HISTORY OF THE POPES FROM THE CLOSE OF THE MIDDLE AGES

BOOK II

THE RESTORATION OF THE PAPAL POWER AND ITS STRUGGLE WITH THE COUNCIL.

THE ORIGIN OF THE RENAISSANCE IN ROME

1417-1447

CHAPTER  II

EUGENIUS IV, 1431-1447

The failings of Martin V entailed much suffering on his successor, the virtuous and austere Eugenius IV. A reaction against the mode of government of the departed Pope, whose rigour towards his Cardinals and whose favour towards his kindred had been alike excessive, began in the Conclave. The Cardinals sought once for all to protect themselves from the possibility of treatment such as they had experienced, by drawing up a kind of Capitulation, in which rules for the conduct of the future Pope were laid down. It was not the first time that such an attempt had been made, for a document is still preserved in which the Cardinals assembled in Conclave in 1352 imposed conditions on the Pope about to be elected! After making a certain provision for the maintenance of his dignity, they assigned to themselves all emoluments, and to him all charges. Innocent VI, the able Pontiff who came forth from this Conclave, and who had himself, as Cardinal, subscribed the Capitulation, annulled it as uncanonical, because the Cardinals in Conclave had gone beyond their powers in drawing it up, and as rash, because it ventured to limit by human statutes and definitions that plenitude of power which God Himself had committed to the Holy See, independently of all foreign will or consent. The attempts of the College of Cardinals to provide themselves with a kind of Golden Bull were thus frustrated, three years before Charles IV bestowed one on the German Electors.

The Capitulation of 1431 went, in some respects, even further than that which had been framed before the election of Innocent VI. The Pope, according to its terms, was to reform the Roman Court "in its Head and its members", and not to transfer it to another place without the consent of the majority of the Sacred College; he was to hold a General Council, and by its means to reform the whole Church; in the appointment of Cardinals, he was to observe the prescriptions laid down at Constance; he was not to proceed against the person or property of any one of the Cardinals without the consent of the majority of the body, nor to diminish their power of testamentary disposition. Moreover, all vassals and officials of the States of the Church were to swear fealty to the Sacred College, which was to possess the half of all the revenues of the Roman Church, and the Pope was not to undertake any important measure in regard to the States of the Church without its assent.

These articles, which Eugenius IV immediately published in a Bull, gave a new government to the States of the Church and materially limited the temporal power of the Pope. But the altered state of things, was of short duration.

According to the description given by Vespasiano da Bisticci, Pope Eugenius was tall, of a handsome and imposing presence, thin, grave, and dignified in his bearing. He made such an impression on those around him that they hardly ventured to look at him. During his sojourn at Florence he seldom went out, but when he appeared in public, his aspect inspired such reverence that most of those who beheld him shed tears. “I remember”, continues this writer, "that once, at Florence, during the time of his exile, Pope Eugenius stood on a tribune erected near the entrance to the monastery of Sta. Maria Novella, while the people, who tilled the Piazza and the neighbouring streets, gazed on him in silence. When the Pope began the ‘Adiutorium nostrum in nomine Domini’ nothing was heard but loud sobbing, so overwhelming was the impression made by the majesty and the piety of the Vicar of Christ, who, in truth, seemed to be He whom he represented”.

Vespasiano further informs us that Eugenius’ manner of life was most simple; he drank no wine, but only water with sugar and a little cinnamon. His repast consisted of one dish of meat, with vegetables and fruit, both of which he liked; he had no fixed hour for meals, so his servants always kept something ready for him. He willingly granted audiences when his business was done; was very generous, and gave alms most bountifully; accordingly, he was always in debt, for he did not value money and kept nothing for himself. One day a poor Florentine citizen, Felice Brancacci, appealed to the Pope for assistance. Eugenius sent for a purse filled with florins and bid him take as many as he liked. As the man timidly took but a few, the Pope laughed and said: "Take plenty; I give you the money gladly". He parted with money as soon as he received it.

Four monks and a secular priest, all of them excellent men, were constantly with the Pope. Two of the monks were Benedictines, and two belonged to his own Order, that of the Augustinian Hermits. He recited the Divine Office with them daily, rising regularly for matins. When he awoke from his sleep, he had one of the books which lay near his bed given to him, and read for an hour or two, sitting up, with the book lying on a cushion before him between two candles. The sanctity of his life won universal veneration. Some of his relations came to him but they received no part of the temporal goods of the Church, for he held that he could not give away that which did not belong to him.

Nevertheless, the Pontificate of Eugenius IV was not a happy one. His hasty and over-violent measures against the relations of his predecessor at once involved him in a serious contest with the powerful house of Colonna, during which a conspiracy to surprise the Castle of St. Angelo by a nocturnal attack was discovered and suppressed in Rome.

Almost as soon as this sanguinary struggle had been concluded and the pride of the Colonnas humbled, fresh disturbances of a far more dangerous character broke out.

The attendance at the Council which had been opened at Basle on the 23rd of July, 1431, was very scanty, and on the 18th of December, in the same year, Eugenius IV issued a Bull dissolving it, and transferring it to Bologna, where it was again to meet after the lapse of a year and a half. Incorrect information and fear of the growing power of Councils induced the Pope to take this momentous step, which was a grievous mistake, prematurely revealing his extreme distrust of the Council, before any act or decision of that body had occurred to justify it. Those who were assembled at Basle evaded the public reading of the Bull of Dissolution on the 13th of January by absenting themselves from the place of meeting, and, on the 21st of the month, published an Encyclical Letter, addressed to all the faithful, announcing their determination "to continue in the Council, and, with the assistance of the Holy Spirit, to labour at the task committed to it". The secular powers at once came forward and promised the little Assembly their aid and protection, the menaces of Eugenius were unheeded, and the partisans of the Synod became more numerous. At this epoch the idea of a General Council exercised a estrange fascination on men's minds. He was looked upon as the cure for all the ills of the Church. If the disastrous Schism had been happily healed by this means, would it not be equally efficacious in the matter of reform?

The great victory gained by the Hussites at Taus, in which the cross of the Legate Cesarini and the Papal Bull proclaiming the Crusade fell into the hands of the heretics, had the effect of giving fresh weight and power to the Council. The humiliating defeat of the Crusading army produced a general and most painful impression, and contributed more than anything had yet done to strengthen and extend a conviction of the futility of the line of action hitherto pursued against the Bohemians, and of the necessity, not merely of ecclesiastical reform, but of amicable negotiation with the Hussites. These two measures seemed practicable only by means of the Council, and therefore the gifted Cardinal Giuliano Cesarini urged the Pope to recall the Bull which dissolved it — unfortunately his efforts were in vain, for Eugenius would not yield. In order to defend themselves from the Pope, the members of the Synod of Basle who were sure of King Sigismund’s protection proceeded to reassert the revolutionary resolutions by which the Council of Constance had been declared superior to the Pope (February 15, 1432). Measures of a yet more hostile character soon followed. On the 29th of April the Pope and his Cardinals were formally summoned to Basle, and threatened with proceedings for contumacy, in the event of their failure to appear within a period of three months. This was a decided step towards the revolution, for which Nicholas of Cusa sought to furnish a scientific justification in his treatise "On Catholic Unity". An order published on the 26th of September, 1432, facilitated its accomplishment, by admitting representatives of the lower ranks of the clergy to the Council in such overwhelming numbers, that the higher ecclesiastics were completely deprived of that moderating influence in such assemblies which undoubtedly belonged to them.

It is impossible to justify the course taken by the Synod of Basle, which soon overstepped all bounds in its opposition to Eugenius IV. At Constance, doubts regarding the legitimacy of one or other of the Popes may in some degree have excused adherence to the false theories by which a way of escape from an intolerable position was sought. The Basle Assembly now extended the Decrees to the case of an undoubted Pope, whose position was universally acknowledged. In its resistance to him, it assumed the proud title of an Ecumenical Council, assembled and enlightened by the Holy Spirit, and endeavoured to make the extraordinary power, which the Synod of Constance had exercised under the pressure of extraordinary circumstances, a precedent of general application. The pretension of a handful of prelates and doctors to represent the whole Catholic Church, would at other times have been ridiculed; now, they might count on success, partly because of the confusion of opinion on such matters due to the Schism, and partly because of the credit which Court favour and effectual negotiations with the Hussites had won for their Assembly. The danger which threatened the Papacy and the Church was of incalculable magnitude, for if the Basle resolutions were carried into effect, the overthrow of the divinely-established constitution of the Church was inevitable; the Vicar of Christ became merely the first official of a Constitutional Assembly. If priests dealt in a similar manner with their Bishops and the faithful with their priests, the dissolution of the whole Church would be the necessary consequence.

The Synod had entered on a course which was leading to a new Schism, and this was clearly perceived in Rome.

The gravity of the whole position, the continued excitement in the States of the Church, combined with the opposition to the Pope's line of conduct which had arisen in the Sacred College, at last induced Eugenius IV to yield, and to enter into negotiations with the Council. Its overweening pretensions would have frustrated all attempts to arrange matters, had it not been for the exertions of Sigismund, who was crowned Emperor at Rome on the 31st May, 1433. The Pope recalled the Decree dissolving the Council, and, reserving his own rights and those of the Apostolic See, acknowledged it as Ecumenical in its origin and proceedings (15th December, 1433), in a Bull which, although it went to the utmost possible limit of concession, did not expressly confirm the Anti-Papal resolutions previously adopted by the Synod This Bull was, so to speak, extorted from the Pope by the extreme dangers which at the time threatened his position in Italy.

The very soul of all the Anti-Papal conspiracies was Duke Filippo Maria Visconti, of Milan. The Venetian Pope had incurred the hatred of this tyrant from the very beginning of his reign, by showing favour to his enemies the Republics of Venice and Florence. Eugenius' contest with the Council furnished the Duke of Milan with a welcome opportunity of avenging himself on the Pope, by inducing his Condottieri Niccolò Fortebraccio and Francesco Sforza to invade the unquiet States of the Church. Both of these leaders professed to be acting by the command of the Council of Basle. Fortebraccio, supported by the Colonna family, made a rapid advance to the very gates of Rome; Eugenius fled to St. Angelo, then to San. Lorenzo in Damaso, and lastly to the Trastevere. Some of the Cardinals thought the Pope's cause quite desperate, and left the Eternal City. The Savelli openly joined the Pope's enemies; among the great Roman families, he had only some of the Orsini and Conti on his side. His contemporary Flavio Biondo says, "it is shorter to reckon those who remained true than those who fell away".

In this extremity, being without any steadfast allies, and surrounded by enemies, Eugenius IV resolved to yield to the demands of the Assembly at Basle.

