BOOK IV

CALIXTUS III, 1455-1458

THE CHAMPION OF CHRISTENDOM AGAINST ISLAM,

 

CHAPTER I.  

 

ELECTION OF CALIXTUS III.— HIS ATTITUDE TOWARDS THE RENAISSANCE— HIS CORONATION AND THE EMBASSIES SENT TO DO HIM HOMAGE.

 

FROM the beginning of March, 1455, by which time the death of Nicholas V was looked upon as imminent, the question of the Papal election engaged the attention of all parties in the Eternal City. On the 13th March we find that the Cardinals assembled in the greatest haste to take counsel regarding the situation. “God grant”, wrote the Bishop of Chiusi to Siena, "that the election of the Supreme Pastor of the Church may take place in peace and without obstacle, a matter on which grave doubts here prevail".

These apprehensions were not groundless. Considerable agitation again prevailed in Rome; the republican antipapal party was astir, and it was fortunate that its gifted and eloquent leader, Porcaro, was no longer among the living. The masses became daily more and more turbulent, and the Cardinals prudently brought troops into the City. On the 24th March Nicodemus of Pontremoli, the Duke of Milan's ambassador, wrote as follows: — "The whole city is in an uproar, and the population are ripe for revolt". Another element of danger was added by the disturbances in Bologna and Romagna, stirred up by the Venetian Condottiere Jacopo Piccinino and other leaders, like himself thrown out of employment by the peace of Lodi.

After the death of Nicholas V, which took place in the Vatican in the night between the 24th and 25th of March, the ceremonies usual on such occasions were carried out, and meanwhile the Sacred College laboured unremittingly. Letters were despatched to the rulers of all the cities in the States of the Church, exhorting them as "quiet, peaceable, good and devoted sons of the Church" to persevere in their wonted obedience, and at the same time the necessary preparations were made for the election of a new Pope. Everything was duly accomplished, so that on Thursday, April 3rd, the solemn Mass of the Holy Ghost was sung. The preliminaries had been hastened, because the next day was Good Friday. According to custom, a Prelate then delivered a Latin discourse to the Cardinals, exhorting them to give Christendom a worthy Supreme Pastor.

On the morning of the 4th April all the Cardinals present in Rome, preceded by the Papal Cross, went, while the Vent Creator Spiritus was sung, “peacefully and with great reverence and piety” from St. Peter's to the Chapel of the Vatican, in which the conclave was to be held. The adoration of the Cross customary on Good Friday and the exposition of the Holy Handkerchief had already taken place, and the conclave began that day. The custody of the place of election was entrusted to six Bishops, of which four were foreigners, and six laymen; pre-eminent among the latter were Pandulfo Savello, Marshal of the Church, and Nicodemus of Pontremoli, Francis Sforza's ambassador, a portion of whose admirable account of the proceedings of the conclave is still preserved in the State Archives at Milan.

At the death of Nicholas V, the Sacred College was composed of twenty members, of whom six were absent, namely, two Germans, Peter von Schaumburg, Bishop of Augsburg, and Nicholas of Cusa, the Hungarian, Dionysius Széchy, the Greek, Bessarion, Jean Rolin, Bishop of Autun, and Guillaume d'Estouteville, both of whom were French; the last mentioned had been for nearly a year acting as Legate in France, and did not return to Rome till the 12th of September, 1455. Of these six Cardinals, Bessarion alone was able to arrive in Rome in time for the election. The Sacred College accordingly assembled in Conclave to the number of fifteen members. Two of these, the noble Capranica, and the aged Prospero Colonna, had been created by Martin V; while five, namely, the learned and open-hearted Antonio de la Cerda, Latino Orsini, Alain, the former Bishop of Sitten, Guillaume d'Estaing, and Filippo Calandrini owed their elevation to Nicholas V. The remaining eight had been nominated by Eugenius IV on different occasions. Scarampo and Pietro Barbo, two men of diametrically opposite characters and purposes, occupied the most prominent position among the Cardinals.

Italy furnished but seven of the fifteen electors; these were Fieschi, Scarampo, Barbo, Orsini, Colonna, Capranica, and Calandrini; of the eight foreigners, two, Bessarion and Isidore, were Greeks; two, Alain and d'Estaing, French, and the remaining four, Torquemada, Antonio de la Cerda, Carvajal and Alfonso Borgia, Spaniards. But in the election of 1455, as in the previous one, nationality was of comparatively little account. The opposing factions of r the Colonna and Orsini formed the centres of the different parties.

"The majority of the Cardinals were", Nicodemus of Pontremoli informs us, "at first inclined to favour the election of the Colonna Cardinal, who would no doubt have become Pope had Nicholas V died at the commencement of his illness. But its long continuance gave Cardinal Orsini time to counteract this feeling, and to enter into negotiations with the ambassadors of King Alfonso and of the Republic of Venice. Consequently — unless God should order otherwise — either Barbo or Scarampo will obtain the Papacy. The Orsini party, with the assistance of King Alfonso, is able to dispose of five votes, one of which would be absolutely required by the Colonna candidate to give him the necessary majority of two-thirds". According to another despatch from the same ambassador, the wealthy, business-like Cardinal Orsini originally himself aspired to the tiara, and won over the Venetian ambassadors who lodged in his palace to his side; but in case his own hopes should be disappointed, he brought forward Cardinal Pietro Barbo, who subsequently became Paul II.

The two opposing parties adopted different modes of action. The Colonna sought to gain adherents by prudence and affability, while the Orsini strengthened their material power. The prospects of Cardinal Orsini seem to have been rapidly clouded, for on the 20th March, Nicodemus writes that Pietro Barbo is as likely as any other candidate to fill the Papal Throne.

An old Roman proverb declares that "he who enters the Conclave a Pope leaves it a Cardinal”, and the truth of the saying was exemplified in the case of Pietro Barbo.

Regarding the proceedings in the Conclave, our information is derived from the report of Aeneas Sylvius, some scanty particulars in isolated despatches of ambassadors, and a notice in Vespasiano da Bisticci's work. From these authorities it appears that the Cardinals were greatly divided, and that three scrutinies failed to give any decided result. For a time it seemed as if Domenico Capranica, after Carvajal the most worthy among the members of the Sacred College, would be Pope. Christendom might, indeed, have been congratulated had the majority of votes been given to a Prince of the Church so distinguished for piety, learning, decision of character, and political ability. But Capranica was a Roman, and favourably disposed to the Colonna, and therefore unacceptable to many. The Colonna desired the election of an Italian, the Orsini that of a French Pontiff, and as neither party was able to carry the day, a neutral candidate was sought. In this capacity the learned Cardinal Bessarion had much to recommend him; as a born Greek, he had held aloof from Italian complications, he had no enemies, and was justly and generally esteemed for his learning and for his beneficent labours as Legate to Bologna. No one, moreover, seemed more likely to give a fresh impulse to the crusade than this distinguished representative of Greece. Eight Cardinals declared themselves in his favour, and on the Easter Sunday and Monday there was reason to think that he would be unanimously elected, and at once acclaimed Pope. Favours were asked of him as if the matter were already settled. Roberto Sanseverino, in a letter to the Duke of Milan, expressed his conviction that "if the Greek Cardinal had exerted himself more the tiara would have been his". According to the account given by Aeneas Sylvius it was Alain, the Cardinal of Avignon, who prevented the election of the great humanist, who would undoubtedly have carried on the work of Nicholas V. The French Cardinal represented to his colleagues that it was not becoming to place at the head of the Roman Church a neophyte, a Greek, who still wore his beard in Oriental fashion, and had but lately ceased to be a schismatict These words seem scarcely credible, and the truth probably is, that the pride of some Italian Cardinals was wounded by the prospect of an Eastern, a member of the hated Greek nation, occupying the chair of St. Peter, while the worldly-minded amongst them, like Scarampo, dreaded Bessarion’s austerity.

When this name had ceased to figure in the list of candidates, the former perplexity again returned. The crowds assembled in front of the Vatican grew impatient, and the ambassadors who kept watch over the Conclave were urgent for a decision, representing to the Cardinals the unsettled condition of Rome, and the danger threatened by Piccinino.

In this difficulty, each party being strong enough to hinder the election of the opposing candidate, and yet too weak to secure that of its own, the electors cast their eyes upon a man who was not a member of the sacred college, the Minorite Antonio de Montefalcone, but he also failed to obtain the requisite majority of votes. Finally — as it were to postpone the contest — all agreed in electing an old man, whose life was almost at an end. Accordingly, mainly through the exertions of Scarampo and Alain, on the morning of the 8th April a Spanish Cardinal, the aged Alonso (Alfonso) de Borja (Borgia) was elected by accession, and took the name of Calixtus III. Those who had even before the beginning of the Conclave foretold that the discord of the Italians would result in the election of an "Ultramontane", now saw their predictions verified. Instead of Bessarion, the Greek humanist and philosopher, a Spanish canonist mounted the Papal throne.

No one had hitherto contemplated the elevation of Alfonso Borgia as a possibility, but when once it became known, a prophecy of St. Vincent Ferrer was called to mind. It was said that this Spanish Dominican, while preaching at Valencia, remarked a priest among the crowds who commended themselves to his prayers, and addressed him in the following words: "My son, I congratulate you; remember that you are called to be one day the ornament of your country and of your family. You will be invested with the highest dignity that can fall to the lot of man. I myself, after my death, shall be the object of your special honour. Endeavour to persevere in your virtuous course of life". The priest to whom the saint spoke was no other than Alfonso Borgia. From that moment, with the tenacity which belonged to his character, he had firmly believed in the prediction and frequently repeated it to his friends. Now that it had been accomplished, one of the first acts of his pontificate was to raise St. Vincent Ferrer to the altars, and his solemn canonization took place at Rome on the 29th June, 1455.

The old Catalan race of the Borja, or Borgia, as the Italians pronounced the name, had brought forth many remarkable men. Nature had been lavish in her gifts, and endowed them with beauty and strength, with intellect, skill, and that energy of will which compels fortune. Alfonso, who was no less gifted than the other members of his family, was born, at Xativa, in Valencia, on the last day of 1378, the year which witnessed the outbreak of the great schism. At a very early age he studied jurisprudence at the University of Lerida, and became a doctor of civil and canon law. Subsequently he successfully taught these subjects at Lerida, and was nominated to a canonry in the Cathedral of that city by Pedro de Luna, afterwards known as Benedict XIII. His relations with King Alfonso were the means of diverting Borgia from the career of learning on which he had entered. The monarch recognized his diplomatic capabilities and drew him into his service, where, as private secretary and confidential counsellor, he amply justified the trust reposed in him, displaying the greatest skill and activity in the conduct of ecclesiastical and political negotiations. Borgia also rendered important service to the Papacy in the time of Martin V, and the abdication of the anti-Pope Clement VIII was in great measure due to his exertions. The lawful Pope, Martin V, rewarded him in that very year by conferring on him the Bishopric of Valencia (1429).

As Bishop, Alfonso took part in the most important affairs of Church and State. In the reorganization of the kingdom of Naples, which had long been distracted by war and tumult, he rendered special services to King Alfonso, and the institution of the celebrated tribunal of Sta. Chiara was his work. His prudence and his spirit of perfect loyalty to Rome were manifested in the fact that he refused to act as Alfonso's ambassador to the Council of Basle, which was antagonistic to Pope Eugenius. He afterwards laboured most zealously to bring about a reconciliation between the King and the Pope, and, after it had been accomplished, was raised to the purple, and took his title from the picturesque old Basilica of the Quattro Incoronati which stands on a spur of the northern Caelian hill. Alfonso could not but accede to the Pope's desire that he should remain at his Court, and he there gained the reputation of being incapable of flattery or party feeling. There was but one opinion in Rome regarding the moral purity, the integrity, the capacity for business, and the knowledge of canon law which distinguished the Cardinal of Valencia, as Alfonso was now commonly styled.

His health, unfortunately, was weak; severe study and unceasing activity had told upon his strength, and this circumstance, together with the familiar relations existing between him and King Alfonso, awakened considerable anxiety in Italy. The Republics of Venice, Florence, and Genoa were, as we learn from many contemporary letters, dissatisfied with the election, although their official documents expressed sentiments of a very different character.

The choice of a foreigner for the Papal dignity was a severe blow to the national feeling in Italy. It was by some even deemed probable that a great schism would break out, and that a number of Cardinals would leave the Papal Court, where, in the days immediately succeeding the election, Scarampo and Alain exercised an excessive influence. Fears were entertained, especially by the Republics, that the already too great influence of King Alfonso would be still further increased, and that the hated Catalans would be unduly promoted. The latter of these apprehensions was, as we shall see, but too well justified. But the idea that King Alfonso would now, through his former Secretary, rule the Holy See, happily proved unfounded.

Calixtus III was certainly regarded in Rome as a right-minded and just man. "The new Pope", wrote the Procurator of the Teutonic Order on the 3rd May, 1455, to the Grand Master, "is an old man of honourable and virtuous life and of excellent reputation". His previous life had been blameless. Austere towards himself, he was amiable and indulgent to others. As Bishop and as Cardinal he had declined all other preferment. The poor and needy never sought comfort and help from him in vain. The Sienese, Bartolommeo Michele, who had been previously acquainted with him, praised him in the highest terms. On the day after the election he wrote to his native city: "He is a man of great sanctity and learning, a friend and adherent of King Alfonso, in whose service he has been. He has always shown himself well disposed towards our city. His nature is peaceable and kindly". Michele, in this letter, exhorts the Sienese to send the most splendid embassy possible to Rome, and to select for it eminent and worthy men, inasmuch as the Pope was very clear-sighted and learned.

A letter addressed by St. Antoninus, the great Archbishop of Florence, to Giovanni, the son of Messer Domenico of Orvieto, in Pisa, gives a good idea of the fears awakened by the election of Calixtus, and of the favourable change in public opinion which soon took place in his regard. "The election of Calixtus III", says St. Antoninus, "at first gave little satisfaction to the Italians, and this for two reasons. First, inasmuch as he was a Valencian or Catalan, they felt some apprehension lest he might seek to transfer the Papal Court to another country. Secondly, they feared that he might confide the strongholds of the Church to Catalans, and that it might eventually be difficult to recover possession of them. But now the minds of men have been reassured by more mature reflection, and the reputation which he bears for goodness, penetration, and impartiality. Moreover, he has bound himself by a solemn promise — a copy of which I have seen — to devote all his powers, with the advice of the Cardinals, to the war against the Turks, and the conquest of Constantinople. It is not believed or said that he is more attached to one nation than to another, but rather that as a prudent and just man he will give to everyone his due. The Lord alone, whose providence rules the world, and especially the Church, and who in His infinite mercy brings good for her out of evil, knows what will happen. Meanwhile we must always think well of the Holy Father, and judge his actions favourably, even more so than those of any other living being, and not be frightened by every little shock. Christ guides the bark of Peter, which, therefore, can never sink. Sometimes He seems to slumber in the storm: then must we wake Him with prayers and good works, of which there is much need".

The whole demeanour of Calixtus III was marked by great simplicity ; splendour and pomp were most distasteful to him. Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomini bears witness that he greatly surpassed his predecessor in the patience with which he gave audiences. He himself dictated the letters sent to Kings and to friends, and countersigned petitions with pleasure. He loved to converse upon legal matters, and was as familiar with laws and canons as if he had but just left the University. Nicholas V had delighted in conversation, but Calixtus was chary of his words. Nowhere, however, was the contrast between the Spanish Pontiff and the great patron of the Renaissance so striking as in the domain of literature and art.

But in order to correctly estimate Calixtus III in this matter we must begin by discarding the passionate and exaggerated denunciations of the humanists of his day, one of whom went so far as to declare that "Calixtus III was a useless Pope". Their golden age certainly closed with the life of Nicholas V. Indeed, if we consider the prominent position occupied in his days by men either indifferent or actually antagonistic to the Church, we must admit that a reaction was inevitable. The violence of this reaction — which, from the ecclesiastical point of view, was a salutary one — was greatly exaggerated by the humanists. Calixtus III, the quiet, dry, legal student, was not directly inimical, but simply indifferent, to the Renaissance movement. In his reign its victorious course was checked for a time, but it was not violently arrested.

The extraordinary favour shown by the Pope to the humanist Valla has never been sufficiently explained. He was appointed Papal Secretary, and canonries were freely bestowed upon him, but he died on the 1st August, 1457. His monument in the Lateran, rescued from destruction by a great German historian, was removed to another place in the most recent restoration of the Church.

It is interesting to note the manner in which the humanists conformed themselves to altered circumstances. In the Vatican Library there is still preserved a petition for a pension, addressed to Calixtus III by a learned man, who endeavours to recommend himself to the Pontiff by an allusion to the Eastern question, in which the latter took so deep an interest. When they saw that it was in vain to hope for anything from this Pope they avenged themselves by calumnies.

One of the chief of these was that propagated by Filelfo and Vespasiano da Bisticci, which accused Calixtus of dispersing the Vatican Library. The account of Vespasiano runs as follows:  "When Pope Calixtus began his reign, and beheld so many excellent books, five hundred of them resplendent in bindings of crimson velvet with clasps of silver, he wondered greatly, for the old canonist was used only to books written on linen and stitched together. Instead of commending the wisdom of his predecessor, he cried out as he entered the Library: 'See, now, where the treasure of God's Church has gone! Then he began to disperse the Greek books. He gave several hundred to the Ruthenian Cardinal, Isidore. As this latter had become half childish from age the volumes fell into the hands of the servants. That which had cost golden florins was sold for a few pence. Many Latin books came to Barcelona, some by means of the Bishop of Vich, the powerful Datary of the Pope, and some as presents to Catalan nobles". There are serious grounds for disbelieving this narrative. If the dispersion of the books had been so complete, how could Platina, the Vatican Librarian under Sixtus IV, have admired their splendour? Isolated volumes may, as often happens after the death of a Pope, have found their way into other hands, but this cannot have been at all a general case, for a large portion of the collection of Nicholas V, is at the present moment in the Vatican.

The next testimony which we shall adduce is of itself almost sufficient to decide the question. On the 16th April, 1455, even before his coronation, the Pope caused his confessor, Cosimo da Monserrato, to undertake the compilation of a catalogue of the valuable library left by his predecessor. This very fact indicates an interest in the preservation of the books, and it is not likely that a Pope who thus acted would give them away to the first comer. In this most ancient inventory of the Vatican Library we find a number of marginal notes, by means of which the humanistic statements regarding the dispersion of manuscripts may be reduced to their proper dimensions. Here it appears that Calixtus certainly gave away some manuscripts, five volumes in all, and these of no great value. Two went to the King of Naples. The fact that the catalogue was undertaken on the 16th April, 1455, does not exclude the possibility of subsequent presents having been made by the Pope, but even if this were the case the number of manuscripts so disposed of must have been very small. If he bestowed only two on King Alfonso, his intimate friend, we may rest assured that he cannot have given hundreds to Cardinal Isidore or to the Catalan nobles. The only thing that may be granted as probable is that Calixtus, who was ready to pledge even his mitre to provide funds for the Turkish war, may have sacrificed some of the gold and silver bindings for this purpose. Thus this oft-repeated tale proves for the most part legendary.

The attitude of the new Pope towards the Renaissance and its promoters doubtless formed a striking contrast to that of its enthusiastic patron, Nicholas V. It is to be accounted for, not only by his own want of taste for polite literature, but by the peril which threatened Christendom from the East. He justly deemed it to be his first duty to defend Europe from the Turk, and this care occupied his mind so completely that little room was left for more peaceful labours in the realm of literature and art.

The pontificate of Calixtus III opened ominously on the very day of his accession with a violent outbreak of the old Roman family broils. He was crowned on the 20th April. In the morning he repaired to St. Peter's, where, according to the old custom, one of the Canons of the Church reminded him of the transitory nature of all earthly greatness by burning a bundle of tow before his eyes, and saying, "Holy Father, so perishes the glory of the world!". The Pope himself celebrated Mass, Cardinal Barbo singing the Epistle and Cardinal Colonna the Gospel. The coronation afterwards took place in front of the Basilica; Prospero Colonna, as the senior Cardinal Deacon, placed the triple crown upon the pontiff's head with the words: "Receive the triple crown and know that thou art the father of all Princes and Kings, the guide of the world, the Vicar on earth of our Saviour Jesus Christ, to whom is honour and glory for ever and ever. — Amen."

Immediately after this solemnity Calixtus took possession of the Lateran, the Cathedral Church of the Popes. He was accompanied by all the Cardinals and about eighty Bishops clad in white, together with many Roman barons and the magistrates of the city. He rode "a white horse" through the streets, adorned with tapestry, to the "golden Basilica, the mother and head of all the churches in the city and in the world". In pursuance of an ancient custom the representatives of the Jews met the Pope on his triumphal procession in the Piazza, known as Monte Giordano; they presented him with the roll of the law. He read some words from it, and said: "We ratify the law, but we condemn your interpretation, for He of whom ye say that He will come — our Lord Jesus Christ — has come, as the Church teaches us and preaches". This ceremony was the occasion of a riot, by which the Pope's life was endangered. The populace endeavoured to seize the richly ornamented book of the Jewish law, and even laid hands on the Papal baldacchino.

