CRISTO RAUL.ORG |
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READING HALLTHE DOORS OF WISDOM |
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HISTORY OF THE POPES FROM THE CLOSE OF THE MIDDLE AGES |
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SIXTUS IV.A.D 1471-1484.
1.
CHAPTER I.
SIXTUS IV
The death of Paul II had occurred at a most critical
moment. Steadily, like an advancing flood, the Turks streamed on to overwhelm
the distracted West. It was not Italy alone which now found all barriers swept
away between her coasts and the enemy. The defenceless frontiers of the Holy
Roman Empire were overrun by these barbarian hordes, carrying rapine, murder,
and devastation in their train as they pressed through Croatia into Styria. The
terrible tidings of the destruction which threatened Italy and Germany alike,
were well calculated to startle the most slothful from their slumber.
Nevertheless, at the Diet which met at Ratisbon, under the influence of the
Turkish panic, next to nothing was accomplished; the Papal Legate, Piccolomini,
preached to deaf ears. Italy, like Germany, was rent by internal dissensions :
no one seemed to realise the serious character of the times. As wave follows
wave upon a storm-swept sea, so one political combination was perpetually giving
way to another in a restless, aimless succession. This everlasting change of
relations, this possibility of being at once mutually friendly and hostile; the
impossibility of having any clear certainty of the position, at any given
moment, of any State towards its neighbour, became more and more the
characteristic of Italian political life.
During the vacancy of the Holy See in 1471, the
Province of Romagna, always more or less unquiet, gave special cause for
anxiety. Considerable excitement also prevailed in Rome. Immediately after the
death of Paul II, the Secular Canons of the Lateran had, with the assistance of
their Roman friends, driven out the Regular Canons introduced by the deceased
Pontiff. On the 28th July a deputation from the people of Rome appeared in
front of the Minerva, where the Cardinals had assembled, demanding, amongst
other things, that, for the future, benefices in Rome should be conferred on
none but Romans, and that the income destined for the Roman University should
no longer be diverted to other objects. The Cardinals answered in a
conciliatory manner, whereupon an order was issued that all should lay down
their weapons, and that the outlaws should leave Rome. This did much to soothe
the popular feeling. Other concessions were also made to the Romans. On the
morning of the 29th, forty prisoners, confined in the Capitol for minor
offences, were set at liberty. The Cardinals released two citizens of Ascoli
and a Baron suspected of heresy, who were imprisoned in the dungeons of St. Angelo,
on condition that they should not depart from Rome before the Coronation of the
new Pontiff.
The City continued tolerably quiet during the ensuing
days. Sixteen Cardinals were in Rome when Paul II died. Of those who were
absent, none but Roverella and Gonzaga were able to reach the City in time for
the Election. Roverella, Legate of Perugia, arrived on the 1st, and Gonzaga on
the 4th August. Many persons expected that the latter would be Pope, others
thought the election of Cardinal Forteguerri more probable. A Milanese
Ambassador insists on the importance of the Turkish question in regard to the
Election; he mentions the persons apparently best fitted to bring about its
solution, in connection with the two parties, the Puschi and Pauleschi, already
existing in the Sacred College. Of the former, he names in the first place,
Forteguerri, then Eroli, Ammanati, and Roverella. Among the Pauleschi he looks
upon Amicus Agnifilus and Francesco della Rovere as the most likely candidates.
The preponderance of the Italian element on this
occasion was very remarkable. Of the eighteen electors, all but three
(Bessarion, d'Estouteville, and Borgia) were Italians. The thirteen years which
had elapsed since the Conclave Pius II had brought great changes, and the ascendancy
of the foreign Cardinals was at an end. Foremost among the aspirants to the
Tiara were Cardinals d'Estouteville and Orsini. The former eagerly endeavoured
to secure the support of the powerful Duke of Milan. A confidential person was
employed to inform him that his brother, Ascanio Sforza, would receive the red
hat, and that he himself might be the wearer of a royal crown in the event of
d'Estouteville's success. The wealthy Cardinal Orsini, a man of great capacity
for business, was equally energetic in his efforts to obtain the supreme dignity.
His brothers and relations had assembled in the neighbourhood of Rome, and it
was reported that the former had determined to procure his elevation to the
Papal Throne, whether by fair means or foul, and that the King of Naples
favoured their design. The Ambassador of Mantua confirms this statement, and
adds that Orsini, if his own cause seemed hopeless, would espouse that of
Forteguerri and Eroli. Even before the beginning of the Conclave, serious
differences occurred between Cardinals Orsini and Bessarion; the latter
declared that he would not, under any circumstances, suffer the Election to be
carried out in the same way as the last had been. Controversies also arose
regarding the admission of Cardinals Savelli and Foscari, who had not yet been
published. Orsini desired their exclusion, and his opinion prevailed.
On the morning of the 6th August, after the solemn
obsequies of Paul II had been concluded, the Mass of the Holy Ghost was sung,
and the College of Cardinals went in procession into the Conclave in the
Vatican. There were seventeen present, and on the following day Cardinal
Ammanati, who had been delayed by indisposition, was added to the number.
On the morning of the 9th August, Francesco della Rovere,
Cardinal of S. Pietro in Vincoli, was elected Pope. As the Conclave had
commenced on the feast of Pope Sixtus II, the new Pontiff assumed the name of
Sixtus IV.
A number of fresh documents regarding the proceedings
of the Conclave are now before us; they do much to complete the scanty details
hitherto known, but leave some important matters still obscure. By far the most
valuable of these are in the State Archives at Milan. They consist of two lists
of the Electors, with an exact account, on the one hand, of which candidate
each Cardinal voted for, and on the other of the number of votes received by
each, with the names of the voters.
The faithful and capable Nicodemus de Pontremoli managed
to procure these lists for the Duke, his master, who had expressed a great
desire for trustworthy Reports of the Conclave. The Ambassador himself was far
from over-estimating their value, and, in order at the present day to
appreciate them fairly, it is necessary to bear his observations in mind. After
dwelling on the difficulty of obtaining these lists, he draws attention to the
fact that most of the Cardinals in the Conclave voted for those whose votes
they hoped by this means to win, and not for those whose Election they really
desired; some few, he adds, reserved their votes to conceal secret engagements.
According to these lists, which, unfortunately, do not enable us clearly to
distinguish the several scrutinies, Roverella and Calandrini were at first
seriously thought of in the Conclave, each of them receiving seven votes;
Bessarion and Forteguerri followed next, each with six; d'Estouteville had only
four in all, and Orsini but two. The same authority informs us that Cardinals
Giovanni Michele, Teodoro of Montferrat, Battista Zeno, Roverella, Forteguerri,
Agnifilus, Bessarion, Calandrini, and Orsini gave their votes for Francesco della
Rovere; Borgia, d'Estouteville, and Barbo afterwards adding theirs.
The omission of the name of Cardinal Gonzaga from
among the supporters of Rovere in the report of Nicodemus is very strange, for
all the other accounts are unanimous in asserting that his Election was chiefly
due to Orsini, Borgia, and Gonzaga, and that they were liberally rewarded for
their share in securing it. Ample testimony exists in proof of the part taken by
Cardinal Gonzaga. A Despatch from the Ambassador of Mantua to his mother details
the reasons which had induced him to espouse the cause of Rovere. In the first
place, there was the hope of winning the favour of the future Pope; secondly,
Rovere was a person acceptable to the Duke of Milan; and thirdly,
d'Estouteville had no prospect of success. Accordingly, says the Ambassador,
our most gracious Lord Cardinal has taken the greatest trouble on behalf of
Cardinal della Rovere, so that it may be said that he, more than any one, has
made him Pope. His Holiness has shown his gratitude by confirming him in his
appointment as Legate, and authorising him, if he chooses, to perform his
duties by proxy. Moreover, the Abbey of S. Gregorio in Rome has been conferred
on the Cardinal, and I believe that he will also have the Bishopric of Albano.
The Ambassador then expressly says that the tenth vote for Rovere was given by
Cardinal Gonzaga, the eleventh by Barbo, and the twelfth by d'Estouteville. The
Duke of Milan's share in securing the election of Sixtus IV is confirmed by so
many other authorities that we may look upon it as clearly established.
No mention, however, is made in the Ambassadorial
Despatches of the part which, according to two chroniclers, the Franciscan
Pietro Riario had in the election. Cardinal della Rovere brought him into the
Conclave, where he was very useful to his patron in winning for him many
undecided votes. The Election Capitulation, to observe which Sixtus IV was
obliged solemnly to bind himself, is also only alluded to in these Despatches.
The election of Cardinal Francesco della Rovere caused
great joy throughout Rome, especially, Nicodemus informs us, because the
well-known piety and holiness of his life led all to hope that he would be an excellent
Pastor for the Church and for the Christian Faith everywhere. Francesco, like
Nicholas V, owed his elevation to the purple to his reputation as a learned
theologian and a man of blameless life. He belonged to an ancient, but
impoverished, Ligurian family, and was related to the Piedmontese Rovere, Lords
of Vinovo. His father, Leonardo, lived in modest circumstances in the little
village of Abezzola, not far from Savona. To escape from an infectious disease
which broke out there, he and his wife, Luchina Monleone, migrated to Celle on
the sea-coast, and here Francesco was born.
In consequence of his repeated sicknesses, Francesco's
pious mother consecrated him by vow to St. Francis; and, in spite of the
opposition of some worldly-minded relations, entrusted him, when nine years of
age, to the care of the Minorite, Giovanni Pinarolo. Under the guidance of this
excellent religious, the gifted boy learned to know and esteem the monastic
life to which he was destined to devote himself. Later, he went to the High School
of Chieri, and finally to the Universities of Pavia and Bologna, where he
studied philosophy and theology. His talent for dialectics was displayed for
the first time in the General Chapter of his Order held at Genoa when he was
only twenty. On that occasion he acquitted himself so well in the Latin
disputation, that the General, Guglielmo Casale, embraced him. After he had
completed his philosophical and theological studies at Padua he undertook the
duties of Professor, and taught with great success at Padua, Bologna, Pavia,
Siena, Florence, and Perugia. The attendance at his lectures was so great that
Johannes Argvropulos and Bonfrancesco Arlati subsequently declared that every
learned man in Italy had been a disciple of Rovere’s. Cardinal Bessarion is
expressly mentioned as having been among his hearers, and ever after having
held him in the greatest esteem. So much was this the case, that from that time
he would not publish any of his works until the great Franciscan philosopher
and theologian had revised and corrected them.
Francesco was also a distinguished preacher, and was,
on many important occasions, a support to the General of his Order. He was
afterwards called to fill the post of Procurator in Rome. When the General,
Jacopo de Sarzuela, felt the burden of office too heavy for his advanced age,
he chose Francesco as his Vicar for the whole of Italy, and made him Provincial
of the Ligurian Province of the Order, where he was very successful in carrying
out measures of monastic reform.
He won yet greater renown by the part which he took in
the disputation regarding the Precious Blood, held in December, 1462, in the
Vatican before Pius II. The learning and controversial ability which he then
manifested doubtless had a share in bringing about his Election to the
Generalate, at the great Chapter of the Franciscans held at Perugia in May,
1464. He at once determined vigorously to undertake the reform of his Order. A
violent fever laid him low for a time, but did not hinder the accomplishment of
his purpose. The skill and care of Ambrosius Grifus brought him safely through,
and he hardly gave himself time to recover before beginning the work of
visitation and reformation in the Franciscan Convents and the educational
establishments connected with them.
Francesco so ably defended the privileges of the
Institute over which he presided that Pope Paul II abstained from the measures
he had intended to take against the whole Order. A General Chapter was
consequently held at Florence in 1467. In the summer, the General went to his
home to recruit his health, which had been impaired by his sojourn in Rome; he
then visited Pavia, and meant to proceed thence to Venice, and there to give theological
lectures during the winter. He was ready to start on the journey, when, at the
end of September, a letter from Cardinal Gonzaga, accompanied by another from
Bessarion, informed him that he had been created Cardinal on the 1 8th
September, 1467, by Paul II.
On the 15th November, 1467, the new member of the Sacred
College reached Rome, where he received the red hat, and had S. Pietro in
Vincoli assigned to him as his titular Church. The condition of the Cardinal's
Palace adjoining this venerable Basilica was so dilapidated that Francesco was
at once obliged to restore it, a work which his poverty would have rendered
impossible, had it not been for the assistance of his colleagues. In the
purple, the Cardinal of S. Pietro in Vincoli, as he was styled, continued to be
a simple Franciscan; in his house, which overlooked a great part of the ancient
and of the modern City, questions of scholarship and ecclesiastical affairs
were discussed, but no politics. Whatever leisure his new dignity allowed him
was devoted to learned pursuits, and, during the four years of his Cardinalate,
he published a number of works which brought him more and more into notice.
In the first place the Cardinal again took up the
disputed question regarding the Precious Blood; his work on the subject,
dedicated to Paul II, was printed in Rome in 1470, together with a treatise On the power of God. A philosophical and
theological dispute in the University of Louvain was the occasion of a writing
entitled De futuris contingentibus. A
work on the Immaculate Conception bears witness to that devotion to the Blessed
Virgin which continued unabated after his elevation to the Papal throne. With a
view of composing the frequent disputes between the Dominicans and the brethren
of his own Order, in which the one party appealed to Duns Scotus and the other
to St. Thomas Aquinas, he endeavoured to show that the two authorities,
although differing in words, were really of one mind. In the midst of these
labours the voice of his colleagues summoned him, at the age of fifty-seven, to
fill the Chair of St. Peter.
A portrait from the hand of his Court-painter, Melozzo
da Forli, which is still preserved, represents the new Pope as a man of middle
stature and strong, compact frame. The features are regular, the nose and
forehead forming an oblique line, with a gentle curve between them. The
powerful head impresses us with an idea of uncommon energy and force, which
difficulties could not daunt; while the lines on the brow bear witness to a
life of hard and unremitting toil.
Sixtus IV commenced his reign by conferring favours on
the Cardinals, and in this proceeding formed such a contrast to his predecessor,
that, as an Ambassador wrote, every one felt as if they were in a new world. In
the first place, those who had brought about his Election were rewarded.
Cardinal Borgia received the Abbey of Subiaco in commendam, and Gonzaga
that of S. Gregorio, while Orsini was made Camerlengo, and as such took the
oath as early as the 12th August. The position of Legate to the Marches was
promised to Cardinal Forteguerri, but report said that he declined it,
preferring to remain at the Court; it was accordingly conferred on Roverella,
and Ammanati was sent to Perugia.
On the 13th August the Pope gave a banquet to the
Cardinals at St. Angelo. After its conclusion, the money and valuables collected
by Paul II were inspected. Great interest was at this time felt regarding these
treasures, which had hitherto been so carefully preserved, and, in conformity
with the Election Capitulation, were to be expended on the cause of the Faith.
The Pope and the Cardinals were occupied for the whole day in examining these
precious stores. One of the Cardinals told the Duke of Milan's Ambassador that
they had found, in the first place, fifty-four silver shells, filled with
pearls, valued at 300,000 ducats. These were sealed up by all the Cardinals,
and were to be sold to defray the expenses of the war with the Turks. Next were
seen the jewels and the gold belonging to the two tiaras which Paul II meant to
have had rearranged, worth about 300,000 ducats. A magnificent diamond,
estimated at 7000 ducats, was pledged to Cardinal d'Estouteville for monies
which he had advanced to the deceased Pontiff. The amount of gold, silver,
jewels, precious objects, and other ornaments filled them with astonishment,
and their value was deemed to be a million ducats. “But”, the Ambassador adds, “the
worth of these things depends on the opinion of those who will buy them”. The
money found amounted only to 7000 ducats, and was chiefly in the form of carlini. Deposits of 100,000, 60,000, 80,000,
and 30,000 ducats were entered in a note laid up in a chest. The place where
these sums were concealed could not at first be discovered; but their actual
existence was certified by the fact that Paul II, in a Consistory held not long
before his death, had spoken of half a million of ducats which he would expend
on the war if the Christian Princes would undertake an expedition against the
enemies of the Faith. All these treasures, which the new Pope had sworn not to
touch, were sealed up by the Cardinals, and placed in the custody of the
Castellan of St. Angelo.
After Sixtus IV had been consecrated Bishop, his
solemn Coronation took place on Sunday, the 25th of August. The tribune where
the Pope received the tiara of St. Gregory the Great from the hands of Cardinal
Borgia was so lofty that all the people could witness the ceremony. According
to ancient custom, he then proceeded to take possession of the Lateran. In the
splendid procession were to be seen the Despot of the Morea and Skanderbeg’s
nephew. A tumult occurred in front of the Lateran; the Pope himself was in
danger, and Cardinal Orsini had much difficulty in appeasing the excited
populace. The impression made on Sixtus IV by this untoward event was such that
he returned to the Vatican at the first hour of the night.
The letters by which the Pope made his elevation known
to the temporal powers are dated on the day of his Coronation; in these he begs
for the support of fervent prayers that he may rule the Church to the praise
and glory of God, and the salvation of the people committed to his care.
When the tiara first rested on the brow of Sixtus IV
the figure of Nicholas V, amongst his immediate predecessors, must have
presented itself most vividly to his mind, for he also was a native of Liguria,
and like Sixtus himself, but unlike Pius II and Paul II, had risen from a
modest position. Again, he was by nature a scholar, and only after his
elevation had developed the princely magnificence whose traces were visible
wherever ruined Rome bore the aspect of a new city. That the new Pontiff should
resolve to follow in his steps, and with the good fortune of the Rovere, to
carry out the work begun by his energetic countryman, was but natural. But he
had not the clear start from the first that Nicholas had. Nicholas V had been
freely elected, his actions were untrammelled. Sixtus, in order to be elected,
had permitted himself to be bound, and the conditions of the Papal power also
had undergone a complete change in the interval.
In Italy itself the Apostolic See had no trustworthy
friends. Sigismondo de' Conti tells us that the excessive obstinacy of Paul II
had almost everywhere provoked distrust and hatred. The jealous fears of
Italian politicians in presence of the increasing power of the States of the Church
may have exercised a yet more potent influence. Sixtus IV at once sought to
establish friendly relations on all sides. Under Paul II the disputes with
Naples and Venice seemed to be interminable. Sixtus IV at once came to an
understanding with these two powers, although at the cost of considerable
sacrifice on his own part. Without any great trouble Ferrante obtained the
satisfaction of seeing the rich Abbey of Monte Casino conferred upon his
youthful son, while the Protonotary Rocha was made Archbishop of Salerno.
“This Pope evidently intends to be on good terms with
every one”, wrote the Marquess of Mantua’s Ambassador, briefly describing the
beginning of Sixtus IV’s pontificate.
Before he had an idea of being Pope, or even Cardinal,
Sixtus IV had had amicable relations with the Duke of Milan, and this in a measure
explains the warm interest taken by Galeazzo Maria Sforza in promoting the
election. After it had been carried, he was one of the first to congratulate
the new Pope. Sixtus IV replied at once on the 16th of August by an autograph
letter of the most flattering character. He began by recalling their former
relations, praised the Duke's piety and devotion to the Holy See, of which he
had given proof in the Romagna during the vacancy of the Chair of St. Peter,
and finally assured him that his pontificate should bring the Duke nothing but
happiness and blessing.
The bond between the new Pope and the Florentines was
even closer. He looked upon the Medici, the patrons and friends of the modest
Thomas of Sarzano, as his natural allies. This was made very apparent when the
Florentine Embassy, headed by Lorenzo de' Medici, arrived in Rome to pay homage
on behalf of the Republic. Its reception was most cordial and honourable. Two
antique marble busts were presented to Lorenzo, and he was allowed to acquire
gems and cameos from the collection of Paul II at a very moderate price. The
Pope's confidence and good-will were also manifested in other very substantial
ways. The financial affairs of the Papacy were confided to the Roman Bank of
the Medici, by which arrangement a rich source of wealth was opened to Lorenzo
and to his uncle Giovanni Tornabuoni. Further concessions in regard to the alum
works were granted to him. Emboldened by so many favours, the practical-minded
Medici at last took courage to remark that he had but one desire unfulfilled,
and that was to see a member of his family admitted into the Sacred College. To
this request Sixtus IV also lent a favourable ear, for he was unwilling to refuse
Lorenzo anything. The latter soon left the Eternal City, laden with all
possible tokens of the Pope's good-will, which was soon to be repaid with
ingratitude.
For a time indeed Filippo de' Medici, Archbishop of
Pisa, endeavoured to maintain good feeling between Florence and Rome. “The Pope
has shown me such honour”, he wrote on the 15th November, 1471, from Rome to
Lorenzo de' Medici, “that a hundred tongues would fail me to express it. He
told me to rest assured that I might dispose of Sixtus IV as I would. Had you
not yourself been here I would write yet more particularly regarding His
Holiness' affection for our house, but as you know it, I think it unnecessary”.
On the 28th November the Venetian Envoys appeared in
Rome. One of them, Bernardo Giustiniani, made an elaborate speech in the Pope’s
presence, the principal subject of which was the unspeakably deplorable
condition of the East. It was not indeed necessary to remind Sixtus IV of this,
for he had already turned his attention to the terrible danger with which the
steady advance of Islam threatened Christian civilisation. He aimed at the
formation of a league of the European powers, to be directed exclusively
against the Turks. A great Congress was to carry the idea into effect. During the
days which immediately followed his Election, it was rumoured that, in accordance
with the Capitulation, the Pope intended as soon as possible to convene such an
Assembly. Cardinal Gonzaga at the same time endeavoured to have his paternal
city chosen as the place of meeting, and his proposal was favourably received,
although Cardinal Orsini exerted himself on behalf of Florence. Piacenza and
Pavia were also spoken of. On the 30th of August the matter was discussed in
Consistory. Bessarion and others among the older Cardinals sought to deter the
Pope from leaving Rome, and to induce him to hold the Congress in the Lateran;
others again preferred Mantua or Pisa. No definite decision was yet arrived at.
A letter was now received from the Emperor, who asked that Udine might be
selected, but the Duke of Milan and other Italian Princes declared against this
city. Sixtus IV accordingly proposed, first Mantua and then Ancona, but all in
vain; the Princes neither understood nor sympathised with the aims of the Holy
See, and all proposals were wrecked on the rocks of their indifference and private
interests.
Sixtus IV was not as much distressed by this failure
as he otherwise might have been, because at this moment a dangerous enemy was
threatening Turkey in the rear. The Turcoman Prince, Usunhassan, with the hope
of completely supplanting the Sultan, seemed disposed to make common cause with
European Christendom. At the time of Sixtus IV's accession the conflict between
Mahomet and Usunhassan in Caramania appeared to be tending to a great
catastrophe, while the relations between Mocenigo, the Doge of Venice, and
Usunhassan were such that they seemed only to need to be drawn a little closer
to make the position of the Turks absolutely hopeless. The Turkish question might
thus be said to have become a matter of worldwide importance, and accordingly
the Pope inaugurated his action in it with a certain magnificence.
On the 23rd December a Secret Consistory was held, and
five Cardinals were appointed Legates ad
latere, with the object, as the Consistorial Acts declare, of calling upon
the whole Christian world to defend the Catholic Faith against the Turk, the
enemy of the name of Jesus. Bessarion was sent to France, Burgundy, and
England; Borgia to Spain, Angelo Capranica to Italy, and Marco Barbo to
Germany, Hungary, and Poland, while Oliviero Carafa was to command the naval
forces which were to be assembled with the assistance of the King of Naples.
A few days later the Pope issued a solemn Bull, in
which he described the Turkish preparations for the conquest of Christendom,
and called on the powers to take common measures of defence. The aged Bessarion
was certainly the most worthy of all the Legates. Although he feared that the
burden would be beyond his strength, yet in the hope of being able, at least,
to effect something, he had resolved to accept it. On the 20th April, 1472, he
left Rome, but instead of directly proceeding to France, he remained some time
longer in Italy. According to Ammanati, he lingered from dread of undertaking the
arduous task; other accounts attribute his delay to the fact that Louis XI kept
him waiting a long time for a letter of safe conduct. When once he had received
it, he travelled as rapidly as his infirm health permitted. On the 15th August
he wrote from Saumur to the French King, exhorting him to peace, and, on the same
day, he also sent letters to the Dukes ot Brittany and Burgundy.
Shortly before this time an understanding had been
arrived at, by direct negotiations with Rome, in regard to the abnormal
condition of ecclesiastical affairs in France, but this agreement met with
violent opposition in some quarters. There can be no doubt that the Greek
Cardinal touched on these matters in his interviews with the King. He also
tried to obtain the release of La Balue, but his efforts proved unsuccessful,
as did also those which he made to reconcile the French Monarch with Charles
the Bold of Burgundy, and to win him for the Crusade. Sick and disheartened, he
started on his homeward journey. When he reached Ravenna, his illness assumed a
dangerous character, fever came on and soon consumed the little strength which
yet remained to him, and on the 18th November, 1472, he died. His mortal
remains were borne to Rome, where they arrived on the 3rd December, and were
deposited in the Church of the Holy Apostles Sixtus IV was present at the obsequies.
Cardinal Borgia, who had been appointed Legate for the
whole of Spain and the neighbouring islands, was not more successful in
advancing the cause of the Crusade. On the 15th May, 1472, he went to Ostia,
there to embark for his native land. His task was no easy one, for the
Peninsula was at this time in a state of great agitation and disorder. Ammanati
speaks most unfavourably of Borgia’s proceedings in Spain. He says that he
showed himself everywhere vain, luxurious, ambitious, and greedy. Yet, in a
letter which is still extant, this same Ammanati writes to Borgia in the most
flattering terms, and praises the way in which he had carried out his Spanish mission.
Such a writer has no claim to our credit. It is. however, extremely probable
that Borgia considered a Cardinal Legate as a very important person, and acted
accordingly; in fact, treated his countrymen to a considerable amount of
Spanish pride. A recent historian, by no means prejudiced in Borgia's favour,
speaks of the discharge of his diplomatic duties in terms which form a complete
contrast to Ammanati’s account. “The Legate”, he says, “had, as far as lay in
his power, fulfilled his mission to Spain. It was time for him to return to
Rome, and render an account to the Pope of the state of things which he had found
on his arrival, of that which prevailed during his sojourn in the country, and
of the result of his efforts. Matters had certainly improved in Aragon; in Castille
the situation depended on factors which were entirely beyond the sphere of a
Legate's authority, and which were working themselves out independently of him.
His task was fulfilled when he had done what he could in helping to direct
affairs along the only path which could lead to peace and quiet”.
On the 11th September, 1473, Cardinal Borgia made his
will, and began his return journey. Off the coast of Pisa he encountered a
fearful storm; one of his galleys sank before his eyes, and the ship in which
he himself sailed almost met the same fate. More than 200 of his suite were
drowned, and amongst them three Bishops; the loss of property was estimated at
30,000 florins, and was aggravated by the depredations of wreckers on the
coast.
There can be no doubt that the task entrusted to
Cardinal Barbo was undoubtedly the most difficult of all, while at the same
time the most important, for, with regard to the Turkish war, nothing was more
indispensable than the aid of Hungary, Poland, and Bohemia, and these were
involved in almost hopeless discord. Barbo’s zeal is evidenced by the fact that
he left Rome on the 21st February, 1472, his instructions directing him to
proceed in the first place to the Emperor. Until the autumn of 1474, the Cardinal
Legate’s labours in Germany, Poland, and Bohemia were unremitting. Even those
who judge him most severely, highly praise his persevering efforts for the
restoration of peace; success, however, was not granted him. The internal
dissensions of the European nations had reached such a pitch that it was beyond
the power of any individual to allay them. Frederick III, who, from the point
of view of that day, was the natural leader, was extremely slow in his
decisions, especially in cases where a pecuniary sacrifice was in question.
Unbounded egotism prevailed among laity and clergy; their attitude towards the
great danger in the East was one of almost absolute indifference.
Sixtus IV, however, did not permit the indifference of
the great European powers to damp his zeal in regard to the war. During the
earlier months of 1472 he was engaged in negotiations for the restoration of
peace in Italy, and particularly in the equipment of galleys. Repeated letters
were addressed to all the Faithful, urging them to contribute towards these
warlike preparations; and at the same time the Pope made repeated efforts to
awaken the interest of individual Princes in the cause.
Sixtus IV was all the more dependent on extraneous
contributions for the naval preparations on account of the deplorable state in
which he found the Papal finances at his accession. The general belief that
Paul II had left large sums of money had soon proved to be a delusion. Treasure
and jewels were not wanting, but of actual coin there was not more than 7000,
or, according to other accounts, 5000 florins. The Cardinal-Camerlengo put the
officials of the Treasury in prison, but nothing could be extracted from them.
Creditors of previous Popes took the opportunity of coming forward and
demanding payment. Sixtus IV had to sell many of the gems and works of art,
handed down by his predecessors, to satisfy them. Some few of the Cardinals,
amongst them d'Estouteville, now presented old claims.
Notwithstanding these difficulties, the arming of the
fleet proceeded. The account-books show that in 1471-72 144,000 golden ducats
in all were devoted by Sixtus IV. to this object. A treaty was entered into
with Venice and Naples, in accordance with which both these States equipped a
fleet for the war. The Pope himself furnished twenty-four galleys and 4700
soldiers, who embarked at once on the Adriatic. Four ships came up the Tiber
for Cardinal Carafa. On the Feast of Corpus Christi, the 28th May, 1472, he
sang a solemn High Mass at St. Peter's, in presence of the Pope and the whole Court.
Sixtus IV then blessed the banners for the fleet, which were presented to him
on his throne by the Ambassadors. In the afternoon, a new and unwonted
spectacle was witnessed; the Pope on horseback, accompanied by all the
Cardinals, went in procession from the Vatican to the ships, which lay at
anchor in the Tiber below S. Paolo. Sixtus went on board the Legate's galley,
and, from a platform at the stern, blessed the ships, the commanders with their
followers, and the crews. He then bestowed a farewell embrace upon his
lieutenant, and left him in the ship, himself returning to the Vatican as the
sun was declining.
The Cardinal-Admiral Carafa is described as a man “of
resolute character and full of good-will”. He went by way of Naples, where he
was most honourably received, to Rhodes. Having appeased some internal dissensions
among the Knights of St. John, he joined the Neapolitan and Venetian ships. The
whole fleet now numbered eighty-seven galleys, to which were added two from
Rhodes. In a Council of War, it was determined that an attack should, in the
first instance, be made on the port of Satalia on the coast of Caramania. The
southern coast of Asia Minor was selected, on account of the alliance which
existed between the Caramanian Princes and Usunhassan, who was also on very
friendly terms with the Venetians, and with the Pope. Another reason for commencing
operations here was the opportunity it afforded for showing the strength of the
Crusaders' fleet to their Asiatic allies. The chains which defended the harbour
of Satalia were burst, and serious injury was inflicted on the Turks by the
destruction of its rich warehouses and suburbs, but the city proper, with its
strong fortifications, successfully resisted the attack. Jealousies between
Naples and Venice soon reached such a point that the Neapolitan fleet returned
home, yet it was resolved that the war should be carried on. The wealthy city
of Smyrna was taken by surprise. Carafa wished to preserve it as an important
basis of operations, but the Venetians were of a different opinion, and it was
given up to plunder, and then set on fire. This dispute broke up the friendly
relations which had existed between the Papal forces and their Venetian allies,
and, when winter began, the fleet of the Republic retired to the harbours of
Modone and Napoli di Romania, while Carafa returned to Italy. On the 23rd January,
1473, he made his entrance into Rome, bringing with him a number of Turkish
prisoners on camels. The Cardinal hung up portions of the broken harbour-chain
of Satalia on the door of St. Peter’s; these trophies are now placed over the
entrance which leads to the Archives of the Basilica.
Carafa’s successor as Legate, Lorenzo Zane, Archbishop
of Spalatro, and a Venetian by birth, sailed with ten galleys for the East at
the end of April, 1473; he was not able to do anything, and Usunhassan’s defeat
at Terdschan (26th July, 1473) gave a decided advantage to the Turks. Moreover,
the Venetian Commander, Mocenigo, held aloof from the Papal Legate, fearing
that the latter would frustrate his designs on Cyprus.
Hopes had been entertained that the marriage of Princess
Zoe, niece of the last Byzantine Emperor, with the Russian Grand Duke, Ivan
III., would enlist a new champion for the Crusade, and bring about the reunion
of the Russian with the Roman Church. These hopes were doomed to
disappointment. On the 25th May, 1472, Sixtus IV. had received the Russian
Ambassadors in Secret Consistory, and, on the 1st June, Zoe, who was
acknowledged by her contemporaries to be the legitimate heiress to the
Byzantine throne, was married by proxy to the Grand Duke. What took place on
this occasion, in regard to the question of religion, is not clear, but Rome
was probably deceived by fair promises. The Pope gave the Princess rich presents
and the sum of 6000 ducats, provided for her a suitable escort, and sent
letters of recommendation to the different States through which she was to pass
on her journey to the North.
The Greek Princess left Rome on the 24th June, 1472;
everywhere, both in Italy and in Germany, the Pope's letters procured for her a
brilliant reception. His kindness was but ill repaid, for, from the moment she
set foot on Russian soil, she showed herself a schismatic. On her entry into
Moscow (12th November), the Papal Legate who accompanied her was only admitted
into the city in incognito, for it was feared that his public appearance
with his cross would imply an acknowledgment of the Pope's Supremacy. The new
Grand Duchess completely conformed to the Orthodox Church.
Four years later, we again hear of negotiations
between Sixtus IV. and the Russian Grand Duke, who was then seeking to obtain
the Crown. Poland at the time dreaded the consequences of their success, and
worked against the Union which it had supported at Kiev. Michael Drucki, the
Metropolitan of that place, had, with the consent of his clergy, sent an
Embassy with a letter to the Pope, expressly acknowledging his Primacy; and his
successor, Simeon, is said to have been in favour of Union.
CHAPTER II.