After his reconciliation with the Council the Pope endeavoured to free himself from foes nearer home. In March, 1434, a treaty was concluded with Sforza, in virtue of which this brave leader, the most distinguished General Italy had known since the days of Julius Caesar, and the greatest statesman of his time, was appointed Vicar in the March of Ancona and Standard Bearer of the Church. Eugenius IV also sought to come to an understanding with Fortebraceio, but his advances were contemptuously repelled, and, in conjunction with Niccolò Piccinino, Visconti’s General, the Condottiere laid waste the neighbourhood of the Eternal City. Meanwhile emissaries from Milan, Piccinino, the Colonna family, and, it may be, also from the Council, were busily at work stirring up the Romans against the Pope. Their success was greatly facilitated by the conduct of Cardinal Francesco Condulmaro, who met the Roman deputies when they came to complain of the miseries of constant warfare and of the ruin of their property, with the scorn of a Venetian noble.

On the 29th May, 1434, the Revolution broke out in Rome; the Capitol was stormed, the Pope's nephew imprisoned, and finally a Republic proclaimed. Eugenius IV now resolved to fly. On the 4th June he rode, in the garb of a Benedictine monk, to the banks of the Tiber, where a boat received him; he was recognized as he was sailing away, and a shower of stones was thrown at him. Lying in the bottom of the boat and covered with a shield he escaped uninjured to Ostia; a galley thence conveyed him to Pisa and Florence, and, like his predecessor, he took up his abode there in the Dominican Monastery of Sta. Maria Novella.

The Roman Republic was of short duration; after the flight of the Pope the Eternal City became a prey to complete anarchy. The palace in the Trastevere where Eugenius IV had been living and the Vatican were plundered by the populace, who also robbed the Papal Courtiers. Baldassare d'Offida, the Papal Castellan, held the Castle of St. Angelo, and with his artillery overawed the adjacent parts of the City. The new Government, at the Capitol was bad and thoroughly incompetent; the rulers only despoiled the City, and many who had hoped that the overthrow of the Papal power would inaugurate a golden age, were grievously disappointed. The Romans soon perceived that nothing could be worse than the rule of their own people, and that the "freedom" of the city, which had been forsaken by most of its foreign inhabitants, brought with it nothing but evil. A great desire for the Pope’s return tilled men's minds, but Eugenius thought himself safer in his exile at Florence than in his capital, and sent Giovanni Vitelleschi, Bishop of Recanati, to the States of the Church as his representative. In October, 1434, when he entered Rome, the people rose up with the cry: "The Church! the Church!" and the Papal authority was soon re-established.

Vitelleschi is one of the most remarkable figures of his time. He belonged to a family of note in Corneto, bore arms in his youth under Tartaglia, but entered the ecclesiastical career after the accession of Martin V. He had, however, no vocation to the priesthood, and his elevation to the See of Recanati can only be accounted for by the existing confusion of spiritual and temporal affairs. He was a brave knight, but no pastor of souls, and, even under the mitre, he retained the character and manners of a Condottiere. In the field, his courage and military skill were unsurpassed by any leader of the day. Had he not been bound to the service of the Church, he would have won both glory and power, as did Sforza, Niccolò Piccinino, and others. He was ambitious, crafty, avaricious and cruel, yet there was something magnificent about him, and he was determined and brave. This man, who, according to Infessura, struck all who saw him with fear, now went forth with dauntless energy, not merely to humble the foes of the Pope in the States of the Church, but to destroy them with fire and sword. The first to feel the weight of his iron hand was the ancient race of Vico, who had always been at variance with the Pope. The City Prefect, Giacomo da Vico, the last of the family, was compelled to surrender his Castle of Vetralla, brought to trial, and then beheaded. Eugenius IV then raised Francesco Orsini to the rank of Prefect of the City, at the same time greatly restricting the jurisdiction of the office by appointing the Vicecamerlengo Governor of the City and its territory, with authority in matters of police and criminal cases.

Vitelleschi's first successes were rewarded by his elevation to the dignities of Patriarch of Alexandria and Archbishop of Florence. During his absence a fresh insurrection, in which the Conti, Colonna, Gaetani, and Savelli took part, broke out in Rome. The Patriarch, as Vitelleschi now called himself, at once hastened back to execute bloody vengeance on the offenders. The Castles of the Savelli and Colonna were forcibly taken and destroyed; and Palestrina, the principal fortress of the latter family, was also compelled to surrender on the 18th August, 1436. On his return to Rome he was received with honours such as hitherto had been rendered to none but Popes and Emperors. Senate and people determined to erect an equestrian statue of him in marble on the Capitol, with the inscription, "To Giovanni Vitelleschi, Patriarch of Alexandria, the third Father of the City of Rome, after Romulus". Winter brought him back to his native City of Corneto, where he built himself a palace which, notwithstanding its present fallen condition, is one of the most imposing examples still remaining in Italy of the transition from the Gothic to the Renaissance period of architecture.

With the spring of the following year (1437) the work of vengeance against the tyrants of the Campagna began anew. In the end of March workmen were sent to Palestrina with orders to raze the city to the ground. The terrible work went on for forty days, and even the churches were not spared. In the struggle for the throne of Naples, Vitelleschi, by the command of Eugenius, espoused the cause of Anjou, against Alfonso of Aragon, who harassed the States of the Church from the South and kept up open relations with the Pope's enemies. The Patriarch took Antonio Orsini, Prince of Tarento, the most powerful of Alfonso's partisans, prisoner, and the Pope acknowledged this service by creating him Cardinal (August 9th, 1437).

His other military enterprises in the Kingdom of Naples were unsuccessful, and he returned to the States of the Church to resume his merciless warfare against their tyrants. Lorenzo Colonna had taken Zagarolo by surprise in 1439. On the 2nd of April the Cardinal stormed the place, and had it levelled to the ground; fresh struggles with Niccolò Savelli and the Trinci in Foligno followed. Vitelleschi was again victorious; the whole territory from Civitavecchia to the Neapolitan frontier was in his power; four thousand horsemen and two thousand foot soldiers were constantly in readiness to quell any resistance.

In Rome the Cardinal ruled with a despotism hitherto unknown; the Romans, weary of endless disquiet, forgave everything because he maintained order; even his deeds of cruelty were excused. “Never, up to the present day”, says the simple-minded Paolo di Liello Petrone, "has any- one done so much for the welfare of our City of Rome; if only he had not been so cruel; although he was almost compelled thereto on account of the corruption which prevailed in Rome and its neighbourhood to such a degree, that murders and robberies were committed by the citizens and peasants by night and by day". In order to restore the Leonine City, Vitelleschi, following the example of Romulus, sought to re-people this devastated quarter by granting to it the privileges of asylum for criminals and freedom from taxes, and civil autonomy. The power of the Cardinal was at its height when he suddenly fell.

This event is veiled in the deepest obscurity; it is more than probable that the Florentines had a hand in it. His enemies allied themselves with Antonio Rido, the Castellan of St. Angelo, whose relations with Vitelleschi were strained to the utmost. On the 19th March, 1440, Rido had an interview with Vitelleschi, who had everything in readiness for a fresh expedition to Umbria, on the Bridge of St. Angelo. Rido kept the Cardinal in conversation until his troops had passed over. Then, at a given signal, the narrow door leading to the Borgo was shut, a chain, which had secretly been placed in readiness, was drawn across the bridge, and Rido's soldiers pressed forward to seize Vitelleschi. In vain did the Cardinal with his followers endeavour to fight his way through. He was wounded, dragged from his horse, and shut up in St. Angelo; his soldiers, on hearing the tidings, would have stormed the castle, but Rido managed to appease them by the publication of a Papal warrant for his arrest, the genuineness of which they were unable to test. A fortnight later (2nd April) the Cardinal was a corpse.

Such are the actual facts of the case, and everything else is more or less uncertain. The words written by a contemporary chronicler are still essentially true; no one knew on what grounds Vitelleschi had been taken prisoner, or who had given orders for his arrest, or if the real cause of his death had been violence or poison.

The question whether Eugenius IV consented to the imprisonment of his favourite is one which cannot be answered with certainty; yet many historians have affirmed that he did, and it is most probable that Rido's action was not altogether spontaneous and independent. Yet, if we may believe his own letter to the Florentines, written immediately after the arrest —which is doubtful— this opinion cannot be maintained. Rido here declares that Vitelleschi repeatedly endeavoured to wrest the fortress from him, to the great detriment of the Church and of the Pope, that he knew the Cardinal to be an open enemy of the Pope, and that, therefore, he had on that very day taken him prisoner, but without the permission of Eugenius, whom he could not inform beforehand for want of time. This remarkable letter concludes by saying "I have done to him what he undoubtedly desired to do to me". This single document, taken by itself, is not sufficient to decide the question positively, yet it is calculated to shake our confidence in the often repeated assertion that "Eugenius consented to the imprisonment of his favourite". A complete explanation of the complicated events of this period can only be furnished by further researches in the Archives.

The Pope was too much in the power of the Florentines to condemn Vitelleschi's imprisonment, and Rido was at once promoted to high dignity. It would seem that proofs of the treasonable designs attributed to the Cardinal were not forthcoming, for in subsequent Briefs the Pope repeatedly speaks of him as his "beloved son". In a Brief to the inhabitants of Corneto, his imprisonment is represented as the accidental consequence of dissensions between him and Rido, and then Scarampo's nomination as Legate is announced without comment. This document contains no word of complaint against Rido, who, like Vitelleschi, is styled by the Pope "beloved son", but there is a passage which seems directly to contradict the supposition that the latter had wished to found a State for himself. Scarampo, like his predecessor, was a worldly-minded Prelate; he had formerly been a physician, and it is said that Eugenius owed his recovery from an illness to his care. Under Vitelleschi, he followed the career of arms, later on he took orders, was made Archbishop of Florence, and soon after his appointment as Vitelleschi's successor, was raised to the purple (July 1, 1440).

Pietro Barbo, son of Nicholas Barbo and Polyxena Condulmaro, sister to Eugenius IV, was at the same time created Cardinal. Barbo was extremely fond of splendour, very generous, learned in Canon law, and an enthusiastic collector of ancient coins and gems; in a later portion of this work we shall speak of his collections and of his palace. A bitter and lasting feud existed between him and Scarampo.

Scarampo’s government of Rome was as severe as that of Vitelleschi, but he did far more for the restoration of the afflicted city, and has justly been praised for his efforts to raise the Romans from the sloth into which they had fallen, and to make of them civilized beings.

The flight of Eugenius IV to Florence —the last event of the kind until the flight of Pius IX— had, especially in one respect, consequences of a far-reaching nature.

The whole intellectual training of Eugenius, who, even while he occupied the Papal throne, never ceased to be the austere monk, tended to keep him untouched by the Renaissance movement, but he was by no means indifferent to the progress of science, and had given proof of his zeal in this matter by his re-establishment (1431) of the Roman University, which "had been completely ruined by the misfortunes of the time, and the disunion of the Church". He also encouraged artists, and was well disposed to carry on the work of Martin V, but the Roman Revolution of 1434 suddenly interrupted every effort of the kind.

