine without control in his own hands all
the powers of the monarchy ; how then should
he have sanctioned the interference of Rome,
or the connexion between his subjects and the
pope] Whether he was more surrounded by
Jansenists or by infidelsf (undoubtedly they
here too, as in the attack on the Jesuits, made
* Montbarey : M^moires, i. p. 225.
+ To ihia may be aliributed what was bpUeved by Van
Swieten, But that there existeJ in Vii^nna very proiiii-
nent Janseiiist leiulfncies is evidencpd by tlip Ufcof Fess-
ler: Riickblicke auf seine Siebzigjahris;!'. Pilgerschafl, p.
74, 78, and oLhi^r passages. Couipare Schlozer's Staals-
anzeigeo, i.!^. 33, p. 113.
common cause), he waged an incessant and
and exterminating war on all surviving insti-
tutions calculated to maintain the external
unity of the church. Out of more than two
thousand convents he left only about seven
hundred in existence : of the congregations
of nuns, those only of more immediate utility
found favour in his sight; and even those
which he spared he severed from their con-
nexion with Rome. He regarded the papal
dispensations in the light of foreign goods,
and would not suffer money to go out of the
country in exchange for them ; and he public-
ly declared himself the administrator of the
temporalities of the church.
Pius VI. the successor of Ganganelli, was
soon impelled to look to the impression he
hoped to make on the emperor, in a personal
interview, as to the only means of restraining
him from the most extreme steps, perhaps
even in regard to doctrine. Pius went to
Vienna, and it cannot be denied that his
gentleness and his noble gracious pre-
sence had some influence. Joseph not-
withstanding, pursued his course in the
main without wavering. The monastery in
which he had solemnly taken leave of the
pope, immediately after the holy father's de-
parture received notice of suppression. Pius
VI. was obliged in the end to make up his
mind to surrendering to the emperor the
nomination to the episcopal sees even of Italy.
Thus did the anti-papal efforts force their
way into Italy from Austria likewise. Leo-
pold, who, as far as we judge, was himself
tinctured with Jansenism, reformed the church-
es of Tuscany, without any reference to the
see of Rome : at no great distance from the
capitol of Christendom, the synod of Pistoja
published in its decrees a complete manifesto
of the Union of Galilean and Jansenist princi-
ples, rvaples, which was also closely allied
with this party, through Queen Caroline, ob-
literated the last traces of feudal connexion
with the see of Rome.
The German church, too was indirectly act-
ed on by the proceedings of the emperor. The
spiritual electors, aft;er so long a period of
harmony with Rome, began at last to oppose
it. They were actuated by twofold motives
of interest; — as sovereigns who desired to
put an end to the drain of money from their
dominions, and as spiritual dignitaries anxious
to renovate their own authority.* . According
to their declaration of Ems, " written," says a
Roman prelate, "with a pen dipped in the
gall of Paolo Sarpi," the Roman primate was
for the future to content himself with the
rights he had enjoyed in the first centuries ot
Christianity. + The labours of the German
* Compare the Coblentz article for the year 1769 in the
journal DfUIsche Bliitler fiir Proiestanten und Katholi-
ken. Hpidelbprsr, 1839, part i, p. 39.
f Bartoloininfo Pacta: Memorie storiche sul di lui sog-
gioino iu Gerniania, p. S3.
388
THE POPES SUBSEQUENTLY TO THE 17TH CENTURY.
canonists had admirably prepared the way
for these proceedings ; and besides these
there were other jurists who waged war on
the whole constitution of the catholic church
in Germany, the political power and the civil
administration of its hierarchy.* A lively
spirit of innovation had seized both the learn-
ed and the laity. The lower clergy and the
bishops, the bishops and the archbishops, the
latter and the pope, were all at mutual vari-
ance. Every thing there, as elsewhere, fore-
boded change.
The French Revolution.
But before the first steps to it were taken,
before Joseph had carried out his reforms, the
most tremendous explosion burst forth from
the deeply fermenting elements of society in
Fran^ie.
It is obvious that the disputes of the clergy
among themselves, the collision of two hostile
parties on all occasions of religion, the inca-
pacity of the dominant party to hold its ground
in the domain of thought and literature, and
the general aversion it not undeservedly
brought down on itself, contributed inwnensely
towards evolving that event which shaped the
destinies of modern times, namely, the French
revolution. The spirit of opposition that had
arisen out of the discordant bosom of Catholi-
cism had become more and more consolidated.
Step by step it won its way forward ; and in
the tempestuous times of 1769 it obtained
possession of power, — a power that deemed
itself summoned utterly to destroy the old
world, and to create a new : in the universal
ruin that consequently befel the most Chris-
tian realm, one of the most violent blows was
necessarily dealt to the ecclesiastical consti-
tution.
Every thing concurred; financial embar-
rassment, the interest of individuals and of
municipalities, indifference or hatred towards
the established religion: at last a member
even of the higher clergy proposed to recog-
nize in the nation, that is, in the temporal
authority, and more immediately in the nation-
al assembly, the right of disposing of church
property. Till then that property had been
regarded as belonging not solely to the French,
but likewise to the universal church, and the
pope's consent had been held necessary to
every alienation thereof But how remote
were the times, how obsolete the ideas,
from which had originated notions of this
kind. After a short debate, the assembly
asserted its own right to dispose of church
property, that is, to alienate it, and that with
more unconditional authority than had been
* E. g. FriPcUich Carl von Mospr, Uebpr die RpgierunR
dp,r gpisUichpn Slaalen in Dpulschland, 1787. His grand
proposition (p. llJl) is, thai "IhP Lharaclers of prince and
bishop shall be again separated from each other."
contemplated in the first proposal. The con-
fiscation of ecclesiastical estates, which was
not a moment delayed, rendering the longer
subsistence of existing arrangements impossi-
ble, it was necessary to proceed forthwith to
a new one, such as that effected in the civil
constitution of the clergy. The principles of
the revolutionized state were applied to ec-
clesiastical things :* popular election sup-
planted the system of nomination appointed
by concordat, and salaries the independence
conferred by the possession of real estates; all
diocesans were changed, the orders were sup-
pressed, vows were repealed, the connexion
with Rome severed. The attempt of a Car-
thusian to vindicate the sole supremacy of the
catholic religion, had the effect only of hast-
ening these resolutions against it. Th*^
whole body of the clergy was constrained to
pledge itself to the new system by solemn
oaths.
It cannot be denied that this course of
things was effected with the co-operation of
the French Jansenists, and with the consent
and approbation of those of other countries.
They saw with pleasure that the might of
Babal, as in their hatred they called the Ro-
man curia, was dealt so severe a blow, that
the clergy from which they had endured so
many persecutions was overthrown. Even
their theoretical principles tended to the
same end, for they held that " by wresting
their wealth from the clergy, you compel
them to become really deserving."!
The Roman court flattered itself for a mo-
ment with the hope of seeing these move-
ments checked by a reaction from within,
with which the pope took every means of co-
operating. He rejected the new constitution,
censured the bishops who had sworn to it,
and endeavoured by exhortation and praise to
confirm the still numerous party that oppos-
ed it; at last, he went the length of ex-
communicating the most influential and dis-
tinguished members of the constitutional
clergy.
But all was in vain; the revolutionary ten-
dencies prevailed ; the civil war, which was
chiefly kindled by religious motives, turned
out to the advantage of the innovators. For-
tunate had it been for the pope if matters had
rested there; if France had torn nothing from
him besides herself
But meanwhile that general war had brok-
en out which was fated to transform so thor-
oughly the whole aspect of affairs in Europe.
With that resistless fury, compounded of
* Quite systematically, according to the doctrine of the
old historians of the church. " Tola ecclesiarum distri-
butio ad forniam imperii facta est." Camus: Opinion sur
leprojel de constitution du clerg^, 31 Mai, 17S0.
t Letlprs of Gianni, and some other abb^s in Potter,
Vie de Ricci, il. p. 31.j. Wolf: Geschichte der Katholis-
chen Kirche unler Pius VI. has at book vii. p. 3;, a chap-
tor on the pari taken by the Jansenists in forming the
new constitution ; it is however very weakly executed.
THE TIMES OF NAPOLEON.
389
enthusiasm, rapacity, and terror which had
been engendered in intestine strife, the revo-
lutionary power poured like a torrent beyond
the limits of France.
It transformed after its own model every
country it touched; Belgium, Holland, and
Rhenish Germany ; which latter was the
chief seat of the ecclesiastical constitution :
the campaign of 1796 made it master of Italy :
revolutionary states rose in every direction,
and ere long the pope was threatened in his
own dominions, and in his very capital.
He had, without any really active partici-
pation, ranged himself on the side of the coa-
lition, armed only with his spiritual weapons.
But it was in vain he pleaded this his neutra-
lity.* His territories were overrun, his sub-
jects stimulated to insurrection : impractica-
ble contributions and concessions were de-
manded of him, such as had never been
exacted of any of his predecessors.f Nor
was this all. The pope was not an enemy
like any other. During the war he had even
taken courage to repudiate the Jansenist and
Galilean doctrines of Pistoja by the bull,
"Auctorum fidei." The unyieldmg attitude
he had assumed, and his condemnatory briefs,
had still a great effect on the internal econo-
my of France : the French now demanded
the repeal of these, and the recognition of the
;ivil constitution, as the price of peace.
But Pius VI. was not to be moved to this.
Such compliance would have seemed to him
an abandonment of the very ground of faith,
and treason to his ofRce.f He replied to the
proposals, that " having invoked God's aid,
and inspired as he believed by the Divine
Spirit, he refused to accede to those propo-
sals."
For a moment the revolutionary authorities
seemed to acquiesce — an accommodation was
devised without these conditions — but it was
only for a moment. From the intention of
severing themselves from the pope, they had
already advanced to the thought of entirely
crushing him. The directory found the go-
vernment of priests in Italy incompatible with
its own. On the very first occasion afforded
by a chance commotion among the populace,
Rome was invaded, and the Vatican invested.
Pius VI. besought his enemies to let him, an
old man of eighty, die as he had lived on that
spot. He was answered that he might as
well die in one place as another. His apart-
ments were plundered before his eyes ; he
* Aulhentische Geschichte des franzosischen Revolu-
lionskrieses in Italien, 1796. The pope had declared that
religion forebade a resistance which might occasion the
shedding of blood.
t In the M^moirps Hisloriques et Philosophiques sur
Pie VI. el son ponlificat, lorn. ii. the loss endured by the
Roman stale is calculated at 220,000 livres.
tMeinoria dirella al principe della pace in Tavanle :
Fasti di Pio VI. torn. iii. p. 335. "S. SantitSl rimase stor-
dita, veggendo che si cercava ditraviare la sua conscien-
za per dare un colpo il piu funesto alia religioae."
was deprived of even the most trifling neces-
saries ; the ring he wore was pulled from his
finger: at last he was carried to France,
where he died Aug. 1799.
It might well seem, indeed, as though
there was an end forever to the papal power.
'J'hose hostile tendencies with regard to the
church, the rise and progress of which we
have marked, had now reached a pitch that
encouraged such an anticipation.
The times of Napoleon.
But events occurred that prevented this
consummation.
The chief result of the hostility experienced
by the papacy at the hands of the revolution-
ary power was, that the rest of the European
states, whatever might otherwise be their
disposition towards the papal see, now be-
came its protectors. The death of Pius VI.
occurred exactly at a period when the coali-
tion was again victorious. This made it pos-
sible for the cardinals to assemble in San
Georgio at Venice, and proceed to the elec-
tion of a pope, Pius VII. (March 13, 1800.)
It is true that, shortly afterwards, the revo-
lutionary arms were again triumphant, and
achieved the decided superiority in Italy ;
but that power had at this moment itself un-
dergone a vast change. After passing through
so many metamorphoses, engendered by the
pressing contingencies of that stormy period,
it began to lean towards monarchy. A des-
pot arose, who was filled with the idea of a
new universal empire, and who (the point of
most importance for our present considera-
tion,) beholding the universal chaos around
him, and taught by his experience of the
East, felt asswed that his project needed, be-
sides many other forms of the old states, in
the very first place, unity of religion and hie-
rarchical subordination.
Upon the very battle field of Marengo, Na-
poleon deputed the bishop of Vercelli to enter
on negociations with the pope for the re-es-
tablishment of the catholic church.
This was a proposal which, though ex-
tremely enticing, was yet attended with much
danger. The re-establishment of the catholic
church in France, and of its connection with
the pope, was only to be effected at the cost
of extraordinary concessions.
Pius VII. made up his mind to these. He
recognized at once the secularization of
church property, — a loss of four hundred mil-
lions of francs in real estates ; his motives be-
ing, as he expressed himself, that fresh trou-
bles would break out were he to refuse ; that,
rather than this should occur, he was disposed
to go the utmost lengths allowable by religion.
He consented to a new organization of the
French clergy, which was now salaried and
nominated by the government; and he was
390
THE POPES SUBSEQUENTLY TO THE 17TH CENTURY.
well pleased that the right of canonical insti-
tution sJiould be restored to him in the same
extent as enjoyed by former popes, and with-
out limit to the right of the veto.*
That which no one but a little before could
have expected, now actually took place, — the
restoration of Catholicism in France, and the
renewed subjection of that country to the spi-
ritual authority. The pope was delighted
" that the churches were purified from profa-
nations, the altars reared again, the banner
of the cross unfurled anew, lawful pastors set
over the people, and so many souls that had
wandered from the right way brought back to
unity, and reconciled to themselves and to
God." " How many motives," he cried,
" for joy and thankfulness !"
But was it indeed to be supposed, that with
the conclusion of the concordat of 1801 was
effected an intimate union between the an-
cient ecclesiastical authority and the revolu-
tionary state 1
Concessions were mutually made ; but, in
spite of them, each party remained firm to its
principles.
The restorer of the catholic religion in
France immediately afterwa-rds became the
chief agent in the final overthrow of the
stately edifice of the German church, and the
transfer of its possessions and its sovereign
powers to temporal princes, whether to pro-
testant or catholic, indifferently. Huge was
the amazement of the court of Rome. " He-
resy, according to the old decretals, entailed
loss of property, but now the church must en-
dure to see its own possessions parted out
among heretics."!
Meanwhile a concordat was likewise pro-
jected for Italy upon the model of that ob-
tained by France ; and there too the pope
was forced to assent to the sale of church pro-
perty, and to abandon the nomination to be-
nefices to the temporal authority. Nay, so
many new partial clauses and restrictions
were annexed to this concordat, that Pius
VII., under these circumstances, refused to
publish it. J
But it was in France itself that Napoleon
most vigorously asserted the rights of the
state in opposition to those of the church : he
regarded the declaration of 1682 as a funda-
mental law of the realm, and caused it to be
expounded in the schools; he would suffer no
religious vows, and no monks ; the regula-
tions respecting marriage which were laid
down in his Code Civile were at variance
with the catholic principles of the sacrament-
* Letteraapostolica in forma di breve, in Pistolesi : Vi
ta di Pio VII. loin. i. p. 143, wilh a thorough collation of
the vaiialions inlhe several publications of the document
in France.
t Instruction to a nuncio at Vienna, unfortunately with-
out date, but apparently of the year 18U3, in Daunuu: Es-
fiai ii. p. 318.
% Coppi : Annali d'ltalia, torn. iii. p. 120.
al nature of the institution ; the organic arti-
cles which he added from the very first to the
concordat, were utterly anti-Roman.
When the pope, notwithstanding all this,
resolved, at the emperor's request, to cross
the Alps, and give his coronation the religi-
ous sanction of the holy oil, his motive was,
that he flattered himself, whatever counte-
nance the aspect of France gave to such a
hope, that he should be able " to accomplish
something for the advantage of the catholic
church, and to complete the work begun."*
In entertaining these hopes, he relied on the
effect of personal intercourse. He took with
him the letter of Louis XIV. to Innocent XII.,
to convince Napoleon that even Louis had
suffered the declaration of 1662 to fall to the
ground. In the first remonstrance, written
in Italian, which he delivered in Paris, he
formally combated that same declaration, and
he endeavoured to free the new concordat
from the restrictions of the organic articles.!
Nay, his purpo.-es and his expectations went
still further. He set forth, in a circumstan-
tial memorial, the wants of the pontificate,
with all the losses it had sustained within the-
last fifty years, and urged the emperor toibl-
low the example of Charlemagne, and restore
the provinces which had been occupied. J At
so high a rate did he estimate the services he
had rendered the revolutionary monarchy.
But how grievously did he find himself de-
ceived. In the very ceremony of the coro-
nation an expression of melancholy was ob-
served to overspread his countenance.
Of all he desired and intended, neither
then nor subsequently did he obtain the small-
est portion. On the contrary, this was the
very moment in which the emperor's designs
became first disclosed in their full extent.
The constituent assembly had sought to
detach itself from the pope, the directory had
desired his destruction. Bonaparte's plan was
to sustain him, but at the same time to hold
him in subjection, and to make him the tool of
his own omnipotence.
He caused proposals, if we are rightly in-
formed, to be made at that very time to the
pope, that he should remain in France, aud
reside in Avignon or in Paris.
The pope is said to have answered, that he
had executed in due form his act of abdica-
tion, and deposited it at Palermo, beyond the
reach of the French decrees, provisionally,
* Allocutio habita in consislorio, 29 Oct. 1804, in Italian :
Pistolesi, Vita di Pio VII. torn. i. p. 193.
t Extrait du Rapport de Mr. Portales, in Arlaud, Pie
VII. t. ii. p. 11.
t Printed in Artaud, p. 31. Compare Napoleon's letter
of July 22, 1807. " Le pape s'est donn6 la peine de venir
k mon couronnemenl. J'ai' r^connu dans celte d-marche
uii saint pr61al ; iiiais il voulait que je lui c^dasse Us le-
gations." Bigr.on, Hisioire do France sous Napoldon;
Deuxi6me 6por|Uc, i. p. 1-38. [The pope toolt the trouble
to couie tomy co.'onttion. In this act I recognize a holy
prelate ; but he wished me to cede him the legations.]
THE TIMES OF NAPOLEON.
391
against the contingency of his being impri-
soned.
Nowhere at that moment could the pope
have found protectien but under the sway of
the British navy.
The pope was indeed suffered to return to
Rome, and left in the same independence as
he had previously enjoyed ; but from that
hour he became involved in the most vexa-
tious perplexities.
Napoleon very soon declared, without fur-
ther circumlocution, that, like his predeces-
sors of the second and third dynasty, he was
the oldest son of the church, who bore the
sword for its protection, and could not suffer
that it should be in communion with heretics
and schismatics, liive the Russians and the
English. He was particularly fond of re-
garding himself as the successor of Charle-
magne, though the moral he drew from that
belief was very different from that contem-
plated by the court of Rome. He assumed
that the Ecclesiastical States were donations
from Charlemagne to the pope ; and that such
a gift entailed the duty of not departing from
the policy of the empire ; nor, indeed, would
he permit the pope so to do.*
The pope was astonished at the suggestion,
that he was to regard the enemies of another
as his own. He replied that he was the com-
mon pastor, the father of all, the servant of
peace ; that the mere request filled him with
horror: " it became him to be an Aaron, the
prophet of God, — not an Ishmael, whose hand
was against every man, and every man's hand
against him."
But Napoleon went straightforward to his
mark. He caused Ancona and Urbino to be
occupied, and after the rejection of his ulti-
matum, wherein, among other things, he
claimed the right of nominatmg a third of the
cardinals, he marched his troops upon Rome.
The cardinals who were not obsequious to
him were dismissed, the pope's secretary of
state twice. But when all this failed to have
any effect on Puis VH., even his person was
not spared ; he too was carried away from his
palace and his capital. A senatus consultum
was then passed, declaring the incorporation
of the ecclesiastical states witii the French
empire. The temporal sovereignty was de-
clared incompatible with the exercise of spi-
* Schoell's Archives historiques et poliliques, (Paris,
1819,) conlain in tlie second and third volumes, a Precis
des contestations qui ont 6u lieu enire le Saint Si^ge et
Napoleon Buouaparie, acco.npagn^e d'un grand nombre
de pieces officirUes. The correspondence, which is here-
given in its full extent, reaches from the 13lh of Novem-
ber, 1805, to the 17th oi'May, 1808. Nevertheless, in Big-
non, Histoire de France depuis la paix de Tilsit, 1838, i.
ch. 3, p. 125, we meet with the following passage: "Les
publications faites depuis 1815 nese composentgu6re que
fle pieces dont la date commence en 1808." And again :
"Jusqu'a present son caract6re (de Pie VII.) n'esl pas
Buffisamment connu. On ne le connaitra bien qu'en
I'appr^ciant d'aprfes ses acles." In fact, however, these
acts had been already published. Bignoa has added but
little to the documents given by Schoell.
ritual privileges; the pope was for the future
formally to pledge himself to the four princi-
ples of the Galilean church ; he was to draw
his income from real estates, almost as a feu-
datory of the empire ; the state would take
upon itself all the expenses of the college of
cardinals.*
According to this plan, it is evident the
whole power of the church would have been
subjected to the empire, and placed, at least
indirectly, in the hands of the emperor.
But how would it be possible to obtain,
what was nevertheless indispensable, the con-
sent of the pope to this degradation ! Pius
VH. had availed himself of his last moment of
freedom to pronounce sentence of excommu-
nication. He refused canonical institution to
the bishops appointed by the emperor. Na-
poleon was not so thoroughly master of his
clergy as not to feel the effects of this, now
from one quarter now from another, above all
on the side of Germany.
But this very resistance served at last to
overcome the pope's determination. Its con-
sequences were far more painlul to the spi-
ritual ruler, who sympathized with the internal
condition of the church, than to the temporal,
for whom spiritual things were no more than
an instrument of power, themselves indif-
ferent.
In Savona, whither the pope had been
brought, he was lonely, thrown back upon
himself, and without an adviser. Through
the earnest and almost exaggerated represen-
tations made him of the confusion in the
church, produced by his refusal to grant insti-
tution, the amiable old man was actually
prevailed on, though with sore grief and
reluctance, virtually to renounce the right in
question. For what else was it than an act
of renunciation when he agreed that it should
devolve on the metropolitans, whenever he
himself should defer the exercise of it longer
than six months upon any other grounds than
personal unworthiness 1 He abjured the right
that in fact constituted his last weapon.
And this was not all that was exacted of
him. He was hurried to Fontainebleau with
an impatient haste that aggravated his bodily
infirmities: there he was beset with fresh
importunities, and the most urgent demands
that he should fully restore the peace of the
church. At last, so far was he wrought on,
that he gave way on the remaining, the deci-
sive points. He consented to reside in France,
and acquiesced in the most essential provi-
sions of the senatus consultum before men-
tioned. The concordat of Fontainebleau (Jan.
25, 1813,) was framed on ^the preliminary
condition that he should not return to Rome.f
* Thibaudeau : Histoire de la France et de Napoleon ;
Empire, torn. v. p. 221.
f Bart. Pacca : Memorie storiche del minislero de' due
viaggi in Francia, &c. p. 323. Historisch-polilische Zeit-
Bchrift, i. iv. 642.
392
THE POPES SUBSEQUENTLY TO THE 17TH CENTURY,
The autocrat of the revolution had now
actually achieved what no catholic sovereign
before him had ever ventured even to contem-
plate seriously. The pope agreed to become
subject to the French empire. His authority
would have become forever a tool in the
hands of the new dynasty; it would have
served to secure obedience at home, and to
keep in a dependent position the yet unsub-
dued catholic states. In these respects the
papacy would have fallen back to the position
in which it had stood under the German em-
perors in the plenitude of their power, parti-
cularly under the Salic emperor Henry HI.
But it would have been loaded with far hea-
vier chains. There was something hostile to
the church principle in the power that had
now mastered the pope ; it was at bottom but
another metamorphosis of that spirit of oppo-
sition to the church which had unfolded itself
in the eighteenth century, and which was so
strongly possessed by a disposition to actual
infidelity. To this hostile power would the
papacy have been subjected and made vassal.
But once again as formerly, these extreme
anticipations were destined not to be fulfilled.
The Restoration.
The empire, of which the pope was now to
constitute the hierarchical centre, was still
involved in dubious warfare with invincible
foes. In the solitude of his imprisonment the
pope received no accurate intelligence of the
mighty vicissitudes of the strife. At the very
moment when, after such lengthened resist-
ance, he at last gave way. Napoleon had
already broken down in his last grand enter-
prize against Russia, and his power had been
shaken to its base by all the inevitable conse-
quences of that mischance. Already Europe
caught up the almost abandoned hope of libe-
rating herself When the pope, to whom, on
his submission, a few cardinals were allowed
access, was informed of the state of things, he
too felt his confidence revive ; he felt every
step of the allied powers to be an act of libe-
ration for himself
When Prussia rose in prompt obedience to
the king's call, Pius VII. gathered courage
to revoke the concordat extorted from him ;
when the congress of Prague had assembled,
he ventured to look beyond the boundaries of
the empire that held him captive, and to re-
mind the emperor of Austria of his rights.
After the battle of Leipsig his confidence had
risen so much, that he rejected the offer made
him of partially restoring his dominions; and
when the allies had crossed the Rhine, he
would enter into no further negociations till
he had been fully reinstated. Events followed
each other with the utmost rapidity ; when
the allies took Paris, the pope was already
arrived at the confines of the ecclesiastical
states, and on the 24th of May, 1814, he
entered Rome again. A new age was begun
for the world, and a new era for the Roman
see.
The last score of years have derived their
character and tenour from the strife between
the revolutionary tendencies which still pos-
sessed such strong hold on men's minds, and
the ideas to which the old states now went
back after their triumph, with double zeal as
to their primitive bases ; in this struggle it is
plain that the %ipreme spiritual head of the
catholic church must occupy an important
position.
He was first backed by the idea of temporal
legitimacy, though in truth it was urged more
by the party of his ecclesiastical opponents,
than by his adherents and followers in faith.
It was the victory of the four great allied
powers, three of which were anti-catholic,
over that one which thought to make its own
capital the centre of Catholicism, that set the
pope free, and enabled him to return to Rome.
It was to the three anti-catholic monarchs
alone, who were then assembled in London,
that the pope's wish to recover the entire
states of the church was first submitted. How
often in former days had the resources of
those states been strained to effect the des-
truction of protestantism whether in England
or in Germany, and to propagate the Roman
catholic doctrine in Russia or in Scandinavia :
and now it was to the interference of the
rulers of those anti-catholic countries that the
pope was to owe his restoration to his domi-
nions. In the allocution in which Pius VII.
communicated to the cardinals the happy
results of his negociations, he expressly extols
the services of the sovereigns " not belonging
to the Roman church ; the emperor of Russia,
who had taken his rights into consideration
with extraordinary attention ; as also the king
of Sweden, and the prince regent of England,
as well as the king of Prussia, who had de-
clared in his favour, throughout the whole
course of the negociations."* Differences of
creed were for the moment forgotten ; politi-
cal considerations alone were regarded.
We have often already had occasion to no-
tice similar tendencies in the course of the
last century and a half We have seen what
were the states from which Innocent XI.
received aid and support in his differences
with Louis XIV. When the doom of the
Jesuits was pronounced by the Bourbon courts,
they found favour and protection in the North,
m Russia and Prussia ; the seizure of Avignon
and Benevento by those courts in the year
1758, caused a political commotion in Eng-
land. Rut never did this mutual bearing of
♦ N6 possiamo non fare un gran conto dei merili verso
di noi di Federigo (Guil.) re di Prussia, il cui iiupegno fu
conslantemenie in nosiro favore nel decorso tuuo della
iraltative de' nosiri aftari. Allocution of tlie 4lh of Sept.
1815, in Pistoleei, ii. p. 144.
THE RESTORATION.
393
parties display itself more strikingly than in
the events last detailed.
Now that the pope had once again attained
a free and independent position among the
sovereigns of Europe, he could devote his
thoughts without interruption to the restora-
tion of spiritual obedience. His reinstate-
ment of the Jesuits, the first great act that
marked the renewal of his functions, put it
beyond a doubt that he hoped to be able to
exercise his spiritual authority, not subject to
the restrictions of the latter part of the eigh-
teenth century, but after the manner of his
earlier predecessors. And indeed could there
ever have been a more favourable or inviting
moment for such a project? The restored
governments of Southern Europe instantly
repented of their former refractoriness, be-
lieving that they had thereby unchained the
spirit that had wrought their own downfall.
They now beheld in the pope their natural
ally, and they hoped through the influence of
the spiritual power, more easily to subdue the
domestic enemies by whom they found them-
selves surrounded. The king of Spain be-
thought him of his title of catholic king, and
declared that he would merit it ; he recalled the
Jesuits whom his grandfather had so jealously
banished ; he renewed the tribunal of the
nuncio, and edicts of the grand inquisitor
were once more read in Spain. In Sardinia
new bishoprics were established ; convents
were restored in Tuscany ; Naples, after some
repugnance, assented to a concordat, by which
the Roman curia acquired a very powerful di-
rect influence over the clergy of the kingdom.
In France, meanwhile, the chamber of 1815
regarded the welfare of the nation as identi-
fied with the restoration of the ancient French
church, " that work," as an orator expressed
himself, "of heaven, of time, of kings, and of
forefathers ;" but the point which was chiefly
dwelt on, was the necessity of restoring to
the clergy their influence over the state, the
community, families, public life, and public
education ; and no thought was given to the
liberties which the Galilean church had in
former days either enjoyed de facto or ex-
pressly reserved : by the new concordat
which was projected, it would have been
placed in a state of dependence on Rome
unknown to former times.
It was impossible in the nature of things,
that such decided proceedings should at once
be victorious over the spirit that had been
developed in the Romanic nations with far
other scope and tendencies. The old antipa-
thies to the hierarchy started up in France
with loud war-cries against the new concor-
dat ; the legislative power was here consti-
tuted in a manner that forbade all hope of
carrying out the plan of 1815. The tyranni-
cal acts of Ferdinand's rule in Spain aroused
an equally vehement reaction ; a revolution
50
broke out which, whilst it combated the abso-
lute king, who was incapable of resistance,
displayed at the same time a decided anticle-
rical tendency. One of the first measures of
the new cortes, was the expulsion of the Je-
suits ; enactments soon followed for the sup-
pression of old orders, the secularization of
their possessions, and their application to the
extinction of the national debt. Similar
movements instantly took place in Italy ; they
made their way into the ecclesiastical states,
which were filled with the same elements of
disquiet ; on one occasion the Carbonari had
actually fixed the day for a general rising in
the states of the church.
But the restored sovereigns once more re-
ceived support and aid from the great powers
that had achieved the last victories, and the
revolutions were stifled. This time, indeed,
the anti-catholic states took no direct part in
these acts of repression ; but some of them
were at least not hostile to them, and by
others they were approved.
Meanwhile in the non-catholic realms them-
selves, Catholicism had attained to new orga-
nization. Positive religion, of whatever de-
nomination, was held to be the best support
of civil allegiance. Care was everywhere
taken to arrange the dioceses anew, to estab-
lish bishoprics and archbishoprics, and to found
catholic seminaries and schools. How wholly
different an aspect did the catholic church
system assume in the Prussian provinces,
formerly incorporated in the French empire,
from that it had worn under the latter yoke.
The desultary efforts of ecclesiastical opposi-
tion to the ancient regulations of the Roman
church, found no.countenance in the protest-
ant states. On the other hand, the court of
Rome concluded treaties equally with the
protestant as with the catholic governments,
and found it necessary to allow the former
influence in the choice of bishops : that influ-
ence was at times actually exerted in pro-
moting the most zealous churchmen to the
highest posts. It would almost have seemed
as though the strife of creeds had forever
ceased in the higher political regions; and
day by day it was seen to die away in civil
life. Protestant literature devoted a respect-
ful attention to ancient catholic institutions,
which in earlier times it would have found
impossible.
It proved nevertheless that these anticipa-
tions of peace were too bold and hasty.
On the contrary, the strict catholic princi-
ple, which clings to, and is represented by
Rome, became subsequently involved in more
or less keen and deliberate conflict with the
protestant governments.
It achieved a great victory in England in
the year 1329.
During the wars of the revolution the gov-
ernment of England, for a century exclusively
394
CONCLUSION.
protestant, had made approaches to the see of
Rome. Phis VI [. had been elected under the
auspices of the coalition victories of 1799, in
which England had borne so conspicuous a
part. We have mentioned how that the pope
subsequently also rested on English support,
and could not be moved to any acts of hostility
against that country. Neither could the
English nation any longer see, as they had
done before, the necessity of making a depen-
dence in point of religion upon the pope a
ground of exclusion from all purely political
rights, and from all qualification for public
functions. Pitt had already felt and expressed
this ;* still, as might be expected, the habit
of adhering firmly to tried principles of the
constitution longopposed an invincibleobstacle
to every change. At last, however, the spirit
of the age, which is averse to all exclusive
privileges, asserted its strength on this ques-
tion. Hence in Ireland, so pre-eminently
catholic, politico-religious associations, and
acts of lawlessness and turbulence prevailed
to such a degree, that at last the great gene-
ral, then at the head of the government, who
had victoriously withstood so many foes, was
obliged to declare that he could not carry on
the government without this concession. Ac-
cordingly, the oaths were repealed or modi-
fied, to which alone the protestant interest
had ascribed its safety in the times of the
restoration and of the revolution in England.
How often had Lord Liverpool declared, that
if this measure were carried, England would
no longer be a protestant state : even though
no importantconsequences should immediately
follow it, still it was impossible to foresee to
what future events it might give rise.f Never-
theless, the measure was passed, the hazard
was encountered.
A still more brilliant and more unexpected
triumph was immediately after obtained in
Belgium.
The kingdom of the Netherlands, from the
moment of its foundation, gave tokens of an
animosity between north and south, that
threatened its destruction, and which from
the very first had fastened chiefly on ecclesi-
astical matters. The protestant king adopted
* " Mr. Pitl is convinced," he says in his letter of the
31st Jan. 1801, to George III., " that the grounds on which
the laws of exclusion now remaining were founded, have
long been nirrowed,— thai those principles formerly held
by the catholics, which made them be considered as poli-
tically dangerous, have been for a course of time gradu-
ally declining,— thai the political circumstances under
which the exclusive laws originated, arising from the con-
flicting power of hostile and nearly balanced sects, . . .
and a division in Europe between catholic and protestant
powers, are no longer applicable to the present stale of
things."
t Speech of Lord Liverpool, May 17, 18.'5. "Where
was the danger of having a popish king or a popish chan-
cellor, if alllhe other executive officers might acknow-
ledge the jjope. ... It was said,— that a catholic might
be prime minister, and have the whole patronage of the
church and stale at his dis;;os il. ... If the bill were to
pass. Great Britain would be no longer a proiesiani
state."
the ideas of Joseph II. : in that spirit he
established schools and universities, and ad-
ministered generally his share in the spiritual
power. The opposition set up against hira
educational institutions in a contrary spirit,
and with deliberate purpose applied itself to
the most extreme eftbrts in favour of hierarch-
ical principles. A liberal catholic party
sprang up, which taking its stand in this
country, as in England, on the common rights
of man, grew every day bolder in its preten-
sions, and extorted first concessions, such as
liberation from the government schools, and
finally, when a favourable opportunity pre-
sented itself, wholly threw off the hated yoke,
and succeeded in founding a kingdom in which
the priests have again attained to distinguish-
ed political importance. The most decidedly
liberal ideas are just what best promote their
interest. The low electoral qualification,
which admits even the humbler classes in
town and country, whom they can easily in-
fluence, to a share in public affairs, enables
them to control the elections : through the
elections they rule the chambers, and through
the chambers the kingdom. They are to be
seen in Brussels, as in Rome, in the public
promenades, in good case and full of preten-
sion ; they enjoy their victory.
In neither of these events did the Roman
court, so far as we are aware, take a directly
active part, however advantageous they have
proved to its authority. . In a third, however,
the dispute between the catholic church and
Prussia, it has actively interfered. In that
country the tendencies of the protestant state
and of the catholic hierarchy, which seemed
in some sort to have coalesced since the res-
toration, but which had subsequently for a
long time become mutually estranged, have
broken with each other in the most systematic
manner, and engaged in a conflict that de-
servedly attracts the attention of the world,
and is pregnant with the most important con-
sequences. The pope, in conjunction with
the two archbishops of the empire, has stood
up against an ordinance of the king ; the ob-
ject of which was the regulation, in a reli-
gious point of view, of the family relations of
the mixed population. He has found willing
instruments and powerful support in the midst
of Germany.
Thus we see the catholic hierarchical prin-
ciple has once more come forth in great
strength against the ])rotestant governmentg,
and in this it has been greatly aided by the
political opposition to which it is the nature
of our age decidedly to incline.
Matters have not thriven so well with the
pope in the countries of his own creed.
The revolution of July in France could not
be regarded in any other light than that of a
defeat of the partizans of the hierarchy. The
religious zeal of Charles X. was what chiefly
THE RESTORATION.
395
led to his overthrow. Parties had risen to
power in Spain and Portugal, which have re-
sumed the efforts of the revolutionary cortes.
Movements similar in their orij^in have taken
place at the foot of the Vatican, and their
suppression has been wholly effected by for-
eign force.
It cannot be alleged that the Roman see
has contributed much towards suppressing
the revohitionary spirit. Nowhere has it
been able to put it down by its own unassisted
strength.
But before having yet attained to firm and
stable sovereignty within the domain of its
own church, it has found means to place itself
in a warlike attitude upon the confines of
protestantism. There it would have coalesced
with the legitimate powers, and with ancient
institutions of Europe. Here it has found its
best allies in the ideas of the times, and in
liberal opinions. Its position and its policy
continually oscillate between these great
forces, as formerly they did in the time of
Napoleon.
Whither this state of things may lead, the
future alone can tell.
If we fix our eyes exclusively on the efforts
of the partizansof the hierarchy and of their
antagonists, we may be disposed to dread the
outbreak of new and fierce strife, the convul-
sion of the world, and the revival of ancient
animosities in all their former rancour. If,
on the other hand, we cast a glance upon the
mental activity that characterizes the age,
this fear must vanish. Few, indeed, are they
who are now disposed to re-establish the do-
minion of priesthood in the full sense of the
word. Such an attempt would perhaps expe-
rience the most vehement resistance in the
inveterately catholic countries of the Roman
group. Neither will the protestants ever
again return to the hardness and bigoted ran-
cour of the old system. We see the pro-
founder spirits on either side with more and
more knowledge, penetration, and freedom
from the narrow bondage of church forms,
going back to the everlasting principles of
genuine religion, — that which dwells in the
inner man. Impossible it is that this can re-
main barren of result. The more perfect
apprehension of the spiritually and absolutely
true which lies at the bottom of all forms, and
which can by none of them be expressed in
its entire import, must at last harmonize all
enmities. High above all antagonizing prin-
ciples— this trust we cannot tbrego — still
towers the unity of an unalloyed, and there-
fore no less assured, consciousness of the
being of a God.
THE END OF THE HISTORY.
APPENDIX.
LIST OF MANUSCRIPTS MADE USE OP IN THE COMPOSITION OP THE
FOREGOING WORK, WlTH EXTRACTS AND CRITICAL REMARKS.
SECTION L
PERIOD TO THE COUNCIL OF TRENT.
1. Ad S. D"^ Nostrum Pontificem Maximum
Nicolaum V. conformalio curie romane
loquentis edita per E. S. oralorem Jo-
seph. B. doctorem cum humili semper
recommendatione. (1453.) — Bibl. Vatic,
nr.. 3618. [The address of the Roman
court to his holiness, Pope Nicholas V.,
edited and dedicated with profound hu-
mility by Doctor Joseph B. orator of the
Holy Church.]
A lament over the well-known conspiracy
of Stephen Porcari, which does not exactly
furnish any more accurate information on the
subject, but which nevertheless sets before us
some important points in the position of things.
For instance, it states the principal intention
of Nicholas V. in the buildings he erected.
" Arces fortificat muris turrimque superbam
Extruit . . . ne quisque tyrannus ab alma
Quemque armis valeat papain depellere Ro-
ma."
[He walls fortresses, and piles up a proud
castle .... that no armed tyrant may ever
avail to drive a pope from dear and venerated
Rome.] Many a time had former popes been
forced to quit their capital. Nicholas built
that he might be able to defend himself against
domestic and foreign foes.
Again he exhibits the state of Rome as com-
pared with that of other Italian cities.
". . . . Si tu perquiris in omnibus illam (lib-
ertatem)
Urbibus Italise, nullam mihi crede profecto
Invenies urbem quae sic majore peromnem
Libertate modumquam nunctua Romafruatur.
Omnis enim urbs dominis et hello et pace coacta
Prsestita magna suisdurasque gravata gabellas
Solvit, et interdum propria m desperat habere
Justitiam, atque ferox violentia civibus ipsis
Saepe fit, ut popuhis varie vexatus ab illis
Fasce sub hoc onerum pauper de divite fiat;
Attua Roma sacro nee prsestita nee similem vim
Nee grave vectigal nee pondera cogitur uUa
Solvere pontifici ni humiles minimasque gabel-
las:
Praetereahicdominustribuitjustissimusalmam
Justitiam cuicunque suam, violentaque nu{li
Infert: hie populum prisco de paupere ditem
Efficit, et placida Romam cum pace gubernat."
[Seek if you will through all the cities of
Italy, in none assuredly will you find your
own Rome surpassed in the enjoyment of
liberty of every kind. For all the others are
cruelly taxed by their rulers in times of peace
as well as of war; justice is sometimes des-
paired of, and violence is frequently committed
by the burghers themselves, so that the har-
assed people sink under their manifold bur-
thens from affluence to poverty. But your
Rome suffers no such exactions or violence,
nor is it forced to pay to its holy pontiff any
exorbitant tribute, but merely very moderate
and trifling duties. There, too, the most just
of lords dispenses equity to all, and wrongs
none, and makes a once needy people wealthy,
and governs Rome in peace and contentment.]
The author blames the Romans for their as-
pirations after the freedom of ancient Rome.
And indeed the fact is undeniable, and it is
one that greatly contributed to the territorial
acquisitions of the church, that the papal sway
was milder than that of the rulers of other
cities of Italy. Our author caimot pardon
the resistance of the burghers to that church,
from which they derived so much spiritual
and temporal wealth :
" Quibus auri copia grandis
Argentique ferax asternaque vita salusque
Provenit, ut nulli data gratia tam ardua
genti."
[There is poured on them a plenteous abun-
dance of gold and silver, besides eternal life
and salvation ; so that they are blessed above
every other people.] The pope is counselled
to increase his fortifications still more, and
never to go to St. Peter's without 300 armed
attendants ; at the same time to strive to win
398
APPENDIX.
the love of the inhabitants, and toFuccour the
poor, especially those of gentle blood, "vitam
qui mend;care rubescunt ;" [who blush to beg
their bread ;]
. . . Succtirre volentibus artes
Exercere bonas, quibus inclyta Roma nites-
cat;"
[give countenance and support to those who
are willing to exercise laudable arts, and
thereby to enhance the lustre of Rome;] an
advice it was hardly necest^ary to give Nicholas
V. This little work is mentioned in the Vita
Nicolai V. a Dominico Georgio conscripta Ro-
mse, 1742, p. 130.
2. Inslructiones dat<B a Sixto IV. RR. PP.
/?"'« J. de Agnellis prolonvtario apos-
tolico et Anl" de Frassis s. palatn cau-
sarum avditcri ad M. Impfraioris. 1
Deci' 1418.— Bibl. Alheri VII. G. 1.
99. [Instructions from Sixtus IV. to the
nuncios sent to the emperor, &c. &c.]
The oldest instruction that I have met with
among the MSS. that have come under my
notice. It begins " Primo salutabant Seren-
issimum Imperatorem."
The murderous attack of the Pazzi upon
the Medici had taken place on the 2fith of
April, 1478. The deed had thrown all Italy
into commotion. " Ecclesia justa caui-a con-
tra Laurentium mota, clamant Veneti, clamat
tota ista liga."
The ambassadors were to hinder the em-
peror from giving credit to a certain Jacobus
de Medio, whom the Vi^netians had sent to
the imperial court. " Est magnup fabricator
et Cretensis : multa enim referebat suis quae
nunquam cogitaveramus neque dixeramus."
[He is a monstrous liar ; for he stated many
things to his countrymen which we never ut-
tered or conceived.] They were to solicit
the emperor's med iation. 'I he king of France
had offered his; but the pope would rather
confer the honour of that office on the empe-
ror. " Velit scribere rogi Franciag et ligse
isti, ostondendo quod non recte faciunt et pa-
rum existiuiant deum et honorem pontificis, et
quod debent magis favere ecclesiae justitiam
habenti quam uni mercatori, qui semper mag-
na causa tuit quod non potuerunt omnia con-
fici contra Turcum qua intendebamus parare,
et fuil semper petra scandali in ecclesia Dei
ettota Italia." [Let him write to the king of
France and to the league, and point out to
them thai they act wrongfully and with little
respect tor God and the pope's honour, and
that they ought rather lo favour the righteous
cause of the church, than an individual mer-
chant, who has always been a main hindrance
to the accomplishment of all our projects
against the Turks, and a stone of offence to
God's church and to all Italy.]
The matter was the more dangerous for the
pope, inasmuch as intentions were entertained
of setting up a council as a bar to his temporal
assumptions. " Petunt cum rege Francise,
concilium in Galliis celebrari in dedecus nos-
trum."
This reminds us of the attempt which was
made some years later to assemble a council,
whereby the archbishop of Carniola earned a
certain reputation. Johann von M tiller has
devoted a couple of pages to the subject in the
5th vol. of his History of Switzerland (p. 286 ;)
but his account does not sufficiently e.xhibit
the temporal motives for this demand of a
council. Cardinal Andreas was not so tho-
rough an ecclesiastic as M ijller would make him
appear. The ambassadors from Florence and
Milan sought him out in Basle, deputed in the
name of the entire league which had taken
the field against Sixtus. They found him
(we have their own report) a man of great
worldly experience (gran pratica et experi-
entia del mundo) and possessed with a vehe-
ment hatred to the pope and his nephew. •' E
huomo per fare otjni cosa purche e' tuffi el
papa e '1 conte." [He is ready to do anything
to swamp the pope and the count.] See Bac-
cius Ugolinus Laurentio Medici in Basilea a
di 20 Sept. 1482 in Fabroni Vita Laurentii,
II. 229. — Here, we perceive, is already an in-
stance of a spiritual opposition on the part of
sovereigns, prompted by secular considerations.
They too had spiritual weapons, and they
wielded them against those of the pope.
3. Relatione falta in pregadi per Polo Ca-
pello el cavalier venuto orator di Roma
1500 28 Sett. — Vienna Archives. [Polo
Capello's Report to the Venetian senate
of his embassy to Rome, &c.]
This is the earliest report of a Venetian
ambassador concerning the papal court that I
have met with. It is not to be found in the
Venetian archives; it seems as though re-
ports were not given in writing in those days.
It is given in the Chronicle of Sanuto, which
contains in general whatever passed in the
pregadi or senate.
Polo Capello promises to treat on four top-
ics ; — the cardinals, the disposition of the pope
to the kinjT of France and to Venice, the inten-
tions (el desiderio) of his holiness, and what
was to be expected from him : but as this di-
vision of his subject does not rest on very ac-
curate distinctions, he does not abide by it.
He remarks principally that neither Venice
nor France was on good terms with the pope ;
the former because it had possessed itself of a
part of the Milanese, and fears were enter-
tained that it would lay hold on all Italy; —
the latter, because the king did nut keep his
word with the pope. We find in this docu-
ment the conditions of the league of the year
1498 between the king and the pope. The
PERIOD TO THE COUNCIL OP TRENT.
399
pope s^ranted the kinor a dispensation to sepa-
rate from his wife; in return for which the
king promised the pope's son, Caesar Borgia,
a domiin yielding an annual income of2S,()()0
francs, a wife of the blood-royal (Navarre !)»
and renunciation of any attempt on Naples,
except in favour of the Borgias (del regno di
Napoli non se impazzar se non in ajutar il
papa.) So that we see the pope had even a
design on Naples. But these promises were
not kept. The match proposed to Caesar was
not quite to the pope's satisfaction ; the pope
contented liimself with the purchase of a
property of 12,000 francs as a security for the
dowry, but the young bride remained in
France. It was only the king's superior pow-
er that kept the pope in check. " Q,uando il
Sr LoJovico intro in Milan," says Capello
very signigcantly, " publice diceva (.il papa)
mal del roy." [When S"' Lodovico entered
Milan, the pope publicly spoke ill of the king.]
He was incensed that the French had refused
him aid towards expelling the Bentivogli from
Bologna.
Whilst the foregoing passages give us a
better insight into the secret springs of the
papal policy in those days, the following is
very valuable for its delineation of personal
traits.
The author speaks first of the death of Alex-
ander VI. 's son-in-law. (/sesar Borgia had
already wounded him. "Per dubio mando a
tuor medici di Napoli : ste 33 di ammalato, et
il CI Capua lo confesso e la moglie e sorella,
ch'e moglie del principe di Squillaci altro
fiol di papa, stava con lui et cusinava in una
pignatella per dubio di veneno, per I'odio li
haveva il ducha di Valentinos, et il papa li
faceva custodir per dubio esso ducha non
I'amazzasse, e quando andava il papa a visi-
tarlo, il ducha non vi andava se non una volta
e disse : quello non e fatto a disnar si fara a
cena. Or un zorno, fo a di 17 avosto, intro
in camera, che era za sublevato, e fe ussir la
moglie e sorella : intro Michiele cussi chia-
mato, e strangolo ditto zovene. . . .
" 11 papa ama et ha gran paura del fiol
ducha, qual e di anni 27, bellissimo di corpo
e grande, ben fatto e meglioche re Ferandin :
amazzo 6 tori salvadegi combatendo a cavallo
a la zaneta, et a uno li taio la testa a la prima
bota, cosa che pare.sse a tutta Roma grande.
E realissmio, imo prodego, e il papa li dis-
place di questo. Et alias amazzo sotta il
manto del papa M. Peroto, adeo il sangue li
salto in la faza del pipa, qual M. Peroto era
favorito dal papa. Ktiam amazzo il fratello
ducha di Gandia e lo fe butar nel Tevere. —
Tutta Roma trema di esso ducha non li faza
amazzar." [He took the precaution of hav-
ing physicians brought from Naples: he was
thirty-three days confined to his bed, and Car-
dinal Capua confessed him, and his married
sister, who is the wife of the prince of Squil-
lacc, the pope's other son, stayed with him
and cooked his fool in a small pot for fear of
poison, by reason of the hatred boms; to him
by the Duke of Valentinos; and the pope
cause I him to be guarded l(>st the said duke
should kill him ; and when the pope went to
visit him the duke did not go with hiin except
once, and then he said, what is not done at
dinner will be done at supper. Now one
day, it was the 17th of August, he entered
the chamber, the sick man being already
risen, and turned out the married sister:
iMichiele name in at his call and strangled
the said youth. . . .
The pope loves and is in great fear of the
duke, his son, who is twenty-seven years of
age, of a very hanlsome person, tall and well
made, and surpassing king Ferandin [Ferdi-
nand, the last king of .Naples, who was reck-
oned very handsome]; he killed six wild bulls
fighting with the lance on horseback, and he
cleft the head of one at the first stroke, a feat
which astonished all Rome. He is most roy-
al, nay prodigal ; and the pope is displeased
with him for this. Moreover he slew M.
Peroto under the pope's mantle, so that his
blood spirted in the pope's face, which M.
Peroto was the pope's favourite. Likewise
he murdered his brother, the duke of Gandea,
and had him thrown into the Tiber. — All
Rome trembles at this duke lest he assassinate
them.]
Roscoe has endeavoured, in his life of Leo
X. to clear the memory of Lucretia Borgia of
the scandalous imputations with which it has
been loaded. He has set off against the
charges brought against the earlier period of
her life favourable testimonies concerning her
later years. The German translator of his
work is not however convinced, his opinion
being that she altered her conduct for the
the better. The report before us is also re-
markable for the favourable testimony it bears
to the character of Lucretia in the early part
of her life. It says, " Lucrezia la qual e sa-
via e liberal." Caesar Borgia was rather her
enemy than her lover. He took from her
Sermoneta which had been given her by the
pope, saying she was a woman, and could not
ke^-p possession of it: "e donna, non lo potr^
mantenir."
4. Among the numerous documents given
in the fifth volume of Sanulo, the following
appears to me the most important:
" Questo e il successo de la morte di papa
Alexandro VI.
" Hessendo el C datario dno Arian da Cor-
neto stato richiesto dal pontefice cliel voleva
venir a cena con lui insieine con el duca Val-
entinos a la sua vigua et portar la cena cum
S. S^a, si imagino esso cardinal questo invito
esser sta ordinailo per darli la morte per via
di veneno per aver il duca li soi danari e ben-
400
APPENDIX.
eficii, per esser sta concluso per il papa ad
ogni modo di privarlo di vita per aver il suo
peculio, come ho ditto, qual era grande, e
procurando a la sua salute penso una sola
cosa poter esser la via di la sua salute. E
mando captato tpio (tempo) a far a saper al
schalcho del pontefice chel ge venisse a par-
lar, con el qual havea domestichezza. El
qual venuto da esso cd', se tirono tutti do in
uno loco secreto, dove era preparato due. Xm.
d'oro, e per esso c' fo persuaso ditto schalcho
ad acetarli in dono e galderli per suo amor.
El qual post multa li accepto, e li oferse etiam
il resto di la sua fuculta, perche era richissi-
nio card', a ogni suo comando, perche li disse
chel non poteva galder detta laculta se non
per suo mezo, dicendo: vui conoscete certo la
condition del papa, et io so chel ha deliberato
col duoha Valentinos ch' io mora e questo per
via di esso scalcho per morte ven«nosa, pre-
gandolo di gratia che voia haver pieta di lui
e donarli la vita. Et dicto questo, esso scal-
cho li dichiari il modo ordinate de darli il
veneno a la cena, e si mosse a compassione
promettendoli di preservarlo. II modo era
chel dovea apresentar dapoi la cena tre scha-
tole di confecion in laola, uno al papa, una al
d'o card' et una al ducha, et in quella del
card' si era il veneno. E cussi messe ditto
card' ordine al prefato scalcho del modo che
dovea servar, e tar che la scutola venenata,
dovea aver esso card', di quella il papa man-
zasse e lui si atosegaria e moriria. E cussi
venuto il pontefice a la cena al zorno dato
I'hordine col ducha perditto, el prefato c' se
li butto a li piedi brazzandoli ei strettissima-
mente baxandoli, con atfectuosissime parole
supplicando a S. S'a, dicendo, mai di quelli
piedi si leveria si S. Beat, non li concedesse
una gratia. Interrogato del pontefice, qual
era facendo instanza, se levasse suso, esso c'
respondeva chel voleva aver in gratia el di-
manderia et haver la promessa di fargela da
S. Sia. Hor dapio molta persuasion, il papa
stete assai admirativo vedendo la perseveran-
tia del d^o c'e e non si voler levar, e li prom-
isse di exaudirlo: al qual card' sublevato
disse: patre santo, non e conveniente che
venendo il signer a caxe del servo suo, do-
vesse al servo parimente confrezer (I) con el
suo signer, e perho la gratia el dimandava era
questa zusta e honesta che lui servo dovesse
servir a la mensa di S. S^a, e il papa li fece
la gratia. E andato a cena al hora debita di
meter la confecion in tavola, fo per il scalcho
posto la confezion avenenata ne la scutola se-
condo el primo ordine li havea dato il papa, et
il C hessendo chiaro in quella non vi esser
vcnen li fece la crcdenza di dicta scatola e
masse la venenata avante il papa, e S. S.
fidandosi del suo scalcho e per la credenza li
fece esso cl, judico in quella non esser veneno
e ne manzo allegramente, e del altra, chel
papa fusse avenenata si credeva e non era,
manzo ditto c'. Hor al hora solita a la qual-
ita del veneno sua S''' comenzo a sentirlo e
cussi sen'e morto: el card', che pur haveva
paura, se medicine e voniito, e non have mal
alcnno ma non senza difficulta. Valete."
[This is the way pope Alexander VI. came
by his death.
The cardinal datary Arian da Corneto hav-
ing been graciously informed by the pope
that he intended to visit him at his vineyard,
with the duke of Valentinos, to sup with him,
and that his holiness would bring the supper
with him ; the cardinal conceived that the
invitation was made with a view to put him
to death by poison, so that the duke might
have his money and preferments; it bemg
resolved on by the pope by all means to de-
prive him of life in order to get possession of
his property, as I have said, which was great.
Casting about how he might preserve himself,
he saw but one way of safety. He sent be-
times to desire the pope's carver, with whom
he was intimate, to come and speak with him,
and on his arrival the two retired to a secret
place, where were provided 10,000 gold du-
cats, which the said carver was prevailed on
by the cardinal to accept and keep for his
sake. The former accepted them after many
words, and the cardinal offered him moreover
all the rest of his means to command, he be-
ing exceedingly rich, for he said he could not
keep the same except through the said car-
ver's aid, adding, " You know certes the pope's
character, and I know that he has planned
with the duke Valentinos to compass my
death by poison at your hand," wherefore he
besought him to have pity on him, and spare
his life. Thereupon the carver declared to
him the mode appointed for administering
poison to him at supper, and yielded to com-
passion, promising to save him. The manner
was, that he was to present after supper
three boxes of lozenge confectionary, one to
the pope, one to the said cardinal, and one to
the duke, and in that of the cardinal was the
poison. So the cardinal directed the afore-
said carver how he should serve them, and
cause that the pope should eat of the drugged
box intended for the cardinal, and so poison
himself and die. Accordingly the pope being
come on the appointed day to supper, with
the aforesaid duke, the cardinal threw him-
self at his feet, embracing them closely, and
kissing them, intreating his holiness with
most affectionate words, saying that he would
never rise from that posture if his holiness
did not grant him a favour. The pontiff
questioning him and urging him to rise, the
cardinal persisted in his suit, and pressed his
holiness to promise he would grant it. After
much entreaty the pope, no little surprised at
the steadfastness with which the cardinal re-
fused to rise, gave him his promise. There-
upon the cardinal stood up and said, " Holy
PERIOD TO THE COUNCIL OF TRENT.
401
Father, it is not meet that when the master
comes to the house of the servant, the servant
should eat as an equal with his master :" the
favour he begn;ed, tlierefore, was the reason-
able and honourable one, that he the servant
should wait on his holiness at table, which
favour the pope granted. Sapper having
been served, when the time was come to set
on the confectionary, the poisoned confection
was put into the box by tlie carver according
to the pope's original order, and the cardinal
being aware in which box there was no poi-
son, tasted the same, and set the poisoned one
before the pope, and his holiness, trusting to
his carver, and seeing the cardinal tasting,
thought there was no poison therein, and ate
of it heartily, while the cardinal ate of the
other which the pope thought was poisoned,
and which was not so. In due time then,
after tlie kind of the poison, his holiness be-
gan to feel its effects, and in suchwise died
thereof: the cardinal, who was somewhat
alarmed, physicked and vomited himself, and
took no hurt though he escaped not without
difficulty. Farewell.]
This, if not autJientic, is at all events a
very remakable account of Alexander's death ;
the best perhaps of all that have come down
to us.
5. Sommario di la relatione di S. Polo Ca-
pello, venuto orator di Roma, fatta in
collegio 1510. [Summary of P. Capello's
report of his embassy to Rome, delivered
before the college, 1510.]
After the great mischances that befel the
Venetians through the league of Cambray,
they soon managed to win over pope Julius
II. again to their side.
Polo Capello acquaints us with some points
hitherto unknown respecting the manner in
which this happened. The pope was alarmed
at the results that might ensue from a pro-
jected meeting between Maximilian and the
king of France. " Dubitando perche fo ditto
11 re di Romani et il re di Francia si volcano
abboccar insieme et era certo in suo danno."
For a while he called on the Venetians to
give up those towns which by the stipulations
of the league were to pass into the possession
of the German king : but when he saw how
badly Maximilian's enterprize succeeded, he
did not urge the matter any further. He
entertained a very mean opinion of Maximi-
lian. " E una bestia," he said " merita piu
presto esser rezudo ch'a rezer altri." [He is
a stupid animal, fitter to be governed tlian to
govern others.] On the other hand it was
reckoned highly to the honour of the Vene-
tians, whose name had been looked on in
Rome as extinguished, that they stood their
ground. The pope gradually made up his
mind to grant them absolution. I
51
Capello had a high respect for the pope's
personal qualities. " E papa sapicntissimo, e
niun pol intrinsechamento con lui, e si conseja
con pochi, imo con niuno." [Fie is a very
wise pope, he relies implicitly on no one, and
takes council with few or none.] Cardinal
Castel de Rio had only a very indirect influ-
ence over him: " parlando al papa dira una
cosa, qual dita il papa poi considerera aquel-
la." [lie mentions" a matter in conversation
with the pope, leaving it to the latter to re-
flect upon it subsequently.] Just then the
cardinal was adverse to the Venetians, but
the pope concluded a treaty with them. Ca-
pello states that he was very well supplied
with money, having, perhaps, 700,000 scudi,
if not a million in his treasury.
6. Sommario di la relatione di Domenego di
Trivixan, venuto orator di Roma, in
pregadi 1510. [Domenego di Trivisan's
report to the pregadi of his embassy to
Rome, 1510.]
Trivisan continues to the senate the report
made by Capello to the collegio ; with this
difference, however, that while the latter de-
velopes the secret motives, the former con-
tents himself with a general sketch. But
even this is worthy of note.
He corroborates his colleague's estimate
of the pope's treasure, but adds that the pope
has destined the money for a war against the
infidels. " II papa e sagaze praticho : ha mal
vecchio galico e gota, tamen e prosperoso, fa
gran fadicha: niun pol con lui: aide tutti, ma
fa quelle li par. — E tenuto e di la bocha e di
altro per voler viver piu moderatamente."
(Does this mean he had himself said he would
be more moderate for the future — in drink
perhaps ?) " A modo di haver quanti danari
il vole : perche come vacha un beneficio, non
li da si non a chi (a) officio e quel officio da a
un altro, si che tocca per esso assai danari ; ed
e divenudo li officii sensari piu del solito in
Roma." [The pope is a man of practical sa-
gacity ; he labours under morbus gallicus of
long standing, and the gout ; he is strong for
all that, and goes through a great deal of ex-
ertion : no one has influence over him ; he
listens to every one, but does what he thinks
fit. . . . He has a way of procuring as much
money as he pleases ; for when a benefice
becomes vacant, he bestows it only on such an
one as already holds an office, which office he
gives to some one else ; so that offices are be-
come procurers more tlian commonly in Rome]
■/. e. procurers of benefices.
" II papa a entrada due. 200,000 di ordinario,
et extraordinario si dice 150 ni." [The pope
has 200,000 ducats ordinary, and 150,000 du-
cats extraordinary revenue,] that is, the popes
have usually so much : " ma questo a di do
terzi piu di extraordinario e di ordinario ancora
402
APPENDIX.
I'entrade :" [but this pope has two-thirds more
both ordinary and extraordinary:] so that he
must have had nearly a million. This he ex-
plains thus : " Soleano pagare il censo carlini
X al ducato a la chiesia era ingannata ; era
carlini XIIIJ el due, vole paghino quello con-
vien, eta fatto una stampa nova che val X el
due. e son boni di arzento, del che amiora da
X a XIII^ la intrada del papa, et diti carlini
novi si chiamano juli." [The taxes used to be
paid at the rate of ten carlini the ducat, by
which the church was defrauded : the ducat
was worth thirteen and a half carlini ; and the
pope determining that what was just should
be paid, caused a new coinage to be struck of
pieces, ten to the ducat, of good silver: the
pope's income has been benefitted thereby in
the proportion of thirteen and a half to ten ;
and the said new carlini are called giuli.]
Here we see the origin of the present current
coin ; for it was not till recent times that the
present paoli superseded the name and use of
the giuli. The carlini, which were the com-
mon'coin of exchange, had become so deterio-
rated as to occasion serious loss to the exche-
quer. Julius II. issued good coin for the sake
of his treasury.
" Item e misero : a pocha spesa. Si acorda
col suo maestro di caxa : li da el mexe per le
spexe due. 1500 e non piu. Item fa la chiexia
di S. Piero di novo, cosa bellissima, per la qual
a posta certa cruciata, et un solo frate di S.
Francesco di quello habia racoltoditti frati per
il mondo li porto in una bota due. 27 m. si che
per questo tocca quanti danari el vuol. A
data a questa fabrica una parte de I'intrada di
S. M. di Loreto e tolto parte del vescovado di
Recanati." [Item, he is penurious ; he spends
little. He contracts with his house-steward,
giving him 1500 ducats for the month's ex-
penditure, and no more. Item, he is construct-
ing anew the church of St. Peter, a very
beautiful work ; and for this he has appointed
a certain crusade, and a single Franciscan friar
brought him in one sum 27,000 ducats, col-
lected by the brethren of the order throughout
the world ; so that he gets as much money as
he chooses. He has devoted to this edifice
part of the income of S. M. di Loreto, and
taken away part of the bishopric of Recanati.]
7. Siimmario de la relatione di S. Marin
Zorzi, do(or,venrito orator di cor te, fata in
prrgadi a di 17 Marzo 1517. [Suunnary
of doctor Marin Zorzi's report of his em-
bassy to t!ie court of Rome, &.c.]
Marin Zorzi was chosen ambas?ador to the
court of Leo X. on the 4th of January, 1514,
and on his declining the appointment, he was
chosen again on the 25th of the same month.
]f it be true that orders were given him with
reference to the expedition of Francis I., as
I'aruta says (lib. iii. p. 109) he could notliave
set out for Rome till the beginning of the year
1515.
His report concerns that period. It is of
the more importance, inasmuch as he proposes
to make known in it what he had not ventured
to communicate by letter. " Referira," says the
summary which appears to have been written
afterwards, "di quelle cose che non a scritto
per sue lettere, perche multa occurrunt que
non sunt scribenda."
These points relate chiefly to the pope's
negotiations with Francis I., with which even
Paruta was not acquainted, and of which, as
far as I am aware, we have here the best ac-
count.
Mention has occasionally been made of a
supposed desire of Leo X. to procure a crown
for his brother ; but how that was to have been
effected has never been made clearly apparent.
Zorzi asserts that Leo at this time proposed to
the king of France, " che del reame di Napoli
saria bon tuorlo di man di Spagnoli e darlo al
magnifico Juliano suo fradello ;" [that it would
be well to wrest the kingdom of Naples from
the Spaniards, and give it to his brother Giu-
liano the magnificent;] adding, "e sopra
questo si fatichoe assai, perche el non si con-
tentava di esser ducha so fradello, ma la volea
far re di Napoli : il christianissimo re li aria
dato il principato di Taranto e tal terre : ma
il papa non volse, e sopra questo venneno di-
versi orator! al papa, mons^ di Soglie e di Borsi,
et il papa diceva: quando il re vol far questo
acordo, saremo con S. M. Hor si stette sopra
queste pratiche : il ch'^io re havendo il voler
che'l papa non li saria contra, delibero di venir
potente, etcussi venne : et il papa subito si ligo
con I'imperator, re catholico, re de Inghilterra
e Sguizzari." [And he took no little pains on
this subject, because he was not content with
having his brother a duke, but he wished to
make him king of Naples : the most Christian
king would have given liim the principality of
Tarento and certain territories, but the pope
would not agree, and thereupon divers ambas-
sadors came to the pope, Monsignor di Soglie
and Monsignor di Borsi, and the pope said, " If
the king is willing to make this arrangement,
we will be for his majesty." Matters now
remained on this footing: his most Christian
majesty having- a desire that the pope should
not be against him, thought of commg to Italy
in strength, and he did so : but the pope sud-
denly allied himself with tiie emperor, the
catholic king, the king of England, and the
Swiss.]
I have already given in the text or in the
notes the notices relating to the time of the
campaign.
How strongly the pope was inclined in secret
against the French, is plain from the fact, not
only that he testified displeasure against the
Venetians for the decided bias they manifested
to the French with regard to Maximilian's
PERIOD TO THE COUJVCIL OF TRENT.
403
enterprise of the following year ; — " O che
materia," he said, " a fatto questo senate a las-
sar le vostre gente andar a Milano, andar con
Frances!, aver passa 8 fiumi, o che pericolo e
questo !" [What good lias the senate done in
causing your troops to march to Milan, to join
the French, and cross eight rivers; or what
danger is tliisl] — but also that he secretly sup-
pofted Maximilian. " II papa a questo subito
niando zente in favor del imperador e sotto
man discendo : M. Ant. Colonna e libero capi-
tano a soldo del imperador." [The pope on
this suddenly sent troops in support of the em-
peror, sa3ang privily, M. Ant. Colonna is a free
captain in the pay of the emperor.] Mean-
while the ratification of the treaty of Bologna
was delayed. The king sent ambassador after
ambassador to demand it. At last the pope
sent his own envoy to France, and the treaty
was sealed.
Francis I. had soon an opportunity to revenge
himself The pope encountered an unexpect-
ed resistance on the part of the duke of Urbino.
Zorzi asserts : " II re non si tien satisfacto del
papa : e contento Francesco Maria prosperi."
[TJie king is not satisfied with the pope : he is
glad at tlie success of Francesco Maria.]
He then describes the pope more minutely.
" A qualche egritudine interior de repletion e
catarro ed altra cosa, non licet dir, videl. in
fistula. E horn da ben e liberal molto, non vor-
ria faticha s'il potesse far di mancho, ma per
questi soi si tuo faticha. E ben suo nepote e
astuto e apto a far cosse non come Valentino
ma pocho mancho." [He suffers from some
internal plethora, and from catarrh, and ano-
ther disorder not to be named, viz. in fistula.
He is a good man and very liberal : he would
not give himself much trouble if he could help,
but he does so for the sake of his relations.
And truly his nephew is shrewd and apt to
accomplish his ends, not in the same degree
as Valentino, but little less.] He alludes to
Lorenzo Medici. He affirms positively what
others deny (Vittori for instance), that Lorenzo
de' Medici himself had entertained strong de-
signs upon Urbino. He says, that Julian, only
two days before his death, had entreated the
pope to spare Urbino, where he had met with
so much kindness after his banishment from
Florence. The pope would not give way, but
said, " Non e da parlar deste cose." [These
are matters not to be talked of] "Questo
feva perche de altra parte Lorenzin li era at-
torno in volerli tuor il stato." [This he did,
being pressed on the other hand by Lorenzo,
who coveted possession of that state.]
Among the counsellors of the pope, he first
mentionsGiuliode' Medici, afterwards Clement
VII., of whose talents, however, he does not
make so much account as others : " E hom da
ben, hom di non molte facende, benche adcsso
il manegio di la corte e in le sue mani, che
prima era in S. M^- in Portego." [He is a
good man, of no great practical abilities,
though at present the chief direction of the
court of Rome is in his hands ; he was for-
merly at the court of Portugal.] Next he
mentions Bibbiona, whom he considers inclin-
ed to the Spaniard.s, he being enriched by
Spanish benefices ; and lastly Lorenzo — "qual
a animo gaiardo" [a stirring spirit.]
Lorenzo's name leads him to speak of Flor-
ence. He says a word or two about the con-
stitution, but adds : " Hora non si serva piu
ordine : quel ch' el vol (Lorenzin) e fatto.
Tamen Firenze e piu francesse che altrimente,
e la parte contraria di Medici non pol far altro,
ma non li place questa cosa." [At present all
order is violated : whatever Lorenzo wills is
done. Florence, however, is rather French
than otherwise : the party opposed to the
Medici do not like this, but they cannot help
it.] The militia had been diminished. The
revenue amounted, 1st, from the duties at the
gates and in the city to 74,000 ducats; 2ndly,
from the towns subject to Florence to 120,000
ducats ; 3dly, from tlie balzello, a kind of tithe,
a direct tax, to 160,000 ducats.
This brings him to the revenues of the pope,
which he esUmates on the whole at 420,000
ducats; and so he reverts to the pope's expen-
diture and his personal character. " E docto
in humanita e jure canonicho, et sopra tutto
musico excellentissimo, equando el canta con
qualche uno, li fa donar 100 e piu ducati : e
per dir una cosa che si dimentico, il papa trahe
air anno di vacantie da due. 60,000 e piu, ch'e
zercha due. 8000 al mese, e questi li spende
in doni, in zuogar a primier di che molto si di-
letta." [Heislearne in polite letters, and in
canon law, and above all he is an excellent
musician; and when he sings with any one,
he makes him a present of a hundred ducats or
more. One thing I forgot to mention. The
pope derives yearly from vacancies 60,000 du-
cats and upwards, which is about 8000 (?)
ducats a month, «ind this money he spends in
presents and in playing at primero, of which
he is very fond.] ^
Our author, as we perceive, gives his details
very graphically, with great naivete and con-
versational ease. He brings his personages with
all their sayings and doings bodily before us.
8. Somrnario de la relatione di Marco Minio,
ritornalo da corte, 1520 Zugno, — Sanuto
torn, xxviii. [Summary of the report of
Marco Minio's embassy to Rome.; June,
1520.]
Marco Minio was Zorzi's successor: his
report is unfortunately very short.
He begins with the papal revenues, which
he finds'inconsiderable. " II papa a intrada
per il papato pocha : son tre sorle de intrade :
d'annate traze all' anno 100m due, male an-
nate consistorial, ch'e episcopati e abbatie, la
404
APPENDIX.
naita e de cardinali ; di officj traze all' anno
60ni. ; di composition 60ni. Non a contadi
(contante), perclie e liberal, non sa tenir da-
nari, poi li Fiorentini e soi parenti non li lassa
niai aver un soldo, e diti Fiorenf.ini e in gran
odio in corte, perche in ogni cosa e Fioren-
tini. II papa sta neutral fra Spagna e Franza ;
ma lui orator tien pende da Spagna, perche e
sta pur niesso in caxa da Spagnoli, etiam as-
umpto al papato. II cardinal di Medici suo
nepote, qual non e legitimo, a gran poter col
papa: e horn di gran rnanegio; a grandissima
autorita, tamen non fa nulla se prima non di-
manda al papa di cose di conto : hora si ritrova
a Firenze a governar quella citta : il cardinal
Bibbiena e appresso assa del papa, ma questo
Medici fa il tutto." [The pope derives little
income from the papacy : the revenues are of
three kinds : from the annates he draws yearly
100,000 ducats ; but of the consistorial an-
nates, which arise out of the bishoprics and
abbeys, the half belongs to tlie cardinals ; he
draws 60,000 ducats annually from offices, and
60,000 from compositions. He has no ready
money ; because he is liberal and cannot keep
it. Then the Florentines and his relations
never leave him a penny. And the said Flo-
rentines are in great odium at court, because
they thrust themselves into every thing. The
pope stands neutral between Spain and France :
but it is the ambassador's opinion that he in-
clines to Spain, because he owes the establish-
ment of his fortune to the Spaniards, and even
his advancement to the papacy. Cardinal
Medici, his nephew, who is not legitimate, has
great influence with the pope : he is a man of
great ability in business :] — his reputation we
see had risen since Zorzi's time — [he posses-
ses very great authority, nevertheless he does
nothing in affairs of importance without first
consulting the pope. At present he resides
at Florence as governor of that city. Cardinal
Bibbiena is in considerable esteem with the
pope, but this Medici does efery thing.]
The ambassador assures his countrymen of
the tolerably fair disposition of the pope to-
wards them. He was not indeed inclined to
see Venice greater than she was ; but for no
earthly consideration would he see her pe-
rish.
9. Diario de Sebastiano de Branca de Telini.
—Barber. Bibl. n. 1103. [Diary of Se-
bastiano de Branca de Telini.]
It contains sixty-three leaves, and reaches
from the 22nd of April, 1494, to 1513, in
Leo's time. It is certainly not to be com-
pared with Burcardus ; and as the author
knew very little of what was passing, it is
not even of use as a check on that writer.
Telini saw only what every body else saw.
Thus he describes the entrance of Charles
VIII. into Italy, whose army he estimates at
from thirty to forty thousand men. He thinks
the king the ugliest man he had ever beheld ;
his troops, on the contrary, the handsomest
people in the world ; " la piu bella gente non
fu vista mai." We must not believe him lite-
rally : he is fond of expressing himself in this
fashion. (He tells us that as much as 300
ducats had been paid for a horse.)
CsBsar Borgia is the most cruel man that
ever lived. Alexander's times were distin-
guished for cruelty, scarcity, and high taxa-
tion. " Papa Alessandro gittao la data a tutti
li preti e a tutti li officiali per tre anni e tutte
le chiese di Roma e fora di Roma .... per
fare la cruciata contro il Turco, e poi la dava
alio figliuolo per fare meglio la guerra."
[Pope Alexander assigned the revenues for
three years of all the priests, and all the pub-
lic functionaries, and all the churches within
and without Rome, for a war against the
Turks ; and then he gave the proceeds to his
son for the better waging of the war.] Ac-
cording to him, Csesar Borgia gave audience
to no one but his executioner, Michilotto. All
his servants were sumptuously clad " vestiti
di broccado d'oro e di velluto fino alle calze :
se ne facevano le pianelle e le scarpe:"
[dressed in gold brocade and velvet to their
heels : their shoes and slippers were made of
the same stuff].
He is a great admirer of Julius II. " Non
lo fece mai papa quello che have fatto papa
Julio." [No pope ever did what pope Julius
did.] He enumerates the towns he conquered ;
alleging, however, that by his wars he caused
the death of ten thousand men.
Leo came next. He began with promises,
" che i Romani fossero fianchi di gabella, ed
officii e beneficii che stanno nella cittade di
Roma fossero dati alii Romani : ne fecero
grand' allegrezze per Roma" [that the Ro-
mans should be free from taxes, and that the
offices and benefices within the city should be
conferred on Romans ; whereby he aflbrded
great delight to Rome].
Sometimes private individuals figure in his
pages : we are made acquainted, lor instance,
with the boldest and most celebrated of pro-
curators: "Benio Moccaro, il piu terribile
upmo (the most powerful, the most tyranni-
cal), che mai fusse stato in Roma per un huo-
mo privato in Roma." He lost his life through
the Orsini.
Even in this otherwise insignificant work
the spirit of the times and the spirit of the
several administrations are imaged, — the pe-
riods of terror, of conquest, and of quiet, under
Alexander, Julius, and Leo. There are other
diaries, for instance, that of Cola Colleine,
1521 — 1561, which contain nothing of impor-
tance.
10. Vita Leonis X Ponfificis Maxiini per
Franciscum Novellum Romanum, J. V.
Prqfessorem. — Bibl. Barberini.
PERIOD TO THE COUNCIL OF TRENT.
405
"Alii," says the author, "longe melius et
hffic et alia mihi incognita referre, et descri-
bere poterunt." By all means. His little
work is perfectly insignificant.
11. QiKBilam historica qiice. ad notitiam tem-
poriirn pertinent jmntificatuum Leonis X.
Adriana VI. dementis VII. Ex libris
notariorum sub iisdem pnntijicibvs.
{Abridged by Felix Contellorius.) — Bibl.
Burberini, 48 leaves. [Certain historical
particulars pertaining to the pontificates
of Leo X., Adrian VL, and Clement VII.
From the books of the notaries under tiie
same popes.]
Short notices of the contents of papal in-
struments : for instance, " Leo X. assignat
contessinae de Medicis de Rodulfis ejus sorori
due. 285 auri de camera ex introitibus doha-
narum pecudum persolvendos." [Leo X. as-
signs to his sister the countess de' Medici de'
Rodolfii 285 gold ducats from the treasury,
chargeable upon the dogana of cattle.]
I have here and there made use of these
data. The following extract from a brief of
June 9, 1529, is perhaps the most interesting,
as detailing personal incidents of an affecting
character, which have hitherto escaped no-
tice : — " Certain precious articles belonging
to the papal see were given in pledge to Ber-
nardo Bracchi. In the time of the conquest,
Bracchi thought it advisable to bury these in
a garden. He made the fact known only to
one individual, a certain Hieronymo Bacato
of Florence, so that, should any mischance
befal himself, the secret might at least be
in some one's keeping. Bracchi was soon
afterwards seized by the Germans and cruelly
used. Hieronymo, now believing that his
friend had died under the torture, was induced
by a similar anxiety to impart the secret to a
third person. But this last was not so dis-
creet. The Germans heard of the hidden
treasure, and, by dint of fresh and severer
tortures, forced Bracchi at last to indicate the
place of concealment. To save the valua-
bles, Bracchi made himself answerable for the
payment of 10,000 ducats. Hieronymo look-
ed on himself as a traitor, and killed himself
for shame and vexation."
12. Sommario di la relation fatta in pregadi
per S. Aluixe Gradenigo, venuto orator
di Roma 1523 Mazo. — Sanuto tom. xxxiv.
[Summary of Aluise Gradenigo's report of
his embassy to Rome, &-c.]
He speaks first of the cit)^ which he finds
enlarged within a short period by about ten
thousand houses; next of the constitution — the
conservatori claimed precedence of the am-
bassadors, which the latter disputed ; then of
the cardinals. Giulio Medici had risen still
higher in reputation. "Horn di summa auto-
rita e richo cardinale, era il primo appresso
Leon, horn di gran ingegno e cuor : il papa
(Leone) feva quelle lui voleva." [A wealthy
and highly influential cardinal; he was the
first with pope Leo, a man of great under-
stfinding and heart: pope Leo did whatever
he desired.] He pourtrays Leo X. : " Di sta-
tura grandissima, testa molto grossa, havea
bellissima man: bellissimo parlador : prometea
assa ma non atendea. ... II papa si serviva
molto con dimandar danari al imprestido, ven-
deva poi li officii, impegnava zoie, raze del pa-
pato e fino li apostoli per aver danaro." [A
man of very lofty stature, with a very large
head, and beautiful hands : a very fine speak-
er : he promised fairly, but did not keep his
promises. . , The pope had very frequent
recourse to borrowing ; besides which, he sold
offices, and pledged jewels and heir-looms of
the papacy, and the very apostles, to get mo-
ney.] He estimates the temporal revenues
of Rome at 300,000, the ecclesiastical at
100,000 ducats.
He regards Leo's policy as thoroughly anti-
French. If it ever appeared otherwise, it
was the effect of dissimulation. " Fenzeva
esso amico del re di Francia." But at that
period he was the open and midisguised ene-
my of France, for which Gradenigo gives the
following reason : — " Disse che mr di Lutrech
et mr de I'Escu havia ditto che'l voleva che
le recchia del papa fusse la major parte res-
tasse di la so persona." Does this mean that
Lutrech and I'Escu had said that nothing
should be left of the pope but his ears ] A
very coarse and vulgar joke assuredly, which
Leo took much amiss. Upon receiving news
of the conquest of Milan, Leo is stated to have
said, "that but half the fight was won,"
Leo left the papal treasury so exhausted,
that it was necessary to employ in his obse-
quies the wax-candles that had been provided
tor those of cardinal St. Georgio, who had
died shortly before.
The ambassador waited the arrival of
Adrian VI. He describes the moderate and
rational habits of life of that pope, and observes
that he had maintained at first an attitude of
neutrality. " Disse : il papa per opinion soa,
ancora che '1 sia dipendente del imperador, e
neutral, ed a molto a cuor di far la trieva per
atender a le cose del Turco, e questo si judica
per le sue operation cotidiane come etiam per
la mala contentezza del vicere di Napoli, che
venne a Roma per far dichiarar il papa impe-
rial, e S. S^^^ non volse, ondo si parti senza
conclusion. II papae molto intento a le cose
di Hungaria e desidera si fazi la impresa con-
tra infideli, dubita che '1 Turco non vegni a
Roma, pero cerca di unir li principi christian!
e far la paxe universal, saltern trieve per tre
anni." [He said that in his opinion the pope,
though he be dependent on the emperor, is
406
APPENDIX.
neutral ; and he has it much at heart to effect
a truce to attend to the affairs of the Turk,
and this is indicated by his daily operations,
as also by the discontent of tlie viceroy of
Naples, who visited Rome to engage the pope
to declare himself tor the emperor, which his
holiness would not do, and the viceroy re-
turned without effecting any thing. The
pope is very intent on the affairs of Hungary,
and is eager for an enterprize against the
infidels : he is apprehensive lest the Turk
make a descent on Rome ; and therefore he
wishes the Christian sovereigns to make uni-
versal peace, or at least a truce for three
years.]
13. Sununario del viazo di oralori nostri an-
dono a Roma a dar la obedientia a -papa
Hadriano VI. [Summary, &c. of liie
journey of our ambassadors to Rome, to
tender allegiance to pope Adrian VI.]
Tlie only report that possesses the interest
of a narrative of travels, and which also ad-
verts to works of art.
The ambassadors describe the flourishing
condition of Ancona, and the fertility of the
March : they were hospitably received in
Spello by Oratio Baglione ; thence they pro-
ceeded to Rome.
They describe an entertainment given them
by a fellow-countryman, cardinal Cornelio.
Their account of the music at table is worthy
of note: "A la tavola vennero ogni sorte de
nuisici, che in Roma si atrovava, li pifari ex-
cellenti di continue sonorono, ma eravi clavi-
cembani con voce dentro mirabilissima, liuti
e quatro violoni." [At table there were mu-
sicians of every kind to be found in Rome ;
excellent flute-players performed continually ;
and there were harpsichords, most admirably
accompanied with the voice, lutes, and tour
violins.] Grimani, too, gave them an enter-
tainment : "Poi disnar venneno alcuni musici,
tra li quali una donna brutissima che canto
in liuto mirabilmente." [The dinner was
attended by some musicians, among whom was
a very loathsome woman, who sang admirably
to the lute.]
They next visited the churches. In Santo
Croce workmen were putting some ornaments
on the doors . . "alcuni arnesi e volte di al-
cuno porte di una preda raccolta delle anti-
caglio;" [some ornaments and arches of doors
selected from the spoils of antiquity,] every
little stone which was wrought there deserved
in their opinion to be set in gold, and worn on
the finger. In the Pantheon an altar was in
course of erection, at its foot the tomb of Ra-
phael. They were shown ornaments, said to
be of gold, as pure as the Rhenish giilden.
They fancy, were this true, pope Leo would
not have left them there. They admire the
columns, larger than those of their own St,
Mark. " Sostengono un coperto in col mo, el
qual e di alcune travi di metallo." [They
sustain an entire roof, consisting of some
beams of metal.]
They express their admiration of the objects
of antiquity with great naivete. I know not
whether this book is likely to fall into the
hands of antiquarians. The following descrip-
tion of the colossal statutes is at any rate very
striking: — "Monte Cavallo e ditto perche
alia summita del colle benissimo habitato vie
una certa machina de un pezo di grossissimo
muro, sopra uno di cantoni vi e uno cavallo di
pietra par de Istria molto antique e della ve-
tusta corroso e sopra I'altro uno altro, tutti
doi dal mezo inanzi zoe testa, coUo, zampe,
spalle e mezo il dorso : appresso di quelli
stanno due gran giganti, huomini due fiate
maggiore del naturale, ignudi, che con un
brazzo li tengono : le figure sono bellissime,
proportionate e di la medesima pietra di ca-
valli, bellissimi si i cavalli come gli huomeni,
sotto una di quali vi sono bellissime letterc
majuscule che dicono opus Fidie e sotto I'altro
opus Praxitelis." [Monte Cavallo is so called,
because at the summit of that very well-peo-
pled hill there is a certain structure, a part
of a very huge wall (a rude base), on one of
the corner-stones of which there is a horse of
stone, apparently Istrian, very old and decayed
by time, and on the other corner another,
both of them forepart halves, — that is, head,
neck, legs, shoulders, and half the back : be-
side them stand two great giants, men twice
the natural size, naked, holding the horses
with one arm. These figures are very beau-
tiful, proportioned to and of the same stone as
the horses ; the horses, too, are as beautiful
as the men, and under one of them is in-
scribed, in very handsome capital letters,
" Opus Phidise," and under the other, " Opus
Praxitelis."] They visit the capitol, where,
among other fine figures, they discover " uno
villano di bronzo che si cava un spin da un
pe, fatto al natural rustico modo : par a cui
lo mira voglia lamentarsi di quel spin, cosa
troppo excellente" [a peasant in bronze, tak-
ing a thorn out of his foot, made in the natu-
ral rustic manner : you think as you look at
him he wants to complain of the thorn, — an
exceedingly fine work]. In the Belvidere
their great object of attraction was the
Laocoon. Hitherto the German lansquenets
have been frequently charged with having
rendered necessary the restoration of one of
the arms of that noble work of art: we find,
however, from our travellers, that it was
wanting even before the sack of the city.
" Ogni cosa e Integra, salvoche al Laocoonte
gli manca il brazzo destro." [Every thing is
entire, except that the Laocoon wants the
right arm.] They are enchanted with admi-
ration. They say of the whole group, " Non
gli manca che lo spinto." [It wants nothing
PERIOD OF THE COUNCIL OF TRENT.
407
but the breath of life.] Their description of
the boys is very good. " L'lmo volendosi
tirare dal rabido serpente con il suo brazello
da una gamba ne potendosi per modo alcana
ajutar, sta con la faccia lacrimosa cridando
verso il padre e tenendolo con I'aJtra mano
nel sinistro brazzo. Si vede in sti puttini
doppio dolore, I'uno per vedersi la morte a lui
propinqiia, I'altro perche il padre non lo puol
ajutare e si languisce." [One of them en-
deavouring to free one leg from the folds of
the tierce serpent with his little arm, and not
being able in any way to help himself, stands
with his tearful face turned beseechingly to
his father, whose left arm he holds with the
other hand. A two-fold grief is depicted in
these lads : that of the one who sees his death
at hand, and that of the other who sees that
his tiither cannot help him, and whose strength
fails him.] They add, that at tlie meeting
between the pope and king Francis at Bologna,
the latter solicited this work of his holiness;
but the latter would not rob his Belvidere of
it, and had a copy of it made for the king.
The boys were already finished. But if the
maestro were to live for five hundred years,
and to spend a himdred of them on the work,
he could never equal the original. They fell
in with a young Flemish artist in the Belvi-
dere who had made two statues of the pope.
They next proceed to speak of the latier,
and of the court. Tiie most important infor-
mation they give is, that cardinal di Volterra,
who had hitherto kept down the Medici, had
been tlirown into prison because letters of his
had been got hold of, in which he had encou-
raged king Francis to make an immediate
descent on Italy, as he could never have a j
better opportunitj*. This enabled the JMedici
to rise again. The imperial ambassador,
Sessa, supported them. It is very possible
that this incident may have decided the
change in Adrian's policy.
14. Clrmeiitis VII. P. 3/. conclave et creatio.
— Bi.hl. Barb. 4. 70 leaves. [Conclave
and election of Pope Clement VII.]
The following remark appears on the title ,
— " Hoc conclave sapit sty 1 urn Joh. Bapt.
Sangse civis Romani, qui fuit Clementi VII ab
epistolis." [This conclave savours of the
style of Giovan-Battista Sanga, citizen of
Rome, who was epistolary secretary to Cle-
ment VII.] But this conjecture may be re-
jected without hesitation. Anotlier MS. in
the Barberini library, with the title, "Via-
nesii Albergati Bononiensis commentarii re-
rum sui teniporis," contains nothing besides
this conclave. It constitutes the first part of
the commentarii, of which, however, no con-
tinuation is to be found. We may assume
that the conclave above-mentioned is the work
of Vianesio Albergati.
But who was he 1 Mazzuchelli names sev-
eral Albergati, but not this one.
The following story is told in a letter of
Girolamo Negro. A Bolognese gave pope
Adrian to understand tliat he had an impor-,
taut secret to impart to him, but he had not
money to defray the cost of the journey to
Rome. Messer Vianesio, a friend and favour-
ite of the Medici, interceded for Iiim, and was
told at last by the pope that he might advance
the twenty-four ducats the Bolognese required,
and they should be repaid him. Vianesio did
so, and his man arrived. He was introduced
to the pope with the utmost secrecy. " Holy
father," said he, " if you would conquer the
Turks, you must equip a great armament both
by sea and land." Not a word more had he to
say. " Per Deum !" cried the highly incensed
pope the next time he saw Messer Vianesio,
" that Bolognese of yours is a great swindler ;
but it shall be at your cost that he has cheat-
ed me." Vianesio never got back his twent}'-
four ducats. This Vianesio is propably our
author; for he says, in the little work before
us, that he had mediated between the Medici
and the pope : " me etiam internuncio." He
was well acquainted with Adrian, whom he
had already known in Spain.
He has erected, however, to his memory
the least flattering monument that can be. It
serves to show us the full intensity of the
hatred with which Adrian inspired the Ita-
lians. "Si ipsius avaritiam, crudelitatem, et
principatus adminislrandi inscitiam considera-
bimus, barbarorumque quos secum adduxerat
asperam feramque naturam, merito inter pes-
simos pontifices referendus est." [If we con-
sider his avarice, his cruelty, his ig'norance of
the arts of government, and the rude and
savage nature of the barbarians he brought
with him, he is justly to be classed among
the worst popes.] He is not ashamed to relate
the most miserable lampoons against the dead
pope: one, for instance, in which he is com-
pared first to an ass, and then to a wolf, —
" post paulo faciem induit lupi acrem," — nay,
at last, to Caracalla and Nero. But if we
look for proofs, we find that the poor pope is
even justified by what Vianesio relates.
Adrian had a room in the Torre Borgia, the
key of which he always carried about him,
and which went under the name of the sanc-
tum sanctorum. This was opened with great
curiosity after his death. As he had received
much, and spent nothing-, it was supposed that
his treasures would be found in the secret
chamber; but nothing was discovered there
but books and papers, a couple of rings be-
longing to Leo X., and scarcely any money.
It was confessed at last, " male partis optima
usum fuisse" [that he had made an excellent
use of wealth ill-gotten].
j The complaints made by the author re-
specting the procrastination of business may
408
APPENDIX.
have more truth in them. The pope was in
the habit of saying, " Cogitabimus, videbi-
mus." [We shall consider, we shall see.]
He would refer, to be sure, to his secretary ;
but the latter, after long delay, would in re-
turn refer to the auditorc di camera. This
vja.s a well-meaning man, but one who never
got through with any thing, and only bewil-
dered himself with his own excessive industry.
" Niinia ei nocebatdiligentia." People went
back from him once more to Adrian, who
again said, "Cogitabinms, videbimus."
On the other hand, he highly extols the
Medici and Leo X,, that pope's kindness, and
the security enjoyed under him : he also
praises liis public works.
I collect from our author's remarks that
Raphael's Arazzi were originally intended
for the Sixtine chapel. " Quod quidem sacel-
lum Julius II opera Michaelis Angeli pingen-
di sculpendique scientia clarissimi adrnirabili
exornavit pictura, quo opere nullum absolutius
extare aetate nostra plerique judicant; moxque
Leo X ingenio Raphaelis Urbinatis architecti
et pictoris celeberrimi auleis auro purpuraque
intextis insignivit, qua? absolutissimi operis
pulchritudine omnium oculostenent." [Which
chapel Julius II. adorned with admirable
paintings by the hand of Michael Angelo, a
most renowned painter and sculptor, and it is
the general opinion that no works of more
perfect excellence exist in our day : subse-
quently Leo X. decked the chapel with hang-
ings wrought with gold and brilliant colours,
after the designs of Raphael of Urbino, a very
famous architect and painter; the beauty of
these most exquisite specimens of art fasci
nates every beholder.]
15. Instruttione al Card^ Rev^"<> di Farnese,
che fu poi Paul III, quando ando legato
alV Imprc Carlo V doppo il sacco di Ro-
ma. [Instruction to cardinal Farnese,
afterwards Paul III., on his proceeding as
legate to the court of the emperor Charles
V. after the sack of Rome.]
I found this instruction first in the Corsini
library, No. ^67, and afterwards procured a
copy m the handwriting of the middle of the
sixteenth century.
This document was known to Pallavicini,
who mentioned it in the Istoria del Concilio
di Trento, lib. ii. c. 13. Nevertheless, as we
shall show in the following chapter, he has
made less use of it than his words import.
He has collected his narrative from other
sources.
As this instruction is highly important, not
only as regards the aflairs of the papacy, but
also with respect to the whole policy of
Europe at so interesting a period, and con-
tains many weighty particulars not to be
found elsewhere, I have thought it expedient
to print it entire. No extract would satisfy
the instructed reader. A few more pagea
will be well devoted to it.
The pope had issued a brief in June, 1-526,
in which he shortly enumerated his complaints
against the emperor, and the latter made a
very spirited reply in 1.526. The state paper
which then appeared under the title, " Pro
divo Carlo V. . . apologetici libri . . ." (in
Goldast's Politica Impenalia, p. 984,) contains
a circumstantial refutation of the pope's asser-
tions. The instructions before us is attached
to this paper. It will be found to consist of
two distinct parts : one, in which the pope is
spoken of in the third person, drawn up per-
haps by Giberto, or some other confidential
minister of the pope,* and of the highest im-
portance with reference to past occurrences,
both under Leo and Clement ; the other and
smaller part, which begins with the words :
" Per non entrare in le cause per le quali
fummo constretti," in which the pope speaks
in the first person, and which was perhaps
composed by himself Both are shaped with
a view to justify the proceedings of the court
of Rome, and to exhibit, on the other hand,
the conduct of the viceroy of Naples in par-
ticular in the worst possible light. It must
be confessed that we ought in fairness to be
in possession of the answer made by the im-
perial court.
" lilmo Rev'no Signore. Nella difficulta
della provincia che e toccata alle mani di V.
S. Ill™a e Rma^ tanto grande quanto ella stes-
sa conosce, et nella recordatione della somma
et estrema miseria della quale siamo, penso
che non sara se non di qualche rilevamento a
quella, haver quella informatione che si pud
di tutte I'attioni che sono accadute tra N.
Signore e la M.^^ Cesarea et in esse conoscere
che V. S, R"ia va a prencipe del quale S^ Si^^
et la casa sua e piu benemerita che nessun
altra che ne per li tempi passati ne per li pre-
sent! si possa ricordare : et se qualche offen-
sione e nata in quest' ultimo anno, non e
causata ne da alienatione che S'^ S^^ havessi
fatto della solita volunta et amore verso sua
Maestra o per disegni particular! d'aggraudire
i suoi o altri o per abbassare le reputatione o
stato suo, ma solo per necessita di non com-
portare d'esser oppresso da chi haveva et aut-
torita et forze in Italia, et per molte prove che
sua Be havessi fatto per nuntii, lettere, messi
et lagati, non era mai stato possible trovarci
remedio.
" La Sii di N. Signore da che comincio a
esser tale da poter servir la corona di Spagna
et la casa della Maesta Cesarea, il che fu dal
* [It will be seen, however, that the writer occasionally
lapses into the use of the first person : whether he does
so in momentary forgetfulness of an assumed character, or
because he feels so lively an interest in his subject as to
identify himself with the person whose cause he pleads.—
TUANSLATOR.]
PERIOD TO THE COUNCIL OF TRENT.
409
principio del pontificato della S'-^' M'''*di Le-
one 6U0 iVatello, con el quale poteva quanto
ogn'urio sa et la M^^ sua lia provato, fii seui-
pre di tanto studio et servitii della parte
Spagnuolo et iniperiale die uon si potra im-
merar beneficio o gratia o sodisfattione di co-
sa alcuua die questa parte in ogni tempo
habbi ricevutadalla Siii M'"'='- di Leone et del-
la chiesa, nella quale non solo N. Signore
stando in minoribus non si sia trovato o non
ad versa rio o consentiente solo, ma ancora aut-
tore, indrizzatore et conduttore del tutto. Et
per toccare quelle cose die sono di piu im-
portantia solamente : la lega che si fece il se-
condo et terzo anno della Sia M'"'a di Leone per
adversare alia venuta prima che fece il cliris-
tianissimo re Francesco passu tutta per niano
di S. S'^'^, et ella ando in persona legato per
trovarsi in tatto con gli altri. Dove essendo
riusciti lidisegni diversamente da quelle che
s'era imaginato, et constretto papa Leone a
fare quelli accordi che pote con el chr"io, il
cardinale de Medici hebbe quella cura di con-
servare il papa Spagnuolo die ogn'uno di
quelli che all' hora vi si trovorono posson
render testimonio, et uso tutta I'auttorita che
haveva col papa sue fratello, che la volunta
et estremo desiderio che el christianissimo
haveva di seguir la vittoria et passar con tanto
esercito et favore nel regno, fussi ralfrenato
lior con una scusa et hor con un altra, et tra
le altre che se essendo il re catolico vecchio
et per rinfermila gia a gli ultimi anni S. M"^^
aspettasse I'occasione della morte sua, nel
qual tempo I'impresa riuscirebbe senza diffi-
culta alcana. Et succedendo assai presto
doppo questi ragionamenti la morte del re cat-
tolico, che credo non ci fusse un mese di tem-
po, con quant' arte et fatica fussi necessario
reprimere I'instantiagrande che el christian-
issimo ne faceva, ne sarebber testimonio lo
lettere di propria inano di S^- M^'^, se questi
soldati, che tra le altre cose hanno ancor sac-
cheggiato tutte le scritture, o ci le rendesse-
ro over le mandassero all' imperatore. Et
queste cose con molte altre, che tutte erano
in preparar quieta e stabile la heredita et suc-
cessione della persona hora dell' imperatore
et in assicurarlo etiam vivents I'avo de maes-
trati di Spagna, tutte faceva el cardinale de
Medici non per private commodo suo alcuno,
anzi direttumente contro Futile particulare,
non havendo rendita alcuna di moinento se
non nel dominio di Francia, et non procuran-
do mai d 'haver ristoro in quel di 8pagna.
" Successe la morte dell' imperatore Mas-
similiano, et essendo Leone inclinato alia
parte dei christianissimo per quella dignita
et opponendosi alii conati dell Al'^ Cesarea
d'hora, non passo il termine dell' elettione
che el cardinal de Medici condusse il papa a
non contra venirvi, e doppo fatta I'elettione ad
approvarla, assolverlo dalla simonia, dal per-
giuro, che non poteva, essendo re di Napoli,
52
si come vuole la constitutione di papa . . . .,
procurar d'essero imperatore, rinvestirlo et
darli di nuovo il regno di Napoli : in che non
so — se I'affettion grande et Toppionione nella
quale el cardinal de Medici era entrato della
bonta, prudentia et religione della Mii^ sua,
non lo scusasse — se fusse piu o il servilio, che
puo molto apertamente dire d'haver fatto
grandissimo alia M^a sua, overo il dcservitio
latto al fratello cioe al papa et alia chiesa,
favorendo et nutrendo una potentia tanto
grande e da considerare die un di da questo
fiume poteva erumpere unadevastatione et ol-
traggio si grande come hora e seguito. Ma
vedendo il cardinale queste due potenze di
Spagna et Francia divise di sorte che mala-
mente non contrapesando I'una coll' altra si
poteva sperar pace, ando prima con questo di-
segno d'aggiunger tanta auttorita et forze al
redi Spagna che essendo uguale al christian-
issimo dovessi haver rispetto di venire a guer-
ra, et se pur la disgratia portasse che non si
potesse far dimeno, essendo I'oppinione d'an-
teporre il re di Spagna al christmo, Spagna
fussi in modo ferma et gagliarda che attac-
candosi in un case simile a quella parte si
potesse sperarne buon esito ct certa vittoria.
Et questo lo provassi con altro che a parole,
se forte le cose sopradette fusser cosi oscure
che havesser bisogno di piu apertafede: ne
farEi testimonio la conclusa lega con Cesare
contra Francia, et tanto dissimili le conditioni
che si promettevano da un lato a quelle dell'
altro, che non solo Leone non doveva venire
a legarsi coll' imperatore, essendo in sua li-
berta et arbitrio d'elegger quel che piu face-
va per lui, ma essendo legato doveva fare og-
ni opera per spiccarsene. Et per mostrar
brevemente esser con etfetto quanto io dico,
I'imperatore si trovava in quel tempo che Le-
one fece lega seco, privo d'ogni auttorita,
nerv'O, amici et reputatione, havendo perduto
in tutto I'obbedienza in Spagna per la rebel-
lione di tutti i populi, essendo tornato dalla
dieta che sua Mi^ haveva fatta in Vorniatia,
escluso d'ogni conclusion buona d'ajuti et di
favori che si fussi proposto d'ottenere in essa,
havendo la guerra gia mossa ne suoi paesi in
due lati, in Fiandra per viadi Roberto della
Marca et in Navarra, il qual regno gia era
tutto andato via et ridottosi all' obbedienza del
re favorito da i Francesi: li Suizzeri poco in-
anzi s'eron di nuovo allegati col christianissi^
mo con una nuova conditione d'obbligarsi al-
ia defensione dellostato di Milano, che el re
possedeva, cosa che mai per inanzi non have-
von voluto fare: et il ser"'" re d'Anglia, nel
quale forse I'imperatore faceva fondamento
per il parentado tra loro et per la nemista na-
turale con Francia, mostrava esser per star a
veder volentieri, come comprobo poi con li ef-
fetti, non si movendo a dar pure un minimo
ajuto all' imperatore per molta necessita in
che lo vedessi et per niolta inslanlia che gli
410
APPENDIX.
ne fusse fatta, salvo doppo la morte di Leone.
II christianissimo all' incontro, oltre la poten-
tia orande unita da se etla pronta uniono che
haveva con I'lllma Signoria et che haveva
questa nuova lianza de Suizzeri, si trovava
tanto piu superior nel resto quanto li caiisano
la potentia sua et la facevano maggiore li
molti et infiniti disordini ne quali dico di so-
pra che I'imperatore si trovava. Le speranze
et propositioni dei premii et comodita del suc-
cesso et prosperitn che le cose havessero ha-
vuto eron molto diverse: il christianissimo
voleva dar di primo colpo Ferrara alia chiesa
inanzi che per sua M^'^ si tacessi altra impre-
sa, poi neir acquisito del regno di Napoli Sa
M^^ chrislianissima, per non venire a i parti-
cular!, dava tante comodfta alia chiesa circa
ogni cosa che gli tornava di piu comodo piu
utilita et sicurta assai, che non sarebbe stato
ee ce I'havesse lassato tutto ; in quest' altra
banda non era cosa nessuna se non proposito
di metter lo stato di Milano in Italiani et far
ritornar Parma et Piacenza alia chiesa : et
nondimeno, essendo et la facilita dell' impre-
ea in una parte et nell' altra il pericolo cosi
ineguale et aggiungendovisi ancora la dispa-
rita de i guadagni si grande, potette tanto la
volunta del cardinale de Medici appresso al
papa, et appresso a S. S. Rev^a I'oppinione
della bonta et religione della Maesta Cesarea,
che mettendosi nella deliberatione che era
necessaria di tare o in un luogo o in un altro
questa imaginazione inanzi agli occhi, non
voile dar parte della vista all' altro consiglio
ne altro esamine se non darsi in tutto et per
tutto a quelJa parte donde sperava piu frutti
d'animo santo et christiano che da qualsivog-
lia altri premii che temporalmente havesser
potuto pervenire per altra via. Et che sia
vero chi non ha visto che non essendo suc-
cesse le cose in quel principio come si spera-
va, et essendo consumati i danari che per la
prima portion sua la M'^ Cesarea haveva da-
to, et vedendo male il modo che si facessi
provisione per piu, la S^a M^ia di Leone per
sua parte et S. tS. Rev'i^a molto piu per la sua
non manco mettervi la sustantia della patria
sua et di quanti amici et servitori che haves-
si et per I'ultimo la persona sua propria, del-
la quale conobbe I'importantia et il trutto che
ne scgui.
" Mori in quelle papa Leone, et benche S.
S. Reyma si trovasse nemico tutto il mondo,
perche quclli che haveva ofteso dalla parte
francesG tutti s'eron levati contro lo stato et
dignita sua temporale et spirituale, gli altri
della parte dell' Impre parte non lo volsero
ajutare, parte gli furon contrarii, come V. S.
Reyma et ogn'uno sa molto bene, non dimeno
ne il pericolo o oflertc grandi dei primi ne
I'ingrattitudine o sdegno dci secondi bastoro-
no mai tanto che lo facesser muovere pur un
minimo punto della volunta sua, parendoli
che sicome ranimo di Cesare et roppinion
d'esso era stato scapo et objetto, cosi quello
dovessi esser sua guida : et non si potendo
imaginar che questo nascessi dall' animo suo
ne potendo per il tempo breve suspicarlo,
volse piu presto comportar ogni cosa che mu-
tarsi niente, anzi come se fussi stato il contra-
rio, di nessuna cura tenne piu conto che di
fare un papa buono parimente per la M^^ sua
come per la chiesa : et che I'oppinione anzi
certezza fussi che non sarebbe quasi stato
dift'erenza a far papa Adriano o I'lmp^'e stesso,
ogn'uno lo sa, sicome ancora e notissimo che
nessuno fu piu auttore et conduttore di quella
creatione che'l cardinale de Medici.
" Hor qui fu il luogo dove il card's de Me-
dici hebbe a far prova, se'l giudicio el quale
S. S. haveva fatto della M^-^ Cesarea gli rius-
civa tale quale S. S. Rev^a s'era imaginato,
perche inanzi Tombra et indrizzo dell Sia
M'''a di Leone haveva fatto che nou si veniva
a fare esperienza d'altro, et I'animo di S. S.
tutto occupato a servir la M'''^ sua, non have-
va pensato di distraherlo in cura sua o disuoi
particulari, ne era cosi avido o poco prudente
che s'imaginasse i premii corrispondenti ai
meriti, anzi in questo parevad'haver perfetta-
mente servito et meritato assai, non havendo
objetto nessun tale et essendosi rimesso in
tutto e per tutto alia discrettione et liberalita
sua. E vero che trovandosi piu di due anni
quasi prima che la M^^ sua non pensava ne
credeva poter ricever tanto beneficio et servi-
tio dalla casa de Medici, haver promesso per
scritto di sua mano et disegnato et tenuto a
tale instantia separatamente da quella uno
stato nel regno di Napoli di VI m. scudi et
una moglie con stato in dote di X m. pur pro-
messo a quel tempo per uno dei nipoti di pa-
pa Leone et di S. S. Rma, et non essendosi
mai curati d'entrare in possesso del primo ne
venir a effetto del secondo per parerli d'haver
tutto in certissimo deposito in mano di sua
Maest^, morto papa Leone et non essendo ri-
masto segno alcuno di bene verso la casa de
Medici, che gli facessi ricordo d'haver havuto
tanto tempo un papa, se non questo, mandando
S. S. Rma alia M^^ Cesarea a farli riverenza
et dar conto di se, dette commissioni dell' es-
peditione di questa materia, che se ne facessi
la speditione, la consignatione et li privilegii
et venisse all' eft'etto. Ma successe molto di-
versamente da quello che non solo era I'op-
pinion nostra ma d'ogn'uno : perche in canibio
di vedere che si pensasse a nuovi premii et
grattitudine per li quali si conoscesse la re-
cognitione de beneficii fatti alia Mi^ sua, et
la casa de Medici si consolasse vedendo non
haver fatto molta perdita nella morte di Le-
one, si messe difficolta tale nell' espeditione
delle cose dette non come si fusse tratiato di
uno stato gia stabilito et debito per conto mol-
to diverse et inferiore ai meriti grandi che
s'erono aggiunti, prima di disputare, non al-
tr'monti che se la casa de Medici gli fusse
PERIOD TO THE COUNCIL OF TRENT.
411
stata nemica, facendo objettioni di sorte che
ancorche fusse stata in quel termine, non si
devevon fare, perche la fede ct quel che s'c
una volta promesso si vuol servare in ogni
tempo: pure si replico et mostro il torto che
si riceveva talmente che in cambio di sperar
piu o di havere almeno interamente quello
che era promesso d'uno stato di XVI m. scu-
di, VI di Sa Mt^ propria et X m. di dote che
si doveva dare, si risolvette in tre : nel qual
tempo essendo il cardinaledo Medici bene in-
formato di tutto, se S. S. Rma- non si mosse
dalla devotione di S» M"^^ perseverando non
come trattato ut supra ma come se fusse stato
remunerate a satieta, si potrebbe dire che
I'havessi fatto per forza, essendo la potenza
deir imperatore fermata di sorte che non pote-
va far altro, overo per mancarii partito con
altri prencipi, overo per trovarsi in qualche
gran necessita nella quale fusse piu pronto
prestar ajuto all' imperatore che ad altri : ma
chi si ricorda dello stato di quel tempi, che e
facile essendo assai fresca la memoria, conos-
cera che I'esercito e parte imperiale in Italia
per el nuovo soccorso che i Francesi havean
rnandato reparando I'esercito et forze loro con
I'lllma Sig'''^, era in grandissimo pericolo, et
in mano d'alcuno era piu in Italia, per I'op-
portunita del stato amici parenti dependentie
denari et gente, che del cardinale de Medici
far cader la vittoria in quella parte dove gli
fusse parso a S. S. R'na salda nella volunta
verso I'imperatore, cercavono opprimerlo, non
solo poteva* sperare ajuto dalli Cesarei, ma
essi male haverebbon fatto i fatti loro se da S.
S. I\nia non havesser ricevuto ogni sorte di
ajuto tanto ad acquistar la vittoria quanto a
mantenerla, essendosi spogliato fino all' ossa
et se et la patria per pagare una grossa impo-
sitione che fu imposla per contribuire et pa-
gar I'essercito et tenerlo unite. Direi volen-
tieri, connumerando tutti i beneficii, officii et
meriti infiniti del cardinale de Medici et di
casa sua, qualche amorevol demostratione o
specie di grattitudine che S^ M^^ havessi usa-
to inverso di loro, cosi per dire il vero come
per scusare in questo modo questa persever-
antia mai interrotta per alcun accidente ver-
so Sa M"^^ et difenderla da chi la volessi chia-
mare piu tosto ostinatione che vero giudicio,
ma non vi essendo niente non lo posso far di
nuovo, salvo se non si dicesse che in cambio
di XXII m. sc. d'entrata perduti in Francia
ga M^^gli ordino sopra Toledo una pensione
di X m. sc, dei quali ancora in parte ne resta
creditore. E vero che nelle lettere che 8=^ M^-^
scriveva in Italia a tutti li suoi ministri etora-
tori et capitani gli faceva honorifica mentione
di S. S. R'"a, et cometteva che facessin capo
a quella et ne tenessero gran conto per insino
a commetterli che se dio disponesse della S^a-
Mria d'Adriano, non attendessero a far papa
[* Qy. non solo non poteva ?— Translator.]
altri che S. S. Rma; donde nasceva che tutti
facevano nei negotii loro capo a J'iorenza et
communicavano le tiiccnde, et quando s'hav-
eva a trattar di danari o altra sorte d'ajuti, a
nessuno si ricorreva con piu fiducia che a S. S.
R'^a^ favorendola gagliardamente contro la
mala dispositione di papa Adriano per triste
informationi ingeste da Volterra che mostrava
haver di S. Sri^: nelle quai cose, non facendo
ingiuria al buon animo che Cesare potesse
havere con el cardinale, diro bene che S^ jy^u
si governava prudentissimamente in volere
che si mantenessi una persona di tanta aut-
torito in Italia, la quale per poca recognitione
che gli fussi stata fatta non si era mai mutato
un pelo del solito suo, et non possendo succe-
cere, cosi in questo come negli altri stati, che
rnutando la forma et regimento se ne fusse
potuto sentire evidentissimi frutti et commo-
dita che faceva sua Maesta stando integro in
Fiorenza el cardinale de Medici.
" Morto Adriano fu il cardinale create papa,
dove ancorche i ministri et altri dependent!
da Cesare havesser gagliarda commissione,
parte si portoron come volsero, et alcuni che
air ultimo desceseropoi a favorir la sua elet-
tione ilprimo protesto che essi volsero fu che
non intendevono per niente che S. S"-^ conos-
cesse I'opera loro ad instantia dell' impera-
tore, ma che lo facevono per mera dispositione
privata. Et nondimeno fatto papa ritenne S.
S^'"- la medesima persona del cardinal de Med-
ici, quanto comportava una union tale insieme
con la dignita nella quale dio I'haveva posto :
et se in pesar queste due parti, del debito del
pontefice et dell' aftettion verso I'imperatore,
S. S'-^ non s'havesse lassato vincere et fatto
pesar piu 1' ultima, forse che il mondo sarebbe
piu anni fa in pace et non patiremmo hora
queste calamita. Perche trdvandosi nel tem-
po che Sa S"^^ fu papa, due esserciti gagliardi
in Lombardia, di Cesare et del christianisso,
et il prime oppresso da molte difficulta di po-
tersi mantenere, se N. S. non I'ajutava, come
fece con lassar le genti ecclesiastiche et Flo-
rentine in campo, con darli tante decime nel
regno che ne cavavano 80 m. scudi, et farli
dar contributioni di Fiorenza, et S^ S'-^ anco-
ra privatamente denari et infinite altre sorti
d'ajuti, forse quella guerra havrebbe havuto
altro esito et piu moderate et da sperar fine
ai travagli et non principo a nuove et maggi-
ori tribulationi, alle quali sperando N. S. tan-
to ritrovar forma quanto oltre all' auttorita
ordinaria che credeva haver coll' imperatore
et per consigliarlo bene ci haveva ancora ag-
giunto queste nuove dimostrationi, senza le
quali non havrebbe potuto vincere, perche et
me n'ero scordato senz' esse mai la Signoria
faceva unir I'esercito suo, non solo non fu dato
luogo alcuno al suo consiglio, die dissuadeva
di passare in Francia con I'esercito, anzi in
molte occorentie si comincio a mostrare di
tenere un poco conto di S^ S^i^, et favorir Fer-
412
APPENDIX.
rara in dispreggio di quella, et, in cambio di
lodarsi et ringTatiarla di quanto liaveva fatto
per loro, querelarsi di quel clie non s'cra flvtto
a voglia loro, non misurando prima che tutto
si facessi per mera dispositione senza obbligo
alciino, el poi, se ben ce ne fussero stati infi-
niti, che molto maggior doveva esser quello
che tirava Sa Santita a fare il debito suo con
dio che con rimperatore.
" L'esito che hebbe la guerra di Francia
mostro se el consiglio di N. Sig^e era buono,
che venendo el christianissimo adosso all'
esercito Cesareo ch'era a Marsiglia, lo cos-
trinse a ritirarsi, di sorte e'l re seguiva con
celerita, che prima fu entralo in IVIilano ch'
essi si potesser provedere, et fu tanto terrore
in quella giornata del vicere, secondo che I'hn-
omo di S. a^^ che era presso a S. Ecczagcrisse,
che non sarebbe stato partito quale S. iSigno-
ria non avessi accettato dal re, et prudente-
mente : vedendosi in estrema rovina se la
Ventura non I'havessi ajutato con fare che el
christianissimo andasse a Pavia etnon a Lodi,
dove non era possibile stare con le genti che
vi s'eron ridotte. Hora le cose si trovavano in
questi termini et tanto peggiori quanto sem-
pre in casi cosi subiti 1 huomo s'imagina, el
N. S. in malissima intelligentia co! chrmo et
poca speranza di non haver a sperar se non
male da S^ M"^^ et rimanerli odiatoin infinite,
essendosi governala come diro appresso con
quella verita che debbo et sono obbligato in
qualsivoglia luogo che piu potessi stringere a
dirladi quel che io mi reputi al presente.
" Falto che fu N. Sig^e papa, mando el
christianissimo di mandar subito messi a sup-
plicare a S. S^'\ che come dio I'haveva posta
in luogo sopra tutti, coi ancora si volessi met-
ier sopra se stessa et vincer le passioni qnali
gli potesser esser rimaste odi troppa aft'ettione
verso rimperatore o di troppo mala volunta
verso di lui, et chi rimarebbe molto obbligato
a dio et a S. Si^ se tenessi ogn'uno ad un seg-
no, interponendosi a far bene, ma non metten-
dosi a favorir I'una parte contro I'altra : et se
pure per suoi interessi o disegni S. B^e gjndi-
casse bisognarliuno appoggio particulare d'un
prencipe, qual poteva havere meglio del suo,
che naturalmente et a figliolo della chiesa et
non emuio, desiderava et era'solito operar gran-
dczza di essa etnon diminutione, et quanto alia
volunta poi da ])erKona a persona, gli fareb-
be ben partiti tali che S. Si'^ conoscei^ebbe che
molto piu ha guadagnato in firsi conosccre
quanto meritavaoffcndendo et deservcndo lui,
che adjutando et favorendo I'imperatore, ven-
endo in particnlari gramli.
" Nostro Signore accettava la prima parte
d'essere amorcvole a tutti, et bcnclie poi con
li efl(3tti depondessi piu dall' imperatore, oltre
alia inclinazione lo facova ancora con certissi-
nia speranza di poter tanto con I'imperatoro
che lacilmente lassandosi Sua M^'^ Cesarca
governare et muovere, a Sua S^^ non fussi per
essere si grave quello che offendeva el chris-
tianissimo, quanto gli sarebbe comodo poi in
facilitare et adjutare gli accordi che se haves-
sero havuto a fare in la pace. Ma succedendo
altrimenti et facendo il re, mentre che I'esser-
cito Cesarea era a Marsiglia, resokuione di
venire in Italia, mando credo da Azais (Aix)
un corriere con la carta bianca a N. Sig^e per
mezzo del sig''^ Alberto da Carpi non capitula-
toine favorevole et amplissimi mandati el con
una dimostration d'animo tale che certo I'ha-
verebbe possuto mandare al proprio imperatore,
perche di voler lo stato di Milano in poi era
contenlo nel reslo di riporsi in tutto et per
tuttoalla volunlaet ordine di Nostro Signore :
et non oslante questo Sua Santita non si volse
risolver mai se non quando non la prima ma
la seconda volta fu certa della presa di Milano
et hebbe lettere dall' huomo suo, che tutto era
spacciato et che el vicere non lo giudicava al-
trimenti. Mettasi qulasivoglia o amico o ser-
vitore o fratello o padre o I'imperatore raed-
esimo in questo luogo, et vegga in queslo sub-
ito et ancora nel seguente, che cosa havria
potuto fare per beneficio suo che molto meg-
lio S. S^i^ non habbia fatto! dico meglio: per-
che son certo che quelli da che forse S. M"-^ ha
sperato et spera miglior volunta poiche si
Irovano obbligati, havrebber voluto tenere al-
tro conto dell' obbligo che non fece la S. S'^ ;
la quale havendo riposto in man sua far ces-
sar I'arme per iar proseguir la guerra nel reg-
no di Napoli et infiniti altri comodi et publici
et privati, non s'cra obligata ad altro in favor
deir christianissimo se non a farli acquistar
quello che gia I'esercito di Cesare teneva per
perduto et in reprimerlo di non andare inanzi
a pigliare il regno di Napoli, nel quale non
pareva che fust-i per essere molta difficulta.
Et chi vuol farsi hello per li eventi successi al
contrario, deve ringratiare dio che miracolosa-
mente et per piacerli ha voluto cosi, et non
attribuir nulla a se, el riconoscer che'l papa
fece quella capitulazione per conservar se et
rimperatore et non per mala volonta. Per-
che trovando poi per sua disgralia el re diffi-
culta nell' impresa per haverla presa altri-
menti di quel che si doveva, N. S^e lo lasso
due mesi d'intorno a Pavia senza dar un sos-
piro di favore alle cose sue, et benche questo
fusse assai beneficio delli Spagnuoli, non
manco ancora far per loro, dandoli del suo
stato tulle le comodita che potevon disegnare,
non mancando d'interporsi per metier accordo
quante era possibile tra loro: ma non vi es-
sendo ordine et sollecitando il re, che N. Sig-
nore si scoprisse in favor suo per farli acquis-
tare tanto piu facilmente lo stato di Milano,
et instando ancora che i Fiorentini facessero
il medesimo, a che parimente come S. S^^ er-
ono obbligati, fece opera di evitare I'haversi
ascoprire ne dare ajuto alcuno, salvo di darli
passo et vetlovaglia per el suo stato a una
parte dell' esercito, clie sua M'^ voleva man-
PERIOD TO THE COUNCIL OF TRENT.
413
dare nel regno per far diversione et ridur piu
facilmente all' accortlo gV impcriali. Oh chc
gran servitio fu questo ai Frances!, conccdend-
oli cosa la quale era in tacolta loro di torsela,
ancorche non glie I'havesse voluto dare, tro-
vandosi disarmato et parendo per troppo strano
che havendo latto una lega con S. ^l'■'^ cliris-
tianissinia non I'havendo voluto servir d'altro,
gli neoasse quello che non poteva, et una
publicatione d'una concordia finta, come fu
quella che si dette fuora all' hora per dare un
poco di pastura a quella M^'^ et fare che di
manco mal animo comportasse che S. S^^ non
osservasse ad unguem la capitulatione : et se
si vorra dire il vero, el cliristianissimo fu piu
presto deservito che servito di quella separa-
tione dell esercito, perche furono le genti in-
terteniite tanto in Siena et di poi in questo di
Roma, che I'imperiali hebber tempo in Lcm-
bardia di far la prova che fccero a Pavia : la
qual ottenuta, qualche ragione voleva che
I'imperatore ne i suoi agenti ne huomo al
mondodi quella parte si tenesse offeso da Sua
S''^ 0 pensassi altro che farli servitio o pia-
cere, se la religione non li moveva et il se-
guitare gli esempii degli altri proncipi, li
quali non solo non hanno ofFeso i papi che si
sono stati a vedere, ma quando hanno ottenuto
vittoria contro quelle parte con la quale la
chiesa si fussi adherita, gli hanno havuti in
somma adherenza e riverenza e posto termine
alia vittoria sua in chiederli perdono, honorar-
ia et servirla. Lasciamo stare la religione
da canto et mettiamo il papa et la chiesa in
luogo di Moscovita, dove si trovo mai che a
persona et stato che non ti occupa nienle di
quello a che la ragione vuole, tu possa pre-
tendere] anzi havendo una contmuata me-
nioria d'haver tanti anni col favore, ajuto et
sustantia sua et particularmente della persona
ottenuto tante vittorie : et se hora si era ad-
herito col re, lo fece in tempo nel quale non
potendo ajutare se ne altri, gli parve d'havere
una occasione divina di poter col mezzo dei
nemici fare quel medisimo effetto, non gli dan-
do piu di quello che o la forza loro o I'impo-
tentia dell' imperatore gli concedeva, et poi
quando el corso della vittoria si fermo per i
Francesi, haverla piu tosto arenata che ajuta-
ta a spignere inanzi: che inhumanita inaudi-
ta, per non usar piu grave termine, fu quella,
come se appunto non vi fusse stata alcuna di
qneste raggioni o fussero state al contrario,
subito ottenuta la vittori in Pavia et fattoprigi-
one il re, cercare di tar pace con gli altri, dei
quali mcritamente potevasi presumere d'es-
sere stati offesi, alia chiesa et alia persona del
papa subito indir la guerra et mandarli uno
esercito adosso ! Ogl' imperial! havevon ve-
duti i capito i della lega con el chr o non
gli havevon veduti. Havendo gli visti, come
siam certi, essendo andate in man loro tutte
le scritture di S. M^^, dovevon produrli, et
mostrando oft'ensione in essi o nel tempo che
furon conclusi overo nei particulari di cosa
che fusse in pregiudicio alia M'"^ Cesarea,
giustificar con essi quello che contavano, se
giustiticatione alcuna pero vi potesse essere
bastante. Non gli havendo visti, perche usar
tale iniquita contra di . . . .1 Maneinscrip-
tis non havendo visto costa tale ne in fatto non
havendolo provato, non havevon sentito offen-
sione alcuna, Ne resto N. Sig^e per poco
animo o per non potere, perche se I'ha dell*
animo odel potere essi in loro beneficio I'ha-
vevon provanto tanto tempo et dei primo I'eta,
non glien' haveva potuto levar niente et del
secondo la dignita glien' haveva aggiunto as-
sai, ne anche perche S. S^'^ havessi intercette
alcune lettere di questi sig" nelle quali si
vedeva che stavano gonfi et aspettavano occa-
sione di vendicarsi della ingiuria che non rice-
verono da S. S^i^, ma per non reputar niente
tutte queste cose, respetto alia giustitia et al
dovere et buon animo della M^^ Cesarea, sen-
za participation della quale non penso mai che
si mettesse a tentare cosa alcuna, et non pos-
sendo mai persuaders! che S. M^*^ fusse per
comportarlo. Pero accadde tutto il contrario,
che subito senza dimora alcuna fecer passare
I'esercito in quel della chiesa et constrinser
S. Sii^ a redimer la vexatione con 100 m. sc.
et col far una lega con loro : la quale man-
dandosi in Spagna, la demostratione che S.
M^^ ne fece d'haverlo a male fu che se
in essa si conteneva qualche cosa che fus-
se in beneficio di N. Sig^e et della chi-
esa, non la volse ratificare, non ostante che
quanto fu fatto in Italia, fussi con li mandati
amplissimi della M^^ sua, et tra le altre cose
v'era la reintegratione dei sali dello stato di
Milano che si pigliasser dalla chiesa, et la
restitution di Reggio, di che non volse far
nulla. Havendo N. Sigre veduto gabbarsi
tante volte et sperando serapre che le cose
deir imperatore, ancorche alia presentia par-
essero altrimenti, in eftetto poi fussero per
riuscire migliori et havendo sempre visto rius-
cirli il contrario, comincio a dare arecchie,
con tante prove che ne vedeva, a chi glie
I'haveva sempre detto et perseverava che la
Mt^ sua tendessi alia oppressione di tutta
Italia et volersene far sig^e assoluto, parendoli
strano che senza un' objetto tale S. M'-'-^ si
governasse per se et per li suoi di qua della
sorte che faceva : et trovandosi in questa sus-
pettione et mala contentezza di veder che non
gli era osservato ne fede ne promessa alcuna,
gli pareva che gli fusse ben conveniente adhe-
rire alia amicilia et pratiche di coloro li quali ha-
vessero una causa commune con la santita
sua et fusser per trovar modi da difendersi da
una violentia tale che si teneva : et essendo
tra le altre cose proposto che disegnando Ce-
sare levar di stato el duca di Milano et far-
sene padrone et havendo tanti indicii che
questo era piu che certo non si doveva perder
tempo per anticipar di fare ad altri quel che
414
APPENDIX.
era disegnato di fare a noi, S. S^^ non poteva
recusare di seguitare il camino di chi come
dico era nella fortuna commune. Et di qui
nacque che volendosi il regno di Francia, la
S. S"'>- di Venetia et il resto di Italia unire
insieme per rilevamento delli stati et salute
commune, N. S. dava intentione di non recu-
sare d'essere al medesimo che gli altri s'offe-
rivono : et confe^ssa ingenuamente che essen-
doli proposto in nome et da parte del marchesc
di Pescara che egli come mal contento dell'
imperatore et come Italiano s'offeriva d'essere
in questa compagnia quando s'avesse a venire
a fatti, non solamente non lo ricuso, ma ha-
vendo sperato di poterlo havere con effetti,
gli haverebbe fatto ogni partito, perche essen-
do venuto a termine di temer dello stato et
salute propria, pensava che ogni via che se
gli fusse otferta da potere sperare ajuto non
era da rifiutare. Hora egli e morto et dio sa
la verita et con che animo governo questa cosa.
E ben vero et certo questo che simile partic-
ulare fu messo a N. Signore in siio nome : et
mandando S. S^^ a dimandarnelo, non solo non
lo ricuso, ma torno a confermare egli stesso
quel che per altri mezzi gli era stato fatto
intendere: et benche le partiche procedesser
di questa sorte, dio sa se N. Signore ci anda-
va piu tosto per necessita che per elettione :
et di cio possono far testimonio molte lettere
scritte in quel tempo al nuntio di S. St^^ ap-
presso I'imperatore, per le quali se gli ordi-
nava che facesse intendere alia M^^ Sa li
mali modi et atti a rovinare il mondo che per
quella si tenevano, et che per amor di dio
volesse pigliarla per altra via, non essendo
possibile che Italia, ancorche si ottenesse, si
potesse tenere con altro che con amore et con
una certa forma la quale fusse per contentare
gli animi di tutti in universale. Et non gio-
vandoniente, anzi scoprendosi S. M^^ in quel
che si dubitava, d'impatronirsi dello stato di
Milano sotto il pretesto di Girolamo Morone
et che il duca si fusse voluto ribellare a S.
Mi^, perseverava tuttavia in acconciarla con
le buone, descendendo a quel che voleva
S. Mt^ se ella non voleva quel che piaceva
alia StJ^ Sua, purche lo stato di Milano res-
tasse nel duca, al quale effetto si erano fatte
tutte le guerre in Italia; in che S. S^^ hebbe
tanto poca ventura die andando lo spaccio
di questa sua volunta all' imperatore in tempo
che S. Alti voleva accordarsi col christianis-
simo, rifiuto far I'accordo: et polendo, se ac-
cettava prima I'accordo con il papa, far piu
yantaggio et poi piu fermo quel del christian-
issimo, rifiuto far I'accordo con N. Sio-nore,
per fare, che quanto faceva con il re'' fusse
tanto piu [comodo] vanociuanto non lo volendo
il re osservare era per haver de campagni mal
contenti, con li quali unendosi fusse per ten-
ere manco conto della M^^^ Sua : et non e pos-
sibile imaginarsi donde procedesse tanta
alienatione dell' imperatore di volere abbrac-
ciare il papa : non havendo ancora con effetto
sentita offesa alcuna di S. S"-^, havendo man-
date legato suo nipote per honorarlo et prati-
care queste cose accioche conoscesse quanto
gli erano a cuore, facendoli ogni sorte di pia-
cere, et tra gli altri concedendoli la dispensa
del matrimonio, la quale quanto ad unire
I'amicitia et intelligentia di quel regni per
ogni caso a cavargli denari delle dote et ha-
ver questa successione era della importanza,
che ogn' uno sa, et tamen non si movendo S.
M^^ niente, costrinse la S. S^^ a darsi a chi
ne la pregava, non volendo I'imperatore sup-
plicarlo, et a grandissimo torto accettarlo :
et avenne che stringendosi N. Signore con il
christianissimo et con I'altri prencipi et po-
tentati a fare la lega per commune difensione
et precipuamente per far la pace universale,
quando I'imperatore lo seppe, volse poi unirsi
con N. Signore et mandando ad offrirgli per
il sig''e Don Ugo di Moncada non solo quel
che S. S'^ gli haveva addimandato et impor-
tunato, ma quel che mai haveva sperato di po-
tere ottenere. Et se o la M''^ S. si vuol dif-
endere o calumniare N. Sig""e, che conceden-
doli per il sigre Don Ugo quanto dissi di sopra,
non I'havesse voluto accettare, non danni la
S^^ S., la quale mentre che fu in sua potesta,
gli fece istanza di contentarsi di manco assai,
ma incolpi il poco gudicio di colore che quan-
to e tempo et e per giovare non vogliono con-
sentire a uno et vengono fuori d'occasioni a
voler buttar cento : . . . , non essendo (se
non ?) con somma giustificatione cio in tempo,
die sua M"^^ negasse d'entrare in lega con
honeste conditioni et che la imprese riuscis-
sero in modo difficili che altrimenti non si
potesse ottenere I'intento commune. Et chi
dubitassi che I'impresa del regno non fusse
stata per essere facile, lo puo mostrare I'esito
di Frusolone et la presa di tanie terre, consi-
derando massime che N. Sig^e poteva man-
dare nel principio le medesime genti, ma non
eron gia atti ad havere nel regno in un subito
tante preparationi quante stentorono ad ha-
vere in molti messi con aspettare gli ajuti di
Spagna. Et mentre non manca nell' inimici-
tia esseramico et voler usar piu presto ufficia
di padre, minacciando che dando (offendendo?)
e procedendo con ogni sincerita et non man-
cando di discendere ancora ai termini sotto
della dignita sua in fare accordo con Colon-
nesi sudditi suoi per levare ogni suspettione
et per non mandar mai il ferro tanto inanzi
che non si potessi tirandolo in dietro sanar
facilmente la piaga, fu ordinata a S. S^^ quel-
la traditione, che sa ogn' uno et piu sene parla
tacendo, non si potendo esprimere, nella quale
e vero che S. M^^ non ci dette ordine ne con-
senso, ne mostro almeno gran dispiacere et
non fece maggior dimostration, parendo che
I'armata e tutti li preparatorii che potessi mai
fare I'imperatore non tendessino ad altro che
a voler vendicare la giustitia che N. Sigi^^
PERIOD TO THE COUNCIL OF TRENT.
415
haveva fatta contro i Colonnesi di rovinarli
quattro castelli. Non voglio disputar della
tregiia fatta qui in castello questo septembre
per il sigt'e Don Ugo, se teneva o non teneva :
ma I'assolutione dei Colonnesi non teneva gia
in modo N. Sig'"'' che essendo suoi sudditi non
gli potessi etdovessi castigare. Et se quanto
air osservantia poi della tregua tra N. Sign's
et rimperatore fussi stato modo da potersi
fidare, si sarebbe osservata d'avvanzo, benclie
N. Sigfe non fusse mai el primo a romperla :
ma non gli essendo osservata ne qui ne in
Lombardia, dove nel tempo della tregua calan-
do XII mila lanzichineche vennero nella terra
della chiesa, et facendosi dalle bande di qua
el poggio che si poteva, et sollecitandosi el
vicere per lettere del consigliodi Napoli, che
furono intercette, che S. S^ia- accelerassi la
venuta per trovare il papa sprovisto et fornir
quel che al primo colpo non si haveva potuto
fare, non pote N. Sig''^ mancare a se stesso
di mandare a tor gente in Lombardia, le quali,
ancorche venissero a tempo di far fattione nel
regno, non volse che si movesser dei confini —
et la rovina de luoghi dei Colonnesi fu piu per
I'inobbedienza di non haver voluto alloggiare
che per altro — et similmente di dar licentia a
Andrea Doria di andare ad impedir quell'
amata della quale S. S^'^ haveva tanti riscon-
tri che veniva alia sua rovina. Non si puo
senza nota di S. St^^ di poca cura della salute
et dignita sua dir, con quante legittime occa-
sioni costretto non abbandonassi mai tanto
tempo I'amore verso I'imperatore, e dipoiche
comincio a esservi qualche separatione, quante
volte non solo essendoli offerti ma andava cer-
cando i modi di tornarvi, ancorche etdi questo
primo proposito et di quest' altre reconcilia-
tioni gliene fussi seguito male. Ecco che
mentre le cose son piu ferventi che mai, viene
el padre generale dei Minori, al quale haven-
do N. Sigre nel principio della guerra andan-
do in Spagna dette buone parole assai dell'
animo suo verso I'imperatore et mostratoli
quali sariano le vie per venire a una pace
universale, la M'-^ sua lo rimando indietro con
commissioni a parole tanto ample quanto si
poteva desiderare, ma in effetto poi durissime :
pur desiderando N. Signore d'uscirne et ven-
ire una volta a chiarirsi facie ad faciem con
I'imperatore, se vi era modo o via alcuno di
far pace, disse di si et accetto per le migliori
del mondo queste cose che rimp'"e voleva da
sua santita et quello che la M''^ sua voleva
dare : et volendo venire alio stringere et bis-
ognando far capo col vicere, il quale si ti'ova-
va anch' esso arrivato a Gaetta nel medesimo
tempo con parole niente inferior! di quelle
che el generale haveva detto, queste condi-
tioni crescevano ogn' hora et erano infinite et
insoportabile da potersi fare. Con tutto cio
niente premeva piu a N. Signore che esser
costretto a far solo accordo con 1' imperatore
in Italia, perche la causa che moveva a farlo,
etiam con grandissimo danno et vergogna sua,
era I'unione et pace in Italia et il potere an-
dare air imperatore, et se la Signoria di Ve-
netia non gli consentiva, questo non poteva
occorrere, et per praticare il consenso loro,
stando il vicere a Frusolone, si fece la sospen-
sione dell' armi otto giorni, Ira quali potesse
venire la risposta di Venetia, et andando con
esse il signer Cesare Fieramosca, non fu pri-
ma arrivato la che gia essendosi alle mani et
liberate Frusolone dall' assedio non si pote
far niente : nel qual maneggio e certo che N.
Signore ando sinceramente et cosi ancora il
revmo legato, ma trovendosi gia I'inimici a
posta et con I'armi in mano, non era possibile
di trattare due cose diverse in un tempo me-
desimo. Si potrebbe maravigliarsi che doppo
I'aver provato I'animo di questa parte et res-
tarsi sotto con inganno, danno et vergogna,
hora volens et sciens, senza necessita alcuna,
libero dalla paura del perdere, sicuro di gua-
dagnare, non sapendo che amicitia acquistassi,
essendo certo della alienatione et nemicitia di
tutto il mondo et di quel principali che di cuore
amano la St^^ sua, andasse a buttarsi in una pace
o tregua di questa sorte. Ma havendo sua
Si^ provato che non piaceva a dio che si fa-
cessi guerra — perche ancorche havessi fatto
oo-ni prova per non venire ad arme et di poi
essendovi venuto con tanti vantaggi, il non
haver havuto se non tristi successi non si puo
attribuire ad altro, venendo la povera christi-
anita afflitta e desolate in modo insofFribile ad
udirsi da noi medesimi, che quasi eravamo
per lassar poca fatica al Turco di fornirla di
rovinare — giudicava che nessun rispetto hu-
mane dovessi, per grand che fusse, valer tanto
che havessi a rimuovere la S^^ sua da cercar
pace in compagnia d'ogn'uno, non possendola
haver con altri, farsela a se stessa, et mas-
sime che in questa pensieri tornorno a interpor-
visi di quelli avvisi et nuove dell' animo et
volunta. di Cesare disposto a quello che suol
muovere la S. S'^ mirabilmente, havendo ha-
vuto nel medesimo tempo lettere di man pro-
pria di S. Mta per via del Sigi'e Cesare et per
Paolo di Arezzo di quella sorte che era ne-
cessario, vedendo che d'accordarsi il papa col
imperatore fusse per seguirne la felicita del
mondo overo imaginarsi che uomo del mondo
non potessi mai nascer di peggior natura che
I'imperatore se fusse andato a trovare questa
via per rovhiare il papa, la qual fussi indegnis-
sima d'ogni vilissimo uomo et non del mag-
giore che sia tra christiani, ma absit che si
possa imaginar tal cosa, ma si reputa piu tes-
te che dio I'habbia parmessa per recognition
nostra et per dar campo alia M'-^ sua di mos-
trar piu pieta, piu bonta e fede et darli luogo
d'assettare il mondo piu che fusse mai conces-
so a principe nato. Essendo venute in mano
di questi soldati tutte le scritture, tra I'altre
gli sara capitate una nuova capitulatione, che
fece N. Sre cinque o sei di al piu prima che
416
APPENDIX.
seguisse la perdita di Roma, per la quale ri-
tornando S. Si^i per unirsi con la lega et con-
sentondoa niolte couditione che erano in pre-
giudicio della M^'^ Cesarea, non penso che
alcuno sia per volersene valere contro N. S^e
di quelli della parte di Cesare, perche non
lo polrebbon fare senze scoprir piu i difetti et
mancamenti loro, li quali dato che si potessi
concedere che non si fussi potuto ritrar i3or-
bone dal propositio suo di voler venire alia ro-
vina del papa, certo e che eron tanti aitri in
quel campo di lanti et uomini d'anne et per-
sone principali che havrebbono obbedito a i
commandamenti dell' imperatore se gli fusse-
ro stati fatti di buona sorte, et privato Bor-
bone d'una siinil parte, restava pocco atto a
proseguire el disegno suo. Et dato che ques-
to non si fusse possuto tare, benche non si pos-
sa essere escusazione alcuna che vagli, come
si giustirichera che havendo N. Sig''^ adempito
tutte le condition! della capilulazione fatta col
vicere, sicome V. S. R'"* potria ricordarsi et
vedere rileggendo la copia di essa capilula-
zione, che portera seco, che domandando S. S^'^
air incontro che se li osservasse il pagamento
dei fanti et degli uomini d'arme, che ad ogni
richiesta sua se li erano obbligati, non ne fussi
state osservato niente, si che non essendo state
corrisposto in nessuna parte a N. Sig^e in
quella capilulazione da un canto facendosi
conto qnello che si doveva, dall' altro non se
]i dando li ajuti che si doveva, non so con che
animo possa mettersi a voler calunniare la
S'i^ S. d'una cosa fatta per rnera necessita
indutta da loro et tardata tanto a fare, che fu
la rovina di sua Beattitudine, e pigliare occa-
sione di tenersi offesi da noi.
Dalla deliberatione che N. Signore fece
deir andata sua all' imperatore in tempo che
nessuno posseva suspicare che si movessi per
altro che per zelo della salute de christiani,
essendo venuta quella inspiratione subito che
si hebbe nuova della morte del re d'Ungheria
et della perdita del regno, non lo negheranno
li nemici proprii, havendo Sa S^^ consultato e
rosoluto in concistoro due o tre di inanzi I'en-
trata di Colonnesi in Roma; ne credo che sia
alcuno si grosso che pensi si volessi fare quel
tutto di gratia coll' imperatore prevedendo
forse quella tempesta, perche non era tale che
ee si fussi luivuto tre liore di tempo a saperlo,
non die tre di, non si fusse con un minimo
suono (sforzo!) potuto scacciare.
Lc condition! che el padre generale di S.
Francesco jiorto a N. Sig'Q furon queste : la
prima di voler pace con »' Siii, else per caso
aia venuta sua trovasse le cose di Sa S^^ et
della chiesa rovinato, che era contento si
riduccssero luttc al pristino stato et in Italia
darebbc pace ad ogn'uno, non essendo d'animo
suo volere ne per se ne per suo fratello per un
palino, anzi lassar ogn' un in possesso di quello
in che si trovava tanto tempo fa : la differentia
del duca di Alilano si vedessi in jure da giu-
dici da deputarsi per S^ St^ et Sa S^^, et ve-
nendo da assolversi si restituisse, dovendo
esser condennato si dessi a Borbone, et Pran-
cia sarebbe contento far I'accordo a danari,
cosa che non haveva voluto far fin qui, et la
somnia nominava la medesima che'l christian-
issimo haveva mandate a offerire cioe due
millioni d'oro: le quali conditioni N. Sig"""
accetto subito secondo che il generale ne puo
far testimonio, et le sottoscrisse di sua mano,
ma non furono gia approvate per gli altri, li
quali V. S. sa quanto gravi et insoportabili
petitioni gli aggiunsero. Mora non essendo
da presumere se non che la M''^ Cesarea di-
cesse da dovero et con quella sincerita che
conviene a tanto prencipe, et vedendosi per
queste propositioni et ambasciate sue cosi
moderate animo et inolto benigno verso N.
Sigre, in tanto che la M^^ sua non sapeva
qual fussi quello di S^^ S'^^ in verso se et che
si stimava I'armi sue essere cosi poteiitissime
in Italia per li lanzichineche et per I'armata
mandata che in ogni cosa havessi ceduto, non
e da stimare se non che quando sara, informato
die se la M^'^ sua mando a mostrar buon animo
non fu trovato interiore quel di N. Sig'e, et
che alle forze sue era tal resistentia che S*
Santita piu tosto fece beneficio a S^ M^'^ in
depor I'armi, che lo ricevessi, come ho detto
di sopra et e chiarissimo, et che tutte la rovi-
na seguita sta sopra la fede et nome di sua
Mi^, nella quale N. Sig^e si e confiualo, vorra
non solamente esser simile a se, quando an-
dera sua sponte a desiderar bene, et offerirsi
parato rilarne a N. Sig''e et alia chiesa, ma
ancora aggiunger tanto piu a quella naturale
disposition sua quanto ricerca il volere evitare
questo carico et d'ignominioso, che (non)
sarebbe per essere (dal) passarsene di leg-
giero, voltarlo in gloria perpetua, facendola
tanto piu chiara et stabile per se medesima
quanto altri hanno cercato come suoi ministri
deprimerla et oscurarla. Et gli effetti che
bisognerebbe tar per questo tanto privatamente
verso la chiesa et restauration sua quanto i
beneficii che scancellassero le rovine in Italia
et tutta la christianita, estimando piu essere
imperatore per pacihcarla che qualsivoglia
altro emolumento, sara molto facile a trovarli,
purche la disposilione et giudicio di volere et
conoscere il vero bene dove consiste vi sia.
Per non entrare in le cause per le quali
fummo costretti a pigliar I'armi, per essere
cosa che ricercarebbe piu tempo, si verra
solamente a dire che non le pigliammo mai
per odio o mala volunta che havessimo contra
i'lmperatore, o per ambitione di far piu grande
lo stato nostro o d'alcuno de nostri, ma solo
per necessita nella quale ci pareva che fusse
posta la liberta et stato nostro et delli com-
inuni stati d'ltalia, et per far constare a tutto
il mondo el all' imperatore che se si cercava
d'opprimerci, noi non potevama ne dovevamo
PERIOD TO THE COUxNCIL OF TRENT.
417
comportarlo senza far ognisforzo di difenderci,
in tanto che sua M''^, se haveva quell' animo
del quale mai dubitavamo, intendosse che le
cose non erano per riuscirli cosi facilmente
come altri forse gli haveva dato ad intendere,
overo se noi ci fussimo gabbati in questa oppi-
nione che Si* M^'^ intendessi a farci male, et
questi sospetti ci fusser nati piu per modi dei
ministri che altro, facendosi S. M^^ Cesarea
intendere esser cosi da dovero, si venisse a
una buona pace et amicitia non solo tra noi
particularmente et S. M'^, ma in compagnia
degli altri prencipi o sig""' con li quali erava-
mo colligati non per altro efFetto che sola-
inente per difenderci dalla villania che ci
fusse fatta o per venir con conditioni honeste
et ragionevoli a mettere un' altra volta pace
infra la misera christianita : et se quando Don
Ugo venne S. M^^^ ci havesse mandato quelle
resolution! le quali honestissimamente ci pa-
revan necessarie per venir a questo, ci have-
rebbe N. Sig''" Iddio fatto la piu felice gratia
che si potessi pensare, che in un medesimo di
quasi che si presero I'armi si sarebbon deposte.
Et che sia vero quel che diciamo che habbiamo
havuto sempre in animo, ne puo far testimo-
nio la disporiitione in che ci trovo il generale
di S. Francisco, con el quale communciando
noi hora e un' anno, che era qui per andare
in Spagna, le cause perche noi et gli altri
d'ltalia havevamo da star mal contenti dell'
imperatore, et dandogli carico che da nostra
parte I'esponesse tutle a quella, con farli in-
tendere che se voleva attendere ai consigli et
preghiere nostre, le quali tutte tendevano a
laude et servitio di dio et beneficio cosi suo
come nostro, ci troverebbe sempre di quella
amorevolezza che ci haveva provato per inan-
zi, et essendosi di la alquanii mesi rimanda-
toci il detto generale da S. M'^ con rispon-
derci humanissimamente che era contenta,
per usar delle sue parole, accettar per coman-
damento quello che noi gli havevamo, man-
dato a consigliare : et per dar certezza di cio,
portava tra I'altre risolutioni d'esser coutento
di render li figliuoli del christianissimo con
quel riscatto et taglia che gli era stata offerta
da S. M''^, cosa che sin qui non haveva voluto
mai fare : oltre che prometteva che se tutta
Italia per un mode di dire a quell' hora che'l
generale arrivassi a Roma, fussi in suo potere,
era contenta, per far buggiardo chi I'havesso
voluto calunniare che la volessi occupare, di
restituir tutto nel suo pristino state et mostrar
che in essa ne per se ne per il ser"'° suo fra-
tello non ci voleva un palmo di piu di quello
che era solito di possidervi anticamenle la
corona di Spagna : et perche le parole s'ac-
compagnasser con i fatti, portava di cio am-
plissuno mandato in sua persona da poter
risolvo tutto o con Don Ugo o con el vicere,
se al tempo che ci capitava, in Italia fussi
arrivato. Quanto qui fussi il nostro contento,
non si potrebbe esprimere, e ci pareva un'
53
hora mill' anni venire all' effetto di qualche
sorte d'accordo generale di posar I'arme. Et
sopragiungendo quasi in un medesimo tempo
il vicere et mandandoci da San Steffano, dove
prima prese porto in questo mare, per el co-
mandante Pignalosa a dire le miglio parole
del mondo et niente differenti da quanto ci
haveva detto el generale, rendemmo gratie a
iddio che il piacere che havevamo preso per
I'ambasciata del generale non fusse per ha-
vere dubbio alcuno, essendoci confermato il
medesimo per il signor vicere, il quale in
farci intendere le commissioni dell' impera-
tore ci confortava in tutto, et pur ci mandava
certificare che nessuno potrebbe trovarsi con
migliore volunta di mettersi ad eseguirle.
Hora qualmente ne succedesse il contrario,
non bisogna durare molta fatica in dirlo, non
essendo alcun che non sappia le durissime,
insoportabili et ignominiose conditione che ne
furono dimandate da parte del vicere, non ha-
vendo noi posta dimora alcuna in mandarlo a
pregare che non si tardasse a venire alia con-
ditione di tanto bene. Et dove noi pensavamo
ancora trovar meglio di quel che ne era stato
detto, essendo I'usanzadi farsi sempre riservo
delle migliori cose per farle gustare piu gra-
tamente, non solo ci riusci di non trovare
niente del proposto, ma tutto il contrario, et
prima : non havere fede alcuna in noi, come
se nessuno in verita possa produrre testimonio
in contrario, et per sicurta domandarci la
migliore et piu importante parte dello stato
nostro et della S^^^ di Fiorenza, dipoi somma
di denari insoportabile a chi havesse havuto i
monti d'oro, non che a noi, che ogn'uno sapeva
che non havevamo un carlino ; volere che con
tanta ignominia nostra, anzi piu dell' impera-
tore, restituissimo coloro che contra ogni debito
humane et divino, con tanta tradizione, ven-
nero ad assalire la persona di N. Signore,
saccheggiare la chiesa di San Pietro, il sacro
palazzo; stringerne senza un minimo rispetto
a volere che ci obbligassimo strettamente di
piu alia M^^ Cesarea, sapendo tutto il mondo
quanto desiderio ne mostrammo nel tempo che
eravamo nel piu florido stato che fussimo mai,
et, per non dire tutti gli altri particular!, vo-
lere che soli facessimo accordo, non lo potendo
noi fare, se volevamo piu facilmente condurre
a fine la pace universale per la quale voleva-
mo dare questo principio. Et cosi non si po-
tendo il vicere rimuoversi da queste sue
dimande tanto insoportabili et venendo senza
niuna causa ad invader lo stato nostro, haven-
do noi in ogni tempo et quel pochi mesi inanzi
lasciato stare quello dell' imperatore nel regno
di Napoli, accadde la venuta di Cesare Fiera-
mosca: il quale trovando il vicere gia nello
stato della chiesa, credemmo che portasse tali
commissioni da parte dell' imperatore a S.
Sria che se si fossero eseguite, non si sareb-
bero condotte le cose in questi termini. Et
mentre S. S'^^ volse fare due cose assai con-
418
APPENDIX.
trarie insieme, una mostrare di non haver
fatto male ad esser venuto tanto inanzi overo
non perdere le occasion! che gli pareva ha-
vere di guadagnare il tutto, Taltra di obbedire
alii comandamenti dell' imperatore, quali
erano che in oa:ni inodo si tacesse accordo,
non successe all' hora ne I'lino ne I'altro : —
perche S. S^'a si trovo gabbata, che non po-
tette fare quello che si pensava, et tornando
il signor Cesare con patti di far tregua per
otto di, fintanto che venisse risposta se la
Sigria di Venetia vi voleva entrare, quando
arrive in campo, trovo gli eserciti alle mani
et non si ando per all' hora piu inanzi : salvo
che non ostante questo siiccesso et conoscendo
certo che stassimo sicurissimi in Lombardia et
in Toscana per le buone provisioni et infinita
gente di guerra che vi era di tutta la lega, et
che le cose del reame non havessero rimedio
alcuno come I'esperientia Thaveva comiuciato
a dnnostrave, mai deponemmo dall' animo
nostro il desiderio et procuratione delia pace.
Et in esser successe le cose cosi bene verso
noi, non havevamo altro contento se non poter
mostrare che se desideravamo pace, era per vero
giudicio et buona volunta nostra et non per
necessita, et per mostrare all' imperatore che,
Be comando con buono animo, come crediamo,
al padre generale che ancorche tutto fusse
preso a sua devotione si restituisse, che quel
che ella si imaginava di fare quando il caso
havesse portato di esserlo, noi essendo cosi in
fatto lo volevamo eseguire. A questo nostro
desiderio ci aggiunseroun ardore estremo piu
lettere scritte di mano dell' imperatore, tra
I'altre due che in ultimo havemmo da Cesare
Fioramosca et da Paolo di Arezzo nostro ser-
vitore, le quali sono di tal tenore che non ci
pareria havere mai errato se in fede di quelle
lettere sole non solo havessimo posto tutto il
mondo ma I'anima propria hi manodi S. M^^:
tanto ci scongiura che voglianio dar credito
alle parole che ne dice, et tutte esse parole
sono piene di quella satisfattione di quelle
promesse et queli' ajuto che noi a noi non lo
desideravamo migliore. Et come in trattare
la pace, finche non eravamo sicuri che corris-
pondenza s'era per havere, non si rimetteva
niente delle provisioni della guerra, cosi ci
sforzavamo chiarirci bene essendo due capi in
Italia, Borbone et il signore vicere, s'era bi-
sogno trattare con un solo et quello sarebbe
rato per tutti, overo con tutti, due particular-
mente : accioche se ci fusse avenuto quel che
c, la colpa che c data d'altra sorte ad altri,
non fusse stata a noi di poca prudentia ; et
havendo trovato che questa faculta di contrat-
tare era solo nel vicere, ce ne volemmo molto
ben chiarire et non tanto che fussi cosi come
in eft'etto il generale, il signor Cesare, il
vicere proprio, Paulo d'Arezzo et Borbone ne
dicevono, ma intender daJ detto Borbone non
una volta ma inille et da diverse persone se
I'era per obbedirlo, et proposto di voler fare
accordo particularmente con lui et recusando
et affermando, che a quanto appuntarebbe el
vicere non farebbe replica alcuna. Hora fu
facil cosa et sara sempre ad ogn'uno adom-
brar con specie di virtii un suo disegno, et non
lo potendo condurre virtuosamente ne all'
aperta, tirarlo con fallacia, come — venghi
donde si voglia, ci par esser a termine che non
sappiamo indovinar donde procedeva — ci par
che si sia state fatto a noi, li quali si vede che
tutte le diligentie che si possono usare di non
esser gabbati, sono state usate per noi, et tanto
che qualche volta ci pareva d' esser superstitiosi
et di meritarne reprehensione : perche haven-
do el testimonio, et di lettere et di bocca dell'
imperatore, del buon animo sue et che Borbone
obbedirebbe al vicere, et a cautela dando S.
M^^ lettere nuove a Paulo sopra questa obbe*
dientia al vicere dirette a esso Borbone, et
facendosi el trattato con el poter si ampio di
S. JVP*^ che doveva bastare, et havendo Bor-
bone mostrato di remettersi in tutto nel vicere,
et contentandosi poi esso di venire in poter
nostro, fu una facilta tanto grande a tirarci
alio stato ove siamo che non sappiamo gia che
modo si potra piu trovare al mondo di credere
alia semplice fede d'un private gentil huome,
essendovi qui intervenute molte cose e riuscito
a questo modo. Et per non cercare altro che
fare i fatti proprii, era molto piu lecito et facile
a noi, senza incorrer non solo in infamia di non
servator di fede ma ne anche d'altro, usar dell'
occasione che la fortuna ci haveva portato di
starsi sicurissimo in Lombardia come si stava
che mai veniva Borbone inanzi, se I'esercito
della lega non si fusse raffreddato per la stretta
prattica anzi conclusion della pace, et valuto
di quella commodita seguitar la guerra del
reame et da due o tre fortezze in poi levarlo
tutto, e di poi andare appresso in altri luoghi,
dove si fosse potuto far danno et vergogna all'
imperatore, et stando noi saldi in campagnia
dei confederati rendre tutti li disegni suoi piu
difficili. Ma parendoci che el servitie di die
et la niLsera christianita ricercasse pace, ci
proponemmo a deporre ogni grande acquisto
o vittoria che fussimo stati per havere, et offen-
der tutti li prencipi christiani et Italiani, senza
saper quodammodo che haver in mano, ma
assai pensavamo d'havere se I'animo dell' im-
peratore era tale come S. M^'^ con tante evi-
dentie si stbrzava darci ad intendere. Et molto
poco stimavamo I'oflfensione degli altri pren-
cipi christiani, li quali di li a molto poco ci
sarebber restati molto obligati se si fusse seg-
uito quello che tanto amplamente S. M'-^ ci ha
con argument! replicate, che sarebbe, accor-
dandosi noi sece, per rimettere in nostra mano
la conclusion della pace etassenso con 1! pren-
cipi christiani. Et se alcuno volesse pensare
che fussimo andati con altro objetto, cestui
conoscendoci non puo piu mostrare in cosa al-
cuna malignita sua: non ci conoscendo et
facendo diligentia di sapere le attioni della vita
PERIOD TO THE COUNCIL OF TRENT.
419
nostra, Iroverii che e molto consentiente che
noi non habbiamo iriai desiderato se non bene
et operate virtuosamente et a quel fine post-
posto onrni altro interesse. Et se hora ce n'e
successo male, ricevendo di mano di N. Sign's
Dio quanto g'iiistamente gVi place con og'ni hu-
milta, non e che dagli huomini non riceviamo
gfrandissimo torto et da quelli massime che, se
ben fino a un certo termine posson coprirsi
con la forza et con la disobbedienza d' altri —
benche qiiando s'havesse a disciitere, si trova-
rebbe da dire assai — liora et un pezzo fa et per
honor loro et per quel che sono obbligati secondo
dio et secondo il mondo si potrebber portare
altrimenti di quel che fanno. Noi siamo en-
trati nel trattato poi fatto a Fiorenza con quelli
di Borbone per mano del sign's vicere et dipoi
non osservato, perche non vogliamo parer
d'haver tolto assuntodi fare il male contra chi
e stato causa di trattarci cosi, li quali dio giu-
dichi con el suo giusto giudicio ; doppo la mi-
sericordia del quale verso di noi et della sua
chiesa non superiamo in altro che nella reli-
gione, fede et viru dell' imperatore, che essen-
doci noi condotti dove siamo per I'opinione che
havevamo di esso, con el frutto che s'aspetta a
tal parte ci ritragga et ponga tanto piu alto
quanto siamo in basso. Dalla cui M^'^ aspet-
tiamo della ignominia et danni patiti infinita-
mente quella satisfattione che S. M"-^ ci puo
dare eguale alia grandezza sua et al debito, se
alcuna se ne potesse mai trovare al mondo che
bastasse alia minima parte. Non entraremo
esprimendo i particolari a torre la gratia dei
concetti, che doviam sperare che havra et che
ci mandera a proporre : diciamo che metten-
doci al piu basso grade di quel che si possi
domandare et che e per esser piu presto ver-
gogna a S. M^^ a non conceder piuet a noi a
non domandare che parer duro a farlo, che da
S. M'^ dovrebber venire queste provision! :
" Che la persona nostra, el sacro colleggio
et la cort,e dello stale tutto temporale et spiri-
tuale siamo restituiti in quel grade ch'era
quando furon fatte I'indutie col sig^ vicere, et
non ci gravare a pagare un denaro dell' obbli-
gato.
" Et se alcuno sentendo questo si burlera di
noi, rispondiarao che se le cose di sopra son
vere, et si maraviglia che ci acquietiamo di
questo, ha gran raggione ; ma se gli paresse
da dovero strano, consideri con che bonta lo
giudica o verso Cesare o verso noi : se verso
Cesare, consideri bene che ogni volta che
non si promette di S. M^^ e questo e molto
piu, che lo fa gia partecipe di tutto quel male
che qui e passato : ma se verso noi, diciamo
che iniquamente ci vuole detrarre quelle che
nessune mai ardirebbe di far buonarnente. Ne
si deve guardare che siamo qui, ma si bene
come ci siamo, et che e pur meglio far con
virtii et giudicio quelle che finalmente el
tempo in ogni modo ha da portare, se non in
vita nostra, in quella d'altri."
[Most illustrious and most reverend signor,
Seeing the difficulty of the province which
has fallen to your lot., the vastnessef which is
well known to you, and considering the utmost
extreme of misery in which we stand, I think
it cannot but prove seme alleviation of the
former, to possess whatever information can be
afibrded respecting all the transactions that
have passed between our lord the pope and his
imperial majesty ; and of the latter to know
that you, most reverend sir, are about to visit
a monarch en whom his holiness and his
house have more claims of gratitude than any
other house that can be named, whether of
past or present times : and if some cause of
ottence has arisen within this last year, it has
not sprung either from any falling ofi' on the
part of his holiness from his accustomed good-
will and love towards his imperial majesty, or
from any special designs for the aggrandize-
ment of his own retainers or ethers, or with a
view to impair the reputation or the power
and dignity of his imperial majesty ; but solely
from the necessity of not submitting to be
oppressed by those in power and authority in
Italy, and from the manifold proofs his holiness
had acquired, through nuncios, letters, envoys,
and legates, that no remedy could possibly be
found.