Disturbances of a yet more serious character occurred on the Campo de' Fiori. Napoleone Orsini, who had a dispute with Count Everso of Anguillara regarding the lordship of Tagliacozzo, determined to avenge the death of one of his men slain by an adherent of Everso. Leaving the procession he hastened to the Campo de Fiori, where the Count lodged, and pillaged his quarters. So great was the power of the Orsini that three thousand armed men assembled on Monte Giordano in answer to the cry, "Orsini! to the rescue!. The Colonna sided with the Count, and a fierce encounter between the two factions under the very eyes of the Pope was barely prevented, and peace for the moment restored by the strenuous exertions of his messengers and of Cardinal Orsini and the Prefect, Francesco Orsini.

The Pope was greatly angered by these disturbances. He afterwards charged Cardinal Pietro Barbo, who had recently established peace in the patrimony, to bring about a cessation of hostilities for a few months. This truce was subsequently prolonged by the Pope, who endeavoured also to restore peace among the other baronial families of Rome. Happily the rest of the reign of Calixtus III was not of a piece with this ill-omened beginning, for although the feuds among the barons were not completely extinguished, the city was less affected by them.

The Pope's coronation was followed by the homage of the Christian powers, and from the latter part of April Rome witnessed the arrival of a succession of splendid embassies. That of Lucca was the first to appear, and was followed at longer or shorter intervals by those of the other cities. That of King Alfonso was exceptionally magnificent, but his attempt to begin by making terms with the Pope regarding the obedience to be promised was little calculated to maintain the good understanding which had previously existed between him and Calixtus, who met his pretensions and a similar attempt on the part of the envoys of Frederick III with a decided refusal.

The Republic of Florence which had sent humanists to do homage to Nicholas V now selected as the chief of its embassy their Archbishop, St. Antoninus, a man remarkable alike for the purity of his life and his theological learning. With him were associated Giannozzo Pandolfini, Antonio di Lorenzo Ridolfi, Giovanni di Cosimo de Medici, and the lawyer Oddone Nicolini. The ambassadors were desired without the archbishop's knowledge to request Pope Calixtus to promote him to the purple. On the 24th of May, the day of their audience, Calixtus spoke of his determination to combat the foes of the Christian faith and to reconquer New Rome, not sparing even his own life in the cause, although he deemed himself unworthy to win the martyr's crown. In conclusion, he expressed his hope that Florence, as a true daughter of the Church, would render every possible assistance in this holy undertaking. On the 28th May the Archbishop delivered in open consistory his celebrated discourse on the war against the Turks, and the Pope replied by an eulogy of Florence. Two days later in a private audience Calixtus dwelt on his earnest desire for the complete restoration of peace in Italy, and the distress caused him by the disturbances which Piccinino was again stirring up in his unfortunate country.

In the end of July, 1455, the Venetian embassy reached Rome. The message which it bore regarding the burning question of the day was not of a very satisfactory nature. The ambassadors were the same who had already presented to Nicholas V the congratulations of the Signoria. They were instructed to reassure the Pope as to the intentions of the Republic concerning the Turkish war. They were to inform him that if the other Christian powers would proceed seriously against the Turks they would manifest the same good will as their forefathers had shown. The import of this answer was clear, and the Signoria subsequently inculcated on the envoys the necessity of adhering to it. A similar evasive reply was given to Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomini, when, on his passage through Venice to offer the Emperor Frederick's homage to the Pope, he, in his master's name, inquired into the intentions of the Republic regarding the Turkish question.

Their stay in Venice delayed the arrival in Rome of Aeneas Sylvius and his companion, the lawyer, Johann Hinderbach, until the 10th August. Their reception was honourable, but their attempt to treat with Calixtus regarding the Emperor's claims in the matter of reservations, tithes, nominations, and first requests, before making the profession of obedience, was frustrated, as the Pope absolutely refused to make any promise for the sake of gaining that which was his due. "We were placed in no small perplexity", Aeneas Sylvius wrote to the Emperor, "but as we saw that nothing else could be done, and that it would cause scandal if we were to depart without making profession of obedience, we decided on doing this, and then proceeding with your petition". Two days later the profession of obedience of the German nation took place in open consistory. Aeneas Sylvius made a long speech on the occasion, and congratulated the aged Pope on the fact that he was the first Pontiff since Gregory XI, that is to say, for a period of about eighty years, who had no antiPope to fear. He then proceeded to advocate the Turkish war, a matter very near the heart of the Pope, and one in regard to which the speaker's former exertions and present zeal gave weight to his words. Calixtus praised the Emperor and commended his good intention of devoting himself to the war; and, for his own part, declared that he would not shrink from any sacrifice to achieve the extermination of the infidels. During the following days the ambassadors presented the Emperor's petition in writing, and had repeated conferences concerning it with the Pope, but, as might have been foreseen, gained nothing. Hinderbach then returned to Germany, while Aeneas Sylvius remained in Rome, endeavouring to make himself of use, and eagerly seeking promotion to the purple, for which, however, he had long to wait.

   

CHAPTER II.  

 

THE HOLY SEE AND THE EASTERN QUESTION—A CRUSADING FLEET BUILT IN ROME— ITSFIRST SUCCESSES — ATTITUDE OF THEWESTERN POWERS TOWARDS THE DANGERWITH WHICH THE TURKS THREATENED EUROPE.

 

The dangers to the Church and to civilization which troubled the latter days of Nicholas V had assumed yet more alarming proportions at the accession of Calixtus III. Torn by conflicting interests and internecine feuds, the West was ill-fitted to withstand the united and fanatical advance of Islam. The disastrous consequences of the fall of Constantinople had at once been felt, not only in the stagnation of trade with the East, but in the threatened hindrance by the Turks of free navigation in the Mediterranean. Servia and Hungary, Greece, the Christian Islands, especially Rhodes, and the Empire of the Comneni at Trebizond, were in imminent danger, and the colonies in the Black Sea were almost lost. Mahomet II was himself unremitting in his efforts to extend his dominion.

Nevertheless, the leading Princes and States of Europe, with scarcely an exception, displayed the most deplorable indifference to the welfare of Christendom. So grievous were their dissensions, and such the decay of zeal and heroism, that not one could rise above individual interests and animosities to gather round the banner of the Cross. The Holy See alone truly apprehended the importance of the situation, and while all others were swayed by selfish considerations, again showed itself to be the most universal and most conservative power on earth.

With her traditional wisdom, Rome appreciated the magnitude of the danger which menaced the Western world and its civilization. She also perceived that this victory of the infidel, like the loss in former days of the Holy Sepulchre, might be a means of reviving the zeal and loyalty of the faithful, and thus lead to further progress in the work of restoration already begun. The greater the spirit of dissension in the political and ecclesiastical sphere the more did it behove the Holy See to devote itself to the common interest.

Calixtus III was the man of all others to give a new and powerful impulse to the crusade. His duty and his inclination were in this matter identical. From the beginning to the end of his Pontificate, in public and in private, in his letters to Christian princes and prelates, and in his solemn Bulls addressed to all Christian people, he declared that he looked upon the defence of Christendom as the main object of his life. The crusade against the hereditary foe of the Christian name was the point upon which all his powers and efforts were concentrated.

The new Pope resolved to inaugurate his reign by a solemn vow which bound him to sacrifice everything — the treasures of the Church and, if necessary, his own life — in order to repel Islam and recover Constantinople. The words of this vow, copies of which were circulated in almost all countries to the joy and edification of the good, have been handed down to us. They are as follows:  "I, Pope Calixtus III, promise and vow to the Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, to the Ever-Virgin Mother of God, to the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, and to all the heavenly host, that I will do everything in my power, even, if need be, with the sacrifice of my life, aided by the counsel of my worthy brethren, to reconquer Constantinople, which in punishment for the sin of man has been taken and ruined by Mahomet II, the son of the devil and the enemy of our Crucified Redeemer. Further, I vow to deliver the Christians languishing in slavery, to exalt the true Faith and to extirpate the diabolical sect of the reprobate and faithless Mahomet in the East. For there the light of Faith is almost completely extinguished. If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand be forgotten. Let my tongue cleave to my jaws, if I do not remember thee. If I make not Jerusalem the beginning of my joy, God and His holy Gospel help me. — Amen."

With the resolute tenacity of a Spaniard, the aged Calixtus laboured unremittingly to accomplish his vow.

Seven centuries of warfare with the Moors had left an indelible impress on the Spanish national character. The crusades form an episode in the history of other nations, but the very existence of the Spanish race was a perpetual crusade; and one consequence of this state of things was the development of a high-souled enthusiasm, which led each individual to look on himself as one of a chosen race, and especially called to be a champion of Christendom. That spirit of religious chivalry — which in other European countries had long since given place to more material views, or else degenerated into lawless feuds — still flourished in Spain. Like thousands of his fellow-countrymen, Calixtus III had from his earliest days imbibed sentiments of deadly hatred for the mortal enemy of the Christian name, and after his elevation to the highest dignity in Christendom he deemed it his first duty to combat that foe. The repeated declarations in his writings that, next to the attainment of everlasting life, he desired nothing so ardently as the accomplishment of his vow regarding the deliverance of Constantinople, were no mere figure of speech. He wished to make the most ample reparation for the shortcomings of his un-warlike predecessors, and as we read his fervent words we feel that years had done nothing to quell his ardent Spanish temperament. The union of Western Christendom against the power of Islam, the succour of imperilled Hungary, and the construction and equipment of a Papal fleet were the objects to be accomplished within the shortest possible space of time. With an energy which seemed to defy the advance of age, the Pope at once began to deal with the matter in all its aspects.

The history of the Papal power was materially affected by the action of Calixtus. The Papacy under Eugenius IV had been engrossed by Italian politics and contests with the Councils, and under Nicholas V it had been absorbed in literary and artistic interests. Now under Calixtus III it seemed to be roused to remorse by the fall of Constantinople, and, as in the days of Urban II to realize the magnitude of the Eastern problem, whose solution might be the means of endowing it with fresh vigour.

The warlike zeal and indomitable resolution displayed by Calixtus III, notwithstanding his age and infirmities, is justly characterized by ecclesiastical annalists as marvellous. "The Pope", writes Gabriel of Verona, "speaks and thinks of nothing but the crusade". For whole hours he used to converse with the Minorites on the subject, which seemed to him to surpass all others in importance. "Other affairs", says the historian, "he despatches with a word, but he treats and speaks of the crusade continually."

On the 15th May, 1455, Calixtus published a solemn Bull, by which all the graces and indulgences granted by Nicholas V on the 30th September 1454, to those who should take part in the crusade, were confirmed, and all other indulgences published since the Council of Constance repealed. New regulations were made concerning the tithes to be devoted to the war, and the 1st March of the following year was appointed as the day for the departure of the expedition against the common foe of Christendom.

In order to restore unity among the Christian princes, and to incite them to hostilities against the Turks, the Pope determined to send special legates to the principal countries of Christendom. The Cardinal Archbishop of Gran, Dionysius Széchy, was appointed to Hungary; the indefatigable Cardinal Carvajal to Germany, Hungary, and Poland; Cardinal Nicholas of Cusa to England and Germany; and Cardinal Alain to France. On the 8th September Calixtus III personally conferred the cross on Cardinals Alain and Carvajal, and on the Archbishop Urrea of Tarragona, who was to hasten with a naval force to the relief of the hard-pressed Christian islands in the Aegean and Ionian waters. This solemn ceremony was performed at St. Peter's. This was indeed fitting, as the place hallowed by the remains of him whom our Lord had made the rock and foundation of His Church. It was the scene of all the most important actions of the Popes, and as such it was also to witness a deed whose effects were destined to embrace the whole of Christendom. The Pope, as we learn from the Bishop of Pavia, manifested the greatest devotion on this occasion, and shed many tears. Calixtus III, he adds, is most eager to combat the Turks; anyone, who places obstacles in his way, is guilty of a great sin. As early as September 17th Alain entered on his office as legate, and a week later Carvajal left the Eternal City on his way to the North. Nicholas of Cusa apparently did not undertake the journey to England, for the negotiations with the Duke of Tyrol prove that he spent the whole of the year 1455 in his diocese of Brixen.

The deplorable issue of the Diet summoned in the time of Nicholas V to deal with the Turkish question determined Calixtus III to renounce the idea of any assembly of the kind, and to endeavour to deal directly with the individual potentates. He accordingly sent to the lesser European Princes and States, bishops, prelates, or monks who were to treat with the chief persons of the country regarding tithes, to call upon the people to contribute, to take part in the expedition, and to pray earnestly for the success of the Christian arms. He granted at the same time ample indulgences to those who should thus assist in the holy work. Anyone who has had the opportunity of looking through the thirty-eight thick volumes in the Secret Archives of the Vatican which contain the acts of Calixtus III's short Pontificate must be amazed at the immense energy manifested by the aged and sickly Pontiff.

Special envoys were despatched, not merely to the larger Italian States, such as Naples, Florence, and Venice, but also to the smaller Republics and cities, and to the islands of Sicily, Sardinia, and Corsica. In the Regesta of Calixtus III we, moreover, find records of the appointment of preachers of the crusade and of tithe collectors for the several provinces of Spain and Germany, for Portugal, Poland, Dalmatia, Norway, Denmark, and Sweden, and an ambassador was sent even to Ireland and to the distant shores of Scotland.

Most of these envoys were chosen from among the Observantine Friars, who, as mendicants and as brethren of St. John Capistran, enjoyed the confidence of the people to a remarkable degree. The names of San Jacopo della Marca, of Roberto da Lecce, and of Antonio de Montefalcone, on whom the cardinals in conclave had for a moment fixed their attention, are worthy of special mention. But other Orders were also called upon by the Pope to assist in the work he had at heart. Heinrich Kalteisen, a Dominican from the Rhenish province, who had already given proof of his zeal at the Council of Basle, and whom Nicholas V had appointed Archbishop of Drontheim, laboured in Germany, preaching in Vienna, Ratisbon, Augsburg, Eichstadt, Nuremberg, and finally in his own Rhenish home, and had the honour of receiving a Brief of special commendation from the Pope.

Another instance of the extent to which the Pope claimed the assistance of the religious orders in the matter of the crusade against the infidels is to be found in the command addressed on the 4th May, 1456, to the General and Provincials of the Augustinians, whereby he required them, under pain of excommunication, to immediately detain all the preachers of the Order, to give up all other undertakings, and to devote themselves entirely to preaching the crusade.

The chronicler of Viterbo enables us to form a clear idea of the manner in which it was published. "On the 8th September", he says, "a Franciscan monk began preaching the crusade in the chief square near the fountain. First of all he caused drums and fifes to be sounded, and then a silver gilt cross with a figure of the Redeemer to be set up; afterwards he brought forth the Pope's Bull and thoroughly explained it."

Calixtus III guarded against the abuses which had frequently occurred on former occasions by the most exact directions respecting the collection and keeping of the tithes to be levied on all ecclesiastics for the Turkish War. In the march of Ancona, for example, it was decreed that, subject to the advice of the Bishop, one or two collectors and treasurers should be appointed for each city, and should keep duplicate accounts of the names of the contributors and the sums paid. The Papal envoys were empowered to inflict the severest ecclesiastical penalties on the refractory, and, if necessary, to invoke the secular arm. They were, moreover, carefully to examine the preachers and to insist upon their explaining the contents and the import of the Bull of the crusade. A chest with four locks was to be placed in the sacristy of the cathedral to receive the alms; one of the keys of this chest was to be kept by the Bishop, the second by the Papal Commissioner, the third by the two collectors, and the fourth by two notable citizens to be chosen by the congregation. A notary was to write down the names of the contributors and the amount paid, so that everyone might be sure that the funds were devoted exclusively to the object of the crusade.

Nevertheless, as nothing human is perfect, serious abuses occurred. Some of the collectors retained the funds entrusted to them; false collectors arose, as they had done in the time of Nicholas V, and cheated the people out of their money. Calixtus III, when informed of these malpractices, lost no time in proceeding against the offenders, yet it was impossible for him entirely to avert the discredit brought upon the whole enterprise in many cases by their misconduct.

Not content, however, with causing collections to be made in every country for the expenses of the Holy War, the Pope, like a true Spaniard, determined to devote all the pecuniary and military resources at his disposal to the same object.

He accordingly did not hesitate to alienate jewels from the Papal treasure and even Church property in order to provide the means required for warlike preparations. The long list of gold and silver plate bought by the art loving King Alfonso of Naples from the Pope in the year 1456 is still extant, and mentions gilt amphorae and cups, a silver wine cooler, a table service for confectionery, and also a tabernacle with figures of the Saviour and of St. Thomas, chalices and instruments of the pax. It is easy to understand that such a Pontiff lost little time in dismissing the needy men of letters and most of the artists and craftsmen who had been constantly employed by his predecessor. Those whom he still retained in his service were required to labour in the cause of the crusade. The painters and embroiderers had to devote their skill exclusively to the fabrication of banners, and the sculptors to that of stone cannon-balls.

We can hardly wonder that the records of this Pontificate do not speak of any new buildings of importance. In Rome, however, the erection of fortifications was not altogether discontinued, and the works commenced by Nicholas V at the Ponte Molle, the Castle of St. Angelo, and on the walls of the city were continued. A medal of this period represents the Eternal City surrounded with great fortifications. But the ramparts of the Vatican seem to have been left as they were, and the Tribune of St. Peter's to have remained a ruin rising scarcely twenty feet above the ground. In vain did the Poet Giuseppe Brippi conjure the Pope to continue the building of St. Peter's. He merely placed a new organ in the church, restored the windows, and repaired the circular chapel of St Andrew.

The architects who always found a welcome from Calixtus III were military engineers and ship-builders, and he willingly expended the treasure of the Church in remunerating their labours. Although the great projects of his predecessor remained in abeyance, the Pope caused some works to be undertaken in those churches of the Eternal City for which he felt some special attraction. He was not in reality indifferent to the state of the public buildings, but the war against the infidel absorbed his attention almost to the exclusion of every other subject.

A Bull is still extant in which severe penalties are pronounced against the robbers who were in the habit of removing stones and ornaments from the churches of Rome.

Calixtus III, however, took no interest in an antiquarian discovery made in July, 1458. In preparing the grave of a Penitentiary in the Church of St. Petronilla, adjoining St. Peter's, a great marble sarcophagus was brought to light, which contained a large coffin and one for a child, both made of cypress wood and lined with silver. These coffins were so heavy that six men could with difficulty carry them. The bodies, which had been wrapped in rich, gold-embroidered, silken fabrics, crumbled away when exposed to the air. As no inscription was found, many conjectures were made; some believed the remains to be those of the Emperor Constantine or of his son. Calixtus III had the coffins removed, and the gold of the embroidery, worth about a thousand ducats, was, by his desire, sent to the Mint to be made available for the Turkish war. Contemporary writers mention the circumstance without a word of disapproval; a century later the destruction of such a treasure would have elicited expressions of indignant protest.

It was the intention of the Pope to attack the Turks at once, both by land and sea, and by this combined assault he expected to recover possession of Constantinople. He mainly relied for the land forces on Duke Philip of Burgundy, who ruled the richest and most important countries of Western Europe. He had received the Cross from the hands of a Papal envoy, and accordingly had been favoured, as in the time of Nicholas V, with the grant of a plenary indulgence for his companions in arms, a tax on all reserved benefices, a tithe of the ecclesiastical revenues in his territory, and other privileges. Moreover, in order that he might devote himself without distraction to the crusade, the Pope, in July, 1455, confirmed the peace which had been concluded between Burgundy and France.

As no dependence could be placed on Venice, King Alfonso of Naples seemed pointed out as the leader of the attack by sea. His sway extended over Naples, Sicily, Sardinia, Aragon, Catalonia, Valencia, and the Balearic Isles; in fact, with the exception of Corsica which belonged to the Genoese, he commanded all the western portion of the Mediterranean, and could have done more than any other Western Prince to stay the advance of the Turks. Accordingly the Pope spared no effort to induce him to take part in the expedition, and the intimate relations, which had subsisted between them, gave good grounds for expecting his hearty co-operation. The monarch was lavish of fair promises and begged the Pope to allow him to be invested with the Cross. Calixtus III gladly consented, and the ceremony was performed with great solemnity on All Saints' Day, 1455. Many of his nobles and barons also took the Cross on this occasion, and the hopes of the Pontiff rose high, soon however to be blighted by the troubles which Jacopo Piccinino excited in Central Italy.