Pope Eugenius IV's choice of Florence, the home of revived art and the intellectual centre of Humanism in Italy, as his abode, was a matter of the greatest importance. The Pope and his Court, by their lengthened sojourn there and by the negotiations with the Greeks, were brought into the closest contact with the Renaissance; and the vehement discussions which soon afterwards broke out in regard to the Councils, compelled him to secure the services of skilful pens, so as to fight his opponents with their own weapons. The years spent in Florence, however, were of more weight than all besides. It was impossible to live in the very home of the Renaissance and remain insensible to its influence. This was, however, a time of probation for the Humanistic Secretaries of the Pope. The sources of remuneration failed, and in consequence many members of the Court left their Master. Among the few who remained faithful was Flavio Biondo, who had been appointed Apostolic Secretary early in the year 1434. In his simplicity, modesty, and purity of life this hard-working man, who was a representative of the Christian Renaissance, forms a consoling contrast to the unprincipled Poggio and his fellows. The Pope had a great regard for him, and Biondo, on his side, manifested his gratitude by dedicating to Eugenius IV his historical description of the City of Rome ("Roma Instaurata"). This is in some respects a very remarkable work, being the first topographical account of the Eternal City founded on a systematic use of documentary sources of information. It is also full of original, though often mistaken, ideas. Biondo is, in fact, the founder of a special branch of science — that of topography. His book abounds in information regarding Christian Rome. Unlike Poggio, from whose. "Wanderings through Rome” all allusion to this aspect of the Eternal City is carefully excluded, Biondo, the Christian Humanist, brings it prominently forward. With Petrarch, he believes that the majesty and glory of Rome stand on another and surer foundation than the vanished pomp of Capitol and Palatine, the renown of her Consuls and Legions. At the end of the third book he gives a complete list of the principal churches, chapels, and holy places. He justly prizes the sanctuaries and relics of Our Lord, the handkerchief of St. Veronica, and the shrine, Domine quo vadis, and those of the Apostles and Martyrs, as the peculiar and inalienable treasure of Rome. The thought of the glorious remains preserved in the Eternal City consoles him for the ruin which meets him on every side. An intelligent interest in Christian antiquity pervades the whole work, which, at its commencement, undertakes to point out the sanctuaries of the martyrs, and especially to inform its readers where and by whom the churches were built. Accordingly, throughout the whole of the first volume, which follows the topographical order, the churches are introduced together with the edifices of ancient Rome. The restoration of ecclesiastical buildings, accomplished by the zeal of Eugenius IV, is repeatedly mentioned in terms of the highest praise; and other works are not unnoticed, as, for example, the magnificent completion of the Palace of San Lorenzo in Lucina, whose foundations had been laid in 1300, and whose construction had been carried on by many successive Cardinals; also the rebuilding of the bridges connecting the Island of the Tiber with the rest of Rome, by order of Eugenius IV. It will be seen that Biondo may fairly claim the title of founder of Christian and mediaeval topography.

To give an account of all the Humanists who entered the Papal service during the Pontificate of Eugenius IV, does not fall within the scope of the present work. We need only remark that their number was surprisingly great and that, notwithstanding the Pope's austerity, little or no regard was paid in their selection to Christian conduct or to religious sentiments. At this time, indeed, the antagonism which afterwards appeared was still latent, and the partisans of the Christian and Heathen Renaissance associated freely with one another. The literary gatherings which took place every morning and evening at Florence, in the vicinity of the Papal residence, with Manetti, Traversari and Parentucelli included also Poggio and Carlo Marsuppini, who on his death-bed scorned the consolations of Religion.*

The decision with which Eugenius forbade Valla's return to Rome, when he sought forgiveness and offered his services and his measures against Beccadelli's disgraceful book, prove, nevertheless, that he did not practically ignore the dangers of the heathen Renaissance. It is probable that he would have opposed it in a far more energetic manner, had not the contest with the Council of Basle taxed all his powers to the utmost, and made the greatest consideration towards the Humanists with their ready pens a necessity. The Pope feared them, because, as he once observed, they were not wont to pass over an injury, and because they could avenge themselves with weapons which were hard to parry. Humanistic studies were warmly encouraged in this Pontificate, as they had been in the preceding one, by Cardinals Giordano Orsini (d.1438), Albergati (d. 1443), Giuliano Cesarini (d. 1444), Prospero Colonna, and Domenico Capranica. The last-named Cardinal had a choice library of two thousand volumes, which he generously opened to all students. Gerardo Landriani (d. 1445) another patron of the Humanists, was raised to the purple by Eugenius IV at the Council of Florence. He had a valuable library of classical works, many of which were rare His learning was justly esteemed, and the discourses which he made before the Council of Basle and as Ambassador to the King of England, were transcribed, and regarded as elegant compositions. This Cardinal was on friendly terms with Marsuppini, Poggio, and even Beccadelli, a circumstance which gave no offence to their contemporaries. It became more and more the custom to flatter the Humanists on account of their literary services. Those were the days when the ascetic Albergati held constant intercourse with half-heathen wits, and the pious Capranica welcomed Poggio's letters and addressed him as his "very dear comrade".

Besides these Cardinals we must mention Bessarion as a diligent collector of books, a laborious author, and a friend and patron of scholars. He was the protector of all the learned Greeks who had any reason to apply to the Papal Court.

It is not easy to pronounce a general judgment as to the circumstances which prepared the way for the Pontificate of the first Humanist who ever mounted the Papal Throne, yet we may safely say that the contact of Pope and Court with the vigorous literary life of Florence had in some respects a very beneficial effect. On the other hand, however, it was undoubtedly one of the contributing causes of that predominance of Humanists in the Roman Court which, in itself, and still more on account of their heathen tendencies, awakened grave apprehensions.

The Italian troubles consequent on the exile of Eugenius were small compared with those provoked by the Assembly at Basle. Neither the fact of his compliance nor his defenceless position availed to soften the hearts of the bitter enemies of the Papacy in that City. The reconciliation had been only apparent, and the feelings of the majority were unchanged, so that the fanatical partisans of the Council soon gained the upper hand. Their leader was Cardinal Louis Allemand of Arles, and their object was to make the Council permanent and endow it with all the attributes of sovereignty, judicial, administrative, legislative, and executive, with the Pope as its more or less necessary appendage. Instead of the reform of the ecclesiastical abuses, which in many countries had reached a fearful pitch, the diminution of the Papal authority and the destruction of the monarchical character of the Church became the chief business of the Synod.

A decree abolishing at one blow all annates, pallium-fees, taxes, and other charges was issued by this Assembly, and was well calculated to provoke a desperate struggle between the Pope and the Council. A Protestant historian remarks that this "decree, even if in itself just and necessary, was, with such extensive provisions, at this moment, a party measure of extreme violence. The Pope, with a portion of his Court, was in exile at Florence, and dependent on the alms of his allies. He was more than ever in need of money for subsidies to the troops, by whose help alone he could recover for himself, and for the Church, the territories which had been wrested from her or had revolted against her. And, at this very lime, his last source of revenue was cut off. In vain did the Papal Legates ask how the officials of the Court were to be paid, embassies kept up, exiled prelates supported, and heretics and enemies of the Church overcome. It seemed as if the Council counted on the Pope's disobeying its decree and thus giving fresh occasion for judicial proceedings. There was a tone of irony in the discourses which were constantly made in praise of Apostolic poverty, and in the suggestion that the Pope, undisturbed by temporal cares, could live entirely for the service of God. At Constance, the abolition of the annates had been demanded, but in view of the Pope's defenceless position, deferred. This consideration was at that time an act of forbearance, now it was a duty".

Further decrees against the Pope soon followed. They were so prejudicial to the undoubted rights of the Holy See that Eugenius IV was constrained to address a memorial to all the European Powers, making bitter complaints of the unheard of presumption of the Synod. It had, he says, degraded his Legates by arbitrarily limiting their authority; made their presidency merely nominal by resolving that its decisions should be published by others and without their consent; transformed itself into a headless body; subjected the Pope, by a false interpretation of the Constance decrees, to the censorship of the Synod, in a manner unknown to former times; undertaken an immense amount of business, and involved itself in discussions altogether foreign to its proper object; given away many benefices; erected commenda; granted Papal dispensations; demanded for itself the annates refused to the Pope; assumed the right of dealing with cases reserved to the Holy See; and suppressed the Prayer for the Pope in the Liturgy. The undue extension to private persons of the right of suffrage, in direct opposition to the ancient custom of Councils, is justly viewed by the Pope as the chief source of all this confusion. Measures adopted at Constance with a view to the unanimous decision of the great question of the Schism, — a matter of universal consequence — were made applicable to all cases and extended in their scope. With a fallacious appeal to this isolated example, an assembly, the majority of whose members were men of no real weight, proceeded to deal with affairs of the utmost importance, gave forth as the decisions of a General Council decrees which had been drawn up in an unlawful and precipitate manner, and endeavoured to overturn the constitution of the Church. For these reasons the Pope deemed that it was time for princes to recall their Bishops and Ambassadors from Basle, and so render possible the assembling of another and better-disposed Council.

The complaints of Eugenius, who was unwilling to let his high dignity become a mere shadow, were fully justified, for the conduct of the clerical democracy at Basle went beyond all bounds. The majority of the Assembly consisted of Frenchmen, and offered no opposition to any measure directed against the exiled Pope; the most fanatical party seized every opportunity of making him feel their power and ill-will. Their real object was declared with admirable candour by the Bishop of Tours in one of the Sessions in the following words: "We must either wrest the Apostolic See from the hands of the Italians, or else despoil it to such a degree that it will not matter where it abides". The Council would have proceeded yet further in this direction but for a crisis occasioned by the negotiations for union with the Greeks.

The history of these negotiations shows that the Pope alone sincerely sought for union. The Greek Emperor used the idea as a talisman to procure aid against the Turks; the members of the Council of Basle hoped by its means to gain a fresh victory over the Pope, and, by a great success, to recover their hold on public opinion, which was threatening to turn against them. The choice of the place where the Union Council should meet led to fresh discord between the Pope and the Assembly at Basle. In its Session of the 7th May, 1437, an important decision was arrived at. The Anti-Papal party, led by Cardinal Louis Allemand of Arles, had, shortly before this Session, so strengthened itself by the admission of a number of ecclesiastics from the neighbourhood of Basle, that it could command a majority. Amidst violent opposition it decided that Basle should be the place of meeting, or, if this city were not convenient for the Greeks, Avignon, or some city in Savoy, and also that a general tithe should be levied on Church property to meet the necessary expenses. A minority of the Assembly, including Cardinal Giuliano Cesarini and the most esteemed among the Prelates, voted for the selection of Florence or Udine, which had been proposed by the Pope.