[From the time when his holiness first began
to be able to serve the crown of Spain and his
imperial majesty's house, which was from the
beginning of the pontificate of his brother Leo
of holy memory, — his great influence with
whom every one knows, and his imperial ma-
jesty has proved by experience, — his holiness
was always so zealously subservient to the
Spanish and imperial interests, that no one
advantage, favour, or gratification can be
named, which those interests ever enjoyed at
the hands of Leo of holy memory, or of the
church, wherein our lord the pope, being in
minoribus, was not, I will not say merely not
adverse or consenting, but even the origina-
tor, the director, and manager of the whole.
And to mention only those things which are
of superior importance : — the league which
was effected in the second and third years of
the reign of Lee of holy memory, to oppose the
first descent made by the most Christian king
of France, passed entirely through the hands of
his holiness, who went in person, as legate,
and met the other parties. Measures after
this turning out differently from what had been
expected, and pope Leo being compelled to
make what terms he could with the most
Christian king, cardinal de Medici took that
care to keep the pope in the interest of Spain, to
which all who were present at the time can
bear testimony ; and he exerted all the weight
he possessed with the pope his brother, to the
end that the most Christian king's wish and
extreme desire to follow up his victory, and to
enter the kingdom with so great an army, and
420
APPENDIX.
under such favourable auspices, should be
bridled now by one excuse, now by another :
whereof one was, that the Catholic king- being
old, and by reason of his ill iiealth now near
the close of his years, his majesty should wait
the opportunity of his death, at which time the
enterprise would succeed without any diffi-
culty. And the death of the Catholic king-
taking place very speedily after these sug-ges-
tions, — within less than a month I believe, —
what skill and pains were necessary to repress
the great ardour with which the event inspir-
ed the most Christian king, would be testified
by the letters written by his majesty's own
hand, if the soldiers, who have pillaged with
other things all the pope's papers, would either
return tliem or send them to the emperor.
And all these things, with many others, which
all tended to put on a quiet and stable basis the
hereditary succession of the individual now
emperor, and to secure him the magistracies
of Spain, even in the lifetime of his grand-
father,— all these cardinal de Medici did, not
for any private advantage of his own, but even
in direct opposition to his own interests ; he
not having any income of consequence save
what he derived from the realm of France,
and never seeking any equivalent in that of
of Spain.
[The emperor Maximilian died, and Leo
being inclhied to favour the pretensions of the
most Christian king to the imperial dignity,
and being hostile to those of his present impe-
rial majesty, before the election took place
cardinal de Medici induced the pope not to
oppose the present emperor; and after the
election was over he prevailed on him to sanc-
tion it, and to absolve the emperor from simony
and from perjury, in so far as being king of
Naples he could not, in accordance with the
papal constitutions, seek to become emperor ;
and he made the pope re-invest his imperial
majesty in the kingdom of Naples. In all
this — if the great affection entertained by the
cardinal de Medici, and the opinion he had
conceived of the goodness, prudence, and piety
of his majesty, did not excuse him,— I know
not which was the greater, the service he may
openly declare himself to have most largely
rendered to his imperial majesty, or the ill
service done to his own brother, that is, to the
pope and the church, in thus favouring and
fostering a power so great, and one which gave
reason to apprehend that one day the swollen
river migiit burst forth with such a torrent of
devastation and outrage as hath now occurred
But the cardinal seeing those two powers of
Spain and France divided in such sort, that un-
less the one were equipoised against the other,
peace was hardly to be e-xpeetcd, his first care
was so to strengthen the hands of the king of
Spain, that being on an equality with the most
Christian king, he should scruple to engage in
war ; and that if unfortunately that event
could not be prevented, from the prevalence
of a desire to make the king of Spain superior
to the most Christian, Spain should be so firm
and vigorous, that, in case of attack, it might
hope for a prosperous result and certain vic-
tory. And this at least — if perad venture the
matters above-named demand more palpa-
ble evidence — this at least he proved other-
wise than by mere words. Bear witness the
league concluded with the emperor against
France, whilst so different were the advan-
tages offered by the respective sides, that not
only Leo ought not to have allied himself with
the emperor, being free to choose the side
most for his own interest, but even had he
been allied with him he should have used
every effort to break off" the connexion. And
to show briefly that all things were actually
as I have stated, at tlie time Leo concluded
his alliance with the emperor, the latter was
destitute of all influence, force, friends, and
reputation : he had wholly lost the allegiance
of Spain through the rebellion of all the pro-
vinces : he had retired from the diet held by
his majesty in Worms, disappointed of all his
hopes of aid and service from the same :* war
had already broken out in his dominions in two
quarters, — in Flanders through Robert de la
Marc, and in Navarre, which kingdom was
already wholly lost and reduced under the
sway of the king favoured by the French :-|-
the Swiss had shortly before entered into a
fresh alliance with the most Christian king,
and bound themselves by a new stipulation to
the defence of Milan, which was in the king's
possession, — a thing they had never before
consented to do : and the most serene king of
England, on whom the emperor counted, per-
haps in consideration of the relationship be-
tween them and the national enmity of Eng-
land to France, showed a disposition to look
on inactively ; and so he actually did, not stir-
ring to afford the slightest assistance to the
emperor, however pressing his need, and how-
ever urgent his entreaties, till after the death
of Leo. The most Christian king, on the other
hand, in addition to his vast united resources,
his prompt union with the most illustrious
signory, and his new alliance with the Swiss,
was the more powerful in proportion as his
strength was absolutely and relatively aug-
mented by the numerous and infinite perplexi-
ties in which, I repeat, the emperor was invol-
ved. The hopes and promises of advantage,
and reward from the success of the respective
sides were very different : the most Christian
king was willing at once to bestow Ferrara
on the church before his majesty engaged in
* Manifestly incorrect. Succour was voted the empo-
ror at Worms to the extent of 20,000 infantry and 4000
cavalry.
f A chronological error. The treaty with the emperor
was ratified on'the Sth of May : Du Mont, IV. iii. 07. Il
was not till the 20th the French arrived at Fampeluna:
Garebay, xxx. 523.
PERIOD TO THE COUIVCIL OF TRENT.
421
any other enterprize; and on arcquirinq- tlie
kingdom of Naples his most Christian ma jesty
(not going into particulars) offered such ad-
vantat^es to the church in every respect, that
it could not have been more to its profit and
security, had the whole kingdon been given
up to it ; whereas, on the other side, there
was nothing except a proposal to place Milan
in Italian hands, and to recover Parma and
Piacenza to the church :* yet, notwithstand-
ing all this — notwithstanding the facility of
the enterprize on the one hand, and on the
other the very disproportionate danger, and
the vast disparity of the gains to be derived
from either side, — so much did the wishes of
cardinal de Medici avail with tiie pope, and
so much was the latter convinced of the
goodness and piety of his imperial majesty,
that when it was suggested that somewhere
or other visible evidence should be given of
the truth of those fond fancies, he would not
listen to any counsel, or go into any inquiry,
but cast himself with might and main into
that cause from which he hoped to derive
more fruits of holy Christian spirit than from
any rewards of a temporal nature that might
have accrued to him by other means. And
who is there but has seen and knows it to be
true, that when things at first turned out con-
trary to expectation, and when the money
advanced by his imperial majesty as his first
contribution was spent, and the prospect of
procuring more looked ill, Leo of holy mem-
ory on his part, and the cardinal de Medici
still more on his, failed not to come forward
with the means of his country, and of all his
friends and dependants, and finally with his
own person, of which he knew the importance
and the effect it produced ]
[At this juncture pope Leo died ; and though
the cardinal found all the world his enemy,
because all those he had offended on the
French side were arrayed against his tempo-
ral and spiritual fortune and dignity ; while
on the imperial side none would help him,
and some were against him, as you, most
reverend sir, and every one well know : nev-
ertheless, neither the danger, nor the great
offers of the one party, nor the ingratitude or
scorns of the other, ever availed to move him
a jot from his determination, which he thought
should be his guide, as the mind of the em-
peror and the opinion conceived of his char-
acter had been his mark and object : and as
he could not imagine that the character im-
puted to his imperial majesty was the creation
of his own mind, and the short time did not
enable him to take up such a suspicion, he
was ready to endure every thing rather than
change his conduct in the least degree. Ac-
* Totally incorrect. The I3th article of tlie treaty en-
gages the emperor to aid against Ferrara : " Promiltit Cesa
M'ls omnem vim, omnem potentiani, ut ea (Ferraria) apo-
atolicae sedi recuperetur."
cordingly, just as though matters had been
the reverse of what they were, there was no-
thing to which he more sedulously applied
himself than to the election of a pope equally
desirable for his majesty and for the church :
and every one knows that the opinion amount-
ed to all but certainty that it would be almost
the same thing whether Adrian or the empe-
ror himself were made pope, and equally noto-
rious is it that no one had a greater share in
originating and carrying through this election
than had cardinal de Medici.
[Now was the time for cardinal de Medici
to make trial whether the judgment he had
formed of his imperial majesty turned out to
be well founded ; because up to that time,
shaded by the patronage of Leo of holy mem-
ory, he had not been exposed to feel the dif-
ference of fortune, and being wholly engrossed
with his desire to serve his majesty, he had
never thought of diverting his attention to
his own or his friends' interests, nor was he
so covetous or so importunate as to think of
rewards corresponding to his merits. Thus
he must be admitted to have rendered his ser-
vices in a perfect spirit, and to have well de-
served, since he had no mercenary object in
view, and relied wholly and solely on the em-
peror's discretion and liberality. It is true
that, whereas two years before, almost before
his majesty had any idea of the possibility of
his receiving such essential services from the
house of Medici, his majesty had promised in
writing, under his own hand and in other
ways, in reply to various solicitations, an estate
in the kingdom of Naples of six thousand
scudi, and a wife with a dowry of ten thou-
sand scudi for one of the nephews of pope Leo
and of the cardinal; and they never caring to
enter into possession of the former, or to effect
the latter, thinking themselves fully secured
by his majesty's promise they held in their
hands when pope Leo died, (and save which
promise, no token of advantage remained to
the house of Medici to remind it that it had so
long had a pope among its members,) the car-
dinal did then, on sending to present his re-
spects to the emperor and to give an account
of himself to his imperial majesty, give direc-
tions for the carrying out of this matter, and
for the ratification of the said grants and privi-
leges. But the event turned out far differ-
ently, not only from our own* expectation,
but from that of every one else : for, instead
of its appearing that thought was given to
new rewards whereby might be evinced a
sense of the services rendered his majesty,
and the house of Medici might have the con-
solation of seeing that it had not lost much
by the death of pope Leo, such difficulties
were thrown in the way, as though the mat-
♦ [The writer here slides into the uBe of the iirst per-
son.— Translator.]
422
APPENDIX.
ter in hand were not the fulfilment of an en-
gagement already fixed, and one very inade-
quate to repay the services for which it was
contracted. Disputes were raised, just as if
the house of Medici were a hostile one, and
objections thrown out that even in that case
would have been unjustifiable, because plight-
ed faith and a promise once made must be
kept under all circumstances. Replies, how-
ever, were made, and the injustice done was
pointed out in such sort, that, instead of a
hope being encouraged of having more, or at
least the whole, of what was promised, —
namely, the value of sixteen thousand scudi
(six from his majesty, and ten by way of dow-
er), the thing dwindled down to three thou-
sand. Upon cardinal de Medici being at that
time fully informed of the whole matter, had
he not been moved by his devotion to his ma-
jesty to persevere, not in accordance with the
above treatment, but as though he had been
remunerated to satiety, it might be said that
he had been forced to do so, the emperor's
power being so absolute that he could not do
otherwise, or because of his (the cardinal's)
lack of interest with other potentates, or be-
cause of some pressing necessity of his own
which made him more ready to lend his aid
to the emperor than to others. But whoever
will call to mind the then existing state of
things, which is easy enough, they being
fresh in memory, will admit that the imperial
army and cause in Italy were in extreme
peril, by reason of the accession of strength
the French arms had received through their
alliance with the most illustrious signory ;
and furthermore, that there was no one in
Italy more capable, by his position, friends,
relations, dependents, money, and men, than
was cardinal de Medici, to incline the victory
to whichever side he pleased. Stedfast as
was the cardinal in his attachment to the em-
peror's cause, not only could he not hope for
aid from the imperialists, in case his downfall
was sought, but the latter would even have
prospered badly had they not received from
the cardinal every possible aid, both towards
obtaining and towards maintaining the victo-
ry, he having stripped himself and his coun-
try bare to pay a large levy, to enable the
army to subsist and hold together.* Whilst
reckoning up all the benefits and infinite
meritorious services rendered by the cardinal
de Medici and his house, I would fain name
every kindly demonstration, every show of
gratitude, evinced in return by his imperial
majesty. This I would do both for the sake
of truth and by way of excusing such perse-
vering devotion to his majesty never inter-
rupted by any accident, and defendino- it
* rXhe style of the original, which is involvod and
perplexed throughout. Is here particularly un'Tainmaii-
cal and obscure. The above is the beat ^(te.s-.s the irans-
Ulor can make at the writer's meaning.— Translator ]
against the objections of such as might be
inclined to regard it rather as obstinacy than
as the result of sound judgment. But there
being nothing of the kind, I cannot alter the
fact, and have nothing to say, except that, in
in exchange for twenty-two thousand scudi
yearly income lost in France, his majesty ap-
pointed the cardinal a pension from Toledo
of ten thousand scudi, part of which is still
unpaid. It is true that, in all the letters his
majesty wrote to his ministers, and ambassa-
dors, and captains in Italy, he made honoura-
ble mention of the cardinal, and enjoined them
to correspond wilh him and hold him in great
esteem, to the extent of assuring him, that if
God should dispose of Adrian of holy memory,
they would not think of having any one but
himself for pope. Hence it came to pass that,
in their affairs of business, they all applied to
Florence and reported their proceedings : and
when questions of money or of other assist-
ance were to be solved, there was no one to
whom they addressed themselves with more
confidence than to the cardinal, strongly sup-
porting him against the ill-will of pope Adrian,
which he had conceived on account of inju-
rious information he had got from Volterra
respecting the said cardinal. With regard
to these transactions, without prejudice to the
good intentions the emperor may have enter-
tained towards the cardinal, I must say that
the emperor acted with consummate prudence
in wishing to uphold a person of so much
weight in Italy, one who, little as had been
the gratitude shown him, had never swerved
a jot from his wonted course. Neither was
it possible, whether as regarded this or the
other states, that any change in the existing
order of things should have permitted his
majesty to reap such manifest advantages as
accrued to him in consequence of the firm
and secure position of cardinal de Medici in
Florence.
[Adrian being dead, the cardinal was cre-
ated pope. And here, though the ministers
and other dependents of the emperor had strict
orders given them, some acted according to
their own pleasure, and some, who consented
at last to support him, protested in the very
first instance that they would by no means
have his holiness attribute what they did to
the emperor's injunctions, but simply to their
own private feelings. Nevertheless, on be-
coming pope, his holiness still continued to
be cardinal de Medici, as far as such an union
of characters was suited to the dignity to
which God had raised him. And if, in weigh-
ing these two claims, — that of his duty as
pope, and that of his affection to the emperor,
— his holiness had not suffered the latter to
preponderate, perhaps the world would several
years ago have been at peace, and we should
not to-day be labouring under our present
calamities. For, there being at the tune his
PERIOD TO THE COUNCIL OF TRENT.
423
holiness was made pope two strong armies in
Lombardy, — that of the emperor and that of
the most Christian king, — and the former
labouring under numerous difficulties, and
being unable to keep his ground, had it not
been for the aid of our lord the pope, who
recruited it with Roman and Florentine
troops, granted it tithes from the kingdom
which realized eighty thousand scudi, and
caused contributions to be made to it from
Florence, besides money and infinite other
aids afforded it by his holiness individually;
but for this, I say, perhaps the war would
have had a different, a more moderate issue,
and there would have been reason, perhaps,
to look for an end of troubles, and not for a
beginning of fresh and greater tribulations.
And his holiness moreover * added
those new demonstrations, without which the
emperor could not have conquered, because
— a point I forgot to state — without them the
signory could never have combined its army :
but not only was no regard paid to the advice
he gave against passmg with the army into
France, but in many occurrences it began to
appear that little account was made of his
holiness, and Ferrara began to be favoured to
his prejudice, and instead of praise and grati-
tude for what he had done for them, they be-
gan to complain of every thing that had not
been done according to their wishes, not con-
sidering that every thing performed by him
had proceeded from sheer good-will, and not
from any obligation ; and furtherfore, that
even if his obligations to the cause had been
infinite, much greater ought that to have been
by which his holiness was bound to do his duty
to God than to the emperor.
[The issue of the French war showed
whether or not his holiness had given good
advice. For his most Christian majesty com-
ing down on the imperial army, which lay at
Marseilles, compelled it to retreat, and pur-
sued it with such speed that it had entered
Milan quite unexpectedly ; and such was the
terror of the viceroy on that day, as reported
by his holiness's ministers at his excellency's
court, that there were no terms he would not
have accepted from the king, and with rea-
son, seeing that he was utterly undone if
chance had not favoured him, by inducing his
most Christian majesty to go to Pavia and not
to Lodi, where it was not possible to keep his
ground with the forces collected there. Such
was the existing aspect of things ; and as
much worse apparently, as imagination al-
ways makes sudden contingencies appear,
and his holiness was on the worst terms with
his most Christian majesty, and had little to
hope but ill of his majesty, and to be infinite-
* [The translator has here omitted a lino or two of the
original, from which he despaired of extracting any intel-
ligible meaning.]
ly hated by him, his holiness having conduct-
ed himself in the way I shall hereafter state
with as much truth as I should be bound to
observe under any circumstances that miffht
more cogently demand it of me than those in
which 1 consider myself at present.
[When our lord the pope was elected the
most Christian king immediately set to' sup-
plicate his holiness, that as God had placed
him in a position above all, so in like manner
he should place himself above himself, and
conquer the passions that might lurk in 'him
whether of too great affection towards the
emperor, or of too great aversion to him, the
king: adding, that he would hold himself
deeply bound to God and his holiness if he
treated all parties alike, interposino- to do
good, but not interfering to favour one party
agamst another. If, however, his holiness's
intentions or purposes should make him feel
the necessity of a special support in some
prince, where could his holiness find a better
than in him, who by nature, and as a son of
the church and not its rival, desired, and was
wont to labour for its aggrandizement, not its
diminution ! and then, as regarded proofs of
good-vyill between man and man, he would
make him such conditions as would convince
his hohness that he had gained much more by
making known his worth in acting offensively
and injuriously towards him, the king, than in
aiding and favouring the emperor.
[Our lord the pope adopted the first propo-
sal, namely, that he should deal lovingly with
all : and though the result rested rather with
the emperor, he did so with alacrity, and with
the confident hope that his imperial majesty
would so ;readily yield to his guidance, that
his holiness should not have so much to de-
precate what offended his most Christian ma-
jesty, as he should be gratified by facilitating
and aidmg the arrangements to be adopted in
adjusting a peace. But things turning out
otherwise, and the king resolving to enter
Ita y whilst the imperial army was in Mar-
seilles, he sent from Aix I think,— a courier
with carte blanche to our lord, through the
medium of signer Alberto da Carpi, with fa-
vourable stipulations, most ample terms, and
a display of his intentions, such as he might
certainly have sent to the emperor himself:
for except that he claimed Milan, in all other
matters he was content to defer absolutely to
he decision of his holiness. Notwithstanding
his, his hohness would not make up his mind
till he had not once, but twice, had certain
intelligence of the capture of Milan, and re-
ceived letters from his agent that all was ir-
retrievable, and that the viceroy did not think
otherwise. Let any friend, or servant, or
brother, or father, or the emperor himself,
tancy himself m this situation, and see in this
emergency, and again in the following one,
what he could have done for the emperor's
424
APPENDIX.
benefit that the pope did not do much better.
The pope having gotten into his hands the
means of stopping the war in the Icingdom of
Naples, and infinite other advantages public
and private, was not bound to any thing else
in favour of his most Christian majesty except
to acquire what the imperial army already
gave up for lost, and to hinder him from going
forth to seize the kingdom of Naples, — an at-
tempt whicli seemed to threaten no great dif-
ficulty. And whoever has a mind to vaunt
upon the strength of the events that turned
out otherwise, ought to thank God, who de-
termined it so miraculously and of his own
good pleasure, and should attribute nothing
therein to himself, and own that the pope
made that capitulation to preserve himself and
the emperor, and not with a bad intention.
For the king, unluckily for him, finding the
enterprise prove difficult, because he had not
set about it as he ought, the pope left him a
couple of months at Pavia without a breath
in favour of his cause ; and though this was
no small benefit conferred on the Spaniards,
he failed not to do more for them, giving
them all the assistance they could ask from
his territories, and not failing by his interpo-
sition to effect concord between them as far
as possible ; but disorder prevailing, and the
king pressing to have our lord declare in his
favour, so as to facilitate his conquest of Mi-
lan, and urging likewise that the Florentines
should do the same, as they were bound
equally with the pope, his holiness laboured
to avoid having to declare himself, or to give
him any aid, save only allowing passage
through his dominions, and provisions for a
part of the army which his majesty wished to
send into the kingdom to cause a diversion,
and thereby more easily reduce the imperial-
ists to come to terms. Oh ! but this was a
mighty service rendered to the French ! —
yielding to them what they were able to ex-
tort if refused them, the pope being disarmed,
and the notion appearing altogether too ab-
surd, that, having made a league with his
most Christian majesty, and having been un-
willing to serve him in any thing else, he
should deny him that which he could not
withhold, and the publication of a feigned
concord like that then promulgated by giving
a little provision to his majesty, and contriv-
ing tliat he should endure with less ill-will
that his holiness did not observe the capitula-
tion to the very letter. And, to say the truth,
his most Christian majesty was rather preju-
diced than served by this partition of his ar-
my; for the forces were so delayed in Siena
and in the Roman territory, that the imperi-
alists had time in Lombardy to achieve the
victory of Pavia. This being obtained, what
reason was there why the emperor, or his
agents, or any one in the world, of whatever
party, should entertain angry feelings against
his holiness, or should think of any thing but
to do him service or pleasure, even though he
were not moved thereto by motives of reli-
gion and by the example of other monarchs,
who not only never offended popes who re-
mained neutral, but even when they were
victorious over the party to which the church
had adhered, always treated Ihe pope with
the utmost submissivene.«!s and reverence, and
closed their victories with intreating his par-
don, honouring and serving him '] Let us put
religion for the present out of the question,
and suppose the pope and the church trans-
ported to Muscovy, and then tell me. What
right canst thou possibly have to make any
charge against a person or a state that usurps
nothing, to which thou hast a reasonable
claim J But the case is still stronger, when
it is remembered that for a long series of
years favour, aid, and means, particularly
personal, were afforded, whereby such great
victories were obtained. And if the pope did
then adhere to the king, he did so at a time
when, not being able to help himself or others,
it seemed to him that he had a divine oppor-
tunity to produce that same effect through the
instrumentality of the enemy ; for he gave
him nothing but what the enemy's own
strength or the emperor's weakness secured
him ; and he managed so, that when the ca-
reer of victory was closed for the Fi'ench, it
would appear that he had rather retarded it
than helped it forward. What unheard-of
inhumanity was it, not to use a harsher ex-
pression, just as if none of these reasons ex-
isted, or as if they had been quite the reverse,
immediately after the victory of Pavia and
the capture of the king, to make overtures of
peace to the other states that might justly be
supposed to have offended, and suddenly to
declare war upon the church and the person
of the pope, and to send an army against
him ! Either the imperialists had seen the
articles of the league with his most Christian
majesty, or they had not seen them. Sup-
posing them to have seen them, as we are
certain they did, since all his majesty's pa-
pers fell into their hands, tht^ ought to pro-
duce them, and by pointing out what there
was in them to take offence at, either with
regard to the time when they were conclud-
ed, or to any particulars prejudicial to his im-
perial majesty, make them serve in justifica-
tion of their own allegations, if indeed they
furnished any sufficient justification. Sup-
posing them not to have seen them, why act
so iniquitously against ....'? But having
neither discovered any thing of the kind in
written documents, nor experienced it in fact,
they had no cause of offence. It was not for
want of spirit, or for want of power, that our
lord tlie pope forbore ; for that he possesses
both, they had long experienced to their own
benefit, and age could not have deprived him
PERIOD TO THE COUNCIL OF TRENT.
425
in any respect of the former, and his dignity
had given him a considerable increase of the
latter. Nor yet was it because his holiness
had intercepted some letters of those gentle-
men, wherein it seemed that they were puff-
ed up, and waited opportunity to revenge
themselves for the injury they had not received
from his holiness : but it was, without the
slightest reference to all these things, solely
in consideration of the justice, the duty, and
the good disposition of his imperial majesty;
without whose participation it was never sup-
posed that any thing could be attempted, and
of whom his holiness could never persuade
himself that his majesty would sanction what
was done. But every thing turned out quite
the reverse ; for suddenly, without the least
delay, the army was marched into the domin-
ions of the church, and his holiness was con-
strained to buy off the vexation with a sum of
100,000 scudi, and to make a league with
them. Upon the said league being reported
in Spain, the proof his majesty gave of his
disapprobation of these proceedings was his
declaration, that if there was contained in the
league any thing favourable to our lord and
the church, he would not ratify it, notwith-
standing that all that had passed in Italy had
been done with his majesty's full and express
commands ; and among the clauses were the
restoration of the proceeds of Milan, which
had been taken from the church, and the res-
titution of Reggio, of which he would not
hear at all. Our lord having found himself
so often deceived, and having ever hoped, in
spite of appearances, that matters would turn
out better on the emperor's part, whereas the
contrary had invariably been the case, at
length began, with so many evident proofs
before him, to hearken to those who had al-
ways persisted in affirming that his imperial
majesty aimed at the oppression of all Italy,
and at making himself absolute master of the
country : and indeed it appeared strange to
his holiness, that without such an object, his
majesty should govern by himself and by his
officers in the manner he did. Entertaining
this suspicion, and discontented at seeing that
no faith or promise was kept with him, it
seemed to the pope very proper that he should
unite in friendship and in proceedings with
those who had a common cause with his holi-
ness, and who would have to find means of
defending themselves against such violence
as was practised. And it being suggested,
among other things, that the emperor pur-
posed to depose the duke of Milan, and to
make himself master of that state, and nu-
merous indications fully establishing the truth
of this surmise, it was thought that not a mo-
ment should be lost in anticipating the de-
signs against us, and retorting them on their
devisers ; nor could his holiness refuse to fol-
low the course adopted by those whose cause,
54
as I said, was identified with his own. Hence
it followed, that when France, Venice, and
the rest of Italy, proposed to combine tor the
relief of the states, and for the common weal,
the pope expressed his intention of not being
behindhand with the rest. And he candidly
confesses, that when it was made known to
him, in the name and on the part of the mar-
quis of Pescara, that he offered, as malcon-
tent with the emperor and as an Italian, to
take part in the combination when matters
were ripe for action, not only did his holiness
not refuse the offer, but hoping actually to
possess his aid, he would have given him eve-
ry encouragement ; for being driven to fear
for his own state and well-being, he thought
he ought not to reject any means of safety
that fell in his way. Pescara is now dead,
and God knows the truth and with what in-
tentions he conducted himself in this matter.
Thus much, at all events, is certain, that such
a proposition was sent in his name to his ho-
liness ; and when his holiness sent to question
him on the subject, so far from denying it, he
personally confirmed what had been stated
by others in his name. And though such pro-
ceedings took place, God knows that his holi-
ness was led into them more by necessity
than by choice; testimony whereof will be
found in many letters written at the time to
his holiness's nuncio at the imperial court, di-
recting that his majesty's attention should be
drawn to the ruinously bad system he was pur-
suing, and that he should be intreated for the
love of God to adopt a different course ; foras-
much as it was not possible that Italy, though
won, should be retained otherwise than by love,
and by a certain system which should serve
to satisfy the general mind. But all being of
no avail, and his majesty putting an end to all
doubts that had subsisted as to his intentions
to seize on the state of Milan, under cover of
the name of Girolamo Morone, and upon the
pretext that the duke had been disposed to re-
bel against his imperial majesty, still the pope
persisted in trying fair means, and was ready
to meet the emperor's wishes if the emperor
would not meet his; if so, the duke might be
left in possession of Milan, that having been
the cause of all the wars in Italy. So little
was the pope's success on this score, that on
this desire of his being communicated to the
emperor, at the time his imperial majesty was
disposed to come to terms with the most Chris-
tian king, he refused to comply with it. And
whereas if his imperial majesty had first
agreed with the pope, he might have acquired
more advantage, and afterwards established a
more sokd treaty with the most Christian
king, his refusal to agree with his holiness
served but to make all his arrangements with
the king the more futile;* inasmuch as the
* [See the Italian supra. I have not adopted Ranke's(?)
suggealion of interpolating the word " comodo," ihinJi-
426
APPENDIX,
king, not being inclined to observe them,
would find himself linked with discontented
associates, and would make the less account
of his imperial majesty. It is impossible to
conceive whence sprang so great an aversion
on the emperor's part to embrace the pope :
he had never yet, in fact, received any offence
from his holiness, who had sent his nephew as
legate to do him honour, and to treat of these
matters, so that he might know how much the
pope had them at heart; and who had sought
to gratify him in every way,— among others,
in granting the matrimonial dispensation,
which, as every one knows, was of import-
ance towards drawing closer the bonds of
friendship and good intelligence between the
two kingdoms, and, at any rate, as a means
of procuring the emperor money by way of
dowry, and the succession to the crown.*
Nevertheless, his imperial majesty, totally
unmoved by these considerations, forced his
holiness to give himself up to those who
sought his alliance. And now, when the
pope entered into a league with the most
Christian king, and with the other princes and
potentates, for the common defence, and prin-
cipally to effect an universal peace, the em-
peror, on learning it, was then willing to
unite with the pope, and sent to offer him,
through Signor Don Ugo di Moncada, not only
what his holiness had urgently demanded and
intreated, but even what he had never hoped
he could possibly obtain. And if his majesty
will urge in his own defence, or in aspersion
of his holiness, that when the offer was made
to the latter through Signor Don Ugo as afore-
said, he would not accept it, let him not lay
the blame on his holiness, who, while it was
in his own power, offered to content himself
with little enough; but let him blame the
want of judgment of those who, when the op-
portunity is in their hand, will not consent to
one, and come forward to bid a hundred out
of season. The pope was perfectly justified
in acting thus at a tmie when his majesty re-
fused to enter into a league upon honourable
conditions, and when the enterprises in hand
were turning out in such a manner that there
seemed hardly a possibility of not arriving at
the common object. Now if any one suppose
that the enterprise against the kingdom was
not likely to prove easy, the contrary will ap-
pear from the issue of Frusolone, and from
the conquest of so many territories, especially
when it is considered that his holiness could
have sent the same forces thither in the be-
ginning, whilst they were not in a condition
in the kingdom suddenly to make such great
preparations as they hardly obtained in many
ing the passage makes belter sense without it. —
Translator.]
• We see thai the lai se of Portugal to the crown of
Spain was thought of in 1525.
months with waiting aid from Spain. And
whilst his holiness failed not even in hostility
to be a friend, and to be willing to act rather
as a father, threatening rather than hurting,
and proceeding with all sincerity, and not
failing to descend even to terms below his dig-
nity, in entering into arrangements with the
Colonnas, his own subjects, so that he might
remove every ground of suspicion, and never
thrust the steel so far forward that he could
not on drawing it back easily heal the wound ;
even then that treason was devised against
his holiness, which is known to every one, and
the unutterable guilt of which silence can best
express, wherein it is true that if his majesty
was not acting and consenting, at least he
showed no great displeasure at it; for it
seemed that the armament and all the prepara-
tions the emperor could ever make had no
other object than to take vengeance for the
justice the pope had inflicted on the Colonnas,
by ruining four of their castles. I will not
dispute about the truce made this September
in the castle by Signor Don Ugo, or inquire
whether it was observed or not; but the ab-
solution of the Colonnas did not so tie up the
pope's hands that he could not and ought not
to punish them, they being his own subjects.
And if there had been any possibility of re-
lying on the observance of the truce between
our lord and the emperor, it would have been
observed on our lord's part, though he was
never the first to break it: but as it was not
observed either here or in Lombard)^ from
whence, whilst the truce was still unexpired,
twelve thousand lansquenets entered the ter-
ritories of the church, whilst those in that
quarter did their very worst, — and the vice-
roy of Naples wrote letters, which were in-
tercepted, wherein he besought the signory to
hasten the arrival of their forces, so as to catch
the pope unprepared, and complete what had
been lefiuneft'ected at the first blow, — our lord
could not so far fail of what was due to him-
self as not to send and procure forces from
Lombardy ; and though these arrived in time
to cause a diversion within the kingdom of
Naples, he would not allow them to quit the
frontiers,^-the ruin of the castles of the Col-
onnas was more owing to their disobedience
in refusing to harbour the troops than to any
thing else, — and likewise the pope gave leave
to Andrew Doria logo and intercept that fleet,
of which his holiness had had such frequent
intelligence that it was designed for his de-
struction. It is impossible, without passing
censure on his holiness for his little regard to
his own welfare and dignity, to tell, in despite
of how many urgent legitimate occasions, he
never for so long a time abandoned his love
for the emperor ; and after there began to be
some division between them, how often he not
merely waited to be offered, but went out of
his way to seek means of accommodation,
PERIOD TO THE COUNCIL OF TRENT.
427
though no g'ood had come to him either of the
first propositions or of the subsequent reconcil-
iations. Now while matters were in a more
violent condition than ever, comes the father-
general of the Minorites, to whom, on his
going to Spain, at the beginning of the war,
our lord the pope having strongly expressed
his good feelings towards the emperor, and
pointed out to him what would be the course
of proceeding towards obtaining an universal
peace, his majesty sent him back with com-
missions in terms as ample as could be desired,
but which afterwards proved actually ex-
tremely hard. For when our lord desired to
go, and have for once an explanation face to
face with the emperor, to see if there were
any possible means of arriving at peace, he
agreed with the greatest alacrity to those
things which the emperor desired of his holi-
ness, and accepted what his majesty was
pleased to grant ; and when he wished to
come to a positive arrangement, and found it
necessary to treat with the viceroy, who like-
wise had arrived at the same time in Gaetta
with no less large offers than those the general
had made, those conditionsswelled continually
till they surpassed all possibility of execution
or endurance. Yet with all this there was
nothing so much afflicted the pope as his being
constrained to make terms alone with the em-
peror in Italy ; because, what induced him to
do so, even to his own very great loss and
disgrace, was the effecting of union and peace
in Italy, and the being able to go along with
the emperor : but this could not be if Venice
were not a consenting party ; wherefore, to
obtain the consent of the signory, the viceroy
being at Frusolone, a suspension of arms was
agreed on for eight days, in which time a re-
ply might be had from Venice ; and Signore
Cesare Fieramosca, being the bearer of it, did
not arrive till hostilities had been actually re-
sumed, and Frusolone freed from siege, so
that nothing could be done. In the whole of
this negociation it is certain that his holiness
acted sincerely, and so too did the most reve-
rend legate ; but the enemy being already at
their post, and with arms in their hands, it
was not possible to deal with two different
things at the same time. It might excite sur-
prise, that after the pope had made trial of
the disposition of the party, and had been
cheated and left in the lurch, injured and in-
sulted, he should now thrust himself upon a
peace or a truce of this sort, and that too de-
liberately, and with his eyes open, without
any necessity, urged by no fear of loss, se-
cure of gaining, not knowing what friendship
he might acquire, but certain of alienating
and exciting the hostility of everybody, and
of those especially who loved his holiness in
their hearts. But his holiness having proved
that God was not pleased there should be war,
(tor to nothing else can be attributed the fact,
that whereas his holiness had made every ef-M
fort to avoid war, yet, after it had actually
commenced with such advantages on his side,
it nevertheless ended most disastrously, un-
happy Christendom being afflicted and desola-
ted by ourselves in a manner too horrible to
think of, as if we had a mind to leave little
for the Turks to do towards completing its
ruin,) he deemed that no human consideration,
however important, ought to avail to hinder
his holiness from seeking peace in company
with every one, and from making it by him-
self if he could not have it in conjunction
with others. In these views he was especial-
ly confirmed by the receipt of news represent-
ing the emperor as disposed to what is wont
to move his holiness in a wonderful degree;
for his holiness had received at that time
through Signore Cesare and through Paolo
di Arezzo, letters under his majesty's hand of
that kind that was necessary, seeing that an
agreement between the pope and the emperor
promised to be a blessing to the world, whilst
it would be impossible to conceive the exist-
ence of a worse man than the emperor would
be if he had devised this way of ruinino- the
pope, — a scheme which would have been most
unworthy of the basest of men, much more of
the greatest among Christians. But far be
all possible imaginings of any such thing, and
rather let it be thought that God had permit-
ted it to prove us, and to give his majesty an
opportunity of displaying more piety, good-
ness, and faith, and more fully controlling the
destinies of the world, than ever was granted
to any sovereign born. All the pope's papers
having fallen into the hands of the soldiers,
they will have carried off among others a
new capitulation made by his holiness five or
six days at most before the downfal of Rome,
in which if he again united himself with the
league, and consented to many conditions pre-
judicial to his imperial majesty, I do not think
that this can be cast up against his holiness
by any of the emperor's partisans ; for they
could not do so without exposing their own
faults and failings : for, supposing it were true
that there was no restraining Bourbon from
his purpose of seeking the pope's destruction,
certain it is that there were many others en-
gaged in the war, both infantry and men at
arms, and principal personages, who would
have obeyed the emperor's commands had
they been properly conveyed to them; and
had Bourbon been deprived of such support,
he would have been in no very good condition
for prosecuting his design. And supposing
that it had not been possible to do this, though
no valid excuse for not doing it can be offered,
what justification can be offered for the fact
that when his holiness had fulfilled all the
conditions of the capitulation made with the
viceroy, (as you, most reverend Sir, may satisfy
yourself by reading over the copy of the capita-
428
APPENDIX.
Ration which you will take with you,) and when
his holiness demanded in return the payment of
the infantry and men-at-arrns who had bound
themselves to every request of his, nothing' of
the sort was done : so that his holiness, having-
met with nothing like reciprocity in the exe-
cution of this capitulation, — on the one hand,
things having been done that ought not, and
on the other, aid having been withheld that
ought to have been afforded, — I know not how
any of the party can think of vilifying his holi-
ness for a thing done through sheer necessity
induced by themselves, and which his holiness
60 long delayed to do, that it proved his ruin:
I know not, I say, how they can catch at this
as a ground of quarrel against ns.
[The very enemies of his holiness will not
deny that he announced his intention of
making advances to the emperor at a time
when no one could suspect that he was moved
by anything else than by zeal for the welfare
of Christians ; tiie suggestion having occurred
immediately on receipt of the news of the
king of Hungary's death and the loss of the
kingdom, and his holiness having discussed
and terminated the matter in consistory two
or three days before the entry of the Col-
onnas into Rome. Nor do I suppose that any
one will be gross enough to believe that the
pope was led to show all this favour to the
emperor by his foresight forsooth of that storm ;
for it was not of such a kind that had it been
known three hours beforehand, not to say
three days, it might not have been quelled
with a very little noise.
[The conditions conveyed to our lord by
the father-general were these : first, the em-
peror desired peace with his holiness, and if
by chance on the arrival of the father-general,
he should find the affairs of his holiness and
of the church ruined, the emperor was con-
tent that all things should be restored to their
first condition, and that peace should be
granted to every one in Italy, he having no
desire for a hand's breadth of ground there
either for himself or his brother, but to leave
every one in possession of wliat was his of
old : the duke of Milan's affair was to be tried
judicially by judges appointed by his holiness
and his majesty, and if he were acquitted, he
should be restored; if condemned, his territo-
ries siiould be given to Bourbon ; and France
would be content to grant money, a thing it
had not before been willing to do ; and the
sum he named was the same as that the most
Christian king had sent to offer, that is, two
millions of gold. These conditions the pope
accepted as soon as ever he was able to sub-
stantiate their validity, and subscribed them
under his hand ; but tliey were not approved
by the others, who, as you, most reverend Sir,
are aware, added intolerable demands. Now,
since it cannot be presumed but that his im-
perial majcoty dealt in earnest, and witli that
sincerity which becomes so great a monarch ;
and these his propositions and embassies
evincing so much moderation and kindness of
feeling towards our lord, whilst his majesty
was not aware what was his holiness's dispo-
sition towards him, and whilst he thought
that his arms were so omnipotent in Italy
through his lansquenets and the fleet sent
hither, that they had carried all before them,
it is not to be supposed but that, when he
shall be informed that if his majesty sent the
pope testimonies of his good-will, they were
fully reciprocated on the part of his holiness,
and that his forces encourtered such resist-
ance here that his holiness, in laying down
his arms rather conferred a benefit on his im-
perial majesty than received one, as I have
before said, and as is most clear, and that all
the subsequent calamities rest on the faith
and name of his majesty, in whom our lord
confided : in that case the emperor will not
only see that it will be like himself if he shall
spontaneously show kindness and evince a
readiness to make reparation to his holiness
and the church, but he will even seek to in-
crease that his natural disposition in propor-
tion as he wishes to escape this obloquy, and
by an easy transition to convert the ignominy
that would otherwise attend him into perpe-
tual glory,* made so much the more illustri-
ous and stable by himself, as others, such as
his ministers, have sought to sink and obscure
it. And the acts which it would be necessary
to do to this end for the church individually,
and for its restoration, as well as the benefits
which would efface the disasters of Italy, and
of all Christendom, supposing the emperor to
look more to their pacification than to any oth-
er emolument, will be easily discovered pro-
vided the disposition and the judgment to wish
for and to know wherein consists what is
truly for the general good be present.
[Not to enter into the causes whereby we
were compelled to take up arms, a subject
which would occupy too much time, we shall
only say, that we never took them up from
hatred or ill-will towards the emperor, or from
ambition to aggrandize our state, or that of
any one belonging to us, but solely from the
necessity in which it seemed to us were
placed our liberty and our state, and the liber-
ties of the states of Italy in general, and to
prove to the world and to the emperor him-
self if he sought to oppress us, that we conld
not and would not endure it without making
every effort in our own defence ; insomuch
that his majesty, if he was of that mind,
which we never doubted, might understand
that matters were not likely to succeed with
* [The passage in the original is obscure ; but I think it
intelligible in a different meaning from that which would
he put upon it by Ranke's suggested addition of two
words. See the Italian supra.— Translator.]
PERIOD TO THE COUNCIL OF TRENT.
429
him so easily as others, perhaps, had given
him to suppose : or if we were deceived in
thus supposing that his majesty intended us
mischief, and if those suspicions should prove
to have risen rather from the conduct of min-
isters than from any other cause; that tlicn,
upon his majesty's giving us full assurance
of this, good peace and friendship might en-
sue not only between us in particular and his
majesty, but embracing also those other sov-
ereigns and signers with whom we had been
leagued for no other end than to defend our-
selves from the villany done us, or once more
to bring about peace in wretched Christen-
dom upon honourable and reasonable condi-
tions. And if when Don Ugo came hither,
his majesty had communicated to us those
conditions which in all honour appeared to
him necessary thereto, we should have deem-
ed it the greatest blessing that God could be-
stow on us, that one day should behold as it
were the taking up and the laying down of
arms. And that what we state to have al-
ways been the purpose of our mind was truly
60, appears from the disposition in which we
were found by the general of the Franciscans,
to whom we communicated a year ago, when
he was here on his way to Spain, the grounds
which we and the other sovereigns of Italy
had to be dissatisfied with the emperor, and
charged him on our part to lay all these be-
fore his majesty, and to give him to under-
stand that if he was willing to attend to our
counsels and prayers, which all tended to the
praise and service of God, and to his own
benefit as well as ours, he would always find
on our part that friendship he had before made
proof of; and when the said general was sent
back to us again some months afterwards, he
brought us his majesty's most courteous reply,
that he was content (to use his own words)
to accept as commands the counsels we had
sent him : and to give assurance of this, he
stated among other resolutions, that he was
content to release the sons of his most Chris-
tian majesty for the ransom that had been
offered him by his majesty, a thing that till
then he had never been willing to do. In
addition to which he promised, that if all Italy
was in his power, as it was the fashion to say
at the time the general was in Rome, he was
content, in order to give the lie to those who
sought to slander him by imputing to him an
intention of keeping possession of it, to restore
everything there to its pristine state, and to
show, that neither for himself nor for his most
serene brother, he desired one hand's-breadth
of territory in that country beyond what had
belonged of old to the crown of Spain. And
that his words might be accompanied by facts,
the general was furnished with the most am-
ple authority to arrange every thing either
with Don Ugo, or with the viceroy, if he
should have arrived in Italy when he came
here. How great was our satisfaction here,
it is impossible to describe ; and an hour ap-
peared to us a thousand years in our impa-
tience to come to some sort of general agree-
ment to lay down arms. And when the vice-
roy arrived nearly at the same time, and sent
to us from San Steffano, where he first put
into port in these seas, by the commandant
Pignalosa, the fairest possible words, in no
respect different from what had been uttered
by the general, we rendered thanks to God
that the pleasure we had received from the
general's embassy was not to be alloyed by
any doubt, the same being confirmed to us by
the viceroy, who comforted us in every re-
spect by making known to us the emperor's
commission, and further assured us that no
one could feel more alacrity than himself to
give it effect. How totally all this was re-
versed in fact, there needs no great effort to
tell ; for there is no one who does not know
the exceedingly harsh, intolerable, and igno-
minious conditions that were demanded on the
viceroy's part, we having made no delay in
praying him to hasten to state the conditions
attached to such welcome promises. And
whereas we expected to hear still better news
than had yet been told us, it being always
usual to keep back the best things for the
last, to make them taste more gratefully, not
only were we disappointed of finding any-
thing of what we had been led to expect, but
we met with the very contrary ; as firstly, we
found that no faith whatever was placed in us,
as if no one in truth could offer any favoura-
ble testimony for us in that respect; and that
there was demanded of us by way of security
the best part of our state and of the signory
of Florence, and then a sum of money, intol-
erable to one who possessed mountains of
gold, much more to us who, as every one
was aware, had not a carlino ; that it was
required, to our great disgrace, and to the
still greater disgrace of the emperor, that we
should reinstate those who, in violation of
every duty human and divine, had come so
treasonably to assail the person of our lord
the pope, and to sack the church of St. Peter
and the sacred palace; and that it was insist-
ed on without the least respect, that we should
further stringently bind ourselves to his impe-
rial majesty, all the world knowing how much
voluntary zeal to that effect we displayed at
the time when most of all we were in a flour-
ishing condition : and, not to go into all other
particulars, that it was required that we
should make terms apart and alone, which
we could not do if we were disposed to facili-
tate the conclusion of the general peace for
which we, were willing to make this begin-
ning. And there being no possibility of mov-
ing the viceroy from these his intolerable de-
mands, and he actually invading our territo-
ries without any cause, though we at all times
430
APPENDIX.
and during the few previous months had for-
borne to molest those of the emperor in the
kingdom of Naples, the arrival of Cesare Fi-
eramosca took place in the interim ; and
whereas he found the viceroy already in the
state of the church, we believe that he was
the bearer of such orders on the emperor's
part to his excellency, that if they had been
obeyed, things would not have been brought
to such a pass. And whilst his excellency
strove to do at once two very opposite things,
— the one being to show that he had not
done ill in going so far, or not to lose the
opportunity he thought he had of winning the
whole prize ; the other being to obey the em-
peror's commands, which were, that an agree-
ment should by all means be come to; — the
consequence was, that neither the one nor
the other has come to pass to this hour : for
his excellency found he was deceived and
could not do what he intended ; and Signer
Cesare coming forward with proposals for a
truce of eight days, till an answer should be
received as to whether the signory of Venice
would join in the arrangement, when he ar-
rived on the ground he found the armies actu-
ally engaged, and so to this day the matter
never went any further ; except that notwith-
standing this event, and knowing for certain
that we were most secure in Lombardy and
in Tuscany, by reason of the satisfactory pre-
parations there, and the vast number of troops
of the whole league in those parts, and know-
ing too that there was no remedy whatever
for the affairs of the kingdom, as experience
had begun to demonstrate, we never abandon-
ed our longing desire and our efforts for
peace. And the sole gratification we derived
from the fact that events had turned out so
prosperously for ourselves was, that it enabled
us to show that if we desired peace it was
from sound judgment and of our own good
will, not from necessity ; and to demonstrate
to the emperor that if he was sincere, as we
believed, in his instructions to the father-
general, purporting that even if everything
were at his absolute disposal matters should
be restored to their primitive state, we who
were actually in the condition in which he
supposed himself to be, were ready to do
what he had purposed on his part. This in-
tention of ours was rendered still more in-
tense by letters written with the emperor's
hand, among which were the last two we re-
ceived through Cesare Fieramosca, and Paolo
di Arezza, our servant, which are of such
tenour that, relying on those letters alone,
we should have seemed safely warranted in
placing the whole world, and even our very
Boul, in the emperor's hands; so earnestly did
his majesty conjure us to believe his words,
which were full of such satisfaction, such
promises and assurances of aid, that we could
not have desired anything better. And as in
treating for peace, we never desisted from
preparations for war, so long as we were un-
certain what reciprocity should be shown us,
so there being two chiefs in Italy, Bourbon
and the viceroy, we took pains to understand
clearly whether it was necessary to treat with
but one of them, and if his decisions should
be binding on both, or with both separately ;
so that if what has happened should occur,
we should not be as chargeable with lack of
prudence as others are with faults of a differ-
ent kind. Now, finding that the viceroy had
the sole power of treating with us, v/e wished
to have this put in the clearest light, and not
to trust simply to the declarations of the father-
general, Signor Cesare, the viceroy himself,
Paulod'Arezzo, and Bourbon, but to understand
from the said Bourbon, not once but a thousand
times, and through divers persons, if he was dis-
posed to obey, and if he would refuse to make
any reply touching what concerned the vice-
roy, should it be proposed to treat with himself
individually. Now it was easy for him, as it
is for everybody, to cloak over his designs
with a show of virtue, and to effect by fraud
what he could not do honestly and openly, as
(come it whence it might, fraud we think
there was, though we cannot tell whence it
proceeded) seems to have been done by us,
who it is manifest used all possible diligence
to avoid being deceived; so much so, indeed,
that at times we seemed to be superstitious
and deserving of censure. For since we had
warranty both by letters and by word of
mouth from the emperor of his good feeling,
and that Bourbon would obey the viceroy, and
since by way of precaution his majesty had
given fresh letters lo Paulo, touching this
obedience to the viceroy, directed to the said
Bourbon, and the whole negociation was con-
ducted with such ample powers from his ma-
jesty as ought to have sufficed, and Bourbon
had expressed his readiness to submit in every
respect to the viceroy, and the latter was af-
terwards content to put himself into our power,
so strongly did every thing tend towards be-
guiling us into the condition in which we are
placed, that I know not, taking all the cir-
cumstances into consideration, how it would
be humanly possible to find more reasons than
we had for trusting the simple faith of a pri-
vate gentleman. But to speak only of our
own proceedings, it was much more lawful
and easy for us, without incurring the infamy
of breach of faith or any other disgrace, to
use the opportunity presented by fortune to
hold ourselves perfectly secure in Lombardy,
(which we were to such a degree that Bour-
bon would never have advanced if the army
of the league had not cooled in consequence
of the earnest prosecution of the negotiations
for peace,) and to avail ourselves of that ad-
vantage to follow up the war in Naples, seize
the whole kingdom except two or three for-
PERIOD TO THE COUNCIL OF TRENT.
431
tresses, press on then to other places where
the emperor might have sustained loss and
discredit, and in strict union with the confede-
rates render all his designs more difficult.
But whereas it seemed to us that God's ser-
vice and unhappy Christendom required peace,
we purposed to forego every great acquisi-
tion or victory we might have had, and to of-
fend all the Christian and Italian princes,
without at all knowing what we were to look
to get, but thinking we should come off well
enough if the emperor's mind were such as
his majesty had endeavoured by so many
proofs to make it appear. And we made very
little account of offending the other Christian
princes, who would very soon have been un-
der great obligations to us if that had ensued
which his majesty had so strongly assured us
of, — namely, that if we came to terms with
him, he would put into our hands the conclu-
sion of peace and agreement with the Chris-
tian princes. And if any one should be in-
clined to think that we acted with other
views, nothing could exceed the malignity of
such a person, supposing him to know us;
should he not know us, and should he take
the pains to acquaint himself with our life
and conduct, he will find on all hands that
our desires have been invariably worthy and
our conduct virtuous, and that to such motives
we have postponed every other interest ; and
if we have nevertheless been unfortunate,
though we receive at the hands of God with
all humility whatever he is pleased to inflict,
still are we most grievously wronged by men,
and above all by those who, (though up to a
certain time they may shelter themselves by
force and by the disobedience of others, whilst
if reason were to be heard there would be
enough to say against them) ought now and
for some time past, to have acted difi'erentiy
both for their own honour and in considera-
tion of what they owe to God and the world.
We entered into the treaty afterwards made
at Florence with Bourbon's people through
the mediation of the viceroy, and which was
not observed, because we did not wish to seem
as though we cherished the design of doing ill
to those who had been the cause of our being
thus treated, whom we leave to the just judg-
ment of God : from his mercy to us and to his
church let us hope only in the piety, the faith,
and the virtue of the emperor, that since we
have been brought to our present condition
through the opinion we entertained of him,
he will treat us accordingly, and exalt us in
proportion as we are now brought low. Let
us look to his majesty for such satisfaction for
the infinite contumely and injuries we have
sustained, as may accord with his greatness
and with the justice of the case, if indeed it
be possible that any amends can be equiva-
lent to the least part of our wrongs. We
spontaneous grace of the suggestions which
we cannot but think will occur to him, and
which he will send and offer us. Only let us
say, that putting at the very lowest what can
be asked, and which it would rather be a dis-
grace for his majesty not to grant and for us
not to ask, than the performance thereof
would be difficult, his majesty ought to com-
ply with these terms : —
[That we, our own person, the sacred col-
lege and the court, be restored in all tempo-
ralities and spiritualities to that fooling on
which we stood at the time the preliminaries
were entered into with the viceroy, and that
we be not burthened with the payment of one
penny.
[And if any one on hearing this shall jeer
us, let us answer, that if the things above
stated are true, and it moves wonder that we
are appeased with this, this may well be and
with reason: but if it appear to him truly
strange, let him consider what kindness he
shows in thus judging, whether to the empe-
ror or to ourselves : for the emperor — let him
ponder well that so often as this and much
more is not promised on his majesty's part, he
is thereby made an accomplice in all the
wrong that has been done here : for ourselves
— let us say that this is a mere perfidious at-
tempt to insinuate slanderously, what no one
would ever venture to assert openly. It is
not enough to take heed that we stand, but
likewise how we stand ; and better is it assur-
edly that we do at the prompting of virtue
and judgment that which time most certainly
will at last bring about, in the life-time of
others, if not in our own.]
16. Sommario delV isloria d' Italia dalV anno
1512 insino a 1527 scritto da Francesco
Vettori. [Summary of the history of Italy
from 1512 to 1527, written by Francesco
Vettori.]
A most remarkable little work by a sensi-
ble man, the friend of Machiavel and Guicci-
ardini, and one profoundly versed in the affairs
of the house of Medici, and of all the rest of
Italy. I found it in the Corsini library in
Rome, but I was only allowed to make ex-
tracts from it ; otherwise I would have it
printed as it highly deserves to be.
The plague of the year 1527 having driven
Francesco Vettori from Florence, he writes
his survey of recent events at his villa.
He directs his attention chiefly to Floren-
tine matters. His way of thinking nearly re-
sembles that of his friends above-mentioned.
Speaking of the form of government given to
his native city in the year 1512, which was
such as to make cardinal Medici, afterwards
Leo X., all-powerful (" si ridusse la citta,che
non si facea se non quanto volea il card' de
will not descend to particulars, to take off" the I Medici,") he adds, people to be sure call this
432
APPENDIX.
tyranny ; but for his own part he knows no
state, ancient or modern, whether monarchy
or republic, which had not some tinge of ty-
ranny. "Tutte quelle republiche e princi-
pati de' quali io ho cognitione per historia o
che io ho veduto mi pare che sentino della
tirannide." If the example of France or of
Venice is objected to him, he answers, that in
France the nobility have the preponderance
in the state, and are in the enjoyment of the
benefices; whilst in Venice three thousand
men are seen ruling over more than one
hundred thousand, not always with justice ;
and he lays it down that there is no difference
between a king and a tyrant, except that a
good ruler deserves to be called a king, and
a bad one a tyrant.
In spite of the close relation in which he
stood to both the popes of the house of Medici,
he is little convinced of the Christianity of
the papal power. " Chi considera bene la
legge evangelica, vedra i pontefici, ancora
che tenghino il nome di vicario di Christo,
haver indutto una nova religione, che non ve
n'e altro di Christo che il nome : il qual co-
manda la poverta e loro vogliono la richezza,
comanda la humilta e loro vogliono la super-
bia, comanda la obedientia e loro vogliono co-
mandar a ciascuno." [Whoever carefully
considers the law of the gospel will perceive
that the popes, though they bear the name of
Christ's vicar, have introduced a new religion,
which has nothing in it of Christ but the
name. Christ enjoins poverty, and they de-
sire riches ; he enjoins humility, and they de-
sire pride ; he enjoins obedience, and they
desire to command every one.] It is plain
how much this secularity, and its opposition
to the spiritual principle, prepared the way
for protestantism.
Vettori ascribes the election of Leo, above
all, to the opinion generally entertained of his
good-nature. Two terrible popes had reigned
consecutively, and the world had had enough
of them. Medici was chosen. " Havea sa-
puto in modo sirnulare che era tenuto di ottimi
costumi." [He had managed appearances so
skilfully, that he passed for a man of excel-
lent moral conduct.] This election was chiefly
due to the exertions of Bibbiena, who knew
the inclinations of all the cardinals, and had
the art to prevail upon them in the teeth of
their own interests. " Condusse fuori del con-
clave alcuni di loro a promettere, e nel con-
clave a consentire a detta elettione contra
tutte le ragioni."
He gives a very full and satisfactory ac-
count of the expedition of Francis I. in the
year 151.5, and of the bearing of Leo X. dur-
ing that period. That it had no worse conse-
quences for the pope, he attributes especially
to the dexterity of Tricarico, who entered the
French camp at the moment the king was
mounting his horse to oppose the Swiss at
Marignano, and who conducted the subse-
quent negociations with consummate pru-
dence.
He next speaks of the revolt of Urbino. I
have already mentioned* the reasons Vettori
assigns for Leo's conduct. " Leone disse,
che se non privava il duca dello state, el quale
si era condotto con lui e preso danari et in su
I'ardore della guerra era convenuto con li
nemici ne pensato che era suo subdito ne ad
altro, che non sarebbe si piccolo barone che
non ardisse di fare il medesimo o peggio : e
che havendo trovato il ponteficato in riputa-
tione Io voleva mantenere. Et in verita vo-
lendo vivere i pontefici come sono vivuti da
molte diecine d'anni in qua, il papa non poteva
lasciare il delitto del duca impunito."
Vettori wrote also a separate life of Lo-
renzo de' Medici. He praises him more than
does any other author: he sets his govern-
ment of Florence in a new and peculiar light.
The contents of the biography and of the sum-
mary before us are supplementary each of the
other.
He treats likewise of the election for em-
peror, which occurred in this period, and says
that Leo backed the king of France only be-
cause he was aware before hand that the Ger-
mans would not elect him. He calculated,
according to Vettori, that Francis I., fbr the
sake of preventing the election of Charles,
would give his interest to some German prince.
I meet with the unexpected assertion, which
I do not indeed desire to have received impli-
citly, that the king did actually at last en-
deavour to promote the election of Joachim of
Brandenburg. "II re . . . haveva volto ilfa-
vore suo al marchese di Brandenburg, uno
delli electori, et era contento che li danari
prometteva a quelli electori che eleggevano
lui, dargli a quelli che eleggevano dicto mar-
chese." At all events, the conduct of Joachim,
with regard to the election, was very extra-
ordinary. This whole history, strangely per-
verted as it has been, both intentionally and
unintentionally, certainly deserves to be duly
elucidated. f
Vettori regards Leo's league with Charles
as, bej ond conception, imprudent. " La mala
fortuna di Italia Io indusse a fare quelle che
nessuno uomo prudente avrebbe facto." He
lays the blame of it particularly on the per-
suasions of Geronimo Adorno. He takes no
notice of the natural considerations influenc-
ing the house of Medici.
He relates some particulars of the pope's death
which I have incorporated in the text. He
does not believe he was poisoned. " Fu detto
che mori di veneno, e questo quasi sempre si
dice delli uomini grandi e maxime quando
muojono di malattie acute." In his opinion,
* Supra, page 40.
1 1 have since endeavoured in my German history to
;ome nearer the truth. (Note to the 2d edition.)
PERIOD TO THE COUNCIL OF TRENT.
433
the wonder rather was that Leo had lived so
long.
He confirms the fact, that Adrian at first
refused to do any thing against the French :
it was not till after the receipt of an urgent
letter from the emperor that he consented to
do some little in that way.
It would carry us too far if we were to re-
peat all the remarks made in this work on the
further course of events. It is remarkable,
even in the passages in which the author only
expresses his own sentiments : in these, as
already observed, he is near a kin to Machia-
vel. He had just as bad an opinion of man-
kind. " Quasi tutti gli uomini sono adulatori
e dicono volontieri quello che piaccia agli
uomini grandi, benche sentino altrimenti nel
cuore." [Almost all men are flatterers, and
readily say what may please great men,
though in their hearts they think differently.]
The violation of the treaty of Madrid by
Francis I. he pronounces the finest and no-
blest thing that had been done for many
centuries. " Francesco," he says, " fece una
cosa molta conveaiente, a promettere assai
con animo di non observare, per potersi tro-
vare a difendere la patria sua." [Francis did
very properly in promising what he was pretty
well resolved not to perform, so that he might
thereby be placed in a condition to defend his
country.] This is a view of the subject wor-
thy of the " Principe."
But Vettori claims kindred on other grounds
besides with the great authors of that age.
The work before us is full of originality and
talent, and is the more attractive from its
brevity. The author sets down no more than
he actually knows ; but that is truly impor-
tant. It would require a more minute exami-
nation to do justice to his merits.
17. Sommario di la relatione di S. Marco
Foscari venulo orator del sormno pontfjice
a di 2 Marzo 1526. — Sanuto, vol. xli.
[Summary of the report of iMarco Foscari's
embassy to the pope, &c.]
Marco Foscari was engaged in the embassy
that tendered- allegiance to Adrian. Heap-
pears to have remained in Rome from that
time till 1526.
He says something of Adrian's times; but
his authority, with respect to those of Clement
Vli., is of the more weight, since he had con-
stant and animated intercourse with that
pope, in consequence of the close connexion
then existing between Venice and the see of
Rome.
He thus portrays Clement. " Horn pru-
dente e savio, ma iongo a risolversi, e di qua
vien le sue operation varie. Discorre ben,
vede tutto, ma e molto timido ; niun in mate-
ria di state pol con lui, aide tutti e poi fa
quello li par : homo justo et homo di dio : et
in signatura, dove intravien tre cardinal! e
55
tre referendarii, non fara co.«!a in pregiuditio
di altri, e come el segna qualche supplication,
non revocha piu, come feva papa Leon. Ques-
to non vende beneficii, no li da per symonia,
non tuo officii con dar beneficii per venderli,
come feva papa Leon e li altri, ma vol tutto
passi rectamente. Non spende, non dona, ne
tuol quel di altri : onde e reputa mixero. E
qualche murmuration in Roma, etiam per
causa del cardinal Armelin, qual truova molte
invention per trovar danari in Roma e fa met-
ter nove angarie e fino a chi porta tordi a
Roma et altre cose di manzar . . . E conti-
nentissimo, non si sa di alcuna sorte di luxu-
ria che usi. . . . Non vol buffoni, non musici,
non va a cazare. Tutto il suo piacere e di
rasonar con inzegneri e parlar di aque." [A
prudent and sage man, but slow to resolve,
whence proceeds the changeableness of his
proceedings. He reasons well, sees every
thing, but is very timid : no one has influence
over him in matters of state : he hears all,
and then does what seems fit to himself. He
is a just and a godly man ; and in the signa-
tura, in which three cardinals and three re-
ferendarii take part, he will not do any thing
to the prejudice of the others; and when he
affixes his signature to any petition, he never
revokes, as pope Leo used to do. This pope
does not sell benefices, nor does he bestow
them simoniacally : he does not exchange be-
nefices for offices, that he may sell the latter,
as pope Leo and the others have done, but he
wislieg that every thing should take place
legitimately. He does not spend, nor make
presents, nor take what belongs to others ;
hence he is reputed penurious. There is
some murmuring in Rome likewise on account
of cardinal Armelin, who has devised many
expedients for raising money by imposing
new duties, even to the extent of imposing a
toll on those who bring thrushes and other
eatables into Rome. . . . He is extremely con-
tinent ; he is not known to indulge in any kind
of luxury. . . . He is not fond of comedians
nor of musicians, nor does he hunt. His only
recreation is in discoursing with engineers,
and talking about water-works.]
He then proceeds to speak of his advisers.
The pope allowed his nephew no influence ;
even Giberto had not much power in affairs
of state : " il papa lo aide, ma poi fa al suo
modo." He also states that Giberto — " devo-
to e savio" [a pious and wise man] — was for
the French, and Schomberg — " libero nel suo
parlar [free with his tongue] — for the empe-
ror. Zuan Foietta was another strong adhe-
rent of the emperor's; he had been less
frequent in his attendance on the pope since
the latter had entered into an alliance with
France. Foscarini makes mention also of the
pope's two secretaries, Jac. Salviati and Fr.
Vizardini (Guicciardini), the latter of whom
he esteems the abler man, but wholly French.
434
APPENDIX.
It is worthy of note that the pope did not
stand much better with the French than with
the imperialists. He was well avvarg what
he had to expect from them. It was only
with Venice he felt himself truly allied.
" Conosce, se non era la Signoria nostra, saria
ruinado e caza di Roma." [He knows that
but for our signory he would be ruined and
driven out of Rome.]
They strengthened each other in their
schemes for the advantage of Italy, and felt
their honour involved in them. The pope
was proud that he had hindered Venice from
coming to terms with the emperor : on the
other hand, our ambassador positively asserts
that it was he himself by whose means Italy
had become free ; that the pope had actually
resolved to recognise Bourbon as duke of
JVJilan ; but that he, Foscari, had so earnestly
dissuaded him against doing so, that he aban-
doned his purpose.
He corroborates the fact, not hinted at in
the foregoing instruction, that the pope would
only on certain conditions grant the emperor
the dispensation that was necessary to his
marriage : the emperor, however, contrived
to obtam it without the conditions.
There is one thing particularly remarkable
with regard to this relation. W^hen orders
were given at a later period that the ambas-
sadors should made and send in their reports
in writing, Marco Foscari did so too. It is
striking how much weaker the second report
is than the first. The latter was deliver-
ed immediately after the events had occur-
red, and while they were still fresh and vivid
in the memory ; afterwards so many other
great events had occurred, that the recollec-
tions of the first had become obscured. This
shows how much we owe on this score to the
diligence of the indefatigable Sanuto. This
is the last report, a knowledge of which I
have derived from his chronicle. Others fol-
low, which have been preserved in copies
made and revised by their authors.
18. Relatione riferita nel consiglio di pre-
gadi per il clarissimo Gaspar Contarini,
ritornalo ambascialore del papa Clemente
VII. e dal i?/ij9''« Carlo V., Marzo 1.52.'l
Informationi politiche XXV- — Berlin Li-
brary. [Gaspar Contarini's report of his
embassy to (Jlement VII. and Charles V.
i.arch, 1530.]
This is the same Gaspar Contarini of whom
we have had occasion to speak in terms of
such high praise in our history.
After liaving already fulfilled an embassy
to (-harles V. (his report of this embassy is
exceedingly rare: 1 have only seen one copy
of it in the Albani library in Rome,) he was
appointed ambassador to the pope in 1528,
before the latter had returned to Rome after
so many misfortunes and so protracted an ab-
sence. He accompanied his holiness from
Viterbo to Rome, and from Rome to Bologna,
to attend the coronation of the emperor. He
took part in the negociations carried on in the
latter city.
He gives an account of all he witnessed in
Viterbo, Rome, and Bologna : the only thing
we have to find fault with is, that his narra-
tive is so brief.
Contarini's embassy took place at the im-
portant period in which the pope was <iradu-
ally inclining to a renewal of the alliance
with tlie emperor, which had formerly sub-
sisted between hun and the house of JViedici.
The ambassador very soon remarked with
amazement that the pope, though so grossly
offended by the imperialists, had still almost
more confidence in them than in the confede-
rates. In this the pontiff was confirmed
chiefly by Musettola; "huomo," as Contarini
says, " ingegnoso e di valore assai, ma di lin-
gua e di audacia maggiore" [a man of consi-
derable talent and ability, but of greater
freedom of speech and audacity]. So long as
the fortune of war was dubious, the pope
remained undecided; but when the French
were beaten, and the imperialists gradually
showed a willingness to give up the fortresses
in their possession, he no longer hesitated.
By the spring of 1529 the pope was once
more on good terms with the emperor: in
June they concluded their alliance, the stipu-
lations of which Contarini found it difficult to
get sight of.
Contarini likewise describes the persons
with whom he came in contact.
The pope was rather large and well-made.
He was at this time not quite recovered from
the effects of so many calamities, and from a
recent severe illness. " He knows neither
great love," says Contarini, "nor violent ha-
tred ; he is choleric, but he has so much self-
command that no one would suppose him so.
He would fain remedy the evils that oppress
the church, but he adopts no fit means to that
end. His inclinations are not to be judged of
with certainty. For a while k seemed as if
he cared little about Florence, and now he
lets an imperial army march against that
city."
Several changes had taken place in the
ministry of Clement VII.
The datario Giberto still possessed more
than any one else the special confidence of
his master; but after the disastrous issue of
the measure taken under his administration,
he retired of his own accord, and devoted
himself to his bishopric of Verona. Nicolo
Schomberg, on the other hand, had again
come to be employed in the most important
affairs, in consequence of his embassy to Na-
ples. Contarini describes him as a strong
partisan of the emperor, a man of good sense,
PERIOD TO THE COUNCIL OF TRENT.
435
beneficent, but irritable. Jacopo Salviati had
also much influoiico, and was still considered
as inclined to the French interests.
Short as is this little work, it is neverthe-
less highly instructive.
19. Inslruciio data Ccesari a rev™" Campeg-
gio in dieta Auffustana 1530 {MS. Roma).
[Instructions given to the emperor by car-
dinal Campeggio in the diet of Augsburg,
1530.]
Hitherto political matters had been the
most important, but by degrees ecclesiastical
affairs challenged attention. At the very
beginning of this document, we light upon
that blood-thirsty scheme for a reduction of
the protestants of which I have already spo-
ken. It is here even entitled an instruction.
The cardinal says, that as became the place
he filled, and in compliance with the orders
of the apostolic see, he would set forth the
measures which, according to his judgment,
it was necessary to adopt.
He thus describes the state of affairs : " In
alcuni luoglu della Germania per le sugges-
tioni di questi ribaldi sono abrogati lutti li
christiani riti a noi dagli antichi santi padri
dati: non piu si ministrano li sacramenti, non
si osservano li voti, li matrimonii si confun-
dono e nelli gradi prohibiti della legge." [In
some places in Germany, all the Christian
rites handed down to us from the ancient
holy fathers have been abolished through the
suggestions of these scoundrels: the sacra-
ments are no longer administered ; vows are
no longer observed, and marriages are con-
tracted promiscuously, and within the forbid-
den degrees] — and so forth, lor it would be
superfluous further to transcribe this capuci-
nade.
He reminds the emperor that this sect
would not procure him any increase of power,
as he had been promised. He pledges him-
self to afibrd the emperor his special assist-
ance in the measures he recommends. " Et
io, se sera bisogno, con le censure e pene
ecclesiastiche li proseguiro, non pretermet-
tendo cosa a far che sia necessaria, privando
li heretici beneficiati delli beneficii loro e
separandoli con le excommunicationi del cat-
tolico gregge, e V. Cels. col suo bando impe-
riale justo e formidabile li ridurra a tale e si
horrendo esterminio die ovvero saranno cos-
tretti a ritornare alia santi e cattolica fede
ovvero con la loro total ruina mancar delli
beni e della vita. . . . Se alcuni ve ne fossero,
che die nol voglia, li quali obstinatamente
perseverassero in questa diabolica via, .
quella (V. M.) potra mettere la mano al ferro
et al foco et radicitus extirpare queste male e
venenose piante." [And 1, if there shall be
need, will pursue them with the church's
censures and penalties, omitting nothing that
may be necessary, depriving the beneficed
lieretics of their benefices, and separating
them by excommunication from the catholic
flock ; and your highness, by your just and
formidable imperial ban, will reduce them to
such, and so horrible an extremity, that either
they will be constrained to return to the holy
catholic faith, or to be utterly ruined and de-
spoiled of goods and life. . . . If there should
be any of them, which God forbid, who should
obstinately persevere in this diabolical course
. . . your majesty may ply fire and sword,
and radically extirpate these noxious and
venomous weeds.]
He also purposes that the kings of England
and of France should confiscate the property
of the heretics.
But he dwells above all on Germany ; he
shows how the articles of Barcelona, to which
he frequently refers, should in his opinion be
interpreted. " Sara al proposito, poiche sara
ridotta questa magnifica e cattolica impresa
a buono e dritto camino, che alcuni giorni
dipoi si eleggeranno inquisitori buoni e santi,
li quali con summa diligentia et assiduita va-
dino cercando et inquirendo, s'alcuni, quod
absit, perseverassero in queste diaboliche et
heretiche opinioni ne volessero in alcun modo
lasciarle, et in quel case siano gas-
tigati e puniti secundo le regole e norma che
si osserva in Spagna con li Marrani." [It
will be convenient, after this magnificent and
catholic enterprize shall have been put fairly
on its way, that some days afterwards there
be elected good and holy inquisitors, who
shall go about seeking and inquiring, with the
utmost diligence and assiduity, if there be
any, which Heaven forbid, who persevere in
these diabolical and heretical opinions, and
will by no means be persuaded to leave them,
and in that case tliey shall be cas-
tigated and punished according to the rules
and regulations observed in Spam with regard
to the Moors.]
Fortunately all were not of these opinions.
Neither do such schemes appear frequently in
the documents we have met with.
20. Relatio viri nobilis Antonii Surianidocto-
ris et equitis, qui reversus orator ex curia
Romana, prcsenlata in collegio \H Julii
1533. {Archivio di Venetia.) [Report
by Antonio Suriano, doctor and knight, of
his embassy to Rome.]
" Among the most important things, he
begins by observing, " which are to be no-
ticed by ambassadors, are the personal quali-
ties of the sovereigns to whom they are ac-
credited."
He describes, in the first place, the charac-
ter of Clement Vil.
He remarks, that if the regularity of that
pope's habits of life be observed, his unwearied
436
APPENDIX.
assiduity in giving" audiences, and his strict
attention to the ceremonies of the church,
one would be disposed to consider him of a
melancholy temperament; those who know
him, however, are of opinion that his temper-
ament is sanguine, only that he is of a cold
heart: so that he is slow in making up his
mind, and easy to move from his resolution.
" lo per me non trovo che in cose perti-
nent! a stato la sia proceduta cumgrande dis-
simulatione. Bencauta: et quelle cose che
S. S'a non vole che si intendano, piu presto
le tace che dirle sotto falso colore." [For my
own part, I do not think that he has acted
with great dissimulation in matters pertaining
to the state. He is very cautious ; and those
things which his holiness does not wish should
be known, he is rather silent about than states
them in false colours.]
Those of the ministers of Clement VII.
who were chiefly mentioned in former reports,
were no longer of weight : they are not even
mentioned by Suriano. On the other hand,
Jacopo Salviati comes prominently forward,
having then the chief conduct of the admin-
istration of Romagna and of the Ecclesiastical
States in general. The pope trusted him im-
plicitly in this. His holiness saw, indeed,
that the minister looked rather too eagerly
after his own advantage ; he had even com-
plained of this in Bologna ; but still he em-
ployed him.
Hence Salviati was hated by the pope's
other relations. They thought he stood ift
their way, and they imputed to him that
Clement displayed little liberality to them,
" pare che suadi al papa a tener
strette le mani ne li subministri danarisecun-
do e lo appetite loro, che e grande di spender
e spander."
But they were very much at variance
among themselves. Cardinal Ippolito Medici
would fain have been a temporal prince. The
pope only said of him at times : " He is a mad
devil : the fool does not wish to be a priest"
— (L'e matto diavolo, el matto non vole csser
prete); but he was exceeding-ly incensed
when Ippolito actually made attempts to drive
duke Alexander out of Florence.
Cardinal Ippolito lived on terms of intimate
friendship with the young Catherine of Medi-
ci, who is here called the " duche.ssina." She
was his " cusina in terzo grado, con la quale
vive in amor grande, essendo anco reciproca-
mente da lei amato, ne piu in altri lei siconfi-
da ne ad altri ricorre in li sui bisogni e desiderj
salvo al dicto cardl" [third cousin, with whom
he lives in great affection, which is fully re-
ciprocated by her ; and there is no one in
whom she more confides, nor has she recourse
to any one respecting her wants and wishes
except the said cardinal].
Suriano thus describes the girl who was
destined to occupy so important a position in
the world in the following terms: "Di natura
assai vivace, mostra gentil spirito, ben accos-
tumata : e stata educata e gubernala cum le
monache nel monasterio delle murate in Fio
renza, donne di molto bon nome e sancta vita:
e piccola de persona, scarna, non de viso deli-
cate, ha li occhi grossi prcprj alia casa de'
Medici." [Of a lively character, virtuous and
well bred : she was brought up by the nuns
of the monasterio delle murate in Florence,
ladies of excellent reputation and holy life.
She is small in person, thin, not pretty, with
the large eyes peculiar to the house of Med-
ici.]
Suitors for her hand presented themselves
from every quarter. The duke of Milan, the
duke of Mantua, and the king of Scotland
wished to marry her ; but all were objected
to for various reasons. The French marriage
was not then finally resolved on. " In ac-
cordance with his irresolute nature," says
Suriana, " the pope spoke sometimes with
greater, sometimes with less, warmth of this
marriage."
He is of opinion that the pope's reason for
acceding to the French match was, that he
might secure the French party in Florence.
For the rest, he treats of the foreign relations
of Rome only in a very brief and reserved
manner.
21. Relatione di Roma d^ Antonio Suriano
1536. MS. Foscar. Vienna. — Library
of St. Marc, Venice. [Antonio Suriano's
report of Rome.]
The copies of this report vary in date from
1535 to 1539. I hold 1536 to be the right
date. First, because the report mentions the
emperor's return to Rome, which took place
in April, 1536 ; secondly, because there is a
letter from Sadolet to Suriano, dated Rome,
November, 1.536, from which it appears that
the ambassador had already taken his depar-
ture from Rome when it was written.
This letter (Sadoleti Epp. p. 383) speaks
greatly to the honour of Suriano. " Mihi ea
ofBcia prsestitisti quae vel frater fratri, vel
filio prsBstare indulgens pater solet, — nullis
meis provocatus oiSciis." [You rendered me
those good offices which a brother bestows
upon a brother, or a fond father on a son,
though not indebted to me for any similar ser-
vices.]
Three days after Suriano delivered the pre-
ceding report, he was again sent ambassador
to Rome (July 21, 1533).
His second report sets forth the further
course of the events of which the first relates
the beginning, particularly the conclusion of
the French marriage, which it seems was not
satisfactory to all the pope's relations. " Non
voglio tacere che questo matrimonio fu fatto
contra il volere di Giac. Salviati e molto piu
CRITICAL REMARKS ON SARPI AND PALLAVICINI.
437
della Sra Lucretia sua moglie, la quale etiam
con parole ingiuriose si sforzo di dissuadere
S. Si^." [I will not conceal that this mar-
riage took place contrary to the wish of Giac.
Salviati, and still more of signora Lucretia his
wife, who even strove with abusive words to
persuade his holiness from it.] Doubtless
because the Salviati were now in the impe-
rial interest. Suriano also speaks of that re-
markable meeting between the pope and the
emperor which we have mentioned. The
pope behaved with the utmost forethought,
and would not pledge himself to any thing in
writing. " Di tutti li desiderii s'accommodo
Clemente con parole tali che gli facevano
credere S. S^^ esser disposta in tulte alle sue
voglie senza pero far provisione alcana in
scritture." [Clement met ail his wishes with
such language as induced him to believe that
his holiness was ready entirely to comply
with his will, but this without committing
himself in writing.] The pope did not wish
for war, at least in Italy : all he wanted was
to keep the emperor in check ; " con questi
spaventi assicurarsi del spavento del concilio"
[by these fears to secure himself from the fear
of a council.]
By degrees the council became the grand
consideration of the papal policy. Suriano
investigates the points of view under which
this was contemplated by the court of Rome
in the beginning of the reign of Paul III.
Even then Schomberg said that it would be
assented to only on condition that everything
brought forward in it should first be weighed,
discussed, and determined in Rome by the
pope and the cardinals.
SECTION IL
CRITICAL REMARKS ON SARPI AND PALLAVI-
CINI.
The council of Trent, its preliminaries,
convocation, twice repeated dissolution, and
its re-assembling, with all the motives that
contributed thereto, fill a large space in the
history of the sixteenth century. It is not
necessary to dwell in this place on its im-
mense importance with regard to the defini-
tive establishment of the catholic creed and
its relation to protestantism. It was pre-
cisely the centre of that theologico-political
schism that marked the century.
Its history has been embodied in two elabo-
rate original delineations, each of them pos-
sessed of intrinsic interest.
But not only are these two pictures diame-
trically opposite in character to each other,
but the world too has diflered no less respect-
ing the historians than their subject. To this
very day Sarpi is regarded by the one party
as veracious and trustworthy, Pallavicini as
false and mendacious: whilst the other party
looks on Pallavicini as worthy of implicit cre-
dence, and regards the name of Sarpi almost
as a by- word for a liar.
A sort of dread comes over us as we ap-
proach these voluminous works. The task of
mastering their contents would be hard
enough even if they contained nothing but
what was authentic ; but how immensely is
the difficulty increased when at every step
we are obliged to have a wary eye, lest we be
misled by the one or the other, and beguiled
into a maize of wilful deceptions.
Nevertheless it is impracticable to test
their credibility step by step by means of facts
better known to other authorities. Where
should we look for impartial information re-
specting these facts'? And if we could find
such, we should need fresh folios to bring the
matter to an issue in this way.
Nothing remains, then, but to make an at-
tempt towards acquiring a clear insight into
the respective methods of our authors.
For all does not necessarily belong to the
historian that is to be found in his works,
especially in works so voluminous and full of
matter as these. He takes the bulk of his
facts from others; and it is only by the fashion
in which he handles and works up his ma-
terials that we are enabled to judge of the
individual man who is, after all, himself the
unity of his work. Even in these folios, from
which industry itself shrinks back appalled,
there lurks a poet.
Storia del concilio Tridentino di Pietro
Soave Polano. — The first edition free
from extraneous additions. Geneva, 1629.
This work was first published in England
by Domini of Spalatro, an archbishop who
had gone over to protestantism. Though Fra
Paoli Sarpi never confessed himself its author,
there can be no doubt of the fact. His letters
show that he employed himself on such a his-
tory ; a manuscript copy which he caused to
be made of it is preserved in Venice, with
corrections in his own hand-writing : it may
be affirmed that he was literally the only man
who at any time could have composed such a
history as that before us.
Fra Paolo stood at the head of a catholic
opposition to the pope, which was grounded
on views of state policy, but which in many
particulars approximated to protestant no-
tions, especially through the adoption of cer-
tain principles of St. Augustine : occasional-
ly, indeed, it incurred the reproach of protes-
tantism.
Sarpi's work, however, is not to be regard-
ed with suspicion purely on the ground of
these opinions. The world consisted almost
exclusively of two parties, the decided parti-
438
APPENDIX.
sans and the decided adversaries of this coun-
cil. From the former nothing was to be look-
ed for but adulation, from the latter nothing
but unmitigated abuse. Sarpi's position was,
on the whole, apart from these two opposite
camps. He had no motive for defending the
council throughout, nor was he under the ne-
cessity of indiscriminately condemning it.
His position afforded him the means of form-
ing a more unbiassed judgment, and only in
the midst of an Italian catholic republic
could he have collected the materials neces-
sary thereto.
If we would form a clear conception of his
manner of going to work on his subject, we
must first of al! take into account the mode
in which the larger works of history had been
composed up to his day.
Historians had not imposed on themselves
the task either of collecting their materials
in uniform completeness, — a difficult task in-
deed,— nor of sitling them critically ; nor of
employing original authorities; nor, finally,
of working out the whole matter philosophi-
cally.
How few there are even now who give
themselves so much trouble !
Authors in those days contented themselves
not so much with taking for their ground-
work the writings of those men who were
generally reckoned trustworthy, as with trans-
ferring them bodily to their own pages ; en-
larging their narratives with the help of the
new materials that had been collected, which
were interpolated in the proper places. Af-
ter this had been done, the chief thing that
remained was to give the whole word an uni-
form style.
Thus Sleidan's book is made up of the doc-
uments relating to the history of the refor-
mation, which he picked up as he could, and
then strung together without much critical
discrimination, after which he gave the whole
an uniform complexion with the help of his
latinity.
Thuanus has without scruple copied long
passages from other historians. For instance,
he has taken to pieces Buchanan's Scottish
history and inserted it in the various parts of
his own work. He has borrowed his English
history from the materials furnished him by
Camden ; that of Germany from Sleidan and
ChrytrsBUS ; that of Italy from Adrian : and
that of Turkey from Busbequius and Leun-
clavius.
This was a method, truly, that showed lit-
tle regard for originality, and in consequence
of which we have ofttm set before our eyes
the work of a different person from the au-
thor whose name is on the title-page. It has
been newly adopted in the present day,- par-
ticularly by the French writers of Meiiioires:
in this they are wholly inexcusable. The
very nature of that class of works demands Sleidan alone.
that they should give the originals unal-
tered.
To return to Sarpi. In the very begin-
ning of his work he gives us the following
undisguised account of his position as a
writer.
" My intention is to write the history of the
council of Trent. For though many celebrat-
ed historians of our age have touched on par-
ticular points thereof in their works, and
John Sleidan, a very accurate writer, has
with great diligence narrated the earlier
events by which it was occasioned (le cause
antecedenti,) yet would not all these matters,
were they put together, amount to a complete
narrative. So soon as I began to interest
myself in the aftairs of mankind, I was pos-
sessed with a great desire to become tho-
roughly acquainted with this history. After
I had collected all I found written on the sub-
ject, as well as the documents, printed or
manuscript, which had been promulgated on
the subject, I began to explore the remains
of the prelates and others who had taken part
in the council, in search of the accounts they
might have left, as well as to seek out the
votes they had given, recorded by themselves
or by others, and the notices contained in let-
ters dispatched from Trent. I spared no
pains or labour in this search, and 1 had the
good fortune to get sight of whole collections
of notes and letters from persons who had ta-
ken a considerable part in those transactions.
Having thus collected so many things, fur-
nishing superabundant materials for a narra-
tive, I embraced the design of putting them
together."
Sarpi has here described his position very
simply and clearly. We see him, on the one
side, in the midst of the historians whose
narratives he has strung together, but which
are not sufficient for him ; on the other, pro-
vided with manuscript materials, with which
he ekes out what is wanting in his printed
authorities.
Unfortunately Sarpi has not given a full
list either of the one or the other, nor was
this the method of his predecessors ; like
them he made it his whole concern to weave
a well-arranged, agreeable, and complete
history out of the records that fell in his way.
Nevertheless, even without any such par-
ticular information, we can easily guess what
were the printed historians he made use of:
first Jovius and Guicciardini, then Thuanus
and Adriani, but principally Sleidan, whom
indeed he mentions by name.
Fore.xample: in his whole account of the
state of affairs in the time of the Interim, and
after the transference of the council from
Trent to Bologna, he had Sleidan before him,
and only in a few places the original docu-
ments used by that author,— everywhere else
CRITICAL REMARKS ON SARPI AND PALLAVICINI.
439
It is well worth while to "fo a step further,
and observe his manner of proceeding.
It is not uniisiuil with him simply to trans-
late Sleidan, — freely, indeed, but still he does
translate. For instance, in the passage where
he speaks of the emperor's negociations with
the several sovereigns as to their preliminary
submission to the council of Trent, — Sleidan,
lib. xix. p. 50.
*' Et Palatinus quidem territatus fuit etiam,
nisi morem gereret, ob recentem anni supe-
rioris oftensionem, uti diximus, cum vix ea
cicatrix coaluisset : Mauricins, qui et socerum
landgravium cuperet liberari et nuper admo-
dum esset auctus a Ceesare, faciundum ali-
quid sibi videbat. Itaque cum Csesar eis pro-
lixe de sua voluntate per internuncios pro-
mitteret, et ut ipsius fidei rem permitterent
flagitaret, illi demum Octobris die vigesimo
quartoassentiuntnr. Reliquse solum erant civi-
tates ; quiB m:igni rem esse ppriculi videbant
submittere se concilii decrelis indifferenter.
Cum iis Granvellanus et Hasius diu multum-
que agebant ; atque interim flima per urhem
divulgata fuit, illos esse prajfractos, qui recu-
sarent id quod principes omnes comprobas-
sent: auditse quoque fuerunt comminationes,
futurum ut acrms multo quam nuper plectan-
tur. Tandem fuit inventa ratio ut et Caasari
satisfieret et ipsis etiam esset cautum. Ete-
nim vocati ad Ctesarem, ut ipsi responsa prin-
cipum corrigant, non suum esse dicunt, et
simul scnplum ei .tradunt, quo testificantur
quibus ipsi conditionibus concilium probent.
Ocesar, eorum audito sermone, per Seldium
respondet, sibi pergratuin esse quod reliquo-
rum exempio rem sibi permittant et cseteris
consentiant." Sarpi, lib. iii. p. 28:3. "Con
I'elettor Palatino le preghierc havevano spe-
cie di minacce rispelto alle precedent! offese
perdonate di recente : verso Mauricio duca di
fcsassonia erano necessita, per tanti beneficii
nuovamente havuti da Cesare, e perche desi-
derava liberare il lantgravio suo suocero.
Perilche promettendo loro Cesare d'adoperar-
si che in concilio havessero la dovuta sodis-
fattione e ricercandogli che si fiJassero in
lui, finalmente consentirono, e furono seguiti
dagli ambasciatori dell' elettore di Brande-
burg e da tutti i prencipi. Le citta, ricusaro-
no, come cosa di gran pericolo, il sottomet-
tersi inJifl'erenlemente a tutti i decreti del
concilio. II Granvela negotiocon gli ambas-
ciatori loro assai e longamente, trattandogli
anco da ostinati a ricusar quello che i prenci-
pi havevano comprobato, aggiongendo qualche
eorte di minacce di cundannargli in somma
maggiore die la gia papata. Perilche final-
menle furono costrette di condescendere al
voler di Cesare, riservata pero cautione per
I'osservanza delle projnesse. Onde chiamate
alia presenza dell' imperatore, et interrogate
Be si conlormavano alia deliberatione de'
prencipi, riposero che sarebbe state troppo ar-
dire il loro a voler correggere la riposta de'
prencipi, e tutti insieme diedero una scrittura
contenente le conditioni con che avrebbono
ricevuto il concilio. La scrittura fu ricevuta
ma non letta, e per nome di Cesare dal suo
cancel lario furono lodati che ad essempio
degli altri havessero rimesso il tultoall' im-
peratore e fidatisi di lui : e I'istesso impera-
tore fece dimostratione d'haverlo molto gra-
to. Cosi Tuna e I'altra parte voleva esser in-
gannata."
The remark strikes us at once, on perusing
the translation, that Sarpi does not always
adhere faithfully to facts as he finds them.
Sleidan does not say that Granvella had
threatened the cities : what the German men-
tions as a common talk of the day, the Italian
puts into the mouth of the minister. Tiie
agreement with the cities is more clearly set
forth in the original than in the translation.
It is the same with an immense number of
other passages.
If this were all, no more would need to be
said : it would only be necessary to bear in
mind that we had before us a somewhat ar-
bitrary paraphrase of Sleidan; but now and
then we meet with more material changes.
In the first place Sarpi has no accurate no-
tion of the constitution of the empire : he has
always in view a constitution consisting of the
three estates, — the clergy, temporal lords,
and cities. Not unfrequently he alters his
author's expressions to suit his own erroneous
conception. For example (lib. xx. p. 108,)
Sleidan gives the votes upon the Interim in
the three colleges. 1. The electoral. The
three spiritual electors voted in the affirma-
tive, but not the temporal : " reliqui tres elec-
tores non quidem ejus erant sententise, Pala-
tinus imprimis et Mauricius, verum uterque
causas habebant cur Cffisari non admodum re-
clamarent." — 2. The college of princes :
"caeteri principes, qui maxima parte sunt
episcopi, eodem modo sicut Moguntinus atque
coUegae respondent." — 3. "Civitatum non ita
magna fuit habita ratio." Sarpi's version of
this is as follows (lib. iii. p. 300) : The spirit-
ual electors give their opinions in the same
way as stated by Sleidan. "Ai parer de'
quali s'accostarono tutti i vescovi : i prencipi
secolari per non ofl^endere Cesare tacquero:
et a loro essempio gli ambasciatori delle citta
parlarono poco, ne di quel poco fu tenuto con-
to." What Sleidan says of two electors is
here applied to all the temporal sovereigns.
The bishops are made to appear to have giv-
en their votes separately, and the whole odi-
um is cast on them. The high importance
to which the council of the princes of the em-
pire had attained in those times is wholly
misconceived. In the above cited passages
Sarpi asserts that the princes acceded to the
440
APPENDIX.
judgment of the electors. Now (he fact was,
that they had already passed their own reso-
lutions, which were at variance on a multi-
plicity of points from those of the electors.
But what is of still more moment is, that
whilst Sarpi copies the statements he finds,
and incorporates with them what he collects
from other sources, and extracts and trans-
lates, he also interweaves the narrative with
his own remarks. Let us observe how he
docs this, for it is extremely remarkable.
For example, honest Sleidan repeats (lib.
XX. p. 58,) without any suspicion, a proposal
of the bishop of Trent, in which three things
are demanded : the recal of the council to
Trent, the sending of a legate to Germany,
and a resolution respecting the manner in
which proceedings were to be regulated in
case the papal see should become vacant.
Sarpi translates all this verbatim, but inter-
polates a remark of his own. "The third
point," he says, " was added to remind the
pope of his advanced age and his approaching
death, and so make him more compliant if he
would not leave the emperor's displeasure as
a bequest to his heirs."
This is a sample of the general style of his
remarks ; they are every one steeped in gall
and bitterness. " The legate summoned the
assembly and stated his opinion in the first
place : for the Holy Spirit, which is wont to
move the legates in accordance with the
pope's wishes, and the bishops in accordance
with the legates, did as usual on thi.s occa-
sion."
According to Sleidan, the Interim was sent
to Rome because it contained some conces-
sions to the protestants. According to Sarpi,
the German prelates insisted on this : " for,"
says he, " it has always been their aim to up-
hold the papal authority, as this is the only
counterpoise to that of the emperor, which
they could not withstand but for the pope, par-
ticularly if the emperor should ever, after the
usage of the ancient Christian churches, re-
solve on compelling them to do their duty and
curbing the abuses of the so-called ecclesias-
tical liberty."
On the whole we see how widely Sarpi
differs from the compilers who had preceded
him. His manner of extracting is full of life
and spirit. In spite of his borrowed materials,
his language has an easy, pleasant, and uni-
form flow. We do not perceive the points of
transition from one authority to another. But
at the same time his narrative is coloured by
his own cast of opinion, — his systematic oppo-
sition, dislike, or hatred to the court of Rome.
Its eftect is proportionately impressive.
But, as we have seen, Haul Sarpi had other
materials, quite different from printed books;
and from thein he derived the far greater part
of his matter.
He distinguishes the interconciliary and the
preliminary events from the history proper of
the council, and says he intends to treat the
former rather in the style of a book of annals,
the latter in that of a diary. Another differ-
ence is, that for the former he trusted for the
m.ost part to well known current works, while
for the latter he had recourse to new and spe-
cial documents.
The first question is, of whatkind are these
documents !
I am not inclined to believe that he derived
much special information from such men as
Oliva, the secretary of the first legate at the
council, or Ferrier, the French ambassador to
Venice, who was also present at the council.
With respect to Oliva, Sarpi commits a great
blunder, for he makes him leave the council
before he really did so. The French docu-
ments were very soon in print. The influ-
ence of these two men, who belonged to the
malcontent party, will have consisted in this,
that they corroborated Sarpi in the dislike he
felt for the council. The Venetian collections,
on the other hand, presented him with the
proper documents in great completeness: let-
ters from legates, e. g. JVlonti; from secret
agents, such as Visconti ; reports of nunicos,
for instance, Chieregato; minute diaries kept
at the council; the Lettere d'Avisi, and innu-
merable other more or less authentic records.
He was so fortunate in this respect, that he
made use of documents which have never since
come to light again, which Pallavicini failed to
procure, notwithstanding the vast patronage
he enjoyed, and tor which historical inquirers
of subsequent times must ever refer to Sarpi's
work.
The next question is, how did he employ
these documents'!
There is no doubt that, in part, he trans-
ferred them to his own pages with but slight
modifications. Courayer asserts that he had
once in his hands a manuscript report concern-
ing the congregations of the year, which had
been made use of, and nearly copied by Sarpi,
" que nostre historien a consultee et presque
copiee mot pour mot."
1 am in possession of a MS. — " Historia del
s. concilio di Trento scritta per M. Antonio
JNlilledonne, seer. Veneziano" — which was also
knowji to Foscarini (Lett. Venez. i. p. 351)
and to Mendham, by a contemporaneous and
very well-informed author, which, notwith-
standing its brevity, is by no means uninstruc-
tive as regards the latter sittings of the coun-
cil.
Now I find that Sarpi has occasionally made
use of this almost word for word. For in-
stance, the following passage occurs in JMille-
donne : " II senato di iXorimbergo rispose al
nontio Delfino, che non era per partirsi dalla
confessione Augustana, e che non accettava il
concilio, come quello che non aveva le condi-
tion! ricercate da' protestanti. Simil risposta
CRITICAL REMARKS ON SARPI AND PALLAVICINL
441
fecero li eenati di Argentina e Francfort al
medesimo nontio Delfino. II senato di Au-
gusta e quello di Olma risposero, che non
potevano separarsi dalli altri die tenevano la
confessione Augustana."
Sarpi's version is this, p. 450 : " II noncio
Delfino nel ritorno espose il suo carico in di-
verse citta. Dal senato di Norimberg hebbe
risposta, che non era perpartirsi dalla confes-
sione Augustana, e che non accettera il con-
cilio, come quello che non haveva conditioni
ricercate da' protestanti. Simili risposte gli
fecero li senati d'Argentina e di Francfort.
II senato d'Augusta e quello d'Olma risposero,
che non potevano separarsi dagli altri che ten-
gono la lor confessione."
Sarpi only does not follow Milledonne when
the latter distributes praise, even though it be
beyond the reach of cavil.
Milledonne says : " II ci Gonzaga prattico
di negotii di stato per aver governato il ducato
di Mantova molti anni doppo la morte del duca
suo fratello fino che li nepoti erano sotto tu-
tela, gentiluomo di bell' aspetto, di buona
creanza, libero e schiettonel parlare, di buona
mente, inclinato al bene. Seripando era Napo-
litano, arcivescovodi Salerno, frate eremitano,
grandissimo teologo, persona di ottima cos-
cienza e di singolar bonta, desideroso del bene
universale della christianita."
Sarpi is much more chary of praise to these
men. " Destino al concilio," he says, for in-
stance, p. 456, " Fra Girolamo, Ci Seripando,
theologo di molta fama;" this is enough for
him.
Visconti's letters, which Sarpi had before
him, were afterwards printed, and we perceive
upon the first comparison that he adhered very
closely to them in places. VVe have an ex-
ample in Visconti, Lettres et Negotiations,
torn. ii. p. 174 : " Ci sono poi stati alcuni Spag-
nuoli, li quali parlando dell' istituzione de' ves-
covi e della residenza havevano havuto ordine
di affirmare queste opinion! per vere come li
precetti del decalogo. Segovia segui in queste
due materie I'opinione di Granata, dicendo
ch'era veritii espressa la residenza ed istitu-
zione delli vescovi essere de jure divino e che
niuno la poteva negare, soggiungendo che
tanto pill si dovea fare tal dichiarazione per
dannare I'opinione de gli heretici che tene-
vano il contrario. Guadice, Alifli e Monte-
maranocon molti altri prelati Spagnuoli hanno
aderito all' opinione di Granata e di Segovia ;
ma piacque al signore dio che si fecero all'
ultimo di buona risoluzione."
Compare Sarpi, viii. 753 : " Granata disse,
esser cosa indegna haver tanto tempo deriso
li padri trattando del fondamento dell' institu-
zione de' vescovi e poi adesso tralasciandola, e
ne ricerco la dichiarazione de jure divino, di-
cendo maravegliarsi perche non si dichiarasse
un tal punto verissimoet infallibile. Aggionse
che si dovevano prohibire come heretic! tutti
56
quel libri che dicevano il contrario. Al qual
parer adheri Segovia, aftermando che era es-
pressa verita che nissuno poteva negarla, e
si doveva dichiarare per dannare I'openione
degli heretici che tenevano il contrario. Seg-
uivano anco Guadice, Aliffe et Monte Marano
con gli altri prelati Spagnuoli, de' quali alcuni
dissero, la loro openione esser cosi vera come
1! precetti del decalogo."
Sarpi, we see, is no common transcriber ;
the more we compare him with his originals,
the more we are convinced of his skill in fill-
ing up and rounding a story, and enhancing
the force of the expressions by a slight turn ;
at the same time his endeavour is manifest to
strengthen the impression unfavourable to the
council.
As will naturally be supposed, he treats his
manuscript documents just as he does the
printed.
This, however, has of course a great effect
at times on the aspect in which the facts are
presented ; as is the case, for instance, in his
account of the most important of the German
religious conferences, that of Ratisbon in
1541.
Here he again followed Sleidan closely ; he
had also, no doubt, before him Bucer's account
of the conference.
He falls again into the faults already men-
tioned in his mode of using three German
authors. The states in this diet twice return-
ed their answers to the emperor's proposals,
and each time they were at variance among
themselves. The electoral college was for
the emperor's intentions, the college of princes
against them. The differeftce, however, was,
that the princes gave way on the first occa-
sion, but not on the second, when they return-
ed a refusal.
Sleidan accounts for the opposition of the
college of princes by remarkmg, that there
were so many bishops, — a point certainly of
great moment as regarded the constitution of
the empire. But Sarpi destroys the whole
force of the passage by persisting in calling
the college of princes bishops. He says of the
first answer: "I vescovi rifiutarono" [the bi-
shops refused] ; of the second : " I vescovi con
alcuni pochi princip! cattolici" [the bishops
with some few catholic princes] ; thereby, as
we have said, totally misrepresenting the con-
stitution of the empire.
We will not, however, dwell on this. The
chief point is the way in which he used the
more secret authorities to which he had ex-
clusive access, and which he had reason to
believe would long remain unprintcd.
Towards the history of this diet he had Con-
tarini's instruction, which was subsequently
printed by cardinal Quirini, and that too from
a Venetian MS.
Now the first thing we have to remark is,
that he takes the contents of the instruction
442
APPENDIX.
and weaves them here and there into the dis-
courses held by the legate with the emperor.
For instance, we read in the instruction :
"Eos articulos in quibus inter se convenire
non possunt, ad nos remittant, qui in fide boni
pastoris et universalis pontificis dabimus ope-
rain ut per universale concilium vel per ali-
quam viam ssquivalentem non prsecipitanter,
sed mature et quemadmodum res tanti mo-
menti exigit, finis hiscontroversiisimponatur,
et remedium quod his malis adhibendum est
quam diutissime perdurare possit."
Sarpi makes Contarini require : " ogni cosa
si mandasse al papa, il qual prometteva in fede
di buon pastore et universale pontefice di fare
che il tutto fosse determinato per un concilio
generale o per altra via equivaiente con sin-
cerita. e con nissun affetto humano, non con
precipitio, ma maturamente."
In another place the instruction proceeds
thus : " Si quidem ab initio pontificatus nostri,
ut facilius hoc religionisdissidium in pristinam
concordiam reduceretur, primum christianos
principes ad veram pacem et concordiam per
literas et nuntios nostros ssepissime hortati
sumus, — mox ob banc eandem causam conci-
lium generale christianis regibus et
principibus etiam per proprios nuntios signifi-
cavimus multaque in Germania reli-
gionis causa non ea qua decuit auctoritatem
nostram, ad quam religionis judicium cognitio
et examen spectat, reverentia tractari et fieri
non absque gravi dolere animi intelleximus,
turn temporum conditione moti, turn Caesareee
etregise majestatem vel earum oratorum polli-
citationibus persuasi, quod ea quee hie fiebant
boni alicujus inde secuturi causa fierent, par-
tim patientes tulimus," &c.
Sarpi adds to this : " Sicome la S^^ S. nel
principle del pontificato per questo medesimo
fine haveva mandate lettere e nuntii a' pren-
cipi per celebrar il concilio, e poi intimatolo, e
mandate al luogo i suoi legati, e che se haveva
sopportato che in Germania tante volte s'ha-
vesse parlato delle cose della religione con
poco riverentia dell' autorita sua, alia quale
sola spetta trattarle, I'haveva fatto per esser-
gli dalle M'-^ S. data intentione e promesso
che cio si faceva per bene."
In short, it is plain that the declarations
Sarpi puts into Contarini's mouth are taken
from the latter's instruction ; and when we
are once aware how the fact stands, we can
readily excuse it. Still it is not to be denied
that truth is sometimes jeopardized by this
method of proceeding. The daily changes of
events caused corresponding alterations in the
instructions sent to the legate. Sarpi makes
him put forward reasons for referring to Rome
only those points on which no agreement had
been come to, at a time wiien he was required
to refer every thing, even the points already
agreed on, for the approval of the court of
ome.
To this first departure from his original, in
applying the words of the instruction to a case
for which they were not intended, Sarpi adds
others still more serious.
The pope pronouncesstrongly in the instruc-
tion against a national council : " Majestati
Csesareae in memoriam redigas, quantopere
concilium illud sit semper detesta, cum alibi
tum Bononiffi palani diceret nihil seque perni-
ciosum fore et apostolicse et imperial i dignita-
tibus quam Germanorum nationale concilium,
illi nulla meliore via quam per generale con-
cilium obviam iri posse confiteretur: quin
imo etiam S. M. post Ratisbonensem dietam
anno d"' 1532 habitam pro sua singulari pru-
dentia omni studio semper egit ne qua impe-
rialis dieta hactenus sit celebrata ac ex ea
occasione ad concilium nationale deveniretur."
Sarpi quotes this literally, and states, too,
that he takes it from the instruction ; at the
same time he makes a remarkable addition to
it. " Che raccordasse all' imperatore quanto
egli medesimo havesse detestato il concilio
nationale essendo in Bologna, conoscendolo
pernicioso all' autorita imperiale : poiche i
sudditi preso animo dal vedersi concessa po-
testa di mutare le cose della religione pensa-
rebbono ancora a mutare lo stato : e che S. M.
dope il 1532 non volse mai piii celebrare in
sua presenza dieta imperiale per non dar occa-
sione di domandar concilio nationale."
Who would not suppose from this that
the emperor had himself expressed the thought,
that a nation readily changes its form of gov-
ernment when once it has made a change in
its religion] This, however, I cannot be-
lieve on Sarpi's bare word. Nothing of the
kind is to be found in the instruction. The
thought is one which first gained currency af-
ter the events of a later period.
I do not think that my criticism will appear
triflingly minute. How are we to set about
discovering whether or not an author speaks
the truth, but by comparing him with the
sources from which he has drawn 1
I find in Sarpi another departure from his
authorities still stronger than those already
mentioned.
Into the very first conversation he gives be-
tween Contarini and the emperor, he inter-
weaves the words of the instruction, — those
important words to which we have referred in
the text.*
The pope excuses himself for not having
given the cardinal such plenary authority as
the emperor and the king would have wished :
"primum quia videndum imprimis est, an pro-
testantes .... in principiis nobiscum con-
veniant, cujusmodi est hujus sanctae sedis
primatus tanquam a deo et salvatore nostro
institutus, sacros. ecciesicesacramenla, etalia
queedam qua? tum sacrarum literarum aucto-
♦ Supra, p. 61.
CRITICAL REMARKS ON SARPI AND PALLAVICINI.
443
ritate turn universalis ecclesiffi perpetua ob-
servatione hactenus observata et comprobata
fuere et tibi nota esse bene scimus: quibiis
statim initio admissis omnis super aliis con-
troversiis concorJia tentaretur."
Sarpi makes Contarini say: " che S. S^^gli
aveva data og'ni potesta di concordare co' pro-
testanti, purche essi ammetino i principii, che
sono il primato della sede apostolica institutio
da Christo, et i sacramenti sicome sono inseg-
nati nella chiesa Romana, e altre cose deter-
minate nella bolla di Leone [and the other
things determined in Leo's bull,] oiferendosi
nelle altre cose di dar ogni sodisfattione alia
Germania."
The difFerence is glaring. The indefinite-
ness of the pope's words constitutes the sole
possibility of a desirable result : the confer-
ence could have had no conceivable aim if
this opening had not been left : but Sarpi
completely cuts this off. The pope, accord-
ing to him, does not hint at " qusedam quas
tibi nota bene scimus," [certain things which
we are well aware you are acquainted with ;]
but he demands the recognition of the en-
actments of Leo X.'s bull, — that is, the con-
demnation of the Lutheran doctrine ; a mea-
sure wholly impracticable.
In no respect will Sarpi allow that the pa-
pal see displayed any kind of conciliatory
spirit. Accordmg to him, Contarini was obli-
ged to stand up for the papal authority in its
harshest forms ; and he makes him begin by
asserting, that, " the pope could not impart to
any one his authority to decide absolutely on
disputed points of faith ; to him alone was
given the prerogative of infallibility, in the
words, ' Ego rogavi pro te, Petre.' Of all
which not a word is to be found, — at least in
the instruction.
For Sarpi beheld the papacy on the whole
in the light of his times. After the restoration
had been accomplished, it became far more
despotic and inflexible than it had been in its
days of danger and depression ; and in this
fulness of power and unbroken self-exaltation
did it stand before Sarpi's eyes. He trans-
ferred to earlier times the thoughts and sen-
timents he had imbibed from the experience
of his own. All the accounts and documents
that passed through his hands were interpre-
ted by him in this spirit, which was so natural
to him, and which originated in the position
of his native city, of his party there, and in
his own personal situation.
We have another historical work of Paul
Sarpi upon the disputes between Venice and
Rome in the year 1606 : " Historia particolare
dello cose passate tra'l summo pontetice Paolo
V e la ser'"a rep^ di Venetia, Lion 1624 ;"
written on the whole in a kindred spirit : a
masterpiece in point of description, true in
the main, but still a partisan work. We find
in Sarpi little or no trace of the discord among
the Venetians, which broke out on this occa-
sion, and w4iich constituted so important a
feature in their domestic history. According
to him it would appear as though but one senti-
ment pervaded all parties. He is always speak-
ing of the " princeps ;" for so he designates the
Venetian government. This fiction does not
strengthen us in the belief that he attained to
much accuracy in his delineation of the inter-
nal affairs of Venice. He glides lightly over
matters that are not much to the credit of his
country, such, for instance, as the surrender
of the prisoners; just as if he did not know
why they were given up first to the ambas-
sador, and then with other words to the car-
dinal. Nor does he allude to the fact that the
Spaniards were in favour of the exclusion of
the Jesuits. He had embraced an implacable
hatred against both, and will not condescend
to know that on this occasion their interests
were mutually at variance.
Now the same is nearly the case with his
history of the council of Trent. His authori-
ties are diligently collected, very well handled,
and used with superior intelligence; nor can
it be said that they are falsified, or that they
are frequently or essentially perverted ; — but
a spirit of decided opposition pervades the
whole work.
In this way Sarpi struck anew into a dif-
ferent course from that commonly pursued by
the historians of his day. He gave to their
system of compilation the unity of a general
tone and purpose : his work is disparaging,
condemnatory, and hostile ; he set the first
example of a history which accompanies the
whole progress of its subject with increasing
censure ; far more decided in this than Thua-
nus, who first made a cursory use of this meth-
od. Sarpi has found numberless imitators on
this score.
Istoria del concilio di Trento scritta dal pa-
dre Sforza Pallavicino della compagnia di
Gesu. 1664.
Such a book as Sarpi's history, so rich in
details never before published, full of talent
and sarcasm, and treating of an event of such
importance, the consequences of which sway-
ed the destinies of the age, could not fail of
producing the greatest sensation. The first
edition appeared in 1619 : between that year
and 1622 four editions of a Latin translation
were put forth, besides a German and a French
translation.
The court of Rome felt the more strongly
urged to have the work refuted, inasmuch as
it really contained many errors obvious to
every one somewhat minutely acquainted with
I the occurences of that period.
Terentio Alciati, a Jesuit, Prefect of the
Studies in the Collegio Romano, immediately
•set about collecting materials for a reply,
444
APPENDIX.
which should also be a circumstantial substan-
tive work. His book had for it& title, "His-
toric concilii Tridentini a veritatis hostibus
evulgatee Elenchus."* He amassed an enor-
mous quantity of materials, but died in 1651,
before he had reduced them to shape.
Goswin Nickel, the general of the Jesuits,
selected Sforza Pallavicini, another brother
of the order, who had already given proof of
some literary talent, to complete the unfinish-
ed task, and he relieved him from all other
occupations. Pallavicini himself says, that
he had been commanded to this duty by
the general, "as a soldier by his condot-
tiere."
Pallavicini executed the task in three thick
folios, which appeared subsequently to the
year 1656.
The work contains an enormous mass of
matter, and is of the utmost importance as re-
gards the history of the sixteenth century, for
it begins, be it observed, from the origin of
the reformation. The archives were thrown
open to the author, and he had access to what-
ever available materials were contained in
the Roman libraries. He was able to avail
nimself not only of the records of the council
in their fullest detail, but also of the corres-
pondence of the legates with Rome, and a
great multitude of other sources of informa-
tion. He is far from concealing his authori-
ties ; on the contrary, he parades their titles
in the margin of his book : they are beyond
counting.
His grand purpose is above all to refute
Sarpi. At the end of each volume he gives
a catalogue of " the errors in matters of tact,"
of which he asserts he has convicted his oppo-
nent, and he makes them amount to three
hundred and sixty-one : but numberless others,
he adds, which he has also confuted, are not
set down in the catalogues.
He says in his preface " he will not engage
in petty skirmishes : if any one will attack
him, let him advance in full order of battle,
and overthrow his whole book, as he has over-
thrown Sarpi's." VVhata work it would have
been that should have accomplished this ! We
feel by no means tempted to engage in such
an enterprise.
We must, as we said before, content our-
selves with collecting an idea of Pallavicini's
method from a few examples.
Since he drew from so many private sources,
and in fact derived from them the whole sub-
stance of his work, it becomes our first con-
sideration to acquaint ourselves how he em-
ployed these materials.
We shall find this more particularly easy
wherever the documents he made use of
were printed. Besides this, 1 have had the
good fortune to examine a whole series of
*Ii is so given by Mazzuchelli.
documents cited by him, which have never
been given to the press: it is necessary that
we should compare the originals with his
text.
I will do so with regard to a few points con-
secutively.
1. Now, in the first place, it must be ac-
knowledged that the extracts made by Palla-
vicini, from the instructions and papers that
lay before him, and the mode in which he used
them are often satisfactory. For instance, I
have compared an instruction received by the
Spanish ambassador in November, 1562, the
answer given him by the pope in March,
1563, and the fresh instruction furnished by
the pope to his nuncio, with Pallavicini's ex-
tracts from them, and found them to corres-
pond exactly. Pall. xx. 10. xxiv. 1. He
has but availed himself of a reasonable privi-
lege, if he has made some transpositions
which in no respect do any violence to truth.
It is true, no doubt, that he softens down some
rather strong expressions, as, for instance,
when the pope says he had opened the council
only in reliance on the aid and support of the
emperor, persuaded that the king would be to
him as his right arm, and a guide and leader
in all his thoughts and dealings — " II fonda-
mento che facessimo nella promessa di S. M^^
e de' suoi ministri di doverci assistere ci fece
entrare arditamente nell' impresa, pensando
diavere S. M^^ per nostro bracciodrittoe che
avesse a esserci guida o conduttiero in ogni
nostra azione e pensiero," — Pallavicini makes
him say merely, he would not have opened
the council again had he not been persuaded
the king would be his right arm and his lead-
er. But as the substance is here preserved there
is no room for censure. Upon the occasion of
Visconti's embassy to Spain, and the despatch
of another ambassador to the emperor, Sarpi
gives it as his opinion (viii. 61) that the orders
given to them to propose a meeting was but a
feint ; but this is too a subtle a surmise. The
proposal for a congress, or a conference as it
was then called, is one of the points most
strongly insisted on in the instruction. Palla-
vicini is unquestionably right in upholding
this.
2. But Pallavicini is not always the better
informed. When Sarpi relates that Paul III.
had proposed to the emperor Charles V. at the
congress of Busseto, that the fief of Milan should
be conferred on his nephew, who was married to
the emperor's natural daughter, Pallavicini de-
votes a whole chapter to contradict this. Nor
will he believe any other historians who state
the same fact. " How, in that case," he exclaims
"should the pope have ventured to write let-
ters to the emperor in such a tone as he actu-
ally did!" "Con qual petto avrebbe ardito
di scrivere a Carlo lettere cosi risentite." The
emperor might at once have charged him with
shameless dissimulation (simulatione sfaccia-
CRITICAL REMARKS ON SARPI AND PALLAVICINI.
445
ta.) Since Pallavicini displays so much ve-
hemence we must suppose that he here writes
bona fide. Sarpi's account of the n)alter is
well founded for all that; the despatches of
the Florentine ambassador (Dispaccio Guicci-
ardini, 26 Giugno 1543) put the matter beyond
dispute.
Still more circumstantial details of the af-
fair are to be found in a manuscript life of
Vasto. We may mention a Discorso of car-
dinal Carpi which tends to the same result.
Nay, the pope had not given up this idea even
in the year 1547. " Le cardinal de Bologne
au roy Henry II." in Ribier, II. 9. " L'un —
le pape — demande Milan, qu'il jamais n'aura,
I'autre — I'empereur — 400,000 scudi, qu'il
n'aura sans rendre Milan. [The pope de-
mands Milan, which he will not get; the em-
peror, 400,000 scudi, which he will not get
without giving up Milan.] Notwithstanding
this, pope Paul III. did actually write the let-
ter in question.
3. But the question presents itself, does
Pallacivini in general err but bona fide!
This cannot be alleged in every case. It
does happen at times that his documents are
not so orthodox and catholic as he is himself.
While events were still in progress, showing
every aspect of their nature, and obtruding
every possibility of varying course and result,
it was impossible to entertain such strict
views as at a later period when everything
was once more on a firm footing. Such a
compromise as the peace of Augsburg could
never have been tolerated by the orthodoxy
of the seventeenth century. Pallavicini be-
wails the " detrimenti gravissimi " it occa-
sioned the see of Rome, and compares it with
a palliative medicine, which in the end only
gives occasion to a more perilous crisis. For
all that he met with a report on the subject
by a bishop who was convinced of its neces-
sity. This was bishop Delfino of Liesina.
Pallavicini mentions the report made by that
bishop to cardinal Caraffa, and actually makes
use of it. But how does he do so ]
All the reasons which Delfino alleges in
proof of the intrinsic necessity of this compro-
mise, Pallavicini converts into so many ex-
cuses urged on his own behalf by Ferdinand.
The nuncio says, that at this time there
was no prince or city that had not some dis-
pute with their neighbours, and he names
them ; — the country was going to ruin, Bran-
denburg, Hesse, and Saxon-Naumburg, declar-
ed, as if constituting an opposition diet, that
they would hold together; — the king had be-
sought the emperor to make peace with
France, and to turn his whole attention to
Germany ; but the latter refused ; the estates
assembled in the midst of all these disorders;
the king then confirmed the points on which
both parties were agreed : this they did so
joyfully (si allegramente) that Germany had I
never been so quiet as it was then since the
time of Maximilian.
Pallavicini, too, mentions all this (1. xiii. c.
13) ; but how much does he weaken its force
by putting the entire statement into the
mouth of a monarch who is only trying to ex-
cuse himself.
" Scusavasi egli di cio con addurre che
haveva richiesto d'ordini specificati I'impera-
tore, confortandolo alia pace di Francia, ....
ed havergli ricordato esser questa Tunica
arrne per franger I'orgoglio de protestanti,
etc." [He excused himselffor this by stating,
that he had requested specific orders of the
emperor, and urged him to make peace with
France, .... reminding him that this was
the only weapon to break the pride of the
protestants, &,c.] Compare these tortured
expressions with Delfino's words : " II ser""o
re vedendo questi andamenti (the religious
dissensions) scrisse a S. M^^Cesarea esortan-
dola alia pace col christianissimo accioche ella
possa attendere alle cose di Germania e farsi
ubedire etc." [The most serene king seeing
these proceedings, wrote to his imperial ma-
jesty, exhorting him to peace with the most
Christian king, so that he might be able to
attend to the afiairs of Germany, and enforce
obedience there, &c.]
Unquestionably it is a gross departure from
the original, and one not to be borne in a
work that makes such pompous claims to ac-
cordance with authentic documents, to trans-
form the narration of a nuncio into the self-
exculpation of the king : but the worst of the
matter is, that it obscures the true view of the
event.
The whole of the documents are used,
translated from the language of the sixteenth
into that of the seventeenth century, but used
amiss.
4. We have still farther remarks to make
on the relations between the pope and Ferdi-
nand I. The emperor we know urged a re-
form that was far from acceptable to the pope.
Twice in the early part of the year 1563
Pius sent his nuncios, first Commendone and
then Morone, to Inshruck, where the emperor
was then residing, to withdraw him from his
opposition: these were very remarkable mis-
sions, and the results had a vast effect upon
the council. It is interesting to observe the
manner in which Pallavicini (xx. 4) reports
them. We have Commendone's report of the
19th of February, 1563, which Pallavicini had
also before him.
Now the first thing we have to remark is,
that he vastly v/eakens the expressions used
at the imperial court, and the intentions en-
tertained there. He makes Commendone say
of the union then subsisting between the em-
peror on the one side, and the French and the
cardinal of Lorraine'^Bn the other : " Renders!
credibile che scambievolmente si confirmereb-
446
APPENDIX.
bono nel pare e si prometterebbono ajuto nell'
operare :" [it is probable that their views will
mutually harmonize and combine, and that
they will pledge each other aid in their re-
spective undertakings.] Commendone ex-
presses himself quitedifferently. The impe-
rial court did not merely purpose to urge
reform in common with the French: "Pare
che pensino trovar modo e forma di haver piii
parte et autorita nel presente concilio per sta-
bilire in esso tutte le loro petitioni giunta-
mente con Francesi." [It appears that they
are bent on finding ways and means to obtain
more weight and influence in the present
council, towards carrying through in it the
measures they propose in conjunction v/ith
the French.]
But there are many other things of which
Pallavicini absolutely omits all mention. The
opinion prevailed at the imperial court that
much might be effected with the protestants
with the help of a little more compliancy,
coupled with real reforms. " La somma e
che a me pare di haver veduto non pur in S.
M''-^ ma nelli principali ministri, come Trau-
sen e Seldio, un ardentissimo desiderio della
riforma e del progresso del concilio con una
gran speranza quod remittendo aliquid de jure
positive et reformando mores et disciplinam
ecclesiasticam non solo si possono conservare
li cattolici ma guadagnare e ridurre degli
heretici, con una opinioue et impressione pur
troppo tbrte che qui siano molti che non vogli-
ano riforma." [In fine, I think I have dis-
covered, not indeed in his majesty, but in his
principal ministers, such as Trausen and Seld,
a most earnest desire for reform, and for the
good speed of the council, with a strong hope,
that by relaxing something of the juspositi-
vum, and by a reform of morals and discipline
in the church, not only may the catholics be
preserved to the church, but also the heretics
gained and brougiit back; while at the .•^ame
time they are impressed with an exaggerated
belief that there are many here averse to re-
form.] I will not inquire who may have been
the protestants whose return to the church
might have been expected in case of due re-
form, but language of such tenour was too
offensive to the courtier prelate to be reported
by him. Mention being made of the difficul-
ties experienced in the council, Seld answer-
ed shortly : " Oportuisset ab initio sequi sana
consilia." [Wholesome measures ought to
have been adopted from the beginning.] Pal-
lavicini mentions the complaints of the diffi-
culties, but he suppresses the answer.
On the otiier hand, he gives at full length
the decision of the cliancellor in favour of the
Jesuits.
In short, he dwells on what is agreeable to
him, but ignores whatever might be irksome
to liimself and the curia.
5. This cannot have failed to act injuri-
ously on the views he has given of his sub-
ject.
For example, in the year 1.547 the Span-
iards presented some articles of reform, known
by the title of the Censures. The transfer-
ence of the council to Bologna followed soon
after, and it cannot be questioned but that the
Censures had much to do with causing that
event. It was by all means matter for the
most serious reflection that the immediate
adherents of the emperor Charles put forth
such extraordinary demands at the very mo-
ment when he was victorious. Sarpi gives
them at full length, lib. ii. p. 262 ; and he
shortly after subjoins the pope's answers.
But such outrageous demands on the part of
orthodox prelates are not opportune to Palla-
vicini's purposes. He says that Sarpi relates
a great deal on the subject, of which he can
find nothing; and that he only finds an an-
swer of the pope to certain proposals of reform
made by numerous fathers, and communicated
to him by the president; lib. ix. c. 9, "sopra
varie reformazioni proposte da molti de' pa-
dri." He takes good care not to cite them.
They might have interfered inconveniently
with his refutation of the worldly grounds as-
signed by Sarpi for the transference of the
council.
6. He carries to a rare pitch this art of
silence, and of passing over whatever does
not suit his purpose.
In his third book, for instance, he two or
three times quotes a Venetian report by Suri-
ano. Speakmg of it, he says tiie author as-
serts that he had diligently inquired and as-
sured himself, beyond all doubt, of the exist-
ence of a treaty between Francis and Clement;
nor does Pallavicini think of questioning the •
fact (iii. chap. xii. n. 1^ : he inserts in his
work passages from the report, e. g. that Cle-
ment had shed tears of grief and indignation
upon hearing that his nephew had been taken
prisoner by the emperor: in short, he puts
full faith in Suriano. He also alleges that
this Venetian directly contradicts his coun-
tryman Sarpi. The latter says : " II papa
negotio confederazione col re di Francia, la
quale si concluse e stabili anco col matrimo-
nio di Henrico secondogenito regio e di Ca-
tharina." [The pope negotiated an alliance
with the king of France, which was concluded
and further consolidated by the marriage of
Henry, the king's second son, and Catharine.]
Upon this subject Pallavicini exclaims — "The
pope did not ally himself with the king, as P.
Soave so boldly maintains." He appeals to
Guicciardini and Soriano. Now what does
the latter say 1 He investigates at great
length how and where the inclination of the
pope to the French had begun ; what a deci-
dedly political colour it had ; and lastly, he
speaks too of the negotiations of Bolog'na.
He certainly denies that a regular treaty of
CRITICAL REMARKS ON SARPI AND PALLAVICINI.
447
alliance took place ; but his denial imports no
more than that the terms of the treaty were
not committed to writing. " Di tutti li desi-
deri (del re) s'accommodo Clemente con pa-
role tali che gli fanno credere, S. S"^'-^ esser
disposta in tutto alle sue voglie, senza pero
far provisione alcuna in scrittura." [Clement
acquiesced in all the king's desires, in such
words as gave his majesty reason to believe
that his holiness was disposed in all things to
accede to his wishes, without, however, mak-
ing any stipulation in writing.] He after-
wards relates that the king pressed for the
fulfilment of the promises that had been made
him there : " S. M"^^ chrn^a dimando che da S.
S^^ li fussino osservate le promesse :" which,
according to the same author, was among the
causes of the pope's death. Here we have
the curious case in which falsehood is, in a
certain sense, truer than truth. Sarpi is un-
doubtedly wrong in saying that a league was
concluded; what is so called was not carried
into effect: Pallavicini is right in denying it:
yet, on the whole, Sarpi approaches much
nearer to the truth. The closest union was
cemented, only it was ratified by words of
mouth, not in writing.
7. The case is similar as to the use made
by Pallavicini of Vi^conti's letters. Sarpi
sometimes takes more from them than is
literally set down in them. For instance, he
says, vii. 657, speaking of the decree enforc-
ing residence, that cardinal Lorraine had
spoken very diffusely and indistinctly, and
that no one could tell whether he was alto-
gether in favour of such a decree or not.
Pallavicini vehemently contradicts him. "Si
scorge apertamente il contrario" (xix. c. 8).
He even quotes Visconti in support of his
contradiction. Let us hear Visconti himself:
" Perche s'allargo molto, non potero seguire
se non pochi prelati." (Trente X. Dec.
Mansi Misc. Balusii, iii. p. 454). Thus it is
true, that it was nor possible to follow or to
understand his meaning. Further on, Palla-
vicini is enraged that Sarpi gives it to be un-
derstood that the cardinal did not make his
appearance in a congregation because he
wished to give the French an opportunity of
expressing their opinions in perfect freedom ;
and that he made the news of the king of Na-
varre's death a pretext for his absence. Pal-
lavicini vehemently asserts that this was his
true and only motive. " Ne io trovo in tante
memorie piene di sospetto, che cio capitasse
in mente a persona." (ib.) [Nor do I find
among so many records filled with suspicions
that this one entered any body's head.] What?
no one conceived any suspicion as to the mo-
tive of the cardinal's absence ? Visconti says,
in a letter published by Mansi " Loreno chi-
amo questi prelati Francesi, e gli commise che
havessero da esprimere liberamente tutto
puello che haveano in animo senza timor
alcuno. E sono di quelli che pensano che il
cardinal se ne restrasse in casa per questo
efi'etto." [Cardinal Lorraine called together
those prelates, and told them that they should
speak out freely whatever they had a mind,
without any fear. And some there are who
think that the cardinal remained at home
to that end.] Visconti certainly says noth-
ing about the cardinal's making a pretext
of the king of Navarre's death ; unless per-
chance he does so in some other letter ^and
Sarpi had manifestly other sources before his
eyes :) but as for the fact that the cardinal
was suspected to have remained away pur-
posely, this assuredly the letters distinctly as-
sert. What must we say, since Pallavicini
undoubtedly saw them 1
8. Pallavicini has but one object in view,
to confute his opponent, without concerning
himself to bring the truth itself to light. This
is no where more glaring than with regard to
the Ratisbon conference, of which we have
already spoken so fully. Pallavicini too, as
may readily be supposed, was acquainted with
the instruction in question, and he held it to
be more secret than it really was. But his
manner of dealing with it fully unfolds his
character to us. He inveighs vehemently
against Sarpi ; he abuses him for making the
pope declare that he was willing to give the
protestants satisfaction, provided only they
would agree with him in the already esta-
blished points of the catholic faith: "che ove
i Luterani convenissero ne' punti gia stabiliti
della chiesa romana, si offeriva nel resto di
porger ogni sodisfattione alia Germania." He
finds this directly contrary to the truth.
" Questo e dirimpetto contrario al prime capo
deir instruttione." What? Does he mean
that the contrary was the fact ? In the pope's
instruction it is said : " Vivendum est an in
principiis nobiscum conveuiant, . . . quibua
admissis omnis super aliis controvei'siis Con-
cordia tentaretur." [It must be ascertained
whether or not they agree with us in princi-
pal points . . . these being admitted, every
means of concord on other controverted topics
should be essayed,] and the other words which
have been already quoted. It is true, Sarpi
is at fault here ; he makes the legate's powers
more restricted than they really were; he
says too little of the pope's disposition to give
way. Pallavicini, instead of discovering this
palpable error, makes it out that Sarpi states
too much ; he enters into a distinction be-
tween articles of faith and others, which is
not made in the bull ; and he brings forward
a multitude of things, which are true, but not
the whole truth, and which cannot undo those
words which are set down in the instruction.
In non-essentials he is accurate ; he com-
pletely distorts essentials. In short, Palla-
vicini acts like an advocate who has under-
taken to defend a client in a difficult case
443
APPENDIX.
throuffh thick and thin. He endeavours to
place'^him in the best light, and brings for-
ward whatever can help his cause ; whatever
he imagines might prejudice him he not
merely omits, but flatly denies.
It would be impossible to follow him through
the diffuse discussions into which he enters:
it is enough if we have in some measure af-
forded an idea of his manner.
Truly the result of such an inquiry is not
the most agreeable for the history of the
council.
It has been asserted that the truth may be
distinctly gathered from these two works com-
bined. This may perhaps be the case in a
very large and general sense : it is by no
means so in particulars.
They both swerve from the truth, which
certainly lies in the midst between them ; but
it cannot be come at by conjecture: truth is
positive, original, and is not to be conceived
by any accommodation of partial statements,
but by a direct review of facts.
As we have seen, Sarpi says, that a treaty
had been concluded at Bologna ; Pallavicini
denies this : no conjecture in the world could
hit upon the fact that the treaty was made by
word of mouth, not by writing, — a fact which
really reconciles the discrepancy.
They both distort Contarini's instruction ;
there is no harmonizing their contradictions;
it is only when we refer to the original that
the truth strikes us.
Their minds were of the most opposite cast.
Sarpi is keen, penetrating, caustic; his ar-
rangement is eminently skilful, his style pure
and unaffected ; and tliough the Crusca will
not admit him into the list of classic authors,
probably on account of some provincialisms he
exhibits, his work is really refreshing after all
the pompous array of words through whicii we
are forced to toil in other authors. His style
coincides with his subject : in point of graphic
power he is certainly the second among the
modern historians of Italy : — I rank him im-
mediately after Machiavelli.
Nor is Pallavicini void of talent; he draws
many pointed and forcible parallels, and he
often displays no little skill as the pleader for
a party. But his talent is somewhat of a
heavy and cumbrous cast ; it is one that chiefly
delights in turning phrases and devising sub-
terfuges ; ills style is overloaded with words.
Sarpi is clear and transparent to the very bot-
tom ; PaHavicini is not wanting in continuous
flow, but he is muddy, diffuse, and shallow.
Both are heart and soul partisans; both
lack the true spirit of the historian, that grasps
its object in its full truth, and sets il in the
broad light of day. Sarpi had certainly the
talent requisite for this, but he will be an ac-
cuser and nothing more ; Pallavicini had it in
a vastly lower degree, but he will be by all
means the apologizer of his party.
Neither can we obtain a full view of the
substance of the case from the works of these
two writers combined. It is a very remarka-
ble circumstance, that Sarpi contains much
that Pallavicini was never able to hunt out,
many as were the archives thrown open to
him. I will only mention a memoir of the
nuncio Chieregato, concerning the consulta-
tions at the court of Adrian VI., which is very
important, and against which Pallavicini
makes objections of no moment. Pallavicini
also overlooks many things from a sort of in-
capacity. He cannot discover them to be of
much consequence, and so he neglects them.
On the other hand, Sarpi lacked a multitude
of documents which Pallavicini possessed :
the former saw but a small part of the corre-
spondence of the Roman court with the legates.
His errors spring, for the most part, from the
want of original documents.
But in many cases they both are ignorant
of important records. A little report by car-
dinal Morone, who executed the decisive em-
bassy to Ferdinand I., is of the highest mo-
ment, as regards the history of the whole lat-
ter part of the council. Neither of them has
made use of it.
Nor must we suffer ourselves to believe
that these deficiencies are fully supplied by
Rainaldus or Le Plat. The former frequently
does no more than abridge Pallavicini. Le
Plat follows him or Sarpi often verbatim, and
takes the Latin translations of their text as
original authority for what he cannot find in
a more authentic form elsewhere. He has
used much fewer MS. materials than might
be expected. Many things new and valuable
are to be found in Mendham's History of the
Council of Trent; for instance, at page 181,
there is an extract from the official records
of Paleotto: there are besides his introduc-
tions to several distinct sessions, as for exam-
ple the 2()th : but he has not duly studied the
subject.
If any one should be disposed to undertake
a new history of the council of Trent (which
is not very likely, since the subject has lost
so much of its original interest,) he must be-
gin anew from the very commencement. He
must collect the special negotiations and the
discussions of the congregations, of which very
little that is authentic has been published ; he
must possess himself of the dispatches of one
or other of the ambassadors who attended the
council. Not till he had done this would he
be able to take a full and commanding view
of the whole matter, and of the two authors
who have treated of it. This, however is a
task that will never be undertaken, since
those who could fulfil it will not, and those
who would, have not the means.
FROM THE RESTORATION OF CATHOLICISM TO SIXTUS V. 449
SECTION III.
PERIOD OF THE RESTORATION OF CATHOLICISM
DOWN TO THE PONTIFICATE OF SIXTUS V.
We return to our manuscripts, in which we
find information, however fragmentary, at all
events genuine and unadulterated.
22. Instructio pro causa Jidei et concilii data
episcopo MutincR, Pauli III. ad regem
Romanorum nuntio destinato, 24 Oct.
1586. (MS. Barb. 3007. 15 leaves. [In-
struction given touching the fiiith and the
council by Paul III. to the bishop of Mu-
tina, appointed nuncio to the king of the
Romans.]
A striking evidence how necessary the Ro-
man court felt it to recollect itself and take
heed to its good name. The following, among
other rules of conduct, are enjoined on the
nuncio. He was neither to be lavish nor par-
simonious; neither too grave nor too lively;
he was not to publish his spiritual preroga-
tives by affixing them to the church doors,
which miglit bring him into derision ; who-
ever wanted him could find him without that;
he was only under peculiar circumstances to
remit his dues, but he was never to exact
them with excessive rigour; he was not to
contract any debts, and was to pay in the inns.
*' Nee hospitii pensione nimis parce vel for-
tasse etiam nequaquam soluta discedat, id
quod ab aliquibus nuntiis aliis factum pluri-
raumanimos eorum populorum in nos irritavit.
... In vultu et colloquiis omnem timorem aut
causae nostrse diffidentiam dissimulet. . Hiiari
quidem vultu accipere se fingant invitationes,
sed in respondendo modum non excedant, ne
id forte mali iis accidat quod cuidam nobili
Saxoni, camerario socreto q. Leonis X (Mil-
titz,) qui ob Lutheranam causam componen-
dam in Saxoniam missus, id tantum fructus
reportavit, quod saepe, perturbatus vino, ea
effutire de pontifice et Romana curia a Saxo-
nibus inducebatur, non modo quae facta erant,
sed quae ipsi e malae in nos mentis affectu
imaginabantur et optabant ; et ea omnia scrip-
tis excipientes postea in conventu Vorma-
tiensi nobis publice coram tota Germania ex-
probrabant." [Let him not pay scantily, or
perhaps not at all, on quitting his inn, which
some nuncios have done, thereby exceedingly
exasperating the minds of those people against
us. . Let him dissemble in his countenance
and his discourse all fear and distrust of our
cause. . . . Let them affect to accept invita-
tions with cheerful looks ; but let them not
forget moderation in responding to them, lest
they meet with the same mischance as a cer-
tain noble Saxon, private chamberlain to Leo
X. (Miltitz,) who was sent into Saxony to set-
57
tie the Lutheran business, and had no other
fruit of his pains, but that being frequently
confused with wine, he was induced by the
Saxons to blab things of the pope and the
court of Rome ; not only such as were true,
but such as they in their malice towards us
imagined and desired. All these things they
took down in writing, and afterwards cast up
against us at the diet of Worms publicly, ia
the presence of all Germany.]
We see from Pallavicini, i. 18, that the
conduct of Miltitz caused his memory to be in
very bad odour at the court of Rome.
The instruction before us is further remark-
able for mentioning byname some less known
champions of Catholicism in Germany : Leonh.
Marstaller, — Nicol. Appel, — Joh. Burchard,
preacher of his order . . "qui etsi nihil libro-
rum ediderit contra Lutheranos, magno tamen
vitae periculo ab initio usque hujus tumultus
pro defensione ecclesias laboravit," [who
though he has not published any books against
the Lutherans, has nevertheless laboured, at
the great peril of his life, from the very be-
ginning of this disturbance, for the defence of
the church.] Among those of more note,
Ludwig Berus, who had fled from Basel to
Freiburg, in the Breisgau, is especially ex-
tolled and recommended to the nuncio, " turn
propter sanam et excellentem hominis doctri-
nam et morum probitatem, turn quia sua gra-
vitate et autoritate optime operam navare po-
terit in causa fidei," [both for his sound and
excellent doctrines and morals, and because,
by the weight and influence of his character,
he can do the best possible service to the
cause of the faith.] It is well known that
Ber knew how to make himself respected
even by the protestants.
23. Instruttione mandata da Roma per Velet-
tione del concilio, 1537. — Infnrmalioni
Politt. tom. xii. [Instruction sent from
Rome touching the selection of a place for
the meeting of the council.]
It was now by all means the intention of
Paul III. to convoke a council : in this instruc-
tion he affirms that he was fully resolved on
doing so ("tutto risoluto,") only his wish was
to assemble it in Italy. He was inclined to
choose Piacenza or Bologna, places belonging
to the church, the common mother of all, — or
at least some town of the Venetians, since
these were the common friends of all. His
j reasons were, that he believed the protest-
, ants were not in earnest in their calls for a
j council, as appeared from the conditions for
j which they stipulated. Here the notion dis-
covers itself, which afterwards acquired so
j important a bearing on the history of the
world, that the council was only an affair of
the catholics amonir themselves.
450
APPENDIX.
Furthermore, he gives the emperor intelli-
gence of his efforts for internal reform. . .
" Sara con effetto e non con parole." [It
shall take place, not in words only but in
deed.]
24. Instrutiione data da Paolo III. al d Mon-
tepulciano destinato aW imperotore Carlo
Y. sopra le cose della reUgione in Ger-
mania 1589. Bibl. Corsini nr. 467.)
[Instruction given by Paul III. to cardinal
Montepulciano on his embassy to the em-
peror Charles V., respecting the religious
affairs of Germany.]
Nevertheless, it was apparent that the need
of a reconciliation was most pressing in Ger-
many. Now and then it set both parties in
array against the pope. At the convention of
Frankfort, the imperial ambassador, Johann
Wessel, archbishop of Lund, made the protes-
tants very important concessions, — a truce of
fifteen months, during which all judicial pro-
ceedings of the Kammergericht should be
suspended, and a religious conference, with
which the pope was not at all to interfere.
Of course this was exceedingly offensive to
Paul III. Cardinal Montepulciano, after-
wards Marcellus II., was therefore sent to
Germany to frustrate so uncatholic an ar-
rangement.
The instruction, above all, accuses the
archbishop of Lund of having had corrupt
personal motives for his compliant conduct, of
having been influenced by presents, promises,
and ulterior views. "La communita d'Au-
gusta gli dono 2500 fiorini d'oro, poi gli fu
fatta promissione di 4000 f. singulis annis
sopra il frutto del suo arcivescovato di Lunda
occupato per quel re Luterano." [The city
of Augsburg gave him 2500 gold florins; in
addition to which he was promised 4000 flo-
rins yeajly out of the proceeds of his arch-
bishopric, seized by the Lutheran king (of
Denmark)]. He is suspected of wishing to
stand well with the duke of Cleves, and with
queen Maria of Hungary : for that sister of
the emperor, who was then governess of the
Netherlands, was especially accused of a
strong leaning Jo the protestants. " Secreta-
mente presta favore alia parte di Luterani,
animandogliove puo, e con mandarli huomini
;a posta disfavoreggia la causa de' cattolici."
[She secretly favours the party of the Luthe-
rans, encouraging them, as far as she can, and
sending them men on purpose to hurt the
cause of the catholics.] She had sent an en-
voy to Smalcalde, and expressly exhorted the
elector of Triiers not to join the catholic
league.
Maria and the archbishop were prominent
representatives of the anti-French and anti-
Roman policy of the imperial court. They
wished to see Germany united under the em-
peror. The archbishop declared that this
depended only on a few religious conces-
sions: "che se S. M^^ volesse tolerare che
i Luterani stassero nei loro errori, disponeva
a modo e voler suo di tutta Germania" [that
if his majesty would tolerate the persistence
of the Lutherans in their errors, he might
dispose of all Germany as he pleased].
The pope replies that there were very dif-
ferent means of settling affairs in Germany.
Let us hear himself.
" Annichilandosi dunque del tutto per le
dette cose la dieta di Francfordia, et essendo
il consiglio di S. M^'^ Cesarea etaltri principi
christian! che per la mala dispositione di
questi tempi non si possa per hora celebrare
il concilio generale, non ostante N. S. gia
tanto tempo lo habbia indetto et usato ogni
opera e mezzo per congregarlo, pare a S.
fine che sarebbe bene che S. M^^ pensasse
alia celebratione di una dieta imperiale, per
prohibire quelli inconvenienti che potriano
nascere massimamente di un concilio nation-
ale, il quale tacilniente si potria fare per cat-
tolici e Luterani per la quiete di Germania
quando i cattolici havendo visto infiniti disor-
dini seguiti per causa di alcun ministro della
Cesarea e Regia M^^^ vedessero anche le
Maesta loro eSser tardi alii rimedj : ne detto
concilio nationale sarebbe mono dannoso alia
Cesarea e Regia Maesta, per le occulte cause,
che sanno, che alia sedia apostolica: non po-
triae non partorire scisma in tutta la christi-
anita cosi nel temporale come nello spirituale.
Ma S. S'^ e di parere che si celebri tal dieta
in evento che S. M^^ si possa trovare presente
in Germania o in qualche luogo vicino a la
congregatione : altrimenti se S. M'^ Cesarea
distratta da altre sue occupationi non potesse
trovarsi cosi presto, e d'opinione che la dieta
non s'indichi, ne che S. M'^ si riposi nel giu-
dicio altrui, quantunque sufficienti e buoni
che procurassero e sollecitassero fare detta
dieta in assenza di S. M^^, per non incorrere
in quel disordini che sono seguiti nelle altre
diete particolari ove non si e trovato S. M^^,
e tra questo mezzo con fama continuata da
ogni banda di voler venire in Germania e fare
la dieta e con honesto vie et esecutioni trat-
tenere quel principi che la soUecitano e I'ad-
dimandano: mentre che S. M^^^ venendo da
buon senno la indichi poi e celebri, et inte-
rea vedendo S. M'^ quanto bene et utile sia
per portare la propagatione della lega catto-
lica, attenda per hora a questa cosa principal-
mente, e scriva al suo oratore in Germania
e parendoli ancora mandi alcun' altro che
quanto pifi si puo procurino con ogni diligen-
za e mezzo d'accrescere detta lega cattolica
acquistando e guadagnando ogn' uno, ancora
cho nel principle non fossero cosi sinceri nella
vera religione, perche a poco a poco si potri-
ano poi ridurre e per adcsso importa piii il
togliere a loro che acquistare a noi : alia quale
FROM THE RESTORATION OF CATHOLICISM TO SIXTUS V. 451
cosa gioveria molto quando S. M'^ mandasse
in Gcrmania qiiella piu quantita di denari
ch'ella potnsse, perche divulgandosi tal fama
confirmarebbe gli altri, che piu facilmente
entrassero vedendo che li primi nervi della
guerra no mancariano. E per mag'g-iore cor-
roboratione di delta lega cattolica S. S^^ si
risolvera di mandare una o piii persone a quei
principi cattolici per animarli similmente con
promissioni di ajuto, di denari et altri efFetti,
quando le cose s'incammineranno di sorte, per
il beneficio della religione e conservatione
della disfnita della sede apostolica e della Ce-
sarea M^^, che si veda da biion senno la spesa
dover fare frutto : ne in questo si partira dal
ricordo di S. M^^; ne sarebbe male tra questo
mezzo sotto titolo delle cose Turchesche man-
dare qualche numero di gente Spagnuolo et
Italiana in quelle bande con trattenerli nelle
terre del re de' Romani suo fratello, accioche
bisognando Tajuto fosse presto in ordine."
[Now whereas the diet of Frankfort has been
broken up for the aforesaid causes, and where-
as his imperial majesty and other Christian
princes are advised, that in consequence of
the evil disposition of these times a general
council cannot be held at present, notwith-
standing that our lord the pope proclaimed it
long since, and has used every effort and
means to assemble it, it seems to his holiness
that his majesty would do well to think of
holding an imperial diet, to prevent those in-
conveniences which might most especially
arise out of a national council, whereby the
quiet of Germany might very readily be dis-
turbed by catholics and Lutherans, should the
catholics, after seeing infinite disorders pro-
duced by any imperial or royal minister,
perceive that their majesties themselves were
slow in applying remedies. Nor would the
said national council be less mischievous to
his imperial and his royal majesty for occult
causes, than certain, as they well know, to
produce for the apostolic see schism through-
out all Christendom, both in temporal and in
spiritual things. But his holiness is of opi-
nion that such a diet may be held, if so be his
majesty may be able to be present in Ger-
many or in some place near tlie assembly.
Otherwise should his imperial majesty's occu-
pations prevent his being so near at hand, his
holiness is of opinion that it should not be
called, and that his majesty should not rely
on the judgment of others, however sound
and sufficient, who should endeavour and soli-
cit to have the said diet held with his majes-
ty's consent, that so those disorders may be
avoided which have happened in other special
diets where his majesty was not present.
Meanwhile, it will be advisable, by continual
reports from all quarters of the emperor's in-
tention to visit Germany and hold the diet,
and by all honourable ways and means, to
keep in play those princes who solicit and
demand it. When his majesty shall have
actually arrived he may proclaim and hold the
diet; and meanwhile, seeing how advisable it
is to propagate the catholic league, he should
attend at present chiefly to this, and should
write to his ambassador in Germany, and if
he pleases send also some one else thither
with orders that they should with all possible
diligence use every means to increase the
said catholic league, acquiring and gaining
over every one, even such as may not at first
have been quite sound in the true religion ;
because by and by they may come round, and
at present it is of more moment to take from
their ranks than to add to ours. To this end
I should much rejoice if his majesty would
send as much money as ever he can into
Germany, because upon such news spreading
through the country others would be more
induced to join the league, seeing that the
main sinews of war were not wanting. And
for the greater strengthening of the said
catholic league, his holiness will resolve to
send one or more persons to those catholic
princes to encourage them, and to convey to
them likewise promises of aid in money and
otherwise, when matters shall have been put
in such a train for the benefit of religion and
the preservation of the dignity of the apostolic
see and of his imperial majesty, that there
shall appear in reality good reason to hope
for a desirable result. Nor will his holiness
forget his majesty in this matter: nor would
it be amiss meanwhile, under pretext of Turk-
ish affairs, to send a certain number of Spanish
and Italian troops into those parts, maintain-
ing them in the territories of the emperor's
brother, the king of the Romans, so that in
case of need due aid should be at hand.]
Pallavicini was acquainted with this as
well as with the former instruction. (Lib. iv.
c. xiv.) We learn from him that the infor-
mation concerning Germany in the latter of
the two is derived chiefly from the letters of
Aleander, who earned for himself so ambigu-
ous a reputation in these transactions.
25. Instructiones pro rev"'" doni^" episcopo
Mutinensi apostolico nuntio interfuturo
conventui Germanorum Spirce 12 Maji
1.540 celbhrando.—{Darb. 3007.) [In-
structions for the bishop of Mutina, nuntio
at the German conference in Spires.]
The religious conferences took place how-
ever. We here see in what light they were
regarded in Rome.
" Neque mirum videatur alicui si neque
legatis neque nuntiis plenaria facultas et auc-
toritas decidendi aut concordandi in causa fidei
detiir, quia maxime absurdum esset et ab
omni ratione disseutaneum, quin imo diflicile
et quam maxime periculosum, sacros ritus et
sanctiones, per tot annorum censuras ab uni-
452
APPENDIX.
versali ecclesia ita receptas ut si quid in his
innovandum esset, id rionnisi universalis con-
cilii decretis vel saltern summi pontificis
ecclesise moderatoris njature et bene discussa
deliberatione fieri debeat, paiicorum etiam
non competentium judicio et tain brevi ac
prsecipiti tempore et in loco non satis idoneo
committi.
" Debet tamen rev. dom. nuntius domi suae
seorsim intelligere a catholicis doctoribus ea
omnia quae inter ipsos et doctores Lutheranos
tractabuntur, ut snum consilium prudentiam-
que interponere et ad bonum finem omnia
dirigere possit, salva semper sanctissimi Do-
mini Nostri et apostolicse sedis auctoritate et
dignitate, ut ssepe repetitum est, quia hinc
salus universalis ecclesise pendet, ut inquit D.
Hieronimus. Debet idem particulariter qua-
dam cum dexteritate et prudentia catholicos
principes, tam ecclesiasticos quam sseculares,
in fide parentum et majorum suorum confir-
mare, et ne quid in ea temere et absque apos-
tolicse sedis auctoritate, ad quam hujusmodi
exaraen spectat, innovari aut immutari pati-
antur, eos commonefacere." [Nor let it seem
strange to any one, if neither to legates nor
nuncii is accorded plenary power and autho-
rity to decide or enter into agreement in mat-
ters of faith, because it would be most absurd
and at variance with all reason, nay in the
utmost degree difficult and excessively peril-
ous, that to the judgment of a few persons,
and those not competent, in so brief a space
of time, with such precipitation, and in no
very suitable place, should be committed sa-
cred rites and sanctions, commended to the
universal church by the searching experience
of so many years ; and so received by it, that
were any innovation to be made in them, it
could only be done by the decrees of an uni-
versal council, or at the least by the mature
and well-digested deliberation of the sove-
reign pontiff", the moderator of the church.
[The reverend nuntio ought, however,
when abroad, to hear from the catholic doc-
tors all those things which shall be treated of
between them and the Lutheran doctors, so
that he may be able to interpose with his
wisdom and his counsel, and du-ect every-
thing to a happy issue; saving always the
authority and dignity of our most holy lord,
and of the apostolic see, as has been repeat-
edly said; because on this depends, as St.
Jerome says, the weal of the universal church.
He ought likewise in particular, with some
address and judgment, to confirm the catholic
princes as well clerical as lay, in the faith of
their parents and their forefatiiers, and admo-
nish them not to suffer any chanore or inno-
vation to be made in it rashly, and without
the authority of the apostolic see, to which
the investigation of such matters properly
appertains.]
26. Instructio data rev^' card^i Contareno
in Germanium legato. 28 Jan. 1541.
[Instruction given to cardinal Contarini,
legate to Germany.]
Already printed and often noticed. — At
length the court of Rome consents to give way
in some degree.
Our collections contain between the years
1.541 and 1551 a considerable number of let-
ters, reports, and instructions, comprehending
all Europe, and not unfrequently throwing a
new light on -events that cannot, however, be
minutely investigated in this place, for the
book which these extracts would further
illustrate was not intended for a complete
representation of that period. I therefore,
without much scruple, confine myself to the
more important.
27. 1551 die 20 Junii in senatu MatthcBus
Dandulus eques ex Roma orator.
The title of the report which Matt. Dando-
lo — the brother-in-law of Caspar Contarini,
as we learn from the letter of cardinal Pole
(ed. Quir. ii. p. 90) — gave in after a resi-
dence of twenty-six months in Rome. He
promises to be brief: " Alle relatione non con-
vengono delle cose che sono state scritte se
non quelle che sono necessarie di esser osser-
vate."
He speaks first of the latter days of Paul
III. (I have already given the most important
portions) ; he then mentions the conclave,
and names all the cardinals. Dandolo asserts
that he arrived in Rome with members of the
college belonging to the university of Padua.
We see how well he must have been inform-
ed. He then gives a table of the papal fi-
nances : " II particolar conto, io I'ho avuto da
essa camera.
" I. La camera apostolica ha d'entrata
I'anno: per la thesaureria della Marca 25000
sc, per la salaradi detta provincia 10000, per
la thesaureria della citta d'Ancona 9000, —
d'Ascoli 2400, — di Fermo 1750, — di Cameri-
no 17000, — di Romagna et salara 31331, —
di Patrimonio 24000, — di Perugia et Umbria
35597, — di Cainpagna 1176, per Norsia 600,
per la salara di Roma 19075, per la doana di
Roma 92000, per la gabella de cavalli in Ro-
ma 1322, per la lumiere 212.50, per I'anco-
raggio di Civita vecchia 1000; per il sussidio
triennale : dalla Marca 66000, da Romagna
44334, da Bologna 15000, da Perugia et Um-
bria 43101 da patrimonio 18018, da Cam-
pagna 21529; da censi di S. Pietro 24000,
dalla congregne de frati 23135, da vigesima
de Hebrei 9855, da maleficj di Roma 2000.
Sum ma 559473.
Da dexime del stato ecelesiastico
quando si pongono 3000 sc, da dex-
FROM THE RESTORATION OF CATHOLICISM TO SIXTUS V.
453
i?ne di Milano 40000, — del regno
3T000, — dalla gabella della farina
30000, — della gabella de contratti
8000 = 2-22(!)000.
Ha il datario per li officii die vocano
compositioni et admission! 131000,
da spoglie di Spagna 25000 =
147000
Summa delle entrate tutte 706(!)473
senza le 5 partite non tratte fuora, che stanno
a beneplacito di N. Signore.
"IL La camera ha dispeza I'anno: adiversi
governatori, legati, roche 46071 scudi, alii
officiali di Roma 145815, a diverse gratie
58192 in Roma al governatore bargello, giiar-
die camerali et altri officii 66694, al capitano
generate 39600, alle gallere 24000, al populo
Romano per il capitolio 8950, al maestro di
casa, il vitto della casa 60000, a diversi ex-
traordinarii in Roma 35485, al signor Baldu-
ino cameriere 17000, al signor Gioan Battista
1750, alia cavelleria quando si teneva I'anno
30000 al N. S. per suo spendere et per provisi-
on! da a cardinali e tutto il datariato 232000.
Summa in tutto questo excito 70(61)5557
scudi."
[I. The apostolic chamber has of yearly
revenue, from the treasury of La Marca
25000 scudi, from the salt dues of the said
province 10000, from the treasury of the city
of Ancona9000, — of Ascoli 2400, — of Fermo
1750, — of Camerino 17000, — of Romagna with
salt dues, 31331, — of the patrimony 24000, —
of Perugia and Umbria 35597, — of Campagna
1176, from Norsia 600, from the salt dues of
of Rome 19075, from the customs of Rome
92000, from the tax on horses in Rome 1322,
from lights 21250, from the anchorage of
Civita Vecchia 1000; from the triennial sub-
sidy, of La Marca 66000, of Romagna 44334,
of Bologna 15000, of Perugia and Umbria
43101, of the patrimony 18018, of Campania
21529 ; from St. Peter's tax 24000, from the
congregation of friars 23135, from the Hebrew
twentieths 9855, from the malefactors of Rome
2000.
Total 559473
Adding for the tithes of the ecclesi-
cal state 3000 scudi, for that of Mi-
Ian 40000, tor that of the kingdom
37000, for the wheat tax 30000, for
the tax on contracts 8000 = 220000
The datario receives upon vacant
offices tor compositions and admis-
sions 131000, from Spanish booty
25000. = 147000
Total of the entire revenue 706473
without the five portions not brought forward,
which are disposable at the good pleasure of
our lord.
[II. The chamber's annual expenditure is :
for various governors, legates, forts, 46071
scudi, for the officers of Rome 145815, for
various gratuities 58192, in Rome for the go-
vernor bargello, guards of the chamber, and
other appointments, 66694, for the captain
general 39600, for the galleys 24000, for the
Roman people for the capitol 8950, for the
master of the palace, for the victualling of the
palace 60000, for sundry contingencies in
Rome 35485, for signor Balduino, chamber-
lain, 17000, for signor Gioan Battista 1750,
for the cavalry when it was on service 30000
yearly, for our lord, for his privy purse, and
for pensions for the cardinals and the whole
datariato, 232000. Total of this whole ex-
penditure, 705557 scudi.]
He ends with remarks on the person of
Julius IIL " Papa Giulio, Ser'na Sig"a, gra-
vissimo e sapientissimo conso, e dal Monte
Sansovino, picciol luogo in Toscana, come
gia scrissi alle Ecc^e Ve. II prime che diede
nome e qualche riputatione alia casa sua fu
suo avo, dottore e molto dotto in legge, e fu
al servitio del duca Guide de Urbino, dal
quale mandate in Roma per negotii del suo
state li acquisto gratia molta, sicche col mol-
to studio che in detta faculta fece il suo ne-
pote, acquisto tanto di gratia et riputatione
che el fu il cardinal de monte : di chi poi fu
nipote questo. Arrivato in corte per il primo
grade camerier di papa Julio secondo, fu poi
arcivescovo di Siponto, et in tal grade venne
qui alle Ecc^e Ve a dimandargli Ravenna et
Cervia, quandoche elle le hebbeno doppo il
sacco di Roma : et col mullo suo valore nel
quale el si dimostro et nelle lettere di legge
et nei consigli havuti molti et per I'auttorita
molta di suo zio, che fu il cardinal di Monte,
doppo morto lui, fu fatto cardinal questo. Et
fatto papa si prese subito il nome di Julio, che
fu il suo patron, con uno perfettion (presun-
tion"?) di volerlo imitare.
" Ha Sua S^^ 64 anni a 28 Ottobre, di natu-
ra collerica molto, ma ancho molto benigne
sicche per gran collera che I'abbi la gli passa
inanzi che compisse di ragionarla, sicche a
me pare di poter affirmare lui non portar odio
ne ancho forse amore ad alcuno, eccetto pero
il cardinal di Monte, del quale diro poi. A
Sua Santita non volsero mai dar il vote li car-
dinali ne di Marsa (?) ne di Trento, et furono
li subito et meglio permiati da lei che alcun'
altro di quel che la favorirono. II piu favo-
rite servitore di molti anni suo era lo arcives-
covo di Siponto, che lei essendo cardinale gli
diede I'arcivescovato e da lui fu sempre ben
servita, sicche si credea che subito la lo farebbe
cardinale, ma lui si e rimasto in minoribus
quasi che non era quandoche lei era cardinale,
che poi fatta papa o poco o nulla si e volute
valer di lui, sicche el poverino se ne resta
quas! come disperato."
[Pope Julius, may it please your most se-
rene seignory, most grave and most wise
council, is from Monte Sansovino, a little
place in Tuscany, as I have already wr itten
454
APPENDIX.
to your excellencies. The first who gave
name and some degree of reputation to his
house was his grandfather, a doctor very
learned in the laws, who was in the service
of duke Guido de Urbino, by whom being sent
to Rome on affairs concerning his state, he
attained to great favour there : so that his
nephew, having made great progress in the
study of the said faculty, acquired so much
favour and renown, that he became cardinal
di Monte, whose nephew is the present pope.
His first appointment at court having been
that of chamberlain to pope Julius the second,
he was next made archbishop of Siponto, and
in that rank went to )'our excellencies to
demand of you Ravena and Cervia when you
held them after the sack of Rome ; and by
means of his great ability, whereby he distin-
guished himself both in legal learning and
on numerous occasions on which his counsel
was available, and through the great influ-
ence of his uncle, the then cardinal de Monte,
since dead, he was made cardinal. On be-
ing made pope, he immediately took the name
of Julius, which was that of his patron, with
a purpose to imitate him.
[His holiness will be 64 years of age the
28th of October, is of a very choleric but yet
very kindly nature, so that, for all his choler
be great, he puts it aside with those who are
able to reason with him ; so that I think I
can affirm that he does not entertain hatred
to any one, nor it may be love, — except, in-
deed to cardinal di Monte, of whom I shall
speak hereafter. Neither cardinal di Marsa (?)
nor cardinal di Trento ever voted for his holi-
ness, and they immediately received higher
rewards from him than any of those who fa-
voured him. His most favourite servant for
many years was the archbishop of Siponto, to
whom, when he was cardinal, he gave the
archbishopric, and he was always well served
by him, so that it was thought he would im-
mediately make him cardinal: the archbishop,
however, has remained in minoribus, worse
almost than he was when the pope was cardi-
nal, who when he became pope made little
or no account of him, so that the poor man is
almost in despair thereat ] The
MS. is unfortunately too defective to allow
of our copying further, particularly as the in-
formation it gives often becomes trivial.
