CRISTO RAUL.ORG

READING HALL

THE DOORS OF WISDOM

CHAPTER I

Situation in Rome at the Death of Leo X. Election of Adrian VI.

The death of Leo X in the prime of life, coming unexpectedly, altered the whole basis of the political situation in Italy. So strong was the reaction, that everything which had hitherto been accomplished became once again an open question. The victorious career of the Imperial and Papal forces in Lombardy came to a standstill, while simultaneously, in the States of the Church, the enemies of the Medici lifted up their heads. Cardinals Schinner and Medici had to quit the army of the League and hasten to Rome for the Conclave, while at the same time the funds, which had been supplied almost exclusively by the Papal treasury, were cut off at their source. In consequence Prospero Colonna was obliged to dismiss all his German mercenaries, and his Swiss to the number of five hundred men. A portion of the Papal forces withdrew, under Guido Rangoni, to Modena; the remainder stayed in Milanese territory with the Marquis of Mantua. All further movements depended on the result of the election. The Florentine auxiliary troops marched back home to the Republic. Had it not been for the caution of Guicciardini, Parma would have fallen into the hands of the French. To the latter, provided that they were resolutely supported by Francis I, the opportunity lay open of recovering all their losses in Lombardy.

No one rejoiced more over the death of Leo than the Duke Alfonso of Ferrara, who ordered a medal to be struck with the circumscription : “Out of the Lion’s paw” (de manu Leonis). Making use of the favourable moment, Alfonso at once occupied Bondeno, Finale, the Garfagnana, Lugo and Bagnacavallo; his successful progress was not checked until he reached Cento. The deposed Duke of Urbino and the sons of Giampaolo Baglioni, Orazio and Malatesta, also rose in arms. Francesco Maria della Rovere recovered without difficulty his entire dukedom, with the exception of the portion in the possession of Florence; he also made himself master of Pesaro. Orazio and Malatesta Baglioni entered Perugia on the 6th of January 1522. At the same time Sigismondo da Varano drove out his uncle Giammaria, who had been made Duke of Camerino by Leo X, while Sigismondo Malatesta seized Rimini. Under these circumstances the fear that the Venetians might snatch Ravenna and Cervia from the Papal States was not groundless.

The situation in Rome also was critical; but Vincenzo Caraffa, Archbishop of Naples, who had been appointed Governor of the city, knew how to maintain tranquillity. In the meantime the government of the Church was carried on by the Sacred College, whose members were unremitting in their endeavours to maintain peace and order in all directions. Their difficulties, however, were increased, during this period of political tension, by the exceptional drain on the exchequer which had been brought about by the prodigal and random expenditure of Leo X. In order to meet the most pressing necessities, almost all the treasures of the Holy See, which had not already been pawned, were gradually put into the hands of the money­lenders; the mitres and tiaras, the ecclesiastical ornaments of the Papal chapel, and even the precious tapestries designed by Raphael were pledged. At the time of Leo’s death a detailed inventory was taken of all the precious contents of the Vatican, including the pontifical mitres, tiaras, pectoral crosses, and precious stones. This catalogue shows that the current report, that Leo’s sister Lucrezia Salviati had rifled the Vatican of all its most costly belongings, was, to say the least, a gross exaggeration.

Worse than the political confusion and the want of money was the moral condition of the Sacred College, which consisted for the most part of men of thoroughly worldly character, who offered only too true a picture of that spirit of faction and enmity which was then the disintegrating factor in Italy and Christendom at large. The divisions of party among the electors were so great that it was the belief of many that the Church was on the verge of schism.

Manuel, the Ambassador of Charles V, mentions as true Imperialists the Cardinals Vich, Valle, Piccolomini, Jacobazzi, Campeggio, Pucci, Farnese, Schinner, and Medici; Cesarini as not having a mind of his own; the three Venetians, Grimani, Cornaro, and Pisani, as well as Fieschi, Monte, Grassis, and Cajetan, as doubtful, and Accolti and Soderini as decidedly hostile. The leader of the Imperialists was the Cardinal Vice-Chancellor Giulio de’ Medici, who had already reached Rome on the nth of December 1521. On his side were by no means all, but only a portion, of the Imperialists and those younger Cardinals who had been nominated by Leo X. Among the circumstances which weighed strongly in favour of the candidature of the Vice-Chancellor was the extraordinary reputation which he enjoyed, grounded on the assumption that he had had untrammelled direction of Leo’s policy, along with his connection with Florence and his wealth, which would prove of great assistance in relieving the financial necessities of the Papal government.