Rapid
Elevation of the Members of the Families of La Rovere and Riario.—The Cardinal of San Sisto.
The admirable energy with which, in the earlier years of his pontificate, Sixtus IV devoted himself to the
defense of Christendom, is, in great measure, clouded by the extravagance with which, from the moment of his accession, he heaped favours upon his numerous, and, in many instances, unworthy relations.
Foremost among his kindred appear the sons of his brother Raffaello, Giuliano, Bartolomeo, and Giovanni della Rovere, of whom the first two embraced the ecclesiastical state, while Giovanni remained in the world, and, under Federigo of Montefeltre, studied the art of war. Lionardo, who afterwards became City Prefect, was the son of Bartolomeo della Rovere, another brother of the Pope’s.
Three sisters of the Pope had respectively married into the families of Riario, Basso, and Giuppo; and from these marriages sprang a number of descendants, “over all of whom the oak spread its branches, so that the golden fruit fell into their laps”. Bianca della Rovere, the wife of Paolo Riario, had two sons, Pietro and Girolamo, and one daughter, Violante; Violante married Antonio Sansoni and was mother of Cardinal Raffaello Riario Sansoni, well-known in connection with the Pazzi conspiracy. Luchina, the Pope’s next sister, had, by her marriage with Giovanni
Guglielmo Basso, five sons, Girolamo, Antonio, Francesco, Guglielmo, and Bartolomeo, and a daughter, Mariola. Antonio was a man of pure and blameless life; and in 1479 he espoused a relation of the King of Naples. The christian name of the Pope’s third sister, who married Pietro Giuppo,
is not known; a fourth, Franchetta, is mentioned as married to Bartolomeo Armoino, and dying in 1485.
A new epoch for his kindred began with the elevation
of Francesco della Rovere to the Throne of St. Peter. As early as the autumn of 1471, we find three of his nephews
in the Papal service. In the following spring, two of his
sisters, probably Bianca and Luchina, migrated to Rome, where Sixtus IV had prepared for them a suitable
dwelling. The arrival of the other relations was not long delayed.
All the members of the Ligurian colony which assembled around the Pope well understood how to take advantage of the fact that “Sixtus did not know the value of money, and, having grown up from his youth in a mendicant Order, gave with full hands as long as he had anything to give”.
These relations, who had mostly been in very needy circumstances and humble positions, in the course of a few
years found themselves in the enjoyment of wealth, and of
ecclesiastical and temporal dignities such as hitherto they had never dreamed of.
Sixtus IV had not occupied the Papal throne for many months before two of his youthful nephews, Giuliano della Rovere and Pietro Riario, were admitted into the Sacred College. The Pope was deeply indebted to Paolo Riario of Savona, the father of the last-named young man. Leone Cobelli, in his Chronicle of Forli, has recorded some interesting particulars regarding their earlier relations. A certain Franceschino of Savona, he tells us, of the Order of the
Minorites, was studying in that town, and was on very
friendly terms with Paolo Riario. Paolo, a worthy and
benevolent man, observing the young monk’s love of learning, resolved to receive him into his house, and to
support him. Franceschino accordingly instructed the sons of his patron, and was enabled by the latter to complete his own education. This generous assistance could not have been better bestowed, for the needy student became one of the best professors in his Order. In the fullness of his gratitude to Paolo Riario, Franceschino said to him : “I well know that to you, after God, I owe it that
I have become what I am; I will show myself grateful; let me have your son Pietro for my son: I will give him the best possible education, and make a notable man of him”. Paolo gladly consented; Francesco clothed his protégé with the Franciscan habit, and showed him the greatest
kindness. When a Cardinal, he took Fra Pietro with him
to Rome, where he is said to have played an important part in the Conclave. Almost immediately after his accession,
Sixtus IV bestowed on Pietro an Abbey on the Franco-German frontier, with a yearly income of 1000 ducats, and
the Bishopric of Treviso. But he was destined ere long
to mount yet higher.
In the second week of December, 1471, it was reported that the Pope was about to create new Cardinals; that he purposed to make an alteration in the Election Capitulation, and meant to elevate his two young nephews to the purple. Sooner than had been expected, these anticipations were realized.
On the 16th December, 1471, a Consistory was held, and Pietro Riario, aged twenty-five, and Giuliano della Rovere,
aged twenty-eight, were created Cardinals, though not immediately published. To the former was assigned, as his title, on the 22nd December, the Church of S. Sisto,
while Giuliano received that of S. Pietro in Vincoli, previously held by Sixtus IV himself. On the following day, although not yet published, both of the young Cardinals appeared with the Red Hat, a thing which the Marquess of Mantua’s Ambassador mentions as hitherto unheard-of.
The promotion of these two nephews afforded to those who had not approved of the first acts of Sixtus IV, and
had deemed themselves overlooked, a welcome occasion for angry and injurious comments. Cardinal Ammanati speaks of the elevation of two youths, now for the first time brought out of obscurity, and altogether inexperienced, as an act of imbecility. “He declaimed against the nepotism of La Rovere, quite forgetting that his own patron,
Pius II, had been far from blameless in this particular”.
This first creation of Cardinals by Sixtus IV was
certainly an infringement of the Election Capitulation, but the uncertain position of the new Pope, surrounded as he was on all sides by experienced, influential, and skilful prelates, who desired to use him as a tool for their own selfish designs, justifies this step, to which Bessarion lent his approval and aid. Sixtus IV, to ensure
his independence, required the support of trustworthy
coadjutors, whose energies should be absolutely at his disposal.
Giuliano della Rovere was certainly the most remarkable of the two nephews. Even at an early age he gave evidence of those qualities which rendered his long and brilliant career so distinguished alike in the political
history of Italy and in the annals of intellectual culture. If, like others, he profited by the abuse which had now
become a system, and allowed numerous Bishoprics and Abbeys to be conferred upon a single individual, with the
sole object of enriching him; if his uncle made him
Archbishop of Avignon and of Bologna, Bishop of Lausanne, Coutances, Viviers, Mende, and finally of Ostia and Velletri, and Abbot of Nonantola and Grottaferrata,
heaping benefice after benefice upon him, Giuliano manifested in the expenditure of his income, and in his whole manner of living, a prudence and seriousness which contrasted favourably with the conduct of many other prelates. If his moral character was not unblemished, his outward demeanour was always becoming, and, immediately after his elevation to the purple, he began to devote that attention to the fine arts, and especially to architecture, which won for him lasting renown. The serious character of his other studies, although they were mostly directed to secular subjects, contributed to develop those exceptional
abilities of which his labours in later life gave such signal
proof, and which had begun to manifest themselves even during the pontificate of Sixtus IV.
Giuliano della Rovere was born on the 5th December, 1443, at Albizzola, near Savona, where his parents were living in very poor circumstances. Having entered the Franciscan Order, he pursued his studies at Perugia.
Sixtus IV, even while a Cardinal, treated him with exceptional favour. The grave and resolute character of this nephew justly inspired him with confidence. Like himself, he had been trained in the strict discipline and privations
of the monastic life, and there had been an almost constant interchange of thought between them. Giuliano’s appearance was striking. Melozzo da Forli’s fresco of Sixtus IV,
surrounded by his Court, appointing Platina Librarian of the Vatican, represents his tall figure, his face in profile,
looking down upon his uncle with great dark eyes full of seriousness and dignity. He wears the purple cape, lined
with ermine. His black hair is surmounted by a bright coloured skull-cap. The round head, with its angular cheek-bones, and the firmly closed mouth betoken the man
of deeds, who wastes no words, but acts.
Pietro Riario was a very different character. He was intelligent and cultivated, courteous, witty, cheerful, and generous, but his good qualities were counterbalanced by a lust of power, a boundless ambition and pride, and a love of luxury, which rendered him utterly unworthy of the purple. Unfortunately, Sixtus IV fostered these faults by lavishing rich benefices on him, even more abundantly than on the Cardinal of S. Pietro in Vincoli. The Archbishopric of Florence, which had so lately been held by a Saint, the
Patriarchate of Constantinople, the Abbey of S. Ambrogio, and a number of Bishoprics were soon concentrated in the hands of this young man. His yearly revenues before long exceeded 60,000 golden florins; but even this sum was far from satisfying his requirements, for Riario, transformed in one night from
a mendicant friar into a Croesus, plunged into the maddest excesses. The Cardinal, says Platina, set himself to collect together unheard-of quantities of gold and silver
plate, costly raiment, hangings and carpets, splendid horses, and a multitude of servants in scarlet and silk. He patronized young poets and painters, and delighted in contriving and carrying out pageants and tournaments on the most magnificent scale. He gave extravagant banquets to some of the Ambassadors, and to Leonora, daughter of the King of Naples. He was very generous to scholars,
and to the poor. Moreover, he began a palace in the
vicinity of the Church of the Holy Apostles, the extensive
foundations of which bespoke a colossal superstructure. He seemed to vie with the ancients in pomp and grandeur—and, it may be added, in vices. All morality was openly
defied by this upstart. Instead of the habit of St. Francis,
he went about in garments laden with gold, and adorned his mistress from head to foot with costly pearls.
The ostentation of Cardinal Riario, says Ammanati, surpassed anything that our children will be able to credit, or that our fathers can remember.
The Reports of Ambassadors then in Rome show
that Ammanati’s expressions were not exaggerated; the Ambassadors of the Duke of Milan seem unable to say
enough of the brilliant tournaments and the rich banquets
given by the Cardinal, especially during the Carnival.
Great astonishment was excited by a feast to which Riario
invited four Cardinals, all the Ambassadors, and several
prelates on the 1st February, 1473. The sons of the
Despot of the Morea, the City Prefect, and the Pope’s nephews, Girolamo and Antonio, also took part in it. The
walls of the dining-hall were adorned with precious tapestry; in the middle, on an elevated platform, was a table where the so-called King of Macedonia sat, in splendid robes, and attended by four Counsellors and an interpreter. At the left of this platform was the Cardinal’s table, to which those of the guests were joined; there were two sideboards
laden with silver, and a multitude of torches made a blaze of light. The feast lasted fully three hours. Before every course the seneschal appeared on horse-back to the sound of music, and each time in a fresh costume. The banquet
was followed by a Moorish dance and other pastimes. At its conclusion, came a Turkish Ambassador, bearing
credentials, and accompanied by an interpreter; who complained that Cardinal Riario had bestowed on the King of Macedon a kingdom which belonged to the Turks, and threatened that unless he gave up his usurped insignia, war should be declared. The Cardinal and the King replied that they would let the matter be decided by arms.
Accordingly, on the following day, the combat took place in the square before the Church of the Holy Apostles, and the Turk—being taken captive by Usunhassan the King of Macedon’s General—was led through the streets of Rome
in fetters.
Before the year was over, Riario again gave an entertainment on a yet larger scale, surpassing in mad extravagance anything that the sumptuous age of the Renaissance had yet produced. The occasion for this further display was the passage through Rome of Leonora, the daughter of the King of Naples, on her way to her husband, Ercole of Ferrara.
On the 5th June, 1473, after a short rest at Marino,
Leonora approached the walls of Rome. Ercole’s brothers, Sigismondo and Alberto, together with many nobles from Ferrara and Naples, accompanied her. Cardinals Carafa and Ausio, and several Prelates, awaited her arrival at the third milestone from the City, and conducted her to the Lateran, where she partook of some refreshment, and
venerated the holy relics. Meanwhile, the Pope’s two favoured nephews, Pietro Riario and Giuliano della Rovere, had come to bid her welcome, and, escorted by them,
the Princess proceeded to the residence of the Cardinal of S. Sisto by the Church of the Holy Apostles, where preparations for her reception had been made in a style
of unprecedented magnificence. In the square before the Church, Riario had caused to be erected a splendid house constructed of wood, rivalling the Palaces of ancient times. It had three halls, with wreathed pillars, surmounted by a rich frieze, on which the arms of the Pope, the Cardinal, and the Duke of Ferrara were hung. The open sides of
these halls looked into the court, which, on its fourth
side, was closed by a stage prepared for the theatrical representations which were to be given. In the middle of the court were two fountains, supplied with water from
the roof of the Basilica. The whole open space was protected by an awning from the rays of the sun. Five
spacious sleeping rooms for the Princess and her ladies opened into the first hall. The gentlemen of her suite were accommodated in fourteen chambers, similarly opening into that of the opposite wing. The middle hall, looking across to the stage, was in front of the Church over
against its portico. Externally, the edifice was painted
to resemble stone; within, the walls, ceilings, and floors were covered with gold-embroidered carpets and precious tapestries and stuffs, so that the wood-work nowhere appeared.
The banqueting-hall of this palace was kept cool by means of three bellows, out of sight, and here was to be
seen the marvellous tapestry, representing the creation of the world, made by order of Pope Nicholas V, and
believed to be unequalled in Christendom. This masterpiece of art was afterwards hopelessly lost. The luxury of the interior was indescribable; silk, damask, and gold
brocade were lavished in reckless profusion; even the meanest vessels were made of pure silver and gilt! However highly we may estimate the extravagance of the age, such senseless prodigality must necessarily have given
cause for scandal and offence.
On Whit-Sunday, after the Mass at St. Peter’s, the Princess,
attired with dazzling splendour, was received by the Pope, and in the afternoon the History of Susanna was represented by a Florentine troupe.
On Whit-Monday, Riario gave a banquet in her honour, which, in its sumptuous and unreasonable luxury, recalled the heathen days of Imperial Rome. If the silk-clad
servants, and the splendid decoration of the hall, the great sideboard, with its twelve epergnes and masses of silver
plate, was enough to astonish the guests, the feast itself was even more marvellous. Before its commencement, sweetmeats, oranges encrusted with sugar, and malvoisie were offered to the company, and then rose-water for the hands. The guests took their places at the table to the
sound of trumpets and fifes. Only ten persons sat at the principal table with Leonora, eight belonging to her suite, her host and Girolamo Riario. The banquet lasted six whole hours; there were three courses, during which forty-four dishes were served; amongst them were stags roasted whole and in their skins, goats, hares, calves, herons, peacocks with their feathers, and finally, a bear with a
staff in his jaws. Most of the dishes were for show, the
bread was gilt, the fish and other viands were brought to table overlaid with silver. The sweets and confectionery
were countless, and all sorts of artistic shapes. Amongst other devices, the labours of Hercules were represented the size of life; and a mountain with a gigantic and apparently living serpent. Sugar fortresses, with towers and citadels
from which banners waved, were borne in and thrown amongst the people from the balcony. Ten great ships sailed in, made of confectionery and laden with sugared
almonds, which, in allusion to the arms of the Rovere, were shaped like acorns. Next came the triumph of Venus,
drawn in a chariot by swans, then a mountain from which a man emerged and expressed his astonished admiration of the banquet. Allegorical figures also appeared during the feast, amongst others, a youth who sang verses in Latin,
and announced: “At the command of the Father of the Gods I am come, and bring you joyful news: Envy us no longer the festivals of our Heaven, for Jupiter himself is a guest at your board”.
Towards the end of the entertainment a ballet was danced on a stage by ancient heroes with their mistresses;
while it was going on, ten Centaurs suddenly burst in upon
the scene, with little wooden shields and clubs, and were
driven away by Hercules. Bacchus, and also Andromeda, were represented, and “other things”, says a writer belonging
to the Princess’s suite, “which I do not remember or did not understand, as I was not a proficient in Humanistic
studies”.
Leonora received many costly gifts from Sixtus IV
and the Cardinals; she remained in Rome until the 10th June. Other spectacles, of a more Christian character, were provided in her honour, forming a striking contrast to the mythological representations we have described.
The splendid reception of the Neapolitan Princess had, in
part, a political object; it was intended to make the alliance between the Pope and Ferrante evident to the world. This agreement had cost the Pope considerable sacrifices, but it put an end to a ceaseless series of disputes, and, for a time, delivered the Apostolic See from apprehensions which had caused much distress to Paul II. A family connection was to confirm the alliance with Naples. In the spring of 1472, on the death of Antonio Colonna, Lionardo della Rovere had become City Prefect. Soon afterwards, he married a natural daughter of Ferrante, and Sora, Arpino, and other territories were bestowed on the newly-married couple. Both outwardly and inwardly,
Lionardo was so poorly gifted that he was the laughingstock of the Romans. Thus the union was anything but an attractive one. In order to bring it about, Sixtus IV renounced his right of sovereignty over Sora, and Ferrante
agreed to invest Rovere with that fief.
Not satisfied with what he had already obtained, the Neapolitan Monarch now brought forward the question of the feudatory tribute, and, in this matter also, Sixtus IV showed himself exceedingly complaisant, remitting the whole tribute, together with all other debts. The King, in
return, bound himself to send a white horse yearly to Rome, in recognition of the tenure of his fief, to take part in the
war against the Turks, to defend the coasts of the States of
the Church against pirates, and, if necessary, to support the Pope, at his own expense, with an armed force. Platina admits that this agreement was disapproved of by many. Sixtus IV, in writing to the Duke of Milan, quotes the advice of the Cardinals and the intention of Pius II in justification of his renunciation of territory, adding that the fief had brought the Church more trouble
than gain, and that the Duke himself had advised the measure.
After this beginning, a crafty diplomatist like Ferrante too clearly perceived the advantages promised by the alliance with the Pope to refrain from making use of it for his own ends. In the spring it was evident that nothing would come of the Italian League. The King soon succeeded in rendering the negotiations with the
agents of the different States, who had come to Rome, ineffectual, and lost no time in writing to inform the Milanese of the dissolution of the compact between him and them.
This disturbance of the relations between Milan and Naples was extremely disagreeable to the Pope, who
earnestly endeavoured to prevent a breach between the two powers. He had reason to hope for success, from the fact that his relations with Milan, which had always been good, had of late been drawn yet closer. Platina informs us that, either from jealousy at Rovere’s elevation to the post of City Prefect and to the Dukedom of Sora, or else in obedience to the wishes of the Lord of Milan, the Cardinal of S. Sisto had exerted himself to promote the betrothal of his brother Girolamo with Sforza’s grand-niece, the daughter of Conrad of Cotignola.
Girolamo had hitherto been a grocer, or, some say, a public scrivener in Savona. The little town of Bosco was now purchased for him at the price of 14,000 golden florins. Riario even went so far as to have Cardinal Giuliano’s youthful brother secretly conveyed from Pavia to Rome,
because Galeazzo Maria Sforza had cast his eyes upon him,
and expressed a wish that this nephew of the Pope’s should be connected with his family by marriage. When Giovanni
della Rovere so suddenly disappeared from Pavia, Galeazzo changed his plans. The Countess of Cotignola made difficulties about the dowry, with the result that this
alliance was relinquished, and Girolamo Riario married instead Caterina Sforza, a natural daughter of the Duke,
and was made Count of Bosco.
Meanwhile, all danger of war between Milan and Naples had ceased. On the 22nd June, the Pope had urged the
Duke to keep on good terms with the King of Naples, assuring him that in no way could he give him greater
pleasure. On the 17th July, he was able to express his satisfaction to Galeazzo in learning that he meant, for the future, to preserve amicable relations with Naples.
Cardinal Riario was now in the fullest enjoyment of the favour of the Pope. He seemed, says a contemporary, able to do whatever he wished. A chronicler speaks of him as
being the first among the Cardinals, having the complete control of the Papal treasure, and the Pope himself entirely in his hands. Not the reserved, brusque Giuliano, but the
versatile and agreeable Pietro was the one to conduct all negotiations, and, with undeniable skill, to assist Sixtus iv, who had little experience in diplomacy, in all the more
important business of the State. The influence of the Cardinal of S. Sisto had in a very short time become so great that he was feared, not only by the Cardinals, but even by Sixtus iv. himself, to whom nothing but the
Papal dignity seemed left, while all real power was in the hands of the favourite.
The year 1473 was one of trouble for Sixtus IV. In
February he was attacked by an illness, in consequence of which he spent the hot season on the airy heights of Tivoli. All through the summer he was harassed by political anxieties. In May, tidings came that the Duke
of Milan had sold Imola to the Florentines for 100,000 florins, and, at the same time, he heard that the Hungarians had entered into an agreement with the Turks, and meant to attack the Venetians in Dalmatia. The last of these reports was false, but the first proved
correct.
The Pope was greatly, and very reasonably, disturbed by the sale of Imola. Neither he nor Ferrante could calmly witness the extension of Florentine domination into the Romagna, which would introduce relations of a very different order from those maintained with the small existing
dynasties. Moreover, the measure was also unwelcome, because it would obviously tend to stimulate the desire of
Venice for further annexations. On the 16th of May, a Brief of admonition and complaint was addressed to the
Duke of Milan, informing him that the Pope would not, on any account, permit the sale of Imola. This declaration was repeated in Papal Missives to Florence itself, to the King of Naples, and to the Bolognese. A week later, Sixtus IV again begged the Duke to revoke the sale of
this city, which belonged to the Church. “O my son!” he writes, in concluding his letter, “listen to your father’s counsel; depart not from the Church, for it is written : Whoever separates himself from thee, must perish”. Shortly afterwards, on the 6th June, another Brief was written to the Duke, who had meanwhile expressed his willingness to comply with the Pope’s desire. The importance attached by Sixtus IV to the matter is manifested
by the fact that he again wrote with his own hand.
On this occasion the Pope obtained all that he wished.
Galeazzo Maria Sforza restored Imola to the Holy See for
the sum of 40,000 ducats, and, with the consent of the Cardinals, Sixtus IV conferred it as a fief upon Girolamo
Riario.
There can be no doubt that these circumstances were connected with the tour through Italy which Cardinal Riario undertook, in the middle of the summer of 1473, as Legate for the whole of that country. The commencement of this journey was far from propitious. The Cardinal’s efforts to compose the party strife in Umbria were unsuccessful. Spoleto and Perugia refused to obey his commands. The Legate indignantly turned to Gubbio, whither he had summoned the petty princes of the Flaminian and Pisan territory to meet him; but Niccolo Vitelli, who was practically tyrant of Città di Castello, answered his invitation by saying that he was a
private individual, and a simple burgess of his native city;
an assembly of Princes in no way concerned him, as he had never coveted so high a title. Thus the Legate was
mocked, and the competency of his tribunal denied. The immediate punishment of the refractory Vitelli being
impossible, Riario proceeded to Florence, to take possession of his Archiepiscopal See, amid great festivities. On the 12th September he entered Milan. The Duke received
him with royal honours, conducted him in triumph to the Cathedral, and then to the Castle, where, as if he had been
the Pope himself, apartments were given him, and the keys of the Citadel delivered to him each night. In the negotiations which ensued, the Cardinal succeeded in securing the favour of the Duke for himself. Report, moreover, spoke of a compact then entered into, by virtue of which the Pope was to make the Duke of Milan King of
Lombardy, and give him possession of all the cities and provinces appertaining to this dignity. The Duke, in return, it was said, promised to help Cardinal Riario to obtain the Tiara. It was even asserted that, on his return
to Rome, the Pope would resign the Chair of St. Peter in
favour of his nephew!
From Milan, Riario proceeded by way of Mantua and Padua to Venice, where further festivities awaited him. By the end of October he was again in Rome. Soon
afterwards Sixtus IV thanked the Duke of Milan for his splendid reception of Riario, and confirmed the arrangements entered into by the. latter.
Two months more brought the scandalous life and
ambitious projects of the Pope’s nephew to an end. In
the third week of December, 1473, Riario was attacked by a violent fever; on the 5th January, 1474, he was a corpse. Venetian poison was spoken of by some, but the statement of other contemporaries, who say that the
Cardinal, though only eight and twenty years of age, fell
a victim to his own excesses, is more probable. The Report of a Milanese Ambassador also informs us that
Riario was converted before his end, received the holy Sacraments, and died truly penitent.
All Rome wept with Sixtus IV over the untimely death of the pomp-loving Cardinal. The feeling of the people is expressed by the Senatorial Secretary, Infessura, who says: “Our delightful feasts all came to an end, and every one lamented the death of Riario”. In the short period of his cardinalate he had squandered 200,000, or,
according to some accounts, 300,000 golden florins, and the debts which he left amounted to 60,000 florins. Justice, however, requires us to add that Riario had also spent some of his wealth on noble objects. " In his love
of splendour we trace the taste of the period for that artistic embellishment of existence, without which the temporal rulers of the day, even the wildest and most warlike of them, deemed it impossible to live. “During his sojourn at his Palace of the Holy Apostles”, continues Melozzo da Forli’s biographer, “his love of the fine arts was evidenced by the way in which he attracted to himself, and gathered into his service, all the talent that Rome afforded”. This account is confirmed by the
statement of a Roman scholar, who, after a thorough
investigation of the subject, asserts that every poet at
that time living in Rome has commemorated the Cardinal as a patron of talent. The funeral discourse pronounced at his obsequies makes mention of the valuable library which he was preparing to establish in his Palace, and also his restorations and embellishments of churches at Treviso, Milan, Pavia, and Rome.
CHAPTER
III.
Christian,
King of Denmark and Norway, and Federigo of Urbino in Rome.— The League of the 2nd November, 1474.
SIXTUS IV consoled himself more quickly than had been expected for the death of his beloved nephew. For a few days he gave himself up to his sorrow, no one, not even the Cardinals, being admitted to his presence; but on the 10th January, 1474, the Mantuan Ambassador was able to inform
the Marchioness that the Pope was beginning to get over Riario’s loss. The question as to who would now exercise
the influence wielded by the late Cardinal, whose jealousy had kept all others in the background, and on whom would
his wealth devolve, was eagerly and generally discussed. Some predicted the elevation of Girolamo Riario, while others thought it would be Cardinal Orsini, who had now no opponent.
Riario’s possessions, regarding which fabulous stories were circulated, passed to his brother, Girolamo, who inherited with them much of his influence. Cardinal Giuliano della Rovere also became a prominent figure. The conduct of this nephew of the Pope formed a happy
contrast to that of Pietro Riario. Giuliano was not distinguished by brilliant intellect or fine literary culture, but he was a man of serious disposition and great prudence, though frequently rough in his manner and proceedings. He did not surround himself with an extravagant number of attendants, and indulged in no needless expense in apparel or in living, yet his taste was good in his house
and furniture, and he loved excellent workmanship. On suitable occasions, he knew how to give free play to the largeness of his nature. Such occasions presented themselves when princely persons visited his uncle in the Eternal City, and in 1474 and 1475 they were of frequent occurrence.
Early in March, 1474, it was rumoured that King Christian of Denmark and Norway was coming to Rome.
Sixtus IV at once declared his intention of showing all possible honour to the Northern Prince, and lodging him in the palace formerly occupied by Frederick III; he also wrote him a very cordial letter of welcome. If, as would seem probable from recent investigations, the motive of the King’s journey was principally religious, the joy of the Pope and the attentions paid to his guest can easily be understood. Moreover, Sixtus IV hoped for
the assistance of Christian I in the war against the Turks; he was aware that the King believed in a prophecy which had declared that a Northern Ruler was destined to conquer and expel the Infidel.
The King, a grave man, with a long gray beard, came with 150 followers; all were soberly clad, and pilgrims’ staves were embroidered on the housings of their horses. On the 6th of April the travellers entered Rome. Christian I was overwhelmed with tokens of honour; the whole
Court went to meet him and conducted him to St. Peters. Here Sixtus IV would have embraced him at once, but the King knelt down with all his followers, and begged for the Papal blessing. When he rose from his knees,
the Pope embraced him and conducted him to his Palace.
Cardinals Gonzaga and Giuliano della Rovere provided for the hospitable entertainment of the visitors.
During the whole time of his sojourn in Rome, Christian I paid such honour and attention to the Pope and
the clergy, that he was often cited as an example to the
Italians of the manner in which they ought to bear themselves towards the Church and her servants. The Pope
gave the royal pilgrim a portion of the true Cross and other relics, a portable altar, a splendid mule with a bridle studded with gold, a valuable ring, and other precious things. On Maundy Thursday, after Holy Mass, Sixtus IV bestowed his blessing on the King, and granted him an Indulgence. On Easter Sunday Christian received Holy Communion from the hands of the Pope, and the Golden Rose. He also received costly gifts from the
Cardinals, and, in return, presented them with beautiful furs, and other choice products of his kingdom.
King Christian remained in Rome for three weeks, Sixtus IV showing him honour in every possible way. The conversations between the Pope and the King dealt
with the question of the Crusade, the affairs of the
Northern Kingdom, and perhaps other political projects, such as the possibility of changing the Ducal Crown of
Sforza into a Royal one. As the Papal Bull for the foundation of the University of Copenhagen is dated 12th June, 1475, the erection of such an institution in the North must also, at this time, have come under discussion. The Pope showed great readiness in meeting the wishes of his royal guest with regard to several other Bulls, and Christian was so much delighted with his sojourn in Rome that he had a medal struck to commemorate it.
After again devoutly visiting the seven principal
Churches, Christian I started on the 27th April on his homeward journey. The Milanese Ambassador informs us that all the Cardinals conducted him, with every token of respect, to the gate of the City. Two members of the Sacred College accompanied him on his way, as far as the frontier of the Papal territory. According to the same Ambassador, Christian was the bearer of important letters from the Pope to the Emperor, Frederick III, a fact which proves that the opportunity afforded by this pilgrimage for discussing political affairs had not been neglected.
Soon after the departure of Christian, Count Federigo of Urbino, a former friend of the Pope, arrived in Rome. On this occasion also, Cardinal Giuliano was splendid in his hospitality; he had given up his residence in S. Pietro in Vincoli to the City Prefect, and had moved to Bessarion’s Palace, near the Church of the Holy Apostles. On the 28th May, the Count was solemnly received by the Pope;
Sixtus IV had assigned him a place in the Chapel on the benches of the Sacred College, so that he sat
immediately below the last Cardinal, an honour hitherto reserved for the eldest sons of Kings. Although d'Estouteville and Gonzaga were extremely annoyed at this arrangement, the Pope adhered to it. His motive was soon evident. A marriage was in contemplation between a daughter of Federigo and Giuliano’s younger brother, Giovanni della Rovere, who was to be given Sinigaglia and Mondavio. Even before it had been discussed in Consistory the Pope had impressed upon the
Count the impossibility of obtaining the consent of the
Cardinals to the project. Jacobus Volaterranus informs us that it was looked upon in the Sacred College as a dangerous example of nepotism. Federigo was obliged to depart without effecting his purpose.
During the Count’s sojourn in Rome, and at the very time when the Pope was occupied in taking precautions against an impending dearth, tidings reached him of the murder of Gabriello Catalani, the Guelph Lord of Todi, and of the outbreak in that city of an insurrection which seemed likely to spread. All the discontented from Umbria, and especially from Spoleto, with their partisans, flocked into Todi, and were headed by Giordano Orsini and the Counts of Pitigliano. Soon the whole of the province
was in commotion. Rioting, murder, and incendiarism were the order of the day. If the whole place was not to
be given over to absolute anarchy, it was necessary to act
at once with a strong hand.
At the beginning of June, Sixtus IV sent Cardinal Giuliano to restore peace in Todi by force of arms. The task was one of great difficulty, but in selecting Giuliano the Pope had chosen a man well fitted to carry it out.
Accustomed to privations, and to the stern discipline of the cloister, the Cardinal did not shrink from the hardships
of a soldier’s life. With the assistance of the valiant Giulio of Camerino, he forced his way into Todi. Giordano Orsini and the Count of Pitigliano withdrew, some of the
insurgents were cast into prison and others banished, and all communication between the country people and the city
was cut off.
Cardinal Giuliano then turned his arms against Spoleto, which, at the time, was in the hands of the party of the Orsini. At 3000 paces from the city he halted, and, through
Lorenzo Zane, Patriarch of Antioch, called upon the inhabitants to lay down their arms. Thereupon many of
the citizens fled, carrying their most valuable possessions to the mountain fortresses in the neighbourhood; the rest
accepted the Ambassador's offers of peace, went to meet the Legate, and begged for pardon. Giuliano garrisoned the gates of the city, and had already begun to endeavour to reconcile the contending parties, when, in defiance of his express command, the greedy mercenaries began to plunder. Most of these men were from Camerino and Ceretano, and were bent on retaliating on the people of
Spoleto the depredations which they had suffered at their hands. The Legate’s voice was powerless to restrain the lawless troops; indeed, his own life was at one moment in
danger. He could only be thankful that he was able to save the Episcopal Palace and the Convents, and to
preserve the women and maidens from outrage. “Such”, observes Platina, “was the fate of the Spoletans, who had despised the Pope’s commands, and had filled their city with the spoils of their neighbours”.
At the end of June, the Cardinal proceeded to the upper
valley of the Tiber, where Niccolo Vitelli, the tyrant of Città di Castello, replied to all remonstrances from Rome with words of open scorn. He was charged with having lent assistance to the insurgents in Todi and Spoleto: the time had come when he must be compelled to submit. His contumacy seemed all the more dangerous, because it found favour with his neighbours. Whenever any political dispute should break out with Rome, the
forcible alienation of the important district on the borders
of Tuscany was to be apprehended. The adjacent stronghold of Borgo San Sepolcro was still in the hands of the Florentines, to whom it had been mortgaged by Eugenius
IV. The Pope was bound to put an end to this state of things. Not till all peaceable means had been exhausted
did he proceed to force. And even to the last he declared that, if Vitelli would submit, he would again receive him into favour, for he only sought obedience, not vengeance.
Vitelli, meanwhile, had no idea of submission; he rejected the easy conditions offered by Cardinal Giuliano, who was accordingly compelled to lay siege to Città di Castello. Sorties were made every day, and the Papal troops
repeatedly suffered serious losses. But a far greater danger threatened them in the consequences of an alliance which Vitelli had succeeded in negotiating with Milan and Florence. The Florentines, forgetful of benefits received from the Pope, even as recently as during the war of Volterra, had furnished the tyrant with money, and then,
in spite of the absolute promise of Sixtus IV
that their territory should remain inviolate, had sent 6000 men to Borgo San Sepolcro near Città di Castello, ostensibly for the protection of their frontier, but in reality with the object of assisting Vitelli whenever the situation should become critical. Sixtus IV justly complained of the
shameful manner in which help was thus given to a
rebellious subject, whom no kindness had been able to
win to obedience.