28. Vita di Marcello II scritta di propria
mano del signor Alex. Cervini suo fra-
tello. {Alb. nr. 157.) [The life of Mar-
cellus n. written by his brother, Signor
Alex. Cervini, with his own hand.]
There exists a very useful little work on
pope Marcellus II. by Peter Polidori, 1744.
The very first of the sources from which he
states that he drew his information is this
biography by Alex. Cervini. Unfortunately
the greater part of it suffered severely in a
fire that occurred in the family mansion at
Montepulciano in the year 1598. Only a
fragment of it remains. I extract the fol-
lowing passage, which relates to an attempt
at reforming the calendar made under Leo X.:
which is not mentioned by Polidori.
" Havendolo adunque il padre assuefatto in
questi costumi et esercitatolo nella grammat-
ica, rettorica, aritmetica,e geometria, accadde
che anche fu esercitato nell' astrologia natu-
rale pivi ancora che non haverebbe fatto ordi-
natamente, e la causa fu questa : la Si^^ di N.
Sigre in quel tempo, Leone X, per publico
editto fece intendere che chi haveva regola o
mode di correggere I'anno trascorso fino ad
air hora per undici giorni, lo facesse noto a
S. S"^^: onde M^" Riccardo gia detto, siccome
assai esercitato in questa professione, volse
obbedire al pontefice, e pero con longa e dili-
gente osservatione e con suoi stromenti trovo
il vero corso del sole, siccome apparisce nelli
suoi opusculi mandati al papa Leone, con il
quale e con quella gloriosissima casa de Me-
dici teneva gran servitti e specialmente con
il magnifico Giuliano, dal quale aveva ricevu-
ti favori et ofterte grandi. Ma perche la
morte lo prevenne, quel Signore non segui
pivi oltre il disegno ordinate che M"" Riccardo
seguitasse, servendo la persona Sua Ecc^a in
Francia e per tutto dove essa andasse, come
erano convenuli. Ne la Santita di N. Signore
potette eseguire la publicatione della corret-
tione deir anno per varii impedimenti e final-
rnente per la morte propria, che ne segui non
molto tempo doppo."
[His father then having accustomed him to
these habits, and having exercised him in
grammar, rhetoric, arithmetic, and geometry,
it happened that he became likewise much
versed in natural astrology, and that much
more than would have been the case under
ordinary circumstances. The cause was
this : his holiness, the then pope, Leo X.,
gave out by public proclamation, that who-
ever knew a rule, or method, for correcting
the year, — which by this time had outrun the
reckoning eleven days, — should make the
same known to his holiness. Accordingly,
the before-mentioned M'' Riccardo (the pope's
father), being tolerably versed in that profes-
sion, applied himself to obey the pope, and so
by long and diligent observation, and with
the help of his instruments, he found the true
course of the sun, as appears in his essays
presented to pope Leo, whose very devoted
servant he was, as well as of the whole of
that most glorious house of Medici, particu-
larly the magnifico Giuliano, from whom he
had received favours and large offers. But
the death of that signor prevented the fulfil-
ment of the intention that M^ Riccardo
should attend on his excellency in France
and wherever he went, as had been agreed on
by them. Nor was his holiness able to follow
RESTORATION OF CATHOLICISM DOWN TO SIXTUS V.
455
up the publication of the correction of the
year, by reason of various hindrances, and
finally of his own death, which followed not
long after.]
We see how the minds of the Italians in
the times of Leo X. were busied in this mat-
ter ; and that the bishop of Fossombrone,
who urged a reform of the calendar in the
Lateran council of the year 1513, was not
the only one who turned his attention to the
subject.
29. Antonio Caracciolo Vita di Papa Paolo
IV. (2 vols, fol.) [Life of pope Paul IV.
by Antonio Caracciolo.]
Antonio Caracciolo, a theatine, a Neapoli-
tan, and a compiler all his life, could not ab-
stain from devoting his industry to the history
of the most renowned of Neapolitan popes and
the founder of the theatines, Paul IV. For
this we owe him all thanks. He has collect-
ed a great multitude of particulars that would
otherwise have been lost. His book is the
basis of Carlo Bromato's elaborate work, Sto-
ria di Paolo IV. Pontefice Massimo, Rom.
1748, which presents an exceedingly rich
collection of materials in two thick and close-
ly-printed quarto volumes.
Eut, as was inevitable under the rigid cen-
sure exercised in the catholic church, Broma-
to could by no means admit every thing that
he found in his authorities.
I have often mentioned a detailed informa-
tion presented by J. P. Caraffa to Clement
VII. on the condition of the church, which
was drawn up in the year 1.532. Bromato
has a long extract from it (i. p. 205,) but he
omits a great deal, and that too the most sig-
nificant part ; for example, what is said of the
propagation of Lutheran opinions in Venice.
" Si supplica S. S'i^ che per I'honore di dio
e suo, non essendo questa citta la piu minima
ne la piii vil cosa della christianita et essen-
dovi nella citta e nel dominio di molte e mol-
te migliara d'anime commesse a S. S^^, sia
contenta da persona fedele ascoltare qualche
cosa del loro bisogno, il quale ancorche sia
grande, pure se ne dira per hora qualche par-
te. E perche, come I'apostolo dice, sine fide
impossibile est placere deo, comminciarete da
questa, etavisarete S. S^^ come si sente deg-
li errori e dell' heresie nella vita e nei costu-
mi di alcuni, come e in non fare la quaresima
e non confessarsi etc., e nella dottrina di al-
cuni, che publicamente ne parlano e tengono
e communicano ancora con gli altri de' libri
prohibit! senza rispetto. Ma sopra tutto di-
rele che questa peste, tanto dell' heresia Lu-
terana quanto d'ogni altro errore contra fidem
et bonos mores, da due sorti di persone potis-
simamente si va disseminandoet aumentando,
cioe dagli apostati e da alcuni frati massime
convencuali, e S. S^^ deve sapere di quella
maledetta nidata di quelli frati minori conven-
tuali, la quale per sua bonta fermando alcuni
suoi servi ha incominciato a mettere in iscom-
piglio : perche essendo loro stati discepoli d'un
frate heretico gia morto, han voluto far onore
al maestro. . . . E per dire quelio che in cio
mi occorse, pare che in tanta necessity non
si debba andare appresso la stampa usata : ma
siccome nell' ingruente furore della guerra si
fanno ogni di nuove provvisioni opportune,
cosi nella maggior guerra spirituale non si
deve stare a dormire. E perche S. S^^ sa
che I'officio dell' inquisitione in questa provin-
cia sta nelle mani de' sopradetti frati minori
conventuali, li quali a caso s'abbattono a fare
qualche inquisitione idonea, come estate quel
maestro Martino da Treviso, della cui dili-
genza e fede so che il sopradetto di buona
memoria vescovo di Pola informo S. S"^^, et
essendo hora lui mutato da quelio in altro of-
ficio, e successo nell' inquisitione non so chi,
per quanto intendo, molto inetto: e pero bi-
sogneria che S. S^^ provvedesse parte con
eccitar gli ordinarj, che per tutto quasi si
dorme, e parte con deputare alcune persone
d'autorita, mandare in questa terra qualche
legato, se possibile fosse, non ambitioso ne
cupido, e che attendesse a risarcire I'honore
e credito della sede apostolica e punire o al-
meno fugare li ribaldi heretici da mezzo de'
poveri christiani : perche dovunque anderan-
no, porteranno seco il testimonio della propria
nequitia e della bonta de' fedeli cattolici, che
non li vogliono in lor compagnia. E perche
la peste dell' heresia si suole introdurre e per
le prediche e libri hereticali e per la lunga
habituatione nella mala e dissoluta vita, della
quale facilmente si viene all' heresia, par che
S. S'^ potria fare in cio una santa, honesta et
utile provvisione."
[His holiness is implored for the honour of
God and his own, this city not being the least
or the meanest object in Christendom, and
there being in this city and its territories
many and many a thousand souls committed
to his holiness, that he be content to hear from
a faithful witness something of their wants,
which, great as they are, shall now be stated,
at least in part. And since, as the Apostle
says, without faith it is impossible to please
God, you shall begin with this, and acquaint
his holiness of the errors and heresies in life
and conduct of certain persons, who do not
keep Lent, nor confess, &c., and with the
doctrines of others, who publicly profess and
maintain the same, and indecently communi-
cate with others in the matter of prohibited
books. But, above all, you will say that this
plague, whether of the Lutheran heresy, or
of all other errors contrary to the faith and
to sound morality, is chiefly disseminated and
augmented by two sorts of persons, that is, by
apostates and by certain monks especially ;
and his holiness ought to be made acquainted
456
APPENDIX.
with that accursed nest of frati minori, which
being allowed by his goodness to stop some of
his servants, has begun to create disturbance;
for they, having been disciples of a heretic
monk now dead, wish to do honour to their
master. . . . And to speak my opinion in this
matter, I think that in so great an emergency
we ought not to confine ourselves to the usual
routine ; but, as in the thickening horrors of
war, new expedients are daily adopted as op-
portunity requires, so in the greater spiritual
warfare we ought not to slumber. And
whereas his holiness knows that the office of
the inquisition in this province is in the hands
of the aforesaid frati minori, who occasionally
condescend to execute some fit inquisition, as
was the case under that master JVIartino de
Treviso, of whose diligence and faith I know
that the aforesaid bisliop of Pola, of worthy
memory, informed his holiness ; and he being
now transferred from that office to another,
and his place filled by I know not who, some
very incapable person, as far as I can learn,
— it were needful accordingly that his holi-
ness should make due provision, partly by
exciting the ordinaries, who are every where,
so to speak, asleep, and partly by deputing
some persons of weight, and sending hither
some legate free, if it be possible, from ambi-
tion and cupidity, who should apply himself
to patch up tlie honour and credit of the apos-
tolic see, and to punish, or at least to chase
away, the rascal heretics from among the
poor Christians : for let them go where they
will, they will carry with them the evidence
of their own wickedness, and of the goodness
of the faithful catholics, who will not have
them in their company. And whereas the
plague of heresy is usually introduced by
preachers and by heretical books, and by long
habituation in an evil and dissolute life, which
easily leads to heresy, it seems that his holi-
ness might adopt a holy, honourable, and use-
ful provision in this respect.]
Caracciolo's work contains a great many
other pieces of information of more or less
consequence, which however have remained
unknown, and which a more detailed work
than the present ought not to overlook. The
Italian Biography is altogether distinct from
another of his writings, " Collectanea histori-
ca de Paulo IV. :" it is quite a diflTerent kind
of work, and far more useful. There are,
however, in the Collectanea some few things
which recur in the " Vita," such, for instance,
as the description of the changes undertaken
by Paul IV. after he had dismissed his ne-
phews.
30. Relatione di M. Bernardo Navagero al-
ia S""^ Rep'^"^ di Venetia tornando di
Roma ambasciatore appresso del ponte-
Jice Paolo IV. 1558. [Report made to
the republic of Venice by Bernardo Nava-
gero on his return from an embassy to
Paul IV.]
This is one of the Venetian reports which
obtained general circulation, Pallavicini
made use of it, and was even attacked on that
account: Rainaldus, too, not to speak of later
authors, makes mention of it (Annales Ec-
cles. 1557, No. 10.)
Undoubtedly it is highly deserving of these
honours. Bernardo Navagero enjoyed the
reputation in Venice of a learned man. We
learn from Foscarini (della Lett. Ven. p. 255)
that he was proposed as historiographer of
the republic. In his former embassies to
Charles V., Henry VIII., and Solyman, he
had acquired practice in the conduct of diffi-
cult affairs, and in the observation of remark-
able characters. He came to Rome immedi-
ately after the accession of Paul IV.
Navagero classifies the duties of an ambas-
sador under three heads ; understanding,
which demands penetration ; negociation,
which demands address ; and reporting,
which demands judgment in order to deter-
mine what is necessary and useful to say.
He begins with the general question of the
election and power of the popes. It is his
opinion that if the popes would make it their
study to imitate Christ, they would be vastly
more formidable. He then pourtrays " le
conditioni" as he says, " di papa Paolo IV, e
di chi lo coDsiglia," [the qualities of pope
Paul IV., and of his advisers,] that is, above
all his three nephews. I have made use of
his description ; but we cannot agree with
the author in his general conclusions. He
holds that even Paul IV. had no other object
than the aggrandizement of his own house.
Had Navagero written at a later period, after
the banishment of the nephews, he would not
have let fall such an opinion. That very
event marked the great turn in the papal po-
licy from temporal to spiritual views. From
personal matters Navagero proceeds to a de-
scription of the war between Paul IV. and
Philip II., and here he displays the same hap-
py conception and acute observation. Next
follow reflections on the foreign relations of
Rome, and on the probable result of a future
election. It is with extreme caution Nava-
gero ventures to speak on this subject:
" piu," he says, " per sodisfare alle SS. VV.
EE. che a me in quella parte," [rather for
your excellencies' satisfaction than my own.]
But he did not guess amiss. He names as one
of the two who, in his opinion, had the great-
est chance of success, Medighis, who was
actually elected, although he thought, in-
deed, that the other, Puteo, had the better
prospects.
" Now, however," he says, " I am here
once more. I again behold the countenance
of my sovereign, the illustrious republic, for
RESTORATION OF CATHOLICISM DOWN TO SIXTHS V.
457
whose service there is nothing so great that I
would not attempt it, nothing so insignificant
that I would not undertake it." This expres-
sion of devotedness gives a still more glowing
colour to his descriptions.
31. Relatione del CI'"" M. Aluise Mocenigo
Cav" ritornato della Corte di Rojna 1560
— {Arch. Yen.) [Aluise Mocenigo's re-
port of his embassy to Rome.]
Mocenigo remained seventeen months at
the court of Paul IV. ; the conclave lasted
four months eight days ; and seven months he
filled the post of ambassador to Pius IV.
He describes first the ecclesiastical and
temporal administration, the tribunals of jus-
tice, and the court under Paul IV. On this
head he makes an observation, of which I
have not ventured to make use, though it is
suggestive of a great deal : "I cardinali," he
says, " dividono fra loro le citta delle legati-
oni (nel conclave) : poi continuano in questo
modo a beneplacito delli pontefici." [The
cardinals distribute the legations to the seve-
ral cities among themselves (in the conclave),
and the arrangement is afterwards continued,
subject to the good pleasure of the popes.] Is
this possibly the origin of the administration
of the state by the clergy, which was gradu-
ally introduced]
Nor does he forget the antiquities in which
Rome, as the accounts of IJoissard and Ga-
mucci testify, was then more rich than at any
other period, " In cadaun loco, habitato o
non habitato, che si scava in Roma, si ritro-
vano vestigie a fabriche nobili et antiche, et
in molti luoghi si cavano di bellissime statue.
Di statue marmoree, poste insieme, si potria
fare un grandissimo esercito." [In every spot,
inhabited or otherwise, which is excavated in
Rome, are found vestiges of noble antique
structures, and in many places very beautiful
statues are dug up. There are marble sta-
tues enough, if they were put together, to
form a huge army.]
He then adverts to the disturbances that
broke out on the death of Paul IV., and which,
even after they appeared to be allayed, were
repeated in a thousand fresh disorders. " Ccs-
sato c'hebbe il popolo, concorsero nella citta
tutti falliti e fuorusciti, che non si sentiva altro
che omicidii, si ritrovavano alcuni che con 8,
7 e fin 6 scudi si pigliavano il caricco d'amazzar
un' uomo, a tanto che ne furono in pochi giorni
commesse molte centenara, alcuni per nimi-
cizia, altri per lite, molti per ereditar la sua
roba et altri per diverse cause, di modo che
Roma pareva, come si suol dire, il bosco di
Baccaro." [When the people had ceased
from their commotions, all the broken men and
outlaws flocked to the city, so that nothing
was heard of but murders; and persons were
found, who for eight, seven, and even six scudi,
53
would take upon them to kill a man, so that
many hundred murders were committed in a
few days, some for old quarrels, some on account
of law-suits, many for the sake of inheriting
the spoils of the murdered, and for divers other
reasons, insomuch that Rome, as the saying
is, was like the forest of Baccaro.]
The conclave was very jovial, with ban-
quets every day : Vargas spent whole nights
there ; at least " alii busi del conclave ;" but
the person who determined the election was
duke Cosmo of Florence. " II duca di Firenze
I'a fatto papa : lui I'a fatto poner nei nominati
del re Filippo e poi con diversi mezzi raccom-
mandar anco dalla regina di Franza, e final-
mente guadagnatogli con grand' industria e
diligenza la parte Carafesca." The duke of
Florence made him pope. It was he who had
him put among the nominees of King Philip,
then by various means caused him to be recom-
mended by the queen of France, and finally
with great exertions gained over the Caraflfa
party to his interests.] How plainly do all the
intrigues related in the histories of the con-
claves shrink before our eyes into their intrin-
sic ]iothingness ! The authors of these his-
tories, themselves usually members of the con-
claves, saw only the mutual bearings of the
individuals with whom they were acquainted,
but all influences from without were hidden
from them.
The report concludes with a description of
Pius IV. so far as his personal character had
up to that time displayed itself.
32. Relatione del Cl^<> M. Marchio Michiel
A'*" e Proc. ritornato da Pio IV sommo
pontefice, fatta a 8 di Zugno 1560. [Re-
port of the embassy of Marchio Michiel to
Pius IV.]
A report of an embassy of congratulation
which was absent from Venice but thirty-nine
days, and cost l;3,000 ducats. As a report it
is very feeble. Michiel exhorts to submissive-
ness to Rome. " Non si tagli la giurisdition
del papa, e li sig'' avogadori per non turbare
I'animo di S. S^i^ abbino tutti quelli rispetti
che si conviene, i quali ho visto che molte volte
non si hanno." [Let the pope's jurisdiction
not be wrested from him, and let the lawyers,
to avoid disturbing the mind of his holiness, act
with all that deference and circumspection
which is becoming, and which I have on many
occasions seen that they do not observe.]
33. Dispacci degli amhasciatori Veneti 19
Maggio 21 Sett. Io60.— Inform. Politt.
toin. viii. 272 leaves. — Ragguagli delV
ambasciatore Veneto in Roma 1561.
Inform. Politt. tom. xxxvii. 71 leaves.
[Despatches of the Venetian ambassadors,
18th May— 21st Sept. 1560.— Reports of
the Venetian ambassador at Rome, 1561.]
458
APPENDIX.
The Ragguagli are also dispatches of the
months of Jan. and Feb. 1561, all from Marc.
Anton, de Mula, who for a while filled the
post of ambassador. (See Andres Mauroceni
Hist. Venet. lib. viii. torn. ii. 153.) They are
very instructive, and interesting as to the cir-
cumstances of the times and the character of
Pius. The final fate of the Carafeschi occu-
pies a prominent place in them, and it appears
that Philip II. was then desirous of saving his
old foes. This was even alleged against him
at the court of Rome as a crime. Vargas
replied that Philip II. had pardoned them once
for all : " quel gran re, quel santo, quel catto-
lico non facenda come voi altri" [that great
king, that holy, that catholic king not doing
after your ways.] The pope, on the other
hand, reproached them most vehemently :
" havere mosse I'arme de Christian!, de Turchi
e degl' eretici, e che le lettere che
venivano da Francia e dagli agenti in Italia,
tutte erano contrafatte etc." [that they had
roused the Christians, the Turks, and the
heretics to war and the letters from
France and from the agents in Italy were all
forged, &c.] The pope said he would give
100,000 scudi to know they were innocent.
But horrors such as they had committed were
not to be endured in Christendom.
I abstain, however, from making extracts
from these letters. It is enough to have signi-
fied their contents.
34. Extractus processus cardinalis CarqffcB.
Inff. tom. ii. f 465 bis 516, with the addi-
tion : HcEC copia processus formati contra
cardinalem Caraffam reducta in summain
cum imputationibus Jisci eorumque repro-
bationibus perfecta fuit d. XX Nov. 1560.
[Extract of the trial of cardinal Caraffa,
&c.]
From the ninth point of the defence, s. v.
Haeresis, we learn that Albert of Branden-
burgh sent a certain colonel Friedrich to Rome
to conclude a treaty with Paul IV. The colo-
nel had audience of the pope hmiself, but the
cardinal of Augsburg (Otto von Truchscss)
raised so many objections against him, that he
was at last sent out of Rome. To tiiis is
annexed : " El successo de la muerte de los
Garrafas con la declaration y el mode que
murieron y el di y hora 1561. Inform, ii.
35. Relatione di Girolamo Sornnzo del 1563.
Rorna. — (Arch Yen.) [Report by Giro-
lamo Soranzo.]
The date of the year 1561 on the copy in
the archives, is undoubtedly incorrect. It ap-
pears from the authentic lists of the embas-
sies, that Girolamo Soranzo was appointed as
early as Sept. 2"2, 1560, on account of Mula
having accepted a place of pope Pius IV, and
thereby fallen into disgrace with the republic.
But he was forgiven, and it was not till he was
even made cardinal, in the year 1562, that he
was replaced by Soranzo. The latter often
refers, too, to the council, which did not sit at
all in the year 1561.
Girolamo Soranzo remarked, that the reports
of ambassadors were both useful and agreeable
to the senate (e volontieri udite e maturamente
considerate ;) he composed his own with in-
dustry and good-will. It is well worth while
to hear his description of Pius IV.
" Delle qualita dell' animo di Sua Beatitu-
dine diro sinceramentealcune particular! pro-
prieta, che nel tempo della mia legatione ho
potuto osservare in lei et intender da persone
che ne hanno parlato senza passione. II papa,
come ho detto di sopra, ha studiato in leggi :
con la cognitione delle quali e con la pratica
di tanti anni nelli govern! principal! che ha
havuto, ha fatto un giudicio mirabile nolle
cause cosi di giustitia come di gratia che si
propongono in segnatura, in modo che non
s'apre la bocca che sa quelle si puo concedere
e quelle si deve negare, la quale parte e non
pur utile ma necessaria in un pontefice per le
molte et important! materie che occorre trat-
tar di tempo in tempo. Possiede molto bene
la lingua latina e s'ha sempre dilettato di
conoscer le sue bellezze, in modo che, per
quanto mi ha detto I'illustrissimo Navagiero,
che ne ha cosi bel giudicio, ne! concistorj, dove
e I'uso di parlar latino, dice quelle che vuole
e facilmente e propriamente. Non ha stu-
diato in theologia, onde avviene che non vuole
ma! propria autorita pigliar in se alcuna delle
cause commesse all' ufficio dell' inquisitione :
ma usa di dire che non essendo theologo si con-
tenta rimettersi in tutte le cose a chi si ha il
carico : e se bene si conosce non esser di sua
satisfattione il modo che tengono gl' inquisi-
tor! di procedere per I'ordinario con tanto ri-
gore contra gl' inquisiti, e che si lascia inten-
dere che piu gli piaceria che usassero termini
da cortese gentilhuomo che da frate severo,
nondimeno non ardisce o non vuole mai oppo-
nersi ai giudicii lore, nei quali interviene poche
volte, tacendosi per il piii congregatioui senza
lapresenz asua. Nolle materie e deliberationi
di state non vuole consiglio d'alcuno, in tanto
che si dice non esser stato pontefice piu trava-
gliato e manco consigliato di S. S^^, non senza
meraviglia di tutta la corte che almeno nolle
cose di maggior importantia ella non voglia
avere il parere di qualche cardinale, che pur
ve ne sono molti di buon consiglio: e so che
un giortio Vargas lo persuase a tarlo, con dirle
che se bene S. Si'^ era prudentissima, che pero
unus vir erat nullus vir, ma ella se lo levo
d'inanzi con male parole : et in efl^etto si vede
che, 0 sia che ella stima esser atta di poter
risolver da se tutte le materie che occorrono,
o die pur conosca esser pochi o forse niuno
cardinale che non sia iuteressato con qualche
RESTORATION OF CATHOLICISM DOWN TO SIXTUS V.
459
principe, onde il giudicio non pud esser libero
e sincere, si vede, dico, che non si vuole ser-
vire d'aitri che dal card' Borromeo e dal sig""©
Tolomeo, i quali essendo giovani di niuna o
poca sperienza et esseguenti ad ogni minimo
cenno di S. S^^, si possnno chiamar piutosto
semplici essecutoriche consiglieri. Da questo
mancamento di consiglio ne nasce che la Beat"
Sua, di natura molto presta per tuttc le sue
attioni, si risolve anco molto presto in tutte le
materie, per important! che le sieno, e presto
si rimuove da quelle che ha deliberate : perche
quando sono publicate le sue deliberationi e
che li venga poi dato qualche advertimento in
contrario, non solo le altera, ma fa spesso tutte
I'opposito al sue primo disegno, il che a mio
tempo e avvenuto non una ma molte volte.
Con i principi tiene niodo immediate contrario
al sue precessore : perche quelle usava di dire
il grade del pentefice esser per metter sotto i
piedi gl'imperatori et i re, e questo dice che
senza I'autorita de' principi non si puo conser-
vare quel la del pentefice : e percio precede
con gran rispetto verso di cadauno principe e
fa lore volentieri delle gratie, e quando le
niega, lo fa con gran destrezza e modestia.
Precede medesimamente con gran delcezza e
facilita nel trovar i negotii indifTerentemente
con tutti: ma se alcuna volta segli domanda
cosa che non sente, se mostra vehemente molto
e terribile, ne patisce che segli contradica : ne
quasi mai e necessaria con S. St-^ la destrezza,
perche quando si e addolcita, difficilmente
niega alcuna gratia : e vero che nell' essecu-
tiene poi si trova per il piu maggior difficulta
che nella premessa. Porta gran rispetto verse
i rov"i' card^', e fa loro volentieri delle gTatie,
ne deroga mai ai sei indulti nelle coUatieni
de' beneficii, quelle che non faceva il sue pre-
cessore. E vero che da quelli di maggior
autorita par ch6 sia desiderate che da lei fusse
dato lore maggior parte delle cose che occor-
rono a tempo di tanti travagli di quelle che
usa di fare la S. St^: onde si doglione di
vederedeliberationidi tanta importantiapassar
con cosi poco consiglio, e chiamanofelicissima
in questa parte la Serenita Vostra. Alii am-
basciatori usa S. Beafe quelle maggior dimos-
tratioiii d'amore et honore che si possi deside-
rare, ne lascia adietre alcuna cosa per tener
li ben satisfatti e contenti : tratta dolcemente
i negotii con loro, e se alcuna volta s'altera
per causa di qualche dimanda ch'ella non senta
o altra occasione, chi sa usare la destrezza,
I'acquieta subito, e fa in modo che se non et-
tiene in tutto quanto desidera, ha ahneno in
risposta parole molto cortesi ; dove quando
segli vucl opponere, si puo esser carte di non
aver ne I'uno ne I'altro : e pero Vargas non e
mai state in gratia di S. St^^, perche non ha
proceduto con quella modestia ch'era deside-
rata da lei. Finite che ha di trattar li nego-
tii con li ambasciatori, fa loro parte cortese-
msnte, park delli avvisi che ha di qualche
importantia, e poi entra volentieri a discorrere
de le presente state del mondo : e con me I'ha
fatto in particulare molte spesso, come si puo
ricerdar V. S^^ che alcune volte ho ernpite i
fegli dei suoi ragionamenti. Con i suoi famig-
liari precede in mode che non si puo conos-
cere che alcune ha autorita con lei, perche li
tratta tutti egualmente, non li dando liberta
di far cosa alcuna che non sia cenveniente, ne
permettendo che se la piglino da loro mede-
simi, ma li tiene tutti in cosi bassa e povera
fortuna che dalla corte saria desiderate di
veder verse quelli piii intimi camerieri et altri
servitori antichi dimostratione di maggior
stima et araore. Fa gran professione d'esser
giudice giusto, e volentieri ragiona di questo
suo desiderio che sia fatto giustitia, e partico-
larmente con gli ambasciatori de' principi, con
li quali entra poi alle volte con tal occasione a
giustificarsi della morte di CarafTa e delle sen-
tentie di Napoli e Monte come fatte giusta-
mente, essendoli forse venule alle orecchie
esser state giudicato dalla corte tutta ch'esse
sententie e particularmente quella di Caraffa
siano state fatte conseveritapurtroppogrande
et extraordinaria. E naturalmente il papa
inclinato alia vita privata e libera, perche si
vede che difficilmente si puo accomodare a
procedere con quella maesta che usava il pre-
cessore, ma in tutte le sue attioni mostra piu-
testo delcezza che gravita, lasciandosi vedere
da tutti a tutte There et andando a cavallo et
a piedi per tutta la citta con pochissima cem-
pagnia. Ha una inclinatione grandissima al
fabbricare, et in questo spende volentieri e
largamente, sentendo gran piacere quando si
lauda le opere che va facende : e par che
habbi fine lasciar anco per questa via merineria
di se, non vi essendo horraai luego in Roma
che non habbi il nome suo, et usa di dire il
fabbricare esser particularmente inclinatione
di casa de Medici, ne osserva S. Beatne quello
che e stato fatto dalli altri suoi precessori, che
hanno per il piii incominciato edificii grandi
e magnifici lasciandoli poi imperfetti, ma ella
ha piutosto a piacere di far acconciar quelli
che minacciano rovina e finir gl'mcominciati,
con fame anco de' nuovi, facende fabbricar in
melti luoghi delle stato ecclesiastico: perche
fortifica Civita vecchia, acconcia il porto
d'Ancona, vuel ridur in fortezza Bologna : in
Roma poi, oltra la fortificatiene del borgo e
la fabbrica di Belvedere e del palazzo, in
molte parti della citta fa acconciar strade,
fabbricar chiese e rinovar le porte con spesa
cosi grande che al tempo mio per molti mesi
nelle fabbriche di Roma solamente passava
12 m. scudi il mese e forse pivi di quelle che
si conviene a principe, in tanto che viene
affermato da piii antichi cortigiani non esser
mai le cose passate con tanto misura e cosi
strettamente come fanno al presente. E per-
che credo non habbia ad esser discaro I'in-
tendere qualche particulare che tiene S.
460
APPENDIX.
Beatiie nel vivere, pero satisfaro anche a qiies-
la parte. Usa il pontefice per ordinario le-
varsi, quando e sano, tanto di buon' hora cosi
I'inverno come Testate ch'e sempre quasi in-
anzi giorno in piedi, e subito vestito esce a
far esercitio, nel quale spende gran tempo :
poi ritornato, entrano nella sua camera il
revn-c Borromeo o monsr Tolomeo, con i quali
tratta, come ho detto, S. S^^ tutte le cose im-
portanti cosi pubbliche come private, e li tiene
per I'ordinario seco doi o tre hore : e quando
11 ha licentiati, sono introdutti a lei quei am-
basciatori che stanno aspettando I'audientia :
e finito che ha di ragionar con loro, ode S. S^^
la messa, e quando I'hora non e tarda, esce
fuori a dare audientia ai cardinali et ad altri :
e poi si niette a tavola, la qual, perdir il vero,
non e molto splendida, com' era quella del pre-
cessore, perche le vivande sono ordinarie e
non in gran quantita et il servitio e de' soliti
soi camerieri. Si nutrisce di cibi grossi e di
pasta alia Lombarda bene piu di quello che
mangia, et il vino e greco di somma molto
potente, nel quale non si vuole acqua. Non
ha piacere che al suo mangiare si trovino, se-
condo I'uso del precessore, vescovi et altri
prelati di rispetto, ma piutosto ha caro udir
qualche ragionamento di persone piacevoli e
che habbino qualche umore. Ammette alia
sua tavola niolte volte di cardinali edegli am-
basciatori, et a me in particulare ha fatto di
questi favori con dimostrationi molto amore-
voli. Dapoi che ha finito di mangiare, si riti-
ra nella sua camera, e spogliato in camicia
antra in letto, dove vi sta per I'ordinario tre o
quattro hore : e svegliato si ritorna a vestire,
e dice I'ufficio et alcune volte da audientia aj
qualche cardinale et ambasciatore, e poi se ne [
ritorna al suo esercitio in Belvedere, il quale :
non intermette mai Testate fin Thora di cena I
e I'inverno fin che si vede lume." [Of the;
character of his holiness's mind I will sincere-!
ly relate some special traits which I had an i
opportunity of personally observing during my
embassy, and of hearing from persons who
spoke of them dispassionately. The pope, as
I have already said, has studied the laws ; his [
knowledge in this department, and his practi- {
cal experience for so many years in the prin- 1
cipal governments, have given an admirable \
force of judgment in the questions, as well of
justice as of favour, which are brought for- {
ward in the segnatura; so that he never [
opens his mouth without knowing what may j
be granted and what must be denied ; an en- :
dowment not only useful but necessary to a !
pontiff, seeing the multitude of important rnat- !
ters he has to dispose of from time to time. [
He is very proficient in the Latin language, j
and has always delighted in its beauties; soi
that, as I am informed by the illustrious Na- '
vagiero, wiio is a good judge, in the consisto- 1
ries, where it is customary to speak Latin, he
expresses whatever he will with ease and pro- j
priety. He is not read in theology, for which
reason he will never take upon himself, of his
unaided authority, any of the cases before the
oSice of the inquisition; but he is accustomed
to say, that not being a theologian he is con-
tent to rely in all things on those whose
proper business it is : and though it is noto-
rious that he is not well pleased with the
mode adopted by the inquisitors of proceeding
commonly with so much rigour against the
accused; and though he gives it to be under-
stood he would better like that they should
use the language of courteous gentlemen than
of stern monks, still he never ventures or
choses to oppose their judgments, with which
he seldom interferes, the congregations taking
place for the most part without his presence.
In the business and deliberations of state he
desires no man's counsel, so that the saying
runs, there never was a pontift' more worked
and less advised than his holiness ; nor does
it fail to excite surprise at court that at least
in more important matters he does not chose,
for appearance's sake, to employ a few cardi-
nals, many of whom by the by are men of
sound judgment. I know that Vargas one
day advised him to do so, telling that though
his holiness was indeed most wise, yet unus
vir erat nullus vir ; but his holiness cut him
short with a severe reproof. And in fact it
is plain, that whether it be he deems himself
fitted with the capacity to determine all mat-
ters that come before him, or that he knows
there are few, or perhaps not one, of the car-
dinals not committed to the interests of some
prince or other, whence they cannot exercise
a free and unbiassed judgment, — it is plain, I
say, that he will not make use of any others
than the cardinals Borromeo and Signor Tolo-
meo, who being young men of little or no ex-
pectations, and obsequious to his holiness's
least beck, may rather be called simple exec-
utors of his commands tlian counsellors. From
this lack of advice it conies to pass that his
holiness, prompt by nature in all his actions,
is very rapid, too, in his decisions in all mat-
ters, whatever their importance, and rapidly
abandons the decision he has pronounced.
For when his conclusions have been made
public, and he subsequently receives any in-
formation of a contrary tendency, he not only
alters them, but frequently does the very op-
posite to his original design ; a thing that in
my time happened not once but on many oc-
casions. His behaviour towards princes is
the direct opposite to that of his predecessor ;
for the latter used to say the pope was made
to tread on the heads of emperors and kings,
but the present pope declares that, without
the authority of princes, that of the pontifl['
cannot be maintained : hence he bears him-
self very respectfully towards every potentate,
cheerfully grants them favours, and when he
denies them does it with great address and
RESTORATION OF CATHOLICISM DOWN TO SIXTHS V.
461
modesty. In like manner he conducts him-
self with great gentleness and afiability
towards all persons without distinction in
matters of business ; but if on any occasion a
request be made him which is not to his taste,
he becomes very vehement and terrible, and
will suffer no contradiction. It is hardly ever
necessary to use address with his holiness, for
when he is in good humour, he finds it hard
to refuse any favour ; true it is the execution
subsequently presents more difficulty than the
promise. He displays great respect for the
most reverend cardinals, and cheerfully be-
stows favours upon them, nor even detracts
from the value of his kindness in the collation
of benefices, which was not the case with his
predecessor. It is true that the more influen-
tial among them appear to wish that they
were allowed a larger share than is custom-
ary with his holiness in the affairs which oc-
cur in so busy a period ; they are dissatisfied,
therefore, at seeing deliberations of such im-
portance take place with so little aid of coun-
sel, and pronounce your serenity particularly
fortunate in this respect. His holiness be-
stows on ambassadors the highest demonstra-
tions of love and honour they can desire, and
omits nothing that can tend to their satisfac-
tion ; he treats mildly with them of their sev-
eral affairs, and if he sometimes becomes ex-
asperated on account of some demand he dis-
approves of, or for any other cause, one who
can use address quickly pacifies him, and suc-
ceeds with him so far, that if he does not
wholly obtain what he desires, at least he re-
ceives very courteous language in reply ;
whereas, if one were to oppose him roundly,
he might be assured of receiving neither the
one nor the other : yet for all this Vargas
never possessed the favour of his holiness, be-
cause he did not conduct himself with the
modesty which was looked for in him. When
the business in hand is dispatched, he convers-
es courteously with the ambassadors ; talks of
the advices he has received of any importance,
and enters freely into discourse on the present
posture of the world : with myself in particu-
lar he has done this very frequently ; and
your serenity may remember that I have
sometimes filled leaves with his discourses.
With his domestics he behaves in suchwise
that no one can perceive any of them to pos-
sess influence over him, for he treats all equal-
ly, not suffering one of them to do anything
that is not becoming,not permitting them to take
anything of themselves ; but he keeps them all
in such poor and humble fortune that the court
would willingly see more respect and regard
displayed towards the more confidential cham-
berlains and other old servants. He makes high
professions of justice as a judge, and willingly
converses respecting this desire of his, that
justice should be done, particularly with the
ambassadors of potentates, with whom, on all
such occasions, he proceeds to justify the
death of Caraff'a and the sentences of Napoli
and Monte as equitably pronounced, it having
probably reached his ears that these sentences,
especially that of Caraff'a, were judged by the
whole court to be of extraordinary and undue
severity. The pope is naturally disposed to
a life of privacy and freedom, because he sees
he can hardly fashion himself to the majesty
with which his predecessor bore himself; but
in all his actions he displays kindliness rather
than dignity, suffering himself to be seen by
every one and at all hours, and going all over
the city on foot and on horseback with a very
scanty retinue. He has a very great taste for
construction, in which way he spends readily
and largely, being highly gratified when the
works he lias in hand meet with praise : it
seems he looks to perpetuate his memory in
this way too, there being now scarcely a
place in Rome that does not bear his name ;
and he is in the habit of saying, that con-
struction is particularly the propensity of the
house of Medici, Nor does his holiness fol-
low the practice of his predecessors, who for
the most part began large and sumptuous edi-
fices, and then left them imperfect, but he de-
lights rather in causing the repair of those
that are threatened with ruin, and in finishing
those that are begun, while at the same time
he also causes the erection of new ones, hav-
ing many such constructed in many places of
the ecclesiastical states ; for he is fortifying
Civita Vecchia, repairing the harbour of An-
cona, and proposes to convert Bologna into a
fortress. In Rome again, besides the fortifi-
cation of the town, and the construction of the
Belvedere and the palace, he is causing streets
to be repaired in many parts of the city,
churches to be built and the gates to be re-
paired, with an outlay so great, that in my
time there were expended on the buildings of
Rome alone for many months 12m. scudi the
month, more perhaps than becomes a sovere-
ign ; insomuch that it is affirmed by the old-
est courties that matters were never subject-
ed to such strict rule and measure as at pre-
sent. As I imagine some particulars as to his
holiness's personal habits will not be unwel-
come, I will supply information on this head
also. The pontiff is commonly in the habit of
rising so early, when in good health, both
winter and summer, that he is always a-foot
almost before day, and dressing quickly he
goes out for exeixise, in which he spends a
great deal of time. Upon his return, cardinal
Borromeo and Mons. Tolomeo enter his cham-
ber, and with them his holiness, as I have
said, treats of all important matters both pub-
lic and private, and he usually keeps them
with him two or three hours. On their dis-
missal those ambassadors who expect audi-
ence are introduced to him, and when his ho-
liness has concluded with them he hears mass,
462
APPENDIX.
and if it be not late goes out to give audience
to the cardinals and others. After this he
goes to table, which, to say the trutli, is not
served in any very splendid style as was that
of his predecessor, for the viands are common
and in no great quantity, and the attendance
is that of his usual valets. His diet is of
coarse meats and Lombard pastry, and his
wine is Greek, of a very strong body, and
which will not bear water. He is not fond,
as was his predecessor, of having bishops and
other dignified prelates at bistable, but rather
loves the conversation of agreeable persons,
and such as possess some humour. He
often admits cardinals and ambassadors to
his table, and on me in particular he has
bestowed such favours in the most gracious
manner. When he has finished his meal
he retires to his chamber, and stripping
to his shirt goes to bed, where he remains
usually three or four hours. On waking he
dresses again, recites his offices, and some-
times gives audience to a few cardinals and
ambassadors, and then returns to his exer-
cise in the Belvedere, which he never leaves
off in summer till supper time, and in winter
so long as there is light]
Many other interesting particulars relating
to the history of those times are adduced by
Soranzo. For instance, he throws light on
the otherwise almost inexplicable conversion
of the king of Navarre to Catholicism. As-
surances had been given him from Rome,
that should Philip II. not indemnify him with
Sardinia for the lost part of Navarre, the pope
would at all events give him Sardinia. No
theologians, says the ambassador, were needed
to effect the change in his sentiments ; the
negotiation did the business.
36. Instrutlione del re cattolico al C" M''
if Alcantara suo avibasciatore di quello
ha da trattar in Roma, Madr. 30 Nov.
1562. {MS. Rom.) — [Instruction of the
catholic king to his ambassador, Monsignor
d'Alcantara, touching matters to be han-
dled in Rome.]
Accompanied with the pope's answer. Pal-
lavicini's extracts from the document (xx. 10.)
are satisfactory, with the exception of the fol-
lowing passage, which he rather seems to
have mistaken. " Circa I'articola della com-
munione sub utraque specie non restaremo di
dire con la sicurta che sapemo di potere usare
con la M.^^ Sua, che si parono cose molto con-
trarie il dimandar tanta liberta e licenza nel
concilio et il volere in un medesiino tempo
che noi impediamo detto concilio e che pro-
hibiamo all' imperatore, al re di Francia, al
duca di Baviera et ad altri principi che non
possano far proponere et questo et molti altri
articoli che ricercano attento, che essi sono
deliberati et risoluti di farli proponere da suoi
ambasciatori e prelati, etiam che fosse contro
la volunta dei legati. Sopra il che S. M''^
dovra fare quella consideratione che le parera
conveniente. Quanto a quello che spetta a
noi, havemo differita la cosi fin qui, e cerca-
remo di differirla piii che potremo, non os-
tante le grandi islanze che circa cio ne sono
state fatte : e tuttavia se fanno dalli sudetti
principi, protestandoci che se non se gli con-
cede, perderanno tutti li loro sudditi, quali
dicono peccar solo in questo articulo e nel
resto esser buoni cattolici, e di piu dicono che
non essendogli concesso, li piglieranno da se,
e si congiungeranno con li settarii vicini e
protestanti, da quali quando ricorrono per
questo uso del calice, sono astretti ad abjurare
la nostra religione : sicche S. M^^ puo consi-
derare in quanta molestia e travaglio siamo.
Piacesse a dio che S. M^^ cattolica fosse vi-
cina e potessimo parlare insieme ed anche
abboccarsi con I'imperatore — havendo per
ogni modo S. M'^ Cesarea da incontrarsi da
noi, — che forse potriamo acconciare le cose
del mondo, o nessuno le acconciera mai se
non dio solo, quando parera a Sua Divina
Maesta." [Touching the article of commu-
nication in both kinds, we will not hesitate to
say, with all the freedom we are assured we
may use towards his majesty, that it appears
to us a glaring contradiction, to demand so
much liberty and license in the council, and
at the same time to require that we should
hinder the said council, and prohibit the em-
peror, the king of France, the duke of Bava-
ria, and the other princes, from proposing this
and many other articles, seeing that they
have deliberately resolved on proposing them
through their ambassadors and prelates, even
though it should be in opposition to the will
of the legates. Upon this head his majesty
must adopt what views he shall think proper.
As far as we are concerned, we have hitherto
postponed the matter, and will endeavour to
postpone it as much as we can, notwithstand-
ing the earnestness with which it has been
urged, and still is so, by the said princes, who
protest that, if it is not conceded to them,
they will lose all their subjects, who, they
say, are in fault only on this point, and in all
others are good catholics ; and, moreover^
they say, if the same be not granted them,
they will take it of themselves, and will com-
bine with the neighbouring sectaries and
protestants, whom if they join in this use of
the cup, they will be forced to abjure our re-
ligion. His majesty therefore may see in
what a painful perplexity we are placed.
Would to God that his catholic majesty were
near us, and that we could speak with him,
and also with the emperor, — it being by all
means expedient that his imperial majesty
should have an interview with us, — so that
perchance we might arrange the affairs of
RESTORATION OF CATHOLICISM DOWN TO SIXTUS. V.
463
the world, else no one will ever arrange them
except God alone, when it shall seem good to
his Divine Majesty.]
37. Instruttione data al .V Carlo Visconti
mandato da papa Pio IV al re cattolico
per le cose del concilia di Trento. — t^ub-
scrihed, Caroliis Borroma:us itltimo Oct.
1563. [Instruction to Carlo Visconti, en-
voy from Pius IV. to the king of Spain,
touching the affairs of the council of
Trent.]
Not contained in the collection of the nun-
cio's letters, which goes no further than Sep-
tember, 1563, and remarkable from its inves-
tigation of the motives for closing the council.
Pallavicini, xxiv. 1, 1, has cited the greater
part of this instruction, though not in the order
in which it was written. The most remark-
able fact, perhaps, made known by it is, that
it had been intended to bring the affairs of
England before the council, and that this was
abstained from only in deference to Philip II.
" Non abbiamo voluto parlare sin ora ne las-
ciar parlare in concilio della regina d'lnghil-
terra (Mary Stuart), con tutto die lo meriti,
ne meno di quest' altra (Elizabeth), e cio per
rispetto di S. M^'^ Cattolice. — Ma ancora e
questa bisognerebbe un di pigliare qualche
verso, e la M^^ S. dovrebbe almeno fare opera
che li vescovi et altri cattolici non fossero
molestati." [Hitherto we have not been wil-
ling to speak or to allow mention in the coun-
cil of the queen of England (Mary Stuart),
much as she deserves it, nor yet of the other
(Elizabeth), and that out of respect to his
catholic majesty The latter, how-
ever, must some day take a turn, and his ma-
jesty ought at least to make it his care that
the bishops and other catholics be not molest-
ed.] It is made, we see, in some sort incum-
bent on Philip II. to take up the cause of the
English catholics.
38. Relatione in scriptis /atta dal Commen-
done ai s'"' legati del concilio sopra le cose
ritratte delV imperalore 19 Feb. 1563. —
[A report made in writing by Commen-
done, to the legates at the council, con-
cerning the matters treated of with the
emperor, &c.]
" La somma e che a me pare di aver veduto
non pur in S. M^^^ ma nelli principali ministri,
come Trausen e Seldio, im ardentissimo desi-
derio della riforma e del progresso del conci-
lio con una gran speranza quod remittendo
aliquid de jure positive et refermando mores
et disciplinam ecclesiasticam non solo si pos-
sono conservare li cattolici ma guadagnare e
ridurre degli heretici, con una opinione o im-
pressione pur troppo forte che qui siano molti
che non vogliano riforma." [See p. 445.]
The activity of the Jesuits had made a marked
impression. "Seldio disse, che li Gcsuiti
hanno hormai mostrato in Germania quello
che si puo sperare con effetto, perche sola-
mente con la buona vita e con le prediche e
con le scuole loro hanno ritenuto e vi sosten-
gono tuttavia la religione cattolica." [ISeld
said, that the Jesuits have now shown palpa-
bly in Germany what may be expected ; for
solely by their good lives, their preacliings,
and their schools, they have been, and are
still, the stay of the catholic religion in that
land.]
39. Relatione sommaria del cardinal Morone
sopra la legatione sua 1564 Januario.
{Bibl. Altieri VII. F. 3.)
This ought properly to be given at full
length. Unfortunately I had not an opportu-
nity of procuring a copy : so that the reader
must be content with the exti-act I have in-
serted in the third book.
40. Antonio Canossa : On the attempt to as-
sassinate Pms IV. See page 11.5.
41. Relatione di Rama al tempo di Pio IV e
V. di Palo Tiepolo ambasciatore Veneto.
[Report on Rome in the times of Pius [V.
and v., by Paolo Tiepolo, Venetian am-
bassador.] First found in MSS. in Gotha,
and afterwards in many other collections.
—1568.
In almost all the copies this report is set
down as belonging to the year 1567 ; but as
Paolo Tiepolo says expressly, he was 33
months with Pius V., who was elected in
January, 1566, this would make the true date
some time after September, 1568. The dis-
patches, too, of this ambassador, — the first that
w^ere preserved in the Venetian archives, —
reach to that year.
Tiepolo portrays Rome, the states of the
church, and their administration, as well as
the ecclesiastical power, which, as he says,
punishes by interdicts and rewards with indul-
gences. He then draws a comparison between
Pius IV, and V., their respective piety, equity,
liberality, manners, and character in general.
Venice had found in the former a very easy,
in the latter a very rigorous, pope. Pius V.
complained incessantly of the limitations of
ecclesiastical priviliges ventured on by Ven-
ice, its taxation of monasteries, its summoning
priests before the civil tribunals, and the con-
duct of the avogadores. In spite of these
misunderstandings, the comparison instituted
by Tiepolo is wholly in favour of the more
rigid, and to the disadvantage of the more
indulgent pope. This ambassador affords
an example of the impression made on the
catholic world at large by the personal quali-
ties of Pius V.
464
APPENDIX.
This report, as we have said, is frequently
to be met with. It has occasionally been
adopted into printed works ; but in what man-
ner, deserves to be noted. In the Tesoro
Politico, i. 19, there is a Relatione di Roma,
in which everything Tiepolo says of Pius V.
is applied to Sixtiis V. Traits of character,
— nay, even particular acts, ordinances, &c.,
— are here transferred from one pope to an-
other. This thoroughly falsified account was
afterwards inserted in the Republica Romana,
published by Elzevir, where it is to be found
verbatim, under the title, " De statu urbis Ro-
mae et pontificis relatio tempore Sixti V papse,
anno 1585."
42. Relatione di Roma del Cl^' S^ Michiel
Suriano K^ rittornato ambasciatore da N.
S. papa Pio V. 1571. — [Report on Rome
by Michiel Suriano, late ambassador to
pope Pius v.]
Michiel Suriano, in whom, as Paruta says,
(Guerra di Cipro, i. p. 28,) literary attain-
ments added a more brilliant lustre to talents
for business, was the immediate successor of
Paolo Tiepolo.
He thus describes Pius V,
" Si vede che nel papato S. Santita non ha
atteso mai a delitie ne a piaceri, come altri
suoi antecessori, che non ha alterato la vita
ne i costumi, che non ha lasciato I'essercitio
deir inquisitione che haveva essendo privato,
et lasciava piu presto ogn' altra cosa che
quella, riputando tutte I'altre di manco stima
et di manco importantia : onde benche per il
papato fosse mutata la dignita et la fortuna,
non fu pero mutata ne la volonta nc la natura.
Era S. S^^ di presenza grave, con poca carne
magra, et di persona piu che mediocre ma forte
et robusta: havea gl'occhi piccoli ma la vista
acutissima, il naso aquilino, che denota animo
generoso et atto a regnare, il colore vivo et la
canitie veneranda : caminava gagliardissima-
mente, non temea I'aere, mangiava poco e
bevea pochissimo, andava a dormire per tem-
po : pativa alcune volte d'orina, et vi remedi-
ava con usar spesso la cassia et a certi tempi
il latte d'asina et con viver sempre con regola
et con misura. Era S. St^^ di complession col-
erica et subita, et s'accendeva in un tratto in
viso quando sentiva cosa che le dispiacesse :
era pero facile nell' audiente, ascoltava tutti,
parlava poco et tardo et stentava spesso a
trovar le parole proprie et significanti al suo
modo. Fu di vita esemplare et di costumi
irreprensibili con un zelo rigoroso di religi-
one, che haveria voluto cheogn' un I'havesse,
et per questo corregea gl' ecclesiastici con
riserve et con bolle et i laici con decreti
et avvertimenti. Facea professione aporta
di sinceritii et di bontii, di non ingan-
nare, di non publicar mai le cose che gli
eran dette in secretezza et d'esser osser-
vantissimo della parola, tutte cose contrarie
al suo predecessore : odiava i tristi et non
poteva tollorarli, amavi i buoni o quel che era
persuasa che fosser buoni : ma come un tristo
non potea sperar mai di guadagnar la sua
gratia, perche ella non credea che potesse
diventar buono, cosi non ero senza pericolo
un buono di perderla quando cedea in qualche
tristezza. Amava sopra tutte le cose la veri-
ta et se alcuno era scoperto da S. S'^ una sol
volta in bugia, perdeva la sua gratia per sem-
pre, et fu visto I'essempio nel sigr Paolo Ghi-
silieri suo nipote, il quale scaccio da se per
averlo trovato in bugia, come S. S'^ medesi-
ma mi disse, et per officii che fusser fatti non
volse mai piii riceverlo in gratia. Era d'in-
gegno non molto acuto, di natura difficile et
sospettosa, et da quella impression che pren-
dea una volta non giovava a rimoverlo niuna
persuasione di ragione di respetti civili. Non
avea isperienza di cose di state, per non averle
mai pratticate se non ultimamente : onde nei
travagli che portan seco i maneggi di questa
corte et nelle difficolta che sempre accom-
pagnan la novita dei negotii, un che fosse
grato S. Santita et in che ella havesse fede
era facilmente atto a guidarla a suo modo, ma
altri in che non havea fede non potea essere
atto, et la ragioni regolate per prudenza hu-
mana non bastavano a persuaderla, et se al-
cun pensava di vincere con auttorita o con
spaventi, ella rompeva in un subito et mette-
va in disordine ogni cosa o per lo manco gli
dava nel viso con dir che non temeva il mar-
tirio et che come dio I'ha messo in quel luogo
cosi poteva anco conservarlo contra ogni aut-
torita et podesta humana. Queste conditioni
et qualita di S. Santita, se ben son verissime,
pero son difficili da credere a chi non ha auto
la sua pratica et molto piii a chi ha auto pra-
tica d'altri papi; perche pare impossibile che
un huomo nato et nutrito in bassa fortuna si
tenesse tanto sincero : che resistesse cosi ar-
ditamente a i maggior prencipi et piii potenti :
che fosse tanto difficile nei favori et nelle
gratie et nelle dispense et in quell' altre cose
che gl' altri pontetici concedean sempre facil-
mente : che pensasse piii all' inquisitione che
ad altro, et chi secondava S. Santita in quella,
potesse con lei ogni cosa: che nelle cose di
stato non credesse alia forza delle ragioni ne
air auttorita de i prencipi esperti, ma sola-
mente alle persuasioni di quel in che havea
fede : che non si sia mai mostrato interessato
ne in ambitione ne in avaritia ne per se ne
per niun de suoi : che credesse poco ai car-
denali et gl'avesse tutti per interessati o qua-
si tutti, et chi si valea di loro con S. Santita
se nol facea con gran temperamento et con
gran giudicio, si rendea sospetto et perdea il
credito insieme con loro. Et chi non sa
queste cose et si ricorda delle debolezze, della
facilita, di i rispetti, delli passioni et degl' af-
fetti de gl' altri papi accusava et strapazzava
RESTORATION OF CATHOLICISM DOWN TO SIXTUS V.
465
gl' ambasciatori, credendo non che non pot-
esser ma che non volessero o non sapessero
ottener quelle cose che s'ottenevano facili-
niente in altri tempi."
[It is plain that when pope, his holiness
never devoted himself to luxury or pleasure,
as others before him, that he changed neither
his life nor habits, that he did not abandon
the exercise of his inquisitorial functions
which he had practised when in a private
station, but rather postponed every thing than
this, considering all otliers as of little estima-
tion and importance : thus, tiiough changed
in dignity and lortune by his accession to the
popedom, he was yet unchanged in will and
in nature. His holiness was of a grave pre-
sence, of a spare habit of body, below the
middle size, but strong and robust: he had
small eyes, but very quick sight, an aquiline
nose, the which denotes a lofty spirit fitted to
command, florid complexion, and venerable
grey hairs; his step was elastic and buoyant;
he shunned not the open air, ate little and
drank very little, and retired early to rest :
he suffered occasionally from urinary disor-
ders, as remedies for which he constantly em-
ployed cassia, and at certain times asses'
milk, aided with constant regularity and tem-
perance. His holiness was of a choleric and
sudden temperament, and his countenance
would kindle up in an instant when any thing
occurred to displease him: nevertheless he
gave audience affably, had an ear for every
man, spoke little and slowly, and frequently
paused to select the proper words, and such as
were most expressive after his own fashion.
His life was exemplary, and his habits irre-
proachable ; and he was animated with a
rigorous zeal for religion, which he would fain
have seen partaken by every individual,
wherefore he chastised the clergy with re-
servations and bulls, and the laity with de-
crees and admonitions. He made open pro-
fession of sincerity and good faith, of eschew-
ing fraud, of never publishing matters told
him in secret, and of being a most strict ob-
server of his word; in all which he was tlie
opposite of his predecessor: he hated profli-
gate men, and could not tolerate them ; he
loved the good, or those whom he believed to
be so: but as no profligate man could ever
hope to gain his favour, because he did not
think such an one capable of goodness, so too
a good man ran the risk of losing his favour
when he tell into any vice. He loved truth
above all things, and if any one was once de-
tected by his holiness in a lie, he lost his fa-
vour forever. This was exemplified in the
case of Signer Paolo Ghisilieri, his nephew,
whom he drove from him because he had
caught him in a lie, as his holiness himself
told me, and in spite of all the efforts that
were made to that end, he would never take
him back into favour. His genius was not
59
very acute, his nature was hard and prone to
suspicion, and when he had once taken up an
impression, he was not to be moved from it
by any considerations of courtesy. He had
no experience in state affairs, not having
practised them till latterly ; whence it hap-
pened, that in the labours belonging to his
court, and amidst the difficulties always inci-
dent to business of a novel kind, one who pos-
sessed his favour, and in whom he had confi-
dence, might easily lead him after his own
fasliion, but others in whom he had not faith
could do little, and reasonings, shaped in ac-
cordance with human prudence, were una-
vailing to convince him ; and if any one
thought to prevail with him by authority, or
through the influence of fear, he would sud-
denly cut the whole matter short, and leave
it in confusion, or else look him sternly in the
face, and tell him that he did not fear martyr-
dom, and that as God had put him in that
place, so He could keep him there in despite
of all human authority and power. These
characteristics of his holiness, most true
though they be, are yet hard to be believed
by any one who has not been in personal con-
tact with him, and still more by one who has
had personal knowledge of other popes ; for
it seems impossible that a man born and edu-
cated in low station could maintain so much
sincerity, that he should with such ardour
resist the greatest and most powerful princes ;
that he should be so chary of favour, and
affection, and expense, in those matters, in
which other pontiffs always evince such facil-
ity ; that he should think more of the inquisi-
tion than of any thing else, and whoever
seconded his holiness in this should be all
potent with him ; that in matters of state he
should concede nothing to the force of argu-
ment or to the authority of experienced
princes, but only to the representations of
tiiose in whom he had confidence ; that he
never manifested an interested feeling of
ambition or avarice, whether for himself or
for any belonging to him ; that he put little
trust in the cardinals, and held them all, or
nearly all, for interested men ; and any one of
them who sought to ingratiate himself with
his holiness, if he did it not with great reserve
and discretion, rendered himself suspected by
him, and lost credit equally with the rest.
Now those who were unaware of these things,
and remembered the weakness, the facility,
the polite compliances, the passions and affec-
tions of other popes, accused and contemned
the ambassadors, believing not that they could
not, but that they would not, or had not the
skill to obtain certain things easy to be had in
other times.]
We can readily believe the ambassador that
he had a difficult task with a pope of this
character. Wlien Pius, for instance, was
aware that they would not publish the bull,
466
APPENDIX.
" In cosna domini" in Venice, he broke out
into a violent rage : " Si perturbo estrenm-
mente, et arceso in collera disse molte cose
gravi et fastidiose." These were circum-
stances that rendered the management of
business doubly difficult. Suriano, in fact,
lost the favour of his republic. He was re-
called, and a great part of the present report
has for its purpose to justify his conduct, in
which we cannot accompany him.
43. Inform atione di Pio V. Inform. Politt.
Bibl. Amhros. F. D. 181.
Anonymous indeed, but founded on accu-
rate information, and corroborating the other
accounts. It is a singular fact stated here,
that in spite of all the rigour of this pious
pope, factions prevailed in his family. The
older servants were opposed to the younger,
who adhered to the grand chamberlain, Mr
Cirillo. The latter was in general the most
accessible. " Con le carezze e col mostrar
di conoscere il suo valore facilmente s'acquis-
tarebbe : ha I'animo elevatissimo, grande in-
telligenza con Gambara e Correggio, e si
stringe con Morone."
44. Relatione delta corte di Roma nel tempo
di Gregorio XIII. {Bibl. Cors. ?7r. 714.)
Signed 20 Febr. 1574. — [Report on the
court of Rome in the time of Gregory
XIII.] " ^
Anonym.ous, but nevertheless very instruc-
tive, and impressed with the stamp of truth.
The author thinks it difficult to judge of
courts and sovereigns. " Diro come si giu-
dica nelle corte e come la intendo." [I will
state the opinions entertained at court, and
what I myself think.] He gives the tbllowing
description of Gregory XIII.
" Assonto che e stato al pontificate in eta
di 71 anni, ha parso c'habbi voluto mutare
natura : et il rigore che era solito biasimare
in altri, massimamente nel particulare del
vivere con qualche licenza con donne, n'e
stato piu rigoroso dell' antecessore e fattone
maggiori essecutioni : e parimente nella ma-
teria del giuoco si e mostrato rigorosissimo,
perche havendo certi illustrissimi principiato
a trattenersi nel principio del pontificato con
giuocare qualche scudo, li riprese acremente,
ancorche alcuni dubitarono che sotto il pre-
testo del giuoco si facessero nuove pratiche
di pontificato per un poco di male e'hebbe S.
S^^ in quel principio : e da questo comincio a
calare quella riputatione o oppinione che si
voleva far credere dall' illustrissimo de' Me-
dici d'haver lui fatto il papa e doverlo gover-
nare, la qual cosa tece chiaro il mondo quanto
S. Sf-^ abhorrisce che alcuno si voglia arro-
gare di governarlo o c'habbi bisogno d'essere
governato, perche non vuole essere in questa
oppinione di iasciarsi governare a persona.
Perche in efl^etto nelle cose della giustitia n'e
capacissimo e la intende e non bisogna pen-
sare di darli parole. Ne' maneggi di stati S,
St^ ne potria saper piii perche non vi ha fatto
molto studio, e sta sopra di se al!e volte irre-
solute, ma considerate che v'habbi sopra, n'e
benissime capace e nell' udire le oppinioni di-
scerne benissime il meglio. E patientissimo
e laboriosissimo e non sta mai in otio e piglia
ancora poca ricreatione. Da continuamente
audientia e vede scritture. Dorme poco, si
leva per tempo, e fa volontieri esercitio, e li
place I'aria, quale non teme, per cattiva che
sia. Mangia sobriamente e beve pochissimo,
ed c sano senza sorte alcuna di schinelle. E
grato in dimostrationi esteriori a chi gli ha
fatto piacere. Non e prodigo ne quasi si puo
dire iiberale, secondo I'oppinione del volgo, il
quale non considera o discerne la differentia
che sia da un principe che si astenghi dall es-
torsioni e rapacita a quello che conserva quel-
le che ha con tenacita : questo non brama la
roba d'altri e gli insidia per haverla. Non e
crudele ne sanguinolento, ma temendo di
continuo delle guerre si del Turcocomedegli
heretici, li place d'haver somma di denari nell
erario e conservali senza disfsensarli fuori di
proposito, e n'ha intorno a un millione e mez-
zo d'oro : e pero magnifico e gli piacciono le
grandezze, e sopra tutto e desideroso di gloria,
il qual desiderio il fa forse trascorrerre in
quello che non piace alia corte : perche questi
reverendi padri Chiettini, che I'hanno conos-
ciuto, se li sono fatti a cavaliere sopra con
dimostrarli che il credito et autorita che ha-
ve va Pio V non era se non per riputatione
della bonta, e con questo il tengono quasiche
in filo et il necessitano a far cose contra la
sua natura e la sua volonta, perche !S. S'^* e
sempre stato di natura piacevole e dolce, e lo
restringono a una vita non consueta : et e op-
pinione che per far questo si siano valsi di far
venire lettere da loro padri medesimi di Spag-
na e d'altri luoghi, dove sempre fanno men-
tione quanto sia commendata la vita santa del
papa passato, quale ha acquistata tanta gloria
con la riputatione della bonta e delle ritbrme,
e con questo modo perseverano loro in domi-
nare et havere autorita con S. Beafe: e di-
cesi che sono ajutati ancora dal vescovo di
Padova, nuntio in Spagna, creatura di Pio V
e di loro. Brama tanto la gloria che si ri-
tiene e sforza la natura di fare di quelle
dimostrationi ancora verso la persona del
figliuolo quali sariano riputate ragionevoli et
honeste da ogn'uno per li scrupoli che li pro-
pongono costoro: et in tanta felicita che ha
havuto S. St^ di essere asceso a questa dignita
da basso stato, e contrapesato da questo ogget-
to e dell havere parenti quali non li sodisfan-
no e che a S. S*^^ non pare che siano atti o
capaci de' negotii importanti e da commet-
terli le facende di stato." [Having arrived
RESTORATION OF CATHOLICISM DOWN TO SIXTUS V.
467
at tlie papacy at the age of seventy-one,
he seemed disposed to change his nature;
the rigour which he used to blame in others,
— particularly as regarded a certain license
as to intercourse with women, — he enforced
in a still more peremptory manner than his
predecessors. With respect to play, likewise,
he has shown himself most rigorous; for cer-
tain persons of the highest rank having begun,
in the commencement of his pontificate, to
amuse themselves with playing for a few
crowns, he reproved them with acrimony;
though some, indeed, suspected that the said
play was made a cloak for new electioneering
intrigues, in consequence of a slight illness
with which his holiness was effected at the
time. Thenceforth the opinion began to lose
ground, th;it cardinal de Medici had been the
means of creating his holiness pope, and would
possess a commanding influence over him ;
and it became manifest to the world how much
his holiness abhors the thought that any one
should presume to govern him, or that he
needs to be governed ; for he will not have it
believed that he suffers himself to be governed
by any one, — and, indeed, in all things of a
judicial nature he is in the highest degree
competent, and no one need think of dictating
to him. His holiness is not so well versed as
he might be in matters of state policy, be-
cause he has not studied them much, and at
times he is at a loss how to make up his mind ;
but when he has considered the matter, he
shows a very just conception of it, and, upon
hearing opinions, he very soundly discerns
that which is best. He has great patience
and industry, is never idle, and takes little
amusement. He continually gives audience,
and looks over papers. He sleeps little, rises
early, is fond of exercise and of the open air,
— which he does not fear, however inclement
may be the weather. He is moderate in his
eating, and drinks very little ; and enjoys
sound health, without any kind of bolstering
up. He is gracious in outward demeanour to
those who please him. He is not lavish, nor,
it may ba, liberal, according to the opinion of
the vulgar, who do not consider or discern the
difference there is between a sovereign who
abstains from extortion and rapacity, and one
who keeps what he has got with tenacity. He
does not covet other men's property, nor in-
trigue to possess himself of it. He is not cruel,
nor sanguinary ; but as he is in continual ap-
prehension of war, both on the part of the
Turks and of the heretics, he chooses to have
a sum of money in the treasury, which he
will not have spent inopportunely, — this sum
amounts to a million and a half of gold. He
is, after all, fond of magnificence and grandeur,
and, above all things, desirous of glory : which
desire, perhaps, makes him run into things
that are not pleasing to the court; for the
reverend paJri Chiettini, who knew him well,
have got the upper hand of him, showing him
that the credit and personal influence pos-
sessed by Pius V. was due to nothing else
than his reputation for goodness: and they
thereby keep him in leading strings, as it were,
and oblige him to do things contrary to his
nature and his wishes ; for his holiness haa
always been of an amiable and gentle disposi-
tion, and they bind him to a course of life to
which he is not accustomed. It is thought
that to this end they have employed the expe-
dient of having letters addressed to them from
the fathers of their order in Spain and else-
where, in which it was continually remarked
how highly commended was the holy life of
the late pope, who had acquired so much
glory through his reputation for goodness and
reforming zeal ; and in this way it is said they
maintained their sway and their influence
with his holiness. It is said too that they are
also assisted by the bishop of Padua, nuncio
in Spain, — the creature of Pius V. and their
own. So desirous is he of glory, that he puts
force on his own nature, and refrains from
those demonstrations even towards his son,
which every one would admit to be reasona-
ble and honourable, in consequence of the
scruples the aforesaid persons suggest to him.
The great good fortune his holiness has en-
joyed in reaching this dignity from a low sta-
tion, is counterbalanced by this matter, and
by his having relations who do not give him
satisfaction, and whom he does not think of
proper capacity for important affairs, or tit to
be entrusted with the business of state.]
In the same manner he pourtrays the car-
dinals also. Of Granvilla he remarks, that he
did not maintain his credit. He was intent
on his own inclinations, and was reputed to
be avaricious; in the alTair of the Ligue he
had nearly brought about a rupture between
the king and the pope. On the other hand
Commendone is highly extolled. " Ha la
virtii, la bonta, I'esperienza con infinito giu-
dicio." [He is virtuous, good, experienced,
and of vast judgment.]
45. Seconda relatione delV ambasciatore di
Roma, clar^o M. Paolo Tiepolo K'' 3
Maggie 1576. [Second report of Paolo
Tiepolo, ambassador to Rome.]
The above anonymous report speaks in high
terms of Tiepolo, as a man of sound head and
moral worth. " E modesto e contra il costume
de' Veneziani e corteggiano a liberaie, e
riesce eccellentemente, e sodisfa molto, e mos-
tra prudcnza grande in questi travagli e fran-
genti a sapersi regere." [He is modest, and,
contrary to what is u.<ual with the Venetians,
he is courteous and liberal ; he succeeds ad-
mirably, gives much satisfaction, and shows
great prudence in shaping his course through
these stormy aftkirs."]
468
APPENDIX.
The Venetians having- fallen off from the
confederacy against the 'J'urks, he had a dilR-
cult position to maintain. It was thoiiirht that
the pope would bring- ibrward in consistory a
proposal to excommunicate the Venetians,
and some cardinals were prepared to oppose
such a design. " Levato Cornaro nessuno fo
che in quei primi giorni mi vedesse o mi man-
dasse a veder, non che mi consigliasse, conso-
lasse e sollevasse." [Except Cornaro, (a Ve-
netian) there was no one who for the first few
days came to see me, or sent to me, or who gave
me advice, comfort, or assistance.] Tiepolo
states, as the special reason for the separate
peace, that, after the Spaniards had promised
they would be ready in April, 1573, they de-
clared in that month that their preparations
would not be completed before June. It went
a great way towards soothing the pope, that
Venice at last resolved to declare his son a
Venetian nobile. The manner in which Tie-
polo expresses himself about this son of the
pope is very remarkable.
" II s"" Giacomo e figliulo del papa : e gio-
vane anchor esso di circa 29 anni, di belle let
tere, gratiose maniere, di grande et liberal
animo et d'un ingegno attissimo a tutte le
cose dove egli I'applicasse. Non bisogna
negar che'l primo et si puo dir solo affetto del
papa non sia verso di lui, come e anco ragione-
vole che sia, perciocche nel principio del pon-
tificate, quando egli operava piii secondo il
suo seno, lo creo prima castellano et dapoi
governator di s. chiesa con assegnarli per
questo conto provisioni di cerca X m. ducati
all' anno et con pagarli un locotenente, colon-
nelli et capitani, accioche egli tanto piix hono-
ratamente potesse comparer: ma dapoi, come
che si fosse pentito di esser passato tanto oltre
verso un suo figliuolo naturale, mosso per av-
vertimenti, come si affermava, di persone spi-
rituali, che li mettevano questa cosa a con-
scientia et a puntod'honore, incomincio a riti-
rarsi con negarli i favori et le gratie che li
erano da lui domandate et con far in tutte le
cose manco stima di lui di quello che prima
aveafatto: anzi come che dope averlo pale-
sato volesse nasconderlo al mondo, separan-
dolo da lui lo fece parlir da Roma et andar in
Ancona, dove solto specie di fortificar quella
citta per un tempo lo intertenne, senza mai
provederlo d'una entrata stabile et sicura colla
quale egli doppo la morte sua avesse possuto
con quaiche dignita vivere et sostenersi : onde
il povero signore dolendosi delia sua fortuna
che lo havesse voluto innalzar per doverlo poi
abbandotiare si messc piu volte in tanta des-
peratione che fuggendo la pvatica et conver-
so.tione di ciascuno si r(;tirava a viver in casa
solitario, continuando in questo per molti
giorno, con far venir anciiora all' orecchie dell'
padre come egli era assalito da fieri et peri-
colosi accident!, per vedere se con questo ha-
vesse possuto muover la sua tenerezza verso
di lui. In fine troppo pu6 I'amor naturale pa-
terno per spingere o dissimulare il quale in-
darno I'uomo s'adopera. Vinto finalmente et
commosso il papa dapoi passato I'anno santo
volse I'animo a provederli et a darli satis-
fattione, et prima si resolse da maritarlo."
[Signer Giacomo is the pope's son ; his age is
about twenty-nine ; he is well read, of grace-
ful manners, of a noble and liberal mind, and
an understanding very apt for all things to
which he might apply it. It need not be de-
nied that the first, and it may be said, the sole
affection of the pope is fixed on him, as it is
reasonable that it should be ; for in the begin-
ning of his pontificate, when his son acted
more in accordance with his wishes, he made
him first castellan, and afterwards governor
of the holy church, with an income of about
ten thousand ducats yearly, paying for him,
besides, a lieutenant, colonels, and captains,
so that he might be able to make the more
dignified an appearance.' But afterwards, as
if he Iiad repented of having gone such lengths
on behalf of his natural son, and moved by
warnings, as he affirmed, from ecclesiastical
persons, who made this matter a point of hon-
our and conscience with him, he began to
draw in, and to refuse him such favours as he
asked, and to show in all things less esteem
for him than he had at first evinced. And as
if after making him public he had wished to
hide him from the world, he drove him from his
presence, and made him quit Rome, and go to
Ancona, where he kept him engaged some
time under pretence of fortifying that city,
without ever providing him any fixed and per-
manent income with which he might main-
tain himself with becoming dignity after the
pope's death. Hence the poor signer, bewail-
ing his fortune, which had raised him so highly
only to abandon him, fell frequently into such
despondency, that, shunning all converse and
society, he would shut himself up alone, and
so continue many days, at the same time caus-
ing it to be reported to his father how he had
suffered fearful accidents, in order to see if so
the pope might be moved to tenderness to-
wards his son. After all, the natural love of
a father will break through all the vain at-
tempts a man may make to suppress or dis-
semble it. Overcome at last, and giving way
to his feelings, after the termination of the
year of jubilee the pope applied himself to pro-
vide for his son and to give him satisfaction,
and in the first place he resolved to marry
him.]
Tiepolo likewise gives some interesting par-
ticulars respecting the administration of Gre-
gory XIII. and especially as to the cardinal
di Como.
" Partisce il governo delle cose in questo
mode, che di quelle che appartengono al
state ecclesiastico, ne da la cura alii d"' car-
dinali sui nepoti, et di quelle che hanno rela-
RESTORATION OF CATHOLICISM DOWN TO SIXTHS V.
469
tione alii altri principi, al cardinal! di Como.
Ma dove in quelle del stato ecclesiastico, che
sono senza comparation di manco importanza,
perche non comprendono arme d fortezze, al
governatore i^enerale reservate, ne danari, de'
quali la camera apostolica et il tesorier gene-
rale ne tien cura particolare, ma solamente
cose ordinarie pertinenti al governo delle
citta et delle provincie, non si contentando
delli d"' nepoti ha aggiunta loro una congre-
gatione di quattro principali prelati, tra' quali
vi e monsignor di Nicastro, stato nuntio presso
la Serenita V", colli quali tutte le cose si
consigliano per doverle poi referir a lui : in
quelle di stato per negotli colli altri principi,
che tanto rilevano et importano non sok) per
la buona intelligentia con lor ma ancora per
beneficio et qniete di tutta la christianita, si
rimette in tutto nel solo cardinal di Como, col
quale si redrecciano li ambasciatori dei prin-
cipi che sono a Roma et li nuntii apostolici et
altri ministri del papa che sono alle corti,
perche a lui solo scrivono et da lui aspettano
li ordini di quello che hanno da fare. Egli e
quello che solo consiglia il papa, et che, come
universalmente si tiene, fa tutte le resolu-
tion! pill important!, et che da 1! ordini et li
fa eseguire. Sogliono ben alcuni cardinal!
di maggior pratica et autorita et qualcun'
altro ancora da se stesso raccordare al papa
quello che giudica a proposito, et suole ancora
alle volte il papa doniandar sopra alcune cose
I'opinione di qualcuno et di tutto il coUegio di
cardinal! ancora, massimamente quando li
torna bene che si sappia che la determination
sia fatta d! conseglio d! molti, come principal-
mente quando si vuol dare qualche negativa,
et sopra certe particolari occorrentie ancora
suole deputar una congregatione di cardinal!,
come gia fo fatto nelle cose della lega et al
presente si fa in quelle di Germania, del con-
cilio, et di altre : ma nel restretto alle con-
clusion! et nelle cose piii important! il cardi-
nal di Como e quello che fa et vale. Ha usato
il cardinal, scben cogno-ce saver et intender
a sofficientia, alle volte in alcune cose andars!
a consigliare col cardinal Morone et cardinal
Commendon, per non si fidar tanto dei suo
giudicio che non tolesse ancor il parer d'hu-
omini pii^i intelligent! et savii: ma fatto da
lui poi il tuttodipende. Mette grandissima dili-
gentia et accuratezza nelle cose, et s'industria
di levar la falica et i pensieri al papa et di darli
consigli che lo liberino da travagli present! et
daila spesa, poiche nessuna cosa pare esser
piu dal papa desiderata che'l sparagno et la
quiete. Si stima universalmente ch'esso ab-
bia grande inclinatione al re cattolico, non
tanto per esser suo vasallo et per haver la
maggior parte delli sui benefici! nei su! paesi,
quanto par molti comod! et utilita che in cose
di molto momento eslraordinariamente riceve
da lui, per recognition de' quali all' incontro
con destri modi, come ben sa usar senza raolto
scoprirsi, se ne dimostri nelle occasion! grato.
Verso la Serenita Vostra posso affermar
ch'egl! sottosopra s! sia portato assai bene,
massimamente se si ha respetto che ne ! mi-
nistri d'altr! principi non si put) ritrovar tutto
quello che si vorria, et che ben spesso bisogna
contentarsi di manco che di mediocre buona
volonta." [He divided the affairs of govern-
ment in such a manner, that those of an eccle-
siastical nature were committed to the care
of the cardinals his nephews, and those which
had reference to the other sovereigns fell to
cardinal di Como. Now whereas in ecclesi-
astical matters, (which are of incomparably
less importance, as not comprising arms or
fortresses, reserved to the governor-general,
nor money, which is specially seen to by the
apostolic chamber and the treasurer-general,
but only ordinary affairs pertaining to the
government of the cities and provinces,) not
content to rely on his nephews, he has con-
joined with them a congregation of four prin-
cipal prelates, among whom is monsignor di
Nicastro, formerly nuncio to your serenity,
with whom all matters are first discussed and
afterwards reported to himself: on the other
hand in matters of state connected with the
other sovereigns, weighty and important as
they are, not only as regards the preservation
of good intelligence with the sovereigns, but
the advantage, too, and the peace of all Chris-
tendom, he trusts wholly and solely to cardi-
nal di Como, to whom the foreign ambassadors
at Rome address themselves, as well as the
apostolic nuncios and the pope's other minis-
ters at the several courts ; for they WTite only
to him and receive their orders from him.
He is the pope's sole counsellor, and the man
who, as it is universally supposed, suggests
all the more important resolutions, and gives
orders, and sees to their execution. Some of
the cardinals, it is true, of greater weight and
experience, and others besides, are accustom-
ed to suggest on their part to the pope wiiat
they think expedient ; and at times, too, the
pope will ask the advice of different persons,
and of the whole college of cardinals, parti-
cularly when it is desirable it should be known
that the determination taken was adopted
upon the advice of numbers ; especially, for
instance, when it is intended to give a refu-
sal : and upon certain special occurrences he
is also used to depute a congregation of car-
dinals, as was done in the affairs of the Ligue,
and as is now done in those of Germany, the
council, and others; but in the chief points
determined, and in all matters of special im-
portance, cardinal di Como's power and mflu-
ence are paramount. The cardinal, though
he has sufficient confidence in his own judg-
ment and abilities, has been in the occasional
habit of consulting cardinal Morone or cardi-
nal Commendone, that he might not so far
rely on his own judgment as not toavail himself
470
APPENDIX.
of that of men of eminent intelligence and
■wisdom : but after all everything in reality
depends on himself. He displays extreme
diligence and accuracy in business, and he
studies to relieve the pope from trouble and
anxiety, and to give him such councils as may
free him from present toils and from expense ;
for there is nothing the pope seems more
desirous of than economy and quiet. It is
universally thought that the cardinal is strong-
ly inclined to the catholic king, not so much
as being his vassal, and having most of his
benefices in his majesty's dominions, as for
the many extraordinary favours and advan-
tages he receives from him in matters of
much moment, for which he contrives on
occasions to show his gratitude in adroit ways,
such as he knows how to use without much
exposing himself. Towards your serenity, 1
can affirm, that on the whole he has been
tolerably well disposed, especially if it be
considered that one cannot always meet with
all one wishes in the ministers of other sove-
reigns, and that very often one must needs be
content with less than middling good will]
Although this report by no means obtained
the publicity of the other, still it is in reality
no less important and instructive regarding
the times of Gregory XIII. than the former
with respect to those of Pius IV. and V.
46. Commentariorum de rf^bus Gregorii
XIII. lib. i. et n.—{BibL Alb.) [Com-
mentaries on the affairs of Gregory Xlil.
books i. and ii.]
Unfortunately incomplete. The author,
cardinal di Vercelli, when he comes, after
some preliminaries, to speak of Gregory's
pontificate, promises to treat of three things, —
the war against the Turks, the war of the
protestants against the kings of France and
Spain, and the dispute? respecting the juris-
diction of the church.
It is to be regretted, however, that we find
in the second book only the war against the
Turks up to the Venetian treaty of peace.
We know the connexion that subsisted be-
tween eastern aftairs and those of religion.
Our autlior's exposition of the entanglements
of the year 1572 is by no means bad. A re-
port had been spread that Charles IX. was
abetting tlie outbreaks of the protestants in
the Netherlands. « Quod cum Gregorius mo-
leste ferret, dat ad Gallorum regem litteras
quibus ab eo vehementer petit ne suos in hoc
se admiscere bellum patiatur: alioquin se ex-
istimaturum omnia base illius voluutate nutu-
que fieri. Rex de suis continendis magnse
sibi cura; fore pollicetur, id quod quantum in
se est prfestat: verum ejusmodi litteris, quiE
paulo minacius scriptas videbantur, nonnihil
tactus, nonnullis etiam conjecturis eo adduc-
tus ut se irfitari propeque ad bellum provo-
cari putaret, ne imparatum adorirentur, urbes
quas in finibus regni habebat diligenter com-
munit, duces suos admonet operam dent ne
quid detrimenti capiat, simulque Emanuelem
Allobrogum ducem, utriusque regis propin-
quum et amicum, de his rebus omnibus certio-
rem facit. Emanuel, qui pro singulari pru-
dentia sua, quam horum regum dissensio suis
totique reipublicse christianse calamitosa fu-
tura esset, probe intelligebat, ad pontificem
haec omnia perscribit, eumque obsecrat et ob-
testatur nascenti malo occurrat, ne longius
serpat atque inveteratum robustius fiat. Pon-
tifex, quam gereret personam minimum obli-
tus, cum regem Gallorum adolescentem et
gloria cupiditate incensum non difficiUime a
ca^holicse fidei hostibus, quorum tunc in aula
maxima erat auctoritas, ad hujusmodi bellum
impelli posse animadverteret, reginam tamen
ejus matrem longe ab eo abhor rere dignita-
tisque et utilitatis suae rationein habituram
putaret, mittit eo Antonium Mariam Salvia-
tum, reginag affinem eique pergratum, qui
eam in officio contineat, ipsiusque opera faci-
lius regi, ne reip. christianse accessionem im-
perii et gloriam quae ex orientali expeditione
merito expectanda esset invideat funestumque
in illius visceribus moveat bellum, persua-
deat." [Gregory taking this amiss, sent a
letter to the king of France, urgently requir-
ing that he should not suffer his subjects to
take part in that war ; otherwise he would
think that all these things were done with
his wish and instigation. The king promised
he would use the utmost diligence to restrain
his subjects, and did all that was in his power
to that end ; but being somewhat piqued by a
letter of such a kind, which seemed rather
threatening in its tones, — and being wrought
on by some conjectures, to think even that he
was irritated and almost challenged to war,
— in order that he might not be taken unpre-
pared, he carefully put his frontier towns in
a state of defence, gave orders to his generals
to take all necessary measures, and at the
same time gave notice of all these things to
Emanuel, duke of Savoy, the relation and
friend of both kings. Emanual, whose re-
markable prudence distinctly perceived how
calamitous this dissension between the two
kmgs would be to his own country and to the
whole Christian commonwealth, reported
everything to the pope, and implored him to
stifle the mischief in its birth, and not allow
it to creep on and gather strength. The
pope, in nowise forgetful of the duties of his
high station, reflecting that the king of France
— a young man, and fired wath the love of
<i]ory — might with no great difficulty be
urged to this war by the enemies of the ca-
tholic faith, whose influence was then very
great at court ; and thinking that his mother
was extremely averse to it, and would have
' regard to her dignity and advantage, sent
SIXTUS V.
471
thither Antonio Maria Salviato, the queen's
kinsman and esteemed friend, to keep her to
her duty, and with her help to persuade the
king not to hinder the (Christian common-
wealth of obtaining that accession of dominion
and glory which might justly be expected
from the eastern expedition, nor to excite
within it that deadly intestine war.]
Thus far the pope was assuredly indirectly
implicated in the massacre of St. Bartholo-
mew. He had reason to make every effort
to prevent the breaking out of war between
Spain and France. It were very much to be
wished that we possessed at least the part of
this book which related to the religious differ-
ences.
I have had another reason for quoting the
ahove passage, namely, that the very first
lines in it show that it belongs to the sources
of which Maffei availed himself for his " An-
nali di Gregorio XIII. Pontefice Massimo."
Compare the passage in Maffei, i. p. 27:
" Scrisse a Carlo risentitamente, che se egli
comportava che i sudditi e ministri s'intro-
mettessero in questa guerra per distornarla,
egli tutto riconoscerebbe da lui e dalla mala
sua intenzione. E per I'istesso fine opero
che li signori Veneziani gli mandassero un'
ambasciadore con diligenza. Rispose Carlo
modeslamente, ch'egli farebbe ogni possibile
perche i suoi ne a lui dovessero dar disgusto
ne agli Spagnuoli sospetto di quelle ch'egli
non aveva in pensiero. Ma non resto pero di
dolersi con Emanuele duca di Savoja della
risentita maniera con che gli aveva scritto il
pontefice : parendogli che si fosse lasciato
spingere dagli Spagnuoli che avessero voglia
essi di romperla : er ad un tempo comincio a
presidiare le citta delle frontiere."
It appears to me that Maffei's book is here
and there but an amplified transcript of parts
of the manuscripts before us. I will not, how-
ever, on this account, attempt in the least to
disparage Maffei's work, to which I am in-
debted for much instruction, and which, even
though not impartial, is calm, copious in mat-
ter, and on the whole trustworthy.
47. Relatione di monsr rev™" Gio P. Ghisi-
lieri a papa Gregorio XIII., lornando egli
dal presidentato della Romagna. — See p.
126.
48. Discorso over ritratto della carte di Roma
di mons^ ill""' Commendone all ill'"'' .s'"
Hier. Savorgnano. {BiOl. Vindob. Codd.
Rangon. nr. 18. fol. 278—395.) [A dis-
course on the court of Rome, addressed by
cardinal Commendone to cardinal Hiero-
nymo Savorgnano.]
To all appearances this work belongs to
Gregory's times. I should not venture to
warrant Commendone's name; but whoever
was the author, he was at all events a man of
talent, profoundly initiated into the more
secret relations of Roman life,
He thus defines the court. " Questa re-
publica e un principato di somma autorita in
una aristocratia universa di tutti i christiani
coliocato in Roma. II suo principio e la
religione. Conciosia," he concludes, "che la
religione sia il fine e che questa si mantenga
con la virtu e con la dottrina, e impossibile
che alterandosi le conditioni degli uoinini non
si rivolga insieme sotto sopra tutta la repub-
lica," [This commonwealth is a principality
of supreme authority in an universal aristo-
cracy of all Christians, the seat of which is in
Rome. Its principle is religion. Seeing that
religion is its end, and that this is maintained
by virtue and doctrine, it is impossible but
that, men's conditions being altered, the whole
commonwealth shall be turned topsy-turvy.]
He then treats principally of this conflict
between the spiritual and secular interests.
Above all things, he inculcates great fore-
thought: " molto riguardo di tutti i movimenti
e gesti della persona : casa, servitori, cavalca-
ture convenienti, amicitie e honorate e virtu-
ose, non affermando cosa che non si sappia di
certo" [much attention to all movements and
gestures of the person ; house, servants, equi-
pages, all of a becoming kind ; honourable and
virtuous acquaintances ; no affirmin;»- a thing
that is not known for certain]. The court
demands, i " bonta, grandezza dell' animo,
prudentia, eloquentia, theologia" [goodness,
greatness of soul, prudence, eloquence, the-
ology]. Still all is uncertain. " Deve si
pensar che questo sia un viaggio di mare, nel
quale benche la prudentia possa molto e ci
renda favorevole la maggior parte de' venti,
nondimeno non gli si possa prescriver tempo
determinate o certezza alcunad'arrivar. Al-
cuni di mezza estate in gagliarda e ben for-
nita nave affondono o tardano assai, altri
d'inverno in debole e disarmato legno vanno
presto." [We ought to regard this as a sea
voyage, in which, though prudence can do
much, and make most winds available, still it
cannot command what weather it will, or
possess any certainty of arrival. Some in the
middle of summer, with good and well found
ships, sink, or make slow way; whilst others
make good speed in winter in crazy or dis-
mantled vessels.]
SECTION IV.
SIXTHS V.
I. CRITICAL REMARKS ON THE BIOGRAPHERS
OF THAT POPE, LETI AND TEMPEST I.
Vita di Sisto V pontejice Romano scritta dal
472
APPENDIX.
signer Geltio Rogeri alV instanza di
Gregorio Leti. Losanna 1669, 2 vols. ;
afterwards published under less singular
titles, in 3 vols.
It is far more by popular writings, which
obtain univei'sal currency, than by historical
works of more weight, which are often too long-
delayed, that the reputation of a man, or the
mode of viewing an event, is usually deter-
mined. The public do not specially inquire
whether the statements laid before them are
well founded ; they are satisfied if the remini-
scences presented to them in print be like
those expressed in conversation, as abundant
and as varied in colour, only somewhat more
concise, and therefore the more piquant.
Such a book is the biography of Sixtus V.
by Leti, — the most effective production, per-
haps, of that voluminous author : it has deter-
mined the light in which the memory of pope
Sixtus has ever since been viewed by the
world.
We are strangely perplexed upon our first
attempts in the study of such books. We can-
not deny them a certain degree of truth, we
cannot pass them by unnoticed ; yet we see
at once they are not to be trusted far. But
where the boundary lies, there is no determi-
nation in general terms.
The only way in which we can arrive at a
sound conclusion is by discovering an author's
sources, and ascertaining his way and manner
of employmg them.
Now m the course of our researches we
light upon the sources from which Leti drew ;
we cannot refrain from comparing them with
his representations.
1. In the whole history of Sixtus V. there
is nothing more famous than the way in which
he is said to have attained to the papacy, and
his behaviour in the conclave. Who is there
but knows the story, how the decrepid cardi-
nal, tottering along with the help of his stick,
after he was made pope, suddenly drew him-
self up erect and strong, flung away his stick,
and threatened those with the exercise of his
power from whom he had won it by deceit]
This tale of Leti's lias been received through-
out the wliole world. Whence did he take
it! we ask.
There exist documents relating to every
papal election, giving the motives, or rather
the intrigues, that led to it. We find, among
others, a so-called "Conclave," relating to the
election of Sixtus V., contemporaneous, like
most of the others, and written with much
knowledge of persons. " Conclave nel quale
fu create il c' Montalto che fu Sisto V."
We see on the first comparison that Leti
had this document chiefly in view. We may
perceive that, in point of fact, he only para-
phrased it.
Concl. MS. " II lunedi mattina per tempo
si ridussero nella capella Paulina, dove il car-
dinal Farnese come decano celebro messa, e
di mano sua cotnmunico li cardinali : dipoi si
venne secondo il solito alio scrutinio, nel quale
il cardinal Albani hebbe 13 voti, che fu il
maggior numero che atcun cardinale havesse.
Ritornati i cardinali alle celle, si attese alia
pratiche, et Altemps comincio a trattare alia
gagliarda la pratica di Sirleto, ajiitato da
iVIedici e delle creature di Pio IV, per la con-
fidenza che havevano di poter di qualsivoglia
di loro disponere : ma subito fu trovata I'esclu-
sione, scoprendosi contra di lui Este, Farnese
e Sforza."
Leti : " Lunedi mattina di buon' hora si
adunarono tutti nella capella Paolina, ed il car.
dinal Farnese in qualitJi di decano celebi'6 la
messa, e communico tutti i cardinali : e poi si
diede principle alio scrutinio, nel quale il car-
dinal Albano hebbe 13 voti, che fu il numero
maggiore. Doppo questo li cardinali se ne
ritornarono alle lor celle per pransare, e doppo
il pranso si attese alle pratiche di molti: ma
particorlamente Altemps comincio a trattare
alia gagliarda le pratiche di Guglielmo Sirleto
Calabrese, ajutato dal cardinal Medici e dalle
creature di Pio IV, per la confidenza che ha-
veva ogni uno di loro di poterne disporre : ma
in breve se gli fece innanzi I'esclusione, sco-
prendosi contro di lui Este, Farnese e Slbrza."
It is just the same with accessaries as with
leading points, e. g. MS. " Farnese incapric-
ciato et acceso di incredibile voglia di essere
papa, comincia a detestare publicamente la
pratica et il soggetto, dicendo: lo non so
come costoro lo intendonodi volere far Sirleto
papa." — Leti : " II primo che se gli oppose fu
P'arnese, incapricciato ancor lui ed acceso
d'incredibile voglia d'esser papa: ondeparendo
a lui d'esserne piu meritevole, come in fatti
era, comincio publicamente a detestare la pra-
tica ed il soggetto, dicendo per tutti gli angoli
del conclave : lo non so come costoro I'inten-
dono di voler far papa Sirleto."
So also as to the reflections. For instance,
the MS. says what ofl>5nce the disguise of Six-
tus gave to cardinal Alessandrino : " Ma dio,
che haveva eletto Montalto papa, non per-
messe che si avertisse a quello che principal-
mente avertire si dovea, ne lascioche Farnese
ne suoi si svegliassei'o a impedire la pratica,
credendo che non fosse per venire ad effetto
deir adoratione, ma solo per honorare Montalto
nello scrutinio." Though so pious a mode of
thought is not usual with Leti, he finds it very
convenient, nevertheless, to copy it, and insert
it in his book. He did so verbatim, with only
a few slight changes.
Does not this rather speak in praise than in
censure of Leti's often disputed fidelity 1
Let us, however, proceed to the one thing
that excites our doubts, — the conduct of the
cardinal. It is remarkable that on this point
alone Leti does not agree with his original.
SIXTUS V.
473
Leti says : " Montalto se ne stava in sua
camera e non gia nel conclave, fingendosi
tutto lasso et abandonato d'ogni adjuto humano.
Non usciva die raramente, et se pure andava in
qualche parte, come acelebrare messa, o nello
scrutiniodollacapella, se no andava con certe
maniere spensierate." [Montalto Jcept Piis
chamber and did not go to the conclave, pre-
tending to be quite worn out and beyond the
reach of all human aid. He went out but sel-
dom ; and when he did go any where, as to
celebrate mass, or to the scrutiny in the chapel,
he departed with a certain air of indifference.]
On the other hand the original says :
*' Sebene non mostravaunascopertaambitione,
non pretermetteva di far poi tutti quelli officii
che il tempo et il luogo richiedevano, humi-
liandosi a cardinali, visitandoli et elFerendosi,
ricevendo all' incontro i favori e I'offerte degli
altri." [Though he did not display an open
ambition, still he did not omit any of those
ceremonious offices which the time and place
required, humbling himself to the cardinals,
visiting and making them offers, and in return
receiving favours and offers from the others.]
The original says : " Before the assembly
of the conclave he did thus with Farnese, and
afterwards with Medici and Este ;" it relates
how, on the evening before his election, he
visited cardinal Madruzzi, and cardinal Al-
temps on the previous morning, and received
their assurance that he should be elected. In
a word, Montalto appears in the original
active, full of life and health; nay, that he
enjoyed such a lusty old age is set down as a
motive to his election. The whole story of
his pretended debility and seclusion, which has
acquired so much celebrity, is an addition by
Leti. But whence did he take it ! Did he
merely follow popular rumour, a self-wrought
story, or some other writer ? — We shall return
to this point.
2. A second prominent feature in the univer-
sally received notions about Sixtus V. is the
idea entertained of his financial arrangements.
This, too, is partially founded on Leti's state-
ments. In the second part of his book (p. 289)
there is a table of the papal revenue and ex-
penditure, that has found a certain degree of
credit even at the hands of the most rational
and the most learned persons. " Rendite ordi-
narie c'haveva la sede apostolica nel tempo
che Sisto entrava nel pontilicato." We ought
at least to be able to put confidence in his
figures in general.
Nevertheless, even here it is palpable that
matters are not as Leti represents them. Upon
the accession of Sixtus in April, 1585, the con-
tracts were still in force, which had been con-
cluded by Gregory XIII. in Aug. 1576, for
nine years, with the farmers of the revenues.
We have an authentic detail of these under
the title " Entrata della reverenda camera
apostolica sotto il pontificate di N. Sig^^ Gre-
60
gorio XIII fatto nell' anno 1576," a very ac-
curate document, in which are separately set
forth, first the sum contracted for, then tlhe
part of it that was alienated, and next the re-
mainder. Now Leti's statements agree very
badly with these tables. He sets down the
proceeds of the dogana di Roma at 182,450
scudi, whereas they amounted only to 133,000 :
not a single sum of all he names is correct.
But whence did he derive the particulars of
his account"! It cannot be that he should
have drawn it up altogether without any au-
thority. We have another account in our
hands of the year 1592, two years after the
death of Sixtus V. Leti's agrees with this
with regard to almost all the public offices, and
even the order in which they stand ; in both
we find for instance in the same succession :
"Dogana di Civita vecchia 1977 sc, diNarni
400, di Rieti 100, gabella del studio di Roma
26560, gabella del quadrino a libra di carne
di Roma 20,335," &c. But what a confusion
is here ! All the changes introduced by Six-
tus V. were already begun in these offices, and
ought to have been detailed. Nay, the con-
fusion does not end here. Probably Leti fell
in with a bad MS. if he did not himself make
some arbitrary alterations in it ; at all events he
makes the strangest deviations from the au-
thentic account. The Salaradi Koma produc-
ed 27,654 scudi, he gives 17,654 ; the tesoreria
e salario di Romagna brought in 71,395 scudi,
he puts it down at 11,395. In short, his ac-
count is not even correct with reference to any
other year, but in all particulars thoroughly
false and useless.
3. He compiled, as we perceive, without
judgment or critical discrimination ; he tran-
scribed, but hastily : how, indeed, could it
have been possible for him, in the unsettled
life he continually led, to have produced so
many books entirely of his own labour?
Whence, then, did he draw his materials on
this occasion ?
A MS. in the Corsini library in Rome,
" Detti e fatti di papa Sisto V.," enables us to
answer this question.
It is manifest at the first glance that this
work is substantially Leti's. Let us compare
the first passage that occurs to us.
E. g. the Corsini MS. says : •' II genitore di
Sisto V si chiamava Francesco Peretti, nato
nel castello di Farnese, di dove fu costretto
non so per qual accidente partire, ondes'inca-
mino per trovare la sua Ibrtuna altrove : et
essendo povero e miserabile, non aveva da po-
ter vivere, essendo solito sostentarsi di quello
alia giornata guadagnava grandemente fati-
cando, e con la propria industiia viveva. Par-
tito.-i dunque da Farnese, se ne ando a trovare
un suo zio."
Leti has in the first edition : " II padre di
Sisto si chiamava Francesco Peretti, nato nel
castello di Farnese, di dove fu constretto noa
474
APPENDIX.
so per qual' accicienteoccorsoli di parlirsi, cio
che fece volentieri per cercar fortuna allrove,
mentre per la poverta della sua casa non
haveva di che vivere se non di quello che lavo-
rava con le propria mani alia giornata. Par-
tite di Farnese la matina, giunse la sera nelle
grotte per consigliarsi con un suo zio."
It is plain that this is the same account with
a sligJit modification of style.
At times, indeed, we find little interpola-
tions in Leti : — but the MS. and the printed
book immediately coincide again.
And now if we ask whence were derived
those additions v/ith which he tricked out his
history of the conclave, we shall find that they
also figure in our MS. The above cited pas-
sage from Leti runs thus in the MS. : " Mon-
talto se ne stava tutto lasso con la corona in
mano et in una piccolissima cella abandonato
da ogn'uno, e se pure andava in qualche parte,
come a celebrar messa, o nello scrutinio della
capella, se ne andava etc." We see that Leti
has given a very slightly altered version of
this text.
I am induced by the importance of the sub-
ject to cite one more passage. The MS. says :
" Prima di cominciarsi il Montalto, che stava
appressoal card^ diSan Sistopernon perderlo
della vista o perclie non fosse subornato da
altri porporati, gli disse alle orecchie queste
parole : Faccia instanza V. S'''^ illma che lo
scrutinio segua senza pregiudicio dell' adora-
tione : e questo fui il priuio atto d'ambitione
che mostro esteriormente Montalto. Non
manco il cardi di San Sisto di far cio ; perche
con il Bonelli unitamente principio ad alzare
la voce due o tre volte cosi : Senza pregiudi-
cio della seguita adoratione. Queste voci
atterrirono i cardinal! : perche fu supposto da
tutti loro che dovesse esser eletto per adora-
tione. II card' Montalto gia cominciava a
levar quelle nebbie di fintioni che avevano
tenuto nascosto per la spatio di anni 14 I'am-
bitione grande che li regnava in seno : onde
impatiente di vedersi nel trono papale, quan-
do udi leggere la meta e piu delli voti in suo
favore, losto allungo il collo e si alzo in piedi,
senza attendere il fine del scrutinio, e uscilo
in mezzo di quella capello gilto verso la porta
di quella il bastoncello che portava per ap-
poggiarsi, ergendosi tutto dntto in tal modo
che pareva due palmi piu longo del solito. E
quello che fu piii maraviglioso, etc."
Let us compare with tiiis the corresponding
passage in Leti, i. p. 412 (edition of 1669) :
" Prima di cominciarsi Montalto si calo nell'
orecchia di San Sisto, e gli disse : Fate in-
stanza die lo scrutinio si faccia senza pregiu-
dicio deir adoratione: che fu appunto il pri-
me atto d'ambitione che mostro esteriormente
Montalto. Ne San Sisto manco di farlo, per-
che insieme con Alessandrino comincio a gri-
dare due o tre volte : Senza pregiudicio dell'
adoratione. Gia cominciava Montalto a levar
quelle nebbie di fintioni che havevano tenuto
nascosto per piti di quindeci anni I'ambitione
grande che li regnava nel cuore : onde impa-
tiente di vedersi nel trono ponteficale, non si
tosto intese legger piii della meta de' voti in
suo favore che assicuratosi del ponteficato si
levo in piedi e senza aspettare in fino dello
scrutinio getto nel mezo di quella sala un cer-
to bastoncino che portava per appoggiarsi,
ergendosi tutto dritto in tal modo che pareva
quasi un piede piii longo di quel ch'era prima :
ma quello che fu piu maraviglioso, etc."
Thus we see that, with the e.xception of a few
words, the passages are identical.
Leti, on one occasion, mentions an evi-
dence for his narrative : " lo ho parlato con
un Marchiano, ch' e morto venti (in later edi-
tions trenta) anni sono, et assai caduco, il
quale non aveva altro piacere che di parlare
di Sisto V. e ne raccontava tutte le partico-
larita." Now, upon the face of the thing, it
seems improbable that Leti, who arrived in
Rome in 1644, at the age of fourteen, should
have had intercourse with people who knew
Sixtus V. intimately, and that he should have
derived many materials for his book from their
conversation : — but this passage, too, is one
of those extracted from the MS. : " Et un gi-
orno parlando con un certo uomo dalla Mar-
cha, che e morto, che non aveva altro piacere
che di parlare di Sisto V." The " twenty or
thirty years" were thrown in by the author
for the sake of greater probability.
Here, too, it appears to me that Leti made
use of a bad copy. The MS. states in the
very beginning that the boy was often obliged
to pass the night in the open field, watching
the cattle, " in campagna aperta :" instead of
this, Leti writes " in compagnia d'un' altro,"
which has quite the appearance of an ill-cor-
rected clerical error. The M. A. Selleri of
Leti must have meant according to the MS.
M. A. Siliaci.
In a word, Leti's Vita di Sista V. is by no
means an original work. It is a version of an
Italian MS. that fell into his hands, with
some additions, and an improvement in style.
The whole question would now seem to be,
what credit does this manuscript deserve ] It
is a collection of anecdotes, made after a con-
siderable lapse of years, and altogether of an
apocryphal nature. In particular, that same
story of the conclave is utterly undeserving of
belief. Sixtus V. was not the first of whom
it was told ; the very same thing had already
been narrated of pope Paul III. In the pre-
face to the work. Acta Concilii Tridentini
1546, from which there is an extract in Stro-
bel's Neue Beitrage, v. 233, it is said of Paul
III. : " Mortuo Cleniente valde callide pri-
mum simulabat . . . vix prte senio posse suis
pedibus consistere : arridebat omnibus, laide-
bat neniinem, suamque prorsus voluntatem ad
nutum reliquorum accommodabat : . . . ubi
SIXTHS V.
475
se jam pontificem declaratum sensit, qui an-
tea tarditateiTi, morbum, senium et quasi ibr-
midolosurn leporem simulabal, extemplo tunc
est flictus agilis, validus, imperiosus, suamque
inauditam terociam . . . coepit ostendere."
[On the death of Clement, he pretended at
first very cunningly that he could hardly
stand on his feet for age : he smiled on every
one, offended no one, and altogether submitted
his own will to the beck of the others: . . .
when he heard himself actually declared
pope, he who before feigned decrepitude, dis-
ease, old age, and almost trembling complai-
sance, now suddenly became active, strong,
imperious, and began to display his unheard-
of ferocity.] This is plainly the origin of the
story as given by Leti.
Leti had no thought of scrutinizing his
MS., or clearing it of its errors ; he has rather
done his best still more to distort what he
found before him.
Notwithstanding this, his work was very
successful ; it ran through edition after edi-
tion, and a multitude of translations.
It is a striking fact, that history, such as it
fixes itself in the memory of man, always
touches upon the range of mythology. Per-
sonal traits become more sharply and strong-
ly marked ; they approach in some way or
another to an ideal that can be laid hold of by
the imagination ; the events acquire a more
striking character; accessary circumstances
and co-operative causes are forgotten. Thus
only does it appear that the demands of the
imagination can be satisfied.
Then comes the scholar at a later day,
wondering how men could have fallen upon
such false notions ; he does what he can to
dissipate errors, but at last is obliged to own
that the task is not so easy of accomplish-
ment. Reason submits to be convinced, but
imagination is not to be conquered.
Storia delta vita e geste di papa Sisto V.
sommo pontefice, scritta dal P^" M^" Cas-
imiro Tempesti. Roma 1755. [Life of
Sixtus V. by Casimiro Tempesti, &c.J
We have made mention of the temperate,
cheerful, and well-meaning pope Benedict
XIV. : his pontificate was further distinguish-
ed by the circum.stance, that almost all the
works of more or less utility respecting the
internal history of tlie papacy belong to its
time. It was then that the Annals of Maffei
were printed ; it was then Bromato made his
collection for the life of Paul IV. ; the biog-
raphies of Marcellus II. and Benedict XIII.
were produced in that reign ; and in it too
Casimiro Tempesti, a Franciscan, like Sixtus
v., undertook to refute Gregorio Leti.
Every desirable opportunity was afforded
him to this end. He searched through all the
Roman libraries, where he met with the most
valuable acquisitions, biographies, letters, me-
moirs of various kinds, all of which he put to-
gether and incorporated in his book. Per-
haps the most important of tliem all is the
correspondence of Morosini, the nuncio in
France, which fills a large part of his work :
for commonly he admits his documents into
his text with but slight modifications.
Two things, however, are to be remarked
on this head.
In the first place, he puts himself in a pe-
culiar relation to his authorities. He believes
them, transcribes them, but at the same time
is fully assured the pope must have fallen out
with the writers of them ; he must have of-
fended them ; the moment they begin to cen- .
sure, he washes his hands of them, and la-
bours to give a different interpretation to the
proceedings of his hero, which they call in
question.
But sometimes he even departs from his au-
thorities, either because they are not suffi-
ciently staunch in the church's cause for him,^
or because he has really no just conception of
the matter in hand. Take, for example, the
affair of Miihlhausen, in the year 1587. The
MS., designated by Tempesti " Anonimo Ca-
pitolino," which he has exactly copied in
very many places, relates the affair with
much perspicuity : let us see the use he has
made of its statements. The Anomino very
appropriately qualifies with the words, " in
non so che causa," the dispute that broke out
in Miihlhausen, as Laufer (Helv. Geschischte,
xi. 10) expresses himself, " about a patch of
wood valued hardly at twelve crowns."
Tempesti turns this into " in urgente lor
emergenza [in their pressing emergency.]
The people of Miihlhausen imprisoned some
of their councillors, " carcerarano parecchi
del suo senato." Tempesti says merely " car-
cerati alcuni," without remarking that the
persons imprisoned were of the council. It
was feared that the people of Miihlhausen
would put themselves under the protection of
the catholic districts, and separate from the
protestants: " clie volesse mutar religione e
protettori, passando all' eretica fede con rac-
comandarsi alii cantoni cattolici, siccome al-
lora era raccomandata alii eretici." This
refers to the fact, that Miihlhausen, upon its
first entrance into the Swiss confederation,
was not acknowledged by Uri, Schwyz, Lu-
ccrn, and Unterwalden, which cantons also
refused it their protection subsequently, when
they joined the reformed church. (Glutz
Blotzheim's continuation of Miiller's History
of Switzerland, p. 373.) Tempesti had no
conception of this peculiar state of things; he
says very drily, " Riputarono che i Miiausini
volessero dichiararsi cattolici." So it goes
on, even where the author shows by his punc-
tuation that he is quoting another's words.
The Anonimo Capitolino says, that pope Six-
476
APPENDIX.
tus had been on the point of sending 100,000 1 fiorini 30, e mi promise renderli a Montalto
scudi to Switzerland in furtherance of this
secession, when he received intelligence that
the disputes were all settled. Tempesti, ne-
vertheless, affirms that the pope actually sent
the money. For, above all things, he is re-
solved that his hero shall be magnificent, and
even liberal; though the latter quality was
certainly not that for which he w-as most con-
spicuous.
I will not accumulate examples. This is
his invariable mode of proceeding, compare
him where we will with his authorities. He
is diligent, careful, furnished with ample ma-
terials, but narrow in his views, dry, monoto-
nous, and without real insight into things;
his collections do not enable us to dispense
with the originals. His work was not adapt-
ed to cope with and counteract the impression
produced by Leti's.
II. MANUSCRIPTS.
Let us now return to our MSS. : it is to
these, after all, we must always have recourse
for exact information.
We next meet with a MS. by pope Sixtus
V. : Remarks under his own hand, written
whilst still in the convent.
49. Memorie autografe di papa Sisto V. —
Bibl. Chigi n. iii. 70. 158 leaves.
A certain Salvetti found it once in a garret,
and presented it to Alexander VII. It au-
thenticity is certainly beyond question.
" Questo libro sara per memoria di mie
poche facenducce, scritto di mia propria ma-
no, dove cio che sara scritto a laude di dio
sara la ignuda verita, e cosi priego creda ogn'
lino che legge." [This book shall be for a
record of my little doings, written with my
own hand, wherein what shall be written to
the praise of God shall be the naked truth,
and this I pray every one who reads it to be-
lieve.]
In the first place, it contains accounts, of
which one leaf is certainly wanting, if not
several.
" E qui sara scritti," he continues, " tutti
crediti, debiti et ogn' altra mia attione di
momento. E cosi la verita come qui si tro-
vera .«critto." [And herein shall be written
all credits, debts, and every other concern of
mine of moment. And every thing shall be
truly such as it shall be here set forlh.]
I will give one example more, in addition
to what 1 have related in the text : — "An-
drea del Apiro, frate di San Francesco con-
ventuale, venne a Venetia, e nel partirse per
pagar robe comprate per suo fratello, qual mi
disse tar botega in Apiro, me domando in
prestito denari, e li prestai, presente fra Gi-
rolamo da Lunano e fra Cornelio da Bologna,
in mano di fra Salvatore per tutto il mese pre-
sente d'Augusto, come appar in un scritto da
sua propria mano il di 9 Agosto 15.57, quale e
nella mia casetta. H. 30." [Andrea del
i\piro, friar of the order of St. Francis, came
to Venice, and on his departure asked a loan
of money of me to pay for goods bought for
his brother, wlio he told me kept a shop in
Apiro, and I lent him the same, there being
present fra Girolamo da Lunano and fra Cor-
nelio da Bologna, 30 florins, and he promised
to pay them back to me at iMontalto, into the
hands of fra Salvatore, taking all the present
month of August, as appears by a writing un-
der his own hand the 9th day of August,
1557, which is in my casket. H. 30.]
Here we have an insight into these little
monastic dealings ; we see how one friar
lends another money, how the borrower aids
his brother in his petty trade ; others are
witnesses. Fra Salvatore, too, makes his
appearance.
Then follows a list of books.* " Inventari-
um omnium librorum tarn seorsum quam si-
mul legatorum quos ego Fr. Felix Perettus
de Monte alto emi et de licentia superiorum
possideo. Qui seorsum fuerit legatus, facial
numerum qui non cum aliis minime." [An
inventory of all the books, whether bound
separately or together, which I, fra Felix
Peretto di Montalto, bought and possess, with
license of my superiors. Such as are bound
by themselves are numbered separately, but
not those that are joined with others.] I now
regret that I did not make any notes from
this catalogue ; it seemed to me very insigni-
ficant.
At last we find at page 144,
" Memoria degli anni che andai a studio, di
officii, perdiche e commissioni avute." [A
memoir of the years I passed as a student, of
my offices, my engagements as a preacher,
and the commissions I received.]
I will give this at full length, though Tem-
pesti has made occasional extracts from it;
it is important as the only diary of a pope that
we possess.
" Col nome di dio 1.540 il di 1 settembre di
mercoldi intrai a studio in Ferrara, e vi finii
il triennio sotto il rd" m™ Barfdalla Pergola.
Nel 43 fatto il capitolo in Ancona andai a
studio in Bologna sotto il t'^° maestro Giovan-
ni da Correggio : intrai in Bologna il di S.
Jacobo maggoir di Luglio, e vi stetti fino al
settembre dal 44, quando il costacciaro mi
mando baccellier di convento in Rimini col
revtno regente m^ Antonio da citta di Penna,
e vi finii il tempo sino al capitolo di Venezia
del 46. Fatto il capitolo andai baccellier di
convento in Siena con m^° Alexandre da
Montefalco, e qui finii il triennio fino al capi-
* [The future pope is not quite orthodox in his latinity.
— Translator.]
SIXTUS V.
477
tolo d'Assisi del 49. Ma il costacciaro mi
die' la licontia del magisterio nel 48 a 22
Luglio, e quattro di dopo me addottorai a Fer-
mo. Nel capitolo generaledi Assisi fui fatto
regente di Siena 1549 e vi finii il triennio, t'u
generale mons'"e Gia Jacobo da Montefalco.
A Napoli : nel capitolo generale di Geneva
fui fatto regente di Napoli 155:3 dal rev"io
generale m"" Giiilio da Piacenza e vi finii il
triennio. A Venezia : nel capitolo generale
di Brescia 1556 fui fatto regente di Venezia,
e vi finii il triennio, e I'anno primo della mia
regeria fui eletto inquisitor in tutto I'illmodo-
ininio 1557 di 17 di Gennaro. Nel capitolo
generale di Assisi 15.59 eletto generale ni^e
Giovan Antonio da Cervia, fui confirmato re-
gente et inquisitore in Venezia come di sopra.
Per la morte di papa Paolo IIII I'anno dctto
d'Agosto partii da Venezia per visitare li miei
a Montalto, inquisitore apostolico : mosso da
gran tumulti: il 22 di Febbraro 1560 tornai
in ufficio col brieve di Pio IIII papa, et vi
stetti tutto 'i Giugno, e me chiamo a Roma:
il di 18 Luglio 1560 fui fatto teologo assist-
ente alia inquisitione di Roma e giurai I'offi-
cio in mano del card' Aiessandrino. .
" (Prediche.) L'anno 1540 predicai, ne ha-
vovo anchor cantato messa, in iVIontepagano,
terra di Abruzzo. L'anno 1541 predicai a
Voghiera, villa Ferrarese, mentre ero stu-
dente in Ferrara. L'anno 1-542 predicai in
Grignano, villa del Polesine di Rovigo, e stu-
diavo in Ferrara. L'anno 154:3 predicai alia
fratta di Badenara (viveva il Diedo e'l Man-
frone) e studiavo in Ferrara. L'anno 1.544
predicai alia Canda, villa della Badia e studia-
vo in Bologna. L'anno 1.545 predicai le feste
in Rimini in convento nostro, perche il m™ di
studio di Bologna ne preoccupo la predica di
Monte Scutulo, et ero bacC di convento di
Rimini. L'anno 1546 predicai a Macerata di
Montefeltro et ero bacco di convento di Rimi-
ni. L'anno 1.547 predicai a S. Geminiano in
Toscana et ero bacct di convento a Siena.
L'anno 1548 predicai a S. Miniato al Tedesco
in Toscana, et ero bacco di Siena. L'anno
1549 predicai in Ascoli della Marca, partite
da Siena per I'ingresso de Spagnoli introdutti
da Don Diego Mendozza. L'anno 1550 pre-
dicai a Fano et ero regente a Siena. L'anno
1551 predicai nel domo di Camerino condotto
dal r"'° vescovo et ero regente a Siena.
L'anno 1.5.52 predicai a Roma in S. Apostoli,
e tre ill"" cardinali me intrattenneroin Roma,
e lessi tutto l'anno tre di della settirnana la
pistola a Romani di S. Paolo. L'anno 155:3
predicai a Geneva, e vi se fece il capitolo
generale, et andai regente a Napoli. L'anno
1554 predicai a Napoli in S. Lorenzo, e vi ero
regente, e lessi tutto l'anno in chiesa I'evan-
gelio di S. Giovanni. L'anno 15.55 predicai
nel duomo di Perugia ad instanza dell' ill™"
cardinale della Corgna. L'anno 1556 fu chia- (
principio la santita di papa Paulo IIII, pero
non predicai. L'anno 15.57 fu eletto inquisi-
tor di Venezia e del dominio, e bisognandome
tre di della settimana seder al tribunale non
predicai ordinariamente, ma ;3 (?) di della set-
timana a S. Caterina in Venezia. L'anno
1.5.58 predicai a S. Apostoli di Venezia e 4
giorni della settimana a S. Caterina, ancorche
exequesse I'officio della st^a inquis"". L'anno
15-59 non predicai salvo tre di dalla settimana
a S. Caterina per le niolte occupationi del s.
officio. L'anno 1.560 tornando col brieve di
S. Santita a Venezia inquisitore tardi predicai
solo a S. Caterina come di sopra.
" (Commissioni.) L'anno 1548 ebbi da rev^o
m^ Bartolommeo da Macerata, ministro della
Marca, una commissione a Fermo per liberar
di prigione del Sf vicelegato fra Leonardo
della Ripa: lo liberal e lo condussi in Mace-
rata. L'anno 1.549 ebbi dal sudo R. P''*' com-
missioni in tutta la custodia di Ascoli da Feb-
braro fino a pasqua. L'anno istesso dall'
istesso ebbi una commissione nel convento di
Fabriano e vi remisi frate Evangelista dell'
istesso luogo. L'anno 1550 ebbi dall' istesso
padre commissione in Senegaglia: rimisi fra
Nicolo in casa e veddi i suoi conti. L'anno
1-551 ebbi commissione dal r'"o pre generale
m'e Gia Jacobo da Montefalco a visitar tutta
la parte de Montefeltro, Cagli et Urbino.
L'anno 15.52 ebbi dall' illmo ca^rdinale protet-
tor commissione sopra una lite esislente tra il
guardiano fra Tommaso da Piacenza et unfra
Francesco da Osimo, che aveva fatto la coc-
china in Santo Apostolo. L'istesso anno ebbi
commission dal rev'no padre generale m^
Giulio da Piacenza nel convento di Fermo, e
privai di guardianato m™ Domenico da Mon-
tesanto, e viddi i conti del procuratore fra
Ludovico Pontano, e bandii della provincia fra
Ciccone da Monte dell' Olmo per aver dato .
deile ferite a fra Tommaso dell' istesso luogo.
L'anno 15-55 ebbi dal sudetto rmo generale
commissione di andar in Calabria a far il min-
istro, perche avea inteso quelle esser morto,
ma chiarito quelle esser vivo non andai.
L'anno 15.57 ebbi commissione sopra il Gatto-
lino di Capodistria, sopra il Garzoneo da Ve-
glia et altre assai commissioni di fra Giulio
di ('apodistria. L'anno 15-59 fui fatto com-
missario nella provincia di S. Antonio, tenni
il capitolo a Bassano, e fu eletto ministro m">
Cornelio Veneso. L'anno 1560 fui fatto in-
quisitore apostolico in tutto il dominio Veneto,
e deir istesso anno fui fatto teologo assistente
alia inquisitione di Roma il di 16 Luglio
1560.
"Nel capitolo generale di Brescia 1-556 fui
eletto promoter a magisterii con I'Andria e
con m^o Giovanni di Bergamo, et otto bacca-
laurei da noi promossi furon dottorati dal
rev'io generale m™ Giulio da Piacenza, cioe
Antonio da Montalcino, Ottaviano da Ravenna,
mato a Roma al concilio generale, che gia I Bona ventura da Gabiano, Marc Antonio da Lu-
478
APPENDIX.
^o, Ottavlano da Napoli, Antonio Panzetta da
Padova, Ottaviano da Padova, Martiale Cala-
brese. Otto altri promossi ina non adottorati da
s. p. r»ia: Francesco da Sonnino, Antonio da
Urbino, Nicolo da Montefalco, Jacobo Appu-
gliese, Antonio Boletta da Firenze. Constantino
da Crema, il Piemontese et il Sicolino. In pero
con I'autorita di un cavalier di S. Pietro da
Brescia addottorai Antonio da Urbino, il Pie-
montese e Constantino da Crema. Di Macrgio
1558 con I'autorita del cavalier Centaniadotto-
rai in Venezia fra Paolo da S. Leo, frate An-
drea d'Arimino, Giammatteo da Sassocorbaro
e fra Tironinoda Lunano, tutti miei discepoli."
[In the name of God, on Wednesday, the
first of September, 1540, I entered on my
studies in Ferrara, and finished by triennium
there under the Rev. Master Bartolomeo dalla
Pergola. In 43, the chapter havins^ been
held in Ancona, I went to study in Bolog-na
under the Rev. Master Giovanni da Corregio :
I entered Bologna on the day of St. James
the elder in July, and remained there till the
end of September, 44, when the examiner
sent me as convent bachelor to Rimini with
the very reverend regent Master Antonio, of
the city of Penna, and there I completed my
time till the chapter of Venice in 46. After
the chapter I went convent bachelor to Siena
with Master Alexandre da Montefalco, and
there finished my triennium at the chapter
d'Assisi in 49. But the examiner granted
me a master's license on the 22d of July, 48,
and four days after I took the degree of doctor
at Fermo. In the chapter general of Assisi I
was made regent of Siena in 1549, and finish-
ed my triennium there, Monsieur Gia Jacobo
da Montefalco being general. At Naples : at
the chapter general of Genoa, I was made
regent of Naples in 1553 by the very rever-
end general Master Giulio da Piacenza, and
there completed the triennium. At Venice :
in the chapter general of Brescia, 1556, 1 was
made regent of Venice, and there ended the
triennium ; and in the first year of my regen-
cy, on the 17th of January, 1.557, I was efect-
ed inquisitor through the whole of the most
illustrious dominion. In the chapter general
of Assisi, 1.559, Monsieur Giovan Antonio da
Cervia being elected general, I was confirmed
regent and inquisitor in Venice as before.
Upon the death of pope Paul IV. in the Au-
gust of the same year, I set out from Venice
to visit my friends at Montalto, apostolic in-
quisitor: alarmed by violent disturbances; on
the 22d of February, 1560, I entered into of-
fice by virtue of a brief from pope Paul IV.,
and remained in it all June, till I was called
to Rome: on the 18th of July, 1560, I was
made assistant theologian to the inquisition of
Rome, and was sworn into office by cardinal
Alessandrino.
(Preacliings.) I preached in the year 1540,
I had not yet celebrated mass, in Montepa-
gano, in the terra di Abruzzo. In the year
1541 1 preached at Voghiera, a city of Ferrara,
while I was a student in Ferrara. In 1542 I
preached in Grignano,atown of the Polesinedi
Rovigo, and was studying in Ferrara. In the
year 1543 I preached to the brotherhood of Ba-
denara (Diedo and Manfrone were living), and
studied in Ferrara. In the year 1544 1 preached
at Canda, a town of Badia, and studied in Bo-
logna. In the year 1545 I preached the festival
sermons in Rimini in our convent, because the
master of the college of Bologna pre-occupied
there the pulpit of Monte Scutulo, and I was
convent bachelor in Rimini. In the year 1546
I preached at Macerata di Montefeltro, and
was convent bachelor in Rimini. In the year
1547 1 preached at St. Geminiano in Tuscany,
and was convent bachelor in Siena. In the
year 1548 I preached at St. Miniato at Te-
desco in Tuscany, and was bachelor of Siena.
In 1549 I preached in Ascoli della Marca,
having left Siena on the entrance of the
Spaniards introduced by Don Diego Mendozza.
In 1550 I preached at Fano, and was regent
in Siena. In 1551 I preached in the cathe-
dral of Camerino, being conducted by the
most reverend bishop, and was regent in
Siena. In 1552 I preached in Rome in S.
Apostoli, and three most illustrious cardinals
entertained me in Rome, and I read thrice
every week the epistle of St. Paul to the Ro-
mans. In 1553 I preached in Genoa, and
there the chapter general was held, and I
went as regent to Naples. In 1554 I preach-
ed in Naples in S. Lorenzo, and was regent
there, and read all the year through the gos-
pel of St. John in the church. In the year
1555 I preached in the cathedral of Perugia,
at the instance of cardinal della Corgna. In
1556 I was called to Rome to the general
council, which his holiness pope Paul IV. now
began, but I did not preach. In 1557 I was
elected inquisitor of Venice and the dominion;
and as I had to sit three days in the week on
the tribunal, I did not usually preach but 3 (?)
days of the week in S. Caterina, in Venice.
In 1558 1 preached at S. Apostoli in Venice,
and four days in the week at S. Caterina,
while I still discharged the office of inquisitor
of the holy inquisition. In 1560, returning
to Venice with his holiness's brief, I remained
there inquisitor, and preached alone in S.
Caterina as before.
(Commissions.) In 1548 I had from the
most reverend Mi's Bartolomeo da Macerata,
minister of la Marca, a commission to Fermo,
to liberate from the vice-legate's prison fra
Leonarda della Repa : I liberated him and
conducted him to Macerata. In 1549 I had
from the aforesaid reverend father commis-
sions in all the custody of Ascoli from Feb. to
Easter. Tiie same year I had from the same
a commission to the convent of Fabriano, and
there I replaced frate Evangelista of that
SIXTUS V.
479
place. In 1550, I had from the same father
commissions in Senegaglia : I replaced Ira
Nicolo in the house, and inspected his ac-
counts. In 1551, I had a commission from
the most reverend father-general M^e Gia
Jacobo da Monteialco to visit all the district
of Monte fait ro, Cagli, and Urbino. In 1552,
I had from the most illustrious cardinal-pro-
tector commissions respecting a suit pending
between the guardian, fra Tommaso da Pia-
cenza, and one fra Francesco da Orsimo, who
had cooked in S. Apostolo. The same year I
had a commission from the most reverend
father-general M''e Giulio da Piacenza to the
convent of Fermo, and I deprived JVJaster
Dominico da Montesanto of the guardianship,
and inspected the accounts of the procurator
fra Ludovico Pontano, and banished from the
province fra Ciccone da iVIonte dell' Olmo for
having inflicted wounds on fra Tommaso of
that place. In 15-55, 1 had from the aforesaid
most reverend general a commission to go
into Calabria to act as minister, because he
expected to die; but as by God's mercy he
lived I did not go. In 1557, I had a commis-
sion respecting Gattolino di Caposdistria, re-
specting Garzoneo da Veglia and various
other commissions of fra Giulio di Capodistria.
In 1559, 1 was made commissioner in the
province of S. Antonio, I held the cliapter in
Bassano, and M^e Cornelio Veneso was elect-
ed minister. In 1560, I was made apostolic
inquisitor in all the Venetian dominions, and
the same year was appointed assistant theo-
logian to the inquisition of Rome the 16th of
July, 1560.
In the chapter-general of Brescia, 15-56, I
was elected promoter to masterships with
I'Andria and with iVJ aster Giovanni da Berga-
mo, and eight bachelors promoted by us were
received doctors by the most reverend general-
master Giulio da Piacenza, that is to say, An-
tonio da Montalcino, Ottaviano da Ravenna,
Bonaventura da Gabiano, Marc Antonio da
Lugo, Otlavianoda Napoli, Antonio Panzetta
da Padova, Ottaviano da Padova, Martiale Ca-
labrese. PJight others promoted but not re-
ceived doctors ; P'rancesco da Sonnino, Antonio
da Urbino, Nicolo da Montefalco, Jacobo Ap-
pugliese, Antonio Boletta da Firenze, Con-
stantino da Crema, il Piemontese, and il Sico-
lino. But I, by the authority of a knight of
S. Pietro da Brescia, admitted doctors Antonio
da Urbino, il Piemontese, and Constantino da
Crema. In May, 1558, by the authority of
the knight Cenlani, I admitted doctors in Ven-
ice fra Paolo da S. Leone, frate Andrea d'Ar-
imino, Giammatteo da iSassocorbaro, and iVa
Tironino da Lunano, all my pupils.]
50. De Vita Sixti V ipsius manu ememlata.
—Bibl. Altleri. 57 leaves. [Life of
Sixtus V. corrected by himself]
Only a copy, indeed, but the mistakes of
the original writer and the pope's corrections
are tiuthfully transcribed. The emendations
are seen over words run through with the pen.
He begins with the poverty of this pope's
parents, who earned their bread "alieni par-
vique agri cuitura ;" he extols in particular,
above all the rest of the family, Signora Ca-
milla, who, at least at the time he wrote, was
very moderate in her pretensions: "quseita
se intra modestisc atque humilitatis sua? fines
continuit semper, ut ex summa et celsissima
fbrtuna fratris, pra?ter innccentije atque fru-
galitatis famam et in reiictis sibi a familia ne-
potibus pie ac liberaliter educandis diligentiae
laudem, nihil magnopere cepisse dici possit"
[who always so contained herself within the
bounds of her natural modesty and humility,
that except the renown of innocence and fru-
gality, and the credit acquired by her diligence
in piously and liberally educating the nephews
left to her care, she cannot be said to have
derived any extraordinary advantage from her
brother's pre-eminently exalted fortune.] He
describes the education of Sixtus, his rise,
and the first period of his administration. He
is particularly remarkable for crying up the
Christian principle prevailing in the architect-
ure of Rome.
This little work must have been composed
about the year 1,587. It was the author's in-
tention to describe also the succeeding periods.
" Tuia dicentur nobis plenius, cum acta ejus
(Sixti) majori parata ordine prodere memorise
experiemur. Quod et facturi pro viribusnos-
tris, si vita suppetet, omni conatu sunius; et
ipse ingentia animo complexus nee ulla med-
iocri contentus gloria uberem ingeniis materi-
am prsebiturus egregie dese condendi voluini-
na videtur." [vVe shall speak of these more
fully when we shall attempt to relate his acts
in their grander development. This it is our
purpose most earnestly to essay with all our
power, if life be granted us; whilst it seems
probable from the magnificence of his con-
ceptions, and his disdain of all but the loftiest
glory, that he will afford rich materials for
many a splendid volume.]
Tiie most important question touching the
MS. before us, is whether it was actually re-
vised by Sixtus.
Tempesti, who was not acquainted with the
copy in the Altieri library, possessed a little
work which was recommended to him as com-
posed by Graziani and revised by pope Sixtus.
He makes some objections against it, which
may possibly be well-founded. It is not, how-
ever, identical with our work. Tempesti
among other things points out the fact (p. xxx.)
that Graziani makes the pope begin his first
procession from S. Apostoli, whereas it set
out from Araceli. Truly this is such a mis-
take as would be more likely to be overlooked
by a man who had become pope, and who had
the affairs of tiiis world on Ins shoulders, than
480
APPENDIX.
by the padre Maestro Tempesti. But it does
not exist in our Vita, where it is stated quite
correctly: " Verum ut acceptura divinitus
honorem ab ipso deo oxordiretur, ante omnia
supplicationes decrevit, quas ipse cum patri-
bus et frequente pojiulo pedibus eximia cum
religione obivit a leinplo Franciscanorum ad
S. Mariam Majorem." [But that he might
begin from God himself the honour divinely
imparted to him, he appointed mthe very first
place solemn prayers, to offer which he pro-
ceeded most piously on foot with the fathers
and a great concourse of people from the
church of the Franciscans to S. Mary the
elder.]
We have besides a positive evidence for
the authenticity of our little work. Another
biographer — the next of those we shall men-
tion— stales, that Sixtus had remarked in the
margin of certain commentaries, "sororum al-
teram tenera ietate decessisse" [that another
sister died in childhood.] This very thing
we find to have been done in our work. The
first author had written, " Qua rum altera nup-
sit, ex cujus filia Silvestrii profluxisse dicun-
tur, quos adnumerat suis pontifex, &c." Six-
tus struck this and some more out, and wrote,
"Quarum altera setate adhuc tenera decessit."
The second biographer says further: "In
ill is commentariis ab ipso Sixto, qui ea recog-
novit, adscriptum reperi, Sixti matrem Ma-
rianam non quidem ante conceptum sed paulo
ante editum filiumde futura ejusmagnitudine
divinitus fuisse monitam." [I find it stated
by Sixtus himself, in those commentaries
which he revised that his mother Mariana,
not indeed before her conception, but shortly
before the birth of her son, had his future
greatness foretold her from heaven.] This
also we find in our MS. The author had said
that the prediction was received by Peretto
in a dream : " nasciturum sibi filium qui ali-
quando ad summas esset dignitates perven-
turus." The word father is struck out, and
instead of it is inserted : " Ejus uxor partui
vicina." [His wife near her delivery.]
Our MS. thus acquires great authenticity;
it connects itself directly with that autograph
of the pope which we have mentioned. It
would well deserve to be printed in a separate
form.
51. Sixtus V. Pontifex Maximus Bibl. Al-
tieri. 60 leaves.
The same work by which we were just now
enabled to prove the authenticity of the fore-
going. I do not find that it was known to
Tempesti or any other writer.
The author wrote after the death of Sixtus.
Already he complains that his memory was
disfigured by many fabulous tales. Sixtus V.,
he begins, " memorife qiubusdam gratae, ali-
quibus invisie, omnibus raagnse, cum cura no-
bis et sine ambitu dicetur : curam expectatio
multorum acuit, ambitum seneclus nobis im-
minens prsecidit." [The life of Sixtus V., of
memory dear to some, hateful to others, great
in the estimation of all, shall be related by us
carefully and without truckling; the expec-
tation of numbers stimulates our carefulness,
(although the MS. was never printed) and im-
pending age cuts off from us all motive for
truckling.]
He considers his subject of great import-
ance: "Vixautrerum moles major aut ma-
jorisanimi pontifex ullounquam tempore con-
currerunt." [Hardly any times have present-
ed events of more vast magnitude, or a pope
of grander mind.]
In the first part of his little work he details
the entire life of Sixtus V. up to his accession
to the papal throne. His authorities were the
biographers above mentioned, letters of Six-
tus which he frequently cites, and oral com-
munications from cardinal Paleotto, or from
one of the pope's confidential domestics named
Capeletto. Many notable particulars are
mentioned by him.
Chap. I. " Sixti genus, parentes, patria." —
Here we have the strange story that Sixtus
in his youth wished to be called Crinitus [long
or thick-haired,] and that he even went by
that name for a while in the convent. The
meaning he attached to the word was that of
a comet, and he chose it in consideration of
his hopes of fortune, " propter speratam sem-
per ab se ob ea quse mox exsequar portenta
nominis et loci claritatem." This is what is
alluded to by the star in his armorial bearings.
This is certainly no comet. He himself told
Paleotto that the pears in his arms designated
his father (Peretti,) the mountains his native
country: the lion carrying the pears was
typical at once of magnanimity and benefi-
cence.
11. •' Ortus Sixti divinitus ejusque futura
magnitudo praenunciatur." — Sixtus himself
relates that one night his father heard a voice
crying unto him, "Vade, age, Perette, uxori
jungere : paritura enini tibi filium est, cui
Felicis nomen impones: is enim mortalium
dim maximus est futurus." [Up! Peretti, go
seek thy wife : for she will bear thee a son,
to whom thou shalt give the name of Felix :
for he will one day be the greatest of mortals.]
A queer sort of fellow this Peretti must have
been. His wife v>'as then in the service of the
Diana before mentioned in the town. At the
instigation of the prophetic voice he stole to
her through the fogs of night ; for he durst not
show himself by day tor fear of his creditors —
Singular origin ! At a later period Peretti
formally reassured his creditors on the strength
of his son's luck. He used to say, when he
had the child in his arms, that he was carrying
a pope, and he would offer the foot to his
neigiibours to kiss.
SIXTUS V.
481
III. " Nomen." — Peretto said, when ob- 1
jections were made to him against the name j
of Felix : " Baptismo potius quam Felicis !
nomine carebit :" [Sooner shall he go without ,
baptism than not be called Felix.] The child's
bed once caught fire, from a light left near it : |
his mother running to extinguisli the flames,
found the child unhurt and laughing. Some-
what as it happened to the child of Servius
Tullius's female slave, — his future greatness
was foretold by the flame that played round
his head. After so many centuries, the mir-
acle, or the belief in it, was repeated.
IV. " Studia." — He was not fond of hearing
it said that he had tended swine ; and he forbade
the continuance of tlie above-mentioned com-
mentaries because the fact was stated in them.
This chapter relates his first rapid progress in
his studies, and how he gave his schoolmaster
too nmch work for his five bajocchi. ♦' Vix
mensem alteram operara magistro dederat,
cumille Perettum adit, stare se conventis posse
negans: tam enim multa Felicem supra reli-
quorum captum et morem discere ut sibi, mul-
lo plus in uno illo quum in ceteris instituendis
omnibus laboranti, non expediat niaximam
operam minima omnium mercedeconsumere."
[He had hardly attended the schoolmaster two
months, when the latter went to Peretti, and
told him he could not abide by the terms
agreed on : for Felix learned so many things
beyond the capacity of the other boys, and out
of the usual course, that he gave him more to
do than did all his otlier scholars together; it
was not right, therefore, that where he, the
teacher, had the most labour, he should have
the least pay.] Felix was rather hardly treat-
ed by fra Salvatore. He had many a blow
because he did not set his meat before him
properly. The poor child used to stand on
tiptoe, but he was so small that even thus lie
could hardly reach the top of the table.
V. Monastic life. — What we have related i
respecting his manner of studying and the dis-
putation at Assisi. The first fame of iiis
preaching. On his journey he was stopped
at Belforte, and not allowed to depart till he
had thrice preached to an enormous concourse
of people.
VI. " Montalti cum Ghislerio Alexandrine
jungendaj familiaritatis occasio."
VII. " Per magnam muitorum invidiam ad
magnos multosque honores evadit." [In spite
of many and vehement enemies, he arrives at
great and numerous honours.] He had much
to endure in Venice partiularly, where he
carried out the printing of the Index. — He
was once forced to retire from the city, and
was in doubt whether he should return. Car-
dinal Carpi, his patron ever since the dispu-
tation of Assissi, gave the Venetian Francis-
cans to understand, that if Montalto was not
Bufiered to remain in Venice, not a man of
them should stay there. Notwithstanding
61
this, he could not keep his ground in the city.
The brethren of his order accused him before
the council of Ten of sowing sedition in the
republic, inasmuch as lie would not give ab-
solution to those who were in possession of
forbidden books (qui damnatos libros domi re-
tineant.) He was obliged to go back to Rome,
where he became consultor to the Inquisi-
tion.
VIII. "RomansB inquisitionis consultor, sui
ordinis procurator, inter tlieologos congrega-
tionis Tridentini concilii adscribitur." [Con-
sultor to the Roman inquisition, proctor of his
order, he is enrolled among the theologians
of the congregation of the council of Trent.]
— By the Franciscans of Rome, too, Montalto
was received only upon the express recom-
mendation of cardinal Carpi, who sent him
his meals. He supported him in every post,
and on his death-bed recommended him to
cardinal Ghislieri.
IX. "Iter in Hispaniam." [Journey to
Spain.] — He accompanied Buoncompagno, af-
terwards Gregory XIII. Even then there
was but a bad understanding between them.
Montalto was sometimes obliged to travel in
the baggage-wagon. " Accedit nonnunquam
ut quasi per injuriam aut necessitatem ju-
mento destitutus vehiculisquibus impedimen-
ta comportabantur deferri necesse fuerit."
Many otiier slights were added to this.
X. " Post honorifice delatum episcopatum
per iniquorutn hominum calumnias cardinala-
tus Montalto maturatur." [After an honour-
able discharge of the duties of his bishopric,
Montalto's advancement to the rank of car-
dinal was hastened by the calumnies of wick-
ed men.] — The nephew of Pius V. was also
against him, " alium veterem contubernalem
evehendi cupidus" [desirous of promoting
some old tavern companion of his.] Among
other things it was told the pope that four care-
fully closed chests had been seen carried into
Montalto's chamber, where he lived in gross
luxury and splendour. Pius went himself
unexpectedly to the convent. He saw bare
walls, and asked at last what was in the
chests, which were still there. " Books, holy
father," said Montalto, " which I intend to
take with me to S. Agatha," — that was his
bishopric, — and he opened one of them. Pius
was higlily pleased, and shortly after nominat-
ed him a cardinal.
XI. " Montalti dum cardinalis fuit vita et
mores." [The life and habits of Montalto
while he was a cardinal.] — Gregory withdrew
his pension, which was very ominous of his
future pontificate. "Levis enim auiicorum
quorundam superstitio diu credidit, pontifi-
cum animis occultam quandam in futures
successores obtrectationem insidere." [For
there has long been an idle superstition held
by soiiie persons about the court, that a cer-
tain secret aversion creeps into the minds of
482
APPENDIX.
the popes against those who will one day
succeed them.]
XII. " Francisci Peretti ceedes incredibili
animi Eequitate tolerata."
XIII. " Pontifex M. magna patrum con-
sensione declaratur."
Then follows the second part.
" Hactenus Sixti vitam per tempora diges-
simus: jam hinc per species rerum et capita,
ut justa hoTninis sestimatio cuique in proinptu
sit, exequar." [Hitherto we have treated of
the life of Sixtus in the order of time ; hence-
forth I will arrange his actions under general
heads, so as to afford a ready means of forming
a just estimate of the man. J
There exist, however, only three chapters
of this part : " Gratia in bonemeritos : —
pietas in Franciscanorum ordinem ; publica
securitas."
The last is by far the most important, on
account of the description of the times of
Gregory, and since I did not make a complete
transcript of it, I will at least give an ex-
tract.
" Initio quidem nonnisi qui ob casdes et
latrocinia proscripti erant, ut vim m^agislra-
tuuni eftligerent, genus hoc vita? instituerant
ut aqua et igne prohibiti latebris silvarum
conditi aviisque montium ferarum ritu va-
gantes miseram anxiamque vitam furtis pro-
pemodum necessariis sustentarent. Verum
ubi rapinse dulcedo et impunitas noquitiee
spes alios atque alios extremse improbitatis
homines eodem expulit, cospit quasi legiti-
mum aliquod vel mercimonii vel artilicii
genus latrocinium frequentari. Itaque certis
Bub ducibus, quos facinora et ssevitia nobili-
tassent, societates proscriptorum etsicariorum
ad vim, cssdes, latrocinia coibant. Eorum
duces ex audacia vel scelere singulos sesti-
mabant : facinorosissimi et sffivissima ausi
maxime extollebantur ac decurionum centu-
rionumque nominibus militari prope more
donabantur. Hi agros et itinera non jam
vago maleficio sed justo pene imperio infes-
ta habebant Denique operam ad
csedem inimicorum, stupra virginum et alia
a quibus mens refugit, factiosis hominibus et
scelere alieno ad suam exaturandum libidi-
nem egentibus presente pretio iocare : eoque
res jam devenerat ut nemo se impune peccare
posse crederet nisi cui proscriptorum aliquis
et exulum periculum pra^staret. lis fiebat
rebus ut non modo improbi ad scelera, verum
etiam minime mali homines ad incolumitatem
ejusmodi feras bestias sibi necessarias puta-
rent Id proceribus et principi-
bus viris perpetuo palam usurpari
Et vero graves Jacobo Boncompagno suscepta;
cum primariis viris iuimicitaa ob violatam
Buarum ajdium immunitatem diu fortunam
concussere. Procerum plerique, sive quos ass
alienum exhauserat, sive quorum ambitioeti
lux us supra opes erat, sive quos odia et ulcis- '
cendi libido ad cruenta consilia rejecerant,
non modo patrocinium latronum suscipere,
sed feed us cum illis certis conditionibus san-
cire ut operam illi ad csedem locarent
mercede impunitatis et perfugii. Quum quo
quisque sicariorum patrono uteretur notum
esset, si cui quid surreptum aut per vim abla-
tum foret, ad patronum deprecatorem con-
fugiebatur, qui sequestrum simulans, utrinque
raptor, turn prsedce partem a sicariis turn
operse mercedem a supplicibus, aliquando
recusantis specie, quod ssevissimum est ra-
pinaj genus, cxtorquebat. Nee defuere qui
ultro adversus mercatores atque pecuniosos
eorum.que filios, agros etiam et bona ex desti-
nato immitterent, iisque deinde redimendis
ad seque confugientibus operam venderent,
casum adeo miserantes ut ex animo mise-
reri credi possent Lites sicariorum
arbitrio privatis intendebanlur, summitteban-
tur vi adacti testes, metu alii a testimonio
dicendo deterrebantur Per urbes
factiones exoriri, distinctsa coma et capillitio,
ut hi in losvam, illi in dexteram partem vel
villus alerent comarum vel comam a fronte
demitterent. Multi, ut fidem partium alicui
addictam firmarent, exores necabant, ut filias,
sorores, affines eorum inter quos censeri vel-
lent ducerent, alii consanguinearum viros
clam seu palam trucidabant, ut illas iis quos
in suas partes adlegerant collocarent. Vul-
gare ea tempestate fait ut cuique sive forma
seu opes mulieris cujuscunque placuissent,
eam procerum aliquo interprete vel invitis
cognatis uxorem duceret: neque rare accidit
ut prffidivites nobilesque homines exulum
abjectissimis et rapto viventibus grandi cum
dote filias collocar.e vel earum indotatas filias
ipsi sibi jussomatriraoniojungere cogerentur,
.... Sceleratissimi homines tribunalia
constituere, forum iudicere, judicia exercere,
sontes apud se accusarc, testibus urgere,
tormentis veritatem extorquere, denique so-
lemni formula damnare : alios vero a legitimis
magistratibus in vincula conjectos, causa per
prorem (procuratorem) apud se dicta, absol-
vere, eorum accusatores ac judices poena
talionis condemnare. Coram damnatos prse-
sens poena sequcbatur : si quid statutum in
absentes foret, tantisper mora erat dum
sceleris ministri interdum cum mandatis
perscriptis riteque obsignatis circummitteren-
tur, qui per veram vim agerent quod legum
ludibrio agebatur Dominos et re-
ges se cujus coUibuisset provinciee, ne so-
lennibus quidem inaugurationura parcen-
tes, dixere multi et scripsere Non
semel sacra supellectile e tempi is direpta,
augustissimam et sacratissimam eucharistiam
in silvas ac latibula asportarunt, qua ad
magica flagitia et execramenta abuteren-
tur Mollitudo Gregoriani imperii
malum in pejus convertit. Secariorum mul-
titude infinita, qute facile ex rapto cupiditati-
SIXTHS V.
483
bus conniventiiim vel in specicm tantiim
irascentium ministrorum largitiones sutfice-
ret. Publica fide securitas vel petentihus
concessa vel spoute ablata : arcibus, oppidis,
militibus praificiebantur. Eos, velut ab egre-
gio facinore reduces, multitudo, quocunque
irent, spectando efllisa mirabatur, laudabat.
[Originally, indeed, none but those who
were proscribed for murder and robbery
adopted this kind of life, to escape from the
hands of justice ; forbidden fire and water,
lurking in the shades of the forest, prowling
like wild beasts in the mountain wilderness,
and sustaining a miserable and anxious
existence by almost necessary thefts. Cut
when, by and by, numbers of depraved men
were allured to the same course by the lust
of rapine and the hope of impunity, highway
robbery began to be followed as though it
were a legitimate profession or trade. Thus
companies of bandits and assassins combined
for purposes of violence, bloodshed, and plun-
der, under leaders noted for their crimes and
cruelty. By these leaders their followers
were esteemed in proportion to their several
degrees of daring or guilt ; the most criminal,
and those who had perpetrated the greatest
atrocities, were held in the highest honour,
and endowed with titles of command almost
in military style. They infested the rural
districts and the roads, not as mere desultory
marauders, but almost as regular conquer-
ors Finally, they hired out their
services for the assassination of enemies, the
pollution of virgins, and other loathsome
iniquities, which they were ready to perform
for a sum in hand on behalf of those whose
villany needed the help of dospei'ate hands:
and things had come to such a pass, that no
one thought he could transgress the law with
impunity unless he had the protection of some
of the outlaws. The consequence was, that
such savage beasts were thought necessary,
— not merely by bad men, as agents of their
crimes, but even by men by no means de-
praved,— as' guardians and defenders
This became an open and established cus-
tom with the nobles Giacopo
Buoncompagno was long harassed by the
violent hostilities he brought upon himself at
the hands of great men, the immunities of
whose houses he had violated. Numbers of
the nobility, — such as were laden with debt,
or whose ambition and luxury went beyond
their means, or who were driven to deeds of
bloodshed by their feuds and their vengeful
passions, — not only became the patrons of
banditti, but entered into regular compacts
with them, bargaining that they should do
murder for them in consideration of impunity
and shelter. When it was known who was
the special patron of the several outlaws,
those who had been pilfered or openly robbed,
addressed themselves to the patron, who,
pretending to interest himself for the injured
party, became doubly a plunderer, receiving
a part of the booty from the robbers, and
extorting a fee for his pains from those who
besought his aid ; the cruellest of all forms of
plunder, sometimes made still more atrocious
by a hypocritical show of refusal. Some there
were even who, after preconcerting attacks
on merchants and men of wealth, t .eir sons,
their estates and their goods, made a profit of
their services in negotiating a ransom, af-
fecting all the while such pity for the suffer-
ers, one would have thought they sympathized
with them in their hearts Law-
suits were brought against individuals, the
decision of which lay with banditti ; wit-
nesses were brought forward and compelled
to swear what was dictated to them ; others
were terrified from appearing
Factions arose in the cities, distinguished by
their head-dresses and way of wearing the
hair, whether combed to the right side or to
the left, whether gathered up into knots or
let fall down in front. INTany, to prove them-
selves staunch to the party they had adopted,
killed their wives that they might marry the
daughters, sisters, or kinswomen of those
among whom they wished to be enrolled ;
others murdered the husbands of their female
relations privately or openly, that they might
have them united to the members of their
own faction. It was a common thing at that
period for a man to procure for his wife,
through the instrumentality of some noble-
man, any woman whose beauty or wealth
attracted him, even in opposition to the
wishes of his family; nor did it seldom hap-
pen that men of great wealth and high birth
were obliged to give their daughters in mar-
riage with large dowries to the lowest outlaws
and thieves, or themselves to take in mar-
riage the penniless daughters of those mis-
creants. The worst criminals constituted
themselves judges, held courts, heard plead-
ings, summoned accused parties before them,
called witnesses against them, put them to
the torture, and finally passed sentence on
them in judicial tbrm : on the other hand
they would try by attorney persons"committed
to prison by the lawful magistrates, acquit
them, and sentence their judges and accusers
to punishment according to the lex talionis.
Sentence was forthwith executed upon such
as were tried in person ; whatever was
decreed against absent parties suftered no
longer delay than was necessary for sending
out the ministers of crime with warrants duly
made out and sealed, to finish the legal farce
with tragic reality JMany called
and subscribed themselves lords and kings
of such and such provinces, not even omit-
ting the ceremonies of inauguration
Upon more than one occasion they carried
484
APPENDIX.
the holy utensils plundered from the churches,
and the most revered and sacred eucharist
into tlie forests and caves, to desecrate them
to the use of magical abominations. . . . The
Vi'eakness of Gregory's government aggravat-
ed the mischief The immense numbers of the
bandits contributed too tempting an amount
of bribes to the public servants who con-
nived at their doings, or only made a show
of discountenancing them. Amnesty was
granted to some and assumed by others; they
were put in command of fortresses, towns,
and soldiers. Wherever they went they
were extolled by admiring crowds, like men
returning from the achievment of some grand
exploit.]
52. Memorie del pontijicato di Sisto V. —
Altieri xiv. a iv. fol. 480 leaves. [Me-
moirs of the Pontificate of tSixtus V.]
This circumstantial work is not quite new
and unknown. Tempesti had a copy of it
taken from the archives of the capitol, and
names as its author the Anonimo Capitolino.
But Tempesti is highly unjust to the work.
He copies from it in numberless places, and
yet in the general judgment pronounced at the
beginning of his book he denies it all credibi-
lity.
It is nevertheless unquestionably the best
work on the history of Sixtus V.
The author was in possession of the most
important documents. This is self-evident
from his narrative : he also says as much him-
self (e. g. as to German afl'airs): "mi risolvo
di narrar minutamente quanto ne trovo in
lettere e relationi autentiche."
He gives the most exact information res-
pecting the financial measures of Sixtus V.,
going through them one by one. Yet he goes
to work with much discretion in this matter.
" Gli venivano," he says, " proposte inventioni
stravagantissime ed horrende, ma tutte sotto
faccia molto humana di raccor danari, le quali
per esser tali non ardisco di metter in carta
tutte, ma sole alcune poche vedute da me nelle
lettere originali degl' inventori." [The most
extravagant and startling devices were pro-
posed to him, but all under the very plausible
pretext of raising money : such being their
character, I do not venture to commit them
all to paper, but only some few of them which
I have seen detailed in the original letters of
the inventors.]
He had written a life of Gregory XIII.
which may have been the reason tliat he was
taken for Maft'ei, though in other respects I
can find no grounds lor identifying him with
that Jesuit.
It is a pity that this work is but a fragment.
The earlier events are wanting from the be-
ginning. They had been written, but the
work, at least our MS. copy, breaks ofi' in the
middle of a sentence. The measures of the
first years of the pope's reign are next gone
through, but the author gets no further than
1587.
We might put up with the first deficiency,
since we have so much other and good infor-
mation ; but the want of the latter part of the
work is very sorely felt. It is a kind of Euro-
pean history, which the author compiled from
really trustworthy accounts. No doubt we
should have had from him much valuable intel-
ligence respecting the year 1588, the annus
climactericus of the world.
Observe how rationally he expresses himself
in the beginning of his work.
" Non ho lasciata via per cui potessi trar
lume di vero che non abbia con molta diligenza
et arte apertamiet indefessamente camminata,
come si vedra nel racconto che faccio delle
scritture e relationi delle quali mi son servito
nella tessitura di questa istoria. Prego dio,
autore e padre d'ogni verita, sicome mi ha
dato ferma volonta di non dir mai bugia per
ingannare, cosi ini conceda lume di non dir mai
il false con essere ingannato." [There was
no way by which I could come at the light of
truth that I failed to enter upon with much
diligence and scrutiny, and to pursue indefati-
gably, as will be seen from the account I give
of the writings and reports of which I have
made use in the texture of this history. I
pray God, the Author and Father of all truth,
that as He has given me the determined de-
sire never set down a lie with a view to deceive
others, so in like manner He may grant me
light never to say what is false through being
myself deceived.]
A prayer quite worthy of a historian.
He concludes at the election of cardinals in
1587 with the words : " E le speranze spesso
contrarie aile proprie apparenze."
I have adopted a great number of his state-
ments after comparing them with other autho-
rities: to set down what may yet remain
would lead too far for the compass of this
work,
53. Sixti V Pontificis Maximi vita a Guido
Gualterio Sangenesino descripta. MS.
der Bibl. Altieri VIII. F. 1. 54 leaves.
[Life of pope Sixtus V. by Guido Gualterio
Sangenesino.]
Tempesti speaks of a diary relating to the
times of Sixtus V. by an author of this name.
He is the same who wrote the biography
before us, in which he mentions the former
work. He was specially rewarded by Sixtus
for his exertions.
The copy in the Altieri palace is very au-
thentic and perhaps unique. It contains anno-
tations in the author's own hand. He says in
it, " Me puero cum in patria mea Sangeno,"
&c., so that there can be no doubt.
SIXTUS V.
4S5
He wrote it shortly after the death of Six-
tus, in the beginning of tiie reign of Clement
VIII. whom he often alludes to. He mentions
that the news of Henry IV.'s conversion to
Catholicism had just arrived as he wrote, so
that we may confidently assign the composi-
tion of the work to the year 1593.
The author is particularly worthy of credit.
He was intimately connected with the Peretti
family : Maria Felice, the daughter of Signora
Camilla, was brought up in Sangeno ; the
author's wife was her familiar friend ; he him-
self was intimately acquainted with Antonio
Bosio, the secretary of cardinal Carpi, Mon-
talto's first patron : " summa mihi cum eo
necessitudo intercedebat."
Accordingly his information respecting the
earlier circumstances of the pope's life is par-
ticularly good.
He devotes to them the first part of his book.
He acquaints us how Fra Felice first be-
came known to Paul IV. When a minorite
church in tlie March took fire, the host escap-
ed uninjured. Some special circumstances
must have been connected with the fact ; at
any rate a grand consultation was held on the
subject, at which were present the cardinal
inquisitors, the general of orders, and many
other prelates. Cardinal Carpi brought Mon-
talto with him, and insisted upon it that his
favourite should also be allowed to state his
opinion. Montalto gave one that every body
thought the best: Carpi left the assembly in
great satisfaction. " In ejus sententiam ab
omnibus item est. Surgens cardinalis Car-
pensis dixit : Probe noram quern virum hue
adduxissem."
The account of his Aristotelian labours is
interesting.
The edition of Posius, who was in fact a
pupil of Montalto's, is directly ascribed by
Gualterius to the latter. " Aristotelis Aver-
roisque opera ex pluribus antiquis bibliothecis
exemplaria nactus emendavit, expurgavit, ap-
toque ordine in tomos, ut vocant, undecim
digessit. Mediam et magnam Averrois in
libros posteriorein expositionem apta distribu-
tione Aristotelis textui accommodavit: me-
diam Averrois expositionem in 7 metaphysi-
corum libros invenit, exposuit, ejusdem Aver-
rois epitomata qucesita et epistolas suis restituit
locis, solutionibus contradictionum a doctis-
eimo Zunara editis centum addidit. [Having
procured copies of Aristotle and Averrhoes in
several ancient libraries, he amended their
text, and arranged the works in due order in
eleven volumes. He fitly adapted the com-
mentary of Averrhoes to the text of Aristotle :
he discovered the commentary of Averrhoes
on seven books of metaphysics, edited them,
and restored to iheir places the epitomata
quaesita and the epistles of the said Averrhoes ;
and he added one hundred solutions of contra-
dictions to those published by the very learned
Zunara] in which the contradictions between
Aristotle and Averrhoes v^cre reconciled.
He then paints the character of his hero.
" Magnanimus dignoscebatur, ad iram tamen
pronus. Soinni potens: cibi parcissimus : in
otio nunquani visus nisi aut de studiis aut de
negotiis meditans." [Magnanimous, but prone
to anger. Not a slave to sleep : very frugal
in food : he was never seen to pass a leisure
moment unoccupied with the thoughts of study
or business.]
So he arrives at the conclave. Thereupon
he begins to describe the acts of Sixtus under
the categories of his several virtues : " Reli-
gio, Pietas, Justitia, Fortitude, Magnificentia,
Providentia."
Singular as is this classification, we never-
theless meet with many fine passages as we
proceed.
Gualterius labours earnestly to defend the
pope from the accusations made against him
on account of his taxes. But let us hear how
he does it. " Imprimis ignorare videntur, pon-
tificem Romanum non in nostras solum facul-
tates sed in.nos etiam ipsos imperinm habere."
[In the first place they seemed not to know
that the pope of Rome's sovereign authority
extends not only over our means but over our
very selves.] What would the present age
say to such a doctrine of political rights 1
He devotes his attention particularly to the
architectural works of Sixtus, and is very in-
teresting in his remarks on the subject.
He describes the condition of the old Late-
ran. " Erat aula permagna quam concilii
aulam vocabant ; erant porticus tractusque
cum sacellius nonnullis et cubiculis ab aula
usque ad S. Sabee quam S. Salvatoris capellam
vocant. Erant s. scalarum gradus et porticus
vetustissimae qua veterespontifices, qui Late-
ranum incolebant, populobenedicebant. iEdes
illae veteres maxima populi veneratione celeb-
rari solebant, cum in illis non pauca monu-
menta esse crederentur Hierosolymis usque
deportata. Sed fortasse res in supcrstitionem
abierat : itaque Sixtus, justisde causis ut cre-
dere par est, servatis quibusdam probatoribus
monumentis, Sanctis scalis alio translatis, om-
nia demolitus est." [There was a very large
hall called the hall of the council (no doubt on
account of the Lateran councils down to the
time of Leo X.) : there were porticoes and
galleries with some shrines and cells from the
hall to the chapel of S. Saba, called the chapel
of S. Salvatore. There were steps of holy
stairs and a very ancient portico from which
the pontiffs of old, who inhabited the Lateran,
used to bless the people. This ancient edifice
used to be held in the highest veneration by
the people, since it contained no few monu-
mental relics supposed to have been brought
from Jerusalem. Possibly, however, the mat-
ter had degenerated into superstition ; Sixtus,
therefore, upon good grounds, as we are bound
486
APPENDIX.
to believe, preserving the more autlientic
monuments, and transferring the holy stairs
elsewhere, destroyed all the rest.]
The author, we see, submits, but he feels
the wrong.
His description of St. Peter's as it then
stood (1593) is no less remarkable.
