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BOOK
II
THE
RESTORATION OF THE PAPAL POWER AND ITS STRUGGLE WITH THE COUNCIL.
THE
ORIGIN OF THE RENAISSANCE IN ROME,
1417-1447
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CHAPTER II
EUGENIUS
IV, 1431-1447
The failings of
Martin V entailed much suffering on his successor, the virtuous and austere
Eugenius IV. A reaction against the mode of government of the departed Pope,
whose rigour towards his Cardinals and whose favour towards his kindred had
been alike excessive, began in the Conclave. The Cardinals sought once for all
to protect themselves from the possibility of treatment such as they had
experienced, by drawing up a kind of Capitulation, in which rules for the
conduct of the future Pope were laid down. It was not the first time that such
an attempt had been made, for a document is still preserved in which the
Cardinals assembled in Conclave in 1352 imposed conditions on the Pope about to
be elected! After making a certain provision for the maintenance of his
dignity, they assigned to themselves all emoluments, and to him all charges.
Innocent VI, the able Pontiff who came forth from this Conclave, and who had
himself, as Cardinal, subscribed the Capitulation, annulled it as uncanonical,
because the Cardinals in Conclave had gone beyond their powers in drawing it
up, and as rash, because it ventured to limit by human statutes and definitions
that plenitude of power which God Himself had committed to the Holy See,
independently of all foreign will or consent. The attempts of the College of
Cardinals to provide themselves with a kind of Golden Bull were thus
frustrated, three years before Charles IV bestowed one on the German Electors.
The Capitulation
of 1431 went, in some respects, even further than that which had been framed
before the election of Innocent VI. The Pope, according to its terms, was to
reform the Roman Court "in its Head and its members", and not to
transfer it to another place without the consent of the majority of the Sacred
College; he was to hold a General Council, and by its means to reform the whole
Church; in the appointment of Cardinals, he was to observe the prescriptions
laid down at Constance; he was not to proceed against the person or property of
any one of the Cardinals without the consent of the majority of the body, nor
to diminish their power of testamentary disposition. Moreover, all vassals and
officials of the States of the Church were to swear fealty to the Sacred
College, which was to possess the half of all the revenues of the Roman Church,
and the Pope was not to undertake any important measure in regard to the States
of the Church without its assent.
These articles,
which Eugenius IV immediately published in a Bull, gave a new government to the
States of the Church and materially limited the temporal power of the Pope. But
the altered state of things, was of short duration.
According to the
description given by Vespasiano da Bisticci, Pope Eugenius was tall, of a handsome and
imposing presence, thin, grave, and dignified in his bearing. He made such an
impression on those around him that they hardly ventured to look at him. During
his sojourn at Florence he seldom went out, but when he appeared in public, his
aspect inspired such reverence that most of those who beheld him shed tears. “I
remember”, continues this writer, "that once, at Florence, during the time
of his exile, Pope Eugenius stood on a tribune erected near the entrance to the
monastery of Sta. Maria Novella, while the people, who tilled the Piazza and
the neighbouring streets, gazed on him in silence. When the Pope began the ‘Adiutorium nostrum in nomine Domini’ nothing was heard but
loud sobbing, so overwhelming was the impression made by the majesty and the
piety of the Vicar of Christ, who, in truth, seemed to be He whom he
represented”.
Vespasiano further informs us
that Eugenius’ manner of life was most simple; he drank no wine, but only water
with sugar and a little cinnamon. His repast consisted of one dish of meat,
with vegetables and fruit, both of which he liked; he had no fixed hour for
meals, so his servants always kept something ready for him. He willingly
granted audiences when his business was done; was very generous, and gave alms
most bountifully; accordingly, he was always in debt, for he did not value
money and kept nothing for himself. One day a poor Florentine citizen, Felice Brancacci, appealed to the Pope for assistance. Eugenius
sent for a purse filled with florins and bid him take as many as he liked. As
the man timidly took but a few, the Pope laughed and said: "Take plenty; I
give you the money gladly". He parted with money as soon as he received
it.
Four monks and a
secular priest, all of them excellent men, were constantly with the Pope. Two
of the monks were Benedictines, and two belonged to his own Order, that of the
Augustinian Hermits. He recited the Divine Office with them daily, rising
regularly for matins. When he awoke from his sleep, he had one of the books
which lay near his bed given to him, and read for an hour or two, sitting up,
with the book lying on a cushion before him between two candles. The sanctity
of his life won universal veneration. Some of his relations came to him but
they received no part of the temporal goods of the Church, for he held that he
could not give away that which did not belong to him.
Nevertheless,
the Pontificate of Eugenius IV was not a happy one. His hasty and over-violent
measures against the relations of his predecessor at once involved him in a
serious contest with the powerful house of Colonna, during which a conspiracy
to surprise the Castle of St. Angelo by a nocturnal attack was discovered and
suppressed in Rome.
Almost as soon
as this sanguinary struggle had been concluded and the pride of the Colonnas humbled, fresh disturbances of a far more
dangerous character broke out.
The attendance
at the Council which had been opened at Basle on the 23rd of July, 1431, was
very scanty, and on the 18th of December, in the same year, Eugenius IV issued
a Bull dissolving it, and transferring it to Bologna, where it was again to
meet after the lapse of a year and a half. Incorrect information and fear of
the growing power of Councils induced the Pope to take this momentous step,
which was a grievous mistake, prematurely revealing his extreme distrust of the
Council, before any act or decision of that body had occurred to justify it.
Those who were assembled at Basle evaded the public reading of the Bull of
Dissolution on the 13th of January by absenting themselves from the place of
meeting, and, on the 21st of the month, published an Encyclical Letter,
addressed to all the faithful, announcing their determination "to continue
in the Council, and, with the assistance of the Holy Spirit, to labour at the
task committed to it". The secular powers at once came forward and
promised the little Assembly their aid and protection, the menaces of Eugenius
were unheeded, and the partisans of the Synod became more numerous. At this
epoch the idea of a General Council exercised a estrange fascination on men's
minds. He was looked upon as the cure for all the ills of the Church. If the
disastrous Schism had been happily healed by this means, would it not be
equally efficacious in the matter of reform?
The great
victory gained by the Hussites at Taus, in which the
cross of the Legate Cesarini and the Papal Bull proclaiming the Crusade fell
into the hands of the heretics, had the effect of giving fresh weight and power
to the Council. The humiliating defeat of the Crusading army produced a general
and most painful impression, and contributed more than anything had yet done to
strengthen and extend a conviction of the futility of the line of action
hitherto pursued against the Bohemians, and of the necessity, not merely of
ecclesiastical reform, but of amicable negotiation with the Hussites. These two
measures seemed practicable only by means of the Council, and therefore the
gifted Cardinal Giuliano Cesarini urged the Pope to recall the Bull which
dissolved it — unfortunately his efforts were in vain, for Eugenius would not
yield. In order to defend themselves from the Pope, the members of the Synod of
Basle who were sure of King Sigismund’s protection proceeded to reassert the
revolutionary resolutions by which the Council of Constance had been declared
superior to the Pope (February 15, 1432). Measures of a yet more hostile
character soon followed. On the 29th of April the Pope and his Cardinals were
formally summoned to Basle, and threatened with proceedings for contumacy, in
the event of their failure to appear within a period of three months. This was
a decided step towards the revolution, for which Nicholas of Cusa sought to furnish a scientific justification in his
treatise "On Catholic Unity". An order published on the 26th of
September, 1432, facilitated its accomplishment, by admitting representatives
of the lower ranks of the clergy to the Council in such overwhelming numbers,
that the higher ecclesiastics were completely deprived of that moderating
influence in such assemblies which undoubtedly belonged to them.
It is impossible
to justify the course taken by the Synod of Basle, which soon overstepped all
bounds in its opposition to Eugenius IV. At Constance, doubts regarding the
legitimacy of one or other of the Popes may in some degree have excused
adherence to the false theories by which a way of escape from an intolerable
position was sought. The Basle Assembly now extended the Decrees to the case of
an undoubted Pope, whose position was universally acknowledged. In its
resistance to him, it assumed the proud title of an Ecumenical Council,
assembled and enlightened by the Holy Spirit, and endeavoured to make the
extraordinary power, which the Synod of Constance had exercised under the
pressure of extraordinary circumstances, a precedent of general application.
The pretension of a handful of prelates and doctors to represent the whole
Catholic Church, would at other times have been ridiculed; now, they might
count on success, partly because of the confusion of opinion on such matters
due to the Schism, and partly because of the credit which Court favour and
effectual negotiations with the Hussites had won for their Assembly. The danger
which threatened the Papacy and the Church was of incalculable magnitude, for
if the Basle resolutions were carried into effect, the overthrow of the
divinely-established constitution of the Church was inevitable; the Vicar of
Christ became merely the first official of a Constitutional Assembly. If
priests dealt in a similar manner with their Bishops and the faithful with
their priests, the dissolution of the whole Church would be the necessary
consequence.
The Synod had
entered on a course which was leading to a new Schism, and this was clearly
perceived in Rome.
The gravity of
the whole position, the continued excitement in the States of the Church,
combined with the opposition to the Pope's line of conduct which had arisen in
the Sacred College, at last induced Eugenius IV to yield, and to enter into
negotiations with the Council. Its overweening pretensions would have
frustrated all attempts to arrange matters, had it not been for the exertions
of Sigismund, who was crowned Emperor at Rome on the 31st May, 1433. The Pope
recalled the Decree dissolving the Council, and, reserving his own rights and
those of the Apostolic See, acknowledged it as Ecumenical in its origin and
proceedings (15th December, 1433), in a Bull which, although it went to the utmost
possible limit of concession, did not expressly confirm the Anti-Papal
resolutions previously adopted by the Synod This Bull was, so to speak,
extorted from the Pope by the extreme dangers which at the time threatened his
position in Italy.
The very soul of
all the Anti-Papal conspiracies was Duke Filippo Maria Visconti, of Milan. The
Venetian Pope had incurred the hatred of this tyrant from the very beginning of
his reign, by showing favour to his enemies the Republics of Venice and
Florence. Eugenius' contest with the Council furnished the Duke of Milan with a
welcome opportunity of avenging himself on the Pope, by inducing his
Condottieri Niccolò Fortebraccio and Francesco Sforza
to invade the unquiet States of the Church. Both of these leaders professed to
be acting by the command of the Council of Basle. Fortebraccio,
supported by the Colonna family, made a rapid advance to the very gates of
Rome; Eugenius fled to St. Angelo, then to San. Lorenzo in Damaso,
and lastly to the Trastevere. Some of the Cardinals
thought the Pope's cause quite desperate, and left the Eternal City. The
Savelli openly joined the Pope's enemies; among the great Roman families, he
had only some of the Orsini and Conti on his side. His contemporary Flavio
Biondo says, "it is shorter to reckon those who remained true than those
who fell away".
In this
extremity, being without any steadfast allies, and surrounded by enemies,
Eugenius IV resolved to yield to the demands of the Assembly at Basle.