During the siege of Città di Castello the attitude of Galeazzo Maria Sforza was very unsatisfactory. On the 5th June the Pope felt constrained to express his astonishment at the manner in which the Duke had written to him on this occasion, and to defend the justice of his action. The Pope said, “We ask nothing from Vitelli
but obedience; if he will submit, and live as a private individual, We will be gracious to him, but no Prince can
tolerate open rebellion. The excuse of the Florentines
that they feared an attack on Borgo San Sepolcro, was hypocritical, for, on the 28th June, We had already pledged our word on this matter”.
In the middle of July, Milan and Florence began diplomatic action in favour of Vitelli; meanwhile, the Pope refused to accede to the request that he would withdraw his troops from Città di Castello, giving a full account of the motives which influenced his decision. It is worthy of note that the King of Naples, who had received many benefits from Sixtus IV, also interfered on behalf of the rebels. Anarchy in the States of the Church
was more in accordance with his wishes than peace and
order. The ingratitude of the Duke of Milan seems to
have been particularly distressing to the Pope, who, on the 28th July, 1474, sent him an autograph letter, reproaching him in touching language.
In this serious state of affairs Sixtus IV turned to the warlike Count Federigo of Urbino. In order to make
yet more sure of his fidelity, he bestowed on him, on the 21st August, the Ducal dignity with the same pomp and ceremonies observed in the case of Borso of Este three years before. Two days after this, Federigo arrived at the Papal camp before Città di Castello. On the
appearance of this General, who was reputed to be
invincible, Vitelli expressed a willingness to negotiate.
His bearing, however, was still anything but submissive.
He knew that he had powerful friends to fall back upon, and he was also aware that Federigo had no intention of strengthening the Papal authority on his own borders.
The daring rebel was able so to manage the negotiations,
that the capitulation was not a submission, but an honourable treaty. It was decided that the Cardinal, with 200 soldiers, should be admitted into the city. The personal safety of the tyrant was guaranteed; Lorenzo Zane, Patriarch of Antioch, was to remain with a garrison in the castle until the return of the exiles and the completion of a fort, for the erection of which, Giuliano had given orders. The army then withdrew, and the Cardinal, accompanied by Duke Federigo who brought Vitelli with him, started for Rome.
The tidings of the fall of Città di Castello were received with great rejoicings in Rome; trumpets announced the event from S. Angelo, and more noise could not have been made about the taking of a Spartacus or a Sertorius; yet, adds Cardinal Gonzaga’s Secretary, “I do not believe in a real submission, for there are crafty people who know how
to mingle fire and water without disturbing any one”.
The capitulation was, indeed, calculated rather to encourage than to subdue Vitelli. It was in harmony with the whole course of this affair, which clearly showed the
character of the confederates with whom Sixtus IV had to deal. Surrounded by treachery, with such an ally as the crafty Ferrante of Naples at his side, and with neighbours like Lorenzo de' Medici, can the Pope be blamed for
establishing his nephews firmly in the States of the Church, where a Cesare Borgia and a Pope like Julius II were needed to purge it from its oppressors great and small?
Platina informs us that the Legate, on his journey back to Rome, was met by Envoys from many cities, who congratulated him and brought him valuable presents. These the Cardinal either declined, not from pride, but as unbefitting a servant of the Church, or else devoted to pious, objects, like the restoration of Churches and Convents.
“On the 9th of September, early in the morning, Giuliano with the Duke reached the Porta Flaminia. All the Cardinals had been commanded by the Pope to go and
meet him, but the hardy Ligurian was too early for them. Before the sun had risen he was in the Church of Sta Maria del Popolo. Thence he was conducted to his Palace with
great pomp. The Duke, the City Prefect, and Count Girolamo rode in front, preceded by Vitelli amid some
nobles”. A Consistory was then held, and the vanquished rebel did homage. The Pope was prevented by indisposition from taking part in these proceedings.
During the Duke of Urbino’s sojourn in Rome on this occasion he received honours even greater than those
bestowed upon him in the spring. The rooms provided for him were immediately above those of the Pope. This,
time the negotiations regarding the marriage were brought
to a satisfactory conclusion. On the 10th of October Sixtus IV informed the Duke of Milan that “today the betrothal of our nephew, Giovanni della Rovere, with the Duke of
Urbino’s daughter, has been announced”. Two days later, the Vicariates of Sinigaglia and Mondavio, which, after the death of Pius II, had revolted against Antonio Piccolomini, Duke of Amalfi, were conferred upon Giovanni. The document appointing him Vicar was signed
by all the Cardinals, including those who before had voted against the measure, with the exception of Cardinal Piccolomini. The yearly salary was fixed at 600 ducats.
In attaching to himself, by benefits and by bonds of
relationship, the warlike Federigo of Urbino, who might have been a dangerous enemy, Sixtus IV had achieved an important political success. Indeed, the Pope had much reason to congratulate himself on all that he had gained
during the summer of 1474. The attempt to keep his hands full at home, by making troubles in the States of
the Church, had not succeeded for any time, and its authors
had been exposed. The intrigues of Lorenzo de' Medici
were laid bare. He had most unwarrantably interfered in a private affair of the Pope’s. Even Cardinal Ammanati, who certainly was no partisan of the Rovere family,
thought it necessary to remonstrate with him. Not content
with supporting the insurgents, he had, under cover of the
confederation, sent letters and messengers about to excite disturbances throughout the whole of Italy, with the view
of compelling the Pope to desist from the chastisement of the rebels. His efforts had failed, and Lorenzo de' Medici
saw that his hopes of assistance from Milan and Naples
were vain. He at once looked about him for new allies, and turned to Venice. The rulers of the Republic, however, felt that the league against the Turks bound them to Naples, and yet more to the Pope, who had sent money
and provisions when Scutari was besieged. The Signoria,
Navagiero informs us, answered Lorenzo’s overtures by declaring that they had already concluded a league with Naples, and with the Pope, and that he was free to join it. The matter was to be dealt with in Rome, where Ambassadors from all parts would soon meet. The hopes
of the Pope, that his wish for a general alliance among the Italian powers might yet be fulfilled, began to revive. The failure of this scheme, so necessary in view of the
warlike preparations of the Turks, was in no way his
fault.
The progress of the negotiations seemed at first to
justify the brightest expectations. An agreement, which satisfied all parties, was framed. But at the last moment, when the treaty was about to be signed, Ferrante, according to the testimony of a Venetian chronicler, instructed
his Ambassadors to break off the negotiations. On the 2nd November, 1474, Florence, Venice, and Milan concluded a defensive alliance for twenty-five years. The
Duke of Ferrara, the Pope, and the King of Naples were invited to join this league. The Duke alone consented
to do so. Sixtus IV gave a decided refusal, accompanying it with a full explanation of the reasons which induced it. He looked upon the league as a coalition
against the Holy See, an attempt to isolate him and to reduce him to the position of a mere tool for carrying out the egotistical policy of the Tyrants. Such was the condition of Italy immediately preceding the Holy Year
proclaimed by Paul II.
CHAPTER IV.
The
Jubilee Year, 1475.—King Ferrante
visits Sixtus IV.—The Fall of Caffa and the War with the Turks.
As early as the 26th March, 1472, Sixtus IV had confirmed
his predecessor’s decision that every twenty-fifth year should be a year of Jubilee; a further Bull of the 29th August, 1473, abrogated all other Indulgences and Faculties during the Jubilee Year. In Rome itself the Pope at once
began various works of embellishment in preparation for the approaching solemnity. “From the autumn of 1474”, writes Platina, “Sixtus IV devoted himself to the beautifying of Rome. The bridge, which, from its ruinous state, had long been called by the Romans the Ponte Rotto, was rebuilt from its foundations, at great cost, of square blocks of Travertine. This restoration was an immense boon, both to the Romans and to the strangers who came
for the Jubilee, and Sixtus IV, with a justifiable pride, desired that it should bear the name of Ponte Sisto. It was a truly princely gift, and we appreciate it all the more,
when we see that no Pope before him had ever attempted it. In my opinion”, continues Platina, “this was done principally to guard against the recurrence of the disaster which occurred on the Bridge of St. Angelo, in the time of Nicholas V, and which I have already related, when, owing to a panic, numbers of pilgrims were crushed to death”.
Infessura tells us that this bridge was begun in the
spring of 1473. On the 29th of April the foundation
stone was laid. The Pope, with the Cardinals and several
prelates, proceeded to the bank of the Tiber, and, descending into the bed of the river, inserted, in the foundations, a square stone, with the inscription: “Built by Pope Sixtus IV in the year of Salvation, 1473”. Two years later the work was completed, so that this most
durable and solid, though not beautiful, bridge was ready for the use of the pilgrims in the Jubilee Year. Two inscriptions on marble tablets also for many centuries bore witness to the care of Sixtus IV for these pilgrims.
Another work of great public utility, commenced in 1472, was finished in the Jubilee Year. The Aqueduct, conducting the Aqua Virgo to Rome, which had been
almost stopped up, was cleared out and prolonged from the Quirinal to the Fontana Treve. The architectural
decorations at its mouth were entrusted to Antonio Lori of Florence and Giacomo of Ferrara. Here, as in many
other undertakings, Sixtus IV continued what Nicholas V had begun. Opposite to the simple inscription left by his predecessor, he placed one of his own, and surmounted it with a cornice which, with pillars, formed the facade.
The chief solicitude of Sixtus IV was for the restoration of those Churches and Sanctuaries which were the special
objects of the pilgrims. He had St. Peter’s thoroughly cleaned, and inserted several windows to admit more
light. He caused a portion of the wall on the left side, which was in a dangerous condition, to be strengthened. The Basilica of Constantine was cleansed, and the side aisles were refloored and embellished. The Vatican Palace was restored; the bronze equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, which was falling from age, was repaired, and placed in front of the Lateran on a larger marble pedestal decorated with trophies. The Church
of the Holy Apostles was beautified, and many of the
smaller Churches, which, even in those days, were very numerous in Rome, were renovated. “There was hardly a
chapel in the whole City”, says Sigismondo de' Conti, “to which the Pope did not contribute something in the Jubilee
Year”. Many inscriptions still remain which bear witness
to his energy in this respect.
The Cardinals vied with the Pope in their care for the Sanctuaries of the Eternal City. “The ancient saying, that the people copy their Princes, was verified”, wrote Platina, in the year 1474, “for so much building is going
on throughout Rome, that, if Sixtus lives, the whole City
will soon be transformed. Inspired by these examples, Guillaume d'Estouteville, the Cardinal Archbishop of Ostia, had vaulted the side aisles of the Basilica of the Holy Crib, now called Santa Maria Maggiore, and so embellished it, that nothing finer can be found in Rome”.
In the early part of this pontificate the restoration of the
ruined Hospital of Santo Spirito was begun. Here, also, care for the expected pilgrims was the chief inducement for taking the work in hand. Amongst many other instances of his solicitude for their welfare, we find exhortations addressed to the Italian Powers, calling on them to take care that the roads should be good and secure, to provide
a sufficient number of inns for their accommodation, and not to burden them with tolls.
Similar considerations led Sixtus IV to revert to the plans for the improvement of the streets, already contemplated by the patron of Leon Battista Alberti. In a Brief, addressed to the Papal Commissary, Girolamo de Giganti, on the 14th December, 1473, we find the following
passage: “Amongst countless other cares we must also attend to the purifying and beautification of our City; for, if any city should be clean and fair, certainly this one should be so, since, by reason of the Chair of St. Peter, it
is the head of the whole world. Considering, then, that
through the negligence of those whose duty it is to keep the streets in good order, they are in many places foul and unsightly, we command you for the future to pay special attention to this matter”. Already in the year 1474 the paving of the streets between the Bridge of S. Angelo and the Vatican was put in hand. The other principal thoroughfares were then paved with blocks of stone, the
road from Monte Mario to the Borgo repaired, and the
walls and gates of the City restored.
In the beginning of the Jubilee Year appeared the celebrated Bull, which had, for its chief provision, the renovation of Rome. It opens with the following sentences : “If it is a part of our common duty to see to the welfare of all the cities in the States of the Church, then, certainly, our best-beloved daughter, the chief City of the Church, hallowed by the blood of the Princes of the Apostles, has a special claim on our care and attention. Unhappily, many calamities have befallen her, through which her buildings have fallen into decay, and the number of her citizens has been diminished. We therefore earnestly desire to see her
population increased, her houses and palaces rebuilt, and all her other necessities duly provided for”. Many valuable proprietary rights and privileges are promised to all
who will contribute to the accomplishment of these objects.
It may easily be understood that the Pope met with great difficulties in carrying out his improvements, when
they involved clearances to be effected in the narrow streets
beyond the Leonine City, belonging to the Roman burghers.
Haughty barons could not easily be induced to sacrifice their private property, or the unkempt comfort of their dwellings, to the higher end of the common good. Thus progress was necessarily slow, but the Romans dated the
obnoxious measures from the visit of the King of Naples,
who certainly encouraged the Pope in his plans, although he was not their originator.
In December, 1474, an approaching visit from the Neapolitan monarch began to be talked of, the motives
of which were rather political than religious. Ferrante and Sixtus IV had been drawn closer together by the League of November 2, 1474, which was a cause of grave apprehension to them both. A personal interview was now to afford the opportunity of deciding on the
attitude to be adopted towards this new combination.
The reception of the King of Naples was honourable in the extreme. Rodrigo Borgia and Giuliano della Rovere, two of the most distinguished among the Cardinals, welcomed him in Terracina, on the borders of the States of the Church. When he entered Rome on the 28th January, 1475, all the Cardinals met him before the Porta S. Giovanni. Splendid festivities followed. The King and
his brilliant suite, however, remained but three days in
Rome. Infessura says that the numbers of falcons which the Neapolitans brought with them completely cleared the City and all the neighbourhood of owls.
The King and the Pope interchanged rich presents,
nor did Ferrante forget the Roman officials and the Churches. When he left Rome, on the 1st February, all the Cardinals accompanied him to the Porta S. Paola and four of their number as far as S. Paola itself, where he
heard Mass before starting for Marino, Rodrigo Borgia and Giuliano della Rovere being with him on this occasion, and Federigo of Urbino having also arrived. At Grottaferrata he received the Order of the Garter, sent to him by the King of England.
On the 8th February, 1475, the Mantuan Ambassador wrote word that Ferrante was to return to Rome secretly
by night. On the 5th a report was current that the King had come privately to the Pope. According to Paolo
della Mastro’s Chronicle, he was in Rome on the 13th and 14th February.
The subject of these interviews between the Pope and
Ferrante was at first unknown to the majority even of the Cardinals. On the 17th February, Cardinal Gonzaga thought he had some inkling of it. On that day Sixtus
IV summoned a Consistory, in which he announced that the danger from Turkey called for a general League of all the Italian Powers, and the levy of a tithe from the clergy. This decision was then imparted to the Ambassadors appointed to attend the Consistory, but the
Neapolitan Envoy was the only one who displayed any alacrity in responding to the wishes of the Pope. There can be no doubt that negotiations had also been carried
on between Sixtus IV and Ferrante regarding the attitude to be adopted by them towards the League of the 2nd November, 1474.
The concourse of Jubilee pilgrims, which commenced on Christmas Day of that year, did not at first equal the
great expectations entertained. The wars in France,
Burgundy, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Spain, and other
countries were, according to the Chronicle of Viterbo, the reason why so few people came; also, respect for the
clergy had been much shaken by former experiences.il An encouraging token of a return to a better state of feeling was, however, manifested by the much-decried courtiers, who eagerly availed themselves at Easter of the graces of the Jubilee. The pilgrims now became more and more numerous. One of the Ambassadors gives 200,000 as the number present when the Pope solemnly
blessed the people on Ascension Day. This is, no doubt, an exaggerated estimate, but the report of this eye-witness
fully establishes the fact that the concourse was immense.
Entries in the Confraternity-Book of the Church of the Anima show that a great many pilgrims, both clerical and lay, came from Germany during the “golden year”.
Among the princely personages at Rome on this occasion
we may mention Queen Dorothea of Denmark, Nicholas of Ujlak, whom Matthias Corvinus had made King of Bosnia; Anthony of Burgundy, the “Great Bastard”; and finally, Charlotte of Lusignan. Charlotte had left Rhodes on the 4th July, 1474, and was never again to see that island or Cyprus. She had gone first to her husband at Montcalier, and now journeyed to Rome, where her rights were recognized. In the latter part of May she reached Civita Vecchia, and on the 3rd June entered Rome. The
Cardinals went to meet the deposed Princess, and during her stay in Rome she was entertained at the Pope’s expense.
Sixtus IV caused the reception of Charlotte of Lusignan
to be portrayed among the frescoes in the Hospital of S. Spirito. Beneath the picture, still visible, which represents the Queen, adorned with the insignia of her rank and surrounded by her attendants, kneeling before Sixtus IV, is a somewhat fulsome inscription, which declares that the Pope received the unhappy lady with
such kindness, that, in her overflowing gratitude, she was incapable of words and could only weep. Charlotte spent the next year in Rome, supported by a pension from the Pope; a house in the Leonine City, now the Palazzo
de Convertende, was assigned to her as a residence.
The Jubilee year closed sadly for the Pope. The City
Prefect fell ill at the end of October, and died on the nth November. Sixtus IV conferred the vacant post on his nephew, Giovani della Rovere. During the same month,
the Tiber rose and overflowed a great part of the City.
The mud, which it deposits more abundantly than almost
any other river, and the continued dampness of the flooded quarter, produced malaria and pestilence. Under these circumstances, many were prevented from coming to Rome
to gain the Jubilee Indulgence. The roads had also become more insecure, and accordingly, to avoid exposing pilgrims from a distance to these risks, the Pope commanded that the Jubilee should be held at Bologna during the Eastertide of 1476, and granted the Plenary Indulgence to all who, besides fulfilling the usual conditions, should visit the Churches of S. Pietro, S. Petronio, S. Antonio, and S. Francesco in that city. Countless pilgrims, therefore, nocked to Bologna, which had never before seen so many strangers within her walls. Participation in the graces of the Jubilee Year, without leaving home, was also granted to several other foreign Princes and countries; in most cases with the condition that the Jubilee alms should be devoted to the defense of Christendom from the Turks.
Besides his consultations with the King of Naples in
the beginning of the Jubilee Year, the Pope was repeatedly occupied with the affairs of the Turkish war. Owing to
the hostile complications in which Central Europe was
involved through the Burgundian war, it had become
powerless to resist the advance of the Turks. Sixtus IV, accordingly, on the 15th February, 1475, appointed Bishop
Alexander of Forli Papal Legate for the restoration of peace. In the ensuing months the Pope made repeated
appeals to the Italian Powers for help. The state of
affairs in the East was indeed calculated to cause the greatest anxiety. Usunhassan had never been able to recover from his defeat, and thus the hand of the Sultan pressed more and more heavily on the Christians in Albania, the coasts of the Adriatic, and the Danubian Provinces. At the end of 1474 a powerful Turkish army attacked the brave Woiwode of Moldavia, Stephen the Great, who refused any longer to pay tribute. Stephen, with great skill, decoyed the superior forces of the enemy on through
the forest to the Lake of Rakowitz (north-west of Galatz), and there inflicted on them a severe defeat (10th January, 1475).
Meanwhile, a fleet of 300 sail, with 40,000 men on board, had been made ready at Constantinople. Candia was, at first, supposed to be its destination, but it took an easterly course, ran into the Black Sea, and, on the 31st of May, appeared before Caffa in the Crimea, a rich and important Genoese colony. On the 6th of June the place was in the hands of the Turks, and its fate was soon shared by
the whole southern coast of the Crimea.
Strenuous efforts for the preservation of this city had in former days been made by Popes Calixtus III, Pius II, and Paul II. The tidings of its fall reached Rome in September, 1475. Further details were soon received from the Knights of St. John, and the accounts of the cruelties exercised by the Turks on its unfortunate
inhabitants caused general horror and dismay, which were intensified by the impossibility, under the melancholy circumstances of the West, of that united defensive action which alone could have promised success. Discouraging as the result of his former attempts had been, the Pope
again fulfilled his duty. He sent special Briefs to all the
Princes of Christendom, informing them of the disaster,
and calling on them to resist the indefatigable foe. Sixtus
IV, at the same time, exhorted them to send Ambassadors
to Rome. It would seem that he still hoped to bring about
a League of all the Powers against the Osmanli; but he
met with little response! In November negotiations began, and they lasted for months. Their result may be learned from the fact that the flames of the places the
Turks had set on fire were soon visible from the belfry of
St. Mark’s. In March, 1477, Cardinal Ammanati wrote: “Our Pope is doing everything in his power. He did not
dismiss the Italian Ambassadors, as he wishes to obtain more than the tithe. The tithe from the clergy, and a
twentieth part from the Jews, has been granted to him,
but how little is that compared to such a war. What are
a few hundred thousands for the defense of a needy king against the ruler of all Asia and a good part of Europe? The assistance of the laity, so anxiously desired by His Holiness, has not yet been afforded. We strive as far as in us lies, to copy the indefatigable zeal and courage of our Father. May God enlighten our minds and hearts,
that we may not walk in darkness and the shadow of death, and, when we have lost this valiant champion, too late lament that we have not sooner known the way of
our salvation”.
CHAPTER V.
Beginning of the Rupture of Sixtus IV with Lorenzo de' Medici.
The pestilence, which had already visited Rome in the Jubilee Year, returned early in the summer of 1476, with such violence that residence in the City became almost intolerable. At the beginning of June the Pope determined to seek the heights of Viterbo; on the 3rd he commended his States to the Protection of King Ferrante; on the 10th he left Rome, accompanied by Cardinals d'Estouteville, Borgia, Carafa, Nardini, Gonzaga, and Michiel. Cardinal Cybò remained behind as Legate. Later on, the City was visited by terrible thunderstorms and tempests. The Palace of the Senate was closed, and justice was administered at the foot of the steps. Penitential processions thronged the streets. Infessura mentions one in July, in which the venerated image of our Lady from S. Maria Maggiore was carried with much devotion.
The Pope was obliged, immediately on starting, to alter
his route, for the terrible malady had appeared at Viterbo; he went, therefore, first to Campagnano, then to Vetralla, then for a time to Amelia and Narni, and finally settled at Foligno. Thence he visited Assisi, where, in the month of
August, he celebrated the Feast of St. Francis, the founder
of his Order, and venerated his relics with great devotion.
As the pestilence abated very slowly, Sixtus IV remained at Foligno until the autumn. When Cardinal Giuliano della Rovere returned, on the 4th October, from his mission to France, he found the Pope still in this charming little town,
which he only left on the 7th of the month. He spent the
first night at Spoleto, and then, probably because the Plague was still claiming many victims, travelled so slowly that he did not reach his capital until the 23rd of October.
Just as this calamitous year was closing, all Italy was struck with horror at the assassination of the Duke of Milan (26th December, 1476). This crime was a tyrant-murder
of the ancient type, and was directly attributable to the influence of ideas zealously propagated by the false
Humanist, Cola Montano. The Annals of Siena expressly
state that the conspirators had studied Sallust, and Sigismondo de' Conti also informs us that Lampugnani had, from early youth, chosen Catiline as his model.
“The peace of Italy is at an end!” exclaimed the Pope, on hearing of the death of Galeazzo Maria Sforza; and, indeed, the existing political system seemed entirely upset. The Duke of Milan was the only Prince sufficiently rich and powerful permanently to counterbalance the ambitious
King of Naples, his heir was still a child; the Regency was in the hands of the Duchess Bona, a weak woman,
entangled in the meshes of her intriguing brothers-in-law.
Fully alive to the dangers which threatened Italy, Sixtus
IV, on the first day of the new year (1477), addressed a
Brief to all the Italian Princes and Rulers, earnestly exhorting them to the maintenance of peace. Cardinal Giovanni Mellini was also sent as special Legate to Milan and Lombardy, and instructed to use every effort for the
same object. The newly-appointed Legate was a man
venerable alike for his age, his learning, and his goodness; he started on the 27th January, and returned on the 7th May.
The course of affairs in Milan was watched, not only by the Pope, but also by Lorenzo de' Medici, with the keenest interest. Peace was for the present preserved, and the Duchess remained in power, but her authority rested on
no solid foundation. Lorenzo sought in every way to confirm it. “But”, as a friend of the Medici writes, “it is perfectly incomprehensible how, at so critical a moment, when the support of Milan was most uncertain, he could think of giving just cause of complaint to neighbours whom he
knew to be already dissatisfied with him. Yet this is what he did”.
At the beginning of his reign, Sixtus IV had been very favourably inclined towards the Medici; the reception
which Lorenzo met with in Rome, the fact that the
financial affairs of the Holy See were, much to their advantage, entrusted to their care, and that the Alum works at Tolfa were farmed out to them, were plain proofs of
this good-will. If these friendly relations were of brief
duration, it was only because Lorenzo openly manifested his ungrateful purpose of making troubles for the Pope.
The Florentine Expedition against Volterra, in the year 1472, was the first occasion on which these differences
appeared. The Pope had sent auxiliary troops to aid the
Florentines in suppressing the revolt of that city; this act
of friendship towards Lorenzo led to disastrous results. After twenty-five days of bombardment, the city capitulated, on condition that the lives, honour, and property of the
burgesses should be spared. No sooner, however, had the undisciplined troops entered the place, than a general plunder began. “In vain did Federigo of Montefeltre remonstrate; Volterra was sacrificed in the most shameful
manner. This seemed to have delighted the Florentines.
When the victor came, with a heavy heart, to their city, they overwhelmed him with marks of gratitude to console
him for the wound that his honour had sustained; but the Pope saw his credit abused, and general compassion excited on behalf of the ruined city. His magisterial hand, which had been laid upon the balance in favour of the
Medici, was stained with blood”.
Then followed the purchase of Imola. The acquisition
of this territory from the Duke of Milan interfered with the designs of the Republic, which had eagerly sought an extension of its domain in that direction. Lorenzo had made the greatest efforts to make it impossible to obtain the money required. Henceforth the Court of Rome
could no longer employ him in a financial capacity. That which had once been so generously offered to him was now withdrawn. The management of the Apostolical Exchequer was transferred to the Bank of the Pazzi, who, in spite of the Medici, had advanced the sum; that was all, but it was enough.
The tension between Sixtus IV and Lorenzo was also
greatly increased by the faithless conduct of the latter at the time of the siege of Città di Castello. He repaid the assistance rendered to him by the Pope, during the war with Volterra, by vigorously supporting rebellion in the
States of the Church. The persistent aid accorded by Florence to Vitelli rendered his complete subjugation impossible. Thus the capitulation, which was at last brought about, is characterized by Cardinal Ammanati, favourably disposed as he was towards the Medici, as an insult to the victors, for the terms were dictated by the vanquished.
The next dispute had to do with a more ecclesiastical
question. On the death of Cardinal Riario, Francesco Salviati had aspired to the Archbishopric of Florence, but had been compelled to give way to Lorenzo's brother-in-law, Rinaldo Orsini. In 1474, Filippo de' Medici, Archbishop of Pisa, a man much devoted to the interests of his relations, died. Without consulting the Florentines, the Pope now raised Francesco Salviati to the vacant throne. It is not to be supposed that the Pope made
this appointment with the intention of wounding the Medici and the Republic, but from a letter of Cardinal
Giuliano to Lorenzo, it is evident that he knew it would not be welcome. The Cardinal commends the Archbishop-elect to Lorenzo, and emphatically declares that there had been no intention of offending his Magnificence by the nomination. Girolamo Riario earnestly entreated Lorenzo to overrule the opposition that would be made to the
acceptance of Salviati. As this letter was not answered, Girolamo Riario wrote again on the 26th October, 1474, and this time with his own hand. “If”, he says, “you
would have me see that I am loved by you, and that my friendship is agreeable to you, and would also have our Master perceive that you are towards His Holiness all that
I have ever declared you to be, then deal with me in this matter as you wish me to deal with you and your affairs”. Two days before this letter was written, the Pope had exhorted the Florentines to be reasonable, and to acknowledge the newly-appointed Archbishop; but neither the Republic nor Lorenzo had any idea of yielding. Lorenzo, writing to the Duke of Milan, declared that to consent to recognize the Archbishop would be to betray the honour
of the city. Early in 1475 Girolamo sent his Chancellor to Florence to enter into negotiations for an agreement; but a long time passed without any settlement. All the Pope’s exhortations failed to obtain Salviati’s reception. For three whole years the Florentines held out. Salviati remained in Rome, and the resentment which he cherished was soon shared by others. “Lorenzo”, says an historian by no means prejudiced against him, “could not fail to
perceive that this affair was seriously disturbing his relations with the Pope and his adherents. It is easy to
understand that the feeling of animosity was directed
against Lorenzo personally; men had come to look upon
him as the head of the Republic, and everything, whether good or evil, was ascribed to his influence”.
A fresh manifestation of the hostile disposition of the Florentines towards Sixtus IV occurred in the autumn of 1475. Niccolò Vitelli was then endeavouring to regain his former position in Città di Castello. The enterprise
failed, but the Pope's request, that the faithless rebel should no longer be permitted to dwell in the territory of the Republic, was refused.
After all this, it is not surprising that Sixtus IV did not grant the petition that a Florentine should be admitted into the Sacred College, but put off the Republic with hopes for the future.
In the spring of 1477 Lorenzo placed further difficulties in the Pope’s way, by encouraging the mercenary captain, Carlo Fortebraccio, to abandon the Turkish war and return to the Umbrian frontier. Carlo desired to win for himself
the quasi free city of Perugia, where his father and brother had formerly ruled. Without the consent of the Florentines this was impossible, as free passage through their States and maintenance for his troops were indispensable; but they also had designs upon the city. They wished to draw it into their league, to alienate it from the Pope
and to bring it under their own influence. They therefore
incited Carlo to attack the Sienese; he nothing loth began,
on the most frivolous pretexts, to plunder and to levy contributions in the valleys of the Chiana and the Arbia.
The Medici viewed with satisfaction these troubles of their
neighbours, hoping that they would tend to incline them to submit to their domination. Moreover, it was desirable that the Pope’s attention should be diverted from Perugia, until the conspiracy for the betrayal of the city should be mature.
The Sienese, thus attacked in time of peace, complained to the Pope and the King of Naples, and from both received
promises of assistance. Sixtus IV remembered that Carlo’s
father had threatened to make Pope Martin say twenty Masses for a bolognino. A division of the army, under
Antonio of Montefeltre, advanced to chastise the mercenary
chief, who had thus wantonly disturbed the peace of the district. Carlo Fortebraccio made a feint of going to
meet the enemy, but on a day agreed upon with some of
the nobles who were in league with him, suddenly appeared before Perugia. Happily the plot was discovered, and the
seizure of the place prevented. Carlo thus saw the scheme, for whose accomplishment he had come to Tuscany, frustrated, and, as the hostile army had meanwhile increased in strength, he retired first to Montone and afterwards to Florence. Duke Federigo of Montefeltre had, by this time,
led a large force into the Perugian territory. Montone was surrounded. The stronghold of the Bracci stood on a steep height, and was defended by lofty walls and various
outworks, erected by the old Condottiere. All the plunder amassed by Fortebraccio was collected in this mountain fortress, and his wife, who was in charge, appeared with dishevelled hair, urging the garrison to offer a brave resistance. Carlo himself also sent messengers and letters from Florence to encourage them, promising that a powerful army should soon arrive to raise the siege, for he was
assured of the assistance of the Medici and their allies ; but no castle had yet been able to hold out against Federigo, a stormer of cities like Demetrius, the son of Antigonus. The troops sent from Florence were repulsed, and Montone compelled to capitulate. “As pardon had been promised to them”, says Sigismondo de' Conti, they remained unharmed from first to last, and were, moreover,
through the Pope's goodness, indemnified for their losses, but the walls were destroyed, and a nest of rebellion was thus rooted out”.
The Sienese from this time forth were greatly alarmed: they concluded a close alliance with Sixtus IV and
Ferrante of Naples (8th February, 1478). Lorenzo himself could cherish no illusions as to the untoward position in which his own fault had placed him. He looked round
about him for allies. He thought he might depend upon
Milan, and then turned to Venice to ask if he might, in
case of necessity, reckon on the troops of the Republic ; the answer was in the affirmative. Interests and parties became more and more sharply separated. Sixtus IV, Count Girolamo, Ferrante, and Siena being on one side, and Florence, Venice, and Milan on the other.
Lorenzo’s attitude towards the Pope remained unchanged. It is hard to discover in these proceedings his customary
circumspection and political penetration. Even his biographer, Niccolo Valori, is not able to reconcile his conduct
towards Sixtus IV with the claims of either statesmanship or gratitude.
CHAPTER VI.
The Conspiracy of the Pazzi, 1478.
At the beginning of the year 1478 the tension between Rome and Florence was such as to render a catastrophe almost inevitable. Wherever the opportunity had occurred,
Lorenzo de' Medici had thwarted the Pope; he had done everything in his power to prevent the consolidation of the
temporal principality of the Pope and to foster the elements
of weakness which existed in the States of the Church.
His ambition and masterfulness had increased beyond all
bounds: he would have been prepared to sacrifice even the
precious blessing of ecclesiastical unity to carry out his own
schemes. His confidential letter of the 1st February, 1477, to Baccio Ugolini shows that he would have contemplated
a schism without shrinking. In this letter he says, in so many words: “For any one in my position, the division of power is advantageous, and, if it were possible without scandal, three or four Popes would be better than a single one”.
The downfall of the Medici, who had become the very soul of the anti-Papal agitation in Italy, appeared the only hope of security for the future. No one maintained this view with more warmth and eloquence than the Pope’s nephew, Girolamo Riario, who felt that, as long as that family governed Florence, his hold upon Imola must remain
precarious. The weakness of Sixtus IV allowed to Girolamo an overweening influence in public affairs, and his ambition had become absolutely unbounded since his marriage with Caterina Sforza (May, 1472), a woman of a spirit kindred to his own. “I am not”, she said,
“Duke Galeazzo’s daughter for nothing : I have his brains in my head”.