" In Vaticano tholum maximum tholosque
minores atque adeo sacellum majus quod ma-
jorem capellam vocant aliaque minora sacella
et aedificationem totam novi templi Petro
Apostolo dicati penitus absolvit. At plumbeis
tegere laminis, ornamentaque qua) animo des-
tinarat adhibere, templique pavimenta ster-
nere non potuit, morte sublatus. At quse
supersunt Clemens VIII persecuturus perfec-
turusque creditur, qui tholum ipsum plumbeis
jam contexit laminis, sanctissimse crucis vexil-
lum asneum inauratum imposuit, templi illius
pavimentum jam implevit, asquavit, stravit pul-
cherrime, totique templo aptando et exornando
diligentissiraam dat operam : cum veroex Mi-
chaelis Angeli forma erit absolutum, antiqui-
tatem omnem cito superabit." [He completely
finished the great roof of the Vatican and the
lesser roofs, and likewise the larger chapel, be-
sides other lesser chapels, and the whole build-
ing of the new church dedicated to St. Peter
the Apostle. But death prevented his covering
the roof with lead as he had intended, and
laying down the floor of the church. It is
believed, however, that Clement VIII. will
carry out what is wanting to the completion
of the work ; he has clothed the dome with
lead, raised above it the blessed cross in gilded
brass, and filled up, levelled, and very beau-
tifully covered the floor of the church, and he
is diligently pursuing the finishing and deco-
ration of the whole edifice : when it shall
have been fully executed after the plan of
Michael Angelo, its superiority to all the pro-
ductions of antiquity will be readily admitted.]
There was still, we see, nothing more in-
tended than to carry out Michael Angelo's
plan, and it would seem that all had been
already actually accomplished (penitus absol-
vit.)
We had above a remarkable notice of the
colossal statues. I will here add another.
The author is speaking of the piazza on the
raonte Quirinale. He sa)'3 of the improve-
ments made there by Sixtus V. : " Ornavit
perenni fonte et marmoreis Praxitelis et Phi-
diae equis, quos vetustate cum eorum rectori-
bus deformatos una cum basi marmorea in
pristinam fbrmam concinnavit et e vetere sede
ante Constantini thermas in alteram areaB par-
tem prope S. Pauli monachorum aedes trans-
tulit." [He adorned the piazza with a peren-
nial fountain, and with the marble horses of
Praxiteles and Phidias. The horses and their
managers having been disfigured by age, he
restored them with their marble bases to their
original form, and removed them from their
old site opposite the baths of Constantino to
another part of the piazza near the monastery
of St. Paul.] In the older copies also, one of
which is reproduced by Mier (Geschichte der
Kunst, ii. 299, and copies annexed, plate xv.),
the colossal statues appear in a very mutilated
form ; pretty much as they are described by
our Venetians (see page 406). It is manifest
they first acquired their present shape under
Sixtus V.
54. Galesini Vita Sixti V. Vatic. 5438. 122
leaves.]
A MS. with no particular title; the first
leaf contains the following dedication.
" Sanctissimo patri Sixto V pontifici maxi-
mo, vigilantissimo ecclesias dei pastori, provi-
dissimo principi, sapientissimo universae rei-
publicsB christianse moderator! et rectori, com-
mentarium hoc de vita rebusque ab eo in sin-
gulos annos diesque publico et pontificie aclis
gestisque distributum ac luculenter scriptum
Petrus Galesinus magno et summobenignissi-
nioque patrono singularis in ilium pietatis at-
que observantisB ergo in perpetuum dicavit."
These words show that it is rather an eulo-
gium, than a biography, we have before us.
The author thinks it worthy of note that
Sixtus was the fourth child born to his parents :
" sol enim quarto die creatus est ;" [for the
sun was created on the fourth day :] — and
that he was elected pope on the day of the
founding of Rome.
The narrative of the pope's earlier years is
very fragmentary. It affords another instance
in proof that the character of a young man of
talents attains its best growth under poverty
and rigid discipline. In the Peretti family
the mother's rule was severe. " Matris metu,
cum aliquid mali se commeruisse videret, in
omnes partes corporis se excitavit." [When-
ever he had committed a fault, he shook in
every limb, for fear of his mother.]
His labours in his villa are mentioned.
" Opus manu faciebat, ita ut vel hortos cole-
ret, vel arbores sereret, aut aliqua ratione,
instar diligentissimi agricolse, egregise insi-
tionis opera consererel, interlocaret." [He
wrought with his hands, cultivating his gar-
den, planting his trees, and practising all the
most ingenious arts of the most diligent hus-
bandmen.]
In all the acts of his pontificate, the strict
religious spirit to which Sixtus V. surren-
dered himself was conspicuously displayed, as
for instance in his buildings : " ut urbis opera
et idolatriae simulacra, inanis et falsce gloriolse
insanarunKpie superstitionum monumenta, ad-
huc in urbe jam diu nimis inveterata quadam
rorum olim Komanarum a christiano cultu ab-
horrentium curiositate, ad christianse
pietatis ornamentum pertraheret :" [convert-
ing into ornaments of Christian piety the
SIXTUS V.
487
works of the city, and the idolatrous images,
monuments of a vain and false glory, and of
insane superstitions, hitherto preserved by n
too long inveterate idle admiration of an-
cient Roman things abhorrent to Christian
worship.]
The origin of the Lateran palace. " Pon-
fex cum vix cubiculum inveniret quo se reci-
peret, continue jussit sedes pontificia majes-
tate dignas in Laterano extrui : valde enim
absurdum absonumque duxit basilicam Later-
anensem, omnium ecclesiarum matrem, pro-
priiun pontilicis Romani episcopatum, aades
non habere quas cum tanta episcopatus digni-
tate convenirent." [The pope finding hardly
a chamber to lodge in, immediately ordered a
palace to be built on the Lateran worthy of
the papal majesty: for he thought it very ab-
surd and inconsistent, that the Lateran ba-
silica, the mother of all the churches, the spe-
cial episcopate of the Roman pontiff, should
not have a palace befitting such high episcopal
dignity.]
On the whole, he considers Rome very reli-
gious. " Dat magna pietatis et integritatis
indicia. Clericorum disciplina fere est ad
pristinos sanctissimos mores restituta, ratio
divini cultusadministratioquesacrarum sedium
ad probatum veterem morem plane perducta.
.... Ubique in ipsis ecclesiis genuflexiones:
ubique in omni fere urbis regione fideles qui
sacra ilia sexta feria (Good Friday) infinitis
verberibus miserandum in modum propria
terga ita lacerabant ut sanguis in terram
usque defluxerit." [It gives great proofs of
piety and integrity. The discipline of the
clergy is nearly restored to the primitive holy
standard ; divine worship and the administra-
tion of the holy edifices are conducted in full
accordance with the ancient approved ways.
. . . Everywhere, in the churches themselves,
there are genuflexions ; everywhere, in al-
most every quarter of the city, there are num-
bers of the faithful, who on Good Friday pite-
ously lacerate tlieir own backs with such se-
vere floggings, that the blood runs down to
t\\e ground.]
55. Vita Sixti V anonyma. Vatica n. 5563.
Only a few leaves on the youth of Sixtus V.
His name Felix is traced to a dream his fa-
ther had.
56. Relatione alpapa Sisto V. 41 leaves, [Re-
port to Sixtus v.]
By a member of the curia who did not visit
the palace, and who learned no more than was
known to every one. It was originally ad-
dressed to a friend who wished to be informed
respecting the acts of Sixtus, and afterwards
to that pope himself.
In works like this, written by ordinary peo-
ple, who only accidentally step out from
among the multitude, it is interesting to ob-
serve the general influence exercised by a
government on the great body of the public.
In the little work before us, written through-
out in the stricter religious spirit that began
to prevail towards the close of the sixteenth
century, — we are struck by the powerful im-
pression produced by the transformation of
the heathen monuments into Christian.
" Le croci santissime in cima delle guglie
e le statue delii prencipi apostolici sopra le
colonne scancellano la memoria delle antiche
idolatrie, .... come anco che la croce posta
in mano della statua sopra la torre di Campi-
doglio significante Roma ci mostra che hoggi
Roma cioe il papa non opra la spada per sog-
giogare il mondo a guisa d'infideli iniperatori
Romani ma la croce per salutiferogiornodell'
universe." [The holy crosses on the tops of
the obelisks, and the statues of the apostolic
leaders upon the columns, cancel the memory
of the ancient idolatry So too the cross
placed in the hand of the statue over the torre
di Campidoglio, signifying Rome, shows that
now-a-days Rome — that is, the pope — does not
wield the sword to subjugate the world in the
manner of the infidel emperors of Rome, but
the cross, for the blessing and light of all man-
kind.] It is striking how popular were these
notions of the spiritual dominion even among
people of little consideration. The author de-
nies, further on, that the pope thought of giv-
ing himself importance in the eyes of sove-
reigns by means of his treasure, as some said
in order to appear very wise, — " per esser sa-
vione ;" he had no need of this : his intention
was rather to have the means of rewarding
obedient princes, and chastising the disobe-
dient. " Col tesoro castighera i prencipi ri-
belli di santa chiesa, et ajutera i prencipi ob-
bedienti nelle imprese cattoliche." He ap-
plauds Sixtus for his excommunication of
Henry IV. " Subito fatto papa ricorse a dio
per ajuto, e poi privo del regno di Navarra
quelle scellerato re eretico, . . . . e con queste
armi spirituali principalmente i papi hanno
disfatti e fatti imperatori e re." [Immedi-
ately on becoming pope he besought God's
aid, and then deprived that vile heretic king
of the kingdom of Navarre, .... and with
these spiritual arms principally the popes have
unmade and made emperors and kings.] That
priests and monks are to be regarded as the
pope's soldiery, is here for once stated on the
catholic side. " II papa tiene grossi presidii
in tutti regni, che sono frati monaci e preti, in
tanto numero e cosi bene stipendiati e pro-
visti in tempo di pace e di guerra Nelle
cose della religione vuole esser patrone solo
et asseluto, sicome dio vuole : . . . . e beati
quel populi che avranno prencipi ebbedientis-
simi Se i prencipi manterranno il pen-
siero di trattar le cose delli stati prima con li
488
APPENDIX.
sacerdoti che con i lor consiglieri secolari,
credami chc manterranno i sudditi obbedienti
e fedeli." [The pope keeps large garrisons
in all kingdoms, namely monks and priests, as
numerous and as well paid and provided in
time of peace as of war In matters of
religion he is resolved to be sole and absolute
master, as it is God's will he should be : . . . .
and blessed are those nations who shall have
the most obedient sovereigns If sove-
reigns would adhere to the principle of discus-
sing matters of state with priests, in prefer-
ence to their secular advisers, believe me
they W'Ould keep their subjects obedient and
faithful.] All the assertions of the ecclesias-
tico-political doctrine are here put forth in a
popular shape. But what is this worldly
power of the pope compared with the autho-
rity he has to exalt a poor menial to be one of
God's saints'! Our author cannot sufficiently
praise the canonizations renewed by Sixtus.
"A maggior gloria di dio, ha dedicato alcuni
giorni festivi a santi che non erano nel calen-
dario, si per dare occasioni a' christiani di
spendere tanto piii tenipo in honor di dio per
salute delle anime loro con I'intercessione de'
santi astenendosi dell' opere servili, si perche
Biano onorati gli amici di dio." [For the
greater glory of God he has dedicated some
holidays to saints who were not in the calen-
dar, both to the end that Christians may have
opportunity of spending so much the more time
in honour of God lor the weal of their own
souls, — beseeching the intercession of the
saints, and abstaining from servile works, —
and also to the honour of the friends of God.]
Among other motives, he adduces the follow-
ing also : " per far vedere gli infedeli e falsi
christiani che solo i veri servi di Christo sal-
vatorefannocamminare i zoppi, parlare i muti,
vedere i ciechi, e resuscitare i morti:" [to
prove to the infidels and to false Christians
that the true servants of Christ our Saviour
are alone able to make the lame walk, the
dumb speak, the blind see, and the dead come
to life again.]
57. Ralatione presentata nelV ecc^" collegia
dal cl""> Sig^ Lorenzo Priuli, ritornalo
di Roma 1.586, 2 Luglio. [Lorenzo Pri-
uli's report of his embassy to Rome, &c.]
We pass from the Roman documents to the
Venetian.
Lorenzo Priuli saw the latter part of the
reign of Gregory XIII. and the beginning of
that of Sixtus V. : he is full of their mutual
contrasts.
We must not let ourselves be carried away
by him. The early times of a pope were ge-
nerally looked on with more favour than the
last ; whether it was because increasing years
necessarily impair the talent for administra-
tion, or because we gradually discover in
every one much that we should wish away.
But Priuli is not unjust. He thinks that
Gregory's administration was also very use-
ful to the church. " Nella bonta della vita,
nel procurare il culto ecclesiastico, I'osser-
vanza del concilio, la residenza dei vescovi,
nell' eccellenza della dottrina, I'uno legale
I'altro teologicale, si possono dire assai simili."
[In goodness of life, in providing for public
worship, the observance of the council and the
residence of bishops, in excellency qf doctrine,
— the one as a legist, the other as a theolo-
gian,— they may be said to be very much
alike.] He thanks God that he had given
such excellent rulers to his church.
We observe then even foreign ambassadors
caught the spirit that swayed the court.
Priuli considers the election as altogether
miraculous, — a direct interposition of the
Holy Spirit. He reminds his native city that
it had risen to prosperity through its good un-
derstanding with the popes, which he coun-
sels it above all things to maintain.
58. Relatione del cP'-osig''' Giov. Gritti ritor-
nato ambasciutore da Roma anno 1589.
[Report of Giov. Gritti's embassy to Rome.]
There is only an imperfect copy in the Ve-
netian archives.
I caught with great eagerness at another I
saw in The Ambrosian library in Milan: but
that too I found contains just as much as the
other and not a word more.
This is the more to be lamented, as the an-
ther goes very systematically to work. He
proposes to speak first of the states of the
church, then of the person of the pope, of
whom he professes himself a great admirer,
thirdly of his views, and lastly of the cardi-
nals and the court.
A small portion only of the first division is
extant. The MS. breaks off at the very point
where the author is proceeding to speak of
the manner in which the revenue increased
under Sixtus. Still I cannot doubt but that
the work was completed. What we possess
is by no means a sketch, but a fragment of
the whole.
It is a curious fact, however, that none but
a defective copy is to be found even in the
archives.
59. Relatione di Roma delV amhasciatore
Badoer K'' relata in senato anno 1589.
[Badoer's report of his einbassy to Rome.]
The report is wanting in the Venetian ar-
chives. It is to be found in the collection of
the Quirini family, but only in a fragmentary
form.
There are eight leaves which contain no-
SIXTUS V.
489
thing but a few remarks relating to the pro-
vinces.
Badoer remarks that Venice estranged her
dependents in the March by surrendering too
many of them to the pope, or destroying them
at his request.
The increase of trade in Ancona had been
talked of, but the ambassador was not afraid
that it would be prejudicial to the Venetians.
" Essendo state imposte allora da Sisto V
doi per cento sopra tutte le mercantie, le qua-
li a querelle d'Anconitani furono poi levate,
non era gionta in 14 mesi alcuna nave in
quel porto." [Two per cent, having been im-
posed at that time (on his journey from home)
on all merchandize by Sixtus, which was af-
terwards taken off upon the remonstrances of
the people of Ancona, not one vessel entered
that port during a space of fourteen months.]
We see that the two imposts of Gregory
and of Sixtus V., though they were after-
wards repealed, n|||brtheless contributed
greatly to the decline of the trade of Ancona,
through the uncertainty of profit they occa-
sioned suddenly to the merchants. The chief
trade at that time was in camlets and furs,
yet the Jews found no fitting opportunity for
exchange in cloth or other goods. The cus-
toms were farmed out at only 14,000 scudi,
and even this sum was never realized.
Badoer wishes that the example of Spain
were copied, and that Venice would bestow
salaries on such friends as it had in the March.
He breaks off just as he is about to enume-
rate those friends.
60. Dispacci Veneti 1573 — 1590. [Venetian
Dispatches.]
No one would suppose that amidst such a
profusion of documents there should be felt
any want of information : yet this was very
near being the case here. We see what an
evil star presided over the Venetian reports :
the Roman memoirs elucidate only the first
part of this pontificate in some detail. I
should, after all, have been forced to put up
with Tempest! for the latter part — the most
important period — had not the dispatches of
the Venetian ambassadors come to my aid.
I had already in Vienna made extracts
from the whole series of Venetian dispatches
from 1573 to 1590, which Vv'ere preserved
there for the benefit of the government, part-
ly in authentic copies, partly in rubricaries.
There was really some dilticulty in the
task of mastering the former: a monthly part
sometimes extends to 100 leaves; they have
been damaged in their transport by sea ; they
crumble as one opens them, and the breath-
ing is assailed by an offensive dust. The ru-
bricaries are easier to deal with ; they are
protected by binding, and their abridged form
63
facilitates the gleaning of what is essential
from amongst the thousand insignificant af-
fairs that might have passed between two Ita-
lian states, and which have no claim to be
recorded in history.
Among these documents we find the re-
ports of Paul Tiepolo down to 1570, of An-
tonio Tiepolo to 1578, of Zuanne Correr to
1581, of Lunardo Donate to 1583, of Lorenzo
Priuli to 1536, of Zuanne Gritti to 1589, and
of Alberto Badoer to 1591.
Besides these regular embassies, we find
now and then extraordinary ones ; that of
Zuanne Soranzo, from October 1581 to Feb-
ruary 1582, which was dispatched on account
of the disputes respecting the patriarchate of
Aquileja ; the congratulatory embassy of the
year 1585 to Sixtus V., discharged by Giaco-
mo Foscarini, Marino Grimani, and Lunardo
Donate, whose common report was drawn up
by their secretary Padavino ; lastly, another
embassy of Lunardo Donate, in the year 1589,
occasioned by the political complications of
the times. The dispatches of this last envoy
are by far the most important: upon this oc-
casion, the mutual relations of the pope and
the republic were for once of importance to
the history of the world ; fortunately they are
to be found set forth in full under the title,
" llegistro delle lettere dell' ill'no signor Lu-
nardo Donate Kr ambasciatore straordinario
al sommo pontefice : comincia a 13 ottobre
1589 e finisce a 19 decembre 1589."
We have not even yet mentioned all the
materials for becoming acquainted with the
transactions of the ambassador. Thefe waa
besides a special privy correspondence of the
ambassador with the Council of Ten, which
is to be seen very neatly vs^ritten on parch-
ment; the first volume under the title, "Li-
bre primo da Roma, secrete del consiglio di
X sotto il serenissimo D. Aluise Mocenigo in-
clito duca di Venetia ;" the succeeding vo-
lumes have corresponding titles.
I know very well the objections that may
be urged against the use of ambassadors' dis-
patches. It is true they are written under
the influence of the impressions of the mo-
ment; they are seldom quite impartial, often
bearing only on special circumstances, and
by no means to be always implicitly followed.
But can any records or writings be named
that are worthy of complete and undiscrimi-
nating confidence J On all hands the grain
of salt is indispensable. At any rate the am-
bassadors were contemporaneous witnesses,
present on the spot, and bound to observe ;
they must indeed have been wholly destitute
of talent if their reports, read to some extent,
do not realize to us the events they describe,
and make us feel as though we actually be-
held them.
Now the Venetian ambassadors were men
490
APPENDIX.
of great practical experience and ability : I
consider these dispatches of theirs very in-
Btructive.
But how far would it carry us were I to
think of malting extracts from this long series
of volumes 7
I must be permitted to adhere to the rule I
have laid down of avoiding extracts form dis-
patches in this Appendix. It would require
a lengthened series of them to give some no-
tion of the contents of the originals.
On the other hand, I will touch upon two
important missions belonging to the times of
Sixtus V.
61. Relazione alV ill""> e rev™" cardinale
Rusticucci seg^'" di N. Sig^^ papa Sisto
V delle cose di Polonia intorno alia reli-
gions e delle azioni del cardinale Bolog-
netto in quattro anni ch' egli e state
nuntio in qiMla provincia, dtvisa in due
parti : nella prima si tratta (/fe' danni die
funno le eresie in tiUto quel regno, del
termine in che si trova il misero stato
cccl'^'', e delle dijjicolta e speranze che si
possono avere intorno a rimedii : nella
seconda si narrano li modi tenuti dal car-
dinale Bolognetto per svperare quelle
dijjicolta, et il profitlo chefece, et il siio
negoziare in tutto il tempo della sua nun-
tiatura: di Horatio Spannocchj, gia
seg"" del detto sig^<^ card^^ Bolognetto.
[Report of Horatio Spannocchi, formerly
secretary to cardinal Bolognetto, four
years nuncio in Poland, on the ecclesias-
tical affairs of that kingdom, addressed to
the secretary of Sixtus V., &c.]
Bolognetto's secretary, who had been with
him iu Poland, employed the leisure of a win-
ter's residence in 13ologna in drawing up this
report, which is not only circumstantial but
very instructive.
He first describes the extraordinary propa-
gation of protestantism in Poland, "non las-
ciando pure una minima citta o castello libe-
ro" [not leaving ud^itouchcd the smallest town
or castle]. He attributes this phenomenon,
as will readily be anticipated, chiefly to se-
cular considerations ; he asserts that the no-
bles inflicted fines on their subjects if they
did not attend the protestant churches.
Moreover, here too, as in tiie rest of Eu-
rope, a state of indifierence had begun to ma-
nifest itself " La differenza d'esser cattolico
o di altra setta si piglia in burla o in rise,
come cosa di pochissima importanza." [The
difference between being a catholic or of a
difierent sect is made a mock of, as a thing of
the most trifling importance.]
The German.a, who settled even in the
smallest places, and married tiiere, had a
large share in the difTusion of the protestant
doctrines: but still more formidable in the
author's opinion were the Italians, who utter-
ed the- assertion that in Italy, under the cloak
of Catholicism, people even doubted the im-
mortality of the soul, and that only an oppor-
tunity was waited for, to declare openly
against the pope.
He next depicts the condition into which
the clergy had fallen under these circumstan-
ces.
" Tnfiniti de' poveri ecclesiastici si trovano
privi degli alimenti, si perche i padroni delle
ville, eretici per il piii, se non tutti, hanno
occupato le possessioni ed altri beni delle
chiese o per ampliarne il proprio patrimonio
0 per gratificarne ministri delle lor sette ov-
vero per alienarne in varj modi a persone
profane, si ancora perche negano di pagar le
decime, quantunque siano loro dovute oltre
alle leggi divine e canoniche anco per consti-
tuzione particolare di quel regno. Onde i
miseri preti in molti luoghi non avendo con
che sostentarsi lascia^^Bo le chiese in abban-
dono. La terza e rispetto alia giurisdizione
ecclesiastica, Ja quale insieme con i privilegj
del clero e andata mancando, che oggidi altro
non si fa di differenza tra' beni sottoposti alle
chiese o monasterj e gli altri di persone pro-
fane, le citazioni e sentenze per niente. . . .
lo medesimo ho udito da principalissimi sena-
tori che vogliono lasciarsi tagliare pivi presto
a pezzi che acconsentire a leg"ge alcuna per
la quale si debbano pagar le decime a qualsi-
voglia cattolico come cosa debita. Fu costi-
tuito ne' comizj gia sei anni sono per publico
decreto che nessuno potesse esser gravato a
pagar le medesime decime da qualsivoglia
tribunale nc ecclesiastico ne secola.re. Tut-
tavia perche ne' prossimi comizj per varj im-
pedimenti non si fece detta composizione,
negano sempre di pagare, ne vogliono i capi-
tani de' luoghi eseguire alcuna sentenza so-
pra dette decime "
[Multitudes of the poor clergy, destitute of
food, as well because the magistrates of the
cities, heretics for the most part if not wholly
so, have seized the possessions and goods of
the churches, either to augment their own
patrimony, or to bestow them on ministers of
their own sects, or to alienate them in vari-
ous ways in favour of profane persons, as also
because they refuse to pay tithes, though due
not only in accordance with divine and ca-
nonical laws, but also by virtue of the parti-
cular constitution of this kingdom. Hence
the unfortunate priests in many places, not
having wherewith to sustain existence, aban-
don the churches. The third is in respect to
the ecclesiastical jurisdiction, which is fallen
into decay along with the privileges of the
clergy, that now-a-days there is no difference
made between property subjected to the
churches or monasteries, and that of profane
persons; citations and sentences are set at
nought. ... I myself have heard very cmi-
SIXTUS V.
491
nent senators declare, that they would rather
suffer themselves to be cut to pieces than
submit to any law enjoining them to pay tithe
as of riii'ht due to any catholic whatever. It
was publicly decreed in the diet, six years
ago, that no one should be forced to pay the
said tithes by any tribunal, whether ecclesi-
astical or secular. Nevertheless, as in the
next diet the ratification of the said composi-
tion was prevented by various impediments,
they continue to refuse payment, nor will the
ducal officers execute any sentence for the
said tithes.]
He thinks it a difficult matter for a nuncio
to effect any thing in the existing state of
things. It would be impossible to introduce
the inquisition, or even a stricter law of mar-
riage. The very name of the pope was ab-
horred ; tiie clergy deemed it their duty to
maintain the interests of the country in oppo-
sition to Rome ; the king alone was to be
counted upon.
The palatine Radziwill of Wilna had com-
municated to the king a call to arms against
the Turks, composed by a follower of Zw in-
gle. The author had enjoined the nation in
the very first place to mend their ways, and
to get rid of the images, the adoration of
which he regarded as idolatrous. The king-
would notsuffer the address to be published in
this form. He v.'rote with his own hand the
following words in the margin : — " Prsstat
hoc omittere quam false imputare et oration-
era monitoriam religionis antiquissimse sugil-
latione infamem reddere. O utinam faciant
uovsB secta3 nos tam diuturna pace florentes
atque fecit sancta religio catholica veros se-
cutores suos !" ' [It is better to omit this than
to make false imputations, and render a moni-
tory address infamous by the slander of the
most ancient religion. O would that the new
sects could bless us with such lasting peace
as the holy catholic religion bestowed on its
true followers.] A declaration on which our
reporter built great hopes.
He then proceeds to an examination of
Bolognetto's undertakings, which he classes
under seven heads : —
1. Restoration of the papal authority,
2. Persecution of the heretics.
3. Reform of the clergy (" modi per mode-
rare la licentiosa vita di sacerdoti scaudalosi").
4. Restoration of divine worship.
5. Union of the clergy.
6. Defence of their rights.
7. Considerations respecting the Christian
community in general.
I have already described in general terms
the efficiency of Bolognetto, with respect to
these problems. I subjoin, as an exan)ple, a
more accurate account of his interference in
the negociations with England.
" La reina d'Inghilterra domandava al re
di Polonia un' indulto per i suoi mercanti In-
glesi di poter portar le loro mercanzic e ven-
dero per tutto il regno liberamente, dove ora
non possono venderle se non i mercanti del
regno in Danzica, domandando insieme che
fosse loro concesso aprire un fondaco publico
in Torogno, ch'e il piu celebre porto della
Prussia dopo quelle di Danzica, e di 1h poi
partar le lo mercanzie eglino stessi a tutte le
fiere che si fanno per la Polonia, dove non
possono portarle ordinariamente se non mer-
canti del paese, che per il piu sono o Todes-
chi o Pruteni o Italiani. Domandava dunque
con quest' occasione quella pretesa reina che
nel decreto di tal concessione si esprimesse,
che a questi suoi mercanti non potesse mai
esser fatta molestia per contodi religione, ma
che potessero esercitarla liberamente a modo
loro ovunque andassero per il regno. Piaceva
questo partite universalmente a tutta la nobil-
t;i Polacca: solo i Danzicani ostavano gagli-
ardamente, mostrando che da questo indulto
saria seguilo I'ultimo danno al porto loro,
tanto celebre e tanto famoso per tutto il mon-
do, e che la speranza del minor prezzo era
fallace, massimamente perche i mercanti fo-
rastieri quando fossero stati in possesso di
poter vendere ad arbitrio loro e poter servar
la mercanzia loro lungo tempo nelle mani,
I'avrebbon venduta molto piu cara di quello
che la I'endono oggi i mercanti del paese.
Tuttavia il contraccambio che offeriva la regi-
na a' mercanti di Polonia, di poter fare lo
stesso loro in Inghilterra, pareva che gia
havesse persuaso il re a concedere tutto
quello che domandava. II che non prima
venne agli orecchj del Bolognetto, che ando
a trovare S. M''^, e con efficacissime ragioni
le mostro quanto esorbitante cosa sarebbe
stata che avesse concesso per publico decreto
una tanto obbrobriosa setta, e come non senza
nascosto inganno e speranza d'importantissi-
me conseguenze quella scellerata donna vo-
leva che si dichiarasse cosi per decreto potersi
esercitar la setta Anglicana in quel regno,
dove tutto il mondo pur troppo sa che si per-
metta il credere in materia di religione quel
che place a chi si sia : con questa ed altre
efficacissime ragioni il re Stetano rimase tal-
mente persuaso che promesse non voler mai
far menzione alcuna di religione in qualunque
accordo avesse falto con quella regina o suoi
mercanti."
[The queen of England demanded of the
king of Poland license for her English mer-
chants freely to import and sell their merchan-
dise every where in his dominions, where at
present it is only permitted the merchants of
the kingdom in Dantzic to sell them, demand-
ing at the same time that leave should be
granted them to open a public warehouse in
Torogno, which is the most celebrated port of
Prussia after that of Dantzic, and thence
themselves to carry their merchandise to all
492
APPENDIX.
the fairs held in Poland, where commonly
this can be done only by the merchants of the
country, who are for the most part Germans,
or Prussians, or Italians. Furthermore, this
pretended queen took the opportunity of de-
manding, that in the decree establishing this
concession, it should be expressed that no
molestation was ever to be offered to her mer-
chants on account of their religion, but that
they should be at liberty to practise it with-
out hindrance in their own way wherever
they went throughout the kingdom. This
arrangement gave universal satisfaction to all
the nobility of Poland : only the Dantzickers
opposed it with spirit, showing that the con-
sequences of the proposed concession would
be in the last degree injurious to their port,
so renowned throughout the whole world ;
and that the hope of reduced prices was
fallacious, above all because the foreign mer-
chants, when they should have it in their
power to sell at their own pleasure, and to
keep their goods long on hand, would exact a
much higher price for them than that now
required by the merchants of the country.
Nevertheless, the reciprocal advantage offer-
ed by the queen to the merchants of Poland,
of enjoying the same privilege in England,
seemed to have quite determined the king to
grant all that was required. This no sooner
came to the ears of Bolognetto, than he went
to his majesty, and pointed out to him, with
the most cogent arguments, what a monstrous
thing it would be were he by public decree
to acknowledge so scandalous a sect, and that
it was not without some lurking trickery, and
hope of most important consequences, that
nefarious woman sought to have him proclaim
permission for the exercise of the English
sect in that kingdom, where it is but too
universally notorious that every one is at
liberty to believe in matters of religion just
what he pleases. These and other most im-
pressive arguments so prevailed with king-
Stephen, that he promised he would never
make any mention of religion in whatever
compact he should enter into with that queen
or her merchants.]
The reader will perceive that this report
contains also matters of a purely political
nature.
At the end the author enters more specially
into this field.
He finds the Poles divided into a variety of
factions; diflerences subsisting between the
several provinces, and again in each province
between the clergy and the laity ; between
the senators and the provincial delegates;
between the ancient high nobility and the
inferior.
The high chancellor Zamoisky is repre-
sented as possessing innnense power : all
appointments depended on him ; particularly
since a vice-chancellor and a king's secretary
were wholly in his interests. ("Da che e
state fatto il Baranosky vicecancelliere et il
Tolisky segretario del re, persone poco fa
incognite.")
The appointments made by Stephen Ba-
thory had by no means given general satisfac-
tion. Attention was already directed to his
successor Sigismund, " amatissimo di tutti i
Polacchi" [exceedingly beloved by all the
Poles].
62. Discorso del molto illustre e rev™" mons^o
Minuccio Minucci sopra il modo di resti-
tiiire la religione cottolica in Alemagna.
1588. [Discourse by Minuccio Minucci
on the means of re-establishing the catho-
lic religion in Germany.]
A very important paper, of which I made
extensive use, particularly at page 201.
Minucci served a long while under Gregory
in Germany ; he is pretty frequently men-
tioned by Mafiei. In the paper before us he
endeavours to explain the existing state of
things, in order, as he says, that Rome might
refuse to send the patient dangerous remedies.
He complains, in the outset, that so little
pains were taken on the catholic side to gain
over the protestant princes ; then he examines
the attacks of the protestants on Catholicism,
— for his mission fell upon the period of the
hot and yet undecided struggle: "ho pensato
di raccontare le pratiche che muovono gli
eretici ogni di per far seccare o svellere tutta
la radice del cattolicismo :" lastly, he consi-
ders the means by which they were to be
withstood.
He shows himself unusually well versed in
German affairs; still he cannot suppress a
certain astonishment when he compares the
state of the country, such as it had become,
with the quiet and order of Italy or Spain.
We have alreadj'^ adverted to the restless
movements of Casimir of the Palatinate. Let
us observe the amazement into which they
threw a foreigner.
" II Casimiro dope aver sprezzata I'autorita
deir imperatore m mille cose, ma principal-
mente in abbruciare le munitioni presso Spira
che si conducevano in Fiandra con salvocon-
dotto imperiale, dopo aver offeso il re di
Spagna non solo con quell' atto, ma anco con
tanti ajuti dati a ribelli suoi di Fiandra e con
I'haver concesso spatio alii medesirai ribelli
Fiamenghi per edificare una citta (Franchen-
dal) nelli stati suoi, con I'haver portate tante
mine in Francia, tante desolationi in Lorena
hor in propria persona, hora mandando genti
sue, con I'haver fatto afl'ronto notabile all' ar-
ciduca Ferdinando impedendo il cardi sue
hgliuolo con minaccie e con viva forza nel
camino di Colonia, con I'istesso dichiarato
nemico alia casa di Baviera, e pas.sato in pro-
pria persona contra I'elettore di Colonia, pur
SECOND EPOCH OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL RESTORATION.
493
se ne sta sicuro in un stalo aperto nel mezzo
di quelli c'hanno ricevute da lui tante ing-iu-
rie : ne ha fortczze o militia die li dia confi-
denza ne amici o parenti die siano per soc-
correrlo e difenderlo, ma gode trntto della
troppa pazienza de' cattolici, die li potriano
d'improviso et a nianosalva portare altre tan-
te mine quante egli ha tante volte causate
nelli stati d'altri, pnrche si risolvessero et
havessero ciior di farlo."
[Casimir, after having set at nought the
authority of the emperor in a thousand mat-
ters, but diiefly in burning the munitions
near Spires, which were on their way to
Flanders under imperial safe conduct, after
having offended the king of Spain, not only
by this act but also by the manifold aid be-
stowed on his rebel subjects in Flanders, and
by his granting ground to the said rebels to
build a city (Franchendal) in his dominions ;
after having carried such havoc into France,
such desolation into Lorraine, sometimes in
person, sometimes by his servants; after hav-
ing grossly insulted the archduke Ferdinand
by stopping his son the cardinal on his road to
Cologne with threats and actual violence ; |
after having been the declared enemy of the j
house of Bavaria, and having withstood in his
own person the elector of Cologne ; notwith-
standing all this, he remains safe in an open
territory, in the midst of those who have re-
ceived such injuries at his hands: yet neither
has he fortresses or soldiery to inspire him
with confidence, nor friends nor relations to
succour or defend him ; but he reaps the be- \
nefit of the inordinate patience of the catho- !
lies, who could suddenly and certainlj' visit '
him with such ruin as he has so often inflict- |
ed on the territories of others, if they had but
the resolution and the courage to do it.]
SECTION V.
SECOND EPOCH OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL
RESTORATION.
63. Conclaves.
I HAVE little fear of incurring censure if I
do not set down in this place every fugitive
pamphlet, every insignificant essay, that has
come before me in manuscript in the course
of my multifarious preliminary researches;
rather is it possible that I have done too much.
Many a reader who still grants me his atten-
tion will doubtless be dissatisfied with an
unfashioned work, made up of a mixture of
various languages ; and yet it would not be
expedient to translate the original documents;
they would thereby suffer as to their utility
and authenticity. Hence I could not venture
to empty the whole contents of ray collectanea
indiscriminately into this Appendix.
Of the conclaves, for instance, on whicli
there exists a great multitude of MSS., I
will only give a summary notice.
After every papal election, especially from
the latter half of the sixteenth century down
to the beginning of the eighteenth, a report
of it appeared ; only a written one indeed,
but so contrived as to be widely diffused, and
often even to call forth counter-statements.
Occasionally these accounts were composed
by cardinals, but commonly by their secreta-
ries, who attended the conclaves under the
name of conclavisti, and made it their parti-
cular business, with a view to their master's
interests, to observe the course of the various
intrigues, which the cardinals themselves
could not so easily do, consistently with what
was required of them by the dignity of their
station. At times others also assumed the
pen. " Con quella maggior diligenza che ho
potuto," says the author of the Conclave of
Gregory XIIF., "ho raccolto cosi dalli signori
conclavisti come da cardinali che sono stati
partecipi del negotio, tutto I'ordine e la verita
di questo conclave." [I have collected with
my utmost possible diligence from the concla-
vists, and from the cardinals who took part in
the transactions, the whole course and the
truth of this conclave.] We see he was not
present himself. Sometimes they are diaries
that come into our hands, sometimes letters,
sometimes, too, regular narratives. Each
little work is complete in itself; now and then
the universally known formalities are repeat-
ed. Their value, as may be supposed, is very
various. Sometimes every thing is frittered
into rambling detail ; sometimes, though rare-
ly, the author rises to a real apprehension of
the leading points ; but at bottom there is
instruction to be found in all these produc-
tions, if the reader has only courage and does
not grow weary.
How many works of this kind exist may be
learned, among other sources, from the Mar-
sand catalogue of the Parisian library. They
have likewise found their way to Germany.
The 33rd, 35th, and several other volumes of
the Berlin Informazioni, contain copies in
great abundance. In Joh. Gottfr. Geissler's
Programm de Bibliotheca Milichiana iv. Gor-
litz 1767, there is a list of the conclaves to
be found in the 32nd, 33rd, and 34th codex of
the collection of that place. The most de-
tailed list that 1 know of is to be met with in
Novaes, Inti-oduzione alle vite de' sommi
pontefici, 1822, i. p. 272. He had access to
the library of the Jesuits, in which there was
a tolerably complete collection of these writ-
ings.
It followed from the nature of the case that
they should very soon, at least in part, come
before the public in another shape. First
494
APPENDIX.
they were incorporated into the histories of
the popes. The conclave of pope Pius V., —
that is to say, if not the whole of it, at least
the beginning and end, — was inserted in the
history of Panvinius. Cicarella translated the
greater part of the conclaves of Gregory XIII.
and Sixtus V.; the latter with all the by-
reflexions occurring in the Italian. The
passage which Shrockh, N. Kirchengesch. iii.
283, produces from Cicarella is taken verba-
tim from the conclave. Thuanus too has
given a place to these accounts ; borrowing
them, however, as appears upon closer inspec-
tion, not from the originals, but from Cicarella
(lib. 82, p. 27). The last named conclave is
also inserted in the Tesoro Politico, but very
imperfectly, and in snatches of extracts. The
same has been the case with the other con-
claves.
Gradually, however, and first of all in the
seventeenth century, the idea was conceived
of making collections of these conclaves.
The first printed collection has for its title,
" Conclavi de' pontefici Romani quali si sono
potuto trovare fin a questo giorno," 1677. It
begins with Clement V., but tliere is a hiatus
in it up to Urban VI,, another up to Nicholas
v., thenceforth it proceeds regularly to Alex-
ander VII. In the publication of this series
the view was entertained, at least ostensibly,
that the world might learn from these exam-
ples how little human wisdom could avail
against the overruling hand of Heaven. " Si
tocca con mano che le negotiation! piii se-
crete, dissimulate et accorte .... per opra
arcana del cielo svaniti sortiscono fini tanto
diftbrmi." [It is palpable that the most se-
cret, disguised, and crafty negotiations . . . .
are frustrated and brought to confusion by the
mysterious agency of Heaven.] But this was
not the view taken by the world at large,
which rather caught eagerly at the curious,
and at times objectionable, matter contained
in the work. A French edition appeared in
Lyons, and this being quickly bought up, a
reprint, revised from the original, was pro-
duced in Holland, dated Cologne, 1694, not
as Noaves relates, 1594. It has often been
re-edited with further additions.
In this way the conclaves have undergone
numerous alterations. On comparing the
French collections with the originals, we find
them the same on the wiiole; but we meet
with considerable alterations in particular de-
tails. As far as I can learn, they arise rather
from misunderstanding, than from wilful per-
version.
But there are likewise other collections
which have not been printed. I am in pos-
session of such an one, which supplies the
omissions in the printed collections, and is at
the same time not inferior to any in authen-
ticity. For any detailed use, an examination
of the originals must certainly in all cases be
desirable.
64. Vita e successi del cardl di Santaseveri-
na. [Life and fortunes of cardinal San-
taseverina.]
An autobiography of this influential cardi-
nal, of whom it has been necessary to make
frequent mention.
It is somewhat prolix, and often wanders
into trifles; the judgment pronounced in it on
persons, and the accounts it gives of things,
are shaped entirely by the personal disposi-
tion of the writer; nevertheless, it communi-
cates very peculiar and characteristic partic-
ulars.
It only remains for us to give here verbatim
a few of those to which occasional reference
has been made in the body of the work.
I. Protestants in Naples.
" Crecendo tuttavia la setta de' Lutherani
nel regno di Napoli, mi armai contro di quella
spina del zelo della religione cattolica ; e con
ogni mio potere e con I'autorita del officio,
con le perdiche publiche, scritte da me in un
libro detto Quadragesimale, e con le dispute
publiche e private in ogni occasione e con
I'oi'atione cercai d'abbattere et esterminare
peste si crudele da i nostri paesi: onde patii
acerbissima persecutione dagl' eretici, che
per tutte le strade cercavano d'offendermi e
d'ammazzarmi, come ne ho fatto un libretto,
distintamente intitolato Persecutione eccitata
contro di me Giulio Antonio Santorio servo di
Gesii Christo per la verita della cattolica
fede. Era nel nostro giardino in un cantone
una cappelletta con I'immagine di Maria s^a
con il bambino in braccio, et ivi avanti era
nata una pianta d'olivo, che assai presto con
maraviglia d'ogn'uno crebbe in arbore grande,
essendo in luogo chiuso et ombreggiato da
alberi: mi ritiravo ivi a far oratione con disci-
plinarmi ogni volta che dovevo predicare e
disputare contro Lutherani, e mi sentivo mi-
rabilmente inliammare ed avvalorare senza
tema di malealcuno e di pericolo, ancorche di
sicuro mi fosse minacciato da quelii inimici
della croce, e sentivo in metanta gioja et alle-
grezza che bramavo d'essere ucciso per la
fede cattolica. . . . Intanto vedendo cres-
cere contro di me maggiormente la rabbia di
quelii eretici quali io avevo processati, fui
costretto nel 1563 al fine di Agosto o princi-
pio di Settombre passarmene in Napoli alii
servitii d'Alfonso Caraffa cardie del titolo di
S. Giovannie Paolo arcivescovodi Napoli, ove
servii per luogotenente sotto Luigi Campagna
di Rossano vescovo di Montepeloso, che eser-
citava il vicariate in Napoli : e poiche egli
parti per evitare il tumulto popolare concitato
SECOND EPOCH OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL RESTORATION. 495
ed alone in the government of the^said church :
where, after many perils encountered, and
many threats, and after many Etoncs thrown
and arquebus-shots fired, a most cruel and
envenomed plot was hatched against me by
Hortensio da Battichio, with fra Fiano (!) di
Terra d'Otranto, a sacrileg-ious and relapsed
heretic, purporting- that I along with the car-
dinal di Napoli and Mons. Campagna, had
required him to distil a poison of su'ch force
that it could infect the air, in order to put to
death pope Pius V., as an enemy of the Cara-
feschi ; and the heretic doubted not of convey-
ing all this to the pope's ears through the
medium of signer Pompeo Colonna.]
II. Gregory XIII. and Sixtus V.
" Appena egli credeva di morire non ostante
la longa eta, essendo sempre vissuto con molta
moderatione e caminato per tutti i gradi della
corte. Dopoche iascio la lettura di Bologna
venne in Roma, fu fatto collaterale di Campi-
doglio, esercito I'ufficio di luogotenente di
monsi-e auditore della camera, fu fatto refer-
endario, e la prima volta che propose in seg-
natura, venne meno : onde tutto pieno di ver-
gogna e di confusione voleva abbandonare la
corte, ma fu ritenuto dal card' Crescentio a
non partire. Da Giulio III nell' auditorato
di rota li fu anteposto Palleotto: onde di
nuovo confuse di doppio scornodetermino par-
tirsi di Roma, ma dall'istessocardl Crescentio
fu rincorato e trattenulo. Fu da Paolo IV
fatto vescovo di Vieste, fu fatto consultore del
sant' officio, fu al concilio di Trento e da Pio
IV fu fatto cardie e mandate in Spagna per la
causa Toletana : e dopo la morte della santa
memoria di Pio V con ammirabil consenso fu
assunto al pontificate. II quale visse con molta
carita, liberal ita e modestia, e saria stato am-
mirabile e senza pari, se in lui fossero con-
corsi valore e grandezza d'animo senza I'af-
fetto del figlio, che oscuro in gran parte tutte
le attioni dignissime di carita che egli uso
verso li stranieri e verso tutte le nationi che
veramente padre di tutti. Dalli signori car-
dinali nepoti S. Sisto e Guastavillano fu fatto
subito intendere la sua morte al sacro colle-
gio, e doppo celebrare I'esequie e tutte quelle
funtioni che porta seco la sede vacante, s'en-
tro in conclave : ove fu eletto papa il sigr
cardie Montalto, gia nostro collega e nelTa
causa Toletana e nell' assuntione al cardina-
lato, per opera speciale del sigr cardl Alessan-
drino e sigr cardl Rusticucci, che tirarono in
favore di lui il sigr cardl d'Este e sigr card'
de Medici, con non poco disgusto del sig""
cardl Farnese, essendoli mancato di parola il
sigr cardl San Sisto, sul quale egli haveva
fatto molto fondamento per ostare alii suoi
emoli e nemici, essendosi adoprato contro di
lui valorosamente il sigrrcard' Riario, ma con
pentimento poi grande, non havendo trovato
quel la gratitudine che egli si haveva presup-
contro di noi per I'abrugiamento di Gio. Ber-
nardo Gargano e di Gio. Francesco d'Aloys
detto il Caserta, seguilo allaquattrodi Marzo
di sabbato circa le 20 here, rimasi solo nel
governo di detta chiesa: ove doppo molti pc-
ricoli scorsi e doppo molte minacce, sassi et
archibugiate tirato, mi si ordisce una congiura
molto crudele et arrabbiata da Hortensio da
Batticchio con fra Fiano (?) di Terra d'Otran-
to, heretico sacramentario e relapse che io
insieme col card' di Napoli e monsr Campag-
na rhaveva[ssi] richiesto, di distillare un
velsno di tanta forza che poteva infettare
I'aria per estinguere papa Pio IV come nem-
ico de' Carafeschi : e non dubitava I'heretico
di far intendere tutto cio al pontefice per
mezzo del signor Pompeo Colonna."
[The sect of Lutherans still increasing in
Naples, I armed myself against that thorn
with the zeal of the catholic religion : and
and with all my might, and with the authority
of the office, by public preachings, written by
me in a book named Quadragesimale, and by
public and private disputations on all occa-
sions, and by prayer, I sought to abate and
exterminate from our lands so grievous a
plague. Hence I suffered most virulent per-
secution at the hands of the heretics, who in
every street sought to insult and murder me:
whereof I have written a tract distinctly enti-
tled, "Persecution excited against me, Giulio
Antonio Santorio, servant of Jesus Christ, tor |
the truth of the catholic faith." Tiiere was
in a corner in our garden a shrine with an
image of tiie most holy Mary with the babe
in her arms, and before il sprung up an olive
twig, which to the admiration of every one
grew up very quickly into a large tree, being
in a close place, and shaded by trees: thither
I used to retire to pray and discipline myself
every time I was to preach and dispute with
the Lutherans, and I felt myself marvellously
kindled and invigorated without fear of any
evil and danger, though it had been assuredly
threatened me by those enemies of the cross,
and I felt within me such joy and cheerful-
ness, that I longed to be slain for the catholic
faith Seeing thus augment against me
moreand more the rage of those heretics v/hom
1 had proceeded againstby law, [ was constrain-
ed, in 1.566, at the end of August or the begin-
ning of September, to betake myself to Na-
ples, to the service of Alfonso Caraftii, cardi-
nal of the title of S. Giovanni e Paolo, arch-
bishop of Naples, where I served as deputy
under Luigi Campagna di Rossano, bishop of
Montepeloso, who filled the office of vicar in
Naples. And when he departed, to avoid the
popular tumult excited against us by the in-
cendiary proceedings of Gio. Bernardo Gar-
gano and Gio Francesco d'Aloys, surnamed il
Caserta, which took place on Sunday, the 4th
of March, about the twentieth hour, I remain-
496
APPENDIX.
posta, sicome anco intervenne al sigr carcUe
Alessandrino, che tutto festante si credeva di
maneggiare il pontificate a modo suo : escen-
dendo in San Pietro lo pregai che dovessc far
officio con S. Bn3 in favore di monsr Carlo
Broglia, rettore dol coUegio Greco, per un
beneficio che egli dimandava : mi rispose tutto
gratioso: ' Non diamo fastidio a questo po-
vero vecchio, perche noi saremo infallibil-
mente li padroni :' al quale sorridendo io all'
bora risposi segretamente all' orecchie : ' Fac-
cia dio che subito che sara passata questa sera,
ella non se ne penta:' come appunto in ef-
fetto fu, poiche non stette mai di cuore alle-
gro in tutto quel pontificato, sentendo sempre
rammarichi, angustie, travagli, aifanni pene et
angoscii. E ben vero che esso medesimo se
I'andava nella maggior parte procurando o per
trascuraggine, inavertenza o altro o pure per la
troppa suporbia con esprobare sempre esso as-
siduamente li beneficii, servitii et honorevo-
lezze che haveva fatti a S. B^e. Nelli primi
ragionamenti che io potei havere con S. S'^
fu il rallegrarmi dell' assuntione sua al ponti-
cato, con dirli che era stata volunta di dio,
poiche in quel tempo e punto che fu assunto
erano finite le 40 hore: quivi ella si dolse
della malignita de tempi con molta humilta e
pianese: I'essortai che cominciasse il pontifi-
cato con un giubileo generale, che tenesse
parimente cura del sant' officio e delle cose
sue, sapendo bene che da quelle haveva ha-
vuto origine la sua grandezza."
[He hardly counted on dying, notwithstand-
ing his great age, having always lived with
great temperance, and having passed through
all the grades of the court. After he ceased
to lecture at Bologna he came to Rome, and
was made collateral of Campidoglio, filled the
office of deputy to the auditor of the chamber,
was made referendary, and the first time he
spoke in the segnatura he broke down;
whereat, covered with shame and confusion,
he was of a mind to abandon the court, but
was withheld from doing so by cardinal Cres-
centio. Palleotto was preferred to him by
Julius III. for the auditorship, which fell to
him by turn : upon which, again abashed at
his double disgrace, he determined to quit
Rome, but was re-encouraged and retained by
the same cardinal Crescentio. He was made
bishop of Vieste by Paul IV., counsellor of the
holy office, was a member of the council of
Trent, was made cardinal by Pius IV., and
sent to Spain about the Toledo business ; and
after the death of Pius V. of blessed memory
he was elected pope with wonderful unanimi-
ty. His life was one of much charity, libe-
rality, and modesty ; and he would have been
admirable and unequalled, if his worth and
greatness of mind had not been tainted by his
affection for his son, which greatly tarnished
his excellent acts of Christian charity towards
all nations, as being truly the father of all.
His death was immediately announced to the
sacred college by the cardinal nephews, S.
Sisto and Guastavillano; and after the per-
formance of the obsequies, and of ail the
necessary functions incident to an interreg-
num, the conclave was begun. The pope
elected was cardinal Montalto, formerly our
colleague both in the Toledan affliir and in
admission to the cardinalate ; his election was
effected by the special exertions of cardinal
Alessandrino and cardinal Rusticucci, who
gained over to his interest cardinals d'Este
and de Medici, to the no small displeasure of
Cardinal Farnese ; cardinal San Sisto, on
whom he had largely relied in opposition to
his rivals and enemies, having broken his
word with him, and cardinal Riario having
acted vigorously against him, — though he
(Riario) afterwards repented sorely of this,
tor he did not meet with the gratitude he ex-
pected ; the same was also the case with car-
dinal Alessandrino, who confidently believed
that he would be able to manage the pontifi-
cate in his own way. Coming out of St.
Peter's I requested him to intercede with his
holiness in favour of monsignor Carlo Broglia,
rector of the CoUegio Greco, for an advantage
he was soliciting : he answered me very gra-
ciously, " Let us not tease this poor old man,
for- we shall be infallibly masters;" upon
which I smiling whispered in his ear, "God
send that, as soon as this evening is over, you
may not have reason to repent." And so it actu-
ally turned out : for he never had a light heart
through the whole of that pontificate, being
incessantly beset with troubles, annoyances,
and vexations. It is very true he brought the
greater part of them on himself by his heed-
lessness, inadvertency, or otherwise ; or else
by his too great arrogance in always casting
up to his holiness the benefits, services, and
acts of honour he had done him. The first
conversation I was able to have with his ho-
liness was to congratulate him on his ac-
cession, telling him that it had been the will
of God ; for precisely at the moment he was
elected the forty hours were ended. There-
upon he bewailed the malignity of the times
with much humility and wept. I exhorted
him to begin his pontificate with a general
jubilee, that he should take equal care of the
holy office as of his own atfairs, knowing well
that to It he owed the origin of his greatness.]
III. Affairs of Ferrara.
" Venuto il duca di Ferrara in Roma per
rinvestitura,della quale pretendeva che li fosse
data buona intentione, vi furono di inolti gar-
bugli: et avendomi io opposlo gagliardamente
neili publici e privati ragionamenti et in con-
cistoro, mi persi afiatto la gratia del papa con
procurarmi il sdegno del cardl Sfondrato,
quale andava parlando per Roma che io sen-
SECOND EPOCH OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL RESTORATION.
497
tivo malamente dell' autoritii del papa : conie
anco haveva imputato il cardinale di Caincri-
no, che si mostrava molto ardente in servitio
della sede apostolica. Senteiidomi pungere
in cosa tanto lontana dalla mente mia, io che
ero andato incontrando tutti li pericoli per la
difensione dell' autorita del papa e della sede
apostolica, non potei fare di non aherarmene
gravemente : e come si conveniva, feci una
apologia pro Cardinale Sancta Severina con-
tra cardinalem Sfondratiim, ove si tratta qual
sia la carica e qual sia I'officio di cardinale :
benche il papa, che si era mostrato in concis-
toro molto turbato e collerico in camera, poi
nel palazzo di S. Marco mi domando perdono
con lagrime e con humilita e con havermi
anco ringratialo, pentendosi del decreto
che egli haveva fattoin pregjudicio della bolla
di Pio V de non alienandis feud is. Parten-
dosi il duca da Roma senza haver fatto effetto
alcuno, da quel tempo in poi mi si mostro
sempre nernico, dicendo che io oro stato cag-
ione precipua che egli non havesse ottenuto
I'investitura di Ferrara pro persona nominan-
da, et che io come antico suo amico doveva
parlare piu mitamente, senza intraprendere
rimpresa con tanta ardenza, come che io fossi
piu obligato agli huoniini che a dio et alia
sania chiesa."
[Thedukeof Ferrara having come to Rome
about the investiture, — strong hopes of which
he pretended were held out to him, — there ,
was a great stir and confusion. Having vig-
orously opposed the measure, both publicly '
and privately, and in consistory, I entirely lost
the pope's favour, and brought upon myself
too the displeasure ofcardinal tsfondrato, who
told it about in Rome that I thought badly of
the pope's authority ; the same thing had al>o [
been imputed to me by cardinal Canierino, '
who showed great ardour in the service of the
apostolic see. Piqued at having a charge
brought against me so foreign to my disposi-
tion,— I who had braved every danger in de-
fence of the authority of the pope and the holy
see, — I could not but feel deeply indignant ;
and as it was fitting I composed an apology
for cardinal Santa Severina against cardinal
Sfondrato, wherein is discussed what is the
office and duty of a cardinal. The pope, who
had shown great perturbation and choler in
the consistory, afterwards in the palace of S.
Marco, begged pardon of me humbly and with
tears, and even thanked me, repeutuig him of
the decree he had made to the prejudice of
the bull of Pius V. "de non alienandis feudis."
The duke left Rome without in any respect
accomplishing his purpose, and from that time
forth he always showed himself my enemy,
saying that I had been the chief cause of his
not having obtained the investiture of Ferrara
" pro persona nominanda," and that as an old
friend of his I ought to have spoken more in-
63
dulgently, without setting myself so vehe-
mently against the measure, — ^just as though
I had been mf)re bound to men than to God
and the holy church.]
IV. Conclave u/ter the death of Innocent IX.
" Entrato I'anno 1692 si entro in conclave,
essendosiraddoppiata controdi me la malignita
demiei netiiici, mostrandosi il cardl Sfondrato
ardentissimo contro la persona mia, non sola-
mente per tenia delle cose sue, ma anco piii
irato delle parole del card'e Acquaviva, che
timoroso et invidioso per Tarcivcscovo d'Ot-
ranto suo pareiite et altri signori regnicoli
ainici miei, moveva ogni pietra contro di me :
e s'erano uniti insieme li cardl' Aragona,
Colonna, Altemps e Stbrza, capital! nemici
tra essi, ma contro di me concordissimi : Ara-
gona per la continua osservanza et ossequio
ciie io havevo usati, ma pigliava pretesti dell'
abbadia che havevo tolta all' abbate Simone
Sellarolo ; Colonna per li molti servitii che
gli havevo fatto in ogni tempo, ma si raccor-
dava del Talmud impedito da me contro li
Giudei, repetendo la morte di Don Pompeo
de Monti, con taccia anco di sua sorella; Al-
temps per li favori che gli havevo fa tti appres-
80 papa Sisto e mons"" Pellicano senatore per
conto del figlio rattore della Giulietta, onde
ne venne quel galant' huomo in disgratia di
Sisto, ma cosi voleva Galleotto Belard" suo
padrone; Sforza per haverlo favoritonel caso
del Massaino, quando papa Sisto fulminava
contro di lui, havendomi ringratiato con baci-
armi la mano in presenza del biion cardie Far-
nese vecchio, a cui ancora si era mostrato in-
grato havendo avuta da quel buon sig^ I'abba-
dia di S. Lorenzo extra majnia, ma egli dice-
va che non poteva mancare alii amici suoi,
ma in effetto egli temeva sapendo b me la sua
coscienza. Palleotto m'uso quell' ingratitu-
dine che ogn' un sa. Venne la notle delli 20
Gennaro : quivi si rappresento una tragedia
de' fatti miei, mentre JVIadrucci, gia mio caro
amico e collega nel sant' officio, consent! ta-
citamente cogli emcrii miei in danno mio, op-
rando per questa via di conseguire il pontifi-
cato, ma egli senti di quelli bocconi amafi
che non potendo poscia digerire se ne mori
miseramente. Lascio da parte gli andamenti
fraudolenti del card' Gesualdo, che come Na-
poletano non poteva patire che iogli fossi an-
teposto, et anche mosso da invidia contro i
suoi patriotti: poiche questo e gli altri sig"
cardi'' Napoletani Aragona et Acquaviva
havevano questo senso di non voler nes^un
campagno de' patriotti nel cardinalato. L'atto
poi che fece il cardie Colonna, fu il piii brutto
che s'havesse sentito gia mai, et improbato
etiam da suoi piu cari, e malissimo inteso nella
corte di Spagna. Canano solea prima haver-
mi in tanta riverenza che nullo piu e dovun-
que m'mcontrava, mi voleva baciar la mano :
498
APPENDIX.
ma air hora scordato d'ogni amicitia obbediva
al suo (luca di Ferrara ; Borromeo, ajutato da
me nella gua prornotione per la memoria di
quel santo cardiiiale di S. Prassede et haven-
do fatta profession di sempre niio caro amico,
invischiato dall' interesse d'alcune abbadie
cha haveva rassegnato Altemps, furiava a
gnisa di forsennato, quelle che non professava
altro che purila devotione, spiritualita e cos-
cienza. Alessandrino, autore di tutte le
trame, non manco di fare il suo solito in per-
seguitare i siioi piu cari amici e creature con
haversele tutte alienate, e massime doppo
I'assuntione di Sisto senti in conclave quel
che non volse per bocca del sigr card' di Sens
che esclainava publicamente contro di lui. II
fervore all' iucontro de' miei amici e fautori
non fu mediocre, essendosi mostrato ardente
piu d'ogni altro il sig^'card' Giustiniano: quel
suo spirito vivace e coraggioso fu in quel notte et
in quel giorno in gravi attanni, essendomi anche
etatasaccheggiatalacella. Ma la notte appres-
soini fu dolorosissinia sopra ogn' altra cosafu-
nesta: onde per il grave aftanno dell' animo
e deir intima angoscia sudai sangue, cosa in-
credibile a credere : e ricorrendo con molta
huniilita e devotione al sig^'e, mi sentii aftatto
liberate da ogni passione di animo, da ogni
senso delle cose mondane, venendo in me
stesso e considerandole quanto sono fragili,
quanto caduche e quanto miserabili, e che solo
in dio e nella contemplatione di lui sono le
vere felicita e veri content! e gaudii."
[At the beginning of the year 1592 the
conclave met, whilst the malice of my enemies
was redoubled against me ; Cardinal Sfondra-
to displayed the utmost animosity against me,
not only for fear of his own interests, but still
more from the anger, with which he was in-
spired by the words of cardinal Acquaviva,
who, fearful and jealous for the archbishop of
Otranto, his relation, and other fellow country-
men and friends of mine, left no stone un-
turned against me. There were united to-
gether cardinals Aragona, Colonna, Altemps,
and Sforza, bitter enemies to each other, but
all cordially agreeing in hostility tome: Ara-
gona, notwithstandmg the contmual courtesy
and obsequiousness 1 had practised, alleged,
as a pretext, the abbey I had taken from the
abbot Simone Sellarolo ; Colonna, for all I had
rendered him many services at all times,
nevertheless called to mind the Talmud I
hindered against the Jews, bringing up the
death of Don Pompeo de Monte, with the dis-
grace too of his sister ; Altemps, notwithstand-
ing the services 1 had done him with Sixtus
and monsignor Pellicano, the senator, on ac-
count of his son, the ravisher of Giulietta, in
consequence of which that worthy fell into
disgrace with Sixtus, — but such was the will
of Cialleotto Belard°, his master; Sforza,
though I had favoured him in the mischance
of Massaino, when pope Sixtus fulminated
against him, for which he thanked me and kis-
sed my hand in the presence of the good old
cardinal Farnese, — to whom also he proved un-
grateful, having received from that good signer
the abbey of S. Lorenzo extra mcenia, but he
said he could not disappoint his friends, —
whereas the truth was he was frightened by
his conscience. Palleotto treated me with the
ingratitude that is notorious. The night of
20th of January arrived, a tragical night for
my interests, inasmuch as Madrucci, once rny
dear friend and colleague in the holy office,
consented tacitly with my rivals to my injury,*
scheming in this way to obtain the popedom ;
but he had to swallow some bitter morsels,
which being unable to digest, he died miser-
ably in consequence. I pass over the fraudu-
lent proceedings of cardinal Gesualdo, who,
as a Neapolitan, could not bear that I should
be preferred before him, and who was even
moved by envy against his own countrymen,
for he and the other Neapolitan cardinals,
Aragona and Acquaviva, had made up their
minds not to have any fellow countryman their
colleague in the cardinalate. The act which
was then done by cardinal Colonna was the
vilest ever heard of, disapproved of even by
his dearest friends, and taken in the worst
part by the court of Spain. Canano had before
been used to treat me with the utmost possible
respect, and wherever he met me he soughJ;
to kiss my hand ; but now, forgetting all
friendship, he obeyed his duke of Ferrara.
Borromeo, aided by me in his promotion, in
regard to the memory of the holy cardinal of
S. Prassede, and who had always professed to
be my dear friend, entrapped by some abbeys
resigned to him by Altemps, raved like a mad-
man ; he who used to profess nothing but
purity, devotion, spirituality, and conscience.
Ale.ssandrino, the author of all the plots, failed
not to act in his usual way, persecuting his
dearest friends and creatures, having alienat-
ed them all from him, and particularly smce
the accession of Sixtus, he heard in the con-
clave what he could not refute by the mouth
of cardinal di Sens, who exclaimed publicly
against him. The ardour of my friends and
supporters on the other hand was not little;
the most earnest of them all was cardinal
Giustiniano ; that quick and brave soul was
all that night and day deeply distressed, my
cell having been actually already despoiled.
But the following night was surpassingly
grievous: such was my intense anguish of
m.ind that I sweated blood, incredible as it
may appear. But recurring with much humi-
lity and devotion to the Lord, I felt wholly
freed from every human passion, and from all
* The Venetian ambassador, Moro, also observes, that
S. Severina was not elected " per raancamemo di Gesual-
do decano e Madrucci" [being disappointed by Gesualdo
the dean, aiid Madrucci]
SECOND EPOCH OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL RESTORATION.
499
feeling for worldly thinnfs, collecting my
thouijhts and considering' how frail they are,
how transient and miserable, and that in God
alone and in contemplation of Him consist true
felicity and true contentment and joy.]
65. Vita et Gesta dementis VIII. — In for-
matt. Politt. xxix. [Life and acts of
Clement VIII.]
Originally intended as a continuation of
Ciaconius, where however I do not find it.
A narrative of the rise of the pope and of
his first acts : " Exulum turmas coercuit, quo-
rum insolens furor non solum in continentem
sed in ipsa litora et subvecta Tiberis alveo
navigia hostiliter insultabat." [He put down
the bands of outlaws, whose audacity over-
spread not only the main land, but even assail-
ed the coasts and the vessels that floated on
the Tiber] ; so little had Sixtus succeeded in
extirpating them. The absolution of Henry
IV., the resistance oflfered by Clement to the
king, and the severity with which he pursued
it, are put prominently forward : lastly, the
conquest of Ferrara. " A me jam latius coepta
scribi opportuniori tempore immortalitati no-
minis tui consecrabo." [Other things I have
begun to write, I will at a more fitting oppor-
tunity consecrate to the immortality ol" thy
name.] But of this there is nothing to be
found. As the work stands it is but insigni-
ficant.
66. Instrultione al S'' Bartolommeo Powsin-
slaj alia M'-'^ del re di Polonia e Suetia.
1 Aug. 1593. Cinthio Aldobrandini.
[Iftstruction to S^ Bart. Powsinsky, nuncio
to the king of Poland and Sweden.
Ragguaglio dclla andata del re di Polonia
in Suetia. 1594. [Report of the entry of
the king of Poland into Sweden.]
I have nothing to add to what I have bor-
rowed from these papers in the text, except it
be tiie assertion in the second that duke
Charles was in reality hated : " perche egli
avea ridotto in se stesso quasi tutte I'mcette e
mercantie e tutte le cave di metalli e sopra
tutto deir oro e dell' argento" [because he
had monopolized almost all purchases and
merchandise, and all mines of metal, espe-
cially silver and gold.]
67. Relatione di Polonia. 1598. [Report
respecting Poland.]
Composed by a nuncio, who complains vehe-
mently of the inordinate love of liberty of the
Poles.
They desired a feeble king, not one of a
warlike spirit. ^J'hey say: "che colore che
hanno spirito di gloria, gli hanno vehementi e
non moderati e pero non diuturni, e che la
madre della diuturnita degli imperii e la mo-
deratione" [that those who are possessed with
the spirit of glory are of a vehement and not
moderated spirit, consequently not of an endur-
ing one, and that the mother of the duration
of empires is moderation.]
Nor will they have any alliances with for-
eigners. They assert that they can never find
it difficult to defend their kingdom. They
could always bring forward .50,000 horse, and
in the worst case they wouldrecover in winter
what they lost in summer. They relied on
the e.xample of their forefathers.
The nuncio reminds them : " che gli antichi
Poloni non sapevano che cosa fosse smaltire il
grano nel mar Baltico in Danzig o in Elbing,
ne erano intenti a tagliar selve per seminare,
ne asciugavano paludi per il medesimo efl^etto"
[that the ancient Poles did not know what it
was to sell grain in the Baltic sea, or in Dant-
zig, or in Elbing, nor were they intent on
cutting down forests to sow corn, nor did they
drain marshes for the same purpose].
Furthermore the nuncio describes the pro-
gress of Catholicism, which was just then in
the most hopeful train. I have made use of
the most important points.
68. Relatione dello stato spirituale e politico
del regno di Suezia 1.593. [Report of
the spiritual and political condition of the
kingdom of Sweden.]
Remarks on the enterprises of Sigismund
against Sweden immediately before his second
journey. This also I have used as far as was
essential.
There are, however, some interesting obser-
vations besides upon previous matters.
Erich is reputed as a downright tyrant.
" Per impresa faceva un asino carco di sale a
piedi d'una montagna erta e senza via per sa-
lirvi sopra, et egli era dipinto con un bastone
in mano, che batteva il detto asino." [He was
figured forcing an ass laden with salt to jump
over a steep and pathless mountain, and he
was represented with a cudgel in his hand
beating the ass] The author expounds this
sufficiently intelligible symbol as signifying
that the king would compel the people by force
to do what was impossible.
John is looked on as a decided catholic.
" Perche era in secreto cattolico, siccome al
nuntio ha affirmato il re suo figliuolo, uso ogni
industria perche il figliuolo ritornasse mentre
esso viveva in Suetia a fine dichiararsi aperta-
mente cattolico o riJurre il regno ab abbrac-
ciar essa fede." [Because he was in secret a
catholic, as the king, his son, averred to the
nuncio, he used his utmost endeavours to have
his son return to Sweden during his lifetime,
and declare himself openly a catholic, and
reduce that kingdom to embrace the catholic
faith.]
500
APPENDIX.
I am not however disposed to subscribe to
this. It is probable that the worthy Sig-is-
muiid fancied it, that he might have the com-
fort of thinking himself sprung' from a catholic
father.
On the other hand, Sigismund's first enter-
prise is described in a manner stamped with
all the veracity of one thoroughly acquainted
with the subject. The hopes founded on the
second journey are set forth in their bearing
on Europe in general.
INSERTION.
Remarks on Bentivoglid's Memoirs.
In his sixty-third year, not in 1640, as stated
in the edition belonging to the Classici Ita-
liani, but in 1642, as Mazzuchelli also states,
cardinal Guide Bentivoglio (born 1.579) after
having composed many other memoirs on
public matters, sat down to write his own per-
sonal memoirs.
His original intention was to include his
first residence at the court of Rome, his nun-
ciatures in France and in the JNelheriands,
and the times of his cardinalate. Had he
accomplished this, the history of the seven-
teenth century would be the richer by one
excellent work full of discernment and obser-
vation.
But he died before he had completed the
first part. His work — Memorie del cardinal
Guido Bentivoglio — comes down only to the
year 1600.
It gives us the idea of the quiet and comfort
enjoyed by an aged prelate, living at ease in
his palace, remote from the cares of business.
It is very pleasant reading, at once amusing
and instructive; but of course his position im-
posed certain obligations on the cardinal, and it
may be observed that he does not speak out
roundly.
The tolerably detailed portraiture, for in-
stance, that he gives of the cardinals whom
he found about Clement VIII. agrees but very
generally with the accounts of them given us
by others.
The very first, the dean Gesualdo, is depict-
ed by Bentivoglio as " a distinguished man of
amiable manners, who does not seek, though
neither does he avoid public affairs;" but of
what others tell, and what Bentivoglio no
doubt knew, how he prevented the election of
Sanseverino from personal dislike, — what pre-
tensions to paramount rank he enforced over
the other cardinals, who complied very reluc-
tantly,— how all his subsequent effi)rts were
directed to win friends, that ho might reach
the papal chair, — how he adhered in particular
to Spain, — of all this we are not told a word.
Of the second, Aragona, Buntivoglio re-
marks, " that in former conclaves he had been
a leader particularly of the younger cardmals ;
he had admirably governed Rome during an
absence of the pope ; he was fond of handsome
furniture ; he had a beautiful chapel, and fre-
quently changed the altar-piece." But all this
does not make us acquainted with the man.
He was, as we learn from Delfino, an old man
plagued with the gout, whose death was
speedily to be looked for, but who clung but
the faster on that account to his hopes of the
popedom. He was by no means held in such
consideration as he could have wished by the
Spanish court. He was not able to get admis-
sion into the congregation on French affairs,
and it was notorious that he bore this very ill:
but notwithstanding this he endeavoured to
maintain the closest connexion with the
Spanish ambassador on account of his ulterior
views.
The idea of calm and quiet suggested by
the book proceeds in fact from the circum-
stance that the lights are designedly very
much softened, that life is not pourtrayed in
the actual truth of its phenomena.
69. Relalionefatta aW ill"^" sig^ cartV' iV Este
al tempo della sua promotione die doveva
andur in Roma. — {Bibl. Vindob. Codd.
Foscar. n. 169. 46 leaves.) [Report made
to cardinal d'Este upon his approaching
journey to Rome on the occasion of his
promotion.]
In consequence of the compromise made
with the Este family by Clement VIII. on the
escheat of Ferrara, he included a prince of
that house, Alexander, in the promotion of the
3rd of March, 1599.
It was this prince whom the instruction
before us was intended to prepare for his entry
to the court. Although it bears no date, there
is no doubt it belongs to the year 1.599.
Its purpose is enough to distinguish it
strongly from a Venetian report. Its object
was to place the prince in a condition to steer
like a dexterous pilot, — " per potere come pru-
dente nocchiero prendere meglio I'aura pro-
pitia della corte." It contains nothing relat-
ing to politics; even the misfortune that had
so recently flillen upon the house of Este is
passed over in silence; the author's intention
is only to define the personal qualities of the
most important individuals.
The pope, his nephews, and the cardinals,
are delineated.
Clement VIII. " Di vita incolpabile, di
mente retta, di conditione universale. Si
puo dir ch'abbia in se stesso tutta la theorica
e la pratica della politica e ragion di stato."
[Ofblameless life, upright mind, universal eru-
dition (!) It may be asserted that he pos-
sesses in their whole range the theory and
the practice of politics and statesmanship.]
We find it stated here, that Salvestro Aldo-
brandino had incited Paul IV. to war against
SECOND EPOCH OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL RESTORATION.
501
Naples ; that nevertheless attempts hnd been
maile to reconcile that house at least vvitli the
Medici. " Dicesi che Pio V voleiulo promo-
vere il cardl Giovanni, fratello di questo pon-
tefice, assiciiio il GD (^osimo che tutta questa
faiiiio'lia g-lisarebbe fidelissima sempre, e che
mando I'istesso Ippolito Aldobrandino, liora
papa, a render testimonio a S. Altezza, dclla
quale fu niolto ben visto." [It is said that
Pius V. wishing to promote cardinal Giovanni,
the brother of that pontiifi assured the grand
duke Cosmo, that all that tamily would always
be most faithful to him, and that he sent the
same Ippolito Aldobrandino, who is now pope,
to testify this to his highness, by whom he
was very well received.] At that time John
Bardi was in most favour with pope Clement.
" Fra i servitori di Clemente il piu intimo e
favorito e il sig'' Giov. Rardi dei conti di Ver-
nio, luogotenente delle guardie, di moita
bonta. virtu e nobilta." [Among the servants
of Clement, the most intin)ateand the favour-
ite is Signer Giov. Bardi of the house of
Veruio, lieutenant of the guards, a man of
much goodness, virtue, and nobility.] The
new cardinal might rely on him the more, as
he was well disposed to the house of Este.
The nephews. The preference of I*ietro
Aldobrandino before San Giorgio was decided.
"San Giorgio, accommodate I'animo alia for-
tuna sua, mortificate le sue pretensioni, non
gareggia, non contrasta piu, ma o lo seconda
o non s'impaccia seco, e si mostra sodisfatto
deir ottenuta segnatura di giustitia." [San
Giorgio, adjusting his mind to his fortunes,
and mortifying his aspirations, no longer
strives against his cousin, or counteracts him,
but either seconds him or does not thwart
him, and appears satisfied with having ob-
tained the segnatura of justice.]
The cardinals were divided into two fac-
tions, the Spanish, to which Montalto was
already attached, and the Aldobrandinist.
The strength of the former was twenty-five,
that of the latter only fourteen decided mem-
bers. The author correctly points out as the
mcst likely successor to the popedom him who
was afterwards actually chosen, Alexander
Medici. It was not known how he stood with
the grand duke of Tuscany, but he was plainly
high in favour with Clement, "per patriae
contbrmita di huniore," [from community of
country and humour,] as much as if he were
the pope's own creature.
Baronius, the historian of the church, is not
unfavourably portrayed : " molto amato per
la dottrina bontti e semplicita sua : si dimostra
tutto spirito, tutto risegnato in dio : si burla
del mondo e della propria esaltatione di se
stesso" [much beloved for his learning, good-
ness, and simplicity: he appears all s-pirit,
wholly resigned to God : he mocks at the
world and all self-exaltation.]
70. Relatione di. Roma delV Ill^o Sig^ Gioan
Dtljlno K^ e Pro'' ritnrnnto ambascialore
sottn il ponlijiciilo di Clemente VIII.
(1000.) [Report by Delfino, ambassador
to Rome during the pontificate of Clement
VIII.]
This is another of the reports that have got
into more general circulation ; it is very cir-
cumstantial (my copy consists of ninety-four
qu;irto leaves) and very instructive.
I. Delfino begins with describing the pope
(il nascimento, la natura e la vita del papa)
and his nephews.
" Delli due cardinali (Aldobrandino e S.
Giorgio) reputo quasi necessario parlarne uni-
tamente, Qiiesto di eta d'anni 45, di gran
spirito, altiero, vivace, e di buona cognizione
nelli affari del mondo : ma temo assai che sia
di mala natura, overo che gli accidenti nel
mondo occorsi, che I'hanno levato dalle gran
speranze in che si e posto nel principio del
pontificate, le fanno esser tale, cioe dimostrarsi
con tutti non solo severo ma quasi disperato.
Q,uesto era grandemente amato e grande-
mente stimato dal papaavanti che fosse salito
al pontificato, e doppo per gran pezzo ebbe la
cura principale de' negotii, e si credeva da
ogn' uno ciie egli avesse da esser il primo
nipote, perche I'altro era piii giovane, assai di
poca prosperita e di pochissima cognizione:
ma 0 sia stato la sua poca prudenza nel non
essersi saputo governare come averebbe disog-
nato, sendosi rotto con I'ambasciatore di Spag-
na qiiando gitto la beretta, con I'ambasciator
di 'J'oscana quando li disse che il papa doveria
cacciarlo di corte, oltre i disgusti che ha dato
a tutti in mille occasion!, o pur la gran pru-
denza e destrezza dell' altro, o la forza natu-
ral del sangue, questo ha perduto ogni giorno
tanto di autorita e credito che non ha chi lo
seguiti e non ottiene cosa alcuna che dimandi.
Ha pero il carico di tutti li nogotii d'ltalia e
Germania, se bene li ministri publici traltino
li medesimi con Aldobrandino, e nelle cose
brusche tutti ricorrono a lui. In con esse
sigr card'e di S. Giorgio nel principio ho pas-
sato qualche borasca, anzi nella prima audi-
enza f'ui astretto a dolermi apertamente per
dignita della republica, e doi o tre volte mi
sono lasciato intendere liberamente, in modo
iale che so che e stato frutto appresso di lui,
et il papa I'ha avuto a carro, e particularmente
neli' ultima occasione di Ferrara : ma doppo
sempre e passato tra noi ogni sorte di dimoa-
tratione d'amore, et io I'Jio onorato sempre
come si conveniva. Credo veramente che sia
mal alletto alia Serenita Vostra per natura e
per accidente : la sua natura I'ho descritta,
ma diro solo delli accidenti. Prima sappia
che da un pezzo in qua s'e buttato aff'atto in
braccio de' Spagnuoli, e si e dimostrato poco
amico di quelii che sono uniti con Frances! :
502
APPENDIX.
ha cresciuto ancora quel mal animo suo il ve-
dere che il cardinal Aldobrandino habbi in
tutte le occasion! protetto li affari dell' EE.
VV., quasi che non sia possibile che concor-
rino ambidue in alcuna operatione, per giusta
e raggionevole che sia. Da che si puo conos-
cere la miseria de' poveri ambasciatori et rap-
presentanti publici." [Of the two cardinals
(Aldobrandino and S. Giorgio) I think it al-
most necessary to speak collectively. The
latter is aged forty-five, of a great and lofly
spirit, of a sanguine disposition, and well
versed in worldly matters ; but I rather fear
he is a man of evil nature, or that the course
of events, which swept from him the great
hopes he enjoyed in the commencement of the
pontificate, has made him such, so that he
bears himself towards all men not only with se-
verity, but as it were with desperate harshness.
He was greatly beloved and greatly esteemed
by the pope before his accession, and since
then he had in a great measure the principal
share in the management of business, and it
was universally believed that it was his lot to
be the first nephew, because the other was
younger, but moderately prosperous, and of
very scanty knowledge. But whether it was
his own want of prudence to govern himself
as he ought, having broken with the ambas-
sador of Spain when he flung the cap, and
with the Tuscan ambassador when he told
him that the pope ought to expel him from
court, besides the offence he gave to all per-
sons on a thousand occasions, or else from the
great prudence and dexterity of the other, or
from the natural force of blood, he has day by
day so much declined in influence and credit
that no one follows him, and he obtains not
one thing he demands. Still he has charge
of all the affairs of Italy and Germany, al-
though the public functionaries treat of them
with Aldobrandino, and in all trying matters
every one has recourse to him. I had some
sharp passages with this cardinal di S. Gior-
gio at first, and in my first audience I was
constrained by my regard for the dignity of
the republic to express my displeasure openly,
and two or three times I spoke so freely, that
I know it wrought to some purpose with him,
and the pope took him to task, particularly on
the last occasion of Ferrara : but subsequently
every demonstration of regard has been inter-
changed between us, and I have always ho-
noured him as was befitting. I verily believe
he is ill-disposed to your Serenity by nature
and by circumstances; his nature I have al-
ready described, and will now only speak of
circumstances, In the first place you must
know, that for some time past he has thrown
himself wholly into the hands of the Spani-
ards, and shown himself little in favour of
those who are joined with the French : this
his unfriendly disposition has been still more
increased by seeing that cardinal Aldobran-
dino has on all occasions protected the affairs
of your excellencies, for it would almost seem
impossible that these two should concur in
any proceeding, however just and reasonable
it may be. 'J'his may serve to show the piti-
able sufferings of poor ambassadors and public
representatives.]
The second chapter, at least that which is
formally distinguished as such in our copies,
relates to the form of government, the fi-
nances, and the military forces. Delfino is
surprised, as well he might be, at some points
in the financial administration. "AJentre
I'entrate della chiesa sono impegnate all' in-
grosso ordinariamente e straoidinariamente ;
e quello ch'e peggio, si comprano castelli e
giurisdittioni de' sudditi a IJ o 2 per cento e
SI pagano censi a 9 o 10 per cento, parendo
strano agli uomini savj che in tante strettezze
si fanno queste compre, e piii e che se si
vogliono far certe spese, non si facciano per
vita delli danari del castello, per non ci andar
debitando e consumando del tutto." [Mean-
while the revenues of the church are pledged
in the mass ordinarily and extraordinarily:
and what is worse, boroughs and jurisdictions
are bought of subjects at a rate returning IJ
or 2 per cent. (I take this to mean, the pro-
ceeds of which are so much), and mortgages
are paid at the rate of 9 or 10 per cent. It
seems strange to wise men that these pur-
chases should be made under the pressure of
such embarrassments, and it is still more
strange that if they will incur certain ex-
penses, they do not defray them with the
moneys in the castle, and not go on thus con-
tracting debt and exhausting every resource.]
Even at that time we see there were persons
who were startled by the idea of hoarding
borrowed money. Much dissatisfaction had
ensued upon the first short-lived contentment
in Ferrara. "Nobili e popolo si darebbero
volentieri a qual principe si voglia, per uscir
dalle mani dove so trovano." [Nobles and
people would gladly cast themselves upon
any sovereign whatever, to escape the hands
into which they have fallen.]
III. Intelligenze. — We are told on what
bad terms the pope stood with the emperor
and Philip II. : he awaited the kmg's death
with a kind of painful longing; how ill with
Florence, for it was well remembered that the
house of the Aldobrandini belonged to the
emigrant families, "(le cose passano peggio
che con ogn' altro, ricordandosi d'esser andato
il papa e la sua casa ramingo per il mondo);
how much better on the other hand, with
France and Poland, especially with the latter,
with which he had a community of interests
and plans (" concorrendo e dall' una e dall'
altra parte interessi nel presente e disegni
nel tempo a venire"). But for no one was
Clement more interested than for the sove-
reign of Transylvania. "Col prencipe di
SECOND EPOCH OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL RESTORATION.
503
Transilvania ha trattato il papa con tanlo
aniore, e con toner un mintio apostolico ap-
presso di lui e con aveili dato in mio tempo
60 m. scudi e tre volte e con infiniti officii
fatti fare con I'lrnperatore per servitio, che
quasi poteva dirsi interessato et oldiirnto alia
contiima ciua protettione : e credo clie'i povero
prencipe la meritava, perche s'c ritfoliito alia
guerra con fbndamento principale del consi-
glio et delle prornesse di S. b'^ : quanto nel
principio gia tre anni e gia due ancora esal-
tava la virtu e valor di questo prencipe fino
al cielo, avendo detto a me piu volte ch'egli
solo fiiceva la guerra al Turco, tanto piu ulti-
mamente con la cessione che gli fece de' suoi
stati reslava inolto chiarit<i, et il predicava un
gran da poco : onde si vede che se bene aveva
promesso all' imperatore di farlo cardinale et
a lui ancora, non averebbe pero osservato
cosa alcuna, e percio crelo che essendo tor-
nato al governo de' suoi stati abbia sentito S.
gta gran consolatione."
[The pope has dealt towards the prince of
Transylvania with so much love, keeping an
apostolic nuncio at his court, thrice in my
time bestowing on him 6ii,000 t-cudi, and ren-
dering him immense services with the empe-
ror, that he might be said almost to be inte-
rested, and pledged to afford him continual
protection. And I believe that the poor
prince deserved it, because he resolved on
war principally on the strength of the advice
and the promises of his holiness : this was evi-
dent, both from the way in which in the be-
ginning he lauded this prince's virtue and
worth to the skies three years, and again two
years ago, having told me several times that
he made war singly against the Turks, and
still more so recently from the cession he
made him of his states, when he made a great
talk of little; whence it appears that if even
he had promised the emperor, and himself too,
that he would make him a cardinal, he still
would nut have kept any such promise, and
therefore I believe that his holiness was
greatly rejoiced when he returned to the
government of his dominions.]
IV. Cardinali. — They are all gone through
in succession, and judged more or less I'a-
vourably.
V. " De' soggetti che cascano in maggior
consideratione per lo pontificato."
VI. " Interessi con Venetia." — A thou-
sand disputes are already on foot. " Quando
non si proveda alle pretensioni et ai disordini,
un giorno si entrera in qualche travaglio di
gran memento, massime di questi novi ac-
qnisti che sempre vi ponso per cognitione
che ho della natura de' preti e della chiesa
mi fa temere." [If measures be not taken to
check these pretensions and disorders, there
will one day be some very serious trouble, parti-
cularly about these new acquisitions (con-
cerning the navigation of the Po; ; and as
often as I think on the subject I am alarmed,
from the knowledge I possess of the nature of
priests and of the church.]
This anticipation was but too soon ful-
filled.
71. Venier : Relatione ai Roma. 1601.
port on Rome.]
Re-
The disputes between the pope and Venice
had by this time risen to a high pitch. The
Venitians refused to send their patriarch to
Rome for examination. Rancorous quarrels
had begun about the Goro mouth of the Po.
It was on account of these dispatches that
Venier was dispatched to Rome.
He remained there but a short while ;
nevertheless the sketch he gives of Clement
is most useful.
"Della natura etpensieri del pontefice, per
quello che a me tocca di considerare nella
presente congiuntura per li negotii che giornal-
mente tratta V. Serenita con S. Beatitudine,
diro che il papa in questa eta sua di 65 anni e
pill sanno e piii gagliardo di quello che sia stato
negli anni adietro, non havendo, indispositione
alcuna fuoriche quella della chiragra o gotta,
che pero li serve, come vogliono li medici, a
tenerlo preservato da altre indispositioni, e
questa molto piii di rado e molto meno che
per I'inanzi le da molestia al presente, per la
bona regola particolarmente del viver, nel
quale da certo tempo in qua precede con
grandissima riserva e con notabile astinenza
nel here : 6he le giova anco grandemente a
non dar fomento alia grassezza, alia quale e
molto inclinata la sua complessione, usando
anco per questo di frequentare I'esercitio di
camminar longamente sempre che senza
sconcio de negotii conosce di poterlo fare, ai
quali nondimeno per la sua gran capacita
supplisce, intanto che le resta comoda parte
di tempo che dispensa admettendo persone
private et altri che secondo il solito ricor-
rono a S. S^a, A negotii gravi si applica con
ogui suo spirito, et persiste in essi senza
mostrarne mai alcuna fiachezza, et quando
li succede di vederli conclusi, gode et fruisce
mirabilmente il contento che ne riceve. Ne
di cosa maggiormente si compiace che di
esser stimato, et che sia rispettata la sua
reputatione, della quale e gelosissimo. Et
quanto per la complessione sua molto san-
guigna e colerica e facile ad accendersi, pro-
rompendo con grandissima vehementia in
esagerationi piene di escandescenza et ascer-
bita, tanto anco mentre vede che altri tace
con la lingua seben s'attrista nel sembiante,
si ravede per se stesso et procura con gran
benignita di raddolcire ogni amaritudine : la
qual cosa e cosi nota horrnai a tutti li cardi-
nali che ne danno cortese avvertimento agli
amici loro, sicome lo diode anco a me nel
prime congresso I'illustressimo sig' card'^ di
504
APPENDIX.
Verona per mia da lui stimata molto utile
conformatione. Ha Sua Sti^ volti li pensieri
suoi alia gloria, ne si puo iinaginare quanto
acquisto facciano li principi della gratia sua,
mentre secondano la sua inclinatioue. Onde
Spagnoli in particolare, che sempre miraiio
a conservarsi et ad aumentar la gran parte
che hanno nella corte di Roma, non trascu-
rano punto Toccasione : et pero con tanlo
maggior prontezza hanno applicato I'animo a
far qualche impresa contra Turchi, come hora
si vede, et con andar soflerendo non mediocri
durezze, che provano ancor loro nelli negotii
important i, particolarmente per causa di
ginrisditione, che vivono alia corte di Roma,
si vanno sempre piu avanzando nel riportare
in moke cose non piccole soddisfattioni. E
tenuto generalmente il pontefice persona di
gran virtii bonta et religioner di che egli si
compiace far che del continuo se ne veggano
segni et important!! effetti. Et se ben li
cardinal! si vedono nel presente pontefice
ecemata molto quella autorita che ne' tempi
passati sono stati sol it! d'havere, restando
quasiche del tutto esclusi dalla partecipatione
de negotii piii important!, poiche ben spesso
fino air ultima conclusione di ess! non hanno
delle trattationi la gia solita notitia, mostrano
nondimeno di stimare il pontifice, lodano la
iS^^ S. con termini di somma riverenza, cele-
brando la prudenza et I'altre virtii sue con
grand' esageratione, affirmando che se fosse
occasione hora di aligere pontefice, non ele-
gerebono altro che questo medesimo, seben
son molto recondit! et profondi i loro pensieri,
et le parole et le apparenze sono volte a!
proprj disegni forse a roma piii che al-
Irove."
[As to the character and disposition of the
pope, as far as my attention has been called
thereto in the present conjuncture, in the
course of the daily transactions between your
serenety and his holiness, I will mention that
the pope, at his present age of 65, is in better
health and strength than he enjoyed in past
years, having no indisposition except the
chiragra or gout, which however is of use to
him, as the physicians allege, in keeping him
from other disorders : its attacks are now
much less frequent and troublesome than
formerly, particularly in consequence of his
very regular living, in which he has persisted
for a certain time with extreme reserve and
with notable abstinence in his drink : more-
over, he gladly avoids encouraging corpulence,
to which his constitution is very prone, where-
fore he makes it a practice to take long
walks whenever he finds he can do so without
interruption to business, though he readily
makes up for any lost time by liis extraordi-
nary capacity, so that he has a convenient
share of leisure, which he employs in receiv-
ing private persons and others who habitually
wait upon his holiness. He applies with all
his soul to serious business, and persists in it
without displaying any signs of flagging; and
when he sees it brought to an issue, he
wonderfully enjoys the pleasure thence af-
forded him. There is nothing he is so fond
of, as being esteemed and having his reputa-
tion respected, of which he is most jealous.
And whereas, by reason of his very sanguine
and choleric temperament, he is easily exas-
perated, breaking out with huge vehemence
into anger and bitter tirades; yet if he per-
ceives that the person he addresses keeps
silence with his tongue, though his counte-
nance displays vexation, he checks himself,
and endeavours with great kindness to re-
move all feeling of bitterness. This circum-
stance is now so well known to all the
cardinals that they courteously warn their
friends of it, as was done to myself on my
first audience by the cardinal di Verona, by
way of giving me what he thought a very
useful hint for my conduct. His holinesss
has his thoughts turned upon glory, nor can
it be conceived how much sovereigns gain
in his favour by seconding his inclination.
Hence the Spaniards in particular, who are
always on the watch to preserve and augment
the great interest they possess at the court of
Rome, fail not in the least point to act ac-
cordingly; and so they have the more
promptly applied themselves to efl'ect some
enterprise against the Turks, as at present
seen : and though they are obliged to put up
with no slight hardships, which they too
experience who live at the court of Rome on
account of important business, especially
judicial matters, still they are continual-
ly gaining ground, and obtaining in many
things no slight satisfactions. The pope is
generally esteemed a person of great virtue,
goodness and piety, of which he delights
continually to give striking proof And
though the cardinals find themselves in the
present pontificate curtailed of much of that
authority they were used to possess in times
past, being almost totally excluded from par-
ticipating in the more important matters, for
very often it is not till these are concluded
that they receive notice of their being under
consideration, nevertheless they appear to
esteem the pope, praise his holiness in the
most reverential terms, celebrate his prudence
and other virtues in the largest style, affirm-
ing that if they had now to choose a pope
they would choose none other than this same :
their thoughts though are very secret and
deep, and words and appearances are shaped
to fit private designs oftener perhaps in Rome
than elsewhere.]
The ambassador succeeded in once more
allaying the disputes, though the pope already
talked of excommunication. On the whole,
SECOND EPOCH OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL RESTORATION.
505
however, Venier considered him well dis-
posed. Venice consented to send the patri-
arch to Rome.
72, Instruttione aV iU"'o et ccc^" marchese di
Vie^licnno ambasciatore cntlolico in Roma
1603. {Informalt. politt. n. 26.) [In-
struction to the marchese di Viglienna,
catholic ambassador to Rome.]
Viglienna was Sessa's successor. Our
author reasonably enough leaves it to the
departing ambassador to give information
respecting the pope and those immediately
belonging to him. He himself give us
accounts of the cardinals. His object is to
point out the faction to which each belonged.
We can perceive that the state of things was
very much altered since 1599. But ten car-
dinals are enumerated as decidedly Spanish.
Formerly there had been but little mention of
French cardinals : there were now nine of
them ; the others belonged to no party.
This author is also deeply impressed with
the importance of the curia. " Qui le dit-
ferenze, le pretensioni, le paci, le guerre si
maneggiano Le condition! invitano i
piu vivaci e cupidi di grandezza, di maniera
che non e meraviglia che qui tioriscano i
piu acuti ingegni." [In it are disposed of
disputes, pretensions, peace and war
Its circumstances invite the most spirited and
the most covetous of greatness, so that it is
no wonder that the most acute intellects
flourish there.]
73. Dialogo di mons'^ Malaspina sopra la sta-
te spiriiuale e politico delV imperio e delle
provincie iiifette dlieresie. {Vallic. n.
17. 142 leaves.) [Dialogue by monsignor
Malaspina, on the spiritual and political
state of the empire and the provinces in-
fested with heresy.]
A dialogue between monsieur Malaspina,
the archbishop of Prague, and the bishops oi'
Lyons and Cordova, churchmen belonging
severally to the four principal nations;, some-
where about the year 1600. Mention is made
in it of the escheat of Ferrara.
Its object is specially to compare what had
had been done by former popes and by Clem-
ent VIII. respectively, for the advancement of
Catholicism.
Under the former popes: " 1. La reduttione
delle Indie, 2. la celebratione del concilio, 3.
la lega santa e la vittoria navale, 4. I'eret-
tione de' collegii, 5. I'offerta dagli heretici del
primato di Pietro al patriarcha Constantino-
politano ,..(!?) 5. la constantia del re catto-
lico in non concedere agli heretici nei paesi
bassi cose in pregiudicio della religione."
[1. The reduction of the Indies; 2. The cel-
ebration of the council ; 3. The holy league
61
and the nnval victory; 4. The erection of the
colleges ; 5. The ofler by the heretics of the
primacy of Peter to the patriarch of Constan-
tinople . . . (!) 5. 'J"he firmness of the catho-
lic king in not yielding to tiie heretics in the
Low Countries things prejudicial to religion.]
By pope Clement VIII.: "1. II governo
pastorale et universale, 2. il governo partico-
lare dei dominii del state ecclesiastico, 3. la
vita di S. Boatitudine, 4. il Tiirca bora per
opera di S. Beatitudine fatlo apparire di potersi
vincere, 5. Ferrara occupata, 6. I'essersi fatto
cattolico il christianissimo re di Francia."
[1. The pastoral and universal government;
2. The particular government of the domi-
nions of the ecclesiastical states ; 3. The life
of his holiness ; 4. The Turk now, by means
of his holiness, shown to be vanquishable; 5.
Ferrara occupied ; 6. The most Christian king
of France become catholic]
Malaspina concludes that this is of more
importance than all that the others had effect-
ed. Quite natural. The work is dedicated
to the pope's nephews.
I have only been able to find one solitary
passage worthy of note in this long paper.
The author was present at the electoral
diet of Ratisbon in the year 1.575, where he
conferred with the elector Augustus of Saxo-
ny. This prince was still far from exciting
the hopes of the catholics that he would re-
cant. On the contrary, he declared he made
no account of the pope, whether as pope or as
sovereign of Rome, nor yet in consideration
of his wealth ; the papal treasury was rather
a cistern than a living spring ; the only thing
that gave him concern was, that a monk like
Pius V. should "have united such mighty sove-
reigns in a war against the Turks ; he might
repeat the same thing against the protestants.
In fact, Gregory XIII. actually conceived such
a scheme. Seeing that France withdrew from
any share in the Turkish war from its fear of
the Huguenots, he deemed a general confed-
eracy at once against the Turks and the pro-
testants to be necessary. Negotiations were
immediately set on foot on the subject with
the emperor and with the archduke Charles
of Styria.
74. Relatione delle chiese di Sassonia. Fe-
licibus auspiciis ill'^ comitis Frid. Bor-
romei. 1603. (Bibl. Ambros. H. 179)
[Report on the churches of Saxony.]
Another of the numerous schemes of Ca-
tholicism to recover possession of Germany.
The author is persuaded that Germany is
gradually becoming weary of protestantism.
Already parents took little interest in hav-
ing their children educated in their own faith.
" Li lasciano in abandono, perche sio gl'in-
spiri, come essi dicono, a quel che sia per sa-
lute deir anime loro." [They leave them
506
APPENDIX.
alone, in order, as they say, that God may in-
spire them with what may be for the good of
their souls.]
Under this persuasion, he forms projects
against two leading protestant countries, Sax-
ony and the Palatinate.
In Saxony the administrator had already
extirpated Calvinism. He must be gained
over by the hopes of recovering the electorate.
("Mettergli inanzi speranza di poter per la
via della conversione farsi assoluto patrone
dell' elettorato.") The provincial nobility
too would be well pleased if they had a pros-
pect of again getting hold of the bishoprics.
He expresses himself in the following way
respecting the Palatinate. " II Casimiro ave-
va una sorella vedova, che fu moglie d'un
landgravio d'Hassia, la quale suol vivere in
Braubach, terra sopra il Rheno, e si dimostra
plena di molte virtii moral! e di qualche lume
del cielo : snol esercitare I'opere di charita
per molto zelo, facendo molte elemosine e
consolando gl' infermi di quel contorni con
provederli di medicine : conversa volentieri
con alcuni padri del Giesii e con I'arcivescovo
di Treveri E opinione di molti che
mediante una piii diligenza o di qualche pa-
dre del Giesvi amato da lei o di qualche prin-
cipe cattolico o vescovo saria facil cosa di ri-
durla lotalmente alia vera fede : . . , . di
che se dio benedetto desse la gratia c che la
cosa passasse con conveniente segretazza,
sarebbe ella ottimo instrumento per conver-
tire poi il nipote con la sorella di lui et un al-
tra figlia che resta del Casimiro." [Casimir
had a widowed sister, wdio had been the wife
of a landgrave of Hesse ; she resides in Brau-
bach, a country on the Rhine, and she ap-
pears possessed of many moral virtues, and of
some illumination from heaven: she is wont
to perform works of charity with much zeal,
distribute many alms, and comforting the in-
firm of those regions by procuring them me-
dicines. She is fond of conversing with some
Jesuit fathers and with the archbishop of
Trier It is supposed that with some-
what more diligence on the part of some Je-
suit father liked by her, or of some catholic
prince or bishop, it would be easy to bring her
over wholly to the true faith : . . . . which
if God in his grace would vouchsafe to grant,
it would be the best means towards afterwards
converting her nephew and his sister, and
another surviving daughter of Casimir.]
The author alludes in this to Anna Eliza-
beth of the Palatinate, the wife of Philip of
Hesse Rheinfels, who died in the year 1583.
She had previously incurred suspicion of Cal-
vinism, and had even been wounded in conse-
quence in a riot. We see that subsequently,
when living in Braubach, her widow's estate,
which she beautified, she was suspected of an
opposite leaning to Catholicism.
It is upon this combination of circumstances
that our author builds. He is of opinion, that
were the young count palatine to be married
to a Bavarian princess, the whole country
would become catholic. And what an advan-
tage would it be to gain over an electorate !
75. Instruttione a V S'^'^ Moris'^ Barberino
arcivescovo di Nazaref. destinato nuntio
ordinario di N. Sig^^ al re christianissi-
mo in Francia 1603. {MS. Rom.) [In-
struction to monsignor Barberini, arch-
bishop of Nazareth, on his going as nuncio
to France.]
Drawn up by cardinal P. Aldobrandino,
who makes frequent mention of his own for-
mer embassy to the French court: it has in
view the furthering of the impulse already
given to Catholicism in France by the conver-
sion of Henry IV.
Let us observe some of the charges given
to the nuncio, afterwards Pope Urban VIII.
" Ella fara si con il re ch' egli mostri non
solamente di desiderare che gli eretici si con-
vertino, ma che dopo che si sono convertiti,
gli ajuti e favorisca. ... II pensare a bilan-
ciare le cose in manierache si tenghi amiche
ambidue le parti e una propositione vana, fal-
sa et erronea, e non potrii esser suggerita a
S. Mi^ che da politici e mal intentionati c da
chi non ama la suprema autoritii del re nel
regno. . . . N. Sigre non vuol lasciar di porli
(the king) in consideratione una strada facile
e senza che possa partorir tumulto e che si
eseguisca facilmente e fa il suo efletto senza
coltivatione, et e quella che altre volte ha S.
St'^ ricordato alia M^^ S. et addotto I'esempio
di Polonia cioe di non dar gradi ad eretici:
. . . ricorda a S. Mi^ di dar qualche sbarbat-
ezza alle volte a costoro (the Huguenots,)
perche e turba ribelle et insolente. ... V.
yriadovra dire liberamente al re che deve fug-
gire gli economati et il dar vescovati e badie
a soldati et a donne." [He will so proceed
with the king that his majesty shall not only
manifest his desire for the conversion of the
heretics, but also countenance and favour
them after their conversion. . . . The thought
of balancing matters so that the two parties
shall remain friends, is a vain, false, and er-
roneous proposition, and can only be suggest-
ed to his majesty by crafty and evil-intention-
ed persons, and by those wiio do not like the
king's supreme authority ni the kingdom. . . .
His holiness would by all means have an easy
course submitted to the king's consideration
(for getting rid of the protestants) one that
cannot produce any commotion, is easy of ex-
ecution, and will produce its effect spontane-
ously and without any special exertion : it is
the same which his holiness has on other oc-
casions suggested to his majesty, adducing the
example of Poland, and that is, not to give
promotion to heretics : ... let him put his
SECOND EPOCH OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL RESTORATION.
507
majesty in mind to fjive the Huguenots some
smart rap or another on all occasions, for they
are a rebellious and insolent pack. . . . Your
e.xccllency must tell the king- plainly that he
Gught to abolish the economati (stewardships)
and the practice of bestowing bishoprics and
abbeys on soldiers and women.]
In these economali consisted the origin of
tlie regale, which at a later period caused
such serious disputes. "II re nomina I'eco-
nomo, il quale in virtu d'un arresto, inanzi sia
fatta la ispeditione apostolica, amministra lo
spirituale e temporale, conferisce beneficii,
constituisce vicarii che giudicano, assolvono,
dispensano." [The king nominates the eco-
nonio, who by virtue of an arret, without
waiting for the determination of the apostolic
see, administers spiritualities and temporali-
ties, confers benefices, and appoints vicars,
who judge, absolve, and dispense.]
The nuncio was also to strive to confirm
the king himself in the catholic faith ; during
the war his majesty had not had an opportu-
nity of receiving sound instruction; he should
insist on the nomination of good bishops, see
to the reform of the clergy, and as far as pos-
sible effect the publication of the decrees of
the council of Trent, which the king had pro-
mised the cardinal on his departure to set on
foot within two months, but which he still,
after the lapse of several years, delayed to
do ; he was to counsel the destruction of Ge-
neva " (di tor via il nido che hanno gli ereti-
ci in Ginevra, come quella che e asilo di
quanti apostati fuggono d'ltalia)" [to sweep
away that nest the heretics have in Geneva,
as being the asylum of all the fugitive apos-
tates of Italy.]
Italy was above all the subject that lay
nearest the pope's heart : he declares it past
endurance that a Huguenot commander
should be sent to Castel Delfino on the Ita-
lian side of the Alps ; the example was
deadly.
Clement was full of the idea of a Turkish
war. Each sovereign should attack the Turks
at a separate point; the king of Spain was
ready to do his part, and only required the as-
surance that the king of France would not in
the meanwhile molest him in any quarter.
76. Pauli V. pontificis maxima vita com-
pendiose scripta. — {Bibl. Barb.) [An epi-
tome of the life of pope Paul V.]
A panegyric of no great value.
The judicial functions, administration, and
architectural schemes of this pope are praised
at length.
" 'i'acitus plerumque et in se receptus ;
ubique locorum et temporum vel in mensa
meditabatur, scribebat, plurima transigebat.
" NuUus dabatur facinorosis receptui locus.
Ex aulis primariis Romae, exsedium nobilissi-
marum non dicam atriis sod penetralibus no-
centis ad supplicium armato sattellitio educe-
bantur.
"Cum principatus initio rerum singularum,
pra:>cipue pecuniarum difficultate premeretur,
cum jugiter aimis XVI tantum auri tot largi-
tionibus, substructionibus, ex integro ffidifica-
tionibus, prsesidiis e.xterorumque subsidiis in-
sumpserit, rem frumentariam tanta impensa
expediverit, . . . nihil de arcis iElise thesau-
ro ad publicum tutamen congesto detra.xerit,
subjectas provinciassublevaverit : tot immen-
sis tamen operibus non modo ffis alienum de-
nuo non contraxit, sed vetus imminuit ; non
modo ad inopiam non est redactus, sed prseter
publicum utidequaque locupletatum privato
asrario novies centena millia nummum aureo-
rum congessit."
[He was generally silent and engrossed
with his own thoughts, in all times and places ;
even at table he used to meditate, write, and
transact a multitude of things.
[No asylum was granted to malefactors.
From the foremost palaces of Rome, not
merely from the halls but from the very in-
most receptacles of the noblest mansions in
Rome, culprits were brought out by armed
force for punishment.
[Whereas in the beginning he was embar-
rassed in every respect, above all by want of
money ; and whereas, during a space of six-
teen years, he expended so much in presents,
repairs, or entire construction of buildings,
military charges, and subsidies of foreign
states, was at such cost for supplies of corn,
. . . took nothing from the fund accumulated
in St. Angelo for the public safeguard, and
relieved the subject provinces; with all these
vast sources of expenditure still he contracted
no new debt, but diminished the old; and so
far from being reduced to penury, besides
enriching the public treasury from all quar-
ters, he added to the private treasury 900,000
scudi.]
Apparently this panegyrist did not regard
the creation of so many new luoghi di monte
in the light of a loan,
77. Relatione dello stato infelice della Ger-
mania cum propositione delli rimedii op-
portuni, mandala dal nuntio Ferrer o ves-
covo di Vercelli alia S"^ di N. Sig^e papa
Paolo V.—{Bibl. Barb.) [Report of the
unhappy state of Germany, with a propo-
sal of the proper remedies, addressed by
the nuncio Ferrero, bishop of Vercelli, to
his holiness pope Paul V.]
Probably one of the first circumstantial
reports that came into the hands of Paul V.
The nuncio mentions the revolt of the impe-
rial troops against their general Basta in
May 1005, as an event that had just occurred.
The unfortunate course taken by the war
5D8
APPENDIX.
from jealous apprehension that they'intend to
avail themselves of these seditions, or for some
other cause, that he takes no thought either
for his house, or for his dominions, or for him-
self.}
Many other remarkable facts are also
brought to light, e. g. the designs even then
entertained by the house of Branderiburg
against Silesia. " II Brandeburgh non dispera
con gli stati che ha in Slesia e le sue proprie
forze in tempo di revolutione tirar a se quella
provincia." [Brantlenkirg does not despair,
with the states he has in Silesia and his ovi^n
forces, to be able to appropriate that province
to himself in time of revolution.]
78. Relatione delV ill^" S^ Franc. Molino
caV e pro^ ritornato da Roma con rill'"^
sig'>'i Giovanni Mocenigo cav^, Piero
Duodo cav'^ e Francesco Contarini caV,
mandati a Roma a congratulursi conpapa
Paolo V. delta sua assontione al po)iteJi-
cato, letla in senato 25 Genu. 1605 (1606),
[Report by Francesco IMolino of his joint
embassy with Giov. Mocenigo, &c., to con-
gratulate pope Paul V. on his accession.]
The outbreak of the troubles was already
foreseen. The ambassador observed Paul V.
as closely as possibly.
" Sicome pronunliato Leone XI penarono
doi hore a vestirlo pontificalmente, cosi il pre-
sente pontefice fu quasi creduto prima vestito
ch'eletto et pur da altri cardinali: che non fu
of Austria. The archdukes Matthias and j cosi presto dichiarato che in niomento dimos-
Maximilian had made up their quarrels and | tro continenza et gravita pontificia tanta nell'
united ngainst the ernperor. " Hora I'arci- j aspelto, nel moto, nelle parole et nelli fatti,
duca Maitia e Massimiliano si sono uniti in j che restarono tutti pieni di stuporeet meravi-
amore, vedendo che con la loro disunione face- ' glia et molti forse pentiti, ma tardi et senza
vano il gioco che I'imperatore desidera, essen- ! giovamento : perche diversissimo dalli altri
dosi risokito il secondo a cedere al primo come [ precessori, che in quel calore hanno tutti assen-
a quelle ohe per ragione di primogenitura toe- i tito alle richieste cosi de' cardinali come d'
cava il regno d'Ungaria, Boemia e stati d'Aus- j altri et fatte infinite gratie, cosi il presente
tria, et Alberto ha promessso di star a quello j stette continentissimo et sul serio, tanto che
che se ne fara, e di comun concerto solleci-
tano I'imperatore con lettere a prendere riso-
lutione al stabilimento della casa : ma egli e
caduto in tanta maliuconia, o sia per questa
lor uuiono, e gelosia che non siano per valersi
di queste sedizioni, o per altro, che non pro-
vede alia casa ne agli stati ne a se stesso."
[The archdukes Matthias and Maximilian are
now united and friendly, for they saw that
their disunion was playing the emperor's
under these circumstances, and the progress
of the Turks and the rebels in arms against
the emperor, were doubtless his chief grounds
for calling Germany unhappy.
For in other respects he did not fail to per-
ceive the numerous conquests made by the
catholic church in Germany.
" Di questi frutti ne sono stati prossima
causa gli alunni cosi di Roma come delle va-
rie citta e luoghi della Germania dove la
pieta di Gregorio XIII alle spese della camera
apostolica gl' institui, giunti li collegii e
scuole delli padri Giesuiti, alii quali vanno
misti cattolici et heretici ; perche li alunni
sudetti si fanno prelati o canonici."
[The proximate cause of these results are
the pupils both of Rome and of the various
cities and places of Germany, where the piety
of Gregory XIII. afforded them the means of
education at the charge of the apostolic trea-
sury, added to the schools and colleges of the
Jesuit fathers, which are attended by catho-
lics and heretics promiscuously; because the
"Aforesaid pupils become prelates or canons.]
He repeatedly asserts that the Jesuit schools
had gained over a great multitude of young-
people to Catholicism. Only he finds in Bo-
hemia in particular an extraordinary dearth
of catholic parish clergy.
He enters also into the political state of
Germany : he considers the danger to be ap-
prehended from the Turks very alarming,
seeing the ill-prepared condition of the empe-
ror, and the internal dissensions of the house
si dichiari risoluto a non voler assentire et pro-
mettere pur minima cosa, dicendo ch' era con-
veniente aver prima sopra le richieste et gratie
che le erano dimandate ogni debita cl matura
consideratione : onde pochissimi furono quelli
che dopo qualche giorno restassero in qualche
parte gratiati. JN'e tuttayia si va punto allar-
gando, anzi per la sua sempre maggior riser-
vatezza dubitando la corte di veder anco sem-
pre poche gratie et maggior strettezza in tutte
game. iMaximilian has resolved to give way i le cose, se ne sta molto mesta. Fra li ear-
to Matthias, since to him by right of primo- j dinali non v'e alciino che si possi gloriar di
geniture belong the kingdom of Hungary, ; aver avuto tanto d'intrensichezza o familiarita
Bohemia, and the states of Austria ; and Al- j seco che di certo si possi promettere di ottener
bert has promised to acquiesce in whatever: prontamente alcuna cosa da lui, e tutti proce-
shall be done, and they have written in con-!douo con tanto rispetto che si smarriscono
cert to the emperor, recjuesling him to adopt quando sono per andarli a parlar et negotiar
measures for the stability of the house. Butt seco : perche oltre che lo trovauo star sempre
the emperor is lallen into such melancholy, i sul serio et dar le risposte con poche parole,
whether in consequence of their union, and | si vedono incontrar in risolutionifondate quasi
SECOND EPOCH OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL RESTORATION.
509
sempre sopra il rigor dei termini legali: per-
che non admottcndo consuetiulini, ch'eg-Ii
chiama abusi, no esempj di con?en.so d' ponte-
fici passati, ai quali non solamente dice che
non saperia accomodar la sua conscientia, ma
che po8Sono aver fatlo male el potriano render
conto a dio o che saranno stati ingannati, o che
la cosa ?ar;i stata diversa da qiiella che a lui
viene portata, li lascia peril piii malcontenti.
Non ha caro che si parli seco lungo per via di
contesa o di disputatione, et se ascolta pur
una 0 doi repliche, quelle stimando di aver
risoluto con le decisioni de' leggi o dei canoni
o de' concilj che lor porta per risposta, si torce
se passano inanzi, overo egli entra in altro,
volendo che sappino che per le fatiche fatte
da lui il spatio di trenta cinque anni continuo
nel studio delle leggi et practicatele con per-
petui esercitii nelli officii di corte in Roma et
fuori, possi ragionevolmente pretendere, se
bene questo non dice tanto espressamente, ni
aver cosi esatta cognitioue di questa profes-
sione che non metti il piede a fallo nelle riso-
lutioni che da et nelle determinationi che fa,
dicendo bene che nelle cose dubbie deve I'ar-
bitrio et interpretatione particolarmente nelle
materie ecclesiastiche esser di lui solo come
pontefice, Et per questo li cardinali, che per
i'ordinario da certo tempo in qua non contra-
dicono, come solevano, anzi quasi non consi-
gliano, et se sono ricercati et comandati di
parlar liberamente, lo fanno conforme a quell'
intentione che vedono esser nelli pontefici, se
ben non la sentono, col presente se ne asten-
gono piu di quello che habbino fatto con alcun
dei suoi precessori : et averanno ogni di tanto
maggior occasione di star in silentio, quanto
che manco delli altri ricerca il parere di loro
o di alcuno a parte, come soleva pur far papa
Clemente et altri : fa fra se stesso solo le riso-
lutioni et quelle de improvise publica nel con-
cistoro : in cui hora si duole dei tempi pre-
sent!, hora si querela de' principi cnn parole
pungenti come fece ultimamente in tempo
nostro per la deditionedi Strigonia, condolen-
dosi et attribuendo la colpa all' imperatore et
ad altri principi con parole aculeate et pun-
genti; hora rappresentandoa' cardmali li loro
obblighi, li sfodra protest! senza alcun prece-
dente ordine o coinandamento, con ciie li
mette in grandissima confusione, come fece
significandoli I'obbligodella residenza et, come
ho detto, non per via di comando, come face-
vano li altri pontefici, li quali prefigevano loro
ancor stretto tempo di andar alle lor chiese,
ma con solamente dirli che non escusarebbe li
absenti da esse da peccato rnortale et da rice-
vere i frutti, fondando la sudetta conclusione
Bopra li canoni et sopra il concilio di Trento:
col qual termine solo cosi stretto et inaspetta-
tamente con molta flamma pronunciato mette
tanta confusione nelli cardinali vescovi che
conoscendo loro non potersi fermare in Roma
piu lungamente senza scrupolo et rimorso
grandissimo della conscientia, senza dar scan-
dalo et senza incorrer in particolar concetto
presso il papa di poco curanti li avvertimenti
della St^ Sua, di poco timorati di dio et di poco
honore ancor presso il mondo, hanno preso riso-
lutione chi di andar alia residenza, et gia se
ne sono partiti alquanti, chi di rinuiiciare, et
chi di aver dispensa fin che passi la furia dell'
inverno per andarvi alia primavera: ne ha
admesso per difesa che salvino le legation!
della provincie e delle citta del state eccle-
siastico : solo doi poteano essere eccettuati, il
cardll Tarasio arcivescovo di Siena vecchis-
simo et sordo, che non sara percio salvato da
restar astretto dalla renoncia, et il sig"" cardl
di Verona, medesimamente per I'eta grandis-
sima et per aver gia moiti anni monsr sue
nipote ch' esercita la coadjutoria et ottima-
mente supplisce per il zio." [Whereas on
Leo XI. being pronounced elected, tliey delay-
ed two hours to clothe him in the pontifical
vestments; the present pope, on the other
hand, was thought to have been robed almost
before his election, and while on a footing
with the other cardinals. For no sooner was
he declared, than he instantly displayed the
reserve and gravity of a pope in his counten-
ance, gestures, words, and actions, so that all
were mled with amazement and wonder, and
some perhaps repented, though too late to help
themselves : for quite ditferently from his pre-
decessors, who all in the first flush of their
success consented to the requests of the car-
dinals and others and granted favours, the
present pope was for his part most reserved
and grave, insomuch that he declared his reso-
lution not to grant the most trifling request,
saying that it was expedient he should first
duly and maturely consider all the requests
that were addressed to him ; hence they were
extremely few who at the end of a few days
received favours of some kind. Nor does his
liberality enlarge a jot; on the contrary, his
increasing reserve makes the court apprehend
a contmued restriction of favours and aug-
mented straitness in all things, whereat it is
very sad. Among the cardinals, there is not
one that can boast of having had so much inti-
macy or familiarity with him as to make sure
of promptly obtaining any thing of him ; and
they all stand in such awe of him, that they
are disconcerted when they have to wait upon
him and transact business with him : for be-
sides that they find he always stands upon his
dignity and gives his answers in few words,
they are met by him with conclusions founded
almost always on the strict letter of the law;
for making no allowance for customs which he
calls abuses, nor precedents of past popes, say-
ing, not only that he cannot accommodate hig
conscience to their dictates, but also that they
may have done ill, and perhaps have to render
an account to God, or that they may have
been deceived, or that the case shall have been
510
APPENDIX.
different from that set before him, he leaves
them in the utmost discontent. He does not
like being talked to long in the way of con-
tention and argument, and if he does listen to
one or two replies, after having as he thinks
refuted tliem by decisions of law, or of the
canons or of the councils, he winces if they
are pushed any further, or he changes the
subject, for he would have them to know, that
in consequence of his continual study of the
laws for the space of five and thirty years, and
his practice of them in offices pertaining to the
court of Rome and abroad, he may reasonably
pretend, though he does not say so much ex-
pressly, to be so accurately versed in that
profession as not to make any false step in the
judgmeitts he forms and the decisions he takes ;
alleging, that to him alone as pope it should
belong to judge and interpret in doubtful
matters, particularly ecclesiastical. Hence,
customary as it has been with the cardinals
for a certain time past not to contradict as
they used to do, not even to advise, and when
requested and commanded to speak freely, to
do so only in accordance with what they know
to be the sentiments of the pope for the time
being, whether they really agree with them
or not, with the present pope they aj^ more
guarded than ever they were with aiiy of his
predecessors: and every day they will have
more and more occasion to keep silence, inas-
much as less than other popes he inquires
after their opinions, as pope Clement and
others used to do : he adopts all resolutions of
himself, and suddenly divulges them in the
consistory, where sometimes he complains of
the present times, sometimes inveighs against
sovereigns with bitter words, as he did recently
in our time on the surrender of Strigonia,
lamenting and attributing the blame to the
emperor and the sovereigns with pointed and
caustic language ; sometimes he represents to
the cardinals their duties to him, and makes
protests against them without any precedent,
order, or commandment, whereby he throws
them into great confusion, as he did when he
signified to them their obligation to residence,
and that, as I iiave said, not by way of com-
mand, as the other popes did, who assigned
them a specified time, and short too, to go to
their churches, but telling them merely that
he would not excuse the absentees from mortal
sin, or permit them to receive the revenues,
founding the said determination on the canons
and on the council of Trent : by which so
strict decision, unexpectedly pronounced with
much heat, he caused sucii dismay among the
cardinal bishops, tiiat knowing tliey could not
remain longer in Rome without extreme scru-
ples and remorse of conscience, without causing
scandal, and without in particular incurring
suspicion on the pope's part of being careless
of the warnings of his holiness, regardless of
God's fear and of their own honour m the eyes
of the world, they took the resolution, some of
going to reside on their preferments, and a
few of them have already set out, some of re-
signing, and some of procuring a dispensation
to remain till the rigour of the winter is past,
and then setting out in the spring. Nor has
he allowed them in recompense to keep the
legations of the provinces or of the cities of
the ecclesiastical states : two only have been
able to procure exception in their favour,
namely cardinal Tarasio, archbishop of Siena,
who is very old and deaf, but even he will not
be exempted from the necessity of resigning;
and cardinal di Verona, likewise on account
of his great age, and because for many years
his nephew has acted as his coadjutor, and has
extremely well filled his uncle's place.]
Notwithstanding this severity, the ambassa-
dors in reality got on remarkably well with
Paul V. He dismissed them in the most
friendly manner, nor could the best disposed
pope have expressed himself more favourably.
They were themselves astonished that things
should so soon after have taken such a con-
trary and so formidable a turn.
79. Instruttione a monsi"^ il vescovo di Ri-
mini (C Gessi) destinato nunlio alia
republica di Venetia dalla Saniita di N.
S. P. Paolo V. 1607 4 Giugno. {Bibl
Alh.) [Instruction to cardinal Gessi,
appointed nuncio to Venice from pope
Paul v.]
Immediately following the termination of
the disputes, yet not very pacific.
The pope complains that the Venetians
endeavour to conceal the act of absolution ;
in a declaration to their clergy a hint was
thrown out that the pope had revoked the
censures, because he recognized the purity
of their intentions " (che S. Beat"" per haver
conosciuta la sincerit;\ negli animi e delle
operationi loro havesse levate le censure)."
Nevertlieless Paul V. goes so far as to con-
ceive hopes that the consultors and even fra
Paolo would be given up to the inquisition.
The passage is very remarkable. " Delle
persone di fra Paolo Servita e Gio. Marsilio
e degli altri seduttori che passano sotto nome
di theologi s'e discorso con V^a Sig^'a in voce:
la quale doveria non aver difficulla in ottener
che fossero consignati al sant' officio, non che
abbandonati dalla republica e privati dello sti-
pendio che s'e loro constituito con tanto scan-
dalo." [Your excellency has been discoursed
with orally respecting fra Paoli Servita and
Gio. Marsilia and tlie other seducers who
pass under the name of tiieologians ; and you
ought not to meet with any difficulty in hav-
ing them given up to the holy office, not to
say abandoned by the republic, and deprived
of the stipend which has been so scandalously
conferred on them.] Such proposals could
SECOND EPOCH OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL RESTORATION.
511
not but exasperate the animosity of fra Paolo
and make it implacable. The pope knew not
what a foe he had in him. Ail his monsig--
nori and illustrissimi are forgotten: the spirit
of fra Paolo survives to this day in a part
at least of the opposition within the catholic \
church. I
The resistance the pope hud encountered i
on the part of Venice had made the deepest
impression on him. " Vuole N. sig-'e che
I'autorita e giurisdittione ecclesiastica sia
difesa virilmente da V. 8"^, la quale averte
non dinieno di non abbracciar causa che possa
venire in contesa dove non abbia rag-ione,
percke forse e minor mule il contendere che
il perdere." [It is the desire of his holiness
that the ecclesiastical authority and jurisdic-
tion be manfully defied by your excellency,
and you shall at the same time be no less
cautious to avoid taking up any matter that
may end in an unnecessary contest ; for per-
haps there is less mischief in not contending,
than in being defeated.^
80. Ragguaglio dclla dieta imperiale fatta
in Ra.iisbona Vunno del S^ 1008, nella
quale hi luogo dell ecc""> e rev""' monsr
Antonio Gaetano, arcivescovo di Capua,
nuntio apostoHco, rimaslo in Prago ap-
presso la M'" Cesarea, fa residente il
padre Filippo Milensio maestro Agostino
licrio generale sopra le provincie uquilo-
narie. AW ccc'>"> e rev'"" sig^^ e principe
il sig^ card'' Francesco Barberiai. — [Ac-
count of the imperial diet at R;itisbon, at
which padre Filippo Milensio, vicar-gene-
ral of the Augustines, &-c., filled the place
of monsignor Gaetano, nuncio, &c., who
remained at Prague with tlie emperor.
Addressed to cardinal Francesco Barbe-
rini.]
At the time the emperor summoned a diet
in the year 1607, Antonio Gaetano was nun-
cio at his court.
Gaetano was charged with the tas^kof more
fully introducing the decrees of the council
of Trent, eftecting the adoption of the Gre-
gorian calendar (to which the temporal elect-
ors were already inclined, especially tSaxony,
who had already given instructions to his
ambassador to that effect,) and protecting the
catholic interests in the Kammergericht. The
interruption caused in the proceedings of that
court was accounted for in the instruction in
the following manner.
" Di questo tribunal essendo presidente su-
premo I'intruso Magdeburgese heretico, e
volendo egli esercitare il suo officio, non fu
ammesso, e da quel tempo in qua non essendo
state reviste le cause et essendo moltiplicati
gli aggravii fatti particolarmente alii catolici,
protestando li hereiici di volere avere luogo
nella detta camera indifi'erentemente, come
hanno li catolici, hanno atteso continuamente
ad usurpare i beni ecclesiastici." [The su-
preme president of that tribunal being the
Magdeburg heretic intruder, and he desiring
to exercise his functions, he was not admitted,
and from that time till now no causes have been
heard, and the grievances particularly against
the catholics having become multiplied, the
heretics protesting that they would have ad-
mission to the said chamber precisely as have
the catbolics, they have aimed continually at
usurping the ecclessiatical possessions.]
It w'as to be foreseen that this matter would
be warmly discussed at the diet : nevertheless
the nuncio could not attend that assembly.
The emperor sent the archduke Ferdinand
thither as his commissioner, and would have
regarded it as an afiVont if the nuncio had left
him.
Gaetano sent in his stead the vicar of the
Augustines, fra Milensio. As the latter had
passed several years in Germany, he must
have been in some degree acquainted with
the mutual bearings of parties. But further-
more the nuncio referred him to Matthew
Welser — "per esatta cognitione delle cose
deir imperio " — and to that same bishop of
Ratisbon, a letter from whom just then pro-
duced such great excitement among the pro-
testants. He was also to put himself in
connexion with father Wilier, the emperor's
confessor.
Unfortunately, it was not till many years
afterwards, that this Augustinian recorded
his own proceedings in this matter. Still
v^hat he mentions of his own personal opera-
tions is in the highest degree deserving of at-
tention: we have already inserted it in the text.
He refers all the disorders which had then
broken out in the empire to the doubtful suc-
cession : " essendo fama che Ridolfo volesse
adotiarsi per figliuolo Leopoldo arciduca,
minor fratello di Ferdinando, e che poi a
Ferdinando stesso inchinasse" [there being a
report that Rodolf was disposed to adopt the
archduke Leopold, the younger brother of
Ferdinand, and that he afterwards inclined to
Ferdinand]. Matthias was exceedingly dis-
pleased at this. But he found faithful and
influential adherents in Klesel and prince
Lichtenstein, who was so powerful in Moravia.
According to this account, Dietrichslein
and Gaetano had a great share in the conclu-
sion of the treaty between the brothers.
81. Relatione di Roma delV illustrissimo S'
Giovan Mocenigo Kav^ Amb'' a quella
corte Vanno 1612. Inff. Polilt. tom. xv.
— [Report of the embassy of Giovan. Mo-
cenigo to Rome.]
The first ambassador after the settlement
of the disputes was Francesco Contarini,
1607 — 1609. Mocenigo speaks in high com-
512
APPENDIX.
mendation of the advantage he derived from
Contarini's sensible conduct. He himself
having been already eighteen years engaged
in embat^sies, remained in Rome from 16!]9 to
1611. The quiet tone of his report is the
best proof that he too was successful in main-
taining a good understanding at that court.
It is not his purpose in this report to repeat
generalities or well known matters, but merely
to set forth the personal qualities of the pope,
and his disposition towards Venice. " la qua-
lita, volonta, dispositione del papa e della re-
publica verso questa republica. Trattero il
tutto con ogni brevitti tralasciando le cose piu
tosto curiose che necessarie."
1. Pope Paul V. — "Maestoso, grande, di
poche parole : nientedimeno corre voce che
in Roma non sia alcuno che lo possa agi^ua-
gliare nelli termini di creanza e buoni officii :
veridico, innocente, di costumi esemplari."
[Sombre, tall, of few words; nevertheless it
is currently stated in Rome, that there is no
one can compare with him in point of civility
and good offices : he is veracious, pure, and
of exemplary habits.]
2. Cardinal Borghese: "di bella presenza,
cortese, benigno : porta gran riverenza al
papa: rende ciascuno sodisfatto almeno di
buone parole: e stimatissimo e rispettato da
ogn'uno. " [Of fine presence, courteous,
kind ; he entertains great reverence for the
pope ; he makes every one contented, as far
at least as good words go ; he is highly es-
teemed and respected by every one.] His
income already amounted in the year 1611 to
150,000 scudi.
3. Spiritual power. — He remarked that
former popes had made it their glory to con-
fer favours ; those of that day rather to re-
tract those that had already been granted :
" (rigorosamente studiano d'annullare et ab-
bassarele gia ottenute gratie)." Nevertheless
sovereigns sought to stand well with them,
believing that the obedience of the people
was built on religion.
4. Temporal power. — He finds the people
of the ecclesiastical states still very warlike
in their inclinations; " prontissimi alle fatti-
oni, alii disagi, alle battaglie, all' assalto et a
qualunque attione militare ;" the papal forces
nevertheless in complete decay. Formerly
there had been 650 light horse maintained,
chiefly against the banditti ; but these having
been vanquished, the cavalry had been sent
to serve in the Hungarian war, and its place
had not been supplied.
5. Form of government, absolute. — The
cardinal nephew, the datario, and Lanfranco
had some influence: otherwise the cardinals
were only consulted when the pope wished
to secure their ac(piiescencc. Even when
they were consulted, they answered rather in
accordance with the pope's inclination than
as their own judgment dictated. "(Se pure
dimanda consiglio, non e alcuno che ardisca
proferir altra parola che d'applauso e di laude,
sicche tutto viene terrninato dalla prudenza
del papa)." And after all this was best, since
tiie factions of the court had made it a mere
assemblage of partisans.
6. Relation to Spain and France.— The
pope endeavoured to maintain a neutral posi-
tion. " Quando da qualcheduno dipendente
da Spagnoli e state tenuto proposito intorno
alia validila et invaliuita del matrimonio della
regina, si e stato mostrato risoluto a soste-
nere le ragioni della regina. Li poco buoni
Francesi nel medesimo regno di Francia non
hanno mancato d'oflerirsi pronti a prender
I'arnii, purche havessero avuto qualche favore
del papa e del re di Spagna.
"II re di Spagna e piu rispettato di qualsi-
voglia altro principe dalla corte Romana.
Cardinali e principi sono consolatissimi, quan-
do possono havere da lui danari et essere suoi
dependenti. — II papa fu gia stipendiato da
lui, e dair autoria di S. M., come soggetto
confidente, favorite all' assuntione del ponti-
ficate con singolare etincomparabile beneficio.
— Procura di dar sodisfattione al duca di
Lerma, accio questo le serva per instrumento
principalissimo di suoi pensieri presso S. M^^
catiolica." [When the validity or invalidity
of the queen's marriage was mooted by some
dependent of tiie Spaniards, he showed his
determination to uphold the queen's cause.
The few good Frenchmen in the realm itself
of France failed not to evince their readiness
to take up arms, had they received any favour
from the pope and the king of Spain.
[The king of Spain is more respected by
the court of Rome than any other sovereign.
Cardinals and princes are delighted Vviien
they can have money from him and become
his dependents. The pope was formerly pen-
sioned by him, and was singularly and with
unprecedented favour aided by him, as a fa-
vourite candidate, towards obtaining the pope-
dom.— He strives to give satisfaction to the
duke of Lerma, accordingly the latter serves
as his chiefest intermediary with his majesty.]
7. His council : " temporeggiare e dissimu-
lare alcune volte con li pontetici. — Vincitori
essercitano le vittorie a modo loro, vinti con-
seguiscono che conditioni vogliono" [lo tem-
porize and dissemble occasionally with the
popes. Victors, they exercise the victory
after their own way ; vanquished, they sub-
mit to any conditions].
82. Relatione della nunziatura de' Suizzcri.
Informationi Politt. torn. ix. fol. 1 — 137.
[Report of the nunciature in Switzerland.]
Informalione iiiandala dul S'' C^ Aquino a
Mons^ Fcliciano Silva vescovo di Foligno
per il paesc di Suizzerie Grisonl. ibid,
fol. 145 — 212. [Information sent by car-
dinal d' Aquino to iMonsr. Feliciano Silva,
SECOND EPOCH OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL RESTORATION.
513
bishop of Foligno, as to the country of
the Swiss and the Orisons.]
In Lebret's Magazin zum Gebrauch der
Staatenund Kirchengeschichte, Bd. vii. p.
445, there are extracts from the letters dis-
patched from the court of Rome in the years
1609 and 1614 to the nuncios in Switzerland.
It cannot be said they are very interesting;
standing alone, as they do, without answer or
explanation, they are not very intelligible.
The tirst of these nuncios was the bishop of
Venafro, the same whose report on Switzer-
land is mentioned by Haller (Bibliothek der
Schweizergeschichte, Bd. v. nr. 783.) "The
papal nuncio," he says, "Lad. Gr. of Aquino,
bishop of Venafro, has in this work given a
proof of his discernment and his ability, and it
highly deserves to be printed." Haller copied
it in Paris with his own hand, and deposited
it in the library of Zurich.
This report is identical with ours ; but we
have it in a more complete form than that in
which it was known to Haller.
When the bishop of Venefra retired from
the nunciature which he had filled from 1608
to 1612, he not only communicated to his suc-
cessor, the bishop of Fuligno, the instruction
he had received from cardinal Borghese, but
he also made known to him in a circumstan-
tial instruction how he had himself conducted
the office ("di quanto si e eseguito sino al
giorno d'hoggi nelli negotii in essa raccom-
mandatimi.") This is the second of the above
named MSS. h begins with a description of
the internal dissensions in Switzerland.
" E seguitando I'istesso ordme dell' instrut-
tione sopradetta, dico che da molti anni in qua
si e fatta grau mutatione ne' canton i cattohci
e particolarmonte nella buona amicitia e Con-
cordia che anticamente passava fra di loro :
perche hoggidi non solo per causa delle fat-
tioni Spagnuole e Francesi e delle pensioni,
ma ancora per altri interessi, emolumonti e
gare vi e fra alcuni tanto poca amicitia che
col tempo potrebbe partorire molti danni se
tosto non si prende buon rimedio con procu-
rare una dieta particolare non ad altro efletto
che a rinuovare le leghe antiche, I'amicitia,
fratellanza et amorevolezza, come io moite
volte ho proposto con grandissimo applauso, se
bene sin'hora non ho potnto vederne I'effetto.
Altorfo e antico emulo di Lucerna, e tira
seco gli altri due cantoni Schwitz et Under-
valdo, e vede mal volontieri preminenza e
primo luogho de' signori Lucernes!, e pero
spesse volte contradice in atlioni publiche non
ad altro fine che di gara e di poca intelli-
genza: Lucerna tira seco Friburgo e Solo-
turno e ancora Zug, e fa un' altra partita,
Zug e diviso fra se stesso, essendo in gravi
controversie li cittadini con li contadini, vo-
lendo ancora essi essere conosciuti per pa-
troni: e cosi in ogni cantone cattoiico vi so.io
65
molte publiche e private dissensione con pre-
giudicio delle deliberationi e con pericolo di
danni assai maggiori se non vi si rimed ia,
come io procuro con ogni diligenza."
[And following the same order as in the
aforesaid instruction, I say that for many
years past from the present time a great alte-
ration has taken place in the catholic cantons,
and particularly in the good friendship and
concord anciently subsisting between them;
for now-a-days, not only in consequence of the
Spanish and French factions and the pensions,
but also on account of other interests, emolu-
ments, and contentions, there is among some
so little friendship, that in time it may give
birth to great mischief, if a sound and speedy
remedy be not adopted by effecting a special
diet to no other end than that of renewing the
ancient leagues, friendship, fraternity, and af-
fection, as I have many times proposed with
extreme applause, though hitherto I have not
seen any effect come of it. Altorf is the an-
eient rival of Lucern, and carries with it the
two other cantons, Schwytz and Unterwalden,
and it sees with dislike the pre-eminence of
the Lucernese, for which reason it frequently
withstands them in public transactions from
no other motive than a contentious spirit, and
want of good understanding. Lucern carries
with it Friburg and Solothurn, and also Zug,
and constitutes another party. Zug is divided
within itself, there being serious disputes be-
tween the townsfolk and the peasantry, these
too wishing to be known as masters. And
thus in every catholic canton there are many
public and private dissensions, to the preju-
dice of calm discussion, and to the hazard of
considerable mischief if a remedy be not ap-
plied, as I am striving to do with all dili-
gence.]
In transmitting this information, the nuncio
promises a still more circumstantial report.
(" Fra pochi giorni spero di mandarle copia
d'una piena e piii diffusa relatione di tutti li
negotii della nimtiatura.")
This is the first of the above MSS. ; it was
known to Haller.
The nuncio goes somewhat methodically to
work in it. " Cap. I. Della grandezza della
nuntiatura." He first describes the range of
the nunciature, which was as large as the
kingdom of Naples, and extended besides over
people speaking the most dissimilar languages.
Nor does he forget the romance dialect: " una
favella stravagantissima, composta di otto o
dieci idiomi" [a very preposterous jargon made
up of eight or ten idioms.]
"II. Degli ambasciatori de' principi che
resiedono appresso Suizzeri e de' loro fini.
" ill. Delle diete e del modo, tempo e luogo
dove si congregano fra Suizzeri.
I " IV. Delli passi che sono nella nuntiatura
de' Suizz ri." For the passes were the most im-
, portant subject of dispute between the powers.
514
APPENDIX.
"V. Stato epirituale della nuntiatura de'
Suizzen." The most important, therefore
very probably the longest chapter, p. 28 — 104,
in which an account is given of certain dio-
ceses, and also of the abbeys.
"VI. Officio del nuntio perajutare lo stato
epirituale e de' modi piii fruttuosi di farlo.
" VII. Che debbia fare il nuntio per dare
sodisfattione in cose temporali nella nuntia-
tura."
We see how carefully the most important
points were distinguished and gone through.
The execution displays knowledge no less of
the past than of the present, zeal, ability, and
discernment. The report, as is natural, re-
peats most of what is contained in the infor-
rnation.
Nevertheless, even this was not enough for
our nuncio. He added to the report a " Com-
pendio di quanto ha fatto mons^e di Venafro
in esecutione dell' instruttione datali nel par-
tire di Roina," which he had already composed
on another occasion, and which must have
been almost identical with the information.
He remarks as much himself, but still appends
this little document. In the copies it has been
omitted, no doubt quite properly.
Instead of it there follows an " Appendice
de' Grisoni e de' Vallesani," no less remarka-
ble than the former one.
" E questo," says the author at the conclu-
sion of his voluminous work, " e il breve sum-
mario promesso da me del stato della nuntia-
tura Suizzera con le parti che a quella sog-
giaciono. Deo Gratias. Amen."
With all this he thought he had given but
a brief outline of what was worthy of note :
so little does the world admit of being repre-
sented in words.
I have (p. 270, 271) made use of the con-
tents of these documents only so far as they
apply to my own purpose. The publication
of the remainder must be left to the industry
of the (Swiss.
83. Instruttione data a moils'" Diotallevi ves-
covo di S. Ande.lo destinato dalla S'^<^ di
iV'"'' Sig^^ pupa Poalo V nuntio al re di
Polonia 1614. [Instruction to Monsignor
Diotallevi, bishop of S. Andelo, nuncio
from Paul V. to the king of Poland.]
A general admonition to further the catho-
lic religion, the introduction of the decrees of
Trent, and thcappoinlnient of sound catholics
to offices, and never to suffer anything that
should be advantageous to the protestants.
Traces however are discernible of a certain
misunderstanding. The pope had refused the
king's request to nominate the bisiiop of Reo--
gio a cardinal. The nuncio was to endeavour
to appease the king.
He is particularly cDJoined never to pro-
mise money.
" Perche o non intendendosi o non veden-
dosi le strettezze pur troppo grandi della sede
apostolica, sono facili i potentati particolar-
mente oltramontani a cercar ajuto, e se ei
desse ogni picciola speranza, si offenderebbero
poi grandemente dell' esclusione."
[For the excessive embarrassments of the
apostolic see not being understood or per-
ceived, foreign princes, particularly the ultra-
montanes, are very ready to ask for assistance,
and if the least hope were held out to them,
they would afterwards take great offence at
being disappointed.]
We meet with fewer ecclesiastical docu-
ments relating to the last years of Paul V.
Let us employ the space thus left unfilled in
touching upon certain others that bear on the
administration of the state in that period.
84. Informatione di Bologna del 1595. (Ato-
bros. Bibl. Milan F. D. 181.)
The position and constitution of Bologna,
and the kind of independence it maintained,
were so remarkable and important, that pa-
pers and documents relating to that provincial
city were also admitted into the collections.
In the 22nd vol. of the Informationi, we find
a multitude of letters of the year 1580, to
Monsignor Cesi, legate of Bologna, which re-
late to his administration.
They are almost all letters of recommenda-
tion, chiefly intercessional.
The grand duke and grand duchess of Tus-
cany entreat on behalf of count Ercole Benti-
vogiio, whose crops had been sequestered ;
soon after the grand duchess returns thanks
for the compliance with her requests: the
duke of Ferrara recommends an actress of the
name of Vittoria ; cardinal San Sisto pleads
tor some turbulent students of the university.
" We too," he says, " have been students."
Giacomo Buoncompagno, the pope's son, re-
commends a professor who had been deprived
of his place : the cardinal of Como, who al
that time had the chief conduct of affairs,
pleads for some monks who were disturbed in
their privileges; he speaks by no means in an,
authoritative tone. 13ut we meet too with
intreaties of a different kind. A father, whose
son had been murdered, urgently, nay, im-.
ploringly, petitions that justice should be done
upon his murderer, who was already impri-
soned in Bologna.
It was principally in the administration of
justice the governor had influence ; in all
things else the city was very independent.
" I senatori," says our report, " conferiscono
ogni cosa importante col superiore, et havendo
in mano tutti li datii et entrate della citta,
del datio del sale e vino in poi, che e del papa,
dispensano li denari public! mediante un scru-
tinio, che si fa presente il superiore con le
SECOND EPOCH OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL RESTORATION.
515
mandate sottoscritte dal detto superiore, dal
gonfaloniere et assunti deputati secondo li
negotii. Hanno cura della impositioni, e gra-
vezze imposte a contadini, reali e personal!,
come per li buoi e teste : , . attendono alle
tasse chc pagano li contadini, alle muraglie,
porta e serragli, a conservare il numero de'
soldati del contado : . . provedono cli' altri non
usurpi il publico e si conservi la bellezza della
citta: . . han cura della fiera della seta: . .
eleggono ogni mese per la ruota civile 4 dot-
tori forastieri, che bisogna siano almeno dot-
tori di X anni, e questi veggono e determi-
nano ogni causa civile."
[The senators confer on every important
matter with the superior; and having in their
hands all the customs and revenues of the
city, except the customs on salt and wine,
which belong to the pope, they dispose of all
the public moneys, taking an account of the
same, which is made in the presence of the
superior, with the warrants signed by him, by
the gonfaloniere and persons specially ap-
pointed. They regulate the impositions and
burdens upon the peasantry, real and personal,
as the tax on oxen and the capitation tax : . .
they attend to the taxes paid by the pea-
santry, to the walls, gates, and inclosures,
and to keeping up the number of soldiers in
each district: . . they guard against all en-
croaciiments on the public rights, and see that
the beauty of the city is preserved : . . they
have ciiarge of the silk market: . . they elect
every month for the rota civile four foreign
doctors, who must be doctors of at least ten
years' standing, and these hear and decide all
civil causes.]
The question is now, to what extent under
this state of things had the representatives of
the papal government any influence. It was
displayed, as we have already said, chiefly in
the affairs of justice. " Un auditore generale
concorre nelle cognitioni delle cause con
la ruota, et un' altro particolare delle cause
che avoca a se, et uno criminale chiamato
auditore del torrione del luogo ove risiede,
qual tiene due sottoaudifori per suoservitio, e
tutti quelli sono pagati dal publico." [An
auditor-general is associated with the ruota in
the hearing of causes, and another special au-
ditor for causes which he evokes before him-
self: there is also a criminal auditor, called
auditor of the great tower of the district
where he resides, who has two sub-auditors un-
der him, and all these are paid by the public]
There follow some statistical details. " Con-
tado circa miglia 180 : semina intorno a corbe
120 m., raccoglie un anno per I'altro 550 m. a
660 m. corbe. Fa da 130 m. anime (la citta
70 m., che avanti le carestie passava 90 m.)
16 m. fuochi, consuma corbe 200 m. di for-
mento (la corba 160 libre,) 60 rn. costolate di
vino, 18 m. corbe di sale, 1700 m. libre d'olio,
aramazza 8 ni. vaccine, 10 m. vitelli, 13 m.
porchi, 8 m. castrati, 6 m. agnelli, et abrugia
400 m. libre di candele Si fa conto che
un anno per I'altro moreno nella citta 3 m.
persone e ne nascono 4 m., che si faccino 500
spose e 60 — 70 monachi, che siano portati a'
poveri bastard ini 300 putti I'anno. Ha 400
fra carrozze e cocchi. Vengnno nella citta
ogni anno da 600 m. libre de foil icelli da quali
si fi la seta, e se ne mette opera per uso della
citta 100 m. libre I'anno." [Surface of the
country about 180 miles: seed sown about
120,000 bushels; produce one year with an-
other 550,000 to 660,000 bushels. Popula-
tion 130,000 souls (the city 70,000, having
been before the dearth upwards of 90,000;)
hearths 16,000 ; consumption 200,000 bushels
of corn (160 lbs. to the bushel,) 60,000 costo-
late of wine, 18,000 bushels of salt, 1,700,000
pounds of oil: there are killed 8000 cows
and oxen, 10,000 calves, 13,000 swine, 8000
wethers, 6000 lambs, and 400,000 pounds of
candles are burned. It is calculated that
there die one year with another in the city
3000 persons, and there are born 4000 ; that
500 marriages take place, and 00 — 70 become
monks, and that there are born to the poor
300 bastards yearly. There are 400 coaches
and carriages. There enter the city yearly
600,000 pounds of silk cocoons, 100,000 pounds
of which are yearly wrought for the use of
the city.]
85. Instruttione per un legato di Bologna.
{Vallic.) [Instruction for a legate of Bo-
logna.]
Of a somewhat later period. We remark
the following points of advice: —
" Invigilare sopra gli avvocati cavillosi et in
particolare quelli che pigliano a proteggere
a torto i villani contro li cittadini e gentilhu-
omini, . . . accarezzare in apparenza tutti li
magistrati, non conculcare i nobili." [To keep
watch upon the captious advocates, and in
particular those who take it upon them wrong-
fully to protect the peasants against the city
people and the gentlemen, ... to caress in
appearance all the magistrates, not to trample
on the nobles.] The monstrous evil of the
bravi was risen to such a pitch, that some of
were to be found even among the umatricula-
ted students.
Other papers carry us into the campagna di
Roma, showing us how the unfortunate peas-
ant was harassed, what the barons appropria-
ted to themselves, and how the land was cul-
tivated.
S6. Dichiaratione di txilto quello che pagano i
vassalli de haroni Rn/nani al pupa e ag-
gravj che pagano ad essi baroni. [Dec-
laration of all that the vassals of the Ro-
man barons pay to the pope, and the im-
posts they pay to those barons.]
516
APPENDIX.
" I. Paga menti d iversi che si fanno da vas-
salli de baroni Romani al papa. Pagano il
sale, pagano un quattrino per libra di carne,
pagano I'impositione per il mantenimento
delle galere posta da Sisto quinto, pagano i
sussidii triennali, pagano i cavalli niorti cioe
per alloggiamento di cavalleria, pagano una
certa impositione che chiama de soldati, pa-
gano una certa impositione ciie si chiama I'ar-
chivio, pagano un' altra impositione che si
chiama S. Felice, pagano la foglietta messa
da Sisto quinto, pagano una certa impositione
che si chiama sale forastico.
"II. Pagamenti che fanno li medesimi vas-
salli a baroni. Pagano poi al barone, ove
sono molina, tanto grano perche e somma
molto grave, pagano risposta di vino, pagano
risposta d'olio ove ne fa, pagano di mandare i
porci nei castagneti e querceti fatta la raccolta
chechianianoruspare, pagano tassed'hosterie,
pagano tasse de pizigaroli, pagano tasso de for-
nari, pagano de bichierari, pagano quelli che
vanno a spigolare come e secato il grano, pa-
gano dei bestiami che vanno a pascere, pa-
gano risposta di grano, pagano risposta di
biada. Mon tanto tutti questi aggravii, come
si vuol vedere dall' entrate del duca Altemps,
computata la portione del molino della molara
che si trahe de vassalli, 2803 sc. ; questo si
cava da vassalli del Montecapuri (1) del duca-
to Altemps, che sono de 180 e 190 fuochi, e
cio si mette per esempio, onde si possa vedere
appresso come sono aggravati i vassalli de
baroni Romani dellostatoecclesiastico. Aver-
tasi che qui non ci e quello che si paga alia
camera."
[I. Various payments which are made by
the vassals of tlie Roman barons to the popes.
They pay for salt, they pay a quattrino the
pound for meat ; they pay the ta.x imposed by
Sixtus V. for keeping up the galleys ; they
pay for dead horses, that is for lodging the
cavalry; they pay a certain impost called
soldiers' money ; they pay another called S.
Felice ; tiiey pay the pint due imposed by
Sixtus V. ; they pay a certain impost called
sale forastico.
[II. Payments which the said vassals make
to the barons. They pay besides to the
barons, where there are mills, so much
corn, a very heavy amount; tiiey pay a re-
turn on wine ; they pay a return on oil where
it is made; they pay tbr sending their swine
to the chestnut and oak woods, when the
gathering is made, which they call ruspare ;
they pay dues on inns ; they pay on chandlers'
shops; they pay bakers; they pay g!a.ssblowers'
dues ; those w'ho go a gleanmg pay ; they pay
on their cattle that go to pasture; they pay
.a return on grain ; they pay a return on oats.
All these burthens amount, as may be seen
from the revenues of duke Altcmp.--, including
the portion of grist from the mill drawn from
tiie vassals, to 2803 sc. : tliis is drawn from
the vassals of Montecapuri (?), of the duchy
of Altemps, who reckon from 180 to 190
hearths; and this may serve as an example
to sliow nearly how the vassals of the barons
on the ecclesiastical estates are burthened.
It must be observed, that herein is not inclu-
ded what is paid to the treasury.]
87. Nota della entrata di molti signori e du-
chi Romani. [Note of the income of many
Roman signers and dukes.]
Like the former, unquestionably belonging
to the times of Clement VIII., who is called
simply the pope.
The Colonna family are distinguished by
having vassals : other families possess rather
allodial estates. The income of the contesta-
bile Colonna is estimated at 25,000, that of
Martio Colonna of Zagarolo at 23,000 sc.
We have seen that the public system of
debt was imitated by the barons. The family
of Sermoneta had about the year 1600 an in-
come of 27,000 sc, but their debts were
300,000 sc. ; the duke of Castel Gandolfo pos-
sessed 14,000 sc. income, his debts were
30,000 sc. The house of Montalto surpassed
the others, its debts were 600,000 sc. The
whole united revenues of the Roman barona
were estimated at 271,747 scudi, and their es-
tates were valued at nine millions of gold.
The author finds the estates by no means
neglected. " Questi terreni di campagna,
contrario all' opinione commune e a quel che
io pensavo, sono tenuti con grandissima cura
e diligenza: perche si arano quattro, sei e
sette volte, si nettano d'erbe due o tre, tra le
quali una d'inverno, si levano I'erbe con la
mano, si seminano, ragguagliati li quattro an-
ni, li due a grano nei sodi luoghi : dove non si
semina, vi si fidano le pecore. Le spighe si
tagliano alte, onde rimane assai paglia : e
quella poi si ubbrugia, che fa crescere. E li
aratri con che si arano questi terreni, general-
mente non vanno molto profondo : e questo
avviene perche la maggior parte di questi ter-
reni, non son molto fondati e tosto si trova il
pancone. Questa campagna e lavorata tutta
per punta di danaro (by day labourers,) segata
seminata e sarchiata; insomnia, tutti li suoi
bisogni si fanno con forastieri : e genti che la-
vorano detia campagna, sono nutriti della
robba che si porta lorocon lecavalle. Questa
campagna computati i terreni buonie cattivi e
ragguagliato un' anno per I'altro, si puo dir
che faccia ogni uno sei, avverlendo che nei
luoghi di questi signori dove sono i lore cas-
telli molte fiate non fanno far lavorare, ma li
danno a risposta a' vassalli secondo che con-
vengono. E questo basti quanto alia campag-
na di Roma. S'affittera ragguagliato il rub-
bio di questo terrene 50 giuij, onde a farli .
grassa verra il rubbio del terrene cento sciidi
e dieci giulj." [These lands, contrary to the
common opmion, and to what I myself sup-
SECOND EPOCH OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL RESTORATION.
517
posed, are cultivated with extreme care and
diligence : for they plough four, six, or seven
times, and clear from weeds twice or thrice,
one of which weedings is in winter; weeds
are plucked out by hand : grain is sown two
years out of four m the fallows ; where there
is none sown the cattle are let in. The ears
of corn are cut off high, which leaves a good
deal of straw; this is afterwards burned, and
increases the growth of the crop. The
ploughs used in these lands do not in general
go very deep ; and this is because the greater
part of these lands are not very deep, and the
subsoil is soon found. This country is all culti-
vated by day labourers, reaped, sown, and
weeded ; in short, all the operations of the
field are performed by strangers. The people
who work in the fields are maintained by the
profits they make of their mares. This
country, good and bad land included, and tak-
ing one year with another, may be considered
to yield six for one, it being understood that
these signors frequently do not cultivate the
grounds round their castles, but let them out
to their vassals upon terms agreed on. So
much for the campagna of Rome. This land
is let on average for 50 giulj the rubbio; hence,
to render it productive, it will stand the agri-
culturist in a hundred scudi ten giulj the rub-
bio (!).]
There were then computed to be in the
campagna 79,504 rubbia of land, and that they
yielded 318,016 scudi, four scudi the rubbio : —
of these there belonged to the barons some-
what above 21,000 rubbia, about 23,000 to the
religious houses, above 4000 to the foreigners,
and 31,000 to the rest of the Roman popula-
tion. The proportion was afterwards changed,
when the Roman citizens sold so many of
their lands.
But let us pass on to more general matters.
88. Per sollevare. la camera aposlolica. Dis-
corso di moils'^ Malvasia. 1606. [Propo-
sals for the relief of the apostolic treasury,
by monsieur Malvasia.]
It was remarked with dismay, that with all
the taxes the state possessed nothing. The
interests, exclaims our author, eat up almost
the whole revenue : the government is con-
tinually perplexed how to cover the current
expenses ; if any extraordinary demand oc-
curs, they know not which way to turn. It
is impossible to impose new taxes; new re-
trenchments are not even expedient, " mag-
num vectigal parsimonia ;" nothing remains
but to reduce the rate of interest, and at the
same time to draw upon the funds in the
castle. Instead of all the monti with such
various rates of interest, there ought to be but
one, a papal monte, paying four or at most
five per cent. ; all the others must be paid
off. It would be perfectly just to do this at
the nominal price : the apostolic see had
usually reserved that right to itself, at the in-
stitution of the several monti : former popes,
e. g. Paul IV., had been obliged to sell some-
times even at fifty per cent. Clement VIII.
himself had realized but 96^. The author
hereupon sets forth how far this would be
practicable.
" Succedera che stante la larghezza ed ab-
bondanza del denaro che al presente si trova
nella piazza di Roma con I'accrescimentoche
fara il millione estratto, aggiunta la difficolta
e pericolo di mandar fuori la moneta e 1' ore
per la prohibitione sudetta — che la maggior
parte di quelli che hanno monti ed ofiizj es-
tinti, volentieri entreranno in questo monte
papale, ed a quelli che vorranno i lor denari
contanti, se gli potranno pagare del detto mil-
lione e del prezzo del monte papale che si
andra vendendo. Si puo anche considerare
che ne' monti non vacabili ne sono gran parte
vinculati ed obbligati a reinvestimento per
sicurta di eccezione di dote, di luoghi pii ed
altri obblighi, che necessariamente entreran-
no in questo monte papale, e si tardera assai
a ricevere il dinaro, per ritrovare altro rein-
vestimento o dare altra sodisfattione ed ad-
empimento alle conditioni ed obblighi a quail
sono sottoposti, il che anco apportera molto
comodo e facilita a questo negolio.
" Potra anco la camera accollarsi tutti i
monti delle communita e de' particolari, e
ridurli come sopra, e godere quel piu sino cheda
esse communita e particolari saranno estinti.
" A tutti quelli che in luogo di altri monti
e officj vorranno del detto monte papale, se
gli deve dare la spedizione e la patente per
la prima volta gratis senza spesa alcuna.
" In questa maniera puo la S^^ V. in breve
tempo sollevare e liberare la sede e la camera
apostolica da tanti debiti e tanta oppressione :
perche con I'avanzo che si fara dalla detta
estinzione e riduzione di frutti ed intcresse,
che secondo il calcolo dato alia S'^ V. dal suo
commissario della camera ascende almeno con
far la reduzione a 5 per cento a sc. quattro
cento trentunmlla ottocento cinque Tanno,
potra estinguere ogni anno scudi trecento
trentunmila ottocento cinque di debito, oltre
alii sc. centomila che saranno assegnati per
rimettere in castello il millione estratto a com-
pire la meta del terzo millione che manca."
[Taking into account the abundance of money
to be found at present in Rome, and the addi-
tion that will be made to it by the million
drawn out; and considering, furthermore, the
difficulty and danger of sending corn and
bullion abroad, in consequence of the aforesaid
prohibition (which he had proposed), it will
happen that the greater part of those whose
luoghi and offices are extinguished will gladly
purchase into the papal monte ; and those who
shall choose to have cash for their monti may
be paid out of the said million, and out of the
price to be realized by the sale of the papal
518
APPENDIX.
monte. It may also be considered that of the
" monti von vacabili" a great part are tied
down and conditioned to reinvestment, for
security of reserved dowries, 'Muoghi pii"
and other pious claims; these will necessarily
be transferred to the " monte papale," and the
holders will be loth enough to receive the
money, and so be obliged to look about for
another investment, or means of satisfying
and fulfilling the conditions and obligations to
which they are subject; this will further
greatly facilitate the transaction.
[The treasury may also take to itself all the
monti of corporations and individuals, and re-
duce them as above, and enjoy the profit till
they are extinguished by the said corporations
or individuals.
[All those who shall wish for the said
"monte papale," in lieu of other monti and
offices, ought to have their patents made out
for the first time free of all charge.
[In this manner your holiness may in a
short while relieve the apostolic chamber, and
free it from such heavy debts and embarrass-
ments : for with the gain which will ensue
from the said extinction and reduction of
interest, which, according to the calculation
furnished your holiness by your commissioner
of the treasury, amounts (upon a reduction of
interest to five per cent.) to at least 431,805
sc. a year, there may every year be extin-
guished 331,805 scudi of debt, besides 100,000
which shall be set apart to replace the mil-
lion which shall be borrowed from the castle
to make up the amount of the third million
that is wanting.]
It is enough that we here remark how ear-
nestly people were bent on devising a sound
system of finance ; but it is not necessary to
produce the calculations. The court of Rome
did not adopt any proposals of the kind, but
followed the easier and more convenient course.
89. Nota di danari officii e mobili donati da
papa Paolo V. a suoi parenti e concessioni
fatteli. [Note of moneys, offices, and
efl^ects bestowed by pope Paul V. on his
relations, and grants made them.]
The pope had been counselled to call in the
officii and monti bearing interest : We have
here, 1. " Nota officiorum concessorum ex-
cellmo domino M. Antonio Burghesio tempore
pontificatus felicis recordationis Pauli V."
There are altogether 120 offices, the value of
which is stated at the customary market
price; 2. "Nota di molte donationi di monti
fatte alii sig" Francesco Gioan Battista e M.
A. Borghese da Paolo V., con le giustifica-
tioni in margine di qualsivoglia partite."
That is to say, extracts are adduced from the
official books which make us acquainted with
these donations. Lists are given under simi-
lar rubrics, of what was bestowed on them in
cash or valuables, and of the privileges that
were granted them. The authentications are
in the following style. " Nel libro della the-
soreria secreta d'Alessandro Ruspoli fol. 17 e
da doi brevi, uno sotto la data delli 26 Genn.
160S et I'altro delli 11 Marzo, registrati nel
libro primo signaturarum Pauli V negli atti
di Felice de Totis fol. 116 et fol. 131.^A di
23 Dec. 1605 sc. 36 m. d'oro delle stampe
donati al sig GB Borghese per pagar il pa-
lazzo et il restante impiegarli nella fabrica di
quello, quali scudi 36 m. d'oro delle stampe
provenivano del prezzo del chiamato di mons"^
Centurioni ridotti a 24 moneta a ragione di
Giulii 12 per scudo sono 46800 sc."
I have already stated to what enormous
sums these presents amounted, and what was
the influence exercised by the rise of the papal
families on the capital and the provinces.
90. Relatione dello slato ecclesiastico dove si
contengono molti particolari degni di
consider atione. (1611.) Inform. Politt.
XI. f. 1 27. [Report on the ecclesiastical
state, wherein are contained many things
worthy of consideration.]
