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BOOK I.
THE GREAT SCHISM.
1378-1414
CHAPTER IV.
INNOCENT VII. — BENEDICT XIII.
TROUBLES IN ITALY AND FRANCE.
1404 — 1406.
The career of Boniface IX was that of an aspiring
Italian prince, and the fortunes of his dominions corresponded to the means by
which they had been won. No sooner was the news of his death spread through the
city than the people rose to assert their old liberties. The streets were
barricaded; the nobles hurried their retainers from the country; and the old
cries of “Guelf”, “Ghibellin”, “Colonna”, “Orsini”, were again heard in the
city. The Capitol was held by the two brothers of Boniface and by the Senator.
The people, led by the Colonna, hastened to attack it; but the Orsini gathered
their partisans, and advancing by night to its relief, defeated the Colonna in
a fight in the streets. The defeated party turned for help to Ladislas of
Naples, who had already shown a desire to mix in the affairs of Rome.
It was in this wild confusion, and with the knowledge
of the rapid advance of Ladislas, that the nine Cardinals present in Rome
entered the Conclave on October 12. The ambassadors of Benedict, who had been
imprisoned during the tumult by the Castellan of S. Angelo, and only obtained
their liberty after payment of a ransom of 5000 ducats, besought them to
defer the election. They were asked if they were commissioned to offer
Benedict’s resignation; when they answered that they had no power to proceed so
far, the Cardinals went on to their election. The public opinion of Europe so
far weighed with them that they followed the example of the Cardinals at
Avignon, before the election of Peter de Luna. They signed a solemn undertaking
that each of them would use all diligence to bring about the unity of the
Church, and that he who might be chosen Pope would resign his office at any
time, if need were, to promote that object. It is said that they had some
difficulty in coming to an agreement; but the approach of Ladislas did not permit
them to delay. On October 17 they elected Cosimo dei Migliorati, a Neapolitan,
who, they hoped, would be alike well pleasing to Ladislas and to the Romans,
and whose pacific character held out hopes of a settlement of the discords
of the Church.
Migliorati was sprung from a middle-class family of
Sulmona, in the Abruzzi. He was learned both in canon and in civil law, and
entered the Curia under Urban VI, where his capacity for business won him
speedy advancement. He was for some time Papal collector in England, then was
made Archbishop of Ravenna in the room of Pileo, and afterwards Bishop of
Bologna. Boniface IX recognized his merits by appointing him Cardinal, and
confided to his care the chief part of the business of the Curia. He was
popular in Rome through his conciliatory manner and gentle nature; he was,
moreover, universally respected for his learning and his blameless life. He
was, however, old, and the Romans felt that in him they had not
got another master like Boniface.
Cardinal Migliorati took the Papal title of Innocent
VII, but it was some time before he could openly assume the Papal crown. He
possessed nothing except the Vatican and the Castle of S. Angelo, which a
brother of Boniface still held securely. In the city itself only the Capitol resisted
the people, who declared that they would only let the Pope be free when he had
given them back their freedom. In this state of things Ladislas arrived at
Rome, and was received in triumph by the people. He entered by the gate of S.
Giovanni in Laterano, on October 19, and spent the night in the Lateran Palace,
whence, on the morning of the 21st, he went in state to the Vatican to offer
his services as mediator to the luckless Pope.
Ladislas had a deep-laid scheme to make himself master
of Rome. As soon as he was secure in Naples, his restless and ambitious spirit
looked out for a new sphere, and he determined to increase his dominions at the
expense of the States of the Church. Boniface in his later days had looked upon
him with growing suspicion, and so long as Boniface lived he did not venture to
move; but he hastened to take advantage of the disturbance which broke out on
the death of Boniface, and there is good ground for thinking that
he fomented it. His plan was to set the Pope and the Roman people against
one another, and by helping now one and now the other to get them both into his
power; by this policy he hoped that Rome itself would soon fall into his hands.
He trusted that the rebellious Romans would drive the Pope from the city, and
would then be compelled to submit to himself.
Against such a foe Innocent VII was powerless. He had
no option save to allow Ladislas to settle matters between himself and the
Romans. An agreement was accordingly made, on October 27, which was cleverly
constructed to restore to the Romans much of their old freedom, to secure to
Ladislas a decisive position in the affairs of Rome, and to reserve to the Pope
a decent semblance of power. The Senator was still to be appointed by the Pope;
the people were to elect seven governors of the city treasury, who were to hold
office for two months, and were to take oath of office before the Senator; to
these seven three were to be added by the appointment of the Pope or of King
Ladislas, and the ten together were to manage the finances of the city. All
magistrates were to be responsible at the end of their office to two syndics,
one appointed by the Pope and one elected by the people. The Capitol was to be
surrendered to King Ladislas, and was to be turned into a public palace or law
courts; Ladislas might, if he choose, assign it as the official residence of
the ten governors. It is obvious that by this agreement all that the strong
hand of Boniface IX had won was lost to his successor; and that opportunities
were carefully left for differences between the contracting parties which
Ladislas must necessarily be called in to settle.