The Pope approved of the decision of the minority, and did everything in his power to hinder the execution of the Decree of the majority. He saw plainly the object of the contemplated transfer of the Council from Basle to Avignon to be the establishment of the Roman Court under French protection in the latter city, after his death or deposition. This purpose explains the obstinacy with which Cardinal Louis Allemand and his followers held to Avignon in spite of the objections of the Pope, ever mindful of the disastrous results of the sojourn of his predecessors in that city, and of the Greeks, which were founded on its great distance from their country. The objections of the Greeks frustrated all negotiations between them and the Cardinal's party, while the superior skill of the Papal diplomatists completely won them over to the side of their master.

The Pope's success provoked his adversaries at Basle to the utmost, and on the 3rd July, 1437, they issued a monitum, in which, after pouring forth a torrent of accusations against him and even laying all the political miseries of the States of the Church to his charge, they summoned him to appear before their tribunal. A Bull, published on the 18th September, was the Pope's reply to this summons; it declared that the six years duration of the Council of Basle had produced a surprisingly small result. He made known to all Christendom its evil doings, and should it undertake any measures against him and the Cardinals, or persist in its adherence to the monitum, he required its immediate removal to Ferrara, a city which had been named by the Greeks and which he approved. On the publication of the Bull, the Synod was at once to discontinue its labours, except in regard to Bohemian affairs, which might proceed for thirty-one days more. In any case, however, on the arrival of the Greeks and their ratification of the selection of Ferrara, the Pope transfers the Council to that city, and there, in presence of the new Synod and before the whole world, he will justify his conduct and clear himself from the accusations made against him at Basle. At the same time he annulled the transfer of the Council to Avignon, summoned all who had a right to be present to meet at Ferrara, and formally made the removal to that city known to all the citizens of Basle and to all the illustrious Universities.

The Synod declared this Bull invalid, and threatened the Pope with suspension and deposition. In vain did Cardinal Cesarini once more endeavour to make peace. In a long and fervent discourse, he earnestly entreated the members of the Synod to lay aside all hatred and strife and meet the Greeks, and send ambassadors to them. Should the Greeks refuse to come to Basle, Avignon, or Savoy, he urged concession to their wishes, inasmuch as union was the principal matter and the place but a secondary consideration. He also insisted on reconciliation with the Pope, lest they should become a laughing-stock to the Greeks. But his words fell upon deaf ears, and with his numerous friends he left Basle.

The learned Nicholas of Cusa and other distinguished theologians also at this time separated themselves from the Council, and espoused the cause of the Pope. They have been severely blamed for the step and accused of want of principle. But, as the historian of these events very justly observes, "is it impossible that a man should enthusiastically cling to a party as long as he is fully persuaded of the goodness, justice, and usefulness of its aims and proceedings, and when he sees it enter on an evil course and persist in it in spite of all warnings, should sever himself from it and oppose it? Is not this the duty of every honourable and truth-loving man? The estimable Cardinal Cesarini and the great Nicholas of Cusa were warm partisans of the Council of Basle as long as they believed it to be animated by zeal for the improvement of the condition of the Church, for the conversion of those in error and for the restoration of peace and unity. When, however, it became more and more evident that no true regard for the welfare of the Church, but paltry obstinacy and party feeling, ruled its decisions; when the hatred of the majority of its members for the Pope had made Schism with all its terrible consequences imminent, these men considered themselves bound to abandon the cause of the Synod, and thereby, as far as in them lay, avert the threatened calamity".

While the Synod of Basle thus lost its best adherents, the Council, which had been opened at Ferrara on the 8th January, 1438, by Cardinal Albergati, at once attained the greatest importance. On the 4th March the Greek Emperor, John Palaeolqgus, appeared with a numerous train of Greek dignitaries and theologians, amongst whom were Mark of Ephesus, Bessarion of Nicaea, and Gemistos Plethon; four days later the Greek patriarch Joseph followed. Eugenius IV had been there ever since the end of January, and immediately after his arrival had convened the members of the Assembly to a solemn Congregation in his private chapel, laid before them the state of his relations with the Synod of Basle, and exhorted them to begin the work of reformation by their own amendment.

The negotiations with the Greeks dragged on for more than a year, and often it seemed as if the Assembly would disperse without accomplishing its end. Political necessities at last induced the Greeks to give way, and in July, 1439, the union, which proved but a temporary one, was effected at Florence, the Council having been in the meanwhile transferred to that city. A document in which the conditions of union were laid down, was signed on the 5th July, 1439, all the ecclesiastical dignitaries present in Florence, with the exception of some bitter opponents among the Greeks, and on the 6th July it was solemnly read in the Cathedral. It is still preserved as one of the most precious treasures of the Laurentian Library.

The Pope hastened to make the good tidings known throughout Christendom, and to appoint public prayers and processions, in order to thank God for the happy event, and implore Him to perfect His work, and bring the proud barbarian nations also beneath the yoke of the Christian Faith.

The success obtained by Eugenius was indeed immense, for, even if the hatred of the Greek to the Latin nations made the union continue to be rather one on paper than a living reality, yet it was the accomplishment of that which had long been deemed impossible; a Schism, before whose extent and danger even the Papal Schism seemed small, had been dogmatically healed, and the great boon of a reconciliation, which it was hoped would be world-wide, was due to the persecuted Pope. It was difficult at that period to form an opinion as to the duration of the union, but there was a more or less general impression that the submission of the Greeks would tend to the exaltation of that Papal authority which the Council of Basle had set at naught.

The dogmatical decision regarding the extent of the Papal power, embodied in the Union Decree of the Council of Florence, was of extreme importance to western Christendom, which had not yet recovered from the effects of the great Schism. An Ecumenical Council now pronounced the Pope to be the head, not merely of individual Churches, but of the Church Universal, to derive his power not from the will of the faithful, but immediately from Christ, whose Vicar he is; and to be not only the Father, but also the Teacher, to whom all Christians owe submission. The publication of this decision, which has become the essential foundation of the theological development of the doctrine of the Primacy, was a mortal blow to the very root of the Schism.

Apart from their dogmatic aspect, these negotiations with the Greeks hold an important place in the history of literature and civilization. The result of the new intellectual intercourse between East and West, between Greek and Latin culture, were immense, especially in the promotion of the study of the Greek language and the introduction of the Greek philosophy, both of which had hitherto been almost unknown to Western Christendom.

On the Roman Court the influence exercised was an abiding one, and tended to give the Humanist element a power even greater than that which it had already attained. Eugenius IV required men who were able to translate Greek, and to hold personal interviews and disputations with the representatives of the Greek Church, and accordingly, although himself untouched by the spirit of the Renaissance, he was constrained to take a number of eminent Greek scholars, who were Humanists, into his service. These men were fully employed, to judge from Guarino's declaration that from the time of the arrival of the Greeks he had not enjoyed a quiet hour. The official interpreter in the disputations was Niccolò Sagundino of Negroponte, a man of business rather than a scholar. It was during the progress of these long-drawn negotiations with the Greeks that Tommaso Parentucelli, one of the noblest representatives of the Christian Renaissance, gave those brilliant proofs of his knowledge of theological literature, which attracted the attention of the Pope and thus paved the way for his own subsequent elevation to the supreme dignity.

The Greek Bessarion, and the Camaldolese monk, Ambrogio Traversari, the special favourite of Eugenius, whom we have already mentioned, took a yet more important part in these proceedings. To the latter belongs the honour of having drawn up the Act of Union in both languages; it is plain, however, from careful investigation that Bessarion's share in the composition of this document was considerable.

Bessarion, a great man and a great scholar, has been justly regarded as the last Greek of note before the complete downfall of his nation. He was born at Trebizond early in the fifteenth century, and was of humble origin. After studying for some time at Constantinople he entered the Basilian Order in 1423, and in the same year went to the Peloponesus and zealously applied himself to philosophy and mathematics under the guidance of Gemistos Plethon. His natural aversion to anything extreme and exclusive, either in conduct or in science, made the office of mediator and peacemaker peculiarly congenial, and gave him a special fitness for the management of the difficult negotiations regarding union. He passed rapidly through the different grades of ecclesiastical promotion until he became Archbishop of Nicaea, and as such accompanied the Greek Emperor to Italy. His moral worth and persuasive eloquence made a deep impression on all who saw him in Ferrara and Florence. After the happy conclusion of the union, Bessarion went for a short time to Greece, but soon returned to Italy, where he joined the Latin obedience, and on the 18th December, 1439, was raised to the purple, together with Archbishop Isidore. He was now commonly known by the name of Nicenus, while Isidore was called Ruthenus. Bessarion's proceeding has been the subject of severe and most unjust censure. But this step seems amply accounted for both on personal and external grounds, if we regard it as a consequence of the Union of the Churches and the attendant negotiations, nor does it involve any change either of opinion or belief. Bessarion's subsequent bearing towards his former associates was uniformly noble and generous. With a heart full of the ideal of that union which unfortunately was to prove so short-lived, he strove in his new country to promote the study and appreciation of Greek learning, and became its able Humanistic exponent. He also studied Latin, and was zealous in his labours for the Church, for the cause of learning and for his own unhappy nation. We shall have hereafter to speak of the many difficult mission which the Pope entrusted to Bessarion, as well as of his self-sacrificing efforts on behalf of his countrymen. As Reformer of the Basilian Order and Protector of the two great Mendicant Orders, the Greek Cardinal rendered the most valuable service to the Church. His ample income was nobly employed in the furtherance of learning, the acquisition of manuscripts and the maintenance of needy scholars. His Palace was a place of meeting for all the most distinguished Greek and Italian literary men, and the circle of Humanists whom he drew around him took the form of an academy, in which the philosophy of Plato and all other branches of learning and science were discussed in familiar conversation. The Cardinal gave further practical proof of his hearty interest in the Renaissance by his translation into Latin of many Greek authors, by his splendid defence of Plato against the Aristotelian, George of Trebizond, and by the establishment of a library unequalled in Italy for the number and value of its manuscripts; especially after the fall of Constantinople, the zeal of the collector was guided and stimulated by his patriotism. If his country was to be desolated by barbarians, he wished at least to rescue the intellectual works of the ancient Greeks from destruction, and accordingly made it his business to search diligently after rare books. His appointment by the Pope in 1446 as Visitor of the Basilian Monasteries in Italy was extremely favourable to the accomplishment of his purpose. By degrees he got together about nine hundred manuscripts, whose value he estimated at fifteen hundred ducats. Four years before his death he presented this library to the Republic of Venice, the ancient link between East and West. His motive for this magnanimous action was the consideration that, notwithstanding all his liberality, the library, while in his possession, could benefit but a limited number of readers, whereas in Venice its treasures would be open to all scholars. The Philosopher Gemistos Plethon, Bessarion's master, ranks next after him among the Greeks who took part in the Union Council. The energies of this gifted but passionate man were, however, directed rather to the spread of the Platonic Philosophy than to the cause of union, and he left behind him abiding traces of his work in Italy. His burning words inflamed the soul of Cosmo de* Medici, and gave birth to his plan for the revival of this philosophy in Italy. Marsiglio Ficino, the man selected by Cosmo for the execution of his purpose, says in his translation of the works of Plotinos: "The great Cosmo, at the time when the Council assembled by Pope Eugenius IV was sitting in Florence, was never weary of listening to the discourses of Plethon, who, like a second Plato, held disputations on the Platonic Philosophy. The eloquence of this man took such hold upon him and animated him with such enthusiasm, that he firmly resolved to found an Academy at the first favourable moment".