Deprived of his livelihood by the peace of Lodi in 1455, this Condottiere had threatened Bologna and the Romagna. The Duke of Milan, however, by sending an army of four thousand men into the field, had made it evident that insurrection in these quarters would not be tolerated, and Piccinino crossed the Appenines and directed his course towards Siena. This Republic had in the last war been hostile to Florence and Venice, and had also offended King Alfonso of Naples. These circumstances emboldened Piccinino to advance against the Sienese, who at once appealed to all the powers who had joined the league, and more especially to the Pope, imploring assistance. Calixtus granted their request all the more willingly because the renewal of hostilities in Central Italy would necessarily have hindered his preparations for the crusade. In June, 1456, he informed the Venetian ambassadors that he would offer the same resistance to Piccinino as to the Turks, and would make an example of him, deeming the maintenance of peace in Italy to be a matter equal in importance to the defence of the Christian faith, and, indeed, inseparable from it. In order to protect Siena, he despatched the Papal forces which were in readiness to make war upon the Turks. Napoleone Orsini, Stefano Colonna, and Deifobo and Ascanio, sons of Count Everso of Anguillara, accompanied these troops, and their commander was the Sicilian, Giovanni Ventimiglia. Venice and Florence also declared against Piccinino, and Francesco Sforza desired his generals, Roberto di Sanseverino and Corrado Folliano, to start in his pursuit King Alfonso alone remained passive, from which it was soon surmised that there was a secret understanding between him and the Condottiere.

The troops of the Duke of Milan joined those of the Pope near the Lake of Thrasymene. Piccinino boldly advanced and made an unexpected attack, which at first promised to be successful, but Roberto di Sanseverino soon rallied his forces and repulsed the enemy, who then fell back upon Castiglione della Pescaja. This fortress was situated between a marshy lake and the sea, and was almost impregnable. It belonged to King Alfonso, who caused his fleet to convey provisions to Piccinino. In con- sequence of this assistance afforded to the Condottiere by the King, and of the incapacity and indecision of Giovanni Ventimiglia the war was protracted to a disastrous length. This was exactly what the King of Naples desired, for it gave him time to place fresh obstacles in the way of the projected campaign against the Turks, and involved Calixtus III and his allies in great expense. Yet the Pope seems to have hoped that the influence of their ancient friendship would have enabled him to persuade Alfonso to second his efforts for the defence of Christendom. The King's pretensions on behalf of Piccinino were, however, little calculated to encourage such hopes. He required that the Italian league, into which he had entered, should consent to support a common army, and that Piccinino should be its general, and be always in readiness to resist the Turks. The Italian powers were called upon to promise a yearly payment of a hundred thousand florins to the army, and quarters for the soldiers. Francesco Sforza and Calixtus III indignantly rejected the proposal that Italy should be made tributary to one whom they justly regarded as a brigandJ The attempt made by Piccinino to burn the papal crusading fleet at Civita Vecchia may enable us to estimate his fitness for the command of the army destined to make war upon the Turks.

Unspeakable mischief was done to the Sienese by the petty warfare which Piccinino waged against them, and their hardships were increased when, in the October of 1455, he took possession of their port of Orbitello, and from its plunder derived means to maintain himself for a season. In despair they determined on sending an ambassador to the Court of King Alfonso, the source of all their troubles. But no agreement was arrived at, and early in April, 1456, a fresh embassy, consisting of Galgano Borghese, Leonardo Benvoglienti, and Aeneas Sylvius, proceeded to Naples. Just at this time an open breach between Alfonso and the Pope seemed imminent. The King had been informed that Calixtus had on Maundy Thursday pronounced a sentence of excommunication against Piccinino, his partisans and protectors, and, enraged by these tidings, Alfonso had declared that he would have all the Pope's relations banished from his dominions. He also sent subsidies to Piccinino's adherents. He was satisfied, however, when it was pointed out to him that those who took arms against the Church had been excommunicated by previous Popes since the days of Martin V, and that the action of Calixtus in this matter was nothing new.

This cause of discord having been set at rest negotiations were resumed, and on the 31st May were at last concluded. The following were the conditions of peace: Piccinino was to give up the places he had conquered, to evacuate Tuscany and retire into the domains of his patron Alfonso; the States of the League were to pay fifty thousand florins for the maintenance of his army, Alfonso undertaking to furnish a fifth part of this sum. The arrangement of details was confided to the Pope, who desired that twenty thousand florins should be paid out of the apostolic treasury; and Siena was to contribute a like amount. The admonitory briefs of Calixtus III, preserved in its State Archives, bear witness to the dilatory discharge of this obligation by the exhausted city. Piccinino did not leave Orbitello until constrained to do so by King Alfonso in September, 1456, fifteen months after his disgraceful inroad into the territory of the unfortunate Sienese, who now sent Bishop Alessio de' Cesari of Chiusi as their ambassador to Rome to thank the Pope for the great services which he had rendered them during the continuance of the war.

Another circumstance which occurred in the first year of his Pontificate caused the Pope even greater distress than that occasioned by this war in Central Italy. In September, 1455, he had entrusted to Archbishop Pietro Urrea of Tarragona, Antonio Olzina, and Antonio de Frescobaldis the command of the vessels destined for the relief of the Christian islands in the Aegean Sea, which were at this time harassed by the Turkish fleet. The traitors, however, instead of employing the vessels which had been procured with money collected for the crusade in operations against the Turks, combined with King Alfonso's fleet, commanded by Villamarina, attacked the Genoese, devastated their coast, and waged war with the ships of other Christian powers. As soon as the first faint rumour of these events reached the ears of the Pope he at once despatched letters of urgent remonstrance to King Alfonso. "If only a few Christian galleys had shown themselves in the neighbourhood of Ragusa", wrote the justly incensed Pontiff to his ambassadors at Naples, "the Hungarians would have taken fresh courage. As it is they hear nothing of our fleet, and break forth into bitter complaints. Oh, traitors! your ships might have discomfited the Turks, raised up the Christians of the East, and delivered Hungary from the danger which threatens her. Instead of this, you have shamefully betrayed us with the help of our own money. The vengeance of God and of the Holy See will surely overtake you! Alfonso, King of Aragon, help Pope Calixtus! If you refuse, you will incur the wrath of heaven!". The Pope then issued orders removing Urrea and his accomplices from their posts, and entrusted the execution of the sentence to Cardinal Scarampo, who was nominated Admiral of the Fleet.

These disastrous occurrences, however, could not damp the courage of the Pope, on the contrary, difficulties only increased his zeal for the holy cause. The construction and equipment of a fleet in Rome was the object of his efforts, and it is the special glory of this Pope that he successfully carried into execution a project which had hitherto been scoffed at as hopelessly chimerical. The astonished Romans, who were soon to behold the baptism of a Turkish prince (March, I456), suddenly witnessed the development of an unwonted activity on the banks of the Tiber : docks were constructed at Ripa Grande, and a wall for the mooring of the galleys erected at Sto. Spirito. In order to hasten as much as possible the completion of the naval preparations, the Pope caused carpenters and seamen to be brought from Spoleto and other places.

Cardinal Lodovico Scarampo was appointed Captain-General and Admiral of the Fleet. This warlike and wealthy prince of the Church, whose character had much in common with that of Vitelleschi, had already given proof of his military capacity in the time of Eugenius IV. Of all the Cardinals, he was perhaps the one best fitted for the conduct of this arduous enterprise, but he would have preferred remaining in Rome, where he occupied a most influential position at Court. This very circumstance, however, made the jealous members of the Borgia family anxious for his removal, and the Cardinal was finally compelled to depart.

Scarampo's appointment as Legate and Admiral of the Papal Fleet took place on the 17th December, 1455, and was the occasion of magnificent festivities in Rome. A further decree then extended his authority as Legate over Sicily, Dalmatia, Macedonia, the whole of Greece, the Islands of the Aegean Sea, Crete, Rhodes, Cyprus, and the Asiatic Provinces, and declared that all places which he should conquer from the enemy were to be subject to his rule.

The arrangements for the construction of the ships of war were henceforth chiefly in Scarampo's hands; but a commission which had been formed by Nicholas V and consisted of Cardinals Bessarion, d'Estouteville, Capranica, Orsini, and Barbo, shared his labours. The Pope's anxiety was increased by the frequent arrival of evil tidings from the East, and he unceasingly strove to push forward the works, and, in addition to the general tithe, required from the Cardinals a special contribution towards the cost of the fleet.

A Register marked with a red cross is preserved in the Roman State Archives, and furnishes us with an account of the arrangements concerning the sums expended on the construction of the fleet in 1455-1456. The insight afforded us into the warlike preparations so zealously carried on by the Pope is most valuable. The administrative labours were directed by the Surveyor-General, Ambrogio Spannochi, under the control of Cardinal Scarampo. From this Register we learn that the work was begun in the autumn of 1455, and carried on during the whole of the following winter. The cost of the iron, pitch, and timber required for ship building is accurately entered, as well as the amount spent in the purchase of stone and leaden cannon-balls, cross-bows, arrows, morions, coats of mail, lances, swords, pick-axes, chains, ropes, and anchors. We are made acquainted with the smallest details of the equipment of the expedition, including even the flags and banners, the tents, and the ship-biscuits. The very bill for five reams of paper, (sent from Rome to Ostia), for the future correspondence of the Papal fleet is before us.

The eager Pontiff desired that the expedition should start on the 1st April, 1456, but the month of May had drawn to its close before the preparations were so far advanced as to render its departure possible. On the Feast of St. Petronilla (May 31) the Pope himself affixed the cross to the shoulder of the Cardinal Legate, who at once proceeded to Ostia with the ships which had been built in Rome. Three weeks more passed before they stood out to sea, for in an Italian Archive there are letters written by Scarampo on the 13th and 20th June, and dated from the mouth of the Tiber. According to the commonly received account, the forces under the Legate's command consisted of sixteen galleys; a recent historian, however, asserts that the fleet numbered twenty-seven sail, was manned by a thousand seamen, and conveyed five thousand soldiers with three hundred pieces of cannon.

The troops were gathered partly from Rome, Civita-vecchia, Ancona, and Perugia, and partly from Fermo and Bologna. Among them were the Counts of Anguillara and other leaders of the mercenary bands which had been engaged against Piccinino. Velasco Farigna, a Portuguese, was appointed by the Pope vice-admiral. Judicial functions were confided to Alfonso de Calatambio, of Aragon. By the month of August the cost of the fleet had amounted to one hundred and fifty thousand ducats.

The object of the expedition was twofold — firstly, to protect the harassed Christian populations of the islands in the Aegean Sea from the Turks; and, secondly, to divide the armed forces of the infidels by means of a sea attack. For the latter purpose the fleet was evidently inadequate, and accordingly the Pope's first care was to provide reinforcements. Scarampo, furnished with ample powers, directed his course at once to Naples, in order to take possession of fifteen galleys which had been promised the year before by King Alfonso. But the faithless monarch now made difficulties of every kind. As long as he could extort money from the churches and clergy of his realm he had been lavish of promises, but the money had been spent in the payment of his debts, squandered in splendid feasts, or employed in the prosecution of the war against the unfortunate Genoese. The departure of Scarampo was thus delayed so long that the Pope became extremely impatient. He sent a special messenger to Naples, requiring the legate to put to sea immediately, even if the King's galleys were not in readiness. Letters from Cardinal Carvajal had reached Rome with tidings that the Turks might be expected to attack Hungary unless their forces were shortly weakened by the operations of the fleetf Calixtus III shortly afterwards desired his ambassador to "constrain" the legate to depart, saying that in Sicily he would find money and the ships which had been commanded by the Archbishop of Tarragona. The Pope also wrote himself imploring him to start without delay, and finally laid him under an obedience to do so. In one of the Papal Briefs he thus addresses him: "Gird yourself with the sword, beloved son; leave Naples and fulfil your promise. Then will God be with you, and neither money nor anything else that is necessary will be wanting”.

Scarampo entered on the expedition with great and manifest reluctance, and endeavoured as much as possible to defer its departure. The Pope was greatly incensed, and bitterly complained of the Cardinal, who only quitted Naples with a few of the King's galleys on the 6th of August. The persistent entreaties of the Pope, who had in an autograph letter urgently implored Alfonso to furnish the promised galleys, were at least effectual in bringing about a change in the mind of the King.

Almost as soon as the Pope heard that Scarampo had quitted Sicily he urged him to proceed to the Greek waters. His anxiety for immediate action was due to the continuance of disquieting reports from Hungary regarding Turkish preparations. He hoped that the appearance of his naval forces in the Aegean Sea would ultimately divert the attention of the Turks from that Kingdom, and meanwhile diminish their power of attacking it. Accordingly his first care was for the fleet. New ships for its reinforcement were built in Rome. Odoardo Gaetani, Count of Fondi, presented Calixtus with a vessel which, in company with one of these, was to proceed to the relief of Rhodes early in the year 1457. The command of these two ships was entrusted to two Knights of St. John.

The ardent desires of the Pope were at last fulfilled; the flag of St. Peter appeared in the Greek waters, and the Christian islands were in some degree defended against the advances of the Turks.

The Papal force under Scarampo first touched at Rhodes to supply the distressed Knights with money, weapons, and corn, and then proceeded to Chios and Lesbos. In vain did the Cardinal endeavour to incite the inhabitants of these two islands to refuse payment of the tribute imposed by the infidel. Dread of Turkish vengeance deterred them from joining the Christian cause. He was more successful in Lemnos, whence, as well as in Samothrace and Thasos, he expelled the Turkish garrison and left Papal troops in their place. He then established his head-quarters at Rhodes, where a large arsenal was at his disposal.

The hopes and expectations of Calixtus III were, no doubt, out of proportion with the strength of the fleet at his command. Yet he also clearly perceived that no decisive success was possible without the co-operation of some of the most powerful of the western princes. But the danger which threatened to annihilate all the great results of centuries of Christianity elicited from these princes nothing but fair words. In vain did the aged Pontiff raise his voice in favour of the Holy War; his fiery eloquence produced little or no effect.

It became more and more evident that the age of crusades was past, and that the ideas which for centuries had ruled the minds of men had now lost their power. Internal dissensions had destroyed the sentiment of the solidarity of Christendom and its interests as opposed to the infidel. The great cause of Eastern Christianity touched no chord in the heart of Europe.

Fruitless deliberations took place in Germany, where a portion of the clergy sought to veil their selfish dislike to the levy of tithes for the crusade under a show of zeal for the liberties of the German Church. The peace-loving Emperor Frederick III was by no means the man to rouse the empire to united and vigorous effort. Indeed its distracted condition would have made it an easy prey to any invader who once gained a footing in the realm. He would have found only isolated forces to resist him, each one of which could have been separately overcome.

The conduct of France was utterly unworthy of a Christian power. Repeatedly and in eloquent terms did the Pope appeal to the French King, particularly at the time of the departure of the fleet, but the weak and helpless Charles VII was indifferent to the exhortations by which he was reminded of his predecessors, and especially of St. Louis. He excused his failure to comply with the Papal demands on the ground of the uncertain state of his relations with England, and of the necessity of being on his guard against that State. In the first instance he had forbidden the passage of troops through France, the promulgation of the Bull of the Crusade, and the collection of the tithes for the war. These proceedings called forth just and serious complaints from the Pope, who used every effort to bring about peace with England, and so remove the King's pretext. His attempts were unsuccessful in this matter, as were also those which he made to reconcile Charles VII with his son. The Pope was much distressed by the manner in which Cardinal Alain neglected his duties as legate in France. There are a number of unpublished letters on this subject. In the first of these, which was written in September, 1456, Calixtus expresses his surprise at the conduct of the French King, who, notwithstanding the goodwill recently manifested towards him by the Pontiff, would not permit the collection of the tithes for the crusade or even the publication of the Bull concerning it. This unfriendly conduct at such a time was, Calixtus declared, most painful to him. In conclusion, Alain is urgently exhorted to show himself zealous in the fulfilment of the duties entrusted to him, so as to falsify the sneering remarks which were current in regard to the failure of his mission to France. In October of the same year the Pope again felt it necessary to write to him in a similar strain. "The Christian who does not now render assistance in following up the victory God has granted", he says, alluding to the battle at Belgrade, “proves himself unworthy of divine favours". To this exhortation was added a command to urge upon the King the repeal of the Pragmatic Sanction. The Knights of St. John at Rhodes were at this time endeavouring to secure a very large portion of the French tithes. In a long letter to Charles VII the Pope objected to this arrangement, inasmuch as a great deal had already been done for Rhodes, and the support of the fleet was now the first consideration.

In February, 1457, Alain was again urged in the strongest manner to forward the money for the crusade. That which had been collected in Italy was far from sufficient for the support and reinforcement of the fleet, and he was to take measures for the collection of the tribute, not merely in France, but also in England. "Woe, woe to those, whoever they may be", exclaimed the Pope, "who hinder the cause of the crusade!". At the end of March, 1457, Calixtus had not yet received a penny towards the war from the wide dominions of France. While he deplored this strange fact, he expressly blamed Alain for writing so little regarding the crusade. In the same brief he regrets the sluggishness of the Catholic princes; and in hopes of stirring up the French King to greater zeal, he this year sent him the Golden Rose. Afterwards when an agreement had been entered into between Charles VII and the Pope for the construction of a fleet of thirty sail from the proceeds of the tithe, fresh difficulties arose. The King expressly prohibited the export of the money collected for the crusade, and even detained the ships which he had engaged to send, and employed them, not against the Turks, but partly against the English and partly against Naples. This amounted to actual treason against the Christian cause.

Under these circumstances it can hardly be deemed surprising that a considerable proportion of the French clergy assumed an attitude of absolute opposition to the Papal demands.

As early as the year 1456 the University of Paris had ventured to appeal from the Pope to a council in regard to the tithe for the war imposed by Calixtus. The University of Toulouse and several ecclesiastical corporations in different dioceses of the kingdom joined in this appeal. Alain lost courage, and failed to act with the energy required. The appellants then presented a very violent memorial to the King, strongly urging him to resist the "presumption of the Pope in levying a tax on the Gallican Church without her consent”, and to do this all the more zealously in view of the audacity with which the Pope had opposed the newest fundamental law of the French State, the Pragmatic Sanction of 1438. In August, 1457, the King answered by a declaration that "the levy of the tithe prescribed by the Pope was to take place, but that the rights of the French were in no way to be impaired".  

In June, 1457, the University of Paris had even sent a special envoy to Rome to protest before the Pope and cardinals against the collection of the tithes, and at the same time to present eighteen anti-Papal articles and demand a general council. The reply of Calixtus was by no means wanting in decision. Alain was reproved for his negligence, and commanded to compel the University of Paris to withdraw the appeal, which was declared invalid on the score of "rashness and impiety", while the appellants were visited with ecclesiastical penalties.

Notwithstanding all the grand promises made by the Duke of Burgundy, he did no more than Charles VII to assist in the Holy War. None of the money collected in his dominions appears to have been transmitted to Rome, for, in the Register of Briefs of Calixtus III, we find one addressed to Philip regarding the large sums obtained in Burgundy for the crusade. The Pope here begs that, if not the whole, at least a portion of the amount may be sent to him. In December, 1457, when alarming accounts of the immense warlike preparations of the Turks reached Rome, the Pope wrote a fresh letter of remonstrance to the Duke, but it proved equally fruitless.

King Christian of Denmark and Norway, and King Alfonso of Portugal, had also been lavish in promises of assistance against the Turks. But on the 2nd June, 1455, we find the former of these two monarchs providing himself with money by abstracting from the sacristy of the cathedral at Roskilde the pious offerings which had been collected for the expenses of the war and for the relief of the King of Cyprus!

The solemn promises made by the King of Portugal in the autumn of 1456 both by letters and by his envoys to Rome had filled the Cardinals, the whole Court, and the Pope himself with the brightest hopes, and Calixtus had felt no hesitation in leaving in his hands the tithe collected in his dominions in the years 1456 and 14574 King Alfonso certainly kept possession of the money, but was as far as his Neapolitan namesake from taking part in the crusade. Calixtus did not spare his exhortations, and continued to hope against hope for the ultimate fulfilment of the royal promise. A letter addressed to Cardinal Carvajal on the 23rd May, 1457, shows that he at that time expected the immediate appearance of vessels of war from Portugal and from Genoa. The nuncio to Portugal received repeated instructions to do everything in his power to hasten the King's arrival, but all was in vain. Towards the end of the year 1457 the Pope's patience was at length exhausted. He commanded his nuncio to return to Rome, bringing all the money for the crusade with him unless Alfonso should set sail in the following April. When the month of April was near its close, and the Portuguese fleet had not started, Calixtus was constrained to carry his threat into execution. By this means he at least saved the money collected in Portugal, which was greatly needed for the reinforcement of the fleet.