After his
reconciliation with the Council the Pope endeavoured to free himself from foes
nearer home. In March, 1434, a treaty was concluded with Sforza, in virtue of
which this brave leader, the most distinguished General Italy had known since
the days of Julius Caesar, and the greatest statesman of his time, was
appointed Vicar in the March of Ancona and Standard Bearer of the Church.
Eugenius IV also sought to come to an understanding with Fortebraceio,
but his advances were contemptuously repelled, and, in conjunction with Niccolò
Piccinino, Visconti’s General, the Condottiere laid waste the neighbourhood of
the Eternal City. Meanwhile emissaries from Milan, Piccinino, the Colonna
family, and, it may be, also from the Council, were busily at work stirring up
the Romans against the Pope. Their success was greatly facilitated by the
conduct of Cardinal Francesco Condulmaro, who met the
Roman deputies when they came to complain of the miseries of constant warfare
and of the ruin of their property, with the scorn of a Venetian noble.
On the 29th May,
1434, the Revolution broke out in Rome; the Capitol was stormed, the Pope's
nephew imprisoned, and finally a Republic proclaimed. Eugenius IV now resolved
to fly. On the 4th June he rode, in the garb of a Benedictine monk, to the
banks of the Tiber, where a boat received him; he was recognized as he was
sailing away, and a shower of stones was thrown at him. Lying in the bottom of
the boat and covered with a shield he escaped uninjured to Ostia; a galley
thence conveyed him to Pisa and Florence, and, like his predecessor, he took up
his abode there in the Dominican Monastery of Sta. Maria Novella.
The Roman
Republic was of short duration; after the flight of the Pope the Eternal City
became a prey to complete anarchy. The palace in the Trastevere where Eugenius IV had been living and the Vatican were plundered by the
populace, who also robbed the Papal Courtiers. Baldassare d'Offida,
the Papal Castellan, held the Castle of St. Angelo, and with his artillery
overawed the adjacent parts of the City. The new Government, at the Capitol was
bad and thoroughly incompetent; the rulers only despoiled the City, and many
who had hoped that the overthrow of the Papal power would inaugurate a golden
age, were grievously disappointed. The Romans soon perceived that nothing could
be worse than the rule of their own people, and that the "freedom" of
the city, which had been forsaken by most of its foreign inhabitants, brought
with it nothing but evil. A great desire for the Pope’s return tilled men's
minds, but Eugenius thought himself safer in his exile at Florence than in his
capital, and sent Giovanni Vitelleschi, Bishop of Recanati, to the States of the Church as his
representative. In October, 1434, when he entered Rome, the people rose up with
the cry: "The Church! the Church!" and the Papal authority was soon
re-established.
Vitelleschi is one of the most
remarkable figures of his time. He belonged to a family of note in Corneto, bore arms in his youth under Tartaglia, but
entered the ecclesiastical career after the accession of Martin V. He had,
however, no vocation to the priesthood, and his elevation to the See of Recanati can only be accounted for by the existing
confusion of spiritual and temporal affairs. He was a brave knight, but no
pastor of souls, and, even under the mitre, he retained the character and
manners of a Condottiere. In the field, his courage and military skill were
unsurpassed by any leader of the day. Had he not been bound to the service of
the Church, he would have won both glory and power, as did Sforza, Niccolò
Piccinino, and others. He was ambitious, crafty, avaricious and cruel, yet
there was something magnificent about him, and he was determined and brave.
This man, who, according to Infessura, struck all who
saw him with fear, now went forth with dauntless energy, not merely to humble
the foes of the Pope in the States of the Church, but to destroy them with fire
and sword. The first to feel the weight of his iron hand was the ancient race
of Vico, who had always been at variance with the
Pope. The City Prefect, Giacomo da Vico, the last of
the family, was compelled to surrender his Castle of Vetralla,
brought to trial, and then beheaded. Eugenius IV then raised Francesco Orsini
to the rank of Prefect of the City, at the same time greatly restricting the
jurisdiction of the office by appointing the Vicecamerlengo Governor of the City and its territory, with authority in matters of police and
criminal cases.
Vitelleschi's first successes were
rewarded by his elevation to the dignities of Patriarch of Alexandria and
Archbishop of Florence. During his absence a fresh insurrection, in which the
Conti, Colonna, Gaetani, and Savelli took part, broke out in Rome. The
Patriarch, as Vitelleschi now called himself, at once
hastened back to execute bloody vengeance on the offenders. The Castles of the
Savelli and Colonna were forcibly taken and destroyed; and Palestrina, the
principal fortress of the latter family, was also compelled to surrender on the
18th August, 1436. On his return to Rome he was received with honours such as
hitherto had been rendered to none but Popes and Emperors. Senate and people
determined to erect an equestrian statue of him in marble on the Capitol, with
the inscription, "To Giovanni Vitelleschi,
Patriarch of Alexandria, the third Father of the City of Rome, after
Romulus". Winter brought him back to his native City of Corneto, where he built himself a palace which,
notwithstanding its present fallen condition, is one of the most imposing
examples still remaining in Italy of the transition from the Gothic to the
Renaissance period of architecture.
With the spring
of the following year (1437) the work of vengeance against the tyrants of the
Campagna began anew. In the end of March workmen were sent to Palestrina with orders
to raze the city to the ground. The terrible work went on for forty days, and
even the churches were not spared. In the struggle for the throne of Naples, Vitelleschi, by the command of Eugenius, espoused the cause
of Anjou, against Alfonso of Aragon, who harassed the States of the Church from
the South and kept up open relations with the Pope's enemies. The Patriarch
took Antonio Orsini, Prince of Tarento, the most
powerful of Alfonso's partisans, prisoner, and the Pope acknowledged this
service by creating him Cardinal (August 9th, 1437).
His other
military enterprises in the Kingdom of Naples were unsuccessful, and he
returned to the States of the Church to resume his merciless warfare against
their tyrants. Lorenzo Colonna had taken Zagarolo by
surprise in 1439. On the 2nd of April the Cardinal stormed the place, and had
it levelled to the ground; fresh struggles with Niccolò Savelli and the Trinci in Foligno followed. Vitelleschi was again victorious; the whole territory from
Civitavecchia to the Neapolitan frontier was in his power; four thousand
horsemen and two thousand foot soldiers were constantly in readiness to quell
any resistance.
In Rome the
Cardinal ruled with a despotism hitherto unknown; the Romans, weary of endless
disquiet, forgave everything because he maintained order; even his deeds of
cruelty were excused. “Never, up to the present day”, says the simple-minded
Paolo di Liello Petrone,
"has any- one done so much for the welfare of our City of Rome; if only he
had not been so cruel; although he was almost compelled thereto on account of
the corruption which prevailed in Rome and its neighbourhood to such a degree,
that murders and robberies were committed by the citizens and peasants by night
and by day". In order to restore the Leonine City, Vitelleschi,
following the example of Romulus, sought to re-people this devastated quarter
by granting to it the privileges of asylum for criminals and freedom from
taxes, and civil autonomy. The power of the Cardinal was at its height when he suddenly
fell.
This event is
veiled in the deepest obscurity; it is more than probable that the Florentines
had a hand in it. His enemies allied themselves with Antonio Rido, the Castellan of St. Angelo, whose relations with Vitelleschi were strained to the utmost. On the 19th March,
1440, Rido had an interview with Vitelleschi,
who had everything in readiness for a fresh expedition to Umbria, on the Bridge
of St. Angelo. Rido kept the Cardinal in conversation
until his troops had passed over. Then, at a given signal, the narrow door
leading to the Borgo was shut, a chain, which had secretly been placed in
readiness, was drawn across the bridge, and Rido's soldiers pressed forward to seize Vitelleschi. In
vain did the Cardinal with his followers endeavour to fight his way through. He
was wounded, dragged from his horse, and shut up in St. Angelo; his soldiers,
on hearing the tidings, would have stormed the castle, but Rido managed to appease them by the publication of a Papal warrant for his arrest,
the genuineness of which they were unable to test. A fortnight later (2nd
April) the Cardinal was a corpse.
Such are the
actual facts of the case, and everything else is more or less uncertain. The
words written by a contemporary chronicler are still essentially true; no one
knew on what grounds Vitelleschi had been taken
prisoner, or who had given orders for his arrest, or if the real cause of his
death had been violence or poison.
The question
whether Eugenius IV consented to the imprisonment of his favourite is one which
cannot be answered with certainty; yet many historians have affirmed that he
did, and it is most probable that Rido's action was
not altogether spontaneous and independent. Yet, if we may believe his own
letter to the Florentines, written immediately after the arrest —which is
doubtful— this opinion cannot be maintained. Rido here declares that Vitelleschi repeatedly endeavoured
to wrest the fortress from him, to the great detriment of the Church and of the
Pope, that he knew the Cardinal to be an open enemy of the Pope, and that,
therefore, he had on that very day taken him prisoner, but without the
permission of Eugenius, whom he could not inform beforehand for want of time.
This remarkable letter concludes by saying "I have done to him what he
undoubtedly desired to do to me". This single document, taken by itself,
is not sufficient to decide the question positively, yet it is calculated to
shake our confidence in the often repeated assertion that "Eugenius
consented to the imprisonment of his favourite". A complete explanation of
the complicated events of this period can only be furnished by further
researches in the Archives.
The Pope was too
much in the power of the Florentines to condemn Vitelleschi's imprisonment, and Rido was at once promoted to high
dignity. It would seem that proofs of the treasonable designs attributed to the
Cardinal were not forthcoming, for in subsequent Briefs the Pope repeatedly
speaks of him as his "beloved son". In a Brief to the inhabitants of Corneto, his imprisonment is represented as the accidental
consequence of dissensions between him and Rido, and
then Scarampo's nomination as Legate is announced
without comment. This document contains no word of complaint against Rido, who, like Vitelleschi, is
styled by the Pope "beloved son", but there is a passage which seems
directly to contradict the supposition that the latter had wished to found a
State for himself. Scarampo, like his predecessor,
was a worldly-minded Prelate; he had formerly been a physician, and it is said
that Eugenius owed his recovery from an illness to his care. Under Vitelleschi, he followed the career of arms, later on he
took orders, was made Archbishop of Florence, and soon after his appointment as Vitelleschi's successor, was raised to the purple
(July 1, 1440).
Pietro Barbo, son of Nicholas Barbo and
Polyxena Condulmaro, sister to Eugenius IV, was at
the same time created Cardinal. Barbo was extremely
fond of splendour, very generous, learned in Canon law, and an enthusiastic
collector of ancient coins and gems; in a later portion of this work we shall
speak of his collections and of his palace. A bitter and lasting feud existed
between him and Scarampo.
Scarampo’s government of Rome was
as severe as that of Vitelleschi, but he did far more
for the restoration of the afflicted city, and has justly been praised for his
efforts to raise the Romans from the sloth into which they had fallen, and to
make of them civilized beings.