The Imperial Ambassador, who was supported by the representatives of Portugal and of the Florentine Republic, did all he could to secure the election of Medici, although the candidature of the latter was opposed not only by the Franco-Venetian party, but also by the senior Cardinals. The latter, many of whom desired the tiara, laid great importance on the fact that no one under fifty years of age was eligible for the Papacy. From another quarter came the objection that it would be a discredit and danger if Leo were succeeded by a member of his own family, the hereditary principle being thus introduced into a Papal election. Many who had imperialist leanings were disinclined to accept Medici, while Cardinal Colonna showed more and more his decided hostility. To all these enemies were added the Cardinals who, for one reason or another, had become dissatisfied with Leo X. Next to Colonna the most important leader of the opposition was Soderini; since the discovery of the conspiracy of Petrucci, he had lived in exile and discontent, and had often said openly that he would do all in his power to prevent a return of the Medicean tyranny. Medici could count on a sum total of fifteen or sixteen votes; all the others were against him. Disunited as these opponents were on other points, they were unanimous in their determination that in no case should a Florentine Pope again ascend the chair of Peter

Not less eagerly than Medici did the ambitious Wolsey, who remained in England, strive after the tiara. He was ready, he declared, to pay 100,000 ducats in order to reach this goal. From England, at the instance of the King himself, the Emperor was besieged with formal entreaties to intervene in favour of his election. The shrewd Hapsburger gave fair promises, but took no serious steps to fulfil them. It was impossible, in the existing conditions of things, that an English Pope, and above all such a man as Wolsey, could be acceptable to the Emperor. Wolsey on his side, strange to say, placed a delusive trust in the Emperor’s assurances he even suggested unblushingly to the latter that he should march his troops on Rome and compel the Cardinals by main force to carry his election. Charles V paid so little attention to this that it was not until December the 30th that he specifically named Wolsey as a candidate in a letter to his Ambassador Manuel. The time for this recommendation, as for the coming of the English envoy, Richard Pace, had passed. The latter, by his stay in Rome, could only have been strengthened in his conviction that the candidature of the English Cardinal had never been seriously considered.

Among the other numerous candidates for the Pontificate, Grimani, Carvajal, Soderini, Grassis, Gonzaga, and above all Farnese, were prominent. The last named did all in his power to win Medici and Manuel. The Cardinal Vice-Chancellor and the Ambassador did not shut their eyes to the fact that a united combination of their opponents would render the election of a second Medici Pope impossible. It was therefore agreed upon between the two that the votes of the Imperialist party should be transferred to another candidate acceptable to Charles V. Under these circumstances Manuel reminded the electors, upon whose pledges he could rely, that, in the case of their being unable to vote unanimously for one of the Cardinals in Conclave, they should bethink themselves of Cardinal Adrian of Tortosa, then resident as Viceroy in Spain. At this juncture nothing more was done, since Medici continued to hope that he might yet carry the day, if not for himself, at least for one of the Cardinals present, on whose devotion he could thoroughly rely.

Public opinion in Rome had been from the first almost entirely on the side of Medici; before his arrival he had been marked as the future Pope. This Cardinal, it was stated in a report of the 14th of December 1521, or some other of his choosing, would receive the tiara. Next to those of Medici the chances of Grimani and Farnese were in advance of all others; there were also some who considered that Cardinals Gonzaga and Piccolomini had a favourable prospect. The elevation of Wolsey or any other foreign candidate was wholly impossible, owing to the highly developed consciousness of their nationality and civilization to which the Italian people had attained.