Forsaken in this manner by all the European powers, the Pope could look for assistance to the Italian states alone. Here, however, he found the same indifference, the same treachery, in regard to the Christian cause. None of the Italian statesmen of the day could rise to the idea of a crusade. Their views were directed exclusively to their own immediate interests.

We have already spoken of the great difficulty which the faithless King Alfonso of Naples had, like "the most Christian Monarch", placed in the way of the crusade. Next to Alfonso, Duke Francesco Sforza of Milan was the most powerful of Italian potentates. The Pope's constant requests for the favourable reception of his envoys and for material help against the Turks were met by the fairest promises. In reality, however, the great general had no intention of heeding the Papal behests, nor of placing himself in the cause of the crusade at the head of an army against the Turks. The strengthening of his own rule in Lombardy was his constant and principal care, and all other interests were secondary to this object.

The Republic of Venice, which was beyond all other States bound to take a decisive part in this struggle, turned a deaf ear to all the Pope's exhortations. The Signoria would not on any account compromise its commercial interests, and accordingly kept up constant and amicable relations with the Sultan.

Florence also used every effort to avoid any open espousal of the Christian cause. The envoy who in the autumn of 1445 went to Porto Pisano to meet the Cardinal Legate Alain on his way to France, was strictly admonished on no account to make any definite promise in regard to co-operation in the Turkish war. Love for the "cursed flower”, as Dante called the Florentine golden florin, outweighed all else. A few of the smaller powers, like Mantua, supported Calixtus, but the words of Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomini, "The Pope calls for help and no one listens to him; he threatens, and no one is afraid”, may be taken as of a most universal application.

The courage of Calixtus III, in presence of such overwhelming difficulties, was marvellous. He continued to adjure the Christian princes and potentates to make peace among themselves, and take arms against the enemies of God. He still sent a number of ambassadors, chiefly selected from the Minorite friars, to collect money and troops for the holy war from every country in Europe. He himself gave the example of sacrifice by turning the treasures and jewels collected by Nicholas V into money, and finally giving up the silver plate used at his table. Brother Gabriel of Verona informed his friend, St. John Capistran, that one day when gilt salt-cellars and other valuable articles were placed on his table, the Pope exclaimed: "Away, away with these things! take them for the Turks! Earthenware will do quite as well for me!". In one of his briefs Calixtus expresses his willingness to have only a linen mitre for the sake of the defence of the Holy Gospel and of the true faith.

No danger or difficulty had power to subdue the fiery enthusiasm of the aged man. "Only cowards", he used to say, "fear danger; the palm of glory grows nowhere but on the battle-field". The epithet of "high-souled old man" has been well bestowed on Calixtus III by Palmieri, but the reproach uttered by Petrarch in the days of Urban V was still applicable to the European potentates.

 

Ye lords of Christendom I eternal shame

For ever will pursue each royal name,

And tell your wolfish rage for kindred blood,

While Paynim hounds profane the seat of God!

 

 

 

CHAPTER III.

 

THE VICTORY OF THE CRUSADERS AT BELGRADE— THROUGH THE INDOLENCE OF THE CHRISTIAN POWERS IT IS NOT TURNED TO ACCOUNT — ANTI-PAPAL FEELING IN GERMANY— RELATIONS OF CALIXTUS III WITH NAPLES.

 

 

The failure of the efforts made by the Holy See to unite all the nations of Europe in a defensive alliance against the ceaseless encroachments of Islam strengthened Mahomet II's determination to adopt aggressive measures and attack Hunyadi, whom he justly considered as, after Skanderbeg, the only enemy able to meet him on equal terms. Hungary was the power most dreaded by the Sultan, and accordingly his chief aim was to cripple or to annihilate it. In order to give a firmer basis to the political and military operations undertaken for this pur- pose he had even in the year 1454 begun to extend his dominion in Servia. Hunyadi was not in a position to prevent this, and in July, 1455, the important and strongly fortified city of Novoberdo, with all the treasures, which had in the course of years been amassed within its walls, fell into the hands of the infidels.

In the following year Mahomet resolved to deal Hungary a decisive blow. He had no reason to apprehend hostile attacks by sea from the west, for the Republic of Genoa was helpless and Venice was friendly, while the little Papal fleet, unsupported by any Christian naval power, was not likely to give him much trouble.

During the winter of 1455-1456 the Turks were actively engaged in getting ready for war. Troops were assembled from all parts of the kingdom, and an immense number of men worked day and night in a cannon-foundry, which was established at Kruschewatz on the Morava. Extensive preparations were made for the provisioning of the army which was to besiege Belgrade. War materials of all descriptions were carried to the spot. Weapons, especially bows and arrows, and a great part of the provisions, were procured in the adjacent province of Bosnia and stored up in magazines. Mills for grinding corn and a number of bakeries were constructed. With a care and foresight almost unknown in the West, everything was provided that could be needed for a protracted siege, or serve, in the event of success, to render Belgrade available as the Sultan's headquarters for future operations against Hungary and more northern lands.

In June, 1456, the ruler of the infidels led an army of more than a hundred and fifty thousand ment with three hundred cannons towards the Danube, on his way to Belgrade, the bulwark of Vienna. His progress was absolutely unopposed, and by the beginning of July the city, which was the key to Hungary, was completely invested by land. A terrible fire was opened and kept up night and day. The thunder of the artillery was heard at Szegedin, more than twenty-four Hungarian miles distant. Mahomet, after his victory at Constantinople, looked on the siege of Belgrade as mere child's play, and is said to have boasted that he would in a fortnight subdue the fortress which his father had vainly besieged for half a year, and within three months' later would sup in Buda. The besieged had completely lost heart, when unexpected succour arrived in the persons of John Hunyadi and St. John Capistran. These two great men were powerfully supported by the Papal legate Cardinal Juan Carvajal, a fellow-countryman of the Pope's, and one of the noblest characters of the age. In November, 1455, he had arrived at Wiener-Neustadt, whence he proceeded to Vienna and to Buda. "He brought", writes the biographer of Aeneas Sylvius, "nothing with him but a plenary indulgence for all who should take up arms against the Turks, and promises, which had proved often delusive. But he brought himself, and his own inspiriting example". "Such a legate truly corresponds to the greatness of our need", said the King of Hungary when he thanked the Pope for sending this distinguished man, who spent the next six years on the banks of the Danube, sharing all the sufferings and privations of the crusaders, and ready to close by a martyr's death a life of complete devotion to the service of God and His Church.

The summons issued on the 14th January, 1456, to the Hungarian Diet to meet at Buda, and the arrival of King Ladislas himself in Hungary towards the end of the month, were alike due in great measure to Carvajal's energy. When the Diet opened in February he did his utmost to encourage the Hungarians, by holding out the prospect of assistance from the Papal fleet, and from the King of Naples and the Duke of Burgundy, who were both engaged in warlike preparations. On behalf of the Pope he granted a plenary indulgence to every soldier who should take the field. The States levied a contribution of a golden florin on every farmhouse, made arrangements to provide shelter and food for the crusaders, who were expected to arrive in great numbers from other countries, and begged the Pope soon to send the promised fleet to the Hellespont. At the same time they declared that in consequence of the bad harvest of the previous year the expedition could not set out until August. They bad barely time to draw up their reports before messengers from the Lower Danube arrived bringing the alarming news of the advance of the Sultan with an immense army, and the imminent danger which threatened Belgrade, the bulwark of Hungary. At this critical moment the eyes of the nation naturally turned to King Ladislas, who, with his Privy Counsellor, the Count of Cilli, was still at Buda. But the King, having absented himself from his capital on pretext of a hunting party, made his escape to Vienna. His flight was a signal to the cowardly barons, who had taken no measures for the defence of their country, and they also at once left Buda and concealed themselves.

In this terrible extremity, Hungary was saved from the advancing tide of Islam by the three great men whom we have mentioned, each of whom bore the name of John. Hunyadi raised a force of seven thousand men at his own cost; Carvajal, who, at the earnest desire of its Governor, remained in Buda, laboured unremittingly to procure means of transport, provisions, and assistance; while St John Capistran collected the Crusaders who had been won to the cause by his own burning words and those of the missioners, Giovanni da Tagliacozzo, Niccold da Fara, and Ambroise of Languedoc.

As the Hungarian nobles, like those of Germany, remained, with few exceptions, inactive, the crusading army assembled by the Saint and Carvajal constituted the only aid afforded to the heroic Hunyadi. The force was made up for the most part of poor citizens and peasants, monks, hermits and students, armed with axes, pikes, flails, pitch-forks, and such other weapons as they could collect. Some greedy adventurers were certainly to be found among the motley crew, but the majority of the crusaders were determined to fight and die for their faith. They wore a red cross on the left breast, and their banners bore on one side a cross and on the other the figure of Sts. Anthony, Francis, Louis, or Bernardine. A number of German foot soldiers and three hundred Polish warriors gave some support to the untrained and ill-armed masses; the generalship of Hunyadi, seconded by the zeal of St John Capistran, did the rest.

Belgrade is situated on a rocky hill, in the corner of the promontory formed by the union of the Save with the Danube. At the summit of this steep hill stands the castle, which, at the time we are speaking of, was strongly fortified. The declivity along the banks of the river was occupied by the lower town, which was then surrounded by walls and also on the land side defended by a double wall and moat. Mahomet II had not only shut in the fortress completely on the land side, but also sent a flotilla to cut off communication by the Danube and the Save. To make a breach in this iron circle was the first object of Hunyadi and St. John Capistran. The former, with the assistance of the legate, collected about two hundred boats at Salankemen, laden with munitions of war and provisions. He embarked his followers and the crusaders who joined them, and on the 14th of July, taking advantage of the current, bore down upon the Turkish ships, which were chained together. After five hours’ fighting, during which the waters of the Danube ran red with blood, the Christians succeeded in breaking through the Turkish line, and gained a complete victory. While the combat was going on, St. John Capistran stood on the shore and encouraged the Christian warriors by holding up the crucifix, which the Pope had sent him by Cardinal Carvajal, and calling out the Holy Name of Jesus!

The moral effects of this great victory were most important, for it broke the charm of supposed invincibility which had grown up around the Crescent. Moreover, it afforded breathing-time to the besieged, who had been under fire for a fortnight in the burning heat of summer. The Danube too was free, and the fortress was replenished with corn, wine, and troops. Hunyadi was prudent enough not to lose time in the pursuit of the Turkish vessels, but seizing on the favourable moment, at once occupied the fortress which had been so hardly won. St. John Capistran accompanied him, and with his heart-stirring eloquence stimulated the courage of the besieged for the decisive day which was approaching.

Mahomet, infuriated by defeat, determined to avenge the disgrace of the 14th July by the complete destruction of the place. Night and day the city was subjected to an unceasing fire, and meanwhile he gathered together the flower of his army for a general assault which was to deal the final blow. In the evening of the 21st July, the seventh day after the engagement on the Danube, at the head of his janissaries, he gave the signal for attack. The battle lasted throughout the whole of that night and the following day. From a tower in the fortress, Hunyadi and the Saint watched its vicissitudes, the former giving orders for the despatch of succour where it was required, and for the relief of the wearied and wounded. If he saw his forces anywhere giving way he flew to the spot, reanimating the courage of his men by fighting among them as a common soldier. St. John Capistran from the tower held up the crucifix which the Pope had blessed, and poured forth unceasing supplication to the Almighty for aid. The besieged fought like lions, all the Turkish assaults were repelled, and those who had taken up their position in the trenches were dislodged by means of bundles of brushwood soaked in oil, pitch, and sulphur, and set on fire.

Various accounts are given of the final crisis of the battle. The following is probably the true one. The crusaders, whose enthusiasm had by this time reached its climax, ventured in opposition to Hunyadi's commands, and without any order from St. John Capistran, on a strong sortie against a portion of the fortified camp of the Turks. The voice of the Saint, who not only called out from the walls, but hastened down amongst them, was powerless to restrain their ardour. Suddenly the Turkish cavalry charged the rash Christian warriors, who, eager for plunder, were pressing forward into the encampment of a pasha, and drove them, exhausted as they were, into a narrow place. At this critical moment Hunyadi came to the rescue, making a fresh sally from the city, spiking some of the enemy's artillery and turning some against the Turks themselves. The Sultan, wounded by an arrow and mad with rage, was compelled as night came on to give the signal for retreat. The whole of the Turkish camp with all the arms and a portion of the artillery fell into the hands of the Christians. And thus, to use the words of Nicholas Cusa, on the day of St. Mary Magdalen the Cross of Christ triumphed over its enemy. Belgrade, Hungary, and, in some sense, Christendom and European civilization were saved; their deliverance was due in great measure to the fiery eloquence of the indefatigable St. John Capistran, who, in conjunction with Hunyadi, had been the soul of this terrible battle, and who had the chief share in its happy result. Calixtus III and his legate, the noble Cardinal Carvajal, must also be mentioned as having contributed to this memorable victory. "Whatever was achieved against the Turks", says a Protestant historian, "was entirely the Pope's doings, and the great deliverance wrought at Belgrade is to be ascribed most properly to him".

It would be hard to describe the agitation of the Pope when the first tidings of the advance of the Turks towards Belgrade reached Rome. The report of the Milanese ambassador, Jacopo Calcaterra, who had a long conversation with Calixtus III on the 27th July, 1456, gives a vivid picture of the distress of the aged Pontiff, who, in his noble efforts for the defence of Christendom, found himself abandoned by all the Western Princes. While groaning under the heavy burden laid upon him, the brave man was ready to sacrifice himself for the common cause. “I acknowledge and firmly believe, O Almighty God" he said, in the course of this memorable interview, "that it is Thy will that I alone should wear myself out and die for the general good. So be it! I am ready, even if I must myself go into bondage and alienate all the possessions of the Church". And, alluding to the plague which was at this time raging in Rome, he added, "Nothing will induce me to leave Rome, not even if, like so many others, lam to fall a victim to the plague. Mahomet, the enemy of our faith, compels me to remain. He does not relax his efforts, although thousands in his immense army have been carried off". The ambassador was greatly touched by the Pope's words, and on the day following the audience wrote thus to his master: "No man on earth can have so hard and stony a heart as not to be moved with the greatest compassion for His Holiness".

A month before this, Calixtus, bereft of all human aid, had solemnly sought Divine assistance. On the Feast of St. Peter and St. Paul (29th June), 1456, he addressed a Bull to all the Patriarchs, Archbishops, Bishops, and Abbots of Christendom, exhorting them by prayers, fasting and penance to "return to the Lord, that He may again return to us", and also to direct their attention to the reformation of the flocks committed to their charge. The following special directions were added: "On the first Sunday of each month processions were to be made in every diocese in order to pray that the threatened Turkish invasion might be averted; the Missa contra Paganos was to be said, and a suitable discourse delivered to the assembled people. Moreover, every priest, without exception, was required to use the following prayer in every Mass he said: "Almighty, everlasting God, to whom all power belongs, and in whose hand are the rights of all nations, protect Thy Christian people and crush by Thy power the pagans who trust in their fierceness". Indulgences were attached to the performance of these devotions, and to enable the people to share in these prayers and indulgences it was further enacted that in every church, between noon and vespers, one or more bells should be rung as for the angelus, and three "Our Fathers", and “Hail Marys" recited. Indulgences were granted for these prayers. The Pope considered the splendid victory on the Danube primarily due to these supplications.

The Christian world breathed more freely after hearing of the triumph of Hunyadi and St John Capistran. If the fear of Turkish invasion had been extreme, the joy of Christendom at the happy tidings of unlooked-for victory knew no bounds. Every heart that beat true to the good cause received the news as a favour from God. "We can hardly find a chronicler, however distant from the scene of action, or however obscure, who fails to mention this wonderful victory of the poor crusaders". Even in Venice, though she had done her best to remain neutral, the victory was the occasion of the greatest rejoicings. Splendid festivities took place in the cities of the States of the Church, which learned the good news from special messengers sent by the Pope. Processions, in which the Madonna of St. Luke, the heads of St. Petronius and St. Dominic, the hand of St. Cecilia, and other precious relics were borne, were made in Bologna for three days.

No one throughout all Christendom was more delighted than the Pope at the defeat of the infidels. In one of his Briefs he speaks of the victory at Belgrade as the happiest event of his life. The Emperor and other potentates informed the Pope of it by special messengers. In Rome, by his desire, the ringing of all the church bells, processions of thanksgiving and bonfires announced the good news.

The Milanese ambassador, Jacopo Calcaterra, writing on the 24th August, 1456, gives a detailed and highly interesting description of the impression made on the aged Pope by the tidings of the relief of Belgrade. In an audience lasting three hours and a half Calixtus poured forth his feelings with the utmost expansiveness and freedom. "The Pope", writes the ambassador, "was so full of the great victory that he constantly reverted to it. He praised Hunyadi to the skies, calling him the greatest man that the world had seen for three hundred years. But with equal energy did he lament the torpor of the Hungarians who had not supported Hunyadi and the crusaders". Moreover, Calixtus ascribed the victory to the grace of God more than to human courage. "God", he said, "has granted this victory especially to bring shame and confusion on those who opposed my efforts for the crusade, who said that no one could understand what I wanted, and that in pursuit of my vain dreams the treasures of the Church, which other Popes had amassed, were being thrown to the winds". "His Holiness", here observes Jacopo Calcaterra, "plainly told me that it was King Alfonso of Naples who had thus reproached him". Even more strongly did the Pope express himself regarding Scarampo; and it is evident that this Cardinal's influence at the Papal Court was entirely gone, and that the Borgias had succeeded in prejudicing the mind of the Pope against him. This estrangement was no doubt also caused by the delay of Scarampo in leading the Papal fleet against the Turks.

The victory at Belgrade had, as the letter of the Milanese ambassador shows us, raised the Pope's spirits wonderfully. Calixtus fully expected that the Christian Princes would look with very different eyes on the crusade, and would be more willing to make sacrifices for the common cause of Christendom now that his predictions, a thousand times repeated in the course of the past year, had been accomplished by the defeat and destruction of the Turks.

There can be no doubt that in the first joyful enthusiasm elicited by the success of the Christian arms he cherished far too brilliant anticipations regarding the consequences of the victory. The accounts which reached him from Hungary were well calculated to strengthen these hopes. In the joy of their triumph, Hunyadi and St. John Capistran were so persuaded of the approaching annihilation of the Sultan's power that they did not hesitate to represent it to the Pope as an accomplished fact, only now requiring from him the support of an insignificant force to secure its fruits. “Most Holy Father”, wrote St. John Capistran, a few days after the relief of Belgrade, "the right time has come. The day of the salvation of Christendom has dawned! Now is the moment when the long cherished desire of your Holiness will be fulfilled, not only by the recovery of the Greek empire and Europe, but also by the conquest of the Holy Land and Jerusalem. Almighty God will surely help us if only your Holiness persevere in your pious purposes. But one thing do your legates ask from your piety and zeal for the faith, namely, that you will send some ten or twelve thousand well-armed horsemen from Italy. If these remain with us for at least six months, together with the crusaders, who are devoted to you as obedient sons, and the noble princes, prelates, and barons of the kingdom of Hungary, we hope to acquire enough of the goods of the infidels to cover all expenses for three years and richly to reward the whole army. For at this moment we can do more with ten thousand men for the spread of the Christian faith and the destruction of these heathens than could be accomplished in other times by thirty thousand". Hunyadi wrote in a similar strain: "Be it known to your Holiness, that at the present time the Emperor of the Turks is so completely crushed that if the Christians, as is proposed, would only rise against him they might very easily, with the help of God, become masters of the whole Turkish kingdom".

No wonder that the lively imagination of the Spanish Pope rose to gigantic schemes on the reception of such letters. The victory granted by God must now be followed up, and immediately after the tidings arrived he urged his legates and the Christian princes to proceed with united forces against the Turks. In the following March a great expedition was to set forth. Constantinople was to be reconquered, and Europe set free, the Holy Land and all Asia to be purged of infidels, the whole race of unbelievers extirpated. In almost all the Briefs of the period these exaggerated schemes appear again and again, showing what complete possession the subject had taken of the Pope's mind.

These hopes were no doubt illusory; and yet it was a misfortune for Europe that the heroes who had given them birth, and had fostered them in the mind of the Pope, closed their earthly career soon after the glorious day at Belgrade.

A fearful pestilence, generated most probably by the heat of the burning sun brooding on the heaps of unburied corpses, broke out and carried off the brave Hunyadi on the 11th August. "When he felt his last hour draw near” said Aeneas Sylvius, "he would not permit them to bring the body of the Lord to his sick bed. Dying as he was, he had himself carried into the Church, and there, after having received the Holy Sacrament, breathed forth his soul beneath the hands of the clergy". On the 23rd October the aged St. John Capistran followed his companion in arms.