Soon after the conclusion of the Council, Plethon returned to his home, happily without having imparted his heathen opinions to the Italians, whom he regarded as uncultivated barbarians.

The union with the Greeks was soon followed by others, but unfortunately in most cases these were only caused by the pressure of necessity, and accordingly had no real stability. On the 22nd November, 1439, Eugenius IV had the satisfaction of concluding a treaty with the Armenian Ambassadors for the union of their Church with that of Rome. In 1443 union with a portion of the Jacobites followed. The movement among the Eastern Christians continued for the next few years. In the spring of 1442 the Council was removed from Florence to Rome, where it held two Sessions (30th September, 1444, and 7th August, 1445), principally occupied with the union of the Orientals. On the 7th August, 1445, Eugenius published a Bull giving thanks to God that, after the return of the Greeks, Armenians, and Jacobites, the Nestorians and Maronites had now also given ear to his admonitions, and had solemnly professed the immaculate Faith of the Roman Church. He declared that the Maronites and Chaldeans were no longer to be styled heretics, nor was the name of Nestorian to be applied to the latter body. A year before the date of this Bull King Stephen of Bosnia had entered the Catholic Church, and his example had been followed by his relations and by the most distinguished of the Bosnian magnates. Before the end of the Pontificate of Eugenius IV the East appeared to be almost entirely united to Rome. Unfortunately the union was more apparent than real, and was but partial; nevertheless the general success of these negotiations gave fresh support to the Papal power amid the enemies which beset it on every side.

Few Popes have done so much as Eugenius IV did for the East, and although it soon became evident that most of the Greeks had no real desire for union, he persevered in his efforts to stem the tide of Turkish encroachment, and to secure the duration of the Byzantine Empire.

Lower Hungary as far as the Theiss, Sclavonia, and the whole of the district between the Save and the Drave, were devastated with fire and sword by the Turks in the spring of 1441. The Hungarian hero, John Hunyadi, who, in acknowledgment of his faithful services, had been created Duke of Transylvania and Count of Temesvar, happily for Christendom undertook the command in the southern frontier cities of the kingdom, and by his skill and energy successfully repelled repeated attacks of the Turks. The Pope meanwhile did all in his power to promote the war against the Infidels. He wrote touching letters to the western Princes, describing the sad position of the Christians in the East and promising many favours to those who should take part in the crusade. At the beginning of the year 1442 he published an Encyclical letter, in which, after mentioning his own poverty, he exhorted and required all archbishops, bishops, and abbots to pay a tithe from all their churches, monasteries, and benefices for the prosecution of the war against the Turks; he himself, he added, would give a good example to all Christendom in this matter, which concerned the welfare of the Church, and would devote the fifth part of the whole revenues of the Apostolic treasury to the equipment of the army and fleet. He sent Cardinal Cesarini as legate to Hungary, to restore peace in that kingdom as speedily as possible; and also desired Bishop Christopher of Corona to urge all the Princes, Lords, and Cities in the adjacent Provinces of Moldavia and Wallachia, Lithuania and Albania to be united amongst themselves and to do battle with their common enemy. The preparation of a fleet was begun at Venice at a great cost.

The effects of Cesarini's eloquence were soon visible in the pacification of Hungary and the preparations which were made for a great campaign against the Turks; unfortunately, however, the majority of the western Princes remained indifferent to the Pope's appeal. Poland and Wallachia alone responded by providing two auxiliary corps, composed of infantry and cavalry, and undertaking to pay them for half a year. The lower orders manifested the utmost enthusiasm for the defence of Christendom and hastened in great numbers to Hungary, and the Pope endeavoured to forward the enterprise by subsidies.

In June, 1443, the crusading army went forth, headed by King Wladislaw and Hunyadi and accompanied by Cardinal Cesarini and George Brankowitsch, the fugitive King of Servia. The expedition began most prosperously; the army passed unopposed through Servia, defeated the Turks in a great battle at Nisch (3rd November), reached Sofia, crossed the mountain pass between the Balkan and the Ichtimaner Srfidna Gora at Mirkovo, and proceeded to Zlatica. Here its progress was arrested by the Janissaries and, as winter had set in, it was decided that it should then retreat, and resume the campaign in the following year.

The terrible defeat they had experienced in the year 1443, and the consequent insurrection of the Albanians under George Kastriota (Skanderbeg), combined perhaps with the tidings that a very warlike spirit was manifesting itself in the west, induced Sultan Murad III to make proposals of peace to the Hungarians, and, notwithstanding the remonstrances of the Cardinal Legate Cesarini, a ten years' truce was concluded at Szegedin, in virtue of which Wallachia continued in the possession of Hungary and Bulgaria in that of the Porte, while Servia reverted to Brankowitsch. Neither of the contending powers were henceforth to cross the Danube.

Before the conclusion of this peace, which politically was a great mistake, the crusading fleet had sailed for the Levant. This fleet had been brought together chiefly by the exertions of the Pope; the Venetian galleys were led by Luigi Loredano, while the command of the whole squadron was entrusted to the Apostolic Legate and Cardinal Francesco Condulmaro. The Turkish Ambassadors had hardly left Sofia when letters from the fleet arrived, urging the immediate advance of the army, inasmuch as Sultan Murad, with all his forces, had retired into Asia, and Europe was completely free from Turkish troops. The fleet expected to be able to hinder the return of the enemy from Asia, and it seemed as if the moment had come when the whole country might be subjugated by a small body of troops, and the infidels driven back to their own land. The King of Hungary was reminded of his promises to the Princes of Christendom, and the efforts which they on their side had made to fulfil their engagements.

The eloquence of Cesarini induced the Hungarians to break the truce which had just been concluded. The consequences were most disastrous, for the Sultan set out for Europe with a great army, and the Christian fleet was unable to hinder him from crossing the Hellespont. The assistance which the Hungarians had expected from several quarters, especially from Albania, failed to arrive, and their consternation was extreme. With a force of only thirty thousand men they nevertheless advanced, and in the beginning of November reached the shores of the Black Sea. Here the Sultan with his army met them, and on the 10th of November the battle of Varna resulted in the complete discomfiture of the Christians. King Wladislaw fell on the battle-field, and Cardinal Cesarini was murdered in his flight.

While these bloody wars were going on in the east of Europe, the struggle between the Pope and the Council continued in the west. The success obtained by Eugenius IV at Florence had exasperated the Assembly at Basle, which now proceeded to desperate measures. The suspension of Pope Eugenius IV, pronounced on the 24th January, 1438, was, at the instigation of the Cardinal of Arles, followed, on the 25th June, 1439, by a formal sentence of deposition, and he was declared to be a heretic, on account of his persistent disobedience to the Council. The ambitious Duke Amadeus of Savoy was elected Anti- Pope on the 5th November, 1439, by one Cardinal and eleven Bishops, and took the name of Felix V.

Instead then, of promoting reform the Synod of Basle had brought about a new Schism. This was the necessary consequence of the attempt to change the monarchical constitution of the Church. This Anti-Pope, the last whose name appears in the History of the Papacy, failed to attain any considerable importance, although the Basle Assembly gave him a power of levying annates, such as the Roman Court had never claimed.

The guilt of the new Schism was visited on its authors. The sympathy of both princes and people was transferred from the schismatics at Basle to Eugenius. Many even who had little in common with the Pope now espoused his cause from a horror of Radicalism and disunion. From this moment the spiritual power of the Synod steadily declined. Felix V did immense injury to its adherents. Personally no one trusted him, and his rapacity alienated men's minds from him and from his party.

The attitude now assumed by the Germans and French was a very peculiar one; they recognized the Synod in its decrees of reform, which fell in with their wishes, but at the same time they acknowledged the authority of the "deposed" Pope. Both nations shrank from a Schism, but neither was disposed to give up the apparent advantages gained by the Council.

Very few princes really acknowledged Felix V. Duke Albert of Bavaria-Munich, one of the first to take this step, was influenced by his brother Dr. Johann Grunwalder, a natural son of Duke John. He was made a Cardinal by Felix V, and endeavoured to manifest his gratitude by writing in favour of the Anti-Pope and against neutrality.

Duke Albert of Austria, and Stephen, Count Palatine of Simmern and Zweibrucken, with the Dukes of Savoy and Milan also espoused the cause of Felix.

For a long time the Basle Schismatics counted on the support of King Alfonso of Aragon. This prince had quarrelled with Eugenius, because he favoured the claim of his rival, René, Count of Anjou, to the crown of Naples. Alfonso, however, did not formally acknowledge the Anti-Pope, and, while his ambassadors treated simultaneously with Eugenius IV and Felix V, watched the course of events, ready to declare himself for whichever of the two might offer him the largest concessions. In 1442 he at length gained a complete victory over René, and took possession of Naples (June 12, 1442).

This decided success compelled Eugenius IV, whose own dominions were harassed by the warlike and insatiable Condottiere, Francesco Sforza, to accede to all the conditions proposed by Alonso de Borja, Bishop of Valencia, on behalf of the crafty Alfonso, who constantly threatened to acknowledge the Anti-Pope. Accordingly a treaty was concluded by Cardinal Scarampo with Alfonso, on the 14th of June, 1443, at Terracina, and confirmed by the Pope on the 6th of July. The King hereby engaged to recognize Eugenius IV as the lawful Pope, to abstain from any interference with the liberties of the Church, to provide ships for the war with the Turks, and to furnish five thousand men for the expulsion of Francesco Sforza from the March of Ancona. The Pope, on his side, confirmed the King's adoption by Joanna II of Naples, granted him investiture of the kingdom of Naples, and the possession for life, in return for an insignificant tribute, of the cities of Benevento and Terracina, in the Papal territory. Other considerable privileges were also bestowed on the King, and subsequently (July 15, 1444) the Pope recognized the right of succession of his natural son, Ferrante. The skilful diplomacy of Alonso de Borja was rewarded by his elevation to the purple (May 2, 1444).