The strong tendency to satire which characterizes the Italian is especially marked among the Romans, whose vocabulary is uncommonly rich in humorous and mordant expressions. A vacancy in the Holy See invariably gave them an opportunity for turning this vein of satire on the electors and candidates. On the present occasion this mischievous habit was carried beyond all previous limits. Like mushrooms after rain, lampoons and pasquinades sprang up in which first the dead Pope and his adherents, and then the electors of the future Pontiff were, without exception, attacked in unheard-of ways. It was now that the statue of Pasquino assumed its peculiar character as the rallying-point for libellous utterances and raillery. The foreign envoys were amazed at the number of these pasquinades in prose and verse and in different languages, as well as at the freedom of speech prevailing in Rome. Among the Cardinals there were not a few whose conduct deserved to be lashed unsparingly; but there were also many to whom failings and vices were attributed only for the sake of giving vent to scorn and ridicule.

The master-hand in raising this rank crop of abusive literature was that of Pietro Aretino, who turned the favourable opportunity to account without scruple. His epigrams sparkled with wit and intelligence in originality and biting sarcasm he had no equal, but his language was foul and full of a devilish malice. Only a portion of the malignant allusions contained in these lampoons is now intelligible to the reader; contemporaries were well aware at whom each of the poisoned shafts was aimed. In this way, in the eyes of the people, each of the Cardinals whose candidature came up for discussion, was morally sentenced in advance. As many of these pasquinades made their way into foreign countries, a deadly blow was then given, as Giovio remarks, to the reputation of the Sacred College.

The longer the hindrances to the Conclave were protracted, the larger was the scope afforded for the satirists and newsmongers. As soon as the obsequies of Leo X were brought to an end on the 17th of December 1521, attention was at once directed to the Conclave, when the news arrived that Cardinal Ferreri, who was on the side of France, had been detained in Pavia by the Imperialists hereupon it was decided to wait eight days longer for the Cardinal, whose liberation had been urgently demanded. In diplomatic circles, moreover, it was confidently asserted that as early as the beginning of December the French envoy had formally protested against the beginning of the Conclave prior to the arrival of the French Cardinals.

Already in the autumn of 1520, when Leo’s health gave no grounds for anticipating his early death, Francis I had been eagerly occupied with the question of the Papal succession; it was then stated that the King was ready to spend a million of gold thalers in order to secure at the next conclave a Pope after his own mind. Since then the question had become one of still greater importance for Francis I. If the choice were now to fall on a nominee of the Emperor, Charles V would command not only in Italy but in all Europe a crushing preponderance over France; it can therefore be well understood that Francis should have made his influence felt in Rome. He took steps, however, which went beyond what was just and permissible, and threatened a direct schism if Cardinal Medici were chosen. The repeated expression of such menaces by the partisans of Francis in Rome did as little to further the French prospects as the churlish proceedings of Lautrec. An emissary of the latter demanded of the Cardinals, who were administering the affairs of the Church, the withdrawal of the Papal troops; to the carefully prepared answer that they must first await the issue of the election, he replied with threats, so that the Cardinals in anger remarked that they must take measures for the security of Parma and Piacenza, whereupon the Frenchman, in corresponding terms, rejoined that these cities were the property of his sovereign.

Under such gloomy auspices the election began on the 27th of December 1521. After the Mass of the Holy Ghost, Vincenzo Pimpinella delivered the customary address to the Sacred College, and immediately afterwards, amid a press of people in which life was endangered, thirty-seven Cardinals proceeded to the Vatican for the Conclave; two others who were ill, Grimani and Cibo, were carried there in litters, so that at evening, when the doors were shut upon the Conclave, the total number of electors amounted to thirty-nine. Forty cells had been prepared which were distributed by lot. The persons—upwards of two hundred—who are thus confined, wrote the English envoy Clerk to Wolsey, have within the electoral enclosure as much room at their disposal as is contained within the great apartments of the King and Queen, as well as the banquet-hall and chapel, at Greenwich. According to the same informant each cell was only sixteen feet long and twelve broad: they were all situated in the Sixtine Chapel.