By the death of these two great men the operations against the Turks were deprived of their most powerful promoters. The hope that the unexpected victory at Belgrade would give a fresh impulse to the Holy War melted away through the indifference of the Western Powers, which manifested itself in a disgraceful manner at the very time when its fruits might have been secured. Again was the Pope the only one who took the interests of Christendom seriously and honestly to heart. He wrote in strong terms to the Emperor, the Kings of France and of Naples, to the more powerful German princes, and to the several States of Italy, entreating them to give God thanks for the victory, and to turn it to account; but his words were all in vain. Because the danger was for the moment averted, and this victory had been gained by the Hungarians and the undisciplined Crusaders, the Christian potentates seemed to think themselves justified in leaving all further defensive operations entirely to them. All through the upper ranks of society, which ought to have given an impulse to the rest, slothfulness, selfishness, and petty interests again outweighed all better feelings, and deadened all energy for good.

Almost all the other powers followed the example of Venice. In vain did the eloquent Carvajal unite his prayers and exhortations with those of the Pope; all that could be said as to the necessity of following up the victory fell on deaf ears. The ambassador of the King of Hungary about this time failed to obtain any answer from Venice, "for, on account of the plague, no deliberations could take place"; and when he again, on his way from Rome, visited the city he received an evasive answer.

The tepidity of the Western Powers, although unable to deter Calixtus from his efforts against the Turks, caused him for a time to seek for aid in other quarters. In December, 1456, he made an appeal to the Christian King of Ethiopia; in the following year he applied to the Christians in Syria, Georgia, and Persia, and finally to Usunhassan, Prince of the Turcomans, the only one of the Eastern princes whose power could compare with that of the Sultan.

As a lasting memorial of the victory at Belgrade, and in thanksgiving for the unlooked-for success of the Christian arms, the Pope in the following year decreed that henceforth the Feast of the Transfiguration of our Lord should be solemnly observed throughout Christendom. A number of briefs attest the importance attached by Calixtus to the due observance of this decree, by which he hoped to revive the enthusiasm for the holy war. As far as the princes were concerned, however, these expectations were vain.

A pleasing contrast to the indifference is furnished by the zeal with which the lower orders received the Papal exhortations regarding the crusade. In many places the excitement and ardour manifested were most remarkable. A contemporary tells of peasants abandoning ploughs and of bridegrooms leaving their brides in order "to fight for the Catholic Faith for the love of God". Supernatural signs induced others to join the expedition. Throughout Upper Germany especially fresh hosts of crusaders assembled after the relief of Belgrade. These bands were incomparably superior in discipline to those that had flocked together before that decisive victory. Another contemporary description of the departure of the Nuremberg crusaders for Hungary says, "Anno 1456, when our Holy Father, Pope Calixtus III, sent a Danish legate and Bishop named Heinricus Kaldeysen to preach the crusade against the Turks, and to confer the cross, in September (more correctly August), many people came to the church here to take the cross, and set forth against the Turks. And as they were without a leader, and needed one to maintain order and authority for the glory of God and the honour of the city, the Council gave them for their help and comfort Heinrich Slosser, of Berne, who was the captain of the Swiss, and Otto Herdegen, who knew the Hungarian language, with eight horses and a red and white pennon (the colours of Nuremberg). These captains appointed chiefs over tens and over hundreds, and the chiefs and their men respectively took an oath of mutual fealty. This oath is written in the little book which is kept in the Court, and the men are inscribed by name in the same register. About fourteen baggage waggons were also borrowed from the city to take their armour to Ratisbon. They bought three great ships for two hundred and twenty Rhenish florins, in which from one thousand three hundred to one thousand four hundred well-armed men were to be embarked, six hundred carrying muskets, and the rest spears, cross-bows, and battle-axes. And they went forth in goodly array on the Friday after St. Bartholomew's day (27th August), shriven, and fortified with the Blessed Sacrament. They marched under the banner of the Holy Cross, whereon were also painted St. Sebaldus, St. Lawrence, and the Holy Lance, and under the flag of Nuremberg, which the chief leader, Heinrich Slosser, bore, as the Council had commanded through Niclas Muffel, Paulus Grunther, and Erhart Schurstab, who admonished him in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost to keep faith with the city, and to be a true leader of the people. By the Council they were provided with pots, kettles, pans, plates, spoons, and other vessels for cooking, two tents, a cask of powder and priming, lead, arrows, five bushels of oatmeal fried in dripping in little barrels, and six bushels of millet and peas, and fifty hand-guns. Item, in Hungary they were immediately to receive four hundred pounds’ weight of copper coins for the general benefit, and in Vienna the house of Baumgartner gave two hundred pounds of the same, also to be spent for the general good. All this was done by the Council. Item, on the day when they departed hence each one of them was touched with the holy lance and with the holy cross at the hospital in the church of the Holy Ghost.

The German crusaders were joined, the chronicle of Spire informs us, by crusaders from England, France, and other countries, among whom were "priests and monks, and they were mostly poor working people”. Cardinal Carvajal welcomed them all with real joy, and in every way that he could, showed them the greatest goodwill.

The army of King Ladislas was now increased to forty-four thousand men, and, accompanied by Count Ulrich of Cilli, he landed with his force at Belgrade on the 8th November, 1456. The King and the Count were received with all due respect, but as soon as they and their servants had entered the fortress the gates were shut behind them, and admittance was refused to the armed Germans and Bohemians. On the following morning Cilli was invited to take part in the Council of the Hungarian nobles. When he appeared Ladislas Hunyadi upbraided him in violent terms with his ambition and his hatred of the Corvinus family. Ulrich, overmastered with rage, drew his sword and wounded Hunyadi and three Hungarian nobles, but finally himself fell beneath the blows of his enemies. When this became known in the army of the King and among the crusaders, "everyone put on his armour, and the leaders went forth with their men intending to storm the castle". Young King Ladislas, however, dissembling his grief and indignation, sent word to the soldiers "that they were to take no notice of this matter, which did not concern the crusaders, and were to take off their armour". Soon afterwards the crusading army, which was as in a sack between fortress and town in double danger from Turks and Hungarians, was permitted by mutual agreement between the King and Cardinal Carvajal to go home again. “And so ended the expedition against the Turks on account of the perfidy of the Hungarians, of which we complain to God”.

At the very time when the people of Germany were thus loyally supporting the crusaders their prelates were occupied in evading any real participation in the common cause by again coming forward with complaints against the Holy See. Now, as on former occasions, reform was the pretext, and pressure the means used to accomplish their end, which was to evade their obligations. As leader of the opposition, the aged Elector Dietrich, Count of Erbach, filled the place of Jakob of Treves, who had died in the end of May, 1456. The Elector's Chancellor, Doctor Martin Mayr, accompanied him and concentrated all his diplomatic and intriguing skill on the cause in hand.

In June, 1455, at a Provincial Synod at Aschaffenburg, the Archbishop of Mayence had caused a whole list of complaints against the Court of Rome to be drawn up. These complaints, which referred chiefly to violations of the Concordat, were contained in an instruction for the embassy to be sent to Rome, and are important as being the foundation of many similar documents of a subsequent date. After the close of this Synod, Dietrich and the Archbishops of Cologne and Treves entered into an understanding for the summoning of a great German national Council. The object of this Council was to confirm the decrees of Basle and to take precautions against the burdens laid upon Germany, which strangely permits its eyes to be again torn out after having them restored by those salutary decrees.

The anti-papal sentiments of the Elector of Mayence, the ally of the Count Palatine Frederick, were manifested in a most decided manner at a Synod which he held at Frankfort-on-Main in February and March, 1456. It was here determined that the Archbishop and his suffragans should unite in resisting the volition of the Constance and Basle decrees by the Court of Rome and the oppression of the German nation by tithes and indulgences.

On the Feast of St. Peter ad vincula (1st August), 1456, the representatives of the five Electors, together with the Bishops of Salzburg and Bremen, again met at Frankfort-on-Main; the Elector of Treves held back, as he had not yet been confirmed by Rome. The fact that the Cathedral Chapters of Mayence, Treves, Cologne, and Bremen sent messengers to this assembly gave it a great importance. All were unanimous in refusing the tithe which Cardinal Carvajal was about to demand from the clergy for the crusade. In order to furnish a plausible excuse for this refusal the old disputes which the Concordat had set at rest were again revived. The war against the Turks was used by the Pope, they declared, as a pretext to fleece Germany. This was the object of the tithe, and the reason why the Indulgence granted to the defenders of Cyprus by Pope Nicholas had been withdrawn and declared invalid. They were resolved to appeal against the tithes; they would send the dealers in Indulgences back over the Alps with empty purses; they would not give money to support the spendthrift Catalan nephews at the Papal Court. The assembly then proceeded to draw up a report. This began with the usual complaints of the burdens imposed on the German nation; the tithes claimed by Rome for the Turkish war closing the list. A series of resolutions were passed for the redress of these grievances and the relief of the German Church. An appeal against the exactions of the Roman officials was drawn up and recommended. A league was formed, of which the members exchanged promises of mutual support in case anyone of them were threatened with excommunication, outlawry, war, or ecclesiastical or judicial proceedings, and also bound themselves not to enter into any "negotiation or understanding" without the consent of all. "This", says a recent historian, "was an attempt at a German Pragmatic Sanction, which the ambassadors in the old fashion were to bring after them". Practically but little result was to be apprehended from all this bluster. The assembly was to meet again at Nuremberg to consider whether it might not be better simply to accept the decrees of Constance and Basle. In reality their resolutions were nothing but a compilation of these with some slight modifications, which essentially altered nothing. The Frankfort assembly also resolved to apply to the Emperor and see if he would not make common cause with the Princes in endeavouring to find a remedy for the grievances of the nation, either by concluding a Pragmatic Sanction with the Holy See or by some other means. Moreover, they strongly urged him to come into the Empire, and to take upon himself the charge of it. Could he really suppose that the infidels were to be vanquished by letters and messengers? The document closes with a threat that if the Emperor should fail to appear at the Diet to be held in Nuremberg at the end of November, "we, with the help of God, will meet there to take counsel and to determine on all that it behoves us to do as Electors of the Holy Roman Empire and all that may be necessary for the furtherance of the Christian expedition”.

The Emperor met these demands with a blunt refusal, and the Pope in a brief to his nuncio expressed his just displeasure. He strongly condemned the appeal of the Elector of Mayence, but did not excuse the dilatory Emperor. “O, hearts of stone which are not moved by this!” exclaims Calixtus, after speaking of the victory won at Belgrade, “without King and without Emperor. Our fleet with the legate has sailed for Constantinople, and the Emperor sleeps. Arise, O Lord, and support our holy enterprise”.

At the Diet held at Nuremberg in the end of the year 1456, anti-Imperial feeling for a moment effaced the opposition to the Pope. There is no doubt that the revolutionary party contemplated setting the Emperor aside by the election of a King of the Romans; the candidate they had in view was the young and powerful Frederick I of the Palatinate, but as the anti-Imperial party was still too weak for action, it was merely determined that another Diet should meet at Frankfort-on-Main on Reminiscere Sunday (13th March); counsel was there to be taken as to the manner "in which the Pope was to be entreated regarding the Holy Roman Empire and the German nation". No energetic measures against the Emperor were adopted at this Diet (March, 1457), which assembled in spite of his formal prohibition. The attitude of the anti-Papal party seemed more threatening. Its grievances were fully set forth in an intemperate letter addressed by Doctor Martin Mayr to Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomini, who had meanwhile been promoted to the purple. The Pope, says this letter, does not observe the decrees of the Councils of Constance and Basle, he does not consider himself bound by the treaties which his predecessors have entered into; he appears to despise the German nation and to extort all he can from it. The election of prelates is frequently postponed without cause; and benefices and dignities of all kinds are reserved for the cardinals and Papal secretaries. Cardinal Piccolomini himself has been granted a general reservation in an unusual and unheard-of form on three German provinces. Expectancies without number are conferred, annates and other taxes collected harshly and no delay granted; and it is also known that more has been exacted than the sums due. Bishoprics have been bestowed, not on the most worthy, but on the highest bidder. For the sake of amassing money, new indulgences have daily been published and war-tithes imposed without consulting the German prelates. Lawsuits, which ought to have been dealt with and decided at home, have been hastily transferred to the Apostolic Tribunal. The Germans have been treated as if they were rich and stupid barbarians, and drained of their money by a thousand cunning devices. And therefore this nation, once so glorious, which, with her courage and her blood had won the Holy Roman Empire, and was the mistress and queen of the world, is now needy, tributary, and a servant. For many years she has lain in the dust, bemoaning her poverty and her sad fate. But now her nobles have awakened as from sleep; now they have resolved to shake off the yoke and to win back their ancient freedom.

The real weight to be attached to this document was soon made manifest, for hardly three weeks had passed away before the same Doctor Martin Mayr made private overtures to Cardinal Piccolomini for a treaty to be concluded between his master, the Archbishop of Mayence and the Pope. This proposal elicited the humiliating reply that it was not for subjects to make alliances with their lords, and that an Archbishop of Mayence should be content with the position which his predecessors had occupied and not seek to rise above it.

All this anti-Papal agitation was well known, and caused grave solicitude in Rome. The apprehension that Germany might follow the footsteps of the French, who adhered to the Pragmatic Sanction, caused much anxiety, and the chief object of the Pope was to prevent the Emperor from being drawn into the party of the Roman princes. The Brief which Calixtus addressed to Frederick III was drawn up by Cardinal Piccolomini. In this document the Pope denies the charge of disregarding the Concordats and of neglecting to appoint bishops. In regard to reservations and other exercises of patronage, if, in the multiplicity of affairs, anything has been amiss, this, he says, has been through inadvertence. Although the authority of the Holy See is absolutely independent and cannot be limited by the bonds of a contract, yet, in token of his ardent desire for peace and his goodwill towards the Emperor, he will allow the Concordat to continue, and will never, as long as he is at the helm, permit its violation. If, however, the nation has other complaints regarding the proceedings of his Court, and amendment is deemed necessary (for even he may fail and err as a man, especially in matters of fact), it does not become bishops or others to follow the example of those who, to the injury of ecclesiastical government, the destruction of the mystical Body of Christ and the ruin of their own souls, maintain principles which would authorize them to despise the commands of the Apostolic See and direct the affairs of the Church after their own will. He who ventures to act thus cannot call God his father, inasmuch as he does not acknowledge the Church for his mother. No one may oppose himself to the Roman Church; should anyone think himself wronged he must bring his grievances before her. The Pope dwells in forcible terms on the unreasonableness of the complaints regarding the money collected in Germany for the Turkish war, inasmuch as the great expenses which he incurred on behalf of Christendom in general, by the equipment of a fleet in the East, by supporting Skanderbeg in Albania, by paying so many ambassadors in all parts of the world, and by assisting multitudes who needed help in Greece and Asia, were evident to all. "We venture", Calixtus says, "to glory in the Lord, for while the Christian princes have almost all been sunk in slothfulness, He, through His own servants, who alone carry on the holy work, has broken the proud ranks of the Turks in Hungary, and discomfited the great and mighty army which had threatened to ravage not only Hungary, but also the whole of Germany, France, and Italy, and to overthrow the kingdom of Christ".

Copies of this Brief were sent from Rome to various persons, amongst whom were the King of Hungary and Cardinal Nicholas of Cusa; and, at the same time, Cardinal Carvajal and the Minorite, San Jacopo della Marca were exhorted to resist the anti-Papal agitation in Germany. A very severe letter was addressed by the Pope to the Archbishop of Mayence, the chief promoter of the movement. Calixtus declared that he could not believe so prudent a prelate to be capable of undertaking anything against the Papal authority, by which he would incur ecclesiastical and civil penalties and be guilty of the sin of heresy. As Elector, the Archbishop was, beyond all others, bound to maintain and extend that authority; if devils in human form taught otherwise, he ought not to give ear to them. To the Archbishops of Cologne and Treves he wrote in a similar strain, and also sent despatches to several States of the Empire, to Berne and other cities, exculpating himself from the charges made against him. As Carvajal had more than enough to do in Hungary, it was determined that another legate should be nominated for Germany, and Lorenzo Roverella, a distinguished theologian and diplomatist, was selected. Cardinal Piccolomini gave him detailed instructions as to the manner in which he was to proceed against the anti-Roman party in Germany.

The Cardinal himself personally took part in all these measures, and wrote a number of letters, among which those to Martin Mayr have attained a certain celebrity. This is the case more especially in regard to one of them, subsequently known as "Some account of the state of Germany”, a title which, in strictness, is applicable only to a small portion of it. In it he defends the action of the Holy See, and appeals to the prosperity of the country as a refutation of Mayr's complaints of Roman extortion. This graphic picture of German life in the middle of the fifteenth century is still read with pleasure by patriotic Germans. "The apology of Aeneas Sylvius”, to use the words of a French historian, "perhaps too closely resembles that of the ancient Roman who replied to a charge of malversation of public money by proposing that his accusers should go to the Capitol and thank the gods for the victories which he had won. It must be confessed that there is much truth in the plea of the Pope's champion, and history will not fail to praise the zeal with which the common Father of Christians laboured to stem the further progress of the Turks and wrest their victims from them.

At the beginning of the year 1458 alarming reports of the excited state of Germany again reached Rome; no decided step, however, was taken, and ultimately the opposition died a natural death.

The conduct of Alfonso, the powerful King of Naples, was calculated to cause the Pope even greater anxiety than that occasioned by German discontent. From the very beginning of the Pontificate of Calixtus III the personal relations between him and this monarch, which had formerly been most friendly, had totally changed.

The King who could boast of having in great measure brought about the elevation of Calixtus III, expected his old friend to show his gratitude by acceding to all his requests. The first of these was certainly not a modest one, for he asked the Pope to hand over to him the March of Ancona and other territories of the Church. Calixtus, however, was not prepared to sacrifice his duty to his affection for his former patron, and refused the investiture. Further misunderstandings arose when the King proposed for several bishoprics in his dominions persons whose youth and ignorance rendered it impossible for the Pope to accede to his request. It must have been with reference to these differences that the Pope exclaimed: "Let the King of Aragon rule his own Kingdom, and leave to Us the administration of the supreme Apostolate". The tension between Calixtus III and the King was considerably intensified by the arrogance of Alfonso, who went so far as to insult the Pope personally. This we learn from a letter shown by a Papal Secretary to the Milanese ambassador, in July, 1455, in which Alfonso, calling upon the Pope to proceed against the infidels, says that : he appears to be asleep!" The document is full of other unbecoming expressions.

Calixtus greatly disliked the alliance between Alfonso and the Duke of Milan, which the former announced to him on the 4th October, 1455. Francesco Sforza betrothed his daughter, Hippolyta, to Don Alfonso, grandson of the Neapolitan monarch, and son of Ferrante of Calabria, while the daughter of Ferrante was actually married in 1456 to Sforza Maria, a son of the Duke of Milan. Venice, Florence, and Siena shared the apprehensions which these unions between the most powerful among the Italian princes awakened in the mind of the Pope.

The disgraceful conduct of King Alfonso on the occasion of Piccinino's war with Siena must have still more embittered the relations between him and Calixtus. A fresh outbreak of hostilities in Italy was the greatest possible obstacle to the crusade on which his heart was set, nevertheless the monarch, who had solemnly promised to take part in this, persisted in fomenting the war in the Sienese territory.

These matters being at length settled, the question of the crusade again became prominent. The success of the war against the infidels depended in great measure on the King of Naples, who had large naval and military forces at his disposal, and whose example might be expected to have great influence in winning the co-operation of other states. Alfonso formally made the most magnificent promises, but he really had no intention of performing his vow of joining the crusade. Instead of proceeding against the enemies of Christendom, and without a declaration of war, he commenced hostilities against Genoa, which had always been the object of his hatred, and employed the fleet equipped by the Archbishop of Tarragona for the Holy War in devastating the territory of his enemies. At the same time he never ceased to oppress Sigismondo Malatesta, the Lord of Rimini. This policy, which not only stirred up fresh troubles in the Romagna, but also revived the designs of Anjou, and became the occasion of repeated interference on the part of the French, naturally had a most disastrous effect on the Pope's endeavours to unite Christendom against the Turks. All his exhortations and attempts to re-establish peace were in vain, and Alfonso's aggression finally compelled the Genoese to turn to France for assistance.

Under these circumstances it is not surprising that the relations between Calixtus and Alfonso became more and more embittered. The King was convinced that the Pope was determined to thwart him in every way. In the summer of 1457 there was much excitement about a presentation to a bishopric. The Pope having refused to accede to the King's desire, the Neapolitan ambassador appealed to a future council, and thus incurred excommunication. If we may trust the report of an ambassador then in Rome, the dispute became so violent that Calixtus concluded a Brief addressed to Alfonso with the words: "His Majesty should be aware that the Pope can depose kings", and Alfonso rejoined, "Let his Holiness know that the King, if he wishes, can find a way to depose the Pope".