The flight of
Eugenius IV to Florence —the last event of the kind until the flight of Pius
IX— had, especially in one respect, consequences of a far-reaching nature.
The whole
intellectual training of Eugenius, who, even while he occupied the Papal
throne, never ceased to be the austere monk, tended to keep him untouched by
the Renaissance movement, but he was by no means indifferent to the progress of
science, and had given proof of his zeal in this matter by his re-establishment
(1431) of the Roman University, which "had been completely ruined by the
misfortunes of the time, and the disunion of the Church". He also
encouraged artists, and was well disposed to carry on the work of Martin V, but
the Roman Revolution of 1434 suddenly interrupted every effort of the kind.
Pope Eugenius
IV's choice of Florence, the home of revived art and the intellectual centre of
Humanism in Italy, as his abode, was a matter of the greatest importance. The
Pope and his Court, by their lengthened sojourn there and by the negotiations
with the Greeks, were brought into the closest contact with the Renaissance;
and the vehement discussions which soon afterwards broke out in regard to the
Councils, compelled him to secure the services of skilful pens, so as to fight
his opponents with their own weapons. The years spent in Florence, however, were
of more weight than all besides. It was impossible to live in the very home of
the Renaissance and remain insensible to its influence. This was, however, a
time of probation for the Humanistic Secretaries of the Pope. The sources of
remuneration failed, and in consequence many members of the Court left their
Master. Among the few who remained faithful was Flavio Biondo, who had been
appointed Apostolic Secretary early in the year 1434. In his simplicity,
modesty, and purity of life this hard-working man, who was a representative of
the Christian Renaissance, forms a consoling contrast to the unprincipled
Poggio and his fellows. The Pope had a great regard for him, and Biondo, on his
side, manifested his gratitude by dedicating to Eugenius IV his historical
description of the City of Rome ("Roma Instaurata").
This is in some respects a very remarkable work, being the first topographical
account of the Eternal City founded on a systematic use of documentary sources
of information. It is also full of original, though often mistaken, ideas.
Biondo is, in fact, the founder of a special branch of science — that of
topography. His book abounds in information regarding Christian Rome. Unlike
Poggio, from whose. "Wanderings through Rome” all allusion to this aspect of
the Eternal City is carefully excluded, Biondo, the Christian Humanist, brings
it prominently forward. With Petrarch, he believes that the majesty and glory
of Rome stand on another and surer foundation than the vanished pomp of Capitol
and Palatine, the renown of her Consuls and Legions. At the end of the third
book he gives a complete list of the principal churches, chapels, and holy
places. He justly prizes the sanctuaries and relics of Our Lord, the
handkerchief of St. Veronica, and the shrine, Domine quo vadis,
and those of the Apostles and Martyrs, as the peculiar and inalienable treasure
of Rome. The thought of the glorious remains preserved in the Eternal City
consoles him for the ruin which meets him on every side. An intelligent
interest in Christian antiquity pervades the whole work, which, at its
commencement, undertakes to point out the sanctuaries of the martyrs, and
especially to inform its readers where and by whom the churches were built.
Accordingly, throughout the whole of the first volume, which follows the
topographical order, the churches are introduced together with the edifices of
ancient Rome. The restoration of ecclesiastical buildings, accomplished by the
zeal of Eugenius IV, is repeatedly mentioned in terms of the highest praise;
and other works are not unnoticed, as, for example, the magnificent completion
of the Palace of San Lorenzo in Lucina, whose foundations had been laid in
1300, and whose construction had been carried on by many successive Cardinals;
also the rebuilding of the bridges connecting the Island of the Tiber with the
rest of Rome, by order of Eugenius IV. It will be seen that Biondo may fairly
claim the title of founder of Christian and mediaeval topography.
To give an
account of all the Humanists who entered the Papal service during the
Pontificate of Eugenius IV, does not fall within the scope of the present work.
We need only remark that their number was surprisingly great and that,
notwithstanding the Pope's austerity, little or no regard was paid in their selection
to Christian conduct or to religious sentiments. At this time, indeed, the
antagonism which afterwards appeared was still latent, and the partisans of the
Christian and Heathen Renaissance associated freely with one another. The
literary gatherings which took place every morning and evening at Florence, in
the vicinity of the Papal residence, with Manetti, Traversari and Parentucelli included also Poggio and Carlo Marsuppini, who on his death-bed scorned the consolations
of Religion.*
The decision with
which Eugenius forbade Valla's return to Rome, when he sought forgiveness and
offered his services and his measures against Beccadelli's disgraceful book, prove, nevertheless, that he did not practically ignore the
dangers of the heathen Renaissance. It is probable that he would have opposed
it in a far more energetic manner, had not the contest with the Council of
Basle taxed all his powers to the utmost, and made the greatest consideration
towards the Humanists with their ready pens a necessity. The Pope feared them,
because, as he once observed, they were not wont to pass over an injury, and
because they could avenge themselves with weapons which were hard to parry.
Humanistic studies were warmly encouraged in this Pontificate, as they had been
in the preceding one, by Cardinals Giordano Orsini (d.1438), Albergati (d. 1443), Giuliano Cesarini (d. 1444), Prospero
Colonna, and Domenico Capranica. The last-named
Cardinal had a choice library of two thousand volumes, which he generously
opened to all students. Gerardo Landriani (d. 1445)
another patron of the Humanists, was raised to the purple by Eugenius IV at the
Council of Florence. He had a valuable library of classical works, many of
which were rare His learning was justly esteemed, and the discourses which he
made before the Council of Basle and as Ambassador to the King of England, were
transcribed, and regarded as elegant compositions. This Cardinal was on
friendly terms with Marsuppini, Poggio, and even Beccadelli, a circumstance which gave no offence to their
contemporaries. It became more and more the custom to flatter the Humanists on
account of their literary services. Those were the days when the ascetic Albergati held constant intercourse with half-heathen wits,
and the pious Capranica welcomed Poggio's letters and addressed him as his "very dear comrade".
Besides these
Cardinals we must mention Bessarion as a diligent collector of books, a
laborious author, and a friend and patron of scholars. He was the protector of
all the learned Greeks who had any reason to apply to the Papal Court.
It is not easy
to pronounce a general judgment as to the circumstances which prepared the way
for the Pontificate of the first Humanist who ever mounted the Papal Throne,
yet we may safely say that the contact of Pope and Court with the vigorous
literary life of Florence had in some respects a very beneficial effect. On the
other hand, however, it was undoubtedly one of the contributing causes of that
predominance of Humanists in the Roman Court which, in itself, and still more
on account of their heathen tendencies, awakened grave apprehensions.
The Italian
troubles consequent on the exile of Eugenius were small compared with those
provoked by the Assembly at Basle. Neither the fact of his compliance nor his defenceless
position availed to soften the hearts of the bitter enemies of the Papacy in
that City. The reconciliation had been only apparent, and the feelings of the
majority were unchanged, so that the fanatical partisans of the Council soon
gained the upper hand. Their leader was Cardinal Louis Allemand of Arles, and their object was to make the Council permanent and endow it with
all the attributes of sovereignty, judicial, administrative, legislative, and
executive, with the Pope as its more or less necessary appendage. Instead of
the reform of the ecclesiastical abuses, which in many countries had reached a
fearful pitch, the diminution of the Papal authority and the destruction of the
monarchical character of the Church became the chief business of the Synod.
A decree
abolishing at one blow all annates, pallium-fees, taxes, and other charges was
issued by this Assembly, and was well calculated to provoke a desperate
struggle between the Pope and the Council. A Protestant historian remarks that
this "decree, even if in itself just and necessary, was, with such
extensive provisions, at this moment, a party measure of extreme violence. The
Pope, with a portion of his Court, was in exile at Florence, and dependent on
the alms of his allies. He was more than ever in need of money for subsidies to
the troops, by whose help alone he could recover for himself, and for the
Church, the territories which had been wrested from her or had revolted against
her. And, at this very lime, his last source of revenue was cut off. In vain
did the Papal Legates ask how the officials of the Court were to be paid,
embassies kept up, exiled prelates supported, and heretics and enemies of the
Church overcome. It seemed as if the Council counted on the Pope's disobeying
its decree and thus giving fresh occasion for judicial proceedings. There was a
tone of irony in the discourses which were constantly made in praise of
Apostolic poverty, and in the suggestion that the Pope, undisturbed by temporal
cares, could live entirely for the service of God. At Constance, the abolition
of the annates had been demanded, but in view of the Pope's defenceless
position, deferred. This consideration was at that time an act of forbearance,
now it was a duty".
Further decrees
against the Pope soon followed. They were so prejudicial to the undoubted
rights of the Holy See that Eugenius IV was constrained to address a memorial
to all the European Powers, making bitter complaints of the unheard of
presumption of the Synod. It had, he says, degraded his Legates by arbitrarily
limiting their authority; made their presidency merely nominal by resolving
that its decisions should be published by others and without their consent;
transformed itself into a headless body; subjected the Pope, by a false interpretation
of the Constance decrees, to the censorship of the Synod, in a manner unknown
to former times; undertaken an immense amount of business, and involved itself
in discussions altogether foreign to its proper object; given away many
benefices; erected commenda; granted Papal
dispensations; demanded for itself the annates refused to the Pope; assumed the
right of dealing with cases reserved to the Holy See; and suppressed the Prayer
for the Pope in the Liturgy. The undue extension to private persons of the
right of suffrage, in direct opposition to the ancient custom of Councils, is
justly viewed by the Pope as the chief source of all this confusion. Measures
adopted at Constance with a view to the unanimous decision of the great
question of the Schism, — a matter of universal consequence — were made
applicable to all cases and extended in their scope. With a fallacious appeal
to this isolated example, an assembly, the majority of whose members were men
of no real weight, proceeded to deal with affairs of the utmost importance,
gave forth as the decisions of a General Council decrees which had been drawn
up in an unlawful and precipitate manner, and endeavoured to overturn the
constitution of the Church. For these reasons the Pope deemed that it was time
for princes to recall their Bishops and Ambassadors from Basle, and so render
possible the assembling of another and better-disposed Council.
The complaints
of Eugenius, who was unwilling to let his high dignity become a mere shadow,
were fully justified, for the conduct of the clerical democracy at Basle went
beyond all bounds. The majority of the Assembly consisted of Frenchmen, and
offered no opposition to any measure directed against the exiled Pope; the most
fanatical party seized every opportunity of making him feel their power and
ill-will. Their real object was declared with admirable candour by the Bishop
of Tours in one of the Sessions in the following words: "We must either
wrest the Apostolic See from the hands of the Italians, or else despoil it to
such a degree that it will not matter where it abides". The Council would
have proceeded yet further in this direction but for a crisis occasioned by the
negotiations for union with the Greeks.