Lorenzo, more or less by his own fault, had made many enemies in Florence as well as in Rome. Eaten up with
pride, he cared for no one and tolerated no rival. Even in games he would always be first. He interfered in everything, even in the private lives of the citizens, and in
their marriages; nothing could be done without his consent.
In the work of casting down the mighty and raising up those of low degree, he refused to act with that consideration and discretion which Cosmo had always been careful
to observe. Among the old nobility, in particular, there was great dissatisfaction. It was an essential part of the policy of the Medici to prevent any family, even if allied or related to their own, from becoming too powerful or too
rich. Lorenzo de' Medici carried out this principle to the utmost. The Pazzi soon perceived that he was planning
their ruin. They saw themselves excluded from all honourable offices and influential positions in the Republic, and at last found their property also attacked. Grievances such as these drove them into the party of Lorenzo’s opponents, whose motto was, the Liberty of the Republic.
The enemies of the Medici soon formed themselves into two groups, one of which gathered round the Pazzi, and the other round Girolamo Riario. The hostility of the Pazzi towards the Medici was purely political, or, perhaps, social and political, in its character. With Sixtus IV and his
right hand, Riario, its motives were chiefly ecclesiastical.
The indignation of the Florentine nobility against the purse-proud tyranny of the Medici was so deep and so wide-spread that, independently of Roman influence or co-operation, it must sooner or later have led to a catastrophe such as it had often already produced. The outbreak was hastened on by the alliance of the Pazzi with Girolamo, which had become closer since the purchase of Imola.
It is uncertain whether the idea of effecting a change in the form of government in Florence by violent means originated with the Pazzi or with Girolamo. However this may be, Francesco de' Pazzi, the Roman banker, was quite as active and as eager in the matter as Riario. Together they induced the Archbishop of Pisa, Francesco Salviati, who was living at the Roman Court, and very bitter against the Medici, to join them.
The first most important point was to discover what line the Pope would take in regard to their plan. There
was no doubt that, in his present state of irritation, he would favour any attempt to bring about a change of
government in Florence. But Girolamo Riario was also well aware that his uncle would not lend himself to any
undertaking which could imperil the honour of the Papacy. They must aim at securing a free hand to carry out the revolution, without letting the Pope know how it was
to be accomplished. He must be led to believe that the ill-will in Florence against the Medici was already so great
that they could be easily overthrown in the usual manner,
that is to say, by an insurrection without assassination.
Giovan Batista da Montesecco, a vassal of Riario’s, was selected, after the blow had been struck, to march into Florence with an armed force, and follow up the advantage gained. He consented, but warned the conspirators that the business might not be so readily accomplished as they thought.
Montesecco had also another misgiving as to what the Pope would say to the plan. The answer given by Girolamo and Salviati is most significant. “Our Lord, the Pope”, they said, “will always do what we persuade him, and he is angry with Lorenzo, and earnestly desires this”. “Have you spoken to him of it?”. “Certainly”,
was the reply, “and we will arrange that he shall also speak of it to you”.
This interview, at which Salviati and Girolamo alone were present, soon-took place. According to the later and
thoroughly credible statement of Montesecco, the Pope
from the first declared that he wished for a change of government in Florence, but without the death of any man.
“Holy Father”, replied Montesecco, “these things can
hardly be done without the death of Lorenzo and Giuliano,
and, perhaps, of others also”.
The Pope answered : “On no
condition will I have the death of any man: it is not our office to consent to the death of any, and, even if Lorenzo is a villain (villano), and has wronged us, I in no way desire
his death; what I do desire is a change of government”.
Girolamo then said, “What is possible shall be done to
avoid such a casualty, but if it should occur, will your Holiness forgive its authors?”.
“You are a brute”, rejoined Sixtus, “I tell you I do not desire the death of any man,
but only a change in the government; and to you also,
Giovan Battista, I say that I greatly wish that the government of Florence should be taken out of Lorenzo’s hands, for he is a villain and an evil man, and has no consideration
for us, and if he were out of the way we should be able to arrange matters with the Republic according to our mind, and this would be a great advantage”.
“What your Holiness says is true”, said Riario and the Archbishop.
“If, after a change of government in Florence, the State is at your disposal, your Holiness will be able to lay down
the law for half of Italy, and everyone will have an interest
in securing your friendship. Therefore, be content to let us do all that we can for the attainment of this end”.
Hereupon Sixtus IV again spoke very decidedly, without any reserve or ambiguity. “I tell you”, he said, “I will not.
Go and do as seems good to you, but no one’s life is to be taken”.
At the close of the audience, he gave his consent
to the employment of armed men. Salviati said, as he withdrew: “Holy Father, be content to let us steer this bark, we will guide her safely”. The Pope said, “I am content”. Sixtus IV could only understand that those present fell in with his views, and he gave his consent.
The Pope, who had grown up in the cloister, and was little acquainted with the world, evidently believed that the advance of the troops assembled on the frontiers of the Republic, to join the discontented Florentines, would make it possible to overpower and capture the Medici. The conspirators had other views. After repeated consultations, Girolamo and Salviati determined to act in opposition to the clearly expressed desire of the Pope. Preparations were at once commenced.
It is important to observe that Sixtus IV again sent a
message through a Bishop to urge the confederates to consider the honour of the Holy See and of Girolamo himself. Had he known anything of the purpose of assassination, such an exhortation would have been absolutely
meaningless. For, even if it succeeded, if both the Medici
fell at once, and the Republic declared itself free, the honour of the Holy See would be compromised. Sixtus IV accordingly remained, as is perfectly clear from the
whole of Montesecco’s deposition, under the impression that the plan was to take both the Medici prisoners: Lorenzo on his journey to or from Rome, Giuliano perhaps on his way from Piombino, and then to issue a Proclamation
from the Republic. An unprejudiced critic cannot arrive at any other conclusion from the documents before us.
Circumstances had hitherto been unfavourable to the
execution of the scheme. As, however, many had been initiated, it became necessary to act promptly, to avoid the
risk of discovery. Francesco de' Pazzi had at last won
over his brother Jacopo, the head of the family : among the
other conspirators may be named, Bernardo di Bandini
Baroncelli and Napoleone Franzesi Jacopo, son of the well-known Humanist, Poggio Bracciolini, two of the Salviati,
and two clerics, Stefano of Bagnone, a dependent of Jacopo de' Pazzi, and Antonio Maffei of Volterra, who had been led to take part in the plot by grief at the misfortunes of his native city, whose ruin he attributed to Lorenzo. Francesco de' Pazzi and Bandini were to murder Giuliano, while Lorenzo was to be killed by Montesecco; Salviati was to seize the Signorial Palace, and Jacopo de' Pazzi to arouse the Florentines.
Just at this time, in the spring of 1478, the young Cardinal Rafaello Sansoni-Riario came to Florence, in consequence of an outbreak of the Plague at Pisa, and
took up his abode at the Villa of the Pazzi. According to the original plan, the Medici were to be assassinated at a banquet; but, as Giuliano was prevented by indisposition
from attending it, the murder was postponed. Cardinal Rafaello, who was but eighteen, had no suspicion of all that was going on, and held free and friendly intercourse with Lorenzo de' Medici. Lorenzo repeatedly urged him
to visit his Palace and the Cathedral, and Rafaello Sansoni promised to do so on Sunday, the 26th April, 1478. The conspirators determined to take advantage of this favourable opportunity for carrying out their purpose.
Lorenzo had invited a brilliant company to dinner in honour of the Cardinal. Many Ambassadors and Knights, among them Jacopo de' Pazzi and Francesco Salviati, were invited. On the morning of the eventful day, the Cardinal, with a few companions, among whom were the Archbishop and Montesecco, went into the city. Giuliano de' Medici
excused himself from the feast on the plea of ill-health,
but promised to be present in the Cathedral. This caused a change of purpose, and the church, instead of the
banqueting-hall, was selected as the scene of the murder.
Montesecco, however, at the last moment refused to perpetrate the crime in the Cathedral, either because he shrank from shedding blood in a church, or, on maturer consideration, from the affair altogether. In his stead, the two clerics, Stefano and Maffei, undertook the deed.
The beginning of the second part of the High Mass was the signal of action for the conspirators. With the cry “Ah! traitor!” Bernardo di Bandini Baroncelli made a rush at Giuliano, and plunged his dagger in his side. Severely wounded as he was, he strove to defend himself, and, in doing so, pushed against Francesco de' Pazzi, from
whom he received a thrust in the breast. After this he staggered about fifty paces further, and then fell to the ground, where Francesco de' Pazzi stabbed him repeatedly till life was extinct. Stefano and Maffei had meanwhile attacked Lorenzo, but only wounded him slightly. While his servants and some youths warded off further blows with their cloaks, he fled into the old sacristy, and its bronze door
was fastened at once by Angelo Poliziano.
All this was the work of a moment. Very few persons could see exactly what took place. This, and the horror which paralyzed the senses of the immediate witnesses, accounts for the many variations in the details which have reached us. Those who were at a little distance did not
know what was going on, and many thought that the dome of the Cathedral was about to fall in.
Salviati’s attempt to take possession of the Signorial Palace was equally a failure. Jacopo de' Pazzi’s cry of liberty met with no response, while the people rose on all
sides to that of “Palle” (the balls in the armorial bearings of the Medici). The slaughter of the guilty at once began.
Archbishop Salviati, his brother, and his nephew Jacopo
Bracciolini, with Francesco de' Pazzi, were all hung up
together from the window-bars of the Signorial Palace. Then the ropes were cut, so that the bodies fell amidst the
crowd, where they were torn in pieces, and the severed heads and limbs borne in triumph through the streets. All who were supposed to be enemies of the Medici,
whether guilty or innocent, were butchered. The two
assassins who had fallen upon Lorenzo had their noses and
ears cut off before they were killed.
Montesecco was seized on the 1st, and beheaded on the 4th, May. Neither his withdrawal at the last moment, nor the disclosures which he made in regard to the ramifications of the conspiracy, availed to mitigate his sentence. His statements are of. the greatest importance in their bearing on the question of the participation of Sixtus IV in the events of the 26th April. It is certain that he desired that the Medici should be overthrown by force. It is
equally certain that he can have known nothing beforehand of the details of the attempted assassination, for these were
only arranged in haste on the very morning of the deed, when it had been found necessary to abandon the plan of murdering the brothers at a banquet.
The further question, whether Sixtus IV approved of the
murderous intention of the conspirators, must be answered in the negative. Had this been the case, Montesecco,
whose interest it was to make the least of his own share
in the crime, would scarcely have concealed the fact His depositions bear upon them the stamp of truth; they have sometimes been taken in their obvious sense, and sometimes arbitrarily interpreted. In face of such evidence, to continue to make the Pope an abettor in the murder is worse now than it was 400 years ago.
It is, however, deeply to be regretted that a Pope should play any part in the history of a conspiracy. Lorenzo had given Sixtus IV good ground for a declaration of war; the principle of self-preservation demanded active measures for future security, and amongst them, the overthrow of this malignant enemy; but open warfare would certainly have been more worthy of a Pontiff than participation in a
political plot, even had it involved no bloodshed.
CHAPTER VII.
The
Tuscan War.—French Intervention in Favour of the
Florentines.
An unsuccessful conspiracy always strengthens the power
against which it has been directed. Lorenzo, who showed admirable skill and tact in making the most of his advantage, now rose to absolute power in Florence. Even those who had hitherto been heartily opposed to him, from Republican convictions, came over to his side. The
baseness of this attack on his life, to which was added the
abuse of the sacred place and the most solemn act of worship, and the presence of a Cardinal, had called forth
the greatest indignation. Immediately after the failure of the plot, this anger found vent in the indiscriminate slaughter of all the enemies of the Medici; and, as time went on, far too much license was permitted to the mob. Twenty-three days after the event, boys were allowed to drag the half-clad corpse of Jacopo de' Pazzi through the streets, and fling it, with ghastly jibes, into the Arno.
Cruel reprisals continued even into the year 1480: a well-informed contemporary doubts the guilt of those then
sentenced. Renato de' Pazzi, a peaceful man, devoted to study, who had refused to take any part in the conspiracy, was certainly innocent. Nevertheless, he was executed. Bandini was pursued to Constantinople, where the Sultan gave him up to Lorenzo. This circumstance, and, in a yet
greater degree, the letters of condolence which he received from all sides, from Princes and Republics, Statesmen and Cardinals, helped to make him haughtier than ever.
Many ecclesiastics who had nothing to do with the conspiracy were also executed. The Archbishop of Pisa
was brutally scourged, without trial of any sort, and Cardinal Rafaello Sansoni-Riario, although perfectly innocent, was imprisoned. These things greatly angered Sixtus IV. Sigismondo de' Conti thus describes his feelings
when the tidings first arrived from Florence. “The Pope
expressed his horror at the crime, in which the conspirators
had added sacrilege to murder. He was also deeply grieved at the danger of Cardinal Sansoni, the disgraceful slaughter of innocent priests, and the ignominious death of the Archbishop. He saw that a serious indignity had been inflicted
on the Church. This latter point was specially distressing to him, because it made peace impossible, for it would be a dangerous example for the future, if those who had so
gravely infringed her rights were to be left unpunished”. Accordingly, Sixtus IV claimed satisfaction from the Florentines for their violations of ecclesiastical immunities, and also demanded the liberation of Cardinal Sansoni, and the banishment of Lorenzo.
The first two demands were undoubtedly just. Donato
Acciaiuoli, the Florentine Ambassador in Rome, though
he had been deeply affronted by Riario, strongly advised his Government to fulfil the promise which they had made in writing to release the unoffending Cardinal. Florence, he observed, gained nothing by his detention, and the refusal to comply with the righteous request of the Pope must lead to serious danger. But the reasonable representations of their trusty servant, and Ferrante’s warning not to add fuel to the fire, were alike unheeded.
It was decided that the Cardinal should for the time be retained in captivity, as a hostage for the safety of the Florentines in Rome. On the 24th May, Sixtus IV sent
the Bishop of Perugia to the city with a letter from the
Cardinal-Camerlengo to Lorenzo, informing him that a
commission was already appointed to commence proceedings against the Republic, unless the Cardinal was at once set free. Venice also advised the Florentines not to give their enemies just cause of complaint by keeping
Sansoni in prison. All, however, was in vain; although there had been ample time to establish the innocence of the young Prelate, they would not hurry themselves, and matters daily grew worse.
Sixtus IV was at last weary of waiting. He would,
no doubt, have preferred a reconciliation with Florence,
but that had been rendered impossible. Accordingly, on the 1st June, fully four weeks after the tragedy, and, therefore, when the excitement of the first moment
had subsided, he issued a Bull excommunicating Lorenzo and his adherents. The Bull began by enumerating the whole series of Florentine offences : the protection afforded to the Pope’s enemies, the attack on the Papal territory,
the hindrances placed in the way of those who were going to Rome, and the detention of convoys carrying provisions to the Court there, finally their treatment of Francesco
Salviati. Passing on to the events which had succeeded the conspiracy, Sixtus IV declared that the vengeance taken in the form of executions and banishments had been
cruel and excessive. Lorenzo, the Gonfaloniere, and the
Prior in their mad fury, and by the instigation of the devil, had even laid hands on ecclesiastics. They had hanged the Archbishop at the window of the Palace in the sight
of the crowd, and, cutting the rope, allowed the corpse to fall down into the street. Other innocent clerics, of whom some belonged to the suite of Cardinal Sansoni, had also suffered death. Finally, although the Bishop of Perugia
had been sent as Legate to apply, in the name of the
Pope, for the release of the Cardinal, he had not been released. On account of these crimes, the sentence of the
greater Excommunication was pronounced against Lorenzo and the other functionaries, and, in the event of these
guilty persons not being delivered up, the city would be laid
under an Interdict and its Archiepiscopal dignity cancelled. In spite of the severity of this Bull the Cardinal was still kept in prison, though the rigor of his captivity
was somewhat mitigated. Its character may be gathered from the description a Sienese chronicler gives of his appearance when he was at length set free. “On the 13th June”, says Allegro Allegretti, “Cardinal Sansoni-Riario
came to Siena, more dead than alive from the terror he had endured, and still feeling as if the rope were about
his neck”.
On the 20th June the Cardinal arrived in Rome. The deadly pallor of his face bore witness to the torments he had undergone, and this he retained to the end of his life.
Francesco Gonzaga had left the City two days previously for Bologna, where the friendship of the Bentivogli with the Medici awakened some anxiety. The instructions
given to Gonzaga betray the Pope’s uneasiness, and his consciousness of the bad impression produced by Florentine events. They also show that there had been a possibility of reconciliation; for, after exhorting the Bolognese to be faithful, Sixtus IV observes, “We have not taken it ill,
nor do we blame our people for their friendliness towards the Florentines when the tidings of these disturbances first reached them. On the contrary, we approved of this
manifestation of sympathy with their neighbours, as the Republic had as yet done nothing against the Church, and we ourselves wrote to Florence to express our regret at the occurrence. But, now that they have committed such shameful outrages on the ecclesiastical state, and have incurred the censures of the Church for their persistent
violations of her rights, the Bolognese can no longer in
honour continue to stand by them. Such a course would
constitute an attack upon us, and would not assist them”.
The long-deferred, but practically inevitable, release of the Cardinal, whose innocence could not be denied, was the
only concession made by Florence to the Pope. The Excommunication was despised; the Interdict, pronounced on the 20th June, was disregarded; and the alliance of other Powers, especially that of France, was sought. Memorandums, couched in violent language, and evading any real answer to the very definite charges made by the Pope, threats of a Schism, and preparations for war
were the only reply vouchsafed by the once pious and fastidiously refined Florentines to the exhortations of Sixtus IV, who was convinced of the justice of his cause.
Although the Florentine Government set the Excommunication and Interdict at naught and constrained the clergy to perform their sacred functions, they still complained of the distress which these censures had occasioned. The document known by the name of the Synodus
Florentina bears eloquent testimony to the fanatically anti-Roman temper of the party of the Medici. In it Sixtus IV is called “the adulterer’s minion” and the “Vicar of the
Devil”. He is loaded with accusations, and the hope is
expressed that God may deliverHis people from false shepherds who come in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravening wolves.
War began in July. Ferrante, hoping by this means to gain Siena, espoused the Pope’s cause. Lorenzo looked for
support to Venice and Milan, and especially to Louis XI, King of France.
The relations between this monarch and Sixtus IV had,
from the first, been precarious. In 1472 he had, indeed, sent an Embassy to Rome to do homage, but it soon became evident that the King adhered to his former policy
of holding the Pragmatic Sanction and the Council over the Pope’s head, to be used as a bait or a rod according
to circumstances. The agreement arrived at by direct negotiation with Rome, in the summer of 1472, lasted but a short time. The University resisted it as contrary to the
Basle Decrees. Although Louis XI. ratified the Concordat on the 31st October, 1472, the Pragmatic Sanction continued practically in force.
The Mission of the Bishop of Viterbo to France made no change in the state of affairs. In the following year the tension between France and Rome
increased. At the French Court it was asserted that the
creation of Cardinals by Sixtus IV on the 7th May, 1473, was simoniacal. The Pope justified himself in a letter
addressed to the King on the 22nd August, 1473. Louis’
reply is a combination of reclamations and insults. He angrily complained that the Pope had passed over the
names of those whom he had proposed for the purple, while the wishes of other Princes were taken into consideration. He thought that he deserved better treatment than this, after having abolished the Pragmatic Sanction in his kingdom. He concludes with an appeal to Almighty God and to St. Peter and St. Paul!
At the end of 1474 Sixtus IV had remonstrated with the King about his breach of the treaty of I472. Louis answered by issuing an Ordinance on the 8th January, 1475, for the protection of Gallican liberties, making the Royal Placet necessary for the publication of all Papal Decrees. Measures of a more hostile character soon followed. The King began to agitate for the holding of a General Council, in which the Church might be reformed,
and a lawful Pope elected in the place of Sixtus IV, who had obtained his elevation by simony. Secret Dispatches,
taken from a Hungarian Envoy, show that Louis was seeking to win over the Emperor Frederick to this scheme.
The King of Hungary, upon this, represented to the Duke of Burgundy that he and the King of Naples thought that the only way of counteracting these manoeuvres was for the Pope himself at once to summon a Council. He had obtained the consent of Sixtus IV, and urged the Duke to join them.
In January, 1476, Louis XI issued a decree convening
an Assembly of the French Church at Lyons. Thus, the
Council so much dreaded in Rome threatened to assume a tangible form. There can be no doubt that the Mission of the Legate, Giuliano della Rovere, to France was connected with this movement. His presence there was also rendered desirable by the state of affairs in Avignon, of which city Giuliano was Archbishop; to this dignity was now added that of Papal Legate. Louis XI, who was by no means favourably disposed towards the Cardinal, did everything in his power to have the former Legate, Charles of Bourbon, reappointed. A violent dispute ensued, in which it seemed probable that Avignon would have been lost to the Holy See. At last the difficulty was settled
by the elevation of Charles of Bourbon to the purple. Giuliano founded a College in Avignon for poor students, and was received with great honour in Rome when he returned in the autumn. In the difficult negotiations with the French monarch, he received much assistance from his
skilful judicial adviser, Giovanni Cerretani.
In March, 1476, while Giuliano was still in France, a letter from Louis XI was affixed to the door of St. Peter’s,
commanding all Cardinals, Prelates, and Bishops of his
kingdom to appear at Lyons on the 1st May, to deliberate upon the assembling of a General Council. In the latter
part of April a French Embassy presented to the Pope the strange request that he would consent that a Council should be held at Lyons, and would be present there in
person! Naturally, this request was not granted. For a considerable time it was reported that the Pope, in order to
be beforehand with the opposition, would himself summon a General Council to meet in Rome. In the end, neither
Assembly came to anything.
Trusting in the schismatical tendencies of Louis XI, Lorenzo had, on the 2nd May, 1478, begged him to interfere in the contest between Florence and Rome, and a little later had recommended that the usual means of intimidation, the proposal to hold a Council, should be employed. Louis XI did not need much persuasion. “The King”,
writes a contemporary Ambassador, “has long cherished the plan of bringing about a schism in the Church. That which has taken place in Florence has furnished him with
an excellent pretext. He is, therefore, sending Philippe de Commines to Turin, Milan, and Florence. Commines will not go to Venice, the King being persuaded that, in consideration of the close alliance existing between him and the Signoria, the intimation of his wishes by a simple letter will suffice”.
Sixtus IV did not allow himself to be cast down by the
threats of the French King. On the nth July an outbreak of the Plague obliged him to betake himself to Bracciano
where he was joined by the representatives of Venice, Milan, Florence, and Ferrara, together with two new French
Envoys. On the 1st August all the Envoys met together
in the Castle of the Orsini, and declared that the conduct of Sixtus IV towards Florence and towards Lorenzo was a scandal to Christendom, because it hindered the Turkish
war. Repeated requests for the removal of the censures had been made to him without any effect. For this reason, and also because all countries, chiefly through the faults of their rulers, needed thorough reform, they demanded the assembly of a Council in France. On the 16th August Louis XI strictly forbade the transmission of any money to Rome. In September the temporal and spiritual
magnates of France met at Orleans. They left it to the King’s choice, either in the following year to summon a National Council at Lyons, or to prevail on the Pope to hold an Ecumenical Council. Louis XI. deemed it best to attempt the latter alternative.
At the beginning of December, 1478, Sixtus IV, with the object of counteracting French intervention in the contest with Florence, as well as the schismatic tendencies of Louis XI and his Italian allies, sent two Nuncios to the Emperor Frederick III, requesting his mediation and assistance.
The Ambassadors of the King of France reached Rome in January, 1479, and at once presented a memorial desiring the assembling of a General Council. Sixtus IV replied that, if it were possible, such a measure would be very agreeable to him. At the same time, he made it plain that the Pope presides in an Ecumenical Council, and that to
him belongs the right to summon it. He pointed out that the Prelates, who are all bound to maintain the liberty of the Church, would sit in it. No one of them would say
that Lorenzo had the right to cause the Archbishop of Pisa to be ignominiously executed. All would rather be
of opinion that he ought first to have been sentenced by an
ecclesiastical tribunal. No Council could be called without
the consent of the Emperor and the other Princes. The summoning of such an Assembly belongs to the Pope, and he would take council with the Cardinals on the subject. Sixtus IV went on to speak in detail of the ecclesiastical policy of Louis XI. As to the Pragmatic Sanction, he said, either it was a just measure, in which case the King ought not to have revoked it, or an unjust one, in which case he ought not to think of reviving it. In recalling the Prelates from Rome, he had done wrong: their Superior is the Pope. The King would do better to lead Lorenzo to acknowledge his errors, and to persuade him to make fitting atonement; if he did this, he would obtain pardon, and all
else would be easily settled. A Papal Ambassador had,
moreover, been sent to France, and would be able to give the King further explanations. Numerous letters received from members of the clergy bear witness to the indignation that would be felt if the Pope did not appear
as the avenger of the insults offered to the Church in Florence.
On the 15th February another Consistory was held, and
the Emperor’s Ambassadors, who had meanwhile arrived, took part in it. They expressed themselves with decision regarding the rights of the Holy See, and did not think a Council necessary, but were of opinion that the Pope should
deal mercifully with the Florentines, and conclude a peace,
considering the present danger from the Turks.
Most of the Cardinals also desired the restoration of peace, but Count Girolamo and Ferrante laboured with all their might against it, and were at first successful.
The uncertain attitude of Bologna at this time caused
the greatest anxiety to Sixtus IV, and Cardinal Gonzaga was sent there.
In the struggle with Florence, things at last seemed
taking a more favourable turn, for, on the 4th April, 1479, the ecclesiastical censures were suspended, and a temporary cessation of hostilities proclaimed by the Pope.
Emboldened by this partial success, the Florentines, on the 28th April, rejected the terms of peace then proposed by him. In order to bring pressure to bear upon Sixtus
IV, on the 27th May the League, through the Venetian Ambassador, declared that, unless within a period of eight days he should agree to a peace, their representatives
should be instructed to leave Rome. Sixtus IV was justly astounded at this communication, which was tantamount to a refusal to make any concession to his demands. The limit of eight days, also, was an insult, since it was obviously impossible for him to conclude a peace without the consent of his allies, Naples and Siena. On the 31st May the Ambassadors again assembled in the Pope’s presence for further negotiations. Sixtus IV caused a long statement to be read, showing that he had tried
every possible means for the restoration of peace. The Venetian Ambassador replied in a speech in which he
greatly incensed the Pope, by dwelling largely on the obnoxious topic of the Council. When the French Ambassador, in the name of his master, and in accord with
the League, endeavoured to enter a protest against the failure of the negotiations, Sixtus IV brought the meeting to a close. Soon after this the Envoys of the League left Rome, unaccompanied, however, by those of the French King.
The position of the Florentines grew much worse in
the autumn. Discontent was more and more openly
expressed; Lorenzo was told to his face that the city was weary of war and needed peace. It became evident that there was no hope of assistance from Louis XI, and this conviction had a great effect on public feeling.
In his necessity Lorenzo boldly resolved to go himself as a suppliant to Naples (6th December, 1479). The utter faithlessness of Ferrante now became evident. Regardless alike of the alliance concluded with the Pope, and of the
loyalty which he owed to his suzerain, he did not hesitate to betray him. The treaty of peace, which was the result
of his negotiations with Lorenzo and Lodovico il Moro,
regarded nothing but his own interests, although he had but recently sworn that he would lose ten kingdoms and his crown rather than let Lorenzo go without securing the conditions desired by Sixtus. The Pope bitterly complained that the victory which had been in his hands was niched away, as it were, behind his back; but, that no
one might accuse him of being an obstacle in the way of peace, he ratified the treaty, stipulating, however, that Lorenzo should come in person to Rome; from this time the Tuscan war languished.
Meanwhile Otranto had been taken by the Turks, and this loss did more than anything else to turn attention from these internal disputes to the dangers in the East,
and to remove the last obstacles in the way of a complete
reconciliation. The advantage which the Florentines derived from the altered condition of affairs was so manifest that many voices were heard which accused Lorenzo of having encouraged the Sultan to attack Apulia. Florence decided to send a solemn Embassy to Rome, praying for the removal of the Interdict. It arrived on the 25th November, 1480, and the negotiations for peace were promptly brought to a happy conclusion. On the 3rd December the Florentines were released from all ecclesiastical censures.
CHAPTER VIII.
Turkish
Expeditions against Rhodes and Otranto.
It has always been a part of the policy of the Eastern conquerors to profit by the quarrels of the Western Powers. From this point of view the last thirty years of the 15th Century had been an exceptionally favourable period for the Sultan. Half Europe was convulsed with wars, and, from 1478, Rome, hitherto always the foremost in the defense of Christendom, had been involved in an unholy struggle, with the result that for a time Sixtus IV did nothing in this direction.
From 1477 the outlook in the East had grown more
and more gloomy. In May of that year, while a Turkish army blockaded Lepanto and Leucadia, Achmed Bey
attacked Kroja, the capital of Albania, and, on the 15th June, 1478, this stronghold was compelled to capitulate.
Schabljak, Alessio, and Drivasto also fell into the hands of the Turks; only Antivari and Scodra continued to hold out though besieged.
Even more distressing than these losses were the barbarous incursions of the Turks into the Austrian Alpine Provinces, Friuli, and Upper Italy. The Tuscan war deprived the Venetians of all hope of assistance from their
fellow-countrymen; and an alarming outbreak of the Plague added yet more to their discouragement. The Signoria
took the momentous resolution of abandoning the contest.
On the 25th January, 1479, a treaty of peace was signed at
Stamboul by Giovanni Dario, the Venetian Commissioner. The conditions were hard. Not only Kroja and Scodra,
the Albanian chieftains, and the house of Tocco, but also
even Euboea and Lemnos were abandoned to the enemy; however, the trade of the Republic with the Levant was
preserved. From this moment a period begins during
which the whole policy of Venice is devoted to the one object of maintaining this advantage.
In the very nature of things, for a conquering state there is no standing still. This was evident after the great successes gained by the Turks over the first naval power of the West. In the summer of 1479, Leonardo Tocco the Third was driven from Leucadia. The unfortunate man sought refuge in Rome, where the number of fugitives from the East was constantly increasing. Sixtus IV generously
gave him 1000 ducats at once, and allowed him twice that sum as a yearly pension, promising to do more when better times should come.
The next year an attempt was made to put an end to the rule of the Knights of St. John in Rhodes. They had been the terror of the Turks, and the object of their
bitterest hatred. As there was no Christian naval power now to be feared, the task seemed an easy one; but the
heroic valour of Pierre d'Aubusson and his Knights wrought marvels, and this last bulwark of Eastern Christendom was saved for a time (Summer of 1480). Tidings of the approach of succour from the West hastened
the departure of the Turks. Sixtus IV had granted a special Indulgence to all who should do anything to aid
the Knights; had called upon the Italian Powers to assist them, and besides himself sending two ships with provisions and war materials, was preparing for further exertions.
Western Christendom had not yet recovered from the
agitation caused by the struggle in Rhodes, when a fresh disaster filled all hearts with terror and dismay.
Mahomet had long been gazing with covetous eyes on the wealth of Italy, the seat of his great enemy, the Papacy. There can be no doubt that the insane jealousy of Venice
at the increase of the power of Naples, hurried on the impending attack. If the Signoria did not actually invite the Turks into Italy, they certainly allowed them to believe that their arrival would be far from unwelcome to them.
The result appeared in the dispatch of a Turkish fleet, with a number of troops on board, to Apulia. On the 11th August, 1480, Otranto was in the hands of the Infidel.
Of its 22,000 inhabitants, 12,000 were put to death with terrible tortures, and the rest carried away into slavery. The aged Archbishop, who, with heroic courage, had remained to the last before the altar imploring the help of God, was sawn in two, as was also the Governor. Indescribable horrors were perpetrated. Many captives, who refused to become Mahometans, were slaughtered on a hill before the city, and their bodies thrown to the dogs.
The tidings that the victorious banner of the Crescent
had been planted on Italian soil produced unutterable consternation. “In Rome”, says Sigismondo de' Conti,
“the alarm was as great as if the enemy had been already
encamped before her very walls. Terror had taken such hold of all minds that even the Pope meditated flight. I was at that time in the Low Countries, in the suite of the Cardinal Legate Giuliano, and I remember that he was commissioned to prepare what was necessary at Avignon, for Sixtus IV had decided upon taking refuge with the French,
if the state of affairs in Italy should become worse”.
Ferrante’s dismay was even greater than that of the Pope. His son, Alfonso, was immediately recalled from Tuscany, and the assistance of Sixtus IV, and all the other Princes
of Italy, vehemently invoked with the threat that, unless active support were speedily given, he would throw in his
lot with the Sultan for the destruction of all the others.
We see, from the report of a contemporary historian on the Papal side, how unfriendly were the relations between the Pope and the King of Naples at this time. “Sixtus IV”, he writes, “would have witnessed with great indifference the misfortunes and losses of his faithless ally, had Ferrante's enemy been any one but the Sultan; but it was a very different matter when the common foe of Christendom had actually got a footing on Italian soil, and speedily the Papacy and Rome itself were threatened with utter ruin, unless he were promptly expelled. He at once sent all the money that
he could get together, permitted tithes to be levied from all the clergy in the kingdom, and promised a Plenary Indulgence to all Christians enlisting under the banner of the Cross”.
Immediately on the landing of the Turks in Apulia, Sixtus IV had appealed to the Italian Powers, and his
cry for help was soon repeated in yet more pressing
terms. “If the faithful”, he said, “especially the Italians, wish to preserve their lands, their houses, their wives,
their children, their liberty, and their lives, if they wish
to maintain that Faith into which we have been baptized,
and through which we are regenerated, let them at last trust in our word, let them take up their arms and fight”.