It is stated in the beginning that the author
was asked in the morning for his report, and
that he now sends it in the evening. It
would be truly wonderful if he had been able
within a few hours to dictate .so circumstan-
tial a report, which is really not ill done, and
contains much that is deserving of note. The
admission is here made, that the number of
inhabitants was on the decrease in many
parts of Italy, whether in consequence of
plague and famine, or of the murders com-
mitted by the banditti, or because the taxes
had been inordinately increased ; it was no
longer possible to marry at a suitable age, and
to rear up children. Moreover, the very
blood was wrung from the inhabitants by the
taxes, and at the same time their spirits were
crushed by the endless restrictions on trade.
The anonymous author betrays himself
once. He remarks that he had written a
book, " Ragione di stato." " Ho diffusamente
trattato nella ragione de stato," he says some-
where.
By this we get a clue to discover him. In
the year 1589, appeared in Venice, " Delia
ragion di stato libri X con tre libri delle cause
della grandezza delle citta." The book is
dedicated to that same Wolf Dietrich von
Raittenau, archbishop of Salzburg, who was
the first of the Roman princes to introduce a
more rigid system of government modelled on
the Italian. Its author is the well known
John Botero, whose " Relationi universal!"
enjoyed the widest circulation in their day.
Of course these Relationi must be searched
into, to ascertain whether or not they include
ours.
It is not to be found in the main work, in
SECOND EPOCH OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL RESTORATION. 519
which the ecclesiastical state is mentioned in
a summary manner ; but there is besides a
smaller work, which is frequently appended
to the former, " Relation! del sigr Giov. Bo-
lero Benese, . . di Spagna, dello stato della
chiesa, del Piamonte, della contoa di Nizza,
dell' isola Taprobana," the dedication of which
is dated 1011 : in this it is to be found verba-
tim.
Only the opening is different. The report
bears the title : " Discorso intorno alio stato
della chiesa preso della parte dell' ufficio del
cardinale che non e stampata." It belonged,
we see, to a work on the duties of the cardi-
nals. I leave the question to the reader,
whether the introduction to the report men-
tioned above ougJit to deceive the most cre»
dulous.
91. Tarqu, Pitaro sopra la negotiatione ma-
ritima. 17 Oit. 1612. {Vallic.) [On
maritime commerce.]
Botero recommends among other things
encouraging the commerce of the ecclesiasti-
cal states. In fact, there was then a plan in
contemplation to sink a flew harbour for the
town of Fano. It was expected that the
commerce of the towns of Urbino would be
drawn thither.
Our author, however, opposes this plan on
the most cogent grounds. He thniks that a
lesson might .be taken from Ancona, w hich he,
like the Venetians shortly after him, repre-
sents as having fallen very much into decay.
" J\e sono partiti li mercanti forastieri, i na-
tivi falliti, le genti gl'uomini impoveriti, gli
artigiani ruinati e la plebe quasiche dispersa."
[The foreign merchants have quitted it, the
native merchants are bankrupt, the gentry
impoverished, the artizans ruined, and the
populace almost dispersed.] It might rather
prove the ruin of Fano if it constructed the
harbour with borrowed money. So it had
fared with Ascoli, which had raised a consi-
derable loan to make its Maremma capable of
cultivation, but had not succeeded in the
attempt.
In fact, it was not advisable, on other
grounds, to enter upon the plan, since the
towns of Urbino were soon to fall in by escheat
to Rome.
92. Relatione della Romagna {All.)
Belonging to the year 1615, or thereabouts.
The year 1612 is expressly mentioned; but
it is highly important for the whole period
since the times of Julius III. The parties
that divided the province are described ; the
transfer of estates, which took place espe-
cially in consequence of the rise of the papal
families, is very well explained. I liave fre-
quently made use of this work: I shall here
insert a passage relating to San Marino,
which in those early times was gradually
rising by progressive exemptions into inde-
pendence.
" La republica di S. Marino si presume li-
bera, se non in quanto e raccommaiidata al
duca d'Urbino. Del 1612 si propose e si
ottenne in quel consiglio che succedendo la
mancanza della linea delle Rovere si dichia-
ravano sotto la protettione dello sede aposto-
lica, della quale per cio ottennero alcuni
privilegii et in particolare dell' estrattione de
grani e di grascia. Fa questa terra, compre-
sovi due altri castelli annessi, circa 700 fuo-
chi. E situata in monti, e luogo forte et e
custodita la porta da soldati proprii. Hanno
la libera amministratione della giustizia e
della grazia. Si elegono tra di loro ad tem-
pus i magistrati maggiori chiamati conserva-
tori, a quali tra di loro si da il titolo dell'
illustrissimo. In qualche grave eccesso so-
gliono condurre otficiali forestieri per fare
processi e cause, et in particolare li ministri
deir Altezza del duca d'Urbino, con quella
autorita che loro pare. II publico e povero,
che non arriva a 500 scudi d'entrada. Ma li
particolari alcuni sono comodi et alcuni ricchi
rispetto alia pochita del paese. Solevano
affittare banditi d'ogni sorte; ma perche alle
volte ne nascevano scandali, e stato da loro
decretato che non si possino affittare banditi
se non certe conditioni : ma non si ne puo ha-
vere facilmente salvocondotto." [The repub-
lic of San Marino is presumed to be free,
except in so far as it is under the protection
of the duke of Urbino. In 1612 it was pro-
posed and decreed in the council, that failing
the line of Rovere, the republic should declare
Itself under the protection of the apostolic
see, from which it in consequence obtained
some privileges, particularly that of drawing
corn and provisions. This district, including
two other boroughs annexed to it, contains
about 700 hearths. It is situated in the
mountains; it is a fortified place, and the
gates are guarded by its own soldiers. The
inhabitants possess the free administration of
justice and grace. They elect from among
Ihem, ad tempiis, the chief magistrates called
conservatori, who have the title among them
of illustrissimo. In any grave emergency
they are accustomed to procure official per-
sonages from abroad to hold trials, and parti-
cularly the ministers of his highness the duke
of Urbino, with such authority as seems good
to them. The state is poor, having not so
much as 500 scudi of revenue. But private
persons among them are some of them in easy
circumstances, and some of them rich in pro-
portion to the scantiness of the country. 'J'hey
are accustomed to hire bandits of every kind :
but as this occasionally gives rise to scandal,
it has been decreed that bandits must not be
hired except on certain conditions : but it ia
not easy to have safe conduct from them.]
520
APPENDIX.
93. Parole universali dello governo ecclesi-
aslico, per far una greggia et iin pastore.
Secreto al papa solo. — Informatt. xxiv.
(26 leaves.) — [Universal words of the
ecclesiastical government, to make one
fold and one shepherd. For the pope's
sole privity.]
In spite of the condition of the country,
which was gradually becoming so visibly
worse, there were still people who cherished
the boldest projects.
But never perhaps were any stranger or
more extravagant than those set forth by
Thomas Campanella in the little work before
us.
For undoubtedly that unfortunate philoso-
pher, who fell under the suspicion of design-
ing to wrest Calabria from the Spanish mo-
narchy, and of having taken part in the wild
scheme of the duke of Ossuna, was the author
of this production. " Questo e il compendio,"
he says, " del libro intitolato il governo eccle-
siastico, il quale resto in mano di Don Lelio
Orsino, et io autore tengo copia in Stilo pa-
tria mia ;" [This is a compendium of the
book entitled " II governo Ecclesiastico,"
which remained in the hands of Don Lelio
Orsino, and I the author have a copy in Stilo
my native place.] To this he adds : " Hsec
et longe plura explicantur in Monarchi Mes-
sias." Campanella was from Stilo; this Mo-
narchia Messise is his work. We cannot
doubt that he either composed or revised the
document before us.
We may leave the date undetermined.
Probably he was possessed all his life long
with ideas of this sort.
He remarks that the pope had very warlike
subjects. " Li Romagnuoli e Marchiano sono
per natura inclinatiall' armi: onde servono e
Venetiani, Francesi, Toscani e Spagnuoli,
perche il papa non e guerriero." [The inha-
bitants of Romagna and of the March, are by
nature inclined to arms, whence they serve
the Venetians, French, Tuscans, and Span-
iards, because the pope is not a warrior.]
But he advises the pope too to become mar-
tial. There was still the material for Cice-
ros, Brutuses and Catos. Nature was not
wanting, but art.
He is of opinion that the pope ought to
form two armies, the one that of S. Pietro at
sea, the other that of S. Paolo on land, some-
what after the manner of the janissaries.
Never had an armed religion been conquered,
especially when it had also been well preach-
ed.
For he by no means disregards the latter
point. He recommends that the ablest men
should be selected from all the orders, reliev-
ed from monastic duties, and allowed to apply
themselves to sciences.
Law, medicine, and the liberal arts should
be prosecuted in the monasteries equally with
theology. The people should be preached to
of the golden age, when there should be one
fold and one shepherd, of the bliss of the libe-
rated Jerusalem, of the patriarchal innocence :
their longings after those things should be
awakened.
But when would so blessed a state of things
come to pass! " 'J'hen," he replies, " when
all secular sovereignties shall be done away,
and Christ's vicar shall rule over the whole
earth." " Sara nel mondo una greggia et un
pastore, e si vedra il secol d'oro cantato da
poeti, I'ottima republica descritta da philoso-
phi, e lo state dell' innocenza de' patriarch!, e
la felicita di Gerusalemme liberata da mano
degli eretici et infideli. E questo fia quando
saranno evacuati tulti li principati mondani e
regenera per tutto il mondo solo il vicario di
Christo."
The doctrine, as he advises, should be
preached, that the pope was lord also in tem-
poral things, a priest like Abimelech, not like
Aaron.
Such notions were still entertained towards
the end of the 16th century or in the early
part of the 17th — for I will not pretend to de-
cide in which. We already know the un-
common progress the Roman power was then
making. Before I return to the documents
bearing on that topic, let me be allowed to
add a word on the historians of the Jesuits,
whose influence was just then at its height.
REMARKS ON SOME HISTORIANS OF THE ORDER
OF JESUITS.
Self-conceit and leisure gradually induced
most of the orders to narrate their own histo-
ries in detail.
But none of them all did this so systemati-
cally as the Jesuits. Their aim was to give
to the world under their own hands a connect-
ed and comprehensive history of all their
order had done.
In fact, the Historia Societatis Jesu, \vhich
is known to us under the names of Orlandi-
nus and his continuers, is a work of the high-
est importance for the history of the order,
nay, we may say for that of the century in
general.
Nicolaus Orlandinus, a native of Florence,
had for a while presided over the college of
Nola and the novices of Naples, when in 1.599
he was summoned to Rome by Acquaviva,
and named historiographer of the order. He
was no less in his style than in the business
of life careful, very accurate, and wary ; but
he had very bad health. VVith difficulty he
brought his work down to the death of Igna-
tius. He died in 1606.
His successor in this task was Franciscua
Sacchinus, of the district of Perugia, clearly
the most distinguished of the historians of the
SECOND EPOCH OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL RESTORATION.
521
Jesuits. He was the son of a peasant : his
father sometimes visited him in the Collegium
Romanum, where he taught rhetoric, and it
is counted to his honour that he was not
ashamed of his birth. After this he devoted
himself for eighteen years to the composition
of his history in the probationary house upon
the Monte Quirinale, which he hardly ever
quitted. But he nevertheless passed his life
in the contemplation of the great events of
the world. The restoration of Catholicism
was still in the most vigorous progress.
What can be more inviting to an historian
than to describe the first beginning of an
event, the development and effects of which
he has before him in living reality ? Sacchi-
nus felt distinctly the one grand peculiarity
of his subject — the universal battle fought in
the enthusiasm of orthodoxy. " I narrate
wars," he says, *' not those of nations with
each other, but of the human race with the
monsters and the powers of hell ; wars that
embrace not single provinces, but all lands
and seas ; wars in fine, wherein not earthly
power, but the heavenly kingdom was the
prize of victory." In this tone of Jesuitical
exultation he has described the generalship
of Lainez 1556 — 1564, of Borgia up to 1572,
and of Everardus Mercurius up to 1580,
each in one volume containing eight books,
and the first ten years of Aquaviva's rule
in the same number of books. His work
makes altogether four rather thick and close-
ly printed folio volumes ; nevertheless he
apologizes for being so brief Nor can he in-
deed be said to fail into prolixity, or to weary
his reader. As a matter of course he is par-
tial, in the highest degree partial ; he passes
over what does not suit him; of the materials
before him he often takes up only what makes
for the honour of his order, and so forth ; but
notwithstanding all this, we learn a very
great deal from his books. I have compared
him here and there with his authorities, —
for instance, in the Litterse Annua;, so far as
they are to be come at in print — (books of
this kind are very rare in this part of the
world ; I have been obliged to have recourse
to the libraries of Breslau and Gottingen; —
and in every instance, I have found his ex-
tracts made with judgment, with a sense of
what was characteristic, nay, with talent. In
the execution of this work Sacchinus acquired
so extensive and accurate a knowledge of the
affairs of the society, that the general him-
self, Mutio Vitellericiii, called him to take
part in them. It were desirable for us that
this had not been so ; for then Sacchini would
have completed the history of Acquaviva's
administration, and one of the most importatil
epoch's would have been better investigated
than it afterwards was. Sacchini died m
But enthusiasm passed away with the pro-
gress of time. The Imago primi sscnli in
the year 1640 is far less rich in matter, more
credulous of miracles, more quaint and un-
couth: it was not till 1710 that a continua-
tion of Sacchini by Jouvency appeared, com-
prising the last fifteen years of Acquaviva.
Jouvency, too, has talent ; his narrative is
perspicuous and fluent, though with some-
what of pretension; but the misfortune is,
that he took the word Historio too literally,
and would not write annals as Sacchini had
done. He therefore cut up his materials and
distributed them under different heads : " So-
cietas domesticis motibus agitata — societas
externis cladibus jactata — vexata in Anglia
— oppugnata — aucta etc." Now the conse-
quence of this was, that he did not give due
attention to what was undoubtedly the most
important point, the revived spread of Cathol-
icism throughout the protestant countries.
The method of annals was clearly much more
suitable to such a subject. With all his his-
torical efforts, Jouvency produces nothing but
fragments.
And the success, too, of his work was but
small. The order even entertained the inten-
tion at one time of having that whole period
re-written upon the model of Sacchinus.
Julius Cordara, who continued the history
from 1616 to 1625 adhered closely to that
model. But the spirit of the earlier times
was irrecoverably lost. Cordara's volume is
very useful, but not to be compared in free-
dom or power with its older predecessors, or
even with Jouvencius. It appeared in 1750.
Since then the society had to struggle too
hard for very existence to think of any con-
tinuation of its history. Moreover, had any
such been produced, it would have displayed
a greatly diminished splendour.
Besides these general histories there are,
as is well known, a great number of provin-
cial histories of the order. For the most part
they have the general history for their
croundwork ; frequently it is copied literally.
This is most strikingly the case in Socher's
Historia provincia; Austrise, which otlen
copies Sacchinus, even in particular turns of
expression, reproducing, for instance, the
" pudet referre" of the original, as " pudet
sane referre." (Sacchin. iv. vi. 78. Socher
vi. No. 'Xi.)
I will not, however, enter upon a criticism
of these authors. The field is too wide, and
they are assuredly not likely to exercise any
seiuctive influence in our times; we are
rather disposed to believe them too little than
too much: only I may be allovvel one ob-
servation on the history of Ignatius Loyola
himself.
When we compare Orlandiniis with the
1625. His last volume was finished and ed- other two more importmt historians of Loyo-
ited by Petrus I'ossinus. ' la, it strikes us that he agrees much more
66
522
APPENDIX.
with one of them, MafFei, (De vita et moribus
D. lirnatii Loiolte) than with the other, Pie-
tro Ribadeneira. The manner, too of that
agreement is remarkable. Maflei's book ap-
peared as early as 15b'5; it was not till fifteen
years later that Orlandinus composed his, and
seeing the great similitude between tiie two,
it might be supposed that Matfei's had served
as an original for the other. Nevertheless
Maflei is thoroughly more elaborate and arti-
ficial in his style ; Orlandinus more natural,
more simple, and likewise more graphic.
The enigma is solved when we advert to the
fact, that both drew from the same source,
the notes of Polanciis. Maffei does not name
him, but we learn from a special treatise by
Sacchinus, " Cujus sit auctoritatis quod in B.
Cajetani vita de b. Ignatio traditur," to be
found in the later editions of Orlandinus, that
Everardo Mercuriano laid the MSS. of Polan-
cus before him. According to that authority,
Orlandinus drew ciiiefly from the same Po-
lancus. It is no wonder if he and Maflei
agree. Only we have the original notes in a
more authentic form in Orlandinus than in
Maffei ; the former is more industrious, more
circumstantial, and richer in documentary
proofs ; the latter seeks his renown in histori-
cal ornaments and in good Latin.
But whence come Ribadeneira's variations "?
— he drew chiefly from another MS. author-
ity, the notes of Ludoricus Consalvus.
I3oth Consalvus and Polancus derived their
information from Loyola's oral communica-
tions; thus much, however, is obvious, that
Polancus rather gathered up the casual and
incidental expressions of the general, whilst
Consalvus knew how to bring him at once to
a circumstantial narrative, particularly of his
first spiritual awakening.
The result is, that we have here to discri-
minate a two-fold tradition, tl\e one, that ot
Polancus, repeated by Maflei and Orlandinus,
the other, that of Consalvus, reproduced by
Ribadeneira.
Consalvus is by far the more worthy of
note: he really gives, so far as this can be
conceived in such a case, an authentic ac-
count derived from the lips of Ignatius him-
self.
But, as happens in all narrations at second-
hand, we are soon aware even here, of an en-
largement of the original simple material.
Ribadeneira already began this. For instance,
he took from the narratives of Donna Isabella
Rosel of Barcelona the story of the eight days'
extasy which Ignatius had at Manresa, out of
which he awoke with the word Jesus. Exa-
men Ribadeneiraj in comment, prsev. AA. SS.
Julii, t. vii. p. 590.
But people were far from being satisfied
with him. He took no not.ce of many of the
miracles that were already cuire tly Lelieved.
"Nescio," says iSacchinus, " c^uje mens inci-
dit Ribadeneirae, ut multa ejus generis mira-
cula pvaiteriret." This was the very reason
why Polancus made his collection, and why
Mercuriano had it wrought up by Mafl^ei,
whence it passed into the work of Orlandi-
nus.
But even the latter narratives did not satis-
fy the miracle-craving Jesuitism of the 17th
century. As early as the year 1606, a cave
near Manresa began to be esteemed holy,
upon its beingf conceived that the Exercitia
spiritualia of Ignatius were composed there,
— although not a word of this appears in
either the one tradition or the other, and the
Dominicans stated, no doubt with entire truth,
that the spelunca of Ignatius was in their con-
vent. The most violent disputes between the
Dominicans and Jesuits were just then in full
play, — motive enough for the Jesuits to seek
another theatre for the original foundation of
their order.
And now let us return to our
Gregory XV. and Urban VIIL
MSS.
94. Relatione delli ecc"'* <S'"' Hieron. Giusti-
nian A'*" Procr, Ant. Griwani /i''. Franc.
Conlarini FroC, Hieron. Soranzo K'^,
amb^i estraord. al sommo pontcjice Gre-
gorio XV Vanno 1621 H mese di Mag-
gio. [Report of . . . . the ambassadors
extraordinary to pope Gregory XV. in May
1621.]
Of little importance, like all reports of this
kind.
The description of the new pope and his
government could be but a hasty sketch, after
so short a stay ; a few remarks on tlie jour-
ney, the conclave, the descent and past histo-
ry of the newly elected pontifl^, and the first
course of his administration, commonly con-
stitute the whole matter.
On this occasion, however, something more
might fairly have been expected, since the
ordinary ambassador, Hieronimo iSoranzo,
who had resided five years at the court of
Rome, made one in the extraordinary em-
bassy, and gave his report conjointly with the
other three.
The interest felt, however, by the Venetian
senate was not like ours ; it was political not
historical. The personal character and the
court history of a deceased sovereign had no
longer any attraction or any essential impor-
tance. iSoranzo contents himself with a few
observations. " Non debbo tralasciare di nar-
rare qualche cosa delle piii gravi che mi sono
occorse di maneggiare in si lunga et impor-
tante legatione."
The point of most moment is, that he inves-
tigates the position assumed towards the see
ol Rome by Venice in the recent negocations
willi Spain.
SECOND EPOCH OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL RESTORATION.
623
"Cli Spagmioli facevano considerar a S.
Sti^ quelle si opportune congiuriture cli ravvi-
var le rairioni della chiesa in (rolfo. L'amb
si atfiitico di mostrare il giusto, antico et in-
dubitato possesso del golfo, a«r£[iiingendo che
la repc:» per difenderlo ricorrerebbe ad ajuti
stranieri, si valerebhe di InnJesi, Olandeai e
di Tnrchi med"" , e se S S^^ havesse fomen-
tato riug-insteet indebite pretension! di Spagf-
nuoli, arebbe posta tutta la A'^^ in grand^o
scompiglio. Un giorno S. S'^ mi disse ' Sti-
miaino necessario che le cose del golfo non si
alterino : le novita segiiite in esso ci son spi-
acciiite grandemente : lo abbiamo detto a chi
ne ha parlato.' "
[The Spaniards drew the attention of his
holiness to that so favourable opportunity of
revivinsT the rights of the church in the Gulf
of Venico. The ambassador laboured to show
the just, ancient, and indubitable possession
of the gulf, adding that the republic would
recur to foreign aid to defend it ; that they
would avail themselves of the assistance of
the English, the Dutch, and of the Turks
themselves, and if his holiness fostered the
unjust and improper pretensions of the Span-
iards, he would throw all Christendom into
great disorder. One day his holiness said to
me : " We think it necessary that the affairs
of the gulf be not changed : the innovations
in this matter have greatly displeased us; we
have said so to those who have spoken on the
subject."]
We see that there was reason to appre-
hend another outbreak of the old diflerences
into open hostilities.
Soranzo only strove to persuade Paul V.
that the republic had no le:ining to the pro-
testants. " Lo resi al pieno capace della
bonta e del puro zelo della republica." [I
made him fully sensible of the goodness and
pure zeal of the republic]
The ambassador felt assured, too, that the
new pope would not incline to the Spanish
party. The manner of his election seemed to
promise this.
" i\ella elettione di Gregorio XV si mostro
I'eftetto del spirito santo. Borghese, che
aveva per far il papa a sua voglia sei voti ol-
tre il bisogno, era risoluto di far eleggere
Campori : ma tre delle sue creature dissen-
tendovi, nascendo piii aliri inconvenienti, piii
per motive et istigatione d'altri che per incli-
nation propria venne alia nominatione di Lu-
dovisjo sua creatura. Questo cardinale ave-
va I'arnore di Aldobrandino, fu tenuto da
Spagnuoli di placidi pensieri, Frances! suo
confide ate I'aveano."
[The elfect of the Holy Spirit was seen in
the election of Gregory XV. Borghese, who
had the disposal of six votes more than were
necessary to determine the contest, was re-
Eolved to have Campori elected ; but three of
his or eatures dissenting from this choice, and
further inconveniences arising, ho was induc-
ed, rather at the instigation of others than of
his own accord, to nominate Ludovisio, his
creature. This cardinal was liked by Aldo-
brandino, was thought placidly disposed by
the SpmiarJs, and was held for their own
trusty friend by the French.]
The nephew, too, seemed to keep himself
still free. " Mostra sinora genio alieno da
Spagnoli." [Up to this time he seems averse
to the Spaniards] say the ambassadors.
This, however, was but too soon changed.
95. Vita efatti di Ludovico Ludovisi, di S.
R. Ch. vicecanc. nepote di papa Gretforia
XV, scritto da Luc. Antonio Giunti suo
servitore da Urbino. (Cors. 1*22 leaves.)
[Life and acts of Ludovico Ludovisi, vice-
chancellor of the holy Roman church,
nephevvof pope Gregory XV., written by
his servant, Luc. x\ntonio Giunti of Ur-
bino.]
" Ludovico, ch'e poi stato il cardi Ludovisi,
nacque in Bologna dal conte Oratio della fa-
miglia di Ludovisi e dalla contessa Lavinia
Albergat! I'anno 1595 a 27 d'Ottobre." [Lu-
dovico, who afterwards became cardinal Lu-
dovisi, was born in Bologna, to count Oratio,
of the family of Ludovisi, and the countess
liivinia Albergat!, on the 27th of October,
1595.] He was educated in the Jesuit col-
lege in Rome, made doctor in 1615, began his
career in the prelacy in 1619, and on the day
after his uncle's coronation, February 16,
1621, was made a cardinal, and thereby ac-
quired the promment political station which
we have already noticed.
" Daro," says the author, " qualche cenno
delle cose parte da lui proposte, parte da lui
coadjuvate o promosse nel pontificate del suo
zio Gregorio." [I will touch lightly on the
things partly proposed by him, partly aided or
promoted by him during the pontihcate of his
uncle Gregory.]
1. Traits of character. — " Ascoltava tutto
con flemma piii che orJinaria : gli ambascia-
tori ma! si rendevano satii di trattarseco, . . .
si dava a tutti, accioche tutti si da^sero a lui.
Mostfava giustitia e misericordia insieme,
senza passiono o doppiezza." [He used to
listen to every thing with more than common
phlegm : the ambassadors were never satia-
ted with transacting business with him, . . .
he gave himself up to all, so that all gave
themselves up to him. He displayed jus-
tice and mercy combined, without passion or
excess.]
2. Promotions, — of the cardinals who had
helped his uncle's election to various lega-
tions, of Orsinoto Romagna, Pio to the March,
Ubaldini to Bologna, Capponi to the archbish-
opric of Ravenna. Thus their good services
were rewarded. Nuncios were sent out to
524
APPENDIX.
every court; Massimi to Tuscany, Pamfili to
Naples, Corsini to France, Sangro to Spain,
Carafia to the emperor, Montorio to Cologne.
Aldobrandino served as general, Pino as pay-
master, in Germany. The greater part of the
instructions to these nuncios have come down
to us, which makes the following account of
the manner in which they were framed so
much the more interesting to us. *' Qnan-
tunque fossero distese da ni'' Agucchia prela-
to Bolognese, nondimenoil card'® fece in esse
particolar fatica nelle annotationi di capi, di
motivi, del senso di S. Beatn^j de' ripieghi e
consigli snggeriti dal suo proprioavvedimento
e sapere." [Though they were made out by
monsigneur Agucchia, a Bolognese prelate,
nevertheless the cardinal particularly contri-
buted to them notes of the purposes, motives,
and sentiments of his holiness, and of the re-
medies and counsels suggested by his own
foresight and wisdom.] The plan was sketch-
ed, we see, by the cardinal nephew; the fill-
ing up of it was undertaken by Agucchia, a
countryman of Ludovisi.
3. Bulls on the papal elections. — The forms
that had previously been followed were
changed; secret scrutiny was introduced, the
adoration was abolished. Giunti states the
disadvantages arising out of the adoration.
" Rendeva i cardinali piii timidi nel dire il
parer loro, partoriva e fomentava gravi dis-
gusti tra gli escludenti e gli esclusi, cagiona-
va che il pontefice si eleggesse senza la debi-
ta premeditatione, mentre i capi delle faltioni
manifestavano le loro volunta, faceva che la
Bomma delle elettioni fosse per il piu appog-
giata a cardinali giovani." [It rendered the
cardinals more timid in expressing their opin-
ions; it produced and fomented serious anti-
pathies between the excluders and the exclu-
ded ; it occasioned the pope to be elected
without due premeditation, upon the heads of
the factions displaying their wishes; it was
the cause of making the result of the elec-
tions depend essentially on the junior cardi-
nals.] There is good reason to suppose that
Ludovisi had other motives for effecting the
change ; but these are not given.
4. Establishment of the Propaganda. Ca-
nonization of the saints. — We have already
treated of these topics.
5. Transfer of the electorate. — Investiga-
tion of Ludovisi's personal share in this trans-
action.
6. Acquisition of the Heidelberg library :
— "per la quale (la biblioteca Palatina) si
opero moltoil cardie Ludovisio, atteso che ri-
putava uno degli avvenimenti piu felici del
pontificato del zio di poterla conseguire. Fu
quisition one of the most auspicious events of
his uncle's pontificate. Doctor Leon Allac-
cio, Greek writer in the said Vatican library,
was deputed to go and receive, and convey it
to-Rome.]
7. Protection of the Capuchins, whom Lu-
dovisio esteemed very highly, and in a mark-
ed manner of the Jesuits. — Vitelleschi says,
that through the special protection God was
pleased to extend to that society, it had al-
ways some great cardinal for its patron ;
Alexander Farnese, Odoardo Farnese, and
now Ludovico Ludovisi. He richly endowed
the Jesuit churches in Rome and in Bologna
out of his private fortune ; and finally be-
queathed in his will 200,000 sc. for the com-
pletion of the former, having already in his
lifetime bestowed on them every year 6000 sc.
The author includes this sum in the alms he
distributed, and which he sets down at 32,882
sc. exactly every year.
8. The election of Urban VIII.— It is here
ascribed to the cardinal, " superando con la
sua destrezza le difficolta che si traponevano"
[overcoming by his dexterity the difficulties
that lay in the way.] His departure from
Rome to his archiepiscopal see of Bologna
was entirely spontaneous.
9. His after-life. — He preached sometimes
in Bologna; he induced the Bolognese to add
Ignatius and Xavier to the number of their
heavenly protectors ; but the main thing was
that, consistently with the mode in which he
had himself conducted the administration, he
set himself in vehement opposition to the va-
cillating policy of Urban VIII. When the
victories of Gustavus Adolphus occurred in
1631, he offered the court of Spain 100,000
scudi, and the proceeds, during the continu-
ance of the war, of his Spanish abbeys, of
which he held ten. Giunti gives the letter in
which Ludovisi made this offer, founded upon
the " preseuti bisogni della Germania e dell'
augustissima casa di S. M^^, base e sostegno
della religione cattolica" [the present wants
of Germany and of his majesty's most august
house, the base and support of the catholic
religion.] The offer was not accepted in
Spain. Olivarez replied to him, that though
the king declined the offer, that should not
hinder his majesty from bestowing on the car-
dinal all the favour he could desire, in which
the king might be thought interested if he
accepted his proposal.
We find nothing here of the purpose im-
puted to the cardinal by a Venetian, of calling
a council against pope Urban VIII.
For, on the whole, this biography is com-
posed in the tone of an official panegyrist.
destinato il dottor Leon Allaccio, scrittore I Though it contains much useful and credible
Greco dell' istessa biblioteca Vaticaua, che
andasse a riceverla ot accompagnaria" [for
which (the Palatine library) cardinal Ludovi-
sio exerted himself much, considering its ac-
infbrmation, it mentions nothing of a more du-
bious character.
The cardinal died shortly after. " La
cui anima," says Giunti in conclusion, "ri_
SECOND EPOCH OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL RESTORATION.
525
posi in cielo." [May his soul repose in hea-
ven.]
9G. Instruttione a mons^ vescovo d'Aversa.
nuntio destinato da N. Slg^' alia M'<^
Crsurea di Ferdinando II Imperatore.
Roma 12 Apr. 1621. [Instruction to the
bishopofAversa, nuncio elect to the em-
peror Ferdinand II.]
We have seen how^ important were Caraf-
fa's exertions ; this alone would give weight
to the instruction communicated to him by
Gregory XV. on his entering on his nuncia-
ture. But it is further deserving of attention,
as (lisclo.^ing the views which were enter-
tained in Rome after the battle of Prague.
(Jregory assumes, in the first place, that it
had bpen the intention of the protestants to
extirpate the house of Austria, to wrest the
imperial power to themselves, and then to
make their way into Italy to rob and plunder
that noblest portion of the world. God, how-
ever, had given events a different turn ; it
must now be considered how best this might
be taken advantage of
He enjoins the nuncio to direct his atten-
tion to the following points : —
I. The strengthening of the empire by the
catholics. He promises the emperor aid, and
urges him to follow up the victory with
speed.
II. Re-establishment of the catholic reli-
gion.— The pope rejoices at the prosperous
course it is taking in Austria and Moravia. It
is consolatory to him that in Silesia the Cal-
vinists at least are not tolerated ; but it would
not meet his approbation if the Hungarians
would sanction even the Augsburg confession,
though the most nearly approaching to Catho-
licism, " la confessione che, quantunque rea,
si dilunga assai meno dalla professione catto-
lica di quello che facciano le piii sette cattoli-
che." But Bohemia is the object of his greatest
solicitude. He points out the following
means for the restoration of Catholicism in that
country.
1. " Fondare in Praga un' universita catto-
lica ;" [To found a catholic university in
Prague ;]
2. " Rimettere nelle antiche parrochie i par-
rochi cattolici e per le citta i maestri di scola
parimente cattolici ;" [To replace the catholic
parochial clergy in the ancient parishes; and
in the city schools, masters likewise catholic ;]
3. " L'uso dei catechismiedi buoni libriper
tutto, ma per li fanciulli et idioti I'antiche
canzoni spirituali in lingua Bohemia;" [The
use of the catechisms and of good books gene-
rally ; but for children and simple folk, the
ancient spiritual songs in the Bohemian lan-
guage;]
4. " Librarj e stampatori cattolici, facendo
visitare le librerie e stampe degli eretici ;"
[Catholic booksellers and printers, the book-
shops and presses of the heretics being sub-
jected to visitation ;]
5. " L'opera de' padriGcsuiti edialtri reJi-
giosi ; [The labours of the Jesuit fathers and
of other orders;]
6. " Ritornare in piedi li collegii di poveri,
assegnando a quelli li beni ecclesiastici alie-
nati." [To set on foot again the colleges of
the poor, assigning them the alienated eccle-
siastical estates.]
All means of instruction and education. But
besides this, the nuncio is also directed to resist
the appointment of protestant officers. " Las-
ciandosi le menti humane piu consigliare dal
proprio interesse che da altro, incominceranno
a poco a poco massimamente i giovani a pie-
gare I'animo alia religione cattolica, se non
per altro, per partecipare di publici honori."
[Since men's minds are more swayed by in-
stinct than by any thing else, they will begin
by degrees, especially the young men, to turn
to the catholic religion, if not for any thing
else, at least to participate in public honours.]
III. Ke-estahlishment of the ecclesiastical
jurisdiction. — The pope has a vast deal to com-
plain of on this head. The bishops are still
repugnant to submit to the maxims of the
council of Trent ; the canons are given to
corrupt practices ; the chapters make a bad
disposal of the places in their gift ; the empe-
ror too takes too many liberties. " L'impera-
tore istesso sotto varii pretesli di spogli, di
juspatronati, di concessioni apostoliche, di avo-
carie, di incamerationi e di pienezza di potesta
trattiene le chiese gli anni vacanti, et m quel
mentre se ne prende per se I'entrate."
IV. Restoration of the papal authority. —
The emperor appears to be glad to see that
the pope no longer dares venture on excom-
munications and bulls. The papal court too
has sustained immense reductions in its re-
ceipts from Germany, which formerly amount-
ed to 200,000 scudi. Gregory will not sanction
the proceedings with Klesel, but he expresses
himself very moderately on the subject, " non
e mai piaciuto troppo quel fatto." Verospi the
the auditor di rota was sent over to carry on
the suit.
V. The emperor's relation to Italy. — It
might be made useful, particularly in the
affairs of the Valtelline. In Spain they did
not yet consent to the demolition of the con-
quered fortresses. " Pare che il duca di Feria
et altri ministri di S. M^^ Ces. in Italia si op-
ponghino a quel consiglio, come coloro che
vorrebbero ritenere i forti e con essi la gloria
di quell' acquisto." [It seems that the duke
of Feria and other ministers of his imperial
majesty in Italy are opposed to this, as wish-
ing to retain tue fortresses, and therewith the
glory of this acquisition ] But he is fully
aware how dangerous this would be ; the pro-
testants in Germany would desire nothing
526
APPENDIX.
better than to see the sword unsheathed in
Italy.
VI. Deportment of the nuncio. — He is of
course recommended in the first place to Ec-
kenbero^ ; but it is especially remarkable that
the nephew expresses himself but very cauti-
ously respecting the Jesuits. " Terra gran
conto del padre Beccanoconfessore di Cesare,
e si valera con destrezza dell' opera sua, non
lasciando intanto di osservare i suoi discorsi e
consigli per scorprirne meglio i fini et avvisar-
megli. E parimente a' padri Gesuiti ricorrera
con avve.iuta confidenza." [He will make
great account of father Beccanothe emperor's
confessor, and will adroitly avail himself of his
aid, not failing meanwhile to watch his lan-
guage and counsels, the better to discover his
ends and to acquaint me with them. And
in like manner he will recur to the Jesuit
fathers with provident confidence.] With
provident confidence ! An excellent piece of
advice.
We see meanwhile what brilliant designs
were already conceived by the pope. He even
then contemplated a restitution of all church
property. VVilh this remarkable passage we
shall close our extracts. " Secondo che s'an-
deranno- acquistando de paesi tenuti avanti
dagli eretici, ella faccia grandissuna istanza
con S. M'^ ricuperare i beni ecclesiastici occu-
pati da loro e di renderli alle chiese et alii
veri patroni. Qucsto oificio si fece per ordine
di papa Paolo V, quando il marchese Spinola
s'impossesso del palatinato, e I'iniperatore ris-
pose che non era ancor tempo di trattarne."
[In proportion as possession shall be obtained
of territories previously possessed by the here-
tics, you shall press most urgently with his
majesty for the recovery of the ecclesiastical
properly seized by them, and for its restoration
to the churches, and to the true patrons. This
application was made by order of pope Paul V.,
when the marquis Spinola took possession of
the Palatinate, and the emperor replied that
it was not yet time to treat of it.]
We see that the idea of the edict of restitu-
tion was conceived by Paul V. in the year
1620, but was rejected at that time by the
emperor as inopportune.
The nuncio was now to urge it anew, and
to repressent to the emperor the merit he would
acquire by it.
97. Instrutlione a mons^ Sangro, patriarcha
d' Alessandria et arcivescovo di Beneven-
to, per andar nunzio di S. S^'^ al re cal-
tolico. lt')21. [Instruction to monsigr San-
gro, patriarch of Alessandria and archbi-
shop of Benevento, on his proceeding as
nuncio to the catholic king.]
Sangro is reminded that the power of Spain
is now chiefly in the hands of Uzeda and of
the grand inquisitor. He was therefore par-
ticularly to recal his spiritual duties to the
latter's mind.
In order to discover secrets, he is directed
to attach himself to the ambassadors of Venice
and Tuscany, "de'quali si suol cavare molto"
[from whom there is usually much to be got.]
The questions of immunity, of ecclesiastical
jurisdiction, and of collettoria, are then enter-
ed into with some minuteness. I must con-
fess, however, that the defective and ille«fible
copy I found, prevented me from going further
into these points.
The main thing is the exposition of the
political relations.
The nuncio was above all things to demand
a renewal of the war with Holland.
He was to remind the court that prince
Maurice was now old, and that his death was
daily to he expected; that the division between
the Arminians and the Gomarists enfeebled
the provinces : count Henry hoped with the
aid of the former, count Ernest with the aid of
the latter, to obtain the supreme authority :
that the Zealanders were poor, the Hollanders /
hated for their arrogance. " Laonde il re non
puo voltare le sue fbrze contra di loro in
meglior tempo ovvero opporlunita." [Hence
there could not be a more favourable time or
opportunity for the king to turn his arms
against them.]
98. Insiruttione a V. Sig^'i'^ M"- di Torres,
arcivescovo di Antrinopoli, nuntio desti-
nato da N. Sig'^^ in Polonia. 30 Maggie
1621. — [Instruction to archbishop Torres
of Antrinopoli, nuncio elect to Poland.]
The misunderstanding between Paul V. and
Sigismund III. was not altogether insignificant.
" Se la pieta del re," says Gregory XV^. in this
instruction which he commenced to his first
nuncio, " e la riverenza che a questa sede egli
porta, non havesse ammorzato del tutto o al-
meno coperte le scintille de' dispiaceri loro, se
ne sarebbe per il soffioni altrui acceso alcun
fuoco di disordia manifesta." [Had not the
piety of the king, and the reverence he bears
this see, wholly stifled or at least covered the
sparks of their displeasure, they would have
been blown up by others into an open flame of
discord.]
Gregory now labours to smooth over every
thing. He is penetrated by the sense of the
merits of this king, who could not have been
made a better catholic in Rome itself
The nuncio is enjoined above all things to
bear himself blameless in his conduct : " per-
che tutti gli pongono gli occhi adosso e pren-
dono ancora esempio da santi costumi di lui,
et il re medesimo il propone a suoi prelati per
norma" [for the eyes of all will be fixed on
him, and they will take example of holy
manners from him, and the king himself will
propose hhn as a model to his prelates.] To
SECOND EPOCH OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL RESTORATION.
527
be a seilnlnus frequenter of the banquets of
the trreat wonlil be in it?elf no bad means of
acquirinsj influence, but it would end in wea-
kening' the respect which ought to be enter-
tained for a nuncio.
It would be well if the nuncio would as
formerly visit the churches in person.
The main thing is still education. The
institution of the Dottrina Christiana, as sub-
sisting in Italy, should be introduced likewise
into Poland. Catechisms and spiritual books
must be provided, and worldly or protestant
songs superseded by catholic.
99. Iiistrvtlione a V. S"'^ M^ Lancellotti,
vencovo di Nnla, destinato da N. *S''« suo
nitntio in Folonia. — [Instruction to mon-
sieur Lancelloiti, bishop of Nola, nuncio
elect to Poland.)
I know not whether belonging to the year
16'2t2 or 162.'^, but certainly during the reign
of (ireoory XV.
The instruction given to Torres is com-
municated to the nuncio. Since that tinje,
by order of the Propaganda, all bishops had
been required to give in reports of their dio-
ceses : these two were to be consulted by the
nuncio.
Politics come forward somewhat more pro-
minently. The nuncio should do his utmost
to uphold the good understanding between
Poland and the house of Austria. This would
bridle the Turks and the enemies of the em-
peror.
The Poles would gladly have concluded
peace, or at least a truce for twenty years,
with Gustavus Adolphus: the latter repre-
sented too that the Polish line should succeed
him il' he died childless ; but Sigismund reject-
ed all overtures. "Benche Gustavo per con-
ditione espressa ofl^'risse che morendo lui senza
figliuoli gli avesse asuccedere S. AP^ e la sua
stirpe, s'oppose a questi consigli." It was
only out ot' deference to the Poles that he con-
sented to a short armistice.
The afiairs of the united Greeks had been
already investigated in the instruction to Tor-
res, but they were treated more distinctly and
thoroughly in this document.
" I Greci commossi a tempo di Clemente
Ottavo per opera di Rupaccio Pacciorio, che
fu prima vescovo overo vladica di Vladimiera
8 poi metropolitanodi (>hiovia, si contentarono
i vescovi o vladici lore, eccettuati quelli di
Leopoli e di Premisla, che nella loro ostina-
tione si rimasero, d'unirsi alia chiesa Romana,
e di riconoscere, come fecero I'anno 1595, il
papa per loro capo secondo la forma e profes-
sione di lede nel concilio Florentine contenuta.
Ma tante discordie ne nacquero, e cosi si posero
nelle diete a inipiignarequella uniono li nobili
Greci, dagli heretici favoriti, che s'e havuto
a nietlere soosopra il regno : imperocche pochi
del clero e molto meno del popolo I'hanno vo-
lute abbracciare, aftermando tutti essere per
privati disegni e per ambitione di pochi stata
fatta e senza loro partccipatione. Onde si
conservano bene li vescovi e pastori cattolici,
ma questi soli se ne stanno, senza trovare pe-
corelle che seguitare li vogliano, e di piu cor-
rono gran rischio d'essere dalle sedie loro
cacciati e che vengana ancor ad esi<i levate
quelle chiese che tolte gia alii scismatici furon-
gli concedute. Onde in tutte le diete se ne
fa lo strepito grande: e nell' anno passato
avvenne che un vescovo o fosse il patriarca
scismatico di Gerusalemme mandate in Mos-
covia etin Russia dal patriarca dK^onstantino-
poli, si fermo fra Russi, e vi creo tanti scis-
matici quantisono gli uniti, et eccito li cosac-
chi, che sono tutti Greci scismatici, ad addi-
mandare nella dieta con ofterte grandissime,
perche il regno per la guerra col Turco ha vesse
bisogno di loro, che all' antiche loro pretensioni
si sodisfacesse : ma il vescovo di Santo Angelo,
air hora nuntio, ne divert! I'impeto, siche tra
per questo e per publiche necessita, che a
nuove contese non lasciavano luogo, si pose
con I'autorita del re il negotio in silentio.
Si vive non di meno dagli uniti nel medesimo
timore : e li piii prudenti prelati ne pronosti-
cano alia fine de' mali eventi se alcun pro-
vedimento non vi si piglia: onde havrebbero
alcuni havuto per lo migliore che I'unione
non si fosse mai fatta, apportando essi che
sarebbe state piu agevole il ridurre li nobili
siugolarmente e di famiglia in famiglia alia
chiesa cattolica, perche si vede per prova che
tutti colore che ad uno abbandonano il rito
Greco e lo scisma, stanno nella nostra chiesa
perseveranti." [The Greeks, moved in the
lime of Clement VIH. by Rupaccio Pacciorio,
who was first bishop or vladica of Wladimir,
and afterwards metropolitan of Chiovia, were
content, they and their bishops or vladici, ex-
cept those of Leopoli and Premisla, who re-
mained obstinate, to unite themselves to the
Roman church, and to recognize the pope for
their head, as they did in the year 1595, ac-
cording to the tbrm and profession of taith
contained in the Florentine council. But
such discords ensued in consequence, and the
Greek nobles, backed by the heretics, so set
themselves to impugn this union in the diet,
that the kingdom had like to have been turned
upside down ; because few of the clergy, and
much fewer of the common people, were
willing to embrace it, all of them affirming
that the thing was done for private designs,
'and to further the ambition of a few without
I any participation of theirs. Hence the catho-
lic bishops and pastors still subsist, but they
stand alone, and find no flocks that will follow
them ; moreover they run great risk of being
expelled from their places, and of losing also
those churches which, having been already
i taken from the schismatics, were conferred
528
APPENDIX.
on them. Accordingly there is a great nr.ise
about the matter in every diet: and last year
it happened that a bishop, or it might be th^
schismatic patriarch of Jerusalem, sent into
Moscovy and Russia by the patriarch of Con-
stantinople, establisfied himself among the
Russians, and created amongst them schisma-
tics as numerous as the united Greeks, and
excited the Cossacks, who are all Greek
schismatics, to demand in the diet, with very
large offers, because the kingdom had need
of them on account of the war with the
Turks, that their ancient pretensions should
be satisfied. But the bishop of Santo An-
gelo, then nuncio, parried the blow, so that,
what with his exertions, and what with the
public necessities, which would not admit of
fresh contests, the matter was silenced by the
royal authority. Notwithstanding this, the
same fear is continually entertained on the
side of the united, and the most intelligent
prelates prognosticate that matters will end
badly if some provision be not made. Some
therefore are of opinion it were better the
union had never taken place, arguing that it
would have been easier to bring over the no-
bles singly, and family by family, to the catho-
lic church ; for it is proved by experience,
that all those who individually abandon the
Greek ritual and the schism persist in their
attachment to our church.]
100. Relatione fatta alia, congregations de
propaganda fide da Dionysio Lazari so-
pra alcune cose che possono essere di
servitio alia santa fede cattolica. 16'2'2.
[Heport made to the congregation "de
propaganda fide," by Dionysio Lazari, on
some things which may be of service to
the holy catholic faith.]
Dion. Lazari had been for a while — "molti
mesi " is his own expression — in England, and
in this paper states the means by wiiich Ca-
tholicism might be restored in that country.
The means, he thinks, were three: nego-
tiation with one, or with many, or violent
measures.
But he is of opinion that much might be
done with king James personally : that king
was indifferent in his opinions and timorous.
" Per la pratica che ho di lui, lo stimo indif-
ferente in qualsivoglia religione." It would
be well to foster his suspicions, by means
even of supposititious letters. " Far artificio-
eamente avisar qualche suo ministro fuori del
regno di persona da loro creduta fedele, e
neir istesso regno far trovar qualche lettera a
nome supposito che rnittasse m forme segrete
queste materie." [To have some minister of
his in foreign parts craftily advised by a per-
son he supposed trustworthy; and to cause
sone letter in a feigned name to be discovered
in the kingdom itself, trcatmg of these mat-
ters with a show of secresy.] Buckingham
too might well be gained over; his wife was
the daughter of a catholic, and was her.-;elf
privily catholic; "e segreta cattolica figlia
anche di scgreto cattolico." Buckingham
laid great weight on alliances with foreign
powers; he could be most gained through
thenj, especially as he was always in peril
from the parliament. "Essendo composto il
parlamento quasi per la maggior parte di pu-
ritani, stimarebbe egli specie d'efficace ven-
detta I'indurre il re al catlolicismo." [The
parliament being composed for the most part
of puritans, he would deem it a kind of
effective vengeance to make the kmg ca-
tholic]
Influence on the common people. — It would
be very advantageous, could freedom of
preaching be obtained. " II che si potrebbe
fare per via di danaro, proponendo, per cosi
dire, una gabella di predicatori et auditori,
inducendosi il re molte volte per I'interesse a
cose contrarie a sua volonta." [Which might
be done by way of money, proposing, so to
speak, a toll on preachers and hearers, for
the king is often induced by interest to things
contrary to his inclination.]
Violent measures he says were not to be
thought of But we see that even those of a
pacific nature which he proposes were not
practicable.
Lazari belonged to that class of people
who think to influence the course of society
by intrigues and dexterious machinations,
which however can never be the case.
He has no hopes from the rising genera-
tion ; it was reared wholly in protes^tant sen-
timents : the prince alone, afterwards Charles
I., seems to hold out some promise. " lo v'ho
grandissima speranza, per vederlo d'iu'lole
molto ingeima, di costumi assai generosi,
molto sobrio nel detestar li cattolici." [[
have great hopes of him, seeing that he is of
a highly ingenuous nature, of rather generous
principles, and very temperate in his hatred
of the catholics.]
101. Inslrultione al dottor Leone Allatio per
andare in Germania per la Ubreria del
Palatino. 1622. {Court libr. in Vienna,
MS. Hohenb.) [Instruction to doctor
Leone Allatio to go into Germany for the
Palatine library.]
The instruction by which Leo Allatius,
then scriptor in the Vatican, was empowered
to receive possession of the Heidelberg li-
brary.
It is to be found not only in Vienna, but
also in many other libraries, for instance in
the Chigi library in Home, among the coUec-
lectious of instructions by Gregory XV. The
literary interest of the subject has also caused
it to be known in Germany. Quade, Baurn-
SECOND EPOCH OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL RESTORATION.
529
garten, and Gerdes, one after the other, had
it printed in Latin.
Having once come within the range of
protestant erudition, it necessarily became
the subject of discussion. In his history of
the formation, plunder, and destruction of the
old Heidelberg collections, (Heidelberg, 1817)
p. 285, our learned fellow citizen and friend,
G. R. Fr. Wilken, has raised formidable ob-
jections against its authenticity.
The Latin translation is executed indeed in
a manner that must provoke suspicion. For-
tunately however, this is dissipated when we
obtain sight of the original MS.
In the Latin for instance it is said, in re-
ference to the consecrated medals which were
given to Allatio for Tilly's soldiers, " Unum
adhuc R. T. D. suppeditamus stratagema, ut
scilicet sibi magnam nummorum comparet
copiam, quos a Sanctis canonisatos esse fin-
gat." [We suggest one stratagem to the re-
verend doctor, that he should get together a
great quantity of coins, and pretend that they
are canonized by the saints.] Surely it is
incredible that the Roman court should have
expressed itself in this fashion to one of its
servants.
Upon turning to the original, we find it
really runs quite differently. " E qui soggi-
ungero a V. S. che se le dara un grosso
numero di medaglie con I'indulgenza della
canonizzatione de' santi fatta da N. S." [And
there I will mention to you, that you shall be
furnished with a great number of medals,
with the indulgence of the canonization of
the saints made by his holiness.] I under-
stand by this, medals commemorative of the
canonization of the saints, which Gregory XV.
had determined on, with an indulgence.
As little is it to be found in the original,
that Allatio was to address the duke of Ba-
varia in German, as the Latin version asserts :
" tradito," it is said in Baumgarten : " brevi
a Sancto Patre fidei ipsius concredito, Ger-
mancio idiomate eum aftiindi." [On present-
ing to him the holy father's brief committed
to his charge, to address him in the German
tongue.] The original on the other hand
says, " presentando a Sua Altezza il breve di
N. S^e, le parlera a nome di Sua S^^ contbrme
al tenore di esso." [On presenting our lord's
letter to his highness, he shall speak in the
name of his holiness conformably with the
tenor of the same.]
The translation outrages the Italian original
and all probability.
But when we see that the original is far
more rationally composed, and under circum-
stances that admit of no doubt, we can no
longer be sceptical of its authenticity.
One thing, however, is certainly true, that
Allatio was to spread the report that the li-
brary was to be transferred to Munich, not to
Rome. "In ogni caso sara bene di metter
67
voce che si abbia da condurre solamente a
Monaco e non a Roma." We have repeatedly
seen how the most extreme wariness was in-
culcated upon the papal envoys. Similar
instructions were given to Allatio. For in-
stance : " Massimamente per i paesi sospetti
sara sempre meglio di andare in habito corto,
come persona negotiante del dominio Veneto."
[Particulary in suspected countries it will
always be advisable to wear a short coat, like
a commercial individual of the Venetian do-
minions.] So much dissimulation was thought
necessary.
We need not wonder at such directions
being given in writing. They were fond of
writing at that court, particularly in Ludo-
'visio's chancery. The instructions drawn up
by Agucchia are not wanting- in important
political views, but they are also full of trifles
of this kind. The author wished to have the
credit of thinking of every thing.
Furthermore, there was good reason to
apprehend the fury of the reformed party,
especially at this loss to their metropolis.
The library was to be escorted by a detach-
ment of cavalry.
102. Instruttione al padre Don Tobia Co-
rona de' chierici regolari mandato da
papa Gregorio XV al re di Francia e
prima al duca di Savoia per Vimpressa
della citta di Ginevra. 1622. (Libr. of
Frankfurt on Main. MSS. Glauburg.
Tom. 39, n. 1. 26 leaves.) [Instruction
to father Don Tobia Corona, of the chierici
regolari, sent by Gregory XV. to the king
of France, and first to the duke of Savoy,
respecting the enterprise against the city
of Geneva.]
Beginning: "L'ltalia che dall' eterna pro-
videnza e stata eletta a reggere hora I'imperio
temporale, hora lo spirituale del mondo."
[Italy, which has been elected by eternal
Providence to sway now the temporal, now
the spiritual empire of the world.]
Geneva is pre-eminently odious to this
spiritual government, " non solo come plena
di huom^ni appestati, ma come catedra di
pestilenza " [not only as full of plague-struck
men, but as the high seat of pestilence].
To chastise it, to destroy it, belonged be-
fore all others to the pope, the vicar of Christ,
and to the duke of Savoy, who still wore the
name of count of Geneva. The pope and the
duke had often made the attempt, but were
always frustrated by the protection afforded
by France to that city.
Now, however, the position of things is
altered. " La Francia tratta il soggetto di
domare i ribellati heretici, et ha da ricever
piacere che per togliere loro le forze e la ri-
putatione si faccia il medesimo senza suo
costo in altre parti." [France is engaged in
530
APPENDIX.
the task of subduing the heretic rebels, and
must be gratified to see them deprived of
Btrenglh and reputation, by the prosecution
of the same course in another quarter without
any cost to herself]
The pope had devised a plan from the be-
ginning of his reign, and thought to prepare
the way for its execution by the mission of a
regular ecclesiastic. " Poiche habbiamo un'
argumento di religione, si conviene fuggen-
done il rumore coprirlo piu che si puote:
vuole inviarvi un religioso. La P. V'"^ por-
tera da per tutto questo negotio come nato
nell' aninio di Sua fe^^senza altra origine che
dello spirito santo."
He was, in the first place, to excite the
warlike propensities of the duke of Savoy7
and if he asked for aid, he was to represent
to him how much the assistance afibrded to
the emperor and the League had exhausted
the apostolic see, what large claims the Poles
put forward, and what expense Avignon occa-
sioned; at the same time holding out by all
means a hope of some help: "che Sua S^^
non sara strelta a S. A. di tutti quelii ajuti
che dalle picciole forze uscir potranno." 'I'he
nuncio will also request the requisite informa-
tion 8S to the rights of Savoy to Geneva.
But the chief thing is what representations
he is to make to the king of France: 1. That
he should not bring upon himself the suspi-
cion that he persecuted the protestants solely
for motives of state ; 2. That even these,
rightly understood, demanded the destruction
of Geneva. " Se Ginevra non fosse stata
ricovero di Calvino, la M^^ S. non havvrebbe
di presente da portare I'armi coutro I'ostinati
e perversi suoi popoli Ugonotti, non si ved-
rebbe nascere le republiche contro la monar-
chia. . . . Sono republiche popolari che in
ogni palmo di terreno e fino nell' istessa corte
e forse nella camera del rehanno lor cittadini
e seguaci. . . . Gia la republica loro (Ugon-
otti) e piantata, gia ne sono publicate le leggi,
e gia in ogni provincia hanno costituiti i nia-
gistrati, i consigli et i governatori dell' armi :
piu non hanno da fare che da andare eglino a
muovere I'armi al re per cacciarlo di casa."
[Had not Geneva afforded an asylum to Cal-
vin, his majesty would not now be forced to
have recourse to arms against his obstinate
and perverse Huguenot subjects ; republics
would not be seen springing up against mon-
archy . . . They are popular republics (those
of the Huguenots,) that have their citizens
and adherents on every loot of ground,
and in the very court, and perhaps closet of
the king. . . . The republic of the Huguenots
is already founded, already its laws are pub-
lished, already in every province they have
appointed magistrates, councils, and military
commanders; there remains nothing for them
to do but to take up arms of their own accord
against the king, and to turn him out of doors.] I
We see how prominently the monarchical
principle showed itself in the efforts of Catho-
licism. Geneva was to be destroyed, as the
mistress and adviser of the Huguenot repub-
lics. She could now receive no succour, as
all the other protestants had their hands full,
and the English were bound by treaties.
And what would this augmentation of Sa-
voy signify, in comparison with the power of
France ] The pass could not be defended
against the Swiss since the king possessed
Bresse. " I cantoni cattolici, con quali la
corona e piu congiunta, ne riceveranno e ser-
vitio e piacere : certo che il cantone di Fri-
burgo circondato da Bernesi heretici, benche
sia valoroso e di loro non tema, havera non-
dimeno piu caro di confinare per via del lago
con quella citta divenuta cattolica e posta
sotto il dominio di un principe amico e cat-
tolico, che libera et heretica remanente."
[The catholic cantons, with which the crown
IS most connected, will derive advantage and
gratification from the measure. It is certain
that the canton of Friburg, surrounded by the
heretic Bernese, though it be valorous and
fear them not, will nevertheless prefer to
touch, through the medium of the lake, upon
their city, become catholic, and placed under
the government of a friendly and catholic
prince, than remaining free and heretical.]
Cardinal Retz, the constable (Luines,) and
Pere Arnoux, are named as those from whom
father Tobia might particularly look to re-
ceive support.
We shall presently speak of the result of
this mission.
103. Relatione di Roma fatta net senato
Veneto dalV amhasciador Rainiero Zeno
alii "22 di Nov. Informal. PoUtt. tom. xvi.
101 leaves. [Report on Rome made to
the Venetian senate by the ambassador
Rainiero Zeno.]
The returned ambassadors usually express
themselves with modesty and deference, both
with regard to the sovereigns whose courts
they have left and to their hearers. Rainiero
Zeno is the first who displays a great deal of
self-sufiiciency. Not only he declares that
belays before the senate a schedule of the
papal revenue and expenditure, which he had
drawn up with scrupulous industry (f 80,) but
he also reminds his hearers in what lively
colours he had depicted this cardinal or that
in his dispatches (,f 111 :) he says outright of
pope Urban, " In two words I demolished his
arguments :" he broadly asserts that the Di-
vine Majesty had given him the talent to
penetrate into the innermost thoughts of the
closest men ; and he puts into the mouth of
cardinal Ludovisio an encomium on the re-
public, because she always chose as her am-
bassadors to Rome men of the most tried
ability.
SECOND EPOCH OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL RESTORATION.
531
Rainier Zeno re-appears a few j'ears after-
wards, in the Venetian troubles of the year
1628 ; everythinnf that issues from him on that
occasion bears, like the report before us, the
stamp of self-sufficiency that characterizes so
many Italians and Spaniards of that century.
Now between men of this character bicker-
ings could not fail to arise : Rainier Zeno ac-
cordingly met with the most unpleasant inci-
dents in tlie course of his embassy.
The greater part of it fell upon the times
of Gregory XV. Ludovisio exacted a rever-
ence and obsequiousness that Zeno would not
accord him : they very soon came into violent
collision with each other.
Zeno describes these disputes in the last
part of his report. He boasts that he often
made the nephew keen answers and put him
to silence. He is particularly delighted with
the recollection that he otlten got news by
private means of things the nephew thought
enveloped in deep secresy, and then let the
latter perceive that he was aware of them :
he rejoices at the annoyance this occasioned
Ludovisio " Vedeva," he says, " die appres-
so di me non poteva restare in quel gran con-
cetto di sapere ch'egli con tutti ascosamente
ambiva." [He saw that with me he must give
up his mighty conceit of dealing impenetra-
bly with every one.] But he would not have
any one suppose that this had done mischief;
on the contrary, it had rather tended to aug-
ment the reputation of the republic. When
it was thought of leaving the Vallelline in the
hands of the Spaniards as a deposit, there was
nothing Ludoviso dreaded so much as the up-
roar of the Venetian protests " (il fracasso
che era per far io, il rimbombo delle raie pro-
teste.")
These times were now passed. Urban VIII.
had ascended the papal throne, and Rainier
Zeno makes it his chief business to describe
his personal character, his court and adminis-
tration, so far as they were then known.
He repeatedly says, that the cardinals had
no other thought than to say what might
please the pope: he thinks it a very good
thing that no one thought of setting the papal
finances in order. There is no instrument,
he says, more specially adapted for bewilder-
ing all Christendom than the head of a
pope.
Upon this he gives a sketch of Urban VIII. :
" E' prencipe d'aspetto grave e venerabile, di
statura grande, di colore olivastro, di linea-
menti nobili, di pel nero che comincia a tirar
al canuto, d'attillatura piu che ordinaria, e di
gratia singolare ne' gesti e ne' moti del corpo.
Parla per eccellenza bene, et in qualsivoglia
discorso che s'entra seco, ha da difendersi
quanto vuole, d'ogni materia mostra d'haver
peritia straordinaria. Ha mostrato sin hora
diletto grande della poesia, I'uso della quale
non ha mai intermesso, ne pure nelle occupa.
tioni e nelli studii piu serii : pericio gl'inten-
denti di questa arte e delle lettere che chia-
mano di humanitasonp stati sempre benveduti
da lui, et gli ha favoriti cortesemente in quello
che ha potuto : non I'a pero questo dilelto as-
tratto da quello che importava piii e che era
piu necessario per li carichi che euccessiva-
mente li sono passati per le mani, dico dallo
studio delle leggi, nel quale ha faticato inces-
santemente dalla prima gioventii sino a qiicsti
ultimi anni con tanta maggiore applicatione,
perche cosi richiedeva la carica del perfetto
della signatura di giustitia, magistrate che
richiede studio et acutezza grandissima et
esattissima per la varieta delle materie che
vi concorrono. Delli affari del mondo e degl'
interesside' prencipi e intendentissimo, quan-
to che se nelle scuole politiche havesse fatto
continua dimora." [He is a prince of grave
and venerable aspect, tall, of an olive com-
plexion, noble featutes, black hair which be-
gins to turn grey, of more than ordinary neat-
ness in his attire, and of singular grace in the
gestures and movements of his body. He
speaks exceedingly well, and whatever be the
subject of discourse, he has arguments at will,
and displays extraordinary proficiency in
every matter. He has hitherto manifested
great delight in poetry, which he has never
ceased to cultivate even in the midst of busi-
ness and of the most serious studies. Accord-
ingly the proficients in this art and in what
is called humane literature have always been
well received by him, and he has courteously
favoured them as far as he could. This taste,
however, has not withdrawn him from mat-
ters of more importance, and from such as
were more necessary to the various offices
which have successively fallen into his hands.
I allude to the study of the laws, in which he
has laboured incessantly from his earliest
youth up to these late years, with all that ex-
traordinary application required by the office
of prefet of the segnatura of justice, an office
which requires study and extreme and most
exact acuteness, seeing the variety of matters
with which it has to deal. He is exceedingly
well acquainted with the affairs of the world,
and with the interests of sovereigns, as though
he had passed all his life in the school of poli-
tics.]
It is scarcely necessary to extract further ;
the resemblance is only general. We do not
perceive the more delicate lines of that intel-
lectual physiognomy, whether it was that they
did not show themselves till a later period, or
that Zeno had not the art to catch them.
It is the same with his descriptions of the
pope's kinsmen, and of the cardinals, whom
the author goes through in detail.
This only is to be noticed, tliat he advises
his countrymen not to expect any kind of ser-
vice from the Venetian cardinals. » Priuli,"
he says, " languido di spirito come di corpo."
532
APPENDIX.
[Priuli is feeble in spirit as in body.] So con-
temptuously does he treat them. Of Venier
he will say nothing, to avoid quarrelling with
his relations.
He then proceeds to politics. He is glad
that this time a pope has been elected who is
not in love with the Spaniards. Albuquerque
had found the ground uncommonly hard, and
his demands had not been complied with. The
relations of Urban VIII. to France are thus
represented by Zeno.
" Non e da dubitarsi che il pontefice verso
11 regno di Francia habbi molta propensione
d'affetto, additandocelo molte congetture pro-
babilissime : hebbero a quella corte principio
le sue grandezze, alle quali, se bene ascese
per meriti proprii, non nega pero egli medesi-
mo che di grande ajuto li fossero le attesta-
tion! d'Henrico quarto della sodisfattione che
haveva del suo modo di negotiare et del gusto
che sentirebbe di vederli partecipato I'honor
solito a conferirsi alli altri residenti in quella
carica ; quadra benissimo a Sua S'^ il tratare
de' Francesi ingenuo et libero, lontano dalli
artificii, lontano dalle duplicita proprie delle
altre nationi ; ha una carta conformita di
genio alle qualita de' studii alli quali s'appli-
cano et de' quali si dilettano piu li Francesi,
ch'e la pulitezza delle lettere, I'eruditione piii
acconcia, la poesia, lacognitione delle lingue,
in che per quanto le permettono le sueattioni,
s'e pigliato niolto piacere. Stima quel regno,
quanto si possa dire, per reputarlo equilibrio
dell' ambitione d'altri, licui fini miranosenza
dubbio alia monarchia universale."
[It is not to be doubted that the pope is
warmly inclined towards the kingdom of
France, many very probable motives strength-
ening this conjecture. His greatness took its
first rise at that court ; and though uplifted
by his own merits, he does not himself deny
that he was greatly assisted by the attesta-
tions of Henry IV. to the satisfaction his mode
of transacting business gave that king, and to
the pleasure with which his majesty saw him
made partaker of the honours usually confer-
red on those who filled the office he held. The
ingenuous and open dealings of the French,
remote from the artifices, remote from the du-
plicity, peculiar to other nations, square ex-
ceedingly well with the disposition of his ho-
liness. The kind of studies to which the
French apply themselves, and in which they
most delight, are in a manner congenial to
his nature, namely polite literature, a more
graceful erudition, poetry, and the knowledge
of languages, in which, as far as his active
pursuits allowed him, he has taken great plea-
sure. He esteems tijis kingdom in the high-
est possible degree, as thinking it the counter-
poise to the ambition of the others, which no
doubt aim at universal monarchy.]
The pope was displeased with the Venetians
for their connexion with heretics and unbeliev-
ers ; he thought they might surely find other
assistance.
Zeno concludes with once more recalling
to mind the sweat and labour his office had
cost him, his repeated vigils, and the bitter
vexations that had impaired his health,
" Nevertheless," he says, " I am better pleased
to have worn out my life in the service of my
country, than if I had lived a whole century
in prosperity, but unemployed.
104. Relatione degli ecC^i signori amb^ stra-
ordinarii Corner, Erizzo, Soranzo e
Zeno ritornati ultimamente da Roma,
letta air ecc^o senato 25 Febr. 1624.
(i. e. M. V. 1625.) [Report of the ex-
traordinary embassy of Corner, Erizzo,
Soranzo, and Zeno, &c.]
When pope Gregory XV. declared he would
have no more dealings with Rainer Zeno, the
Venetians sent Geronimo Soranza to take his
place. Nevertheless, as we have seen, Zeno
was still in Rome when Urban VIII. was
elected. Both of them were appointed to con-
gratulate the new pope ; Corner and Erezzo
were added to complete the embassy.
The report they drew up in common is free
from those effusions of personal vanity, to
which Zeno alone gave way : it derives a cer-
tain importance from the fact, that the affairs
of the republic had again become complicated
through the Valtelline question.
Pope Urban appeared very much displeased
that the Venetians had taken part with the
French in tiie attack on the papal garrisons :
" che i cannoni della republica si fossero vol-
tati contra i luoghi tenuti in deposito della S.
St^, che chiamo luoghi dell' istessa chiesa."
" Ne mancano," continue the ambassadors,
" in Roma soggetti d'ogni grade et d'ogni
qualita che proponevano a S. S^^, come ella
medesima ci disse, ad usare contra quell
ecc'"" senato le censure ecclesiastiche."
[There are not wanting in Rome persons of
every kind and degree, who proposed to his
holiness, as he himself told us, that he should
inflict the censures of the church on this most
excellent senate.]
They did their best to excuse themselves:
they stated that it was the design of the Span-
iards to make themselves all powerful : " ren-
ders! patroni di quelli passi, per facilitarsi la
monarchia di questa provincia ;" [to make
themselves masters of these passes, and there-
by help themselves towards the sovereignty
of this province;] that religion need run no
hazard ; their having entered into alliance
with the ultramontanes could the less be ob-
jected to them, inasmuch as the pope himself
had prohibited them from raising troops in the
territories of the church.
Urban VIII. had thought that they would
make him some conciliatory offers in relation
SECOND EPOCH OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL RESTORATION.
533
to that matter ; but they had no orders to that
effect. On his side, therefore, he was inac-
cessible to their requests ; they had to be sat-
isfied with merely assuaging his animosity —
" non si impetrava altro che mitioamento dell'
acerbita mostrata del suo animo."
This could not have proved a very difficult
matter. Urban's antipathy to the Spaniards
already showed itself. He declared, " che
non poieva parlar alto, perche troppo era cir-
condato da' Spagnoli e che a Madrid lo chia-
mavano heretico, ma che armato si havrebbe
fatto rispettare" [that he could not speak
aloud because he was too much surrounded by
Spaniards, and that at Madrid they called
him a heretic ; but were he armed he would
make them respect him.]
These words contain the germs of hie sub-
sequent opinions and conduct.
Our report is chiefly occupied with inte-
rests of this kind ; but besides this it also at-
tempts to depict the state of things generally.
Let us see how it describes the heads of the
administration in the commencement of Ur-
ban's pontificate.
" Quelli che di presente sono in maggior
autorita presso il pontefice nella essentia de-
gli afiari, si ristringono nel sig"" cardinale Ma-
galotti e nell sigr Don Carlo Barberino, fra-
tello della Beatne Sua. Mostrano pero am-
bidue di non conoscere e non havere questa
autorita : schifano i congress!, parono non
esser informati dei negotii, non gustano di
esser frequentemente visitati, e con questa
maniera di procedere, ditferente assai dal cos-
tume dei parenti dei pontefici passati, conser-
vano in maggior riputatione la Santitii Sua,
volendo dar ad intendere che tutto dipende
dai soli cenni di lei.
" Era eolita la Beatne Sua alle volte nelle
occorrenze piii gravi chiamare anche a se li
cardinali Bandino, Melini, Scaglia, Santa Su-
sanna et qualche altro, perche conoscendoli di
natura molto severa, procurava con tale appa-
renza dar segno di stima verso il sacro colle-
gio e verso le persone loro, non giii perche
volentieri inclini o molto si fidi delle loro
opinioni : e di q^iesto concetto della S"-^ Sua,
ben noto a detti cardinali et ad altri, tutti se
ne dogliono, dicendo che dopo fatte le delibe-
ration! delle cose ella le communica per non
admettere il loro consiglio. Et si sente anco
che va ogni giorno piii tralasciando queste
comunicationi, anz! omettendo in tutto e per
tutto le consultation! con cardinali, cos! per
conservare in se medesimo il solo despotico
dominio et autorita, come anco perche conos-
cendoli dipendenti et interessati ch! per I'uno
chi per I'altro principe, giudica cosi convenire
al suo servitio maggiormente.
" Nelle occorrentie della Repi^a sono inter-
venuti nelle consulte m^ Gessi e mr di Monte-
fiascone, come stati nontii in questa citta e
bene informati delle cose. E talvolta si e in-
trodotto anche Anzolo Badoer, che sotto altro
nome e cognome pur si trattiene in Roma po-
sitivamente : e fatto sacerdote, et habita per
sua maggior sicurezza una casa congiunta
con il monasterio de' frati della scalla, nella
cui chi'esa e solito celebrare la messa. Ma
come habbiamo detto, il card' Magalotti et il
sigf Carlo Barberino sono le stelle fisse di quel
firmamento : et i negotii ridotti in queste due
sole teste passano con molta secretezza, sicche
quelle che non si puo penetrare con la con-
gettura ovvero che non viene riferito dal me-
desimo pontefice, difficilmente si puo sapere
per altra via.
" II sigf Don Carlo mostra la islessa indi-
pendenza da principi nella quale professa con-
servarsi Sua S^^. E in eta di 58 anni, ben
complessionato e forte. E inclinato alia sod-
disfatione de' popoli per conservare la citta
abbondante di tutte le cose. Nella sua casa
e buon economo, et ha mira di far dcnari assai,
sapendo egli molto bene che I'oro accresce la
riputatione agli huomini, anzi I'oro gli inalza
e li distingue vantaggiosamente nel conspetto
del mondo: oltre che si tiene per massima
comune non esser conveniente ne ragionevole
che chi una volta e stato parente del papa,
rest! dopo la sua morte in angusta fortuna.
E huomo di poche parole, ma sensitive. Ha
mostrato somma riverenza verso la sorenis-
sima Republica, et havendo no! nel complir
seco detto che auguravamo lunghi anni a Sua
Beatne, ci rispose egli con qualche acerbita
che quando il papa havesse ad essere rispet-
tato et honorato come papa, alludendo alle
cose correnti della Valtellina, li desiderava
vita lunga, ma che quando havesse dovuto
seguir altrimenti, pregava il sig^ dio a chia-
marlo a se quanto prima.
"II cardi Magalotti professa egli ancora
vivere indipendeiite. E huomo sagace et ac-
corto: mostra grande vivacita di spirito e
d'inquietezza, et e in concetto di poter esser
guadagnato. Crescendo in eta et esperienza
il cardi nepote si crede che non passeranno
d'accordo insieme e che il papa pensera pero
di valersene in qualche legatione opportuna-
mente."
[As for those who at present have most
weight with the pope in essential matters,
their numbers are confined to cardinal Maga-
lotti and Don Carlo Barberino, the brother of
his holiness. They both of them however af-
fect not to know of, or to possess this influ-
ence ; they avoid official meetings, appear not
to be informed of business, and are not fond of
being frequently visited : and by this way of
proceeding, so unlike that oLthe relations of
past popes, they better sustam the reputation
of his holiness, wishing it to be understood
that every thing depends solely on his com-
mands.
[His holiness was used at times, in matters
of greater moment, to summon to him also the
534
APPENDIX.
cardinals Bandino, Melini, Scaglia, Santa Su-
sanna, and some others ; because knowing
them to be of very rigid character, he tried in
that way to make show of esteem for the sa-
cred college and for their persons : not that
he acted from any natural inclination,' or that
he put much trust in their opinions. This
device of his holiness is well known to the
said cardinals and to others, and they all com-
plain of it, saying, tliat after matters are
weighed and determined, he communicates
them without intending to adopt their advice.
And it is perceived that he grows daily more
remiss in making these communications, ne-
glecting too altogether to hold consultations
with the cardinals, as well to retain to him-
self sole despotic rule and authority, as also
because, knowing them to be dependent upon
this prince or that, and engaged in their inte-
rests, he thinks that such a course will best
serve his own advantage.]
[Monsignor Gessi and monsignor de Mon-
teiiascone have been admitted to the consulta-
tions on the affairs of the republic, as having
been formerly nuncios in this city, and well
acquainted with matters pertaining to it.
Sometimes too admission has also been given
to Anzolo Badoer, who lives modestly in Rome,
but under another name and surname : he is
become a priest, and resides, for his greater
security, in a house adjoining the monastery
of the frati della scalla, in whose church he is
accustomed to celebrate mass. But, as we
have said, cardinal iMagalotti and signer Carlo
Barberino are the fixed stars of the firmament ;
and all business being confined to their two
heads proceeds with great secrecy; so that
where conjecture fails, or where the pope him-
self does not speak out, it is difficult to come
at a knowledge of it in any other way.
[Don Carlo displays the same independence
as his holiness prol'esses. He is fifty-eight
years of age, strong and of good constitution.
He is disposed to give the people satisfaction,
by keeping the city abundantly supplied with
all things. He is a good economist in his
household, and aims at making money, know-
ing very well that gold increases men's repu-
tations, exalting and advantageously distin-
guishing them in the eyes of men : besides, it
is a commonly admitted maxim, that it is not
seemly or reasonable that a man, who has
once been on the footing of a pope's relation,
should after the death of the latter be reduced
to straitened circumstances. He is a man of
few words, but sensitive: he has shown the
highest respect for the most serene republic.
Upon our saying to him that we augured his
holiness a long reign, he replied, with some
tartness, that should the pope be respected
and honoured as a pope (alluding to the current
affairs of the Valtelline,) he wished him a long
life ; but if it were to be otherwise, he prayed
God to take him to himself as soon as possible.
[Cardinal Magalotti likewise professes to
maintain his independence. He is a saga-
cious and prudent man ; he shows a very rest-
less vivacity of spirit, and it is thought he
might be gained over. As the cardinal ne-
phew increases in age and experience, it is
thought that they two will not agree together,
and that the pope will take the opportunity
of some legation to relieve himself from in-
convenience.]
105. Inslrultione a M'^ Sacchetti vescovo di
Gravina, nunzio di N. S''^ per la M'<»
catf^". 162^. jBarft. /oZ. "26 leaves.) [In-
struction to monsignor Sacchetti, bishop
of Gravina, nuncio elect to his catholic
majesty.]
Sacchetti's orders related, T. to the internal
affairs of Spain, II. to those of Europe at large.
1. There were always manifold subjects of
strife between Rome and Spain. At this par-
ticular juncture the court of Rome had taken
it amiss, that a cardinal such as Lerma had
been despoiled of his revenues, and summoned
before a temporal tribunal. While the pope
endeavours to put a stop to that proceeding,
he warns Lerma at the same time to give up
all hopes of temporal greatness ; nothing more
was to be done since (Jlivarez was so high in
favour ; and he had better make up his mind,
after having lived so long for others, to live
now for himself and for God. On the other
liand the nuncio is referred to Olivarez, with
whom the court of Rome was at this time on
good terms. The following remarkable pas-
sage occurs in relation to this matter. " E
avvenuto che la gelosia della regina per
qualche sospetto d'altri amori del re I'ha pro-
vocata a dolersene col re di Francia suo fra-
tello, a segno tale che venne pensiero a questo
di far doglianze e querele pubbliche contro il
cognato. Di cio scrisse I'antecessore di V.
S"a. e che vi haveva posto rimedio con far con-
fidente della regina il conte Olivares di diffi-
dentissimo che era prima." [It has happened
that the queen's jealousy at some suspected
amours of the king's has provoked her to com-
plain to her brother the king of France, so
that the latter has taken it into his head to
declare himself aggrieved, and publicly to
quarrel with his brother-in-law. Your excel-
lency's predecessor wrote on this subject stat-
ing that he had remedied it by establishing a
confidence between the queen and count Oli-
varez, the very opposite of which had existed
before.]
The nuncio is also referred to the inquisitor-
general, whom he is to incite to increased
vigilance against the introduction of heretical
books into Spain and the Indies.
II. The idea liad been conceived in Spain
of securing the German line in more quiet
possession of their recent acquisitions by two
new matrimonial alliances. The hereditary
SECOND EPOCH OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL RESTORATION.
535
prince palatine and Bethlem Gabon were to
marry two imperial princesses ; by this means
it was iioped that the Hungarian, and still
more ihe German, troubles would be allayed.
At first they would not believe this report at
Rome, but further intelligence confirmed it
beyond all doubt. The pope hastened to
remonstrate with the king against the design.
It appeared, he said, from letters, that it was
by no means the intention of the English,
even if the prince palatine were sent to the
imperial court, to allow him to become catho-
lic. And who could think of trusting a man
BO unworthy of confidence as Gabor ? He,
the pope, could not believe it or sanction it,
He enjoins his nuncio to oppose the scheme
with all his might. " V. S'''^*, ma con destrez-
za et a tempo, facci per imped irli (quesli due
matrimonj) tutto tjuello che umanamente puo."
We know that pope Urban himself had a
part in frustrating these well meant, however
tiir-fetched, plans. Rota's mission, which we
have mentioned, is accounted for by these
expressions.
106. Instruttione e V. S"" arcivescovo di Da-
?niala e chiarico di camera per la nuntia-
tura ordinaria al re crist'"". 23 Genn.
1624 — [Instruction to the archbishop of
Damiata, ordinary nuncio to his most
Christian majesty.]
The counterpart to Sacchetti's instructions.
Here too the pope most vehemently con-
demns the plan for the restitution of the pala-
tinate, and invokes the king's influence with
Saxony to prevent the latter from opposing
the progress of the Bavarian power. More-
over, he wishes for nothing more than for the
destruction of Oranges, which was only a
rendezvous for the heretics.
The most important, however, are the in-
ternal affairs. King Louis XIII. is thus
depicted. "II re e fuori di modo virtuoso et
abborrisce tutti quel vitii che sogliono accom-
pagnarsi alia dominatione : non e altiero, ma
hiimanissimo : non e amatore della propria
opinione, ma piii volentieri crede a buoni con-
eigli: non ama il riposo, ma e dedito alle
fatiche e le toUera fortemente, senza conos-
cere altro piacere che quello della caccia :
non nutrisce pensieri dimessi, ma e avidissimo
di gloria, senza dilungarsi punto dalla piela.
Con la M''^ S. possono i ministri di stato et i
Berventi nelle caccie, a quali volentieri s'ac-
costa per godere la liberta, che non concede
la stretta pratica de' grandi. II pivi caro di
quelli che hanno I'adito a S. M'-'' con occa-
sione delle caccie e il signore di Toiras, huo-
mo cauio e prudente, che non si rimescola
negli affari di stato per ascondere la sua auto-
rita, ma ne e capace." [The king is surpass-
ingly virtuous, and abhors all those vices that
commonly accompany sovereignty ; he is not
haughty, but most courteous ; he is not a lover
of his own opinion, but more readily confides
in good caunsels ; he docs not love ease, but
is devoted to labour and bears it bravely,
knowing no other pleasure than that of the
chase; he cherishes no grovelling tiioughts,
but is most covetous of glory, without in the
least swerving from piety. Ilis ministers of
state, and his attendants in the chase, whom
he readily accosts, may enjoy that freedom
with his majesty which is not allowed by the
strict usage of the great. Of those who have
access to his majesty on occasions of sports-
manship, the greatest favourite is monsieur
de Toiras, a cautious and prudent man, who
does not meddle in state afiairs, in order to
conceal his influence, but who has a capacity
for them.]
Catholicism was making brilliant progress
under that monarch. The nuncio is directed
to aid, to the utmost of his power, all the mis-
sions, particularly those in the south of
P'rance, and to support their cause at the
king's court.
But^t the same time an insuperable and
ever recurring opposition started up out of the
Galilean principles.
A portion at least of the members of the
Sorbonne promulgated the doctrines of the
independence of the temporal power, and of
the divine right of the bishops. Some even
went the length of insisting that the parish
clergy were as potential in their parishes as
the bishops in their dioceses. The pope con-
siders these opinions abominable. He was
sorely vexed that Richer, who maintained
them with peculiar zeal, though excommuni-
cated, cared nothing for that, but continued
to read mass as usual.
Meanwhile the parliaments were actively
endeavouring to limit the ecclesiastical juris-
diction. The appeals comrne d'abus, the
inquiries into the business of the dataria, and
the encroachments on the jurisdiction of the
bishops, are regarded by the pope as so many
usurpations. "Faveriscono chiunque ad essi
ricorre, et in questa maniera procurano di
soggiogare le provincie a loro non sogette,
come la Bretagna, la Provenza e la Borgem-
brescia." [They favour whoever has recourse
to them, and in this way they contrive to
extend their authority over provinces not
subject to them, as Bretagne, Provence, and
Bourg-en-BresseJ.
The parliament also interfered with the
prohibition of books. The nuncios would faia
have prohibited the works of De Thou and
Richer, but they found it impossible. The
new nuncio is directed rather to anticipate
than to wait for the appearance of mischiev-
ous books. " Le stampe de' libri sono il
foinite delle false dottrine : et e necessario
che ella procuri di tenersi amorevoli i librari,
accioche I'avisino di mano in mano de' libri
536
APPENDIX.
che si stampano: imperoche stampati che
sono, porta seco difficolta di ottenere la prohi-
bitione." [The printing-presses are hot-beds
of false doctrines: it will be necessary, there-
fore, to keep on friendly terms with the book-
sellers, so that they may give you notice from
time to time of what books are in press : for
when they are once printed there is a diffi-
culty in ejecting a prohibition.]
VVe see that the war between the curia
and Galiicanism had already commenced, that
war, which under a variety of phases kept the
periods ot the old Bourbon dynasty in constant
commotion.
107. Insfrutlione a V. S^i^ mons^ Campeggi.
vescovo di Cesena, destinalo da N. Sig''^
suo nuatio id S"^" Sig^ diica di Savoia.
1624. — [Instruction to monsignor Cam-
peggi, bishop of Cesena, nuncio elect to
the duke of Savoy.]
Interesting, as further acquainting us with
the result of the mission of Don Tobia Corona.
We see that the design against Geneva was
frustrated by the resistance of Luines and of
Rohan, who was still powerful, and by the
imposing force of the Huguenot party in gene-
ral ; but that still it was by no means aban-
doned.
"Da chi venisse il motivo di tal impresa,
dal papa o dal duca, non si sa bene : perche il
pontefice lascio brevi e lettere di esortatione
al medesimo sig"" duca et al principe del Pie-
monte, donde poteva farsi congettura che il
papa ne fosse autore: ma nel ricevere I'esor'
tatione si mostro tanto pronta I'A. S. che non
parve lontano dal vero il credere che havesse
iadotto il papa a scrivergli Le difficulta
che incontro il padre Corona, non furono dalla
parte del re e della regina, che piegarono su-
bito alle persuasioni ponteiicie, ma dalla parte
del contestabile Luines, seguitato da princi-
pali ministri, o per proprio iuteresse o per
adulatione, e da alcuni grandi del partito
Ugonotto. A Luines si crede che instillasse
questa avversione all' impresa il duca di
Koano, e cercandosi della cagione che ha
potuto spigiiere questo ad opporvisi, altra non
se ne treva fuori della propria inclinatione al
mantenimento degli eretici, essendo egli tale,
ed il thuore di perdere il seguito dentro alia
Francia, inentro che i seguaci suoi havessero
havuto a soccorrere i Genevrini. II tratato
del padre Tobbia resto a segno che non sola-
mente il re non rimase offeso di questa mis-
sione, ma niuno, etiandio di quelli che I'inten-
dessero bene, hebbe ardire di biasimarla: e
solamente dissero alcuni che non era quello il
tempo di intrapendere un tanto atfare, altri,
che non doveva il duca mettcre in queste
strette il re se non dopo il fatto, impercioc-
che allora S. iVl'^ non havrebbe potuto non
dar lode alia pietii e generositu del duca, ma
che antecedentemente non doveva la M'^ S.
violare quella fede sotto la quale pensano di
riposare sicuri i Genevrini, Dall' bora in qua
si e creduto che il sig"" duca pensi a tentare
la via d'una sorpresa, e adesso non se ne ha
piii dubbj, imperciocche S. A. se n'e dichia-
rata con la S^^^ di N. Sig-''^', supplicandola a
volerlo assistere. La S'^ S. ha risposto che
volentieri e con quel medesimo modo che fece
papa Gregorio : ma perche il necessario se-
greto della sorpresa non e capace di questa
via, S. A. si e rivoltata a contentarsi che N.
Sigre gli prometta di fare tali ufficii col re
christianissimo dopo il fatto che la jM'^^ S. non
habbi a sdegnarsene." [Who was the first
suggester of such an enterprise, the pope or
the duke, is not very well knov/n : for the
pope sent briefs and letters of exhortation to
the said duke, and to the prince of Piedmont,
whence it might be conjectured that his holi-
ness was the author of tiie plan ; but his
highness displayed such prompt alacrity in
receiving the exhortation, that it does not
appear very wide of the truth to suppose he
had induced the pope to write to him
The difficulties father Corona encountered,
did not originate on the part of the king or j
the queen, who instantly yielded to the papal
arguments, but on that of the constable Luines,
tbliowed by the principal ministers, either
from private interest or courtly obsequious-
ness, and by some grandees of the Huguenot
party. It is thought that Luines had this
aversion to the enterprise instilled into him
by the duke de Rohan ; and if we seek to
ascertain the motives that could urge the
latter on to this opposition, we can discover
none other than his personal disposition to up-
hold the heretics, he himself being one, and
his fear of losing his train of adherents in
France, since they would have to succour the
Genevese. The upshot of father Tobia's ne-
gociation was this, that not only the king was
not displeased at the mission, but no one, even
of those who in their hearts disliked it, ven-
tured openly to find fault with it: only some
said it was not a time to undertake so great
an affair; others, that the duke ought not to
implicate the king in these straits till after
the thing was done, because in that case his
majesty could not but bestow praise on the
piety and magnanimity of the duke : whereas
antecedently his majesty ought not to violate
that faith under which the Genevese thought
they rested secure. From that time till now
it has been supposed that the duke meditates
a surprise; and at present this is beyond
doubt, because his highness has declared as
much to our lord, and has besought his aid.
Ills holiness replied tiiat he would willingly
grant it, and in the same way as pope Gre-
gory : but as this way is inconsistent with the
necessary secrecy, his highness has preferred
that our lord should promise him his good
SECOND EPOCH OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL RESTORATION.
537
offices with the most Christian king after the
event, so that his majesty may not be indig-
nant at what shall have been done.]
The document furthermore makes mention
of some special Piedmontese matters. The
causes were in preparation for the disputes
that broke out at a later period. The duke
made pretensions to the right of nominating
to the episcopal sees; the pope recognized
only his right to recommend ; he also ex-
pressed his displeasure at some burthens im-
posed on the clergy.
108. Ragguaglio dello stato di religione nel
regno di Boemia e sue provincie incor-
porate. 1624. — [Report on the state of
religion in the kingdom of Bohemia and
the provinces incorporated with it.]
Carlo Carafta arrived in Prague in May,
1621, and immediately proceeded to the chief
task imposed on him by pope Gregory XV.,
the restoration of Catholicism in Bohemia.
Eighteen months afterwards, as he tells us
himself, consequently in November, 1622, he
drew up, under the title " Relatio Bohemica,"
a report of his proceedings, which he sent in
to the newly established Propaganda. I saw
the original copy which circulated among the
members of the congregation: these were
cardinals Sauli, Bandini, Barberini, (after-
wards Urban VIII.) Borgia (afterwards Ur-
ban's vehement opponent), Ubaldini, Santa
Susanna, Valerio iSagrato, Zollern, and the
prelates Vivos, Agucchi, and Scala. Zollern
was to take a copy and make a report on it.
Fourteen months afterwards, that is to say,
in January, 1624, Caraffa enlarged his hrst
report, and sent it under the above title to
Urban VIII., " in order," as he said, " to kin
die his fatherly zeal to still greater love
towards the Bohemians."
We have an elaborate printed work by
CarafFa, " Commentaria de Germania" sacra
restaurata, one of the most important autho-
rities for the history of the first third of the
thirty years' war. It was not possible for
him, however, to enter so fully in this work
as in a more special treatise into the details
of his labours in Bohemia, of which he always
thought with decided preference ; moreover,
a printed work demanded a peculiar degree
of circumspection in its composition. The
report, on the other hand, speaks out at full
length and without reserve.
It is true it embraces only the beginning of
the changes effected in Bohemia, but it is real-
ly very important with respect to these.
I have already made use of it in the text,
but necessarily with great limitation. I will
here add only a few-particulars, from which
it will appear under what difficulties, created
chiefly by the provincial administration, the
nuncio set about carrying his views into effect.
68
1. — Introduction of the Latin ritual.
" Ilavendo io tenuto sopra cio proposito col
Plateis e considerando, sicome quel pochi Bo-
emi che erano cattolici frequentavano in ogni
modo le chiese di nostro rito, dove pure ascol-
tavano i divini ufficj in lingua latina, giudicai
non essere disperabile che I'istesso potessero
tare anche quelli che di nuovo si convertisse-
ro, insinuandosi massime loro da predicatori
che questa lingua sia quasi in un certo modo
d'essenza ne' divini ufRcj in tutti li paesi cat-
tolici e particolarmente in quelle chiese che
si comprendono sotto I'imperio occidentale,
per segno delta superiorita e maggioranza
della chiesa Romana sopra tutte le altre :
pero diedi ordine ad esso Plateis, che quanto
prima havesse potuto, usasse ogni suo studio
per restituire I'uso del predetto idioma in
quelle chiese che gia si erano levate di mano
agli eretici. Onde il giorno de' santi apostoli
Simone e Giuda dell' anno 1621, con I'occa-
sione di essere stata provista dall' arcivescovo
di parroco cattolico la chiesa di Santo Stefa-
no, principale parrocchia di terra nuova,
habitata dal piii minuto volgo, tra il quale
sono pochissimi cattolici, fu celebrata alia
presenza di numero grandissimo di heretic!
nella predetta chiesa I'immaculatissimo sacri-
ficio della messa in lingua latina con I'asper-
sione deir acqua benedetta, con I'invocatione
de' santi e con tutti i riti Romani, due secoli
dopo che n'era stata esclusa la lingua latina,
e che per molti anni non vi si era celebrato ne
neir uno ne nell' altro idioma. II quale esem-
pio hanno poi seguito con le chiese della cit-
ta tutti i luoghi del regno senza sentirsi
romore o strepito alcuno nel populo : et io
essendo in Praga ho visto detto popolo stare
con molta attentione alle funtioni divine."
[Having discussed this matter with Plateis,
and considering how those few Bohemians
wlio were catholics by all means frequented
tlie churches of our ritual, where they heard
the divine offices in the Latin tongue, I
thought it not hopeless that the same should
also be done by those newly converted, parti-
cularly if it were insinuated by the preachers
that this language is as it were in a certain
sort essentially appropriate to the divine of-
fices in all catholic countries, and particularly
in those churches which are comprised within
the range of the western empire, in token of
the superiority and primogeniture of the Ro-
man church above all the others. Accord-
ingly I gave orders to the said Plateis, that he
should, as soon as possible, employ all his dil-
igence towards restoring the use of the afore-
said language in those churches which had
already been wrested from the hands of the
heretics. Hence on the festival of the holy
apostles Simon and Jude, in tlie year 1621,
on the occasion of the archbishop inducting a
catholic pastor into the church of St. Stephen,
the chief parish of Terra Nuova (1), inhabited
538
APPENDIX.
by the lowest common people, among whom
there are very few catholics, there was cele-
brated in presence of a vast number of here-
tics, in the aforesaid church, the most imma-
culate sacrifice of the mass in Latin, with as-
persion of holy water, with invocation of the
saints, and all the Roman rites, two centuries
having elapsed since the Latin language had
been laid aside, and many years since the
mass had been celebrated in that or in any
other tongue. This example was afterwards
followed by the other churches of the city, and
by those throughout the whole kingdom, with-
out any objection or noise on the part of the
people , and when 1 was in Prague I saw the
said people very orderly in their attendance on
divine vvorthip.j
2. Abolilionof the cupin the Lord's supper.
"Inteslo poi da me il senso della sacra
congregatione del santo ufficio per le lettere
e scritture all' hora mandatemi, risolvei di
vietarlo (il calice) onninamente, e non dar
pill orecchie alle ciance e preghiere di detti
regnicoli, argomentando che se havessero
voluto essere obbedienti figli di santa chiesa,
catnminerebbcro c<isi in questa come in ogni
altra cosa di concerto col I'estante del corpo
cattolico : ma se sfuggissero di recedere da
questo abuse radicato anche negli animi de'
catlolici per la pretesa concessione di Pio
Quarto, tenerlo per segno di superbia et
ostinatione e per indicio di non veri catlolici:
onde tralasciato ogni altro rispetto e tiniore
allegato da politici, i quali da questa novila
immaginavano soUevatiuni o ruine irremedia-
bili, feci prohibire a tutti li parochi che non
porgessero ad alcuna persona la specie del
vino, commandando loro che a chumque le
domandava ambedue, chiedessero se era cat-
tolico, e confessandosi tali gli enunciassero la
necessita di ubbedire al rito Romano il quale
esclude i laici dal calice. Cosi moiti che non
erano tocchi da vero zelo, sentendo questo si
rimanevano nella loro ostmatione, non com-
municando ne nel' una ne nel' altra forma,
e noi intanto conseguivamo I'lntento nostra,
che non si porgeva il calice : ma non fu pero
niuno di quel preti tornati all' obbedienza che
havevano in cura le chiese reconciliate il
quale havesse I'aniino di porgere la sola
epecie del pane in faccia degli heretic! che
frequentavaiio delte chiese : sine che il
caiicelliere Plateisdiede intrepidamente prin-
ciple a questa santa impresa nella parrocchia
di !San Marlmo, come di sopra si e notato.
II quale uso introdotto poi a laude di Dio nell'
altre chiese si osserva con intera quiete,
ancorche mi habbiano in cio dato assai che
fare i politici. Perciocche vedendosi gli
heretici svanito il disegno falto di dovere m
ogni mode conscguire da veri sacerdoti cat-
tolici il santissiuio sacramento sotto I'una e
I'altre specie, habbero i'aiino passato 1022
ricorso da politici: e qualunque maniera con
loro si tennessero, a me per adesso non im-
porta riferirlo : basta che estorsero una lettera
del principe Liechtestain, che all' hora si
trovava qui, in virtu della quale, come se
fosse per ordine di iSua M*^^, chiamando i due
parrochi della madonna del Tein _e di Santo
Enrico, stati gia predicanti, comandarono loro
che nella solennita della pasqua porgressero
indifFerenteinente a ogn' uno, di qualunque
rito fosse, la communione sotto Tuna e I'altra
specie. Cosi il giovedi in csena domini per
mera perfidia di detti politici nella chiesa
del Tein fu commessa grandissima abomina-
tione, ricevendo il venerabile corpo del sig-
nore consacrato sotto le due specie del pane
e del vino da legittimo sacerdote piii di niiUe
scellerati heretici, dandosi in tale guisa per
culpa d'huomini catlolici il santo a cani. A
questo non inanco il Plateis di fare I'opposi-
tione che se li aspettava, ma nienle pote
contro la temerita loro: onde egli per soste-
nere la prohibitione del' uso del calice deli-
bero fare aniino e distribuire il sacramento,
come tre giornidipoi fece, publicamente sotto
la sola specie del pane, nella parrochia di
San Martino. Ma havendo io havuto notitia
di queslo empio attentate, fui subito a fame
acerba lamentatione con sua M^\ dolendomi
con ogni piu efficace maniera che i suoi mi-
nistri si voiessero ingerire in quelle cose che
concernono la reverenza verso il tremendo
sacramento dell' altare, che meramente rigu-
ardano lo spirituale e la salute dell' aniine,
e che senza rispetto niuno s'intromettevano
negli affari di religione, non moslrando segno
alcunodi obbedienzu verso dio e la santa sede
Romana, della quale la Maesta Sua si era
sempre mostrata tanto ossequente. Da che
I'uori di inodo commosso i'nnperatore diede
subito rigidissimi ordini a detti politici, accio
lasciassero la cura delle cose ecclesiastiche e
di religione agli huomini di chiesa, facendo
loro grave riprensione per la temerita com-
messa : onde essi gagliardamenle si incitarono
contro di me e del Plateis, come quelli da
quali si persuasero essere proceduto il rab-
buflb fattoli da Sua M^*^: et oltre al minac-
ciare aspramente il Plateis, non si astennero
dal inanomeltere anche I'aulorita inia, insi-
nuando a monsr arcivescovo che egli s'lo non
li mostravo sopra cio special breve di Sua
Beat"e^ non fosse tenuto ad obbedirmi in una
cosa di tanto relievo come il sopprimere in
Praga I'uso del calice : e non tralasciando di
sollevare i preditti parrochi e tarii animo,
persuadendo loro che non havessero timore
alcuno di me ne dell' arcivescovo, perche dal
governo politico, al quale in quel regno per
antiquato stile devono soggiacere gli ecclesi-
astiche, sariano sempre proletti e sostenuti,
operarono che il curato del Tein facendo
nuova prevaricatione si ridusse in aperta
disubbidienza, e piese ardire di predicare al
popolo che non volesse tollerare che i papisti,
SECOND EPOCH OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL RESTORATION.
539
chc miravano tiranpccgiare il tutto, li tnijli-
essero I'liso del calice, e preijasspro dio per
lui vern difensore del patei-nn antico rito: di
modo che quel volg^o fece un poco di tumiilto,
rappresentandosi quella sera sino al numero
di mille alia caso di detto ctirato come in sua
difesa. II che veniito a mia notitia, cavai
subito da Sua M^^ Cesarea indiffnalione e
comandamento che il dette prete fosse snbito
arrestato e conseanato a mons''p arcivescovo:
come fa senza dilatione alcuna eseg-uito : e
quel popolo, che prima si era mostrato cosi
ardente per la sua indennita, non foce motivo
alcuno, perche lo vedcsse condurre prigione
in faccia del giorno e di tutta la gent.e. Et
egli dopn alcune settimane di carcere se ne
mori dentro di quella, supplendosi alia cura
di delta chiesa, che e la principale di terra
vecchia, con altro parroco cattolico e con la
predica del canonico Rottna, soggetto insigne
per dottrina e zelo, il quale amministra tutta-
via qupsta carica con molto profitto e con
grandissimo concorso cosi di cattolici come di
heritici, i quali volentieri ascoltano leprediche
di questo buon sacerdote per la sua efficace e
grata maniera di dire."
[On learning from the letters and papers
sent me the views of the sacred congregation
of the holy office, I resolved to forbid the cup
altogether, and no longer to listen to the idle
talk or the prayers of the inhabitants of the
said kingdom, arguing, that had they been
disposed to be obedient sons of the holy
church, they would in this, as in every other
matter, have walked in concert with the rest
of the catholic body; whereas if they refused
to give up this abuse, which has been rooted
even in catholic minds by the pretended con-
cession ofPiousIV., it must be held as a sign
of pride and obstinacy, as a token that they
were not true catholics. Accordingly, put-
ting aside every other consideration and
alarm suggested by politicians, who appre-
hended insurrections and irremediable mis-
chiefs from this innovation, I gave orders to
all the parish priests, forbidding them to offer
the wine to any one, and commanding them,
if any one called for the two kinds, to ask
him if he was a catholic, and if he declared
himself such, to proclaim to him the necessity
of submitting to the Roman ritual, which
excludes the laity from participation in the
cup. Upon this, many who were not affected
with true zeal persisted in their obstinacy,
not communicating in either the one form or
the other, whilst we equally persevered in our
course, not offering the cup : nevertheless
there was not one of those priests who had
returned to their allegiance, and who had the
cure of the reconciled churches, who would
have had the courage to offer the bread
singly in the face of the heretics who fre-
quented the said churches, had not the
chancellor Plateis intrepidly commenced this
holy enterprise in St. Martin's parish, as
has been above stated. This usage being
afterwards introduced to the honour of God
into the other churches, was retained in them
with perfect quiet, although statesmen gave
me trouble enough in the matter. For the
heretics, seeing themselves entirely baffled
in their design of forcing the administration
of the sacrament in both kinds by genuine
catholic priests, had recourse in the past year,
1622, to statesmen ; but what measures tiiey
adopted with them it is not incumbent on me
to report. Suffice it to say, that they extort-
ed from prince Lichtenstein, who was then
there, a letter, by virtue of which, as though
it were by order of his majesty, summoning the
two parish priests of our Lady ofTeinand St.
Henry, who were already preaching, they com-
manded them, that in the solemnities of Easter
they should present indifferently to every one,
to whatever ritual he belonged, the comnm-
nion in both kinds. Thus, on Thursday, in
ca?na domini there was committed a monstrous
abomination in the church of Tein, by the
rank perfidy of the said politicians, the
venerable body of the Lord, consecrated
under the two forms of bread and wine
by the legitimate priest, being received
by more than a thousand wicked heretics,
the holy thing being thus flung to the dogs
through the fault of catholic men. Plateis
failed not to make the opposition to this that
was to be expected of him, but nothing couW
avail against their audacitj' : hence to uphold
the prohibition of the cup he determined to take
courage and distribute the sacrament, as he did
three days afterwards, publicly in the form of
the bread alone in the parish of St. Martin.
But I, having had notice of this impious at-
tempt, immediately addressed a keen remon-
strance to his majesty, complaining in the
strongest manner that his ministers should
thinkof thrusting themselves into tliose mat-
ters which concerned the awful sacrament of
the altar, which related purely to spiritual
matters and the weal of souls, and that with-
out the least reverence they interfered in af-
fairs of religion, showing no sign of obedience
to God and to the holy Roman see, to which
his majesty had always proved so obsequious.
The emperor being exceedingly moved by this,
gave the most strict orders to the said states-
men, enjoining them to leave the affairs of
the church and of religion to churchmen, and
severely reproving them for the indecency
they had committed. In consequence of this
they were violently excited against me and
Plateis, as thinking us tiie originators of the
rebuff they had received from his majesty ;
and besides rudely threatening Plateis, they
did not abstain from assailing my authority
too, insinuating to the archbishop, that unless
I showed him a special brief of the pope to
that effect, he was not bound to obey me in a
540
APPENDIX.
matter of such weight as the suppression of
the use of the cup in Prague : and not omit-
ting to stir up the aforesaid parish priests, and
to encourage them, persuading them that
they need have no fear of me or of the arch-
bishop, because they would always be upheld
and protected by the government, to which
by ancient usage ecclesiastics were bound to
submission in that kingdom, they brought it
about that the curate of Tein, prevaricating
anew, broke into open disobedience, and be-
gan to preach vehemently to the people that
they should not suffer the catholics, who had
a mind to tyrannize in everything, to deprive
them of the use of the cup, and that they
should pray to God for him the true defender
of the antique ritual of their fathers : so that
the populace made some tumult, assembling
that evening to the number of a thousand at
the house of the said curate, as if to defend
him. When this was made known to me, I
immediately obtained from his imperial ma-
jesty his indignant orders that the said priest
should be instantly arrested and consigned to
the archbishop ; this was done without any
delay ; and the populace, which at first had
shown so much eagerness for his impunity,
never moved, but saw him taken to prison in
the face of day and of all men. There, after
some weeks' imprisonment, he died, and his
place in the curacy of that church, which is
the principal one of Old Land,(]) was filled
up by another catholic priest, and by the
preaching of the canon Rottua, an individual
distinguished for doctrine and zeal, who still
discharges the duties of that office with great
advantage, and is attended by a vast con-
course both of catholics and heretics, who
gladly listen to the preaching of that good
priest, by reason of his efficacious and attrac-
tive eloquence.]
3. General proceedings.
" Per decreto di Sua M'^ in conformita,
delle risolutioni prese nella congregatione
prefati tenuta in Vienna si sono dipoi rifor-
mate tutte le citta del regno, cacciando da
esse e da loro contorni li ministri e predicanti
heretici. In ciascuna di esse oltre il parroco
ei sono messi il capitano, il giudice, il primate
del consiglio et un cancelliere cattolico, res-
tandone in eterno bandito I'esercitio heretico
havendo I'imperatore per prova conosciuto,
coir esempio della fedelta di Budueis e con
la perfidia di quasi tutte le altre, quanto im-
port! che le citta siano heretiche o cattoliche.
Et ancorche il principe Liechtestain soprase-
desse gia dalla incominciata riforma rispetto
a gran rumori che si spargevano del disgusto
di Sassonia, poi la prosegui, havendogliene io
fatto reiterare I'ordine: ma pero se li sospese
circa li circoli di Egra e Culma per essere
contigui alia Sassonia e pretenders! che la
proprietii loro sia dell' imperio e non della
corona di Bohemia. Con tutto cio resta per
ancora nel regno qualche predicante protetto
da baroni heretici o da poco buoni cattolici, e
particolarmente ne sono nel circolo di Leit-
meriz spalleggiati da un barone cattolico, che
professando grande strettezza e fratellanza
con I'elettore di Sassonia si persuade farli in
questa maniera cosa gratissima : et havendo-
lo io esortato a cacciarli e fattogliene parlare
ancora da altri, ha promesso mandarli via, ma
dubito che ritenuto dalla moglie, che e here-
tica, non vorra farlo se non forzatamente. Ne
sono anco rimasti in quelle citta nelle quali si
trovano acquartierate militie heretiche, non
havendo voluto li commissarj regj esporsi col
riformarli a pericolo di tumulto : ma hora che
i sospetti di guerra vanno scemando, si dara
licenza alii soldati heretici, ovvero se li as-
segneranno altri quartieri, accio habbia luo-
gho la riforma. Ne resta uno ancora nella
citta di Kuttembergh, scusando il principe di
Liechtestain di non poter cacciarlo, perche
quegli huomini non vorrebbero poi lavorare
nelle miniere che ivi sono: tuttavia col ritor-
no deir imperatore a Praga spero in dio che
si rimediara da ogni cosa. Ne devo tralasci-
are che nel mio passaggio da Ratisbona a
Praga, havendo traversato una gran parte del-
la Bohemia, e cosi da Praga a Vienna ho tro-
vato in ogni luogo la riforma effi^ttuata, eccet-
toche nella citta di Jaromir, dove erano in
alloggio alcune fanterie del colonnello duca
di Sassonia : ma dipoi ho mandate stretto or-
dine di Sua Maesta, accio sia riformata, et in
ciascuna di esse citta s'istruiscano i figliuoli
nella dottrina Christiana, insegnandoseli orare
in lingua latina.
" Sono state sotto rigide pene prohibite
dentro e e fuori di Praga le conventicole deg-
li heretici, sotto qualunque pretesto le faces-
sero, la qual commissione fu data molti mesi
addietro a mia richiesta : ma non ostante che
io pill volte n'habbia reclamato col governo di
Praga, non era stata mai eseguita.
" Dal senate della citta di Praga si sono
levati tutti gli heretici, supplendo i loro luo-
ghi di persone cattoliche, e se li e tolta ogni
essentiale autorita, lasciandogliene solamente
qualche apparenze nelle cose che non sono di
molto rilievo, annullando in specie tutti li pri-
vilegj pregiudiciali alia religione cattolica
concessi da re passati, potendo benissimo farlo
I'imperatore havendosi per forzad'armi rigua-
dagnato questo regno gia apertamente ribel-
latoseli. L'accademia o collegio di Carlo IV
a gloria divina e della religione cattolica si e
rcstituita alia sua primiera istitutione sotto la
cura de' padri Gesuiti, li quali hanno ancora
la sopraintendenza di tutte le scuole del reg-
no, et a' medesimi I'usare diligenza che non si
stampino e vendano libri contrarj alia veritii
cattolica, essendosi sottoposti alia loro censura
i librarj e gli stampatori. Si e havuto inter-
ne alia predetta accademia qualche difficolta,
volendocisi deputare un presidente laico, H
SECOND EPOCH OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL RESTORATION.
541
che da me non veniva bene inteso, ma final-
mente spero che sara lasciata questa cura a
mons'" arcivescovo, pretendendo egli per suoi
antichi privilegj esser crincelliero del regno.
" Alia casa de' poveri istituita in Praga da
Ferdinando Terzo si sono di piu assegnati 4
m. talleri annui : onde si e accresciuto il nu-
mero loro da ottanta, che prima vi sene ali-
mentavano, fino a ducento. A padri Gesuiti
si sono dati per una volta 20 mila talleri da
spendersi nella fabbrica del loro collegio : et
in questo non e occorso che si impieghino li
miei ufficj, non havendo bisogno di alcun mez-
zo appresso dell' imperatore Tevidenti utilita
che dalle loro attioni si traggono. Per augu-
mento dell' entrate capitolari della cattedrale
sono stati assegnati beni che rendono 6 m.
talleri anniii e per le archiepiscopali 24 mila :
ma perche questi beni sono assai guasti e ro-
vinati, monsignore arcivescovo desidera rite-
nersi per qualche tempo il mons"" d'Ossegg,
assegnato gia alia mensa archiepiscopale sot-
to Ridolfo in vece della pensione camerale
che veniva difRcilmente pagata. Nell' arbi-
trio di monsignor arcivescovo si e riposta la
provincia delle parrocchie di Praga e di tutto
il regno, etiam che prima fossero possedute da
signori particolari che erano tutti ribelli, es-
sendosi riserbato I'imperatore questo jus, men-
tre si sono venduti li beni di essi ribelli, ha-
vendosi anche havuto riguardo che per molte
leghe intorno a Praga siano tutti comprati da
cattolici." •
[By decree of his majesty, in conformity
with the resolutions adopted by the aforesaid
congregation held in Vienna, all the towns in
the kingdom were subsequently reformed,
and the heretic ministers and preachers were
driven out from them and from the surround-
ing districts. In each of them, besides the
catholic priest, there were placed the captain,
the judge, the president of the council, and a
chancellor, all catholic, the heretical worship
being banished from them forever ; for the
emperor had learned by experience, from the
example of the fidelity of Budueis, and the
perfidy of almost all others, how important a
consideration it was whether the towns were
heretic or catholic. And although prince
Lichtenstein, who had already fallen off from
the reform that had begun, in consequence of
reports spread of the great displeasure con-
ceived by Saxony, afterwards prosecuted it
upon my causing the order to be repeated to
him ; still he was in suspense about it as re-
garded the circles of Egra and Cnlma, as be-
ing contiguous to Saxony, and pretending that
they belonged to the empire and not to the
crown of Bohemia. The upshot of all this is,
that there still remain in tJie kingdom some
preachers protected by the heretic barons or
by bad catholics, and in particular there are
some of them in the circle of Leitmeriz back-
ed by a catholic baron, who, professing great
intimacy and fraternity with the elector of
Saxony, feels assured of greatly pleasing him
in this way. Upon my exhorting him to ex-
pel them, and making others also speak to
him to the same purpose, he promised he
would send them away ; but I doubt that,
prevented by his wife, who is a heretic, he
will not be induced to do so otherwise than
by force. Preachers have also remained in
those towns where there are heretic troops
quartered, the royal commissioners not having
been willing to incur the danger of riots by
reforming them : but now that the prospect
of war is passing away, the heretic soldiers
will be disbanded, or they will be assigned
other quarters, so that there will be an oppor-
tunity of carrying out reforms. One still
remains in the town of Kuttemberg, prince
Lichtenstein alleging in his excuse that he
cannot expel him, as in that case the people
would not work in the mines at that place :
nevertheless, on the return of the emperor to
Prague, I trust in God that everything will
be remedied. I must not omit to mention,
that in my journey from Ratisbon to Prague,
having passed through a great part of Bohe-
mia, and likewise on my way from Prague to
Vienna, I found the reform accomplished in
every place, except in the town of Jaromir,
where there were in garrison some infantry
under the colonel duke of Saxony ; but since
then I have sent strict orders from his majes-
ty that the town should be reformed : and in
every one of these towns the young people
are instructed in Christian doctrine, and are
taught to pray in the Latin language.
[The conventicles of the heretics have been
prohibited, under every pretence whatever,
both within and without Prague; the order
was given many months since at my request :
but notwithstanding that I frequently de-
manded its enforcement of the governor of
Prague, it was never carried into effect.
[All the heretics have been removed from
the senate of the city of Prague,, their places
being supplied by catholics, and they have
been deprived of all essential authority, no-
thing being left them but some show of influ-
uence in matters of no great consequence ;
and all the privileges prejudicial to the catho-
lic religion granted by former kings have
been formally annulled, a thing which the
emperor was in a very good condition to do,
having reconquered the kingdom which was
in open rebellion by force of arms. The aca-
demy or college of Charles IV. has been re-
stored to the primitive principles of the insti-
tution, to the glory of God, and of the catholic
religion, under the care of the Jesuit fathers,
who have also the superintendance of all the
schools in the kingdom, and they are also
charged with the duty of seeing that no books
contrary to catholic truth are printed or sold,
booksellers and printers being subjected to
542
APPENDIX.
their ceriForship. There has been some diffi-
culty with regpect to the said academy, a lay
president beinsr proposed for it whoin I did
not approve of; but finally I hope that this
cbarg-e will be left to the archbishop, who lays
claim on account of his ancient privileges to
be chancellor of the kinp-dom.
[There lias been assia^ned to the poor house
founded in Prague by Ferdinand III. a fur-
ther sum of four thousand dollars yearly, so
that the number of persons supported by the
esfablishement has been increased from
eighty to two hundred. The Jesuit fathers
have been given in one sum twenty thousand
dollars to expend on the building of their col-
lege : there has been no occasion for my in-
terference with respect to this institution, the
evident utility arising from the acts of the
fathers needing no mediator between them
and the emperor. For the augmentation of
the chapter revenues of the cathedral, there
have been assigned estates yielding six thou-
sand dollars yearly, and for the archiepisco-
pal, twenty-four thousand ; but as these estates
are considerably injured and decayed, the
archbishop wishes for some time tu keep mon-
signor d'Ossegg, now assigned to the archi-
episcopal revenue under Ridolfo, instead of the
treasury pension which there was a dithculty
in paying. The province of the parishes of
Prague and of the whole kingdom had been
placed again at the disposal of the archbishop,
whereas they were formerly possessed by lords
who were all rebels, the emperor having
reserved that right to himself; whilst the
estates of these rebels have been sold, it hav
the infanta and the army of the Liga ; in Min-
den they had hopes of making an archduke
their bishop ; in Bremen, too, special missions
had laboured to induce the members of the
chapter to elect a catholic coadjutor, but a
Danish prince had been successful on this
occasion. The nuncio hoped, however, that
toleration, at least, would he granted to the
catholic religion in all the Hans towns; it ap-
peared to him that the emperor could directly
command it, particularly as those towns deriv-
ed great advantages from the Spanish and
Portuguese trade. A church was already
opened in Altona. from which there was much
to be expected for the North, " per potere in
qualche tempo fondarsi un seminario, onde
possino pigliarsi operaj, dopo che avranno
appreso la lingua Danica e Norvegica, per ri-
durre al lume della vera fede quei pnpoli piu
settentrionali" [promising the possibility of
some time or other founding a seminary,
whence labourers may be procured, who, after
they shall have learned the Danish and Nor-
wegian languages, may brinsr those more nor-
thern nations to the light of the true faith.]
Along with this progress Montorio thought
an internal reform of the German church indis-
pensable. The prelates dressed like laymen,
and did not scruple to go to the wars; concu»
binage prevailed quite openly, and once the
nuncio prevented one Hornberg, an otherwise
very proper candidate, from obtaining the
bishopric of Wl'irzburg on account of this fault.
The German bishops too thought little of the
pope; they appointed to vacancies in the re-
served months, and they presumed to do many
ing also been seen to, that in accordance with illegitimate things through their officers.
many laws relating to Prague they should be
all purchased by catholics.]
109. Relatione alia S'a di N. S^" papa Ur-
bano VIII. delle cose ajipurtenenli alia
nuntiatnra di Colonia per M'" Montorio
vescovo di Nicastro rilornato niintio di
quelle parti Vanno di N. S'^ 1624. —
[Report made to pope Urban VIII. of the
nunciature to Cologne discharged by M^
Montorio, bishop of Nicastro.]
Montorio arrived in Germany in the midst
of the disorders of war. He sets forth the
danger in which the catholics would have been
placed if Mansfeld, who commanded the Upper
Rhine from Strasburg to Mainz, and the bishop
of Halberstadt, who was master of Westphalia,
had succeeded in ibrming a junction with
Baden Durlach. But all these leaders were
defeated. He then describes the advantages
that had accrued from those victories, and the
condition at which the German church had
arrived.
The counter-reformation had again set in
in full force in Fulda : the catholic party had
made its way into Osnabriick with the aid of
Dispensano ne' gradi matrimoniali prohibiti,
ad sacros ordines et beneficia vacata, super
defectu natalium, concedono extra tempera,
dispensano super defectu setatis, anche talvolta
hanno dispensato con persone institute in sacris
di prender moglie." [They grant dispensa-
tions to marry within the forbidden degrees,
for holy orders and vacant benefices, supra
defectu natalium, they grant concessions extra
tempera, they give dispensations with regard
to deficiency of age, and they have even at
times granted dispensations to persons in holy
orders to marry.] They styled themselves
bishops by God's grace, without any mention
of the apostolic see, and treated their eccle-
siastical possessions almost as though they
were their private property. Things were no
better in the convents. The abbots conducted
themselves like absolute lords. In the towns
there was nothing but banqueting and mixed
societies of men and women : in the country
convents they followed the chase, and nothing
was to be seen but dogs and huntsmen.
The nuncio would willingly have set a re-
form on foot, but he was prevented by conta-
gious diseases, the disorders of war, and poli-
tical occupations.
SECOND EPOCH OP THE ECCLESIASTICAL RESTORATION.
543
He treats also very ably of the latter. I
have not been able to admit into the text all
he says of the transfer of the electorate, and
will therefore quote it here.
" Poisono esser note a S. Heaths le cose all'
hora occorse, ed io, benche mi tbssero giuati
assai (arJi i brevi chc mi mandava papa Gre-
gorio, acciocche intcrveiiissi alia dieta per tale
etfetto adun.ita in Ratisbona, mi mo?-si mondi-
meno nel maggior rigore dell' inverno con
grandissime sjxjse, disagi e pericoli per com-
panrvi: e coiidottonii sino ad llerbipoli da
niinistri di S. S^^ e da principi elettori ivi con-
gregati, a quali avevo dato avviso delta mia
mossa, mi fu signiticato non esser piu neces-
saria la mia persona, poiclie la conclusione del
negotio era ritardata da piu alta cagione che
dal mancamenlo del consenso de' principi ivi
adunali, e che il vedersi ivi compuriti tanti
ministri apostolici havrebbe accresciute le dif-
ficolia, metlendosi in gelossia li protestanti,
come che quella traslatione fu tratlata piu
tosto come materia di religione clie di stato.
Mi riinasi percio d'andarvi, tanto pm che il
Magontmo, che come degano del collegio elet-
torale era quasi arbitro del negotio, praticato
da me alcuni inesi prima, slava costaiile nell'
offerla tktlami di voler secondare la mente del
papa e dell' imperatore. Li deputati di Tre-
veri havevano ordine dal suo principe, datoli
a mia istanza, di non iscostarsi dalle delibe-
rationi del Alagontino e del Colonicense. Io
non staro qui a divisare a V. Beaine le ditii-
colta che incontrai per disporre il Magontino
a consentire a delta traslatione : perclie hora
diceva abborrire la citta di Ratisbona come d'
aria nein.ca alia sua saniia, hora diceva tro-
varsi esausto di denari e da non potere sup-
plire alle spese che ivi gli saria convenuto di
fare, hora ciie il negotio non era maturo, non
essendoci il coiisensodi Spagnae di 8assonia,
hora temeva le minacce del re d'lnghilterra,
di Dania e di altri settarj, hora alfermava che
quella traslatione havrebbe accesa nuova e
pill cruda guerra in Gennania, con danno evi-
dente della religione cattolica, mentre i prin-
cipi eccleaiastici, che havevano portato fiiio
air hora e dovevano portare per I'avvenire il
peso, esausti per le conlributioni passate alia
lega, spogliati d'ogni loro havere dall' inso-
lenze e rubamenti non meno de' noslri che de'
nemici soldati, non solo non potevano ne have-
vano modo di apparecchiarsi a nuova guerra,
ma erano ridotti ad eslremita tali che erano
costretti licentiare le propric fainiglie a vivere
quasi privatamenLe : non lasciva di porre in
consideralione il duca di Noeburgh, come piii
prossimo di sangue al palalino, la cui persona
non havrebbe recata tanta gelosia a protes-
tanti, che temeano la giandczza del Bavaro, a
cui conioruie le costituuoni imperiali secondo
la bolla aurea come a pm prossimo doveasi
quella dignita, nella quale il medesimo duca
haveva protestato non voiere conseatire siuo
air ultimo spirito che altri fosse a se preferito :
basta che in qiiattro o cinque giorni che mi
trattenni con lui in AcciatTeinburgo, dopo
lunghi discorsi fatti in voce et in iscritto, ot-
tenni la risolulfone. che io desiderava. La
traslatione fu fatta, et ancora si mantiene. II
palatinate e in parte occupUo dal Bavaro, in
parte da .Spagnuoli, ne aitro resta al pa latino
che la cilta di Franchnithal dep)s.iata in
certo tempo in mano della serenissima infanta
di Fiandra con concerto del re Inglese.
" Mentre per delto negotio io ero in Acciaf-
femburgo, giunse ivi la nuova della presa di
Adelbergh : et havendo io gia fatto officio per
commissione di Sua S^^ col sigi'duca di Bivi-
era per la libreria Palatina et haveulone
havuto ofFerta, mandai stibito un' espresso al
sigr conte di Tilly, facendoli istanza per la
conservatione di essa, poiche mi veniva afFer-
mato per la qualita e quantita de' libri mas-
sime manoscritti esseredi valore inestimabile :
e mi rispose S. E. che il tutto era in poter suo
ben conservato per eseguirne I'ordine del sig'
duca : di che havendo dato coiito a patroni,
havendo essi mandata persona a pigliarlo, fu
detta libreria dopo alcuni mesi condotta a
Roma."
[Your holiness may be aware of the affairs
that have occurred up to this tune, and though
it was somewhat late when the briefs of pope
Gregory reached me, directing that I should
attend at the diet assembled tor that purpose
in Ratisbon, I nevertheless set out in the
utmost inclemency of winter, at extreme ex-
pense, pains, and peril ; and having reached
Herbipoli, it was signified to me by the minis-
ters of his holiness and the electoral princes
assembled there, to whom I had announced
my movements, that there was no longer need
of my presence, since the conclusion of the
atfiir was delayed by a graver cause than the
want of agreement between the princes assem-
bled ; and that the sight of so many apostolic
ministers collected there would but increase
the ditticulty, by exciting the jealousy of the
protestants, and setting them on supposing
that this transference was treated rather as a
inalter of religion than of state. I abstained
therefore from going thither, the more because
the bishop of Mainz, who as dean of the elec-
toral college was as it were the arbiter of the
business, when solicited by me some months
before, was resolute in his pledges to me that
he would second the wishes of the pope and
the emperor. The delegates from Trier had
orders from their prince, given at my instance,
not to dissent from the bishops of Mainz and
of Cologne. I will not pause here to enume-
rate to your holiness the dilhculties I in:;t with
in disposing Mainz to consent to the said trans-
lation: for one time he said he detested the
city of Ratisbon, the air of tlie place being
unfavourable to his health ; aujther time he
said the business was not ripe, the consent of
544
APPENDIX.
Spain and of Saxony not having been announ-
ced ; another time he feared the threats of the
kings of England, of Denmark, and of other
sectarians ; another time he alleged that this
transference would kindle a 'new and more
cruel war in Germany, to the manifest injury
of the catholic religion, whilst the ecclesias-
tical princes, who hitherto had borne, and for
the future would have to bear, all the burthen,
exhausted by their former contributions to the
Liga, despoiled of all their property by the
insolence and robbery of our soldiers no less
than those of the enemy, were not only alto-
gether unable to provide for a new war, but
were reduced to such extremities that they
were compelled to dismiss their own families
to live almost privately. He did not fail to
suggest the duke of Neuburg, as nearer in
blood to the palatine, and one who would not so
much excite the jealousy of the protestants,
who feared the greatness of the elector of
Bavaria, to whom, in conformity with the im-
perial constitutions, according to the golden
bull, belonged as the nearest claimant that
dignity, wherein the said duke had protested
that to his last breath he would never suffer
any one to be preferred before himself. Suffice
it to say, that after four or five days' negotia-
tion with him in Aschaffenburg, after long dis-
courses by word of mouth and in writmg, I
elicited the resolution I desired. The trans-
ference was effected and is still maintained.
The palatinate is in part occupied by Bavaria,
in part by the Spaniards ; and nothing remains
to the palatine but the city of Franchendal,
deposited for a certain time in the hands of
the most serene infanta of Flanders in concert
with the king of England.
[While I was in AschatTenburg on this busi-
ness, the news arrived of the capture of Hei-
delberg ; and I having already executed the
commission of his holiness to the duke of
Bavaria, respecting the palatine library, and
having received the offer of it, immediately
sent an express to count Tilly, entreating him
to preserve it ; since I was assured that it was
of intestimable value both for the quality and
the quantity of the books contained in it, chiefly
manuscript: and his excellence returned me
for answer, that the whole was in his power
in good preservation, and at the duke's orders :
having reported this to the masters, and hav-
ing sent a person to take possession of it, the
said library was some months afterwards con-
veyed to Rome.]
110. Instruttione a V. S. Moris'" Caraffa ves-
covo di Tricarico deslinato da N. S. suo
nuntio in Colonia. 26 Giugno 1624.
[Instruction to monsignor Carafta, bishop
of Tricarico, nuncio elect to Cologne.]
Ludovico CarafFa was Montorio's successor :
he was nuncio at Cologne at the same time
that Carlo Caraffa filled that office at
Vienna.
The pope communicates to him his views on
the affairs of Germany in a very circumstantial
instruction.
He examines in it all those points relating
to the internal discipline of the church which
Montorio had suggested. Seeing the great
losses in revenue and consideration the apos-
tolic see had already sustained, the nuncio was
to attempt to retrieve them. " V. S. stia at-
tentissima a tutto quelle che puo sostentare
I'autorita apostolica e specialmente procurare
che da essa eschino le dovute provisioni bene-
ficiali." It is worthy of note, that orders were
given in this document to the nuncio, directly
founded on the advice of Minuccio Minucci.
For instance, he is directed to send to Rome a
list of the German ecclesiastics most deserving
of promotion : " de' piu costumati, de' piii
dotti, de' piu nobili, de' meglio appoggiati all'
autoritii d'alcun principe cattolico. — Cosi noi
aremo notizie tali che sollecitamente la sede
apostolica potra provedere prima che scorra il
suo tempo." Literally the very thing recom-
mended by Minucci in 1558. Time, however,
had suggested other measures likewise : of
these the most important was the associating a
catholic coadjutor with a bishop, who was
growing old, in the lifetime of the latter. This
had already been done with the best effect in
Paderborn and in Mimster.
But the grand matter of consideration was
the further diffusion of Catholicism.
The Liga was to be supported most strenu-
ously; the nuncio was to look narrowly to it,
that every one paid his quota. An ecclesi-
astical society for the conversion of protestants
had been founded at Cologne, in which the
princes of the houses of Austria and Bavaria
took part, and which possessed ample funds :
the nuncio was not to suffer it to fall into de-
cay. Some princely houses were singled out
as offering hopes of speedy conversion, parti-
cularly Darmstadt and Saxony. The nuncio
was to stimulate this disposition. " So that
these princes might not withstand the grace
which God was willing to bestow on them."
He was especially to promote the establish-
ment of seminaries, and the introduction of
the Jesuits. This passage is perhaps the
most remarkable in the whole instruction,
and may be quoted in full.
" Sara opera degnissima di S. S"=^ I'impie-
garsi a coltivare i seminarj gie fatti et a pro-
curare che altri se ne faccino di nuovo: e per
queste simili opere chi non vede che i padri
della compagnia di Gesu sono maravigliosi 1
Laonde il predecessore di S. S^'a diede prin-
cipio a pratticare I'introduttione di quelli in
Franchfbrt, scrivendo sopra di cio caldissime
lettere a Cesare, e voleva fare altrettanto
I'elettore di Colonia. M. S'"^, per sollecitare
I'effettuatione di questo buon pensiero, fece
SECOND EPOCH OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL RESTORATION.
545
scrivere al nuntio presso rimperatore die non
si riscaldi: col quale S. S"'' s'intendera per
quello die restasse da fare, avvisandone le
speranze e i successi. L'elettore di JVIagonza
ha fatto rappresentare alia S^i^ di N. S'^, die
per propagare la religione cattolica, die col
favors divino piglia piede nel palatinate in-
feriore, niuna cosa viene giudicata piu spedi-
ente quanto I'erettione de' seminarj e delle
case dove possino convenire i nobili del Reno :
e per cio fare, propone a S. B^e che si potreb-
bono comodamente applicare i beni d'alcuni
monasterj e specialmente di Germershaim,
Spanhaim et Odernhaim, posti nella diocesi
di Magonza et altre volte occupatida principi
Palatini del Reno : la quale proposta e stata
stimata da S. fine di molto rilievo, e prima di
risolvere voleva die I'antecessore di V. S'"'^
presane diligente informatione avvisasse dis-
tintamente lo state di detti monasterj col suo
parere : ma perche la brevita del tempo non
gli havra permesso eseguir tutto, S, B"e vuole
che ella supplisca al rimanente con ogni sel-
lecitudine et accuratezza.
" L'elettore di Colonia ancora vuole insti-
tuire un' universita nella sua citta di Muns-
tero : e di cio e state ragionato nella sagra
congregatione de propaganda fide, inclinando
la St^ di N. SI'S die si facci detta universita,
con conditione pero che oltre alle scienze vi
si insegnino le leggi canoniche e civili. Serva
a S. S^ia- per avviso, accioche ella tratti in
questa forma con detto elletore, quando S. A.
le parlerad'havere ottenuto per detta erettione
il beneplacito apostolico."
[It will be a task most becoming your ex-
cellency to promote the prosperity of tiie
seminaries already founded, and to cause new
ones to be established : and who is there but
sees that the fathers of the company of Jesus
are admirable for labours of this kind"!
Hence your excellency's predecessor set the
example of causing their introduction into
Frankfort, writing very earnestly on the
subject to the emperor, and the elector of
Cologne was willing to do as much. His
holiness, to further this good design, caused
letters to be written to his nuncio at the
emperor's court, that he be not incensed :
your excellency will advise with him as to
what remains to be done, and will report what
progress is made and what hopes appear.
The elector of Mainz has represented to his
holiness, that nothing appears more expedient
towards the propagation of the catholic reli-
gion, which by divine favour is obtaining a
footing in the lower Palatinate, than the
erection of seminaries and of houses where
the nobility of the Rhine may come together;
and to this end he suggested to his holiness,
that the property of some monasteries may
very suitably be applied, particularly those
of Germersheim, Spanheim, and Odernheim,
situated in the diocese of Mainz, and formerly
69
occupied by princes palatine of the Rhine.
The proposal appeared to his holiness one of
great moment, and before resolving upon it,
he wished that your excellency's predecessor
should diligently inquire and distinctly re-
port the state of the said monasteries, accord-
ing to his opinion : but as want of time did
not allow him to effect this fully, his holiness
desires that you should supply what has been
left undone, with all diligence and accuracy.
[The elector of Cologne also wishes to
foimd an university in his city of Munster;
the matter has been discussed in the sacred
college " de propaganda fide," and his holi-
ness is disposed to allow of the establishment
of the said college, on condition however, that
besides the sciences there be taught in it the
canon and civil law. This for your excel-
lency's notification, to treat accordingly with
the said elector, when his highness shall tell
you that he has obtained the apostolic license
for the establisiiraent of the said university.]
111. Relatione delV ill'no et ecC"'-" sig^ Pietro
Contarini K^ retornato deW amhasceria
ordinaria di Roma, presentata alii 22
Giugno 1627 e letta il medesimo giorno
nelV ecC'o senato." [Report read to the
Venetian senate by Pietro Contarini, ordi-
nary ambassadoir to Rome.]
P. Contarini had passed more than three
years and a half (44 months) at the court of
Urban VIII. when he wrote this report.
He treats in it, in four separate sections, of
the temporal and spiritual administration, of
the most important affairs, and of the most
influential members of the court.
He is particularly circumstantial and in-
structive respecting the extension of the
ecclesiastical jurisdiction. According to him,
it had never been exercised with such strict-
ness in Italy ; the Roman court was very
formidable to sovereigns from its double pur-
pose of maintaining an immediate domination
over the clergy, and an unlimited power of
disposing of ecclesiastical property. Urban
Vllt. often said, that were a Venetian noble-
man seated on the papal throne, he could not
be more favourably disposed to the Venetians
than he himself was : notwithstanding this,
the most trifling favour was never obtained
from him.
Altogether, Contarini had a bad opinion of
the whole Roman system. The principle of
the entire administration was nepotism.
" L'inclinatione dei papi di far grandi i
nepoti da in questi tempi il primo moto all'
attioni, dichiarationi e dipendenze con altri
principi. Prima si pensa ad imprcse contra
infideli, ad acquisto di stati, ma come gli anni
son brevi, le difficolta molte, cosi si ferma il
concetto senz' efFettuatione alcuna: doppo
altra strada si prende piu facie, accumulando
546
APPENDIX.
gradi richezze, comprando stati." [The in-
clination of the popes to aggrandize their
nephews is in the present times the prime
mover to all actions, declarations, and con-
nexions with other princes. First they be-
think them of enterprises against the infidels,
and of territorial acquisitions; but as the
years are few and the difficulties many, the
idea stops short of any realization: another
course is easier to follow, that of accumula-
ting great wealth and buying up estates.]
He gives the following description of those
immediately about Urban.
"Per ordinario si consiglia il pontefice con
il cardie Magalotti, cognato del fratello, e che
tiene anco il carico di segretario di stato, per
le cui niani passano tutte I'espeditioni. E
cardinaie d'ingegno grande, vivace : lo stima
assai il papa: I'ha voluto sempre appresso di
se, et in particolare nella legatione di Bo-
logna, dove le diede la viceregenza di quel
governo. E se vi e alcuno che arrivi ad ha-
vere predominio nell' animo della S^^ Sua,
quest' e I'una, ne si sa se per proprio affetto
et inclinatione di lei o se per la grande accor-
tezza del cardinaie, che bene conoscendo il
genio di chi cosi lungamente si e servito di
lui sa valersi delli mezzi proprj per condursi
a questo segno: e puo dirsi che negli affari
di momento di esso solo si vale. Egli pero
s'affatica d'aggiustarsi alle inclination! del
pontefice, le contradice meno che puo, e nelli
suoi sensi procura d'incamminare le proprie
attioni per conservare il posto, la confidenza
e la riputatione che le apporta I'esser adope-
rato nelli maneggi piu gravi. Procura con
allontanarsi da tutte le apparenze, fuggendo
I'audienze ordinarie de' ministri di principi,
de' cardinali e quasi d'ogni altro (ma solo
tratta i negotii ch'espressamente gli sono in-
caricati), di non acquistar I'odio che per I'ordi-
nario suole cader sopra quelli che si veggono
piu vicini e partecipano dell' autoritji o gratia
del principe : e lo fa maggiormente per non
ingelosire il card^*^ Barberino, che da principio
non mostro di ricevere intiero gusto di vederlo
avanzarsi tanto, e pivi valersi il pontefice di
lui che della sua persona : e percio bene
spesso per questa causa s'udirono da Barbe-
rino parole che dinotavano il suo sentimento.
Hora nondimeno lascia correr le cose come
vanno, e mostrar confidar nel zio, o per solle-
vai-si del peso degli affari, o perche non sa o
conosce di non poter fermare il corso alia for-
tuna di questo. II tutto pure si partecipa col
medesimo cardinal Barberino, con S. Onofrio
e Don Carlo.
" II primo, come nipote, e veramente amato.
Vorrebbe la S^^ Sua che con piu applicatione
attendesse alii negotii : ma egli v'apparisce
alieno assai, no il suo naturale punto si vede
inclinato, et pare che quasi a forza assista solo
dove per il carico che tiene non puo far altri-
menti, scaricando il peso degli afliiri piu gravi
sopra I'istesso cardie Magalotti, contentandoai
di spogliarsi di quello che dovrebbe esser suo
particolare per vestirne il zio, contro la pra-
tica degli passati pontefici, sia o per propria
debolezza, o per non saper valersi di quella
autorita che gode chi arriva a posto tanto
eminente. E di ottimi, virtuosi e lodevoli
costumi, di soave natura, e con esempio unico
non vuole ricever donativi o presente alcuno.
Sara nondimeno videndo il pontefice al pari
d'ogni altro cardinaie grande e ricco. Hor
deve haver intorno 80 m. scudi d'entrata di
beneficj ecclesiastici, e con li governi e lega-
tion! che tiene deve avvicinarsi a 100 m.
scudi, e tutto il meglio che cava, sara suo,
principiando a farsi delle investite di mo-
mento. E poco spendendosi in breve tempo,
verrassi ad accumular richezze immense.
" II card' S. Onofrio essendo vissuto del
continuo nei Cappuccini, seguito tuttavia in
una vita religiosissima, non s'ingerisce se
non in quello le viene commesso, e degli affari
del mondo poco ne sa e meno n'intende: e
bene si e conosciuto la sua inabilita in questo
nell' absenza di Barberino, mentre fa ne-
cessario di trattare e negotiar seco. Hora
si ritrova alia residenza della sua chiesa di
Sinigaglia.
" II sigr Don Carlo pure, fratello del pon-
tefice, e generale di santa chiesa, e tutto
quello che appartiene alia militia, alle for-
tezze, alle galere, e sotto il suo comando.
E signore d'intelligenza, prudente, cauto
nello discorrere e trattare, e la cura dell' en-
trate e maneggi della camera ottimamente
I'intende, essendo stato huomo di negotio e
versato in queste materie. Qualche cosa ha
rilasciato dalla sua prima applicatione agli
aftari, per non aggravar maggiormente li suoi
anni, essendo il piu vecchio delli fratelli, e
per qualche sua dispositione ancora.
" Due altri nipoti tiene la S^^ Sua. II sig""
Don Taddeo, nel quale si pensa di stabilire la
casa, giovane di anni 23 incirca, di nobilissi-
me maniere, di grande ingenuita, et e som-
mamente amato da tutta la corte. Qualche
disegno vi e nel pontefice di farlo prefetto
della citta dopo la morte del duca di (Jrbino,
che hora gode questo titolo, carico degnissimo,
che a tutti precede e dura in vita e dopo la
morte anco del pontefice tiene luogo nel solio.
E don Antonio, commendatore di Malta, di
anni 18. Ha intorno 14 m. scudi di cora-
meude. E di uno spirito pronto, vivace, et a
suo tempo vi vorra esser per la sua parte:
desidera egli parimente il cardinalato, e si
crede lo compiacera la S'^ Sua. Molti che
non amano il cardie Magalotti, lo vedreb-
bono volentieri quanto prima promosso a
quella dignitii, con opinione possa egli arrivar
dove non giugne il fratello a farle contrast©
et oppositione."
[The pope's ordinary adviser is cardinal
Magalotti, his brother's brother-in-law, who
SECOND EPOCH OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL RESTORATION.
547
is also charged with the secretaryship
of state, and through whose hands pass
all orders and arrangements. The cardi-
nal is a man of large and vigorous intel-
lect; he is much esteemed by the pope, who
has always wished to have Iiim near himself,
particularly in the legation of Bologna, where
he gave him the viceregency of that govern-
ment. If any man possess paramount influ-
ence with his holines, he is tliat one; nor is
it known whether this proceeds from the spon-
taneous affection of the pope, or from the great
address of the cardinal, who, very well ac-
quainted with the temper of one he has served
so long, knows how to use the proper means
conducive to this end ; at any rate he may be
considered as having the sole disposal of all
matters of importance. He takes pains to
adapt himself to the pope's inclinations, con-
tradicts him as little as possible, and shapes
his conduct in accordance with the senti-
ments of his holiness to preserve his place,
and the confidence and the credit he derives
from being employed in the most weighty
transactions. By abstaining from all outward
show of power, avoiding regular audiences of
foreign ministers, cardinals and all others, in-
terfering directly only in such matters as are
expressly committed to him, he endeavours to
escape the enmity that usually falls on those
who are nearest to the person of the sovereign,
and who partake of his authority or favour :
and he does this more particularly to avoid
exciting the jealousy of cardinal Barberino,
who at first did not seem altogether pleased
at seeing him so much advanced, and more
considered by the pope than himself; and very
frequently Barberino was heard to express his
feelings in words to this effect. At present,
however, Barberino lets matters take their
course, and appears to confide in his uncle,
either to relieve himself from the burthen of
business, or because he cannot contrive, or
knows it to be impossible, to check the career
of the latter's fortune. Everything, however,
is shared between the said cardinal Barberino,
S. Onofrio, and Don Carlo.
[The first of these, as nephew, is truly
loved. The pope could wish that he applied
himself more diligently to business ; but he
appears very averse to it, nor does his cha-
racter seem at all inclined to it, and it ap-
pears that he attends almost by force, and
only when, consistently with tlie office he
holds, he cannot do otherwise, throwing the
burthen of the weightiest affairs on the said
cardinal Magalotti, being content to strip him-
self of what ought to be his own, and to put it
on his uncle, contrary to tlie custom in former
pontificates, whether it be from feebleness, or
from not knowing how to avail himself of that
influence which is enjoyed by all those who
reach so high a station. He is of excellent,
virtuous, and laudable morals, of a gentle na-
ture, and sets a solitary example of refusing .
all donatives and presents. Notwithstanding
this, he will be, if the pope lives, equal to any
other cardinal in grandeur and wealth. He
must now have an income of about 80,000
scudi from ecclesiastical benefices, which,
with the governments and legations he holds,
must approach to 100,000, and when investi-
tures of moment begin to be made, the best
will fall to his share. As he spends but little,
he will soon see himself in possession of im-
mense wealth.
[Cardinal S. Onofrio, having lived con-
stantly among the capuchins, and always led
a most devout life, never interferes with any-
thing that is not directly committed to him,
and knows little and thinks less about the af-
fairs of the world : and though his inability in
this department be well knov/n, nevertheless
it was necessary to treat and negotiate with
him during the absence of Barberino. He is
at present resident in his diocese of Sini-
gafflia.
[Don Carlo, the pope's brother, is general
of the holy church; and all that pertains to
the troops, the fortresses, and the galleys, is
under his command. He is intelligent, pru-
dent, cautious in discussing and transacting
business, and he is very well acquainted with
the management of the revenue and the busi-
ness of the treasury, having been a practical
man and versed in this matter. He has in
some degree relaxed from his first applica-
tion to business, partly in consideration of his
years, he being the eldest of the brothers,
and partly, too, in accordance with his incli-
nation.
[His holiness has two other nephews — Don
Taddeo, in whose person he thinks of found-
ing the house, a young man of about twenty-
three, of very noble manners, of a highly in-
genuous nature, and exceedingly beloved by
the whole court. The pope has some thought
ofmaking him prefect of the city after the death
of the duke of Urbino, who now holds the title,
a very lionourable appointment, which takes
precedence of all others, lasts the pope's life-
time, and even after his death retains an ho-
norary position. The other nephew is Don An-
tonio, commendator of Malta, aged eighteen.
His commandatory brings him in about 14,000
scudi. He is of a quick and lively temper,
and has a mind to secure his own share of his
house's fortunes in good time. He too de-
sires to be made a cardinal, and it is thought
his holiness will comply with the desire.
Many who do not like cardinal Magalotti
would gladly see him promoted as soon as
possible to that dignity, thinking that he may
do what his brother fads to do, namely coun-
terpoise and oppose Magalotti.]
The affairs of the VaUelline are here dis-
cussed in all tlieir bearings.
" L'altro importante negotio e quello della
548
APPENDIX.
Valtellina, intorno al quale pure grandemente
vi travaglio la Santita Sua, ma con fortuna
diversa, se bene nel principio vog-liono che
potesse applicarvi maggiori e piu risoluti
rimedj. L'esser entrato in affare taiilo arduo
li primi giorni del ponteficato, uscito e non
ben ancora rimesso da una grave indisposi-
tione, con il pensiero piu applicato al prime
che a questo negotio, causo forse che si lascio
correr molte cose, che allora il provedervi non
era difficile, sicome il remediarvi poi dopo
riusci impossibile. Fu il deposito della Val-
tellina fatto dai Spagnoli in manodi Gregorio
XV, e Chiavenna con il sue contado la conseg-
narono con le medesime conditioni al presente
pontefice. Le prime negotiationi passarono
per inano del commendatore Silleri con tanta
cautela e secretezza che il certo d'esse non
solo si comunicava alii ministri di V. Serenita,
che pure ne doveano aver tanta parte, ma con
fatica veniva a loro notitia il vero di quanto
si trattava. In niuna altra cosa premeva il
pontefice che nel ricevere soddisfattione per i!
pagamento delli presidj ch'egli teneva nelli
forti deila Valle, e dopo infinite doglianze et
instanze consegui, credo, fra I'uno e I'altro re
intorno 200 m. scudi. Questo danaro ando
diminuendo il dispiacere del deposito, che
prima e dopo anche danno sempre grande-
mente, stimando non esser sollevato dall' in-
teresse niuno pregiudicio potesse apportarle
la longhezza et irresolutione di tal maneggio.
" Quelli del Valtellina s'offerivano al papa
per vassalli, assicurandolo che li datii che po-
trebbe imporre sopra li vini e formaggi baste-
rebbono a mantener li presidj ordinarj per
difesa di quella Valle. Molti consideravano
al pontefice che il ritornar la Valtellina alii
Grisoni e rimetter in mano degli heretici li
cattolici non si poteva da esso ne si dovea se
non con grandissimoscandalo e danno eseguire
che dark ai Spagnoli niuno n'havrebbe assen-
tito, et ai Frances! o ad altri quelli non lo per-
metterebbono : ne meglio vi fosse che si con-
servasse alia chiesa la Valtellina, non conte-
nendo alcun' altra conditione di memento
quel paese che dei passi, che si possono ha-
vere o pretender per venirsene et andarsene
oltre ai menti : questi restando in petesta del
pontefice patre comune, gli havrebbe aperti e
concessi sempre secondo il bisegno e neces-
sita d'egn'uno. Le ragioni se bene poco fen-
date non lasciano di far impressione, e tal-
volta anche persuadono dove apparisce alcana
speranza di coinoJo et utile. Del concetto se
ne lascio intender la S^^ Sua, et aggiunse
anco, quando vi fosse qualclie difficolta nel
restar alia chiesa, ne si potrebbe investir un
sue nipote. Era promosso dai Spagnoli il par-
tite, a loro pero ne ai Francosi piaceva : in
fine si ferrao da Silleri il trattaio ben note a
V. Serenita, che non fu in Francia approvato
dai re, in particolare nella parte che Spagnoli j
avessero il passo per le genti che andassero in >
Fiandra e per le medesime solo che ritornas-
sero: poiche il fermar della Valtellina una
quarta lega, che tanto pretesero Spagnoli,
mene il pontefice v'assenti. Fu mutate per
questa causa I'ambasciatore, o fosse per laca-
duta del cancelliere e di Puysieux segreta-
rie, I'uno fratelle e I'altro nipote del medesi-
me Silleri. E giunse in Roma mons^ di Bet-
tune, ministro di miglior consiglio, di pivi
generosi e risoluti partiti, disautorizzo il ne-
gotiate del sue precessore, insiste e parlo sem-
pre per il trattato di Madrid, nego assoluta-
mente il permettere per qualsivoglia maniera
a' Spagnoli il passe, e sollecito in frequenti
audienze il pontefice a riselvere alcuna cosa,
poiche ne a maggiori lunghezze ne a piii
tarde dilationi potea la lega assentire.
" II pontefice, che non stiino mai tanta riso-
lutione nelli collegati ne da questa causa fos-
sere per condursi all' armi, massime che'l suo
nuntio in Francia e quello di Suizzeri affer-
marono del continue alia S^^ Sua con lettere
che'l marchese di Cevre mai havrebbe pre-
sentate I'armi del re dove vi fossero le insegne
della Beatne Sua, s'ando pure continuando
nelle irresolutieni, e quanto piii accrescevano
et apparivano le difficolta, tanto maggior-
mente veniva ella a persuaders! (ne vi man-
cava ch! la cenfermava in queste) che in fine
nelle contese essa ne restarebbe posseditrice.
E benche Bettune per ultimo signified al papa
che il re e la lega insieme la supplicavane di
rimettere ai Spagnoli 1! forti conforme alio
ebbligo del deposito, accieche essendov! ne-
cessita d! mover rarmi non s'attribuisca a
poco rispetto I'andar centre quelle della S'^
Sua, e se all' hora il pontefice s! riselvea e
prendea partito come dovea, efferendo ai Spag-
noli li forti, !1 tutto veniva ad aggiustarsi con
la riputatione sua e seddisfatione degli altri,
poiche non gli havrebbeno ricevuti li Spagnoli
non trovandesi in termine di peterli difendere,
e cessava la causa di delersi mentre in tempo
eseguiva il pontefice le conditioni del deposito,
ne poteva alcuno centradire lasciandoli a Gri-
soni : corsero alcuni giorni : in fine surprese
il marchese di Cevre Plata Mala: allora il
pontefice pretese et adimando tre mesi di
tempo, e dope si ristrinse a tanto che bastasse
di scriver in Spagna e fame I'eshibitione, di-
cendo che li ministri d'ltalia non tenevano
facelta di li forti. Ma essendo di gia avan-
zate et ogni giorno procedente di bene in me-
glio I'intraprese di Cevre, non fu stimato a
proposite, anzi sarebbe riuscito dannoso il sus-
pender i progress!, per attender poi di Spagna
rispeste incerte : e cosi ando il pontefice a poco
a poco perdendo tutte quello teneva in deposito,
solo restandele Riva e Chiavenna, che sole
furono soccorse dai Spagnoli. Si doleva S^^
Sua che questi, se ben ricercati alio prime
difese, mai vennere al soccorse, e ess! d! non
essere stati chiatnati in tempo, di modo che,
mai soddisfatti Spagnoli, non content! Fran-
SECOND EPOCH OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL RESTORATION
549
cesi, ella sommamente disgustata stimando
poco rispctto s'havessa portato alle sue insegne,
del coiitinuo e grandemente con ognuno sene
querelava : ne altrimenti facevano Spagnoli,
nientrc attribuivano tutti gl'inconvenienti a
lei, e di lei piii d'ogni altro si dolevano : et
ancorche dopo spedisse il nipote legato in
Francia et in Spagna col fine ben note a V.
Serenita, e conoscendo haver preso altra mag-
gior mossa le armi d'ltalia, piu gravi si ren-
dessero i pericoli se vi applicasse da dovero,
con tutto cio non si e potuto levare il primo
concetto die dagli antecedenti mal incammi-
nati principj non siano derivati gl'inconveni-
enti che si sono dopo visti. Ugalmente Fran-
cesi come Spagnoli attribuivano le durezze e
difficolla che si sono incontrate in questa nego-
tiatione, alle pretensioni del pontefice volendo
che ad esso fbssero consignati li forti, senza
dichiararsi quello che n'havrebbe fatto, ne-
gando pero assolutamente di volerli demolire.
Da che si ha reso sopramodo difficil il trovar
ripiego conveniente, si e consumato tanto
tempo, fatte tante speditioni, et in fine portato
il negotio in Spagna, che in Roma difficil-
mente s'havrebbe terminato."
[The other important matter is that of the
Valtelline, with respect to which his holiness
indeed took great pains, but with various for-
tune ; though they will have it that in the be-
ginning he might have had recourse to more
effective and determined measures. His en-
gaging in so arduous a matter in the first days
of his pontificate, when hardly convalescent
from a severe illness, with his mind more en-
gaged with the former than with this busi-
ness, may have occasioned many things to
have been allowed to take their course which
it would not have been difficult to provide
against, though it proved impossible to remedy
them afterwards. Valtellina was deposited
by the Spaniards in the hands of Gregory XV.,
and they consigned Chiavennaand its district
to the present pope under the same conditions.
The first negotiations were carried on through
the medium of the commendator Sillery, with
so much caution and secrecy, that the mere
fact of their existence was not communicated
to the ministers of your serenity, though they
were to take so large a part in them ; and it
was with difficulty they came to know the
truth of what was done. The pope pressed
for nothing else but to receive satisfaction for
the payment of the garrisons he had in the
forts of the Valley, and after many complaints
and urgent remonstrances he succeeded, I
believe, in obtaining from both kings about
200,UOO scudi. This money served to dimin-
ish his displeasure at the deposit, which both
before and afterwards he always greatly con-
demned, thinking it was not for his interest,
and that the procrastination of the business
could not be to his prejudice.
[The people of the Valtelline offered them'
selves as vassals to the pope, assuring him
that the taxes he might impose on wine and
cheese would be sufficient to maintain the or-
dinary garrisons for the defence of the Valley.
Many suggested to the pope, that to restore
the Valtellini to the Grisons, and to put the
catholics into the hands of the heretics, was
not to be thought of, and could not be done
without extreme scandal and injury ; that no
one would consent to its being given up the
Spaniards, nor would these allow of its being
delivered to the French or any other power ;
that, in short, there was nothing better than
that the Valtelline should be preserved to the
church, there being nothing worth having or
disputing for in that country, besides the pas-
ses leading to and fro through the mountains :
should these remain in the power of the pope,
the common father, he would always open
them according to the wants and necessities
of every power. Arguments, however, slight
their foundation, fail not to make an impres-
sion, and sometimes they even convince,
where there appears some prospect of advan-
tage. The pope gave into the scheme, and
added too, that should there be any difficulty
made as to the Valley remaining attached to
the church, he might invest one of his
nephews with it. The plan was put forward
by the Spaniards, and yet it did not please
either them or the French : finally there was
concluded by Sillery that treaty which is well
known to your serenity, and which was not
approved of in France by the king, particularly
that clause of it which stipulated that the
Spaniards should have the right of passage for
the troops proceeding to Flanders, and for the
same exclusively returning. As for the for-
mation of the Valtelline into a fourth league,
which the Spaniards urged so strongly, the
pope was still more opposed to it. For this
reason the ambassador was changed ; or per-
haps on account of the fall of the chancellor
and of Pnysieux the secretary, the one the
brother, the other the nephew, of the said
Sillery. Monsignor de Betthune arrived in
Rome, a minister of more wisdom, of nobler
and more resolute designs; he anntjlled the
measures of his predecessor, insisted upon and
always spoke for the treaty of Madrid, refused
absolutely in any way to allow the Spaniards
the pass ; and he solicited the pope in frequent
audiences to come to some resolution, because
the league could not consent to longer dalli-
ance and procrastination.
[The pope, who never thought there was so
much determination among the confederates,
nor that they would for this reason have re-
course to arms, (particularly as his nuncios in
France and Switzerland continually assured
his holiness by letter, that the marquis de
Covre would never carry the king's arms
against the standard of his holiness,) went on
in his irresolution, and the greater and more
550
APPENDIX.
■"1
manifest the difficulties of the case became,
the more he persuarled himself, (nor were
there vvantini^ those who confirmed him in
this,) that with all these struggles he would
finally remain in possession. And though
Betthune signified as his ultimatum to the
pope, that the king and the league jointly
supplicated him to return the forts to the Spa-
niards, conformably with the terms of the de-
posit, so that if it were necessary to have re-
course to arms they might not be chargeable
with irreverence in advancing against those
of his holiness; and if the pope had not taken
his resolution as he ought, and ofl^ered the fort-
resses to the Spaniards, every thing would
have been arranged to his own honour and to
the satisfaction of the other parties ; for the
Spaniards would not have recovered them,
not being in a condition to defend them ; and
their grounds of complaint would have disap-
peared, since the pope would have in due time
fulfilled the conditions of the deposit, nor could
any one have gainsayed their being left to the
Grisons. Some days elapsed : at length the
marchese di Covre surprised Plata Mala : the
pope then made pretexts, and demanded three
months' time ; afterwards, abating his de-
mand to as much as would be sufficient to
write to Spain and make the offer, saying that
the Spanish ministers in Italy were not em-
powered to receive the fortresses. But Covre's
enterprise being already advanced, and pro-
ceeding daily better and better, it was not
thought expedient, and it would even have
been mjnrious, to wait for the arrival of un-
certain replies from Spain : accordingly the
pope lost by degrees all he held in deposit,
there remaining to him only Riva and Chia-
venna, which were all that received succours
from the Spaniards. His holiness complained
that these, though applied to on the first de-
feats, never came to the aid of his forces ; and
the latter complained that they had not been
called on in time ; so that the Spaniards were
ill satisfied, the French displeased, and he
himself, highly indignant, thinking that little
respect had been paid to his colours, complain-
ed loudly and continually of it to every one :
nor did the Spaniards do less, attributing every
disaster to him, and blaming him more than
any one else. And although he afterwards
sent his nephew as legate into France and
Spain, with a purpose well known to your se-
renity, and though he knew that the Italian
arms h id taken another great movement, and
the danger would be more serious if due exer-
tions were made, with all this he never could
get rid of his first notion, that from the for-
mer ill-contrived beginnings followed all the
disasters that were subsequently experienced.
The French and Spaniards, on their part, both
attributed the vexations and the difficulties
encountered in this negotiation to the preten-
sbns of the pope, who required that the fort-
resses should be given up to him, without his
declaring what he would do with them, whilst,
however, he absolutely denied all intention of
demolishing them. Hence it became enor-
mously difficult to discover any suitable expe-
dient, so much time was wasted, so many ex-
peditions were made, and finally the matter
was carried to Spain, there being little hope
that it could be terminated in Italy.]
112. Relatione dello stato delV imperio e del-
la Germania falta da mons'' Caraffa nel
tempo che era nuntio alia corte delV im-
peratore Vanno 1628. — [Report of the state
of the empire and of Germany made by
monsignor Carafl^a, whilst he was nuncio
at the imperial court.]
This is the most circumstantial of all the
reports I have met with : in a Roman copy it
numbered 1080 folio pages. Nor is it rare in
Germany; I bought a copy in Leipsig, and
there is another in a private library in Berlin
in a handsome folio volume, which a certain
Wynman presented to the bishop of Eichstadt
in the year 1655 with a pompous dedication.
It consists of four parts. In the first, the
German troubles are generally described ; in
the second, the position, the possessions, and
the relations of Ferdinand II. ; in the third,
the German principalities according to the
circles ; in the fourth, the alliances that sub-
sisted in Germany, particularly in latter times.
The author declares he would set nothing
down which he had not himself seen or learn-
ed upon credible authority. " Protestandomi
che tutto quello che scrivero, parte n'ho pra-
ticato e visto io stesso per lo spatio di 8 anni
che sono stato in Germania, parte n'ho inteso
di persone degne di fede, parte n'ho cavato
della lettura de'libri communi e delle lettere
e cancellarie tanto d'amici quanto d'inimici,
che sono state intercette in diversi tempi, de'
quali alcune sono date alle stampe, altre no."
[Protesting that all I shall write will be partly
matter in which I was an actor and a specta-
tor during eight years I passed in Germany,
partly what I have heard irom persons worthy
of credit, partly derived from reading common
books and letters and official papers, both of
friends and of enemies, which have been in-
tercepted at various times, some of which
have been given to the press, others not.]
We see that from the first he contemplates
a systematic compilation.
Carafl^a's printed commentaries follow the
order of time: this work is composed more in
the shape of a report. It is only in the first
part that events are arranged chronologically.
I will not, however, conceal that I have fre-
quently entertained doubts of its authenticity.
It is put together in a very slovenly way.
First we are given the Bohemian re()ort over
again with some slight omissions; then we
meet with a very remarkable piece on the
I
SECOND EPOCH OP THE ECCLESIASTICAL RESTORATION
551
royal election of Hungary in 1685, but
inserted out of its proper place ; lastly, we
come to what is of still greater importance, a
report of the year 1629 on Germany, the em-
peror, and the princes, respecting which there
is not a trace of evidence to show that it was
by Caraffa himself, and which is here enlarged
indeed, but otherwise literally copied. Many
other portions too are manifestly borrowed.
King James I. of England is spoken of as the
" presente re d'Inghilterra," which could not,
however, be said in 1628.
One would think that some compiler had
put these documents together without a pro-
per conception of their import.
But on further investigation this does not
appear probable.