Since the Swiss, on account of their close relationships with Cardinal Medici, were distrusted by many, a levy of 1500 men was raised to keep watch over the Conclave. So strict was their vigilance that next to nothing of the proceedings in Conclave reached the outer world; consequently, there was ample room for rumours of all sorts. In the prevalent mania for betting, wagers would often be laid in the gaming-houses on as many as twenty names in a day. Outside Rome opinion was still more divided. At the different Courts the most varied surmises were current, all of which were more or less inconsistent with the actual facts. Of the thirty-nine electors who were present on this occasion, all were Italians save three, the two Spaniards, Carvajal and Vich, and the Swiss, Schinner; of the remaining nine foreigners, not one appeared in Rome.

The disunion among the Cardinals present was extraordinarily great. Besides the division, so frequently observed, into junior and senior Cardinals (of the thirty-nine electors, six had been nominated by Alexander VI, five by Julius II, and twenty-eight by Leo X), another cause of dissension was added by the sharp opposition of the Imperialist to the Franco-Venetian party. But an even more potent factor of disunion was the immense number of aspirants to the Papacy. So calm an observer as Baldassare Castiglione was of opinion, on the 24th of December 1521, that many, if not all, had a chance of election; “Medici has many friends, but also many enemies; I believe he will have difficulty in fulfilling his wishes, at least so far as he is personally concerned”. The same diplomatist wrote two days later that there had not been for two hundred years such diversity of opinion in a Conclave; certain of Medici’s opponents were so ill-disposed towards him that, in the view of most men, his election was held to be impossible; in such an event, he had given promises to Cardinal Gonzaga1 After the Cardinals had entered the Conclave, Castiglione repeatedly remarks that on no previous occasion had there been so great a want of unanimity on the part of the electors; “perhaps,” he adds prophetically, “God will yet bring it to pass that the final result shall be better than anyone has dared to anticipate.”

As a matter of fact, the Conclave began in utter confusion. As soon as Soderini brought forward his motion in favour of secret voting, parties came into collision. On the other hand, unanimity prevailed in the settlement of the election capitulations and the subsequent distribution among the Cardinals of the cities and offices of the States of the Church. In the opinion of contemporaries, the binding force of these arrangements on the future Pope was already discounted; it was lost labour, thought a Venetian, since the Pontiff on election could observe or ignore the capitulations at pleasure. Moreover, it is clear, from the absence of all provision for such a contingency, that the Cardinals had then no anticipation that their choice would fall on an absentee.

The far-reaching divisions among the electors opened up the prospect of a prolonged Conclave, although the condition of Christendom, as well as that of the imperilled States of the Church, called urgently for a speedy decision. In the event, no less than eleven scrutinies were necessary before a decision was reached. The reports of various conclavists on the votes of individuals are extant, but they disagree on important points; without the disclosure of new and more reliable sources of information, we are not likely to succeed in establishing the full truth as regards the process of voting in individual cases. The difficulties are less in considering the principal phases of the Conclave, since here there is substantial agreement on the essential points.

The Medicean party had at their disposal more than a third of the votes. They could thus exclude any undesirable candidate, but were not strong enough to carry the election of their leader Giulio de' Medici. Since not only the French party but also a portion of the Imperialists, led by Pompeo Colonna, declined to support the cousin of Leo X, the latter soon recognized the hopelessness of his candidature; he now strove to transfer the majority of votes to one of his friends. His candidate was Cardinal Farnese, who, in the belief of many, would also be acceptable to the group of senior Cardinals. After the first scrutiny on the 30th of December the junior Cardinals agitated so strongly for Farnese that the conclavists looked upon his election as secured. But the senior Cardinals stood firm, and watched throughout the whole night. At the scrutiny of the following day, Farnese had only a few votes his own followers had not kept their word. On this very 31st of December a circumstance occurred which has not yet been sufficiently cleared up. Cardinal Grimani asked leave, on grounds of health, to quit the close quarters of the conclave, which were filled with smoke and foul air it was only after his physician had sworn on oath that longer confinement would endanger the Cardinal's life that Grimani’s petition was granted. Whether his condition was as critical as was represented, is open to question. Probably other motives, mortified ambition and disappointed hopes, led the Cardinal to take this remarkable step.