The Pope's position was completely altered by this treaty, which secured to him predominance in Italian affairs and superiority over the Council of Basle. Alfonso at once recalled his subjects from that Assembly, which hereby lost some of its most important members, and amongst them the learned and influential Archbishop Tudeschi of Palermo, whom Felix V had made a Cardinal. The Duke of Milan, whose prelates had already been required to leave Basle, now espoused the cause of Eugenius.

There was now no obstacle in the way of the Pope's return to his true capital. The time of trial was over, and, after an exile of nearly ten years, on the 28th September, 1443, Eugenius victoriously re-entered Rome. He was joyfully welcomed by the people, who had long since perceived what a wilderness Rome without the Pope must become. It had indeed fallen into a state of ruin and decay almost equal to that in which Martin V had found it in 1420. Its inhabitants, wearing cloaks and heavy boots, appeared to strangers like the cowherds of the Campagna. The ancient monuments were being burned for lime, and the marble and precious stones stolen from the churches. Cows, sheep, and goats wandered about the narrow, unpaved streets. In the Vatican quarter the wolves ventured by night into the cemetery near St. Peter's and dragged the corpses from their graves. The Church of San Stefano was roofless, and those of San Pancrazio and Sta. Maria in Dominica were ready to fall. 

Even during his absence, the Pope had taken part in the government of the City, and on his return he at once began the work of restoration, in which he was ably seconded by Cardinal Scarampo.

About this time Eugenius had the satisfaction of seeing Scotland abandon the Synod of Basle. On the 4th November, 1443, the Parliament assented to the decree of the Provincial Council, rejecting Felix V and unconditionally acknowledging the authority of Eugenius IV. The partisans of the Schism were severely punished, and thus the dissensions which the new Schism had aroused in that country, and of which Walter Bower has left us a striking picture, were healed. The Florentines and Venetians, formerly the political friends and supporters of Eugenius, were greatly irritated by his unlooked-for change in regard to the Neapolitan question, and now became his opponents. From vindictive motives they took part with Francesco Sforza, who, after a brief period of reconciliation, was a gain in open conflict with the Pope. The struggle with the crafty Condottiere continued throughout the rest of Eugenius' pontificate, but at last he was victorious, and a few days before his death, had the satisfaction of knowing that all the March of Ancona, with the exception of the town of Jesi, had been wrested from his enemy.

The Pope also gained a complete victory over the Schismatics in Basle; the defection of the powerful Alfonso had inflicted a serious blow on the Assembly, and a death-like torpor soon crept over it. No more public sittings were held, and it only dealt with matters of secondary importance, such as disputes about benefices.

It had long been evident that the Synod could by no means reckon on the unconditional support of the two principal powers of Western Christendom, France and Germany. We have already mentioned the peculiar position which these nations had occupied since the year 1438. After the Basle Synod had, on the 24th January, 1438, pronounced a sentence of suspension against Eugenius IV, neither Germans nor French had shown the slightest inclination to take part in a proceeding which must necessarily have thrown Christendom back into a deplorable state of confusion. But, on the other hand, they were not disposed completely to give up the Council, or its so-called decrees of reform. Accordingly, while adhering to Eugenius IV as the lawful Head of the Church, they adopted a portion of these decrees. In France this was done by the Pragmatic Sanction of Bourges (7th July, 1438), which almost entirely deprived the Pope of any influence in the ecclesiastical affairs of the kingdom, and reasserted the supremacy of the Council over the Papacy.

From March, 1438, Germany also had taken up a similar semi-schismatical position, which threatened serious danger to the Papacy. In the interval between the death of Sigismund and the election of Albert II, the German Electors, assembled at Frankfort-on-the-Maine, had declared their neutrality, that is to say, their determination for the time being, to hold aloof from the contest, and neither to take part with the Pope nor the Council. They had further agreed, that, within the ensuing six months, they would, together with the future king, deliberate on the means of terminating the strife, and that, in the meantime, they would maintain the regular jurisdiction in their dioceses and territories.

This so-called neutrality of the Holy Roman Empire, which was by no means free from an anti-papal bias, was, a year later, asserted at the Diet of Mayence. It, however, accepted, with certain restrictions and additions agreeable to the German princes, a number of decrees depriving the Pope of his essential rights (26th March, 1439).

The Mayence declaration differed widely from the step which had been taken in France, and fundamentally from the Pragmatic sanction of Bourges. At Mayence a mere declaration had been made, the acceptance of the Basle Decrees, but in France, an administrative ordinance had been issued. The Ambassadors of King Charles had indeed entered into negotiations at Basle, in order to obtain the approval of the Council for the Pragmatic sanction, but even before that had been granted, Decrees with additions were everywhere promulgated, and courts and officials were instructed to see to their execution, to decide any controversies which might arise regarding them, to protect ecclesiastics and laymen in the enjoyment of the benefits they conferred, and to inflict exemplary punishments on those who should oppose them. Such executive and penal provisions, although essential to the existence of a law, have no place in the Mayence Document, and it is a great inaccuracy to apply to it the name of a "Pragmatic Sanction". The Germans also deferred making any effort to obtain the approval of the Council, which had already been asked by and granted to the French.

In the latter half of the year 1439, German neutrality took a more definite form, but it never proved to be in any way a basis for the settlement of ecclesiastical affairs. This was primarily the fault of the electors, who, instead of enforcing the observance of the policy they had adopted, both violated it themselves and suffered their subjects and the members of their families to do the same. Accordingly the proclamation which had been made with a view of preserving the Holy Roman Empire from division and confusion was thoroughly ineffectual. Factions were formed even among the Germans. In many cases, near neighbours, and even the Bishop and Chapter of the same Diocese, took different sides in the conflict between the Pope and his opponents. Several sees were claimed by two rival Bishops, and from the same pulpit discourses were frequently heard at one time against Eugenius, and at another against the partisans of the Council.

Repeated efforts were naturally made by each of the contending powers to put an end to the neutrality. The diplomatic struggles which ensued, ultimately resulted in the victory of Eugenius, who succeeded in winning over Caspar Schlick, the powerful Chancellor of King Frederick III, and finally the King himself.

Frederick III's recognition of Eugenius was rewarded by:

1. The right to the first prayers, to a tithe from all ecclesiastical benefices in Germany, and to the patronage of a hundred benefices in the hereditary estates of Austria.

2. The right for life to make presentations, in case of vacancy, to the Bishoprics of Trent, Brixen, Coire, Gurk, Trieste, and Pedena.

3. The right for himself and his successors to propose to the Holy See fitting persons for the visitation of the monasteries in his hereditary States, and also a certain sum of money.

Having secured the adhesion of the head of the Empire, the Pope, who had a powerful supporter in Philip of Burgundy, thought that the time had come to strike a decisive blow in Germany, and so to put an end to all further hesitations. He accordingly issued a Bull, deposing the Archbishop-Electors of Cologne and Treves, who were the principal partisans of the Synod in the Empire, and bestowed their dignities on relations of the Duke of Burgundy. But this proceeding, which was hasty, and, from a political point of view, imprudent, was violently opposed by the German Electors. In March, 1446, they assembled at Frankfort-on-the-Maine and decided to call upon Eugenius to acknowledge the Decrees of Constance and Basle regarding the Supremacy of Councils, to summon one to meet in a German City within the next thirteen months, to revoke all recent measures incompatible with neutrality, and unconditionally to ratify the decisions of the Council of Basle, accepted by the Germans in 1439. In case of the failure of Eugenius to comply with their demands, the Electors threatened to recognize the authority of the Synod. A deputation, whose leading spirit was Gregory Heimburg, Syndic of Nuremberg, was despatched to Rome to make the desires of the Electors known to the Pope. This man, affecting what he wished to pass off as German honesty and plain spokenness, was unbearably insolent and rude. In a work, written about this time, he stirred up his countrymen to join the Schism and shake off the Papal yoke.

The answer returned by Pope Eugenius to the Electors was of an evasive character. He referred the decision of the matter to the Diet of the Empire, and adhered to his resolution regarding the deposition of the two Archbishops. The Diet had been summoned to meet at Frankfort on the 1st September, 1446, and the Bishops Tommaso Parentucelli of Bologna, and Jean of Liege, together with Juan de Carvajal and Nicholas of Cusa appeared there as Ambassadors from Rome, Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomini having in the meantime convinced the Pope of the necessity of concession. The Cardinal of Aries attended on behalf of the Basle party.

The violent anti-papal feeling which had already widely gained ground in Germany found open expression in the Imperial Diet. The position of Eugenius and even the authority of the head of the Empire seemed at the outset to be seriously endangered, for the Electors intended, in the event of the Pope's non-compliance with their demands, to declare themselves in favour of the Council of Basle, in- dependently of the King, or even in antagonism to him.

The Cardinal of Arles deemed the victory of his party almost a certainty, when suddenly a surprising change took place to the great advantage of Eugenius. The principal author of this change was Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomini, Secretary in the Chancery of King Frederick III, the very man who, but a year before, had, in conjunction with Schlick and Carvajal, won his royal master to the side of the Pope.

Among the notable figures of the Renaissance age, Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomini is certainly one of the most brilliant and one of those best known to us. A most prolific author and indefatigable letter-writer, he has left to posterity the means of closely following every phase of his life.

He was born on the 18th October, 1405, at Corsigniano, near Siena. His family belonged to the ancient nobility of that city, but had fallen into poverty, and accordingly his youth was passed amid privations. At an early age he went to the University of Siena to study law, for which, however, he had but little taste, while the classical literature fascinated him. Cicero, Livy, and Virgil were his favourite authors. He scarcely allowed himself time for food or sleep, but pored day and night over these books which he had borrowed from friends. To avoid putting them to inconvenience, he copied out the most celebrated works, and made extracts from others. After a time, he went to Florence to prosecute his studies and became the disciple of Filelfo.

When he had spent two years in Florence, he was induced by his relations to return to Siena and attend lectures on jurisprudence, the only result of which, however, was an increased aversion for lawyers. In his twenty-seventh year his talents attracted the attention of Cardinal Capranica, who was passing through Siena on his way to Basle, and he became his secretary. The circle into which he was introduced at Basle, in the spring of 1432, was one most unfriendly to Pope Eugenius IV, and this circumstance had much influence on his after-life. Capranica, who was destitute of fortune, was soon reconciled to Pope Eugenius IV, and Aeneas Sylvius passed from his service into that of Bishop Nicodemus of Freising, Bishop Bartolomeo of Novara, and finally of Cardinal Albergati. The period of his connection with the latter, although comparatively short, was one which tended greatly to polish and to direct his brilliant intellect and also brought him into contact with the noble Tommaso Parentucelli, afterwards Pope Nicholas V. He accompanied Albergati on several journeys, and was sent by him, in 1438, on a secret mission to Scotland. On his return from this dangerous expedition, he no longer found his patron at Basle, and, instead of rejoining him, determined to remain there, and was soon drawn into the violent agitation against Eugenius IV.