The history of
these negotiations shows that the Pope alone sincerely sought for union. The
Greek Emperor used the idea as a talisman to procure aid against the Turks; the
members of the Council of Basle hoped by its means to gain a fresh victory over
the Pope, and, by a great success, to recover their hold on public opinion,
which was threatening to turn against them. The choice of the place where the
Union Council should meet led to fresh discord between the Pope and the
Assembly at Basle. In its Session of the 7th May, 1437, an important decision
was arrived at. The Anti-Papal party, led by Cardinal Louis Allemand of Arles, had, shortly before this Session, so strengthened itself by the
admission of a number of ecclesiastics from the neighbourhood of Basle, that it
could command a majority. Amidst violent opposition it decided that Basle
should be the place of meeting, or, if this city were not convenient for the
Greeks, Avignon, or some city in Savoy, and also that a general tithe should be
levied on Church property to meet the necessary expenses. A minority of the
Assembly, including Cardinal Giuliano Cesarini and the most esteemed among the
Prelates, voted for the selection of Florence or Udine, which had been proposed
by the Pope.
The Pope
approved of the decision of the minority, and did everything in his power to
hinder the execution of the Decree of the majority. He saw plainly the object
of the contemplated transfer of the Council from Basle to Avignon to be the
establishment of the Roman Court under French protection in the latter city,
after his death or deposition. This purpose explains the obstinacy with which
Cardinal Louis Allemand and his followers held to
Avignon in spite of the objections of the Pope, ever mindful of the disastrous
results of the sojourn of his predecessors in that city, and of the Greeks,
which were founded on its great distance from their country. The objections of
the Greeks frustrated all negotiations between them and the Cardinal's party,
while the superior skill of the Papal diplomatists completely won them over to
the side of their master.
The Pope's
success provoked his adversaries at Basle to the utmost, and on the 3rd July,
1437, they issued a monitum, in which, after pouring
forth a torrent of accusations against him and even laying all the political
miseries of the States of the Church to his charge, they summoned him to appear
before their tribunal. A Bull, published on the 18th September, was the Pope's
reply to this summons; it declared that the six years duration of the Council
of Basle had produced a surprisingly small result. He made known to all
Christendom its evil doings, and should it undertake any measures against him
and the Cardinals, or persist in its adherence to the monitum,
he required its immediate removal to Ferrara, a city which had been named by
the Greeks and which he approved. On the publication of the Bull, the Synod was
at once to discontinue its labours, except in regard to Bohemian affairs, which
might proceed for thirty-one days more. In any case, however, on the arrival of
the Greeks and their ratification of the selection of Ferrara, the Pope
transfers the Council to that city, and there, in presence of the new Synod and
before the whole world, he will justify his conduct and clear himself from the
accusations made against him at Basle. At the same time he annulled the
transfer of the Council to Avignon, summoned all who had a right to be present
to meet at Ferrara, and formally made the removal to that city known to all the
citizens of Basle and to all the illustrious Universities.
The Synod declared
this Bull invalid, and threatened the Pope with suspension and deposition. In
vain did Cardinal Cesarini once more endeavour to make peace. In a long and
fervent discourse, he earnestly entreated the members of the Synod to lay aside
all hatred and strife and meet the Greeks, and send ambassadors to them. Should
the Greeks refuse to come to Basle, Avignon, or Savoy, he urged concession to
their wishes, inasmuch as union was the principal matter and the place but a
secondary consideration. He also insisted on reconciliation with the Pope, lest
they should become a laughing-stock to the Greeks. But his words fell upon deaf
ears, and with his numerous friends he left Basle.
The learned
Nicholas of Cusa and other distinguished theologians
also at this time separated themselves from the Council, and espoused the cause
of the Pope. They have been severely blamed for the step and accused of want of
principle. But, as the historian of these events very justly observes, "is
it impossible that a man should enthusiastically cling to a party as long as he
is fully persuaded of the goodness, justice, and usefulness of its aims and
proceedings, and when he sees it enter on an evil course and persist in it in
spite of all warnings, should sever himself from it and oppose it? Is not this
the duty of every honourable and truth-loving man? The estimable Cardinal
Cesarini and the great Nicholas of Cusa were warm
partisans of the Council of Basle as long as they believed it to be animated by
zeal for the improvement of the condition of the Church, for the conversion of
those in error and for the restoration of peace and unity. When, however, it
became more and more evident that no true regard for the welfare of the Church,
but paltry obstinacy and party feeling, ruled its decisions; when the hatred of
the majority of its members for the Pope had made Schism with all its terrible
consequences imminent, these men considered themselves bound to abandon the
cause of the Synod, and thereby, as far as in them lay, avert the threatened
calamity".
While the Synod
of Basle thus lost its best adherents, the Council, which had been opened at
Ferrara on the 8th January, 1438, by Cardinal Albergati,
at once attained the greatest importance. On the 4th March the Greek Emperor,
John Palaeolqgus, appeared with a numerous train of
Greek dignitaries and theologians, amongst whom were Mark of Ephesus, Bessarion
of Nicaea, and Gemistos Plethon;
four days later the Greek patriarch Joseph followed. Eugenius IV had been there
ever since the end of January, and immediately after his arrival had convened
the members of the Assembly to a solemn Congregation in his private chapel,
laid before them the state of his relations with the Synod of Basle, and
exhorted them to begin the work of reformation by their own amendment.
The negotiations
with the Greeks dragged on for more than a year, and often it seemed as if the
Assembly would disperse without accomplishing its end. Political necessities at
last induced the Greeks to give way, and in July, 1439, the union, which proved
but a temporary one, was effected at Florence, the Council having been in the
meanwhile transferred to that city. A document in which the conditions of union
were laid down, was signed on the 5th July, 1439, all the ecclesiastical dignitaries
present in Florence, with the exception of some bitter opponents among the
Greeks, and on the 6th July it was solemnly read in the Cathedral. It is still
preserved as one of the most precious treasures of the Laurentian Library.
The Pope
hastened to make the good tidings known throughout Christendom, and to appoint
public prayers and processions, in order to thank God for the happy event, and
implore Him to perfect His work, and bring the proud barbarian nations also
beneath the yoke of the Christian Faith.
The success
obtained by Eugenius was indeed immense, for, even if the hatred of the Greek
to the Latin nations made the union continue to be rather one on paper than a
living reality, yet it was the accomplishment of that which had long been deemed
impossible; a Schism, before whose extent and danger even the Papal Schism
seemed small, had been dogmatically healed, and the great boon of a
reconciliation, which it was hoped would be world-wide, was due to the
persecuted Pope. It was difficult at that period to form an opinion as to the
duration of the union, but there was a more or less general impression that the
submission of the Greeks would tend to the exaltation of that Papal authority
which the Council of Basle had set at naught.
The dogmatical
decision regarding the extent of the Papal power, embodied in the Union Decree
of the Council of Florence, was of extreme importance to western Christendom,
which had not yet recovered from the effects of the great Schism. An Ecumenical
Council now pronounced the Pope to be the head, not merely of individual
Churches, but of the Church Universal, to derive his power not from the will of
the faithful, but immediately from Christ, whose Vicar he is; and to be not
only the Father, but also the Teacher, to whom all Christians owe submission.
The publication of this decision, which has become the essential foundation of
the theological development of the doctrine of the Primacy, was a mortal blow
to the very root of the Schism.
Apart from their
dogmatic aspect, these negotiations with the Greeks hold an important place in
the history of literature and civilization. The result of the new intellectual
intercourse between East and West, between Greek and Latin culture, were
immense, especially in the promotion of the study of the Greek language and the
introduction of the Greek philosophy, both of which had hitherto been almost
unknown to Western Christendom.
On the Roman
Court the influence exercised was an abiding one, and tended to give the
Humanist element a power even greater than that which it had already attained.
Eugenius IV required men who were able to translate Greek, and to hold personal
interviews and disputations with the representatives of the Greek Church, and
accordingly, although himself untouched by the spirit of the Renaissance, he
was constrained to take a number of eminent Greek scholars, who were Humanists,
into his service. These men were fully employed, to judge from Guarino's
declaration that from the time of the arrival of the Greeks he had not enjoyed
a quiet hour. The official interpreter in the disputations was Niccolò Sagundino of Negroponte, a man of business rather than a
scholar. It was during the progress of these long-drawn negotiations with the
Greeks that Tommaso Parentucelli, one of the noblest representatives of the
Christian Renaissance, gave those brilliant proofs of his knowledge of
theological literature, which attracted the attention of the Pope and thus
paved the way for his own subsequent elevation to the supreme dignity.
The Greek
Bessarion, and the Camaldolese monk, Ambrogio Traversari, the special
favourite of Eugenius, whom we have already mentioned, took a yet more
important part in these proceedings. To the latter belongs the honour of having
drawn up the Act of Union in both languages; it is plain, however, from careful
investigation that Bessarion's share in the
composition of this document was considerable.
Bessarion, a
great man and a great scholar, has been justly regarded as the last Greek of
note before the complete downfall of his nation. He was born at Trebizond early
in the fifteenth century, and was of humble origin. After studying for some
time at Constantinople he entered the Basilian Order in 1423, and in the same
year went to the Peloponesus and zealously applied
himself to philosophy and mathematics under the guidance of Gemistos Plethon. His natural aversion to anything extreme and
exclusive, either in conduct or in science, made the office of mediator and
peacemaker peculiarly congenial, and gave him a special fitness for the
management of the difficult negotiations regarding union. He passed rapidly
through the different grades of ecclesiastical promotion until he became
Archbishop of Nicaea, and as such accompanied the Greek Emperor to Italy. His moral
worth and persuasive eloquence made a deep impression on all who saw him in
Ferrara and Florence. After the happy conclusion of the union, Bessarion went
for a short time to Greece, but soon returned to Italy, where he joined the
Latin obedience, and on the 18th December, 1439, was raised to the purple,
together with Archbishop Isidore. He was now commonly known by the name of Nicenus, while Isidore was called Ruthenus. Bessarion's proceeding has been the subject of severe
and most unjust censure. But this step seems amply accounted for both on
personal and external grounds, if we regard it as a consequence of the Union of
the Churches and the attendant negotiations, nor does it involve any change
either of opinion or belief. Bessarion's subsequent
bearing towards his former associates was uniformly noble and generous. With a
heart full of the ideal of that union which unfortunately was to prove so
short-lived, he strove in his new country to promote the study and appreciation
of Greek learning, and became its able Humanistic exponent. He also studied
Latin, and was zealous in his labours for the Church, for the cause of learning
and for his own unhappy nation. We shall have hereafter to speak of the many
difficult mission which the Pope entrusted to Bessarion, as well as of his
self-sacrificing efforts on behalf of his countrymen. As Reformer of the
Basilian Order and Protector of the two great Mendicant Orders, the Greek
Cardinal rendered the most valuable service to the Church. His ample income was
nobly employed in the furtherance of learning, the acquisition of manuscripts
and the maintenance of needy scholars. His Palace was a place of meeting for
all the most distinguished Greek and Italian literary men, and the circle of
Humanists whom he drew around him took the form of an academy, in which the
philosophy of Plato and all other branches of learning and science were
discussed in familiar conversation. The Cardinal gave further practical proof
of his hearty interest in the Renaissance by his translation into Latin of many
Greek authors, by his splendid defence of Plato against the Aristotelian,
George of Trebizond, and by the establishment of a library unequalled in Italy
for the number and value of its manuscripts; especially after the fall of
Constantinople, the zeal of the collector was guided and stimulated by his
patriotism. If his country was to be desolated by barbarians, he wished at
least to rescue the intellectual works of the ancient Greeks from destruction,
and accordingly made it his business to search diligently after rare books. His
appointment by the Pope in 1446 as Visitor of the Basilian Monasteries in Italy
was extremely favourable to the accomplishment of his purpose. By degrees he
got together about nine hundred manuscripts, whose value he estimated at
fifteen hundred ducats. Four years before his death he presented this library
to the Republic of Venice, the ancient link between East and West. His motive
for this magnanimous action was the consideration that, notwithstanding all his
liberality, the library, while in his possession, could benefit but a limited
number of readers, whereas in Venice its treasures would be open to all
scholars. The Philosopher Gemistos Plethon, Bessarion's master,
ranks next after him among the Greeks who took part in the Union Council. The
energies of this gifted but passionate man were, however, directed rather to
the spread of the Platonic Philosophy than to the cause of union, and he left
behind him abiding traces of his work in Italy. His burning words inflamed the
soul of Cosmo de* Medici, and gave birth to his plan for the revival of this
philosophy in Italy. Marsiglio Ficino, the man selected by Cosmo for the
execution of his purpose, says in his translation of the works of Plotinos: "The great Cosmo, at the time when the
Council assembled by Pope Eugenius IV was sitting in Florence, was never weary
of listening to the discourses of Plethon, who, like
a second Plato, held disputations on the Platonic Philosophy. The eloquence of
this man took such hold upon him and animated him with such enthusiasm, that he
firmly resolved to found an Academy at the first favourable moment".