To the old ragguaglio by Caraffa there are
here added some exceedingly important and
searching observations pertaining to the sub-
sequent period, which a compiler could never
have dreamed of.
Facts are stated that could never have oc-
curred to any one who was not intimately
conversant with his subject. For instance,
the author mentions the negotiations of Urban
VIII. in England, through the capuchin Rota,
which were kept so very secret.
The nuncio frequently speaks too in the
first person.
I conclude that this work is really by Ca-
raffa, but that it was not fully completed by
him, whether it was that the author wanted
time, or inclination, or even power to do so ;
for his Bohemian report too, to say the least
of it, is somewhat diffuse and unfashioned. He
may perchance on his return to Aversa have
filled up some leisure hours with the putting
together of his materials.
At any rate the work, even in its present
shape, is deserving of all attention.
The reports it embodies with more or less
modification are of high value. The historical
remarks, too, differ considerably from those in
the printed commentaries.
I will extract a few notices that appear to
me especially deserving of consideration.
I. — Decay of the German principalities, —
for of course German and Austrian matters
are much more largely discussed here than Ro-
man or ecclesiastical.
" Per il passato era tanta I'abbondanza che
li principi di Germaniaa pena potevano saper
la quantita de regali, datii, argenti et altre
dovitie venule da ogni parte, et hora a pena
ritrovano il principio per haverle, e pare che
vivano solo alia giornata, c quello che da una
giornata, I'altra lo consuma. JNon vi e rac-
colta grande di danaro, se non di cose refiu-
tate da' creditori e che sono piu di titolo che
di realta. Di tal negligenzae si poca econo-
mia e di si fatto errore varie s'assegnano le
cause : chi dice cio venire per la liberalita de'
principi, chi per le conditioni de' tempi iniqui,
chi per le frequenti guerre, chi per le sedi-
tioni de' cittadini, altri finalmente assegnano
la causa a' ministri, prefetti e vicarii: vera-
mente si vede tali officii haver voluto abbrac-
ciare piu di quello che potevano stringere et
essere arrivate troppo oltre le comodiia press
da governatori : con questo il poco consiglio,
I'interesse proprio anteposto al commune, cose
che poterono estinguere il gran Romano impe-
rio, perche non ponno estinguere il Germano]
Nasce anco la rovina di Germania dalT otio de'
principi e dal loro troppo delitiare, odalla poca
forza d'ingegno, o da una precipitosa vecchia-
ja, o pure per esser tanto nemici del governo
che pill si contentano di dare in mano d'un'-
altro il maneggio delle cose pubiiche, benche
riconoschino spesso la poca idoneita di colui,
e quasi a foggia di alcuni antichi Eritrei farli
secondi principi, da loro solo differenti per
nome, ma pari nel total maneggio, come fu
Joab appresso David et altri appresso altri
principi. I quali maneggiatori, come presi
dalla plebe, abusavano et abusano la loro data
potesta, e piu con la passione che con la mod-
eratione della virlii governandosi e dati in
preda a parasiti et adulatori constituivano e
constituiscono altri sottoministri indegni, che
con prezzo e ragione di parentela et ambitione
corrompevano e corrompono la giustitia, et a
tale esempio dietro a se tirando altri principi
circonvicini facevano commune giustitia cio
ch'era proprio interesse."
[In times past there was such abundance,
that the princes of Germany could hardly tell
the quantity of royalties, dues, silver, and
other wealth that accrued to them from all
sides ; and now they hardly know how to set
about procuring these, and it seems that they
live only from day to day, the receipts of each
day being consumed by the next. There is
no great receipt of money, only of things re-
nounced by creditors, and which are of nomi-
nal rather than real value For such negli-
gence, such want of economy, and errors so
committed, various are the causes assigned :
some impute it all to the liberality of the
princes, some to the bad times, some to the
frequent wars, some to the seditions of the
townsfolk, others, lastly, lay the blame to the
ministers, the prefects, and their deputies.
In good truth there have been known official
personages who have sought to grasp more
than they could hold, and the advantages
taken by governors have been carried inordi-
nate lengths ; add to this the lack of discre-
tion, and the preference of private interests
to those of the community, things that sufficed
to extinguish the great Roman empire, why,
then, should they not the German f The
ruin of Germany has birth also from the in-
dolence of the princes, and from their exces-
sive luxury, or from the feebleness of their
talents, or from a premature senility, or
because they are so averse to governing, that
552
APPENDIX.
they prefer committing the management of
public affairs to the hands of others, though
frequently they know their incapacity ; and
after the fashion as it were of some ancient
Eritrei to make these persons second sove-
reigns, different from those of old only in
name, but like them in their entire manage-
ment of the state, like Joab under David, and
others under other princes. These managers,
as taken from the plebeians, abused and do
abuse the power granted them, and, ruled
more by passion than by the moderation of
virtue, and a prey to parasites and flatterers,
they appointed and do appoint other unworthy
subordinate ministers, wlio for lucre and for
kinship, and for ambition, corrupted and do
corrupt justice, and inducing neighbouring
princes to follow their example, made common
justice of that which was private interest.]
II. Election of a king of Hungary.
"Sopragiungendo alladieta li voti del reg-
no di Schiavonia e di Croatia, che erano quasi
tutti cattolici, e superando con questa giunta
la parte de' cattolici et adherenti di Sua
Maesta di non poco la parte degli heretici e
non confidenti, la voce sparsa della volonta di
S. M^^ dell' elettione veniva giornalmente
meglio intesa. Tuttavia li deputati dell' im-
peratore, per meglio assicurarsi delii voti
della dieta, volsero prima di proporre I'elet-
tione deir arciduca fame esperienza con
I'elettione de palatino, che si doveva fare per
la morte del Thurzo, desiderando S. M'-'^ che
si facesse un cattolico e particolarmente il
sopradetto conte Esterhasi, ancorche secondo
le leggi e costitutioni di quel regno havesse
proposto alii stati quattro soggetti, due catto-
lici e due heretici : et il negotio riusci felicis-
simamentQ, poiche detto conle fu eletto con
150 voti, non havendo havuto il contrario piu
che 60. Fatta questa prova e con essa rin-
corati maggiormente li confidenti et amici
deir imperatore, parve nondimeno alii minis-
tri di S. JVl^^ che oltre alii sopradetti voti 150
saria stato bene a superare qualclie buona
parte delli 60 contrarj con presenti e con doni
accio riuscisse I'elettione con maggior sodis-
fattione del regno, e collo spendere, per quan-
to fu detto, da 20 m. fiorini si hebbe I'iniento
della maggior parte di loro, come si esperi-
mento nell' altri negotii della dieta. Li Bet-
leniani e suoi adherenti, ancorche non fosse
air hora publicata la volonta dell' imperatore,
sebbene si teneva per sicuro che volesse fare
eleggere re I'arciduca, non mancavano di
conlrariare al possibile.
" Soggiungero un' esempio dell' ardire di
una donna in questo proposito, dal quale, si
come e straordinario, si conosceranno le forze
di detti contrarii. La madre del barone Ba-
thiani, che e de' piu principali signori di
qualita e di stato e di adherenza d'Ungaria,
hebbe ardire di mettere in consideratione all'
imperatrice che non doveva permettere che si
facesse questa elettione, perche si veniva a
pregiudicare a S. JVI''^ stessa poiche se fosse
venuta qualche disgratia alia vita dell' impe-
ratore, lei per I'interregno, come coronata
regina d'Ungaria, finche fosse stato eletto un
nuovo re, haveria governato quel regno. Ma
I'imperatrice, con somma prudenza dissimu-
lando, le rispose che la ringratiava dell' affetto,
ma che lei doppo la morte dell' imperatore, se
fosse sopravissuta, non voleva pensare ad al-
tro che all' utile delli figli di Sua M'^^ sue
marito : al quale subito diede parte della
sopradetta proposta.
" Ma ancorche il negotio dell' elettione si
stimasse gia sicuro, I'impedi tuttavia molti
giorni il contrasto grande nato tra ministri
pivi supremi di Sua M^*^, includendosi ancora
monsr arcivescovo di Strigonia et il nuova
palatino con monsr cancelliere et altri che vi
havevano interessi, come era I'ambasciatore
di Spagna et io come indegno ministro apos-
tolico. 11 contrasto fu, se seguita detta elet-
tione si doveva far subito la coronatione.
Alcuni dicevano di si: perche con questa
veniva I'arciduca ad assicurarsi totalmente
nel regno, il che non saria stato se fosse stato
solamente eletto, per I'accennata di sopra
elettione del Gabor, essendo gli Ungari huo-
mini volubilissimi e per lo piu infedeli ; 2°
dicevano che la coronatione, se si fosse fatta,
haveria giovata assai nel la prima dieta impe-
riale, se I'imperatore havesse voluto far eleg-
gere Sua Altezza in re de' Romani : 3° per
il matriraonio dell' infanta di Spagna, essen-
dosi cola dichiarato di volere I'arciduca prima
eletto e coronato re di Ungaria. Altri per il
contrario, tra quali ero io et il padre confes-
sore deir imperatore, dicevano che questa
coronatione non si doveva fare all' hora, per-
che li stati di quel regno non haveriano mai
permesso che seguisse detta coronatione se
Sua Altezza non havesse promesso loro e
giurato, tanto nelli punti politici come di
religione, tutto quello che promise il padre
stando nelli maggiori pericoli : onde non vi
essendo all' hora detti pericoli e potendo con
il tempo niigliorarsi assai le cose di S. A., o
per la morte del Gabor o per li felici success!
dell' imperio o per altro, non era bene intri-
gare la conscienza di questo principe giovane
con serrarli la porta a' progressi della reli-
gione et impedirgli insieme I'acquisto di mag-
giore autorita politica e dominio nel regno:
2° dicevano, e questo per lo pivi li camerali,
che nella coronatione vi saria andata una
buona spesa, come ancora nell' accrescimento
della corte di Sua Altezza, onde stando all'
hora imminente la spesa grossa del viaggio
d'Ulma, si saria potuto differire in altro tem-
po, non potendo probabilmente apportare alcun
detrimento detta dilatione, perche se il Gabor
havesse voluto pigliare prctesti, venendo qual-
che accidente di morte all' imperatore, tanto
I'haveria pigliato ancorche I'arciduca fosse
SECOND EPOCH OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL RESTORATION.
553
stato coronato, come fece contro I'imperatore
ancorche fusse eletto e coronato: che per
elettione in re de' Romani e per il matrimo-
nio deir infanta di Spajj^na bastava che I'arci-
duca fusse vero re d'Ungaria, e come tale si
potosse intitolare per la sola elettione. Stan-
dosi dunque in questo contrasto, ancorche
I'ambasciatore di Spagna facesse nuove in-
stanze per la coronatione, dicendo che in
Spagna non haveriano fatto il matrimonio dell'
infanta con I'arciduca, stimandosi altrimenti
la successione nel regno non sicura, Sua M^^
con la solita sua pieta si dichiaro che non
voleva che si facesse, stimando secondo il
consiglio del suo padre confessore che fosse
contro conscienza se I'arciduca havesse giu-
rato, come non poteva far di meno, quello che
era stata forzala giurare Sua M^^ nelli peri-
coli grandi, quali all' hora non vi erano."
[The votes of the kingdom of Sclavonia
and of Croatia coming into the diet, almost
all of them catholic, which addition gave the
party of the catholics and of the adherents of
his majesty no small majority over the here-
tics and the disaffected, the rumours spread of
his majesty's wishes respecting the election
were every day better received. The empe-
ror's envoys, however, to make themselves
the more sure of the votes of the diet, be-
thought them, before proposing the election
of the archduke, to make an experiment with
the election of the palatine, which was ren-
dered necessary by the death of Thurzo, it
being his majesty's wish that a catholic should
be elected, and particularly the above-named
Esterhazy ; although, according to the laws
and constitutions of that kingdom, he had pro-
posed to the estates four candidates, two
catholics and two heretics. The affair turned
out most auspiciously ; for the said count was
elected by 150 votes, his opponent not having
had more than 60. After this trial had been
made, whereby the friends and adherents of
the emperor were still more encouraged, his
majesty's ministers thought, however, that it
would have been well to have gained, in addi-
tion to the before-named 150 votes, a good
part of the other 60 by presents, so that the
election might have turned out to the greater
satisfaction of the kingdom ; and by expending
20,000 florins, as it was said, the greater part
of them could have been brought round, as
was experienced in the other affairs of the
diet. The Bethlem party, it being known for
certain, though not yet publicly announced,
that the emperor desired to have the archduke
elected, did not fail to counteract this as much
as possible.
[I will mention an instance of a lady's
eagerness in this matter, from the extraordi-
nary character of which an idea may be
formed of the violence of the opposition. The
mother of baron Bathiany, who is one of the
principal lords in point of quality, estate, and
70
number of retainers, was very earnest in
representing to the empress that she ought
not to permit the election to take place, be-
cause it was to the prejudice of her majesty,
since if any thing unhappily befel the life of
the emperor, she as crowned queen of Hun-
gary would have the government of that king-
dom during the interregnum until a new king
should be elected. But the empress, dissem-
bling with consummate prudence, replied,
that she thanked her for her kindness, but
that after the emperor's death, should she sur-
vive him, she would think of nothing but
what would be for the advantage of the sons
of his majesty her husband, and she immedi-
ately acquainted the latter with the sugges-
tion that had been offered her.
[But though the affair of the election was
now thought secure, it was nevertheless im-
peded for many days by the serious disagree-
ment between his majesty's supreme minis-
ters, including also the archbishop of Strigonia,
and the new palatine, with the chancellor and
others who were interested therein, such as
the Spanish ambassador and myself as the
unworthy apostolic minister. The dispute
was as to whether, upon the election taking
place, the coronation should immediately fol-
low. Some were for it ; because in this way
the archduke would be completely secured in
the kingdom, which would not be the case
were he merely elected, from the pretence of
the previous election of Gabor, the Hungari-
ans being extremely fickle men, and for the
most part unfaithful : 2ndly, they said that the
coronation, shQuld it take place, would be of
considerable assistance in the first imperial
diet, should the emperor desire to have his
highness elected king of the Romans: 3rdly,
they advised it with a view to the marriage
with the infanta of Spain, it being required
by the Spanish court that the archduke should
first be elected and crowned king of Hungary.
Others on the contrary, among whom were
myself and the emperor's father confessor,
said, that the coronation ought not to take
place for the present, because the estates of
the kingdom would never permit it, unless
his highness promised them on oath, both as
to political and religious points, all that his
father had promised when in a more danger-
ous and critical position : therefore as those
dangers no longer subsisted, and as the affairs
of his highness might assume a better aspect
in the course of time, whether from the death
of Gabor or from the prosperity of the empire,
or otherwise, it was not advisable to embar-
rass the conscience of that young prince, and
to shut out, as far as he was concerned, the
further progress of religion, and to hinder liim
at the same time from acquiring a more en-
larged political authority and dominion in the
kingdom : 2ndly, they said, more particularly
members of the treasury, that there would be
654
APPENDIX.
a considerable expense incurred by the coro-
nation, and also in the augmentation of his
highncss's court ; therefore as the heavy ex-
pense of the journey to Ulm was to be speedily
defrayed, it would be well to put off the mat-
ter to another time, nor would this delay be
likely to prove injurious, for if Gabor were
disposed to set up any claim upon the empe-
ror's death, he would do so just as much even
though the archduke had been crowned, as he
had done against the emperor, notwithstand-
ing he was elected and crowned ; they said,
too, that for the election as king of the
Romans, and for the marriage with the infanta
of Spain, it was enough that the archduke
should be really king of Hungary, and that
he could entitle himself such by virtue of his
election alone. The parties being thus at
variance, although the Spanish ambassador
insisted afresh upon the coronation, saying,
that in Spain they would not consent to the
marriage of the infanta with the archduke
without that ceremony, since they thought
that without it the succession to the kingdom
was not secure, his majesty, with his accus-
tomed piety, declared that he would not have
it take place, thinking, in accordance with
the advice of his father confessor, that it
would be against conscience if the archduke
were forced, as he would assuredly be, to
swear what his majesty himself had been
forced to make oath to in great dangers,
which now no longer existed.]
113. Relatio status ecclesicB et totius dicecesis
AugustancEy 1629. [Report of the state
of the church and entire diocese of Augs-
burg.]
Of no special importance. It relates chiefly
to the affairs of the city of Augsburg.
The labours and final banishment from Augs-
burg of the protestants " pseudo-doctors" con-
stitute the author's principal topic.
He hopes that this measure having obtained
the emperor's sanction chiefly through the
instrumentality of Hieronymus Imhof and
Bernhard Rehlingen, the whole city would
shortly become catholic again.
114. Legatio apost<^'^ P. Aloys. Carqfre epis-
copi Tricaricensis sedente Urbano VIII
Pont. M. ad tractum Rheni et ad prov.
inferioris GermanicE obila ub anno 1624
usque ad annum 16:34. Ad O^"' Franc.
Barberinum. [Legation of P. Aloys
Caraffa to the Rhine and Lower Germany
between the years 1624 and 1634.]
A very full report in 204 leaves; some-
what prolix, indeed, but containing some good
things.
The journey is first described, and a great
deal of room is occupied with what is insigni-
ficant. The nuncio, among other places, goes
to Fulda. He makes a merit of it that he re-
duced to the number of eight the sixteen quar-
terings that every one was required to show
who aspired to the rank of abbot of Fulda.
He is particularly copious respecting the
dispute between Liege and the bishop, in
which he himself took an active part ; he trans-
ferred the seat of the nunciature from Cologne
to Liege.
The most remarkable part of the report is
undoubtedly the description of the catholic
universities of that day within the range of his
nunciature.
We see from it how completely the higher
walk of education was at that time under the
control of the Jesuits. They were the mas-
ters in Trier and Mainz ; Paderborn, Miinster,
and OsnabriJck, where universities had but
recently been founded, were entirely in their
hands. But they taught only the humaniora,
philosophy and theology ; jurisprudence was
altogether neglected. In Cologne, which was
always the first of these universities, medicine
was lectured upon only by two teachers, who
had but few hearers. The chief evil in Co-
logne had been that the teachers were too well
provided for with rich prebends. " Earum opi-
bus ad vitam clementem et suavem instructi,
raro aut nunquam ipsi sacram doctrinam tra-
debant, sed aliorum vicaria opera passim ute-
bantur. Hinc sine pondere et melhodo instrue-
bantur academici, et anni quindeni facile cir-
cumagi solebant priusquam universam illi
theologiam audirent. Ea res vero antehac
non parum incommoda ferat archidioscesi
Coloniensi et prsesertim ditionibus Julise, Cli-
viae, ac Montium, quod pro adeunda in iis
animarum procuratione reparandisque religio-
nis catholicae ruinis parochi et sacerdotes
idonei hoc pacto nisi post longissimum diem
non instiluebantur." [The wealth of these
enabling them to pass their lives in ease and
comfort, they seldom or never personally ex-
pounded the doctrines of religion, but on all
occasions employed deputies. Hence there
was neither solidity nor method in the instruc-
tion given to the students, and fifteen years
were commonly passed before they h^d gone
through the whole course of theology. Now
this had formerly been very prejudicial to the
archdiocese of Cologne, particularly to the dis-
tricts of Juliers, Cleves, and Mons, because it
was not till after an inordinate delay, that fit
parish clergy and priests were appointed in
them for the cure of souls, and to rebuild the
ruins of the catholic religion.] The Jesuits
abolished this abuse; the college of the three
crowns, which was transferred to them, enjoy-
ed a high reputation, and in 1634 had upwards
of 120U students. But the spirit of luxury
was not so easily eradicted. The feasts of the
masters increased luxury and the costs of pro-
motion. " Tota quadragesima sunt quotidie
SECOND EPOCH OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL RESTORATION,
555
academicorum symposia." [All through Lent
there are daily drinking parties among the
members of the university.] Our author's
account of the Catholicism and the good living
of the Colognese is by no means amiss. " Po-
pulus Coloniensis religionis avitse retinentis-
simus est, quam utique semel susceptam nun-
quam deseruit. Tolerantur quidem in civitate
femiliffi aliquse sectariorum, sed vetitum eis
est exercitium omne sectarum suarum, et cere
gravi mulctantur si qui clam habere privates
conventus et audire Lutheri aut Calvini buc-
cinatores deprehendantur. Insenatum ipsum
nulji cooptantur qui catholici non fuerint ; et
quotquot in eo conscripti ad curiam veniunt,
sententiam dicere aut ferre suflragium non
possunt nisi prius eodem die intervenerint rei
sacrte in proximo palatii senatorii sacello.
Noctu ipsi cives excubias habent in potioribus
plateis civitatis, nee vis aut injuria metueri
potest, quia strepitu quovis exciti adsunt et
opitulantur, grassatores vero ac sicarios in
vincula conjiciunt. Sed et plateas omnes ca-
tensis ferreis noctu vinciuntur, ne pateant
liberis excursionibus, ideoque populus maxinie
in tranquillo agit. Inter alia plebis commoda
illud imprimis commemorari debet, licere cui-
que ineunte hieme boves et sues emere eosque
fumo arefacere ac in escam anni consequentis,
qua vesctintur avide, domi servare. Spatium
vero ejusdem anni eisconcedi solet ad pretium
reprsesentandum, dum interim aliqui a senatu
constituti mercatoribus solvunt: nee unquam
opifices uUi, quamvis inopes, patiuntur suam
lidem in ea re desiderari, quia deinceps baud
foret integrum eis rursus ejusmodi annonam
rei cibaria illo tam insigni subsidio aeris publici
coemere. Sunt et triclinia tribuum commu-
nia, in eisque possunt omnes iis diebus quibus
feriantur in hebdomade, constitute pretio ad-
modum facili, convivari."
[The people of Cologne are most tenacious
of the religion of their fathers, from which as
once adopted they have never swerved. A few
families of sectarians, indeed, are tolerated in
the city; but all demonstrations of their tenets
are forbidden them, and they are heavily fined
if any of them are detected holding private
meetings, and listening to the trumpeters of
Luther or Calvin. None are elected to the
senate itself wlio are not catholics ; and all the
members of that body that enter the court are
debarred from uttering their opinions or deli-
vering their votes, unless they liave previously
attended divine worship the same day in the
adjoining chapel of the senatorial palace. Tiie
citizens themselves keep watch and ward in
the principal streets of the city, and none need
be apprehensive of wrong or violence, since
upon any alarm they are ready with their aid,
and take all assailants and cutthroats into cus-
tody. Moreover the streets are all closed by
night with iron chains preventing free passage,
a measure peculiarly conducive to the quiet
and security of the inhabitants. Among other
advantages enjoyed by the populace, it is par-
ticularly worthy of mention that each man has
the privilege of purchasing oxen and swine in
the beginning of winter, smoke-drying them
and storing them up for the next year's con-
sumption, when they are highly relished.
They are allowed a year to pay, the price
being meanwhile advanced to the venders by
certain persons appointed by the senate : nor
does it ever occur that artisans, however poor,
fail to keep their engagements in this matter,
for the consequence would be that they could
never again avail themselves of so signal an
assistance offered them by the public funds in
the purchase of their provisions. There are
also district ordinaries, where all may be en-
tertained at a very moderate fixed price on
those days of the week on which they are held.]
But not only towns and universities, but
princes and events too are portrayed. Fer-
dinand of Cologne " gravitate morum, profes-
sione pietatis et ingenii maturitate nulli secun-
dus" [inferior to none in exemplary morals,
manifest piety, and mature intellect.] Fre-
derick of Wurzbuvg: " linguarum etiam
exterarum peritia, morum suavi quadam gra-
vitate, prudentissima dexteritate omnibus ca-
rus," [skilled in foreign languages, and dear
to all for a certain gentle worth and moral
dignity, and a most happy practical wisdom.]
Casimir of Mainz : " eloquens vir in Germa-
nico idiomate, legationibus functus" [an elo-
quent German speaker, he had filled the office
of legate.]
Of the events too of the period, L. Caraffa
mentions .many remarkable particulars. I
know not what were the grounds for believing
that Wallenstein might have taken Stralsund,
"si, quod multi existimant, pecuniam quam
urbem capere non maluisset." [If, as many
supposed, he had not been more desirous of
taking money than the city.] He considers
it a great misfortune, that upon the first move-
ment of Saxony, Tilly could not have thrown
his troops into the country. His description
of the state of Cologne after the battle of Leip-
sig, and of the views which the French mani-
fested at that moment is very remarkable.
" Ex accepta clade ad Lipsiam fractse vires
fuerant et fracti catholicorum animi) et tunc
repente imperitia vel metus in propugnandis
arcibus aditum hosti victori magnum aperue-
runt, ut viscera imperii mox infestis armis
invaderet, ex quo Fulda, Herbipolis, Bam-
berga, Moguntia, Wormatia, Spira, aliseque
urbes atque oppida fuerunt exiguo tempore vel
expugnata vel dedita. Colonia superfuit prin-
cipum exulum perfugium, et hi thesauros qua
sacros qua laicos in eam civitatem importa-
verant, si quibus licuerat tamen illos avehere
antequam ingrueret ea belli vehemens et su-
bita tempestas. Ibidem anxia? curce principum
et dubia consilia erant, an, sicut proposuerat
556
APPENDIX.
orator Gallus, expediret deinceps neutri parti,
seu Caesaris seu Gustavi regis, tarn arma prin-
cipum eorumdem quam arma ipsiusmetcivita-
tis Coloniensis favere. Id Colonise suadebat
orator christianissimi regis : sed necessarium
fore affirmabat ut in earn urbem pariter atque
in alias ditiones principum electorurn cohortes
prassidiariorum ex regis sui legionibus intro-
ducerentur : tunc enim reveritus Coloniam
Gustavus rex alio arma convertisset, aut si
venire hostis nihilominus deliberasset, provo-
casset merito christianissimum regem, ac foe-
dere extincto inimicitiam et iram ejus experiri
coepisset. Gravis nimirum videbatur ea con-
ditio admittendi cohortes prsesidiarias regis
externi in civitates ac ditiones imperii : sed
graviores multo erant conditiones alias, quibus
ut neutri parti faverent deinceps proponebatur ;
quia in bello tam ancipili Cffisarem non juvare
sed quasi deserere videbatur maxiine aiienum
a professione pervetere civitatum ac princi-
pum ipsiusmet imperii. Hoc superesse tamen
consilii et eum portum securitatis unice adeun-
dum esse judicabat pariter apostolicus nuntius
Parisiensis, ad quern scripseram de ingenti
clade religioni catholicae templisque et aris
illata per Gustavum regem."
[The blow received at Leipsig had broken
alike the strength and the spirits of the catho-
lics, and forthwith want of skill or timidity in
the defence of their positions, opened a wide
door to the victorious foe, enabling him speed-
ily to infest the very bowels of the empire,
whereof Fulda, Wiirzburg, Bamberg, Mainz,
Worms, Spires, and other cities and towns,
were in brief time either stormed or surren-
dered, Cologne remained the place of refuge
of the outcast princes, and thither had been
carried whatever treasure, cleric or lay, there
had by any chance been opportunity of carry-
ing off before the outburst of that fierce and
sudden storm of war. Here it was anxiously
and dubiously debated among the princes,
whether it was expedient, as the French envoy
had proposed, that thenceforth neither the said
princes nor the city itself should lend their
arms in favour of either party, whether the
emperor or king Gustavus. Such was the
advice of his most Christian majesty's envoy ;
but he averred that it would be necessary to
introduce into that city, and also into other
strongholds of the electoral princes, garrisons
furnished from his own king's troops: for so
king Gustavus being in awe of Cologne would
turn his arms elsewhere, or if he yet deter-
mined to assault it, he would incur the just
indignation of the most Christian king, and
upon the termination of the alliance begin to
experience his disfavour and resentment.
Onerous indeed appeared that proposition of
receiving garrisons of a foreign king's troops
into the cities and strongholds of the empire ;
but much more onerous appeared the other
proposition, namely, that for the future they
should favour neither party; because in so
critical a war not to assist the emperor, but to
desert him as it were, seemed altogether at
variance with the immemorial principles of
the cities and princes of the empire itself.
The apostolic nuncio at Paris however, to
whom I had written touching the direful blows
inflicted on the catholic religion, its temples,
and its altars by king Gustavus, was likewise
of opinion that this was the only remaining
course, and the only door of safety left yet
open.]
There follows a detailed account of the fate
of Wallenstein, which I shall give elsewhere.
115. Relatione della corte di Roma del Sig^
K^ Aluise Contarini delV anno 1632 al
1635. (Arch. Ven.) [Report on the
court of Rome by Aluise Contarini from
1632 to 1635.]
A very circumstantial report in thirty-five
chapters comprising 140 pages : it is the more
important, as Aluise Contarini had come direct
from France to Rome, and was therefore the
more capable of estimating the very peculiar
political position which Urban VII. had assum-
ed at that period.
He describes in the first place the spiritual
and the temporal government of the pope.
He finds it quite monarchical. Of all the
old congregations only one, that of the inqui-
sition, assembled regularly: the cardinals en-
joyed no other prerogatives than that carriages
drew up on meeting them, that they wore the
purple and voted in the election of popes : the
pope had so little liking for them, that in im-
portant matters he had recourse to inferior
prelates, whose hopes more immediately de-
pended on himself, rather than to the cardi-
nals, who were more independent.
But the tighter the rein is drawn, the more
does natural authority decline. " L'antica
veneratione sta oggidi molto diminuita."
[The ancient reverence is now-a-days much
decreased.]
The inhabitants of Urbino were particular-
ly dissatisfied. " Quei sudditi si aggravano
molto della mutatione, chiamando il governo
di preti tirannico, i quali altro interesse che
d'arricchirsi e d'avanzarsi non vi tengono."
[They complain much of the change, calling
the government of the priests tyrannical, be-
cause they have no other objects but to enrich
and aggrandize themselves.] The author
constantly laments that Urbino had fallen into
the pope's hands, and thinks it a great loss to
Spain and Venice.
In a second part he enters into personal
descriptions :
" Nacque il papa Urbano VIII del 1567
(others say 68) d'Aprile, onde camina per li
69 di sua eta, conservato dal vigore della
complessione non soggetta a qualsivoglia ma-
SECOND EPOCH OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL RESTORATION.
557
lattia, e dalla vivacita dell' ino^egno. La
statura mediocre, il color bruno, il pelo bian-
co, I'occhio vivo, il parlar pronto, la tempera-
tura sanguigna e biliosa. Vive con gran re-
gola. Regola in gran parte le sue attioni coi
moti del cielo, dei quali e molto intelligente,
ancorche con censure grandissime a tutti gli
n'habbia prohibito lo studio. Li suoi moti
sono subiti e vehementi, tali che alcuna volta
confinano con la pazzia, non potendo con la
patienza frenarli, se ben egli dice che questa
commotione della bile di quando in quando
vaglia molto eccitando il calore alia preserva-
tione di sua salute. Cavaica, villeggia, cam-
raina, ama I'escercito. Non s'affligge per le
cose molests : e tutte queste parti concorrono
a prederii qualche anno di vita ancora, non
ostante che nel tempo del mio soggiorno assai
decaduto sia.
" E arrivato al papato con un servitio con-
tinue di 30 e piu anni alia corte. Fu prima
prelate di segnatura e poi governatore di
Fano. Poco appresso, per opera di Francesco
Barberini suo zio paterno, prelate d: poco gri-
do ma di gran richezze accumulate con parsi-
monia Fiorentina, compro ufficii in corte e
final menteil chiericatodi camera, Clemente
VIII lo impiego in diverse cariche, ma parti-
colarmente sopra quella del novo taglio del
Po, dacche sono arrivate in gran parte le dif-
ferenze present! dei confini con la republica,
per la cognitione che professa di quell' affare
8 per il disgusto che allora non si eseguisse a
mode suo. Fu poi dall' istesso Clemente man-
date nuntio in Francia, prima estraordinario
per tenere a battesimo il re presente, e poi
ordinario di Enrico IV suo padre, dove si mos-
tro zelantissimo dell' immunita ecclesiastica.
Paolo V successore d Clemente lo confermo
nella medesima legatione di Francia : poi lo
fece cardinale, legato di Bologna, e ritornato
a Roma prefetto della signatura di giustitia,
carico d'onore et impiego ben grande. Fi-
nalmente del 1623 fu in luogo di Gregorio
XV con pratiche molto artificiose assonto al
pontificate nell' eta sua di 56 anni : et oggi
corre il XIII anno, con disgusto di tutta la
corte, alia quale non meno che ai principi
torna conto i pontificati brevi, perche tanto
piu tengono conto di tutti, abbondano nelle
gratie, non temporalizzano come se fossero
hereditarj del papato, e finalmente la corte in
generale trova impiego e fortuna nella fre-
quenza delle mutationi.
" In ogni stato hebbe il papa di se stesso
grande opinione con affetii di dominio sopra
gli altri e disprezzo al consiglio di tutti. Par
ch'egli esercita oggidi tanto piu liberamente
quanto che si ritrova in posta sopra a tutti
eminente. Ha ingegno grande, ma non giu-
dicio : ingegno, perche nelle cose che da lui
solo dipendono e che riguardano la sua per-
sona e casa, si e sempre condotto ove ha desi- j
derato, senza omettere gl'inganni e gli artifi-
cii di lui molto connaturali, come si vide par-
ticolarmente nelle pratiche del suo papato,
nelle quali seppe far convenire nella sua per-
sona le due fattione contrarie di Borghese e
Ludovisio, solo col far credere all' una d'esser
inimico dell' altra : negli aifari poi generali,
nei quali si richiede il giudicio di saper ben
congiungere gl'interessi della sede apostolica
con quelli degli altri principi, si e osservato
il papa esserne per sempre stato manchevole.
Tale lo dichiarano il negotiodi Vallellina: la
guerra di Mantova, che non sarebbe seguita
se il papa si fosse dichiarito conlro il primo
innovatore: la perdita di Mantova, attribuita
ai viveri che riceverono gli Alemani dalle
stato ecclesiastico, senza quali conveniva lore
o disassediarle o morirsi : la prefettura di
Roma data al nipote, privando la sede aposto-
lica dell' assistenza di tanti ministri di princi-
pi che sono il piii bel fregio di lei, et aggra-
vando lo stesso nipote d'invidia, di riguardi e
d'un posto assolutamente insostentabile dopo
la morte del pontefice : il mal termine usato-
si contro I'ambasciatore di V. Serenita mio
precessore, lasciandolo partire senza soddis-
tattione : I'ultima comprotettione di Francia
nel cardinale Antonio nipote prima persuasa
et acconsentita, poi ritrattata e prohibita, con
nota appresso il mondo di grande artificio, per
non dire inganno, e con divisione della pro-
pria casa. Tralascio il gran detrimento che
sotto il presente pontefice hafattola religione
cattolica in Fiandra el Alemagna ; i pericoli
all' Italia per la negata dispensa al cluca di
Mantova, e molto piii per aversi partato il pa-
pa in mode che ha disgustato tutti i principi
grandi e piccioli, che nessuno glieamico:
onde si e reso incapace di poter esercitar con
essi lore quelle parti di autorita e di paterno
consiglio che potrebbe pacificarli et unirii in-
sieme alia difesa della religione : parti che
sono state cosi esattamente maneggiate e
conusciute proprie de' pontefici che persoste-
nere il nome di padre comune, dal quale pro-
viene lore ogni veneratione, e per mantenere
I'unione tra i principi christiani, che cagiona
in essi molta autorita, si sono espostiad azzar-
di, a viaggi, a pericoli, non militando nel
nome di padre quel puntigli che nell' intro-
missione degli altri prmcipi possono facilmente
incontrarsi.
" Si e sempre professato il papa presente
neutrale, attribuendo a sua gloria I'aver arric-
chila et ingrandita la sua sasa senza comprar
stati in regno di Napoli ne sottomeltersi a fa-
vori dei principi grandi. Nell' interno perd
suo egli e affettionato a Francesi, le loro pron-
tezze e risolutioni essendo piu conformi al
genio di S. S^^, in ordine di che ha fatto le
maggiori dimostrationi quando segui I'acquis-
to della Rosceila. Persuase la pace con In-
glesi, affinche la Francia potesse accorrer al
soccorso di Casale allora assediata dai Spag-
noli: consiglio ai medesimi I'acquisto e 1&
558
APPENDIX.
conservatione di Pinarolo per necessario equi-
librio alle cose d'ltalia : trovo sempre pretesti
di diferir o diminuir i soccorsi in Alemagna,
con opinione, la qual vive tuUavia, che a S.
Si^ sia dispiacciuta la niorte del re di Suezia
e che pill goda o per dir meglio manco tema i
progressi de' protestanti che degli Austriaci.
Anzi e opinion comune che quando anche fosse
portato il papa dal cardl Barberino tutto Spag-
nolo a qualche unione con essi, tornerebbe fa-
cilmente a maggior rottura di prima. E la
causa e questa : perche governandosi il papa
con artificio e credendo che Spagnoli faccia-
no il medesimo, saranno sempre tra di loro
anzi gelosie d'inganni che confidenza di ben
vera unione."
[Pope Urban VIII. was born in April 1567,
(others say 68) whence he is going on for 69 ;
he has preserved the vigour of his constitution
unsubject to any malady, and the vivacity of
his intellect. He is of middle height, his
complexion brown, his hair white, his eye
quick, his speech rapid, his temperament san-
guine and bilious. He lives strictly by rale.
He regulates his actions in a great measure
by the movements of the heavens, with which
he is very well acquainted, though he has
forbidden the study of them by others under
the severest censures. His gestures are sud-
den and vehement, sometimes even to the
verge of absurdity, for he cannot have pa-
tience and restrain them, but even says that
this commotion of the bile from time to time
is of much use in exciting the natural heat
for the preservation of his health. He rides,
makes excursions into the country, walks,
and is fond of exercise. He does not distress
himself about unpleasant matters ; and all
these circumstances combine to promise him
some years more of life, notwithstanding that
he broke very much during my sojourn in
Rome.
[He arrived at the papacy after a continual
career of court service of thirty years and
more. He was first a prelate di signatura,
and afterwards governor of Fano. Shortly
afterwards, through the aid of Francesco Bar-
berini his maternal uncle, a prelate who
made no great noise in the world, but of great
wealth, accumulated with Florentine parsi-
mony, he purchased offices at court, and final-
ly a clerkship of the camera. Clement VHI.
employed him in various posts, particularly
about the new cut of the Po, and hence in a
great measure have arisen the present dis-
putes about the boundaries between the Ro-
man states and the republic, in consequence
of the knowledge he professes to have of the
matter, and his displeasure, because his own
conclusions were not adopted at that time.
He was afterwards sent by Clement as nun-
cio to France, first as nuncio extraordinary to
baptize the present king, and afterwards as
ordinary nuncio to the father of the latter.
Henry IV., in which post he displayed the
greatest zeal for the ecclesiastical immuni-
ties. Paul v., Clement's successor, confirm-
ed him in the same nunciature to France;
next he made him cardinal, legate of Bologna,
and on his return to Rome prefect of the sig-
natura of justice, a post of honour and a very
important employment ; finally in 1623, by
means of very crafty practices, he became
pope in the place of Gregory XV. in the fifty-
sixth year of his age. It is now the thir-
teenth year since then, to the annoyance of
the whole court, which, no less than the sove-
reigns, finds its account in short pontificates,
because in these there is more regard paid to
every one, a more abundant bestowal of fa-
vours, and the popes do not behave as though
they held their see by hereditary succession ;
and in fine the court finds occupation and for-
tune in the frequency of change.
[In every situation the pope always had a
high opinion of himself, affecting to rule over
others, and undervaluing the counsel of all
men. He seems to indulge this disposition at
present the more freely, as his position is pre-
eminent above all. He has great talents, but
not judgment : talents, because in those
things which depend on him alone, and which
pertain to his own person and family, he has
always accomplished his ends, without omit-
ting the tricks and artifices most congenial to
him ; of which a particular instance was giv-
en in his canvass for the papacy, in which he
contrived to unite in his own favour the two
opposite factions of Borghese and Ludovisio,
only by making each believe that he was hos-
tile to the other: but in general affairs, in
which judgment was required aptly to make
the interests of the apostolic see coalesce with
those of the other sovereigns, the pope has
been always found deficient in that quality.
Such he proved in the affair of the Valtelline;
in the war of Mantua, which would not have
taken place if the pope had declared against
the first innovator; in the loss of Mantua, at-
tributed to the supplies the Germans received
from the ecclesiastical state, and without
which they must have raised the siege or pe-
rished ; in the bestowal of the prefecture of
Rome on his nephew, depriving the apostolic
see of the presence of so many ministers of
sovereigns who constitute its finest ornament,
and loading his nephew himself with envy,
with watchful care, and with a place abso-
lutely untenable after the death of the pope ;
in the ill-treattnent of your serenity's ambas-
sador my predecessor, and allowing him to
depart without satisfaction; in the last joint
protection of France, first advised and con-
sented to through his nephew cardinal Anto-
nio, and afterwards retracted and prohibited,
to the flagrant exposure of his very artful, not
to say fraudulent conduct, and to the division
of his own house. I pass over the great in-
SECOND EPOCH OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL RESTORATION.
559
jury the catholic religion has sustained under
the present pope in Flanders and Germany,
the dantrers to Italy from tlie refusal of the
dispensation to the duke of Mantua, and still
more in consequence of the pope having con-
ducted himself in a manner which has dis-
gusted all princes great and small, so that no
one is friendly to him, whence he is become
incapable of exercising with them those offi-
ces of authority and of paternal counsel which
might pacify them, and unite them together
in the defence of religion ; offices which have
been so sedulously exercised, and recognised
as peculiarly their own by the pontiffs, that
to uphold the title of common father, from
which they derive all reverence, and to main-
tain union among Christian princes, which is
a great source of authority to themselves,
they have exposed themselves to hazards,
journeys, and perils ; those punctilios having
no force under the name of father, which
might present themselves upon the interfer-
ence of other sovereigns.
[The present pope has always professed
neutrality, esteeming it to his glory that he
has enriched and aggrandized his house
without purchasing estates in the kingdom
of Naples, or submitting to receive favours
from great princes. Inwardly, however,
he has a leaning to the French, whose
promptness and determination are more con-
genial to the character of his holiness, in
accordance with which he made the greatest
demonstrations on the capture of Rochelle.
He advised peace with the English, in order
that France might be able to succour Casale,
which was then besieged by the Spaniards :
he recommended to the same power to take
and keep Pinarolo, in order to the necessary
equilibrium of the affairs of Italy : he always
formed pretexts for postponing and diminish-
ing the succours to Germany, tliereby coun-
tenancing the opinion, which still prevails,
that his holiness was sorry for the death of the
king of Sweden, and that he is better pleased
with, or rather is less afraid of, the progress
of the protectants than that of the Austrians.
It is also the common opinion, that even
though the pope were induced by cardinal
Barberini, who is wholly for Spain, to some
union with that power, it would be very
likely to end in a more decided rupture than
before. The reason is this, that the pope
pursuing a system of stratagem, and thinking
that the Spaniards do the same, there will
always be more of jealous apprehension found
between them, than of confidence such as
belongs to a sincere union.]
It is not necessary to quote the description
given of the nephews by Aluise Contarini.
Even Francesco Barberini, though he was
the most loved by the pope, and though he
devoted himself entirely to public business,
was nevertheless wholly dependent on his
uncle. " Nessuno nipote di papa fu giamai
alle fatiche del negotio assiduo come egli e
non avenda minimo divertimento: ma egli e
anche vero che nessuno inanco di lui ha
operate." [No pope's nephew was ever so
assiduous in business as he is, not taking the
least recreation ; yet it is true that none has
ever effected less than he.]
He ceases to portray the cardinals indivi-
dually. He finds a general tone of hypocrisy
prevading the body. " Sara tal Cardiff sanis-
simo che per facilitarsi il papato vorra esser
creduto infermo : caminando zoppica, discor-
rendo tosse, uscendo si sta tutto in una
seggietta racchiuso. Tal altro che sara buon
politico, si mostrera lontano da ogni negotio,
nei discorsi s'ammutisce, ne' quesiti si stringe
le spalle, nolle risposte generallizze." [Such
a cardinal shall be in perfect health, yet to
facilitate his attainment of the papacy he will
endeavour to be thought infirm : he will limp
as he walks, cough in speaking, and when he
goes out he will be shut up close in his litter.
Another who is an able statesman will feign
to have no familiarity with business, in con-
versation he will be dumb, when questions
are asked he will shrug his shoulders, and if
he answers it will be in general terms.] The
thought strikes us that this is the original,
from which the fabulous account of the eleva-
tion of Sixtus V. was derived.
The third part relates to the political rela-
tions of Rome ; it is full of acute and vivid
observations ; it is, as I have said, for us the
most important portion of the document.
Strongly as was Urban's leaning to the
French, the ecclesiastical demands of the
latter were not always complied with. " Bi-
sogna anche confe.ssare, ch' essi hanno addi-
mandato delle gratie difficili, come la disposi-
tione del' abbazie di Lorena, la nullita de'
matrimonj tanto del duca Carlo di Lorena
come di monsieur et altre simili." [It must
be confessed too that they have demanded
favours not easy to grant, such as the right to
dispose of the abbeys of Lorraine, the annul-
ling the marriages of Duke Charles of Lor-
raine, and of monsieur, and others like these.]
Francesco Barberini was not so much attach-
ed to the French party as his uncle. The
French no longer hoped for any striking
declaration in their favour, but they knew
too that the pope would not be against them ;
it was in itself a great advantage for them that
he was reputed a friend to France, and that
the opposite party did not trust him.
The Spaniards, on the other hand, were
highly discontented. They made it a matter
of reproach against cardinal Borgia that he
had suffered Urban VIII. to be elected, and
it was asserted that the cardinal could only
have been gained over by promises and mani-
fold favours. They pretended to see the in-
fluence of the pope's ill-will in the negotia-
560
APPENDIX.
tions respecting the Valtelline, in the policy
of the French, and the position assumed by
Bavaria. On the other hand, Barberini on
his part asserted that the concessions he had
made them, had been met by no return of
gratitude. The misunderstanding we see
was mutual.
Contarini is most copious on the relations
of Rome and Venice ; he imputes the differ-
ences between them chiefly to this, that
whilst other states were feared by Rome as
more powerful, or neglected as less so, Venice
was regarded and treated as an equal.
Some soreness was felt at Rome, because
the English and the Dutch enjoyed some
privileges there. But if once the temporal
jurisdiction laid hands on a clerical person a
general storm burst out.
The ambassador nevertheless is of opinion
that his countrymen must beware of being
duped. The nuncio's orders were to main-
tain the closest intercourse with those Vene-
tian priests above all who were most popular,
and who had most penitents to shrive, " E
VV EE tengano per constante, die col mezzo
di questi tali vengono i nuncii a risapere il
midollo deili arcani." [And your excellence
may be assured, that by means of such men
the nuncios contrive to suck out the marrow
of secrets.] So much the more necessary was
it that the public should not surrender its
authority over them.
But besides this, there were continual dis-
putes about the boundaries. Urban VIII. is
by no means regarded as a patron of the Vene-
tians. In particular he sought to advance
Ancona to the pejudice of Venice.
116. Discorso della mallattia e morte del card^
Jppolyto Aldobrandino camerlengo di <S''"
Chiesa col fine della grandezza dalpapa
Clemente VIII. 1638. [Discourse on the
illness and death of cardinal Ippolyto
Aldobrandino, chamberlain of the holy
church and the extinction of the greatness
of pope Clement VIII.]
The rapid downfall of the family of Aldo-
brandino, so recently founded, produced an
extraordinary sensation in Rome.
The little work before us is written under
these feelings. " E stato superato della
morte quel gran ingegno !" it begins. There
survived of the whole house only the daughter
of John George Aldebrandino, who would
necessarily inherit enormous wealth.
The following passage gives no bad idea of
the state of Roman society : " II marchese
Lodovico Lanti, il conte Gio Francesco da
Bagni, Berlingieri Gessi e Bernardino Biscia,
aspettando tutti quatro a gara il pontificato
de' loro zii, ambivano le nozze della princi-
pessa Aldobrandina." In the hope of their
uncle's promotion to the papacy, these nephews
presumptive vied for the hand of the wealthi-
est heiress.
But not one of them attained either to this
match or to the power of a nipole.
Ippolyta married a Borghese. Our author
is in the utmost amazement. Paul V. had
persecuted the Aldobrandini, and had even
imprisoned the father of Ippolyta ; and now
she wedded his grand-nephew.
But subsequently, as is well known, she
was actually united to the nephew of a reign-
ing pope, Innocent X.,a match which was de-
termined by the circumstances and conven-
iences of the court of Rome.
117. Relatione di q. Znanne Nani K^ Proc^
ritornato di ambasciatore estraordinario
da Roma 1641 10 Luglio. — {Arch. Ven.)
[Report of Zuanne Nani, late extraordi-
nary ambassador to Rome.]
There were numerous and incessant disa-
greements between Rome and Venice ; anew
one of the most peculiar kind arose in the
year 1635.
A magnificent inscription in pompous terms,
set up in the Sala regia of the Vatican, re-
corded a fact of the Venetians of which their
annals boasted, and on which they always
prided themselves much ; this was a victory
over Frederick Barbarossa, by which they
affirmed that they had saved pope Alexander
III. from destruction.
In Rome, however, the terms used in this
inscription were gradually conceived to be
inadmissible. The words " Pontifici Veneta?
reipublicae beneficio sua dignitas restituta,"
were pronounced by the increasing rigour of
Roman orthodoxy, to be something of an in-
sult. The spirit of captious contention for
rank which ruled the world fastened on this
obselete and almost forgotten incident. But
besides this, doubts began to be started as to
the truth of the story, as it was set forth in the
Venetian books of history. Writings ap-
peared on both sides of the question.
It is one that has been constantly revived
even up to this da)'.
I cannot imagine that there can be any
doubt about the matter, for any one who has
the least idea of historical criticism.
Be this as it may, it was at any rate not
merely historical conviction, but also political
jealousy, that induced Urban VIII. first to
change the inscription, and at last to oblite-
rate it entirely.
The republic, too, viewed the matter in the
same light; and as the disputes about the
boundaries, and about the precedence of the
new prefetto, were at that very time becom-
ing more and more rancorous, Venice for a
while sent no regular ambassadors to Rome.
Nani, who went thither in the year 1631,
was only an extraordinary ambassador. He
SECOND EPOCH OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL RESTORATION.
561
remained, however, nearly three years and
a half, and his report proves that he had made
himself well acquainted vvitii that court.
The main object of his mission was to in-
duce the pope to aid the republic in case they
were attacked by the Turks, a contingency
which then seemed very probable.
Strange to say, this request was even wel-
come to tlie pope. He could setoff this need
of the republic against the continued calls for
help on the part of the house of Austria,
which was pressed so hard by the protestants
and the French.
The ambassador would also have gladly
induced the pope to use his mediation between
the militant powers, but he did not possess the
general confidence requisite to that end.
"Pullulando tante amarezze coUe corone,
restava fiacca, per non dir quasi odiosa I'au-
torita del pontefice."
Nani also remarks Urban's disposition to
display military strength. Those who wished
to stand well with him found it expedient to
talk with him about his fortifications. He
often mentioned them himself He said, that
within twenty days he would bring together
more than twenty thousand men. He rec-
koned up the treasures he possessed. For
immediate necessities he had put by 400,000
scudi ; it was thought that there still remained
in the castle three out of the five millions
amassed by Sixtus.
Let us see how Nani portrays the person
and the government of Urban VIII.
" II pontefice e nel principio del settantesi-
mo terzo della sua eta e nel fine del XVII del
pontificate, dopo un spatio di 324 anni che
altro papa non ha goduto cosi longo governo.
E di forze robusto e gagliardo, e per tale li
piace di esser creduto: et in effetto, levato
qualche dubbio di flussioni e d'accidenti im-
provisi ai quali pare sottoposto, e in tale cos-
titutione di buoua salute che puo mantcnersi
piu anni. Usa governo esquisito nella sua
cura. Al presente, ch'6 piu grave I'eta, man-
co s'applica elle faccende, delle quali non
suole pero prendersi piii disturbo di quelle che
vuole. La mattina e dispensata in audienze
et in negotii, il dopo pranzo e riservato alia
quiete et alia conversatione domestica, nella
quale e allegro e faceto, come in ogni altro
discorso erudito e facondo, e nelle audienze
stesse passa volentieri dal negotiare al parlare
di cose piacevoli e di studio, al quale e dedito
assai. Possede gran talenti e gran qualita.
Ha memoria meravigliosa, petto e vigore che
lo rende alJe volte troppo costante nclli suoi
eensi. Ha spiriti grandi accresciuti dall' es-
perienza del governo e dei negotii. Deferisce
assai al suo proprio parere, percio non ama
di consultare ne cura le qualita die ministri,
che possino maggiormente far risplendere le
sue risolutioni. Non moltoinclina al gratiar.
E ardente, et alle volte con li ministri nie-
71
desimi dei principi non ha potuto dissimulare
il suo fervore. Ama che sia trattato seco
con destrezza e soavita : e se vi e strada di
poter far declinare dai suoi sensi I'animo di
Sua St^i^ questa e sola, la quale, se pure alle
volte non puo profittare, avanza certo, che se
non si peiga, almeni non si rompe
" Nel governo presente e desiderate mag-
gior e miglior conaulta, perche dove manca il
discorso, suole mancar la ragione : e vera-
mente pochissimi sono li ministri e pochi
quelli che habbino autorita e confidenza a
palazzo. Appresso il pontefice non si sa al-
cuno che possi, e preponendo S. S^^ il proprio
parere a qnello di tutti, sogliono li altra o
lodarlo o secondarlo. Si uso in altri tempi
che havevano i papi appresso di se tre e
quattro cardinali e con la lore discussione ri-
solvevano i piii gravi negotii, e si teneva per
arcane dei nepoti medesimi introdurre suoi
dipendenti nella confidenza del zio, per con-
durlo poi e guadagnarlo dove o non potevano
essi spuntare o non volevano scoprire gli
aSetti lore proprj.
" Barberino non ha volute circuire in tal
mode la liberta del papa : ma riservando a se
solo il posto pill vicino alle orecchie di S.
Si^, obbliga gli altri a stare ritirari et al solo
parer di lui sottoponere le proprie opinioni,
non mostrando gusto che da chi si sia si parli
al pontefice di negotio senza sua precedente
participatione. Non si serve pero ne anco di
questa autorita, che gode solo con quella li-
berta che per avventura complirebbe al ben
publico et al suo proprio interesse: ma non
osando respirare contro le risolutioni e li
sensi del papa, prende molte volte I'habito
della costanza medesima di S. S^^, e^sendosi
in tal maniera sottoposto al disgusto delle co-
rone e d'altri principi e di lore ministri per
non divertire e non sopire molti strani acci-
denti.
" Appresso di questo li cardinali pur si do-
gliono e massime le creature di non haver
apertura ne confidenza. Di pochissimi mini-
stri si serve il sig'' card^^, mentre la mole
dei negotii et altre circostanze di molti lo
possono render bisognevole. Pancirola e
Ricchi, auditor! di rota, sono li piu domestici
e li pill adoperati.
Pancirola e soggetto mature e di' molta
esperienza, che fci impiegato in Piemonte per
la pace sin nel principio delle guerre di Man-
tova. Serve per li negotii del governo dello
stato ecclesiastico, e non havendo havuto che
irattar meco, non mi resta che dire delle sue
conditioni.
Ricchi e di gran spirito, pronto et sagace:
dirige quasi tutti li negotii dei principi, e par-
ticolarmente ha in mano quelli della Repub-
lica. Edipendentissimoda Barberino, qualita
che lo rende oltre mode grato al sig"" cardi-
nale. Ha incontrato disgusto di molti minis-
tri de' principi, neraeno e amato dall' univer-
562
APPENDIX.
sale. Non ha altra esperienza che quella
che ]i concede I'impiego presente, che e
grande. Ha egli sempre trattato meco, e
relle mie lettere e neJla forma dei suoi officii
I'averanno pivi volte veduto descritto W EE.
Tratta con destrezza e con flemma e con
altrettanto ingegno e solertia. Delia serenis-
eima Republica parla con tutte le espressioni
di riverenza e divotione. Tiene a cuore
certo interesse di peasioni del cardinal sue
fratello, del quale ho scritlo alire volte.
" A questi aggiungcro mons'' Cecca, segre-
tario di stato, perche assiste al presente alia
trattatione della lega. Non ha egli talenti
piu che ordinarj : ma per la lunga esperienza
della sua carica tiene buona informatione de'
negotii. E vecchio assai, e si crede vicino al
cardinalato, se ben dalli nepoti e poco amato,
ma molto rispettato per I'affetto che li porta
la S'^ Sua. Servi il segretario del pontefice
mentre fu nuntio in Francia, e con passaggio
mostruoso di fortuna ma solito della corte oc-
cupo il luogo del padrone medesimo, e mentre
questo vive ancora con poco buona sorte,
Cecca gode carico, rendite e speranze piu
che ordinarie. Appresso Barberino non vi
sono altri di credito e di talenti che meritino
d'esser osservati.
" Per il govcrno dello stato vi e consulta dei
cardinal! e dei prelati, che in due giorni della
eettimana discute diverse occorrenze. Ahre
congregationi sono dell' inquisitione, de propa-
ganda fide, del concilio, de' regolari de' riti e
d'altri simili interessi. Tutto pero serve a dis-
corso, perche la risolutione reita al gusto di S.
S^^ e del nipote. Una congregatione di stato si
tiene di quando in quando avanti il papa per
le occorrenze piu gravi, e non v'intervengono
che le creature e i piu confidenti che hanno
servito nelle nuntiature : ma anco questa
suole servire ad accreditare le deliberation!
piu che a risolverle, perche ne si discorre ne
ei forma il decreto che per quell' opinione
nella quale si sottragge o si lascia intendere
esser tS. S^^, et in etfetto si querelano i pon-
tefici di non haver di chi confidare, perche
tutti li cardinal! vivono con 1! loro interessi e
rispett! verso ! principi stranieri."
[The pope is in the beginning of his
seventy-third year, and is drawing to the
close of the seventeenth of his pontificate, the
longest that has been enjoyed by any pope for
the last 324 years. He is robust and active,
and likes to be thought so; and indeed, with
the exception of fluxes and sudden attacks to
which he appears liable, his constitution is so
hale that he may last several years. He uses
the utmost refinement in the regulation of his
health. At present, being more burtliened
with years, he applies less to business, though
indeed he is not used to let them trouble hmi
more than he has a mind. The morning is
spent in audiences and in business; the after-!
noon is reserved for quiet and domestic con-i
verse, in which he is cheerful and witty, aa
in all other discourse he is erudite and elo-
quent; and in his audiences even he gladly
passes from negotiating, to talk of interesting
matters and subjects of study, to which he is
much devoted. He possesses great talents
and great qualities. He has a marvellous
memory, and a courage and energy that
render him at times too fixed to his own
notions. He has great powers of mind, in-
creased by experience in government and in
state affairs. He is somewhat wedded to his
own opinion, wherefore he is not fond of
taking counsel, nor does he regard the quali-
ties of ministers who can give greater brilli-
ancy to his own measures. He is not much
inclined to bestow favours. He is impetuou.s,
and at times he has not been able, even with
the ministers of sovereigns, to conceal his
warmth. He likes to be dealt with with ad-
dress and smoothness, and if there is any way
of bending the mind of his holiness from his
own way of thinking, it is this alone; and
though it is not always successful, it is sure
of this good result, that if the pope does not
yield, at least he does not break with the
speaker.
[The present government has need of more
frequent and better consultation, for where
there is lack of discussion there is usually
lack of reason ; and in truth the ministers
are very few, and they are few who have in-
fluence in the palace. No one is known to
have any weight with the pope; but as his
holiness prefers his own opinion to that of all
the others, they do nothing but praise or se-
cond his suggestions. In other times it was
customary for the popes to have about them
three or four cardinals, with whom they dis-
cussed and determined the most important
matters; and it was a secret device of the
nephews themselves to introduce their own
dependents into their uncle's confidence, so
as to gain him over to such things as they
could not bring about by themselves, or such
as they did not like to be seen in.
[Barberino has not chosen thus to circum-
vent the pope's freedom ; but reserving to
himself alone the immediate approach to the
ear of his holiness, he obliges all others to
stand aloof, and to submit their opinions to
his own solo will, not liking that any one
should speak t'o the pope on business without
his own previous knowledge. Nevertheless
he does not use even thnt influence which he
possesses alone with that freedom which
would, perhaps, be conductive to the public
good and to his own interest ; but, not ventu-
ring to utter a breath in opposition to the
pope's decisions, he frequently identifies him-
self in appearance with the obstinacy of his
holiness, and in this way has incurred the
aversion of the crowned heads, the other
princes, and their ministers, for not warding
SECOND EPOCH OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL RESTORATION.
563
off or suppressing many unpleasant occur-
rences.
[The other cardinals, particularly those of
the present pope's creation, complain that
they liave not access to Barberino or credit
with him. He employs very few ministers,
whereas the mass of business and other cir-
cumstances seem to require that he should
have many. Pancirola and Ricchi, auditors
of the rota, are most in his intimacy, and most
employed.
[Pancirola is a man of mature and large
experience, who was employed in Piedmont,
about the peace from the beginning of the
wars of Mantua. He is employed in the in-
ternal affairs of the ecclesiastical state, and,
as I had no occasion to transact business with
him, I have nothing to say respecting his
personal qualities.
[Ricchi is a man of great talents, prompt
and sagacious; he has the management of
almost all affairs connected with foreign
princes, and particularly those pertaining to
the republic. He is very obsequious to Bar-
berino, a quality which renders him very
acceptable to that cardinal. He has met
with unfavourable treatment from many fo-
reign ministers, nevertheless he is liked in
general. He has had no other experience
than that derived from his present employ-
ment, which is considerable. He has always
transacted business with me, and your excel-
lencies will have frequently seen him des-
cribed in my letters. In his official dealings
he displays address and coolness, and no less
capacity and diligence. He speaks with all
reverence and devotion of the most serene
republic. He has at heart a certain matter
touching his brother the cardinal's pensions,
of which I have written on other occasions.
[To these I will add monsignor Cecca, se-
cretary of state, because he assists at pre-
sent in the affairs of the league. His talents
are not above the common order ; but, from
his long experience in his post, he is well ac-
quainted with business. He is somewhat
aged, and is thought to be near the cardinal-
ship, though he is little liked by the nephews;
but he is much respected on account of the
regard borne him by his holiness. He was
in the service of the pope's secretary during
his nunciature in France, and by a prodigious
vicissitude of fortune, though a common one
at the court, he supplanted his master, and
whilst tiie latter still lives in no very prosper-
ous a condition, Cecca enjo3's his place, and
revenues, and expectances more than com-
mon. There are no other persons about Bar
berino whose credit and talents are worth
mentioning.
[For the administration of the state there
is a consulta of the cardinals and prelates,
which meets twice a week to discuss sundry
occurrences. Other congregations are those
of the inquisition, of the propaganda, of the
council, of the monastic orders, of rites, and
so forth. But all tends only to talking; for
the determination of all measures is at the
discretion of his holiness and the nephew.
A congregation of state is held from time to
time in presence of the pope, upon occasions
of greater magnitude, in which none others
take part than the pope's creatures, and
those persons of trust who have served in
nunciatures. But even this assembly serves
more to ratify resolutions taken, than to ar-
rive at them by discussion ; because nothing
is argued or embodied in the form of a decree
except in conformity with what his holiness
proposes, or gives to be understood as his
opinion : and, in fact, the popes complain that
they have none in whom they can confide, for
all the cardinals have their own interests and
schemes in view in connexion with foreign
princes.]
118. Racconto delle cose piu considerabili
die soiio occorse nel governo di Roma in
tempo di mons^ Gio. Batf^ Spada. [Ac-
count of the matters of most note which
occurred in the government of Rome in
the time of monsignor Gio. Battista
Spada.]
Belonging to the latter times of Urban
VIII., full of traits of life and manners, such
as fall within the range of police and justice,
and which are here related in the most au-
thentic and unquestionable manner.
The contests between the old families still
continued, — for instance, between the Gaetani
and the Colonnesi: it was not only difficult to
effect an accommodation between them, but
it even took several days to draw up a docu-
ment, wherein the requisite narrative of their
quarrels should be set forth in a manner at
which the one or the other did not take
offence.
Quarrels between the French and the
Spaniards. They meet in hostelries; each
party drinks to the prosperity of its own
king; insults are given, still the weaker
party behaves with tolerable moderation ;
but as soon as it has received an accession of
strength, as soon as the two parties meet in
tiie open streets, they come to blows. The
bargello has the greatest difficulty in separa-
ting them.
But if they quarrel among themselves, on
the other hand they vie with each other in
opposing the court and the police of Rome.
The ambassadors were particularly hard to
deal with. They gradually put forward those
pretensions which let to such serious disputes
at a subsequent period. Not only did they
declare their palaces free and privileged pla-
ces, and allowed forbidden games to take
place in them, but they even claimed the
564
APPENDIX.
right of taking the neighbouring houses under
their protection, Monsignor Spada was na-
turally opposed to this. " Che se si era usata
cortesia con i S" ambasciatori di non entrare
nelle case loro e delle loro tamiglie, era una
troppo grande estensione quella che volevano
introdiirre hora, che ne anche nelle case vicini
e comprese nella medesima isola si potesse far
esecutione."
The most important incidents in a historical
point of view are two attempts on the life of
Urban VIII., which are here related with all
desirable authenticity.
" 1. Del processo di Giacinto Centini, ne-
pote del cardi d'Ascoli, e d'alcuni complici
.... la sostanza era, ch'essendo stato pro-
nosticato ch'al presente pontefice doves-
se succedere il cardinal d'Ascoli, invag-
hito Giacinto del pronostico e desiderando di
vederne prestamente I'effetto havesse trattato
con fra Serafino Cherubini d'Ancona minor
osservante, fra Pietro da Palermo eremita,
che si faceva chiamare fra Bernardino, e fra
Domenico da Fermo Agostiniano, di procu-
rare con arte diabolica d'abbreviare la vita a
N. S e, et a quest' effetto fu risoluto di fare
una statua di cera rappresentante il papa,
come si essequi, e dopo molte invocationi di
demonii e sacrificii fattigli la fluire, distrug-
gere e consumare al fuoco, con ferma creden-
za che distrutta quella dovesse terminare la
vita di papa Urbano e farsi loco alia succes-
sione del cardi d'Ascoli zio di Giacinto.
2. " La confessione di Tomaso Orsolini da
Recanate. Che per instigatione di fra Do-
menico Brancaccio da Bdgnarea Augustini-
ano era andato a Napoli per scoprire al vicere
un supposto trattato di principi d'invadere il
regno di Napoli con interessarsi ancora S. S^^,
e ch'il rimedio era di far morire uno de' col-
legati o il papa : al che fare s'offeriva il padre
Bagnarea sudotto, mentre se li dessero sc.
3000, qiiali voleva dare al sagrista di N. S^e,
gia reso inhabile, e succedendo egli in quel
carico, li haverebbe postoil velenonell' hostia
ch'avesse dovuto consegrare S. S^^ nella mes-
sa, o pure quando non fosse succeduto sagris-
ta, haverebbe operate che lo speciale Carcura-
sio suo parente, mentre medicava le fontan-
elle a S. S'^, vi ponesse il veleno : non passo
pcro ad esprimere al vicere questi particolari,
poiche havendogli accennato di dover far
morire il papa, vide ch'il vicere non si appli-
ed."
[1. Of the trial of Giacinto Centini, nephew
of Cardinal d'Ascoli, and of some accomplices.
. . . The substance was, that it having been
prognosticated that cardinal d'Ascoli would
be Ihe successor of the present pope, Giacinto,
fired by the prophecy and desiring to see its
immediate lulfilmeiit, made arrangements
with fra Seraphino Cherubini of Ancona, a
minorite, fra Pietro of Palermo, a hermit, who
went by the name of fra Bernardino, and fra
Domenico of Ferma, an Augustine, to abridge
by diabolical art the life of his holiness; and
to this end it was resolved to make a wax
statue representing the pope, as was actually
done ; and after many invocations of demons
and sacrifices performed, to melt, destroy, and
consume it in the flames, with the firm belief
that when it was destroyed, the life of pope
Urban would terminate, and room would be
made for the succession of cardinal d'Ascoli,
the uncle of Giacinto.
[2. The confession of Tomaso Orsolini of
Recanate. That at the instigation of fra Do-
menico Brancaccio of Bagnarea, an Augus-
tinian, he went to Naples, to disclose to the
viceroy a supposed plot of the princes to at-
tack the kingdom of Naples with the co-ope-
ration of his holiness ; and that the remedy
was to put to death one of the confederates or
the pope ; and this the aforesaid father Bag-
narea offered himself to do, provided there
were given him 3000 sc, which he would
give to the pope's sacristan, who was now be-
come incapacitated, and upon himself succeed-
ing to that post he would put poison in
the host, his holiness would have to con-
secrate in the mass ; or if he could not get
the place of sacristan, he would contrive that
his relation the apothecary Carcurasio in dress-
ing his holiness's issues should put poison in
them. He did not, however, proceed to state
these particulars to the viceroy, because he
saw that when he hinted at the expediency of
putting the pope to death, the viceroy did not
attend to the hint.]
119. Hislorica relatione delV origine e pro-
gressi delle rott.ure nate tra la casa Bar-
berina et Odoardo Farnese duca di Par-
ma e Piacenza. ( Vieima library.) His-
toria Prof. n. 899. 224 leaves. [Historical
report of the origin and progress of the
breach between the Barberini family and
Odoardo Farnese, duke of Parma and
Piacenza.]
A partisan work in the form of a letter, in
which the origin of these disputes is attributed
entirely to the bad will of the Barberini. This
author too couples the barons' monti with
those of the state : the pope had readily gran-
ted the required permission ; he thereby made
the barons but more subservient to him. " Nel-
la erettione di simili monti il principe era
mallevadore, riservatosi il beneplacito di po-
terne dimandare I'estintione asuo piacimento."
[On the establishment of such monti the sove-
reign made himself bondsman, reserving to
himself the right of calling for their extinc-
tion whenever he pleased.]
I do not find that this work, notwithstanding
its bulk, gives any very remarkable clue to
the events of the time ; and as we do net in
this case happen to want any such, it docs not
appear to me of much value. The most re-
SECOND EPOCH OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL RESTORATION.
565
markable of its contents are the accounts it
gives of the anti-Austrian, and in a certain
sense, anti-catholic, tendencies of pope Urban
VIII.
" Si lasciava tal volta intendere, essergli
ben grati li progress! de' cattolici contra li
heretic i, nia esservi insieme da temere che
un giorno queste prosperila cadessero a danno
e precipitio de' medesimi per le gelosie che si
sarebbero svegliate in tutto il mondo, che il
imperio dovesse assorbir ogni residue di liber-
ta che vi rimaneva. Corse fama per tutte la
corti che dalli impulsi d'Urbano originassero
quelle ombre del duca Massimiliano di Bavie-
ra, che apersero una gran scisma nell' unione
de' principi cattolici posti su i sbaizi, che do-
mati li heretici fosse per convertirsi lo stbrzo
delle armi Austriache a danni diquei medesi-
mi che erano stati ministri delle grandezze di
quella casa : e per dir tutto, vi fu chi in quel
tempi si vanto di sapere che la missione di
Ceva, confidente ministro della casa Barberi-
na, in Francia con titolo di nontio straordina-
rio, havesse ne' suoi pivi reconditi arcani se-
crete commissioni d'eccitare il re di Francia
a mischiarsi nelle turbulenze di Germania, a
fine che intendendosi con Baviera si pensasse
al mododi alzare qualche argineaila crescente
potenza della casa d'Austria." [Expressions
dropped from him at times to the effect that
he rejoiced at the progress of the catholics
against the heretics ; but that at the same
time there was reason to fear that one day
this prosperity would turn to their own down-
fall, from the jealousies that would be excited
throughout the world, lest the empire should
absorb every remnant yet left of liberty. The
report was current at all the courts, that it
was at the suggestion of Urban that duke
Maximilian of Bavaria conceived those suspi-
cions, which caused a great schism in the union
of the catholic princes; namely, that when the
heretics were put down, the Austrian arms
were to be turned against those very powers
that had ministered to the greatness of that
house ; and, to say the whole truth, there were
some in those days who boasted their know-
ledge, that the mission of Ceva, the confiden-
tial minister of the house of Barberino, with
the title of nuncio extraordinary to France,
had for one of its most secret objects to excite
the king of France to mingle in the disturb-
ances of Germany, so that in concert with Ba-
varia he might devise means of throwing up
some dam to stem the increasing power of the
house of Austria.]
This is evidence, at least, that such views
prevailed at that period.
120. Della vita di papa Urbano VIII. e his-
toria del sua pontijicato scritta da Andrea
Nicoletti. 8 vols, folio MS. [Life and
pontificate of pope Urban VIII. by Andrea
Nicoletti.J
It is very much to be regretted that there
are so few good or even available biographies
of eminent historical personages.
This defect is not to be imputed to any in-
difference for their memory, which we usually
find highly esteemed, if not overrated, by
those connected with them : it is rather to be
ascribed to the following causes.
In the beginning, when the memory of the
deceased is yet fresh, and materials are still
to be had, regard is had to contemporaries ;
the whole truth cannot be spoken out ; a mul-
titude of individuals would be compromised,
and a thousand animosities aroused against
the subject of the memoir himself.
At a later period, when the contemporaries
are also departed, and when a writer may
think himself free to speak out, the memory
too of the individual has faded away, the ma-
terials are dispersed, the interest even of the
subject has declined, and only awakes in those
who wish to investigate it in the way of his-
torical research.
The following expedient therefore was often
adopted in Italy.
The materials for a biography were com-
mitted to a confidential friend or servant of
the family, who had been privy to and was
well acquainted with every thing pertaining
to the subject : he put them together, and ar-
ranged them into a connected narrative, which
however was not intended for the press, but
was preserved in MS. in the family archives.
In this way the susceptibility of contempo-
raries was spared, and at the same time the
possibility was attained of the revival of a fast-
fading memory in full truth at some future time.
The work of Andrea Nicoletti belongs to
this class.
It contains the family reminiscences re-
specting the per?onal hittory and the public
transactions of Urban VIII. ; but that which
makes up its chief bulk is the entire corres-
pondence between the pope and the ambassa-
dors during the twenty-one years of his ponti-
ficate.
The biography consists essentially of a
compilation of the despatches of the nuncia-
tures.
Its contents are not the final reports, the
so-called relationi, but the despatches them-
selves, as is fitting in a biography: the pope
alway appears therein as personally directing,
determining, and acting.
I saw that similar compilations had also
been attempted in Venice : but as the doings
of the republic are thrown into the back-
ground, and nothing is put before us but the
bulk of the received reports, whilst we have
no evidence of any effect produced, the atten-
tion soon wanders and grows weary.
In the case before us it is quite otherwise.
The vocation of the papacy, the complicated
political position of Urban VIII., the iinmedi-
566
APPENDIX.
ate significance of every particular as to some
great point in history, produce unity and ex-
cite interest.
It is manifest how surpassing-ly important,
as regards the period of the thirty years' war
in Germany, are all the particulars here rela-
ted. They elucidate it in every point.
Where the author pronounces an opinion,
or reports a fact on his own authority, we can-
not indeed follow him implicitly. Here and
there he lacked authentic information : tJie
official complexion is apparent in the origin
and first conception of such a work. I will
only give one example. In the 3rd vol. of
his work, p. 673, Nicoletti asserts that Urban
VIII. heard with poignant grief (il rammarico
fu acerbissimo) of the conclusion of a peace
between England and France, in the year
1629; yet we learn from Aluise Contarini,
who had a personal share in all the negocia-
tions, that the pope had even recommenced
those negociations, and the conclusion of the
treaty. JN'icoletti's error arose from this, that
this tact escaped his observation amidst the
enormous mass of the correspondence before
him, and that he judged of the pope in con-
formity with his ecclesiastical position. Tiiere
are many other instances of the kind. This,
however, need not prevent our believing our
author where he only makes extracts.
His practice is to insert the papers in their
full extent, only with such alterations as the
form of a narrative required. The most, then,
he can have done in any instance is to have
omitted or misplaced something. But from
the nature of his task, which only consisted
in compiling what was put before him, and
from the character of his- work, which was not
intended for the public, this is not necessarily
to be anticipated, and I have not found any
trace of it.
Although I have gone diligently through all
these volumes, and have not neglected the
opportunity of making myself acquainted with
such important historical materials, yet it
would be impossible to give any further ac-
count of them in this place. Whoever has
had to examine correspondences knows how
much it is necessary to read through, in order
to come clearly to the truth of any fact. I
may, however, extract the description of the
last moments of Urban VIII., which is very
deserving of attention, and of his personal
character as received by our author.
Tonio ottavo at the conclusion. " Erano in
quel giorni nel fine di Giugno caldi eccessivi
in Roma e molto piu del solito pericolosi:
nondimeno, parendo al papa di essersi alquan-
to rihavuto, e sapendo che diciasette chiese
erano senza i loro vescovi, e non havere il
cardinale Grimaldi, tornato dalla nuntiatura
di Francia, ricevuto il capello cardinalizio, si
dichiaro di volere tenere il concistoro nel
prossimo lunedi. II cardinale Barberino cre-
dette di poterlo indurre anche alia promotione
de' cardinali: percio non gli oppose la peri-
colosa sua debolezza e la febbre leiUa che se
gli poteva raddoppiare, anzi lodo il pensiero e
confortoUo, che fosse quasi in sicuro della
sanitii. Divulgatasi la voce del futuro con-
cistoro, mentre si teneva il papa da alcuni
moribondo e da altri indubitamenle morto ma
che per alcuni giorni si fosse la morte di lui
occultata, si vide la maggiore parte di Roma
impaurita, benche ciascuno fingesse nel viso
allegrezza e contento per la ricuperata salute.
Accortosi dapoi il cardinale Barberino che il
papa non voleva venire alia promotione di
alcun cardinale, giacche ne mancavano otto
nel sacro collegio, o perche non rimanesse
sodisfatto de' sogetti che se gli propone vano,
o perche lasciar voleva al successore queila
cura, fece con ragioni efficacissime e con pre-
ghiere I'ultima pruova di dissuadergli in quel
giorni il concistoro, e tanto piu si adopero
quanto vedeva, oltre il danno del papa, che
egli sarebbe rimasto in discapito della slima
e del credito suo, perche non facendosi i car-
dinali si sarebbe conferraata I'opinione che
universalmente correva, che egli per cagione
delle guerre fosse caduto dalla potenza che
haveva appresso il papa, e che se havesse la
St'^ Sua alJungata la vita, havrebbe dominato
il cardinale Antonio. Non essendosi a quelle
preghiere e ragioni mosso il papa, monsignor
Roscioli, conoscendo di dare gusto al cardi-
nale Barberino e di giovare alia vita di Sua
St^ col rimuoverlo dalla detta deliberatione,
confidato nella benevolenza di Sua fine verso
di se, stabili di adoperarsi con ogni efficacia
possibile, anche a nome publico de' cardinali e
della citta di Roma, di volerlo dissuadere dal
concistoro. Preso adunque il tempo oppor-
tune, entro dal papa, e postosegli inginoc-
chioni gli disse di non volerlo supplicare a
nome de' suoi ministri ne per parte de' suoi
nipoti ne della casa Barberina, ma della citta
tntta di Roma : imperciocche essendo la S^^
Sua stata eletta per la salute de' popoli e per
governare la chiesa, abbandonando la cura di
se medesima con esporsi inferma a pericoloso
accidente veniva insieme a lasciare in abban-
dono la citta et il governo commessole della
chiesa, non senza grandissimo dolore di tutti :
iinportare pivi it suo bene o il suo male alia
christianita che alia casa Barberina o alia
Si=^ Sua medesima: che percio se non voleva
differire queila fatica alle preghiere de' nipoti,
lo facesse almeno per I'istanze della citta di
Roma, che la supplicava. II papa dopo di
essere stato alquanto pensoso rispose di non
curar^i di prolungare piii la vita, conoscendo
il pontificato non esser piii peso delle sue
ferze, et iddio havrebbe proveduto alia sua
chiesa. Dopo questa risposta essendosi al-
quanto traltenuto, si accorse nionsignore Ros-
cioli che il papa haveva gli occhi pieni di
lagrime e sospirando si rivolto al cielo e pro-
SECOND EPOCH OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL RESTORATION.
567
ruppe in ferventi preghiere a dio accioche la
maesta sua divina lo volesse liberate da'.la
vita presente, mcstrandosene grandemente
annojato.
Venuto fiiialmente il lunedi determinato
per tenere il coiicistore, concorso al palazzo
gran moltitudine di popolo curioso di vedere
il papa, che poco avanti havova creduto per
morto. Appena entrato, i cardinali si accor-
sero havere egli hormai finita la vita, imper-
ciocche comparve laiiguido, pal lido e quasi
smarrito nelle parole, e particolarmente nel
fine del concistoro mostrava di essere rimasto
quasi senza intendimento. Fu data la cagione
air eccessivo caldo della stagione accresciuto
dalla calca della gente penetrata dentro: e
non andarono senza biasimo i ministri piu
intimi del palazzo et anche il cardinale Bar-
berino per non havere impedito il papa da
qnella si faticosa funtione, non sapendo il
popolo le manifatture che si erano tatte per
distornelo: imperciocche ognuno dal vederlo
in cosi grande squallcre et abbattimento di
forze si sarebbe mosso a pieta, poiche chiara-
mente cono.-cevasi che il male gli haveva
ingombrata la mente et il vero sentimento del
governo delle cose. Dopo la propoiitione
delle chiese e dopo havere dato il cappello al
cardinale Grimaldi partissi dal concistoi'o soni-
mamente aggravato dal male, come gli fu
predetto.
" Nel di seguente fece un' attione con la
quale si acquisto fama di gran pieta e degna
di rimanore per esempio a tulti i principi
ecclesiastici. Questa fu di chiamare alia sua
presenza alcuni theologi in quella scienza e
nella probita riguardevolissimi e dal i)apa
creduti lontani dall' adulatione, a quali tatta
prima dare piena cognitione di tutti li beui et
entrate ecclesiastiche delle quali in tempo dei
suo pontificate haveva arricchita la casa Bar-
berina, ordino che gli rifcrissero se in alcuna
cosa egli haveva trapassato il potere e I'auto-
rita sua : perche era preparato a ripigliare da'
nepoti tutto cio che aggravare gli poteva la
coscienza avanti al tribunale di dio. Li theo-
logi furono il cardinale de Lugo, il padre Tor-
quato de Cupis della compagnia di Gesii, et
alcuni altri. E si animo il papa a fare questa
attione dal sereno che vide in fronte al cardi-
nale Barberiuo, quando ciiiamatolo prima di
tutti lo fece partecipe di questo suo pensiero,
che non ostanti I'ombre passate quasi voile
parere di volere da lui prenderne consiglio.
Lodo il cardinale la pieto della S^^ Sua, e
mostro di haverne particolare contento, spe-
rando maggiori felicita dalla mano liberalis-
sima di dio, mentre solo per sodisfare a Sua
Divina Maesta tutto cio si faceva. Dicesi che
il parere uniforme de' theologi fu, che havendo
Sua Si^ arricchiti li suoi nipoti, poteva con si-
cura coscienza lasciarli godere tulti li beni che
haveva loro conceduti, e cio per due ragioni :
I'una perche havendo promossi al cardinalato
una quantita di soggetti quali non haveva pro-
voduti di entrate secondo il loro grando, li
medesimi nipoti havessero comodita di acco-
modarli secondo il loro bisogno : I'altro jnotivo
per quietare la coscienza del papa fu, che ha-
vendo li sopradctti nipoti in si lungo princi-
pato e nelle passate guerre contralto I'odio e
I'inimicitie con diversi principi, era ragione-
vole di lasciarli ben comodi per mantenere il
loro grado, anche per riputatione della sode
apostolica, e non essere vilipesi, come suole
accadera a quelli che dalla cima del dominare
si riducono a stato inferiore: onde I'essere
bene provisti di ricchezze e di beni di fortuna
gli havrebbe falti maggiormente rispettare :
et oltre di cio li medesimi nepoti havevano di
loro natura tali viscere di Christiana pieta che
havrebbe erogate I'entrate in beneficio de'
poveri et in altri usi pii. E con queste et
altre ragioni mostro il papa di quietarsi.
" Si andava dunque preparando alia morte,
che da se stesso conosceva essergli vicina:
ma fra questi pensieri e dispositioni si mos-
trava in tutti i ragionamenti pieno di giusto
sdegno contro i principi d'ltalia, sentendo
immenso dolore che havesse a restare memo-
ria che in tempo del suo pontificate si fossero
collegati contro di lui et havessero assalito
con esercili lo stato della chiesa: onde talvolta
prorompeva in parole acerbe, come se fossero
stati senza pieta, senza religione e senza
legge, et implorava dal cielo giusta vendetta
per vederli da dio gastigati prima di morire o
almeno pentiti. Gia, come altrove si e detto,
si era con loro fatla la pace, firmata dalla S^*
Sua e sottoscritta: ma in essa non venivano
li due cardinali Barberini ne compresi ne
nomiuati : onde le creature piu fedeli giudica-
rono che mentre la casa Barberina era per la
vita del papa ancora temuta, si dovesse impie-
gare ogni industria perche i principi Itaiiani
li dichiarassero inclusi nella medesima pace,
Et il cardinal Bicchi, che agli stessi principi
ando plenipotentiario per parte di Francia,
atfermo che per non essere certi della morte
del papa non sarebbero stati lontani dal trat-
larla e dall' accettarla. Ma il cardinal Bar-
berino con ordini precisi vietollo, ordinando al
Bicchi che di cio non ne trattasse punto,
ancorche i principi spontaneamente gliel'
havessero offerto : ne voile mai sopra di cio
sentire consigli di alcuno, allegando per ragi-
one che il volere loro essere inclusi ne' capi-
toli della pace e nominati in essa altro non
era che un farsi dichiarare per autori di
havere mossa la guerra, conciossiacosache ne'
trattali di pace non sia mai solito ne si costu-
mi di nommare i ministri, ma i principi e capi
che a parte della guerra sono venuti.
" Vacavano in quel tempo, come dianzi fu
detto, otto luoghi nel sacro collegio de' cardi-
nali : onde grande era I'agitatione in che stava
la corte, potendo cosi gran numero cagionare
non picciola mutatione nelle cose de' capi di
568
APPENDIX.
fattioni g'lk stabilife. II papa, come piu volte
disse a noi i! cardinale Barberino, desiderando
clie i cardinali fossero in maggior estimatione
meglio proveduti di entrate, penso di ridurre
con particolare constitutione tutlo il sacro
coUegio al niimero di cinquanto: onde stava
fisso in non fare altra proniotione. Barberino
pero, conoscendo che col lasciare tanti luoghi
vacanti non havrebbe il papa ottenuto Tintento
et havrebbo servito d'ingrandimento alia fat-
tione del successore, piu volte supplicoUo che
si lasciasse vincere dal consentimento comune
in promuovere tanti soggetti che vi erano
meritevoli della porpora. Ma il tutto gli
riusci vano, rispondendogli il papa di non
volere che alcuni de' suoi successori col sno
esempio potessero nel fine della vita privata-
mente senza decoro e stando in letto creare
cardinali, e che questo esempio da Gregorio
Decimoquinlo ricevuto haveva e voleva con
uguale gloria lasciare a' posteri. Vi si ado-
perarono altri personaggi e particolarmente il
cardinale de Lugo, il quale per render efficaci
I'istanze del cardinale Barberino suggeri al
papa il decreto consistoriale delli tre cardinali
fatti gia spedilo dopo il concistoro in cui fu
fatta Tultima promotione, e che il cardinale
Barberino come vicecancelliere era obbiigalo
a ricordarlo a Sua Si^, non perche promo-
vesse, come fu il caso di Gregorio, ma solo
accioche dichiarasse i cardinali gia creati e
riservati in petto, la quale publicatione a tutto
il sacro collogio pareva ragionevole, ne vi era
bisogno di altro concistoro. Ma il papa, o che
fosse sdegnato perche il cardinale Barberino
gli haveva proposti alcuni soggetti che non
erano di sodisfattione di Sua Si^^, o credesse
di lasciare piii gioriosa la menioria di se,
stette saldo o tutte le istanze, ordinando
che niuno piii ardisse di parlargli di promo-
tione
"Era I'aspetto di papa Urbano giocondissi-
mo, ma pieno di maesta: e sebbene nel sno
temperamento vi era alquanto di malinconico,
sicche quando si veniva all' emissione del
sangue, che per I'ordinario era ne' tempi di
primavera, gli uscivano dalle vene pezzetti
come gelati di quell' humore, ne senza questo
havrebbe poluto profittare tanto nelle lettere,
dicendo il filosofo che la malinconia contri-
buisce assai per apprendere le scienze e rite-
nerle impresse nell' animo. La dispositione
poi del corpo e delle membra era nobilmente
compartita. La statura piutosto grande che
mediocre : le carni di colore olivastro e piu
tosto piene di succo che grasse : il capo grande,
che dinotava un maraviglioso ingegno et una
vivacissima memoria : la fronte spatiosa e
Serena : gli occhi di colore fra I'azzuro et il
bianco : il naso proportionato : le guancie
rotonde, ma negli ultimi anni notabilmente
eslenuate : la bocca plena di gratia : la voce
Bonora, ma soave, onde con la favella Toscana,
che sempre ritenne finche visse, uscivano da
essa dolcissime parole piene di eloquenza e
sparse di fiori di buone lettere e di eruditioni
sacre e di antichi esempj : nutri infino da pre-
late la barba honestamente lunga e riquadrata,
la quale con la canitie rendeva il suo aspetto
pill venerabile
" Veramente era tanto amabile che da una
troppa apertura in poi che dimostrava, se pure
I'importanza del negotio non lo ratteneva, non
vi era altro che da critici bene attenti vi fosse
da tacciare. E se talvolta saliva in collera,
ben presto tornava alia giocondita di prima.
L'opinione de' saggi era che con esso
lui stimavasi necessario di essere o di altro
sapere o di niuno o di poco : poiche sicome non
isdegnava di essere guadagnato dalla saviezza
dell' uno, cosi compativa tanto all' altro che
egli stesso lo soccorreva e sollevava, se pero
questo non fosse state presuntuoso o orgogli-
oso, abusandosi della humanita e buona condi-
tione del papa, il quale dure et inflessibile fu
sempre con gli orgogliosi et arroganti, sicome
altrettanto amorevole e benigno mostravasi
verso i rispettosi e modesti Verso i
sopradetti servitori e verso anche i parenti
proprj era discretissimo in scegliere i tempi
per valersene piu comodi a quelli che a se
stesso, non isdegnando talvolta di udire con
patienza qualche parola o atlo di sentimento
o di doglienze lore. E nelle sue malattie pa-
reva che pigliasse piu dispiacere de' patimenti
e vigilie degli assistenti a lui che del proprio
male o de' suoi dolori. Cosi anche non era
facile a sfogamenti o lamenti delle persone :
ma gli era grave il negare o vedere partire
da se alcuno discontento. Coi suoi piii confi-
denti servitori era giocondissimo, e talvolta
con essi usava de' motti o come si suoi dire
de' sali ingegnosi Non si scordo mai de
gli amici antichi, o fossero assenti o morti, et
in questo fu ammirabile la sua benevolenza :
onde ordino al cardinale Biscia sua creatura,
che era stato uno di quelli suoi piu contidenti,
accioche havesse la cura di dargli spesso
nuova di lore, e se fossero morti, che pigliasse
nota de' lore discendenti per provederli all'
occasioni
"Priori in Roma nel suo tempo grandissima
abbondanza di tutte le cose : e soleva dire che
egli da Firenze haveva havuto il suo nasci-
mento, ma da Roma tutta la sua grandezza, et
havrebbe voluto che ogni persona godesse la
felicita del suo pontificate, che gli ufficj venali
della cancelleria fruttassero copiosamente, e
percio egli era gratiossimo nelle speditioni
della dataria, che gli artigiani nelle loro fac-
cende facessero grossi ma leciti guadagni, e
lo stesso facessero anche i mercanti di ogni
sorte : e quindi era che nel suo pontificato
correva tanto il danaro che ogn'uno di qualsi-
voglia professione rimaneva sodisfatto e con-
tento. Diede tali ordini per I'annona che per-
doni a spesa per mantenere I'abbondanza.
Cosi il suo maggiore godimento era che gli
SECOND EPOCH OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL RESTORATION.
569
agricoltori non restassero privi di quei gua-
dagni che a lui pareva si richiedessero dal
pericolo della vita e della facoita che impie-
gavand nella vastita delle campagne di Roma
e neir acre insalubre : e quando quasi a niun'
altro impiego pareva att.a la maritiina che
delia agricoltura, quivi fisso il pensiero, e
tenne piii volte pioposito di seccare le paludi
Pontine, per guadagnare quelle immensita
de' paesi che hora sono sott' acqua, e cio per
beneficio publico: ma allre cure gravi non
gli lasciarono godere I'eftetto di si glorioso
disegno. Ne voile niai, per mantenere la
detta abbondanza, che si stabilisse il prezzo
del grano e dell' altre vittovaglie, ma che
ogni cosa fosse libera, ovviando in questo
modo ai monopolj : onde i mercanti rieih-
piendo i granari, ciascuno faceva a gari di
venderlo a buon mercato, e cosi la citta di
Roma diveniva opulenta.
" Se poi ne! suo poritificato fiorirono le let-
tere, non e meraviglia: poiche non haveva
migliore divertimento che coi letterati, quali
accolse sempre con benignita e rimuneroUi.
Cosi anche dell' altre professioni nobili fu
amantissimo, come della pittura, scoltura et
altre buone arti, sicchenon isdegno piu volte,
e particolarmente un giorno, andando alia
visita delle setle chiese con tiitto il sacro col-
legio, giunto a Santa Maria Maggiore, doppo
havere fatta oratione in quella basilica, di en-
trare con la stessa comitiva de' cardinali in
casa del cavaliere Giovanni Lorenzo Bernino
cola vicina, per vedere alcuni lavori di cele-
bre scoltura del suo scalpello.
" L'essere egli stato necessitato per la me-
desima cagione d'imporre loro le gravezze e
le gabelle : onde tal volta a tali avvisi si vide
piangere, dicendo che volontieri havrebbe dato
il propriosangue o de' suoi congiunti pivi toslo
che di sentire le afflittioni de' popoli e di
Roma e gl'incomodi dolla camera apostolica.
Et a monsignore Lorenzo Raggi, tesoriere di
essa, il quale in tempo della sua ultima infer-
mita ando alia udienza, disse che desiderava
di vivere ancora due soli mesi per tre cagioni :
I'unaper havere piu lungo tempo di penitenza
e chiedere a dio il perdono de' suoi peccati :
I'altra per finire di rimettere in castel Sant'
Angelo tutto il denaro che fu levato per la
guerra di Castro: la terza per vedere finita
la fabbrica delle mura di Borgo e di Traste-
vere et assicurata la citta di Roma.
"Se le azioni eroiche del papa per debo-
lezza della mia penna saranno senza eloquen-
za, senza nobilta di stile, et in somma impro-
portionate per un pontefice si grande, nondi-
meno sono state scritte con pura e sincera
verita : il che particolarmente mi fu imposto
et inculcate da chi teneva sopra di mc su-
prema autorita, cioe che io scrivessi sernpli-
cemente da istorico, e rni tencssi Ivtulmente
lontano da ogni adulatione e vanita e da rtt-
72
tor let ingrandimenti, attendendo piu alle cose
che (die parole.
" Ma tornando alia sua applicatione intorno
alle cose sacre, oltre I'havere fatto emendare
e ristampare il ceremonial e Romano, non
manco di dare molti ordini per la cappella
pontificia : pero o per negligenza de' ministri
o per distrattione ad altri gravi affari solo al-
cune cose principali sono rimaste in osser-
vanza. Vero si fu che riformo anche I'uso
delle indulgenze per chiudere la bocca agli
heretici.
" Finalmente se Urbano non havesse in-
trapesa la guerra, o, per meglio dire, se non
vi fosse stato provocate e tirato a forza, il che
gli accelero anche notabilmente la morte, non
si poteva desiderare ne pontefice piii glorioso
ne principe di piii egregie (jualita, per mezzo
delle quali per molti anni del suo pontificato
conservo verso di se I'amore universale di
tutto il christianesimo, sicche fino ad hora si
benedice dai popoli la sua rimembranza per
quegli anni felici ne quali godettero la tran-
quillita e la pace."
[Towards the end of June in those days the
heat was excessive in Rome, and much more
dangerous than usual ; nevertheless the pope,
thinking himself somewhat better, and know-
ing there were seventeen churches without
their bishops, and that cardinal Grimaldi, who
had returned from the nunciature in France,
had not received the cardinal's hat, declared
his intention of holding a consistory on the fol-
lowing Monday. Cardinal Barberino e.xpect-
ed also to induce him to the promotion of the
cardinals: for this reason he did not oppose
his design nor represent to him his danger-
ous debility and the risk of increasing his
slow fever ; but even praised his intention,
and encouraged him in it, as though he were
in sound health. The rumour spreading of
the intended consistory, whilst the pope was
thought by some to be dying, and by some
actually dead, but that his death was kept
concealed for some days, alarm seized upon
the greater part of Rome, though every one
feigned in his countenance joy and delight at
the recovery of his holiness's health. When
cardinal Barberinosubsequently became aware
that the pope would not proceed to the pro-
motion of any cardinal, there being now want-
ing eight in the sacred college, either because
he was not satisfied with those who were pro-
posed to him, or because he wished to leave
that duty to his successor, the cardinal, with
the most cogent arguments and entreaties,
made a last effort to dissuade him from going
then to the consistory; and he strove the
harder, because he saw that, in addition to the
mii^chief to the pope, his own credit would
suft'er much ; tor, if the cardinals were not
created, it would confirm the universally pre-
vailing opinion that he had loit the influence
670
APPENDIX.
he had possessed with his holiness in conse-
quence of the war, and that had the latter
lived longer, cardinal Antonio would have
obtained supremacy. As the pope was not
moved by these arguments and entreaties,
Monsignor Roscioli, thinking to gratify cardi-
nal Barberirio, and to aid in prolonging the
life of his holiness by dissuading him from his
purpose, confiding in the pope's good will to-
wards him, determined to use every effort in
the name of the cardinals and of the whole
city to dissuade him from holding the con-
sistory. Taking, then a fit opportunity, he
presented himself to the pope, and kneeling
before him, he told him that he was come to
supplicate him, not in the name of his minis-
ters, nor on the part of his nephews, or of the
house of Barberini, but in the name of the
whole city of Home ; because his holiness,
having been elected for the good of the na-
tions and to govern the church, if he neglected
the due care of his own person, and exposed
himself in his weak state to great risk, he
would in so doing abandon the city and the
government committed to him by the church,
to the extreme grief of all ; his weal or ill was
of more moment to Christendom than to the
house of Barberini or to his holiness himself;
if therefore he would not forego that danger-
ous effort at the entreaties of his nephews, he
should at least do so for the urgent prayers of
the city of Rome. The pope, after pondering
somewhat for a while, replied, that he was
not desirous of prolonging his life, knowing
that the papacy was a burthen no longer
adapted to his strength, and that God would
provide for his church. Having made this re-
ply he conversed a little, and Monsignor Ros-
cioli perceived that his eyes were full of tears;
and raising his eyes to heaven with a sigh,
he burst into fervent prayer to God that
He would be plensed to release him from
this life, with which he seemed sorely dis-
gusted.
[At last the Monday appointed for holding
the consistory being arrived, a great multi-
tude flocked to the palace, curious to see the
pope, who shortly before had been thought
dead. No sooner was he entered than the
cardinals perceived his days were numbered,
for he appeared languid, pale, and almost
wandering in his speech; and particularly
towards the close of the consistory he seemed
almost insensible. This was attributed to the
excessive heat of the place, increased by the
crowd that had forced their way in ; nor did
the more intimate ministers of the palace, and
even cardinal Barberino, escape blame tor not
having hindered the pope from going through
such a trying scene, the people not being
aware of the endeavours that had been made
to dissaude him ; for no one could behold him
so haggard and so broken down without being
moved to pity, for it was manifest that disease
had impaired his intellects and deprived him
of all real judgment in business. After the
propositions of the churches, and after having
given the hat to cardinal Grimaldi, he left the
consistory with his disorder excessively aug-
mented, as it was foretold him would be the
case.
[On the following day he did an act where-
by he acquired the fame of great piety, and
one which deserves to remain for an example
to all ecclesiastical princes. This was to call
before him some theologians deeply versed in
that science, and of scrupulous piety, and
whom the pope believed incapable of adula-
tion: having first caused a full statement to
be made to them of all the estates and eccle-
siastical revenues wherewith in his time he
had enriched the house of Barberini, he or-
dered them to declare whether he had in any
particular overstepped his power and autho-
rity ; for he was prepared to take back from
his nephews all that might lie heavy on his
conscience before God's judgment-seat. The
theologians were cardinal de Lugo, padre
Torquato de Cupis, of the society of Jesus,
and some others. And the pope was cheered
on to do this by the serenity displayed in the
countenance of cardinal Barberino, when on
summoning him first of all he made known to
him that intention of his, on which, notwith-
standing the past umbrage, he seemed as it
were disposed to ask his nephew's advice.
The cardinal extolled the piety of his holiness,
and manifested his particular satisfaction,
hoping for greater blessings from the bounti-
ful hand of God, since all this was done solely
to please his Divine majesty. It is said that
the unanimous opinion of the theologians was,
that his holiness, having enriched his nephews,
might with a safe conscience leave them to
enjoy all the wealth he had bestowed on them;
and this for two reasons, the one because hav-
ing promoted to the cardinalship a number of
persons whom he had not provided with in-
comes suitable to their rank, his nephews
themselves would be in a condition to supply
them according to their need ; the other argu-
ment to quiet the pope's conscience was, that
the said nephews having, during so long a
reign and in past wars, incurred the hatred
and hostility of various princes, it was reason-
able to leave them sufficient means to main-
tain their rank suitably to the credit of the
apostolic see, and not to be scorned as com-
monly happens to those who are reduced from
the highest command to an inferior station ;
hence their being well provided with wealth
and with the goods of fortune would make
them more respected : and besides this, the
said nephews had by nature such bowels of
Christian compassion, that they would expend
their incomes for the benefit of the poor and
in other pious uses. These and other argu-
ments appeared to quiet the pope.
SECOND EPOCH OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL RESTORATION.
571
[He proceeded then to prepare for his death,
which he knew to be near at hand ; hut amidst
all these thouirhts and considerations he show-
ed himself filled with just indignation against
the princes of Italy, and was intensely grieved
to think it should remain on record, that, dur-
ing his pontificate, they had confederated
against him, and had assailed the states of the
church with their armies : hence he sometimes
broke out into bitter language against them as
men without piety, without religion, and with-
out laws, and he implored the just vengeance
of Heaven that he might see them chastised
before he died, or at least penitent. Already,
as has been said elsewhere, peace had been
made with them, and ratified and subscribed
by his holiness ; but there were not included
or named in it eitherof the two cardinals Bar-
berini: whence the most trusty of the pope's
creatures judged that whilst the house of Har-
berini was still feared during the pope's life-
time, every efibrt should be used to make the
Italian princes include the cardinals in the
said treaty. And cardinal Bicclii, who went
as plenipotentiary to the said princes .on the
part of France, averred, that not being certain
of the pope's death they would not be averse
to treat of the matter and to concede it. But
cardinal Barberino forbade it in strict terms,
ordering Bicchi not to move in the matter at
all, even though the princes should oiFer it of
their own accord ; nor would he ever listen to
any advice on this topic, alleging as his rea-
son, that to have them two included by name
in the treaty would be nothing less than de-
claring them to have been instigators of the
war, since it is not usual or customary in trea-
ties of peace to name ministers, but only the
princes and leaders who have taken part in
the war.
[There were at this time, as before-men-
tioned, eight vacancies in the college of car-
dinals ; great, therefore, was the excitement
at court, since so great a number of creations
might cause no slight change in the establish-
ed position of parties. The pope, as cardinal
Barberino repeatedly told us, desnous that the
cardinals should enjoy higher consideration
and better incomes, thought of reducing the
whole sacred college by a special constitution
to the number of fifty ; hence he was resolute
in his determination not to make any promo-
tion. But Barberino, knowing that to leave so
many places vacant would not be the means of
effecting the pope's intention, and would serve
to aggrandize the faction of his successor, re-
peatedly besought him that he would yield to
the general desire, and promote as many can-
didates as were worthy of the purple. But it
was all to no purpose, the pope making answer
that he would not have any of his successors
allege his example for privately and indecor-
ously creating cardinals on his death-bed;
that he himself followed the example set by
Gregory XV., and would transmit with equal
lustre to posterity. Other personages lent
their aid, particularly cardinal de Lugo, who,
to give force to the arguments of cardinal Bar-
berino, suggested to the pope the consistorial
decree of the three already elected cardinals,
which had been made out since the consistory
in which the last promotion had been made,
saying, that cardinal Birberino, as vice-chan-
cellor, was bound to lay it before his holiness,
not that he might make a promotion, as was
Gregory's case, but only that he might declare
the cardinals who had been already elected,
and who were kept in reserve, which publica-
tion appeared reasonable to the whole college,
nor did it require another consistory. But,
whether it \\*as that the pope felt indignant
that cardinal Barberino had proposed to him
some persons unsatisfactory to his holiness, or
that he thought he would leave behind him so
much the more glorious a memory, he was
proof against importunity, and ordered that
no one should venture to say another word to
him on the subject of promotion
[Pope Urban's aspect was very pleasing but
full of majesty, although there was somewhat
of melancholy in his temperament, so that
when he was let blood, which was usually in
the spring time, there issued from his veins
small congealed pieces as it were of that
humour. Nor could he but for this have made
such advance in letters, philosophers telling us
that melancholy contributes much to the ap-
prehension of the sciences, and to the retain-
ing of them in the memory. The symmetry
of his body and his limbs was nobly adjusted.
His stature was rather tall than otherwise ;
his flesh was of a colour inclining to olive, and
lymphatic rather than fat ; his head was large,
which denoted a marvellous intellect and a
very lively memory ; his forehead was ample
and serene ; the colour of the eyes was be-
tween blue and white ; his nose was well pro-
portioned ; his cheeks round, but in his latter
years much thinner ; his voice was sonorous
but mellow, so that, with the Tuscan accent,
wliich he retained all through his life, there
issued from it the sweetest words, full of elo-
quence, and interspersed with flowers of polite
letters, of sacred erudition, and of antique
examples: from the time he became a prelate
he wore his beard of a respectable length and
squared, which with his white hair gave him
a most venerable aspect
[In truth he was so amiable, that, except a
too great openness, unless when checked by
the importance of the affair, there vvas nothing
in his character to conceal from the keenest
critic. And if at times he broke out in a pas-
sion, he very soon resumed his former good
humour. ... It was the opinion of sagacious
persons, that with him a man should be either
profoundly learned or not at all so : for wliereas
he did not disdain to be won by a man's know-
572
APPENDIX.
ledge in the former case, so he had such com-
passion for a person in the latter condition,
that he himself aided and assisted him, pro-
vided the latter were not presumptuous or
proud, abusing the conduct and good nature of
the pope, who was always stern and inflexible
with the proud and the arrogant, whilst he
was equally friendly and benevolent to the
respectful and the modest. . . . Towards the
aforesaid servants, and also towards his own
relations he was very courteous, in choosing
times to employ them, more with regard to
their convenience than his own; not disdain-
ing at times to listen patiently to what they
had to say, either as to their feelings or their
troubles. And in his illness he seemed more
afflicted at the fatigue and the sleepless nights
of his attendants than at his own disorder and
sufferings. He was not indulgent withal to
those who were clamorous in their complaints
and lamentations; but it went hard with him
to deny, or to see any one leave his presence
dissatisfied. Among his most intimate servants
he was very cheerful, and would sometimes
jest with them, and utter ingenious witti-
cisms He never forgot his old friends,
whether absent or dead, and his benevolence
in this respect was admirable : accordingly he
gave orders to cardinal Biscia his creature,
who had been one of his most intimate friends,
to give him frequent news of them, and if they
were dead to take note of their descendants,
in order to provide for them as opportunity
occurred.
[The greatest plenty of all things prevailed
in Rome at his time ; he was used to say that
he had derived his birth from Florence, but
from Rome all his greatness, and that he wish-
ed every one to enjoy the prosperity of his
pontificate ; that the vendible offices of the
chancery should bring in large profits to the
purchasers, and he was therefore highly gra-
tified in the contracts of tiie dataria ; that ihe
artisans should make large but legitimate
gains by their employments, and that the
merchants too of every kind should do the
same : hence it was that during his reign
there was so much money in circulation, that
every body of every calling was content and
happy. His orders respecting the annona
were such, that he excused expense with a
view to maintain plenty. It was his greatest
pleasure that the agriculturists should not be
deprived of those gains which he thought were
demanded by their dangerous way of life, and
by the capital employed on the great extent
of the Roman lands, and in an unwholesome
atmosphere. And as the sea coast seemed fit
to him for nothing else than agriculture, he
fixed his thoughts on this, and frequently en-
tertained the design of draining the Pontine
marshes, to recover tliat immense tract of land
which is now under water, and that for the
public benefit ; but other weighty cares did
not allow him an opportunity to enjoy the ex-
ecution of so glorious a design. To maintain
the said plenty, he would never consent that
the price of grain or of other provision should
have a fixed standard ; but that every thing
should be free, to the avoidance of monopoly.
Hence the merchants filling their granaries,
every one vied in selling cheap, and thus the
city of Rome became wealthy.
[It is no wonder if letters flourished in his
pontificate, for he had no more favourite re-
creation than the company of men of letters,
whom he always received with kindness and
munificence. In like manner he was very
fond of the other noble professions, such as
painting, sculpture, and the other fine arts ;
so that he did not disdain frequently, and in
particular one day, as he went to visit the
seven churches with the whole said college,
on coming to Santa Maria Maggiore, after
praying in that church, to enter with the same
retmue of cardinals into the house of the cava-
lier Giovanni Lorenzo Bernino, which was
near that spot, to see some celebrated produc-
tions of his chisel.
[He was compelled by the same cause to
impose taxes and burthens upon them : where-
fore he was sometimes seen to weep at such
news: saying that he would willingly give
his own blood and that of his relations, rather
than hear of the affliction of the people of
Rome, and the distresses of the apostolic
treasury : and he said to monsignor Lorenzo
Raggi, the treasurer, who had an audience of
him in his last illness, that he wished to live
only two months longer for three reasons :
first, to have a longer time for repentance, and
to implore God's pardon on his sins ; secondly,
to complete the redeposit in the castle of St.
Angelo of all the money that had been taken
from it for the war of (Castro; and thirdly, to
see the completion of the walls of the Borgo
and of Trastevere, and the city of Rome
secured.
[If the heroic acts of the pope be described
by my feeble pen without eloquence, without
grandeur of style, and in a manner altogether
disproportioned to the greatness of such a pon-
tiff, nevertheless they will have been recorded
with pure and sincere truth : this was parti-
cularly enjoined and inculcated upon me, by
those who had supreme authority over me ;
namely, that I should write simply as a his-
torian, and should totally abstain from all
adulation and vanities, and from rhetorical
amjylifications, attending more to the matter
than to the language.
[But to speak of his application to sacred
matters, besides his having caused the Roman
ritual to be corrected and reprinted, he did
not neglect to give many orders respecting
the papal chapel : only a few however of the
chief of these have been carried into effect,
whether from the inattention of the ministers.
LATER EPOCHS.
573
or from the interference of other serious mat-
ters. It is a fact, however, that he reformed
the customs of indulgences, to stup the rnouths
of the heretics.
[Finally, if Urban had not engaged in war,
or rather if he had not been provoked and
dragged into it by force, — which, moreover,
conduced in a great measure to hasten his
death, — there could not be desired a more glori-
ous pope or a prince of more exalted qualities,
through which, for many years of his ponti-
ficate he won the love of all Christendom, so
that to tliis day his memory is blessed by na-
tions for those happy years in which they
enjoyed peace and tranquillity.]
SECTION VI.
LATER EPOCHS.
We have in the preceding section collected
all that relates directly to Urban VIII. ; there
remain some writings that connect his times
with those that succeeded them.
121. Relatione della vita del card^ Cecchini
composta da lui medesimo. (Barb. 275
pages.) [Life of Cardinal Cecchini by
himself]
Personal memoirs, which do not exactly
throw much light on important matters of
state, but which certainly give a very instruc-
tive example of the private life of an eccle-
siastic, passed under remarkable circum-
stances.
Tiie author hints that he composed them for
his own amusement. " Tra tuttc le cose che
apportano all' uomo sommo piacere, una e la
memoria delle cose passate."
When fifteen years of age Cecchini went,
in the year 16U4, from Perugia to Rome.
He had built his hopes on the Aldobrandini,
to whom he was distantly related ; but Clement
VIII. died too soon for his welfare, and after
his death the Aldobrandini had no longer any
power. Cecchini indeed might at once have
formed new hopes ; he had already been ac-
quainted in Perugia with Scipioni Cafarelli,
the same who made such a profitable use of his
position as nephew under Paul V. ; but Ca-
farelli would not remember his former acquain-
tance, and the young man was obliged to look
elsewhere for a patron.
It was now his good fortune to attach him-
self to two monsignori, who both of them after-
wards attained to supreme dignity — Ludovisio
and Pa m hi 10.
The opinion very early prevailed in Rome
that Ludovisio would obtain the tiara. When
Ludovico the latter's nephew entered the pre-
lature in 1619, many looked on him as the
future cardinal padrone. All eyes were turn-
ed upon him ; his friends and servants begun
to strive to oust each other. Cecchini himself
complains that attempts were made to displace
him ; but he contrived to stand his ground :
he was even able to render his master impor-
tant service ; being a relation of the Aldobran-
dini family, he was able to effect a junction
between tlie two houses. Cardinal Aldobran-
dino promised his vote to Ludovisio.
All measures were soon taken in anticipa-
tion of that cardinal's election. Cardinal
Ludovisio for a long while scrupled to accept
a Spanish pension of 1200 scudi, offered him
after the conclusion of the peace with Savoy:
he was afraid lest he should thereby incur the
enmity of the French. Cecchini was obliged
to speak to the French ambassador, and allay
any suspicion he might have conceived from
that cause.
Under these circumstances cardinal Ludo-
visio came to the conclave in Rome, after the
death of Paul V., with the full expectation of
being elected. Cecchini hastened to meet
him." " I conduct the pope to Rome," he said
in the gladness of his zeal. " Only let us be-
ware of cardinal d'Aquino, and all will be
well," replied Ludovisio. " Ludovisio aveva
tal sicurezza del pontificato che domandommi
per burla chi saria stato papa: rispondendog-
li che il papa non era in Roma e che io I'av-
rei condotto, con gran fiducia mi soggiunse
queste parole: Guardatemi del cardi d'Aqui-
no, che faremo bene."
Everything succeeded to their wishes : Lu-
dovisio was actually elected. The nephew
embraced Cecchini in his joy, and made him
his auditor.
The latter was now thus brought in con-
tact with the supreme authority. He was
not without some share in business of state, at
least he was privy to it to some extent ; but
his chief occupation was the management of
the cardinal's money matters. The revenues
from Avignon and Fermo passed through his
hands : the cardinal did not choose it to be
generally known how much he spent, for he
was exceedingly sumptuous. When Ludovi-
sio obtained the chainberlainship, Cecchini
was made auditor of that office.
Strange are the abuses that are here made
known to us. Orders were issued in the
name of the cardinal nephew, called " non
gravetur." Whoever possessed them was not
to be molested by the officers of justice. Peo-
ple sought to secure themselves from their
creditors by a "non gravetur;" there were
even working men so protected. But our au-
thor relates still worse things. Suits were
instituted under pope Paul V. agamst the
prior and the prince Aldobrandini. Cecchini
asserts that the fiscal general employed false
testimony to obtain a conviction against them.
Their death, however, had not been intended:
574
APPENDIX.
the object had only been to compel the Aldo-
brandini to cede certain castles to the Bor-
ghesi. Tlie fiscal general was imprisoned
for this nnder Gregory XV. "Eravivente
Gregorio stato carcerato Pier Maria Cirocchi,
che vivente papa Paolo fu fiscale generale,
per molte imputationi, tra le quali la princi-
pale era die nella causa criminale intentata
al principe e priore Aldobrandino, nella quale
furono condannati in pena della vita e della
robba, egli avesse procurato di far esaminar
testirnonj falsi, sicoine in eftetto fece. La
detta sentenza non fu data per altro se non
perche il cardl Pietro Aldobrandino si dispo-
nesse a cedere al cardl Borghese li castelli di
IVIontetiirtino e di Olevano, che aveva com-
prati dal duca di Zagarolo, sicome se volse la
gratia della detta condennatione delli nepoti,
lo convenne fare, con farli anco constituir
prio-ioni in castello, dove stettero qnattro me-
si." Detet^table vilianies these. Historical
truth forbids us to suppress them : at the
same time we must remark, that Cecchini
was naturally an adherent of the Aldobran-
dini.
After Gregory XV. Urban VIII. was elect-
ed. Cecchini had already had an opportunity
of doing- him a great service, though merely
by keeping silence. When cardinal. Urban
had once said in a moment of violent anger,
that something should be borne in mind against
cardinal Ludovisio, and nothing was calculat-
ed to do him more hurt in the conclave than
the threat, since Ludovisio had so much power
in it : but at xMagalotto's request Cecchini
kept silence.
Urban appears very characteristically on
another occasion in this biography.
Urban VIII. was deeply offended at Bor-
gia's protest : he imputed a participation in it
to cardinals Ubaldmi and Ludovisio, and
wished to punish them for it. Ubaldini would
have been thrown into prison, had not the fis-
cal strenuously opposed the act ; but at any
rate that cardinal was obliged to quit Rome,
nor would the pope sufl^er Ludovisio to remain
there. He sent on that account for Cecchini,
who was still in the service of Ludovisio, and
ordered him to tell the cardinal he must be-
take himself within fourteen days to his arch-
bishopric of Bologna. He accompanied this
command with violent demonstrations of an-
ger. " 1 had to listen to him for a good hour,"
says Cecchini, " while he threatened with all
Borts of abuse to punish Borgia also : I did not
venture to interrupt him: he then repeated
that Ludovii^io must withdraw, or he should
be forced to do so by the sbirri." Cecchini
would have done better to have held his peace
on this occasion too ; but he thought it neces-
sary to report what had passed to his master.
It marks very strongly the character of the
court, that he thus ruined himself with all
parties. Ludovisio thought that Cecchmi
should not have endured the pope's language,
but should rather have come to an open rup-
ture with him. Cardinal Barberino was in-
censed that Cecchini had not first spoken
with him, the cardinal nephew. But the
most furious of all was Urban himself, parti-
cularly as the matter was reported in a some-
what disfigured shape. He sent once more
for poor Cecchini, and made a scene in which
his old rage against his enemies, and regret
for his expressions — at what he had done and
what he wished undone — his conviction of
his omnipotence as pope, and his feeling that
others, after all, had not done wrong, were
curiously mixed up together. But Urban
VIII. was one who came to himself at last.
Ludovisio had left Rome, and died soon after ;
Cecchini had indeed lost his former place, but
he had got a new one, which even gave him
an opportunity of sometimes seeing the pope.
" Monsieur Cecchini," said the latter to him
one day, "forgive us ; we went too far in our
conduct towards you." Cecchini says, that
tears rushed into his eyes at this, and that he
replied with deep emotion. The pope's ma-
jor domo visited him in the course of the same
day, and told him that the pope had for four
years looked forward to that hour, and was
heartily glad it had come at last.
Cecchini now adhered as before to the Al-
dobrandini ; we find liim very actively con-
cerned about the marriage of the rich heiress
of that house, Olimpia. Cardinal Ippolito
died without having made any definite ar-
rangement on the subject, and it was feared
that the Barberini would not let so large an
inheritance escape them. Olimpia was oblig-
ed to feign sickness. With the aid of the
general of the Jesuits, with whom it was ne-
cessary to consult on the whole matter, it was
contrived to effect the marriage with young
Borghese, which the cardinal had finally de-
sired, six days after his death.
The Barberini did not however drop Cec-
chini on this account : after they had inquired
whether or not he had any connexion with
the Farnesi, they employed him in the arm-
ing of Rome.
Cecchini immediately found that the tax
upon the wine of the country was unpopular.
He explained to cardinal Barberino that it
was a tax the Romans had never endured,
and for which they had revolted against Eu-
genius IV., and he actually succeeded, al-
though a monte had already been founded on
the proceeds of the tax, in having the con-
tractor forthwith summoned. The latter rea-
dily abandoned the contract, as he found it
exceedingly difficult to levy the tax. Cec-
chini hastened to the capitol, where the Ro-
manists were holding an assembly, and com-
municated this news to them. At first they
would not' believe him, but he had the con-
tractor called, who confirmed his statement.
latfr epochs.
575
Every one shouted " Viva papa Urbane, viva
monsignor Cecchini I" and they kissed his
hand and his garments.
But Cecchini had not yet reached his
highest promotion. He had the further good
fortune to see one of his oldest patrons,
and perhaps the warmest of theui all,
cardinal Pamfili, ascend the pontifical
throne.
At first the Barberini were in favour with
Innocent X. : Cecchini was invited to present
himself with the two cardinals before the
pope. " Has cardinal Barberino said any-
thing to you 1" Innocent asked him — " No."
— The pope then turned first to Francesco
and then to Antonio, and desired them to
speak. They declined to do so. At last the
pope said, " We will not keep you longer in
suspense : we have made you our datario ;
for this you are indebted to the cardinals Bar-
berini, who have made the request of us: we
have cheerfully complied with it."
This place was accompanied however with
much that was unpleasant. The pope was
unstable, obstinate, and distrustful. "We know
from other sources that Cecchini's adminis-
tration did not altogether escape censure.
Donna Olimpia Maidalchina could not bear
him, if it were only because her sister-in-law
Donna dementia also received presents from
him : but I have already alluded to these
matters : they are of a certain importance as
regards the administration of Innocent X. :
the most disgusting, scandalous scenes en-
sued : Cecchmi was rejoiced when Donna
Olimpia was finally expelled from court. It
was during her disgrace, shortly after the de-
cease of Fanzirolo, who died in November,
1561, consequently about the year 1562, that
he wrote this work.
It strikes me, that not only in its sentiments,
but even in its several expressions, there pre-
vails quite a modern character, the tone of
daily life among the Roman prelates of the
present or very recent times.
122. Diario veridico e spassionato delta citta
e corte di Roma, dove si legge tulti li sue-
cessi della suddetta citta incominciando
dal primo </' Agosto IQ'iOfino alV ultimo
deir anno 1644, notato e scrilto fedel-
mente da Deone hora Temi Dio, e copia-
to dal proprio originale. Informatt. Po-
litt. torn. xl. to the end of 1642 : torn,
xlvii. to the end of 1644; torn. xlii. con-
tinuation 1645—1647; torn, xliii. 164S—
1650. (Altogether more than 21)00 leaves.)
[A veracious and dispassionate diary of
the city and court of Rome, wherein are
set down all the events of the said city
from the 1st of August 1640, to the clo^e
of the year 1644, noted and faithfully re-
corded by Deone, now Temi Dio, and co-
pied from his own original.]
I have not been able to obtain any further
account of the author of this unusually volu-
minous diary, besides what he himself gives
here and there.
It appears that he was in the Spanish ser-
vice, and that he was employed in the affairs
between the Netherlands and Rome, particu-
larly those connected with the dataria. I
should think he was really a Spaniard and not
a Netherlander. He translated comedies for
the carnival from Spanish into Italian, and
had them performed by young persons before
a very brilliant audience. He entertained a
religious reverence for the Spanish monarchy,
to which he belonged ; he speaks frequently
of " the holy monarchy," but for which Pe-
ter's bark would soon founder. He manifests
vehement and undisguised hatred to its oppo-
nents and deserters. He declares the Cata-
lans, who for a while remained independent,
to be a barbarous nation : somebody had soli-
cited from him a recommendation to the data-
ria ; he told them they must first become
good subjects again to their king. Still less
could he endure that the Portuguese had even
set up for themselves another king ; his book
is full of invectives against that nation. He
states, that at least all of them who were set-
tled in Rome were inclined to lapse into Ju-
daism. Bad as matters were, however, he
did not lose courage. He still hoped tliat
Holland would in his own day submit again
to the king : heresy had its periods ; only
wait and they would come to an end. He was
a most enthusiastic and orthodox believer in
the Spanish monarchy !
Every fourteen days the earnest servant of
Philip IV, dictated a letter or report of what-
ever had happened worthy of note during that
interval, and then dispatched it to some gran-
dee of Spain. These were originally avvisi,
such as were so common at that time; col-
lected together they formed a journal.
Thus the whole work is composed in the
spirit natural to the author. The leaning of
pope Urban VIH. to France, and the entire
political position he had assumed, are regard-
ed in an evil light by him. Pope innocent X.
on the other hand, who had struck into a dif-
ferent line of policy, is looked on by him with
a much more favourable eye.
The author left no subject untouched ; ec-
clesiastical and literary matters; histories of
the orders and of the court; domestic affairs
and politics; general political considerations
and accounts of cities.
If we inquire more closely into the sources
of his information, I think we shall find them
to be principally as follows. — All who had
any business in the palace used to assemble
on the appointed days in the antechamber of
the cardinal nephew ; a general conversation
took place ; every one related his news ; there
I was nothing that could arretit attention that
576
APPENDIX.
was not mentioned there ; as far as I can con-
clude from some hints, it was in these meet-
ings that our author collected the chief part
of his intelligence.
He goes to work with great honesty in the
matter : he endeavours to come accurately at
the truth ; he frequently adds information
received at a later period.
Sometimes, however, he saw the pope too,
the nephews, and the most influential states-
men : he is most careful in marking what he
collected from their discourse; occasionally
this is remarkable enough.
It cannot be said that the reading of so dif-
fuse a work is precisely speaking very inter-
esting ; still it now and then makes us ac-^
quainted with persons and things ahnost as if
we saw them, they are set before us so fre-
quently and in such diversified lights.
It would be impossible to make anything
like a satisfactory abstract of so voluminous a
work ; we must be content with those passa-
ges to which I have already referred.
» I. Una delle piu belle memorie di questa
gia dominatrice del mondo e un monumento
antico in forma rotonda di circonferenza gran-
dissima e di bellissimo marmo presso a San
Sebastiano detto Capo di bove. II Bernio,
etatuario famosissimo del papa per suo utile,
ha posto in consideratione di fare una faccjata
sontuosaair Acqua Vergine detta di Trevi:
ottenne un breve di poter buttare a terra quel-
la machina si bella, et incomincio a a metterlo
in esecutione: ma fu dal popolo Romano av-
vedutosene impedito, e I'opera cessa per non
cagionare rumori.
"2. Martedi mattina tenne concilio gene-
rale in Campidoglia il popolo Romano, che fu
numerosissimo piu che mai, alteso che vi con-
corsero molli titolati, che per il passato non
mai intervennero. La proposta fu che sendo
il popolo Romano suppresso dalle gabelle im-
poste da papa Urbano si dovesse supplicare
Sua St^ per levare almeno la gabella della
macina, tanto pivi che fu imposta fin che du-
rasse la guerra all'hora in piedi, la quale hog-
gi e terminata. Passo il partite, e furono
deputati sei gentilhuomini Romani per esporre
al papa la petitione incontinente. Comparve
Don Cesarc Colonna, zio del principe di Gal-
licano, il quale dimando udienza da popolo
Romano da parte della signora Donna Anna
Barberina. Gli fu risposto che venisse, e
postosi alio scabelletto trasse dal seno un me-
moriale, dicendo che era di Donna Anna Col-
onna, e chiedeva che si legesse. Fu letto, e
diceva che non si dovesse mandare al papa
per levar gabelle giundiche e con legitima
causa imposte da papa Urbano, il cui zelo
verso la giustitia e meriti che ha con questa
citia non peimettono che si ritratti il di^posto
di lui. Resto ogn'uno meravigiiato da simil
dimandita, volenle impedire il sollevamento
del popolo : ma fu pero eubito penetrate che
la buona signora haveva perinteso che si le«
varebbe la gabella colli beni de' Barberini.
Fu risposto al Colonna che'l senato e popolo
non faceva altro che esporre alia Sua Si^ il
bisogno della citta. Questa risposta il Col-
onna porto correndo a Donna Anna, che stava
aspettando per quest' eftetto alia chiesa d'Ara-
celi Mercordi il cardinal Colonna
havendo inteso la disorbitante proposta della
sorella, mando al senato Romano a iarli sapere
ch'egli non hebbe in quella sciocchezza parte
alcuna, ma che era pronto di assistere alia
giusta petitione del popolo Ven-
erdi mattina il popolo Romano di nuovo con-
voco consiglio pieno, e fu riferito che S. S^^
s'era contentato di levar la gabella della mac-
ina con I'efi^ecto di Don Taddeo Barberini,
di modo che fu ben divisata la pretensione di
Donna Anna Barberina."
[1. One of the most beautiful monuments
of this city, formerly the mistress of the world,
is an ancient monument of a round form, of
vast circumference and of very beautiful mar-
ble (an error uudoubtedly, for the monument
isof Travertine) near San Sebastiano, called
the Capo di bove. Bernino, a very famous
and able statuary of the pope, has proposed to
to make a sumptuous facade to the Acqua
Vergine named di Trevi : he obtained a brief
from the pope authorizing him to pull down
that beautiful structure, and he began to do so;
but on the Roman people perceiving it, he
was interrupted by them, and the work is
stopped to avoid disturbances.
[2. On Tuesday morning the Roman people
held a general council in Campidoglio, which
was exceedingly thronged, more so than ever,
seeing that many titled persons went thither
who on former occasions had never been pres-
ent. The subject for consideration was, that
the Roman people being borne down by the
taxes imposed by pope Urban, they should
supplicate his holiness to take ofl^'at least the
tax on grist, the more as it was imposed for
the duration of the war then waged, which
had now ceased. The resolution was carried,
and six Roman gentlemen were deputed im-
mediately to lay the petition before the pope,
Don Cesare Colonna, nephew of the prince di
Gallicano, presented himself, and demanded to
be heard by the Roman people on behalf of
signora Donna Anna Barberina. He was di-
rected to come forward, upon which he ad-
vanced, and drawing out a memorial which
he said was from Donna Anna Colonna, he
asked permission to read it. It was read, and
its tenour was, that the pope should not be
asked to take otf lawful taxes imposed for a
legitimate cause by pope Urban, whose zeal
in the cause of justice, and whose deserts
towards this city, forbade the repeal of his
arrangements. Every one was amazed at
at such a proposal to hinder the relief of the
people : but it was immediately seen through,
LATER EPOCHS.
577
that the good lady had understood that the tax
was to be taken off at the expense of the es-
tates of the Barberini. Answer was made to
Colonna, that the senate and people did no
more than lay the wants of the city before
his holiness. Colonna ran with this reply to
Donna Anna, who remained waiting at the
church of Araceli. — On Wednesday cardinal
Colonna, having heard of his sister's extrava-
gant proposition, sent to acquaint the Roman
senate that he had no part in that absurdity,
but that he was ready to aid the just petition
of the people On Friday morning the
Roman people again convoked a full assembly,
and it was reported that his holiness was plea-
sed to take off the tax on grist at the cost of
Don Taddeo Barberini, so that Donna Anna
Barberina's scheme was shrewd enough.]
123. Del stato di Roma presente. (MS.
Vindob. Fosc. n. 147,) also under the
title, Relatione di Roma fatta daW Alma-
den. [Report of the present state of
Rome.]
I will not pretend to determine, whether
this belongs to the latter part of the reign of
Urban VIII., or to the beginning of that of
Innocent X. : it is very important as to the
internal affairs of Rome during that period,
the Tiber and the Anio, the increase of, the
aria cattiva, the incomes of the Romans,
money matters in general, and the condition
of families. It is not impossible that this lit-
tle work may have been composed by the au-
thor of the diary: some indications seem to
point to this conclusion.
I will not, however, make any lengthened
extracts from it, since, if I am not mistaken,
I have seen an old printed copy of it in the
possession of the late Fea. I will only quote
one passage, to which I have alluded above,
at page 5360.
" Gregorio XIII considerando che quantita
grande di danaro usciva da Roma e dallo stato
per prezzodi grani che venivano per mare da
Barberia ed altri luoghi, spesse volte riscaldati
e guasti, e tal volta non giungevano a tempo
o si restavano affatto, per sostrarsi da tutti
questi mancamenti, fece smacchiare per molte
miglia riducendo la campagna a coltura, sic-
che Roma da quel tempo di rado ha havuto
bisogno di grano forestiero : ed il buon ponte-
fice Gregorio ha conseguito il suo intento:
ma lo smacchiare ha aperto il passo a' venti
cattivi, da quali nasce ogni intemperie, che
cagiona certo morbo chiamato daAlessandro
da Civita medico, trattando de morbide' Ro-
mani, capiplenium, cosa sopra modo fastidiosa
e piu alli forestieri ch'alli nativi, morbo anco
XIII smacchio la campagna sotto Roma verso
il mare grassa ed attissima per la coltivatione
del grano, cosi SistoQuinto smacchio la cam-
pagna sopra Roma meno fertile, per torre il
ricovero a' masnadieri che infestavano le
strade, e ben riusciva il disegno, perche 11
sradico affatto."
[Gregory XIII. taking into consideration
that a great deal of money was sent out from
Rome and from the state, in payment of the
corn imported by sea from Barbary and other
places, which was frequently healed and spoil-
ed, and sometimes did not arrive in time or at
all, to prevent all these inconveniences caused
many miles of country to be cleared and put in
cultivation, so that since that time Rome has
rarely needed foreign corn ; and the good pope
Gregory obtained his object. But the clear-
ing the country opened a passage for the un-
wholesome winds, which occasion all kinds
of atmospheric evils, and a certain disease
called by Alessandro da Civita the physician,
in his treatise on the diseases of the Romans,
Capiplenium, a most distressing complaint,
and more so to foreigners than to natives, and
one which has increased since the formation
of so many water works, by which Rome,
which by its position is low and humid, is ren-
dered still more moist with the abundance of
water flowing from the fountains. As Greg-
ory XIII. cleared the country below Rome
towards the sea, which was rich and very fit
for the cultivation of corn, so Sixtus V. clear-
ed that above Rome which was less fertile, to
destroy the haunts of the robbers who infested
the roads. And he fully succeeded, for he
completely extirpated them.] The author ap-
proves of the proceeding of Sixtus V., because
it gave more free passage to the Tramontana :
but how many evils have been attributed to
this Tramontana in latter times! (Cancellieri
sopra il tarantismo p. 88.)
124. Compendia delli casi piu degni e mem-
orandi occorsi nelli pontificati da Greg-
orio XIII. fino alia creatione di Cle-
mente IX. (50 leaves.) [Compendium
of the most memorable events in the pon-
tificates from Gregory XIII. up to the
election of Clement IX.]
The author asserts he saw the clouds that
obscured the Quirinal at the death of Sixtus V.
(Aug. 1590.) As this little work extends to
the year 1667, it is plain it cannot be the pro-
duction of one writer ; it must have been con-
tinued at a later period in a similar style to
that in which it was begun, that is, as a col-
lection of Roman memorabilia and anecdotes.
For instance we read in it that the French
cresciuto dopo la condotta di tanti fonti, dalli ! monks in Trinita di Monte quarrelled with
quali Roma, sendo bassa et umida di sua pos- 1 those from Calabria and elsewhere, and drove
itura, vien resa piii umido per la moltitudine them out, so that the latter built Andrea della
deir acque delle fontane. Siccome Gregorio I Fratte, which was then situated among gar-
73
578
APPENDIX.
dens ; how the Jesuits roused all the other
orders ag^ain to do their duty ; the miracles
that took place ; accounts of the buildings of
the popes.
We meet, however, with many thing-s wor-
thy of remark, for instance, the following' ac-
count of the death of Bianca Capello: "Vol-
endo la granduchessa di Toscana Bianca Ca-
pelli avvelenare il cardi Ferdinando suo cog-
nato in certa confezione, ilGD Francesco suo
raarito ne mangio prima : il che inteso da lei,
ne mangio ossa ancora, e tutti due morirono
subito, et il cardl si fece graduca :" [Bianca
Capello, grand duchess of Tuscany, wishing
to poison her brother-in law cardinal Ferdi-
nando with a certain confection, the grand
duke Francesco her husband ate of it first.
Upon her discovering this, she also ate of it,
and they both died immediately, and the car-
dinal became grand duke:] and this of the dis-
missal of cardinal Clesel from Vienna, which
the Jesuit confessor of Ferdinand 11. would
never consent to: " Verospi ebbe un giorno
commodita d'essere coll' imp^e senza il Giesu-
ita, e con bella maniera fece capace I'impre
che non poteva ritenere detto cardie e solo il
papa esser suo vero giudice, e talmente com-
mosse Cesare che lo fece piangere e glielo
fece consignare." [Verospi found one day an
opportunity to be with the emperor without
the presence of the Jesuit, and he cleverly
persuaded the emperor that he could not re-
tain the said cardinal, and that the pope alone
was his proper judge; and he so wrought on
the emperor that he made him weep, and
caused the cardinal to be consigned to him.]
Traits of manners too. A rich prelate intro-
duces a clause into his will, that his nephew
shall inherit his property only in case he dies
a natural death, otherwise it should be devo-
ted to pious purposes. Duke Cesarini never
paid any one till preparations were made for
putting up to auction the pledge that had been
taken from him. An Orsino threatened to
fling a troublesome creditor out of the window:
the creditor begged he would let him confess
first; Orsino replied that no one had any busi-
ness to come to him unshriven (che bisognava
venirci confessata.) A necromancer rode into
Rome in a carriage drawn by two dogs : it
was said they were two fiends that carried
him wherever he pleased. The courier from
Milan asserted that he had left him in that
city, and found him in Rome on his arrival.
The supposed wizard was seized and put to
death.
Had these notices but been written by a
man of somewhat more ability, they would
have been invaluable; they would have
brought manners and times vividly before
us, without such wearisome research as we
are forced to by the above mentioned diary.
Let us now proceed to the works immedi-
ately relating to Innocent X.
REMARKS ON GUALDI VITA DI DONNl OLIMPIA
MALDACHINA, 1666.
When we learn that Gregorio Leti, with
whom we have become sufficiently acquainted,
is the author of this work, we have hardly an
inducement to go into the question of its cre-
dibility; there is the strongest presumption
against it.
But as there appeared a French translation
of it in 1770, and a German in 1783, and as
Schrockh gives it as his opinion that its main
facts at least may be relied on, since they
never were disputed, it will not perhaps be
superfluous to say a word on the subject.
The author, be it observed, boldly avers he
will relate nothing he had not himself seen,
or of which he had not obtained the most
certain evidence.
At the very first start he tells the tale that
the Maldachini family, which he considered
Roman, once made a pilgrimage to Loreto,
and they met at Borgheto with young Pamfili,
who fell in love with Donna Oliuipia, the
daughter of the house, and after the return
from the pilgrimage he married her : but very
soon Olimpia became more familiar with his
brother, the subsequent pope, then a young
abbate, than with her husband. On this con-
nection was founded the influence which
Donna Olimpia possessed over Innocent X.
Now we may confidently assert, that there
is not a word of truth in this.
The Maldachini family was not Roman, but
from Acquapendente. Donna Olimpia was a
widow when she married Pamfili. Her first
husband was Paolo Nini of Viterbo, the last
of that family ; as she inherited his property
she brought a rich dower into the house of
Pamfili. Upon this, and not upon an imagi-
nary intimacy witli the pope, was founded the
influence she enjoyed in the family. When
the marriage took place. Innocent X. was far
from being a young abbale. In an inscription
set up by the senior of the house in the Villa
Maldachina at Viterbo, it is stated that he
had decorated that villa in the year 1625,
before his sister married into the house of
Pamfili. " Marchio Andreas Maidaichinus
. . . villam banc ante nuptam sororem suam
Olympiam cum Innocentii X germano fra-
tre . . . extruxit ornavitque anno Domini
MDCXXV." The entire mscription is given
in Bussi's Istoria di Viterbo, p. 'SS2. Hence
the marriage could not have taken place till
about the year 16'26, at which period Giam-
battista Pamfili, afterwards Innocent X., was
already fifty-four years of age, and no longer
an abbate, but a prelate of twenty years'
standing. Just then he was engaged in nu-
merous nunciatures. If we may draw any
conclusion from some expressions of his,
Donna Olimpia's claims on his gratitude will
have consisted in her aiding him on these
LATER EPOCHS.
579
occasions as well as subsequently out of her
private fortune. He was enabled by her to
maintain the splendour which was required in
those days for the success of an aspirant.
The whole tenour of their intercourse was in
keepin;^ with this beginning of Donna Olim-
pia, wlio as she had aided the prelate, and
contributed in a certain extent to his attain-
ment of the papacy, was resolved to have her
share in the advantages of that dignity.
In the minute journal already spoken of,
which keeps pace step by step with Donna
Olimpia's proceedings, and in which mention
is made of all the secrets of the papal house-
hold, there is not a hint of any illegitimate
intimacy between the pope and his sister-m-
law.
This little work of Leti's is another ro-
mance put together from apocryphal tales
and chimerical fictions.
125. Relatione degli ambasciatori estraordi-
narj a Roma al sommo pontefice Inno-
centio X. Pietro Foscarini Kr, Zuanne
Nani K^ Proc^, Aluise Mocenigo I fu
di q. Aluise, e Bertucci Valier K^. 1645.
3 Ott. [Report of the ambassadors ex-
traordinary to Innocent X., Pietro Fos-
carini, &c.]
A complete change ensued after the death
of Urban. Innocent X. was disliked by the
French ; he would gladly succour the emperor
if he could ; he was a friend to the Venetians.
It was possible, however, that he wavered in
his measures from natural indecision of cha-
racter. The ambassadors thought it, there-
fore, doubly necessary not to break with him
on private grounds, nor to forfeit the good
will of the pope for the sake of a dissolute
monk.
The previous history of Innocent X. is thus
represented.
" Nasce il presente sommo pontefice Inno-
centio X, chiamato prima Gio. Batt. cardie
Pamfilio, della famiglia de' Pamfilj originata
gia in Ugubbio citta dello stato d'Urbino.
Questa venne habitare in iioma sotto il ponti-
ficato d'Innocentio VIII, si apparento con le
prime case della citta, visse sempre in molta
riputatione et honorevolezza. La madre di
S. B"e tU della famiglia de' marchesi dal
BufFolo, nobile e principale, della quale ne fa
il papa hoggidi molto conto, ritrovandosene
pill d'uno al suo servitio in palazzo. Fu la
S^^ Sua allevata dal cardie Gerolamo Pamfilio,
suo zio paterno, che visse in gran concetto e
fu vicino ad esser papa e che fu fatto card'e
da Clemente VIII, mentre si trovava auditor
decano della rota chiaro per la virtu et inno-
cenza de' suoi costumi. Si trova la S^^ Sua
in eta di 72 anni, di statura piii che ordinaria,
ben proportionata, maestosa nella persona,
piena di grande mansuetudine e benignita:
onde sempre che esce dalle sue stanze per
occasione di concistorj, capelle o altre occa-
sioni, da prontamente e volentieri audienza a
tutti di ogni conditione, benche poveri e mise-
rabili, che se gli fanno innanzi, riceve i lor
memoriali, e con molta patienza e carita pro-
cura di sollevare ognuno, consolar tutti con
grande acclamation dei sudditi e con gran
diflferenza dal pontificate antecedente. Fu il
papa prima avvocato concistoriale, poi auditor
di rota elletto da Clemente VIII. Fu da
Gregorio XV mandate noncio a Napoli e da
Urbano VIII impiegato nelle legationi di
Franza e Spagna del cardl Barberino con
titolo di datario, fu dallo stesso Urbano eletto
patriarca d'Antiochia, mandate nuncio in
Spagna, e poi promosso al cardinalato li 9
Novembre 1627. Come cardinale e stato in
concetto di natura severa, inclinato al rigore,
puntuale nelle cose ecclesiastiche. E stato
sempre adoperato in tutte le congregationi
principali, e si puo dire che ha esercitate tutte
le congregationi principali, e si puo dire che
ha esercitate tutte le cariche piii principali
di Roma con universale sodisfattione, havendo
neir animo suo fatta sempre particolar sede
la modestia, la patienza, I'integrita, la virtu,
la mira di non disgustare alcuno, accarezzan-
do tutti e condonando le ingiurie. Gode una
buona salute, ha complessione assai robusta,
va sobrio nel cibo, fa volentieri esercitio,
assiste alle capelle et altre funtioni con gran
maesta, e fa tutte le cose ecclesiastiche con
pompa, decoro, particolar godimento suo e
punlualita. Va pesato assai in tutti li negotii
gravi, vuol tempo ad esaminarli e risolverli.
E stato solito nella sua passata fortuna andar
tardi e tardi levarsi dal letto, osserva il me-
desimo stile nel pontificato, onde rare volte e
retirato avanti la mezza notte ne lavato la
mattina avanti qualche hora del gionie. He
nei tempi andati fatta molta stima dei prin-
cipi : ha desiderate le loro giuste sodisfattioni:
si dichiara preservare ne' stessi concetti, non
voler esser partiale d'alcuna delle due corone,
ma padre universale amorevole di tutti : si
risente non incontrar bene ne con I'una ne
con I'altra di esse al presente, e se n'e esalata
con grande confidenza piii d'una volta con
noi : crede pero che ognuno si dolga per
avvantaggiare i proprj interessi, non perche
ambedue non conoscano la necessita della sua
indipendenza, e come che sia arnica della
pace naturalment e la obblighi a questa il
posto di pontefice in cui si trova constituito.
Va nutrendosi con simili concetti ricevendo a
grande alimento suo la confidenza con la
Serenissima Republica, come questa con
I'autorita, consigli et amor suo possa esserle
del maggior presidio: anzi soggetto di grand'
eminenza e della maggior confidenza nostra
ha confidato ad alcuno di noi, forse d'ordine
della St^ Sua, la intentione cli' ella havrebbe
di stringersi con I'EE VV con particolare al-
580
APPENDIX.
leanza, quando credesse incontrare la publica
dispositione : sopra di che con termini gene-
ral! ufficiosi fu risposto, nessun nodo poter
mag-giormente legare i principi che la sin-
cerita e corrispondenza de' cuori e la unifor-
mita de' fini et interessi."
[Pope Innocent X., formerly Gio. Batt.,
cardinal Pamfilio, is sprung from the family
of Pamfili, originally of Ugubbio, a town in
the state of Urbino. The family migrated to
Rome nnder the pontificate of Innocent VIII.,
intermixed with the first houses of the city,
and always lived in much repute and honour.
The mother of his holiness was of the family
of the marquises of Bufl:blo, a noble and ex-
alted race, of which the pope now makes
much account, having more than one mem-
ber of it in his service in the palace. His
holiness was brought up by cardinal Gerolamo
Pamfilio, his paternal uncle, who was in high
consideration, was near to being made pope,
and was created cardinal by Clement VIII.,
and who, when auditor dean of the rota, was
renowned for his virtues and guileless morals.
His holiness is aged seventy-two, in stature
below the middle height, of a well propor-
tioned and majestic person, and of exceeding
gentleness and benignity. Accordingly when-
ever he quits his apartments, on occasions of
consistories, chapels, or others, he readily and
cheerfully gives audience to all of every con-
dition, however poor and miserable, who
present themselves tb him, receives their me-
morials and strives with great patience and
charity to relieve every one, and to comfort
all, to the loudly expressed admiration of his
subjects, and with a marked difference from
the preceding pontificate. The pope was
first consistorial advocate, then auditor di
rota, elected by Clement VIII. He was sent
as nuncio to Naples by Gregory XV. and
employed by Urban VIII. in the legations of
France and Spain of cardinal Barberino with
the title of datary ; he was elected by the
same Urban patriarch of Antioch, sent as
nuncio into Spain, and afterwards promoted
to the cardinalship, Nov. 9, 1627. As cardi-
nal he was reputed of a stern character,
inclined to rigour, punctual in ecclesiastical
matters. He was always employed in all the
principal congregations, and it may be as-
serted that he has filled all the most important
posts in Rome with universal satisfaction ;
his mind having always been the special
abode of modesty, patience, integrity, virtue,
careful to avoid ofibnding any, caressing all,
and pardoning injuries. He enjoys good
health, has a very robust constitution, is mo-
derate in his diet, is fond of exercise, attends
chapels and other public duties with great
majesty, and performs all ecclesiastical mat-
ters with pomp, decorum, punctuality, and
special personal satisfaction. He proceeds
very ploddingly in all serious matters of busi-
ness, and requires time to examine and de-
termine them. In his past way of life he
was accustomed to go late to bed and rise
late; he pursues the same course in his pon-
tificate, seldom retiring before midnight or
rising before the day is some hours old. In
past times he made much esteem of the sove-
reigns ; he wished them all reasonable satis-
faction; he declares his persistence in the
same feelings, and that he does not wish to
be partial to either of the two crowns, but
to be the common loving father of all. He
feels that he is not favourably regarded by
either at present, and he has given vent to
his thoughts on the subject very frankly to
us more than once : still he thinks that each
complains with a regard only to his own
interests, not that both do not know the ne-
cessity of his independence, and how, besides
his natural inclination to peace, he is further
bound to it by his position as pope. He feeds
his mind on such thoughts, receiving to his
great sustenance the confidential regard of
the most serene republic, as thinking it capa-
ble by its weight, its counsels, and its love,
of proving his greatest safeguard : accord-
ingly a person of great eminence, and one on
very confidential terms with us, has confided
to one of us, perhaps by order of his holiness,
that he would be disposed to bmd himself to
your excellencies in a special alliance, if he
though it would meet with public approbation.
To this we replied in courteous general terms,
that no bond could more strictly unite princes
than sincerity, reciprocity of feeling, and
unanimity in aims and interests.]
126. Relatione delV amhasciatore Veneto
Aluise Contarini fatta al senato dopo il
ritorno della sua ambasceria appresso
Iiinocentio X. 164S. (22 leaves.) [Re-
port of the Venetian ambassador, Aluise
Contarini, after his return from the court
of Innocent X.]
This pontificate too for a long time turned
out by no means so advantageous as had been
expected. To the first rather honourable
report Aluise Contarini, the son of Nicolo, —
the former Aluise was a son of Tommaso, —
adds many far less favourable passages.
In his youth Innocent had preferred knight-
ly exercises and amorous pastimes (passatem-
pi amorevoli) to study ; he had gained little
respect in his nunciature in France, where he
was nicknamed, on account of his perpetual
refusals, " Monsignor Itc an't be" (Mr Non si
puol). In Spain, on the other hand, his
chariness of words gained him the reputation
of a wise man.
What made him pope? Answer: these
three things, — that he talked little, dissem-
bled much, and did nothing at all. " Da
corteggiani fu detto che tre cose I'avevano
LATER EPOCHS.
581
fatto papa, il parlar poco, simulare assai, e
non far niente."
" Si fa conoscere hora poco inclinato alle
gratie, delicate e vetriolo, (?) riputato da
tutti ri'lno-egno tardo nell' apprendere e poco
capace di gran machine, ma ostinato nell'
apprensioni : procura di non farsi conoscere
partiale di alcana corona: — [He shows little
disposition at present to confer favours
he is considered by every body to be of slow
apprehension, and of small capacity for great
combinations, but obstinate in his conceptions ;
he endeavours to avoid the appearance of
partiality to any crown.] He was a friend to
quiet and justice, not bloodthirsty, and was a
good economist.
Persons immediately about the pope. — Don-
na Olimpia, a favourite with him, because she
had brought a large fortune into the house,
and assisted him with it: " donna d'ingegnoe
spirito virile, solo si fa conoscere donna per
la superbia e I'avaritia" [a woman of mascu-
line mind and feelings, — she proves herself a
woman only by her pride and avarice] ; Pan-
cirolo : " di tratti manierosi, d'ingegno vivace,
cortese di viso e di parole" [of polished man-
ners, of quick understanding, courteous in his
bearing and his speech] ; Capponi : " a bocca
ridente ricuopre la sua malitiosa industria"
[he hides his active malevolence under a
mask of smiles ]; Spada : " si pavoneggia
delli suoi stimabili talenti" [he plumes him-
self on his estimable talents]. Our author,
as we see, does not express himself in very
respectful terms. With a pope of such a
character, the want of a nephew was doubly
felt.
Some traits of his administration are re-
corded. " Tra li corteggiani si suol dire che
chi trattacol papa d'alcuno affare, nelle prime
audienze lo reputa quasi perfettionato, nella
seconda conosce esser total mente da farsi, e
nella terza si scuopre con stupore sconcluso.
— Crede disprezzabile quel principe che non
conserva appresso di se un buon numero di
contanti da valersene in un' urgente bisogno.
Per non spendere si contenta di soffrire dell'
avversa fortuna ogni piii opprobrioso stra-
pazzo. — Trovandosi I'annata di Roma spog-
liata di quelli assegnamenti de' quali si valse
in altri tempi, come proprii per essere stati
dissipati nella guerra Barberina, Sua S^^^ con-
oscendo I'annata presente penuriosa di grano
ha piu volte assegnato di esser pronto di
sovveniria di grossa somma di contanti: ma
ripugnando la sua natura alio sborso, ha
cercato aggiustarlo in altra forma, sebene non
a sufficienza. — Tutte le communita si trovano
talmente esauste e ruinate per cagione della
guerra Barberina che gl'e impossibiie giam-
mai risorgere e rihaversi. — Particolare en-
trata del papa di 800 m. scudi consistente
negli emolumenti delle componende della
dataria e nelle vacabilita degli officii di quella
e della cancelleria, come ancora di una sorte
di monti vacabili dell' auditore e tesoriere di
camera, chiericati di essa, et altri simili officii,
di tutta questa somma, che entra nella borsa
secreta e non nella publica, ne e assoluto
patrone S. S"-^, potendone disporre al suo
arbitrio e donorla a chi piii li place senza
temere che siano richieste dal successore."
[It is a common saying among courtiers, that
whoever treats with the pope about any affair,
at the first audience thinks it all but com-
pleted, in the second he perceives that his
work is all before him, in the third he finds
to his consternation that his suit is rejected.
— He thinks that sovereign contemptible who
does not keep by him a good sum in ready
money to be used upon an emergency. To
avoid expenditure, he is content to submit to
the most contumelious buffetings of adverse
fortune. The yearly supplies of Rome hav-
ing fallen short of those assignments enjoyed
in former years, in consequence of the Bar-
berini war, and his holiness finding the sup-
ply of corn deficient this year, has frequently
announced his intention of advancing a large
sum of ready money to make up the deficien-
cy ; but being by nature adverse to disbursing'
money, he has endeavoured to arrange the
matter in another way, though imperfectly.
— All the corporations are so exhausted and
ruined by the effects of the Barberini war,
that it is impossible they can ever recover
themselves. — Private revenue of the pope,
800,000 scudi, consisting of the gains on the
compositions of the datario, and the vacan-
cies occurring in that office, and in the chan-
cery, as also on a sort of monti vacabili of the
auditor and treasurer of the camera, the
chiericati of the camera, and other like posts.
Of this entire sum which enters the privy
purse, not the public, his holiness is absolute
master, being able to dispose of it at his plea-
sure, and to give it to whomsoever he pleases,
without fearing that any account of it shall
be called for by his successor.] His build-
ings : on the capitol, in St. Peter's, in the
Lateran, " in cui rinnovandosi con nuovo
modello le tre navate della chiesa, rimane
nel suo essere I'adornamento di quel vago e
ben inteso soffitto;" in the Piazza Navona,
" con il gettato di alcune case per la parte di
S. Giacomo de' Spagnuoli restando in quadro
la piazza."
Notwithstanding the unfavourable impres-
sion he had conceived of the court, we see that
Contarini is on the whole impartial and in-
structive.
127. Memoriale presentato alia S^" di N.
S''« papa Innocenzo X dai depvtati della
cilia di Fermo per ill lumultu ivi se-
guilo alii 6 di Luglio, 1648. [Memo-
rial presented to pope Innocent X. by the
deputies of the city of Florence, with re-
582
APPENDIX.
gard to the riots there on the 6th of July,
1648.
In Majolino Bisaccioni's " Historia delle
guerre civili di questi ultimi tempi," Ven.
1664, along with the most important events,
along with the history of Charles I. and
Cromwell, and the insurrections of Portugal
and Catalonia, there is likewise given a " His-
toria della guerra civile di Fermo," that is
the history of a riot, in which Visconti, the
papal governor, was killed
The document before us is the memorial
with which two deputies — Lorenzo Nobile
and Lucio Guerrieri — presented themselves
before the pope to solicit his pardon for the
deed.
According to their account, which is much
more authentic and graphic than that of
Bisaccioni, and which gives us a glimpse into
the internal economy of the towns in those
times, the crops had failed, and bread was
unusually dear; notwithstanding this, the
governor resolved on exporting grain from
the district of Fermo. He listened to no
warning. With his carbine by his side, and
pistols on his table, he declared he would
rather die, as became a governor and a sol-
dier, than give way. He prohibited the
consiglio, deputies to which arrived even
from tlie neighbouring boroughs, and he
assembled troops. But his soldiers " came
from the fields where they reaped, from the
barns where they thrashed :" they knew the
want under which the land laboured, and
instead of withstanding the riotous populace,
they took part with them. In spite of his
bravadoes, the governor found himself com-
pelled to give way, and to suffer his corn to
remain within the limits of the state.
But hardly was tranquillity restored, when
Corsican troops, summoned by the governor,
appeared before the gates. The people fully
believed that Visconti intended, with their
assistance, to carry his purpose through. A
riot ensued : the mob cried, " We are betray-
ed,— to arms !" The bells were rung, the
palace was stormed, and the governor kill-
ed.
The deputies protested their fidelity, and
bewailed this event, .... at which the
nobles were above all distressed "di vedere,
senza potervi rimediare, da persone del popolo
ucciso il prelate di ¥■■=* S^^ datogli per suo
governo" [to see, without any help for it,
the prelate appointed by your holiness as
their governor slain by individuals of the
populace.]
128. Relatione della corte di Roma del Cav^o
Giustiniani data in senato Vanno 1652.
[Giustiniani's report on Rome.] {Copy
in the Magliabechiana in Florence. 24.
65.)
Under Innocent, too, admiration and expec-
tation changes first into doubt and disappro-
bation, and finally into clamour and execra-
tion.
Zuan Zustinian — for so the Venitians write
and pronounce his name — after having filled
many other embassies, proceeded from Vienna
to Rome, where he resided from 1648 to
1651. The events of these years fill up
his despatches, and form the matter of his
report.
The description he gives of the court is not
very cheering.
Whatever there is good in the pope, he
says, turns to the advantage of the city of
Rome, and at the very most of the ecclesias-
tical state ; his bad qualities are injurious to
all Christendom. But even in the states of
the church the remission of the severest
punishments for money is a great evil. " Mi
si afferma per massima indubitata che in sette
anni di pontificato habbia estratto dalle com-
positioni di persone processate come ree il
valore di 1200 m. scudi, che s'accosta a due
milioni di ducati." [It has been affirmed to
me, on the most unquestionable authority,
that in the seven years of his pontificate he
has extracted, by way of composition, from
persons prosecuted as criminals, the value
of 1,200,000 scudi, which is nearly two mil-
lions of ducats.] The influence of Donna
Olimpia Maldichina is here represented as
a kind of public calamity. " Donna di gran
spirito, prepotente per solo titolo di esatta
econoraia. Se vacavano officj nella corte,
niente si deliberaba senza il beneplacito di
lei : se vi erano beneficj da distribuire, i mi-
nistri della dataria tenevano ordine di trat-
tenere ogni spedizione sinche dalagli notizia.
della qualita delle vacanze scegliesse a sua
disposizione cio che piii tenesse di gusto : se
vi erano chiese episcopali da provedere, ad
essa ricorrevano i pretendenti : e quelle che
rendeva nausea a tutti gli uomini onorati, era
il vedere che orano preferati quelli che piii
allargavano la mano a donativi." [A very
clever woman, whose paramount power is
founded solely on her rigid economy. If
offices were vacant at court, nothing was de-
cided without her consent ; if there were be-
nefices to bestow, the ministers of the dataria
had orders to delay all appointments to them
till notice had been given to her of the nature
of the vacancies, so that she might select for
her own disposal such as were most to her
taste ; if there were bishoprics to be filled up,
the candidates applied to her ; and what nau-
seated all honourable men was, to see that
those were preferred who were most liberal
of gifts.]
So he goes on : but I am not certain whe-
ther the report is genuine.
It is not to be found in the Venetian archives.
There are two copies in the Magliabechiana
LATER EPOCHS.
563
in Florence, but they do not agree throughout.
I have kept to the more moderate of the two.
Fortunately 1 was not forced to have re-
course to this report, since the diary of Deone,
and the notices given by Pallavicina in his
life of Alexander VII., afforded me far better
information.
129. Relatione delV ambasceria estraordina-
riafatla in Roma alia S^<^ di N. S^« Al-
lesandro VII dagli Ecc'ni SS^* Pesaro,
Contarini, Valiero e Sagredo per renders
a nome della Ser^'^Republica di Venetia
la solila obedienza al sommo pontefice
Vanno 1656. [Report of the extraordinary
embassy to pope Alexander VIL, to tender
him the customary obedience on the part
of the most serene republic]
The same Pasero — during whose embassy
occurred the breach between Urban VIII. and
the republic, and who ever since then had
been regarded rather as inimical to the
clergy — was placed at the head of the em-
bassy of congratulation, and was left by his
colleagues to draw up their joint report.
Whether it be that his tone of thought was,
as he says, very moderate from the tirst, or
that the lapse of years had produced a change
in it, certain it is his report is very rational,
well-meaning and instructive.
He expresses his disapprobation of the
government of Innocent X., but not in terms
of such strong reprobation as others. " Oltre
la cupidita insatiubile ch'e regnata in quella
casa, vi si e aggionto che essendo mancato di
ministri valevoli al sostentamento di cosi
gran principato, non havendo luogo nell'
animo suspicace di quel pontefice la fede
di chi si sia, ogni cosa per lo piii si regolana
secondo gli appetiti immoderati di una donna,
che ha aperto largo cam poalle penne satiriche
di fare comparire i disordini di quel governo
niaggiori ancora di quel che in fatti si fbssero."
[Besides the insatiable cupidity which reign-
ed in that house, there was a want of minis-
ters competent to uphold so great a sove-
reigniy, there being no place in the suspicious
mind of that pope tor trust in any one : so that
every thing almost was regulated by the
immoderate cravings of a woman, whereby
ample scope was afforded satirical pens lo
make the disorders of that government appear
even greater than they really were.]
Little as this sounds like a panegyric, still,
as we have seen, it is a very mild judgment,
in comparison with the violent exclamations
of others.
But the most important subject of this report
is the new pope, Alexander VII.
It is Pesano's opinion, and indeed the rest
of the world was convinced of the fact, that
the belief in Fabio Chigi's virtues, and the
fame of his nunciature, liad effected his pro-
motion, though the Medici were in reality not
well pleased to witness the elevation of one of
their subjects. " Piu santa elettione non si
poteva aspettare da un senate di soggetti che
per quanto havessero distratta la volonta da
mondani interessi, non potevano di meno di
non lasciarsi in fine guidare da quel spirito
santo che essi presumono assistere ad un' at-
tione di tanta rilevanza." [A holier election
could not have been expected from a senate of
persons who, however their minds may be
bewildered by worldly interests, could not yet
fail in the end to be guided by that Holy
Spirit whom they believe to be present at an
act of so great moment.]
He sketches his rise and the general cha-
racter of his first proceedings : " he appeared
to undej;stand but little of financial matters,
but much more of ecclesiastical, and was not
inflexibly wedded to his own opinions." He
also describes his retainers; but it is not ne-
cessary to repeat his statements, for things
soon took a different turn from what had been
expected.
" Troppo per tempo parmi," says Pesaro,
" che il mondo canonizzi questi sentimenti del
papa, e che per fame piu ascertato giudizio
faccia di mestiere osservarsi quanto con il
tratto del tempo si sia per mostrarsi costante
nel resistere alle mantellate dell' affetto."
[The world seems to me premature in canoniz-
ing these sentiments of the pope ; to judge
more certainly of them, methinks it were ex-
pedient to observe what firmness he shall dis-
play in the course of time in resisting the
simulations of affection.] Already so many
representations were made to the pope from
all sides, it seemed inevitable that his con-
stancy would be shaken.
The mission had by no means for its sole
object to congratulate the pope, but further-
more to solicit aid towards the Candian war.