Ladislas had given perfidious aid to the Pope, but had
the audacity to claim a reward for it. Innocent gave him for five years the
Maritima and Campania, by which he commanded free approach to Rome. Moreover,
Ladislas obtained from the Pope a decree declaring that, in any steps he might
take towards restoring the unity of the Church, the title of Ladislas to Naples
should be secured as a preliminary. This promise was sure to render all his
measures useless, as France could not be expected expressly to abandon the
claims of the house of Anjou. The unscrupulous Ladislas was bent on turning the
indolent Innocent into a pliant tool. He still remained for a few days the
Pope’s guest, so long as it suited him to continue his intrigues with Rome.
Finally he determined before his departure to impress the people by his
splendor. Leaving the Vatican on November 14, he crossed the Ponte Molle and
entered Rome by the Porta del Popolo. He rode in triumph through the street of
Torre del Conte to the Lateran, and on his way asserted his rights in Rome by
dubbing knight one Galeotto Normanni, who afterwards assumed the significant
title of the “Knight of Liberty”. After spending the evening of November 4 at
the Lateran, he departed next day for Naples. Not till he was gone did Innocent
VII venture to be crowned, on November 2, and after his coronation rode, amid
the cheers of the people, to take possession of the Lateran.
It was not long, however, before matters turned out as
Ladislas had designed. The Romans had gained enough liberty to make them wish
for more; and the easy good-nature of the Pope emboldened them the set him at
defiance. The new constitution was wrested to their own purposes, and the seven
governors elected by the Romans seem to have acted independently of the three
appointed by the Pope. Giovanni Colonna kept a body of troops in
the neighborhood of Rome ready to support the Romans. The Pope with
difficulty maintained himself in the Leonine city by the help of his troops
under the condottiere-general Mustarda. The state of things in Rome is
described by Leonardo Bruni of Arezzo, who came at this time as Papal Secretary:
“The Roman people were making an extravagant use of the freedom which they had
lately gained. Amongst the nobles the Colonna and Savelli were the most
powerful: the Orsini had sunk, and were suspected by the people as partisans of
the Pope. The Curia was brilliant and wealthy. There were many cardinals, and
they men of worth. The Pope lived in the Vatican desirous of ease, and content
with the existing state of things, had he only been allowed to enjoy it; but
such was the perversity of the leaders of the Roman people, that there was no
chance of quiet”. The Romans pestered the Pope with requests, and the more he
granted, the more readily were new petitions preferred. They even begged for
the office of cardinal for their relatives. One day the Pope’s patience was
worn out. “I have given you all you wished”, he exclaimed;” what more can
I give you except this mantle?”
Matters went on becoming more and more difficult. In
March, 1405, the Romans, led by Giovanni Colonna, made an expedition against
Molara, a castle of the Annibaldi, a few miles distant from Rome. The siege
caused much damage, and in the end of April the Pope sent the Prior of S. Maria
on the Aventine to make peace between the contending parties. His efforts were
successful, and the Roman soldiers returned with him to the city. No sooner had
he entered Rome than he was seized and executed as a traitor by the seven
governors (April 25). But this was felt even by the Romans to be excessive, and
Innocent threatened to leave the city. On May 10, the governors appeared before
Innocent in the guise of penitents, with candles in their hands, to ask his
forgiveness. After this submission there seemed for a time to be peace. On June
12, Innocent created eleven new cardinals, of whom five were Romans and one was
Oddo Colonna. He wished to do everything that he could to convince the
Romans of his good intentions, and induce them to let him live in peace.
Peace, however, was not what Ladislas desired, and his
adherents were active in Rome. It was notorious that he had in pay a number of
the chief citizens, whose actions he guided at his pleasure. It was easy,
therefore, to incite the Romans to another act of aggression. By the agreement
made between Pope and people, the care of the bridges of Rome was to belong to
the citizens, except the Ponte Molle, which commanded the approach to the
Vatican on one side, while the Castle of S. Angelo defended it from the other.