The third scrutiny, held on the 1st of January 1522, was again without result; whereupon Medici once more tried his fortune on the candidature of Farnese. The younger Cardinals also worked during the following days in this direction, but without avail; the seniors maintained a stubborn opposition, and the fourth, fifth, and sixth scrutinies (from the 2nd to the 4th of January) were fruitless. The reports which continued to come in from without, of the growing danger to the States of the Church, and of the approach of the French Cardinals, did as little to unite the electors as the orders, already issued on the fourth day, to reduce the appointed rations. Many conclavists believed that Farnese’s prospects still held good, while others thought that the tiara would fall to Fieschi, and a few had hopes of Schinner.

By the beginning of the new year it was the opinion of the majority in Rome that the candidature of Medici or one of his adherents was hopeless; the chances seemed all in favour of Farnese. It was rumoured that together with the latter Egidio Canisio and Numai had also been proposed by Medici. Among the Cardinals of the opposite party Fieschi, Grassis, and Monte were named.

Ever since the 29th of December the couriers had been in readiness to carry the news of the election to the ends of the earth. The longer the result was delayed, the higher rose the expectation and excitement, and Rome was buzzing with contradictory rumours. On the report that Farnese had been elected, his houses were at once set upon for plunder; it was not only in Rome that this bad custom prevailed—in Bologna, Cardinal Grassis fared no better.

Masses and processions were celebrated in Rome, but still no decision was arrived at. “Every morning,” writes Baldassare Castiglione, “one awaits the descent of the Holy Spirit, but it seems to me that He has withdrawn from Rome. So far as one knows, Farnese’s chances are the best, but they may again easily come to nothing.”

On the 5th of January it was reported that Medici had made an attempt to secure the tiara for Cibo. Perhaps the cleverly constructed plot might have succeeded had it not been betrayed by Armellini, so that, at the last moment, Colonna was able to make an effectual countermove. Thereupon Medici, on the following day, renewed his efforts on behalf of Farnese. No stone was left unturned, and at the eighth scrutiny Farnese received twelve votes, whereupon eight or nine Cardinals proclaimed their accession. At this point, although the two-thirds had not been obtained, Cardinal Pucci called out “Papam habemus”. He wished in this way to create an impression so as to gain over the four or five hesitating Cardinals. The result was the reverse of his expectations: Cardinals Colonna and Soderini, the two most irreconcilable enemies of Farnese, insisted on the proceedings being carried out in strict conformity with rule. Not only had Farnese not received the requisite number of votes, but the older Cardinals now formed a more compact body of resistance.

For some time it seemed as if the Medicean party really intended to push Farnese’s election at any cost, but now at last they practically abandoned his candidature, and at the tenth scrutiny on the 8th of January he had only four votes. Thereupon Medici consented to the putting forward of Cardinal Valle, and negotiations were carried on into the night, but without result; some still clung to Farnese, while the elder members of the College refused to hear of him, Valle, or Medici. The Medicean party on their side emphatically rejected either Carvajal or Soderini. Yet they were not wholly to blame for the delay in the election Colonna and Soderini, close confederates, did all in their power to worst every candidate put forward by Medici.

While the factions were thus opposed more sharply than ever, the final crisis arose. Informants whose reports could be relied on announced that Francesco Maria della Rovere had made a compact with the Baglioni to make an attack on Siena. The special representations of Cardinal Petrucci were hardly needed to convince Medici of the danger to which Florence was thus exposed. This consideration wrought in him a change of mind. As the electors on the 9th of January were gathered together for the eleventh scrutiny, Medici rose in his place: “I see”, he said, “that from among us, who are here assembled, no Pope can be chosen. I have proposed three or four, but they have been rejected; candidates recommended by the other side I cannot accept for many reasons. Therefore we must look around us for one against whom nothing can be said, but he must be a Cardinal and a man of good character”. This met with general agreement. On being asked to name one of the absent Cardinals, Medici, who knew that the person whom he was indicating was one acceptable to the Emperor, replied, in his characteristic way of dealing playfully with grave concerns, “Choose the Cardinal of Tortosa, a venerable man of sixty-three who is generally esteemed for his piety”.