In a Consistory, held on the 14th August, it was determined that every possible effort should be made to expel
the Turks from Otranto.
On the 18th August Gabriele Rangoni was appointed Cardinal Legate to Naples, and, on the 23rd, he started
for his post. On the 22nd September fresh Briefs were addressed to all the Italian States, desiring them to send
representatives to a Congress to be held in Rome at the beginning of November. The example set by Sixtus IV,
in his reconciliation with Florence, could not fail to have a
good effect on his efforts for the restoration of peace in
Italy. One of the conditions of the treaty with the Republic was that, it should furnish fifteen galleys for the
war with the Turks. On the 4th December Cardinal Savelli was sent to Genoa, to endeavour to reconcile the contending parties there, and to superintend the equipment of the Papal fleet in the harbour.
The Divine assistance was invoked by an ordinance of the Pope, desiring that the Octave of the Festival of All
Saints should henceforth be solemnly celebrated throughout Christendom. The preparations for the Crusading fleet were at once commenced; twenty-five galleys were to be
built, partly in Ancona, and partly in Genoa. As the
Papal Treasury was empty, Sixtus IV was compelled to have recourse to extraordinary taxation. A tax of a gold
ducat was, in the first instance, laid upon every hearth in the States of the Church, and then a tithe imposed for two years on all churches and convents in the Papal territory.
A Brief of Sixtus IV to Bologna, dated 3rd January 1481, furnishes detailed information regarding the deliberations of the Envoys assembled in Rome. The Pope
explains that, as a tax for the expenses of the Turkish war has to be imposed on all Princes, he and the Cardinals, in order to set a good example, have undertaken to contribute
the sum of 150,000 ducats, although so large an amount is almost beyond his powers. 100,000 ducats of this is to be expended on the equipment of twenty-five triremes, and the remaining 50,000 to be sent to the King of Hungary. He, moreover, engages to collect 3000 soldiers for the recovery of Otranto, to which place he has already sent troops. With regard to the building of the fleet, the Ambassadors are of opinion that 100 triremes must be prepared, and 200,000 ducats be sent annually to the King of Hungary. The money required for these purposes is to be raised among the several Powers; he and the Cardinals having already contributed their share, the preparation should be completed by March. The Bolognese must not delay, for
the danger was imminent.
The action of the Pope was not confined to Italy. He was unremitting in his endeavours to unite all the Princes of Europe against the common foe. The results varied in different places. King Edward IV. of England declared that it was unfortunately impossible for him to take part in the war. No help was to be expected from distracted
Germany. Even now, the States assembled to take counsel together were unable to come to terms.
Tidings of a more favourable nature arrived from France,
where Giuliano della Rovere was at this time acting as
Papal Legate. He had been charged to bring about a
peace between Louis XI, Maximilian of Austria, and the
Flemings, to obtain the release of Cardinal de La Balue, and
procure French assistance for the Crusade. Giuliano had been obliged to renounce the exercise of his full powers as Legate, but he was in great measure successful in regard to the Crusade. On the 28th August he was able to forward to the Pope a royal letter, containing the most satisfactory assurances as to the share France would take in the war. Envoys were to be sent to Rome to settle the details. In the instruction for this Mission, Louis XI says : “No sufficient resistance can be offered to the Turks at less cost than at least 100,000 golden scudi a month. He proposed himself to furnish 100,000 annually, and twice that sum if the Pope would allow him to impose a tribute on all ecclesiastics in his kingdom, and would send him a Legate provided with all the faculties desired by the King, and especially with full powers to absolve in cases reserved to the Pope. Other Christian Princes, however, must also contribute their share. The King counted on 40,000 scudi annually from Italy and the States of the Church; on 200,000 from Germany, which had so many
rich Archbishops, Bishops and Beneficiaries, Princes and cities; and on the same amount from Spain. The King of England might contribute 100,000 scudi. Venice, he had
heard, would not be unwilling to declare war against the Turks if help from Italy were certain. The plenipotentiaries were accordingly authorized to unite with the
other Italian Powers in promising an annual subsidy of 300,000 scudi to the Republic. In the event, however, of the other Kings and nations not giving any definite promise, the French Envoys were only to undertake that their
Government would contribute its just share of the burden.
The Pope must also, above all, secure France against England”.
Soon after the arrival of the French Mission (8th March) Sixtus IV wrote a circular letter to the Italian Powers, laying before them the proposals of Louis, as expressed
in a Memorandum, in which the Envoys had embodied the result of their negotiations. It proclaimed a general peace throughout Italy, and decreed that speedy assistance against the Turks should be rendered with the least possible delay. France promised troops, and was to be included in the alliance. The Emperor was also invited to join it, and a subsidy of 50,000 ducats was allotted to the King of Hungary. The Pope undertook to furnish twenty-five, and King Ferrante forty triremes. Genoa promised five galleys,
Ferrara four, Siena three, and Bologna two, Lucca, Mantua, and Montferrat one each; while Milan engaged to give 30,000 and Florence 40,000 ducats.
According to the testimony of a contemporary historian, the Milanese and Florentines were not remiss in contributing money; the Venetians only held aloof, because
they had concluded peace with the Sultan.
On Passion Sunday, the 8th April, 1481, Sixtus IV published an Encyclical, calling on all the Princes of Europe
to take part in the Turkish war. Indulgences were proclaimed throughout Italy, and the tithe for the war was
levied. On the 9th April the tithe was announced in France and Dauphine, and Giuliano della Rovere appointed Collector-General. Notwithstanding the daily increasing danger, there was still in many places but little zeal. The
wealthy city of Bologna, for instance, declared that the tribute of hearth-money and the equipment of two triremes were too much for her; the Pope accordingly, on the 1st February, 1481, forgave the tribute, but urged that the two vessels should be prepared at once. A Papal Brief of the 3rd May to the Vice-Legate at Bologna shows that the city then professed itself willing to contribute 2000 ducats towards the expenses of the war. The Pope considered the sum very small, but had all the more hope that it would be
sent without delay. In June we hear of difficulties. On the 7th of August it was still unpaid. At last, on the nth of September, it arrived! Several other cities behaved in the same manner.
Personally, Sixtus IV. gave the best possible example. He parted with his own silver plate, and sent a large quantity of sacred vessels to the Mint to meet the expenses of the Crusade.
In the midst of these anxious and hurried preparations came tidings of the death of the mighty conqueror, whose name, during one whole generation, had filled Europe and
Asia with terror. By the end of May rumours of this event began to circulate in Rome, and, on the 2nd June, the report was confirmed by letters from the Venetian Government to its Envoys. Cannons were fired, and all the Church bells rang to announce the good news. The
Pope himself went at once in thanksgiving to the Vespers at Sta Maria del Popolo, which the Sacred College and all
the Ambassadors also attended. As darkness came on,
bonfires were lighted in all directions. On the 3rd of June, processions of thanksgiving were ordered during three
successive days, and Sixtus IV personally took part in them. Briefs, dated the 4th June, pointed out to all
Christian Powers that this was the moment for dealing a decisive blow. Sixtus IV was able to announce that he
had already equipped a fleet of thirty-four ships at Genoa, which would soon be in the Tiber, and that men-of-war were being built at Ancona and would be added to the
Neapolitan fleet.
On the 30th June the Pope, with all the Cardinals, went to S. Paolo for the blessing of this fleet, which brought the Cardinal Legate Savelli back to Rome, and also its recently appointed Admiral, Cardinal Fregoso. After Vespers, the Pope held a Consistory. Savelli gave an account of his mission, and the ceremony of opening the mouth of Cardinal
Fregoso then took place. Sixtus IV made him an address
on the task which he was called upon to undertake, “gave him his Legate’s ring and the banner which he had consecrated for the fleet. The captains of the ships then came in,
kissed the foot of the Pope, and were signed with the cross
on their breasts. At the close of the Consistory, the Pope, with the Cardinals and a great number of Prelates, proceeded to the river, where the galleys were lying at anchor,
went on board each of the vessels, and gave the Apostolic
blessing. The crew stood fully armed on the decks and
saluted when he appeared. Weapons were brandished, swords drawn and struck upon the shields, and military
evolutions executed as in actual battle. Hundreds of hoarse voices shouted the Pope’s name amid the thunder of artillery; “it was a feast for both eye and ear”, writes the chronicler, Jacobus Volaterranus.
On the 4th July the Cardinal Legate sailed by way of Naples for Otranto, and, together with Ferrante and his
ships, took part in the siege of that place. The resistance of the Turks was most obstinate, and they did not lay down
their arms until the 10th September. Ferrante at once
informed the Pope of the happy event, and he, in his turn,
transmitted the news to all the Powers.
Sixtus IV had, from the first, intended that, after Otranto had been retaken, his fleet, joined by the ships of the other Powers, should proceed to Vallona, and, with the help of the Albanians, wrest this important fortress from the Turks. As early as the 30th of August he had written to Genoa to this effect. The Portuguese fleet of twenty-five vessels, which had appeared before Ostia, was to form part of this expedition. Its Commander, the Bishop of Elbora, begged permission to go to Rome and receive the Pope’s blessing, a favour which Sixtus IV could not refuse. But his annoyance may be imagined, when, on his return
from a short absence, he found that the Portuguese officers had preferred sight-seeing in Rome to going to the war, while the sailors occupied themselves in robbing the Roman vineyards. It required stringent orders from the Pope to induce them at last to weigh anchor and proceed to Naples, but only to linger there in a similar manner, under pretext of completing their equipment. Sixtus IV
repeatedly complained of the conduct of these Crusaders, and especially of that of their unprincipled chief. But it was all in vain.
Meanwhile, still more deplorable events had occurred at Otranto. Disputes had arisen among the victors about the partition of the spoil. On the 1st September the Cardinal Legate wrote word that the captains of the triremes were bent on leaving, because the Plague had broken out on
board four ships, and, moreover, their pay had not arrived. Sixtus IV wrote to the Legate on the 10th September, maintaining that he was in no way to blame, he had
fulfilled all his promises; he also exhorted Fregoso to use every effort to retain these captains. On the 18th September, after hearing that Otranto had been recaptured, Sixtus IV again urged his Legate to follow up the victory
to the best of his power. Great, therefore, was his surprise when he learned from the King of Naples that the Legate
had given out that the Pope had desired him to return with
his fleet after the capture of Otranto! Sixtus IV at once,
on the 21st September, wrote to the King that he had, on the contrary, always intended and desired that the fleet, after delivering Otranto, should sail to Vallona. At the
same time, he sent strict orders to the Legate to proceed thither at once, recapture the place, and destroy the Turkish ships. On the 23rd September Sixtus IV sent one of his naval captains to prevent the return of the
Papal fleet, and to urge the Legate to start for Vallona.
All the Pope’s efforts were, however, fruitless. By the beginning of October the Legate and his ships appeared before Cività Vecchia. Sixtus IV hastened there to endeavour to prevail upon him to turn back. Protracted consultations ensued, in which the Pope presided, and the Legate, the Neapolitan Ambassador, and the captains of the ships took part. These last complained much of the conduct of the Duke of
Calabria, while Fregoso represented, with all due deference, the impossibility of carrying out the undertaking. The outbreak of the Plague on board the ships, the impracticability of the men, whom no amount of pay could persuade to serve any longer, the advanced season of the year, the essential
difficulty of the enterprise, its immense cost—for the repair of the fleet alone, 40,000 ducats would at once be required
—all these things were brought forward to prove the enterprise hopeless; but Sixtus IV declared himself ready for every sacrifice. He would, like Eugenius IV, pawn his mitre,
he would sell the rest of his silver plate: all was in vain. He was obliged to return to Rome without effecting his purpose, only leaving orders that the harbours of Cività
Vecchia and Corneto should be thoroughly repaired.
CHAPTER IX.
Sixtus
IV and Venice at War with Ferrara and Naples.— The Battle at Campo Morto
While Sixtus IV was zealously devoting himself to the Turkish war, Count Girolamo was occupied with matters
of a very different nature. His ambition soon involved the too indulgent Pontiff in a new war in the immediate neighbourhood of Rome, and even in the City itself. Giuliano della Rovere was at this time Legate in the Low Countries, where he had been sent to make peace between Louis XI.
of France and Maximilian of Austria. His prolonged
absence rendered it easy for Count Girolamo to carry out his plans and abuse the affection of the Pope.
It was intolerable to Girolamo that Lorenzo had not only escaped the attempted assassination on the 26th April, 1478, but that it had actually served to render his position more secure. All his thoughts and desires were directed to the
one aim and object of obtaining some compensation for this failure. His uncle's advanced age urged him to prompt action. Wholly incapable of making himself a name by valorous deeds, Girolamo, who cared for nothing
but his own aggrandizement, was perpetually, by his schemes, running counter to all statesmanlike plans of policy. He thus entangled a generous nature like that of Sixtus IV
in deplorable inconsistencies, and took advantage of his.
uncle's affection to urge him further and further down the
steep incline which ends in ruin.
Ferrante of Naples had, during the Tuscan war, faithlessly abandoned the Pope and constrained him to make peace on very unfavourable terms. From this time forth, the chronicler says, the Pope’s confidence, withdrawn from Naples, was bestowed on the Venetians. At the beginning of February, 1480, negotiations were set on foot which led to the conclusion of an alliance with Venice. Here Count Girolamo stepped in. Even during the war of Otranto he had formed close relations with Venice. Not content with Imola, he had taken advantage of the
dispute which broke out after the death of Pino of
Ordelassi, regarding the succession, and seized on the
Countship of Forli. After this success he cast his insatiable eyes on Faenza. In January, 1481, Venice had made known her willingness to gratify him in this point
also. The Council of Ten, however, warned him that another project of his, which aimed at nothing less than the expulsion of Ferrante from Naples, must be kept a
profound secret. According to Sigismondo de' Conti, it was Virginio Orsini, the heir of Napoleone, who urged
the Count on to this enterprise. Virginio claimed from Ferrante the Countships of Alba Fucense and Tagliacozzo, which formed part of his patrimony, and which the King
had sold for 12,000 ducats to Lorenzo Oddone Colonna and his brother. Orsini was deeply wounded by this
transaction, because his family had always been true to the
King. He now hoped, by Ferrante’s humiliation or downfall, to recover his rights. He promised Girolamo that his family would assist to the utmost in the war against the King of Naples. Sixtus IV, in his irritation against Ferrante, gave his consent to the scheme, but he and Girolamo were well aware that the cooperation of Venice was indispensable. This could only be obtained by offering some tangible advantage to the Republic. Ferrara was accordingly held out as a bait. Sixtus IV was incensed
with the Duke, because, in the Florentine war, he had been
at the head of his enemies, and because he persistently
strove to evade his yearly tribute. Moreover, Ercole of Ferrara had so far forgotten himself as to prohibit the
publication of several Apostolic Rescripts in his State, which he governed in the name of the Holy See.
In September, 1481, Girolamo Riario went to Venice. He was received like an Emperor, the Doge meeting him at the foot of the Palace steps. In a Secret Council the Count unfolded his plan for overthrowing Ferrante, and promised the Venetians Ferrara if they succeeded in conquering it. They were only asked to furnish a fleet, to keep the King in check, and a few troops. Girolamo claimed nothing for himself, except Lugo and Bagnacavallo, two cities in the Flaminia, on the border of his Countship of Imola.
After the Pope’s nephew had left the Council, deliberations began. Opinions were divided. The elder men, whose judgment was the clearest, objected to involving the Republic in a fresh war. They represented the difficulty
of taking Ferrara, a strong and populous city, surrounded by swamps and a wide river; they averred that Ercole d'Este was a skilful soldier; that his neighbours were bound
to him by ties of kindred and friendship, and that he had at his disposal treasures amassed by a long line of
ancestors. Doubts were also expressed as to the trustworthiness of Riario, who was not considered scrupulously truthful; it was further urged that Sixtus IV was but
mortal and had reached an age when death could not
probably be distant, that he was a Ligurian and inconstant
in his resolutions, that even if he adhered to his purpose the Sacred College would not stand by him, as they had
never desisted from claiming the restoration of Cervia and Ravenna from the Venetians. The votes of the younger members of the Council, however, prevailed against these considerations, and war was decided upon. Girolamo returned to Sixtus IV, after having received the freedom
of the city and been admitted amongst her nobles.
The beginning of the year 1482 seemed to offer some
hope that peace might still be maintained. Giuliano della Rovere returned at this time from his Mission to France,
and Ercole d'Este and Lorenzo de' Medici sought, by means of his powerful influence, to avert the war. They were well acquainted with the Cardinal's opinion of the ambitious and restless Riario, who just then had scarcely recovered from a violent fever, and this fact also made it more probable that the Pope might be induced to withdraw his consent.
In the middle of April the King commenced hostilities by the advance of his troops into the States of the Church. In Rome, preparations for war were but half completed,
and Venice would not be ready till the end of April. Two
fleets had been equipped by the Republic: one of them, under Vettor Soranzo, was to commence operations on the
coast of Naples, while the other, under Damiano Moro, was to penetrate to the States of Ferrara. The land forces were also divided into two armies, under the command of Roberto Malatesta and Roberto da Sanseverino. At the
beginning of May Venice declared war against Ferrara. The Marquess of Montferrat, Genoa, and Pietro Maria
de Rossi, Count of San Secondo in the Parmesan territory, joined the Papal and Venetian league. Ferrara and Naples found powerful allies not only in Milan and Florence, but also in the Marquess Federigo of Mantua, Giovanni Bentivoglio of Bologna and Federigo of Urbino.
Unhappily for the Papal cause, the ancient feud between the Colonna and the Orsini at this time broke out again.
The immediate occasion of this outbreak was the hostility
between the rich and noble families of della Valle and
Santa Croce. In the autumn of 1480 the whole City had been involved in this contest, the della Valle being
supported by the Colonna, and the Santa Croce by the
Orsini. Not till April, 1481, did the Pope, after much trouble, succeed in restoring peace. A Commission of three Cardinals was appointed to watch over its maintenance, and to arrange all differences that might arise.
As most of the great Roman Barons, with the Pope's consent, had entered the service of Ferrante, and were fully occupied by the war at Otranto, tranquillity for a time
continued; but after the recovery of that city, quarrels recommenced, and, fomented by the King of Naples, became more and more violent.
In consequence of the tension which existed between Rome and Naples in the spring of 1482, the Pope recalled the Barons who, since the war with the Turks, had remained in Ferrante's pay. The Orsini, headed by Virginio, the intimate friend of Girolamo Riario, obeyed, and the Conti
also, as well as Stefano Colonna of Palestrina, with his sons Giordano and Giovanni, re-entered the Papal service. The Savelli, on the other hand, and the Colonna of Paliano-Genazzano cast in their lot with the King of Naples. Their alienation was partly due to the enmity between them and
the Orsini, which Ferrante took pains to foster, but partly
also to the domineering ways of Girolamo Riario. The Pope endeavoured, by gentleness and consideration, to repair the harm which his nephew had done, and several Cardinals, amongst whom were Giuliano della Rovere and Stefano
Nardini, did their best to pacify the offended Colonna, even at the last moment, but all these efforts were fruitless.
At the beginning of April a fresh incident occurred, which made matters worse. During the night of the 3rd of that month the Santa Croce, aided by the Palace guards, whom Girolamo had given them, attacked the house of the
della Valle. Most unfortunately, in the struggle which ensued, Girolamo Colonna, an illegitimate brother of the Cardinal of S. Maria in Aquiro and of Prospero of Paliano,
was killed. The Pope, in consequence, outlawed the Santa Croce, and caused their palaces to be destroyed. The exasperation of the Colonna from this time forth knew no
bounds.
At this critical moment, several weeks before the Venetian declaration of war, the King of Naples commenced hostilities against Rome. In the middle of April his troops appeared in sight of the Papal residence at Marino, ostensibly for the purpose of defending the Colonna
against the Orsini. Ferrante informed the Conservators that he was not taking up arms against Rome, but for the
deliverance of the City and of Italy from the slavery to which the bad government of Girolamo Riario had reduced them.
On the 18th April the Pope admonished King Ferrante to withdraw his troops from Rome; on the 23rd he complained in Consistory of the presence of the Neapolitans at Marino, and declared that he could not grant the request of the King's son, Alfonso of Calabria, for a free passage
through the States of the Church to support Ferrara.
The Ambassadors of Naples and Ferrara left Rome on the 14th May. They went, in the first instance, with great pomp to Lorenzo Colonna at Marino. Strengthened by the Savelli, and by constant reinforcements from Naples, Lorenzo now ventured to lead his men up to the very
gates of Rome. On the 30th May his troops entered the City, but were driven back by the Orsini and Girolamo Riario. Prospero Colonna had previously gone over to the
side of the Pope's enemies, and had received in Paliano (on the 22nd May) a garrison from the Duke of Calabria, who had meanwhile appeared before Rome as Commander
of the Neapolitan troops.
Sixtus IV was naturally much incensed by this treachery, and all the more so because Prospero had recently drawn a portion of his pay. The Pope also fully realized how injurious to him was the loss of these villages. Therefore, Sigismondo de' Conti informs us, he resolved on a hazardous
step, which, however, the sequel proved to have been a
judicious one.
A Consistory took place at midday on the 2nd June. Count Girolamo and Virginio Orsini attended it, and
accused Cardinals Colonna and Savelli of treason. The two Cardinals warmly defended themselves, openly condemning the conduct of their kinsmen and casting all the
blame upon them. The meeting was stormy, and lasted
until the evening. At last the Pope, to avoid worse evils, gave orders that the accused Cardinals should be kept as
hostages for their disaffected families. Cardinal Savelli’s brother, Mariano, who had a command in the Papal army, was also arrested. As disturbances were apprehended from the
partisans of the Colonna, the Vatican was guarded by horse
and foot soldiers. The captured Cardinals were honourably treated during the first day and the following night: Savelli in the house of Giuliano della Rovere, and Colonna with Girolamo Basso, who at that time lived in the Vatican. At the close of the second day an order arrived to transfer them to St. Angelo.
Several hundreds of light Turkish horsemen from the garrison of Otranto had gone over to Alfonso of Calabria, and now formed part of his army, which was encamped within sight of Rome. These wild troops ravaged the Campagna, and spread terror in every direction. On the 6th of June the Papal force was ready. Count Girolamo was Commander-in-chief, and under him were Count Niccolo of Pitigliano, Virginio and Giordano Orsini, Giovanni Colonna, Giacomo and Andrea de' Conti, the Count of Mirandola, and many others.
Sigismondo de Conti has left us a graphic picture of the state of things in Rome at this crisis. “In the Pope’s antechambers”, he says, “instead of cassocked priests, armed guards kept watch. Soldiers, equipped for battle, were drawn
up before the gates of the Palace. All the Court officials were filled with terror and anguish; the fury of the populace was only restrained by the fear of the soldiers”.
Thus, with the assistance of the Colonna, Alfonso of Calabria had succeeded in effecting his purpose, and transferring the war to Roman soil. He was perpetually making raids in the vicinity of the City walls, and carrying off men
and cattle. The Papal army, encamped near the Lateran, did not venture out, either from a sense of its own weakness or from a fear that the angry townspeople, in whose vineyards it lay, might shut the gates and prevent its return.
To add to all, the Plague again broke out in the City.
Alfonso took Albano, Castel Gandolfo and Civita Lavinia, without encountering any resistance. His father, Ferrante, meanwhile was active. With a fleet of twenty triremes he harassed the shores of the Roman territory. He further
succeeded in making himself master of Terracina and Benevento by treachery. The Florentine army, under the command of Costanzo Sforza, took Città di Castello. The Pope was greatly alarmed, and commanded his chamberlains and domestics to take turns in keeping nightly watch. His anxiety increased from day to day, more particularly as the Venetian fleet, on which all his hopes rested, had not yet sailed.
Rome was insufficiently defended, and was shut in on every side by enemies. The perplexity and anxiety of the Pope were increased by accounts which reached him from the North of attempts which the Dominican, Andrea Zuccalmaglio, Archbishop of Carniola,
was making to revive the Council of Basle. He had come to Rome in 1478, as Envoy from the Emperor, and received many presents and marks of distinction from the Pope. His
ambition led him to aspire to greater dignities, and even to
the purple, and, in October 1480, he induced the Emperor to address to the Pope and the Sacred College letters recommending him in pressing terms. In consequence of these letters, Sixtus IV, who readily made promises,
seems to have given him some encouragement; but, as the red hat did not arrive, Andrea soon began to pour forth
torrents of insolent abuse against the Pope, his nephews,
and the Roman clergy. Sixtus IV admonished and warned him, but in vain. There was nothing for it but to
call him to account for his calumnies. The Emperor’s
mediation soon procured his liberation from confinement in St. Angelo, where, out of consideration for Frederick
III, he had been treated leniently. The same motive
induced the Pope, in opposition to the desire of the Cardinals, to abandon the suit which had been commenced
against him, and then to set him at liberty. Sixtus IV soon had cause bitterly to regret his indulgence. Andrea Zuccalmaglio went by way of Florence to Basle, where he
falsely announced himself as the Emperor's representative,
and even went so far as to assume the title of Cardinal of S. Sisto. On the 25th March, 1482, he entered the Cathedral
of Basle during the celebration of Mass, and, with violent invectives against the Pope, proclaimed a General Council, to be held in that city. Even at this time, his secretary, Numagen, clearly perceived that he was not quite right in his head. He could not control himself, was incapable of deliberation, and would listen to no one’s advice.
In April, Andrea went to Berne, and was at first cordially received by the authorities, but at the end of eight days the Bernese had discovered his real character. On the 4th May the alarmed Council sent a letter to Basle to warn that friendly city against the danger of espousing his cause. Berne apologized to Rome for having unwittingly shown honour to one who placed himself in opposition to the Church and the Pope.
In Basle, also, Andrea’s abuse of the Pope had awakened
some doubts, and a suspicion that he was influenced by personal hatred. Nevertheless, he was left quite free when
he formally announced the assembling of a Council at the beginning of May. The Emperor was duly informed, but did nothing, and waited to see what would come.
Sixtus IV was greatly disquieted, and, on the 4th May, wrote to Frederick III, and sent a special Envoy to ask him to take measures to secure the arrest of the Archbishop. The Emperor’s attitude now became so strange
as to excite suspicions in Rome that Andrea was acting
on secret instructions from him. On the 21st July he called the Archbishop “trusty and well-beloved”, and asked for information about his project, and, on the 23rd July, he merely recommended the Councillors at Basle to act
with caution.
Andrea chose this very time to cut off all means of retreat.
On the 20th and 21st July he issued two violent and ill-written appeals, the last of which “was no better than a pasquinade”. In the opening words of this detestable production, Sixtus IV, whom he had but a few days before
invited to attend his Council, is addressed, no longer as Pope, but as “Francesco of Savona, Son of the Devil, thou who hast climbed to thy high dignity through the window of simony instead of entering by the door, thou art of thy father, the Devil, and seekest to do his will”.
If we remember that the Archbishop had not a single
adherent among the German or French Prelates, these outrageous railings against the Head of the Church seem
almost like the ravings of a maniac; but when we find
that Andrea had allied himself with the enemies of the Pope in Italy, it is easier to account for his violence. This evidently took place when he went from Rome to Basle by
way of Florence. He must then have received from the
Florentines and other conspirators assurances without which he could scarcely have ventured on his hazardous enterprise. A bitterly exasperated Prelate, who promised to raise the whole of the North against the Pope, was, under the circumstances, an important ally, however dubious might be his motives, and however great the peril to which he exposed the Church. The last consideration did not certainly weigh with Lorenzo de' Medici, who already was of opinion that it would be for his advantage to have three or four Popes instead of one.
The experiences of Lorenzo during his first conflict with Sixtus IV, however, deterred him from again exposing
himself to the risk of Excommunication. Andrea was, therefore, for the time, only to be supported in secret, and very
cautiously. When he had been in a measure successful, and the Pope had been thoroughly intimidated, the allies would proceed to advocate a Council. Not till the 14th September did Lorenzo’s confidant, Baccio Ugolini, accompanied by a Milanese Envoy, arrive in Basle.
Ugolini’s Reports to his master enable us to estimate the hostility of Lorenzo to the Papacy, and to appreciate
the reasons which induced Sixtus IV to make the efforts
he did for his removal from Florence. “I offered him” (Andrea of Carniola), writes Ugolini on the 20th September, 1482, “in your (Lorenzo’s) name all that I could and knew to favour this undertaking (the Schism), praising him and flattering him as is customary. It is a great thing that
he is a Friar; that is the crown of all his qualities, and he
has a fearless countenance, which awakens confidence and knows how to keep a man in his place, and let no one approach him. The citizens (of Basle), too, could not be better disposed, they would not by any means
allow their priests to observe the Interdict, and they openly favour the Archbishop as much as they can. This man is quite fitted to serve out the Pope and the Count (Riario),
and that is enough”. Ten days later this Florentine again wrote confidentially to Lorenzo, saying, amongst other things: “I afterwards made a long speech (to the Magistracy of Basle) in favour of the Council, praising the lords for this honourable enterprise, and extolling the person of Carniola,
while I drew a contemptible picture of the government of Sixtus IV, and insisted on the necessity for a Council. They listened thankfully to everything. As regards
the matter of the Council, they declare that they are welldisposed towards the Holy See, and so far as they can have their way they will take care (they, the Councillors of Basle!) that the Church, which they see to be in great danger, or rather in ruins, shall be reformed to the faith of Christ. Moreover, I (Ugolini) have gained such an
ascendancy over the Carniolan (the Pope and Reformer
of the future), that it rejoices him more than anything. Every hour he raises his hands to heaven and thanks God who has sent me to him. I need not say how eagerly the Doctors of the University read the letters which I have communicated to the Council here. What more can
we desire? The Pope is more hated here than there”.
Under these circumstances, it is not surprising that Girolamo Riario, the cause of all this trouble, became very unpopular in Rome, and a powerful party, headed by Cardinal Giuliano della Rovere, strongly urged the Pope
to conclude a peace. But when the Venetian General, Roberto Malatesta, who had hitherto been fighting against Ferrara, appeared in Rome on the 23rd July, the war-party again got the upper hand.
His arrival caused great rejoicing. “This is he who
will redeem Israel!” shouted the people in the streets. On the 24th July Roberto was received in secret audience by the Pope, after which he at once began to make his preparations. The Proveditore, Pietro Diedo, brought money by command of the Republic to help in raising fresh troops for the Papal army; 1000 young Romans, ready armed, were enlisted in a week. On the 15th August the Venetian auxiliaries came in, and were blessed by the Pope from a window of the Vatican. Rome was full of warlike enthusiasm. The banners of the Republic, together with those of the Pope, were borne through the whole City, and
harmony reigned in the common camp.
On the same 15th August the army advanced as far as Bovillae on the ancient Appian Way. Castel Gandolfo,
Castel Savello, and Albano surrendered. Alfonso retired before the superior forces of the enemy behind Velletri
to the neighbourhood of Nettuno and Astura, where he
expected succour by sea from Naples.
Along this sea-shore stretches a woody morass, a desolate
wilderness, the home of the buffalo and the wild boar.
In the whole of the Roman territory there is not another
district so pestilential as this desert of Maremma. Its air is full of deadly fever, which has given the place the name of the Campo Morto (field of death); even down to the time of Pius IX it has been a safe refuge for
murderers. In the midst of these marshy thickets, at about an equal distance from Velletri and Nettuno, was a fortified enclosure for the breeding of buffaloes and cattle; this castrum took from its Church the name of San Pietro, and from its moats the surname in Formis.
Alfonso of Calabria had here assembled his troops to await
the attack. His position was a strong one, for his army occupied a sort of island, covered to the south by a small
swamp, and protected on the north and east by trees and brushwood. To the west, where the Papal forces made
the attack, there was a meadow about 500 paces in width, which was crossed by a ditch about two feet deep to carry off the water. Behind this, Alfonso’s artillery was placed; some 300 paces further back he caused a considerably deeper trench to be made for the defense of his troops.
Roberto Malatesta, to whom Riario had resigned the command, having set his troops in order of battle and
exhorted them to bravery, ordered the foot soldiers to make the attack. These were mostly recruits, and were
so alarmed by the appearance of the Turks, whom Alfonso opposed to them, that they fled almost immediately. The whole of the Papal army would have been cast into confusion had not Roberto, at the right moment, rushed forward
with a chosen band of tried soldiers, by which means he
not only repelled the onslaught of the enemy but drove him back behind the trench. Sword in hand, Roberto
here held his ground for a whole hour, acting at once as
soldier and as leader.
While the battle was raging at this point, Giacomo de' Conti, with six companies, attacked the camp on the right. This movement was hidden from Alfonso by the thicket. Roberto, at the same time, renewed his assault on the
front. Alfonso’s forces were not able to resist the two-fold
onslaught of an enemy superior in numbers; they began to waver and then to fly.
Up to this moment Alfonso had fought like a lion; several horses had been killed under him; now, fearing he would be surrounded and made prisoner, he also took to flight. He had some difficulty in making his way through the wood to Nettuno, where, with a few followers, he took boat for Terracina. Here, under the protection of his father’s galleys, he gathered together the remnant of his army.
The battle of Campo Morto in the Pontine Marshes thus ended in a complete victory for the Papal troops. Both sides had fought desperately. The field was strewn
with wounded, and the number of dead who lay there was proportionately large; almost all the Janissaries were among them. Many flags and cannons fell into the hands of the
conquerors, who also took a number of prisoners, including almost all the Chiefs and Barons.
Roberto proceeded at once to Velletri, to attend to the
wounded and rest his wearied troops. On the following
day he sent his light cavalry forward to collect the baggage
of the enemy.
When the news of the victory reached Rome, bonfires were lighted, the bells of the Capitol rang out, and all the Churches answered. Sixtus IV, with a numerous suite, attended a Mass of Thanksgiving at Santa Maria del
Popolo.