Soon after the
conclusion of the Council, Plethon returned to his
home, happily without having imparted his heathen opinions to the Italians,
whom he regarded as uncultivated barbarians.
The union with
the Greeks was soon followed by others, but unfortunately in most cases these
were only caused by the pressure of necessity, and accordingly had no real
stability. On the 22nd November, 1439, Eugenius IV had the satisfaction of
concluding a treaty with the Armenian Ambassadors for the union of their Church
with that of Rome. In 1443 union with a portion of the Jacobites followed. The movement among the Eastern Christians continued for the next few
years. In the spring of 1442 the Council was removed from Florence to Rome,
where it held two Sessions (30th September, 1444, and 7th August, 1445),
principally occupied with the union of the Orientals. On the 7th August, 1445,
Eugenius published a Bull giving thanks to God that, after the return of the
Greeks, Armenians, and Jacobites, the Nestorians and
Maronites had now also given ear to his admonitions, and had solemnly professed
the immaculate Faith of the Roman Church. He declared that the Maronites and
Chaldeans were no longer to be styled heretics, nor was the name of Nestorian
to be applied to the latter body. A year before the date of this Bull King
Stephen of Bosnia had entered the Catholic Church, and his example had been
followed by his relations and by the most distinguished of the Bosnian
magnates. Before the end of the Pontificate of Eugenius IV the East appeared to
be almost entirely united to Rome. Unfortunately the union was more apparent
than real, and was but partial; nevertheless the general success of these
negotiations gave fresh support to the Papal power amid the enemies which beset
it on every side.
Few Popes have
done so much as Eugenius IV did for the East, and although it soon became
evident that most of the Greeks had no real desire for union, he persevered in
his efforts to stem the tide of Turkish encroachment, and to secure the
duration of the Byzantine Empire.
Lower Hungary as
far as the Theiss, Sclavonia,
and the whole of the district between the Save and the Drave, were devastated
with fire and sword by the Turks in the spring of 1441. The Hungarian hero,
John Hunyadi, who, in acknowledgment of his faithful services, had been created
Duke of Transylvania and Count of Temesvar, happily
for Christendom undertook the command in the southern frontier cities of the
kingdom, and by his skill and energy successfully repelled repeated attacks of
the Turks. The Pope meanwhile did all in his power to promote the war against
the Infidels. He wrote touching letters to the western Princes, describing the
sad position of the Christians in the East and promising many favours to those
who should take part in the crusade. At the beginning of the year 1442 he
published an Encyclical letter, in which, after mentioning his own poverty, he
exhorted and required all archbishops, bishops, and abbots to pay a tithe from
all their churches, monasteries, and benefices for the prosecution of the war
against the Turks; he himself, he added, would give a good example to all
Christendom in this matter, which concerned the welfare of the Church, and
would devote the fifth part of the whole revenues of the Apostolic treasury to
the equipment of the army and fleet. He sent Cardinal Cesarini as legate to
Hungary, to restore peace in that kingdom as speedily as possible; and also
desired Bishop Christopher of Corona to urge all the Princes, Lords, and Cities
in the adjacent Provinces of Moldavia and Wallachia, Lithuania and Albania to
be united amongst themselves and to do battle with their common enemy. The
preparation of a fleet was begun at Venice at a great cost.
The effects of Cesarini's eloquence were soon visible in the pacification
of Hungary and the preparations which were made for a great campaign against
the Turks; unfortunately, however, the majority of the western Princes remained
indifferent to the Pope's appeal. Poland and Wallachia alone responded by
providing two auxiliary corps, composed of infantry and cavalry, and
undertaking to pay them for half a year. The lower orders manifested the utmost
enthusiasm for the defence of Christendom and hastened in great numbers to
Hungary, and the Pope endeavoured to forward the enterprise by subsidies.
In June, 1443,
the crusading army went forth, headed by King Wladislaw and Hunyadi and accompanied by Cardinal Cesarini and George Brankowitsch,
the fugitive King of Servia. The expedition began most prosperously; the army
passed unopposed through Servia, defeated the Turks in a great battle at Nisch (3rd November), reached Sofia, crossed the mountain
pass between the Balkan and the Ichtimaner Srfidna Gora at Mirkovo, and
proceeded to Zlatica. Here its progress was arrested
by the Janissaries and, as winter had set in, it was decided that it should
then retreat, and resume the campaign in the following year.
The terrible
defeat they had experienced in the year 1443, and the consequent insurrection
of the Albanians under George Kastriota (Skanderbeg),
combined perhaps with the tidings that a very warlike spirit was manifesting
itself in the west, induced Sultan Murad III to make proposals of peace to the
Hungarians, and, notwithstanding the remonstrances of the Cardinal Legate
Cesarini, a ten years' truce was concluded at Szegedin,
in virtue of which Wallachia continued in the possession of Hungary and
Bulgaria in that of the Porte, while Servia reverted to Brankowitsch.
Neither of the contending powers were henceforth to cross the Danube.
Before the
conclusion of this peace, which politically was a great mistake, the crusading
fleet had sailed for the Levant. This fleet had been brought together chiefly
by the exertions of the Pope; the Venetian galleys were led by Luigi Loredano, while the command of the whole squadron was
entrusted to the Apostolic Legate and Cardinal Francesco Condulmaro.
The Turkish Ambassadors had hardly left Sofia when letters from the fleet
arrived, urging the immediate advance of the army, inasmuch as Sultan Murad,
with all his forces, had retired into Asia, and Europe was completely free from
Turkish troops. The fleet expected to be able to hinder the return of the enemy
from Asia, and it seemed as if the moment had come when the whole country might
be subjugated by a small body of troops, and the infidels driven back to their
own land. The King of Hungary was reminded of his promises to the Princes of
Christendom, and the efforts which they on their side had made to fulfil their
engagements.
The eloquence of
Cesarini induced the Hungarians to break the truce which had just been
concluded. The consequences were most disastrous, for the Sultan set out for
Europe with a great army, and the Christian fleet was unable to hinder him from
crossing the Hellespont. The assistance which the Hungarians had expected from
several quarters, especially from Albania, failed to arrive, and their
consternation was extreme. With a force of only thirty thousand men they
nevertheless advanced, and in the beginning of November reached the shores of
the Black Sea. Here the Sultan with his army met them, and on the 10th of
November the battle of Varna resulted in the complete discomfiture of the
Christians. King Wladislaw fell on the battle-field,
and Cardinal Cesarini was murdered in his flight.
While these
bloody wars were going on in the east of Europe, the struggle between the Pope
and the Council continued in the west. The success obtained by Eugenius IV at
Florence had exasperated the Assembly at Basle, which now proceeded to
desperate measures. The suspension of Pope Eugenius IV, pronounced on the 24th
January, 1438, was, at the instigation of the Cardinal of Arles, followed, on
the 25th June, 1439, by a formal sentence of deposition, and he was declared to
be a heretic, on account of his persistent disobedience to the Council. The
ambitious Duke Amadeus of Savoy was elected Anti- Pope on the 5th November,
1439, by one Cardinal and eleven Bishops, and took the name of Felix V.
Instead then, of
promoting reform the Synod of Basle had brought about a new Schism. This was
the necessary consequence of the attempt to change the monarchical constitution
of the Church. This Anti-Pope, the last whose name appears in the History of
the Papacy, failed to attain any considerable importance, although the Basle
Assembly gave him a power of levying annates, such as the Roman Court had never
claimed.
The guilt of the
new Schism was visited on its authors. The sympathy of both princes and people
was transferred from the schismatics at Basle to Eugenius. Many even who had
little in common with the Pope now espoused his cause from a horror of
Radicalism and disunion. From this moment the spiritual power of the Synod
steadily declined. Felix V did immense injury to its adherents. Personally no
one trusted him, and his rapacity alienated men's minds from him and from his
party.
The attitude now
assumed by the Germans and French was a very peculiar one; they recognized the
Synod in its decrees of reform, which fell in with their wishes, but at the
same time they acknowledged the authority of the "deposed" Pope. Both
nations shrank from a Schism, but neither was disposed to give up the apparent
advantages gained by the Council.
Very few princes
really acknowledged Felix V. Duke Albert of Bavaria-Munich, one of the first to
take this step, was influenced by his brother Dr. Johann Grunwalder, a natural son of Duke John. He was
made a Cardinal by Felix V, and endeavoured to manifest his gratitude by
writing in favour of the Anti-Pope and against neutrality.
Duke Albert of
Austria, and Stephen, Count Palatine of Simmern and Zweibrucken, with the Dukes of Savoy and Milan also
espoused the cause of Felix.
For a long time
the Basle Schismatics counted on the support of King Alfonso of Aragon. This
prince had quarrelled with Eugenius, because he favoured the claim of his
rival, René, Count of Anjou, to the crown of Naples. Alfonso, however, did not
formally acknowledge the Anti-Pope, and, while his ambassadors treated
simultaneously with Eugenius IV and Felix V, watched the course of events,
ready to declare himself for whichever of the two might offer him the largest
concessions. In 1442 he at length gained a complete victory over René, and took
possession of Naples (June 12, 1442).