The almost regal reception therefore accorded to the beautiful Lucrezia di Algano, who was generally supposed, though he denied it, to be King Alfonso's mistress, when she came to Rome with a great suite in October, 1457, can only have been due to political considerations. Whether any improvement in the state of feeling between Alfonso and Calixtus ensued it is impossible to say. If, as an ambassador has asserted, Lucrezia asked the Pope for a dispensation to become Alfonso's second wife, it is evident that the contrary must have been the case, as the Pope neither could nor would have granted such a request.

In March, 1458, we learn that the Pope's nephews, more especially Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia, made efforts to bring about a reconciliation between him and Alfonso, and there was some talk of sending the Cardinal to Naples. It was expected that the great affection of the Pope for his relations would have ensured the success of these endeavours, but the King repelled all pacific overtures. In June, 1458, Calixtus wrote of the Neapolitan monarch: "Since Alfonso has come into possession of Naples the Church has had no peace; he has been a constant torment to Pope Martin, Eugenius, and myself. Therefore, when he dies, I will do my utmost to deliver my successor from such oondage by preventing the succession of Don Ferrante, the King's illegitimate son". The feudal law of Lombardy was on the Pope's side and of this he was no doubt aware.

According to it legitimization does not of itself carry the right of succession to a fief, and no special provision had been made to secure this for Ferrante.

 

 

CHAPTER IV.

 

SKANDERBEG, "THE SOLDIER OF CHRIST"— THE POPE'S SOLICITUDE FOR THE CHRISTIANS IN THE EAST— COMPLETE FAILURE OF THE PAPAL EFFORTS FOR A CRUSADE —THE RISE AND DOWNFALL OF THE BORGIA — THE LAST DAYS OF CALIXTUS III.— THE DEATH OF CARDINAL CAPRANICA.

 

 

AFTER the death of the great Hunyadi, the Turks had but one adversary, able to cope with them, left on the western battlefields, and this was George Kastriota, Prince of Albania, generally known by the name of Skanderbeg. The history of this hero, on whom Calixtus III bestowed the name, "Soldier of Christ", has been rescued by recent investigations from the romantic fictions which had obscured it

It is now an established fact that Kastriota was not, as had been supposed, a scion of an ancient Albanian family, but was of Slavonian origin. Original documents have also refuted the story that he distinguished himself when a hostage among the Turks, gained favour with the Sultan, and, after the battle of Kunovica, escaped and returned home to incite his countrymen to take arms against the infidel. The truth is that Skanderbeg’s youth was passed in his native mountains, and his warfare with the Turks began with the victory gained over them in the Dibra in 1444. This victory filled western Christendom with joyful hopes, inaugurated the independence of Albania, which Skanderbeg maintained for more than twenty years, and ushered in the heroic age of its brave people. He was himself the hero of heroes. Contemporary testimony is unanimous in representing him as one of the noblest figures of the age. While yet a boy, his handsome features and commanding gestures presaged a glorious future. A companion in arms tells us that he used to turn up his sleeves in battle, that he might better wield the sword or the club. His warlike spirit was such that a battle from time to time seemed to be a necessity for him. He was at once a soldier and a general. His physical strength was almost inexhaustible, and in their rapidity his military movements resembled those of Caesar.

All the efforts of the infidels failed to vanquish this mighty foe, and after a while they attempted by cunning to accomplish that for which their power had proved unequal. They succeeded in inducing some Albanian chiefs, who found the rule of the energetic Skanderbeg too burdensome, to revolt, and among these were the Princes Nicholas and Paul Ducagnini. A bloody civil war then broke out, and there was reason to believe that the Signoria of Venice were no strangers to these disturbances. The hatred of the Venetians to Skanderbeg was due to his connection with King Alfonso of Naples. Pope Nicholas, who in every way supported him, at length brought about a peace. The Turks now stirred up Moses Golem Komnenos against him. In 1455, Isabeg, one of the most experienced of the Turkish leaders, attempted a fresh attack on Albania. In order to make sure of the support of the King of Naples, Skanderbeg did homage to him as heir of the House of Anjou for his capital of Kroja, and Alfonso sent a thousand foot soldiers and five hundred musketeers to assist him. In the end of June, 1455, when with fourteen thousand men he attempted an attack on Berat, he was beaten by the superior Turkish forces, but his mountain home, with its raging rivers and torrents, easily placed him beyond the reach of his enemies. At the approach of winter the Turks retired and left the traitor Moses Golem in possession, promising him that if he brought them Skanderbeg's head he should receive a hundred thousand ducats, and be put in possession of Albania without having to pay tribute.

For some time after the defeat at Berat Skanderbeg's fate was a matter of uncertainty in Western Europe, but in the spring of 1456 he reappeared upon the scene. In April he wrote to Cardinal Capranica, whose zeal for the cause of the crusades was well known, describing the warlike preparations of the Turks, and begging for his good offices with the Pope. An envoy from the Albanian hero reached Milan in June, and in October he again sent another messenger to Francesco Sforza and to Calixtus III. The Pope received his envoy with the greatest cordiality, but unfortunately was not able to assist the Albanians with ships or troops. He, however, encouraged and sanctioned their enterprise and afforded pecuniary help to the best of his power.

On the 5th April Skanderbeg made his triumphal entry into his capital, Kroja, laden with rich spoils, after having a few days previously defeated the traitor Moses and his Turks in the Lower Dibra. Moses returned home a despised and vanquished man. Full of repentance for his treachery he fled to Albania and begged forgiveness from Skanderbeg. The hero pardoned him and generously restored his confiscated possessions; it was henceforth Moses' aim to atone for his treachery by loyal service against the common foe.

A sorrow far deeper than that which the apostasy of Moses can have caused him fell upon Skanderbeg in the defection of his nephew Hamsa, who, beguiled by Mahomet II, proved false to his blood, his country, and his faith. In 1457 he joined the Turkish General Isabeg with a considerable force, and advanced against his uncle, who had scarcely ten thousand men at his command. The latter, therefore, determined to avoid an engagement with an enemy so superior in number, and to entice him into the interior of the devastated country. The crops which were nearly ripe were hastily gathered into the fortresses, where most of the country people with their goods also took refuge. As soon as the enemy began his march through the upper Dibra Skanderbeg with his troops retired towards Alessio. The Turks occupied a great part of the country, and extended their lines as far as this place, which belonged to the Venetians. Venice complained bitterly of the violation of her neutral territory, but did not support the oppressed Albanians. Now, as before, the Signoria, in their desire to prevent any foreign interference in Albania, viewed with displeasure the assistance rendered by Alfonso of Naples to Skanderbeg, who in his necessity had also written to the Pope, entreating aid. The state of the Papal Treasury was unfortunately at this time far from prosperous. The maintenance of the crusading fleet was a great and constant expense, claims were made from all sides on the Supreme Head of Christendom, and meanwhile the war tithe came in very sparingly. The Pope did all that was in his power by transmitting a sum of money to Skanderbeg, and promising, as soon as possible, to send a well-equipped galley, which was to be followed by other ships. The most splendid and most bloody of Skanderbeg's victories was that which he gained in the Tomorniza in July, 1457. Isabeg's army was surprised, and those who did not escape were cut to pieces. Thirty thousand Turks are said to have perished. Fifteen hundred prisoners, four-and-twenty horse-tails, and the whole camp of the enemy, with all its treasures, were taken by the conqueror. Hamsa, the traitor, was among the captives. Skanderbeg magnanimously spared his life, but sent him to Naples to be kept in safe custody by the King.

Albania was now delivered from the Turkish invasion, as Hungary had been by the victory of Belgrade in the previous year. The only powers who had afforded Skanderbeg any real assistance at this critical period were King Alfonso and the Pope. On the 17th September, 1457, the latter wrote to him in the following terms: "Beloved son! continue to defend the Catholic Faith; God, for whom you fight, will not abandon His cause. He will, I am confident, grant success against the Turks and the other unbelievers to you and the rest of the Christians with great glory and honour."

The Pope had previously, on the 10th September, determined that a third part of the tithes from Dalmatia should be placed at the disposal of the brave Albanian chief. He also commanded his legate to come to Skanderbeg’s assistance with at least a part of the fleet then in the Aegean Sea. A special nuncio, Juan Navar, was sent to Dalmatia and Macedonia to collect the tithes; he was to oblige the people of Ragusa to fulfil their promises. Navar does not, however, appear to have been very successful, for in December, 1457, the Pope threatened them with excommunication.

After his victory Skanderbeg had informed the Western Princes that he was not in a position to bring the war to a happy conclusion without further assistance. The time had come, he said, for them to awaken from their lethargy, to lay aside their dissensions, and to unite with him in exerting all their powers to obtain the liberation of the Christian world and to secure the future. But this appeal was as ineffectual as those which the Pope had previously made. Naples alone sent some troops to Albania. Calixtus III energetically expressed his satisfaction at the victory, and, on the 23rd December, 1457, appointed Skanderbeg his Captain-General for the Turkish war. He also repeatedly sent him pecuniary aid. Skanderbeg appointed as his lieutenant the despot of Roumania, Leonardo III, Tocco, ex-Prince of Arta, whose name was expected to rouse Southern Epirus to a general insurrection against the Turks. Unfortunately, Venice now came forward with various pretensions, the result of which was a new civil war, which was not terminated until February, 1458.

In his zeal for the defence of Europe against Turkish aggression, and for the protection of the Oriental Christians, Calixtus III never forgot the more distant outposts of Christendom in those regions. He interested himself more especially in the Genoese possessions in the Black Sea, which had already engaged the attention of Nicholas V. On the second day after his coronation he issued a Brief urgently exhorting the inhabitants of the Genoese territory on the mainland, and some few specified provinces in the neighbourhood, to support the Bank of St. George with money and gifts, so that Caffa might not fall into the hands of the unbelievers. In order to give the more weight to this appeal, new and ample indulgences were granted to those who should in any way support this establishment in its opposition to the Turks. On the 22nd November, in the same year, Calixtus, who had in the meantime personally afforded considerable assistance to the Bank, expressly declared that the Bull issued in favour of Caffa was not to be considered as suspended by that of the crusade of the 15th May.

These favours occasioned great satisfaction in Genoa, and honest collectors were sent without delay to the territories indicated by the Pope. Calixtus continued to manifest his goodwill to the undertaking. On the 3rd March, 1456, the directors of the Bank of St. George wrote to Caffa in the following terms: "The Pope shows himself in every way so well disposed towards the Genoese colonies that their welfare appears to be even nearer to his heart than it is to ours". The reason of this was that Calixtus's motives were nobler than those of the directors of the Bank; they only cared for the preservation of their colonies on account of the income they derived from them, while the Pope undertook their protection from zeal for the maintenance of the Catholic faith and the defence of Christian civilization against the inroads of Islam. 

The Pope's correspondence with Genoa, which has recently been brought to light, enables us to appreciate his marvellous energy in his care for the Eastern colonies at the very time when Hungary and the fleet were so urgently claiming his attention. On the 10th March, 1456, he extended to the dioceses of Albenga, Savona, and Ventimiglia the Bull by which Lodisio Fieschi and Giovanni Gatti had been appointed collectors of the ecclesiastical tithes in the Genoese territory. Other Briefs called upon the Bishops of Tortona, Luni, Alba, Acqui, and Asti to assist the collectors in every possible manner, and to give a good example to their subjects by their zeal for the common cause of Christendom. Others, again, confirmed the plenary powers given to these commissioners, and commanded them severely to punish those who, under the cloak of piety, deceived the simple people by falsely representing themselves as collectors. The Pope strictly charged Valerio Calderina, Bishop of Savona, and Administrator of the Diocese of Genoa, not to damp the zeal of the people by the suggestion of doubts and scruples. He also addressed a special Brief to Paolo Campofregoso, Archbishop Elect of Genoa, urging him to set a good example by the complete and speedy payment of the tithes of his benefice. In his indefatigable zeal he also exhorted the Duke of Milan and the Marquess of Montferrat, the neighbours of Genoa, to support Caffa. We cannot give a full account of all the favours which the Genoese received from Calixtus III, but we can undoubtedly assert that he did everything in his power on their behalf.

With regard to the fleet, the Pope was sedulous in providing it with reinforcements, and in encouraging the legate and exhorting him to keep his forces together in readiness for any emergency.

A splendid victory gained at Mitylene over the Turks in August, 1457, when no fewer than five-and-twenty of their ships were taken by the Papal fleet, gave much consolation to Calixtus. He commemorated the happy event by causing a medal to be struck with the inscription: "I have been chosen for the destruction of the enemies of the Faith".

This fresh success encouraged the Pope to do everything in his power for the support and assistance of Scarampo and his forces. As time went on, he continued to urge on the Cardinal Legate the necessity of keeping the fleet together, and remaining with it during the winter, so that the expedition might be carried on with renewed vigour in the following year. Further reinforcements were sent for this purpose early in 1458, and, in announcing their arrival to the Cardinal Legate, Calixtus III solemnly assured him that he would never give up the fleet, and would support it as long as he lived. He bid Scarampo not lose courage, and expressed his confident hope that God would grant victory, and would bring great things to pass by its means. The energy of the Pope never flagged until he was struck down by mortal sickness; and alas! it was not granted to him to witness another victory for the cause so near his heart.

Save for these successes, won by the arms of Scarampo and Skanderbeg, the year 1457 was fraught with disappointments to Calixtus. The King of Portugal, like the rulers of France and of Burgundy, constantly buoyed up his mind with vain hopes and empty expectations. No one in Italy made any exertion for the defence of Christendom. Venice remained, as before, deaf and cold to all Apostolic appeals; her traders cared only for their selfish interests, and accordingly maintained peace with the Sultan, who invited the Doge in March, 1457, to the marriage of his son.

The Duke of Milan endeavoured to obtain investiture from the Emperor by holding out hopes that he would send troops for the war. These tedious negotiations came to nothing, although the Pope took the Duke's part, and all expectations of succour from this quarter vanished. Like the great victory on the Danube in 1456, the successes of Skanderbeg and Scarampo in 1457 were attended by no adequate results. All who wished to remain in peace, and attend without interruption to their own private interests, easily persuaded themselves that the power of the Turks was sufficiently subdued. Time was thus given to the enemy to recover from defeat, and to prepare for further aggressions, and an opportunity which never returned was lost by the short-sighted and egotistical policy of the European Powers.

The strength of Hungary was crippled; discord prevailed among her magnates and at the Court; Frederick II, was at variance with the young King Ladislas regarding the inheritance of the Count of Cilli. The Pope most earnestly adjured these two princes to lay aside this petty private matter for the sake of Christendom in general and of their own dominions. "How", he asks, "can the French, the Spaniards, and the English think of sending armies against the Turks when you, who are near at hand, and whose interests are at stake, seem to take no heed of the danger which threatens you from the infidels?". In the beginning of November, 1457, an agreement was at last arrived at between Frederick III and Ladislas, but on the 23rd of the same month Ladislas died, and in consequence of his death affairs in the East took a new and unexpected turn. Matthias Hunyadi Corvinus, who was very young, ascended the Hungarian throne, and the Utraquist Governor, George Podiebrad, was elected King of Bohemia (2nd March, 1458).

In the election of George no regard was paid to the hereditary pretensions of Saxony, Poland, and the House of Hapsburg; the adjoining countries were not consulted, and the proceedings were altogether of an exceptional kind. Accordingly the new King was not without opponents, who had legitimate grounds for calling his election in question. Under these circumstances the congratulations of an eminent and generally esteemed Prince of the Church were peculiarly welcome. Cardinal Carvajal wrote from Buda on the 20th March to express his good wishes, and at the same time took the opportunity of urging upon the new Monarch the cause of ecclesiastical unity, and of the defence of Christendom against the Turks.

Even before his elevation the crafty Podiebrad had been working to gain the favour of Rome. The Pope, who had already expressed his desire for the reconciliation of the Bohemians, was all the more easily won because he was assured, not only of Podiebrad's Catholic sentiments but also of his intention of taking part in the war against the Turks. The Premonstratentian Canon, Lukas Hladek, and Heinrich Roraw, the Procurator of the Bohemian Hospice in Rome, exerted themselves in his cause, and were so successful that the confiding Pontiff declared his determination in every way to defend the honour of the Bohemian King. Calixtus had letters of safe-conduct issued for the Bohemian ambassadors, and his confessor, Cosimo di Monserrato, shewed Lukas Hladek presents destined for King George. The Pope's anticipations were raised still higher when he received tidings of what King George and his consort had, before their coronation, done and bound themselves by oath to do.

According to the decision of the States the coronation of George was to take place according to the ancient Catholic rite. Prague was at this time without an Archbishop; the Archbishop of Olmutz had not yet been enthroned, and the Archbishop of Breslau was hostile to the King. Consequently King Mathias and the Cardinal Legate Carvajal were requested to send a Hungarian Bishop to perform the ceremony. The Bishops of Raab and Waitzen declared themselves willing to undertake the office. Carvajal would not allow them to start until they had promised to insist upon George's abjuration of the Hussite heresy previously to his coronation. The King, who well understood his obligations to the Utraquists, began by refusing to do this; the Bishops, however, stood firm, and at length he agreed to abjure his errors and take a Catholic coronation oath, providing only tnat the matter was kept secret. Fresh difficulties arose when the Bishops required that the abjuration of heresy should be inserted with the other points in the formal record of his oath. George could not be induced to consent, and the Bishops contented themselves with his verbal abjuration. In the coronation oath taken on the 6th May, 1458, in presence of only eight witnesses, who were bound to secrecy, George swore fidelity and obedience to the Roman Catholic Church, her head, Pope Calixtus III, and his lawful successors, and promised to preserve his subjects from all errors, divisions and heretical doctrines, and especially from everything opposed to the Catholic Church and the true Faith, and to bring them back to obedience, and to perfect external and internal unity and union with the Roman Church in worship and ceremonials. Every difference of every kind was to be given up, and notably the administration of the Sacrament of the Altar in both kinds, and other things contained in the compacts which had never been confirmed by Rome.

These solemn promises on the part of the King led Calixtus III to cherish confident hopes that in time the majority of the Utraquists would follow the example of their monarch and return to the Catholic Church. Soon after his coronation George further encouraged these anticipations by accrediting Doctor Fantino de Valle as his Procurator in Rome, sending the Pope a copy of his oath, and adding ample promises regarding an expedition against the Turks to be undertaken when he had arranged the affairs of his kingdom. According to Cardinal Jacopo Ammannati Piccolomini, the aged Pontiff now resolved on addressing a Brief to King George with the superscription: "To my beloved son George, King of Bohemia", after the formula generally employed in the case of Catholic Princes. This Brief, however, has not come to light, and neither the King nor the Court ever alluded to it.

The coronation of King George by two Catholic prelates according to the rite of the Roman Church, together with the friendly relations established between him and the Pope, produced an immense impression, and the tide of feeling became much more favourable to the new monarch. He had now a fair hope of inducing the neighbouring States to acknowledge him, and of depriving the efforts of the Duke of Saxony and the Hapsburgs of any prospect of success.

To the end of his life Calixtus III continued heartily devoted to the cause of the crusade. In order to estimate the immense difficulties in his way, we must bear in mind that he had to encounter the obstinate opposition of almost all the European princes and of a great portion of the clergy. This opposition was displayed not only in France and Germany, but also in Italy and Spain, and the Papal registers contain a series of condemnatory briefs bearing on the subject. The Pope laments this sad state of things in language which shews how deeply it affected him. "The harvest is great but the labourers are few", he writes, in December, 1456, to Cardinal Alain. The sense of his isolation became at times so overwhelming that the burden of his office seemed almost intolerable.

In Italy the restless spirit of Piccinino and the crafty policy of Alfonso of Naples caused him constant and serious anxiety. On account of these troubles, and also with the view of making yet another effort to avert the danger of Turkish aggression, Calixtus, in the autumn of 1457, conceived the idea of holding a congress in Rome. His invitation was addressed to all the princes of Christendom; and it was his last attempt. In order to facilitate the deliberations, the envoys were summoned for different dates. Naples, Milan, Genoa, Florence, and Venice were to send their deputies to Rome by December, 1457; France, Burgundy, and Savoy by the end of the following January, and the other European princes, with the Emperor, by the end of February. The Pope placed great hopes on this congress, but the appointed periods passed by without the arrival of any of those invited. Otto de Carretto wrote on the 4th February, 1458, to the Duke of Milan, "No one of the envoys convened to discuss the Turkish business has yet arrived". In February several at last appeared, so that the deliberations could be commenced in March. They continued into the month of June, but there is no record of any result.

The excessive nepotism of Calixtus III is the only blot on his otherwise blameless character. The lavish prodigality with which he enriched his unworthy relations can only be, in some measure, caused as an effort to secure in them a counterpoise to the influence of the untrustworthy and often dangerous barons.