His happy nature, his talents, and his Humanistic culture soon won for him many friends among the members of the Council, and his eloquence attracted general attention. He was employed by the Council as Scriptor, Abbreviator, and Chief Abbreviator, was a member of the commission of dogma, and took part in several embassies. He viewed the conflict between the Pope and the Council with the indifference of an adherent of the heathen Renaissance, but used his pen against Eugenius IV.

His happiest hours were spent in Basle, in a little circle of friends, like himself, of studious tastes and of lax morality. It is impossible to say how far this atmosphere of heathen Renaissance was responsible for his opposition to the lawful Pope, but there can be no doubt that it exercised a considerable influence over him, and we have positive proof that his own moral life was deeply tainted by the corruption which surrounded him, and that he even gloried in his errors with the shamelessness of a Boccaccio. Aeneas was not, it must be observed, at this time an ecclesiastic, and, indeed, as he openly declared in his letters, had no intention of entering a state whose duties are so serious. In these same letters, the great questions of Church policy which then agitated society are treated with much levity.

When the Synod of Basle called a new Schism into existence, he took part in it, and even entered the service of the Anti-Pope, Felix V. But his keen understanding soon perceived that the position which the Synod had assumed was an untenable one, and he consequently became disgusted with his appointment, and eagerly seized the first opportunity of honourably escaping from a situation which had become intolerable. The opportunity occurred in the year 1442, when he accompanied the Ambassadors of the Council to the Diet of Frankfort. By the intervention of Bishop Sylvester of Chiemsee he was presented to King Frederick III, who offered him a place in the Royal Chancery. The offer was joyfully accepted, and his connection with Felix V came to an end. When Frederick III passed through Basle on the 11th November, 1442, on the occasion of his coronation, Aeneas joined his suite and went with him to Austria.

This step brought down upon him a torrent of abuse. The Historian of the city of Rome, however, judges it with his accustomed calmness and moderation. "A change of party", he writes, "whatever be the circumstances under which it takes place, always provokes detraction, and a man who had written so much and had been so unreserved in regard to his own personal feelings and the events of his private life, must necessarily have laid himself, in many ways, open to those who were ready to take hold of every word, even in his most confidential letters, that would swell the list of his sins. His character was by no means perfect. The versatility of his intellect must of itself have proved a danger, even if, with his poverty, his ambition, and his consciousness of talent, he had not been cast into a whirlpool which carried away many stronger natures. His subsequent confession was, whatever may be said against it, made in all good faith. He was not influenced by mere personal considerations, when, in the year 1442, he gave up his position in the service of Felix V and accepted that offered to him in the Royal Chancery. For the moment indeed he gained nothing by so doing, and later he might, like the Anti-Pope and others, have made advantageous terms with Rome".

Time worked a great change, not only in the political and ecclesiastical opinions, but also in the moral character of Aeneas: old age seems to have come upon him prematurely, and a serious view of life took the place of his former levity. For a long time he hesitated about entering the priesthood, but in 1445 he resolved on the step, and actually took it in the following year. On the 8th March, 1446, he wrote in the following terms to a friend: "He must be a miserable and graceless man who does not at last return to his better self, enter into his own heart, and amend his life: who does not consider what will come in the other world after this. Ah! John, I have done enough and too much evil! I have come to myself; oh, may it not be too late!” In the month in which these words were written he was ordained priest at Vienna.

Aeneas had formally made his peace with Pope Eugenius a year before his ordination. The Chancellor, Kaspar Schlick, had at that time sent him to Rome to confer with the Pope regarding the holding of a Council at a fresh place. Regardless of the warnings of those around him, he went in the fullest confidence to the Eternal City, and was very well received there. He could not, however, be admitted to an audience, until he had been absolved from the censures incurred as an adherent of the Synod and an official of the Anti-Pope, and he felt a certain embarrassment as to meeting Eugenius IV, whom he had at Basle so vehemently opposed. Accordingly, before fulfilling his mission, he wrote an apology which is a masterpiece of style. It has been described as the address of a vanquished king to his captor.

“Most Holy Father”, he says, "before discharging the King's commissions, I will speak a little of myself. I am aware that much has been brought to your ears regarding me, which is neither good nor worthy of repetition. And those who have laid accusations against me before you have not spoken falsely. Yes, I have, during all the time I was at Basle, spoken, written, and done many things—I deny nothing. But my intention was not so much to injure you, as to serve God's Church. I erred, who would deny it? but I erred in company with men of no small importance. I followed Giuliano, the Cardinal of Sant. Angelo, Niccolò, the Archbishop of Palermo, Ludovico Pontano, the notary of Your See. These are held to be the eyes of justice, the teachers of truth. What shall I say of the Universities and of the other Schools, the majority of which were adverse to You? Who would not have erred with such men! But when I perceived the error of the people of Basle, then also, I confess it, I did not at once hasten to You as did the greater number. I rather dreaded rushing from one error into another, for he often falls into Scylla who would avoid Charybdis, and so I joined those who were considered neutral. I would not pass from one extreme to another without consideration and without delay. For three years I remained thus with the King. But the more I heard of the disputes between the Synod of Basle and Your Legate, the less doubt remained on my mind that truth was with You. I, therefore, willingly obeyed, when the King wished by my intervention to open for himself a way to Your goodness, for I hope thus to be able to return to Your favour. Now I stand before You, and inasmuch as I have sinned in ignorance, I beg You to forgive me".

Eugenius answered, "We know that you have sinned, together with many, but it is Our duty to pardon him who confesses his error: Holy Mother Church is inexorable to one who denies his fault, but never refuses absolution to the penitent. You have now returned to the truth. Beware of ever again forsaking it, and seek Divine Grace by good works! Your position is one in which you can defend the truth and serve the Church."

Aeneas Sylvius did not disappoint the expectations of the Pope, for he succeeded in breaking up the League of Electors, which was a danger alike to the Pope and the King of the Romans. He privately persuaded the Elector of Mayence, the representative of the Elector of Saxony and two Bishops to separate themselves from the Confederacy and join Frederick III. On the 22nd September, these electors and bishops united with the Deputies of the King of the Romans in a secret declaration that the Pope's answer was a sufficient basis for the restoration of peace to the Church, and mutually bound themselves to hold fast to this opinion. On the 5th October, strengthened by the addition of fresh adherents, they held a second consultation, preparatory to the recognition of Eugenius. On the 11th October, the Imperial Diet was prorogued, a measure which, as usual, merely concealed but did not heal the existing disunion. Many more bishops and princes were won over by the unwearied efforts of King Frederick and the Margrave Albert of Brandenburg, so that at the end of 1446, messengers started for Rome from all parts of Germany; sixty met at Siena and travelled together by Baccano to the Eternal City.

On the 7th January, 1447, John of Lysura, representing the Elector of Mayence, Chancellor Sesselmann, representing the Elector of Brandenburg, and Aeneas Sylvius and Procopius von Rabstein, as Delegates from the King of the Romans, arrived in Rome, and were very honourably received. The Pope at once granted them a solemn audience, and Aeneas Sylvius brought forward the claims of the Germans in so eloquent and able a manner, that all who heard him praised his power and his prudence, and foretold for him a brilliant future. "We come", he said, "to bring peace, and the German princes desire peace, but they also make certain demands, and unless these demands are granted, wounds cannot be healed, nor peace attained. The first is that a General Council, the time and place of which are still to be decided, shall be summoned. The second, that You in writing confirm that acknowledgment of the authority and pre-eminence of General Councils representing the Church Militant, which has been made by Your Ambassadors. The third, that the grievances of the German nation be redressed; and the fourth, that the deposition of the two Electors be revoked". 

The dangerous illness of the Pope and the opposition of a portion of the Sacred College, made the negotiations which ensued both tedious and difficulty. A happy conclusion was, however, arrived at, and expressed in four Papal documents, bearing date the 5th and 7th February, 1447, and forming what is known as the Concordat of the Princes. The demands of Germany were, with some abatements, granted in principle, but the concessions were made in a vague and guarded manner. After the Ambassadors had received these Bulls, they gathered round the bed of the sick Pope, "who, on that day, had in some degree come to himself, and was able to attend to business"; on their knees took the oath of obedience, and afterwards, in open Consistory, solemnly repeated their declaration (7th February). Those who, by means of their plenipotentiaries, took part in this Concordat, were: the King of the Romans, acting on his own behalf and on that of the Crown of Bohemia, the Electors of Mayence and Brandenburg, the Margrave Albert, acting for himself and his brother John, Duke William of Saxony, and the Landgrave Louis of Hesse, together with the Bishops of Halberstadt and Breslau, and the Grand Master of the Teutonic Order.

This event caused immense joy in Rome alike among the clergy and the populace. Although but a portion of the German nation had promised obedience to the Pope, the rejoicings were as great as if the entire Holy Roman Empire had made complete submission. All the bells of the city rang out, bonfires were lighted, and solemn processions were made to give God thanks for so great a benefit.

The submission of those German Princes, who still persisted in their opposition, was now a mere question of time, and the cause of the Synod of Basle was definitely lost in Germany. Eugenius issued a special Bull, declaring that in the concessions which he had made to Germany, moved by his anxiety for the welfare of the Church, though unable through illness to investigate the matter as thoroughly as he would have desired, he had not intended in any way to compromise the rights or the authority of the Apostolic See. On the 23rd February he died, consoled by the knowledge that the Schism had lost its power, and that the Church was again resuming her sway.

Looking back on the Pontificate of Eugenius IV, we must say, with Aeneas Sylvius, that it is marked by an uncommon measure of prosperity and of misfortune, and that the two are pretty equally balanced. Prosperity would have greatly preponderated if the Pope had shown more moderation and prudence in his proceedings.  Aeneas has, in a few words, given an admirable sketch of his character. "He was magnanimous, but without moderation; his actions were guided by his desires rather than by his powers". Yet it was a time when the perplexed state of ecclesiastical and political affairs rendered prudence in a special degree necessary. Even at the moment of Eugenius’ accession the position was critical enough, for the long-postponed question of Church reform cried for solution, and the Hussite heresy, which daily assumed a more alarming aspect, was not to be repressed by force of arms, and had to be rendered harmless by conciliatory means. Eugenius was partly the victim of circumstances, but it cannot be denied that, with his utter want of political experience, he often made matters worse by imprudence and obstinacy. As years went on, however, his opponents became convinced of the firmness of his principles, and from 1438 he was in many important matters successful. Considering the countless obstacles in his way, his successes are not to be estimated by an ordinary standard. He entered on the struggle for the restoration of Papal authority with but a small body of loyal adherents, and, although without resources, and forsaken alike by ecclesiastical and temporal princes, he carried it on with unwearied energy until the victory was won. The victory was not indeed complete, but its consequences were most important. At the time when Eugenius became Pope, the Schism had diffused even among the noblest sons of the Church false doctrines regarding the Papal Primacy and a tone antagonistic to the chief Pastor of the Church; when he died, the men of most importance were on the side of Rome; the opponents of the Apostolic See and of the monarchical constitution of the Church, in short all the anti-ecclesiastical elements, had sustained a notable defeat; the attempt to change the Pope into a mere phantom-ruler, a sort of Doge, had come to nought; and the greatest conflict which a Council had ever waged against Rome, was practically decided in favour of the Holy See.