The proposal may or may not have been an electioneering manoeuvre; the result of the voting gave fifteen votes apiece to Adrian of Tortosa and Carvajal the Medicean party voted for the nominee of their leader. At this moment Cardinal Cajetan, the commentator of St. Thomas Aquinas, and a man conspicuous for learning, gave the turning-point to the decision. In eloquent language he described the high qualities of the Cardinal of Tortosa, whom he had come to know personally during his legation in Germany, and announced his accession. This proceeding on the part of Cajetan made all the more impression, as he had always shown himself an opponent of Medici. As Colonna also now gave his adhesion to the proposed candidate, the final decision could be no longer deferred, and Jacobazzi, Trivulzio, and Ferreri declared their approval.

In vain Orsini shouted to his party, “Blockheads, do you not see that this is the ruin of France?”—he was answered in like terms. As if driven by some irresistible force, first one and then another elector gave in his accession, and before the majority had realized the importance of the proceedings five-and-twenty votes had been given in. The six-and-twentieth whereby the two-thirds majority was secured was given by Cupis, a Roman, who said, “I also am for the Cardinal of Tortosa, and I make him Pope”. For the rest, nothing remained for them but to declare their concurrence.

All this was the work of a few minutes. Hardly had the Cardinals become fully aware that they had helped to crown with the tiara a sojourner in a distant land, a German, and therefore, from the Italian standpoint, a barbarian, the tutor of the Emperor, a personality utterly unknown to Rome and Italy, than the windows of the Conclave were thrown open, and Cardinal Cornaro, as senior Deacon, announced to the expectant crowd outside the election of Cardinal Adrian of Tortosa, titular of the Church of St. John and St. Paul. As Cornaro had a very feeble voice, Campeggio again announced the result of the election.

Very few expected to hear the result that day. An eyewitness, the Venetian Francesco Maredini, relates how he suddenly heard confused cries of “Medici, Palle, Colonna, Cortona, Valle”, and then saw people singly and then in numbers running towards the piazza of St. Peter’s. As the outcries and tumult increased, there could no longer be any doubt that the Pope had been chosen, although his name was not yet clearly grasped. But in a very short time he must appear in person in St. Peter’s. On the steps of the basilica Maredini heard the incredible announcement that the new Pope was living in Spain. Full of astonishment, he made haste with his companions to the cells of the Conclave, which were by this time thrown open here Cardinals Campeggio and Cibo confirmed the news which he had just heard. “When”, writes Maredini, “we were told all, we were well-nigh struck dead with amazement”. On his way home the Venetian had an opportunity of observing the despair of Leo X’s courtiers; one wept, another uttered lamentations, a third took to flight; all were agreed upon one thing: it would be at least six months before the new Pope arrived, and in the meantime they would be unprovided for; as a Fleming, Adrian would certainly give appointments only to his own country­men perhaps he would live altogether in Spain, or come to Rome in the company of the Emperor”. “In short”, Maredini concludes, “no one rejoices all lament”.

Most of the electors were filled with the same emotions. A friend of the poet Tebaldeo, who entered the conclave immediately after the election had been declared, writes “I thought that I saw ghosts from limbo, so white and distraught were the faces I looked on. Almost all are dissatisfied, and repent already of having chosen a stranger, a barbarian, and a tutor of the Emperor”. After the election, says the Venetian envoy, Gradenigo, the Cardinals seemed like dead men. They had now begun to see clearly the full bearings of their action. The States of the Church threatened to break in pieces unless energetic measures were taken at once—but months must go by before the new Pope could enter Rome. Leo’s extravagance and his participation in the great struggle between the French King and the Emperor had exhausted the exchequer of the Holy See; no one but an entirely neutral Pope could arrest the total ruin of the finances. Such impartiality, however, could hardly be hoped for in the former instructor of Charles and his present commissioner in Spain. So intimate was the union between the two supposed to be that Cardinal Gonzaga wrote, “One might almost say that the Emperor is now Pope and the Pope Emperor”. Most of the electors had everything to fear for themselves in the event of a thorough reform of the Curia. What was to be expected if the newly elected Pope were really the ascetic personality extolled by Cardinal Cajetan?