The Romans professed to consider the possession of the Ponte Molle as necessary
for the protection of the Latin hills. The Pope refused to give it up to them,
and it was guarded by Papal soldiers. On the night of August 2 a body of Romans
attempted to take it by surprise, but were driven back with considerable loss.
It was a festival morning when they returned, and the people had nothing to do.
The bells of the Capitol rung out a summons to arms, and the excited crowd
rushed to besiege the Castle of S. Angelo, which was vigorously defended by its
garrison, who cast up earthworks. The night was spent by both sides under arms,
but the morning brought reflections, and negotiations were begun; both parties
at last agreed that the Ponte Molle should be broken down in the middle, and so
rendered useless. On August 6 a deputation of the Romans waited on the Pope and
treated him to a long speech, in which they expressed their general views about
his conduct. As they were riding back unsuspectingly, they were seized by the
Pope’s nephew, Ludovico Migliorati, and were dragged into the Hospital of S.
Spirito, where he had his quarters. Eleven of them were put to death, of whom
two were magistrates, and eight were friends of the Pope; their dead bodies
were flung out of the windows. This sanguinary deed awoke the passionate
resentment of the people. The relatives of the murdered men thronged the Ponte
di S. Angelo clamoring for vengeance. In the city itself the wildest excitement
prevailed, and the whole populace were assembling in arms.
Meanwhile the luckless Innocent sat tearfully in the
Vatican calling heaven to witness his innocence and bewailing his sad fortune.
He was incapable of forming any plan of action, and those around him differed
in opinion; some urged immediate flight and some advocated delay. But the
troops of Naples might be expected to advance to the aid of the Romans. The
fidelity of Antonello Tomacelli, who held the Castle of S. Angelo, was
doubtful, and it was believed that he was in the pay of Ladislas. The walls of
the Leonine city had fallen in many places, and were ill fitted to stand a
siege; above all, supplies of food were wanting. It was hopeless to think of
resistance; flight alone was possible. Short time was given to the terrified
Cardinals to gather together their valuables, as on the evening of the same day
the retreat began. First went a squadron of horse, then the baggage, next the
Pope and his attendants, and another squadron of horse brought up the rear to
ward off attacks. They made all possible haste to escape, for the Romans were
in pursuit. That night they reached Cesano, a distance of twelve miles; next
day they pressed on to Sutri, through the blading heat of an Italian August;
the third day they reached Viterbo. Thirty of Innocent’s attendants died on the
way through heat and thirst, or died soon afterwards through immoderate
draughts of water. Innocent himself was more dead than alive.
No sooner had the Pope left Rome than Giovanni Colonna
at the head of his troops, burst into the Vatican, where he took up his
quarters. The people laughed at his airs of importance, and called him John
XXIII. The Vatican was sacked; even the Papal archives were pillaged; and
Bulls, letters and registers were scattered about the streets. Many of these
were afterwards restored, but the loss of historic documents must have been
great. Everywhere in the city the arms of Innocent were destroyed or filled up
with mud; the Romans loudly declared that they would no longer recognize him as
Pope, but would take measures for restoring the unity of the Church.
The talk of the Romans was vain, and they were soon to
find that Innocent was necessary to them. Ladislas judged that his time had now
come: the waters were sufficiently troubled for one to fish who knew the art.
He had a strong party among the Roman nobles, and sent, on August 20, the Count
of Troia with 5000 horse, and two men already appointed to be governors of Rome
in his name. This reinforcement was welcomed by Giovanni Colonna; but the Roman
people had not striven to recover their liberties from the Pope that they might
put them in the hands of the King of Naples. They besieged their treacherous
magistrates in the Capitol, and barred the Ponte di S. Angelo against the
Neapolitans, in spite of the fire opened upon them from the Castle. The
Neapolitans could not force the barricades and obtain admission into the city.
The Capitol surrendered on August 23 to the citizens, who set up three new
magistrates called “buon uomini”. In their new peril, the minds of the Romans
went back to the Pope whom they had driven away. The members of the Curia who
had been imprisoned in the tumult were released, and much of the goods of
ecclesiastics which had been sacked was restored by the magistrates. When
men’s minds grew calmer, they recognized that Innocent was blameless of his
nephew’s crime; and when submission to the rule of Ladislas drew near, the Romans
looked back with regret on the good-natured, indolent Pope.