The very day after the battle, Marino surrendered to the
Pope the keys of the Citadel and the captive Fabrizio Colonna; the idea of pressing on into the kingdom of Naples with the victorious army was spoken of in Rome.
Sixtus IV informed the Emperor and all friendly States of the great success obtained by his General, and thanked
the latter in a highly eulogistic Brief.
Girolamo Riario made a splendid pageant of his entry into Rome with his prisoners. The Romans were treated
with the spectacle of the enemies who had but recently
threatened their very walls, now led through their streets as captives, with heads bowed low, in the triumphal procession. Antonio Piccolomini, Duke of Amalfi, and Vicino Orsini, son of the Grand Constable of the kingdom of Naples, attracted the greatest attention. The Pope received the captives with kindness, and honourably entertained the Duke of Amalfi, Pius II’s nephew, in his Palace, before sending him back to his family.
“It is a true saying”, writes Sigismondo de' Conti, “that human happiness is never long unalloyed”. The sounds of rejoicing were soon silenced and exchanged for lamentations
over the premature death of the victor.
Roberto Malatesta was engaged in dispersing the hostile
troops scattered about the neighbourhood of Rome, when the effects of his tremendous exertions in the great heat of the unhealthy swamps overtook him. The fatal breath of Campo Morto proved stronger than youth and courage.
On hearing of the sickness of his General, the Pope at
once sent his own physician to Val Montone, where Roberto lay, and caused him to be transported in a litter to Rome. He was most carefully tended in the house of the Cardinal of Milan, but he did not rally. When his condition left no room for hope, the Pope, with his own hands, administered Extreme Unction. On the 10th September the brave warrior breathed his last.
Sixtus IV paid every possible honour to the deliverer
of his capital. He personally took part in the obsequies, and afterwards caused a marble monument to be erected in St. Peter’s. After many vicissitudes, this monument, on which the figure of the leader, mounted on his war-horse, is carved in relief, found its way to the Louvre, where it now adorns the hall devoted to Sculpture of the Renaissance period.
On the 11th September the Pope legitimatized the sons of Roberto and invested them with the paternal inheritance, thus refuting the imputation that he was influenced by designs upon the fief of the Malatesta; though some such hankerings, perhaps, had been cherished by Girolamo
Riario.
The immediate consequence of Roberto’s death was to nullify the good effects of the victory of Campo Morto.
The Venetian troops, regardless of the promises and entreaties of the Pope, withdrew. The siege of Cavi by the
Papal forces was unsuccessful, either because of the strength of its fortifications or because the Orsini, who disliked any further extension of the power of the Pope, neglected to render assistance.
Meanwhile, Alfonso had again rallied his soldiers, and the war continued, generally to the disadvantage of the Papal troops and the detriment of the Romans, whose fields were laid waste and whose flocks were carried off. The Orsini, incensed by Girolamo’s selfish proceedings, at last declared that, if no other auxiliaries arrived, they would withdraw. Without them—as Sigismondo de' Conti justly insists—it was impossible to carry on the war against the King of Naples, and especially against the Colonna. The Venetians, on their side, made it plain that the only thing
they wanted was Ferrara, and that which might befall the
Pope was nothing to them.
Meanwhile, the revived opposition in the North added to
all these troubles the threat of a Council and a Schism, and Andrea of Carniola was still unchecked in his career.
Sixtus IV now began to perceive that, by his own action, he was strengthening the hands of a Power which, by its
persistent efforts to acquire dominion over the cities of the Adriatic littoral, was likely soon to prove a source of serious
danger to him. Giuliano della Rovere seems to have been
the person who induced the Pope to separate himself from the Republic, while Girolamo Riario, the soul of the war party, was probably won over by a hope of eventually obtaining the Malatesta fiefs. On the 28th November a truce was concluded with the Duke of Calabria. On the 12th December a treaty of Peace between Rome on the one
side and Naples, Milan, and Florence on the other was
signed. By this treaty the possession of his States was
guaranteed to the Duke of Ferrara, territories conquered during the war were mutually restored, an alliance for twenty years, which the Venetians also were free to join, was concluded, and finally, a pension was secured to Girolamo Riario.
On the following day, the 13th December, Sixtus IV went in procession to the newly-built Church of Sta Maria della Virtu and bestowed on it the name of Sta Maria della
Pace (Our Lady of Peace). At Christmas Peace was
publicly proclaimed. The important point now was to
obtain the adhesion of the Venetians to this alliance, which had been concluded without their knowledge. Failing this, the peace would be little more than a name.
CHAPTER X.
The Pope’s Struggle with Venice and the Colonna.—The Peace of Bagnolo and the Death of Sixtus IV.
This one-sided treaty which, under the stress of circumstances, had been concluded by Sixtus IV, had a most
prejudicial influence on his relations with Venice. Sigismondo de' Conti, known as an historian, was sent in December, 1482, to pacify the Venetians, and to obtain the
cessation of hostilities against Ferrara. The reception which awaited him was far from encouraging; no one ventured to speak to him. The Envoy, however, was not to be deterred from the accomplishment of his Mission; he delivered the letters which the Pope and the Sacred
College had entrusted to him, and endeavoured, with honied words, to persuade the Doge and the Council to a truce; all his efforts, however, were ineffectual. The Signoria,
after the great sacrifices which had been made, would not
draw back. They believed victory to be in their hands, and were determined in any case to carry on the war.
Sigismondo’s Mission was a complete failure.
The irritation of the Venetians against Sixtus IV was at this time so great that they proceeded to violent menaces. They declared that, if the Pope should be led to employ
his spiritual weapons, he would find himself involved in a disastrous war in Italy, the end of which he would not live to see. They said they were in league with all the
Christian Powers, and were resolved, if necessary, even to
call in the Turks!
Sixtus IV did not allow himself to be intimidated. A State Paper repelling the accusations of the Venetians was drawn up, and it was then determined that, besides Girolamo Riario, Cardinal Gonzaga should be sent as
Legate to Ferrara. On the 5th February, 1483, Cesare de Varano was commanded immediately to proceed thither with all the troops he could collect.
At the end of February the Venetian Ambassador left Rome; fearing that Sixtus IV would proclaim a Crusade against Venice, he let fly a parting threat, that in that case there should be no more peace for the Pope. If it came to
the worst they would make a league with the Devil!
At the same time, the Congress at Cremona, which, besides the Papal Legate, the Duke of Calabria, and Lorenzo de' Medici, comprised Lodovico and Ascanio Sforza, Ercole d'Este, Federigo Gonzaga, Marquess of Mantua, and Giovanni Bentivoglio, determined to put down the Venetians by force of arms.
Preparations for war were hastily begun in every direction. There was no time to be lost, for Ferrara could not hold out much longer. The Pope was unwearied in his
exhortations. He especially insisted on the necessity of attacking Venice by sea. No less than 50,000 ducats were allotted for the equipment of the fleet, the sum being raised by the creation of new offices.
Early in April, Branda Castiglione, Bishop of Como, was
appointed Legate of the fleet. On the 30th of the month the Pope proclaimed his alliance with Naples,
Milan, Ferrara, and Florence, and reiterated his promises of assistance to the Ferrarese through Cardinal Gonzaga, who died soon afterwards, a victim to the fatigues of the war. The Venetians on their side entered into negotiations with the
Duke of Lorraine, in order again to harass King Ferrante
by a popular Angevine rising, while their fleet harried the coast of Apulia and took possession of the important stronghold of Gallipoli.
By the end of May the spiritual weapons of the Pope
were also launched against Venice. From the month of
February the Ambassadors of Ferrara had been urging him to proclaim an Interdict! Girolamo Riario exerted his influence in the same direction, and succeeded in determining Sixtus IV to take this important step.
The Bull of Interdict was laid before the Consistory on the 24th May. All the Sacred College, with the exception of the Venetian Cardinals, declared their concurrence. Their opposition, which greatly incensed the Pope, was not calculated to alter his purpose. On the same day the Bull
was affixed to the Gates of St. Peter’s. In the Archives of Modena the jubilant Report is still preserved in which the Ferrarese Envoy tells the Duke that he had at once hastened
to St. Peter's to convince himself of the fact.
The Pope at once communicated the Bull to the
Emperor, the King of France, and the other Kings and Princes of Christendom for publication in their
dominions.
As the Venetian agents in Rome refused to transmit the Bull to their native city, the Pope sent a herald to deliver it to the Patriarch of Venice, whom he charged, under pain of Excommunication and suspension, to impart it to the Doge
and the Signoria. The Patriarch pleaded illness and apprised the Doge and the Council of Ten, who enjoined strict silence,
and commanded him to continue the celebration of public
worship as if nothing had happened. “The indignation
of the Venetians against the Pope is extreme”, wrote the
Ferrarese Ambassador. “They threaten to recall all their
Cardinals and Prelates from Rome, and Sixtus IV has prepared, in anticipation of this, a new Bull against Venice”. The Signoria, in the first place, appealed to a future Council,
and at once began to agitate at the Imperial Court, as well as at those of France and of England, for its convocation, but these efforts were fruitless. Louis XI, on the contrary, at once complied with the wishes of the Pope, and had
the sentence against Venice published in his dominions. The
Venetian Ambassadors were dismissed. This happy result was chiefly due to the exertions of the Archbishop of Tours and of St. Francis of Paula. The latter had come to Rome in the beginning of 1483. All the Cardinals went to see him. He had three audiences from the Pope, who placed him on a seat of honour by his side, and conversed with him
for three or four hours. He was so struck with admiration at the wisdom of his discourse that he granted him permission to found a new Order. From Rome St. Francis went to the French Court, and was there when Louis XI
died (29th August).
Sixtus IV had never allowed himself to be alarmed by the threat of a Council. He declared in Consistory that he
was quite willing that one should be held, only it must be
at Rome in the Lateran, for the right of summoning it belonged to him; moreover, added the Pope, the Council will necessarily afford an opportunity for the reformation of the ecclesiastical and temporal Princes, and also for calling the Venetians to account for their appropriation of portions of the States of the Church, which must be restored.
No decisive advantage had meanwhile been gained at any one of the various seats of war. Not one of the enterprises begun by the allies had been brought to a conclusion. Contending interests threatened the League
with dissolution. But Venice also was in a deplorable condition; her treasury was exhausted, her arsenals
empty.
There seemed, indeed, to be a hope of peace in March, 1484, when, at the desire of the allies, Ascanio Sforza, a brother of Lodovico Moro’s, was raised to the purple. The Portuguese Cardinal, Giorgio Costa, who possessed the full confidence of the Signoria, had already made considerable
progress in this direction, when Girolamo intervened. The selfishness of this insatiable man completely destroyed the prospect of peace, which, at this moment, would have been more honourable to the Pope and more favourable to himself than it ever again could be.
While the Ferrarese war engrossed general attention, internal dissensions again broke out with great violence in Rome. The year 1483 had been a year of peace for the Eternal City; towards its close, Cardinals Colonna and Savelli were liberated. They were joyfully welcomed by their dependents when released on the morning of the 15th November, and at once took part in the Consistory in which
Sixtus created five new Cardinals.
If the year 1483 had been one of tranquillity, the next year was stormy. In January the Orsini, confident in the friendship of Girolamo Riario, began the conflict by expelling
Antonio Savelli from Albano. The factions flew to arms. On the 21st February the della Valle stabbed their enemy, Francesco Santa Croce, and fortified their Palace. The Colonna now espoused the cause of the della Valle, and the
Orsini that of the Santa Croce, and also barricaded their Palaces. The disturbances came to such a pitch that,
as we learn from an Ambassador, soon no one in the City
felt his life or property secure. “Never”, wrote another
contemporary, “did I see such confusion. It was the 29th of May; the whole of Rome was in arms. It was said that they wished to seize the Protonotary by night; he kept
watch and secured himself as well as he could. I had two
hand-barrows full of stones set inside my doors, which I
barricaded, and I had heavy stones brought up to the windows and into the loggia. All through the night
the cry of Bear! Bear! was heard in the Rio Ponte, and
on Monte Giordano watch-fires burned, shots were fired, and trumpets blown”.
On the following day, May 30, the Pope made an effort to settle the dispute in an amicable manner. He sent
messengers to the Palace of Cardinal Colonna, on what is now called the Piazza della Pilotta, where Lorenzo Oddone, the Protonotary, had entrenched himself, inviting him in the most friendly terms to his presence, and promising him all
that his justice and generosity could grant. Lorenzo's intimate friend, Cardinal Sansoni, endeavoured to persuade him to accept the Pope's invitation. Finally, Giuliano della Rovere himself came and offered to remain as a hostage in the house of the Colonna until such time as Oddone should return from the Pope, an offer, as Sigismondo de' Conti observes, suggested rather by affection than prudence.
Lorenzo was fully inclined to go, but his friends, fearing for his safety, prevented him. When Sixtus IV sent the Conservators for the second time, and promised to forgive
everything, he mounted his horse and rode away alone. But
some armed followers of his met him on the Piazza Trevi. and obliged him to return.
Girolamo and the Orsini had meanwhile ascertained, through Leone Montesecco, the Prefect of the Body Guard,
that Oddone had only a crowd of untrained and unwarlike
retainers in his house.
All fear vanished. After a proclamation had been made to the effect that all who should take part with the Colonna incurred the guilt of high treason, an order for the forcible arrest of the Protonotary was issued. The attack at once
began. A panic seized the Colonna; a great many of them left the Palace, which was soon surrounded on all sides. During the fight, which lasted but two hours, forty of the
Colonna and only thirteen of their adversaries were killed. The barricades were then scaled, the Palace was relentlessly
plundered, and Lorenzo Oddone taken prisoner. On the
way to the Vatican, Virginio Orsini had to defend the unarmed captive from Count Girolamo, who, in his rage, twice drew his sword against him. Sixtus IV reproached him in
violent language, and accused him of having twice sought to
drive him from Rome. The Protonotary tried to excuse himself on the ground that his people had prevented him when he tried to go to the Vatican, but after all the terror he had undergone he could hardly utter a sound. He was
given over to Virginio Orsini and confined in St. Angelo.
“It was fortunate”, says Sigismondo de' Conti, “that the
conflict was not protracted into the night, under cover of
which shame and fear are put aside, and many more would have taken part with the Colonna, so that the Pope and the
Orsini might have been in great danger”.
The houses of the della Valle were, like the Palace of the
Colonna, razed to the ground. The undisciplined soldiers billeted themselves in the houses of the Colonna quarter and wrought cruel havoc there.
A portion of the Roman burghers determined to beg the Pope to make peace with the Colonna. Cardinal Giuliano also earnestly advocated a reconciliation, but again the Orsini and Count Girolamo prevented it. The conduct of the latter became more and more insupportable. He extorted money from the Roman churches, and even from the College of Papal Secretaries and that of the Stradioti. If we may believe Infessura, whose sympathies are with the Colonna party, high words passed between Girolamo Riario and Cardinal Giuliano, even in presence of the Pope. Cardinal Giuliano had granted asylum in his Palace to some fugitives from Cardinal Colonna's dwelling, and had expressed
his displeasure at Riario’s violence. Girolamo accused the Cardinal of protecting rebels and enemies of the Church. Giuliano replied that the men whom he protected were no
rebels against the Church, but some of her most faithful
servants; that Girolamo was hunting them out of Rome,
setting the Church of God on fire and destroying her. He was the cause of all the evil deeds which were bringing ruin on the Pope and on the Cardinals. The Count, on this, flew into
a rage and declared that he would drive him out of the
country, burn his house over his head, and give it up to
plunder, as he had done to that of the Colonna.
The attack on the Colonna still went on in the neighbourhood of Rome. The whole of Latium was soon a prey to fire and rapine. On the 27th June Marino fell, and the Colonna retired to Rocca di Papa.
Three days later Lorenzo Oddone was beheaded in St. Angelo, after retracting the confessions torn from him on
the rack. The unhappy man met death with calmness and dignity. The corpse was taken, in the first instance, to the neighbouring church of Sta Maria Traspontina, whence, in the evening, it was conveyed to that of the SS. Apostoli.
Here it was received by his mother and many other women, wailing and lamenting, and was buried that same night by Infessura and a vassal of the Colonna.
On the 2nd July Girolamo and Virginio Orsini, with their troops, took the field against the Colonna. Events soon
proved that they had been very ill-advised in thwarting the efforts made to re-establish peace. Prospero and Fabrizio
Colonna defended themselves bravely. The Savelli allowed themselves to be corrupted, and thus many strongholds were indeed lost, but Paliano held out, and Girolamo found it
necessary to apply to the Pope for reinforcements. He was
soon compelled to own that he had little hope of subduing the Colonna.
Sixtus IV was greatly disturbed by these tidings; he had never anticipated such determined resistance. In the month of March his health, which, till then, had been very
good, had begun to give way. Constant agitation and anxiety naturally told upon him at last. In the middle of June he fell ill of a fever. Early in August his old malady,
the gout, attacked him with such violence that he received the Sacraments of Penance and the Holy Eucharist.
Meanwhile, the rumour that peace had been concluded
with the Venetians continued to gain more and more credence in Rome. This was actually the case.
The warlike zeal of Milan had been gradually cooling ever since the July of 1483. The urgent demands of Sixtus IV had failed to produce any effect. A year later, Lodovico
Moro had succeeded in severing himself from the League,
of which he had been but a half-hearted member. “When the Venetians were getting the worst of it, and their finances were nearly exhausted”, says Commines, “Duke Lodovico
came to the aid of their honour and credit, and every one again got his own, excepting the poor Duke of Ferrara, who had been drawn into the war by himself and his father-in-law, and was now obliged to abandon the Polesina to the
Venetians”. It is said that the affair brought Duke Lodovico
in 60,000 ducats. “I know not”, adds Commines, “if that is true, but I found the Duke of Ferrara, who, however, had not at that time yet given him his daughter in marriage,
under this belief”.
Gallipoli and other places on the coast, which had been
taken from him, were restored to the King of Naples. Roberto da San Severino, the Captain-General of the Venetians, became commander of the troops of the League, with a yearly salary of 20,000 florins. Riario went away empty. The Peace of Bagnolo (7th August, 1484) became, as Sigismondo de' Conti justly observes, a victory for Venice, for Ercole of Ferrara was obliged to come there in person as a suppliant, and Lodovico sent his son ostensibly to take part in the festivities, but really as a hostage for the fulfilment of the conditions of the treaty.
The Pope would not at first believe in this disgraceful Peace. When, however, he could no longer doubt that his authority had been thus set at naught, his grief was extreme.
“Faithless Lodovico!” he was heard to exclaim, in a voice shaken with sighs.
His illness was no doubt aggravated by excitement. A Consistory had been summoned to meet on Wednesday, the nth August, but as the Pope had become worse in the night, the assembled Cardinals were dismissed. Nevertheless, after Vespers, the Ambassadors of the League were
admitted into his presence. “When he had heard them”, says Jacobus Volaterranus, “he complained, not, as evil-minded and malicious persons have asserted, that Peace had been concluded, but that its conditions were so unfavourable. Up to this time, he said, we have carried on a dangerous and difficult war, in order, by our victorious arms, to obtain an honourable Peace for the security of the Apostolic See, our own honour, and that of the League. Now, when as you know, by the will of God, success was at hand, you
bring back conditions of Peace suited to the vanquished, not to the victor. The Venetians had already offered our Apostolic Legate terms much fairer and more profitable to your Princes, terms which were honourable to the Apostolic See, whereas these are disgraceful. The cities taken in the war were to be entrusted to our protection, the nobles were to send us hostages and await our judgment, Ferrara was not mentioned. You propose none of these things, but, on
the contrary, shameful conditions, fraught with the seeds of
confusion and future evil rather than good. This Peace, my
beloved sons in Christ, I can neither approve nor sanction”. During the night and the following day the weakness of the Pope hourly increased; the fever consumed his strength. On the Feast of S. Clara, 12th August, in the fourth hour of
the night, he passed peacefully away. “Four days previously”, Jacobus Volaterranus informs us, “he had received
Holy Communion. After his death the Penitentiaries of the Friars-minor washed him, vested him, and laid him out
on his bier. In the evening the corpse was brought to the
Basilica of St. Peter, and, with all fitting honour, deposited in the chapel which he had himself built in his lifetime, until his monument should be ready. The obsequies commenced on the fourth day, and continued for nine days without
intermission”.
CHAPTER XI.
Character of Sixtus IV as Spiritual Ruler.
In following the course of Sixtus IV through the mazes of Italian politics, it is often difficult to believe that he was once the General of a Mendicant Order; but in the ecclesiastical sphere the case is quite different, and his action fully
corresponds to what we should naturally expect. As early as the year 1472 the decision of Gregory IX regarding the powers of the Cardinal-Protector of the Franciscans was confirmed. A Bull of the 3rd October of that year made
the Feast of St. Francis henceforth a holiday of obligation. This was followed, on the 31st August, 1474, by the Bull known as Mare magnum (the Great Sea), by which the
privileges of the Franciscan-Conventuals were so greatly augmented. In it those granted by Clement IV and
Eugenius IV, which were already very extensive, were not only confirmed but considerably increased. Most ample powers were conferred upon the Conventuals in regard to Divine Worship during an Interdict, jurisdiction in cases reserved to the Pope, exemption from tithes and from
episcopal jurisdiction, the administration of the Sacraments, and the burial of the faithful in the habit and in the cemeteries of the Order. All who opposed them were threatened with severe punishments. A similar Bull was also issued
in favour of the Dominicans.
Even this was not enough, for in 1479 Sixtus IV granted yet further favours by the Golden Bull. To enumerate the good things bestowed on the Mendicant Friars, and more particularly on the Franciscans, during this long pontificate would be an almost endless task. Highly as we may estimate the manifold and important labours of these Orders, there can be no doubt that the indulgence
shown to them was excessive. Sixtus IV also assisted the Brothers of the Common Life, and approved the order of the Minims and that of the discalced Augustinians.
The many disputes of the Religious Orders among themselves were deplorable. Accordingly, in the Golden Bull Sixtus IV expressly forbade the office of Inquisitor to be exercised by a Franciscan against a Dominican or viceversa; and, to prevent the perpetual conflicts between the Secular and Regular clergy, he also issued a decree that
Parish Priests were not to accuse Mendicants of heresy, and, on the other hand, prohibited the latter from telling the people that they were not bound to hear Masses of obligation in their Parish Church. Seculars and Regulars were alike
forbidden to influence the faithful in regard to their place of
sepulture. Sixtus IV confirmed the rule that the Easter Confession was to be made to the Parish Priest.
There seems to be no doubt that Sixtus IV also desired to effect a reunion between the Franciscan Conventuals and the Observantines. As he had himself been a Conventual, this would have meant the abolition of the Observantines. They were greatly disturbed about this scheme. Glassberger writes in his chronicle: “During the whole course of his
pontificate, Sixtus IV did nothing that could justly be
blamed, except that he wished to subject the Observantines to the Conventuals; for this reason God raised up an adversary against him in Andrea of Carniola. From all
sides, even from temporal Princes like the Duke of Milan, petitions were showered upon Rome, so that the Pope exclaimed: The whole world is for the Observantines!”. St. Jacopo della Marca is said to have predicted to Sixtus IV that he would die suddenly if he carried out this plan. As
a fact, the Bull, which had been drafted, never appeared.
The partiality of Sixtus IV for his own Order doubtless
contributed to bring about the canonization of St. Bonaventura, which was proclaimed with much solemnity in Rome on the 14th April, 1482. In the previous year he had raised to the altars the Minorites martyred in Morocco in the time of Honorius III.
The exertions of Sixtus IV on behalf of the due celebration of Divine worship and chanting of the Liturgy are also especially worthy of record. It was by him the famous
Sistine Choir was instituted and attached to this Chapel for
the daily chanting of the Divine Office. The reign of this
Pontiff was the beginning of a new artistic life in the Papal
Chapel; the most highly-gifted singers from all countries nocked to Rome, allured by the opportunity afforded to them of exercising their art, making their talents known, and reaping rich rewards.
Sixtus IV laboured assiduously to preserve the integrity of the Faith, and, in particular, took measures against the Waldensees in Piedmont and France.
The Pope was, as the preceding history bears witness, most solicitous for the maintenance of the monarchical constitution of the Church. In 1478 he formally annulled the Decrees of the Council of Constance. Martin V had already refused to recognize them, with the exception of those concerning the Faith. In 1483 he revived the Bull
of Pius II prohibiting appeals to a Council.
His ardent devotion to the Blessed Virgin was an admirable trait in the character of this Pope. Sigismondo de' Conti says that he used to pray before her statue with such fervour and recollection, that for a whole hour his eyes never wandered from it. The Italian shrines of our Lady,
especially those of Loreto and Genazzano, were the objects of his particular care. In the year 1475 he instituted the Feast of the Visitation and published an Encyclical on the
occasion. He also, in many ways, promoted the devotion of the Rosary. In Rome the Pope’s veneration for the Mother of God found expression in the erection of the celebrated churches of Sta Maria del Popolo and Sta Maria della Pace, and of the Sistine Chapel, which was dedicated to her Immaculate Conception. In 1475 he approved of a special Office of the Immaculate Conception for the 8th December. Here also his Franciscan sympathies appear. His Order,
in opposition to that of the Dominicans, were ardent champions of this doctrine, which was already widely diffused in the Church. The contention between the two Orders on this subject now broke forth anew. A Dominican, named Vincenzo Bandelli, had asserted in public disputations and in writing that those who declared the Conception of the
Blessed Virgin to have been Immaculate were guilty of heresy and, accordingly, of mortal sin. The dispute became so violent that Sixtus IV had to interfere. Although he did not pronounce any definite decision, the Constitution, which he published in 1483, clearly shows to which side he personally inclined. “We”, he says, “reject and condemn the assertions of those preachers, who allow themselves to be so far carried away as to represent such as believe or maintain that the Mother of God was preserved from the stain of
original sin, to be thereby tainted with heresy or guilty of
mortal sin, and those who solemnly celebrate the Office of the Conception of Mary, or listen to sermons in which that doctrine is declared, as thereby committing sin—we reject and condemn, by Apostolical authority, all such statements as false, erroneous, and completely devoid of truth, together
with the books which contain them. We also determine
and appoint that preachers of the Word of God and others, of whatever station, rank, calling, and character they may
be, who shall henceforth rashly venture to maintain that the
statements we have thus disapproved and condemned are true, or who shall read books containing them, holding or considering them to be true, after the preceding constitution has been made known to them—ipso facto, incur the sentence of Excommunication”.
In order, however, to guard against the impression that any special dogmatic decision of the doctrine in question was here involved, the Pope adds to this decree the express
declaration that no such decision has yet been given by the
Apostolic See, and that, accordingly, the opponents of the
view of Scotus and of the Doctors of Paris cannot at
present be accused of heresy.
In the sphere of ecclesiastical policy, Sixtus IV made
considerable concessions to governments with whom he was
on good terms, or from whom he expected assistance of a political nature. The influence of the secular power on ecclesiastical affairs was thus unduly strengthened. Besides confirming the Bulls granted to the Emperor Frederick III by Eugenius IV and Nicholas V, regarding the exercise of patronage for the episcopal Sees of Trent, Brixen, Gurk, Trieste, Chur, Piben, Vienna, and Wiener-Neustadt, on the 8th April, 1473, he also granted him the right of presentation to 300 benefices. A Bull of 1478 also accorded to Frederick the temporary patronage of other Bishoprics. Dukes Ernest and Albrecht of Saxony received from Sixtus IV, in 1476, the right of presentation to several high dignities belonging to the Chapter of Meissen, and, nine
years later, that right was extended to all such posts in that
city.
A Bull of the 8th July, 1479, allowed the Government of Zurich to fill up all benefices belonging to the Great Cathedral and that of our Lady and the Monastery of Embrach,
even such as should fall vacant in the Papal months. In consideration of the number of clerical state criminals and falsifiers of the coinage in the Republic of Venice, Sixtus IV consented that such should be tried by the secular
judges in presence of the Vicar of the Patriarch.
The control of the State over the Church in Spain had at this time assumed an immense development. Efforts to strengthen and extend this power led to important contests concerning presentations to Bishoprics. In the autumn of 1478 Cardinal Peter Ferrici, Bishop of Tarragona, died. Sixtus IV then conferred the Bishopric on Andreas
Martinez; but King Ferdinand, who desired this preferment for Cardinal Pedro Gonzalez de Mendoza, commanded, Martinez to resign at once, threatening him with exile and
other severe penalties to be inflicted on himself and his relations. The See of Cuenca (1482) was the occasion of an, even more serious dispute. Sixtus IV had appointed his nephew, Raffaello Sansoni, to this Bishopric, while Isabella wished it to be given to her Confessor, Alfonso de Burgos. The remonstrances of the Royal pair being disregarded, they broke off communication with Rome and threatened to hold a Council. The friendship of the Spanish monarchs was of great importance to the Pope in his Italian difficulties. In consequence,
he had granted them extensive
concurrent rights in episcopal nominations, and Alfonso de Burgos eventually became Bishop of Cuenca. Isabella, however, it must be said, used her privilege in favour of really excellent men.
Sixtus IV showed greater firmness in regard to the
question of the Spanish Inquisition. This tribunal, whose office it was to punish obstinate heretics or notorious sinners who were nominally members of the Church,
was created, in the first instance, to deal with the special circumstances of the Jewish community in Spain. No other European State had suffered, to the extent that
Spain was then suffering, from the unrelenting system of usury and organized extortion practised by these dangerous
aliens. Persecutions were the natural consequence, and often the only alternative before the Jews was baptism or death. Thus the number of merely nominal converts to the Christian Faith soon became very great. The
secret Jews were incomparably more dangerous than those who openly professed their religion. If the latter monopolized the greater part of the wealth and commerce
of the country, the former threatened alike the Spanish nationality and the Christian faith. On the one hand they
contrived to insinuate themselves into a number of ecclesiastical charges, and even to become Bishops, and on the other to attain high municipal honours and to marry into all the noble families. These advantages, and their great wealth, were all covertly devoted to the gradual subjugation of the Spaniards and the undermining of their Faith in
favour of the Jews and Judaism. Things had latterly come to such a pass that the very existence of Christian
Spain was at stake.
The Inquisition was created as a remedy for these evils.
The necessary authorization of the Holy See was given in
a Brief of the 1st November, 1478. Ferdinand and Isabella were hereby empowered, after due examination, to nominate two or three Archbishops and Bishops, or other dignitaries of the Church, who should be secular or regular priests, commendable for their prudence and virtue, at least forty years
of age, and of blameless morals, Masters or Bachelors of Theology, Doctors or Licentiates of Canon Law. These
Inquisitors were to proceed against relapsed Jews who had
been baptized and other apostates. The Pope granted them the necessary jurisdiction for proceeding, according to law and custom, against the guilty, and permitted the Spanish
monarchs to dismiss them and appoint others, with the reservation that the Bull itself could not be annulled without express mention of its contents.
By the desire of Queen Isabella another effort was made to bring back those who had been led away by preaching and other peaceable means. These attempts being obstinately and scornfully rejected, the Spanish monarchs, in virtue of the Papal Bull, nominated, on the 17th September, 1489, two Dominicans, Michael Morillo and Juan Martin, as Inquisitors for the city and Diocese of Seville. Two secular priests were associated with them. They began their work without delay. Jews who obstinately persisted in their errors were handed over to the
secular power and burned.
Very soon vehement complaints of the harsh and irregular
proceedings of the Inquisitors began to arrive in Rome. Sixtus IV’s Brief of the 29th January, 1482, shows that grave abuses had arisen. The Pope, in the first place, expresses his displeasure at the omission, without his knowledge, of certain clauses in the former Brief, which, as it appears, would have guarded more securely against abuses, brought the methods of procedure into greater harmony with the course of common law, and facilitated the concerted action which
had been usual between the Inquisitors and the Bishops. The result had been that these former, under pretext of the
Papal Brief, had unjustly imprisoned many persons without trial, subjected them to cruel tortures, pronounced them heretics, and confiscated the possessions of those who were
executed, so that numbers had fled the country in dread
of a similar fate. Moved by the complaints of persons who had turned to the Holy See as the defender of all the oppressed, after consultation with the Cardinals, he issued his commands that the Inquisitors should henceforth proceed in conformity with law and justice, and in concert with the Bishops. Sixtus IV further declared that nothing but consideration for the King, whose Ambassadors in Rome interceded for the Inquisitors, could have induced him to continue them in their office. Should they persist in these evil practices, and act without consulting the Bishop of the Diocese, or considering what the
salvation of souls demanded, he would put others in their place. The Pope refused to grant the request of the Spanish monarchs for the appointment of Inquisitors in the other portions of their kingdom, as the Dominican Inquisition was already in force there.
Sixtus IV, though approving of the new Inquisition in itself, had soon fresh cause for dissatisfaction with the conduct of the Inquisitors. His displeasure was directed not against the institution, but against the manner in which it was carried out. There can be little doubt that the Spanish monarchs desired to give it too worldly a character, and at
times made the real danger which existed from the feigned Christians, a pretext for bringing the tribunal to bear upon their other enemies, and that the new Inquisitors were but too ready to play into their hands. Against these abuses Sixtus IV insisted on the strict observance of the provisions of the common law. We learn something of the domineering character of Michael Morillo from a Bull of Sixtus IV, dated 21st January, 1479. From this document it appears
that Morillo had removed the former Inquisitor of Valencia who had been appointed by the General of the Dominicans,
and had given his post to another. The Pope cancelled this act, and desired the original appointment to be maintained.
The abuses in the Spanish Inquisition, however, did not
cease; consequently, when the jurisdiction of the tribunal was extended to Castille and Leon, Sixtus IV pronounced the severest penalties against Inquisitors who should fail to exercise their office in a conscientious manner, and in accordance with the canonical prescriptions.