The relations of the Spanish Pope were very numerous, and some of them had come to Rome while he was still a cardinal. They belonged chiefly to the three allied Valencian families of Borgia, Mila, and Lanzol. Caterina Borgia, one of the Pope's sisters, was married to Juan Mila, Baron of Mazalanes, and was mother of young Luis Juan; another sister, Isabella, was the wife of Jofre Lanzol, a nobleman possessed of property at Xativa, and had two sons, Pedro Luis and Rodrigo. Calixtus gave both these nephews his family name by adoption.

The promotion of his relations was in itself objectionable, and was rendered still more so by the vicious character of some among them. A recent historian draws a striking comparison between the family of Borgia and that of Claudius in ancient Rome; the Borgias were in general distinguished by physical strength and beauty; they were sensual and haughty in disposition, and had for their armorial bearings a bull. Calixtus III was the founder of their fortunes, but derived little satisfaction from them. Could he have foreseen the evil which his nephews would do to Italy and to the Church, he would certainly, instead of elevating them, have banished them to the deepest dungeons of Spain.

Amongst the Pope's nephews, Rodrigo Lanzol, or, as the Italians called him, Lenzuoli, has attained the saddest celebrity. The remarkable abilities of this man, who was born at Xativa, near Valencia, in 1430 or 1431, have been acknowledged even by his bitterest adversaries. Guicciardini says that "in him were combined rare prudence and vigilance, mature reflection, marvellous power of persuasion, skill and capacity for the conduct of the most difficult affairs".

Even while yet a Cardinal, Calixtus III had a partiality for his gifted nephew; and, after his elevation to the Papal Throne, he loaded him with dignities and favours of all kinds. As early as the 10th May, 1455, Rodrigo was Notary of the Apostolic See; on the 3rd June he was made Dean of the Church of Our Lady at Xativa, and other benefices in Valencia were conferred on him, and in the same month he was sent by the Pope to Bologna to study jurisprudence. He accompanied Luis Juan Mila, Bishop of Segorbe, who was nominated Governor of Bologna on the 13th June, 1455. On the 29th June the two cousins reached their destination, where they were honourably received. Luis Juan, however, had to be on his guard with the Bolognese in the exercise of his new dignity : and his abilities do not appear to have been considerable.

Nevertheless, Calixtus III determined to raise him, as well as the young Rodrigo, to the purple. In November, 1455, the Archbishop of Pisa, Filippo de' Medici, was made aware of this intention, and it was expected that it would be carried out in the following month. Some obstacle, however, must have arisen, for it was not till the 20th of February, 1456, that the Pope's nephews were secretly created Cardinals.

The records of this creation are preserved, and it appears that it took place in a Secret Consistory, in the presence and with the consent of all the Cardinals then in Rome. Contrary to the usual custom, the Church of San. Niccolo in Carcere was on the same day assigned to Rodrigo as his title, and it was decreed that in the event of the Pope's death before his publication, the other Cardinals were at once, under pain of excommunication, to regard his creation as published, and to admit him to take part in the Conclave for the election of a new Pope.

The new Cardinals had not as yet done; anything to merit the dignity conferred on them, they were both very young — Rodrigo only five-and-twenty — their elevation was in itself an unjustifiable action, and the evil was aggravated by the fact that Rodrigo was an immoral and vicious man.

Such is the judgment of a German Cardinal of the nineteenth century, and though it may seem severe, it is perfectly just Rodrigo was handsome, of an ardent temperament, and extremely attractive to women. In the time of Pius II the historian, Gasparo di Verona, sketched his portrait in the following terms: "He is handsome, of a pleasant and cheerful countenance, with a sweet and persuasive manner. With a single glance he can fascinate women, and attract them to himself more strongly than a magnet draws iron". No unfavourable testimony regarding the conduct of Rodrigo during the lifetime of Calixtus III has come to light; but the same cannot be said as to his subsequent course.

Repeated efforts have nevertheless been made in recent days to rehabilitate the moral character of this man. In the face of such a perversion of the truth, it is the duty of the historian to show that the evidence against Rodrigo is so strong as to render it impossible to restore his reputation. We shall have to speak at a future period of his scandalous relations with a Roman lady, Vannozza de' Catanei, which form part of this evidence.

The first light thrown upon Rodrigo's immorality occurs in an admonitory letter of the year 1460, in which Pius II reproaches the Cardinal, who probably was not at the time a priest, with his unbecoming behaviour at an entertainment given at Siena, in the garden of Giovanni de Bichis. "Our displeasure," says Pius II, "is unspeakable, for such conduct disgraces the ecclesiastical state and office. It will be said to us that we have been made rich and great, not in order that we should lead blameless lives, but to give us the means of self-indulgence. This is the reason why princes and powers despise us and the laity daily deride us. They reproach us with our own conduct when we would blame that of others. Contempt falls even upon the Vicar of Christ, because he seems to tolerate such things. You, beloved son! govern the Bishopric of Valencia, the first in Spain; you are also Chancellor of the Church, and — which makes your conduct more reprehensible — you sit with the Pope among the Cardinals, the Counsellors of the Holy See. We leave it to your own judgment whether it is becoming to your dignity to pay court to ladies, to send fruit and wine to the one you love, and all day long to think of nothing but pleasure. We are blamed on your account; the memory of your blessed uncle, Calixtus, is blamed; many consider that he did wrong in heaping so many honours on you. You cannot plead your youth, for you are not now so young as to be unaware of the duties which your dignity imposes on you. A Cardinal must be blameless and an example of moral life before the eyes of all men. What right have we to be angry if temporal princes call us by names that are little honourable, if they grudge us our possessions and constrain us to submit to their commands? Truly we inflict these wounds upon ourselves and invite these evils when by our own deeds we daily lessen the authority of the Church. Our chastisement for these things is shame in this world, and the ways of sin in the next. We trust in your prudence to remember your dignity, and not suffer yourself to be called a gallant by women and youths. For should such things occur again we shall be constrained to show that we do not consent to them, and our censure will not fail to bring confusion on you. We have constantly loved you, and we held you worthy of our protection as a grave and discreet person. Let your conduct be such that we may retain this opinion to which nothing can more conduce than the adoption of a regular life. Your years favour the hope that you will amend, and permit us to exhort you in a fatherly manner. Petriolo, the 11th June, 1460".  

Cardinal Rodrigo hastened to write a letter of apology to the Pope and endeavoured to place the affair in a more favourable light. The reply of Pius II was grave and dignified. The conduct of Rodrigo, he maintains, is inexcusable, although, perhaps, there may have been some exaggeration in the account of it. In any case the Cardinal must for the future keep aloof from all such things and be more careful of his reputation. If he will do this and live discreetly the Papal favour will not be withdrawn from him.

The hopes of Pius II were not realized. Cardinal Rodrigo would not change his mode of life. In the year 1464 Pius II, with his mortal sickness upon him, undertook his celebrated expedition to Ancona to place himself at the head of the crusaders. Rodrigo accompanied him, but even at so serious a time this "essentially low-minded man" could not bring himself to give up his evil pleasures.

It cannot surprise us to find that among the better disposed Cardinals great opposition was made to the promotion of such a man. This was probably manifested even in the Secret Consistory of the 20th February, 1456. If the Cardinals then gave him their votes, it was in the hope that the old Pontiff would die before Rodrigo's publication.

This hope, however, was soon disappointed. In September, 1456, when all the Cardinals had left Rome on account of the insupportable heat and of a pestilential sickness, Calixtus III actually proceeded to the publication (17th September). A month later the Pope's nephews made their solemn entry into Rome; on the 17th November the red hat was conferred upon them, and on the 26th the ceremony of opening their mouths took place.

Together with his nephews the Pope had raised to the purple the Portuguese Infante, James, a young man noted for his modesty and purity of life. This Cardinal, who was in every way a contrast to Rodrigo Borgia, unhappily died on the 27th August, 1459, on his journey to Florence as legate. His monument, by Antonio Rossellino, is in the Church of San Miniato al Monte. The beautiful form of the young Cardinal, wearing on his countenance an expression of profound peace, rests on a bed of state standing in a niche raised on a lofty architectural pedestal. Two nude figures hold the ends of the pall. Above, on either side, two angels kneel on brackets fastened to the wall, holding a crown and a palm. In the vault over the niche is a medallion in relief of the Blessed Virgin, borne by two angels in the air.

On the 17th December, 1456, Calixtus III made another promotion of Cardinals, and on this occasion also the Sacred College offered opposition. "Never", wrote one of those nominated, "had Cardinals more difficulty in entering the Sacred College. The hinges (cardtnes) had become so rusty that they would not turn. The Pope had to use battering-rams and all kinds of engines to burst open the door". Calixtus was again unsuccessful with some of the candidates; for instance, he had to give up the Bishop of Novara, on whose behalf the Duke of Milan had repeatedly interested himself. Of the six actually nominated, Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomini was undoubtedly the most worthy and distinguished. The others were Juan de Mella, Bishop of Zamora, a man noted for his stately manners and his knowledge of canon law; Jacopo Tebaldo, Bishop of Montefeltre; Rinaldo de' Piscicelli, Archbishop of Naples; Giovanni da Castiglione, Bishop of Pavia; and lastly, Richard Ollivier de Longueil, Bishop of Coutances, who, like d'Estouteville, belonged to a distinguished family in Normandy. Charles VII had zealously exerted himself for the promotion of the last named prelate; and Calixtus hoped, as it proved, in vain, that by conferring on him the purple he would win the French monarch to the cause of the crusade.

As time went on fresh favours were constantly heaped upon the Borgias. Young Cardinal Rodrigo was appointed legate in the March of Ancona in December, 1456, and went there on the 19th January in the following year. Cardinal Luis was made legate of Bologna, and both were richly endowed with benefices.

The most important and lucrative office of the Papal Court was that of Vice-Chancellor; one of the ambassadors speaks of it as the highest dignity after that of the Pope. Since the death of Cardinal Condulmaro (30th October, 1453) no one had been appointed to fill this high position, and it was but natural that those Cardinals who held no great office at the Court should aspire to it. We are expressly informed that such was the case in regard to d'Estouteville. Since the year 1455 he had been labouring to obtain it, but in 1457 it was bestowed on Rodrigo, who was also made Commander-in-Chief of the Papal troops in Italy in December of the same year. Don Pedro Luis, his brother, a layman, and a year younger than himself, was loaded with offices and honours in a manner equally scandalous. In the spring of 1456 he was appointed Captain-General of the Church and Commander of St Angelo, and, in the autumn of the same year, Governor of Terni, Narni, Todi, Rieti, Orvieto, Spoleto, Foligno, Nocera, Assisi, Amelia, Cività Castellana, and Nepi; soon afterwards the patrimony of St Peter in Tuscany was added to these.

Such a career was unheard of. Cardinal Capranica, who, as Grand Penitentiary under Nicholas V, had enjoyed the esteem of all classes, made a courageous protest, and his opposition could not be overcome either by prayers or threats. His noble conduct drew upon him the hatred of the Borgias, who vainly sought to have him sent as legate to a distance from Rome. Finally they went so far as to try to put him in prison, but this the Pope would not permit.

The Borgias kept up the closest intimacy with the Colonna family — in the summer of 1457 was even said that Don Pedro Borgia was to marry a Colonna — and accordingly their relations with the Orsini were unfriendly. In 1457, when the Pope sent Don Pedro against the Orsini to recover from them some fortresses which he considered to be the property of the Church, open war broke out. Cardinal Orsini now left Rome (July, 1457); Scarampo, Carvajal, and Nicholas of Cusa were absent; and as d'Estouteville, Barbo, and Piccolomini held to the Borgias, they had the preponderance in the Sacred College. It is, moreover, not improbable that most of the Cardinals had assented to the appointment of Don Pedro Luis as Prefect of the City, which took place on the death of the City Prefect, Gian Antonio Orsini, on the 19th August, 1457. On the evening of the same day the Conservators and the principal citizens of Rome came to the Papal Palace to thank Calixtus for the selection he had made. The Pope took the opportunity of assuring them that Don Pedro was, in feeling and manners, an Italian, and that it was his desire to live and die a Roman citizen. One of the Conservators went so far as to observe that he hoped soon to see the new City Prefect King of Rome; all united in requesting the Pope to make over to Don Pedro the fortresses which had always constituted the Prefect's fief. Don Pedro himself, in receiving the deputations which came to congratulate him, expressed his intention of becoming an Italian and his wish to live in Italy.

These empty speeches were made because everyone knew how dearly the Pope loved his nephews. In reality there was no love lost between the new Prefect and the Italians. The manners of almost all the Pope's nephews were over-bearing and insolent towards the Romans, who retaliated by bitterly hating the foreigners. Their resentment was aggravated when the good fortune of the Borgias attracted a host of relations and other Spaniards to Rome, who brawled in the streets and overran the provinces.

Adventurers of all kinds gathered round the wild and handsome Don Pedro Luis; the general name of "Catalans" was given to all these strangers, among whom were Neapolitans as well as Spaniards, and, similarly, all the Pope's nephews were called "Borgia", whatever might be their patronymic; Calixtus, indeed, conferred on most of them the honour of bearing his family name.

From the very beginning of his pontificate the Pope showed a marked preference for his numerous fellow-countrymen equally with his nearer and more distant relations. Only a few days after his election we find evidence of this. The feeling against the Catalans was already so strong that many Germans and Frenchmen voluntarily resigned their positions at the Papal Court. The posts thus vacated were filled by Spaniards, who soon formed the largest portion of the Pope's circle; they were also to be found in the Papal Chapel and among the artists attached to the court. No large orders, however, were given to these latter, for, where he could, Calixtus economized for the sake of the Turkish war.

The power of the Borgias and Catalans became almost intolerable after the important fortress of St. Angelo had been given up to them. This was done on the 15th March, 1456, at a late hour in the evening and after the Pope had threatened the Castellan with the severest penalties. Great excitement prevailed in the city, and it was thought that nothing short of the summoning of a general council could avail to restore tranquillity. 

As the military and police were in the hands of the Catalans they had unlimited power, and administered justice as they chose. “Every day” says a chronicler, "there were assassinations and encounters in the streets; nothing but Catalans could be seen". The aged and sickly Pope had, we are expressly informed, no idea of what was going on. His attention was constantly engrossed by the war against the Turks; and he thought that he might safely leave the affairs of Rome to the care of his beloved nephews.

The confusion in Rome was yet further increased by repeated visitations of pestilential epidemics. In the beginning of June, 1458, the plague raged so violently that everyone who could do so sought safety in flight. Most of the Cardinals left the city, amongst them the Portuguese Cardinal, the Infant James, Giovanni da Castiglione, Filippo Calandrini, and Piccolomini. The last-named betook himself to the Baths of Viterbo, to continue his former life of peaceful leisure. The aged Pontiff, however, remained in Rome, and his attention was fully occupied by the illness of his bitterest opponent, Alfonso of Naples, which terminated fatally on the 27th June.

On the same day the King's illegitimate son, Don Ferrante, to whom he had bequeathed Naples, rode with royal pomp through the city, while the people cried "Long live King Ferdinand!". But this was not sufficient to overcome the opposition to his accession which arose on all sides. The aged René of Anjou-Provence, who bore the title of King of Naples, and his son John, who styled himself Duke of Calabria, accepted the proposals of the former and recent antagonists of the Aragonese, all the more readily because Calixtus III, the lord paramount, was also hostile to that party.

Almost as soon as the Pope had heard what must to him have been the welcome tidings of Alfonso's death, he sent to the Neapolitan ambassador's house to have him arrested and taken to St. Angelo. But the ambassador, who had been warned of the Pope's intentions, and had received early intelligence of the death of his King, had fled. The property, which he left behind him, was seized. On the following day Calixtus held a Consistory, in which he conferred on Cardinal Rodrigo the Bishopric of Valencia, with its revenue of eighteen thousand ducats, and on his Datary the Bishopric of Gerona. The same morning Cardinal Luis Juan and other relations of the Pope received various benefices, the right of appointment to which, in common with the above-named Bishoprics, had been in dispute between Calixtus and Alfonso. After dinner the Pope had an interview with Cardinals d'Estouteville and Alain, lasting nearly till evening, in which he declared his determination of making every effort to recover Naples for the Church from Don Ferrante, who had no right to it. The Pope added, were this to take place, and it were proved to belong to King René, he would give it to him, otherwise he would grant it as a fief to whomsoever he deemed fit. It was surmised that he intended to bestow it on Don Pedro. The ambassador, from whom we learn this, says that the Pope looked on Don Pedro as a second Caesar, and the reports of others are to the same effect. Many contemporaries even assert that after the conquest of Constantinople Don Pedro was to have been made its Emperor or King of Cyprus. There is more intrinsic probability, however, in the statement concerning Naples, and it is certain that although Ferrante made every possible effort to bring about a reconciliation, the Pope resolutely refused to acknowledge his right of succession. On the 14th July a Bull was published in Rome, by which Calixtus claimed the kingdom of Sicily on this side of the Faro as a lapsed fief. At the same time its subjects were forbidden to swear fealty to any one of the pretenders to the Crown; such as had taken an oath were loosed from their obligations, and the claimants were invited to come to Rome to establish their rights. Provision was immediately made for the publication of this document throughout the kingdom of Naples, and it was moreover reported that the Pope had required from Don Ferrante, under pain of the most severe punishments, the payment of the sixty thousand ducats which Alfonso had bequeathed for the crusade.

Great excitement was caused in both Naples and Rome by this action on the part of the Pope. On the publication of the Bull the price of corn at once rose in Rome. One of the Conservators, moreover, is reported to have expressed himself to the effect that in the event of the Pope making war upon Naples, the Romans would be compelled to choose the lesser evil. The threat did not deter Calixtus from his purpose, and, in order to give greater effect to his Bull, he commanded Don Pedro to levy troops for a hostile demonstration against Naples.

Contemporary despatches from ambassadors show how strong was the Pope's feeling against Don Ferrante. Calixtus had been greatly incensed by his letter announcing to the Pope and the Cardinals the death of his father, in which he already styled himself King. In a conversation with the Milanese ambassador, he called Ferrante a little bastard, whose father was unknown. "This boy who is nothing", he said, "calls himself King without our permission. Naples belongs to the Church, it is the possession of St. Peter. Alfonso would not assume this title until he had the consent of the Holy See, in this following our counsel. You," continued the Pope, "being from Lombardy, where fiefs are more common than elsewhere, know that, admitting him to be the legitimate successor of Alfonso, he must have our confirmation before he can be called King. Moreover, Ferrante wrongfully holds possession of Terracina, Benevento, and other places which belong to the Church. Many have therefore thought that we should have proceeded against him with more severity, and altogether denied his right of succession. This we have not wished to do, but for the defence of the rights of the Church we have issued this just and holy Bull, which will stand not only on earth but also in heaven. In it we have reserved his rights as well as those of the other claimants, for everyone shall have his due. If your Duke, whom we greatly love, leaves us a free hand, we shall conquer and exalt him as we have always wished to do; the Duke must attach no importance to a child who is nothing, and whom no one regards; we have been told that Ferrante, when he heard the words of our Bull, burst into tears; his subjects do not wish to be excommunicated, and have accordingly determined to send ambassadors to us; they will be obedient to the Church. If Don Ferrante will give up his usurped title and humbly place himself in our hands, we will treat him as one of our own nephews".

Ferrante was by no means disposed to do anything of the kind. He summoned a Parliament at Capua, and called on his barons for assistance against the unjust pretensions of the Pope. It was determined that ambassadors should be sent to Rome to appeal against the Bull of July 12^th. The messengers who brought the Bull into the kingdom were, by order of Ferrante, seized and soundly beaten. It was a great advantage to him that the most powerful of Italian princes, Duke Francesco Sforza of Milan, declared himself against the Pope and acknowledged Ferrante as King. Cosmo de Medici united with Sforza in supporting him against Papal menaces and French pretensions.

Under these circumstances it would have been hard to foretell the complications to which the Neapolitan question might have given rise had not the death of Calixtus III. completely altered the aspect of affairs.

The Pope had been seriously ill in the spring, but had recovered and risen up again with characteristic energy. From the beginning of July, however, there had been a general failure of strength, and about the middle of the month his condition had become so much worse that all the business of government had to be suspended. On the 21st a violent and most painful attack of gout supervened, and as he was also suffering from fever, which may have been due to agitation regarding the Neapolitan question, the physicians gave but little hopes of his recovery.

On the 30th July a report of the Pope's death was current in Rome, and immediately the hatred of the Romans against the "Catalans" broke forth; the foreigners were ill-treated in the public streets by the populace, and a young Catalan was slain. The state of things was so alarming that the Florentine merchants and the wealthy prelates and courtiers removed their possessions to places of safety.