Envoys were at once dispatched to Viterbo, to beg for
aid; and on August 26 the Papal troops, under Paolo Orsini and Mustarda,
advanced. The Neapolitans thought it wise to withdraw; they had missed their
opportunity of seizing Rome, and it was not worthwhile to stay longer. Giovanni
Colonna abandoned the Vatican and retreated. Only the Castle of S. Angelo still
held out for Ladislas. On October 30 Innocent appointed as Senator of Rome,
Francesco dei Panciatici of Pistoia. The attempt of Ladislas only ended in
reestablishing in Rome the Papal power, which he had managed insidiously to
sap. In January, 1406, a deputation of the Romans begged Innocent VII to return
to his capital; and on March 13 he entered Rome amid shouts of triumph and
festivities of rejoicing which rarely greeted a Papal return. His nephew
Ludovico accompanied him, having undergone no severer punishment than a penance
inflicted by the Pope. The passions of the Romans were quick, but were easily
appeased. A horrible crime had driven them to rebellion; but when their
rebellion threatened to bring with it unpleasant consequences, they laid aside
their thoughts of vengeance, and condoned the offence. We cannot blame them,
for they had to choose between two evils: but Innocent’s sense of justice and
of right must have been very dim before he could ride through the streets of
Rome by the side of the man who had wrought a treacherous deed of slaughter.
How little Innocent counted the crimes of his nephew may be seen by the fact
that he made him Lord of Ancona and Forli.
The career of Innocent had been so eventful that he
might safely plead inability to grapple with the great question of the Schism.
Each Pope wished to seem to be doing something, and to do nothing; to have a
case sufficient to enable him to abuse his adversary, if not to defend himself.
Innocent VII began by summoning a Synod to assemble at Rome on November 1,
1405; the disturbed state of the city gave him an excuse for deferring it to
May 1, 1406. Benedict XIII, on his side, continued his plan of professing to
negotiate for a meeting between the two Popes, and sent to ask for a
safe-conduct for his envoys. Innocent thought that the last envoys of Benedict
had been troublesome enough; for compensation was demanded from him for the
ransom they had to pay during the disturbances that preceded his election: he
accordingly refused a safe-conduct to Viterbo. Benedict was now in a position
to write letters declaiming against the obstinacy of Innocent; while Innocent
answered by still longer letters denouncing the conduct of Benedict. No advance
was made to a settlement; but public opinion turned more and more against both
popes alike and the petulant squabbling of two obstinate old men on small
technical points awoke general disgust. Benedict XIII felt that his hold on
France was insecure, and he was accordingly careful to have the palace of
Avignon enlarged and fortified; for this purpose he even had the church of
Notre Dame pulled down, though it was the burying-place of his predecessors. To
avoid bringing matters to a crisis, he announced his intention of proceeding
towards Italy and endeavoring himself to come to some agreement with Innocent
VII. In 1404 he removed from Pont de Sorgues to Nice. There he was enabled to
win a triumph over his rival, as Genoa, under the influence of its French
governor, Marshal Boucicaut, deserted the obedience of Innocent, and recognized
Benedict. Pisa soon afterwards, under French influence, followed its example.
The Genoese Cardinal de Flisco, who was Papal legate, joined his
fellow-citizens, and transferred himself to the side of Benedict, by whom his
dignity was recognized. Early in 1405, Benedict announced his intention of
going to Genoa, and imposed a tax of a tenth on the French clergy to provide
money for his journey. The nobles supported the Pope, and the unhappy clergy
were compelled to pay for what everyone knew to be a mere pretext. On May 16,
1405, Benedict landed at Genoa, and was received with due pomp by the
authorities, but without any enthusiasm from the people, who still believed in
the title of the Roman Pope. The Genoese were, moreover, suspicious, and made
Benedict understand that they could not admit his large armed escort into the
city. They courteously assigned as the reason their national habit of jealousy,
saying that the Genoese husbands could not endure the thought of possible
rivalry the affections of their wives.