The ambassador enlarged upon the efforts
Venice had made to resist the foe, — above all
to defray the immediate expenses of the war;
taking up loans at heavy interest in the way
of annuities, or permanently, selling allodial
or feudal estates, imparting to a great number
the dignities of the state, which had previously
been confined to a narrow circle, — nay, even
the honours of Venetian nobility, though its
value was the greater the less it was rendered
common. But the means of the republic were
now quite exhausted ; nothing was to be ex-
pected from the other potentates of Europe,
since there were too many mutual quarrels
among them : the only refuge was to the see
of Rome.
The pope listened to them not without some
show of sympathy, and in reply pronounced a
splendid eulogium on the republic which re-
sisted the savage rage of the barbarians, not
only with iron, but also with gold; but as to
I main point, he told them it was out of his
584
APPENDIX.
power to help them. The papal treasury was
so exhausted, he did not even know how he
should provide the city with bread.
The ambassadors did not give up their
cause ; they represented that the danger was
such as fairly to justify having recourse to the
old treasure of Sixtus V. : " prima che I'ur-
genza degli accidenti che possono sopravenire,
maggiormente stringa, e per sostentamento
della religione e per sicurrezza del proprio
dominio ecclesiastico" [before events reach a
more disastrous pitch, and for the maintenance
of religion, and the safety of the territory of
the church itself] The pope was particularly
impressed by the argument, that the enemy
would be animated to still more boldness when
he saw that a new pope also refused the aid
which was so urgently required. Alexander
saw plainly that something must be done : he
proposed a confiscation of church property.
It is most remarkable that the Roman court
was the first to suggest measures of this kind.
Already Innocent X. had proposed to the
Venetians the suppression of two orders, the
Canonici di S. Spirito and the Cruciferi : it
was his intention to found secular canonicates
with their funds. But in the first place, the
Venetians were afraid that the court of Rome
would arrogate to itself the patronage of those
canonicates, and besides this, it looked on the
institutions in question as provisions for poor
nobili. This proposal was now renewed by
Alexander.
" II papa postosi in atto di volerci rappre-
sentare cosa di nostro sollievo, prese a dire
che, da qualche tempo in qua essendosi dalla
sede apostolica fatto riflesso non meno all'
abondanza che alia superfluita degl' instituti
religiosi, haveva trovato che alcuni di essi
degenerando dalla primiera intentione de' loro
fondatori erano trascorsi in una total rilassa-
tione di costumi : che compliva non meno al
servitio della chiesa che de' medesimi seco-
lari il pigliare quegli espedienti che sogliono
usare gli accorti agricoltori quando vendono
in modo lussuriar la vite che la copia de ram-
polli serve piti tosto ad isterilirla che a ren-
derla piii fruttifera : che a cio s'era dato in
qualche parte principio con la soppressione di
alcune religion!, ma che cio non bastava, con-
oscendosi in tutto necessario restringer questo
gran numero a quei solamente che ritengono
o che meglio possono ridursi a ritenere la
prima forma della loro institutione : che per
larsi strada a cio s'era soppresso un numero
grande di conventini piccioli ove con minor
riguardo si rallentava il freno alia ritiratezza
regolare, e che si persisteva nel primo pen-
siero di procedere alia finale abolitione d'
alcuni altri ordini che con il loro licentioso
xnodo di vivere riempivano il mondo anzi di
scandoli e di mormorationi che di buon esem-
pio e di edificatione, ma che si camminava
lentaraente, perche in negotio di tal rilevanza
s'haverebbe voluto incontrare anche nella so-
disfattione de principi, i quali, non ben esami-
nati i veri motivi che inducevanola sede apos-
tolica in questa risolutione, havevano dato
segno di qualche repugnanza all' esecutione
de brevi ponteficii : ma che sperandosi ad ogni
modo che in fine havesse ogn'uno a dar mano
al proseguimento di cosi ben ponderata risolu-
tione, li metteva intanto in consideratione alia
Serenissima Republica che abondando il domi-
nio Veneto di questa qualita di religioni, s'a-
priva un modo facile che venisse dato luogo
alia retta intentione di chi ha la suprema
direttione degli aftari ecclesiastici et insieme
a poter somministrare un considerabile ajuto
in soccorso della presente guerra contro gl'
infideli : che nessuno meglio di noi poteva
sapere a che estremitji di dissolutezza e di
scandoli siano gionti li canonici di San Spirito
di Venezia, essendosi la Serenissima Repu-
blica veduta in necessita di metier freno alle
scorretioni di quel convento, che non contento
d'haver postergata ogni osservanza regolare
abusava anco si sconciamente delle ricchezze
che haverebbono potuto servire a comodi ali-
menti di un numero quintuplicamente mag-
giore di religiosi, che sempre grossamente si
trovava indebitato : che il simile si poteva dire
de' Cruciferi, ne' quali apena si discerneva
vestigio di vita claustrale : che per tanto ante-
poneva che procedendosi alia soppressione di
queste due religioni, s'haverebbe potuto andar
pensando al modo di passare alia vendita de'
beui da esse possessi, et il ritratto si conver-
tisse in sostentamento di questa guerra, giac-
che era diretta contro il nemico fierissimo del
nome christiano."
[The pope, casting about for means to re-
lieve us, stated, that for some time past, the
apostolic see, having reflected not only on the
abundance but even superfluity of religious
institutions, had come to the conclusion that
some of these had degenerated from the first
intention of their founders, and had fallen into
a total relaxation of discipline: that it was no
less for the benefit of the church than of the
laity themselves to adopt the course pursued
by judicious agriculturists, when they see
their vines becoming so luxurious that the
multitude of their shoots serves rather to im-
poverish than to render them fruitful ; that a
beginning had been partially made in this
respect by the suppression of some orders, but
that this was not enough, it being absolutely
necessary to curtail that great number, and
limit it to such only as retained, or were in a
condition to recur more nearly to the primitive
form of their institution ; that to make way for
this, a great number oflesser convents had been
suppressed, in which the strictness of monastic
seclusion had been negligently sufl^ered to re-
lax ; and that he persisted in his original inten-
tion of proceeding to the final abolition of some
other orders, which, by their licentious lives,
LATER EPOCHS.
585
filled the world rather with scandal and mur-
muring' than with good examples and edifica-
tion : but that he proceeded slowly, because
in a matter of so great import he could have
wished to meet with the consent of sove-
reigns, who, not having well examined into the
true motives that induced the apostolic see
to adopt this resolution, had shown some symp-
toms of repugnance to execute the pontifical
briefs ; but that as he confidently hoped, that
in the end all would assuredly lend a hand to
the prosecution of so well weighed a design,
he, therefore, submitted it to the consideration
of the most serene republic, that as the Vene-
tian territory abounded with religious orders
of this character, an easy way presented itself
of giving effect to the upright intentions of
him who had the supreme direction of the
affairs of the church, and at the same time of
supplj"ing a considerable succour towards the
present war against the infidels ; that none
better than ourselves knew the scandalous and
profligate extremes at which the Canonici di
San Spirito of Venice had arrived, the most
serene republic having been forced to bridle
the disorders of that convent, which, not con-
tent with casting behind it ail monastic obser-
vance, had- so indecently abused the wealth
which might have sufficed for the ample main-
tenance of five times the number of monks,
that it was always heavily in debt: that the
same thing might be said of the Cruciferi, in
whom hardly a trace of monastic life was dis-
cernible ; that accordingly he thought it pre-
ferable that these two orders should be sup-
pressed, and that it should be taken into con-
sideration how their possessions might be sold,
and the proceeds applied to the expenses of
this war, since it was waged against the fier-
cest enemy of the Christian name.]
This time the ambassadors thought that
such a proposal was not to be rejected. They
calculcated how large a capital would accrue
from the sale of these estates, compared with
the small interest, which would moreover soon
drop, and what advantage the secularization
of such considerable estates might afl'brd to the
cultivation of the country. Their reflections
on a scheme which was then so novel, and
which afterwards became so general, are also
worthy of being considered in their own words.
" In realta fatti anche congrui assegnamenti
a' frati esclusi per il loro vivere, che non as-
cenderanno mai fra I'una e I'aitra religione 10
m. ducati all' anno, se de' loro beni ascendenti
alia summa di 26 m. ducati se ne ritrarranno
600 mila nella vendita, come verisimilmente
si puo credere, non sentira il publico maggiore
interesse di due per cento vitalitii e qualclie
cosa meno : et ogni altro motivo altre volte
portato in dissuasione di negotio simile va per
bene, supposti gli alimenti che annualmente
si prestaranno a superstiti : e cosi smembran-
dosi dair ordine ecclesiastico questa grossai
74
somma di portione di fondi collocati ne' mig-
liori siti di questo dominio, vengono li laici a
rimettere in possesso, senza far torto alia pieta
di quelle anime grandi che hebbero cuore di
spropriare le descendenze lorodi cosi opulenti
patrimonii, per fondare e slabilire in questo
state la religione : che se hora veder potes-
sero quanto ella sia ben radicata, altra inter-
pretatione non darebbonoa'loro sentimenti se
non che se gli fu grato di esser fondatori di
tanti monasteri per ricovero di persone sacre,
niente meno goderebbono che I'istesse ric-
chezze, giache sovrabondano, si convertissero
in propulsare I'impieta minacciante la distrut-
tione di quella pieta, che con le proprie sos-
tanze cercarono di promovere."
[In fact, even allowing the ejected monks
suitable pensions for their subsistence, which
for both orders can never exceed on the whole
10,000 ducats a year, if their estates of the
yearly value of 26,000 ducats realize on being
sold 600,000, as may reasonably be expected,
the public will not have to pay more than two
per cent, in annuities, or rather less. All the
arguments too that have been alleged on other
occasions, against such a measure, go for no-
thing, supposing an annual provision be thus
made for the incumbents during their lifetime.
Now, when upon this vast amount of landed
property, situated in the best part of the repub-
lic's dominions, being severed from the eccle-
siastical body, the laity shall enter into
possession thereof, they may do so without
wronging the piety of those great souls who
chose to divest their descendants of such opu-
lent patrimonies, for the foundation and per-
manent establishment of religion in this state.
For could those generous persons now see
how well rooted it is among us, none other
exposition would they give to their sentiments
than this, that if it was grateful to their feel-
ings to be the founders of such great monas-
teries for the reception of holy persons, no less
would it delight them that the same wealth,
now become superabundant, should be turned
to the repulsion of the impiety which threat-
ens destruction to that piety they sought to
promote with their substance.]
After the affairs of Venice, which on this
occasion were once more of higher interest,
those of Europe in general are discussed.
The enterprises of Charles X. and Gusta-
vus produced the greatest sensation in Rome,
and money was collected to aid king Casimir,
But the court of Rome felt it still more
sorely that the French not only showed a dis-
inclination to peace with Spain, but that car-
dinal Mazarin even entered nito a league with
England — a cardinal with a protestant, the
most Christian king with an usurper, who had
expelled the legitimate monarch — and that he
did this without any necessity, without having
been impelled to it by any alarming danger.
Had it not been for these sources of uuea-
586
APPENDIX.
siness the pope would have turned his whole
attention to bring Germany, where his per-
sonal reputation stood so high, back to Catho-
licism. The conversion of the queen of
Sweden excited all his hopes.
The ambassadors saw the splendid prepa-
rations that were made for the reception of
that queen. They could not reconcile them-
selves to the vagrant life she led (" fuori forse
della convenienza dell' eta e dello state vir-
ginale" [hardly consistent with her age and
lier maiden state] as they modestly express
it) but they do full justice to the vigour and
boldness of her resolution.
*' Ecco in compendio cio che ci e parso di
poter riferire" says Pesaro at this point.
To this closing phrase he subjoins the good
advice, always to maintain the best possible
understanding with the pope.
The pope had spoken at full length on the
satisfaction it would afford him if at his re-
quest the Jesuits were again received in
Venice. The ambassador is in favourof con-
ceding this point. "Parmi che sia gionto il
tempo di decidere se s'habbia a dar luogo a
questo regresso, o pure, per non haver di
quando in quando ad urtare per questa causa
in male sodisfattioni con i pontefici, s'habbia
da imporvi perpetuo silentio A sodisfare
intorno a cio al desiderio del papa par che
possa esser motive il conoscersi che essendo
questi huomini grandi istromenti a sostenere
le ragioni della chiesa, i papi pro tempore
rinnoveranno le medisime istanze, le quali
rejette daranno ne' principj de' pontihcati
materia a male sodisfattioni." [It appears to
me that the time is come for deciding whe-
ther the return of the order is to be permitted,
or whether the proposal is to be silenced for-
ever, to avoid continually falling into dis-
agreements with the pope from time to time
on this subject It may be a motive for
satisfying the pope's wishes in this respect to
consider that these men being highly instru-
mental in upholding the cause of the church,
the popes will be likely successively to renew
the same request, the rejection of which in
the beginning of each pontificate will give
occasion of ill will. J
130. Vita, attioni et operationi di Alessandro
VJI, opera del Ci PaUavicini. 2 vols.
folio. (Bibl. Cors.) [Life and actions of
Alexander VII. by cardinal PaUavicini.]
A MS. was one day put into my hands in
the Barberini libraiy in Rome with the title
" Alexandri VII de vita propria liber primus
et terlius cum fragmenlis libri secundi ;" it
consisted of about 300 leaves, as full of cor-
rections as any autograph could possibly be,
but by an unfortunate accident in utter con-
fusion. The binder had arranged the sheets,
which were to have been read separately, in
quinterns. It was hardly possible to make
anything of it.
The beginning runs thus, " Res sue tem-
pore gestas Uteris commendare, quamvis et
nunc et olim usitatum, plerisque tamen eo
nomine minus probatur quod arduum scriptori
sit procul habere spem, metum, amorem, odium
animi, nubes quse historiam, lucem veritatis,
infuscant." [Although the habit of recording
the events of one's own day has always been
frequent, such works are generally looked
on with suspicion, on the ground that it is
difficult for the writer to divest his mind of
hope, fear, affection, and hatred, clouds that
obscure history, that light of truth.] Wher-
ever I opened the book, I met with interesting
particulars, derived from good authority, con-
cerning Alexander's youth, the summons of
his nephews to Rome, the arrival of Christina.
. . . . Can it really have been that the pope
found time, amidst the occupations incident to
the highest spiritual authority, to write the
history of his life, and to correct the style
throughout with such extreme care!
It was soon apparent, in spite of the title,
that this could not have been the case.
The author declares among other things
that he had been induced to undertake this
work by his intimate acquaintance with the
pope. " Fortunce obsecundantis beneficium
fuit ut cum hoc principe inferiores gradus
obtinente singularis intercesserit mihi animo-
rum consensio et mutua tum ore turn Uteris
consiliorum communicatio." [It was my good
fortune that there subsisted between me and
this pontiff, when he occupied a lower rank,
a remarkable congeniality of mind, and an
interchange of opinions both by word of mouth
and by letter.]
The question was, who was this intimate
friend, nay confidant, of Alexander's.
Muraton relates, at the date 1656, that in
the beginning of Alexander's reign, which
awakened such brilliant hopes, the Jesuit
PaUavicini had set about writing the life of
that pope, but that after the call of the ne-
phews to court, and the changes which thence
ensued, the pen fell from his hand. PaUavi-
cini was certainly on terms of personal inti-
macy with Alexander VII.: in the beginning
of the latter's pontificate he saw him daily.
It appeared possible that this fragment might
be the work of PaUavicini.
After some further research I met in the
same library with a biography of Alexander
VII. which was attributed to cardinal PaUa-
vicini. It was in Italian indeed, but the thing
was worth the trouble of collation.
The first glance showed me that the Ita-
lian was identical with the Latin work. The
first .sentence runs, "E opinione di molti che
non si debba scrivere historic se non delle
cose antiche, intorno alje quali la speranza e
la paura, I'amore e Fodio verso le pcrsone
LATER EPOCHS.
587
commemorate non habbian luog^o ne possono
infoscare la verita." The second passage I
have quoted, is in the Italian version, "Inipe-
roche m'e toccato a sorte d'haber con questo
principe nella sua minor fortuna una singolare
e corrispondenza d'afFetto e confidenza di
communicationi hor con la lingua hor con la
penna per lo spatio gia di 30 anni."
So it goes on. The Latin copy turned out
to be manifestly a translation from the Italian,
somewhat free indeed, with a slight difference
in the tone of thought.
Unfortunately, however, the resemblance
was stronger than I could have wished. As
the Latin copy was a fragment, as its title
bespoke, so the Italian too was quite frag-
mentary. After some account of his early
youth, the narrative passed abruptly to the
election and first pontifical proceedings of
Alexander.
An unsatisfied search only whets desire: I
made inquiries in every direction. I found
another copy in the Albini library, but this
was likewise fragmentary.
And now I thought I must rest satisfied,
since I found in an anonymous biography of
Pallavicini only a fragment of this history
cited, the very books I already knew. At
last I was fortunate enough to fall in with a
more complete copy in the Corsini library, the
same of which I have given the title above,
in two thick folio volumes.
The work here bears the name of Pallavi-
cini on its front, and continues without inter-
ruption to the second chapter of the sixth
book. It is of course from this copy alone
that we can learn the value of this v^fork for
the history of the period.
The first book contains the early history of
Alexander VII., " Stirpe, parentelle, natali,
fanciuUezza di Fabio Chigi: .... studj, av-
venimenti della pueritia : . . . . studj filosofici
e legali: .... amicitieparticolari:"all which
chapters I found in the first copies, both the
Latin and the Italian, but to which the Cor-
sini copy adds: "azioni et esercitii pii : . . . .
vicelegatione di Ferrara sotto Sacchetti : . . .
nuntiatura di Colonia."
In the second book the administration of
Innocent X., and the part taken in it by Chigi,
are related in fourteen chapters up to the
conclave.
The third book contains the beginning of
the pontificate : general account of the posi-
tion of Europe, of the ecclesiastical estates,
and of the first financial measures, also of
those relating to the monti vacabili; conver-
sion of queen Christina of Sweden, a subject
handled with minuteness and special good
will. I am of opinion that the assertion,
made for instance by Arckenholtz in his " Me-
moires de Christine," iv. 39, that Pallavicini
wrote a Historia di Christina regina di Sue-
zia, was founded on an obscure report of these
fragments. The motives of the queen's con-
version are thus set forth ia the Latin copy,
"In libris Tullii de Natura Deorum animad-
vertensveram religionem nonnisiunam,omnes
falsas esse posse, super hac parte diu multura-
que cogitando laboravit. Sollicita quoque
fuit dubitare de liberorum operum bonorum
pravorumque discrimine, nisi quantum alia
salubria mundo sunt, alia perniciosa, cujus-
modi naturalia sunt, et de divinse providentiee
cura qel incuria circa humanas actiones, de-
que voluntate divina num certum cultum
et statutam fidem requirat. NuUus fuit nobi-
lis autor qui ea de re scripsisset, quem ilia
non perlustraret, non vir apprime doctus
harura in borealibus plagis cum quo sermoci-
nari non studeret. Et proclivis interdum fuit
ad opinandum, satis esse suae regionis palam
colore religionem, cceterum vivere convenien-
ter naturse. Ad extremum in banc venit
sententiam, Deum, hoc est optimum, tyranno
quovis pejorem fore si conscientiae morsibus
acribus sed falsis humanum genus universum
cruciaret, si mortalibus ab eodum insita no-
tione communi grata sibi esse eorum sacrifi-
cia, eorumque votis annuere nihil ea cuncta
curaret." [See page 353.]
In the fourth book, of which but a part is
given in the Latin and in the older copies,
the author begins with the invitation of the
nephews to Rome. " Raggioni che persua-
sero a] papa di chiamare i nepoti. Discorsi di
Roma." So far from its being true that the
pen dropped from Pallavicini's hand when
this event took place, on the contrary he nar-
rates the matter circumstantially and states
all the opinions that were entertained res-
pecting it in Rome, Next he speaks of the
position of queen Christina in Rome, and the
support granted her by the pope. " La reina,
ch'era vissuta con quella prodigalitii la quale
impoverisce senza il piacere e I'honore di
spendere e che si esercita non in dare ma in
lasciarsi rubare, nel tempo della sua dimora
haveva impegnato tutte le gioje con la spe-
ranza delle future rimesse, ne per cio li
restava un scudo onde provedere al destinato
viaggio. Pero, sicome la necessita vince la
vergogna, convenne che ella si facesse vio-
lenza in dimandar soccorso al pontefice, ma
nolle maniere piii lontane che seppe dal limo-
sinare : e perche la lettera non arrossisce, il
pregno per mezzo di questa a fare che alcun
mercante le prestasse danaro con promessa
d'intera restitutione." [The queen, who had
lived with that prodigality which impove-
rishes without affording the pleasure or the
credit of expenditure, and which is displayed
not in giving, but in suffering oneself to be
robbed, durmg the period of her stay had
pledged all her jewels and mortgaged her
future remittances, so that she had not a scudo
left to defray the expenses of her intended
journey. But as necessity is stronger than
588
APPENDIX.
shame, she was forced to do herself violence
and to ask aid of the pope, but in the most
remote way she could devise from beo-o'ing' :
and as a paper cannot blush, she asked him by
letter to cause some merchant to advance her
the money under her promise that it should be
fully repaid.] The pope did not think it very
proper to take upon himself, as surety, the
whole weight of her debts without any advan-
tage to himself Accordingly he sent her
through a confidential ecclesiastic, probably
Pallavicini himself, along with some gold and
silver medals then struck in honour of the
queen's entry into Rome, a purse with a thou-
sand scudi as a present, " ' con escusarne la
pochezza per I'angustia dell' erario.' La
reina nel ringratiare pianse alle volte per
quella mistura d'affetti che sorgono in questi
casi." [Excusing himself for the smallness
of the sum by reason of the low state of the
treasury. The queen, on returning thanks,
wept more than once from that mixture of
feelings which arises in such cases.] Palla-
vicini also enters into detailed explanations
respecting the restoration of the Jesuits in
Venice, written quite in the spirit manifested
in his history of the council of Trent.
In the fifth book is given the history of
the year 1657. Promotions to cardinalates. —
Buildings in S. Maria del Popolo, and della
Pace, and on the piazzi di S. Pietro. — Queen
Christina in France. — Monaldeschi, whose
tragic end is thus described. " Mentre la re-
gina si tratteneva in Fontanablo, Ludovico, il
fratello di lui, emulo nella gratia deiia pa-
drona di Gian Rinaldo Monaldeschi principal
gentil'huomo di questi paesi, per notitie, come
si disse, mandateglidi Roma del prenominato
fratello, scoperse a lei alcuni trattati del Mo-
naldeschi per cui le appariva poco fedele :
onde ella dopo haverlo convinto e tratane
dalla sua bocca la confessione gli diede un'-
liora solamente di spatio per provedere alia
coscienza con I'opera d'un sacerdote, e di poi,
cio che appena le sarebbe stato permesso in
Stockholm quando vi dominava, il fe uccidere
per mano dell' istesso suo emulo." [While
the queen resided at Fontainbleau, Ludovico,
his brother, the rival in his mistress's favour
of Gian Rinaldo Monaldeschi, principal gen-
tleman from these parts, communicated to her
intelligence, sent him, as he said, from Rome
by his brother, respecting some negotiations
of Monaldeschi's that showed him guilty of
breach of faith. Upon this she having con-
victed him and extracted a confession from
his own lips, gave him but one hour to set his
conscience in order with the aid of a prie.st,
and then what would hardly have been per-
mitted her in Stockholm when she reigned
there — she caused him to be put to death by
his rival's own hand.]
In the sixth book the author returns to the
internal affairs of Rome, He concludes with
the arrangements respecting the prelature for
which Alexander demanded a specific portion
of the revenues.
Even this the most complete copy of this
biography is far from containing the whole
life of Alexander.
131. PfloZo Casati ad Alessandro VII sopra
la regina di Suecia. — Bibl. Alb.) [Paolo
Casati to Alexander VII. respecting the
queen of Sweden.]
Malines and Casati were the two Jesuits
who were dispatched to Stockholm by the ge-
neral of the order to convert the queen.
There is a private letter of Malines on this
subject in Arckenholtz, tom. iv. app. n. 27.
Casati forwarded to Alexander VII. a far
more detailed, and, so to speak, official report,
dedicated " Alia Santita di N™ Signore Ales-
sandro VII.," dated " dal Collegio Romano li
5 Dec. 165.5," and signed " Delia S. V^a umil-
issimo servitore ed obedientissimofiglio in X^°
Paolo Casati della Compagnia di Gesii."
This document gives a far more circumstan-
tial and satisfactory account of all the parti-
culars.
"Per ubbidire, he begins, "ai cenni di V.
St^, che desiderate una breve memoria di
quelle e passato nella risolutione presa dalla
regina Christina di Suecia di rinonciare il
regno per rendersi cattolica, sono necessitato
farmi un passo a dietro per spiegarne I'occa-
sione, conjorme alle notitie havute dalla bocca
della stessa regina, alia quale mi assicuro
non sia per essere se non di gusto che la S'^
Vostra sia del tutto sinceramente informata."
[In obedience to the wish expressed by
your holiness to have a brief account of what
passed regarding the resolution of queen Chris-
tina of Sweden to resign the crown and be- ,
come catholic, I must go back a step to ex- I
plain the cause thereof, conformably with the 5
statements I had from the queen''s own lips,
being assured that it cannot but be gratifying
to your holiness to be truly informed of the
whole matter.]
His first notices, however, of the early
stages of this transaction are not of much im-
portance: the author understood nothing of
the affairs of Sweden : it is not till he touches
upon religious interests that he is deserving
of attention.
" Havendo acquistato tanto di cognitione,
comincio far riflessione che molte delle cose
della setta Luterana, in cui era stata allevata,
non potevano sussistere, e cominciando ad
esaminarle, piu le teneva inconvenienti.
Q,uindi comincio con piu diligenza a sludiare
nolle cose della religione e delle controversie,
e trovando che quella in cui era nudrita non
haveva apparenza di vera, si diede con straor-
dinaria curiositJi ad infbrmarsi di tutte et a
ponderare la difficolta di ciascuna. Impiego
LATER EPOCHS.
589
in qiiesto lo spatio di cinque anni incirca con
grande perturbatione interna d'animo, poiche
non trovava dove fermarsi: e niisurando ogni
co?a con discorso meramente humano, pare-
vale che molte cose potessero essere mere in-
ventioni politiche per trattenere la gente piii
Bemplice : degl' argomenti che quelli d'una
setta si servono contro d'un'altra, clla si ser-
viva per ritorcerli contro quella stessa: cosi
paragonava le cose di Mose nel popolo Ebreo
a cio che fece Maometto negli Arabi. Dal
che nasceva che non trovata alciina religione
che vera le paresse. Et io I'ho molte volte
udita che s'accusava d'essere stata troppopro-
fana in volere investigare i piii alti misterj
della divinita: poiche non ha lasciatoa dietro
alcun mistero della nostra fede che non liab-
bia voluto esaminare, mentre cercava di quie-
tare I'anima sua con trovare finalmente una
religione, essendo che ogni sorte di libro che
tratiasse di cosa apartenente a cio, elle leg-
geva, le capitarono anche molte cose degli
antichi e de' gentili e d'athei. E se bene
ella non giunse mai a tal cecita che dubitasse
dell'esistenza di dio e sua unita con fame
concetto come di cosa maggiore di tutte le
altre, pure si lascio empire la mente di molte
difficolte delle quali poi varie volte discorre-
simo. E finalmente non trovava altra con-
chiusione se non che nell' esterno conveniva
far cio che fanno gl'altri, stimando tutte le
cose indifferenti, e non importar piii seguir
questa che quell'altra religione o setta, e bas-
tar di non far cosa che fosse contro il dettame
della ragione e di cui la persona potesse una
volta arrossirsi d'haverla fatta. Con questo
s'ando qualche tempo governando, e parevale
d'haver trovato qualche riposo, massime che
haveva scoperte altre persone (anche chiamate
di lontano) da lei stimate per dotte e savie
essere di poco differente parere, giacche erano
fuori della vera religione cattolica da loro
riprovata sin dalla fanciullezza. Ma il sig-
nore iddio, che voleva havere misericordia
della regina ne lasciarla perire negl' errori
deH'intelletto, giacche per I'altra parte ha-
veva ottima volonta e desiderio di conoscere
il vero e nell' oprare talmente si lasciava
guidare dal lume della retta ragione, che piii
volte m'ha assicurato di non haver mai fatto
cosa che giudicasse non doversi fare ne di cui
possa arrossirsene (che*queste sono le sue for-
mole di parlere,) comincio a farle apprendere
che dove si tratta della salute eterna dell'
anima, ogn' altro interesse deve cedere e che
I'errore in cosa tanto importante e d'eterno
pregiuditio : onde ripiglio di nuovo il pensiere
che dovea esservi qualche religione, e posto
che I'huomo doveva havere pure una reli-
gione, tra tutte quelle che si sapeva fossero
nel moudo, niuna le sembrava piii ragionevole
della cattolica; percio facendosi piii attenta
riflessione, trovo che li suoi dogmi e istituti
non sono cosi sciocchi come li ministri Lute-
rani (li chiamano pastori) vorriano far cre-
dere."
[Having acquired thus much knowledge,
she began to reflect that many things of the
Lutheran sect, in which she had been broujOfht
up, could not hold, and beginning to examine
them, she found them more and more incor-
rect. Hence she began to give more thought
to matters of religion and of controversy, and
finding that the religion in which she had
been reared did not wear the appearance of
truth, she applied herself with unusual curi-
osity to inquire into all, and to weigh the diffi-
culties of each. She thus employed about
five years with great perturbation of mind,
because she found no point at which she could
stop: and estimating all things upon merely
human principles, she thought that many
things might have been mere political inven-
tions to amuse the commoner order of minds;
and those arguments which one sect employs
against another she turned back against those
who used them : thus she matched with the
acts of Moses among the Hebrew people those
of Mahomet among the Arabs. Hence she
found no religion that appeared to her to be
true. And many times I have heard her ac-
cuse herself of having been too profane in
seeking to fathom the profoundest mysteries
of the Godhead: for she did not pass over one
mystery of our faith which she did not seek
to examine in her endeavours to give rest to
her mind by at last discovering a religion;
and forasmuch as she read every kind of
book treating on matters pertaining to this
subject, she lighted upon many things of the
ancients, and of the gentiles, and of the athe-
ists. And though she never fell into such
blindness as to doubt of the existence of God
and of his unity, which she esteemed superior
to everything else, still she suffered her mind
to be beset by many difficulties, on which we
had discourse at various times. Finally she
arrived at no other conclusion but that it was
expedient to do outwardly like others, think-
ing all matters indifierent, and that it signi-
fied nothing whether one followed this or that
religion or sect, and that it was enough not to
do anything contrary to the dictates of reason,
and which the individual might one day blush
for having done. She acted on these princi-
ples for some time, and thought she had found
some rest, particularly when she found other
persons (likewise invited from a distance)
whom she esteemed learned and wise, to be
very nearly of the same way of thinking,
since they were out of the pale of the true
catholic faith, which they repudiated even as
childishness. But God, who was willing to
have mercy on the queen, and not to leave
her to perish in the errors of her intellect,
since on the other hand she had the best will
and desire to know the truth, and in acting
thus submitted herself to the guidance of
590
APPENDIX.
sound reason — for she frequently assured me
she never had done anything which she
judged she ought not to do, or for which she
should have reason to blush (these were her
own expressions,) — began to let her perceive
that when the eternal salvation of the soul is
in question, all other interests ought to give
way, and that error upon so momentous a
point is of eternal injury. She therefore re-
verted to the thought that there must be some
religion, and granting that man must have a
religion, of all those she knew to exist in the
world, none appeared to her more rational
than the catholic. Thereupon reflecting more
attentively upon the subject, she found that
its dogmas and institutions are not so silly as
the Lutheran ministers (they call them pas-
tors) would make them appear.]
As we cannot think of inserting the whole
work, we must be content with the following
circumstantial account of the first meeting of
the Jesuits with the queen.
" Partiti d'Hamburg doppo due giornate a
Rendsburg ci accompagnammo col signor
senatore Rosenhan, che ritornava in Suecia, e
con lui andammo sino a Roschilt, dove sono
sepolti li re di Danimarca, toltone S. Canuto,
il cui capo ea Ringstede. Egli tiro dritto a
Elsenor per passare lo stretto, e noi andammo
a Coppenhagen. Questa cognitione fatta col
sig"^ Rosenhan ci giovo poi in Stockholm per
esser meno sospetti : e la regina un giorno
dicendogli che non sapeva che concetto do-
vesse farsi di quel due Italiani, egli disse che
non v'era di che temere, che erano buona
gente, e ci uso sempre gran cortesia. Heb-
bimo pure fortuna nel viaggio d'unirci per al-
cune giornate col generale Wachtmeister
gran scudiere del regno, il quale parimente ci
fu di non poca utilita: perche essendo noi in
Stockholm alii 24 di Febbraro conforme lo
stile antico, et havendo io il giorno seguente
cercato di parlare a Gio. Holm, valetto di
camera di Sua Maesta, per essere introdotto
a presentare la lettera datami in Roma da)
padre vicario generale, ne havendolo trovato,
la sera detto generale fu occasion che Sua
Maesta sapesse il mio arrivo. Mentre stava
la regina cenando, due cavalieri lamentavano
che faceva freddo, e i generale Wachtmeister
gli sgrido, dicendo che non havevano tanta
paura del freddo du Italiani venuti in sua
compagnia. Udi la regina questa contesa, e
interrogatoli di che contendessero, udito ch'-
ebbe essere venuti due Italiani, richiese
s'erano musici: ma rispondendo il generale
che erano due galant' huomini che andavano
vedendo il paese. Sua M^^ disse che per ogni
mode li voleva vedere. Noi subito fummo av-
visati di tutto cio ed esortati ad andare il
giorno seguente alia corte : anzi dal sig"" Zac-
caria Grimani nobile Veneto vi fummo con-
dotti la mattina seguente e introdotti a
salutare il conte Magnus de la Gardie primo
ministro di Sua M^^ per ottenere per
mezzo suo I'honore di baciar la mano di
Sua Mta; egli con somma cortesia sia ci
accolse e ci assicuro che Sua M'^'^ I'havria
havuto molto a caro. Era I'horo del pranso,
quando la regina usci nel Vierkant, e noi
fummo avvisati d'accostarci a Sua M^^, e ba-
ciatale la mano fecimo un piccolo complimen-
to in Italiano (che cosi ella haveva comandato,
se bene ci aveva fatto avvisare ch'averia ris-
posto in Francese, giacche noi I'intendevamo)
proportionate all' apparenza del personaggio
che rappresentavamo : et ella con grandissima
benign ita rispose. Subito s'invio il maresci-
allo della corte e con lui tuttili cavalieri ver-
so la sala dove stava preparata la tavola, ed
io mi trovai immediatamente d'avanti alia
regina. Ella, che la notte ripensando alii
due Italiani e facendo riflessione che appunto
era il fine di Febbraro, circa il qual tempo da
Roma se I'era scritto che saressimo giunti, era
venuta in sospetto che noi fossimo quelli che
aspettava, quando fossimo poco lonlani dalla
porta e che gia tutti erano quasi usciti dal
Vierkant, mi disse sottovoce : ' forse voi ha-
vete qualche lettera per me,' ed io senza vol-
tarmi che si ; soggiunse : ' non ne parlate con
alcuno.' Mentre noi il dopo pranso stavamo
sopra cio che era seguito discorrendo, ecco so-
pragiunge uno che in Francese ci fa varii
complimenti, poi s'avvanza a dimandarci se
haveriamo lettere per Sua M^^. Io comin-
ciai subito a dar risposte ambigue, che non
havevamo negotii, che non havevamo lettere
di raccomandalione, etc., sin a tanto che egli
alia fine disse per ordine tutto quello che nel
breve e fortuito colloquio m'haveva detto la
reg'ina. Allora m'accorsi che da lei sola po-
teva esser mandate : pure per maggior sicur-
ezza lo richiesi del suo nome, ed udito che
egli era Gio. Holm, gli consegnai la lettera.
La mattina seguente, quasi due bore prima
del tempo solito d'andar alia corte, ci avviso
Giq, Holm che Sua M^^ voleva parlarci. Su-
bito andammo: e appena erano entrati nel
Vierkant, dove era solo I'officiale di guardia,
quando usci la regina, e mostro di meravigli-
arsi, si perche non fosse ivi ancora alcuno de'
cavaglieri, si perche noi fossimo stati i primi
neir andare : e dopo haverci interrogati d'al-
cune poche cose intorno al nostro viaggio,
udendo I'officiale, gli»dimand6 se fosse com-
parso alcuo de' segretarii, e rispondendo queg-
li che no, coinandolli andasse a chiamare uno
di loro, e non torno che dopo un'hora. Par-
tite che ei fu, comincio Sua Mi^ con cortesis-
sime parole a ringratiarci della fatica presa
da noi per sua cagione nel viaggio, ci assicu-
ro che qualunque pericolo potesse occorrere
d'essere scoperti, non temessimo, perche non
haveria permesso havessimo male alcuno.
C'incarico il segreto ne ci fidassimo di per-
sona, additandoci nominatamente alcuni de'
quali dubitava potessimo havere confidenza in
LATER EPOCHS.
591
progresso di tempo : ci diede speranza che
havendo ella sodisfattione il nostro viaggio
non saria stato indarno : c'interrogo dell' ar-
rivo del padre Macedo e come noi fossimo
stati eletti per andare cola : ci racconto come
fosse succeduta la partenza del padre Mace-
do "
[Leaving Hamburg, after two days' stay at
Rendsberg, we set out in company with the
senator Rosenhan, who was returning to Swe-
den, and we proceeded with him as far as
Roschilt, where the kings of Denmark are
buried, with the exception of S. Canute,
whose head is at Ringstede. Our companion
went direct to Elsinor to cross the straits, and
we to Copenhagen. This acquaintance form-
ed with signor Rosenhan was of use after-
wards to us in Stockholm, towards rendering
us less suspected ; and when the queen said
to him one day tiiat she did not know what to
think of those two Italians, he told her there
was nothing to fear, they were good people,
and he always treated us with great courtesy.
We had the luck, too, to fall in, for some
days on our journey, with general VVacht-
meister, grand equerry of the kingdom, who
was likewise of no small service to us; for
when we arrived in Stockholm on the 24th
of February, old style, and sought to have
speech the next day of Jolin Holm, her majes-
ty's valet-de-chanibre, that I might be intro-
duced, and might present the letters given
me in Rome by the father-general, but could
not find him, — the general was that evening
the means of letting her majesty know my
arrival. While the queen was at supper two
gentlemen complained of the cold, and the
general upbraided them, saying that two Ita-
lians, who had arrived in company with him,
had not been so much afraid of the cold. The
queen heard the altercation, and asking what
it was about, when she heard that two Ita-
lians had arrived, she inquired were they
musicians : but the general making answer
that they were two gentlemen who were tra-
velling to view the country, her majesty said
that by all means she would see them. We
were immediately informed of all this, and
advised to go ne.xt day to court. According-
ly we were conducted thither next morning
by Zaccaria Grimani, a noble Venetian, and
introduced to salute count Magnus de la Gar-
die, her majesty's prime minister, to obtain,
through him, the honour of kissing her majes-
ty's hand. lie complied with much courtesy,
and assured us it would give her majesty
great pleasure. It was dinner hour when
her majesty came out into the Vierkant, and
we were desired to approach her majesty ;
and having kissed her hand, we made her a
little compliment in Italian, (tor so she had
commanded, giving us to understand that she
would reply in French, since we understood
it,) suited to our assumed characters, and she
replied with extreme urbanity. Presently
the court marshal went in, and with him all
the cavaliers, to the hall where the table was
laid, and I found myself immediately before
the queen. She having thought over the mat-
ter of the two Italians the night before, and
reflected that it was precisely the end of Fe-
bruary,— about which time it had been writ-
ten her from Rome that we should arrive, —
had come to suspect that we were the persons
she awaited ; so when we were but a short
distance from the door, and when almost all
had left the Vierkant, she said to me in a
whisper, " Perhaps you have letters for me,"
and I, without turning, answered, " Yes."
She rejoined, " Do not mention them to any
one." While we were talking after dinner
about what had occurred, there comes up a
person who makes us various compliments in
French, and then proceeds to ask us if we
had letters for her majesty ] I immediately
began to make ambiguous answers, that we
were not engaged in business, that we had no
letters of recommendation, &c. : till at last
he repeated to us all that had passed in the
brief casual discourse we had had with the
queen. I was then convinced he could only
have been sent by her. To make more sure,
however, I asked his name, and hearing it
was John Holm, I gave him the letter. The
following morning, about two hours before
the usual time of going to court, John Holm
informed us that her majesty wanted to speak
with us. We went immediately, and had no
sooner entered the Vierkant, where there was
no one but the officer on guard, than the
queen came out and seemed surprised, whe-
ther it was because there was no other cava-
lier there, or because we had been the first to
arrive. After having asked us some few
things about our journey, and hearing the of-
ficer, she asked him had any of the secreta-
ries made his appearance : and on his reply-
ing in the negative, she bade him go and call
one of them, and he did not return for an
hour. W^hen he was gone her majesty be-
gan very courteously to thank us for the
trouble we had taken in making the journey
for her sake, and assured us, that whatever
was the risk of our being discovered, we need
not be afraid, for she would not suffer any
harm to befal us. She enjoined us to secre-
cy, and not to confide in any one ; mention-
ing further, by name, some persons with whom
she suspected we might grow confidential in
the course of time. She encouraged us to
hope that if she were satisfied, our journey
would not have been made in vain. She ask-
ed us about the arrival of father Macedo, and
how we had been chosen to go thither. She
related to us in what manner the departure
of father Macedo had taken place . . . .]
592
APPENDIX.
132. Relatione delta corte Romava del Ca-
val. Corraro 1660. [The cavalier Corra-
ro's report on the court of Rome.]
Brilliant hopes had indeed been conceived
of Alexander VII. Court and state looked to
him for their renovation, the church for the
re-establishment of her ancient discipline :
even among the protestants there were many
who inclined to him; the amazement, there-
fore, was general, when he so soon began to
govern precisely like his last predecessors.
His popularity gave place to violent anti-
pathy.
The first ambassador the Venetians sent to
Rome after the embassy of congratulation was
Geronimo Giustiniano. His dispatches be-
long to the year 1656. He died of the plague.
Anzolo Corraro, then podesta of Padua, was
appointed to succeed him. He delayed so
long that another was actually elected in-
stead of him ; upon this, however, he has-
tened to Rome and resided there from 1657 to
1659.
The report he made of the court on his re-
turn did not prove very favourable. The
pope and his family were loaded with cen-
sure.
It is not necessary, however, for a special
reason, that we should make any extracts
from the document.
The report excited so strong a sensation,
that it immediately found its way to the pub-
lic.
A French translation of it appeared in Ley-
den, — " Relation de la cour de Rome faite
I'an 1661 (0) au conseil de Pregadi par I'ex-
cejlme Seigneur Angelo Corraro : chez Lo-
rens, 1663," — which, as far as I have coni-
pared it with the Italian original, renders it
perfectly ; nor is it by any means rare at the
present day.
It was printed at the moment when the
quarrel between Chigi and Creqiiy drew the
general attention towards Rome : the publi-
cation was intended to kindle public feeling
against the pope. It is dedicated to Beunin-
gen, who had not yet said, " Sta sol."
133. Relatione da Roma delT eccelenfno Sigr
Niccolo Sagredo. 1661. [Niccolo Sa-
gredo's report on Rome.]
A report of which I met with no authentic
copy, and one which is also to be found under
the name of Anzolo Correro.
But as there can be no doubt that the pre-
ceding report is by Correro, whose active par-
ticipation in the war against the Barberini is
mentioned in it, whilst the author of this one
expresses the wish to be released from his
twenty-seven years' wanderings, and allowed
to devote himself at home to the education of
his children,— which certainly is not applica-
ble to Correro, whose last employment had
been that of podesta of Padua — I do not hesi-
tate to conclude that Sagredo's is the right
name. Sagredo had, as we know, been once
already sent to Rome and then to Vienna: he
now went for the second time to Rome. He
was in fact one of the most abundantly em-
ployed statesmen of Venice, and was at last
made doge.
This report is far from being so severe as
the preceding one : still it is not eulogistic :
it has rather the character of dispassionate
observation.
Speaking of the rise of the nephews, Sa-
gredo remarks, that it was curious how pope
Alexander constantly inveighed against the
wealth of the Borghesi, the Barberini, and
the Ludovisi, at the very time he himself
spared no opportunity to enrich his own ne-
phews.
Description of Alexander. "Placido e
soave : nei negotii ne facile ne molto dispos-
to: per natura e dubbioso nelle risolutioni
grandi, osia per timore che non rieschino, o
perche mal volontieri s'affatichi nel procu-
rarle, da ogni spina, benche lontana, paren-
dogli sentirsi pungere." [Placid and gentle :
in business neither easy nor of much alacrity :
he is by nature dubious in questions of mo-
ment, whether from fear of ill-success, or be-
cause he does not like the trouble of carrying
them through, seeming to feel pricked by
every thorn, however distant.]
He thought he had done enough to satisfy
the Venetians by the suppression of the or-
ders before mentioned, and he even thought
there was no danger to be apprehended from
the Candian war in the long run. It touched
him directly that Parma and Modena were
supported by France in their pretensions
against the states of the church. The Por-
tuguese affair, too, was not settled. " Vedu-
tosi quel regno in mancanza assoluta di ves-
covi e dilapidate le rendite di tutte le chiese,
si sono sentiti molti clamori non solo, ma vi-
vissime I'instanze del cardi Orsini protettore,
perche fossero provedute : ma non si e lascia-
to condurre il papa mai a farlo." [The total
want of bishops in that kingdom, and the ru-
ined state of the revenues of all the churches,
have occasioned not only numerous clamours,
but very urgent 'demands on the part of the
cardinal protector Orsino to have the matter
remedied : but the pope has never been pre-
vailed on to do so.]
We find the popedom already at variance
with most of the catholic states. There was
not one that had not an utter horror of the
jurisdictional and financial pretensions of the
curia.
Of all that occurred in Rome our author
most extols Alexander's buildings. We see
that the public greatly preferred the Cattedra
d i S. Pietro in St. Peter's to the Colonnades.
The embellishments in the city itself were
often carried into effect in a some what violent
and arbitrary manner. "Moltestrade della
citta, con getti di case e di palazzi drizzate :
levatesi le colonne et impedimenti che stava-
no avanti le porte di particulari : allargatasi
la piazza Colonna del collegio Romano ad is-
tanza de' Gesuiti col abbattimento del nobilis-
simo palazzo Salviati : ristrettisi tutti i tavo-
lati delle botteghe : opere tutte che come ries-
cono in fine di grand' ornamento della citta,
cosi il peso delle medesime su la borsa de'
privati cadendo, non puonno che delle mor-
morationi partorire, il vedersi gittar a terra il
proprio nido, il contribuirsi summe rilevanti
per I'aggiustamento di strade ch'ai medesirni
particulari nulla profittano, sotto colore che le
lore habitationi habbiano a godere della vista
piu bella, non equivalendo all' aggravio che
ne risentono, et alia forza con cui sono a con-
sentirvi costretti." [Many streets of the city
have been straightened by pulling down
houses and palaces ; the columns and other
obstacles before the doors of private individu-
als have been taken away ; the piazza Col-
onna of the Collegio Romano has been en-
larged, at the solicitation of the Jesuits, by
pulling down the magnificent palazzo Salvia-
ti; all the shop signs have been restricted:
though all these operations result in the great
adornment of the city, yet as the burthen of
Ihem falls on the purses of private individuals,
it cannot fail to excite much murmuring to see
one's own nest hurled to the ground, and to
be obliged to contribute considerable sums for
the arrangement of streets that are of no ad-
vantage to the individuals who pay, under the
pretence that their houses will have the en-
joyment of a handsomer view, — no recom-
pense for the cost they are put to, and the
force by which they are constrained to submit
to it.]
134. Relatione di Roma del K'' Pietro Basa-
dona, 1663. [Pietro Basadona's report
on Rome.]
Written in Corraro's manner, but exaggera-
ted. I will give a few passages.
First as to the quarrel with France, un-
doubtedly the most important occurrence that
took place during this embassy. " Quanto
alle brighe correnti, so di havere nelle
mie successive lettere dispolpate leossadital
materia quanto conviene : pero non devo ta-
cere che se I'imprudente superbia fece cadere
i Chigi nella fossa, I'ambitiosa mellonagine
vi gli habbia miseramente inviluppati. Cos-
toro si persuadevano che Roma fosse il mondo :
ma il re di Francia a spese lore gli ha date a
divedere che non havevano bene studiata la
geografia. Varie ciarle hanno divolgate le
passioni degli huomini circa I'insolenza d'ini-
periali * e di Don Mario contra rimmunita
75
dcir ambasciatore Francese. To non diroche
fossero innocenti, ma eft'ettivamente affermo
che congiunta alia loro mala volontji qualche
colpa del caso, cheaccresceo sminuiscenondi
rado le humane operationi, li constituisca per
rei et obligati a rendere puntualmente soddis-
fatte le pretensioni che il re di Francia puo
legitimamente fondare sulle ingiurie pur
troppo sostenute nella persona del suo minis-
tro : e sicome io conobbi questa verita cosi
contribuii indefessa applicatione per intepidire
le mosse di Crequi, e prima che le cose cor-
ressero a manifesta rovina, saldare la scissura
col balsamo de' negotiati. Ma erano troppi
umori nelle teste Chigiarde e troppa ostina-
tinatione per condescendere ad una convene-
vole humiiiatione verso il re, di cui non si vol-
evano temere le bravate, quasiche fatte in
credenza e non durabili piu di una effimera
Francese. Insino mi hebbe a dire Sua B^e
che i cuori Romani non havevano paura delle
smargiassate de giovinastri Parigini. A\ che
risposi, complire tal volta piu pigliarsela con
gli assennati vecchioni che con giovinastri
cervelletti, i quali sogliono per isfogare un
favorite capriccio avventurarsi anche sull'
orlo de precipitii, e che il trescare con chi
ha de grill i in capo, esserciti a fianchi e milioni
sotto i piedi, non era buon giuoco per li pon-
tefici, che hanno solamente le due dita alzate.
Rappresentai pivi volte, quando si vide che il
re diceva da senno, essersi pur troppo ruinate
il dominio ecclesiasticodai quattordeci milioni
che spese nella guerra Barberina, che i mil-
ioni di cui la camera e debitrice passano cin-
quanta, e che in somma Sua S^^ senza rovin-
arsi non poteva armarsi, senza perdersi non
poteva combattere, anzi che senza combattere
il nemico poteva rovinarlo. Ma vane furono
queste e cento alf.re piii massiccie ragioni,
havendo troppo amore per non alontanarsi i
parenti e troppo umore per il puntiglio di
Castro. Ed un giorno che lo trovai di vena,
mi disse queste formali parole : ' Tutti escla-
mano che si scameri Castro, a nessuno dice
che si restituischi Avignone : tutti espongono
che il re merita esser risarcito degli affronti
presenti ricevuti, e nessuno park che si rifac-
ciano gli strapazzi degli ecclesiastici, se fosse
vero, come si sa non essere che imperiali * e
nostro fratello Mario habbiamo * dati gli ordi-
ni a corsi contro I'ambasciatore e potrebbe il
re pretendere soddisfattione contro questi due :
ma come si entra Castro 1 e poi se Mario e
innocente, come si ha d'allontanare da noi V "
[As to the present troubles, I know that I
have sufficiently extracted the marrow of the
subject in my successive letters : I must not,
however, omit to say, that if the imprudent
pride of the Chigi made them fall in the
ditch, their ambitious blundering has misera-
* Qu. Imperiali l (See note p. 343.)— habbiano ?—
Translator.
594
APPENDIX.
bly smothered them in it. They had taken
it into their heads that Rome was the world :
but the king of France taught them, to their
cost, that they had not rightly studied geog-
raphy. Passion has given rise to various
idle reports about the insolence of Imperiali
and Don Mario in disputing the immunities of
the French ambassador. 1 will not say that
they were innocent, but I do affirm, that be-
sides their ill intentions there was some fault
of accident, such as not unfrequently adds to
or takes from the effect of human efforts,
which makes them culprits, and bound to ren-
der punctual satisfaction to the claims the
king of France may legitimately ground upon
the injuries he has palpably sustained in the
person of his ambassador: and whereas I was
aware of this truth, I was no less indefatigable
in my efforts to mitigate Crequi's irritation,
and, before matters were pushed to the last ex-
tremity, to heal the breach by negotiation. But
the Chigi had too many humours in their heads,
and too much obstinacy, to condescend to a
suitable humiliation towards the king, whose
bravadoes they would not fear, esteeming
them as mere words, and no more lasting than
a French one-day fever. His holiness even
said to me that Roman hearts were not to be
frightened by the blusterings of Parisian hob-
bedehoys. To this I replied, that it was
sometimes better to have to do with steady
veterans, than with hair-brained boys, who to
indulge a whim would venture to the very
verge of the precipice ; and that to play with
one who had crotchets in his head, armies at
his side, and millions under his feet, was a
bad game for the popes, who have only two
fingers raised. I frequently represented to
him, when it was seen that the king was in
earnest, that the ecclesiastical government
was too ruinously embarrassed by the fourteen
millions spent in the Barberini war ; that the
debts ofthe treasury exceeded fifty millions and
that in fine his holiness could not arm without
ruining himself, nor fight without destroying
himself, whereas the enemy could ruin him
even without fighting. But vain were all
these and a hundred oiher more weighty argu-
ments, he having too much love for his rela-
tions to repudiate them, and too much wilful-
ness and sore-feeling about Castro. One day
when I found him in the vein he said to me
these very words : " Every body cries out, that
Castro must be given up, but no one says that
Avignon must be restored : every one de-
clares that the king deserves compensation
for the affronts endured by him, but no one
says a word of recompense for the insults in-
flicted on the clergy: supposing it were true,
which is by no means the case, that Imperiali
and our brother Mario ordered the proceed-
ings against the ambassador, and that the king
might claim satisfaction of these two, — stilj,
what has Castro to do with the matter 1 and
then if Mario is innocent, why should he be
repudiated by us ? "]
So it goes on; a tissue of self-sufficient in-
vectives; full of profound contempt for the
whole ecclesiasticial body ; a wholly modern
tone of feeling. The possibility of the French
making themselves masters of Rome is already
contemplated. At times we are almost tempt-
ed to doubt whether such things could really
have been read before the senate. But if wq
reflect that just then violent attacks were di-
rected from all quarters against the Roma see
(the fiercest satire appeared, e. g. " Le pu-
tanisme de Rome," in which it was said point
blank that the pope must be given a wife to
prevent greater evils, and that the papacy
must be made hereditary,) and that this w^as
the period in which its credit began generally
to decline, we shall then cease to consider
the thing so improbable. On the whole our
author had a very good knowledge of the court
and the country : it is worth while to hear
what he says about the States of the Church.
" Si palpa con mano, I'ecclesiasticodominio
essere totalmente aggravate, si che molti pos-
sessori non potendo estrarre da i loro terreni
quanto basti a pagare le publiche impositioni
straordinariamente aggiunle, trovano di con-
siglio di necessita I'abbandonare i loro fondi
e cercare da paese men rapace la fortuna di
poter vivere. Taccio de datii e gabelle sopra
tutte le robe comestibili, niuna eccettuata :
perche le taglie, i donativi, i sussidii e le al-
tre straordinarie anghere che studiosamente
s'lnventano, sono tali che eccitarebbono com-
passione e stupore se i terribili commissarii
che spedisce Roma nolle citta suddite con
suprema autorita d'inquirere, vendere, aspor-
tare, condannare, non eccedessero ogni cre-
denza, non essendo mai mese che non
volino su le poste grifoni ed arpie col sop-
ramantello di commissarii o della fabrica di
S. Pietro o de legati pii o de spogli o degli
archivii o di venticinque altri tribunali Ro-
mani : onde restano martirizzate le borse,
benche esauste, de' sudditi impotenti ad ulti-
ma prove. E pero, se si pongono da parte
Ferrara e Bologna, con le quali si usaqualche
riguardo e lequtili sono favorite della natura
ed arte di ottimi terreni e di mercatura indus-
triosa, tutte le allre citlJi della Romagna, della
Marca, Umbria, Patrimonio, Sabina e Terri-
torio di Roma sono miscrabili per ogni rispet-
to: ne trovasi (oh vergogna de Romani com-
andanti) in alcuna citta I'arte della lana o
della seta, non che de panni d'oro, se due o
tre picciole bioccchedi Fossombrone, Pergola,
Matelica, Camerino e Norcia n'eccettuo: e
pure facilmente per Tabbondauza della lana e
sfcita si potrebbe iutrodurre ogni vantagievole
mercatura. Ma essendo il dominio ecclesias-
tico un terrene che si ha ad affitto, coloro che
lo noleggiano, non pensano a bonificarlo, ma
solamente a cavarne quella pinguedine che
LATER EPOCHS.
595
puo supremersene maggiore che sia del pove-
ro campo, che sinunto el arido a nuovi afRt-
tuali non havra agio di porgere che sterilissi-
ini sutFragj. E pare arso I'erario pontificio da
unubissodi voragine : si hebbe per bene ar-
mare per due volte, quasi che il primo errore,
che costo due milioni, fosse stato imitabile per
qualche civanzo alia difesa deilo stato, quando
alle prime rotture ogni prndenza insegnava a
stringere raccomodamento per (non) dare pre-
testo a Francia di chieder peggio. Un calcolo,
che feci nella raozzatura di quattro e mezzo
per cento che rendevans i luoghi de monti,
comme fanno di sette per cento nella
nostra zecca, ridotti a quattro solamente,
trovai che a un mezzo scudo per cento
in cinquanta milioni effettivi di debito, la
camera, venne a guadagnare 250 m. scudi
di entrata, che a quattro per cento formarebbe
un capitale di sei milioni e mezzo."
[It is palpable that the ecclesiastical realm
is utterly overwhelmed by its burthens, so that
many proprietors, finding it impossible to draw
from their estates enough to pay the extraor-
dinary impositions of the state, take counsel
of necessity, throw up their possessions, and
go seek the means of subsistence in less rapa-
cious countries. I say nothing of the dues
and customs upon all eatables, none excepted;
for the tolls, donatives, subsidies, and other ex-
traordinary extortions which are studiously
invented, are such as would excite compassion
and amazement, if the terrible commissioners
whom Rome sends into the aforesaid cities
with supreme authority to inquire, sell, carry
oft', and condemn, did not exceed all belief,
there never being a month, but sees these
griffins or harpies fly to their posts in the as-
sumed form of commissioners of the works of
St. Peter's, or of pious bequests, or of spogli,
or of the archives, or of a score of other Roman
boards : hence the exhausted purses of the
helpless subjects are tortured to the last de-
gree. And thus, setting aside Ferrara and
Bologna, which are treated with some con-
sideration, and which are favoured by nature
and art with excellent lands and with manu-
factures, all the other cities of Romagna, the
March, Umbria, the Patrimony, Sabina, and
the Territorio di Roma are wretched in every
respect : nor (O ! shame to Roman rulers) is
the manufacture of wool or of silk, not to
speak of cloth of gold, found in any town,
two or three petty villages of Fossombrone,
Pergola, Matelica, Camerino, and Norcia ex-
cepted ; and yet from the abundance of wool
and silk a very profitable trade might be
created. But the ecclesiastical territory is
an estate leased out to tenants who do not
think of improving it, but only of squeezing
the most they can out of the ill-lated soil,
which, worked out of all heart, will have
nothing but the most barren returns to offer
to new tenants. The papal treasury too seems
a bottomless pit : it was thought right to take
up arms twice ; as if the first error, which
cost two millions, was to be imitated for any
advantage it promised in defence of the state,
whereas upon the first breach every conside-
ration of prudence demanded that an ac-
commodation should be at once concluded, to
avoid giving France a pretext for insisting
on less favourable terms. By a calculation I
made of the reduction of interest on the
luoghi di monti from four and a half per cent
(they pay seven per cent in our mint) to four,
I found that at half a scudo per cent on fifty
millions of debt the treasury gained 250
thousand yearly, which at four per cent would
form a capital of six millions and a half]
135. Vita di Alessandro VII. Con la des-
crizione delle sue adherenze e governo.
1666. [Life of Ale.xander VII. With a
description of his adherents and his go-
vernment.]
This is not a biography, at least not such
an one as Pallavicini wrote, but a general
account of the proceedings of this pope, in
the light in which they were regarded in
Rome, composed by a well-informed and on
the whole a well-meaning contemporary.
" Egli e," it says of the pope, " veramente
d'animo pio, religioso, divoto, e vorebbe ope-
rare miracoli per conservatione del christian-
esimo: ma e pigro, timido, irresoluto,
e molte volte mal opera per non operare."
[He is of a truly pious mind, religious and
devout, and would fain work miracles for the
preservation of Christianity but he
is sluggish, timid, irresolute, and sometimes
works amiss to avoid working.] He denounced
nepotism at first, and afterwards carried it to
the highest pitch. All financial matters were
in the hands of the nephews ; — they enriched
themselves very much ; — the quarrels with
Crequi were to be imputed entirely to them;
the pope reserved only foreign affairs to him-
self. But he paid too little attention to them.
He held literary meetings at home that took
up much of his time : in the evening Rospi-
gliosi spent an hour in conversation with him.
In fact matters went on but very indifferently.
The pope gave his answers in general terms,
while yet there was no minister to whona
parties could address themselves.
The conclusion is not very cheering. The
author sums up in these words: " L'ambi-
tione, I'avaritia et il lusso dominano il pa-
lazzo : e pure la pieta, la bonta et il zelo
dominano Alessandro VII." [Ambition, ava-
rice, and luxury sway the palace ; yet piety,
goodness, and zeal sway Alexander VII.]
136. Relatione di Roma di Giacomo Quirini
Kr. 1667(8) 23 Febr.— [Report on Rome
by Giacomo Quirini.]
Giacomo Quirini passed three years and a
596
APPENDIX.
half at the court of Alexander VII., and
was afterwards accredited for a while to Cle-
ment IX. : his report comprises this whole
period.
He first describes the last years of Alex-
ander VII., not indeed with the animosity of
his predecessors, but essentially to the same
purpose.*
"In 42 mesi che servii Alessandro VII,
conobbi esservi il solo nome del pontefice, ma
non I'uso del pontificate, datosi quel capo alia
quiete dell' animo, al solo pensiere di vivere,
e con severo divieto ripudiato il negotio, sce-
mate tulte quelle virtu che da cardmale pres-
tantemente teneva con vivacita di spirito,
jngegno nel distinguere, prontezza nei partiti,
disinvoltura nel risolvere e facilita supra-
grande dell' esprimersi." He depicts the
abuses of nepotism. He predicts mischief
from the building of the colonnades of St.
Peter's, the blame of which is imputed to the
cavalier Bernini : — " rendera per sempre disa-
bitata la citta Leonina, spianate le case,
moltiplicate I'acque delle fontane, scemati i
fuochi : cagiona in conseguenza la mal' aria."
[It will forever depopulate the Leonine city,
cause the houses to be levelled, the water-
works to be increased, hearths to be dimin-
ished in number: malaria will be the result.]
He relates the abuses of pensions and places
with special reference to Venice, from which
every year the sum of 100,000 ducats found
its way to Rome. It is remarkable that
Alexander VIL was, on his side, very much
dissatisfied with the cardinals; he complained
that they sided with the temporal princes,
even in the affair of Castro, and that they
would not even give him good advice: "Si
lagnava non esser dottrina e virtu sodisfacente
in quel porporati, non arricordando mai ripi-
eghi o partiti che prima lui non li sapesse."
There was an universal degeneracy.
The conclave was overruled through Chigi's
concessions to the Squadrone volante. It
proved afterwards, however, that Chigi had
done well in this : to these concessions he
owed it that Clement IX. granted him some
share in the government.
Quirini describes Clement IX. as weak and
burthened with diseases, but firm, nay obsti-
nate in his opinion : he sometimes forbade his
ministers to revert to a subject on which he
had once made up his mind. A musician of
Pistoja, of the name of Atto, well known in
Venice, was admitted to confidential inter-
course with hiin. Quirini characterises as
heroic his determination to make some re-
mission of the taxes. " Mostro eroica pieta,
levando due giulj di gahella di niacinato dei
rubiatelli, privandosi 2 milioni di scudi."
He proceeds to speak of the family of Cle-
ment IX., particularly cardinal Rospigliosi,
whom he thus describes.
•* See page 343.
"Tuttoche il giorno innanzi della mia
partenza seguisse la promotione, restando al
cardinalato promosso I'abate Rospigliosi in eta
di 38 anni finiti, cio non ostante, avendolo per
due volte conosciuto in Spagna e trattatolo in
Roma con negotii diversi come coppiere del
cardinal Chigi, posso con distinta cognitione
riferire all' EE VV che il papa parlando meco
frequentemente nolle audienze e lasciandosi
con giustizia rapire lo considerava per cauto
ministro, e per consentimento comune gli
attribuiva merito e lode : et in questo credo
che moralmente non si possa ingannare,
perche niun nipote di papa e comparso in
teatro pivi informato di lui, mentre in corte
cattolica fu sempre a parte della lunga nun-
ciatura del zio. Nella secretaria di stato in
Roma era I'unico direttore, formando letiere
e risposte negli affari de' principi. Insorti
poi li turbini per le pessime risolutioni con
I'ambasciatore Crechi fu prima espedito a S.
Quirico e poi a Livorno, con intentione pivi
tosto di portar le lusinghe di palazzo che di
soddisfare I'ambasciator duca : et aggiustato
in fine il negotio fu nella legatione di Chigi
spedito in Francia a consultare le formalita
del trattamento: e ritornato in Roma col
titolo d'internuncio passo in Fiandra: et as-
sunto al pontificate papa Clemente crede con
la speranza e con I'opinione di poter concilare
le difl^erenze conservando nello stesso tempo
gli ornamenti della pace e rimuovere i peri-
coli della guerra, dove gli espedi la plenipo-
tenza per aggiustare i dispareri vertenti tra le
corone. Nelli di cui viaggi et impieghi
siccome nei primi giorni profuse con grande
generosita molt' oro : cosi, caduto mortal-
mente infermo in Susa, convenne con prodi-
galita dispensare infinite contante, a segno
che 140 m. scudi ne risente d'aggravio la
camera apostolica. Nel resto il naturale suo
e melanconico: uomo di poche parole e riti-
rato in se stesso: et in tanti anni di conversa-
tieni e d'anticamera si dimostro con tutti in-
differente, non palesande sviscerata amicitia
o cenfidenza con alcuno, essende piu tosto
raisurato che sostenuto nei discorsi : et bora a
causa del patimento sotferto resta per qualche
memento predominate da certa fissatione de'
pensieri, e tende nel negotio, nolle visite e
neir agitation della corte s'applica e diver-
tisca: con tutto cie dirige la scretaria di
stato il cardl Azzolini sottoscrivendo le stesso
card'e gli ordiiii alle legetieni non mene che
alle nunciature de' principi. Sin qui resta
poi dalla beneficenza del papa proveduto di
30 m. scudi di pensioni e badie che teneva il
pontefice, di quattre mila scudi per la morte
del card'*? Palotta, e di dodici m. scudi della
legatione d'Avignone come cardinal padrone."
[Notwithstanding that the promotion took
place the day before my departure, on which
occasion the abbate Rospigliosi was made
cardinal in his 39th year, still, as I had known
LATER EPOCHS.
597
him twice in Spain, and had dealings with
him at various times in Rome as cupbearer to
cardinal Chigi, I can distinctly relate to your
excellencies that that pope, frequently con-
versing with me, spoke with just warmth of
him as a courteous minister, and one who, by
common consent, was deserving of high praise.
And in this I think it morally impossilile he
can be mistaken; for no pope's nephew ever
appeared on the stage better informed than
he, since he was all along employed in his
uncle's long nunciature at the Spanish court.
He was sole director in the secretaryship of
state at Rome, dictating all answers and re-
plies in the aifairs of foreign princes. When
the troubles arose in consequence of the very
injudicious measures pursued towards the
ambassador Crequi, he was sent first to S.
Quirico, and afterwards to Leghorn, rather
as the bearer of palace flatteries, than with a
view to give satisfaction to the ambassador
duke. When this afl^air was at last settled,
he was sent in Chigi's legation to France, to
arrange the formalities of the treaty; and
on his return to Rome he was dispatched to
Flanders with the title of internuncio. On
the accession of pope Clement he entertained
confidential hopes of preserving peace and
preventing war, being employed as plenipo-
tentiary to adjust the differences between the
two crowns. In his journeys and employ-
ments he scattered gold with lavish genero-
sity; and on being seized with a deadly
illness at Susa, he thought proper prodigally
to expend a vast amount, so that the apostolic
treasury suffered to the amount of 140,000
scudi. His character is melancholy: he is a
man of few words, and retired within him-
self; and during so many years of intercourse
and ante-chamber commerce, he has shown
himself indifferent to all, never manifesting
any cordial or confidential friendship for any
one, and has always been rather measured
than bold in his discourse. At present, in
consequence of the sufferings he has endured,
there are moments when he labours under a
certain stagnation of thought, and then he
plunges into business, and endeavours to
amuse himself with visits and the bustle of
the court. In consequence of all this, the
secretaryship of state is directed by cardinal
Azzolini, who signs the orders to the lega-
tions, as well as to the" nunciatures at the
courts of princes. Up to this time he has
been provided by the pope's beneficence with
pensions and abbeys, formerly held by the
pope, to the amount of three thousand scudi ;
he has derived four thousand scudi from the
death of cardinal Palotta, and twelve thou-
sand scudi from the legation of Avignon, as
cardinal padrone.]
137. Relatione della corte di Roma al re
christianissimo dal S^ di Charme 1669.
[Report to the king of France on the
court of Rome, by monsieur de Charme.]
A report which has been printed both in
French and Italian, but which (and perhaps
this is the very reason why it was printed)
contains very little of importance.
The disorders of the apostolic camera are
here also set forth, and it is remarked how
little they were remedied by the restrictions
imposed by Clement IX. on his nephews;
how little, too, was the efliiciency of any con-
gregation, and how a general bankruptcy
was to be feared.
Grimani's remarks on the dearth of able
men, the good intentions, but little energy,
of Rospigliosi, and the state of the prelature
and the country are here confirmed.
There are editions of this work in which
several things have been taken unaltered from
Grimani.
I rather doubt, however, that this work
was the production of a French ambassador ;
if so, its author must have been the duke de
Chaulnes, whom we find mentioned in the
"Negotiations relatives a la succession d'Es-
pagne, II." p. 579, as ambassador to Rome :
at any rate, it is the work of a cotemporary
who was not uninformed.
138. Relatione della corte di Roma del sig^
Antonio Grimani, amhasciulore della re-
publica di Venetia in Roma durante it
pontijicato di Clemente IX. 1670. [Re-
port on the court of Rome by Signer
Antonio Grimani, ambassador from the
republic of Venice during the pontificate
of Clement IX.]
Quirini expressed himself somewhat dubi-
ously as to the virtues of Clement IX. The
experience people had had of Alexander VII.
might have made him cautious. On the
the other hand, Crimani bursts out into un-
bounded eulogy, at least as regards the pope's
moral qualities. " Veramente la mansuetu-
dine, la modestia, la piacevolezza, la modera-
tione, la clemenza, la candidezza dell' animo,
la purita della conscienza sono doti sue par-
ticolari." [In truth, gentleness, modesty,
amiability, moderation, clemency, candour,
and purity of conscience are his special
gifts.] He declares he never knew a better
man.
He first relates the moderation displayed
by Clement in providing for his nephews. It
appears, however, that there were objections
alleged on this head in Rome. Grimani
iven thought that the Pistojese would re-
venge themselves at some future time on the
nephews for the unexpected repulse they had
received.
This much however, is certain, that Cle-
ment made no serious efforts to reform other
598
APPENDIX.
abuses : the cry was soon, that if another
Sixtus V. did not arise, the papacy was in
danger of utter ruin.
Grimani enumerates the most prominent
evils: the sale of offices, whence resulted
the dearth of able men ; bad financial econo-
my; above all the neglect of the monks. "Al
presente i religiosi sono tenuti in un concetto
si vile che da per loro si allontanano di coni-
parir nella corte per non ricevere affronti da'
cortigiani pivi infimi. Le porpore e vescovadi
si tengono vilipesi su le spalle de' religiosi, e
nelle concorrenze un pretuccio ignorante e
vitioso ottenara il premio sopra il religioso
dotto e da bene. I nipoti non curano de'
religiosi: perche non possono da questi esser
corteggiati come da' preti. Se si parla di
aggravj, i monaster] sono i primi : se di ri-
forma, non si parla di preti, ma di religiosi.
In somma, si toglie affatto ad ogni uno la
volonta di studiare e la cura di defender la
chiesa dalle false opinioni che vanno semi-
nando i nemici di roma : de' quali moltipli-
candosi giornalmente il numero, e deterio-
randosi quello de' religiosi dotti et esemplari,
potrebbe in breve soifrirne non poco detri-
mento la corte. Onde al mio credere fareb-
bono bene i pontefici di procurar di rimettere
i regolari rel pristino posto di stima, parteci-
pandolidiquando in quando cariche e dignita,
tanto piu ch'essendo grande il numero possono
scegliere i soggetti a loro piacere : e cosi
nelle religioni vi entrarebbono huomini emi-
nent!, dove che tengono a vile hoggidi di
coprirsi le spalle d'un cappucino i piii falliti
mercanti, ne si veggono entrar ne' monasterj
che gente mecanica." [The regular clergy
are at present held in such contempt that
they are loath to appear at court, that they
may not be insulted by the lowest courtiers.
It seems to be considered that the purple and
and the episcopal robes would be disgraced if
put on the shoulders of monks and friars ; and
in all competitions, an ignorant and vicious
fellow, if he be a priest, will carry off the
prize in preference to a learned and worthy
member of a religious order. The nephews
have no regard for monks, because they do
not pay them court as the priests do. If bur-
thens are to be imposed, the monasteries are
the first to be visited with them; if the ques-
tion of reform be entertained, the priests are
never talked of, but the monks. In fine, all
love for study, and care for the defence of the
church, are effectually smothered by the false
ideas sown by the enemies of Rome : those
enemies daily increasing in numbers, whilst
that of learned and exemplary monks dimij
nishes, the court may soon suffer no little
detriment. Wherefore, in my opinion, the
popes would do well to endeavour to restore
the regular clergy to their former credit, by
bestowing employments and dignities on them
from time to time, the more because there
being a great number of them, selections
might be made from them at pleasure. In
this way men of eminence would be induced
to enter the orders, whereas, now-a-days, the
most broken traders scorn to cover their
shoulders with the hood, and none but handi-
craftsmen will enter the monasteries.] But,
unfortunately, no remedy for this state of
things was to be expected from Clement
IX. : he was far too lukewarm, of too easy a
temper.
After the description of the pope, the am-
bassador passes on to his nearest kindred.
First he speaks of cardinal Rospigliosi, of
whom it was hoped " quod esset redempturus
Israel." He points out why this hope had
been disappointed. " Tre cose per mio cre-
dere sono quelle che fanno camminar col
piede di piombo il cardinal predetto, accusato
di lentezza di genio e di mancanza d'applica-
tione. La prima e il gran desiderio di voler
far bene ogni cosa e di dar gusto a tutto il
mondo, cosa che difficilmente puo riuscire ad
un' huomo che non e assoluto padrone. La
seconda e che la sua volonta viene imbrig-
liata e trattenuta dal papa, il quale, se bene
ama e considera non amore estraordinario
questo nipote, gode pero di fare il tutto a suo
modo: onde dubioso il Rospigliosi d'incontrar
nelle sue risolutioni le negative dell papa e
dair altra parte volendo sodisfare gl'interes-
sati, fugge le occasioni di concludere cosa
alcuna. E finalmente gli noce ancora la
capacita del proprio intendimento, particolar-
mente in quelle cose che dipendono da lui :
poiche abbondando, come si e detto, di ri-
pieghi capaci da sostenere il posto di nipote,
da si gran copia nasce la gran penuria nelle
risolutioni, perdendo la maggior parte dell'
hore piu pretiose a meditare e crivellare le
materie, et intanto che si medita e crivella
il modo da eligere senza raancare le piii
adequate, il tempo vola e le accasioni fug-
gono." [There are three things in my
opinion that make the aforesaid cardinal
leaden-paced, accused as he is of sluggishness
of mind and want of application. The first
is his great desire of doing every thing well,
and pleasing everybody, — a thing which no
man can very readily accomplish who is not
absolute master. The second is, that his will
is bridled and retarded by the pope, who,
though he regards his nephew with extraor-
dinary affection, is fond, for all that, of doing
everything in his own way : the consequence
is, that Rospigliosi, fearful of having his
resolutions met by the pope's veto, and, on
the other hand, wishing to satisfy parties
interested, shuns occasion to adopt any con-
clusion. Lastly, the very power of his own
understanding is prejudicial to him, especially
in those matters which depend on himself.
For whereas he abounds, as I have said, in
expedients adapted for maintaining the post
LATER EPOCHS.
599
of nephew, a great practical penury springs
from this mental abundance, the most valu-
able time being for the most part consumed
in pondering and sifting his subject; and
while he is doing this, and striving not to
miss one grain, time rolls on, and the oppor-
tunity slips away.] The justice, however,
must not be denied him of admitting that he
had not enriched himself; "havendo trascu-
rato rnolte occasioni d'arricchirsi, e I'havrebbe
possulo fare senza scrupolo e con buona
coscienza" [but had let slip many opportuni-
ties, when he might have clone so without
scruple, and with a clear conscience.] It was
thought, indeed, that Rospigliosi favoured
Chigi, particularly with a view to himself
becoming pope one day through his aid. The
ambassador confutes this opinion.
It is remarkable iiow the character and
tone of thought of the pope and the cardinal
padrone were reflected in the subordinate
members of the court. They were not with-
out good intentions and capacity, but from one
cause or another they could give no practical
proof of them. " Di due ministri si serve
particolarmente il cardinale nelle cose che
corrono alia giornata. L'uno e monsignore
Agustini,huomo prudente e di vita esemplare,
che puo dirsi di lui come di Giobbe Vir
simplex et timens deum, ma del resto lento,
lungo e irresolute e tanto inclinato a voler
far bene che fa poco per lo dubbio di non far
male : onde con questa natura ha saputo dare
cosi bene nell' humore del padrone che lo
decanta per un' oracolo e lo stima il principal
ministro della corte, benche quelli che con-
tinuamente lo sentono nelle congregationi,
ne fanno altro concetto, e lo confessano bene
per un soggetto mediocre, ma non piii oltre,
e della stessa opinione e ancora il papa.
L'altro e mons"" Fiani, a cui fu dato il carico
di segretario della consulta, officio voramente
che ricerca gran contidenza col card^ padrone:
onde con ragione Rospigliosi scelse questo
huomo che conosce il dovere dell' amicitia e
che in effetto non puo desiderarsi maggior
capacita nel governo, tuttavia inhabiie quasi
di esercitare il suo officio per esser podagroso e
infermo, proiongando per questo ogni cosa con
gran rammarico della corte, dalla quale vien
poco accettato, tanto piii che si e vociferate
haver le mani inclinate a ricever presenti, ma
per me credo che questa sia una vera malignita
di dettatori."
[The cardinal particularly employs two
ministers in the current matters of the day.
The one is monsignor Agustini, a sensible
man and of exemplary life, of whom it may
be said as of Job " Vir simplex at timens
Deum," but on the other hand slow, procras-
tinating, and irresolute, and so possessed by
the desire to do well, that he does nothing
for fear of doing ill. With such a character
he accords so well with his patron's humour,
that the latter cries him up for an oracle, and
esteems him the principal member of the
court : though those who hear him constantly
in the congregations are of a different way
of thinking, owning him indeed to be a man
of middling ability, but nothing more : which
is also the opinion of the pope. The other is
monsignor Frani, to whom was committed
the secretaryship of the consulta, an office
which really requires great trust on the part
of the cardinal padrone. Rospigliosi has
therefore rightly selected his man, who knows
what is due to friendship, and who really has
all the capacity that can be desired for
government, though almost unfitted for dis-
charging his functions, being gouty and in-
firm ; so that he protracts everything, to the
great annoyance of the court with which he
is not much in favour, the more so as he is
reported to have a ready hand to receive pre-
sents: but for my part I believe this to be a
malicious calumny.]
It is not necessary to repeat the further
details respecting the papal family, since it
never attained to any influence. The pope's
brother, Don Camillo Rospigliosi, would have
deserved, as our author says, to have been
canonised in his lifetime, had such been the
custom. He had five sons, of whom, how-
ever, only two need be named : the second,
Don Tommaso, who had already conceived
the idea of promoting the manufactures of
the ecclesiastical states ; and the youngest,
Giambattista — "giovine di bellissimo aspetto
e d'un cervello acuto e penetrante" [a very
comely youth of acute intellect] — who was
married to a Pallavicini of Genoa, and founded
the house of Rospigliosi. It is enough to
give merely a general description of the new
relations entered into by these nephews.
" Fra tutti li pontefici che sono siati nel
Vaticano, non se ne e forse veduto mai alcuno
pill politico e piii prudente nel mantenersi
con i suoi parenti come fece Clemente IX., il
quale godeva di esser con lore, ma non gia
di.darsi in preda di loro : anzi quanto piii li
mostrava segni di affetto e di ottima voionta,
tanto maggiormente li teneva indietro senza
parteciparli in modo alcuno i segreti de' suoi
pensieri. Alia buona intentione del papa di
torre via dalla chicsa lo scandolo introdotto
da lungo tempo modiante la communicatione
di quasi tutta I'autorila del Vaticano che i
pontefici hanno costumato di partecipare ai
loro nipoti, e andata congiunta la bonla del
nipotismo : perche si puo dire con buona
ragione che ami in Roma si sono veduti pa-
renti da papa piii modesti, piu humili, piu
caritativi emenodisinteressatide' Rospigliosi,
e quel che piu importa, tntti dotati d'una
stessa bonta e modestia, che pero sarebbe
stato un disumanarsi di lasciarlt d'amare:
anzi si puo dire giustamente che il papa non
li amo mai quanto sarebbe necessano al
600
APPENDIX.
merito delle loro ottime qualitn, havendoli
teniili piu tosto come stranieri che come
parent! per non comunicare con essi loro
alcuna cosa di conseguenza: con che si
rendeva infelice, mentre dali' una parte si
privava volontariamente delta sodisfattione
necessaria a' principi di sfogarsi con i con-
giunti, e dall' altra si vedeva privo di potersi
aprire con i domestici, che per lo piii erano
gente idiota e di spirito ben mediocre. Si
crede che il papa non confida le cose piii
importanti della corte che colla persona del
cardi Chigi, il quale come astuto et accorto ha
saputo benissimo guadagnarsi il suo afFetto."
[Of all the popes who have been seated in
the Vatican, never perhaps was there one
more politic and prudent in his bearing to-
wards his relations than Clement IX. ; he
enjoyed their society, but never let them get
the upper hand of him: nay, the more he
lavished his affection upon them, the more he
kept them back and never suffered them in
anywise to participate in his secret thoughts.
With the pope's laudable intention of abolish-
ing the scandal long introduced into the
church, by the delegation of almost the whole
authority of the Vatican, were joined all
the good points of nepotism : for it may be
affirmed that never were there seen in Rome
a pope's relations more modest, humble,
charitable, and disinterested, than the Ros-
pigliosi, and, what is more important, all
endowed with such goodness and modesty
that it would be confessing one's self not hu-
man to avoid loving them : it may therefore
be said that the pope never loved them as
their excellent qualities deserved, treating
them rather as strangers than as relations, in
never imparting to them any thing of conse-
quence. He made himself unhappy by this,
on the one hand voluntarily depriving himself
of the enjoyment, necessary to sovereigns, of
unbosoming themselves to their kindred ;
whilst on the other hand he was debarred
from the possibility of unburthening himself
to those of his household, who were for the
most part simple folks and persons of very
ordinary capacity. It is thought that the
pope never confides the more important mat-
ters of the court to any one but cardinal Chi-
gi, who, being astute and skilful, has known
very well how to win his good-will.]
There follows a description of the cardinals,
and of the ambassadors who resided at the
court. But the individuals are too insignifi-
cant, and the interests discussed are too tran-
sient, to allow of our dwelling upon them.
139. Relatione dallo stato delle cose di Roma
del rnese di Sell. 1670. (Alt. 9 leaves.)
[Report on the state of Roman affairs in
the month of September 1670.]
Besides the Venetian reports, and those
professing to be French, there are Spanish
also: undoubtedly this report was drawn up
for Spain. Mention is made in it of another
which was sent to the Spanish court, and this
is alleged as reason for omitting certain mat-
ters contained in it from the one before us.
Clement X.: "la sua natura e placida:
perche non viene alcuno a suoi piedi al quale
egli non desideri di fare qualche gratia
Va ristrettissimo nelle spese e parchissimo
nel dare a suoi." [His character is gentle :
no one approaches his feet to whom he does
not wish to do some favour. . , . He is very
parsimonious in his expenditure, and very
sparing of gifts to his followers.] Cardinal
Altieri: "opera tutto da se, e poca influenza
riceve da altri. Sono secoli che non si e
veduto un nepote di pontefice ne di maggior
autorita ne d'abilita ed integrita," [He does
everything of himself, and is very little influ-
enced by others. For ages there has not been
seen a pope's nephew of greater weight, or of
greater ability and integrity.] We perceive
that under this reign, too, most of the public
functionaries had been left unchanged.
But the most important matter related by
this author is the division in the court. Chigi,
Barberini, and Rospigliosi were most closely
connected with Altieri. The Spanish am-
bassador had, above all, contributed to this.
Opposed to these allies were the Squadronists,
that is, the cardinals of Innocent's creation, who
had had so much influence in the last papal
election, and who under the two former reigns
had carried their friends into office. To this
party belonged Omodei, Ottoboni, Imperiali,
Borromeo, and Azzolino. The queen of Swe-
den entered with great warmth into the
disputes of these two factions. We know
how highly she esteemed Azzolino. In this
report she is called his faithful servant, and
she is charged with a thousand intrigues in
favour of the Squadronists.
140. Memorie per descrivere la vita di ClC'
mente X Pontefice Massimo, da Carlo
Cartari Orvietano, decano degli avvo-
cati consistoriali e prefetto delV archivio
apostolico di castello S. Angelo di Roma.
(Alt. 211 pages.) [Memoirs towards a
life of Clement X. collected by Carlo
Cartari Orvietano, dean of the consisto-
rial advocates, and prefect of the aposto-
lic archives in the castle of S. Angelo in
Rome.]
Composed immediately after the death of
the pope, and finished in Oct. 1676 : the
author expressly binds himself to avoid all
flattery and to speak the simple truth. " Da
qucsti fbgli sara I'adulatione, mia nemica
irreconciliabile, affatto sbandita, alia sola ve-
rita Candida e pura attenendomi." According
to the author's intention it is the only coUec-
LATER EPOCHS.
601
tion to be used at a future time by anotlier
"vv titer.
At first it would seem as though this
declaration was only the language of mo-
desty.
The pope's father, old Lorenzo Altieri, is
admirably described : Cartari had been well
acquainted with him: he speaks of him as a
man of majestic deportment, but modest with-
al, as his very countenance denoted. Though
only a collector, our author cannot refrain
from subjoining a concetto in the style of his
age ; "di altrettanto bella canitie nell' ester-
no ricoperto quanto di una candidezza di
costumi, di una rara pieta a raeraviglia do-
tato."
Emilio Altieri was born in 1590: took
his doctor's degree in 1611 : was for a while
in the studio of Pamfili, who was after-
wards pope. In 1624 he went to Poland with
that bishop of Nola, Lancellotti, whose in-
struction has come down to us. On his
return he was made bishop of Camerino in
place of his brother Giovan Battista, who was
advanced to the college of cardinals. It is
said, though Cartari does not mention the
fact, that Emilio himself had been already de-
signed for the cardinalate ; he was better
liked than his brother ; but he had the self-
command to quit Rome at that moment, in
order not to stand in his brother's way. In-
nocent X. sent Emilio as nuncio to Naples,
and it is asserted that he was instrumental
there in allaying the disturbances excited by
Massaniello. Alexander VII. made him se-
cretary of the congregation de' vescovi e
regolari, a career which every one had found
extremely tedious. It was not till his 79th
year that he obtained important promotion.
On the 29th of November 1669, Clement
nominated hmi cardinal, but that pope had not
time even to give him the official hat: Altieri
entered the conclave without having received
it, and on the 29th of April 1670, he was
himself elected pope. He refused the dignity
for a while, he declared there were others
more deserving, and even pointed out a car-
dinal, Brancacci, by name : at last, however,
he accepted the supreme authority.
Such was the advanced age of the new
pope : he had not one nephew; he was forced
to adopt one, to share the weight of affairs
with him.
" Ritrovavasi S. Beatitudine nell'anno ot-
tantesimo di sua eta : onde per questa cagione
e per imitare i suoi antecessori, quali ben
conoscendo la pesante mole del pontificato
stimarono necessario di deputare per proprio
sollievo alcuno de' cardinal col titolo di sopri-
antendente generale dello state eccleciastico,
si compiacque a dichiarare I'lstesso giorno a
questa laboriosa carica il cardi Paluzzo Pa-
luzzi degli Albertoni suo attinente, permulan-
dogli quel cognome coU' altro d'AllierL"
76
[ he was pleased to appoint on the
same day to this arduous post, cardinal
Paluzzo Paluzzi degli Albertoni, changing
his surname at the same time for that of
Altieri.]
Let us now proceed to the transactions of
the pontificate. The author speaks first of
those pertaining to Rome itself
The arrival of the envoys of Ferrara and
Bologna to tender their allegiance : — Disco-
very of the monument of Constantino at the
foot of the steps of St. Peter's : — Decoration
of the bridge of St. Angelo with ten angels in
Carrara marble : — Building of the Altieri
palace, on which there were expended about
300,000 scudi; which, however, were not
squandered away, since they benefited the
poor : — erection of a second fountain in the
piazza S. Pietro, which the pope, however,
did not live to see finished : — these are the
principal points on which Cartari dwells.
Speaking of the palace, he describes the
library also. " Vedesi in sito quasi il piii alto
elevato del medesimo palazzo un vaso per
libraria, altretanto capace quanto vago per
la veduta delia citta e della carnpagna, in
maestose scanzie riempite della generosita
del cardl Altieri di prctiosi libri d'ogni scienza,
che giungono al numero di 12,000." [Almost
at the top of the palace there was an apart-
ment for a library, as remarkable for its
extent as for the beauty of the view obtained
from it of the city and surrounding country;
its majestic ranges of shelves were fitted up
by the liberality of cardinal Altieri with pre-
cious books, in every department of knowledge,
to the number of 12,000.] Well do I know
it ; I have climbed its steps many a time ! Of
the fountains : " Transportata la fontana di
Paolo V con machine meravigliose, quasi
dirsi tutte d'un pezzo, dal sito vecchio dove si
ritrovava all' altro dove hoggidi si vede stabi-
lita in corrispondenza degl'ingressi laterali
del teatro, per accompagnamento della mede-
sima ordino se ne fabricasse un' altra afl!atto
simile verso il giardino de Cesi, come fu
eseguito." [The fountain of Paul V. was
transported by prodigious machines, in one
piece, so to speak, from its old site to that
which it now occupies, corresponding to the
site entrances of the theatre ; and to match it
he ordered another precisely similar to be
constructed towards the Cesi garden, which
was done.] But the most remarkable thing
he relates, is about the mosaic attributed to
Giotto, the Navicella di S. Pietro. After it
had frequently changed its site since the
destruction of the portico of the ancient basi-
lica where it originally stood, having been
curried into the palace by Paul V., by Urban
VIII. into the church, and by Innocent X.
back again to the palace, where Alexander
VH. again found it inconvenient, as it appear-
ed impossible to remove it as it was, it was
602
APPENDIX.
thought better to take it to pieces, putting the
stones belonging to each figure into a sepa-
rate bag. It was proposed by cardinal Bar-
berini in the reign of Clement X. to have it
restored from a copy taken under Urban VIII.
Upon this it was put together once more, and
placed in the lunette over the middle door of
the hall. But how it fared in this situation
we may gather from Cartari's words. " Per-
che il vano non era capace, fu detto che lasci-
andosi le figure nel proprio essere, potevano
restringersi i spatii : come fu diligentemente
esequito." [The recess not being large enough,
it was suggested that the figures might be
left of their original size, but the spaces dimi-
nished: and this was carefully done.] Thus
we see tbat the new master was not without
reason regarded by some persons as the real
executor of the work.
At last the author arrives at matters of
state, but on this subject he is very defec-
tive. He tells us that in spite of all his finan-
cial difficulties, Clement X. would never have
recourse to a reduction of the monti, in consi-
deration of the numerous families, and, above
all, of the pious institutions that would sufl^er
thereby : — " ben considerando il danno che a
tante famiglie ed in particolare a luoghi pii
ne resultarebbe ;" he preferred retrenchment,
and even the cardinal nephew offered to give
up his salary as sopraintendente dello stato.
Some money was sent notwithstanding to
Poland, which was sorely pressed by the
Turks ; on one occasion 30,000, on another
16,000, and once more 70,000 scudi. A sepa-
rate collection had been made among the
cardinals.
This is the only mention I find of foreign
affairs. The affairs of the ecclesiastical states
are not, however, very profoundly treated.
" Si adopero alia libera introduzione delle
merci forestiere, e furono rivocate tutte le
esenzioni delle gabelle : si diedero ordini circa
gli officii vacabili della dataria e frutti di
essi : — si estinse la gabella del quatrino degli
artisti: — si dichiaro che alii Romani et altri
nobili dello stato ecclesiastico sia lecito di
esercitar commerci senza pregiudizj della
nobilta." [He laboured for the free intro-
duction of foreign goods, and all exemptions
from the customs were repealed : regulations
were made as to the officii vacabili of the
dataria, and their proceeds, — the tax of the
quatrino degli artisti was abolished : — it was
declared that it was lawful for the Roman and
other nobles of the ecclesiastical state to
engage in commerce without prejudice to
their nobility.] This is, in fact, all he says
of any importance.
He hardly alludes to any transactions of
the papacy in reference to the internal aflTairs
of the catholic church.
141. dementis Decimi Pontificis Maximi
vita. (Alt. pp. 288.) [Life of pope Cle-
ment X.]
Cartari supposed there would be many who
would write the life of Clement X., and to
such he dedicated his materials. An author
was soon found to undertake the task, but he
was a Jesuit, and wrote by order of Oliva, his
general. Cardinal Pauluzzi Altieri furnished
him with the materials.
Although this author does not name Car-
tari, it is plain he had his work before him.
He frequently does no more than translate
and amplify it.
If Cartari purposely avoided flatteries, not
so the Jesuit writer. He relates, that in the
year Clement X. was born, there was a vio-
lent overflow of the Tiber, " quasi prsesentiret
imperantis urbis fluvius augendam ab exorto
tum infante Romanam gloriam," [as though
the imperial stream predicted the augmenta-
tion of Roman glory by the infant then born.]
Sometimes, however, his additions are more
interesting. He recounts that characteristic
anecdote of Clement's spontaneously giving
way to his brother.
In the latter chapters he enters into the af-
fairs of the church. "Innumeros in callem
salutis reduces illo regnante vidit Hungaria,
quam catholicam, ut Francisci cardlia Nerlii
verbis utar, pene totam effecit." [In his reign
immense numbers were brought back to the
path of truth in Hungary, which, to use the
words of cardinal Francis Nerli, he made al-
most wholly catholic] Truly a startling hy-
perbole, for neither was Hungary in that day
by any means so catholic, nor did Clement X.
contribute much to make it so. " Ad veram re-
ligionem in Hibernia conservandam ac propa-
gandamsolertem industriamcontulit:
plurimos in Vaticanum regressos Boemia et
caetera Boemise regna atque inter hos magnos
principes, plurimos Rhjeti atque iis finitimae
valles, niagnam illoruni vim HoUandia, majo-
rem vidit Gallia." [He laboured industri-
ously for the preservation and propagation of
the true religion in Ireland In Bo-
hemia and the kingdoms connected with it a
vast number, among them great princes, re-
traced their steps to the Vatican, so likewise
did numbers in Rhsetia and the neighbouring
vallies, multitudes in Holland, and still more
numerous converts in France.] All this, how-
ever, is in very general terms.
Whilst he extols the pope's justice and his
love for his subjects, he excuses him for hav-
ing raised contributions for the Poles in their
struggles against the Turks, by impositions on
the clergy, and for having raised new loans.
He abolished oppressive taxes, and instead of
them imposed burthens on articles of luxury,
on foreign wines, and tobacco ; with regard to
his relations, too, he displayed the grestest
moderation. What if he had enabled them to
LATER EPOCHS.
603
build the Altieri palace? think, on the other
hand, how few estates the Altieri family had
laid their hands on : " Quam minimum in spa-
tium contrahantur Alteriis principibus sub-
jecta oppida et rura, cum latissime pateat
aliorum ditio."
142. Nuovo governo di Rima sotto il ponti-
ficalo di papa Clemente X. (Barb. 17
leaves.) [New government of Rome un-
der the pontificate of Clement X.]
This document gives an account of the fa-
mily affairs of Pauluzzi, and his singular ele-
vation to the position of papal nephew.
The pope's brother, the head of the house
of Altieri, had lefl only a daughter, and had
ordered that, if she married, her husband
should take the name of Altieri.
Cardinal Pauluzzi's nephew married this
heiress of the house of Altieri. By this means
the two families were united.
All the other relations — for instance, the
Gabrielli, who were the next of kin — were
thrown into the background.
On the whole, the government was, from
the first, less lenient than the former one,
which was in fact owing to the circumstance
that Clement IX. had burthened with debt
even those branches of revenue which till his
time had always been reserved. Already the
little army began to be disbanded. The au-
thor thinks that even the trifling diminution
effected by Clement IX. in the taxes would
oblige the state to divest itself of all armed
force.
He also complains of the mode of adminis-
tration,— of the recklessness which was al-
ready become habitual with the rulers of the
ecclesiastical states. " Vedendosi odiati et
abborriti tanto piu s'infierano, e tiratosi il cap-
pello sugli occhi non guardano in faccia a nes-
suno, e facendo d'ogni erba fascio non pen-
sano che al proprio interesse senza minima
apprensione del publico." [The more they
find themselves abhorred, the more dogged
they become, — slouching their hats over tiieir
brows and looking no one in the face. All is
fish that comes to their nets, and they
care for nothing but their own interest, not
giving the slightest thought to that of the
public]
143. Relatione dello stato presente della corte
di Roina,fatta alVecC^o principe di Ligni
governatore di Mdano daW III'"" Sr Fe-
der. Rozzoni inviato straord''^'' da S. E.
alia corte appresso Clemente X. (24
leaves.) [Report on the present state of
the court of Rome, presented to the prince
di Ligni, governor of Milan, by Federigo
Rozzoni, his excellency's ambassador ex-
traordinary to Clement X.]
Written somewhat later than the foregoing
report.
The position of parties had already under-
gone another change. Rospigliosi and Chigi
were neglected by the reigning house, which
sought the alliance of the Squadronists.
The mutual relations of the pope and cardi-
nal Altieri are thus described : —
" II papa non ha applicatione alcuna, si per
la cadente sua eta, como anche per esser sue
connaturale attendere alia propri quiete e sot-
trarsi dalle cure gravi che potrebbero turbare
la serenita dell' animo suo, solo inclinato, a
vivere tranquillamente. Egli percio non puole
sapere le amministrationi della giustitia ne
altri negotii politici della corte e dello stato
ecclesiastico : onde il ricorrere a lui non giova
punto a quelli che da suoi ministri vengono
oppress! : e per havere pretesto piij. colorito
di non ingerirsi in simili affari, piu volte si fa
stimare ammalato, non tralasciando per questo
le sue domestiche conversationi, che dopo de-
sinato giornalmente si prende con giuochi di
carte e godimento di suoni e canti.
" Lascia il governo della chiesa totalmente
al cardinale Altieri, et in esso non si ingerisce
se non quanto e necessario per la sua appro-
vatione in voce o scritto : nel resto ha rasseg-
nato in tal maniera che piii volte I'ha temuto
e nascostamente ha fatto fare elemosine, re-
gali e cose simili: ma la collatione de' bene-
ficii, vescovati et elettione de' soggetti alia
porpora resta al totale arbitrio di esso cardi-
nale : il quale e uomo flemmatico, e difticil-
mente si sdegna esternamente, e quando cid
fa, cessa di vendicarsi. Ha molt' attitudine a
sostenere la carica che tiene, et in fatti vuole
sapere et indrizzare tutti gli affari grandi e
piccoli non solo della corte ma ancora di tutto
lo stato ecclesiastico, il che da alcuni si attri-
buisce a grande avidita di suoi interressi,
nelli quali e vigilantissimo, non lasciando pas-
sare occasione alcuna di non approfittarli:
ogni giorno in tal' here determinate da audi-
enza a tutti i ministri della corte et alii loro
segretarj, et esso da le regole et istruttioni
non solo generali ma anche particolari, di
modo che li giudici et il medesimo governa-
tore non hanno nelle loro cariche arbitrio
alcuno.
" II principale ministro nel medesimo car-
dinale e stato et e I'abbate Piccini, soggetto
di deboli parti et inferiori natali, che prima
della promotion di Clemente Decimo era suo
camcriere : onde per introdutione, anzi per
I'arbitrio, conforme la comune stima, che ha-
veva de' voleri di esso cardinale, ha congre-
gate un'annua entrata di 12 m. scudi et un
capitale di 200 m., havendo altrettanto empito
il capo di fumo quanto la borsa d'oro. Pero
al presente e cessata tant' aura sua, vogliono
alcuni per punti politici e non gia peiche si
sia diminuita la sua gran fortuna dull' unione
delli quattro regj ambasciatori : ancorche
604
APPENDIX.
detto abbate Piccini unitamente col commis-
sario della camera chiamato monsr Zaccaria
siano li piu intimi del cardinale : quanto a cio,
spetta air interesse, mostrandosi esso cardi-
nale da questo alieno, volendo lasciar cadere
sopra di questi due ministri o torcimanni
I'opinione volgare di molto interessato."
[The pope shows no application — both from
his declining' age, and because it is his nature
to look to his own quiet, and to withdraw him-
self from grave cares, that might ruffle the
serenity of his soul, the only desire of which
is to live tranquilly. Hence he cannot be ac-
quainted with the administrationof justice, or
with other business of state in the dominions
of the church ; so that those who are op-
pressed by his ministers are nothing helped
by having recourse to him. To give himself
a more colourable pretext for not meddling in
such matters, he frequently feigns illness, not
omitting, for all that, his private conversa-
zioni, in which every day after dinner he
enjoys himself with cards, and music, and
singing.
[He leaves the government of the church
entirely to cardinal Altieri, interfering no
more than is necessary to give his assent by
voice or in writ-ng : in other respects, he has
so entirely resigned matters into his hands,
that frequently he has been afraid of him, and
has made a secret of his alms-gifts, and so
forth ; but the collation to benefices and bishop-
rics, and the election of candidates for the
purple, rest exckisively with the cardinal,
who is a phlegmatic person, and is not easily
roused to any outward show of anger; and
when he is, he forbears to revenge himself.
He is very well qualified for the post he fills ;
and in fact he aims at knowing and directing
all things, great and small, pertaining not
only to the court, but even to the whole stale.
This is by some imputed to his great avidity
in the pursuit of his own interests, of which
he is most watchful, not letting any profitable
opportunity escape him. He gives audience
every day at an appointed hour to the minis-
ters of the court and their secretaries, and
gives them orders and instructions, not merely
general, but special; so that the judges and
the governor himself can exercise no discre-
tion in their several offices.
[Tiie cardinal's principal minister has all
along been the abbate Piccini, a man of weak
parts and low birth, who had been the cham-
berlain of Clement X. before his promotion.
Having, therefore, the means of prompting —
nay, as it is commonly thought, of determin-
ing— the wishes of the said cardinal, he has
got together an annual income of 12,000
scudi, and a capital of 200,000, and his head
is as full of smoke as his purse is of gold : for
at present he has ceased to be in such great
vogue, as some say on political grounds, and
not because his high fortune has been dimin-
ished by the union of the four royal amhassa-
dors ; although the said abbate Piccini and
the commissioner of the treasury, monsignor
Zaccaria by name, are the cardinal's most in-
timate counsellors. After all, this is for a
cloak to private interest, to which the cardi-
nal affects to be averse, wishing to shift off
upon these two ministers, or interpreters, the
popular opinion of his extreme interested-
ness.]
144. Relatione della corte di Roma del N. H.
Piero Mocenigo. che fu ambascialore a
papa Clemente X, fatta Vanno 1675.
(44 leaves.) [Report on the court of
Rome by N. H. Piero Mocenigo, formerly
ambassador to pope Clement X.]
P. Mocenigo had previously been in Eng-
land; he now went to Rome, which offered
him so totally different an aspect, especially
in a commercial point of view. There he
soon became involved in violent altercations
with the house of Altieri : he put himself at
the head of the ambassadors, whom it was at-
tempted to deprive of some of their privileges.
No wonder that he does not appear to have
been much edified by what he heard and saw.
He divides his report into three parts.
I. " La qualita di quella corte, sua autorita
cosi spirituale come temporale, con aggiunta
dell' erario e delle forze. Tutto il reflesso,"
he begins, " dei pensieri de' regnanti e rivolto
a non lasciar la propria casa esposta alle per-
secutioni et al ludibrio della poverta. Di cio
■deriva che la tramontana di quella corte e
I'interesse private, e cola non s'applica la pub-
lico bene che colla speciosita delle appa-
renze." [The character of this court, its au-
thority both spiritual and temporal, with re-
marks on the treasury and the forces. The
whole thought of the rulers is bent on pre-
serving their own fortunes from the outrages
and scorn of poverty. Hence the cynosure of
this court is private interest, and the public
welfare is pursued only in specious appear-
ance.] The favour shown to the great fami-
lies had now the effect of preventing all ad-
vancement of the inferior nobility, and, above
all, of the middle class. They had not money
enough to raise themselves by their own
strength, and were yet too independent to de-
base themselves to the servility of the indi-
gent class.
" Flattery," says P. Mocenigo, "is here at
homo ; nevertheless there are here many peo-
ple who console themselves for their disap-
pointments by backbiting and slander, acting
on the maxim, that one cannot be mistaken if
he thinks the worst."
Important congregations ; — of the inquisi-
tion, ecclesiastical immunities, the council,
the propaganda, bishops and orders, the in-
dex.— If the court wishes to refuse anything,
LATER EPOCHS.
605
it refers it to these coisfregations ; they abide
by their canons and the practice of the last
century : thus the merest trifles are magni-
fied into importance. But if tiie court is fa-
vourably disposed, it takes the matter into its
own hands.
This absolute power of the court is particu-
larly manifested in secular affairs. Cardinals
would never have approved of the carrying on
of war. — (This, we may add, had for a long
while ceased to be the case.)
The condition of the country grew daily
worse. Within the last forty years, says the
author, the number of the inhabitants has di-
minished by one-third : where there were
formerly reckoned one hundred hearths, there
are now but sixty ; many houses are pulled
down, though this is forbidden by the consulta ;
day by day less land is cultivated ; marriages
are on the decrease ; parents seek an asylum
for their children in the convents.
He estimates the interest on the public debt,
that is, on the monti and officii vacabili, at
2,400,000 scudi ; the deficit, at several hun-
dred thousand.
H. " II presente governo di Clemente X,
sua casa, sacro collegio, e corrispondenze con
principi." [The present government of Cle-
ment X., his household, the sacred college,
and correspondence with princes.]
Clement X. — He gave audience, it is true,
at the appointed hours to the datary, the segre-
tario de' brevi, the secretaries of state, and
cardinal Altieri, but he only went through the
formality of signing. Every thing unpleasant
was concealed from him ; this was the grand
object of cardinal Altieri's efforts. The am-
bassador asserts that the pope had no know-
ledge of the aflairs of the world. " In Roma
si dice che benedicere e sanctificare sia del
pontefice, reggere e gubernare sia dell' Al-
tieri." [In Rotne they say that the pope's busi-
ness is to give his benediction and to sanctify,
to reign and to govern is cardinal Altieri's ]
Cardinal Altieri: " di complessione delica-
ta: . . . . la sua natura e ardente, impetuosa
e di prima impressione Assuefatto alia
cortesia Romanesca di non negare cosa alcuna,
anzi di concorrere con parole ofKciose ad esau-
dire le instanze facilmente, poi quando ha pon-
derato il negotio, da indietro, anco col negare
I'impogno, e da nelle scandescenze. ... Da
poca speranza vien soUevato, come per con-
trario da pocotimore abbattuto." [of a delicate
constitution : .... his character is ardent,
impetuous, and obedient to first impressions.
.... He is habituated to the Romish cour-
tesy of refusing nothing, and of even showing
a prompt alacrity, with abundance of obliging
words on hearing requests ; but when he has
weighed the matter, he retracts, even denying
his engagement, and giving way to passion.
.... He is elevated by slight hopes, and, on
the other, depressed by inconsiderable alarms.]
We see plainly in these expressions the opera-
tion of personal dislike.
The other personages are described in the
very same spirit. Laura Altieri, to whom the
family owed its fortune, was not happy in it,
he says. She was, therefore, never allowed
to approach the pope's feet. This I scarcely
believe.
The author's testimony is less suspicious
when he describes the union of the court with
the Squadronists. We have already seen how
it was prepared. Barberini, Rospigliosi, and
Chigi were now in less consideration ; the
Squadronists insisted particularly on the inde-
pendence of the curia as to foreign courts, and
they had completely gained Altieri over to
them. The author asserts that to him were
ascribable the embarrassments in which the
court was entangled.
He enters minutely into these, with his
usual tone of irritation.
The court was obliged to propitiate the em-
peror now and then with spiritual presents,
Agnus Dei, &,c. The court had so many
quarrels with France that it would gladly see
her involved in war. How, under such cir-
cumstances, should the pope effect a peace ? —
Spain complained, among other things, that
the bandits of Naples were allowed refuge in
the states of the chuixh, and that the stolen
property was even permitted to be sold there.
'• Ma non segli danno orecchie : perche cosi
comple alia quiete di quel confini, promessa e
mantenuta dai medesimi banditi." [But no
heed is given to these complaints ; for this
state of things is necessary to the quiet of those
frontiers, which is promised and maintained
by the banditti themselves.] The court of
Rome neglected to urge the Poles strenuously
to war against the Turks, lest it should be
obliged to afford them aid therein. It would
not grant the Czar that title, and therefore
would not form any alliance with him, great
as was the assistance that might be expected
from him against their hereditary enemy.
" Per timer d'ingombrarsi in obligatione di
rimettere e contribuire soccorsi raaggiori si
sono lasciate cadere le propositioni fiitta da
un' inviato Polacco, che I'armi del re sareb-
hero pas.sate il Danubio, enlrate nella Bul-
garia, e promettevano di portar la guerra nelle
viscere dell' imperio Ottomano." [For fear
of incumbering themselves with obligations to
contribute larger subsidies, they neglected the
propositions made by a Polish envoy, that the
king's army should pass the Danube, enter
Bulgaria, and undertake to carry the war into
the heart of the Ottoman empire.] I only
notice this, because it shows that such hopes
were, even by that time, entertained : fur it
is not easy to conceive what the court of Kome
could have done in furtherance of the matter,
especially when the papal treasury and terri-
tory were in the condition above described.
606
APPENDIX.
The court would not concede to the kinnf of
Portugal the patronage of his transmarine
churches, nor grant the duke of Savoy an
indult for filling the vacant bishoprics in his
dominions. Even in Tuscany and in the
smaller principalities this claim to ecclesiasti-
cal independence was set up.
The incameration of Castro proved even
injurious. The interest on the debts thus
taken upon itself by the treasury amounted to
90,000 sc, while the farmer of the revenue
paid only 60,000. The answer in Rome was,
that was not the way for a prince to calculate.
III. " Corrispondenze colla Republica ;"
very short, and relating chiefly to personal
disputes. " Impiego scabrosissimo." All in
the same spirit.
In Venice they had already been prepared
for a report of this kind. Before Mocenigo's
return there appeared a " Lettera scriita a
Venetia da soggetto ben informato sopra I'am-
basceria (another hand has added to this,
'infame') del S^ Kav"" Mocenigo," in which
the little man with the big wig, with his ever-
lasting talk about England, is very severely
handled. He was now closeted day and night
with a literary man, blackening the court of
Rome in his report: " un governo, migliore
del quale per i principi secolari non e stato da
S. Pietro in qua, piacevole, moderato, senza
puntiglio." [A government than which there
has been none better for secular princes from
the days of St. Peter till now, — easy, mode-
rate, and far from captious.]
Mocenigo has certainly exaggerated : but
we must not therefore reject all he says.
After all, every one carries the colour of his
own opinions into the account he gives of
things : it is for us to discriminate between
object and subject.
145. Scrittura sopra il governo di Roma.
(MS. Rom.) [Essay on the government
of Rome.]
This is to be found among writings relating
to the years between 1670 — 80, and belongs
somewhere to that period ; it is quite as des-
ponding as the lamentations of Sachetti. I.
" Sopra il cattivo stato de' popoli. Come mai
in ogni pontificate, s'ha da trover modo di
metter 100 et anco 1.50 m. scudi in una casa,
e non e possibile di levarne 50 m. di peso agli
aggravati popoli II peggio e non voler
permettere i modi honesti di riempire le borse
con procacciarsi per mezzo di lecite mercan-
tie quel guadagni ch'altri con I'autorita inde-
bitamente s'appropria." [On tlie unhappy con-
dition of the people. In every pontificate it
is contrived to bestow one hundred, or even
one hundred and fifty thousand scudi on one
house ; but it is never found possible to take
off fifty thousand from the burthens of an
oppressed people The worst is, that
people are not allowed to fill their purses by
honest means, in acquiring in lawful traffic
those gains which others unduly monpolize
through influence with the government] II.
" Sopra la gran poverta et il gran lusso." A
rhetorical contrast. III. " Dell' annona e del
vino." Chiefly respecting the abuses of the
annona. " I ministri del principe vogliono far
da mercanti. Quindi tanti fallimenti di mer-
canti e di fornari, tanti sconcerti nelle case e
nelli luoghi pii, il cui loro maggior avere con-
siste in terreni, e tanti grani lasciati marcire
ne' granari a chi non ha voluto soccombere
all' estorsione di si detestabil trafico." [The
ministers of the sovereign will play the part
of merchants ; hence so many bankruptcies of
merchants and bakers, so many embarrass-
ments of houses and luoghi pii, whose chief
property consists in lands ; and so much grain
left to rot in granaries, because people would
not submit to the extortions of so detestable a
traflic] IV. " Del ritardamento della giusti-
tia e de' frutti de' luoghi di monte." The
depositarii de' monti too are accused of em-
bezzlement and dishonesty. V. " Sopra I'irre-
verenza nelle chiese :" — he says, it was the
same as in the theatres. VI. " Sopra il fasto
de' banchetti palatini." VII. " Sopra I'abuso
del cermoniale." The author disapproves of
the frequent employment of the epithet Sanc-
tissimus; he is incensed that people should
dare to say of the Corpus Christi proces-
sion " Sanctissimus Sanctissima portat."
VIII. " Sopra I'immunita ecclesiastica :" —
he complains that criminals find asylum in
the churches. IX. " Sopra le lordure delle
strade." The report is well-meaning, obser-
vant on the whole, but not profound.
146. Vita del servo di dio papa Tnnocentio XI
raccolta in tre libri. (MS. Rom.) [Life
of the servant of God, pope Innocent XL,
comprised in three books.]
A very handsome copy in 114 leaves, pro-
bably put into some later pope's own hands.
The first book embraces the early life of
Innocent XL The author had taken the
trouble to collect authentic information on the
subject. He denies that the pope made a
campaign in his youth : the question had been
put to his holiness himself On the other
hand he relates that it was cardinal Cueva
who pointed out to the young man (who had
been recommended to him by the governor of
Milan) the advantages to be derived from the
career of the curia.
The second book contains the earlier mea-
sures of this pope's reign, his financial econ-
omy, abolition of useless offices, lowering the
rate of interest on the monti (even for the cor-
porate bodies), restrictions on usury, which
was carried on especially in the Ghetto, new
taxes on the ecclesiastical fees. His maxim
LATER EPOCHS.
607
was : " essere egli non padrone, ma amminis-
tratore delle cose alia santasede spettanti con
I'obbligo rigoroso di distribuirle non secondo
la gratia de' parent! ma conforme la legge
della giustitia. . . . Egli medesimo disse che
da cardinale haveva cominciato ad esser po-
vero e da papa era divenuto mendico." [That
he was not master but administrator of the
things pertaining to the holy see, and was
strictly bound to distribute them, not from
motives of family preference, but in accord-
ance with the laws of justice. . . . He said
himself that from the time he became cardinal
he began to be poor, and as pope he had be-
come a beggar.] The author moreover alludes
to the affairs of England, and does not hesitate
to say that king James wished to make Eng-
land catholic. "Volendo ricondnrre al Ro-
mano cortile i suoi sudditi, comincio a servirsi
nel ministero di cattolici."
In the third book the part taken by Inno-
cent XI. in the Turkish war is considered,
and his personal qualities are described. He
is presented to us as he was, energetic, heed-
less of consequences, and honourable. His
manners and habits are described with much
penetration, far better than in the little work
of Bonamicus, quoted by Lebret, and which is
in fact only a shallow panegyric.
We have here too remarkable instances of
the opposition excited by the measures of this
pope. What huge objections were raised
against the draught of a bull for the abolition
of nepotism ! " II volgo vedendo riformati
molti ministri in palazzo et unite le loro cari-
che ad altri ministerj, che il papa non inclina-
va a spendere ne a beneficare con gratie,
senza pensare piu oltre biasimava '1 genio di
Innocenza come incapace della conditione del
principe." [The populace seeing many offices
in the palace abolished, and their functions
superadded to others ; and seeing too that the
pope was not disposed to be lavish of his
bounty, without further reflection inveighed
against Innocent, as wanting the spirit becom-
ing a sovereign.] This dissatisfaction was
exhibited from time to time in various shapes.
147. Memoriale del 1680 al papa Innocenzo
XI concernente il governo e gli aggravj.
(Bibl. Vallic.) [Memorial of the year
1680, to pope Innocent XI. concerning
the government and the public burthens.]
People acknowledge, says this document,
the holy zeal of the pope. But unhappily the
fruit of his proceedings is universal discontent.
Numerous families have been ruined by the
reduction of the interest on the monti, — the
cardinals are not listened to; no favour is
shown to the temporal sovereigns ; the pre
lates are robbed of their hopes ; the poor are
without alms ; Rome is one great theatre of
misery.
Who would imagine it ? No sooner does a
pope give ear to the incessant outcries against
nepotism, and abolish it, than forthwith it is
called for again. " Onde' e," says this me-
morial after stating some reasons, " che sia
una gran fortuna per un principe I'aver pa-
rent! buoni e capaci del governo: poiche
avendo questi piii potent! motivi de! ministri
d'interessars! nella riputatione e gloria di lui,
possono anco con maggior sincerita e fran-
chezza dire i loro pareri." [Wherefore it is
a great good fortune for a sovereign to have
relations who are good and endowed with a
capacity for government; for as they have
more powerful motives than ministers to take
an interest in his reputation and glory, they
can also speak their thoughts with more sin-
cerity and frankness.]
148. Oda satirica contra Innocenzo XI.
(Library of Frankfort on Main, MS. Glau-
burg. n. 31.) [Satirical ode against In-
nocent XI.]
The foregoing works observe some modera-
tion in their expression of dislike : but whe-
ther a real fault or a mere rumour gave occa-
sion for censure, it found vent in the most vi-
olent outbreaks, such as the following :
" lo non ritrovo ancor ne' vecchi annali
bestia peggior, che sotto hipocrisia
col sangue altru! tingesse e'l becco e I'ali.
Per altri era zelante, ma concesse
al nepote pero che il gran comprasse
due scud! il rubbio e nove lo vendesse."
[I find no mention even in ancient annals
of a more cruel and hypocritical monster,
with beak and wings tinged in the blood of
its victims. With others he was fanatically
rigorous, but he allowed his nephew to buy
up corn at two scud! the rubbio, and to sell it
again at nine.]
149. Discorso sopra la soppressione del col-
legia de'' secretari apostolici fatta per la
/S'<^ di N. S^^ Innocenzo XL [Discourse
on the suppression by pope Innocent XL
of the college of the apostolic secreta-
ries.]
Notwithstanding all this violent opposition,
Innocent proceeded in his reforms. The dis-
course before us shows how he set about them
in individual cases.
It describes in the first place the origin of
these segretari, whom we meet with since
the schism, and the mischiefs connected with
their existence. These are attributed chiefly
to the fact that no administrative functions
belonged to the office. " I possessor! degli
officii di fatto non hanno amministratione o
servitio alcuno nella speditione dei negozj :
608
APPENDIX.
mentre cosi il segretario di brevi come quello
delle lettere o brevi a principi, come versali
nel meotiere, si soglioiio deputare ad arbitrio
del papa fuori del collegio, ne rofficio porta
eeco la prelatura conferendosi a persona secu-
lari per lo piii inesperte et in eta tenera, a
guisa di quelli altri officii popolari i quali so-
no in commercio per il solo commodo et inter-
esse borsale."
[The holders of these offices have in fact
no administrative duties, nor any share in the
dispatch of business: for the "segretario di
brevi" and the segretario for letters or briefs
to princes, being versed in the business, act
directly upon the pope's instructions without
the intervention of the college ; nor does the
office imply admission to the prelature, being
bestowed on laymen for the most part young
and inexperienced ; just like the other popu-
lar offices, which subsist only for convenience
and pecuniary advantage.]
The rate of interest being enormous, the
treasury having to pay 40,000 scudi yearly
for 200,000 received by it ; Innocent resolved
to suppress the college, and appointed a con-
gregation to investigate the claims of the
shareholders.
The pope would pay back only as much as
had been actually received by the treasury :
the shareholders demanded at least as much
as the current price of the offices. The con-
gregation could not come to any decision.
Our author is of opinion that the pope was
bound only to the payment of the nominal
price ; he finds this principle established by
the practice of the Roman see.
I have met with other writings also be-
longing to this subject, e. g. "Statodella
camera nel presente pontificate d' Innocenzo
XI ;" but they consist of figures, and do not
admit of extracts being made from them.
150. Scritture politiche, morali e satiriche
sopra le massime, istituto e governo del-
la campagnia di Gesu. [Political, moral,
and satirical writings concerning the max-
ims, the institution, and the government
of the society of Jesus.]
A collection of all kinds of writings relat-
ing to the order, some of which, for instance
a consulta of Acquaviva, are satirical and
pure invention; but others are entirely in
earnest, and derived from the best sources.
The most important is, " In nomine Jesu.
Discorso sopra la religione de' padri Jesuiti e
loro modo di governare:" this occupies by it-
self nearly 400 leaves. It was composed in
the generalship of Noyelle, that is to say, be-
tween 1681 and 1686. It is certainly unfa-
vourable to the order, but at the same time it
is manifest from every word that the author
was most accurately acquainted with its con-
dition since the middle of the century. He
takes the following course.
I. He arranges the defects he notices un-
der certain headings. 1. "Di alcune loro
massime :" such for instance as the idea that
their order was the most illustrious, that all
its prayers were heard, that all who died in i
the order were unquestionably saved. 2.
" Delia loro avidita et interesse." Their coz-
ening tricks to obtain bequests — a multitude
of stories are related of their way of fishing
for presents — their trafficking, and various
other worse things. He dwells most on their
trade ; but he takes too narrow a view, em-
bracing only Rome and the ecclesiastical
states. 3. " Del loro governo." The abuse
of the monarchical power. The deposition of '
Nickel, see p. 304. 4. " Qualita proprie del
governo." For instance, "Flagello sordo,"
which means that those who were punished
were not even told for what offence; denun-
ciation without previous warning ; the supe-
rior often employed an inferior in the duty of
inspection, which was destructive of all order.
5. " Governo in ordine ai loro convittori e
scolari." Their dishonouring punishments.
6. " La moltitudine delle regole." They
were often contradictory ; there was no one
who knew them all.
II. Next, after repeated discussion of cause
and effect, the author endeavours to point out
the remedies for these evils. It is remarka-
ble that under the latter head he names, as
the most important of all, the appointment of
vicars-general, which had so often been called
for, but which the order would never consent
to : " Constituire un vicario generale per le
provincie della Spagna, Germania, Francia et
Indie, — cacciar sangue ad un corpo troppo
pinguc, — leggi certe a delitti certi." [To
appoint a vicar-general for the provinces of
Spain, Germany, France, and the Indies, — •
bloodletting of the too plethoric body, — fixed
laws for stated offences.]
III. He then returns to his first method of
enumerating the defects of the institution un-
der various heads. A multitude of particu-
lars are mentioned that bear the stamp of
more or less authenticity. Perhaps the most
important section is the last, " Delle loro In-
diche missioni," founded upon the letters ex-
tant in the papal archives, and executed with
great care, the originals being separately in-
dicated. In this section the acts of disobedi-
ence to the pope, of which the Jesuits had
been guilty, are enumerated, even so long be-
fore Pere I^orbert.
Assuredly this document is unfavourable to
the Jesuits ; but at the same time it is ex-
ceedingly instructive. It unveils the faults
of the institution with shrewdness and pene-
tration, so that we get a far clearer insight
into its internal economy that would other-
LATER EPOCHS.
609
wise be possible. It cannot be said to be ab-
solutely hostile, for it recognises the good as
well as the evil. We perceive from it, how-
ever, what storms were already gathering in
men's minds against the order.
151. Relatione di Roma di Gio. Lando Sr,
inviato straordinario per la ser^"<^ rep"'^ di
Venetia ad Innocentio XI et amh^ stra-
ord^io ad Alessandro VIII in occasione
della canonizazione di S. Lorenzo Gius-
tiniani. 1691. (17 leaves.) [Report on
Rome by Gio. Lando, envoy extraordinary
from the most serene republic of Venice
to Innocent XL, and ambassador extraor-
dinary to Alexander VIII. on the occasion
of the canonization of St. Lorenzo Gius-
tiniani.]
It is much to be regretted that we have no
report worthy of the name on the important
reign of Innocent XL, none by which we
might be impartially enlightened on the re-
sult of that pope's measures. The business
of the republic was managed in the first years
of that reign, from 1678 to 1633, by cardinal
Ottobon, a Venetian, afterwards Alexander
VIII., who never returned to Venice, and
therefore made no report. After him came
Giovanni Lando, but without any properly of-
ficial character. It is true, Lando neverthe-
less drew up a final report, but not till Alex-
ander was dead and a conclave had again as-
sembled. Besides this, his report unfortunate-
ly departs from the tone generally prevailing
in those of Venice.
He begins by discussing the divine right of
the popedom, and laments that its power was
not universally acknowledged. Nay, the
number of the heretics exceeded that of the
catholics. The accursed quietists even had
set up their operations in Rome ! They
would not believe at the court of Rome that
they were themselves to blame for this, yet
the case was so. Even now a man who
strove in the church's cause with profound
erudition or, through the holiness of his ex-
ample, was far less esteemed than the canon-
ist who wrote in defence of the pope's dignity.
Their exaggerations, however, had the very
result of making secular princes set them-
selves against the court of Rome.
After having made an attempt himself to
define the limits of the temporal and the spi-
ritual authority, he slowly approaches secular
affairs. He draws a melancholy picture of
the condition of the ecclesiastical state: "de-
solate negli abitanti, spiantato nella coltura,
ruinate coll' estorsioni, niancanted'industria"
[stripped of inhabitants, its cultivation ne-
glected, ruined by extortions, destitute of
trade and manufactures.] He estimates the
debts at 42,000,000. Alexander VIII. had
reduced the expenditure by 200,000 scudi, and
77
thereby restored the balance between the
outgoings and the income. The pope had a
vein of gold in the dataria. Nevertheless,
this money by no means stayed in Rome : it
came in by retail and went out wholesale :
Innocent XI. had certainly paid out two mil-
lions of scudi in aid of the Turkish war in
Hungary. Of the forty-two millions of debt,
fifteen perhaps had been contracted on behalf
of Christendom.
He finds that Rome was still the common
country and the general muster-ground for all
nations. Still every one came thither in pur-
suit of his own interest. Few Germans or
Frenchmen were seen there, because their
promotion was not dependent on the court of
Rome, and no Spaniards but those of the low-
er classes: were all the Italian princes in
like manner to dispose of the ecclesiastical
appointments in their own domains, the court
of Rome would be ruined. But as a set-off
against this, Italy had the patronage of the
papacy. " Tutta la corte, tutte le dignitn,
tutte le cariche, tutto lo stato ecclesiastico
resta tra gli Italiani." [The whole court, all
dignities, all high offices, the whole ecclesias-
tical state are in the hands of the Italians.]
And how much resulted from this ! Seeing
the insecurity of succession in all the Italian
houses, the welfare of Italy depended wholly
and solely on the union of Venice and Rome.
He takes occasion to dilate on the necessity
of a good understanding between those two
governments. He is of opinion that much
might be conceded on the part of Venice.
The protection afforded to unruly frati, and
certain claims to jurisdiction, were taken in
very bad part in Rome.
Now these as we see are all very good
practical remarks, that bespeak an honest
character, but they cannot satisfy us, who
seek for more positive information, respecting
the administration of the state. The follow-
ing is all that concerns the two popes under
whom he serves, which is told us by Lando, a
queer writer by-the-by, whose darling figure
of speech is the anacoluthon. "Quando io
rifletto a quelle che ho sentito a risuonare
senza ritegno contro Innocenzio XI, il quale
veniva accusato di non dare audienza, d'as-
prezza, di crudelta, d'inflessibile nemico di
principi, di studioso di controversie, d'irreso-
luto e tenace, di distruttore delle diocesi e
beni ecclesiastic! : perche stava molti anni
senza provederli, perche aveva calati li monti
senza sollevare lo stato coll' avvanzo risulta-
tone, per avore tenuta ferma I'estorsione che
chiamano dell' annona, peressere stato indul-
gente a' quietisti, e tante altre cose con che
non vi era persona che non esclamasse contro
di lui : e pareva all' ora al volgo indiscreto
che non fossero virtu d'alcuna importanza al
pontificate, quale memorabilissimo d'una cos-
tante alienatione del suo sangue ed un' illi-
610
APPENDIX.
bata disinteressatezza per lasciare intatto
tutto quello era della camera, fuorche impie-
gato nelle guerre contro sfl'infedeli : e s'aug-
uravano all' ora un pontefice che, se bene un
poco indulgente alii suoi, lo fosse anco per
gl'altri, e che fosse dotato di quelle virtu che
all'ora si giudicavano pivi necessarie, perche
pareva mancassero! Ma veduto poi che as-
sonto Alessandro VIII, benche tutio umanita,
facile all' audienze, dolce, compassionevole,
pieghevole, rispettoso aprincipi, nemicod'im-
pegni, sbrigativo, franco nei negotii ed in
tutte le sorti di speditioni, benefice alio stato,
sollevato di 200 mila scudi di gabella e dell'
angaria dell' annona, che ha fulminato li
quietisti, che ha finite quietamente il negotio
molestisimo del quartiere, ha soccorso lui pure
la guerra contro il Turco, ed ha fatto ancora
altre attioni importanti nella gran brevita del
suo pontificate ad ogni modo, perche all' in-
contro ha mostrato affetto alii suoi nipoti, per-
che ha volute fidarsi di lore piu che degl'altri
nelle cariche, perche ha voluto provederli con
qualche larghezza ma di molto inferiore a
quella hanno fatto tanti altri, e perche in ques-
ta parte ha mostrato un poco d'umanita e la
tolleranza del sangue, e stato anche egli ber-
saglio d'invettive maligna e continue fin alia
morte, ma equalmente ingiuste dell' uno e
deir altro."
[When I reflect on what I have heard un-
reservedly advanced against Innocent XL,
who was accused of not giving audience, of
harshness, cruelty, inflexible enmity to prin-
ces, of love of controversy, of irresolution and
obstinacy, of being a destroyer of dioceses and
ecclesiastical property, because he remained
many years without appointing to them, be-
cause he had suppressed the monti without
relieving the state by any resulting advantage,
because he had upheld the so called extortion
of the annona, because he had been indulgent
to the Quietists, and so many other things that
there was not one who did not exclaim against
him : and it then appeared to the rude vulgar
that there was no virtue of any importance in
that pontificate, which was most memorable
for a constant alienation of its own blood, and
for an unsullied disinterestedness in leaving
untouched all that belonged to the treasury,
except what was employed in the wars against
the infidels : and they now longed for a pope,
who, if even a little indulgent to his own tbl-
lowers, would be so likewise for others, and
who should be endowed with those virtues
which were now deemed most necessary, be-
cause it appeared that they were wanting.
But after the accession of Alexander VIII.,
though all humanity, easy of access, gentle,
compassionate, amiable, regardful of princes,
averse to pledges, shunning quarrels, frank in
business and in all sorts of contracts, a well
doer to the state, relieving it from taxes to
the amount of 200,000 scudi and from the
vexation of the annona, who crushed the
Quietists, who quietly put an end to the very
unpleasant business of the quarter, who him-
self too aided the war against the Turks, and
did other important actions of every kind in
his very brief pontificate ; because on the con-
trary he showed affection for his nephews, be-
cause he was pleased to trust them more than
others in grave employments, because he de-
sired to provide for them with some liberality,
but with much less than so many others before
him, and because on this score he displayed
some human feeling and the tolerance of blood,
he too was made the mark of malicious invec-
tives that never ceased till his death : but they
were equally unjust in the one case as in the
other.]
Lastly he refers to his own services, stating
that he had written in the course of his official
duties upwards of seven hundred dispatches.
These may possibly contain more facts.
They are to be found partly in Venice, partly
in Vienna.
152. Confessione di papa Alessandro VIII
fatla al suo confessor e il padre Giuseppe
Gesuita negli ultimi estremi della sua
vita. (MS Rom. 21 leaves) — [Confes-
sion of pope Alexander VIII. made to his
confessor father Giuseppe, a Jesuit, in
his very last moments.]
G. B. Perini, a scriptor in the Vatican ar-
chives, narrates in sober seriousness that he
found this document among other papers be-
longing to the times of Alexander VIII. He
writes this on the 9th of November, 1736,
when no one could have any interest in slan-
dering a pope who had so many successors.
The little work is therefore worth considera-
tion, in spite of its ominous title. What does
the pope confess in it]
He begins by saying that he had never
regularly confessed since 1669 : he would do
so now, since a heavenly voice had assured
him of absolution. Hereupon he confesses to
conduct such as follows : — he had availed him-
self of the permission once granted him by
pope Clement to sign in his stead, to make
the most unwarrantable concessions ; he had
prompted pope Innocent XL to the steps he
had taken against France, and yet had privily
conspired with the French against the pope ;
when himself advanced to the papacy, he had
knowingly and deliberately promoted incom-
petent, nay, abandoned men, had given no
thought to anything but the enrichment of his
followers, and winked at the sale of justice
and mercy in the palace ; with other things
of the same kind.
It is plain enough this is no confession of a
pope; that would run quite differently, it
would reveal far other particulars. I am of
opinion that it is one of those lampoons, so
frequent in those limes, which may embody
LATER EPOCHS.
611
an opinion that had gained currency respect-
ing Alexander, but by no moans the truth. It
got mixed up in all likelihood with the au-
thentic writings of the period where it was
found by some zealous clerk of the archives,
and taken for genuine. In the Venetian ar-
» chives likewise, I lighted upon many spurious
documents.
153. Relatione di Dornenico Contarini K.
Roma 1695 5 Luglio (Arch. V. 18
leaves.) — [Report by Dornenico Conta-
rini.]
Contarini had already been employed at the
French and the imperial court when he was
sent to the pope's. His mission was originally
to Alexander VIIL, whom however he found
so ill that he could not be presented to him.
His report is devoted to an account of Innocent
XII.
Antonio Pignatelli (born 161.5) was sprung
from the ducal family of Montelione in Na-
ples, and entered the prelature at an early
age. He was made vicelegate of Urbino, in-
quisitor of Malta, and governor of Perugia, a
career which was not indeed to be despised,
but which offered little that could satisfy am-
bition. Pignatelli was sometimes tempted to
give up the ecclesiastical career altogether.
At last, however, he succeeded in obtaining a
nunciature, which appeared to him the surest
road to promotion. He was nuncio to Flo-
rence, eight years to Poland, and to Germany ;
the latter nunciature usually led to the cardi-
nalate. But, says Contarini, whether it was
the influence of inauspicious stars, or the dis-
like of the then government of Clement IX.,
instead of being rewarded he was recalled,
and sent as bishop to Lezze on the outermost
confines of Naples. Under these circumstan-
ces he had to exert the whole strength of his
mind and the most manly firmness ; and in
fact the moderation and resignation he dis-
played threw the whole court into amazement.
With supernatural cheerfulness he returned
thanks even for that appointment, "since he
should now no longer have to bear the heavy
burthen of those nunciatures." Contarini sets
it down that Clement IX. banished Pigna-
telli to that bishopric, and that Clement X.
recalled him to Rome : it is stated, however,
by Roman writers, that both events occurred
under Clement X. Be this as it may, whether
cardinal Altieri was desirous of repairing an
act of injustice of his own or of another's doing,
he placed Pignatelli by his uncle as maestro
di camera: Innocent XI. found him in that
office and confirmed him in it.
But now his fortunes took a sudden start.
He was made cardinal in the year 1681, and
immediately afterwards bishop of Faenza, le-
gate of Bologna, and archbishop of Naples.
Upon the death of Innocent XI. he was al-
ready thought of in the conclave ; after the
decease of Alexander VIII. the French, con-
trary to all expectation, were in favour of him,
a Neapolitan. The reason of this was, that
they had need of a man of mild and quiet dis-
position. He was therefore elected, though
not till after a tedious conclave, which lasted
five months and wearied all the cardinals.
Innocent XII., too, retained Panciatichiand
Albano, the secretary of briefs and the datary
whom he found in office, though they were the
creatures of his predecessor. The nomina-
tion of Spada to be secretary of state was uni-
versally approved ; it was made by the advice
of Altieri. It was only the nephews of Alex-
ander VIII. whom Innocent XII. did not con-
firm in their posts : he adhered in all respects
to the example of Innocent XI. " Andava
procurando il papa d'imitare Innocentio XI,
di cui e creatura et aveva preso il nome, for-
zandosi servisse al modello del suo la forma di
quel governo, levandoli pero quel la parte che
neir austerita e rigidezza non era stata lau-
data." [The pope endeavoured to imitate In-
nocent XL, whose creature he was, and whose
name he had assumed, taking the practice of
that pope's government as a model for his
own, only omitting the austerity and harsh-
ness which had not been approved of in it.]
He strove, as we see, by greater gentleness,
to surpass his model. He was easy of access ;
his public audiences for the poor particularly
won him a good name ; although they did not,
as the latter expected, lead to a speedy termi-
nation of their differences, still they kept the
tyranny of the nobles in check. "Tutticon-
fessavano che questo publico ricorso portava
un gran freno a tutti li ministri e giudici:
mentre era troppo facile la strada di avvicin-
arsi air orecchie del principe e di scoprirli
quelle che in altri tempi era impedito o dalla
autoritii o dall' astutia di chi s'appressava al
papa." [It was confessed on all hands that
this public hearing was a great check upon
all the ministers and judges, by facilitating an
approach to the ear of the sovereign, and af-
fording the means of laying before him what
in other times had been shut out by the influ-
ence or the craft of those around the pope.]
An unlucky accident for a while suspended
his activity, but it was soon resumed.
The French question was settled ; the most
important reforms were begun. There ap-
peared a bull respecting nepotism, in which it
was provided that the benefices and ecclesias-
tical revenues for the future to be bestowed
on a pope's nephew should not exceed the sum
of 12,000 scudi. Innocent XI. abolished the
sale of such important offices as those of the
chierici di camera, and paid back the price,
1,016,070 scudi. " He thereby divested money
of its might, and again afl'orded virtue a
chance of mounting to the higii places." Many
other reforms were now looked for. " The
pope," says Contarini, "has nothmg before
612
APPENDIX.
his eyes but God, the poor, and the reform of
abuses. He lives most abstemiously ; he de-
votes every hour to the duties of his office,
without regard to his health. He is irre-
proachable in his habits, conscientious, regard-
less of his relations' interest, full of love for
the poor, endowed with all the high qualities
to be desired in the head of the church. Could
he always act for himself, he would be one of
the first of popes."
Every one, however, was not pleased with
his conduct. Contarini regrets that Innocent
had no nephews who could feel a personal in-
terest in their uncle's fame, and that his min-
isters had too much latitude, — " vedendosi
offuscate quelle grandi e risplendenti virtu
dalla solertia de' ministri troppo pratici dell'
arte della corte," [his noble and resplendent
virtues being obscured by the craft of minis-
ters too well versed in the arts of the court.]
It is charged against these, that, in order to
divert the zeal of Innocent XII. into another
channel, they contrived to fix his attention e.x-
clusively on the relie£ of the poor. The hos-
pital of the Lateran was proposed. This soon
engrossed all the pope's thoughts. " Questo
chiodo fermo I'ardente volonta del papa di
riformare." [This put a stop to the pope's
ardent desire to reform.]
The author is persuaded that the pope had
saved and laid by about two millions of scudi.
He is thoroughly convinced of the purity of
his intention : he calls him a man of blame-
less and faultless morals.
154. Relazione di Roma di Nicolo Erizzo
K'- 1702 29 Ottobre. (40 leaves.) [Re-
port on Rome by Nicolo Erizzo.]
Nicolo Erizzo had already accompanied P.
Mocenigo in his embassy to Clement X.: he
was now himself made ambassador; he reached
Rome before the death of Innocent XII., and
remained there during the first years of the
reign of Clement XI. His report derives
double value from the fact that he had already
been long acquainted with Rome.
He treats first of former popes, and after
some general remarks comes to Innocent XI.,
— " that holy man, whose highest merit cer-
tainly did not consist in his science and
learning, but who on the other hand, possess-
ed financial knowledge, and who not only
effected the restoration of the balance be-
tween expenditure and income, but was also
able to afford liberal aid to the emperor and
the Poles in their struggle against the
Turks." Alexander VIII. at least did not
bestow the money of the treasury on his ne-
phews. On the other hand he lost enor-
mously by the failure of the house of xMerli,
and many persons ascribed his death to that
cause. Innocent XII. closed up the gulf of
nepotism ; although he did so much for the
poor, though he remitted a tax, and erected
buildings for the court, and constructed har-
bour works, still he left behind a considerable
sum in the treasury. But he lived too long
for the college of cardinals, whom on his
part he did not prize very highly. He
seemed to them to sacrifice the interests of
the holy see to his obsequiousness towards
the royal courts.
At last he died on the 27th September,
1700, and the cardinals eagerly rushed to the
business of the conclave. Their purpose was
to elect a pope who should make good the
injuries they thought they had sustained.
They fixed their eyes on cardinal Marescotti,
" a man of stout heart, worthy to rule, obsti-
nate in his principles, and of inflexible deter-
mination." Erizzo calls him a great man.
He was supported by the imperial and the
Spanish ambassadors. But excessive zeal is
often dangerous in the election of a pope, and
it was fatal to Marescotti. The French, who
feared his open hostility, succeeded in throw-
ing him over. Upon this a multitude of others
were proposed ; but there were objections to
them all : one was too vehement, another too
gentle, a third had too many nephews; the
friends of the Jesuits opposed cardinal Noris,
because he had dealt somewhat severely with
them in his history of Pelagianism. The hot
zelanti (here so designated for the first time)
would gladly have elected CoUoredo, but the
others thought him too austere. At last,
when the news arrived of the death of Charles
IL, "the cardinals," says Erizzo, "were
moved by the hand of God, so that in one
moment they desisted from their passions, and
from the hopes with which each had flattered
himself, and turned their eyes on cardinal
Albani with that instinctive movement which
is the strongest evidence of divine prompt-
ing." Cardinal Albani refused the dignity;
Erizzo is of opinion that his refusal was
genuine, and meant in earnest. At last he
gave way, apparently more from scruples,
and to avoid being longer entreated, than of
his own free will.
Erizzo now proceeds to describe the family
and the personal character of the newly
elected pope.
Albani's family came from Urbino. When
the aged Francesco Maria of Urbino resolved
to surrender his duchy before his death to
Urban VIII., he sent an Albani — the same
who had counselled him to that step — to
make it known to the pope. Twice he sent
him. On the first occasion he repented, and
called back his ambassador. Erizzo asserts
that he also changed his mind on the second
occasion, and sent contrary orders ; but that
Albani this time did not attend to them, but
delivered the act of abdication to Urban VIII.
without further hesitation. For this he was
made senator of Rome, and his son became
LATER EPOCHS.
613
maestro di camera to cardinal Barberini : he
was the father of Giovan Francesco Albini,
the new pope.
Giovan Francesco Albani applied himself to
literature and to the ecclesiastical profession ;
fortune so far favoured him that he soon had
personal access to the popes of his day.
"Under Innocent XI.," says Erizzo, "he
learned to form his decisions with more de-
liberation than he was by nature inclined to
do, and to persist in whatever he had under-
taken. Under Alexander he acquired freer
and bolder habits of negotiation ; he was
found to be at once wary and determined,
prompt and deliberate, and in outward ap-
pearance well disposed to every body : these
arts he next practised under Innocent XII.
That suspicious old man could endure neither
his datary nor his secretary of state: Albani
alone had free access to him, and contrived
to make himself equally indispensable to the
pope and to the court."
The first step of Clement XL, after his
election, was to notify to tlie ambassadors
that he must repeal many innovations intro-
duced under his predecessors ; he summoned
the governatore to the coronation, which the
governors of Rome had always avoided on
account of the disputes for precedency ; he
abolished all asylums : — the ambassadors said
that he did so only to make an impression on
the court.
The appointments he now made were in
Erizzo's opinion not very happy. Clement
surrounded himself exclusively with weak
men. "Felicitato il coraggio di questi suoi
ordini dal successo e dal rispetto de' regj rap-
presentanti, non credette Sua S"-^ d'aver bi-
sogno a palazzo de' rainistri di gran valore :
onde chiamovvi per segretario di state il
cardinale Paulucci di cortisima esperienza,
ed elesse per datario il cardinale Sacripante,
infaticabile e diligentissimo per quell' impiego,
ma non insignito che della qualita di buon
curiale. Indi diede a monsr Olivieri suo pa-
rente la segretaria de' brevi, che aveva digia
egregiamente esercitata sotto di lui stesso : e
pose nelle cariche che piii lo avvicinavano, li
antichi suoi amici e parenti, come mons^ Pa-
racciani gran legista, monsr Origo per segre-
tario delle lettere latine e Maffei per coppiere
confidente, tutta gente di pochissima estra-
zione, urbinati o delli vicini municpj, che non
avendo veduto se non Roma hanno per conse-
guenza pochissima cognizione delli principi e
molto meno poi degli afFari del mondo. Non
voile pvesso di se cardinal! di grande testa
ne ministri che da essi dipendessero, pre-
ferendo la sua quiete e la sua autorita, a (jue'
consigli, che non gli potevano venire dalle
suddette persone domestiche non esercilate
nelli maneggi e digia tra lore gelose e dis-
cord!. Meno voile Don Orazio suo fratello,
padre di tre figlioli di grande aspettazione.
uomo d'una singolare modestia ed integrita,
lasciatolo alle sue angustie per pompa dell'-
osservanza della holla contro il nipotismo, che
la S^^ Sua giuro nel giorno della sua esal-
tazione con aspetto d'evitarne interamente
lo scandolo, il quale pero, per sentimento
di molti, semper vetabitur et retinebitur
semper."
[His boldness in these arrangements being
crowned with success, and with the respect
of the royal representatives, his holiness
thought there was no need of ministers of
much ability in the palace: wherefore he
promoted to the secretaryship of state cardinal
Paulucci, a man of very brief experience,
[ and he chose for datary cardinal Sacripante,
a man of indefatigable diligence in that post,
but not distinguished by any qualities beyond.
' those of a good routine officer. Then he
gave to his relation, monsignor Olivieri, the
secretaryship which had formerly been admi-
I rably managed by himself; and he put into
' the offices nearest his own person his old
■ friends and relations, — such as monsignor
I Paracciani, a great legist ; monsignor Origo,
j whom he made secretary for Latin letters,
' and MalTei, as his confidential cupbearer ; all
of them persons of very low extraction, from
Urbino or the neighbouring boroughs, who
j having never seen more than Rome, had con-
sequently very little knowledge of foreign
sovereigns, and much less of the affairs of
the world. He does not desire near him
cardinals of great ability, nor ministers who
should depend on them, preferring his own
quiet and his own authority to those counsels,
which he is sure of not hearing from his
aforesaid servants, who have had no practice
in public life, and who are moreover jealous
and at variance among themselves. Nor
will he admit to him his brother Don Orazio,
the father of three sons of great promise ; a
man of rare modesty and integrity, whom he
has left in his narrow fortune from an osten-
tatious parade of observing the bull against
nepotism, which his holiness swore on the
day of his elevation, with the intention of
avoiding entirely the scandal of this prac-
tice ; a practice which, nevertheless, as many
think, will always be forbidden and always
retained.]
Very great difficulties immediately pre-
sented themselves. The dispute about the
Spanish succession was become exceedingly
dangerous to the court of Rome. Clement
XI. acted at first very vacillatingly. The
ambassador thinks his whole conduct tracea-
ble to an excess of cunning. His chief ob-
ject, he thinks, in proposing an Italian league
to the Venetians was to sound the intentions
of Venice.
From these political and general conside-
rations Erizzo passes on to the affairs of the
church, particularly to the controversies that
614
APPENDIX
were incessantly plied between Venice and
Rome. Rome, he says, is of a two-fold cha-
racter, the one holy, in so far as the pope is
the guardian of the sanctuary and of tlie di-
vine law; this must be revered : the other is
secular, in so far as the pope seeks to extend
his power, whicfi has nothing in common with
the practice of the first ages ; against this it
behoves men to be on their guard. He cannot
digest the thought that Venice had been passed
over in a promotion of cardinals in the last
reign. He laments that the republic no longer
possessed as formerly the patronage of her
own bishoprics ; how many poor nobles would
she then be able to succour"! — now the sub-
jects of Venice seek to arrive at places by
indirect means, and even through the efforts
of foreign princes. Cardinal Panciatichi had
introduced into the practice of the dataria the
maxim, that precisely those persons would be
favoured, who were most independent of the
princes in whose dominions the benefices were
situated. He looks on it as an abuse that the
pope's nephevv^s should possess so much share
in the ecclesiastical property of his native
land : why too were they so readily granted the
rank of Venetian nobili ! — Other states, even
the grand duke of Tuscany liad lists of nuncios
presented to them out of which they might
select one ; but such an honour was not done
the republic ; — the title of Carissimo too was
refused by Rome to the doge of Venice. We
see that new subjects of quarrel were con-
tinually arising in addition to the old ones.
The ambassador therefore recommends his
republic to give its serious attention to Roman
affairs. If a pope could now no longer be as
helpful as formerly, yet he could still do much
mischief, especially if he was young, spirited,
and economical.
155. Relatione del N. U. Gio. Franc. Mo-
rosini K^ fu ambasciatore al sommo
pontejice Clemente XI. 1707 17 Dec.
(36 leaves.) [Report of Gio. Franc. Mo-
rosini, formerly ambassador to pope Cle-
ment XL]
Morosini, Erizzo's successor, was from Jan.
1702 till Nov. 1706, at the court of Clement
XI. whose government then first fully dis-
played its peculiar character.
Morosini relates with what zeal Clement
XI. imitated the example of his most re-
nowned predecessors. Even the tears wnth
which he refused the papal dignity were not
without a precedent. He fulfilled all those
outward observances which afford a good ex-
ample. " Vita sobria e regolata : frequent!
pubbliche devotioni alia scala santa, a visite
di chiese, al servitio negli hospital] : somma
edificatione et accuratezza nei riti sacri e
nelle piti solenni ed humili funtioni, ai quali
vuol supplire anche con pregiuditio della sa-
lute. Al paragone pure dell' interesse com-
parisce egualmente incolpabile : prima con-
sultore, poi esecutore delle holla del nipotismo.
Con ogni facilita dona ai vescovi poveri le
sue propine, e nudrisce del proprio molti ope-
rarj ed opere pie. Nella scelta de' vescovi,
sopra tutto essentiale al servitio della chiesa,
con la debita pesatezza procede, cercando
I'informationi dai fonti pm sinceri, senza dar
luogo che molto parcamente al favore. Ne
esamina talvolte alcuno egli stesso ad usanza
dei papi antichi. Dell' altre dignita pari-
menti e beneficj ecclesiastici va cosi misurato
ed attento nella distributione che anche sopra
gli stessi suoi congiunti vuol che si scorga
giustificata la convenienza d'accomodarli dal
requisito di studj e costumi comendabili."
[His life is sober and well regulated : he is
constant at public worship at the scala sancta,
in visits to the churches, and in attendance at
the hospitals : he is most strictly and edify-
ingly attentive to sacred rites and to the most
solemn and humble duties, even to the injury
of his health. He appears likewise a para-
gon of disinterestedness: he was first adviser
and then executor of the bull respecting ne-
potism. He bestows his gratuities with great
alacrity on poor bishops, and supports many
pious works and workmen at his own expense.
He proceeds with due deliberation in the se-
lection of bishops, a matter of vital importance
to the church, seeking information at the most
authentic sources, without giving room, ex-
cept very sparingly, to favour. He sometimes
himself examines episcopal candidates, after
the manner of the ancient popes. He pro-
ceeds with the same care in the distribution
of other dignities and ecclesiastical benefices,
exacting even of his own relations that they
own the propriety of conforming to the re-
quired standard in point of acquirements and
laudable morals]
In the same spirit Clement dealt with juris-
dictional matters, that is to say, with all the
zeal demanded of him by his office ; he even
gained ground in some points. The new king
of Spain was induced to solicit his permission
to summon clergymen before the secular tri-
bunals, and to levy tithes. The king of Po-
land sent some members of the higher clergy
to be tried before the pope's tribunal. The
viceroy of Naples submitted to the papal or-
ders, after long resistance, at the critical mo-
ment when the Germans were advancing
upon lower Italy: " un trionfo che sara regis-
trato nelli annali della chiesa, [a triumph
which will be registered in the annals of the
church.] Savoy and Lorraine were there-
fore beset with the more vigour. The pope
knew how to seize the favourable moment.
"Studiosissimo d'ingrandire con i motivi di
pieta la potenza." [Most intent on augment-
ing liis power from pious motives.] Morosini
finds the whole court pervaded by a similar
LATER EPOCHS.
615
spirit. They would admit of no distinction
between church and state : the church was
everything : every congregation was styled
holy, be the subject of its deliberations what
it might : no distinction was made between
pastors of the church and prelates of the
court ; the former were even excused from
their spiritual functions, and employed in
matters of state. Piety moreover was used as
a sort of coin indispensable towards advance-
ment in life. Four of the congregations are
distinguished as particularly deserving of at-
tention : — the inquisition, which merited all
support, since it watched over pure doctrine,
only it was a startling thing that the worst
heresy was to be met with precisely in Rome
(he means quietism ;) — the propaganda ; un-
fortunately there were now but few who
would devote themselves with all their hearts
to the missions ; — the congregation of the
bishops and orders, which exercised a very
necessary supervision, especially over the lat-
ter;— and that of immunities; this was set
up like a sentinel as it were to watch the
bounds between the temporal and the spiritual
authority : were everything to proceed as it
desired, the power of temporal sovereigns
would be totally destroyed.
Morosini now directs his attention to the
state. He repeats the complaints so frequent
for some time previously, respecting the de-
cline of population and of agriculture. The
pope would gladly have introduced improve-
ments, such, for instance, as the cultivation of
the Campagna; but all this ended merely in
brilliant projects. The ambassador remarks
that the spiritual dignity increased the tem-
poral authority. The power of the senate he
considers a burlesque upon the name. The
barons were subjected to the same punish-
ments as the lowest of the people ; the pope
kept them under rigorous inspection, know-
ing very well that there was something vio-
lent in the nature of the body. — At last our
author comes to speak of politics. I must ex-
tract verbatim the most important passage,
which treats of the relation of the pope to
France and the emperor, upon which every-
thing once more depended in those days.
" iie il papa abbia avuto mano o partecipa-
tione nel testamentodi Carlo H, ionon ardiro
d'asserirlo, ne e facile penetrare il vero con
sicurezza. Bensi adurro solo due fatti. L'uno
che questo arcano, non si sa se con verita, fu
esposto in un manifesto uscito alle stampe in
Roma ne' primi mesi del mio ingresso all' am-
basciata, all' ora che dall' uno e I'altro par-
tito si trattava la guerra non meno con I'armi
che con le carte. L'altro che il papa non
s'astenne di far pubblici elogi al christianis-
simo d'essersi ritirato dal partaggio, ricevendo
la monarchia intiera per il nipote. Fatto ri-
flesso a tali premesse, non pare che rendano
stupore le conseguenze vedutesi di direttione
fluttuante e fra se stessa contrraia, non po-
tendo mai riuscir uniform! attioni nate da di-
versi principj : e tali eraiio I'obbligo da una
parte d'ostentar indilFerenza propria di padre
comune, e I'occulto affetto et impegno preso
dall' altra nel giudicare senza maggior pesa-
tezza li vantaggi et il merito della causa.
Considero piamente la S^*^ Sua il decoro e
beneficio della religions nell' escludere gli
eretici dall' usurpato. Concepi speranza, fa-
cilitata dal genio a Frances!, che o non" vi sa-
rebbe guerra o si farebbe inutilinente contro
le fbrze di quell' invilta natione : e dandosi a
credere che la monarchia si manterebbe unita,
non stimo in un tal vaticinio meritar disprezzo
errando con la finezza Spagnola, la quale in
tal caso ebbe ragioni di necessita piu che di
politica. L'esito instrui dell' altre pondera-
tioni che dovevano avanzarsi. S'ammasso,
scoppio e tuttavia infuria fatale agl'inimici et
agli amici quel fiero nembo che la gelosia,
I'astio, I'interesse eccitarono nelle potenze
collegate ad abbatere la macchina sospettata
nella Francia di monarchia universale
Riusci ad ogni modo per molto tempo ai Fran-
ces! lo studio di mantenersi nel credito d'in-
vincibili appresso il papa, il quale pieno di
confidenza seguendo tacitamente i loro con-
sigli veniva dagl'incauti lodato d'una condotta
che oscurasse quella d'ogni altro : perche
dove la Ser™=^ Republica in particolare osser-
vando una sincera neutralita pareva, patisce
danni nelle sostanze de' sudditi, aggravj al
decoro e lo sdegno d'ambi li partiti : egli all'
incontro col professare neutralita e minacciare
assieme di romperla immantinente contro quel
partite che I'ofTendesse, ma intendendosela
occultamonte con Frances!, era da quest! col-
tivato et occorrendo difeso senza dispendio, da
Cesare! trattato con riguardo per non fornirlo
d! pretest! a deponer anche I'apparenza di
neutrale : furon immuni per un pezzo 1! suoi
stati : vide rispettate le censure in mezzo all'
arm!, e comparse flotte di eretic! ne' suoi mar!
senza il minimo oltraggio. Ma il rovescia-
mento della fortunaFrancese, particolarmente
in Italia, ha fatto scorgere se meritasse allora
encomi! o la condotta o la sorte, e se le sane
e sincere insinuationi fatteli da VV EE repli-
car spesso col mezzo dei loro ministri di soda
indifferenza come padre comune per renders!
arbitro e venerato a beneficio proprio e della
christianita e d'aumentare le sue truppe sotto
buoni official! per appoggiar raeglio il respetto
contro I'altrui intemperanza, dovessero sbrac-
ciarsi come consigli infelici, anche nell' espe-
rienza di chi 1! porgeva. II frutto d'aver pre-
ferite art! piu obblique e studj d'economia, li
peggior consigliera della politica, fu di soffrir
dopo e tutt'ora cio ch'e noto, ma quel ch'e
piij, con apparenza di non sotfrir senza colpo
nel tribunals della fama, ch'e sovrano anche
a! principi. Spedi, come adduce in sua difesa
nuncj estraordinarj per la pace universale
616
APPENDIX.
senza riguardo a spesa et all' ingiuria dell'
eschisione incontrata a Vienna: propose leghe,
accordi, armistitij per la quiete particolare di
questa provincia, ma fuor di tempo e dopo che
le dimostrationi di partialita del principle e
nel progresso notate introdussero il verme nei
migliori semi : onde I'essersi reso una volta
sospetto fu un spogliar il zelo di autorita e
constituire per sempre impotente il principal
instrumeiitodella Concordia. Difficile riuscira
in effetto alia S^^ Sua il purgar questa impu-
tatione, anzi quella d'aver contribuito a tirare
nel suo senso tutti li principi d'ltalia appresso
quali voleva, notoria essendo la condotta non
solo di quelli di Parma, suo feudatario, ma
della casa di Fiorenze : onde la sola cautela
costante della Ser™* Republica ha data sog-
getione al papa e documento agli altri, mer-
candone pero immeritata odiosita appresso
Francesi che sopra di lei fu da Sua 6°^
scaricata."
[I will not pretend to affirm whether or not
the pope had hand or part in the will of
Charles II., nor is it easy to arrive at the
truth. I will mention, however, but two
facts. The one is that this secret was pub-
lished, whether with truth or not is not known,
in a manifesto which issued from the Roman
press in the first months of my embassy, at
the time when war was actually waged be-
tween the two parties. The other fact is,
that the pope did not abstain from publicly
eulogizing the most Christian king because
he had discountenanced the partition, and re-
ceived the monarchy entire for his nephew.
Reasoning from these premises, we can hardly
wonder at the consequences we see to have
resulted from fluctuating and discordant plans,
for uniformity of action can never spring from
diversity of principles : and even such were
the obligations on the one hand to manifest the
indifference belonging to the common father,
and on the other the secret bias and the en-
gagement entered into without more mature
deliberation as to the advantages and the
merits of the cause. His holiness piously
considered the honour and profit to religion of
shutting out the usurpation of the heretics.
He conceived hopes, encouraged by the
French character, either that there would be
no war, or that it would be waged in vain
against the forces of that unconquered nation ;
and as there was reason to hope that the mon-
narchy would be preserved entire, he did not
think himself wrong in such an anticipation,
miscalculating the Spanish subtlety, which in
such a case was justified by necessity rather
than by policy. The event taught other con-
siderations, which ought to have been pre-
viously weighed. There gathered, burst, and
still rages, fatally to friends and foes, that
fierce thunder-cloud of jealousy, envy, and
interest, which urged the confeder!},te powers
to defeat the suspected machinations of France
for universal monarchy For a long
while the French fully succeeded in keeping
up their credit for invincibility with the pope,
who, in the fulness of his confidence, impli-
citly following their counsels, was praised by
thoughtless persons for a conduct that Would
have tarnished the reputation of any other :
for whilst the most serene republic in parti-
cular, observing a strict neutrality, suffered
losses in the substance of its subjects, wrongs
to its honour, and the resentment of both par-
ties, he on the other hand professing neutrality,
and at the same time threatening to break it
immediately against any party that should of-
fend him, but all the while having a secret
understanding with the French, his friendship
was cultivated by the latter, and he found
himself defended without cost, and he was
treated with consideration by the imperial
party, in their desire to avoid furnishing him
even with a pretext to lay aside the appear-
ance of neutrality : his states enjoyed immu-
nity for a while ; he saw his censures re-
spected in the midst of war, and heretic fleets
appeared in his seas without offering him the
slightest insult. But the reverses of fortune
sustained by France, particularly in Italy,
made it clear whether the aforesaid enco-
miums were due to conduct or to chance, and
whether the sound and sincere suggestions
repeatedly made by your excellencies through
your ministers to the pope, that he should, as
the common father, observe a stedfast indif-
ference, so as to make himself a revered ar-
biter, to his own benefit and that of Christen-
dom, and that he should augment his troops
under good officers, the better to sustain the
respect due to him against the waywardness
of others, should have been rejected, as coun-
sels proved inauspicious even by the experi-
ence of those who tendered them. The fruits
of having preferred oblique practices and de-
vices of economy, the worst counsellor in po-
litics, were the suffering, since and now, what
is notorious ; and what is still worse, to have
the justice of all these sufferings confirmed by
the verdict of fame, which is the sovereign
even of princes. He sent, as he states in his
defence, nuncios extraordinary, for the ratifi-
cation of a general peace, without regard to
expense or to the injurious exclusion encoun-
tered at Vienna : he proposed leagues, agree-
ments, and armistices for the special repose
of this province ; but he did so unseasonably,
and after the demonstrations of partiality wit-
nessed in the beginning and in the progress
of events had let the canker into the best
seeds : hence his having rendered himself
once suspected, robbed him of the prestige of
his authority, and made the principal instru-
ment of concord for ever impotent. His holi-
ness, indeed, will find it hard to purge him-
self of this imputation, as well as of that of
having contributed to draw over to his own
LATER EPOCHS.