High praise is unquestionably due to Eugenius for his absolute freedom from nepotism, and his bitterest opponents have never ventured to impugn the purity of his life. His unwearied activity in works of charity is also worthy of grateful remembrance.

Eugenius IV was, in the fullest sense of the word, a father of the poor and the sick, to whom, according to Paolo Petrone, "he gave liberal alms, and he portioned many needy young maidens". St. Frances of Rome, who all this time filled the Eternal City with the splendour of her holiness, found in the Pope a generous promoter of her pious and benevolent undertakings. The Hospital of Santo Spirito, which had fallen into decay, was an object of special care to Eugenius. He rescued the institution from its pecuniary difficulties, restored the ruined buildings, and put an end to irregularities which had arisen in the Confraternity, so that he really deserves to be considered as its second founder. He plainly declared that if the Master General of the Order (at that time his own nephew, Pietro Barbo) did not fulfil his duty, he would take the burden on his own shoulders, and himself act as Master General and Superior of the Hospital, deeming such a charge by no means incompatible with the dignity of the Tiara. In order to give a fresh impulse to the Confraternity, he became a member on the 10th April, 1446, and undertook to contribute a certain sum yearly. The Pope's example was followed by many Cardinals, among whom were Francesco Condulmaro, Giovanni Tagliacozzo, Niccolò Acciapacci, Giorgio Fieschi, Bessarion, Antonio Martini, Jean le Jeune de Contay, d'Estouteville, Torquemada, Scarampo, and Alfonzo Borgia, who afterwards became Calixtus III.

The "visita graziosa", after the plan of an ancient institution in the Church, was, we are told, established in the time of Eugenius IV. Twice every month Magistrates and Overseers of the poor visited the prisoners and questioned each of them separately; when occasion offered they mitigated punishments; they brought about agreements between debtors and creditors, and, in many cases, set prisoners at liberty. The Popes, who have so often taken a prominent part in promoting the welfare of humanity, the progress of civilization and the exercise of benevolence, were also among the first to interest themselves in the improvement of prisons and the alleviation of the lot of prisoners, remembering that the proper aim of punishment is not retaliation, but the amendment of the criminal, or at least the protection of society from further injury.

One aspect of this reign demands special consideration, because it has been made the occasion of serious charges against Eugenius IV. It is true that the general reform of ecclesiastical affairs was not carried out during his pontificate, but have those who blame him asked themselves whether such general reform was possible?

A very clear-sighted contemporary, who was also a thorough friend of reform, answers in the negative. The celebrated Dominican, Master John Nider, held a general reform of the Church in its head and its members to be a practical impossibility. He believed experience to have shown that only a partial reform was possible, and, in his chief work, the "Formicarius", he endeavoured to support this opinion. He draws a lesson from the custom of the ants who build themselves a city composed of many little dwellings, which they protect in their way from heat and from rain with sticks and leaves. “Herein”, he explains, "they are the emblems of those who belong to the General Council, and especially of the Prelates; for they, as far as in them lies, have charge to reform the City of the Church Militant in its several orders, where it has suffered damage, that is to say, to instruct men in the way of serving God, to defend them from the heat of passions and the assaults of enemies, and in word and deed so to behave themselves that they may deserve to be specially led in this by the Spirit of God. Now, alas! it is all very different". The Councils of Constance and Basle, Nider continues, have made it their special business to reform the Church in its head and members. Much was said, particularly at Basle, about the Church; the Council called itself, in the title of almost all its Bulls, a Council of reform, it even established a Commission of reform, "and for, six whole years the amendment of the various ranks of the clergy has been dealt with, but we have not perceived any result". Is there any hope of a general reformation of the Church in its Head and its members? "I have", answers Nider, "absolutely none in the present time, or in the immediate future; for goodwill is wanting among the subjects, the evil disposition of the prelates constitutes an obstacle, and, finally, it is profitable to God's elect to be tried by persecution from the wicked. You may see an analogy in the art of building. An architect, however skilful he may be, can never erect an edifice unless he has suitable material of wood or stone. And if there is wood or stone in sufficient quantity, but no master-builder, there will be no proper house and dwelling. And, if you knew that a house would not be fitting for your friend, or, when built, would be a trouble to him, you certainly would be prudent enough not to build it. Apply these three instances to the total reformation of the Church, and you will perceive its impossibility. However, I have no doubt that a partial reformation of the Church in many of its conditions and orders is possible".

Eugenius IV adopted this course; he began the work of reform in the only way which was, under the circumstances, possible or profitable, by the amendment and regeneration of the Religious Orders and then of the clergy. The terrible storms which broke over the Papacy often interfered with the accomplishment of his excellent purposes; nevertheless, during the whole of his Pontificate he devoted the greatest attention to the improvement of the moral of the secular and regular clergy. Reform was constantly talked of at Basle; but very little was done to carry it out. Truly pious and priestly-minded men were wanting. The very fathers who spoke most constantly of the simplicity of the Apostolic Church were seen hunting and hawking, fully accoutred and attended by a long train of lay retainers, or feasting at sumptuous banquets. Eugenius IV took the reform of the Roman clergy in hand in 1432, and continued the work even during the time of his exile. After his return to Rome he looked closely to the maintenance of discipline amongst them. Vespasiano da Bisticci gives a detailed account of the manner in which he reformed the monasteries of Florence and its neighbourhood during his long sojourn in that city. It was Eugenius' purpose to restore strict observance in all monasteries, but adverse circumstances hindered the accomplishment of his plan. In connection with his zeal in this matter, we may mention his special affection for St. Bernardine of Siena and St. John Capistran; almost as soon as the former of these holy men had breathed his last, the process for his canonization was introduced.

Eugenius IV was not unmindful of the interests of art and artists; in fact, he gave them every encouragement possible in those troublous days.

Recent investigations have thrown much light on the Venetian Pope's relation to art, and the matter is especially worthy of attention, because in some sense he prepared the way for his great successor. Although it is a mistake to consider Eugenius IV as the first of the line of Renaissance Popes, yet it is true that he prepared the way for it, and his action in this respect is more apparent in the domain of art than in that of literature.

Like Martin V, Eugenius IV was most simple and modest in his own manner of living, but deemed no splendour too great where the worship of God was concerned. The tiara which Ghiberti made by his order must have been a very marvel of magnificence; the gold employed in it alone weighed fifteen pounds, and the precious stones and pearls five and a half more. The value of these jewels—rubies, sapphires, emeralds, and pearls (amongst which were six of the size of a hazel-nut)—was estimated by the Florentine goldsmiths at eight and thirty thousand golden florins. The exquisite workmanship of Ghiberti added to the worth of this costly tiara; the little figures and ornaments which adorned it were made by his own hand; in front our Lord was represented seated on a throne and surrounded by a choir of angels; at the back was the Blessed Virgin, also enthroned and attended by angels; four medallions contained the Evangelists, and the band at the base was decorated with cherubs. That the exiled Pope should have displayed such magnificence may be explained by the fact that the tiara was destined to be worn at the solemn ratification of the union with the Greeks, an act which was considered as an immense victory won by the Papacy, at the very moment when the Council of Basle was doing its utmost to destroy it.

In the eternal city, Eugenius IV also followed the example of his powerful predecessor by taking special care of the restoration of the churches, without, however, forgetting the other buildings, the gates, the walls of the city, and the bridges. By his command works of restoration were undertaken at St. Peter's, St. Paul's, Sta. Maria Maggiore, Sta. Maria sopra Minerva, Sta. Maria in Trastevere, Sto. Spirito in Sassia, and in the Lateran. In the last-named church the frescoes representing scenes from the life of St. John the Baptist, begun in the time of Martin V by Gentile da Fabriano, were finished by Vittore Pisanello. Even while in exile, Eugenius managed to contribute considerable sums of money for these purposes; in 1437-1438 alone, he gave more than three thousand ducats. The Pantheon, an ancient heathen building, which had long served as a church, was restored, its splendid pillars were cleared to the base, and the entrance and floor paved with Travertine marble. On this occasion were discovered two basalt lions of Egyptian workmanship, which Pius VII afterwards placed in the Egyptian Museum of the Vatican, and a wonderful porphyry basin, supposed at that time to be the Sarcophagus of Agrippa; it now adorns the splendid monument of Clement XII in the Lateran.

We have already spoken of the influence which his prolonged sojourn at Florence, the centre of the Renaissance, exercised on Eugenius IV, but to complete the picture of his life we must again return to the subject.

In Florence, Eugenius saw the first gate made by Ghiberti for the Baptistry, and it seems most probable that the sight of this masterpiece suggested to him the idea of ordering a similar work for the principal church in Rome. Accordingly the Florentine architect, Antonio Averulino surnamed Filarete, was commissioned to make new bronze gates for St. Peter's. They were put up on the 26th June, 1445, and still adorn the central entrance. Although their workmanship cannot bear comparison with that of Ghiberti, they are worthy of notice as clearly exhibiting that evil influence of the Renaissance, of which we shall hereafter have to speak. In his work, which was destined for the principal entrance of the noblest church in the world, Filarete had, to use the mildest term, the bad taste to place, together with the figures of our Saviour, His Virgin Mother and the Princes of the Apostles, and amid representations of the great religious acts of Eugenius’ Pontificate, not only busts of the Roman Emperors, but also the forms of Mars and Roma, of Jupiter and Ganymede, Hero and Leander, of a Centaur leading a nymph through the sea, and even of Leda and the swan; the composition is in keeping with the contemporary poems of the Humanists, where the names of Christian Saints and of heathen gods are promiscuously intermingled.

It is curious that the same Pope who had these gates put up at S. Peter's, took Fra Angelico da Fiesole, the most devout of Christian artists, into his service, and employed this great matter, in whose works the mystical tendency of Italian art reaches its climax, in the decoration of his new chapel of the Blessed Sacrament in the Vatican. Hardly any fact could be better calculated to modify a hasty condemnation of the encouragement given to the Renaissance by the Popes. The first period of the Renaissance was one of striking contrasts, not only in the domain of literature, but also in that of art, and from these very contrasts the Pontificate of the successor of Eugenius derives its distinctive character.

BOOK III

NICHOLAS V.