This decided
success compelled Eugenius IV, whose own dominions were harassed by the warlike
and insatiable Condottiere, Francesco Sforza, to accede to all the conditions
proposed by Alonso de Borja, Bishop of Valencia, on behalf of the crafty
Alfonso, who constantly threatened to acknowledge the Anti-Pope. Accordingly a
treaty was concluded by Cardinal Scarampo with
Alfonso, on the 14th of June, 1443, at Terracina, and confirmed by the Pope on
the 6th of July. The King hereby engaged to recognize Eugenius IV as the lawful
Pope, to abstain from any interference with the liberties of the Church, to
provide ships for the war with the Turks, and to furnish five thousand men for
the expulsion of Francesco Sforza from the March of Ancona. The Pope, on his
side, confirmed the King's adoption by Joanna II of Naples, granted him
investiture of the kingdom of Naples, and the possession for life, in return
for an insignificant tribute, of the cities of Benevento and Terracina, in the
Papal territory. Other considerable privileges were also bestowed on the King,
and subsequently (July 15, 1444) the Pope recognized the right of succession of
his natural son, Ferrante. The skilful diplomacy of Alonso de Borja was
rewarded by his elevation to the purple (May 2, 1444).
The Pope's
position was completely altered by this treaty, which secured to him
predominance in Italian affairs and superiority over the Council of Basle.
Alfonso at once recalled his subjects from that Assembly, which hereby lost
some of its most important members, and amongst them the learned and
influential Archbishop Tudeschi of Palermo, whom
Felix V had made a Cardinal. The Duke of Milan, whose prelates had already been
required to leave Basle, now espoused the cause of Eugenius.
There was now no
obstacle in the way of the Pope's return to his true capital. The time of trial
was over, and, after an exile of nearly ten years, on the 28th September, 1443,
Eugenius victoriously re-entered Rome. He was joyfully welcomed by the people,
who had long since perceived what a wilderness Rome without the Pope must
become. It had indeed fallen into a state of ruin and decay almost equal to
that in which Martin V had found it in 1420. Its inhabitants, wearing cloaks
and heavy boots, appeared to strangers like the cowherds of the Campagna. The
ancient monuments were being burned for lime, and the marble and precious
stones stolen from the churches. Cows, sheep, and goats wandered about the
narrow, unpaved streets. In the Vatican quarter the wolves ventured by night
into the cemetery near St. Peter's and dragged the corpses from their graves.
The Church of San Stefano was roofless, and those of San Pancrazio and Sta. Maria in Dominica were ready to fall.
Even during his
absence, the Pope had taken part in the government of the City, and on his
return he at once began the work of restoration, in which he was ably seconded
by Cardinal Scarampo.
About this time
Eugenius had the satisfaction of seeing Scotland abandon the Synod of Basle. On
the 4th November, 1443, the Parliament assented to the decree of the Provincial
Council, rejecting Felix V and unconditionally acknowledging the authority of
Eugenius IV. The partisans of the Schism were severely punished, and thus the
dissensions which the new Schism had aroused in that country, and of which
Walter Bower has left us a striking picture, were healed. The Florentines and
Venetians, formerly the political friends and supporters of Eugenius, were
greatly irritated by his unlooked-for change in regard to the Neapolitan
question, and now became his opponents. From vindictive motives they took part
with Francesco Sforza, who, after a brief period of reconciliation, was a gain
in open conflict with the Pope. The struggle with the crafty Condottiere
continued throughout the rest of Eugenius' pontificate, but at last he was
victorious, and a few days before his death, had the satisfaction of knowing
that all the March of Ancona, with the exception of the town of Jesi, had been wrested from his enemy.
The Pope also
gained a complete victory over the Schismatics in Basle; the defection of the
powerful Alfonso had inflicted a serious blow on the Assembly, and a death-like
torpor soon crept over it. No more public sittings were held, and it only dealt
with matters of secondary importance, such as disputes about benefices.
It had long been
evident that the Synod could by no means reckon on the unconditional support of
the two principal powers of Western Christendom, France and Germany. We have
already mentioned the peculiar position which these nations had occupied since
the year 1438. After the Basle Synod had, on the 24th January, 1438, pronounced
a sentence of suspension against Eugenius IV, neither Germans nor French had
shown the slightest inclination to take part in a proceeding which must
necessarily have thrown Christendom back into a deplorable state of confusion.
But, on the other hand, they were not disposed completely to give up the
Council, or its so-called decrees of reform. Accordingly, while adhering to
Eugenius IV as the lawful Head of the Church, they adopted a portion of these
decrees. In France this was done by the Pragmatic Sanction of Bourges (7th
July, 1438), which almost entirely deprived the Pope of any influence in the
ecclesiastical affairs of the kingdom, and reasserted the supremacy of the
Council over the Papacy.
From March,
1438, Germany also had taken up a similar semi-schismatical position, which threatened serious danger to the Papacy. In the interval
between the death of Sigismund and the election of Albert II, the German
Electors, assembled at Frankfort-on-the-Maine, had declared their neutrality,
that is to say, their determination for the time being, to hold aloof from the
contest, and neither to take part with the Pope nor the Council. They had
further agreed, that, within the ensuing six months, they would, together with
the future king, deliberate on the means of terminating the strife, and that, in
the meantime, they would maintain the regular jurisdiction in their dioceses
and territories.
This so-called
neutrality of the Holy Roman Empire, which was by no means free from an
anti-papal bias, was, a year later, asserted at the Diet of Mayence.
It, however, accepted, with certain restrictions and additions agreeable to the
German princes, a number of decrees depriving the Pope of his essential rights
(26th March, 1439).
The Mayence declaration differed widely from the step which had
been taken in France, and fundamentally from the Pragmatic sanction of Bourges.
At Mayence a mere declaration had been made, the
acceptance of the Basle Decrees, but in France, an administrative ordinance had
been issued. The Ambassadors of King Charles had indeed entered into
negotiations at Basle, in order to obtain the approval of the Council for the
Pragmatic sanction, but even before that had been granted, Decrees with
additions were everywhere promulgated, and courts and officials were instructed
to see to their execution, to decide any controversies which might arise
regarding them, to protect ecclesiastics and laymen in the enjoyment of the
benefits they conferred, and to inflict exemplary punishments on those who
should oppose them. Such executive and penal provisions, although essential to
the existence of a law, have no place in the Mayence Document, and it is a great inaccuracy to apply to it the name of a
"Pragmatic Sanction". The Germans also deferred making any effort to
obtain the approval of the Council, which had already been asked by and granted
to the French.
In the latter
half of the year 1439, German neutrality took a more definite form, but it
never proved to be in any way a basis for the settlement of ecclesiastical
affairs. This was primarily the fault of the electors, who, instead of
enforcing the observance of the policy they had adopted, both violated it
themselves and suffered their subjects and the members of their families to do
the same. Accordingly the proclamation which had been made with a view of
preserving the Holy Roman Empire from division and confusion was thoroughly
ineffectual. Factions were formed even among the Germans. In many cases, near
neighbours, and even the Bishop and Chapter of the same Diocese, took different
sides in the conflict between the Pope and his opponents. Several sees were
claimed by two rival Bishops, and from the same pulpit discourses were
frequently heard at one time against Eugenius, and at another against the
partisans of the Council.
Repeated efforts
were naturally made by each of the contending powers to put an end to the
neutrality. The diplomatic struggles which ensued, ultimately resulted in the
victory of Eugenius, who succeeded in winning over Caspar Schlick,
the powerful Chancellor of King Frederick III, and finally the King himself.
Frederick III's
recognition of Eugenius was rewarded by:
1. The right to
the first prayers, to a tithe from all ecclesiastical benefices in Germany, and
to the patronage of a hundred benefices in the hereditary estates of Austria.
2. The right for
life to make presentations, in case of vacancy, to the Bishoprics of Trent, Brixen, Coire, Gurk, Trieste, and Pedena.
3. The right for
himself and his successors to propose to the Holy See fitting persons for the
visitation of the monasteries in his hereditary States, and also a certain sum
of money.
Having secured
the adhesion of the head of the Empire, the Pope, who had a powerful supporter
in Philip of Burgundy, thought that the time had come to strike a decisive blow
in Germany, and so to put an end to all further hesitations. He accordingly
issued a Bull, deposing the Archbishop-Electors of Cologne and Treves, who were
the principal partisans of the Synod in the Empire, and bestowed their
dignities on relations of the Duke of Burgundy. But this proceeding, which was
hasty, and, from a political point of view, imprudent, was violently opposed by
the German Electors. In March, 1446, they assembled at Frankfort-on-the-Maine
and decided to call upon Eugenius to acknowledge the Decrees of Constance and
Basle regarding the Supremacy of Councils, to summon one to meet in a German
City within the next thirteen months, to revoke all recent measures
incompatible with neutrality, and unconditionally to ratify the decisions of
the Council of Basle, accepted by the Germans in 1439. In case of the failure
of Eugenius to comply with their demands, the Electors threatened to recognize
the authority of the Synod. A deputation, whose leading spirit was Gregory
Heimburg, Syndic of Nuremberg, was despatched to Rome to make the desires of
the Electors known to the Pope. This man, affecting what he wished to pass off
as German honesty and plain spokenness, was
unbearably insolent and rude. In a work, written about this time, he stirred up
his countrymen to join the Schism and shake off the Papal yoke.
The answer
returned by Pope Eugenius to the Electors was of an evasive character. He
referred the decision of the matter to the Diet of the Empire, and adhered to
his resolution regarding the deposition of the two Archbishops. The Diet had
been summoned to meet at Frankfort on the 1st September, 1446, and the Bishops
Tommaso Parentucelli of Bologna, and Jean of Liege, together with Juan de
Carvajal and Nicholas of Cusa appeared there as
Ambassadors from Rome, Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomini having in the meantime
convinced the Pope of the necessity of concession. The Cardinal of Aries
attended on behalf of the Basle party.
The violent
anti-papal feeling which had already widely gained ground in Germany found open
expression in the Imperial Diet. The position of Eugenius and even the
authority of the head of the Empire seemed at the outset to be seriously
endangered, for the Electors intended, in the event of the Pope's
non-compliance with their demands, to declare themselves in favour of the
Council of Basle, in- dependently of the King, or even in antagonism to him.
The Cardinal of
Arles deemed the victory of his party almost a certainty, when suddenly a
surprising change took place to the great advantage of Eugenius. The principal
author of this change was Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomini, Secretary in the Chancery
of King Frederick III, the very man who, but a year before, had, in conjunction
with Schlick and Carvajal, won his royal master to
the side of the Pope.
Among the
notable figures of the Renaissance age, Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomini is certainly
one of the most brilliant and one of those best known to us. A most prolific
author and indefatigable letter-writer, he has left to posterity the means of
closely following every phase of his life.
He was born on
the 18th October, 1405, at Corsigniano, near Siena.