It is important to note, as a significant fact bearing on the
character of this institution, that not only the ecclesiastical authorization of the first Inquisitors, but also the first regulations as to the mode of procedure, emanated directly from the Pope. In order to avoid constant appeals to Rome, often made as mere subterfuges and with a view of impeding the course of the law, he, in 1483, appointed the
Archbishop of Seville, Papal Judge of Appeals for the Inquisition.
Notwithstanding all these precautionary measures on the part of the Holy See, accused persons were still treated in Spain with arbitrary cruelty and injustice. To remedy this evil, Sixtus IV, on the 2nd August, 1483, decreed :—(1) That decisions on appeals given in Rome were to be held valid
in Spain; (2) that shamefaced penitents were to be absolved in secret; (3) that those once absolved were not again to
be molested by the Inquisitors. In conclusion, Sixtus expressly admonished the Royal pair to leave those who had
retracted, in peaceful possession of their property. “As it is mercy alone that makes us like God, we beg and exhort the King and the Queen, for the love of Jesus Christ, to imitate Him, whose property it is always to have mercy and to spare. Let them have compassion on their subjects in the city and Diocese of Seville, who are sensible of their errors and ask for pardon”.
The appointment of a Grand Inquisitor, which took place in this year, was another important step in the organization of the new tribunal. The idea appears to have originated with the Spanish monarchs. In the autumn of 1483 Sixtus IV entrusted the spiritual powers of this office to Thomas
Torquemada, the Dominican Prior of S. Cruz. He was
to direct all the business of the Inquisition, was empowered to delegate his Apostolic Mission to others, and, especially, as the Pope’s representative, to hear appeals made to the Holy See, superseding the former occupant of this office. The Grand Inquisitor’s sphere of jurisdiction was, by a special Papal Brief of the 17th October, 1483, extended to
the kingdom of Aragon. A Council of Inquisition was now established, mainly with the object of assisting in the hearing of Appeals. Torquemada instituted this Council by virtue of the plenary powers which he had received when his authority was conferred upon him by the Pope. Sixtus IV gave his sanction to this measure. The members of the Council have often been spoken of as mere State officials; this, however, is a mistake. They were State officials, and, as such, derived their temporal jurisdiction from the King, but, in their primary ecclesiastical capacity, they had no authority until it was imparted to them by the Papal Delegate. The Grand Inquisitor, nominated by the King, always received his ecclesiastical
jurisdiction from an Apostolic Brief. He proposed, and the King nominated, the Councillors, who derived their spiritual jurisdiction from his approbation, by which he imparted to them a share in his Apostolic authority.
The Spanish Inquisition, accordingly, appears as a mixed, but primarily ecclesiastical, institution. The fact that the
condemned were handed over to the secular arm testifies to the correctness of this view. Had the Spanish Inquisition been a State institution, a royal court of justice, there would have been no necessity for this. A court which invariably
hands over those whom it finds guilty to the secular arm for punishment cannot itself be a secular tribunal. It was precisely the ecclesiastical character of the new Inquisition which made its judges decline to execute capital sentences, and follow the custom always observed by the ecclesiastical Inquisition of requesting that the prisoner might be leniently dealt with, a formality prescribed by the Canon Law.
The action of Sixtus IV, as General of his Order, would have led to the expectation that he would prove a reforming Pope. Admonitions and exhortations on this point were not wanting. Apart from those voices which clamoured
for reform as a means for compassing other ends, many memorials reached Rome from abroad, animated by the purest motives, and urging the need of it on the Pope. The abuses in the Cistercian Order, particularly that regarding commendams, were thus brought under his notice. In Rome itself zealous Friars went preaching penance and amendment. Many secular priests were equally earnest, warning their hearers that God would let the Turks come to Rome as a judgment for their sins. The Pope placed
no obstacle in the way of such men, but, on the contrary,
gave them every encouragement, remembering how valuable the preachers of penance had been in stemming the tide of depravity during the period of the Renaissance.
A secular priest, who had come to Rome in 1473 and spoken in this strain, was not only permitted by the Pope to preach everywhere, but also received material support. Sixtus IV sent the celebrated St. Jacopo della Marca in October, 1471, to pacify Ascoli, which was torn with hatred and factions.
A further proof that the Pope was favourably disposed towards ecclesiastical reform is furnished by a Bull, drawn
up at his command, and containing minute provisions for the amendment of the Court. Abuses which had crept in among the Cardinals were relentlessly exposed in it, and rules laid down which, had they been carried into effect,
would have completely changed the aspect of the Sacred College and of the whole Court. Unhappily, this Bull was never published. The cause of this must be sought not in
the remissness of the Pope, but in the opposition of those who surrounded him. His nephews well knew what the
consequences of reform would be to them. The Sacred College also put obstacles in the way. A letter of Petrus Barrocius, written in the year 1481, expressly states this, while giving a detailed account of the corruption of the
Court. “Sixtus IV”, he writes, “wished to set his face against these practices, and appointed a Commission of reform, but the majority of the Cardinals negatived the suggestions of the better disposed”. This could not have
happened but for the unfortunate changes which had taken
place in the members composing the Sacred College.
Torquemada and Carvajal, two unflinching champions of ecclesiastical purity, had died during the pontificate of Paul II. In the time of Sixtus IV, many of the elder Cardinals had gone to their reward. Bessarion, amongst others, in 1472, and, on the 21st December in the following year, at Verona, the brave Forteguerri. Three other admirable members of the Sacred College died in 1476: Roverella (3rd May), Calandrini (24th July), and Agnifilus (9th November). On the 11th August, 1477, Latino Orsino, and in 1478, the austere Capranica passed away; Eroli and Ammanati in 1479 (2nd April and 10th September). The loss of these representatives of better days was not adequately
repaired; during the thirteen years of Sixtus IV’s pontificate, eight creations of Cardinals took place, and thirty-four
prelates, twenty-two of whom were Italians, were raised to the
purple; but, in the majority of cases, these appointments
were not made from purely ecclesiastical motives, and the worldly-minded Cardinals, such as Jouffroy (d. 1473), Alain (d. 1474, May 3), d'Estouteville (d. 1483, January 22), and Gonzaga (d. 1483, October 21), who died in the time of this Pope, were but too soon succeeded by others of like character.
The first creation of Cardinals by Sixtus IV was much to be deplored. On this occasion his two young nephews, one of whom was utterly unworthy of this dignity, were raised to the purple. In the second creation, on the 7th May, 1473, the wishes of temporal Princes had predominant weight. The Archbishop of Arles, Philippe de Lévis, had been recommended for the dignity by King René, and
Giovanni Arcimboldo, Bishop of Novara, by the Duke of Milan. The selection of Philibert Hugonet, Bishop of Macon, seems to have been due to the Duke of Burgundy’s influence. As to Stefano Nardini, Sixtus IV himself said of him that he had made him a Cardinal, in order to encourage
the members of the Court to emulate his zeal and industry.
If Nardini, the founder of a College for poor students, was worthy of a place in the Senate of the Church, the same cannot be said of the two other Italians who received
the purple on the 7th May, 1473. Giov. Batista Cybò had passed a frivolous youth, and the wealthy Antonio Giacomo Venier was living in a style of princely luxury. The two Spaniards, Auxias de Podio and Pedro Gonzalez
de Mendoza, Archbishop of Toledo, created at this time,
were, however, excellent men.
More than three years elapsed before Sixtus IV again
added to the numbers of the Sacred College. An Ambassador, then living in Rome, speaks of violent disputes between the Cardinals and the Pope, who, notwithstanding all his efforts, only succeeded in accomplishing the creation of five
new Cardinals. This took place on the 18th December, 1476. Among those promoted, but one, G. B. Mellini, Bishop of Urbino, was an Italian; two, Charles de Bourbon
and Pierre de Foix, were French; one, Pedro Ferrici, was a Spaniard; and one, Giorgio da Costa, Archbishop of Lisbon, a Portuguese. This last died in 1503, at the age of 100, one of the wealthiest Princes of the Church of his time.
In the following March we hear of negotiations for the
nomination of new Cardinals. On the 24th of that month Sixtus IV proposed in Consistory, John of Aragon (a son of Ferrante), Ascanio Maria Sforza, Pietro Foscari, and his own two nephews, Cristoforo della Rovere and Girolamo
Basso della Rovere. The preliminary discussions lasted all through the summer, ending on the 10th December, 1477, in a complete victory for Sixtus IV. On that day all
those whom he had proposed were, with the exception of Ascanio Sforza, raised to the purple, and to their number were added the Minorite, Gabriel Rangone, George Hesler,
who had rendered important service to the house of Habsburg, and, finally, a third nephew of the Pope’s, Raffaello Sansoni Riario. These numerous additions to the Sacred
College gave occasion for the creation of a new Title, the first which had for several centuries taken place. Sixtus IV gave Pietro Foscari, St. Nicholas at the Colosseum (S. Nicolaus inter imagines) as his titular Church.
If the simultaneous elevation of three Papal nephews was in itself an extraordinary proceeding, Raffaello Sansoni’s
age—he was only seventeen—did not tend to diminish its exceptional character! The spiritual element was no better
represented by him than by Cristoforo and Giuliano della Rovere. Though presenting many radical differences in personal character, they were all great lords with essentially worldly interests. The fourth of the Pope’s nephews on the sisters’ side, Girolamo Basso della Rovere, was a prelate of blameless life, who never abused the favour of his uncle or
of his cousin, Pope Julius II”. Cristoforo della Rovere dying on the 1st February, 1478, Sixtus IV, on the 10th of that month, received his brother, Domenico, into the Senate of the Church. He built for himself the much-admired
Palace on the Piazza Scossacavalli, and a villa in the neighbourhood of Ponte Molle, without the City, which was often visited by Sixtus IV. He also built the Chapel in Sta Maria del Popolo, which, like his Palace, was adorned with paintings from the hand of Pinturicchio. The little town of
Montefiascone owes to him its principal church, and his native city, Turin, its Cathedral, which, being the work of Meo dal Caprino, bears a striking resemblance to the churches built by the same architect in Rome. This member of the
Rovere family had no merit in the way of talent to recommend him. He had but little literary culture, and was not either learned or naturally quick-witted. It was the grace
of God, his good reputation, and his true and loyal disposition which brought him to the front.
These last nominations, together with the increasing influence of the Pope’s nephews, who came in greater numbers to Rome at this time, gave to the Court a more and more
worldly character. The crafty Girolamo Riario, who was made Burgher of the City and a member of the Roman
nobility in the year 1477, and, in 1480, Commander-in-Chief
of the Church, surpassed all the Cardinals in influence. The whole demeanour of this upstart was in keeping with his extravagant expenditure on all festal occasions. He took pride in eclipsing all the Cardinals, even those who were of princely birth. The purely worldly tendencies displayed, especially by Rodrigo Borgia, Francesco Gonzaga and d'Estouteville, among the older Cardinals, the frequent
admission of others of similar disposition into the Sacred
College, and the removal by death of so many of those who
were truly devoted to the interests of the Church, led pious and earnest men like F. Piccolomini and Marco Barbo to
absent themselves as much as possible from Rome. Giovanni Michiel and Pietro Foscari, the kinsmen and countrymen of the latter, were essentially Venetian patricians, and found the new order of things by no means uncongenial.
The next creation still further promoted the worldliness and pomp of the Sacred College. It took place on the 15th May, 1480, and was, in many respects, an important one. With hardly an exception those raised to the purple were
of high birth: they were, Paolo Fregoso, Ferry de Clugny, Cosimo Orsini de' Migliorati, the excellent Giovan Battista
Savelli, whose elevation had, up to this time, been hindered
by the Orsini party. He had given proof of his abilities in several Legations, was endowed with an enterprising spirit and a talent for organization; he had been designated for the
cardinalate by Paul II, but the sudden death of that Pope, and the influence of Latino Orsini with Sixtus IV had so
far kept him from that dignity. In conjunction with him,
Giovanni Colonna was also created, and the seeds of party strife introduced into the Sacred College; for Giuliano della Rovere was a friend of the Colonna and the Savelli, while Girolamo Riario’s interests, as a temporal lord, drew him to
associate himself more and more closely with the Orsini.
The next creation, on the 15th November, 1483, did yet
more to increase the influence of the great Roman families in the Sacred College, Giovanni Conti of Valmontone and Battista Orsini being then raised to the purple. The same dignity was conferred on Juan Moles, a Spaniard, on the Archbishop of Tours, Elie de Bourdeilles, and on Giovanni Giacomo Sclafenati, Bishop of Parma, who was but twenty-three years of age. The choice of this youthful Prelate gave occasion to much unfavourable comment, and completely nullified the good impression which the simultaneous elevation of the saintly Bourdeilles might have produced.
A yet greater error was committed in the promotion of Ascanio Maria Sforza (March, 1484) dictated as it was
by worldly and political motives.
When we consider that it was this man, in conjunction
with Cardinals Riario, Orsini, Colonna, Sclafenati, and Savelli (all of them admitted by Sixtus IV into the Senate
of the Church), who in 1492 carried the election of Rodrigo Borgia, we are naturally inclined to form an unfavourable opinion of this Pope, from whom so much had been hoped.
Nevertheless, an impartial study of history must lead us to protest against the picture drawn by Infessura of Sixtus IV. Infessura was a violent partisan of his deadly enemies,
the Colonna. He blesses the day when God delivered his people out of the hand of this “most profligate and unjust of Kings”. Neither fear of God nor love for his people, no spark of kindness or good-will, according to this author, were to be found in him; nothing but sensuality, avarice, love of show and vainglory. After this tremendous general accusation he proceeds to enter into details. He cannot
say a good word anywhere of Sixtus IV. It is plain from this, and from the violence of his language, that we have here a collection of everything that was reported to the Pope's disadvantage in Rome, at a time when a strong
opposition to his person and to his Court prevailed there.
As regards Infessura’s most serious accusation, that of gross immorality, in that corrupt age such a charge was but
too frequently flung at any enemy. Later on, the austere
Adrian VI was himself a victim to the slanderous tongues of the Renaissance age. Things had come to such a pass
that no one could escape calumny, and the most exemplary virtue provoked the worst detraction. Atrocious crimes of this kind are not proved by the malignant gossip collected by a writer so open to suspicion as Infessura. No trustworthy contemporary, not one of the numerous Ambassadors, who reported everything that took place in Rome with scrupulous accuracy, has a word to say on the subject; one indeed of these Envoys, immediately after the election of Sixtus IV, extols his blameless and pious manner of life. Whatever faults Sixtus IV may
have committed as Pope, there was no change for the worse in regard to morals or religion. The fact that he chose as
his confessor the blessed Amadeus of Portugal, a man of extraordinary sanctity and mortification, is in itself a proof of this. We have ample evidence to prove that Sixtus IV discharged his religious duties zealously and seriously, and venerated his holy patrons, St. Francis and the Blessed Virgin, with the same devotion which he had manifested
before his elevation. Though suffering acutely from gout, he never allowed this to prevent him from assisting at the solemn Easter Mass. “With touching perseverance the feeble old man made his pilgrimages of devotion to the
Churches of Sta Maria del Popolo and della Pace, which he had built in honour of the Blessed Virgin”. Sixtus IV must indeed have been a consummate hypocrite if his private life was infamous while he appeared so fervent a client of the most Pure Mother of God.
Infessura’s other charges against Sixtus IV must equally be either dismissed or modified. An impartial student admits that the historian who represents this Pope as avaricious and greedy of gain, double-faced in his policy, insatiable in his lust of conquest, passionate and tyrannical in character, without taking into account how much in his
conduct is entirely, or in great measure, due to Girolamo Riario, is guilty of a serious error. History belies herself
when she paints her subject in a glare of light, oblivious of the deep contrasting shadows.
Among the darkest of these shadows is that unfortunate
attachment to his nephews, in spite of his many estimable qualities, which entangled him in a labyrinth of political complications, from which at last no honourable exit was possible. The difficulties into which this deplorable weakness for his relatives led Sixtus IV also had other most
injurious effects. In order to procure the required resources, it was necessary to resort to all sorts of financial expedients, which resulted in a terrible amount of venality and corruption. Even before the time of this Pope there existed offices which could be purchased, and to which were
attached certain sources of income. The revenues of these
offices are said to have amounted in 1471 to something like 100,000 scudi. When the danger from Turkey made the
want of money more and more pressing, Sixtus IV further added to this crowd of officials. Four Colleges, those of the Stipulatori, Giannizzeri, Stradiatori, and Mamelucchi, were revived by him. While the expense of every Bull or Brief went on constantly growing, as the host of officials connected with it increased, the Annates were again raised, and a new tax (Compositio), to be paid to the Dataria in Rome on collation to a benefice, imposed. Besides this there was the so-called Quindennien, a tax to be paid every fifteen
years by all benefices subject to Annates, which dated from the reign of Paul II.
The venality of many of the Court officials, and the
excessive exercise of the Pope’s rights in the matter of
taxation, occasioned, especially in Germany, a feeling of deep dissatisfaction with the Holy See, which did more than has generally been supposed to pave the way for the subsequent apostasy. When the great assembly of the clergy of the Metropolitan Churches of Mayence, Treves, and Cologne was held at Coblence, in the year 1479, numerous complaints
were formulated for transmission to the Pope. Their principal subjects were the non-observance of the Concordat, unfair taxation, the great privileges of the Mendicant Orders, and the number of exemptions.
If, notwithstanding the many imposts levied, the Papal Treasury was almost always in difficulties, this was due, not
only to extravagant expenses, but also to defective financial administration. Serious and growing negligence is to be observed in the manner in which the accounts of the Apostolic Treasury were kept. The monthly audit had
become little more than a formality. The salaries of the
officials were often five or eight months, or even a year or two, in arrears. The deficit, which increased month by
month, necessitated constant loans. Under such circumstances we cannot be surprised to learn that Sixtus IV at his death left behind him debts to the amount of 150,000 ducats.
This financial pressure led to a considerable augmentation of indirect taxation in the States of the Church, and also to the diversion of the revenues of the Roman University to other objects, and the imposition of taxes on the salaries of the Professors. As Infessura, who was a member of the teaching staff of this University, speaks with peculiar bitterness of the injury inflicted on it by Sixtus IV, there
is ground for supposing him to have been among the
sufferers. In this circumstance, and in Infessura’s alliance with the Colonna and his Republican sentiments, may be
found the motive of the unmeasured reproaches heaped upon Sixtus IV, the friend of the Orsini, and the advocate of strongly monarchical ideas. Violent personal feeling, arising from the position of the author, and perhaps from his unpleasant experiences, is here openly expressed. We have a repetition of the relations which existed between Platina and Paul II. Platina is not an impartial and truthful authority in regard to the builder of the Palace of
S. Marco, neither is Infessura to be trusted when he tells
the history of the head of the Rovere family.
Many abuses no doubt existed in the Rome of those days,
and Girolamo Riario was certainly guilty of many unbecoming actions, but Infessura is not justified in accusing Sixtus IV of usurious speculation in corn for his own covetous
purposes. The Pope’s great care for Rome of itself contradicts this statement, and witnesses above suspicion testify to the relatively favourable condition of the inhabitants of the States of the Church under Sixtus IV, excepting, of course, in times of war. Philippe de Commines, who went
to Rome with no favourable prejudices, after he had become personally acquainted with the state of things there, expressed his opinion that the Popes were wise and well advised, and that, but for the strife between the Colonna and the Orsini, the dwellers in the States of the Church would be the
happiest people on earth, inasmuch as they paid no poll-tax and practically hardly any other taxes. If this last statement is to be taken with some reservation, it is still certain
that hardly anywhere, on an average, was the taxation so low as in the States of the Church.
The history of the speculations in corn of Sixtus IV, about
which Infessura has so much to say, is actually that the magistrate of the Annona or Abondanza bought corn by his orders, laid it up in granaries and distributed it to
the bakers at a settled price, according to which the value
of bread was regulated. Abuses on the part of the subordinate officials no doubt occurred; while men are men,
such things will arise in similar cases. But the new system was devised by the Pope in order to facilitate and secure the provisioning of Rome, and affords no ground for charging
him with usurious dealing in corn. Practically, under the successor of Sixtus IV, the Annona protected the Roman
people from want, when, in the year 1485, the Duke of Calabria was encamped in the Campagna and cut off supplies. The energetic measures adopted by Sixtus IV, in order to ensure public safety in Rome and other cities of
the States of the Church, as, for example, Perugia, were appreciated by his contemporaries.
The solicitude of Sixtus IV for the welfare of his subjects is further evinced by his efforts to check the devastation of the Campagna, and to promote tillage there, his reintroduction of the Constitution of Albornoz, his solicitude
about the coinage, and his exertions for the regulation of the rivers, and the drainage of unhealthy places in the States of the Church. Works of this description were promoted by him in the neighbourhood of Foligno, and in the
Maritima. At the latter spot there was an idea of making an attempt to dry up the well-known Pontine Marshes. In 1476 the Pope requested the Duke of Ferrara to send him an hydraulic architect, competent to direct these difficult
works.
The accusations of greed and cruelty, which Infessura has brought against the Pope, must also be absolutely dismissed. The most trustworthy authorities, on the contrary, bear witness to the inherent kindliness which was expressed in his countenance and speech. He was won by the least
token of attachment; the more disposed he himself was to
kindness, the less worthy of further benefits did he esteem those whom he saw to have abused former ones.
Equally unanimous is the testimony which assures us of his generosity. He could refuse nothing, so that the pleasure he felt in satisfying people often made him grant the same appointment to several troublesome petitioners. Accordingly, for the sake of avoiding misunderstandings, he found it necessary to entrust to an experienced and firm man, like John of Montmirabile, the revision of requests,
grants, and presents. Even in the Vatican, the Mendicant Friar so little understood the value of money that, if he saw
any coin on the table, he could hardly refrain from at once distributing it, through his chamberlains, to friends or to
the poor. His saying, “A stroke of the pen suffices to procure for a Pope any sum that he desires”, is an evidence of his simplicity in matters of this kind. No Pontiff was fonder of giving, or of kinder disposition, and he was always willing to advance men and to bestow honours upon them. This amiable and benevolent temper of mind led him to adopt, in
his intercourse with those around him, both high and low,
a tone of affability and goodness, and even of expansive
confidence, which, in diplomatic negotiations, often gave cold politicians an advantage over him. His unpleasant experiences with the Cardinals, who had carried his election, and with Ferrante of Naples, who was solely influenced by selfish
considerations, furnished the reasons which induced him later on to confide practical affairs to the crafty brothers Pietro and Girolamo Riario. The foregoing pages have
shown the disastrous influence exercised especially by the latter. Girolamo was like the evil genius of Sixtus IV; bred in the cloister, and without experience of the world, the better judgment of Francesco della Rovere succumbed but too often to his headstrong policy. It may truly be said,
that nothing so much tended to obscure the good, and even
brilliant, qualities, of this Pope, as his inability to shake himself free from influences which stained his honour. It may be asked how such weakness can be reconciled with the great energy often manifested in the conduct of Sixtus IV; the best answer is, in the words of Melozzo’s biographer, that his was one of those peculiar characters which are capable at times of strong efforts of will, during which they display really commanding ability, but which are followed
by intervals of weakness and indifference which seem
necessary to enable them to collect their forces again. The crafty Girolamo relentlessly turned these weaker moments to account.
Side by side with many excellent and praiseworthy
qualities, we see in Sixtus IV. great defects and failings;
there are many bright points, but there are also dark shadows.
If our unbiassed researches lead us, for the most part, to dismiss the intemperate accusations brought against Sixtus IV by a partisan of the Colonna like Infessura, on the other hand, they forbid us to look upon him as an ideal Pope. Francesco della Rovere was admirable as General of his
Order; the contemplation of his pontificate awakens mingled feelings in our minds. It is but too true that the father of Christendom often disappears behind the figure of
the Italian prince; that, in the exaltation of his own kindred,
he exceeded all due bounds, and allowed himself to be led into worldly ways, and that great relaxation in ecclesiastical
discipline and manifold abuses prevailed in his reign, although they were not unaccompanied by measures of reform. Egidius of Viterbo may be guilty of exaggeration in dating the period of decadence from his pontificate, yet there can be no doubt that he steered the Barque of St. Peter into dangerous and rock-strewn waters.
In his relations to learning and art Sixtus IV appears to far greater advantage than in the sphere of ecclesiastical
policy. When we remember that this man was a poor
Friar, suddenly transformed into the mightiest Pontiff of his age, we are struck with astonishment at finding nowhere in him the least trace of the straitened surroundings of his youth and early training. Instead of the narrowness and pettiness we should expect, we find him entering into the
spirit of the past, and making the magnificent taste of the day his own to a degree that no other Pope had done. We
see him vying with the most renowned Italian Princes in raising his capital from the dust and degradation of centuries of ruin to be a seat of splendour, a worthy and beautiful
abode; endeavoring not merely to place her on an equality with the greatest cities of Italy, but to make her once more the intellectual literary and artistic centre of the world.
Noting all this, we are filled with respect for a man so
capable and so powerful, in spite of some violence in his temper and inequalities in his character. Notwithstanding all his faults, there is something imposing in the first of the
Rovere Popes; we are constrained to admire him, and,
without hesitation, place him on a level with his predecessor,
Nicholas V, and his nephew and successor, Julius II.
CHAPTER XII.
Sixtus
IV as the Patron of Art and Learning.—(a.) Refounding
and Opening of the Vatican Library—The
Capitoline Museum—The Frescoes
of the Sistine Chapel.
One title to renown, possessed by Sixtus IV, is uncontested;
he was unwearied in his zeal for the promotion of art and learning. Fresh from the poverty of the Franciscan Convent in which his earlier days had been spent, and from the arduous philosophical and theological studies which had occupied his mind, Francesco della Rovere, on his elevation to the Chair of St. Peter, at once set to work to adorn Rome with
the most precious and varied works of art and learning, and to raise her to the position of the chief city of the Christian world, and the artistic and literary centre of the Renaissance.
The prosecution of the great work of Nicholas V was the ideal which filled his mind, and, amid all the political and ecclesiastical perplexities which troubled the thirteen years of his reign, the realization of this ideal was pursued with a steadfast earnestness which even his opponents were constrained to admire. In the history of Intellectual Culture the name of Sixtus IV must ever find an honourable place, together with those of Nicholas V, Julius II, and Leo X.
It may safely be said that, in regard to the development of the Renaissance in Rome, Sixtus IV occupies a position similar to that of Lorenzo de' Medici in Florence.
If the Golden Age which he introduced was often the subject of exaggerated praise from the admirers of his
brilliant literary Court, it is nevertheless true that he has
a right to be numbered among the most popular National Popes.
I.
Of all the works undertaken by Sixtus IV none has a
greater claim on the sympathy and interest of the historian than the re-establishment of the Vatican Library, and its opening for general use. This most admirable of all
his foundations occupied the Pope even in the earliest
months of his pontificate. On the 17th December, 1471, he took the first step towards rescuing the forgotten Library of Nicholas V, and providing the necessary accommodation for its preservation. As time went on, he adopted the idea of Nicholas V in its fullest extent, and made further additions to the treasures which had been saved. He endeavoured to procure valuable manuscripts, ancient codices, and modern copies from all parts, so that a bookdealer like Vespasiano da Bisticci speaks of the Pope's love of collecting as marking a new epoch, from which he occasionally dates, although, as a Florentine, he is not otherwise favourably disposed towards this Pope.
The zeal with which Sixtus IV, assisted by Platina, Jacobo di Volterra, Lionardi Dati, Domizio Calderino, Mattia Palmieri, and Sigismondo de' Conti, laboured to increase the Vatican Library is evidenced by the fact that in 1475 it contained no less than 2527 volumes, 770 of which were Greek and 1757 Latin. Between 1475 and 1484, 1000 more were added, bringing the number up to more than 3500 volumes, something like three times as many as appear in Nicholas
V’s Inventory drawn up twenty years before. In order to appreciate the importance of the collection, let us remember that ten years later the library of the wealthy Medici contained about a thousand Manuscripts.
In the collection of Pope Sixtus IV we observe a decided preponderance of ecclesiastical works. Theology, Philosophy, and Patristic Literature form its chief contents. The Inventory of 1475 mentions 26 volumes of St. Chrysostom's writings, 28 of St. Ambrose, 31 of St. Gregory, 41 of Canon Law, 51 of Records of Councils, 51 of the works of St. Thomas, 57 of St. Jerome, and 81 of St. Augustine. The Old and New Testaments occupy 59 volumes, and Glosses on the Scripture 98. Celebrated Greek authors are represented by 109 volumes, and there are 116 on religious subjects by less-known writers of the same nation. Compared with the collection of Nicholas V, the total absence of any writings in the vernacular is a defect. The classics occupy the second place; there are 14 volumes of the works of Seneca, 53 of the Latin Poets, 70 of Greek Poetry and Grammar, 125 of Roman, and 59 of Grecian History. The Latin writers on Astrology and Geometry contribute 19, and Greek
Astrologers 49 volumes; Latin Philosophers 103, and Greek 94. There were 55 Latin and 14 Greek works on Medicine.
The first Librarian of the Vatican under Sixtus IV was
Giandrea Bussi, Bishop of Aleria, a man of classical culture. The appointment of this ardent promoter of the art of typography in Rome renders it probable that the productions of the printing-press were not excluded from the Papal collection. An Inventory of the year 1483 distinguishes between printed books and Manuscripts.
Bussi, who died in the Jubilee Year, was succeeded by Bartolomeo Platina. New and regular revenues were, at the same time, assigned by the Pope to the Library, and energetic measures were taken for the recovery of books
which had been borrowed and not restored. Platina received a yearly salary of 120 ducats and apartments. Three officials, called Scriptores or Custodes,
were placed under him, and also a bookbinder. They were
paid 12 ducats a year each, and were generously supported by Sixtus IV in every way that he could. One of them,
Demetrius of Lucca, was a man of considerable learning. Platina soon died, and his place was filled by Bartolomeo Manfredi, surnamed Aristophilo, Secretary to Cardinal
Roverella. In July, 1484, the new Librarian went, by the Pope’s desire, to Urbino and Rimini to copy Manuscripts.
The appointment of Platina, the employment of subordinate officials, and the assignment of a regular income were the first steps towards the reorganization of this noble Institution, which soon acquired a worldwide reputation. On the 1st July, 1477, Sixtus IV published another Bull regarding the revenues of the Library and the stipend of its custodians. In the introduction to this Bull, he says that the objects of this Institution are the exaltation of the Church militant, the spread of the Catholic Faith, and the advancement of learning.
Another important work of the Pope was the separation of the Manuscript books from the Documents and Archives.
A special place, called the Bibliotheca Secreta, was prepared, in which the Documents arranged by Platina were to be preserved in walnutwood chests. The whole room was wainscoted, and the free space on the walls above adorned with frescoes in chiaroscuro. This costly undertaking must have been completed in the latter part of the Summer of 1480.
Documents of special importance had, from the beginning of the 15th Century, been kept at St. Angelo. Having regard to the troubled state of the times, Sixtus IV caused the Charters containing the chief privileges of the Roman Church to be transferred to this place of safety, after authentic copies of them had been made by Urbino Fieschi
and Platina.
The Library proper consisted, until 1480, of two halls opening into each other, one for the Latin and the other
for the Greek Manuscripts. From the registers of payments it appears that, in the summer of 1480, Sixtus IV added a third hall, which was distinguished by the name of the Great Library, and was in all probability situated on the other side of the Cortile del Papagallo, beneath the Sistine Chapel. Its walls and ceiling were painted by Melozzo,
with the assistance of Antoniasso. Twenty-five years later, Albertini wrote a description of the Library, which is shorter than we could wish. He places the three portions of the
Public Institution in juxtaposition, so as to separate the Library from the Secret Archives. “In the Apostolic Palace at the Vatican”, he writes, “is that glorious Library, built by Sixtus IV, with his portrait exquisitely painted and the epigram beneath. There are also paintings of the
Doctors, with other verses, which I give in my collection of epigrams. Beside this Library is another, called the Greek one, also built by Sixtus, together with the chamber of the Custodians. There is, moreover, a third very beautiful
Library, also erected by Sixtus IV, in which are the Codices adorned with gold, silver, and silk bindings. I saw Virgil’s works in this hall, written in capital letters, besides geometrical, astronomical, and other instruments connected with the liberal arts, which are also decorated with gold, silver, and paintings”. Albertini then proceeds to speak of the
Secret Library (Bibliotheca Secreta), which had been rearranged by Julius II.
The Great Library, which contained the collection of ancient Manuscripts, had the advantage of the two other
halls in being well-lighted by a large glass window containing the arms of the Rovere family. The German glass-maker Hermann had been obliged to bring this himself
from Venice. Here stood the long tables to which the
Manuscripts were secured by little chains—just as they now are in the splendid Laurenziana at Florence; but in
the 15th Century the comfort of scholars was more considered than it is in the 19th. In the cold and damp winter days the grand Library was warmed. Although the Manuscripts were chained, they were most liberally lent out. Platina’s list of books lent is preserved, and shows that several volumes were entrusted at once to the same person. Among those who availed themselves of the literary treasures of this Library, were the Pope himself, Cardinal Giuliano, numerous Bishops and Prelates, Johannes Argyropulos, Sigismondo de' Conti, Pomponius Laetus, Johannes Philippus de Lignamine, Hieronymus Balbanus, Augustinus
Patritius, Jacobus Volaterranus, Francesco de Toledo, and others. The negligence of some borrowers compelled the administrators from the year 1480 to require pledges to be deposited for books lent.
The reorganization of the Vaticana, and its opening to the public, would suffice to secure for Sixtus IV. an abiding record in the history of scholars. But his other efforts for the promotion of learning were by no means inconsiderable.
In the early days of his pontificate, the Humanists seem to have felt much anxiety as to the attitude the former
Franciscan friar might adopt in regard to their pursuits. This feeling is evidenced by a work which Sigismondo de' Conti dedicated to the Pope, reminding him that Nicholas V, the most famous Pontiff of the age, had gained great
renown by his patronage of scholars. Sigismondo warned Sixtus IV not to attach too little importance to the opinion of the learned, and to what might be written of him by celebrated men. He reminded him of the words of Francesco
Sforza, who said that the wound of a dagger was less to be dreaded than that of a satirical poem. In conclusion, the anxious Humanist again begged the Pope to show honour to men who were in a position to preserve his name from oblivion and to immortalize his actions.