As soon as the Cardinals, after long consultation, had decided to send a letter to Adrian announcing his election, the bearer of which was to be Balthasar del Rio, Bishop of Scala, a Spaniard, and to despatch three Cardinal­Legates to the new Pope, they quitted the conclave. The crowds gathered before the doors received them with loud expressions of contempt and mockery, with cries and whistling. The Cardinals might be glad that the hot-blooded Romans confined themselves to such demonstrations and did not do them personal injury. During the next few days there was an orgy of scorn and wit. Pasquino’s statue was covered with lampoons in Italian and Latin in which the electors and the elected were handled in the basest terms of ridicule. “Robbers, betrayers of Christ’s Blood”, ran one of these sonnets, “do you feel no sorrow in that you have surrendered the fair Vatican to German fury?”. In many of these lampoons the Pope was assailed as a foreign “barbarian”, in some also as a Spaniard. Under one ran the complaint of St. Peter that he had been delivered up out of the hands of the usurers into those of the Jews, i.e. the Spaniards. Another represented Adrian as a schoolmaster chastising the Cardinals with the birch; beneath was written, “Through their disunion they find themselves in this unlucky plight.”

These gibes were eagerly read by the Romans, and so threatening was the position of the Cardinals, that for many days they dared not leave their palaces. Hardly anyone was acquainted with the new Pope. All that was known of him was that he was a foreigner and therefore a “barbarian”, a dependent of the Emperor, who lived in distant Spain, whither he would probably transfer the Curia. In this sense a placard was posted up on the Vatican: “This Palace to Let.” So strongly were the Romans convinced that the Papal Court would be removed, that soon hundreds of officials were making ready to decamp to Spain, there to seek for places near the person of Adrian. The three senior Cardinals, who were carrying on the Government, endeavoured by stringent prohibition to check the exodus of officials. Those who commiserated themselves most—and not without reason were the numerous curialists, who had bought their appointments, or had lived solely on the extravagant expenditure of Leo’s household. Not merely all the persons of this sort, but the largest part of the population of Rome would be brought face to face with ruin if the Pope’s absence from the city were of long duration. Nor were the Cardinals unmoved by like apprehensions, and the Legates who were appointed to approach Adrian were therefore laid under the strictest injunctions to urge him most earnestly to begin his journey Romeward without delay.

The Legates, moreover, were to submit to Adrian a confession of faith in this the Pope was to promise to maintain the Catholic Faith and to extirpate heresy, especially as spread abroad in Germany; he was also to pledge himself not to change the seat of the Papacy without the consent of the Sacred College. Finally, the Legates were further commissioned to pray the Pope to confirm the existing enactments of the Cardinals and to abstain, for the present, from any decisive measures of Government. Although these stipulations were duly drawn up by the 19th of January 1522, the departure of the Legates was put off from week to week. The want of money for the journey and the difficulty of obtaining ships could not have been the only reasons. Probably the Cardinals hesitated to leave Italy, in view of the possibility of a new Conclave; for the news that Adrian had accepted his election was long waited for in vain. It was repeatedly reported in Rome that the Pope was already dead. The French said openly that steps ought to be taken for holding a new election.