His family belonged to the ancient nobility of that city, but had fallen into
poverty, and accordingly his youth was passed amid privations. At an early age
he went to the University of Siena to study law, for which, however, he had but
little taste, while the classical literature fascinated him. Cicero, Livy, and
Virgil were his favourite authors. He scarcely allowed himself time for food or
sleep, but pored day and night over these books which he had borrowed from
friends. To avoid putting them to inconvenience, he copied out the most
celebrated works, and made extracts from others. After a time, he went to
Florence to prosecute his studies and became the disciple of Filelfo.
When he had
spent two years in Florence, he was induced by his relations to return to Siena
and attend lectures on jurisprudence, the only result of which, however, was an
increased aversion for lawyers. In his twenty-seventh year his talents
attracted the attention of Cardinal Capranica, who
was passing through Siena on his way to Basle, and he became his secretary. The
circle into which he was introduced at Basle, in the spring of 1432, was one
most unfriendly to Pope Eugenius IV, and this circumstance had much influence
on his after-life. Capranica, who was destitute of
fortune, was soon reconciled to Pope Eugenius IV, and Aeneas Sylvius passed
from his service into that of Bishop Nicodemus of Freising,
Bishop Bartolomeo of Novara, and finally of Cardinal Albergati.
The period of his connection with the latter, although comparatively short, was
one which tended greatly to polish and to direct his brilliant intellect and
also brought him into contact with the noble Tommaso Parentucelli, afterwards
Pope Nicholas V. He accompanied Albergati on several
journeys, and was sent by him, in 1438, on a secret mission to Scotland. On his
return from this dangerous expedition, he no longer found his patron at Basle,
and, instead of rejoining him, determined to remain
there, and was soon drawn into the violent agitation against Eugenius IV.
His happy
nature, his talents, and his Humanistic culture soon won for him many friends
among the members of the Council, and his eloquence attracted general attention.
He was employed by the Council as Scriptor,
Abbreviator, and Chief Abbreviator, was a member of the commission of dogma,
and took part in several embassies. He viewed the conflict between the Pope and
the Council with the indifference of an adherent of the heathen Renaissance,
but used his pen against Eugenius IV.
His happiest
hours were spent in Basle, in a little circle of friends, like himself, of
studious tastes and of lax morality. It is impossible to say how far this
atmosphere of heathen Renaissance was responsible for his opposition to the
lawful Pope, but there can be no doubt that it exercised a considerable
influence over him, and we have positive proof that his own moral life was
deeply tainted by the corruption which surrounded him, and that he even gloried
in his errors with the shamelessness of a Boccaccio. Aeneas was not, it must be
observed, at this time an ecclesiastic, and, indeed, as he openly declared in
his letters, had no intention of entering a state whose duties are so serious.
In these same letters, the great questions of Church policy which then agitated
society are treated with much levity.
When the Synod
of Basle called a new Schism into existence, he took part in it, and even
entered the service of the Anti-Pope, Felix V. But his keen understanding soon
perceived that the position which the Synod had assumed was an untenable one,
and he consequently became disgusted with his appointment, and eagerly seized
the first opportunity of honourably escaping from a situation which had become
intolerable. The opportunity occurred in the year 1442, when he accompanied the
Ambassadors of the Council to the Diet of Frankfort. By the intervention of
Bishop Sylvester of Chiemsee he was presented to King
Frederick III, who offered him a place in the Royal Chancery. The offer was
joyfully accepted, and his connection with Felix V came to an end. When
Frederick III passed through Basle on the 11th November, 1442, on the occasion
of his coronation, Aeneas joined his suite and went with him to Austria.
This step
brought down upon him a torrent of abuse. The Historian of the city of Rome,
however, judges it with his accustomed calmness and moderation. "A change
of party", he writes, "whatever be the circumstances under which it
takes place, always provokes detraction, and a man who had written so much and
had been so unreserved in regard to his own personal feelings and the events of
his private life, must necessarily have laid himself, in many ways, open to
those who were ready to take hold of every word, even in his most confidential
letters, that would swell the list of his sins. His character was by no means
perfect. The versatility of his intellect must of itself have proved a danger,
even if, with his poverty, his ambition, and his consciousness of talent, he
had not been cast into a whirlpool which carried away many stronger natures.
His subsequent confession was, whatever may be said against it, made in all
good faith. He was not influenced by mere personal considerations, when, in the
year 1442, he gave up his position in the service of Felix V and accepted that
offered to him in the Royal Chancery. For the moment indeed he gained nothing
by so doing, and later he might, like the Anti-Pope and others, have made
advantageous terms with Rome".
Time worked a
great change, not only in the political and ecclesiastical opinions, but also
in the moral character of Aeneas: old age seems to have come upon him
prematurely, and a serious view of life took the place of his former levity.
For a long time he hesitated about entering the priesthood, but in 1445 he
resolved on the step, and actually took it in the following year. On the 8th
March, 1446, he wrote in the following terms to a friend: "He must be a
miserable and graceless man who does not at last return to his better self,
enter into his own heart, and amend his life: who does not consider what will
come in the other world after this. Ah! John, I have done enough and too much
evil! I have come to myself; oh, may it not be too late!” In the month in which
these words were written he was ordained priest at Vienna.
Aeneas had
formally made his peace with Pope Eugenius a year before his ordination. The
Chancellor, Kaspar Schlick,
had at that time sent him to Rome to confer with the Pope regarding the holding
of a Council at a fresh place. Regardless of the warnings of those around him,
he went in the fullest confidence to the Eternal City, and was very well
received there. He could not, however, be admitted to an audience, until he had
been absolved from the censures incurred as an adherent of the Synod and an
official of the Anti-Pope, and he felt a certain embarrassment as to meeting
Eugenius IV, whom he had at Basle so vehemently opposed. Accordingly, before
fulfilling his mission, he wrote an apology which is a masterpiece of style. It
has been described as the address of a vanquished king to his captor.
“Most Holy
Father”, he says, "before discharging the King's commissions, I will speak
a little of myself. I am aware that much has been brought to your ears
regarding me, which is neither good nor worthy of repetition. And those who
have laid accusations against me before you have not spoken falsely. Yes, I
have, during all the time I was at Basle, spoken, written, and done many
things—I deny nothing. But my intention was not so much to injure you, as to
serve God's Church. I erred, who would deny it? but I erred in company with men
of no small importance. I followed Giuliano, the Cardinal of Sant. Angelo,
Niccolò, the Archbishop of Palermo, Ludovico Pontano,
the notary of Your See. These are held to be the eyes of justice, the teachers
of truth. What shall I say of the Universities and of the other Schools, the
majority of which were adverse to You? Who would not have erred with such men!
But when I perceived the error of the people of Basle, then also, I confess it,
I did not at once hasten to You as did the greater number. I rather dreaded
rushing from one error into another, for he often falls into Scylla who would
avoid Charybdis, and so I joined those who were considered neutral. I would not
pass from one extreme to another without consideration and without delay. For
three years I remained thus with the King. But the more I heard of the disputes
between the Synod of Basle and Your Legate, the less doubt remained on my mind
that truth was with You. I, therefore, willingly obeyed, when the King wished
by my intervention to open for himself a way to Your goodness, for I hope thus
to be able to return to Your favour. Now I stand before You, and inasmuch as I
have sinned in ignorance, I beg You to forgive me".
Eugenius
answered, "We know that you have sinned, together with many, but it is Our
duty to pardon him who confesses his error: Holy Mother Church is inexorable to
one who denies his fault, but never refuses absolution to the penitent. You
have now returned to the truth. Beware of ever again forsaking it, and seek
Divine Grace by good works! Your position is one in which you can defend the
truth and serve the Church."
Aeneas Sylvius
did not disappoint the expectations of the Pope, for he succeeded in breaking
up the League of Electors, which was a danger alike to the Pope and the King of
the Romans. He privately persuaded the Elector of Mayence,
the representative of the Elector of Saxony and two Bishops to separate
themselves from the Confederacy and join Frederick III. On the 22nd September,
these electors and bishops united with the Deputies of the King of the Romans
in a secret declaration that the Pope's answer was a sufficient basis for the
restoration of peace to the Church, and mutually bound themselves to hold fast
to this opinion. On the 5th October, strengthened by the addition of fresh
adherents, they held a second consultation, preparatory to the recognition of
Eugenius. On the 11th October, the Imperial Diet was prorogued, a measure
which, as usual, merely concealed but did not heal the existing disunion. Many
more bishops and princes were won over by the unwearied efforts of King
Frederick and the Margrave Albert of Brandenburg, so that at the end of 1446,
messengers started for Rome from all parts of Germany; sixty met at Siena and
travelled together by Baccano to the Eternal City.
On the 7th
January, 1447, John of Lysura, representing the
Elector of Mayence, Chancellor Sesselmann,
representing the Elector of Brandenburg, and Aeneas Sylvius and Procopius von Rabstein, as Delegates from the King of the Romans, arrived
in Rome, and were very honourably received. The Pope at once granted them a
solemn audience, and Aeneas Sylvius brought forward the claims of the Germans
in so eloquent and able a manner, that all who heard him praised his power and
his prudence, and foretold for him a brilliant future. "We come", he
said, "to bring peace, and the German princes desire peace, but they also
make certain demands, and unless these demands are granted, wounds cannot be
healed, nor peace attained. The first is that a General Council, the time and
place of which are still to be decided, shall be summoned. The second, that You
in writing confirm that acknowledgment of the authority and pre-eminence of
General Councils representing the Church Militant, which has been made by Your
Ambassadors. The third, that the grievances of the German nation be redressed;
and the fourth, that the deposition of the two Electors be revoked".
The dangerous
illness of the Pope and the opposition of a portion of the Sacred College, made
the negotiations which ensued both tedious and difficulty. A happy conclusion
was, however, arrived at, and expressed in four Papal documents, bearing date
the 5th and 7th February, 1447, and forming what is known as the Concordat of
the Princes. The demands of Germany were, with some abatements, granted in
principle, but the concessions were made in a vague and guarded manner. After
the Ambassadors had received these Bulls, they gathered round the bed of the
sick Pope, "who, on that day, had in some degree come to himself, and was
able to attend to business"; on their knees took the oath of obedience,
and afterwards, in open Consistory, solemnly repeated their declaration (7th
February). Those who, by means of their plenipotentiaries, took part in this
Concordat, were: the King of the Romans, acting on his own behalf and on that
of the Crown of Bohemia, the Electors of Mayence and
Brandenburg, the Margrave Albert, acting for himself and his brother John, Duke
William of Saxony, and the Landgrave Louis of Hesse, together with the Bishops
of Halberstadt and Breslau, and the Grand Master of
the Teutonic Order.
This event
caused immense joy in Rome alike among the clergy and the populace. Although
but a portion of the German nation had promised obedience to the Pope, the
rejoicings were as great as if the entire Holy Roman Empire had made complete
submission. All the bells of the city rang out, bonfires were lighted, and
solemn processions were made to give God thanks for so great a benefit.