617
views all the princes of Italy with whom he
had influence ; notorious being the conduct
not only of Parma, his feudatory, but also of
the house of Florence : hence it was solely
the constant prudence of the most serene re-
public that kept the pope in check, and gave
a lesson to others, in return for which, how-
ever, it incurred the undeserved enmity of
the French, which was dischargecL-upon it by
his holiness.]
156. Lorenzo Tiepolo K'' Proc^ Relation di
Roma 1712. (40 leaves.) [Lorenzo Tie-
polo's report on Rome.]
The contests between the spiritual and the
temporal jurisdiction excited more and more
attention every year. L. Tiepolo begins with
this subject.
But he treats it with unusual earnestness.
The question, he says, was purposely con-
fused ; to unravel it, to assign to sovereigns
their own, and yet not to violate the reverence
due to the papal see, this doubly demanded
the grace of God.
First he describes anew the personal cha-
racter of Clement XI. He too admires the
erudition, the zeal, the affability, and the
moderation of that pope: still it was possible,
he says, that these qualities might he assumed,
not from the only unfailing motives, real vir-
tue, but from human considerations, and that
therefore they might not receive God's bless-
ing; it might be that the zeal with which the
pope devoted himself to the business of the
state, was associated with too high an estima-
tion of his own merit, and aimed less at
things themselves than at tlie applause and
the honour to be derived from them. — Praise
was all powerful with him. His physician,
for instance, made use of this weakness to
maintain his influence over him : flattery
incited him to uphold the honour of the holy
see ; thence it was that he paid so little re-
gard to the rights of sovereigns and states ;
the persons about him even dared to speak in
so scurrilous a manner, as was neither con-
sistent with the pope's high station, nor per-
haps with Christian charity.
From the pope he proceeds to his ministers,
whom our author no more than his predeces-
sors considers peculiarly distinguished, de-
scribing them as fitted only for a subservient
station and not for the conduct of affairs. 1.
Cardinal Albani. The pope had waited till
after his mission to Germany, before he would
make him cardinal. The court approved of
this nomination, because they thought it would
afford them a channel of access to the pope
and an interest with him ; Clement XI., how-
ever, allowed the cardinal little or no influ-
ence, (" e certo che I'autorita del card'e nipote
non apparisce a quel sogno che per I'ordinario
s'baveva veduto in quella corte";. 2. The
78
secretary of state cardinal Paulucci, a tho-
roughly good man, of no great ability, depend-
ing with a sort of awe upon the pope. 3.
Corradini, auditore di papa: "dotto nel dritto,
ma di non uguale esporienza negli interessi
dei principi : — forte nell' impegno, ma pieghe-
vole alia ragione :" [learned in the law, but
not of equal experience in the interests of
sovereigns; — siedtast to his engagements, but
docile to reason :] the only one who might be
thoroughly depended on ; it was advantageous
to bring matters before him in which one was
decidedly in the right; this was not so advi-
sable in doubtful matters; he was not on good
terms with the nephew; it was even thought
that the latter had helped him to the cardinal-
ate to get rid of his vicinity to the pope. 4.
Orighi, secretary of the consulta, Corradini's
rival, and for this reason a close ally of the
nephew ; " pare che piii con I'accortezza et
adulatione che con la fermezza et ingenuita
abbia avanzato la sua fortuna" [he appears to
have advanced his fortunes rather by shrewd-
ness and adulation than by firmness and sin-
cerity]. 5. Cardinal Sagripante, the datario,
who had grown rich only by thrift, strict in
the discharge of his duties, taking no share in
politics. The dataria was daily losing more
and more ; even in Spain people would no
longer submit to its cozening practices ; thence
it came to pass, that those cardinals who had
not learned how to manage their property
judiciously, could no longer maintain the an-
cient splendour of their rank — " si puo dire
essere un vero distintivo dell' abbadie de'
cardinali il ritrovare le case in abandono e le
chiese dirocate." [It may be pronounced to be
a true character of cardinal's husbandry to
find houses left to decay and churches in
ruins.] — Were a papal election to take place,
the creatures of Clement XI. would hardly
attach themselves very closely to cardinal
Albani, so little influence had he.
Tiepolo now proceeds to sketch the aspect
of politics. His views, as we have said, are
of a politico-ecclesiastical character; he in-
vestigates the disputes between the court of
Rome and the temporal sovereigns: — it was
said the pope had an equal love for all ; it
would be more correct to say he had an
equally feeble love, and equally low esteem
for all.
" E ben vero che se pochi si hanno preso a
tal punto quest' assunto di far pompa di supe-
riorita sopra i principi, e forza di dire che
anche pochi pontefici hanno havuto la stbrtuna
uguale al presente di non poter uscire dagl'
impegni volontariamente con gli stessi princi-
pi presi, se non con qualche diminutione de,
suo honore. Pure se ha qualche interna in-
clinatione, quest' e riposta verso la Francia,
benche quella corte replicatamente si dolga
delle sue partialita verso la casa d'Austria,
e in fatti in piii incontri I'evento ha compro-
618
APPENDIX.
vato i suoi lamenti, ma perche ha havuto tutta
la parte il timore. In cio la corte di Vienna,
o sia a caso o per la cognitione, rilevata del
vero temperamento del pontefice lia nel trat-
tar seco fatta la profittevole scielta delie
minaccie e deile apprensioni."
[Truth compels us so say, that if few popes
have carried to such an extent the ostenta-
tious assumption of superiority over princes,
so likewise few have been equally unfortunate
as the present pope, in net being able to get
out of engagements voluntarily entered into
with sovereigns without a certain loss of hon-
our. If he has any inward leaning, it is
certainly in favour of France, although that
court has repeatedly complained of his parti-
ality to the house of Austria, and indeed on
several occasions the fact confirmed their
complaints, but this Was entirely the result of
timidity. The court of Vienna, whether by
accident or from knowledge of the pope's real
constitution of mind, in dealing with him,
made a profitable use of threats and fears.]
He proceeds in these general remarks upon
the several states successively till he comes
to Venice, on the aftairs of which, now cer-
tainly of no wide range of importance, he
dwells at most length.
157. Relatione di Andrea Corner K^ ritor-
nato dalV amh^i<^ di Roma 1724 25 Luglio.
(24 leaves.) [Andrea Corner's report of
his embassy to Rome.]
We have seen what vehement antipathies
Clement XI. provoked, in spite of the best
intentions and the most irreproachable prac-
tice. From this report, however, in which he
once more figures, we see that after his death
the public voice respecting him was mightily
changed. Then every one admired him ;
even those who shortly before had censured
joined in the general applause. People now
discovered what they had never before ima-
gined, that if he sometimes promised more
than he was able to perform, this was really
the result of good-nature. It came to light
that he had distributed out of his private for-
tune the most liberal alms; their combined
amount during the twenty years of his sway
reaching to a million of sc, a sum he might
with a safe conscience have bestowed on his
house. Corner relates, that shortly before
Clement's death he begged pardon of his ne-
phew cardinal Annibal, for not having left
his family belter provided for. " Parera che
il pontificate di Clemente sia stato efhmero,
quando fu do' piii lunghi." [It would be
thought that Clement's pontificate was ephe-
meral, whereas it was one of the longest.]
The change that was expected, took place
in the conclave. The whole college, with
five exceptions, had been renewed under Cle-
ment XL, but as cardmal Albani had had no
greater part in the nominations than in the
administration in general, the cardinals divi-
ded according to their respective nations.
Paulucci, secretary of state, as we know, to
the former pope, was first proposed : but the
imperial ambassador count Althan declared
that his master would never recognise Pau-
lucci as pope, this he submitted to their emi-
nences for their consideration. Now some
friends of the house of Albani had already
before this cast their eyes on Michael Angelo
Conti ; one of them, monsignor Riviera, was
secretary to the conclave. He first spoke on
the subject to cardinal Spinola, who after he
had reconnoitred the ground, and found that
Conti was not disliked, gladly put himself at
the head of the party and proposed him.
Count Althan immediately demanded instruc-
tions of his court. It now turned out to
Conti's advantage that he had been nuncio in
Portugal, and had there gained the favour of
the queen Maria Anna of Austria, sister to
Charles VI. The Austrian court was on
Conti's side, and the support of the whole
Austrian connection, namely Portugal and
Poland, might be relied on. The Spanish
ambassador too consulted his court: its an-
swer was not favourable, but it arrived too
late; Innocent XIII. had meanwhile been
already elected (May 8, 1721).
Innocent possessed excellent qualities, both
for the spiritual and the temporal government:
only he was of a sickly habit of body, for
which reason he was sparing in giving audi-
ence. This, however, made the tact of hav-
ing an audience of him a thing of importance
in itself; and one answered instead of many.
He apprehended very justly, and gave deci-
ded answers. The ambassador of iVJalta, says
Corner, will long remember liow upon his
making a somewhat impetuous appeal to the
pope for aid, his holiness gave him his bless-
ing on the spot, and rang his bell by way of
dismissing him. When the Portuguese am-
bassador solicited the promotion of Bicchi to
the cardinalate. Innocent at last would not
hear him any more, " non ritrovando merito
nel prelate e passando sopra tutti li riguardi
che potea avere per una corona di cui era
stato protettore" [not finding the prelate de-
serving, and overlooking all the partiality he
might have entertained for a crown, of which
he had been the protector.]
The Roman families related to Innocent,
which had hoped for advancement from him,
found themselves much deceived: even his
nephew had dithculty in obtaining the income
of 12,000 ducats, which was now the usual
income of a nephew.
The pope's chief endeavour was to settle
the disputes respecting the ecclesiastical ju-
risdiction, but in this he by no means fully
succeeded. It was only with the imperial
court a better understanding was effected ; a
LATER EPOCHS.
610
result naturally to be expected, in consequence
of the circumstances of Innocent's election.
15S. Relatione del N. H. Pietro Capello 10
ritornuto iVamhasciator tli Roma 1728 6
Marzo. (14 leaves.) [Report of Pietro
Capello's embassy to Rome.]
Innocent XIII. died on the 7th of March,
after a i-eign of little more than thirty-four
montlis.
Capello, whose embassy began in Innocent's
lifetime, agrees with the description given of
him by his predecessor. He considers him
pacific, sound in his judgment, deliberate, and
firm. He conarms the rumour that the nomi-
nation of Dubois to be cardinal, to which he
had suffered himself to be persuaded in consi-
deration of the man's power and influence,
caused Innocent painful scruples in his last
moments. " La di lui morte fu ben un'argo-
nieuto delle piii morali riflessioni : mentre
attaccato da scrupoli di coscienza, tarlo che
nou lascia di rodere anco la mente dei papi,
non pote mai lasciarsi persuadere a compire
la nomina di quattro cardinal! nella vacanza
d'altrettanti cappelli: e per quelle si e potuto
iscoprire, fu giudicato che non sentisse di
consumare una tale elettione forse per penti-
mento d'averne eseguita alcun' altra con
maniere atte a turbare la di lui delicata con-
scienza. Tale non ordinario accidente par-
tori funeste consequenze alia di lui casa, a
favor della quale non resto alcun partito da
(iispouere dopo la di lui morte : ma con tutto
vio vi fu universale argomento per giudicar
molto bene di sua persona, che dimostro per
tali suoi ottimi sentimenti un spirito egual-
mente nobile che rassegnato."
[His death afforded a striking subject for
moral reflection. Being assailed by scruples
of conscience, a moth that fails not to fret
even the mind of a pope, he could never be
persuaded to nominate four persons to receive
the vacant cardinals' hats : and as far as could
be discovered, he was probably disinclined to
consummate such an election, from his repent-
ance at having once before made one in a
manner calculated to trouble his tender con-
science. So unusual an incident produced
fatal consequences to his house, which could
command no party after his death ; but for all
this there was every reason to judge very
well of him, who by such admirable senti-
ments displayed a spirit equally noble and
resigned.]
Innocent was succeeded on the 29th of
May 1724 by Benedict XIII. Capello thinks
him very different from his predecessor ; es-
pecially determined and impetuous in all
ecclesiastical matters.
He notices few distinguished personages in
the college of cardinals, no strong faction, nor
any prospect of the formation of one under
Benedict, since the jealousy between Coscia
and Fini was enough to prevent it. There
was a crown faction, but it had no real stabi-
lity. A great sensation had been produced at
court by the fact that the duke of Savoy had
at last reached his ends. Capello concludes
from this, that at Rome everything was to be
obtained with the help of time : all that was
necessary was quiet ; a man's zeal in his own
cause should never be allowed to break out
into complaints.
Capello now enters more minutely into the
interests peculiarly Venetian. First he again
lays it down that Venice must assume a more
imposing and dignified attitude at Rome.
He again explains how the pope was to be
dealt with. The aim should always be in-
sensibly to gain his good will by ecclesiastical
concessions. He then enters into the con-
sideration of temporal affairs, particularly of
trade. It is evident that in the beginning of
the eighteenth century the Roman state very
earnestly devoted its thoughts to commercial
and manufacturing improvements.
The inhabitants of Dulcignote and Ragusa
carried on a trade with Ancona, which was
not at all agreeable to the Venetians. In
particular they imported thither a great deal
of wax, an article formerly brought from
Venice, and which now began to be manufac-
tured also in the ecclesiastical states.
Innocent XII. began the building of S.
Michel a Ripa: Clement XI. enlarged it: it
was now become important for the woollen
and silk manufactures. " Dalla figura d'un'
ospitale, dove per carita alimentavano molti
giovani, fu convertita con amplificatione di
sito e con grandissima giunta di fabriche in
una casa di commercio, nella quale a presents
si travagliano le manifatture di lana e di
seta." The cloth of S. Michel already
rivalled that of France, and was exported by
way of Ancona to Turkey and Spain. I will
extract the whole passage. " In questo son-
tuoso edificio vi si e introdotto la fabrica degl'
arazzi con egual perfettione di quelli che si
travagliano in Fiandra et in Francia : e vi e
fondato un lanificio, nel quale vi entra la lana
et escono i panni perfetionati di tutto punto.
La fabrica di seta dipendente da questo luogo
s'esercita in piii contrade di Roma, e quelle
della lana sono in tanti generidivise, con idea
d'addattarle all' uso del paese per havernecon
un spaccio facile il pronto ritratto. Si fabri-
cano in S. Michele tutti li panni per le mili-
tie, li scoti per servitio de' monasterj, le tele
di tutti i generi per il vestiario delle ciurme,
e li panni sono divisi in varii generi che res-
tano distribuiti per una data quantitu, con ob-
lige alii mercanti di fame I'esito. Di recente
si e dato anco mano alia fabrica di panni colo-
rati ad uso di Francia, che passano in Ancona
e Sinigaglia per concambio alle mercantie che
vengouo di Turchia. In somma, la casa_^di
620
APPENDIX.
S. Michele e una delle pivi vaste idee che pos-
sa esser compita da un principe grande, e
sarebbe sicuramente I'emporio di tutta I'ltalia,
se non fosse costituita in una citta dove ad
ogn' altra cosa si pensa clie al commercio et
alia mercatura, essendo diretti questi gran
capitali da una congregatione di trecardinali,
tra quali vi e il segretario di stato, sempre
occupato e divertito ne' piii gravi affari del
governo. Con tutto cio qiiesta casa di com-
mercio sussite con floridezza, e colli suoi tra-
vagli s'alimentano migliara di persone rica-
vandosi dalle sue manifatture pronto il ritrat-
to. La fabrica degl' arazzi si mantiene da se
stessa, perche si lavora ad uso de' particolari,
et il maggior effetto di questi lavori si e quel-
le desiderabile a tutti li stati, che il danaro
non esca ad impinguare I'astere nationi."
[The manufacture of hangings has been
introduced into this sumptuous edifice, and
carried to as high a perfection as in France
and Flanders : a wool-factory too has been
established there, into which the wool enters
in the raw state, and comes out in cloth of
the most finished quality. The manufacture
of silk depending on this place is carried on
in several districts of the Roman states, and
that of wool is divided into various kinds
adapted to the usage of the country, so as to
have a prompt supply without an inconveni-
ent occupation of space. There are manu-
factured in S. Michel all kinds of cloths for
the soldiery, for the use of the monasteries,
and for the crews of the galleys ; and they
are divided into various classes, which are
distributed in a given quantity, with an obli-
gation on the part of the merchants to dis-
pose of them. Of late they have also begun
to make coloured cloths in the French style,
which are put oif in Ancona and Sinigaglia,
in exchange for the goods imported from
Turkey. In fine, the establishment of S.
Michel is one of the grandest conceptions that
could be worked out by a great sovereign,
and it would certainly be the emporium of all
Italy, were it not placed in a city where they
think of anything rather than of trade and
commerce ; the great capital of this institu-
tion being managed by a congregation of
three cardinals, one of whom is the secretary
of state, whose attention is continually en-
grossed by the gravest concerns of govern-
ment. For all that, the establishment is in a
flourishing condition, and supports thousands
of persons, its manufactures realizing a prompt
return. The manufacture of tapestry is main-
tained by itself, because it is for private cus-
tomers : the best ellect of these works is that
so very desirable one for all states, that the
money is not sent out of the country to en-
rich foreign nations.]
How curious to find a Venetian advising
his native city to copy a manufacturing insti-
tution of the pope's ! Already, too, establish-
ments for intellectual culture had been form-
ed, which he also recommends for imitation.
" Oltre le arti mecaniche vi sono pure le arti
liberal!, che servono ad ornamento ed utilita
dello stato. II solo nome di Roma ed il cre-
dito degli antichi suoi monumenti attrae a se
stessa molte estere nation et in particolare
gl'oltramontani. Sono in quella citta insti-
tuite molte academie, dove oltre lo studio
delle belle lettere non meno fiorisce quelle
della pittura e scoltura : oltre quella di Cam-
pidoglio, che sussiste sotto la protettione di
quel rettaglio d'autorita esercitata con tanto
credito ne' secoli passati da quella insigne re-
publica. Ve ne sono pure anco dell' allre in-
stituite e governate dall' estere nationi, trale
quali si distingue quella che sussiste col nome
della corona di Francia."* [Besides the me-
chanical, there are the liberal arts, which
serve for the adornment and advantage of the
state. The mere name of Rome, and the
fame of its ancient monuments, attract to it
many foreign nations, and particularly the
ultramontanes. There have been instituted
in this city many academies, in which the
study of painting and sculpture flourishes, no
less than that of polite letters ; besides that
of the Campidoglio, which subsists under the
protection of the remnant of that commanding
influence so nobly exercised in past ages by
that illustrious republic, there are others
also founded and governed by foreign nations,
among which, that which bears the name of
the crown of France holds a distinguished
place.]
The author thinks that a similar academy
should be established in Venice. That city
also possessed the finest monuments of anti-
quity. Even Bologna had been able to at-
tempt something of the kind with great suc-
cess !
There were associated in those days with
the tendencies pointed out by Correr some
others of a similar kind, of which other docu-
ments give us an account.
159. Osservaiioni della presente situatione
dello stato ecclesiastico con alciini proget-
ti Mtili al governo civile ed economicoper
ristabilire Verario della rev''" camera apos-
tolica dalli passati e correnti suoi discajyi-
ti. (MS. Rom.) [Observations on the
present situation of the ecclesiastical
states, with some useful projects of civil
and financial administration to repair the
past and present deficiencies of the apos-
tolic treasury.]
In the beginning of the eighteenth century
the nations of the whole south of Europe ar-
rived at the conviction that they were in a
bad condition, that they had been unwarrant-
[* I suspect, that this passage is incorrectly pointed. —
Translator.]
LATER EPOCHS.
621
ably neg'lected, and a craving need was felti
for the introduction of a better state of things.
How niucii was written and devised in Spain |
for the re-e^tablishment of the finances and of
trade. The " Testamento politico d'un acca-
demico Fiorentino," Colonia, 1734, — a woric
setting forth the means by which trade, agri-
culture, and the exchequer might be amelio-
rated,— is still well thought of in the ecclesi-
astical states. It is indeed a well-intentioned,
able, ami striking work, full of sound observa-
tions. But these efforts were not confined to
private individuals. We find in the collec-
tions of those times a host of projects, calcu-
lations, and plans to the same end, of a more
or less official character. The Osservationi
before us are of this class; they were intended
for Clement XII. himself, and belong to the
same period as the Political Testament. The
author makes it his special business to point
out the disorders and abuses which called for
abolition.
After dwelling a while on the melancholy
fact that so many assassinations took place in
the ecclesiastical states (a full thousand year-
ly, even exclusively of Rome and the four
legations), and urging the necessity of in-
quiring what preventive measures were taken
by other sovereigns, the author comes to the
question of finance. He states the yearly de-
ficit to be 120,000 scudi, and he makes the
following proposals: — 1. The discharge of the
officers who drew heavy pay without even
residing in their garrisons. 2. Retrenchment
in the expenditure of the palace. 3. The di-
rect administration of the dogana by the go-
vernment instead of farming it out, — a system
which he moreover condemns on the ground
that the farmers opposed the prohibition of
foreign manufactures. 4. The restriction of
the influence of subordinate functionaries,
who had an interest in the augmentation of
the taxes. He remarks that the annona could
not maintain itself, because there was now so
mucli importation from Turkey and from the
North, that the corn-dealer could not bear up
against the competition. What enrages him
beyond measure is, that so much money
should be sent out of the country lor cattle,
oil, and wine, all of them articles produced in
superfluity at home. What did it signify,
though they cost somewhat dearer, so that
money, " the blood of the state," was in due
circulation 1 The shareholders in the monti,
who drew their interest without residing in
the country, should at least be taxed, as was
the case with the absentee feudal proprietors
in the neighbouring kingdom of Naples.
He regards the state of the March, which
was yearly decreasing in population, as parti-
cularly deplorable. He ascribes it especially
to the very heavy burthens imposed on the
exportation of grain. This was altogether
prohibited between the months of June and
October, and in other months it was only
allowed on the payment of tolls, the amount
of which were of trifling importance to the
treasury, whilst the efiect of them was to
make the foreigner prefer seeking cheaper
corn elsewhere. The fair of Sinigaglia
proved mischievous ; it made the surrounding
districts dependent on foreign parts. For
evidence of this, one need but visit Urbino,
the March, and Umbria, where neither arts
nor prosperity were any longer to be found,
but every thing was in deep decay.
The author conjures the pope to appoint a
congregation of a few but chosen members,
who should search out means for remedying
these evils ; above all, to select only able and
honest functionaries, and to chastise those of
a different character. "Such," he con-
cludes, " are the hopes of the subjects of your
holiness."
160. Provedimenlo per lo stato ecclesiastico.
(MS. Rom.) — Autograph instructions for
state functionaries.
We see that here, too, projects were con-
ceived for the introduction of the mercantile
system which was then in such high esteem
in the rest of Europe. Had they been but
carried out with spirit, perhaps a certain im-
pulse would have been given to the trade and
manufactures of the land. But the misfor-
tune of the Roman administration was, that
each succeeding pope so gladly pursued mea-
sures the very opposite to tliose of his prede-
cessor. An example of this is afforded us by
the document before us.
The importation of foreign cloth from Ve-
nice, Napoli, and, above all, from Germany,
increased in the year 1719 to that degree,
that Clement XI. was induced to prohibit it
absolutely. The two decrees to that effect
— namely, of August 7, 1719, and August 1,
1720 — are mentioned also by Vergani (Delia
importanza del nuovo sistema di finanza),
Vergani, however, undoubtedly errs in saying
that they produced no effect. As early as
1728, Pietro Capello noticed the improvement
that had taken place in Roman industry. In
this Provedimento, composed under Clement
XII., it is expressly averred, that manufac-
tures had greatly increased in direct conse-
quence of that prohibition. It was confirmed
by Innocent XIII. and by Benedict XIII. " In
pochi anni si eressero a proprie spece de' par-
ticolari in molte citta e terre dello stato fa-
briche nuove di lanificii, di valche, di spurghi,
di tintorie et altre, in specie a Roma, Narni,
Perugia, Rieti, Tivoli, Alatri, Veroli, Segni,
Subiaco, S. Severino, Giulianello." [In the
course of a few years there were erected in
many towns and districts of the state, at the
cost of private individuals, new manufacto-
ries of woollens, (•) dye-stufis,
622
APPENDIX.
and so forth, particularly in Rome, Narni,
&c.]
But a congregation appointed by Clement
XII. in the year 1755 was induced to with-
draw this prohibition, and again to admit the
importation of cloth at a duty of 12 per cent,
in the provinces and 20 per cent, in Rome.
The consequence was, — at least, as asserted
by the document before us, — that the recently
established manufactories were ruined. Our
MS. calculates that a sum of 100,000 scudi
was sent out of the country for cloth. It ex-
presses a desire for the renewal of the prohi-
bition, and for its extension also to silk goods ;
but I do not find that this wish was realized.
161. Altri provedimenti di cormnercio. (MS.
Rom.)
Confirmation of the momentary rise of
manufactures since the issuing of the above
prohibition : — the old complaints against the
prohibition of exportation. A multitude of
tilings came from Tuscany ; but if any one
should think of shipping one bushel of corn
thither, he would bring upon himself confisca-
tion of his property, excommunication, nay,
loss of life. Moreover, an extreme confusion
of the currency had gained ground in the
ecclesiastical states as well as in Germany.
The papal coin was too heavy, though Inno-
cent XI. and Clement XL had issued some of
a lighter form. A great quantity of foreign
money, on which much loss was sustained, got
into circulation. The pope was urged on his
part also to coin lighter money, as he had
already begun to do with regard to the zec-
chini.
Several other documents of the same tenor
lie before us. To give abstracts of them
would lead us into too minute detail. It is
enough to remark, that the ecclesiastical
states participate in the same views and prin-
ciples as to trade, manufactures, and finance,
which had taken hold of the rest of Europe,
though they were prevented from ripening
into any considerable result by circumstances,
by the nature of the constitution and incura-
ble abuses, by the listlessness of the aristo-
cracy, the charms of mere enjoyment without
any ulterior object, and the "dolce far niente."
Winckelmann, the German, was enraptured
when he arrived in Italy shortly after this
period. The habits of life there dawned upon
him like an emancipation from the busy ac-
tivity and the strict subordination of his native
regions. The sciiolar's views were right in
reference to himself; he had need of studious
leisure ; he wanted to draw freer breath ; and
these were things attainable for the moment
and for the individual. But a nation can never
become flourishing and mighty, otherwise than
by putting forth its entire strength.
162. Relazione 28 9*'-« 1737 del N. U. Aluise
Mocenigo IV. K^ e Proc^ ritornato di
Roma. — (Arch. Ven.) [Report of the
embassy to Rome of Aluise Mocenigo IV.]
This document acquaints us with the ob-
stacles thrown by the government in the way
of commercial prosperity. Mocenigo is by no
means a caviller : he admits the increase of
trade in Ancona, and even expresses soine
anxiety on the subject: he thinlis the admin-
istration of justice in a sound condition, parti-
cularly in the Rota; but he declares the ad-
ministration to be rotten from the foundation:
falsification of documents was the order of the
day ; the expenditure was greater than the
income ; there was no prospect of better
things. Pope Clement had resorted to the
lotto; but the ambassador pronounces it perni-
cious in the highest degree (" I'evidente ester-
minio e ruina de' popoli").
His opinion of pope Clement XII. is, that
he was more distinguished for the accomplish-
ment of a cavalier and of a stately prelate,
than for the talent or the energy to bear the
heavy burthen of the pontificate. He des-
cribes him and his government only in the
few following lines. " II pontificate presente
influisce piuttosto le nobili intraprese e la
magnificenza, tale essendo stata sempre I'in-
clinazione del papa sino dalla sua gioventu, e
tuttavia neU'eta sua cadente e rovinosa sos-
tenuta dal genio e dagli esempj del cardie Cor-
sini nipote, che piii ancora si distingue nell'
inclinazione per le belle arti e per il modo
affabile di trattare che per un fondo di vera
suflicienza negli afFari del govei'no. La serie
dei successi nel cadente pontificate, in cui per
lo pill ha governato I'Eminenza Sua, rende
chiara testimonianza a questa verita, e si puo
dire che i dissapori violenti occorsi quasi con
tutte le corti avrebbono dovuto opprimere il
cardl nipote, se egli non fosse state sostenuto
da un credito fondato in un cuore disinteres-
sato e mancante piuttosto per difettodi talento
che di cattiva volonta. Vero e clie Roma non
scusa in lui la premura con cui vuole in ogni
caso disporre di tutti gli aftari politici, geloso
sino air eccesso della sua autoritu, e quindi
aver egli allontanato dal ministero il cardie
Riviera, il piii capace di tutti per gli aflari di
state, ed aver ivi sostituito il card^ Firau per
disponerne a piacere e senza contrasto. Per
altro, sia inclinazione, sia virtii, certa cosa e
ciie durante tutto il pontificate di Clemente
XII nel corso di sette anni con la disposizione
assoluta delli tesori pontificj la casa Corsini
non ha aumentate le rendite sue patrimonial!
di 8 m. scudi annul, esempi ben raro." [The
present pontificate chiefly affects noble enter-
prises and magnificence, for such has always
been the pope's taste from his youth, and it is
still fostered in his declining and decrepid age
by the mental character and the example of
LATER EPOCHS.
623
his nephew, cardinal Corsini, who is more dis-
tinguished for his fondness for the fine arts,
and for his affable manner of dealing, than for
real capacity in matters of government. This
truth is clearly evidenced by the series of
events which have taken place in the declin-
ing pontificate, in which his eminence has for
the most part had the rule ; and we may be
assured tliat the violent dissensions which
have occurred with almost all the courts, must
have overwhelmed the cardinal nephew, if he
had not been upheld by the credit granted to
the disinterestedness of his heart, which failed
rather from defective talents than from ill
intentions. Rome, however, does not excuse
him for the eagerness with which he insists in
every case on disposing of all political matters,
and his excessive jealousy on the subject of
his own authority, in consequence of which
he removed from the ministry cardinal Rivi-
era, the ablest of all in affairs of state, and pat
cardinal Firan in his place, in order that he
might himself do as he pleased without con- j
tradiction. In other respects, whether it were '
from inclination or from virtue, certain it is,
that during the whole pontificate of Clement !
XII., in the seven years they have had the
absolute disposal of the papal treasures, the!
Corsini family have not increased their patri- j
monial estates by 8000 scudi, — a very rare '
example.] i
The pope's nephew was again possessed of
great power, though he did not enrich himself
The secretary of slate was wholly dependent '
on him, nor might any one venture to rely on '
the expressions of the latter, if he was not !
sure of the nephew.
Mocenigo passes from the home affairs to I
the relations with foreign courts, which, as \
already hinted at, were daily becoming more'
difiicult. I will extract the whole of this por- i
tion, as important towards the history of the !
ecclesiastical controversies. I
"Lacortedi Napoli anela continuamente !
air abolimento della solita investitura con
argomenti legali, istorici e natural!: ne sa-
rebbe diflicile che vi riuscisse, quando il re \
Don Carlo acconsentisse ad unasolenne rinun- '
zia di ogni sua pretesa sopra Castro e Ronci- 1
glione. Ma questo non e il tutto: mentre i
Napolitani condotti dalle scuole dei loro giu- 1
risconsulti sono talmente avversi alia corle di |
Roma che ogni cosa studiano per sottrarsi
dalla dipendenza del papa nel temporale : e
quindi ogni giorno escono nuovi regolamenti
e nuove pretese cosi ben sostenute dai scrit-
tori loro valenti che la corte Romana n'e piu
che mai imbarazzata e gia si vede nella neces-
sita di rilasciarne una gran parte per mettere
in salvo il resto. II punto si e che queste
riforme tendonoprincipalmentead impinguare
I'erario regio e quindi a scemare le rcndite e
I'autorita ponteficia in quegli stati. II padre
Galliani, uomo di profonda dottrina ed erudi-
zione, e in Roma il grande propugnatore per
la corte di Napoli, tanto piu efficaco quanto
nelle sue lunghe consuetudini in quella mctro-
poli ha penetrato nel piii fondodei misteri del
papato, e proveduto d'una memoria felicissima
tutto ha presente per prevalersene nell' oppor-
tunita.
"11 grande appoggio della corte di Napoli e
quella di Spagna, dove I'irritamento parve
tempo fa giunto all' eccesso e dette occasion!
a quelle strepito.se proposition! di riforma della
dataria e ristabilimento del juspatronato regio,
delle quali ebb! piu volte I'onore di trattenere
V''a Serenita nei riverenti miei dispacci, e che
ora si vedono gia concluse con aggiustamento
piu utile per la corte di Spagna che per quella
di Roma.
" La corte di Torino con costante direzione
nel maneggiodegli aftari politic!, protetta dalle
bolle e concession! di Benedetto XIII, non si
e mai lasciata rilasciare un momento da que!
fondamenti che per essa sono inconcuss! e
troppo facilmente attaccatidel presente ponti-
ficato. II cardie Albani, uomo per sagacitji e
risoluzione senza pari, ha sin ora sostenuto con
tutta I'efBcacia le ragioni di quella corte, a
segno che no lascio mai giungere ad effettua-
zione le minaccie fatte dal pontefice presente,
e secondo tutte le apparenze ne deve sortire
fastoso col successore.
" Anco la corte di Francia pati alcuni mo-
tivi di querela per le vicende della Polonia :
ma furono cose di si poco momento che puo
ella .sola contarsi affezionata e stabile al pre-
sente pontificato, e cio perche negl! affari
ecclesiastici poco o nulla piu resta da discu-
tere con Roma, osservandosi pontualmente
dall' una e dall' altra parte ! concordat!
e la prammatica, ma principalmente per-
che la corte di Roma va con essa piu cauta
che con qualsivoglia altro nell' introdurre,
sostenere e resistere alle novita che intervenir
potessero. II sempre mai lodevole card's
Fleuri, grand' esemplare nel ministero poli-
tico, ha saputo tener sempre soggetta la poli-
tica alia religione senza mai confondere I'au-
torita spirituale con la temporale : e questo fa
che durante il suo ministero la corte di Roma
sia si trattenuta nei limit! devoti e quasi con
una perpetua condescenza a segno che I'av-
rebbe costituito I'arbitro di tutte le sue dif-
ferenze, se gli altri potentati non avessero
tenuita la grande equitJi e I'imparzialita di
quell' eroe nel ministero politico.
" Gravissimi furono! sconcerti, tuttavia non
appianat! ancora, con la corte di Portogallo,
dove il carattere di quel re fa che acquistano
giornalmente vigore ed insistenza le sue pre-
tese quanto piu si contrastano : e per diria con
chiarezza, le differenze insorte col Portogallo
e con la Spagna avendo da qualche tempo
sospese le rendite opulentissime di que' vast!
regni, ha quasi scompaginata la corte e la citta
di Roma, dove migliaja di famiglie da qualche
624
APPENDIX.
anno in qnasonoridotte dall'opulenzaalla po-
vertaetantealtre dallasiifficienzaallamiseria.
Questo fa che la disposizione d'infinili beneficj
in Spdgna, in Portogallo e nel regno di Napoli
rimanendo sospesa, anzi correndo apparenza
che rimaner possa all' autoritji teinporale di
que' regnanti, gran numero dei loro sudditi
secolari e regolari altre volte consacrati a sos-
tenere la corte di Roma presentemente I'ab-
bandonano, e gran numero ancora dei Romani
stessi vengono condotti a coltivar le ponenze
straniere dall' avidita e necessita loro. Parti-
colare e curiosa e stata la condotta della corte
di Roma verso le pretese di questo principe di
aver il cardinale nato il patriarca di Lisbona.
Fu considerate da quel re come condizione
indispensabile dell' accomodamento delle ver-
tenze che corrono tra le due corti, di godere
una tal distinzione, ed il papa, usando in cio
dell' antico costume Romano, si e dimostrato
alcune volte del tutto alieno, altre quasi pro-
penso di soddisfare le premure del re. La
cosa non e ancora decisa, ed in ogni maniera
che venglii consnmata fornira argomenti non
indifFerenti di discorsi e forse di querele tra gli
altri principi.
" Altre volte il pretendente faceva un' og-
getto massimo della corte di Roma, la quale
si lusingava moltosopra I'appoggio delle corti
di Francia e Spagna, dacche si riunirono am-
bedue nella casa di Borbon : ma in oggi sco-
pertasi la gelosia tra la linea primogenita e la
cadetta e conosciutosiche la reginadi Spagna
non ha veramente altre mire che I'ingrandi-
mento dei proprj figli, I'esule pretendente e la
degna sua famiglia divengono presto a molti
oggetto pill grave ancora che di conforto.
" L'imperatore ha falto e fa tuttavia tremare
il presente ministero di Roma, vedendosi egli
stesso dar mano ad introdurre nei suoi stati
d'ltalia quelle riforme d'abusi che devono col
tempo servire di esempio sommamente pregiu-
diciale ai Romani : e cio cli'e peggio per loro,
appena ha introdolto le sue truppe nella Tos-
cana, che ivi pure si veggono incamminate le
rnedesime direzioni, a segno che di tutti gli
stati esteri al dominio Romano non se ne vede
pur uno continuar ciecamente sul piede dei
secoli passati. La corte di Vienna profes-
sando tempo fa acri motivi di querela per le
distinzioni usate a Spagnoli, poco amati dal
popolo Romano, si e totalmente attratto il
favor d'esso popolo in Roma e nellostato sotto
il pontificate presente col maneggio accortis-
simo de' suoi ministri ed emissarj, ch'e cosa
maravigliosa I'udire in universale il popolo
Romano dichiarato in lavore dell' imperatore.
Tuttavia in oggi tanta e la forza dell' inter-
esse della famiglia Corsini che non vi e sagri-
ficio che non si faccia alline di guadagnarsi
I'amicizia di Cesare : di che TEcc'"" ISenato
ne ha abbondanti prove nelle direzioni de' ne-
gozj vertenti."
[The court of Naples struggles incessantly
for the abolition of the accustomed investiture
by arguments from law, from history, and
from the nature of things ; nor would it be
very unlikely to succeed, if the king Don
Carlo would consent solemnly to renounce
all pretensions to Castro and Ronciglione,
But this is not all; for the Neapolitans, in-
structed in the school of their juris-consults,
are so averse to the court of Rome, that they
try every means to withdraw from their de-
pendence on the pope in temporal things ;
hence every day produces new regulations
and new claims, so well supported by their
able writers, that the court of Rome is more
than ever embarrassed, and already finds it-
self compelled to let go a part that it may
not lose the whole. The fact is, these re-
forms tend to enrich the royal treasury, and
hence to diminish the papal revenues and in-
fluence in those states. Padre Galliani, a
man of profound erudition, is the great cham-
pion of the court of Naples in Rome, and his
efficiency is the greater, inasmuch as by long
practical experience in that metropolis he has
fathomed the secrets of the papacy to the very
bottom, and being endowed with a very happy
memory, he has everything at hand to use as
occasion requires.
[The great prop of the court of Naples is
that of Spain, where irritation appears for
some time to have risen to excess, causing
those boisterous outcries for reform in the da-
taria, and for the re-establishment of the roy-
al right of patronage, of which I have several
times had the honour to make mention to your
serenity in my respectful dispatches, and
which now seem to have been put a stop to
by an arrangement more advantageous to the
court of Spain than to that of Rome.
[The court of Turin, in its whole course of
policy, protected by the bulls and concessions
of Benedict XIIL, has never for a moment
parted from those bases, which it now finds
too easily assailed by the present pontificate.
Cardinal Albani, a man of unequalled sagaci-
ty and resolution, has till now upheld the
cause of that court with complete efficacy,
insomuch that he never allowed the threats
(if the present pope to be put in force, and
according to all appearances he will carry it
with a high hand with the pope's successor.
[The court of France too had some grounds
of quarrel on account of the affairs of Poland ;
but they were of so little moment, that this
court may be accounted the only one well
disposed and steadfast to the present pontifi-
cate, and this because its ecclesiastical affairs
present little or no matter for discussion with
Rome, both sides punctually observing the
concordat and the pragmaiique, but chiefly
because the court of Rome deals more cau-
tiously with the French court than with any
other in introducing, upholding, and resisting
whatever innovations may present themselves.
LATER EPOCHS.
625
The ever to be extolled cardinal Fleniy, that
great and exemplary statesman, has always
known how to keep politics subordinate to re-
ligion, without ever confounding the spiritual
with the temporal authority : in consequence
of this, the court of Rome has always during
his ministry confined itself within due limits,
and observed, so to speak, a continual conde-
scension, insomuch that it would have consti-
tuted him the umpire of all its difficulties, if
the other potentates had not feared the jus-
tice and impartiality of that hero in states-
manship.
[Very serious were the disagreements, not
yet adjusted, with the court of Portugal, the
character of the king giving daily increased
vigour and intensity to his pretensions in pro-
portion as they are opposed : and to speak
plainly, the difficulties with Portugal and
Spain having for some time suspended the
very abundant income from those vast realms,
have almost broken up the court and city of
Rome, where thousands of families have with-
in the last few years been reduced from opu-
lence to poverty, and as many more from
competence to destitution. Hence, as the
disposal of an immense number of benefices
in Spain and Portugal and the kingdom of
Naples remains suspended, and as there is
rather a probability that they will fall perma-
nently under the temporal authority of the
respective rulers, a great number of their
subjects, secular and regular, formerly devot-
ed to the court of Rome, now abandon it : and
great numbers besides of the Romans them-
selves are induced by their cupidity and their
need to cultivate the favour of foreign powers.
Singular and curious was the conduct of the
court of Rome with respect to the claims of
that sovereign to have the cardinal his son
made patriarch of Lisbon. It was considered
by the king as an indispensable requisite for
the accommodation of the matters current
between the two courts, that his own should
enjoy such a distinction, and the pope, adher-
ing in this to ancient Roman usage, some-
times appeared altogether averse to the pro-
posal, and at others almost eager to satisfy
the demands of the king. The matter is not
yet decided, and in whatever way it may
turn out, it will furnish no insignificant sub-
ject of discussion, and perhaps of quarrels
among the other sovereigns.
[Formerly the pretender was an object of
the highest interest to the court of Rome,
which tiattered itself much with hopes of the
support of the courts of France and Spain,
since the two had become united in the house
of Bourbon : but in this day, since the jea-
., lousy between the eldest and the junior
branch has been disclosed, and since it has
come to be known that the queen of Spain
has really no other object in view than the
aggrandisement of her own sons, the exiled
79
pretender and his excellent family are almost
become to many rather a burthen than hope-
ful objects.
[The emperor has caused and still causes
the present ministry of Rome to tremble, be-
ing seen himself to set tiie example of intro-
ducing into his Italian states those reforms of
abuses which must in time furnish a prece-
dent highly prejudicial to the Romans : and
what is worse tor them, no sooner did his
troops enter Tuscany than the same measures
were entered on there ; so that of all the
states beyond the dominion of Rome not one
continues to walk blindly in the ways of past
ages. The court of Vienna having some time
since very hotly taken up the question of the
distinctions conferred on the Spaniards, who
are little liked by the Roman people, com-
pletely won for itself the favour of the people
in the city and in the states under the present
pontificate, through the very judicious man-
agement of its ministers and emissaries ; so
that, marvellous to relate, the whole Roman
people has declared in favour of the emperor.
At the same time, so strong is the interest of
the Corsini family in the present day, that
they omit no sacrifice to gain the emperor's
friendship, of which the most excellent senate
has had abundant proofs in the current course
of affairs.]
163. Relazione del N. H. Franc. Venier Kr
ritornato amhasciat. da Roma, 1744, 24
Apr. [Report of Francesco Venier's em-
bassy to Rome.]
Unfortunately only two loose leaves relat-
ing to Benedict XIV.
Venier affirms that the cardinals had never
really wished to have this pope: "inalzato
anzi dalle sue rare virtu, dalle vicende di
quel conclave, dalle sue note lunghezze, che
da un' efficace favore de' Cardinal! che lo
esaltarano. Fu opera sola del divino spirito"
[his elevation was due rather to his rare vir-
tues, to the vicissitudes of this conclave, and
to its well known protracted length, than to
any active good will of the cardinals who
promoted him. It was the sole work of the
Holy Spirit]
" II papa," he goes on to say, " dotato di
cuore aperto e sincere trascuro sempre ogn'
una di quelle arti che si chiamano romanes-
che, e lo stesso carattere che fece conoscere
senza riserva allora che era prelato, fu quelle
del cardi Lambertini e si puo dire quelle del
papa."
[The pope, endowed with an open and hon-
est heart, always eschewed every one of
those acts which are called Romish ; and the
same character he unreservedly exhibited
when prelate was that of cardinal Lamberti-
ni, and by all means that of the pope.]
626
APPENDIX.
164. Relazione di Aluise Mocenigo IV Kav^
ritornato amhasciat. di Roma, 1750, 14
Apr. [Report of the embassy of Aluise
Mocenigo IV. to Rome.]
This is not the ambassador of 1737, who
was the son of Aluise Mocenigo the third ;
the ambassador of 1750 was the son of Aluise
Mocenigo the first.
Unfortunately he contented himself with
filling three leaves : I will extract the most
important passages in full, seeing the scanti-
ness of authentic information respecting the
court of Rome at this period.
" II regnante Benedetto XIV non solo non
e mai stato neU'impiego di nunziature presso
alcuna corte, ma ne pur ha sostenuto alcuna
legazione : egli essendo vescovo d'Ancona e
stato fatto cardinale, et essendo arcivescovo
di Bologna fu assonto al supremo grado in cui
regna. Possede per pratica fatta sin dagli
anni suoi piu freschi I'ordine della curia, e
non se ne scorda certamente, oltre di che si
picca d'esser perfetto canonista et ottimo le-
gale, non ammettendo egli in cio differenza
dair esser suo di decretalista, studio che non
lascia al di d'oggi ancora. Percio egli e par-
zialissimo del suo uditore monsre Argivilliers,
perche si dirige colle stesse dottrine. Con-
formandosi dunque le massime del papa con
quelle del suo uditore, si rende questi nel pon-
tificato presente uomo d'importanza, quando
particolarmente per I'esercizio suo, ch'e ris-
tretto alle sole civili ispezioni, non avrebbe
altro che il vantaggio di vedere in ogni giorno
il monarca ed ora entra a dir parere negli af-
fari di stato. Per dir vero, egli e uonao di
probita, ma di nessuna esperienza negl' inte-
ressi dei principi, austero ed inaccessibile,
scarso di corrispondenza forastiere non solo
ma ancora tra li stessi palatini. Per I'aura
di favore ch'ei gode sembra che contrast) al
cardl Valenti segretario di stato I'accesso
vantaggioso presso del papa, che la gran
mente di quel porporato, quando voglia gli
prema et a lui convenga, in mezzo alle piu
difficili determinazioni e massime sempre
possiede ed ottiene. Ed eccomi al caso di
superfluita e repetizione. Di questo sogget-
to, perspicace nella coltura degli affari politi-
ci e di stato, ministro d'esperienza accorto e
manieroso, avran detto quello conviene li
miei ecc™' predecessori, e circa questo non
altro posso aggiungere se non ch'egli col nuo-
vo posto di camerlengo di S. Chiesa, conferit-
ogli da S. St^^ in tempo della mia ambasciata,
ha fermato anche dopo la vita del pontefice
quel ben onorifico e lucroso posto, che lo ren-
dera ancora necessario e ricercato quando
forse dopo di aver dimessa la secretaria di sta-
to I'emulazione, I'invidia e li mal content! av-
rebbero potuto spiegar la loro forza ed il loro
sdegno. Va ora esente da questi sfoghi, non
perche sia da ogni parte circondato : ma sa
egli far fronte e scansar ogni assalto : se a
lui giova, cimenta : in caso diverse non cura.
Oltre al nominato uditor del papa, poco o ni-
ente amico suo vi e ancora monsr Millo data-
rio, con il quale benche a mio tempo apparis-
sero riconciliati in amicizia, in sostanza non
lo erano, ed il detto datario e piuttosto del
partite dell' uditore. Questi tre soggetti si
possono dir quelli che nel presente pontifica-
te abbino ingerenza ed intelligenza negli af-
fari dello stato. Ma se li due prelati sono ac-
cetti per I'esposto di sopra ed il cardi sa ren-
ders! necessario per le tante ragioni ben note,
pero arrivano dei moment! che il papa ascolta
gli uni e I'altro e poscia tutto a sua volonta e
talento difterentemente risolve. Per questo
ancora, se vi sono degli altri ben distinti sog-
getti tra 1! palatini, non contano gran cosa
nel presente pontificate o almeno in rapporto
ai gravi aftar! dello stato. Uno e il cardie
Passionei, studiosissimo ed amante delle sci-
enze, pratico ministro per le nunziature sos-
tenute, e non ha altra ingerenza che nella
secretaria dei brevi. Del giovane prelate
monsr Mercantonio Colonna maggiorduomo il
zio cardl Girolarao promaggiorduorao e uno tra
1! prediletti del papa : ma egli non si da pena
d'altro che di quelle cose che interressino le
particolari sue brame. II segretario alle zi-
fre monsre Antonio Rota, conosciuto dal papa
e dair universale di tutto il sagro collegio ed
a parte dalle congregazion! coram sanctissimo
per un' uomo della piu scelta politica et un
pensamento il piu fino, che per I'aggiustatez-
za deir estero, dove abbia ad esservi un trat-
to d'accortezza, altro non ha migliore, tal-
mente conosciuto necessario che con distinto
modo si ammette anche podagroso nelle oc-
correnti congregazion!, non ha pero maggiori
ispezioni che quelle del suo carico o le avven-
tizie."
[The reigning pope, Benedict XIV., not
only has never been employed in a nunciature
to any court, but has never even discharged
any legation ; when bishop of Ancona he was
made cardinal, and when archbishop of Bolog-
na he was raised to the supreme rank in
which he reigns. He is versed by long prac-
tice from his earliest years in the routine of
the curia, and he certainly does not forget it ;
besides which, he piques himself on being a
finished canonist and an excellent lawyer, and
makes no less pretensions as a decretajist, his
studies in which capacity he keeps up to this
day. For this reason he is very partial to his
auditor, Monsignor Argivillers, because he
acts upon the same principles. This conform-
ity of opinion between the pope and his audi-
tor renders the latter a man of importance
during the present pontificate, whereas, in the
mere discharge of his ofiice, which is confined
to civil inspections only, he would enjoy no
other advantage than that of daily seeing the
sovereign, and now he is admitted to speak
LATER EPOCHS.
627
his opinion in affairs of state. To say the
truth, he is a man of probity, but of no expe-
rience in foreign affairs, austere and inacces-
sible, sparing of his intercourse, not with in-
ferior people only, but with men of the fore-
most rank. From the high favour he enjoys,
he seems to dispute with cardinal Valenti,
secretary of state, the advantageous footing
with the pope, which the great mind of that
dignitary, whenever he is so pleased, always
obtains tor him in all occasions of most import-
ance and difficulty. But I am running into
superfluity and repetition. My very excellent
predecessor will have told you all that was
requisite about this luminous politician and
statesman, this experienced and courteous
minister, and I have nothing to add respect-
ing him, but that the place of chamberlain of
the holy church has been newly conferred on
him by his holiness during my embassy, and
that he has had coniirmed to him, even after
the pope's lifetime, that very honourable and
lucrative post, which will render him still
necessary, and sought after, even though,
when he shall have lost the secretaryship of
state, rivalry, envy, and ill-will should seek
to try their strength to his disadvantage. At
present he is exempt from these annoyances ;
not that he is guarded on all sides, but he
knows how to make head and ward oft' every
assault: if it suits him, he engages; if not,
he gives no heed. Besides the popes before-
named auditor, there is also (no great friend
to Valenti) Monsignor Millo, the datary ;
though these two were outwardly friends in
my time, they were not so in reality, and the
datary is rather of the auditor's party. These
three persons may be said to be all who in
this pontificate are privy to and participate in
affairs of state. But if the two prelates are
in favour for the reasons above, and the car-
dinal knows how to make himself necessary
upon so many well-known grounds, still there
are moments when the pope hears them all,
and afterwards decides difterently from them
of his own will and device. Again, if there
are other very distinguished men among the
leading personages, they are of no great
weight in the present pontificate, at least as
regards matters of state. One such is cardi-
nal Passionei, a most ardent lover of the sci-
ences, a minister of experience from the nun-
ciatures he has filled, and yet he has no voice
except in the secretaryship of briefs. Cardi-
nal Girolamo, promaggiordumo, uncle of the
young prelate, Monsignor Marcantonio Col-
onna, the maggiorduomo, is one of the pope's
favourites ; but he takes no trouble about any
matters but such as concern his private desires.
The secretary of accounts, Monsignor Antonio
Rota, known by the pope and the whole sacred
college, and especially by the congregazioni
coram sanctissimo, for a man of the choicest
policy and the most subtle shrewdness, so that
for any foreign arrangement, where a stroke of
cleverness were necessary, his better there
could not be, though his indispensable value
is so well known that his presence is specially
required in the congregations notwithstanding
his gout, yet has no more important matters
under his control than those of his office or
casualties.]
165. Girolamo Zulian Relazione di Roma
15 Decembre 1783. [Girolamo Zulian's
report on Rome.]
Towards the close of the republic, the dis-
position towards this kind of political business
declined.
The reports became briefer ; the observa-
tions they contain are not to be compared for
penetration and comprehensiveness with those
of the older reports.
Zulian, whose report is the last I have met
with, no longer treats at all of politics, of for-
eign affairs, or of the personal characteristics
ofPius VI. : he confines himself merely to a
few leading points of the internal administra-
tion.
The papal treasury, he tells us, showed a
considerable deficit, which was further in-
creased by the extraordinary expenditure, the
building of the sacristy of St. Peter's, and the
works in the Pontine marshes, which together
might have already cost two millions: at-
tempts were made to cover this deficit by an-
ticipations and creation of paper money.
Moreover, much money went out of the coun-
try. " Le canapi, le sete, le lane che si es-
traggono dallo state, non compensano li pesci
salati, li piombi, le droghe e la immensa serie
delle manifatture che si importano in esso da
Geneva specialmente e dalla Francia. II
gran mezzo di bilanciar la nazione dovrebbe
essere il commercio de' grani : ma la neces-
sita di regolarlo per mezzo di tratte affine di
proveder sempre I'annona di Roma a prezzi
bassi lo rende misero e spessodannoso. Quindi
restaoppressa I'agricultura e spesso succedeno
le scarsezze del genere che obligano a comprare
il formento fuori dello state a prezzi gravis-
simi. E comune opinione pertanto che questo
commercio cumulativamente preso pochissimo
profitto dia alia nazione. Resta essa debitrice
con tutte quasi le piazze colle quali e in re-
lazione, e da cio deriva in gran parte quella
rapida estrazion di monete che mette in dis-
credito le cedole e forma la poverta estrema
della naziome. Si considera che il maggior
vantaggio di Roma sta coUa piazza di Vene-
zia per li varj generi che lo state pontificio
tramanda a quelle di vostra Serenita." [The
cordage, silks ,and woollens exported from the
state, do not counterbalance the salt-fish,
lead, drugs, and manufactures in immense
quantities which are imported into it from
France, and particularly from Genoa. The
grand means of adjusting the balance of the
628
APPENDIX.
national commerce should be the corn trade ;
but the necessity of regulating it artificially,
so as always to provide for the supply of Rome
with corn at a low price, makes the trade a
languishing and often a losing one. Thus
agriculture is oppressed, and dearths frequent-
ly occur of such a nature as to make it neces-
sary to purchase corn from abroad at very
heavy prices. Accordingly it is the common
opinion, that this trade taken altogether af-
fords extremely little profit to the nation. It
is debtor to almostall those places with which
it is in connexion, whence follows in a great
measure that rapid outgo of cash which brings
down the commercial credit of the nation, and
causes its extreme poverty. It is thought
that Venice is the most profitable customer
Rome has, from the various kinds of commodi-
ties furnished by the papal states to that of
your serenity.]
It is well known what measures Pius VI.
adopted for the relief of the country. They
are here considered, but without any very pro-
found views.
Zulian remarks, that Pius VI. had made the
cardinals still more insignificant than they
were before. On his return from Vienna he
put them off with obscure and scanty informa-
tion. To this indeed it may be replied that
he had but little to impart. The fact how-
ever is not true. Pallavicini, the secretary
of state, a superior man, could not accomplish
much in consequence of his frequent ill
health. The author states that Rezzonico
was the person who had most influence with
Pius VI.
INDEX.
Absolution of the Spanish regent, 257 ; of the
Venetians, 2G2 ; of Henri IV. of France, 230.
Abyssinia, catholic missions to, tfcc. 305.
Accolti, Benedetto delli, legate at Ancona, 128.; —
Benedetto, plots against the life of Pius IV., 115.
Accorombuona, Villoria, 141.
Adrian VI. of Utrecht, succeeds Leo X., 42; his
reputation and personal character, ib. ; the Itin-
erarium Adriani by Ortez, 43, n.; Adrian's neu-
trality in the wars of Christendom, and zeal
against the Turks, his efforts for Church reform,
ib. ; liis unpopularity, his epitaph, 44. app. 407.
iEneas Sylvius (Pius II.) vainly preaches a cru-
sade, 27.
Aix-la-Chapelle, strength of protestantism in, 164.
Akbar, emperor of Hindostan, Geronimo Xavier,
Jesuit missionary at the court of, 303.
Alamanni, poems of, 153.
Albani, Gianfrancesco, pope Clement XI., 379,
380 ; app. 612.
Alberich of Barbiano, 124.
Alberoni, cardinal, prime minister of Spain, 380.
Albert V., duke — See Bavaria.
Albert, margrave of Bradenburg, 98.
Albigenses, barbarous slaughter of the, 25,
Aldobrandino, Salvestro, father of Clement VIII.,
229 ; — Bernardo, 2"i9; — Giovanni, cardinal, t6. ;
— Ippolito, pope Clement VIII., ib. ; — Ippolito,
cardinal, app. 560 ; — Olimpia, sole heiress of the
house, app. 560. 574 ; Pietro, an eminent lawyer,
229; — Pietro, cradinal nephew under Clement
VIII.,241 ; his administration 251 , 252, 254, 255,
app. 450 ; Tominaso, philologist, 229 ; — Aldo-
brandini family, 332. 345.
Aldrovandi, Ulisse, natural historian, 152.
Aldus Manutius, 152.
Alexander III., pope, 336 ; — VI., pope, his profli-
gacy and unprincipled ambition; his son Cesar
Borgia; their dealings wilh the Guelph and
GhibeUine factions, 30 ; the atrocities perpetrated
by the pope and his son, 31 ; Alexander dies by
poison intended for a cardinal, 31, app. 400 ;
failure of his attempt to found a hereditary do-
minion in his hou.'se, 31 ; his exactions, 33. 130 ;
— VII., cardinal Fabio Chigi, pope, his election,
342 ; keeps his nephew aloof till overcome by
the arguments of Oliva, ib. ; the congregatione
di state under, 343 ; Alexander's apathy and ir-
resolution, ib; his reception of queen Christina,
356; financial measures, 358, app. 583 — 588.
592— 596; — VIII., pope, 373; his early death,
378.
Alfonso II., duke of Ferrara, 236—239.
Alkmar, heroic defence made by the people of, 181.
Allatio, Leone, sent by Gregory XV. to take pos-
session of the Heidelberg library, 296, app. 524,
Allen, William, an English Jesuit, founds the col-
lege of Douay, 187 ; made a cardinal by Sixtus
v., 209.
Altieri, Emilio, pope Clement X., 375 ; app. 601 ;
— cardinal Pauluzzo Puluzzi, 375, app. 601 —
605.
Alva, duke of, his campaign against pope Paul IV.,
98 — 100; receives the cardinal's hat from Pius
v., 122; sent to put down the rebellion in the
Netherlands, 178 ; principles of his pohcy, 179,
Amadis de Gaule, 66. 153.
Amadis, see Tasso, Bernardo.
Ambrogio, secretary to Paul III., 84.
America, Spanish, Catholicism in, 167; missionary
establishments in, 302, 303.
Ancients, the literature of, 34, 35 ; imitation of,
gives place to a native modern literature, 153;
the Jesuits rival the classical learning of the
protestants, 171.
Anchin, abbey of, 189.
Ancona, 123. 128 138. 144. 148. 620,
Angclo, castle of St. 47. 83. 151. 316,
Anglo Saxons, 21.
Annates and tithes of the see of Rome, 27, 32,
130.
Anne of Austria queen of Louis XIII., Bucking-
ham's supposed passion for, 312 ; Arnaud d'An-
dilly intimate with, 368 ; — of Denmark, wife of
Augustus of Saxony, 202.
Antiquities of Rome, 150, 151, app. 406, 576,
Anta«iano, Silvio, 105. 159.
Antonio dei Pagliarici of Siena, 57 ; — fra, of Vol-
terra, ib.
Antwerp, city of, 182 ; siege and capture of, 193.
Apollo Belvidcre, 151.
Aquapendente, 259.
Aquaviva, Claudin, general of the Jesuits, 197;
character and rule of, 244. 250. 265.
Aqueducts of Rome, 150.
Aquila, bishop of, 61.
Arabians, their conquests, 20, 21 ; their cultivation
of literature and science in the middle ages, 34.
Araoz, Jesuit preacher in Valencia, 77,
Architecture, modern sacred, 156.
Aremberg, duke d', killed at Heiligcrlce, 178.
Argento, Gaetano, founder of a scliool of jurispru-
dence hostile to the claims of the papal see, 381.
Aria Cattiva, app. 360. 577.
Arian kings established themselves in the West,
20.
630
INDEX.
Arigfone, auditor di rota, 158.
Ariosto, his praise of Bembo, 34 ; charm of bis
poetry, ib; Leo X.'s friendship for, ib.; con-
trasted with Tasso, 155 ; quoted, 237 n.
Aristocracy of Europe generally, most flourishing
in the 17th century, 345.
Aristotle, Arabian translators of, 34 ; Italian fol-
lowers and opponents of, 154. 369,
Armada, the Spanish, 208—210.
Arnaud, Antoine, the elder, 369 ; — Angelique, ab-
bess of Portroyal, 368 ; — d'Andilly, celebrated
Jansenist, 368, 369 ; — the abbe Antoine, Janse-
nist, 369.
Arras, bishop of, 190, 191 ; insurrection of, 190.
Arl, Italian, 35. 154.
Assassinations, 621. See Henri III., William of
Nassau, &c.
Astulphus, king of the Lombards, threatens Rome,
20.
Astrology, 34. 84.
Astronomy, of the Arabians, 34; taught by the
Jesuits, 171.
Augier, Edmund, Jesuit orator, 180.
Augsburg, bisropric and city of, 165. 201 ; con-
fession of, 163. 184. 269 ; diets of, 47. 169. 175 ;
peace of, 165. 172.278,279. 310. 321.
Augustine, St.. 75. 110. 247. 367, 368. 382.
" Augustinus," the, of Jansenius, 367.
Augustus, elector of Saxony, 202.
Aulic council, 278.
Austria, religious affairs of 59. 164. 197, 198. 278.
281. 309: Jesuits established in, by Ferdinand
I., 169 ; Bohemia, &c., 293. 295 ; house of, in-
fluence of, 207. 30C, 307. 319. 321. 377, 382.
Autosdafe, 76. 121.
Azpilcueta, Spanish canonist. 158.
Azzolini, cardinal, 342. 344. 357.
Babylon, patriarch of, 304.
Baden, the margrave Jacob von, converted to Ro-
manism, 203 ; margrave Wilhelm of, 296,
Bad'?n.B:iden, margrave Philip of, 174.
Baglioni, Roman family of, 30, 31. 124. 129.
Bajns of Louvain, 247.
Bamberg, fluctuations of religious systems in, 164.
197. 276.
Bandino, P. Ant., on the tone of opinion at the
court of Leo X., 37.
Banditti, Italian, 126. 139, 140; extirpation of, by
Sixtus v., 142, 143; their reappearance, 224.
app. 483.
Barba, Bernardino dclla, 128, 129.
Barberini family, 31.5. 333. .335. 345; Barberino,
cardinal Maffco, pope Urban VIII., 316; — car-
dinal Francesco, nephew of Urban VIII., 317.
Barcelona, treaty of, 47. 52. 63.
Bari, duchy of, 99,
Barnabiles, order of, 66. 120.
Baronius, Cesar, the annalibl of the church, 153.
158. 230.254. 257.
Barozzi, architectural canon of, 156.
Barriere Jean de la, ascetic institution of, 204.
Bartholomew's day, St., massacre of protestants in
Paris on, 122. 181. 209. 238.
Bascinno, tbunder of the monastery of Monte Cor-
ona, 64 n,
Basic, council of 27, 28. 109 ; bishop of, 188.
Bathi, Giuliano, 54.
Bavaria, the dukes of, G3 ; protestant movement in,
1G4; Catholicism of the duke of, 168; extension
of civil rights in, 172 ; Albert V. of, 172, 173,
174. 183. 199. 202 n. ; duke Ernest of, bishop of
Freisingen and archbishop of Cologne, 194;
duke William of, 203; Maximilian I. of, 211.
246. 277. 279. 290. 296, 297. 322 ; the duchy
overrun by the Swedes, 324.
Beam, church property restored in, 289 ; factions
of Beaumont and Grammont in, 291.
Bedmar, cardinal, Spanish minister, 311.
Belgians in the service of Philip II. in Germany,
194.
Belgium, its reconversion to Catholicism, 193 ;
modern kingdom of, 394.
Bellarmine, cardinal, celebrated controversialist,
158.216.250.258.292.
Bembo, Pietro, his literary merit, 34. 54. 56.
Benedict XIII., pope, app. 619; — XIV., cardinal
Prospero Lambertini, 381. app. 625, 626.
Benedictines, many eminent popes of the order of,
25 ; rule of St. Benedict of Nursia, 64 ; in the
Netherlands, 189; the French, 286; contest
with the Jesuits for the restored monasteries of
their order, 32!.
Bcneiices, collation to, &c., 32. 43. 112, 113. 133;
nomination to German, 203 ; Spanish, 387.
Bentivoglio, Giovanni, 3:2 ; — cardinal Guido, me-
moirs of, app. 500.
Berne, city of, 188; its protestant inhabitants dri-
ven out by Charles Emanuel of Savoy, 207.
Berni, his recast of the Orlando Innamorato, 153.
Berulle, cardinal Pierre de, 286 ; his important in-
fluence on the French pulpit, ib. ; his co-opera-
tion against England, 3il,
Betthune, cardinal, 318 n.
Bibbiena, cardinal, 35. 37.
Biberach, a protestant town with a catholic council,
200.
Bible, the, the immediate guide of the German
theologians, 38; the Vulgate, 56. 72; the Janse-
nist version, 370; Italian version of, 54.
Bishops, pre-eminence of the Roman, 20; nomina-
tion to sees in Germany, England, Spain, 28;
Italian, 33; pastoral duties of, 56; temporal
powers of, 60; residence of, question of their
divine right, 112; prince bishops of Germany,
164. 174, et scq. ; protestant German, 1 64 et seq. ;
eminent Flemish, 190.
Boccaccio, instrumental in reviving the study of
ancient literature in Italy, 37.
Bodeghem, Bartholomew, of Delft, 175.
Bohemia, dukes of, 23 ; advances made by the
theologians of, to Erasmus, 38 ; protrstants of,
48 ; Jesuits in, 169 ; privileges of the Utraquists,
278. 294; defensive measures of the Bohemians,
281 ; the elector Frederick king of, 290; their
return to Catholicism, 293. app. 537.
Boiardo, his Rinaldo, 35 ; his Orlando Innamorato
recast by Berni, 153 ; quoted, 237.
Bologna, conference at, 49 ; council transferred
from Trent to, 87 ; council of Bologna protested
against by Charles V., 90 ; municipality of, 123.
1.32.225; university of, 144; school of painting
of, 155 ; informafione di, app, 514.
Bolngnctto, cardinal, 158; his mission to Stephen
Balliory, king of Poland, 266. app. 490.
Bona, queen of Poland, 99.
Bonelli, cardinal, nephew of Pius V., 118.
Boniface, St. the German apostle, 21 ; — VIIL,
INDEX.
631
pope, his bull of excommunication resisted by
the Frencli, 26.
Bonn, invasion of, by the elector of Cologne, 194.
Books, prohibition of, heretical, 48. 76. 173. 258.
Borghcse, cardinal, elected pope (Paul V.,) 255 ; —
cardinal, nephew of Paul V., 255. 332. app. 512;
— family, the, 255. 332. 345.
Borgia, Cesar, ambition and monstrous crimes of,
30, 31 ; app. 31)9 ; his league with Louis XII.,
39 ; — Lucreiia app. 399 ; — Francis, duke of
Gandia, viceroy of Barcelona, converted by Loy-
ola, 77. 81 ; general of the Jesuits, 244. 68 n. ;
— cardinal, 318. 324.
Boris Godunov, 273.
Borromeo, Carlo, St., nephew of Pius IV., disinter-
ested piety of, 107; promotes the election of
Pius v., 115; his proceedings in his bishopric
of Milan, 119; influence of his memory, 158.
188 ; — Federigo, cardinal, 158.
Boucher, Jean, democratic harangues of, 216. 234.
Bourbon, the constable Charles due de, killed in
storming Rome, 47 ; — cardinal of, 211; — fam-
ily, established in Naples, 380.
Bourbons, restoration of the French, and sequel
the.-eof, 392.
Bourdelot, queen Christina's physician, 353.
Brabant reduced by the prince of Parma, 193 ;
Peter Pectius of, 291.
Bramante, Roman architect, 36.
Brandenburgh, elector of, 28; Lutheranism es-
tabhshed in, 51. 165 ; Joachim of, 60; Albert of,
98 ; tiie margraves Joachim and Christian
Ernest of, 280.
Breda, siege of, 309.
Bremen, archbishop of, 23. 165; Henry Sa.xe
Lauenberg, archbishop of, 195. 202.
Bri.xen, bishopric of, 199.
Bruccioli, Italian translator of the Bible, 54.
Burges, 192, 19.3.
Bruno, Giordano, condemned to the stake for his
philosophic tenets, 154.
Brunswick, house of, 165.
Brussels submits to Philip II. 193; modern,
394.
Bucer at, the conference of Ratisbon, 59. 61.
Buckingham, Villiers duke of, 300. 307 ; fiilure of
his e.vpcdition against the isle of lihe, 312;
assassinated, ib.
Bugenhagen, founder of Lutheranism in Denmark,
163.
Bulls, various papal, 32, n., 33, n., 66, n., 74.
95. 117. 120. 123. 132. 143. 145. 239.241. 382.
385.
Buoncompagno, Ugo, pope Gregory XIII., 134 ;
— Giacomo, son of Gregory XIII., 135. 139. app.
468.
Buonfigliulo, Rudolfo, 137.
Busseto, congress at, between Paul III. and Charles
5. v., 86.
Cabrera, history of Philip II., 191.
CsBcilia Metella, the tomb of, 150.
Caesar, worship of, 18.
Cajetan, Cardinal, 42.
Culatagircma, Fra Donaventura, general of the
Franciscans, 251.
Calendar, the Gregorian, 136.
Calvin, John, at first considered a Lutheran,
82 ; held in high consideration in Geneva,
166.
Calvinism, countries where it gained footing, 165,
166.
Calvinists, particular animosity of Rome against
the, 75. 280 ; divisions of the, into Episcopalians,
Puritans, Armenians, and Gomarists, 288.
Camaldoli, order of, 61.
Camerino seised by Paul III. and conferred on
his grandson, 85 ; resumed by him, and given
to the church, 89.
Campagna, breed of horses of the, 123,
Campanella put to the torture, 154.
Campeggio, Cardinal, legate, his memorial to the
emperor, Instructio data Ccesari, app. 435.
Campian and Parsons, Jesuits, their secret mission
to England, 187.
Canisius, Peter a Jesuit, one of the first of the
order to visit Germany, 77 ; his catechism autho-
rized, 171, 172. 198; his mission to the German
spiritual electors, 174.
Canon law, the, 256. 388.
Canonization, 159. 292.
Canossa, Antonio, executed for a design to murder
Pius IV., 115.
Capello, Bianca, grandduchess of Tuscany, mur-
der and suicide committed by, app. 578 ; — Polo,
31,n.app. 398. 401.
Capistrano, a minorite, and iEneas Sylvius, a
crusade preached by, 27.
Capuchins, the order of, a branch of the Francis-
can, 64. 194.203.261.298.
Caracci school of painting, the, 155.
Caraccioio, life of Paul IV. by, 37, n., 54, n., 102,
n., app. 455; Vita S. Cajelani ThienBBJ, 54, n.,
64, n.
Caraffa, cardinal Giovan Pietro [Paul IV.] mem-
ber of the Oratory of Divine Love, 54. 57. 62 ;
one of the founders of the order of Theatines,
65; Loyola resides in his convent in Venice,
70 ; at the council of Trent, 73 ; chief commis-
sioner of the inquisition, 74. 89 ; — cardinal Carlo,
nephew of Paul, IV., 97 — 101; tried and exe-
cuted by order of Pius IV., 106, app. 458; —
Carlo, papal nuncio in Germany under Gregory
XV., 293, 294. 388, n., 309, 310, app. 537. 550 ;
duke of Palliano, 97. 100; his crimes and sen-
tence, lOG; — marquis of Montebello, 97. 107; —
his marchesa, 101 ; — A., nuncio to the Rhenish
states, app. 554.
Carbonari, the, 393.
Cardinals, see Conclaves; schemes of church re-
form drawn up by, 57 ; at the council of Trent,
72; six appointed inquisitors, 74; corrupt no-
mination of, 83 ; ambition of the, 127 ; congre-
gations of, 145. 158. 252. 343; qualifications
for the dignity, 145 ; general character of the
body of, 157—161 ; number of, 145. 571.
Carinthia,277. 309.
Carlovingian dynasty, 21, 22.
Carnesecchi of Florence, 57 ; burnt by the inquisi-
tion of Rome, 118.
Carniola, 277. 309.
Caroline, queen of Naples, 387.
Carpi, cardinal, his letter to the emperor Charles
v., 86; his words in his last illness, 110.
Carranza, archbishop of Toledo, sentenced and
executed by the inquisition of Rome, 120 ; part
taken in his prosecution by Fra Felice Perelti,
(Sixtus V.) 141.
Carvalho, Portugese minister, expels the Jesuits,
384, 385.
632
INDEX.
Casa, Giovanni della, prints the first ' Index,' 76.
Casale, besieged by the Spaniards, 318 — 320.
Casati and MiiUnes, Jesuits, sent from Rome lo
Christina of Sweden, 354 ; Casati's report to
Alexander VII., 588-591.
Casimir, count palatine, a restless but inefficient
champion of protestantism, 194.
Cassoni, count, secretary of state to Innocent XI.,
377.
Castelvetri flies to Germany, 75.
Castro, Francesco di, 263 ; the war of, 334 — 338.
Catechism, the Roman, 121 ; of the Jesuit Cani-
sius, 171. 198; of the Jesuit Augier, 180.
Catharine of Arrogan, wife of Henry VIII.,
divorce of, 52 ; — de Medici married to Henri
II., 50; intolerance of, 180; devises the mas-
sacre of St. Bartholomew, 181; endows a
convent of Capuchins in Paris, 204 ; app. 436,
437.
Catholicism, general spread of, in the west, 20 ;
views of some Italian divines analogous to
protestantism, 53 — 57 ; beginning of a regene-
ration of, 57 — 64 ; the cause of, aided by the
establishment of new orders, 64, 65 ; propagation
of, 66; compared with protestantism, 73 ; final
separation of, from protestantism, 74 ; obstacles
to its complete triumph, 82; the protestant
element rejected from Catholicism by the de-
crees of the council of Trent, 114; spirit of
rigid Catholicism, 115; new energetic spirit
of, 122 ; exemplified in "the intellectual ten-
dency of the age, 152 — 157 ; and in the hie-
rarchy, 157 — 162; its capacities for contest
with protestantism, 167, 168; beginning of
a cnunter reformation in favour of Catholicism
in Germany, 171 — 177; struggles of catholic-
ism in various parts of Europe, 184 — 188; its
projrress, 194 — 203; influence of in France, the
Ligue, &c., 203 — 207 ; in Savoy and Switzer-
land, 207 ; attempts of, on England, 208—210;
ecclesiastico-polJtical theory, 214 — 217; second
period of the counter-reformation, Poland and
the adjoining countries, 266 — 268; Sweden, 268
— 273, 274; attempts on Russia, 273; Ger-
many, '.^76— 282 ; Switzerland, 282, 283 ; rege-
neration of, in France, 284 — 287 ; monarchical
spirit of, 288 ; general outspread of: — Bohemia
and the hereditary dominions of Austria, 293 —
295 ; the empire, 296, 297; France, 298; Unit-
ed Netherlands, 299 ; Catholicism in England,
299—301; catholicmissions, 302— 305; bounds
forever set to Catholicism, 327; philosophical
estimate of its present prospects, 395.
Catholics, see Catholicism, Papacy, Rome, &c.
Cecchini, cardinal, 340; autobiography of, app-
573.
Celibacy of the secular clergy, 25. 64.
Cerroui, family of, Guelphs, divided into two hos-
tile branches, Rinaldi and Ravagli, 126.
Cesi, cardinal, 337.
Chancery, the papal, 33, n. 58; the cancellaria
completed by Julius II., 149.
Chapters, privileges aud immunities of, 113. 203 ;
endowments of, transferred to protestants, 165.
Charlemagne overthrows the kingdom of the
Iiombards, gives strenuous support to the see
of Rome, the pope crowns him ernperor of the
west, 22,
Charles Martel, 21 ; — V., (he emperor, his claim
on Lombardy, his treaty with Leo X. for the
re-conquest of Milan, his forbearance towards
Luther, 40, 41 ; his inefiectual embassy to his
former tutor, Adrian, VI., 42; he consolidates
his power in Italy by the treaty of Barcelona,
47 ; his tolerant spirit, his desire for a general
council, his conference with Clement VII. at
Bologna, 49 ; decides the dispute between Fer-
rara and the church in favour of the former, 49 ;
his ardent desire tor a reconciliation of religious
differences, 59 ; opposition to his conciliatory
projects, 63 ; prepares for war against the pro-
testant princes of Germany, 72 ; unites in a
league witli Paul III. and the Venetians against
the Turks, holds a conference at Nice with
Paul HI. and Francis I., gives his natural
daughter Margaret in marriage to Ottavio
Farnese, 85 ; his Italian relations in the reign of
Paul III., 86, 87 ; is deserted by the pope in his
war against the protestants, is reduced to extre-
mities, but signally recovers himself, 87 ; gains
the victory of Muhlberg, and captures the two
protestant leaders, 88 ; publishes the Interim in
Germany; a proposal made to nominate him
the successor of Paul III. in the see of Rome,
90, 91 ; enmity between him and Paul IV., 96 ;
he sends Alva to invade the Roman territory,
98 ; — II., king of Spain, 379 ; — III. of Spain,
recognised by Clement XI., 380 ; banishes the
Jesuits, 385 ; — I. of England, projected marriage
of, when prince of Wales, with an infanta of
Spain, 300, 301 ; his actual marriage with Hen.
rietta of France, 307; bis reign, 310 — 313, app-
528 ; — VIII. of France, 40 ; — IX. of France,
136; massacre of St. Bartholomew, 181 ; — X.
of France deposed, 395 ; — the archduke, of
Austria, 184. 199, 200 ; — of Sweden, duke,
269—273,
Chastel, Jean, attempts to assassinate Henri IV,, 234.
Cha,tiIlon, marshal de, 298.
Chieregato, papal nuncio, instructions to, by Adrian
VI., 43.
Chigi, house of, 149, app. 593—595; the Chigi
library, 146; — cardinal Fa bio, 371 ; elected pope,
see Alexander VII. ; — Don Mario, brother of
Alexander VII., 343 ; — Flavio, cardinal padrone,
343 ; — Agostino, 343.
China, Jesuit missionaries in, 303.
Choiseul, the duke de, 384.
Christ, his lile and teaching, 17 ; "o/ the benefits
bestowed by" 56 ; Caspar Contarini on the law
of, 57; Loyola's views of the royal character of,
67; the atonement of, justification by, Luther's
views on the, 68; Cuntarini's, 54, 55; righte-
ousness of, 72, 73 ; theLord's Supper, 33. 60.
Christendom, state of, on the dowfall of the Ro-
man empire, 19; and subsequently to the time
of Hildebrand, 20 — 22 ; struggle to limit the
power of the church throughout, 26 ; invaded by
the Turks, 43. See Europe.
Christianity in the Roman Empire, 17 — 19; how
affected by its fall, 19 ; hostility of the Arabs to,
20; diff'usion of, in the west, 21. 25; contempt
for, in Rome, 36; tiie same, according to
Erasmus and Luther, 37 ; the reformation and
its causes, 39, et seq. ; the three great forms of,
in the west forever parted, 82.
Christina, queen of Sweden, account of, 350 —
358; allusion to, 377, n. app. 587 — 591.
Chrodegang, rule ot^ 64.
Chrysostom, St., quoted, 18.
INDEX.
633
Chrytrteus, liis treatise on the confession of Augs-
burg, 1S5.
Church, early government of, and constitution of
the, 17 — 20 ; the papacy in connexion with the
Frankish empire, 20 — 22; its relation to the
German emperors, and internal improvement
of the hierarchy, 22 — 2G ; condition of, in the
fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, contrasted,
26, 27 ; account of, in the sixteenth century,
28; growlli, a secular spirit in, 32, 33; opposi-
tion to the papacy in Germany, 37, 38; political
affairs of Europe conducive to the reformation,
39, 40; Adrian VI. attempts a reform, 43;
resolutions of the diet of Spires respecting the
dissensions in the, 46 ; the emperor Charles V.
proposes a general council, 48; the peace of
Kadan, the second grand epoch in t!ie establish-
ment of Lutheranism, 51 ; beginning of a rege-
neration of Catholicism, 53 ; opinions analogous
to protestantism considered in Italy, 53 — 57 ;
attempts at reform in the Romish church, and
a reconciliation with protestanfs, 57 ; failure of
the attempts, 62, 63 ; estabhshment of new
monastic orders, 64 ; rise of Jesuitism, 6^, see
Jesuitism ; details of the council of Trent, 71 —
73. 108 — 115; remodelling the inquisition of
Rome, 74 ; austere discipline established by
Pius v., 1 1 7 ; fund established by Sixtus V. for
the use of the church, 147; church music, 157;
the counter-reformation, 162, et seq., 266 — 323;
restoration of the balance of the two confessions,
324; church and state, 19; ecclcsiastico-political
theory, 214.
Cistercians, order of, 204.
Civilization of the fourteenth and fifteenth centu-
ries contrasted, 26 — 28; of the early part of tlie
sixteenth century, 34 — 37.
Civita Vccchia, port of, 96. 316.
Clario, Isidore, 56.
Classics, the study of, revived in Italy, 34 — 37.
Clavius, Christophorus, 136. 158, 159.
Clement VII., when cardinal Giulio Medici, enters
Milan with the imperial troops, 41 ; supports
the election of Adrian VI., is himself elected
Adrian's successor, 44; his reign, 44 — 52;
summary reflections on his reign, 53; his
successful attack on the liberty of Ancona, 128;
finances and taxes of, 131 ; buildings erected
by, 347 ; see app. 405—431 ; — VI 1 1., cardinal
Ippolito Aldobrandini elected pope, 229; his
earlier history and character, 229, 230; his
reign, 230 -254; app. 499— 504; — IX.,cardi.
nal Rospigliosi, elected, 344; his reign, ib. app.
596 — 600; — X., pope, various particulars con-
corning, app. 600 — 606; — XI , cardinal Gian-
franc Albani, pope, his reign, 379, 380, app. 612
—618; — XII., pope, 380; — XIII., pope, his
ineffectual efforts to maintain the order of
Jesuits, 384; his death, 3^6; — XIV., Lorenzo
Ganginelli, pope, his character, 386 ; suppresses
the order of Jesuits, ib.
Clement, Jacques, assassin of Henri III., 211. 216.
Clergy, the, early became a distinct class, 19 ;
completciv subjected to the popes, 25 ; celibacy
of, 25. 64 ; marriage of, 60 ; the regular clergy,
33. 64. 70. 119. 261 ; the secular clergy, 204 ; pro-
testant clergy, 163 — 166; the clergy in the
acme of their power towards the close of the
sixteenth century, 213 ; their immunities, 259
—261. 381.
80
Cleves, William duke of, 165. 196; religious di-
visions in, 282.
Clovis, miracles said to have occurred to, 20.
Clugny, monastic rule of, 25. 64.
Cologne, 164, 165, 169. 201 ; the elector Gebhard
Truchses of, 183. 194; superseded by duke
Ernest of Bavaria, 195, 196. 276. See app.
554.
Colonna, Roman family of, 29. 97. 144. 345, 346;
app. 563. 575; the protlionotary Colonna, exe-
cuted by Sixtus, IV., 29 ; Vittoria Colonna, 55,
56, n. ; Vespasiano and his wife Giuiia, 55 ; —
Marc Antonio, 89; — Ascanio, cardinal, 128.
228; the contestabile, M. A. 144.
Commandini conjectures that Archimedes had
written on gravitation, 152.
Commendone quoted, 110. n. 160. 164. app. 463.
Commerce of the Roman states, 123. app. 620. 627.
Commolet, p6re, Jesuit, 249.
Communes of the ecclesiastical states, 124.
Communion, the, according to the Roman form,
276, 277 ; in two kinds, 60. 109. 165. 186.
Como, cardinal Gallio di, 137. 144. 157. app. 468.
Compositions, church, at Rome, 57. 133.
Conclaves, papal, 22. 92. 225 et seq. 254. 342, app.
472. 493. 497, 498.
Concordats, papdl, with Germany, 27 ; of Vienna,
ib.; with Francis I. of France, 27 ; with Spain,
381; with Napoleon, .390 et seq.
Conde, the prince of, 179. 205. — another, 235. —
another, 376.
Confession, auricular, 71.78.80.213; manual of
confessors, 215 — See Professio Fidei, Augsburg,
Geneva, &,c.
Confiscation of the property of protestants in Ger-
many proposed, 48.
Congregations, monastic, of Italy, 64; of cardi-
nals, 145; of the Jesuits, 246.
Congregatione di statu, 343.
Conrad II., the emperor, wide range of his con-
quests, 23.
Conscience, cases of, 80.
Constance, council of, 26.
Constantinople, 20.
Contarelli, datary under Gregory XIII., 134.
Contarini, Gasper, cardinal, cardinal Pole's opinion
of him, his tract on justification, 54 ; his papers
on reform of abuses in the church, 57 ; his life
and character, 59, 60 ; appointed legate to Ger-
many, 60; his proceedings at the diet of Ratis-
bon, 71 ; failure of his endeavours, 63; instruc-
tions to him from Paul III. as to the council of
Trent, 72; his opinions advocated there, 72, 73;
app. 434; — Giulio, bishop of Belluno, 72 ; —
Marco Antonio, on the papal court, 83 ; — Nicolo,
241,242. 257 n.; — Aluise, 323. app. 556. 580 ;
— Domenico, 611 ; — Pietro, app. 545.
Conte, Natal, an author of the latter part of the
sixteenth century, 153.
Conti, cardinal, Innocent XIII. app. 618.
Contrario, Ercole, put to death by Alfonso II. of
Ferrara, 238.
Controversies between the Jesuits and Domini-
cans, 247, 248; between the Jesuits and Janse-
nists, 382.
Cordara, Julius, history of the Jesuits by, app. 521.
Corduba, Don Gonzales do, 315.
Cornero, relatione of, app. 618.
Corpus Christi, the festival of, 198.
Correggio, paintings by, 357.
634
INDEX.
Corsini, cardinal, app. 622 ; family, 623, 624.
Cortesius, 54 ; his work on scholastic philosophy,
153.
Cosmo de' Mediei, see Medici.
Cossacks, the, 276.
Cotton, p6rc, Jesuit, confessor to Henri IV,, 250.
Councils of the church, see Basle, Constance, &c.
Courtray, Jesuits' college at, 191. 193.
Cracow, 274 ; protestant cemetery at, desecrated,
275.
Crequy, de, French ambassador at Rome, his quar-
rel with the Roman see, 373. app. 592, 593.
Cross, the, 19. 151.
Cruciata, the, 28.
Crusade, the first, 25; ineffcctoal attempts to
preach one in the 15th century, 27.
Curia, the papal, 32. 124, 125. 157—162. 225. 381.
385.
Curione, Celio Secundo, escapes from the officers
of the inquisition, 75.
Dandolo, M., his report concerning Paul III. and
Julius III., app. 4.52.
Dante Alighieri, 153.
Dataria, pa|.al, 33. 133. 203.
David, Jean, Jesuit of Courtray, 193.
Debt of the ecclesiastical slates, 330 — See Fi-
nances.
Descartes, at the court of Christina of Sweden,
351.
Decretals of the popes, 256.
Delfino, G., his rcldlione di Roma, 147. 243. app.
501
Delft, assassination of William prince of Orange
at, 193.
Demetrius, the false, 273.
Denmark, the reformed church of, 51. 163; the
king of, a champion of protestantism, 308; is
defeated at the battle of Lutter, 309.
Deo, Johannes a, 286.
Desmond, the earl of, Irish rebellion headed by,
187.
Dietrichstein, cardinal, 294. 325.
l)illingen, university of, 165. 170. 175.
Disfiensation, papal, 32. 57 ; dispensations or in-
dults of the emperors, 203.
Dogana, the 130. 133.
Domenichino, 155,
Dominic, St., life of, 67.
Dominicans, order of, 67. 74. 248, 249, 250. 263.
Donato, Leonardo, doge of Venice, 219. 221. 258.
261.
Donauwerth execution, the, 279,
Doria, family, the, 88; palaces, 155.
Douay, Jesuits' college at, 189.
Drania, Italian, 35.
Drownings of heretics in Venice, 76.
Dunkirk submits to Philip II. 192.
Eastepn empire and church, 20; the patriarchate,
22; overthrown by Mahomet II. 27.
Echter, Julius, bishop of Wurzburg, 196, 197.
Eck, doctor, 61. 63.
Edict of 1562 tolerating the protcKt^nts in France,
166; of Nantes, 250. 284; its revocation, 376.
Education of poor orphans at Venire, 65; theolo-
gical in the university of Pari-;, 69; the Jesuit
pystcm of, 71. 78. 82. 169—171 ; in Germany,
170; Portroyal system of, 370.
Edward III. of England, refuses tribute to Rome,
and is supported by his parliament, 26 ; — VI.,
90.
Egmont, count, execution of, 178.
Egypt, design of Sixtus V. upon, 219.
Eichsfcld, Catholicism restored at, 176.
Elizabeth, queen, at first not decidedly protestant,
104; puts down the Irish rebellion, 187; un-
wise conduct of Paul IV. towards, 104; hostility
of Gregory XII I. to, 136; Sixtus V., 209; league
of Spain, Pius V., &c., against, 180, 181 ; the
destruction of the Spanish armarida, 208 — 210;
religious persecutions in her reign, 208.
Emanuel, king of Portugal, concessions to, from
Leo X., 28.
England, early disputes of, with Rome, 26 ; con-
duct of Henry VII. with regard to the church,
28; disputes between Henry VIII. and Cle-
ment VII., 51 ; Henry VIII. declares himself
head of the English church, ih.; Edward VI.,
queen Mary persecutes the protestants, 120;
Elizabeth re-establishes protestantism, 104;
Calvinism of the English church under Edward
VI., 166; catholic nobility of England, 168;
Armada, &c. — See Elizabeth; rebellious spirit
of the catholics in, 214; state of Catholicism in,
186. 299; combination of Richelieu and Philip
IV. against, 311; the constitution of, 327; its
aristocratical character, 344 ; victories of Marl-
borough, 379; established church of, 377; ca-
tiiolic emancipation. 394 — See app. 492. 528.
Epernon, duke of, 206.
Erasmus, his amazement at the pagan spirit of ihe
Roman courtiers, 37; his edition of the New
Testament; advances made him by the Bohe-
mian brethren, 38; defended against the school-
men by Adrian VI., 42; his temperate and wise
advice to the emperor Charles V. in opposition
Caraffa, 48.
Ernest of Bavaria, 194, 195. 199. 276.
Este, house of, 96; Alfonso II. of Ferrara, 237 —
239; Don Cesare, the heir of Alfonso, ineffec-
tually resists the papal forces, 241 ; he is ex-
communicated, and forced to abdicate, 242;
cardinal di, app. 500; Leonora di, character of,
238; Lucrecia di, the patroness of Tasso, 238 ;
her hatred to Don Cesare d'Este ; her unnatural
co-operation in the ruin of her house, 242 ; mar-
quis Filippo di, 239.
Esterhazy, count palatine of Hungary, 295 ; elected
king, app. 553.
Etrees, cardinal d', his despatch to M. de Louvois,
377 n.
Eu, in Normandy, Jesuit college at, 203.
Eucharist, adoration of the, 285 — See Communion.
Eugcnius IV., pope, condition of the city of
Rome in his day, 149 ; his tax on wine, app. 574.
Kurope, civilization of in the fourteenth and fif-
teenth centuries, and formation of tlie national
lunguages, 26; connexion of the reformation
with the political state of, 39 — 53; long wars
occasioned by the rivalry of Charles V. and
Francis 1., 93, et passim; religious systems of,
in the sixteenth century, 82 ; state of religion
throughout during the reign of pope Sixtus V.,
16,3 — 168; changes, effected in the constitution
of some states by the reformation, 166; moral
and political state of, at the close of the six-
teenth century, 214; jealousy of Spain through,
out, 218, 219"; equilibrium of, restored by Henri
IV. 2G5; the thirty years' war of Germany,
INDEX
635
313; conflicting political rclationi of, 305; the
Spanish succession, and wars of Louis XIV.,
377 et serj.; altered state of, 381.
Eusebius on the rapid outspread of Christianity, 18.
Excommunication, bulls of, 26. 180. 205. 261.
Exorcism, rite of, 270.
Faber, Peter, his companionship with Ignatius
Loyola at the university of Paris, and its con-
sequences, 69, 70 ; successful at Louvain, 77.
Faenzj, 30. 77. 125. 127.
Faith, doctrinal views of, 55. 61. 72, 73. 113. 120.
Fano, city of, 124 ; the holy union ot', 127; resist-
ance of, to the papal sussidio, 132.
Farnese, cardinal Alessandro, pope Paul III., 62
n. 83; — Pier Luig'i, son of Paul III. 85. 88, 89.
93. 128 ; — Ottavio, 85, 92, 93 ; — Vittoria, 63 ;
— cardinal Alessandro, 87. 89, 90, 9 1 ; — Orazio,
88; Alessandro, prince of Parma, governor of
the Netherlands, 191 193. 227 ; — cardinal, 147.
253 ; the Palazzo Farnese, 83. 149 ; — Odoardo,
334—338; Farnesi, family of, 119. 334.
Fast, observance of, 60.
Felix, pope, 27 n. 29.
Ferdinand the Catholic, 28 ; court of, 66 ; — king of
Naples, 28 ; — I., the emperor, grants liberty of
conscience to Germany, 46 ; letter from Clement
VII. to, 50; concludes the peace of Kadan, 51 ;
his policy, 105. 108; his proceedings as to the
council of Trent, 109, 110; his patronage of
the Jesuits, 1 69 ; — the archduke (afterwards the
emperor Ferdinand II.) promotes the counter
reformation, 277; represents the emperor, at
the diet of Ratisbon, 280 ; his edict of interpo-
sition, 280; joins the catholic league; 281 ;
elected emperor, 290; persecutes the protestants,
294; his position in 1629,319; desires his son
to be elected king of the Romans, 322 ; his
general Wallenstein, 320. 323.
Fermo, city and archbishopric of, 139, 140. 144.
Ferrara, disputes of the church with, 49; under
Alfonso 11.236 — 240; conquest of, by Clement
VIII., 240—243.
Ferrari, a Barnabite, 66.
Feuillantines, austerities of the order of, 285.
Finances of the see of Rome, 129. 146. 330.
Finland, 272, 273.
Flaminio, M. A. one of the protestant-like theolo-
gians of Italy, 55, 56.
Fleury, cardinal, 625.
Florence, 29. 47. 86, 87, 88. 97. 254— see Medici;
the Florentine memoirs, 226; council of, 268.
Flour, tax on, 132.
Folengo, Ginvan Battista, a Benedictine, his pro-
testant theology, 56.
Fontana, Domenico, 144. 151.
Forli, town of, 30. 123. 125.
France, the reign of Charlemagne, 22; reign of
Philip le Bel, 26 ; the pragmatic sanction, 27 ;
Milanese war, 41, et seq.; religious parties, 177.
182; the Ligue, 203; the reformed churches
of, 165; civil wars, 206. 230; the Galilean
church, see; feeling of nationality opposed to
the hierarchy in, 265; regeneration of Catho-
licism in, 284. — See the several Kings, Riche-
lieu &c.
Francesco Maria, last duke of TJrbino, 323.
Francis I. of France, his corcordat with Leo X.,
27. 39 ; defeats the Swiss at Marignano, 39 ;
loses Milan, 41 ; conference and league at Mar>
seillos with Clement VII., 49; allied at once
with the protestants and with the pope, 50;
fosters the dissensions of the church, 50; his
conference at Nice with Charles V. and Paul
III., 85.
Francis, St., 66.
Franciscans and Capuchins, 64. 188. 194. 204.
261. 298.
Franconia, 164. 170. 196.
Frankfurt, 170.
Franks, empire of the, 20.
Frederick, elector pulatine, 280. 290, 291.
Freewill, doctrine of, 248.
Fregoso, cardinal Fcderigo, 57.
Freiburg, canton of, 188. 207.
Friars, the mendicant, 33. 64.
Frumento, monsignor, 134.
Frundsberg, George, leader of the imperial forces
against Rome, 46; dies of apoplexy on the
march, 47.
Fulda, Balthazar von Dernbach, abbot of, 176.
196.
Furstenberg, Theodore von, restores Catholicism
in Paderborn, 195.
Gaetano, legate from Sixtus V. to France, 211. 224.
Galesini, life of Sixtus V. by, app. 486. '
Galliani, app. 624.
Galilean church submissive to Rome, 21.24; re-
sists the pope's bulls of excommunication, 26;
concordat between Leo X. and Francis I., 27.
39 ; demands of the French prelates at Trent,
109; clergy of, 284; question of introducing
the inquisition, 212; the regale maintained by
Louis XIV., 375; peace restored with Rome,
378 ; Catholicism restored by Napoleon, 383.
Gambara, cardinal, 91.
Ganganelli, cardinal Lorenzo, pope Clement XIV.,
386.
Gardle, count Magnus de la, 355.
Gaul, the bishops of, 21.
Geneva, the calvinist church of, 166 ; alliance with
Bern and Freiburg, 1 88 ; attacked by Charles
Emanuel of Savoy, 207.
GenoT, the Doria family, 88; affairs of, 86.257
331. 359. 385.
George, St., the company of, 124.
Geraldine, Irish insurgent, 187.
Gerard, Balthazar, assassinates William of Orange,
192.
Geremia, don, a Theatine, 101.
Germany, nations of which early embraced Chris-
tianity, 20; new empire founded by Charle-
magne, 22 ; catholic hierarchy established in,
23; greatness of the emperor Henry III., 23,
24 ; humiliation of Henry IV. by pope Gregory
VII., 24; papal concessions to, in the fifteenth
century, 28 ; opposition to the papacy in, 26. 37 ;
Luther's rising influence in, 41; increased de-
mands for church reform in, 43 ; cardinal Cam-
peggio's plan for putting down the reformation,
48 ; the peace of Kudan and its momentous im-
portance for German protest:intism, 51 ; confe-
rence of Ratisbon, 59. 61—63; war between
Charles V. and the protestant princes, 73; his
victories over them, 74. 86; Charles V. publishes
the Interim, 90; the protestants of, ally them-
selves with Henry II. of France, 93; German
protestant troops in the service of Paul IV., 98;
protestantism propagated by German soldiers,
636
INDEX.
103; Ferdinand I. conciliates the protestanls,
105 ; protestantism in, about the year 15G3, 163,
1C4; first Jesuit schools in, 1(19 — 171; be-
ginning oftliecounter-rerormalion in, 172 — 177 ;
resistance of the protestants, 181 — 184; progress
of the counter -reformation, 194— 203.276— S.'^S ;
personal superiority of the catholic princes in,
289 ; aflairs of the electorate, palatine, gene-
ral war, «fec. 290, 291 ; outspread of Catholicism
in Bohemia and Austria, 293; in the empire,
transfer of the electorate, 296, 297 ; augmented
power of the house of Austria, 306; victories of
Wallenstein, 313; power of the emperor Ferdi-
nand in the year 1629, 319 ; victories of Gusta
vus Adolphus, 320. 323 ; diet of Ratisbon, 327 ;
peace of Westphalia, 326 ; wars against Louis
XIV., 378— 380 ; the emperor Joseph II., 387;
wars of Napoleon, 392.
Gerohus, prior, prediction of, 25.
Gervaso, Pacifico di S., capuchin prior, 204.
Gessi, cardinal, instruction of Paul V. to, app.
.510.
Ghent, treaty of, 173 ; revolutionary spirit of, 189 ;
submits to Alexander Farnese, 192 ; Jesuits es-
tablished in, 193.
Ghibellines — See Guelphs.
Giiislieri, Michele, pope Pius V., 115; interview
between him, as grand inquisitor, and Fra Fe-
lice Peretti, afterwards Sixtus V., 140.
Giberto, minister of Clement VII,, 46. 54. 57, 58.
119; app. 433,434.
Ginetti, legate of Urban VIII., 325.
Giunti, L. A., life of Ludovico Ludovisi, app. 523.
Giustiniani, Hieronimo, 522 ; — Paolo, 64 ; — Ma-
rino, Venetian ambassador, 51. 60. 63.
Gmunden, Lutheran burghers of, 200.
Gnostics, the, 68.
Goa, tlie capital of Catholicism in India, 302.
God, early local notions of, 17 ; doctrine of the par-
ticular decrees of, 247.
Gondi, cardinal, mission on behalf of Henri IV.
to Rome, 231.
Gonzaga, Ferrante, 89; — (or Colonna) Giulia,
beauty of, 55 ; — house of,96 ; — Carlo de Nevers,
due de Rethel, 313, 314. 322.
Gosweinstein, pilgrimages to the sanctuary of the
Holy Trinity at, 197.
Gottotredi, Alessandro, Jesuit general, 364.
Grace, doctrine of, 55, 56. 73.248.
Gradenigo relatione of, app. 405.
Granvclla, cardinal, quoted, n. 86.
Gratz, town of, 184.277.
Greece, 121.
Greek church, 22. 268. 273, 274, 275. 382 ;— col-
lege at Rome, 136; — learning, revival of in
Italy, 34. 152.
Greeks, the modern, 123. 126.
Gregory the great sends Augnstin to England, 21 ;
— II., pope, his Utter totheemperor Lfo the Isau-
rian, 21 ; — VII. (Hildebrand) times and cha-
racter of, 24 : —XIII., pope, 134-139. 193. 145.
148. 181. 186. 1S8. 199. 201. 205. 256 ; — XIV.,
pope, 226 ; — XV., pope, 291 ; — of Tours, 21.
Grignan, M. de. Ambassador at Rome, 85 n.
Griraani, Antonio, relatione of, 359, app. 597.
Griaons, the, 283 ; slaugliter in, by Giacopo Robns-
telli, 291 ; troops sent to, by Gregory XV., 306;
by Richelieu, 307 ; the Valtelline, joined to, 309.
Gritti, Giovanni, 146, 147 n. app. 488.
Cropper, Doctor Johann, 169 ; and Pflug, 59. 63.
73.
Guariui, Battista, author of II pastor Fido, 237.
Guastalla, duke of, his claim to Mantua, 314.
Guelphs and Ghibellines, 30. 87. 89. 125, 126. 224.
Guercino, a priest, and leader of banditti, 142 ; —
the painter, 156.
Guicciardini, Girolamo, letter of, 86 n.
Guidi, Alessandro, 359.
Guido Reni, paintings of, 157.
Guise, the duke of, his campaign in Italy, 99 ; re-
turns to France, 99 ; routs the German allies of
the Huguenots at Auneau, 205 ; becomes virtual
sovereign of Paris, 206 ; assassination of, and its
consequences, 211. 216; — Charles de. Cardinal,
87 n. 203 ; at the council of Trent, 112; exas-
peration of Sixtus V. at his assassination, 211 ;
— family of, 97. 104. 203—207. 209.
Gustavus Vasa, of Sweden, 163; "the brood of,"
185.
Gustavus Adolphus, of Sweden, 320. 323, 324.
Haarlem, resistance and surrender of, 181.
Hainault and Namur, Catholicism in, 189.
Halle, Jesuits established at, 170.
Hamericourt, Gerhard de, bishop of St. Omer,
189.
Hammer, Johann, German Jesuit, 195.
Harlai, archbishop of Paris, 377. 382.
Havet, Antoine, a Dominieian bishop of Namur,
Heidelberg, protestant university of, 170; the li-
brary given to the pope, 296.
Heinsius, Nicolaus, 351.
Henrietta of France, queen of Charles I. 307. 327.
Henriquez, doctrines, 248.
Henri II. of France, his marriage with Catherine
de Medicis, 50 ; his anti-Austrian policy, 93 ;
alliance with Paul IV., 96 ; parties at his court,
97; — III. v.'hen dukeof Anjou, defeats the Hu-
guenots, 180; and the Ligue, 203-207 ; his as-
sassination of the Guises, 211. 220; his mur-
der by Jaques Clement, 21 1. 216; — IV., king of
Navarre, excommunicated by Sixtus V., 205;
nevertheless adhered to by many catholics, 218 ;
his cause espoused by the Venetians, 219 ; Six-
tus V. relents towards him, 222, 223 ; whilst the
legate persists in his opposition to him, 224; his
catholic adherents urge him to become recon-
ciled with Rome, 227; his absolution, 230;
Jean Chastel's attempt to assassinate him, 234 ;
he aids Clement VII F. in the conquest of Fer-
rara, 241 ; makes war on Savoy,251 ; the edict of
Nantes, 250. 284 ; he banishes the Jesuits, 234 ;
he recalls them, 265. 285; iiis queen Mary de
Medicis, 287 ; his political situation, 284 ; — III.
emperor of Germany, 23, 24 ; — IV., 24. 53 ; —
1 1 1., of England, 25 ; — VII., 28. 210 ; — VIII.,
28 ; his hostility to Luther, his quarrel with
Rome, 52.
Heresies, accusation of, made from personal en-
mity, 75 ; heresy of kings absolves subjects from
their allegiance, 217, 218.
Heretical books — See Books.
Heretics, the pope's right to pardon, 75.
Hermits of the sixteenth century, 65; of Montser-
rat, 67.
Ilerzogenbuch, canons of, 193.
INDEX.
637
Hesse, Landgrave Philip of, 50. 59, 60; — William
IV. of, 202.
Hierarchy of Rome — See Curia.
Hierony mites:, relig^ious fraternity of, 38.
Hilary, St., legend of, 20.
Hiidosheim, bishopric of, 195.
Holland, struggles of, for independence, 177. 181.
188-194; United Netherlands, 299; a Spanish
army surprised at VVesel, 319 ; prosperous pe-
riod of, 326.
Holy Ghost, the, 72. 74.
Horn, count, beheaded, 178.
Hosius, cardinal, 184. 267.
Huguenots, their strength in the year 1600 ; 284 ;
edict of Nantes tolerating tiie, 250. 284 ; schism
among the, 288.
Hund, VViguleus, 169.
Hungary, early submissivencss of, to Rome, 23 ;
invaded by the Turks, 43. 46. 121. 251 ; the
protcslants of, 48. 163. 278; the peasantry cath-
olic, 170; Jesuits in, ih. ; civil war, 281 ; elec-
tion of a king of, app. 552.
Hus.«, John, 294.
Hyacinth, capuchin friar, 297.
IcEL.vND, tlie reformed church in, 163.
Iconoclasts, the, 20. 189.
Idolatry, decline of, 17, 18.
Illuniinali, the, 68.
Imbize, demagogue of Ghent, 190. 192.
Indies, East, Jesuit misssionaries in the, 302.
Indulgences, sale of, 38.
Ingoldstadt, catholic church and university of,
165. 169, 170. 172. 201 ; diet of, 172.
Innocent III., pope, 261 ; — VIII., letter of Lo-
renzo de Medici to, 29 ; pawns the papal tiara,
130; — IX., 227;— X., 338—341; buildings
in Rome erected by, 348 ; finances, &c., 358.
363. app.578— 582; — XL, 375—378. app. 607
—610;— XII. 378. app. 611;— XIII., app, 619.
Inquisition, the Spanish, 120; revival of the, at
Rome, 74 ; increased severity of, under Paul IV.,
102 ; in the Netherlands, 177 ; attempt to intro-
duce it into France, 212.
Insbruck, city of, 138.
Interdict, 261.
Interim, the, published by Charles V. 90.
Ireland, insurrections in, 136; Gregory XIII. pre-
pares an expedition to, under Stukely, 186 ; final
subjection of, 327,
Isis, worship of, 17.
Italian language, 34.
Italy, kingdom of the Lombards, 20 ; temporal
dominions of the popes, 28. 123 ; state of, in the
fifteenth century, 26 ; in the sixteenth, 28 ;
strenuous revival of ancient literature in, 34 ; lan-
guage of, 34 ; poetry, the arts, &c. under Leo
X., 34 ; under Sixtus V., 151 ; its independence
forfeited by the appeal for foreign intervention,
39 ; state of religious feeling in, 37 ; opinions
analogous to protestantism, 53 ; literary and
devotional societies of, ib. ; new monastic orders,
64; municipal institutions, 124 ; banditti, 142;
foundation of new families, 331 — 334. — See the
several popes, Charles V. «Soc. &c.
Ivan Vasiljovitsch, 273.
James I. of England, reign of, 299—302. 307.
Jansenists, origin and doctrines of the, 367 — 370 ;
disputes with Rome, 367, 368.
Jansenius or Janse, 367.
Japan, proceedings of the Jesuit missionaries in,
304.
Jacobins, the, or Dominicans, see the latter.
Jaureguy, a Biscayan fanatic, his attempt to assas-
sinate the prince of Orange; his blasphemous
vow, 192.
Jay, Le, Jesuit, 79. 169.
Jerusalem, Ignatius Loyola at, 68 ; tomb of Christ
at, 220.
Jesi, town of, 127.
Jesuit?, the, history of Ignatius Loyola, 66 — 71 ;
distinguish themselves at the council of Trent,
73; progress of the institution, 77 — 81; first
schools of, in Germany, 169 — 171 ; English
Jesuits, 187. 208; Flemish, 190. 193; in Ger-
many, 194, 195, 196. 277. 279 ; in France, 204,
205 ; commotions in the order, 243 — 251 ; part
taken by them in the disputes between Rome
and Venice, 258, 259. 261 ; expelled from Ve-
nice, 261 ; refused readmission, 263 ; issue of
the affairs of, 264 ; their efforts in Poland, 275 ;
their recal to France, 285 ; their foreign mis-
sions, 302 — 305 ; changes in the order about
the middle of the 17th century, 363 — 367; sup-
pression of the order, 383 — 367. app. 520.
Jews, monotheism of the, 18; burnt by the crusa-
ders, 25 ; of the Italian sea ports, r<23.
John of Austria, don, victorious over the Turks,
121; sent to the Netherlands, 182; designed as
leader of the expedition against England, 186;
his administration in Flanders, 190; — king of
Sweden, 185, 186 ; — XXIII., pope, anecdote of,
159.
Joseph II., the emperor, 387 ; — p6re, Richelieu's
confidant, 322.
Jovius, patronised by Leo X., 34.
Joyeuse, Henri de, cardinal, 204. 262, 263,
Jubilees, 27. 129. 135. 149.
Juliers, the state of religion in, 282.
Julius II., pope, his reign, 31, 32; rebuilds St.
Peter's, 36 ; restores the Vatican, 149 ; his alli-
ance with the Swiss, 39 ; dispute with Louis
XIL, 40; his financial affairs, &c. 124. 130.
app, 401 ; — III. 78 ; election and reign of, 92,
93; policy of, towards England, 103; financial
aff"airs of, 132.
Justification, doctrine of, 54 — 57, 61. 72, 73.
Juvencius, his account of Jean (^hastel, 234 ; his
history of the Jesuits, 247 n. 250 n. app. 521.
Kadan, peace of, 51.
Kammergericht, the, 170. 202, 203. 278.
Kings, controversies respecting the authority of,
214. 217. 288.
Koster, Franz, astronomer, 171.
L^TUs, Pomponius, 82.
Lainez, studies at Paris with Loyola, 68, 69. 77;
at the council of Trent, 73. 112; his educational
views, 171.
Lalaing goes over to the Spanish party, 191, 192.
Lambertini, cardinal Prospero, pope Benedict,
XIV., 381.
Lamormain, Jesuit, 325.
La Motte, Pardieu de, governor of Gravelines, 190.
Lando, Giovanni, ambassador from Venice to la-
nocent XL, app. 610.
638
INDEX.
Landriano, legate in France, 226.
Landsbergf, treaty of, 281.
Laocoon, the, 36. 151. app. 406.
Latin, gives place to modern European languages,
34 ; study of Ciceronian, 54.
La Chaise, pere, 282.
Lavallette, pere, a Jesuit, failure of a commercial
house in Martinique connected with, 384.
Lazari, Dionysius, on the state of Catholicism in
England, 528.
League, see Sixteen, Civil war of the League, 203.
Learning, revival of, in Italy and Europe, 34.
Leipsig, victory of Gustavus Adolphus at, 323.
Le Mailre, celebrated Jansenist, 368.
Lentailleur, John, abbot of Anchin, 189.
Leo in. pope, 21; — IX. 24 ; — X., his concordat
with Francis I. 27. 40; his concessions to Ema-
nuel of Portugal, 28; intellectual tendency of
his age, 34—37 ; atTairs of his reign, 39—41 ;
scepticism of his court, 37 ; his financial affairs,
130; — XL, 255.
Leopold, reforms the churches of Tuscany, 387.
Lepanto, victory of, 121.
Lerma, duke of, Spanish minister, 262.
Lesdiguieres, 224; turns Roman Catholic, 298.
Less and Hamel, Jesuits of Louvain, 248 n.
Leti, Gregorio, biography of Sixtus V, by, app.
Leyden, resists the duke of Alva, 182.
Lichtenslein, prince, 294.
Liege, bishopric of, 195.
Lilio, Luigi, his proposals for a reform of the cal-
endar, 136,
Lipsius, Justus, 194.
Literary Societies of Italy, 53. 349. 357.
Lithuania, Lutherans of, 184 ; Jesuits in, 275 ;
Gustavus Adolphus in, 320.
Livonia, Lutheranism in, 163; Jesuits in, 275;
conquered by Gustavus Adolphus, 320.
Locke, John, theory of, 260.
Lombards, kingdom of the, 21.
Lombardy, power of the Venetians in, 29 ; the
claim of Charles V. to and subsequent contest,
40, et seq.
Lope de Vega, 216.
Lopez, Portuguese Jew, adviser of Sixtus V. 148.
Lorenzo de Medici, anecdote and letter of, 28 ; his
sons, 39.
Loreto, city of, 144; chapel of the Virgin at, 220.
356.
Lorraine, cardinal de, at the council of Trent,
109; house of, 203,
Lothairc, elector of Trier, 276.
Louis the Moor, 96 ; — XI. of France, 27 ; — XII.,
40; —XIII., minority of, 287.291 ; his reign,
320 ; marches into Italy to settle the succession
of Mantua, 318 ; — XIV., reign of, 370 ; — XV.,
385.
Loyola, Ignatius, history of, 66 — 71 ; his memorial
against heresies, 74 ; his further progress after
the establishment of his order, 77 ; his laws for
the government of the order, 77, 78, 79 ; his
spiritual exercises, 80, 81 ; extent of the order at
his death, 82; Maffci's life of, 158; Thomist
doctrine recommended by, 247; his canoniza-
tion, 292.
Lubeck, bishopric of, 165.
Lucca, city of, 257.
Lucerne, Jesuits in, 188; catholic alliance with
t'ne VValJ cantons, 207; the nunciature esta-
blished at, 282.
Ludovici, his Triumph of Charlemagne, 37 n.
Ludovisi, house of, 333 ; — Alessandro, pope Gre-
gory XV., 291 ; — cardinal Ludovico, nephew of
Gregory XV., 292. 324. 333 ; his life by Giunti,
app. 523,
Luines, de, French minister, 289. 291.
Lunden, archbishop of, 62 n.
Luther, his horror at the irreligion of the Roman
ecclesiastics, 37 ; his disgust at the sale of indul-
gences, 38; Maximilian I. recommends him to
the protection of the elector of Saxony, 40 ; he
is kept concealed in the Wartburg, 41 ; his re-
newed activity, 44 ; his doctrines, 73 ; embassy
from the Ratisbon conference to, 62; his disgust
at any amalgamation of the two creeds, 63 ; con-
trast between him and Loyola, 68 ; his study of
St. Augustine, 369.
Luxembourg, duchy of, 190; M. de, his mission
from Henri IV. to Rome, 222.
Lyons, city of, Jesuits' college in, 1 80 ; its acqui-
sition of the territory of Bresse, 251 ; Capuchins
in, 204.
Macchiavelli, 32. 35, 36 ; — legate of Urban VIII.
in Cologne, 326.
Macedo, Antonio, a Jesuit, the first confidant of
queen Christina's inclinations towards Catholi-
cism, 354, 355.
Madruzzi, cardinal, 157. 226. 278.
Maestricht, treaty of, 191.
Maffei, Jesuit historian, 158.
Magdeburg, proteslant archbishop of, 203 ; taken
by Tilly, 323.
Magius, Jesuit provincial, 198.
Mainz or Mayence, city of, 164; Daniel Brendel,
elector of, 175; university of, 170; John Adam
von Bicken, elector of, 276; John Schweikard,
elector of, 276. 288. 296; Catholicism re-estab-
lished in, 276.
Malaspina, papal nuncio in Germany, 158. 194, 270.
Malatest', Roberto, 138; — family, 30, 31.
Maldachina, donna Olimpia, sister-in-law of Inno-
cent X., 339. 341. 360, app, 575,
Maldonat, his exposition of the Bible, 180.
Malelactors, right of asylum for, at Rome, 253.
Malherbe, genius of, 288.
Malvasia, the Discorso of, 517.
Manbelli, family of, Guelphs, acted as a voluntary
police, 126.
Manfred i, family of, 30,
Manrique, bishop of Carthagena, 245, 246 ; grand
inquisitor, 248,
Mantica, auditor di rota, 158,
Mantuan succession, war of, 312. 318, 819. 322.
Marcellus II,, cardinal Marcello Cervini, pope, 94,
95,
March of Ancona, the, see Ancona.
Marco of Padu;i, 54,
Mariana, Jesuit, on the kingly authority, 215; on
the society of Jesus, 244, 245 ; his doctrines, 248,
Marino, town of, 29, app. 519.
Maronites, 305.
Marot, Clement, his mention of the duchess of Fer-
rara, 77.
Marriage, papal dispensations of, 43 ; of priests, 60.
109. 165 ; mixed marriages, 275,
Marseilles, attack on, in 1524, 45.
INDEX.
039
Martin, St., legend of, 20.
MartjT, Peter, Vermifjli, a refugee from Itnly, 75.
Martyrs, the early Christian, lb, ]9.
Mary of England, queen, 120; — wife of William
III. of England, .377 ; — Stuart, queen of Scot-
land, 104 208, 209; — de' Mtdici, queen of
Henri IV., regent of France, 286, 287. 291.
Mascambruno, forgeries of, 361.
Mass, " of pope Marcelius" composed by Pier Luigi
Palestrina, 157.
Materialism, 37.
Matthias, the emperor, 281, 282.
Matthiffi, Dr. .lohann, instructor of queen Christina
of Sweden, 352.
Matthieu, French Jesuit, 205.
Maurice, duke of Saxony, 88. 03.
Maximilian I., the emperor, protects Luther, 40;
contempt felt for him by pope Julius II., app.
401 ; — II. 1 67. 183 ; — of Bavaria, see Bavaria.
Mayenne, duke of, leader of the Ligue, 232.
Mazarin, cardinal, 339. 342. 373.
Mechlin or Malines, 182.
Medici, the, of Florence, 29. 47; — Lorenzo de', 28,
29.39;— Cosmo de', 76. 94.100. 118; — Giu-
liano de' 37 ; — Pietro de', 39 ; — Giovanni de'
pope Leo X., 40; — Giulio de', pope Clement
VII., 41 ; — Catherine de' — Mary de' see Ca-
therine, Mary ; — Giovanni Angelo, pope Pius
IV., 105; — Giangiacomo, marquis of Marig-
nano, 105; — cardinal Ippolilo de', app. 436.
Meiners on the revival of letters, 38 n.
Mclancthon, at the conference of Ratisbon, 59. 61.
Memmingen, preceptory of St. Antliony in, 165.
Menard, Nicolas Hugo, 286.
Mendez, Alfonso, Jesuit putriarch of iEthiopia, 305.
Mendicant orders, privileges granted them by Six-
tus IV., 3.3 ; furnish the most formidable assail-
ants of the papacy, 38; licentiousnes.s oi'the,33
Mendoza, don Diego, Spanish ambassador at Rome,
88, 89. -.'11.
Mercy, order of, 286.
Metz, city of, 28.
Mexico, university of, 302.
Miani, Girolamo, a Venetian senator, founds an
orphan asylum, 65.
Michael Angelo Buonarotti, 36. 348.
Micheli, Venetian ambassador, on protestantism in
France, 166.
Middle ages, intellectual character of the, 34,
Milan, archbishop of, 23 ; ducal family, see Sforza ;
war ofi 39 H seq. ; Spani.sh rule in, 45; its suf-
ferings from war, 66; the inqiiisition in, 76;
Carlo Borromeo, archbishop of, 119; affairs of,
. 308.
Milensio, fra Felice, deputed to the diet of Ratis-
bon, instead of the nuncio, 280, 281 ; app. 511.
Minio, Marco, on the early Italian drama, 35 n. ;
Relatione of, app. 403.
Minucci, Minuccio,201, 202, 203. app. 49^.
Miracles of St. Hilary and St. Martin, of the 10th
century, 159.
Mirandola, storming of, by Julius II., 32.
Missal, the Roman, 121. 175.
Missions of the Jesuits, 302 ; the Propaganda, 292.
Modena, 76; the territory a fief of the empire,
239 ; Girolamo da, 56 ; Tommaso da, 61.
Molina, Luis, Jesuit, his controversial work in op-
position to the doctrine of St. Thomas Aquinas,
247; his disputes with the Dominicans, 248 ; the
Molinist controversy virtually decided by the see
of Rome, 382.
Molino. Domenico, 219.
Monaldeschi, put to death by Christina of Sweden,
356 ; app. 588.
Monastic orders, new, 64 ; seclusion of monks and
nuns commanded by Pius V., 118; moiite de'
frati or tax on, 133; decline of the German
convents, 165; suppression of certain, proposed
by Alexander VIII., 363; app. 584.
Moncontour, battle of, 180.
Montagna, John, Jesuit, 193.
Montaigne's visit to Ferrara, 236.
Montalto, bishopric o'i 144 ; — cardinal, pope Sixtus
v., 141 ; — cardinal, confided in by Sixtus V.,
145. 255 ; — marquis oi; 147.
Monttcatino, of Ferrara, 237, 238. 241.
Monte, cardinal, pope Julius III., 92; — cardinal,
94. 100.
Monte Corone, monastery of, 64.
iVlonteteltri, Eoman family of, 31,
Montfbrt, Simon de, leader of the crusade against
the Albigenses, 25.
Montigny, Emanuel de, 191.
Montmorency, the constable de, letter of, 91.
Montorio, papal nuncio, 296.
Montserrat, hermits of, 67.
Moravia, Jesuits in, 170; Moravian brethren, 167.
278. 295.
Morone, bishop of Modena, 58. 61. 102. 110, 111,
112. app. 448.
Morosini, Andrea, 259 ; — legate of pope Sixtus V.
in France, 205. 211.222.
Moscow, city and church of, 273.
Moulart, .Matthieu, bishop of Arras, 190.
Muhlhausen, government of, 2(17.
Mundcn, bishopric of, becomes protestant, 165.
Munich, Jesuits in, 170. 172; captured by the
Swedes, 324.
Municipal institutions, 124.
Munster, religious affairs of, 1 65 ; Ernest of Bavaria
elected bishop, 195; Jesuits in, 195.
Muretus, 158.
Music, Italian, 156.
Musa, victorious Saracen leader, 20.
Mysticism, Gnostic, the Alumbrados of Spain, Lo-
yola, 68.
Namur, state of religion in, 189.
Nantes, edict of, 284.
Naples, king Ferdinand of, 28 ; designs of Francis
I. against, 44; influence of Juan Valdez in, 5S;
troubles in, 88 ; Henri II. sends an army against,
98; ecelesia.'-tical affairs of, 120; the regent
Ponte, 256 ; don Carlos, king o^, 380.
Napoleon Bonaparte, 389.
Nardi, the historian, 54.
Narni, Girolamo da, his eloquence as a preacher,
292. 362.
Nassau, count of, 194.
Natural history, study of, 155.
Navagero, cardinal Bernardo, 36 ; Relatione of,
app. 456.
Navarre, see Henri IV.
Negro, Girolamo, app. 407.
Nepotism, 29. 100. 102. 145. 342, ef passim.
Neri, Filippo, founder of the Oratory, 158. 286.
Nestorian Christians of St. Thomas, 304.
Netherlands, cruelties of Alva, and reaction caused
640
INDEX
by them, 1G6 ; details of this subject, 178, 179 ;
resistance to the Spanish arms, ISl, 183 ; crisis
inthe, 188— 194.
Neuburg, Louis count palatine of, 202. 280.
Nevers, Lonis Gonzag-a, due de, his mission from
Henri IV. to Clement VIII., 233, see Gonzaga.
Nice, congress at, 65.
Nicholas I., pope, 2-2 n. ; — V., buildings at Rome
by, 149. app. 398.
Nickel, Goswin, general of the Jesuits, superseded
by the order, 364.
Nicoletti, Andrea, quoted, 311 n. 314 n.; his life of
Urban VIII., app. 565.
Nobi!i, Jesuit missionary in India, 303.
Nobles, power of the aristocracy at its height in
the 17lh century, 344 ; Roman, app. 516.
Nordlingen, protestants predominant in, 16.5.
Normandy, protestants of, 166.
Nuns, seclusion of, 118; of Calvary, 285 ; Carme-
lite, 285; Ursuline, 286 ; sisters of charity, 287.
Nurnberg, city of, 164.
OcHiNo, Bernardino, Franciscan, preaches justifica-
tion through grace, 56. 75.
Odescalchi, family of, 375.
Oettingen, convents and livings of, seized, 165.
Olahus, Nicolaus, archbishop of Grau in Hungary,
169. ^^^ .
Oliva, rector of the Jesuit college in Rome, 342 ; is
elected by the order to supersede the general,
364.
Olivarez, count d', Spanish ambassador at Rome,
223, 224 ; administration of Spain under, 301.
307,308.311.314.
Olmutz, Jesuit college at, 170.
Omcr, St., bishops of, 18:1 ; Jesuit college at, 189.
Opilz, Joshua, protestant preacher at Vienna, 198.
Orange, William of Nassau, prince of, 178. 181;
firslstadtholder, 182 ; price set on his head, 192 ;
attempt of Jaurcguy to assassinate him, 192;
shot by Balthazar Gerard, 193.
Oratories and cells, their romantic sites, 64.
Oratory of Divine Love, 54. 57. 65, 66 ; congrega-
tion of the, 158.
Orfino, bisliop of, Tommaso, visitation of the
churches of Rome and Naples by, 120,
Orlandinus, his history of the Jesuits, app. 520.
Orphan asylums established in Venice, 65.
Orsini family, 30, 31. 144. 345 ; — palace at Cam-
pofiore, 149.
Orsino, cardinnl Camillo, governor of Parma, 91.
102 ; — Giuiio, 99 ; — Latino, 138 ; — duke Vir-
ginio, 144.
Osnabruck, bishopric of, 195.
Ossat, D', plenipotentiary of Henri IV. at Rome,
235.241.243.
Otho the Great, 23.
Ottobuono, cardinal, 342. 344.
Oxenstierna, chancellor of Sweden, 269. 357.
Paderiiorn, 164. 195. 276.
Padua, Marco of, 54 ; anatomical science in, 153.
Paez, a Portuguese Jesuit, raalies important con-
versions in Abyssinia, 305.
Paganism, downfall of, 19.
Pagiiaricci, Antonio dei, 57, 76,
Painting, Italian seiiools of, 36. ir>5.
Palatinate, the, adopts the reformed religion, 51 ;
Casimir marches to Cologne, 194 ; afi'airs of, 163.
170 ; the elector Frederick, joins the union, 280 ;
seizes the crown of Bohemia, 290 ; is defeated at
the Weissberg, 291 ; transfer of the electorate,
296. 307. app. 506.
Paleslrina, Pier Luigi, musical composer ; his
" mass of pope Marcellus," 157.
Paliavicini, cardinal. History of the council of Trent
by, app. 443; Life of Alexander VII. by, 342;
app. 586 ; — family of Genoa, 344; — secretary
of state under Pius VI., 628.
Palliano, Caraffa, duke of. 97. 100. 107.
Pamfili, cardinal. Innocent X., 338; — Camillo,
nephew of Innocent X., 339.
Pancirola, cardinal, 343. 563.
Paniquarola at Ferrara, 238.
Panvinius on St. Peter's at Rome, 36 n.
Papacy, the, its early history, 17-22; Hildebrand-
ism, 24 ; posture of, in the fourteenth and fif-
teenth centuries compared, 26-28; extension of
its dominions, 28 ; causes of the increase of the
papal power, 39 ; supremacy of the pope, 56. 60.
114. 259; papal authority derived through
St. Peter, 58 ; the papacy itself instrumental
to its own severest losses, 51, 52. 104; exclu-
sive right of interpreting the decrees of Trent,
114; resources of the papacy for contest with
protestantism, 167 ; the popes abandon their
views of secular ambition, 168 ; relation of the
papacy to the temporal power, 372 ; later epochs
of the papacy, 374 ; see the several Popes, Nepo-
tism, &c.
Paris, Loyola at the university of, 69 ; arms against
the prince of Conde and the protestants, 179 ;
resistance of, to the Jesuits, 179; the duke of
Guise becomes master of, 206; Henri IV. be-
sieges, 224 ; a Parisian moderate party opposes
the Ligue, 232; and welcomes Henri IV., 234;
royal library of, app. 493 ; massacre, see St.
Bartholomew.
Parma, 32. 39, 40. 88. 91. 93. 132; see Alessandro
Farnese, prince of; acquired by the Spanish
prince Don Carlos, 380.
Parsons, the Jesuit, his secret mission along with
Campion to England, 187. 214, 215.
Pasquin, the well known Roman satirist, 42.
Patriarchs, metropolitan, 19.
Patrizi, Francesco, 155. 237. 162.
Paul, St. at Athens, 18; — II., pope, life of, by
Paul Canensius, 37 n.; — 111. (see Alessandro
Farnese,) honourable conduct at the commence-
ment of his reign, 58; his inclination for re-
form of the church, 59; his views with respect
to the conference at Ratisbon, 61 ; his pontificate,
83—92; his financial affairs, 131, 132. 147; app.
449 — 454; — IV., cardinal Giovanni Fietro Ca-
raffa, his pontificate, 95 — 103; progress of pro-
testantism in his reign, 104, 105; finances of,
133; contrasted with his successor, 106; app.
455*, 456; — V. cardinal Borghese, his character
and pontificate, 254 — 263; aids the catholic
princes of Germany, 290 ; his death by apoplexy,
291 ; advances made to him by James I. 299;
his fiivourite author, 316; his improvements in
Rome, 36S. app. 508. 512; — St. Vincent de,
287.
Pazmany, archbishop of Hungary, 295. 325.
Penitenziaria of Rome, 32. 43.
People, the sovereignty of the, 215.
Pepin d'Herislhal,"21 ; — Ic Brcf, ih.
INDEX.
641
Perelti, Felix, cardinal, pope Sixtns V.,13t} ; — Pe-
retto, father of Felix, ib. app. 47! et seq.
Perez, Hurtado, Jesuit rector at Olmulz, 170.
Peroto assassinated by Cesar Borgia, 31,
Perron, cardinal du, 250.
Persecution in Germany, 294 ; at Venice, 76 ; in
Eng'iand, 120; of catholics and Jesuits by queen
Eliziibeth, 208; of priests and Jesuits by James
I., 300 ; of protcstants in Poland, 275; in the
Netherlands, 166. 177.
Persico, Antonio, 140.
Perucria, 123; its revolt against Paul III., 128.
Pescara, imperial general in Italy, 45; Vittoria
Colonna, marehesa di, 55.
Peter, the apostle, 17. 58.
Peter's, St., cathedral of, 36. 150, 151. 348.
Peter's pence, 21. 27.
Petrarch, lil.
Pflug, Julius, at the conference of Ralisbon, 59,
Pfyffer, Ludwig-, 188.
Philip le Bel, 26 ; — II. of Spain, hostility of Paul
IV. against, 96; disposed to a good understand-
ing with Pius IV., Ill ; remonstrates with Pius
v., 117; cordial agreement of his government
with Rome, 120 ; revolt of the Netherlands
against, 177; urged to war by Gregory XIII. 136;
his intense adherence to Catholicism and its con-
sequences, 167, 168; proceedings of his general
Alva in the Netherlands 177—179 ; recals Alva,
181 ; sends thither his brother Don John of Aus-
tria, 182; contributes towards the expenses of
Stukeley's Irish expedition, 187; and to the
establishment of the Jesuits in Switerland, 188 ;
conquers Portugal, 191 ; Philip at first distrust-
ful of the Jesuits, at last becomes their de-
cided protector, 193; his connexion with the
French Ligue, 205; attempts on England, Span-
ish armada, 208 — 210; confederates with the
Ligue and the pope against Henri IV., 211; ap-
proves of the seemingly antimonarchical doc-
trines of the Jesuits, 216; his power excites
jealousy throughout Europe, 218; sends his
troops into Britany, 227; — III. 262 ; — IV.,
311; — v., war of the Spanish succession, 379
—381.
Philology promoted by the Propaganda, 292.
Philosophy, Italian schools of, 37. 155. 161. 368.
Piacenza or Plaeentia, 32. 39, 40. 88—90. 132.
Piccinardi beheiided by Paul V. for his life of Cle-
ment VIII. 255.
Piccolomini, Alfonso, bandit leader, 138, 139; —
Jesuit general, 364.
Pigna of Ferrara, 237.
Pignatelli, Antonio, pope Innocent XII., 378. app.
611.
Pilgrimages, 165; revived in Germany, 171. 277;
to Rome, on the jubilee of 1450, 27.
Pimentel, Don Antonio, ambassador from Spain to
queen Christina of Sweden, 355.
Pisa, university of, 77.
Pius II., iEiicas Sylvius, 27; his scanty finances,
129; — IV., Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Medici,
105—115; financial measures ot; 133, 134;
public buildings of, 149. app. 457—464 ; — Car-
dinal Michele Ghislieri, 116—122; financial
measures, 133, 134 ; ferocious order to his gem^-
ral, 180; other allusions to, 183; app. 464— 466;
—VI., 387. 389 ; app. 627, 628 ; — VII., 389— 392.
Plurality of livings, 113.
81
Poetry — See Italy.
Poictiers, diocese of, 298.
Poland, kingdom of, 163; Sigismund Augustus,
king of; 163; Stephen Bathory, king of, 219.
267 ; Sigismund III., 210; spread of Catholicism
in, 267; wars of Gustavus Adolphus in, 320;
Russian power over, 3H2. app. 449.
Pole, Reginald, cardinal, at Venice, 54 — 57. 61 ;
at the council of Trent, 72 ; sent as legate to
England, 103. 107.
Pomerania, protestants of, 51.
Pomponazzo, Pietro, philosophy of, 37. 162.
Pontine marshes, the, 144.
Population of Rome, 159; particulars of, in the
17th century, 345—347.
Porcari, Stephen, insurrection of, app. 397.
Porta, scientific labours of, 259.
Portroyal, adoration of the Eucharist in, 285 ; Jan-
senist fraternity of, 368.
Portugal, its ecclesiastical orders of knighthood,
28 ; the Jesuits received in, 77 ; conquered by
Philip II., 191 ; discoveries and conquests of the
Portuguese, 302 ; later affairs of, 373. 381. 384.
Possevin, Antonio, Jesuit, his attempt to convert
king John of Sweden, 185, 186.
Powsinsky, Bartholomeus, papal envoy, 269.
Pragmatic sanction, the, 27.
Prague, Jesuits' college at, 169; conversions to
Catholicism at, 294; treaty of, 325.
Predestination, doctrine of, 247.
Press, restrictions on, by the Inquisition, see Books.
Primates,uiiknown in the early Christian church,20.
Priuli, Luigi, 54.
Professio Fidei, the, 114. 121. 195. 198.
Propaganda, the, 292, 293.
Protestantism — See Luther, Calvin, &c.
Protestants — See the several nations,
Prussia, Lutheranism established in, 163; church
property secularized in, 16.'J. 321 ; Polish Prus-
sia, 268; designs of Ferdinand II. on 319;
strength of, in more recent times, 382 ; in the
19th century, 392, 393.
Public opinion, 53,219.
Pultusk, college of, 184.
Purgatory, 165.
Puritans, the, 327.
QuEDLWBURG, abbey of, 165.
Queutin, St., battle of, 99,
Quirini, Giacomo, references to, 343 ; accounts of
the courts of Alexander VII. and Clement IX.
by, app. 595.
Raesfeld, dean of iWunster, 195.
Ratiaele d'Urbino, 36.
Raitlcnau, Wolf Dietrich von, prince bishop of
Salzburg, 200.
Ranzuu, Ileinrich, 202.
Ratisbon, conference of, 61 etseq.; ecclesiastical
schools at, 174; Catholicism in, 201 ; diets of,
279. 320.
Ravenna, 125, 127. 137.
Reformation, its causes, 37 ; connexion wilh poli-
tics in its earlier stages, 39 — 53; decree ofFer-
dinand I. the first great official recognition of^
46; peace of Kadan a momentous event for, 51.
Rcggio, city of, 32, 239.
Religious military orders, 28. 64.
Religious peace, the — See Augsburg.
642
INDEX.
Republican character of the Roman curia, 160; of
the Huguenot body, 289 ; spirit of Ghent, 189.
Retz, cardinal de, 370.
Reuchliii, author of the first Hebrew grammar, 38.
Revolution, the English, 377 ; the French, 388.
Rhetius, John, Jesuit of Cologne, 169.
Rhine, electorates of the, 164 et seq. 276 et seq.;
refusal to open the, to Dutch commerce, 291.
Rhodes, capture of, by the Turks, 43.
Riario, Girolamo, nephew of Sixtus IV., 29.
Ricci, the Jesuit, his mission to China, 303 ; — Lo-
renzo, general of the Jesuits, 385.
Richardot, Francois dc, bishop of Arras, 189.
Richelieu, administration of cardinal, 307, 308.
311,312. 318; imprisons St. Cyran, 368.
Righteousness, twofold, 73.
Rimini, 123. 125.
Ritual, the Roman, 25. 74. 119. 175. 537.
Rocci, papal nuncio at the diet of Ratisbon, 322.
Rochelle, la, siege of, 312, 313.
Rocheomo, his apology for the French Jesuit, 249.
Rodcrigo, Simon, one of the first two Jesuits sent
to Portugal, 77.
Rodolph 11., the emperor, zealous Catholicism of,
197 ; grants Modena and Reggio to Alfonso of
Ferrara, 239 ; persecutes the protestanls, 278,
279; insurrection against, 281.
Rohan, Fran9ois de, 90 n.; duke de, Huguenot
leader, 290. 308.
Romagna, 123, 124. app. 519.
Rome, ancient mythology and empire of, 17; city
of, stormed by the imperial forces under Bour-
bon, 47 ; Alva threatens, 98, 99 ; its edifices, 149.
347 ; Vatican and other libraries, 349.
Romillon, Jean Baptiste, f iunds the order of The
Fathers of Christian Doctrine, 286.
Rospigliosi, cardinal, secretary of state under Alex-
ander VII., 344 ; elected pope Clement IX., ib. ;
' app. 496, 597.
Rotto, Giovan Battista, one of the school of Italian
protestantism, 56.
Rucillai, his tragedy of Rosmunda, his Bees, 35.
Russia, designs of Rome on, 272.
Rusticucci, cardinal, 157.
Sacchetti, cardinal, 338; his mission from Urban
VIII. to Spain, app. 534.
Sacchinu?, Franciscus, History of the Jesuits by,
app. 520.
Sacraments, the, 74.
Sadolet, cardinal, 54. 57.
St. Cyran, Du Verge, abbot of, associate of Janse-
nius, 367.
Saint Gall, abbot of, 283.
Saints, worship, relies, and images of, 197.
Sales, S. Frangois de, monastic discipline of, 286.
Salmasius at llie court of Christina of Sweden, 351.
Salmeron, the Jesuit, 71. 73.
Salt, tax on, in Rome, 12S.
Salviati, cardinal, 157.
Salzburg, city ot^ 28.
Sannazaro, the Arcadia of, 35.
San Severina, cardinal Santorio, 150. 157. 212.
227; his autobiography, app. 494.
Santafiore, count, monstrous order of Pius V. to,
122.
Sanuto, Marino, ccmmentarii di, 29 n. 42 n.
Saracens, their conquests, 20.
Sardinia, 380, 381. 393.
Sarpi, Fra Paolo, character of, 259; his political
controversy with the Jesuits, 260, 261. 265 ;
criticism on his History of the council of Trent,
app. 437.
Sarrazin, abbot of St. Vaast, 191.
Sauli, cardinal, 262.
Savonarola, fra Geronimo, 40.
Savoy, dukes of, 120. 167; Charles Emanuel of,
his designs on Geneva, 207. app. 529 ; seizes
Salnzzo, 212; political affairs of, 257. 309. 318 ;
claim of the duke to the city of Montferrat, 314,
see Sardinia.
Saxe Lauenburg, Henry of, 183. 195. 202.
Saxony, John Frederick, elector of, 88 ; reformed
church established in, 46. 51 ; Maurice of^ 88.
93 ; Augustus, elector of, 202 ; affairs of, 279.
app. 505.
Scepticism fashionable in Rome, 37.
Schomberg, marshal, 220 n.
Schwartzenburg, count, 174.
Scotland, religious contests in, 104 ; Calvinist
church of, 166.
Scriptures — See Bible and Testament.
Sega, nuncio to Spain, 186; legate in France, 231.
Seripando, general of the Auguslines, 73.
Serra, powerful Guelph family of, 126.
Sfondrato, cardinal, elected Gregory XIV., 226 ; —
Ercole,'duke of Montemarciano, ih.
Sforza, cardinal, 225 ; Sforzas, dukes of Milan, 29,
30. 45.
Sicily, 380.
Siena, university of, 76 ; city of, 86. 100.
Sigismund Augustus, king of Poland, 163.
Sigismund III., king of Poland, 210. 268; becomes
king of Sweden, 268, 269 ; commotions in Po-
land under, 274—276.
Simony, 43. 57.
Sin, utility of, 56 ; Jesuit views of, 366.
Sirleto, cardinal, 136. 158.
Sixteen, the league of the, in Paris, 206. 232.
Sixtus IV., pope, 29, 30. 32 ; his financial expedi.
ents, 130; — V., Felix Peretti, cardinal Montalto,
his history and administration, 139 — 151. 219 —
225 ; his animosity against queen Elizabeth, 209 ;
his notions as to the secular power of the papacy,
215, app. 471 et seq.
Smalcalde, league of, attacked by Charles V., 87.
166.
Societies, literary, of Italy, 53. 350. 357; devotional,
53; political, 219.
Soleure or Solothurn, 188.
Somasca, congregatione di, 66.
Sorbonne, the, 1 11 . 206. 2 1 6. 234.
Soriano, the Relatione of, 46 n. 49 n. 52 n. 84 n.
121 n. 124 n.
Soubise, prince de. Huguenot leader, 308.
Spada, papal nuncio in Paris, 311; — G. B., his
description of Rome, app.
Spain, Ferdinand I. of Castile, 23 ; the Altoshomes
of, 25 ; kingdom of Arragon, ib.; church patron-
age of the king, 28; chivalry and romance of,
45. 66 ; the popes jealous of, 93. 96 ; bishops of,
at Trent, 108; the decrees of Trent received in,
120 ; povirer of the Spanish grandees, 344. — See
Charles V., Philip II., &c.
Spinola, commander in the Netherlands, 262.
Spires, diet of, in 1526, 46 ; Jesuits in, 170.
Spon, his visit to Rome in 1674, 350.
Squadrone Volante, the, 342.
INDEX.
643
Squillace, Spanish minister, 384.
State, CO ordination ot' Chureii and, 19 ; theory of,
214.260.
Statues, celebrated ancient, 36. 1.5 J. app. 406.
Stein, arclibishop Joliann von, of Trier, 170.
Strada, Francesco, Jesuit, 77.
Stralendorf, liCopold von, 176.
Strasburg-, city ot, 28.
Strozzi, Pietro, 98.
Stukeley, 'I'homas, his Irish expedition, 186.
Styria, 184. 197,277.309.
Suabia, Catholicism in, 170.
Suarez of Coimbra, Jesuit professor, 215.
Sully, duke de, 262.
Supremacy, question of the pope's, 58. 214. 258.
Surius, sacred history by, 173.
Sweden, Lutheranism established in, 36. 163 ; CJus-
tavus Vasa and John his successor, 163.185;
Antonio Possevin, Jesuit, at the court of, 185;
Sigismund, king- of, 268; confession of Augsburg
proclaimed in, ib. ; duke Charles defeats Sigis-
mund, 273. — See Gustavus Adolphus, Christina,
&c.
Switzerland, persecuted Italians take refuge in,
75 ; Collegium Helveticum in Milan, 120. 283 ;
nunciature in, 188. 282 ; the golden or Borro-
mean league in, 207; Spanish party in, 283;
Jesuits in, 188. — See Geneva, &c.
Swiss in the papal service, 127; defeated at Marig-
nano, 39 ; defeated by the German lansknechts,
99.
Sylvius, jEneas, see Pius II.
Syria, 220.
Tasso, Bernardo, 153; — Torquato, spirit of his
poetry, 155 ; at Ferrara, 237, 238.
Taxes at Rome, see Finances.
Telesius, philosophy of, l40. 154.
Tempesti, Casimiro, biography of Sixtus V. by,
app. 475.
Templars, Knights, of Spain and Portugal, 28.
Temples, pagan, converted into Christian churches,
19.
Testament, New, Erasmus edits the Greek, 38.
Theatines, the order of, 64.
Theodosius the Great, 19.
Theology of the Germans, 37 ; systems of, 247.
Theresa, St., her rule, 285.
Tliiene, St., Gaetano da, 54; character of, 64;
founds the order of Theatines, 65.
Thomas Aquinas, 215 n. 247. 383.
Thomas a Kempis, 38.
Thomas, St., Nestorian Christians of, in India,
304.
Thomists, the doctrines of the, 247.
Thoulouse, city of, 180.
Thungen, Nethard von, bishop of Bamberg, 276.
Tiepolo, Lorenzo, Relatione di, app. 617 ; — Paolo,
Tilly, count, imperial general, 313. 323.
Tithes, papal, see Annates.
Titles, ceremonious, 153.
Toledo, cardinal Juan Alvarez de, 74; Francesco,
134.
Tolentino, bishopric of, 144.
Torella, countess, 66.
Torres, bishop, nuncio in Poland, 158.
Tosco, cardinal, 159.
Tournay, Jesuits in, 193.
Trade of the Jesuits, 365.
Tradition of the church, 72.
Trent, the council of, its first sittings, 71 74;
transferred to Bologna, 87 ; latter sitting, 108
114; decrees of, 173.175. 177.265; the professio
Jictei drawn up at, ib. ; Sarpi's Ilistrry of, app.
437 ; Pailavicini'.s, app. 437.
Treves or Trier, 1 64.
Trinita,, count della, 116.
Trinity, Loyola's vision of the, 68; doctrine of,
155.
Tropea, Teofilo di, 75,
Truchsess, cardinal Otho, 165 ; — Gebhard, elector
and archbishop of Cologne, 183. 194.
Turkey, Jesuit missions in, 305.
Turks, wars with the, see Europe; proposals of
Paul IV. to Solyman, 98; defeated at Lepanto
by Don John of Austria, 121 ; threaten Hunearv
307. '
Tuscany, the inquisition in, 76; Cosmo named
grand duke of, 119 — See Medici.
Tyrol, Catholicism of the, 163. 199 ; the Jesuits in
the, 170.
Umiliati, order of the, 119.
Unigenitus, the bull, 382.
Universities, Italian, oppressed by the inquisition
76.
Unierwalden, the landamman Melchior Lussi of
188.
Upsal, archbishop of, 269.
Urban VII., Giambattista Castagna, 225; — VIII.,
cardinal Maffeo Barberini, 315—319. 323—327 ;
his court and family, 333, 334; war of Castro,
334 — 338; buildings, 348 ; for various details,
see app. 451—453. 545—550. 554—573 ; — bish-
op of Laibach, confessor to the emperor Ferdi-
nand I., patronises the Jesuits, 169.
Urbino, ducal state of, 31. 40; escheat of, 328.
Utrecht, archbishopric of, 383.
Valdez, Juan, of Naples, his religious tenets, 55.
Valentmi, Filippo, an Italian of protestant views,
75.
Valentinian III., edict of, 20.
Valiere, Agostino, bishop of Milan, 158.
Valle, marehesa della, 100.
Valtelline, the, app. 549 — See Grisons.
Vasa, see Gustavus, John, &lc.
Vasto, the marquis of, governor of Milan, 86.
Vatican palace, the, 36. 149 ; printing office of the
145.
Vega, Lope di, 216.
Venice, the sea coast of the papal states wrested
from, by Julius II., 31 ; literary societies in, 54;
con.stitution of, 218; orphan asylums of, 65; the
inquisition in, 76; the Jesuits in, 76. 261 ; war
with the Turks, 85. 121; school of painting,
154; affairs of, passim, and app. 401. 560. 583;
dispute with Rome, 256; Relatione of, see app.
passim.
Verger, du, abbot of St. Cyran, associate of Janse-
nius, 367.
Vermigli, Peter Martyr, an Italian of protestant
views, 75.
Verona, churches of, 119.
Vervins, peace of, 251.
Vettori, Francesco, quoted, 40 ; history of Italy by,
app. 431.
644
INDEX.
Vida, Latin poet, 34; — Ottonel, on church go-
vernment, 56.
Vienna, concordat of, 27 ; the bishop of, proposes
extreme measures against protestant innovations,
58; Jesuits in, 169. 171 ; prohibition of protestant-
ism in, by Rudolph II., 198.
Vieta, works of, <.'6U.
Villanova, Francisco, Jesuit, 77.
Villeie, pdre, of Bordeaux, 298.
Villeroi, due de, 262.
Visconti, Monsignorino, murder of, 105.
Visitation, order of, 286.
Vitelleschi, Mutio, general of the Jesuits, 364.
Vitelli, noble family of, 30, 31 ; cardinal, 101.
Viltoria, John, Jesuit, 171.
Vossius, Isaac, at the court of Christina, 351. 353.
Vulgate, the, 72.
Wald cantons, 207.
Waldeck, Bernard von, 195 n.
Waldenses, 166.
Wall, Spanish minister, 384.
Wallenstein, celebrated imperial general, 313. 323.
Walloons, the, 168. 189. 191, 192.
Waither, Hans, defeats the Swiss, 99.
Weller, Gerhard, Jesuit, 197.
Westphalia, Lulheranism in, 183; catholic clergy
restored, 194; peace of, 326. 351.
Wiborg, Lutheran bishopric of, 163.
William III. and Mary, accession of, 377.
Wittenberg, university of, 48. 165.
Wladislaw III. of Poland, his designs on Moscow,
289 ; — IV., tolerance of, 326.
Wolsey, cardinal, 28. 51 n.
Works, sanctification by, 69. 73. 248.
Worms, diet of, 41.
Wurteniburg, duke of, restored to his dominions
by Philip of Hesse, 50 ; convents of, confiscated,
165; the duke of, joins the protestant union,
280.
Wurlzburg, reformed church of, 164; Jesuits in,
170; Juhus Echter, bishop of, ib. 288. 294; ca-
tholicism re-established in, 196.
Xavier, St. Francis, his association with Loyola,
69 ; invited to Portugal by king John, 77 ; his
missionary labours, 302 ; his canonization, 293 ;
— Geronimo, 303.
Ypres, Jesuits of, 193.
Zamoyski, chancellor of Poland, §67. 272. 274.
Zanetti, Guido, given up by the Venetians to Pius
v., 119.
Zebrzydowsky, palatine of Cracow, 274, 275.
Zorzi, Marin, Relatione of, app. 402.
Zug, canton of, 207.
Zutphen conquered by the Spaniards, 194.
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also be found to contain many references to Professor Fergusson's excellent
' Practical Surgery,' in which I believe the art of Operative Surgery to be, in
most points, carried to the highest possible pitch of simplicity and refinement."
This edition has been materially improved in its appearance, so as to corre-
spond with the edition of "Fergusson's Operative Surgery," " Wilson's Ana-
tomy," " Churchill's Midwifery," and "• Carpenter's Physiology;" and the
number of the cuts have been increased, as will be perceived by the following list.
It has been introduced into many Colleges as a Text Book, in connection with
Fergusson's Surgery.
LIST OP WOOD CUTS
IN DRUITT'S SURGERY.
FIG.
1.
Fibrine as seen under the microscope.
Pus globules as seen under the microscope.
Mucous pus as seen under the microscope.
Softening ofthe brain, showing the granules
mixed with broken nerve lubes.
Roller bandage applied to foot and leg.
Miliary tubercle as seen under the micro-
scope.
Malignant growths, showing the granules
and nucleated cells of which they are
composed.
Interrupted suture.
Twisted suture.
Quilled suture
Syphilitic caries of cranium.
Apparatus for treatment of rupture of tenJo-
achillis.
Ganglion formed by the synovial sheath of
the flexor tendon of a finger.
Chronic inflammation of bone.
Abscess of bone.
Necrosis.
18. Caries.
Osteo-sarcoma of femur.
Fractured bone, united.
Bandage for fracture of the lower jaw.
Stellate or figure of 8 bandage for fracture
of clavicle.
Clavicle bandage.
Fracture of neck of scapula.
Fracture of acromion.
Fracture of surgical neck of the humerus.
Fracture of surgical neck of the humerus
united.
Fracture of the head of the humerus, with
dislocation forwards, under the pectoral
muscle.
Fracture of the lower extremity of the hu-
merus.
Fracture of the internal condyle of the hu-
merus.
Fracture of Uie external condyle of the hu-
merua.
PIG.
32. Fracture of the external condyle of the hu-
merus within the capsular ligament.
33. Fracture of the olecranon.
3-1. Fracture of coroooid process of ulna.
35. Fracture of lower extremity of radius.
36. Fracture and dislocation of bones of the
pelvis.
37. Descent of the neck of the thigh-bone in
advanced life.
38. Changes incident to the neck of the thigh-
bone in old age, and which might be mis-
taken for united fracture.
39. 40. Fracture of neck of tlie thigh-bone inter-
nal to the capsule.
41. Fracture of the neck of the thigh-bone ex-
ternal to capsule.
42. Liston's splint for fracture of femur.
43. Apparatus for fracture of neck of femur
applied.
44. 45. Oblique fracture through the great tro-
chanter.
46. Fracture of the femur just below the iro
chanters, showing the extreme shortening
and hideous projection forwards, which is
the consequence of ill treatment.
47. Fracture of the sliaft of the femur, showing
the influence of the psoas and iliacus in
tilling the upper fragment forwards.
48. Fracture of the condyles of the femur into
the knee-joint.
49. Bandage for fractured patella.
50. Fractured patella, ligamentous union.
51. Tailed bandage for fracture of the leg.
52. Macintyre's leg splint for fractured leg.
53. The same applied.
54. Dupuytren's splint and bandage for fracture
of internal malleolus.
55. Disease of the hip-joint.
56. Disease of the hip-joint, advanced to a de-
struction of the acetabulum and capsular
ligament, and dislocation of the bone up-
wards.
57. Dislocation of the jaw.
Wood Cuts in DruiWs Surgery.
5S. Dislocation of ihe sternal extremity of the
clavicle, and dislocation forwards of the
shoulder-joint on the left side; and dislo-
cation of the acrominal end of the clavicle
with dislocation of the shoulder down-
wards on the right side.
59, 60. Dislocation of the humerus into the ax-
illa.
61, 62. Dislocation of the humerus forwards.
63. Dislocation of the humerus upon the dorsum
scapulae.
64. do. do. do. do.
6.J. Partial dislocation of the humerus upwards.
66. Method of reducing luxation of the humerus
into the axilla, by pulleys.
67. do. do. do. do.
by the heel in the axilla.
68. do. do. do. do.
by the method of Mr. White.
69. do. do. do. do.
by the knee in the axilla.
70. 71. Dislocationof elbow— both bones of fore-
arm backwards.
72, 73. Dislocationof ulna alone backwards.
74. Dislocation of the radius alone forvirards.
75. Dislocation of the radius backwards.
76. Dislocation of the first phalanx of the fore-
finger; with a piece of tape fastened with
the clove hitch to effect extension.
77. Dislocation of the hip-joint upwards on the
dorsum ilii.
78. Method of reducing the above.
79. 80. Dislocation of the hip-joint backwards.
81. Method of reducing the above.
82. Dislocation of hip-joint downwards.
S3. Method of reducing the above.
84,85. Dislocation of the hip-joint upwards and
forwards.
SG. Method uf reducing the above.
87. Dislocation of the femur upwards on the
space between the anterior spinous pro-
cesses of the ilium.
88. Dislocation of the knee.
89. Dislocation of ankle inwards, with fracture
of the lower end of fibula.
90. Simple dislocation of the tibia forwards.
91. Partial dislocation at the ankle-joint, the
end of the tibia resting in part upon the
astragalus, but a larger portion of its sur-
face resting on the os naviculare, (see
Cooper on Dislocations, p. 13, Phila. 1844.)
92. Simple dislocation of the astragalus.
93. Aneurismal varix.
94. Varicose aneurism.
9.5. Aneurism by anastomosis.
96. Method of extirpating erectile tumours by
ligature.
97. Twisted suture, for cure of varicose veins.
98. Angular curvature of the spine from caries
of the bodies of the vertebrae.
99,100. Dislocation and fracture of the vertebras.
101. Treatment of fistula lachrymalis by the stile.
102. Healing stage of ulcer of the cornea.
103. Nodules of lymph effused in symphylitic
iritis.
121.
iot>
134
135
1136
'l37.
Extraction of cataract.
Operation for strabismus.
Nasal polypus.
Perforation of the antrum with a trocar for
abscess of that cavity.
Hare-lip.
Fissure of the palate.
Forceps for extracting teeth of upper jaw.
Forceps for extracting teeth of lower jaw.
Key fur exiraciing teeth.
Conical curved lube for trachea.
Bronchocele.
Dupuytren's forceps for strangulating the
septum in artificial anus.
Common oblique inguinal hernia.
Direct inguinal hernia.
Congenital omental hernia.
Hernia infantilis, showing its two sacs.
Variety of hernia infantilis, in which the
sac is apparently formed of tunica vagina-
lis, but its communication with the testicle
closed.
Inguinal hernia.
123. Surgical anatomy of femoral or crural
hernia.
Obturator or thyroid hernia.
Section of a prolapsed rectum— the whole
substance of the bowel everted and coming
down.
Puncture of bladder by the rectum.
Stricture of the urethra.
Enlarged prostate, catheter in the urethra.
130, 131. Weiss's screw lithotrite.
Lateral operation of lithotomy.
Diagram exhibiting an internal view of the
parts of the neck of the bladder concerned
in lithotomy.
Paraphymosis.
Talipes equinus.
Talipes varus.
13S. Parts concerned in venesection at the
elbow, sliowing the veins at the bend of
the elbow, and the relation of the brachial
artery to the basilic vein, and the nerves.
Tourniquet.
Amputation of the thigh,— flap operation.
Amputation of the leg— flap operation.
Amputation of the arm, circular method.
Amputation of the forearm— flap method.
Amputation of the wrist.
Amputation of the finger at the last joint.
Amputation of the finger at the metacarpal
joint.
. Amputation of the head of a metacarpal
bone.
. Amputation through the tarsus,— Chopart's
operation.
Ligature of common carotid.
Surgical anatomy of the arteries of the fore-
arm and palm of the hand.
. Surgical anatomy of the femoral artery.
Surgical anatomy of the posterior tibial ar-
tery.
. Surgical anatomy of the anterior tibial ar-
tery.
NEW MEDICAL WORKS.
LEA AND BLANCHARD HAVE JUST PUBLISHED,
ALISON'S PATHOLOGY, A NEW WORK.
OUTLINES OF PATHOLOGY AND PRACTICE OF MEDICINE. By William Pultenpy Ali-
son, M. D., Prnfpssor <if the Practice of Medicine in the University of Edinburgh, &c, &c. In
three Parts — Part 1. Preliminary Observations. — Part 2. Inflammatory and Febrile Diseases. —
And Part 3. Chronic or Non Febrile Diseases. In one volume ootavo.
THE SECOND EDITION OF DUNGLISON'S PRACTICE OF ME-
DICINE.
THE FIFTH EDITION OF DUNGLISON'S HUMAN PHYSIOLOGY.
THE FOURTH EDITION OF DUNGLISON'S MEDICAL DICTION-
ARY.
SIR ASTLEY COOPER ON HERNIA, WITH PLATES.
CHAPMAN'S LECTURES ON THE MOST IMPORTANT DISEASES
OF THE THORACIC AND ABDOMINAL VISCERA.
THE FOLLOWING WORKS WILL BE PUBLISHED DURING
THE SEASON.
ASHWELL ON THE DISEASES OF WOMEN.
A PRACTICAL TREATISE ON THE DISEASE-^ OF WOMEN, Illiistrated by ca'?es derived
from Hospital and private practice. By Samuel Ashwell, [M. D., Obstetric Physician and Lec-
turer to Guy's Hospital, &c &c. With Notes and Additions by Paul Goddard, M. D, Demon-
strator of Anatomy in the University of Pennsylvania, &c. &c. In one vol. octavo, in three
parts. Part 1. Functional Diseases. — Part 2 & 3. Organic Diseases.
CH.4PMAN ON ERUPTIVE FEVERS, &c. &c.
A NEW VOLUME OF LECTURES. By Professor Chapman, embracing Small-Pox and other
Eruptive Diseases.
ANATOMICAL ATLAS.
The third part of SMITH AND HORNER'S ANATOMICAL ATLAS is now at press, and the
fourth and fifth will shortly follow, 'i he whole work will be ready by the first of October, in
one splendid volutne, or done up in five parts. The publishers rearet the delay in the comple-
tion of this work, but it has arisen from their great desire to exhibit the most perfect work on
Anatomy yet published with Wood Illustrations, m accmiiplishing which they have spared no
labour or e.xpense. No work has been published exhibiting the extensive microscopical views
to be presented in this volume. See the Prospectus.
CYCLOPEDIA OF PRACTICAL MEDICINE.
By Drs. Forbes, Tweedie, Conolly, and Diiiiglison. The first piaht parts of this work have been
published, and a part is regularly issued every two weeks. The parts now ready embrace arti-
cles from Abdomen lo Fevers. See the Prospectus for particulars.
DUNGLISON ON HUMAN HEALTH.
Human Health, or the inftuence of Atmosphere and Locality, Change of Dieiand Climate, Seasons,
Food, ('liiihiiig. Bathing, Mineral Springs, Exercise. Sleep, Corporeal and Intellectual Pursuits
on Healthy Man. By Robley Duiiglisuii. One vol. 8vo., is nearly ready.
A new edition of DUNGLISON'S MEDICAL STUDENT, revised. In one vol. 12mo., is at press.
SIMONS' MEDICAL CHEMISTRY. In one vol. octavo. With additions and numerous Cuts, is
preparing,
BRODIE'S CLINICAL LECTURES ON SURGERY. Embracing cases from public and private
practice, with aildilional Cases, Notes, and Illustrations by the American Editor. In one
vol. 8vo., to be published hereafter.
JONES AND TODD ON THE EAR. With notes and additions by Dr. Hays. In one volume,
with Illustrations, is preparing.
0/* Several other valuable Works are also preparing for the Profession. .^
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