Perplexity, anxiety, alarm, and fear filled the great majority of the inhabitants of Rome only the Imperialists and the Germans rejoiced. “God be praised”, wrote Manuel, the Ambassador of Charles, “since there exists no living person who is more likely to conduce to the peace and prosperity of the Church and the might of the King than this Pope, who is a man of holiness and the creature of your Imperial Majesty”. To a friend Manuel repeated his opinion that the new head of the Church was undoubtedly the most pious of all the Cardinals within or without Rome, and in addition to that a man of great learning. The Netherlander, Cornelius de Fine, long a resident in Rome, who evidently had private sources of information regarding his fellow-countryman, wrote in his diary: “According to the counsels of God, the hitherto disunited Cardinals have chosen as Pope, contrary to their own intention, Adrian of Tortosa, who was absent from the Conclave. He is a man of very simple life, who has always been of a God-fearing disposition; at Louvain he lived only for science and learning; he is a man of solid education, a distinguished theologian and canonist, springs from a very humble family, and for three years he has governed Spain well. Truly, this distinguished man is the choice of the Holy Ghost”.

In Italy the first impression was one of general astonishment that the thirty-nine Cardinals, although almost all Italians, should have chosen a foreigner. The national feeling was so strong that this was a matter of the greatest reproach. “The Cardinals have incurred the deepest shame”, wrote a Roman notary, “in bestowing the tiara on an utter stranger, a dweller in outlandish Spain”. Most characteristic also is the verdict of the Sienese Canon, Sigismondo Tizio, who is obliged, like other Italians, to acknowledge that Adrian by his uprightness and learning was worthy of the tiara, but cannot refrain from blaming the “blindness of the Cardinals”, which has handed over the Church and Italy to “slavery to barbarians”—so that the unhappy lot of Italy is to be deplored!

On the 18th of January 1522 the despatch announcing the Papal election reached the Imperial Court at Brussels. Charles V, to whom the missive was handed during Mass, gave it to his suite with the remark, “Master Adrian has become Pope”. Many looked upon the surprising news as false, until a letter which arrived on the 21st set all doubt at rest. “He felt sure”, so wrote the Emperor on the same day to his Ambassador in London, “that he could rely on the new Pope as thoroughly as on anyone who had risen to greatness in his service”. “His own election as Emperor”, Charles assured the Pope later by the mouth of the envoy who conveyed his homage, “had not afforded him greater joy than this choice of Adrian”. The Imperial letter of thanks to the Cardinals was couched in terms of exuberant recognition. Charles entrusted to Adrian’s friend Lope Hurtado da Mendoza his message of congratulation. “It is a remarkable circumstance”, observed the Venetian Gasparo Contarini, then resident at Brussels as envoy, “that so large a number of Cardinals should have chosen an absentee and one who was unknown to most of them. The Pope is said to be very pious, and to be endowed with the highest qualities. He says Mass daily, and performs all his duties as a virtuous prelate”. The same diplomatist thought that Adrian’s devotion to the Emperor exceeded all that the latter could wish. The Grand Chancellor Mercurino Gattinara also was convinced that everything would now go as Charles desired, since God’s grace had called to the Papacy one who had no rival in loyalty, zeal, and integrity towards the Emperor.

It is easily understood that, at the Court of France, feelings of a quite contrary character should have prevailed. Francis I began by making jests on the election of the Emperor’s “schoolmaster”, and seems even, for a while, to have refused to him the title of Pope; he saw in Adrian only the Emperor’s creature. But from Rome, on the contrary, came other accounts; Cardinal Trivulzio wrote to the King direct that of all who had a prospect of the tiara Adrian was the best for him. The French envoy in Rome, moreover, thought that if the choice must fall on an Imperialist, the Cardinal of Tortosa was to be preferred as good and the least likely to do harm, not only with regard to the excellent accounts given of him personally, but also because six or eight months would have to elapse before he could reach the place where he or his pupil (the Emperor Charles) would be in a position to put hindrances in the King’s way.

While princes and diplomatists attached the most varied expectations to the new Pope, all those who had the good of Christendom at heart broke out into rejoicing. The new Head of the Church, said Pietro Delfini, enjoys everywhere so great a reputation as a pious. God-fearing, and pure-hearted priest that in his election the hand of God is visible. “It is only thy blameless life”, wrote Joannes Ludovicus Vives to the newly elected Pontiff, “that has raised thee to the loftiest rank on earth”. Another summed up his judgment in the words: “We have a Pope who was neither a competitor for the office nor present in conclave no better nor holier head could have been wished for the Church”.