Meanwhile the Pope had again rallied a little; on the 1st and 2nd of August he was decidedly better, but on the 3rd a burning fever took away all hope of amendment. Even now the marvellous energy of the aged man made it hard for him to believe that he was so near his end. When the plain-spoken Cardinal Antonio de la Cerda told him that, as the physicians had given him up, it was now time to think of his soul and to prepare to die as beseems a Pope, Calixtus replied that it was not yet certain that he was to die this time. On the 1st August, however, he made up his mind to receive the Sacraments, and on the 4th he was anointed.

The affairs of government occupied his attention while he lay on his death-bed; on the 26th of July he held a Consistory, and on the 31st he gave proof of the undying strength of his affection for his relations by an act of great importance.

On the death of King Alfonso, Terracina and Benevento had reverted to the Church, and on the above-named day the Pope granted the Vicariate of these two cities to his beloved Don Pedro. If we may rely on the report of the Milanese ambassador, the Cardinals consented from fear, lest opposition on their part might have involved imprisonment in St. Angelo. On the 1st August, Calixtus conferred the Archbishopric of Naples on Cardinal Tebaldi, the brother of his physician. At the same time it was understood that he intended to nominate no less than five new Cardinals, of whom two were to be "Catalans" and two Romans. A violent opposition arose on the part of the Sacred College, and Cardinals d'Estouteville, Orsini, Barbo, and de Mella met that evening in Cardinal Alain's Palace to take counsel. "It appears", writes one of the ambassadors, "that they have determined not to go to the Pope's Palace, and above all not to cross the Tiber until St. Angelo is given over to the Sacred College. Moreover, they have resolved not to consent to the nomination of new Cardinals".

The excitement was not confined to the great Princes of the Church. The tidings of the mortal sickness of the Pope had deeply moved not only Rome, but also the Pontifical States, and the general confusion was aggravated by the arrival (August 2nd) of Don Ferrante's ambassadors, who affixed to the doors of St. Peter's an appeal to the new Pope or to a Council, and declared that if the Cardinals would not listen to them they would seek the alliance of the Romans.

With a view of maintaining order, the Sacred College had, before the end of July, appointed a Commission consisting of four of its members — Cardinals Bessarion, d'Estouteville, Alain, and Barbo. The Commission met daily, and one of its first acts was the occupation of the Capitol by a force of two hundred men under the Archbishop of Ragusa. The Cardinals further made every effort to come to an understanding with Don Pedro Borgia. This was accomplished more easily than had been expected. Don Pedro, on whom his brother Rodrigo exercised a restraining influence, had sense enough to perceive that his longer residence in Rome would be attended with danger; he therefore gave up to the College of Cardinals all the fortresses, including St. Angelo, and in return received in coin the sum of two-and-twenty thousand ducats which Calixtus III had left him by will. His troops were at once required to take an oath of fealty to the Sacred College in the person of the Vice-Camerlengo; the dying Pope being left in ignorance of these transactions. The Cardinals had already taken into their keeping the treasury of the Church, which at the time contained a hundred and twenty thousand ducats.

The excessive bitterness of the Orsini family against Don Pedro can easily be accounted for. It was an open secret that they would spare no efforts to bring about his downfall, and his way had been barred by land and by sea. Moreover, the violence of the popular fury against the "Catalans" had now in many places increased. In Rome the hated foreigners were cut to pieces whenever they fell into the hands of their enemies. Under these circumstances Don Pedro felt that he was not safe, and he knew that his danger was all the greater because most of his troops were Italians, and he had not treated them very well; by the end of July it was thought that he would flee to Spoleto, and there await the election of a new Pope.

Don Pedro's flight actually took place early in the morning of the 6th of August. He was assisted by Cardinal Pietro Barbo, who was a friend of the Borgias, and was anxious to prevent bloodshed. In order to avoid the snares of the Orsini, Don Pedro proceeded with the greatest circumspection. He mounted his horse at three in the morning, accompanied by his brother Rodrigo in disguise, and by Cardinal Pietro Barbo, who brought with him three hundred horse and two hundred foot. They first passed through the Porta del Castello di St. Angelo, and turned towards Ponte Molle. They then came back through the Porta del Popolo into the city, and hurried on, choosing the least inhabited streets to the Porta di San Paolo. At this gate the two Cardinals parted from him, after commanding the soldiers to escort him to Ostia. But Don Pedro was already detested to such a degree that, although the order was given in the name of the Sacred College, nearly all the soldiers refused to accompany him any further. "Not one even of the grooms", says an ambassador, "would remain with him". Fresh difficulties met the forsaken fugitive at Ostia, where he had ordered a galley with money and other valuables to await him. In vain did he look for this vessel, which had disappeared long before his arrival, and he was accordingly compelled to escape in a boat to Cività Vecchia.

Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia showed more courage. He had retired to Tivoli in June on account of the unhealthy state of Rome, but returned during the night, between the 25th and 26th July, on hearing of the dangerous illness of the Pope. In the general confusion his servants forsook him, so that his splendid palace was left to be plundered by the populace. Rodrigo's return to the city, after his brother's flight, was a brave action. The chronicler of Viterbo says that the Cardinal went to St. Peter's to pray for the forsaken and dying Pope.

For fully a fortnight the aged Pontiff hung between life and death, until at last, on the evening of the 6th of August, the Feast of the Transfiguration, which he himself had instituted, God released him from his sufferings.

Except for his nepotism, Calixtus III deserves high praise, more especially for the energy, constancy and purpose which he displayed in dealing with the burning question of the day — the protection of Western civilization from the Turkish power. In this matter he gave a grand example to Christendom, and it is to be observed that in the midst of the military and political interest which claimed so large a share of his time and attention, he did not neglect the internal affairs of the Church, and vigorously opposed heresies.

The tidings of the Pope's death caused the greatest excitement in Rome. The Orsini and the other enemies of already taken flight, and those who still remained in the city sought to conceal themselves in out-of-the-way places, for the populace were attacking the houses of all the Spaniards and of any Romans who belonged to the Borgia party. Cardinal Barbo was included in the hatred borne to the family of the late Pope, and the assistance which he had afforded to Don Pedro in his flight was not forgiven.

The bitter feeling against the evil doings of the Spanish strangers led to bloodshed in many parts of the States of the Church. Disturbances had occurred in Viterbo as early as August 1st. The Castellan of Castelnuovo was slain by Stefano Colonna, and a like fate befell the Catalan Castellan of Nepi. At Cività Castellana, Fabriano, Ascoli, and other places, the people rose with the cry, "Long live the Church!". The Orsini, with the consent of the College of Cardinals, invested San Gregorio, which Don Pedro had formerly wrested from them. Jacopo Piccinino again appeared to see what he could fish out of the troubled waters. Almost as soon as he heard of the Pope's dangerous illness he concluded a truce with Malatesta, and returned to the States of the Church. On the 15th August he appeared before Assisi, and the Catalan Castellan gave it up to him for a sum of money. Piccinino also occupied Gualdo, Nocera, Bevagna, and other places, and pitched his camp at Foligno. It was believed that there was an understanding between him and the King of Naples, who thus sought to extort a recognition of his own claims, to frighten the Cardinals, and to prevent the election of a French Pope.

Even in the last week of July negotiations regarding the Papal election had begun among the Cardinals, and the Italian Cabinets had also been busy. The questions connected with the succession to the chair of St. Peter were, indeed, of a most important character. Was the new Pope to be an Italian, a Spaniard, or a Frenchman, a friend of the Orsini or of the Colonna party? Would he favour the French or the Aragonese dynasty in Naples? Would he attack the Turks? Would he be a man of peace or a man of war?

It would appear that the Italian Cardinals, mindful of the previous Conclave which had resulted in the election of a foreigner, on this occasion at once proposed one of their own number, against whom no party could raise any serious objection. This was Cardinal Capranica, in favour of whose election, as an ambassador expressly declares, Italian and non-Italian Cardinals, Orsini and Colonna, were unanimous.

The powerful Duke of Milan used his influence on behalf of Capranica. Writing on August 2nd to his ambassadors in Rome he says, "We wish you on this occasion to use all your zeal and all your skill, and leave nothing undone, of course, with due care for what is becoming, for the fulfilment of our desires. We exclude every other". On the following day Simonetta, the Duke's confidant, repeated the command, and pointed out that Capranica was not only the most worthy member of the Sacred College, but also the individual best fitted to carry out ecclesiastical reforms. The King of Naples also was induced to favour his election.

The explanation of this marvellous unanimity is to be found in the moral purity and the rare qualities of this great man.

Domenico Capranica was born in the Jubilee year of 1400, in the little town near Palestrina, which bore his name. Although of modest fortune, his family was intimate with that of the Colonna. Domenico, who from his earliest youth showed a great love of learning, went at fifteen years of age to the University of Padua to study civil and canon law. Here Nicholas of Cusa was his fellow-disciple, and together they sat at the feet of Cesarini. The relations between Capranica and his master were of the happiest and most friendly description, and became yet more intimate when they were both on the same day raised to the purple. Capranica pursued his legal studies in Bologna with extraordinary zeal. Sleep, of which he allowed himself but a scanty measure, often surprised him over his books. His attention to jurisprudence did not lead him to neglect polite literature, and even at this early period a brilliant future was predicted for the gifted youth, who outstripped all his companions, and was the favourite of his teachers. His modesty was such that he used to blush when an older person addressed a question to him. Never, during his student life, did he take part in any public merry-makings or banquets, and we cannot be surprised to learn that he received the doctor's cap when only one-and-twenty. Martin V was at this time living in Mantua, and was a friend of the Capranica family; Domenico accordingly at a very early age became a clerk of the Apostolic Chamber. In his new position he diligently continued his studies; St. Augustine, St. Jerome, Cassian, and Seneca are said to have been his favourite authors.

The more Pope Martin V saw of the young official, the more persuaded did he become of his remarkable learning and of his rare virtues. In consequence he raised him to the purple when only three and thirty, but deferred the publication of his promotion to a later period for fear of the jealousy which it might arouse.

After Capranica had admirably accomplished several difficult missions entrusted to him by the Pope, and had also distinguished himself as leader of the Papal troops, Martin V made him Governor of Perugia, where his justice, moderation, and disinterestedness won the affection of the people, and led them to look upon him as a father.

Martin V's last creation of Cardinals took place in the beginning of November, 1430, and on this occasion Ram, Prospero Colonna, Cesarini and Capranica were published. His friends received the tidings of his elevation with the greatest joy, and many of the Cardinals, including Albergati and the great Cesarini, congratulated him in the most cordial terms. “I pray the Giver of all good things”, wrote the latter, "daily to increase in you the virtues by which you have merited the purple. May God grant to us both that as we have received this dignity upon earth at the same time we may also together be partakers of the glory of heaven”.

Capranica purposed soon after his publication to go to Rome in order to express his gratitude to the Pope, and to receive his hat and ring. The unsettled state of Perugia, however, caused him to defer his journey, and in the interval Martin V died. After the death of his patron our Cardinal at once repaired thither with the view of taking part in the coming election. Anxious to avoid hurting the feelings of any member of the Sacred College, he halted at San Lorenzo fuori le mura, and sent three messengers to ask that he might be admitted to the Conclave. Meanwhile his enemies had been actively at work; his connection with the Colonna family and the circumstance that he had filled a position in the treasury were brought up in an invidious manner. No one, however, ventured to take any open measures against him. After a long delay he was informed that the existing state of affairs in Perugia made it seem most desirable that he should return there. Capranica perfectly Understood the design of his enemies, but not wishing to occasion any confusion in the Conclave he acceded to the desire of the Cardinals. Before his departure he caused ah act to be drawn up in which he complained of their delay, and declared that he would for the sake of peace yield to their wishes, but that he maintained his rights; against any attack on his position as Cardinal he appealed to the Council.

The election of Eugenius IV immediately took place. Capranica hastened to send messengers to congratulate the new Pope on his elevation, and respectfully to ask permission to appear with the red hat. But his enemies had already succeeded in completely prejudicing the mind of Eugenius against him. The Orsini, who bitterly hated the Colonna and their adherents, had been particularly active. They had caused Capranica's palace in Rome to be plundered, and his precious library had been dispersed. Soon after these tidings had reached him he heard that officers were on their way from Rome to arrest him. He therefore fled to the Convent of San Silvestro, on the Soracte, and waited there in hopes that the Pope would in time be better advised. These hopes were vain, as also were the efforts made by a few of the Cardinals on his behalf. A commission appointed by Eugenius gave judgment against him, and the dignity of Cardinal was denied him.

Under these circumstances Capranica determined to seek protection from the Council then sitting at Basle. He appealed to this assembly, and set out to present himself before it. In Siena he took into his service Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomini and Pietro da Noceto, who was afterwards the confidant of Nicholas V. After a difficult and dangerous journey they arrived at Basle in the spring of 1432. In the meantime Eugenius, further irritated by calumnious reports, had deprived him of the posts which he held, and had even confiscated his patrimony. The Cardinal was thus reduced to such poverty that he was compelled to dismiss his retainers, and amongst them Piccolomini and Noceto.

The Council, whose general esteem Capranica soon gained, pronounced in his favour. With admirable moderation, however, while claiming the purple as his right, he distinguished between persons and offices. During the whole of his sojourn at Basle he was never betrayed by his controversy with the Pope into any anti-Roman step, nor did he ever suffer a harsh word against Eugenius or the Court of Rome to pass his lips. When an opportunity offered of coming to an understanding with the Pope he gladly embraced it. When at last a satisfactory arrangement had been arrived at, he went to Florence and was cordially received by Eugenius (1435). His relations with the Pope soon assumed an intimate character, which was only for a short time disturbed by his courageous protest against the admission of Vitelleschi to the Sacred College. Important and honourable missions were entrusted to him, and he took part in the zealous Pontiffs monastic reforms, as well as in the negotiations for Union with the Greeks. He, together with Cesarini, induced the Pope to make Bessarion a Cardinal. The reconciliation of Germany with the Church, which was the last joy of Eugenius IV on earth, was a congenial task to his gentle and kindly nature, and his zeal and discretion largely contributed to it. The place which the Cardinal held in the estimation of the Romans is evident from the fact that on the death of Eugenius it was generally expected that he would be the next wearer of the tiara, although he was at the time only forty-seven years of age. The reasons which prevented his election on this occasion are unknown.

Capranica, or the Cardinal of Fermo, as he was styled from his Archiepiscopal See, was valued by the new Pope even more highly than he had been by Eugenius. He accompanied Nicholas V on his various journeys, and in the year 1449 was appointed by him to the important office of Grand Penitentiary, the duties of which he discharged in the most admirable manner. Various difficult legations were, as we have already said, confided to him, and while fulfilling these he also gave proof of his genuine devotion to the Church by promoting the cause of reform wherever it was possible to do so.

In the Conclave after the death of Nicholas V there seemed again a likelihood that Capranica would be chosen. During the Pontificate of Nicholas V he had already been actively interested in the Turkish question, and under Calixtus III he redoubled his efforts for the protection of Christendom. The plague, which raged in Rome in the year 1456, drove almost all the Cardinals away, but he remained with the Pope. He fearlessly traversed the infected streets, strewn with the unburied corpses of its victims, as he went to confer with Nicholas on the affairs of the Church. He displayed equal courage of another sort in personally and freely remonstrating with Calixtus when favours were heaped upon his unworthy relations. As we have already related, he steadfastly refused to acquiesce in Don Pedro's appointment as Duke of Spoleto. The enmity which he thus incurred induced him to withdraw more and more from public life, and he employed his time of retirement in pious exercises, as if foreseeing his approaching end.

In the last days of July, 1458, just at the time when negotiations regarding his election as Pope were going on, Capranica was attacked by a slight indisposition, which soon grew into a mortal sickness. His first care was to receive the Holy Sacraments, and to seek pardon from the Cardinals for any offence he might have given them.

Years before he had composed a little book, which we may really call a golden volume, on “the art of dying”, and all his thoughts were now directed entirely to eternity. He consoled the friends who stood mourning around his bed by reminding them that the death of those only is to be lamented who have never thought of dying until they saw that they could live no longer.

The ideal of what a Cardinal should be is certainly a very high one. Capranica may be said to have realized it. All his contemporaries are unanimous in testifying that this great man united learning and piety in an uncommon degree. His life was that of a Saint. His nightly repose was limited to four hours. Immediately on rising he recited the Hours, he then said or heard Mass, generally first going to Confession. Before granting audiences he devoted several hours to the study of the Fathers, among whom he had a special love for St. Jerome and St. Augustine. No women were allowed to enter his apartments, neither religious women nor his nearest relations — not even his sister and sister-in-law were excepted from this rule.

The Cardinal of Fermo had built himself a palace suitable to his dignity in the vicinity of Santa Maria in Aquiro in Rome, but luxury found no place within its walls. His manner of life was remarkable for its simplicity; his dinner consisted of one dish. He hated court ceremonies, and in intercourse with others he was simple, short, and precise. His ecclesiastical household was composed exclusively of men of worth; various nationalities found place in it. To those around him he was rather a careful father than a master. If he perceived a fault in one of his retainers he at once endeavoured to correct it. He could be vehement and severe in dealing with the vicious and idle, and was unsparing in his reproofs to prelates who forsook their churches and busied themselves at court. Capranica was sterner towards himself than towards others. It is told of him that never, even in joke, did he permit himself to utter a falsehood. He repeatedly asked his friends frankly to point out his faults to him. When his dead body was unclothed it was found that even in his last illness he had worn an instrument of penance. His liberality was so unbounded that he was often in pecuniary difficulties. He frequently disposed of silver vessels and gave the proceeds, in secret, to the poor, who were required to promise that they would never let anyone know of his bounty. He bequeathed all his property to ecclesiastical uses. “The Church” he would say, "gave it to me; I give it back, for I was not its master but its steward. I should, indeed, have reaped but little profit from the nights spent in studying ecclesiastical decisions if I were to leave the goods of the Church, which belong to the poor, to my own relations".  

In Rome and in the States of the Church, Capranica zealously strove to settle the numerous feuds which existed. If anyone would not be reconciled he used to take him into his room, and having bound him to secrecy, fall on his knees and implore him to make peace with his enemy.

He was a great lover of learning; his own attainments, especially in theology and in canon law, were considerable, and he counted among his friends both ecclesiastical and humanistic scholars. His valuable library was open to all students. He was also the founder of the first of the numerous colleges in Rome. In this institution, which still exists and bears his name, thirty-one poor scholars were to be received, of whom sixteen were to study theology and the liberal arts, and the remainder canon law. As his means were not sufficient to enable him to erect a building for this college, he received the students into his own palace. The constitutions, which he drew up himself, are in their way a model. Capranica was also an author. We have already spoken of his "Art of dying"; he also collected the Acts of the Council of Basle, wrote a work on the Turkish war, dedicated to Calixtus III, and for his nephews a set of Rules of Life, in which his beautiful character is reflected.

When in the second week of August the physicians declared Capranica to be out of danger, the joy with which the announcement was received by all friends of learning and all well-disposed persons may be imagined. But a violent attack of fever came on in the night between the the 13th and 14th, and by the afternoon of the latter day he was dead. A short time before he breathed his last he received the Holy Sacraments with such recollection and piety that he seemed to those who stood by like an angel from Paradise. The last words which the dying man addressed to his friends were to beg the alms of their prayers, and to exhort them to continue to labour indefatigably for the welfare of the Church which he had loved so ardently in life.

"Two hours before his death," writes Otto de Carretto, the Duke of Milan's ambassador, "the Cardinal gave me his hand and said, 'God be with you; it grieves me to the heart that I have not been able before my departure to show to your lord and yourself the gratitude you deserve from me; but God will repay you'. I," continues the ambassador, "had no power to answer him. And so, my illustrious Duke, the wisest, the most perfect, the most learned and the holiest prelate whom the Church in our days has possessed is gone from us. His whole life was devoted to the exaltation of the Roman Church. He was the pillar of Italian peace and a mirror of piety and all sanctity. We all confidently expected soon to be able to honour him as Pope, for parties in general were agreed regarding his elevation. And now we must sorrowfully assist at his obsequies. Such is the world! So is every hope disappointed!" With these words, written an hour after Capranica's death, the ambassador closes the despatch from whose faded lines the warm heart of the writer still speaks to our souls.

The remains of the great man found a fitting resting-place near the grave of St. Catherine of Siena in Santa Maria sopra Minerva. He was lamented by all. "Nothing but mourning and sighing is heard” wrote the ambassador of the Marquess Lodovico de Gonzaga on the 19th August, in reference to this calamity.

The Romans had, indeed, good cause for grief. Of all the cardinals of the Renaissance Age none but Albergati, Cesarini, and Carvajal can compare with Capranica. His sudden death was, in the existing state of affairs, the heaviest imaginable loss to the Church.

Two days later the Conclave began, and from it issued, as Pope, a cardinal distinguished alike as a statesman and an author, who had once been secretary to the Cardinal of Fermo.