Benedict did not stay long in Genoa; on October 8 he
was driven to leave it by an outbreak of the plague, and took up his residence
at Savona, on the Riviera. Things did not prosper with him in France: everyone
was dissatisfied with his promises, and the king of Castile sent an embassy to
urge again that both Popes should be compelled to resign. Benedict only
embittered his adversaries by trying to set the Duke of Berri against the
University of Paris, which he denounced “as a nest of tumult which sent forth a
headstrong brood”. In France generally all was in confusion. The King’s madness
increased, and he sank almost to the condition of a wild beast, devouring food
with insatiable rapidity, and refusing to change his clothes or allow himself
to be kept clean. The antagonism between the Dukes of Burgundy and
Orleans was daily becoming more intense, and it was with difficulty that
peace was kept between them. But, in spite of political disturbances, the
University of Paris returned to the charge against Benedict XIII in January,
1406. The stream of public opinion again ran strongly against him; and on May
17, the University succeeded in obtaining from the Royal Council an audience,
in which they once more urged the withdrawal of the obedience of France. The
Council had too much on hand, in consequence of the disturbed state of the
kingdom, to venture on the troubled sea of ecclesiastical discussion, and they
referred the University to the Parliament. The pleadings began on June 7, and
Pierre Plaon and Jean Petit refuted the arguments which had been put forward by
the University of Toulouse against withdrawal from Benedict; they pointed out
that he had not kept his promises, and they denounced his exactions. The King’s
advocate, Jean Juvenal des Ursins, followed on the same side, and complained
against Benedict’s conduct as injurious to the honor of France. Benedict’s
friends tried to get the matter deferred, but the University pressed for a
decision. At the end of July the letter of the University of Toulouse was
condemned as “scandalous and pernicious, defaming the honor of the King and his
subjects”, and was ordered to be burned at the gates of Toulouse. On September
11, a further decision was given that the Gallican Church should be free
“thenceforth and for ever from all services, tithes, procurations, and other
subventions unduly introduced by the Roman Church”. This was a withdrawal from
Benedict XIII of the important power of raising ecclesiastical revenues, and
contained also an assertion of the right of the national Church to manage its
own affairs under royal protection. The University had so far changed its
tactics that it rested its complaint against Benedict XIII no longer solely on
technical grounds, but on grounds of national utility. Still it had no other
remedy to suggest than the old plan, which had already been tried and failed —
that of trying to force Benedict to resign by withdrawing from his obedience.
It pressed for a decision on this point also; but Benedict’s friends sought to
gain time, and this question was deferred to a synod of prelates summoned for
November 1. Before this synod, however, met for the dispatch of business
(November 18), the news of the death of Innocent VII somewhat altered the
aspect of affairs.
Innocent did not live long after his return to Rome to
enjoy his triumph. At first the Colonna and other barons of the party of
Ladislas held out against him, and Antonello Tomacelli maintained his position
in the Castle of S. Angelo. On June 18, Innocent issued Bulls against the
Colonna, the Count of Troja, and other barons of the Neapolitan faction; and on
June 20, he deprived Ladislas of his vicariate of Campania and the Maritima.
Ladislas was not in a position to have the Pope for his declared enemy. His
hold on Naples was not so secure that the Angevin faction might not again
become troublesome if they were emboldened by the Pope’s help. He thought it
wise to make peace, and the Pope’s nephew Ludovico was sent to settle terms. On
August 6, peace was agreed to; the past was to be forgiven; the Castle of S.
Angelo was to be given up to the Pope; Ladislas was confirmed in all his
rights, and was, moreover, made Proctor and Standard-bearer of the Church.
Innocent was certainly trustful and forgiving: he did not profess to seek
anything beyond the means of leading a quiet life in Rome, and was prepared to
take any steps which might secure that end. But he was not long to enjoy the
tranquility which he sought; he had already had two slight attacks of apoplexy,
and a third proved fatal to him on November 6.
Innocent VII possessed the negative virtues which
accompany an indolent disposition. The writers of the time speak more highly of
him than he deserved, because his good-natured carelessness contrasted
favorably with the rapacious ambition of his predecessor. Personally he was
courteous, affable, and gentle; he liked giving audiences, listening to
grievances, and granting little favors; and he had not the strength of
character to offend anyone if he could avoid it. He was averse from the
simoniacal practices of Boniface, and is praised by the ecclesiastical writers
for the doubtful virtue of abstinence from their grosser forms. But the
indolent old man fell under the influence of his nephew, and allowed violations
of civil and moral law to pass unpunished. Moreover, he exercised no control
over the Romans or even over his own soldiers, who in irreverence surpassed
their opponents. “On S. Paul’s day, June 30”, says an eyewitness, “I went to S.
Paul's Church, and found it a stable for the horses of the Pope's soldiers. No
place was empty, save the Chapel of the High Altar and the tribune; the palace
and the entire space round the church were full of the horses of Paolo Orsini
and other commanders of Holy Mother Church”. As regards healing the Schism,
Innocent did nothing. Like his rival Benedict, he gained a reputation as a
Cardinal by expressing strong opinions on the subject; but after he became
Pope, his indolence made him averse from any decided steps, and the only thing
which disturbed his equanimity and made him peevish was a mention of the Schism
in his presence. In quiet times Innocent VII might have made a respectable
Pope; as it was he was feeble and incompetent.
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