Exhortations of this kind were not needed. Sixtus IV perfectly understood the importance of the Renaissance; he was well aware that the Humanists were indispensable, and that it was impossible, on account of some isolated excesses, to adopt a position of antagonism towards the intellectual life so ardently cultivated on all sides. “Full of intellect
and of taste for high culture”, the ex-general of the Mendicant Order from the first resolved “to surround the Papal
Throne and his own relations with all that could give him
prestige in the eyes of the world”. Although the attraction which the Eternal City exercises on lovers of antiquity had already drawn a numerous colony of learned men to Rome, the Pope constantly sought to add to their number. One of his greatest acquisitions was Johannes Argyropulos of Constantinople, the most highly gifted among the Greeks who had migrated to Italy. In winning him to Rome, Sixtus IV gained a victory over the Medici, in whose service he had been for some time. Argyropulos was very successful there. He had the satisfaction of numbering amongst his hearers men of the greatest distinction, Bishops and Cardinals, and even notable foreigners such as Johann
Reuchlin. Angelo Poliziano was also his disciple. The worthy Bartholomaus Fontiuswas appointed to a Professorial Chair in the Roman University under Sixtus IV. In 1473 Martino Filetico became Professor of Rhetoric in that Institution. Even non-Italian scholars were summoned by the
Pope to Rome. Among these, was, in 1475, the famous Regiomontanus (Johann Muller of Konigsberg in Franconia). Unfortunately, this great discoverer, who, by the Pope's desire, would have assisted in the work of reforming the Calendar, died in July, I476.
But the ambition of Sixtus IV was not yet satisfied.
He desired to win for his beloved Rome the prince of the neoplatonic philosophy, the scholar whose writings cast a
halo of glory over Florence. Several of the Cardinals
supported him in this project. Marsilio Ficino, however, was bound to the Medici by bonds which could not be
severed. He requited the Pope’s gracious summons by a letter couched in the most flattering terms.
The Roman Humanists in the time of Sixtus IV formed a very brilliant circle. While Pomponius Laetus lived
almost entirely by his labours as a Professor, Platina
wrote his History of the Popes, Campanus composed his elegies and epigrams, Aurelio Brandolini charmed even the
unpoetical Pope with his verses, while a bevy of youthful writers produced Latin poems of more or less merit. The favor shown by Sixtus IV to Gasparo and Francesco, the sons of Flavio Biondi, showed his willingness to reward the services rendered by departed scholars. Johannes Philippus de Lignamine, the editor of many ancient authors, was in his service. His kinsman, Philippus de Lignamine, a Dominican, continued Ricobaldo’s Chronicle of the Popes down to the year 1469, and dedicated his work to Sixtus IV.
His pontificate was very fruitful in historical works. The
example of Pius II in writing the history of his own time
produced many imitators. Sigismondo de' Conti holds the
first place amongst these. His “Contemporary History”, in seventeen books, comprising the period from 1475 to 1510 ensures him an honourable mention among the Cinquecento writers. Sigismondo, who is spoken of with the greatest respect by contemporaneous authors, was a Christian Humanist. These men, the sympathetic outcome of the age of the Renaissance, had themselves experienced the
antagonism between the ancient classical world and the mediaeval point of view, but able justly to distinguish between the means and the end, were not blinded by the
splendour of the past, and held fast to the principles of Christianity. Sigismondo requited the favours of Sixtus IV and
the Rovere by a frequent and far too partial mention of them in his work, which otherwise is both trustworthy and candid. Jacopo Gherardi of Volterra (Volaterranus), attracted by Pope Sixtus IV to the Court of Rome, followed the example of his first patron, Cardinal Ammanati, by writing Memoirs of his time. Mattia Palmieri of Pisa, Papal Scriptor, who died in 1482, continued the chronicle of his famous Florentine namesake, Matteo Palmieri.
Notwithstanding the love of literature which distinguished
Sixtus IV, the unfortunate circumstances of the time robbed
the Roman University of much of her splendour. The revenues destined for the maintenance of the Institution were often employed in the war, and taxes were imposed on the salaries of the Professors. Different posts connected with the University came by purchase into unworthy hands.
Sixtus IV. also encouraged literary men by appointments to diplomatic Missions. In 1476 Georgios Hermonymos
went to England as Orator to the English Embassy, and in 1482 Sigismondo de' Conti, who had previously accompanied Cardinal Giuliano to the Netherlands, was sent to Florence.
Johannes Philippus de Lignamine had, in 1475, the honour of welcoming the King of Naples at Velletri, and was subsequently entrusted with Missions to Mantua and Sicily.
The excessive self-esteem of these favoured Humanists often took a very offensive form. Theodoros Gaza, considering the payment given him by the Pope for his translation of Aristotle’s Animals insufficient, is said to have scornfully cast it into the Tiber. The anecdote may be an invention, but it exemplifies the insolence and greed of many Humanists, one of whom, George of Trebizond, even went so far as to
beg money from the Sultan, to whom he wrote two fulsome
letters. Francesco Filelfo, who made presents and money the chief subject of his verses, was even more covetous. If the insolent petitions of this insatiable man were not favourably received he revenged himself by the coarsest invectives. Each new Pope was addressed immediately upon his elevation by the “King of importunate poets”, and if, like Pius II, he failed to satisfy the immense expectations of the petitioner, was loaded with abuse. The attacks which this
most repulsive of Humanists made on the memory of the
departed Pius II were so horrible, that the College of Cardinals caused him to be imprisoned at the very time
when he was striving to obtain a place at the Court. On
the accession of Sixtus IV, Filelfo renewed his efforts in this direction. The Pope at first gave him no encouragement, and Filelfo’s flatteries soon changed to complaints, and finally to threats. When he was summoned to Rome in 1474, he owed his appointment mainly to the dread of his
pen. Filelfo was employed for three years as Professor at the Roman University; dissensions were not wanting
during this period; the most important was his quarrel with Miliaduca Cicada, Master of the Papal Treasury. For the first time, however, he was delighted with the City, its
climate, the exuberance and elegance of its life, and, above all, with the incredible liberty which there prevailed.
The incredible liberty was most strikingly displayed in the permission given by the Pope to the Roman Academy to resume their meetings, which had been suppressed. Sixtus IV looked upon Humanism as a purely literary movement in no way dangerous to religion. The apprehensions which the extravagances and the heathen tendencies of many literary men had awakened in the mind of his predecessor
were not shared by him. He may also have thought that the Humanists had had their lesson and taken it to heart.
Pomponius Laetus was again perfectly free to lecture, and the Academy held its sittings without the slightest hindrance. The spectacle was a strange one. While
a Minorite occupied the Papal Throne the worship of antiquity, with its excesses as well as its good side, flourished unrebuked, and no offence seems to have been taken at the pontificate of Pomponius Laetus. The assemblies
at his house on the Quirinal near the
Gardens of Constantine were more brilliant than ever. The Academy was openly recognized, and this, in fact, was the
simplest way of rendering it harmless. High dignitaries
of the Church were on friendly terms with it. On the 20th April, 1483, when the Academicians celebrated the birthday of Rome, a solemn High Mass, followed by a discourse from Paulus Marsus, preceded the banquet, at which six Bishops
were present. At this Academic Feast the Privilegium, by which the Emperor Frederick granted to the body the
right of conferring the title of Doctor and crowning Poets, was publicly read.
In his treatment of Platina, one of the most violent members of the Academy, Sixtus IV showed great tact and
knowledge of human nature. He managed to win this ringleader of the opposition by treating him as an old friend, and assigned to him successively two tasks, which removed
all danger of anti-Papal dispositions, by enlisting all his
energies and talents in the service of the very power against which he had rebelled. He first encouraged him to write a History of the Popes, and then requested him to make a collection of all the Documents regarding the rights of the
Holy See. By the end of the year 1474, or the beginning of I475, Platina was able to offer his History of the Popes to his august patron. It is, in many respects, a remarkable work for the period in which it was written. Instead of the confused and often fabulous Chronicles of the Middle Ages, we find here for the first time a clear and serviceable handbook of real history. The graphic descriptions, the elegant, perspicuous, and yet concise, style of the work have won for Platina’s Lives of the Popes many readers even down to the present day.
In his Preface, which is addressed to Sixtus IV, Platina
begins by emphasizing, in the Humanistic style, the dignity and importance of history. His declaration that he will, on
principle, avoid applying expressions belonging to classical
heathenism to Christian subjects, is remarkable. He begins
his work with Christ, “so that, springing from the Emperor of Christians as from a living fountain, it may flow on
through the Roman Bishops down to the days of Sixtus”.
In the lives of the earliest Popes, Platina repeatedly mentions the ancient monuments with admiration. “In the Church of Sant' Andrea near Santa Maria Maggiore”, he writes, in his life of Simplicius, “as I looked at the relics of antiquity which it contains, tears often filled my eyes at the neglect of those whose duty it is to preserve it from decay”.
The critical acumen repeatedly manifested by Platina is worthy of note, though he keeps this faculty under restraint, not wishing to interrupt the flow of his narrative. The freedom with which, in a work dedicated to Sixtus IV, he treats of the faults of both the older and the more
recent Popes, is to be commended, and does equal honour to the author and to his patron. It is all the more painful to find that, in dealing with the life of his former adversary, Paul II, Platina has been unable to rise to the height of an
impartial historian. Death is a great peacemaker, and it might have been expected that, when Paul II was no
longer on earth, Platina would have done justice to his
memory. This, however, is by no means the case. The
labours of Paul II are described in a very one-sided manner, and indeed often willfully travestied and ridiculed. Even in passages in which there is no occasion for mentioning
this Pope, Platina seeks one, in order to give vent to his
hatred. This is all the more to be deplored, inasmuch as the biographies of the Popes of the Renaissance period constitute the only original portion of his work.
Platina’s language, also, in speaking of the ecclesiastical affairs of his own time, is often very intemperate. Strangely enough, these outbreaks do not occur in the lives of the 15th Century Popes, but are interpolated in those of an
earlier period. They are, in fact, masked attacks. When writing of Dionysius I, Platina drags in complaints of the pomp and pride of the higher clergy. In the histories of Julius I, Socinus I, and Boniface III he introduces censures, obviously aimed at the clergy of the 15th Century. The immorality of Sixtus IV’s Cardinals is severely castigated in the biography of Stephen III. A still more violent passage is inserted in his account of Gregory IV. There
was doubtless good cause for his animadversions, but they come somewhat strangely from a man whose own life was
so dissolute. Platina, however, is guilty of a worse fault,
when, in dealing with the reign of John XXII, he repeats the assertion of the party of the opposition, who maintained that the Pope contradicted Scripture, in saying that Christ possessed no property. The truthfulness of this historian may be gauged by the frivolous inscriptions discovered to have been written by some of the Roman Academicians in the Catacombs of S. Callisto, on the occasion on which he
describes himself as having visited it out of devotion J with
a few friends.
We cannot but be surprised that Sixtus IV accepted the dedication of a work like Platina’s. Probably he was only
acquainted with its contents in so far as they concerned the history of his own pontificate. This portion, which comes
down to November, 1474, contained nothing but what would have given him perfect satisfaction. This feeling found expression in Platina’s appointment as Librarian of the Vatican in the following year. While he occupied this post,
the Pope commissioned him to arrange the collection of Documents containing the Privileges of the Roman Church,
which are now preserved in three volumes in the Vatican Archives. This useful work, which is invaluable to the annalists of the Church, was brought to a conclusion during the war with Florence. Here, also, Platina proved his critical discernment in excluding the Donation of Constantine from his collection of Documents. The Preface to the
work is interesting, inasmuch as Platina not only avoids everything of an anti-Papal tendency, but also speaks with approval of the proceedings of the Popes against heretics and schismatics. There appears to be no doubt that Sixtus
IV succeeded in completely winning him over to the cause of the Church. The same may also be said in regard to the
proud Pomponius Laetus, who now composed poems in honour of Sixtus IV.
Platina died in 1481. His friends, among whom were some Bishops, celebrated the anniversary of his death in the Church of Sta Maria Maggiore, where he was buried. Mass was said by the Bishop of Ventimiglia, an Augustinian, and the tomb was sprinkled with holy water and incensed.
Pomponius Laetus, the President of the Academy, then mounted the pulpit to pronounce an oration in memory of his departed friend. Jacobus Volaterranus informs us that it was of a thoroughly religious and serious character. A poet from Perugia, named Astreus, then, from the same
pulpit, recited an elegy in verse, lamenting his loss! That such a thing could have been done is indeed an evidence of that incredible liberty so triumphantly praised by Filelfo. We cannot, however, suppose that serious men could fail to
disapprove, when, in the very sanctuary of the Queen of
Heaven, just after the Mass for the Dead, a layman, without the least token of any spiritual office, pronounced, from the
pulpit, verses which, although very elegant, yet—as Volaterranus remarks—were quite alien to our religion, and out of keeping with the sacred function which had just taken place. The Rome of that day was indeed full of strange contrasts, against which no one protested. Christian and heathen Humanism are to be seen walking side by side in daily life, and apparently incommoding each other as little as did the reforms and abuses which prevailed together in the Church.
II.
During his long pontificate, Sixtus IV did incomparably more for the promotion of Art than for that of Literature. It has been justly observed, that the artistic activity of the 15th Century reached its climax in Rome in his days. Francesco della Rovere started with the firm determination
of carrying on the work of Nicholas V, in adorning the capital of the Christian world with all that sheds lustre on a secular power. But as his individual character differed
widely from that of the first patron of Art among the Popes,
the manner in which he proceeded naturally differed also. Sixtus had, in common with Nicholas V, that love of the ideal which was so strong in the earlier Pope, but he confined himself to what was practical and possible, and did not let his imagination run wild in gigantic projects. Accordingly, Sixtus IV had the happiness of reigning long enough
to accomplish the greater part of what he had undertaken.
The verses from the pen of Platina, on the opening of the Vatican Library, which adorn the portrait of Melozzo da Forli, tell, in a few words, what Sixtus did for Rome :—
Templa domum expositus; vicos, fora, moenia, pontes :
Virgineam Trivii quod repararis aquam.
Prisca licet nautis statuas dare commoda portus :
Et Vaticanum cingere Sixte ingum :
Plus tamen Urbs debet : nam quae squalore latebat :
Cermitur (sic) in celebri
bibliotheca loco.
The approach of the Jubilee Year was, as we have shown,
the primary occasion of the external renovation of the Eternal City, and her transformation from the mediaeval type to one in keeping with the advancing needs of the age. At the
present day there are but few parts of Rome that give any idea of the City as it was four hundred years ago. There was an irregular collection of narrow, crooked, and dirty streets, in which the common requirements of a great town
were utterly neglected. In many cases, projecting porticoes, stalls, and balconies seriously obstructed the ordinary traffic, not to speak of that which might be expected in the Jubilee Year. In some places, two horsemen could not pass each
other. Pavements, with the exception of some which had been begun in the time of Nicholas V, were almost unknown,
either in the middle of the streets or alongside of the houses. Into this gloomy and unhealthy chaos Sixtus IV, following the schemes of Nicholas V, first brought air and light. The most important streets were paved, and it then
became possible to think of cleansing them. We have already spoken of the difficulties encountered in the work of
widening the streets, which was undertaken in preparation
for the Jubilee Year. The Pope, however, was not to be deterred from it. In January, 1480, he began by the removal of the armourers’ shops on the Bridge of S. Angelo.
The Romans at first opposed this innovation, but soon
became reconciled to what was a real benefit. In June of the same year an order was promulgated, requiring that in all the most frequented streets projections should be cleared away, pavements laid down, at least at the sides, houses jutting out into the street wholly or partially removed, the ruined ones rebuilt, new squares laid out and those already existing widened and made more symmetrical. Cardinal d'Estouteville was to superintend these improvements.
The Pope himself came from time to time to ascertain
personally how his directions were being carried out.
In the Leonine City he laid out a handsome street, originally known by his own name, extending from the moat of the Castle to the great gate of the Papal Palace (now Borgo S. Angelo); a third street here met the old Via de' Cavalli, which took much the same direction as the present Borgo Sto Spirito, and the old Via Santa, now Borgo Vecchio. The erection of the Ponte Sisto effected a complete transformation in that part of the City which lay on the right bank of the Tiber. Sigismondo de' Conti says that, in consequence of the accommodation afforded by the Bridge, this dirty and uninhabited district became thickly populated. Distinguished persons built houses there, and, even to the present day, the Vicolo Riario, near the Corsini Palace, remains as a memento of the villa belonging to that
family which was situated there.
Besides all that he did for the Library, Sixtus IV carried on other works of restoration in the Vatican, and built the Chapel which bears his name. The interior of the Palace was fitted up anew, and a barrack erected for the guard. The roof of St. Peter’s, its Sacristy, and the Chapel of S. Petronilla were restored, and the Tabernacle of the Confession and the Chapel of the Immaculate Conception were constructed.
We have already spoken of the restoration of the churches before and during the Jubilee Year. These works were very rapidly carried on, and Sixtus IV also
found time for building new churches. Foremost among these we must mention Sta Maria del Popolo, begun in 1472, and Sta Maria della Pace, both of which are worthy
memorials of the Pope’s devotion to the Queen of Heaven. Sta Maria del Popolo is a Basilica, with three naves surrounded by chapels, and with an octagonal dome supported on a drum, the first of the kind erected in Rome; unlike the other buildings of the period, which were, for the most part, very hurriedly built, the facade of
the year 1477 is a good specimen of pure Renaissance.
Sta Maria del Popolo was the favourite church of the Pope and of the Rovere family. Sixtus IV visited it almost every week, and the chief events of his reign were mostly celebrated there.
The Cardinals, especially his nephews, followed the Pope’s example. Two Churches and palatial Convents, S. Pietro in Vincoli and SS. Apostoli, are, in their entirety, memorials of the Rovere. In the first-named Basilica, Cardinal Giuliano continued the work of his uncle, and in the latter, that of the nephew, Pietro Riario. This Cardinal also restored
the portico of S. Agnese.
The Castles of Grottaferrata and Ostia, in the neighbourhood of Rome, are also abiding monuments of the powerful
Cardinal. After the death of Bessarion, Grottaferrata was granted in commendam to Giuliano, who at once began to build there. On account of the strategical importance of its
position, the Convent was surrounded by a fortification. Those who have visited the Alban hills will remember this incomparably picturesque group of buildings at the foot of the green hills of Tusculum, on a smooth space overshadowed by old elms and plane-trees. The Castle of Ostia is of kindred character—even now, in its decay, the most
beautiful ruin of the later mediaeval period in the vicinity
of Rome; but the surrounding landscape is very different.
Grottaferrata lies amidst rich fields and fruitful hills; about Ostia is a melancholy, silent tract of barren, low-lying ground, formed of rubbish and sand-hills, through which the yellow, sluggish stream makes its way to the sea. A long inscription on the principal tower of the Castle records that Giuliano of Savona erected this stronghold as a refuge from
the perils of the sea, a protection to the Roman Campagna,
a defense to Ostia, and to the mouth of the Tiber. He
began it in the reign of Pope Sixtus IV, his uncle, and concluded the work by digging out, at his own expense, the moat which had been silted up by the river in the time of Pope
Innocent VIII, in the year of Salvation 1486, the 2115th after the building of Ostia, the 2129th after Ancus, the founder of the city. The architect of the Castle at Ostia and probably also of the fortifications at Grottaferrata, was the celebrated Giuliano Giamberti, surnamed da San Gallo.
Before Cardinal Giuliano built the Castle of Ostia, the
wealthy d'Estouteville, its Bishop, had provided the ruined
city with walls, streets, and houses. In 1479, d'Estouteville, who had, two years previously, succeeded Orsini as Camerlengo, began to rebuild the Church of S. Agostino in Rome : this work was completed in four years. He was also
a great benefactor to other Roman Churches, especially to Sta Maria Maggiore and S. Luigi de' Francesi.
Mention has already been made of the buildings erected by Cardinal Domenico della Rovere. Girolamo Basso della Rovere completed the Pilgrimage Church at Loreto, and caused the Cappella del Tesoro to be painted by Melozzo da Forli; the paintings, which are in excellent preservation, are very original and striking. Another important edifice of this time was the Palace of Cardinal Stefano Nardini (Palazzo del Governo Vecchio), built in 1475. It is the last Roman Palace which still retains something of the character of the mediaeval fortress.
It would take too long to go further into details. The relations of Sixtus IV were undoubtedly admirable patrons of Arts; the armorial bearings of Riario Rovere and Basso on many ancient piles bear witness to their splendid achievements in this line.
Sixtus also did much in the way of restoring the bridges, walls, gates, towers, and other buildings of the City. At the Capitol these works were connected with the opening of a museum of antiquities, the first public collection of the
kind in Italy, and indeed in Europe. The practical Sixtus IV, by admitting the public to visit the collection, rendered it more popular than it had been in the time of its founder,
Paul II. Museums now began to appear everywhere
in connection with and as supplementing the Libraries.
The characters of distinguished men frequently present great contradictions, and we find Sixtus IV, almost simultaneously with the opening of the Capitoline Museum, dispersing many of the costly treasures of the Palace of S. Marco. With similar inconsistency, he restored the equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius and destroyed many ancient
temples and triumphal arches. But, however great the
injury he may have inflicted on the ancient monuments, it was more than outweighed by his artistic embellishment of Rome, to which he imparted a completely new aspect. In order to encourage building in his capital, and to increase
the number of its inhabitants, he had, in 1475, conferred the
right of ownership on all who should build houses within
the City district.
One of the most beneficial works accomplished by Sixtus
IV. was the restoration of the Hospital of Sto Spirito, a foundation of Innocent III, which had fallen into decay.
Pity for children deserted by unnatural mothers induced this Pope, whom his enemies depict as another Nero, to adopt Eugenius IV’s undertaking. When Sixtus IV, in
his frequent visits to the dilapidated house, saw these poor,
forsaken children at play, his heart was touched, and he
decided to have the Hospital thoroughly rebuilt and richly
endowed. He engaged the best Architects, hired a number of labourers, and commenced operations at once. Sixtus
IV considerably extended the original plan; he provided portions for the girls as they grew up, so that they might not be exposed, without resources, to the temptations of the
world. Although the building was certainly hurried on for the Jubilee Year, it was not until 1482 that the works were completed. The Architect of the whole is unknown he could not have been Baccio Pontelli, who, until 1482, lived at Pisa and Urbino, not in Rome. Sixtus IV also
showed his predilection for the Order of the Holy Ghost
and for the Hospital by a grant of various privileges and an increase of its fixed revenues. Following the example of Eugenius IV, he re-established the confraternity in the spring
of 1478, and himself became a member. All the Cardinals and the whole Court followed him. From that time forward, it became more and more the custom to enter this pious
society. The Confraternity-book of Sto Spirito has accordingly become, in its way, a unique collection of autographs.
The magnificent scale on which the reconstruction of this Hospital was carried out, so that even Alberti was satisfied with it, is an abiding memorial of the benevolence of Sixtus IV. Much pains were bestowed on the decoration of the interior; the spacious and airy hall for the sick was ornamented with frescoes as far as the tops of the windows, and above them with a broad frieze of pictures arranged in panels. Attention has recently been directed to these half-faded paintings, which are of the ancient Umbrian type. They portray the foundation of the Hospital by Innocent III, and, in a very attractive form, the life of Sixtus IV
from his birth. The inscriptions under them are from the pen of Bartolomeo Platina.
The architectural works of Sixtus IV extended to almost all the cities of the States of the Church, and even as far as Savona and Avignon. Assisi, Bertinoro, Bieda, Bologna, Caprarola, Cascia, Cesena, Citerna, Citta di Castello, Civita Vecchia, Corneto, Fano, Foligno, Forli, Monticelli, Nepi, Orvieto, Ronciglione, Santa Marinella, Soriano, Spoleto,
Sutri, Terracina, Tivoli, Todi, Tolfa, Veroli, and Viterbo, were all, in this respect, indebted to this Pontiff.
It is worthy of remark that Sixtus IV’s patronage of the Arts was universal in its character. Sculpture was encouraged in the persons of Verocchio and Pollajuolo, and he also did much for the promotion of the minor arts;
medallists, engravers, glassmakers, cabinetmakers, goldsmiths, weavers, and embroiderers were all employed by him, and he also took an interest in pottery.
In his orders for Works of Art, the Pope did not spare
expense, as is evident from the fact that the Tiara made for him cost over 100,000 ducats. In this, as in all other things, he fully realized that the duties of a Pope are very
different from those of the General of a Mendicant Order.
The artistic chronicle of this pontificate is not yet exhausted. Sixtus IV seems to have been even more active as a promoter of painting than as a builder. His practical
spirit was shown in his command, that the painters settled in Rome should form themselves into a Guild and draw up
statutes; and this was the beginning of the famous Academy
of St. Luke.
Sixtus IV was, in fact, for Painters what Nicholas V had been for Architects. We find, employed in his service, men whose names are held in honor by the whole civilized world: Ghirlandajo, Botticelli, Signorelli, Perugino, Pinturicchio, and finally, the great Melozzo da Forli.
This last-named artist was specially in touch with the
stately characteristics of the Rovere family. Everyone who has visited the Vatican galleries must remember Melozzo’s picture of Sixtus IV, surrounded by his kindred, appointing Platina Prefect of the Vaticana. This was originally
a fresco, and was afterwards transferred to canvas. If no other work of Melozzo’s had been preserved, this one, which captivates the eye at once by its simple and reposeful presentation of clearly defined personalities, would suffice to give us a very high idea of the painter’s power.
This magnificent picture was painted in 1476 and 1477. In the following year the master was working at Loreto, in 1479 he decorated the Chapel of the Choir in St. Peter’s, and during 1480 and 1481 he was fully occupied in painting the Vatican Library. Vasari does not mention any of these works, or, indeed, any one of Melozzo’s, with the exception of his picture of the Ascension in the Church of SS. Apostoli.
This, the most splendid masterpiece produced in Rome during the pontificate of Sixtus IV, was unfortunately destroyed, all but a few fragments, when the church was
rebuilt in 1711. Vasari, who saw it, speaks of it with enthusiasm. “The figure of Christ”, he says, “is so skilfully fore-shortened, that it appears to pierce the vaulting, and the
surrounding angels equally seem to be soaring or floating in air. The Apostles, in their various attitudes, are also drawn
with such admirable adaptation to the eye of the spectator,
who views them from below, as to have won for Melozzo the highest praise from the artists both of his own day and
of ours. The buildings in the picture display a perfect mastery of the laws of perspective”. The few remains of this painting still extant in the Chapter-house of St. Peter’s and in the Quirinal, are just sufficient to enable us to
guess what the beauty of the whole must have been. A recent writer justly observes : “In boldness of conception, in largeness and freedom of execution, the fresco in the
tribune of SS. Apostoli is a real masterpiece, and is an unanswerable proof of the excellence which it was given to this artist to attain”.
The Chapel in the Vatican which bears the name of Sixtus IV contains many splendid memorials of his artistic tastes. This simple and noble edifice was begun in 1473 and finished in 1481. Vasari attributes the Cappella Sistina to Baccio Pontelli, but this is a mistake. It is the work of the Florentine, Giovannino de' Dolci, who must be looked
upon as Sixtus IV's head Architect. The Sistina, henceforth the special Papal Chapel for ecclesiastical ceremonies of a semi-public character, is in form a parallelogram, and measures 132 feet by 45. For two-thirds of its height the
wall on the longer sides is unbroken, then there is a cornice, and above this six round-headed windows; formerly there were two similar ones on the altar side, but these are now blocked up. Their position, however, is shown by two false
ones, painted with a facsimile of the glass that filled them, on the opposite wall adjoining the Sala Regia. Each of these
latter windows has a bull's eye in the centre. In the interior, all architectural divisions are purposely avoided, with the exception of the cornice, about 3 feet in width and
provided with an iron balustrade, which runs round beneath the windows. The ceiling forms a shallow circular vault resting upon brackets, and is pierced by a skylight over each of the windows. The whole was, from the first,
evidently intended to be covered with paintings.
A richly-sculptured balustrade of white marble, with the arms of Sixtus IV, divides the space in front intended for the Pope and the Cardinals from that of the laity. The
tribune for the singers, which projects but slightly to the left, is similarly enclosed. The floor is beautifully inlaid in stone.
For the decoration of this modest and unpretending
building, Sixtus IV summoned to his Court all the most
distinguished painters of Umbria and Tuscany. Domenico Ghirlandajo, Sandro Botticelli, Luca Signorelli, Cosimo Roselli, Pietro Perugino, and Pinturicchio vied with each other in a noble rivalry in its embellishment. The time taken to complete the paintings on the walls of the Sistina,
which were begun in the year 1480, greatly tried the patience of the Pope. Like Julius II at a later period, when Michael Angelo was painting the roof, Sixtus IV could scarcely bear to wait for the termination of the work.” On
the anniversary of his election, the vigil of S. Lawrence”, Jacobus Volaterranus tells us, “he came unannounced, and quite against his usual custom (extra ordinem), to Vespers
in the Chapel to see how the frescoes were getting on. At
last, on the 15th August, 1483, came the long-desired day of
their completion”. On the Feast of the Assumption of our Lady, which that year fell on a Saturday, the Pope, we learn from a contemporary, came to the new Chapel and there heard Mass. There was no further ceremony. All the Prelates and some others assisted at the function. The only Cardinal present was Raffaelo Sansoni. This was the first Mass said after the completion of the Chapel, and only the ecclesiastics belonging to it attended. In commemoration of the event, the Pope published an Indulgence for all
who should visit the sanctuary, including women. Sixtus IV. also attended Vespers there that same day. The Prelates were placed below Cardinal Sansoni on the benches assigned to the Sacred College. The Pope blessed the people, both at Mass and at Vespers. When it became known that an Indulgence had been granted to those who should visit the Chapel, the whole City was astir in a moment. The crowd in the Sistina was so great that it was
extremely difficult either to enter or to leave the Church,
and the throng continued to pass through until after midnight. On the Pope's coronation day, the first solemn High Mass was celebrated in the new Chapel; Giuliano della Rovere being celebrant and all the Cardinals assisting.
The whole series in the Sistina consisted originally of fifteen frescoes, twelve of which still remain on its longer
sides, the other three having given place to Michael Angelo’s colossal picture of the Last Judgment. On the left wall,
looking to the right from the altar, are represented events from the history of Moses. According to the custom and taste of the period, several scenes are grouped in the same picture around the principal subject. Moses slaying the Egyptian, driving away the shepherds who hindered Jethro’s daughter from drawing water, going into Egypt, and, with
his sandals put away, worshipping God in the burning
bush, are thus combined, due to the pencil of Botticelli.
The whole forms a masterpiece of vivid feeling and expression and technical facility.
Signorelli’s farewell and death of Moses is another glorious creation, full of dramatic power. In contemplating it, we perceive at once that the artist was thoroughly aware that the strength of his rivals lay in composition and in the management of light and shade. In his grouping, largeness of conception and combination are united with great
clearness of detail. The drawing is bold and strongly
marked, and the entire execution bears the impress of great care and taste, as also the employment of gold on the
draperies. On the right wall are paintings by Pinturicchio, Botticelli, Ghirlandaio, Roselli, and Perugino, representing scenes from the life of
our Lord. Two of these frescoes, the Vocation
of SS. Peter and Andrew, by Ghirlandaio, and St. Peter receiving the Keys, by Perugino, stand out from among
the other mural paintings in so marked a manner, indicating the approaching triumph of the noble ideal style in art,
that nothing but the overpowering proximity of Michael Angelo’s work could prevent the immediate recognition of this important fact. All artists agree in considering Perugino’s Institution of the Primacy one of his most perfect productions. The solemn grandeur of this marvellous creation fully corresponds with the dignity of its subject, and this latter is enhanced to the imagination by the situation of the picture.
Ghirlandaio, however, surpassed all his companions. His
masterly genius enabled him to grasp the vocation of SS. Peter and Andrew in its most impressive and solemn
aspect. His picture is, so to speak, a foreshadowing of Raphael’s Miraculous draught of Fishes and Feed my Sheep.
The wall behind the altar was adorned by a painting of the Assumption of our Lady, with Sixtus IV praying beneath it. Vasari believes this to be the work of Perugino, but Sigismondo de' Conti remarks, in regard to this fresco, that the Blessed Virgin seems actually to rise from the earth towards Heaven; Perugino never possessed the art
of foreshortening in its perfection. So marvellous is the
view from beneath, so real the ascent towards Heaven, that no man then living, save Melozzo da Forli, could have
created the like, and the most recent investigations are perhaps right in assigning the work to the great Master,
who has been called the forerunner of Raphael and Michael Angelo.
As we survey this sanctuary of Italian Renaissance, we cannot fail to acknowledge that the choice of subjects for the frescoes in the Papal Chapel could not have been improved. To the chief scenes from the life of Moses on the one side, correspond on the other those from the life of
our Lord, as the fulfilment of their typical signification. What Moses, the leader of the chosen people, foreshadowed, has been perfected by Christ for all time. Peter, who lives
in his successors here, reigns as the Vicar of Christ. Through him the human race is brought to the Saviour, as the Jewish
nation, the type of Christendom, was led by Moses to the
feet of the Christ. The development of the whole plan of Salvation is concentrated in the three names : Moses, Christ, Peter. Thus, the magnificent drama of the Story of the
Church is presented to the spectator as the Life and the Truth in the frescoes of this Chapel, which, in its historical
aspect, is the most remarkable in the world, and thus worthily was the building fitly inaugurated, which afterwards, under another Pope of the house of Rovere, was to be enriched with the marvellous productions of the giant genius of Michael Angelo.
INNOCENT VIII. A.D. 1484-1492.
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