The submission
of those German Princes, who still persisted in their opposition, was now a
mere question of time, and the cause of the Synod of Basle was definitely lost
in Germany. Eugenius issued a special Bull, declaring that in the concessions
which he had made to Germany, moved by his anxiety for the welfare of the
Church, though unable through illness to investigate the matter as thoroughly
as he would have desired, he had not intended in any way to compromise the
rights or the authority of the Apostolic See. On the 23rd February he died,
consoled by the knowledge that the Schism had lost its power, and that the
Church was again resuming her sway.
Looking back on
the Pontificate of Eugenius IV, we must say, with Aeneas Sylvius, that it is
marked by an uncommon measure of prosperity and of misfortune, and that the two
are pretty equally balanced. Prosperity would have greatly preponderated if the
Pope had shown more moderation and prudence in his proceedings. Aeneas
has, in a few words, given an admirable sketch of his character. "He was
magnanimous, but without moderation; his actions were guided by his desires
rather than by his powers". Yet it was a time when the perplexed state of
ecclesiastical and political affairs rendered prudence in a special degree
necessary. Even at the moment of Eugenius’ accession the position was critical
enough, for the long-postponed question of Church reform cried for solution,
and the Hussite heresy, which daily assumed a more alarming aspect, was not to
be repressed by force of arms, and had to be rendered harmless by conciliatory
means. Eugenius was partly the victim of circumstances, but it cannot be denied
that, with his utter want of political experience, he often made matters worse
by imprudence and obstinacy. As years went on, however, his opponents became
convinced of the firmness of his principles, and from 1438 he was in many
important matters successful. Considering the countless obstacles in his way,
his successes are not to be estimated by an ordinary standard. He entered on
the struggle for the restoration of Papal authority with but a small body of
loyal adherents, and, although without resources, and forsaken alike by
ecclesiastical and temporal princes, he carried it on with unwearied energy
until the victory was won. The victory was not indeed complete, but its
consequences were most important. At the time when Eugenius became Pope, the
Schism had diffused even among the noblest sons of the Church false doctrines
regarding the Papal Primacy and a tone antagonistic to the chief Pastor of the
Church; when he died, the men of most importance were on the side of Rome; the
opponents of the Apostolic See and of the monarchical constitution of the
Church, in short all the anti-ecclesiastical elements, had sustained a notable
defeat; the attempt to change the Pope into a mere phantom-ruler, a sort of
Doge, had come to nought; and the greatest conflict which a Council had ever
waged against Rome, was practically decided in favour of the Holy See.
High praise is
unquestionably due to Eugenius for his absolute freedom from nepotism, and his
bitterest opponents have never ventured to impugn the purity of his life. His
unwearied activity in works of charity is also worthy of grateful remembrance.
Eugenius IV was,
in the fullest sense of the word, a father of the poor and the sick, to whom,
according to Paolo Petrone, "he gave liberal
alms, and he portioned many needy young maidens". St. Frances of Rome, who
all this time filled the Eternal City with the splendour of her holiness, found
in the Pope a generous promoter of her pious and benevolent undertakings. The
Hospital of Santo Spirito, which had fallen into decay, was an object of
special care to Eugenius. He rescued the institution from its pecuniary
difficulties, restored the ruined buildings, and put an end to irregularities
which had arisen in the Confraternity, so that he really deserves to be
considered as its second founder. He plainly declared that if the Master
General of the Order (at that time his own nephew, Pietro Barbo)
did not fulfil his duty, he would take the burden on his own shoulders, and
himself act as Master General and Superior of the Hospital, deeming such a
charge by no means incompatible with the dignity of the Tiara. In order to give
a fresh impulse to the Confraternity, he became a member on the 10th April,
1446, and undertook to contribute a certain sum yearly. The Pope's example was
followed by many Cardinals, among whom were Francesco Condulmaro,
Giovanni Tagliacozzo, Niccolò Acciapacci,
Giorgio Fieschi, Bessarion, Antonio Martini, Jean le Jeune de Contay, d'Estouteville, Torquemada, Scarampo,
and Alfonzo Borgia, who afterwards became Calixtus III.
The "visita graziosa", after the
plan of an ancient institution in the Church, was, we are told, established in
the time of Eugenius IV. Twice every month Magistrates and Overseers of the
poor visited the prisoners and questioned each of them separately; when
occasion offered they mitigated punishments; they brought about agreements
between debtors and creditors, and, in many cases, set prisoners at liberty.
The Popes, who have so often taken a prominent part in promoting the welfare of
humanity, the progress of civilization and the exercise of benevolence, were
also among the first to interest themselves in the improvement of prisons and
the alleviation of the lot of prisoners, remembering that the proper aim of
punishment is not retaliation, but the amendment of the criminal, or at least
the protection of society from further injury.
One aspect of
this reign demands special consideration, because it has been made the occasion
of serious charges against Eugenius IV. It is true that the general reform of
ecclesiastical affairs was not carried out during his pontificate, but have
those who blame him asked themselves whether such general reform was possible?
A very
clear-sighted contemporary, who was also a thorough friend of reform, answers
in the negative. The celebrated Dominican, Master John Nider,
held a general reform of the Church in its head and its members to be a
practical impossibility. He believed experience to have shown that only a
partial reform was possible, and, in his chief work, the "Formicarius", he endeavoured to support this opinion.
He draws a lesson from the custom of the ants who build themselves a city
composed of many little dwellings, which they protect in their way from heat
and from rain with sticks and leaves. “Herein”, he explains, "they are the
emblems of those who belong to the General Council, and especially of the
Prelates; for they, as far as in them lies, have charge to reform the City of
the Church Militant in its several orders, where it has suffered damage, that
is to say, to instruct men in the way of serving God, to defend them from the
heat of passions and the assaults of enemies, and in word and deed so to behave
themselves that they may deserve to be specially led in this by the Spirit of
God. Now, alas! it is all very different". The Councils of Constance and
Basle, Nider continues, have made it their special
business to reform the Church in its head and members. Much was said,
particularly at Basle, about the Church; the Council called itself, in the title
of almost all its Bulls, a Council of reform, it even established a Commission
of reform, "and for, six whole years the amendment of the various ranks of
the clergy has been dealt with, but we have not perceived any result". Is
there any hope of a general reformation of the Church in its Head and its
members? "I have", answers Nider,
"absolutely none in the present time, or in the immediate future; for
goodwill is wanting among the subjects, the evil disposition of the prelates
constitutes an obstacle, and, finally, it is profitable to God's elect to be
tried by persecution from the wicked. You may see an analogy in the art of
building. An architect, however skilful he may be, can never erect an edifice
unless he has suitable material of wood or stone. And if there is wood or stone
in sufficient quantity, but no master-builder, there will be no proper house
and dwelling. And, if you knew that a house would not be fitting for your
friend, or, when built, would be a trouble to him, you certainly would be prudent
enough not to build it. Apply these three instances to the total reformation of
the Church, and you will perceive its impossibility. However, I have no doubt
that a partial reformation of the Church in many of its conditions and orders
is possible".
Eugenius IV
adopted this course; he began the work of reform in the only way which was,
under the circumstances, possible or profitable, by the amendment and
regeneration of the Religious Orders and then of the clergy. The terrible
storms which broke over the Papacy often interfered with the accomplishment of
his excellent purposes; nevertheless, during the whole of his Pontificate he
devoted the greatest attention to the improvement of the moral of the secular
and regular clergy. Reform was constantly talked of at Basle; but very little
was done to carry it out. Truly pious and priestly-minded men were wanting. The
very fathers who spoke most constantly of the simplicity of the Apostolic
Church were seen hunting and hawking, fully accoutred and attended by a long
train of lay retainers, or feasting at sumptuous banquets. Eugenius IV took the
reform of the Roman clergy in hand in 1432, and continued the work even during
the time of his exile. After his return to Rome he looked closely to the
maintenance of discipline amongst them. Vespasiano da Bisticci gives a detailed account of the manner in
which he reformed the monasteries of Florence and its neighbourhood during his
long sojourn in that city. It was Eugenius' purpose to restore strict
observance in all monasteries, but adverse circumstances hindered the
accomplishment of his plan. In connection with his zeal in this matter, we may
mention his special affection for St. Bernardine of Siena and St. John Capistran; almost as soon as the former of these holy men
had breathed his last, the process for his canonization was introduced.
Eugenius IV was
not unmindful of the interests of art and artists; in fact, he gave them every
encouragement possible in those troublous days.
Recent
investigations have thrown much light on the Venetian Pope's relation to art,
and the matter is especially worthy of attention, because in some sense he
prepared the way for his great successor. Although it is a mistake to consider
Eugenius IV as the first of the line of Renaissance Popes, yet it is true that
he prepared the way for it, and his action in this respect is more apparent in
the domain of art than in that of literature.
Like Martin V,
Eugenius IV was most simple and modest in his own manner of living, but deemed
no splendour too great where the worship of God was concerned. The tiara which
Ghiberti made by his order must have been a very marvel of magnificence; the
gold employed in it alone weighed fifteen pounds, and the precious stones and
pearls five and a half more. The value of these jewels—rubies, sapphires,
emeralds, and pearls (amongst which were six of the size of a hazel-nut)—was
estimated by the Florentine goldsmiths at eight and thirty thousand golden
florins. The exquisite workmanship of Ghiberti added to the worth of this
costly tiara; the little figures and ornaments which adorned it were made by
his own hand; in front our Lord was represented seated on a throne and
surrounded by a choir of angels; at the back was the Blessed Virgin, also
enthroned and attended by angels; four medallions contained the Evangelists,
and the band at the base was decorated with cherubs. That the exiled Pope
should have displayed such magnificence may be explained by the fact that the
tiara was destined to be worn at the solemn ratification of the union with the
Greeks, an act which was considered as an immense victory won by the Papacy, at
the very moment when the Council of Basle was doing its utmost to destroy it.
In the eternal
city, Eugenius IV also followed the example of his powerful predecessor by
taking special care of the restoration of the churches, without, however,
forgetting the other buildings, the gates, the walls of the city, and the
bridges. By his command works of restoration were undertaken at St. Peter's,
St. Paul's, Sta. Maria Maggiore, Sta. Maria sopra Minerva, Sta. Maria in Trastevere, Sto. Spirito in Sassia, and in the Lateran. In the last-named church the
frescoes representing scenes from the life of St. John the Baptist, begun in
the time of Martin V by Gentile da Fabriano, were
finished by Vittore Pisanello. Even while in exile, Eugenius managed to
contribute considerable sums of money for these purposes; in 1437-1438 alone,
he gave more than three thousand ducats. The Pantheon, an ancient heathen
building, which had long served as a church, was restored, its splendid pillars
were cleared to the base, and the entrance and floor paved with Travertine
marble. On this occasion were discovered two basalt lions of Egyptian
workmanship, which Pius VII afterwards placed in the Egyptian Museum of the
Vatican, and a wonderful porphyry basin, supposed at that time to be the
Sarcophagus of Agrippa; it now adorns the splendid monument of Clement XII in
the Lateran.
We have already
spoken of the influence which his prolonged sojourn at Florence, the centre of
the Renaissance, exercised on Eugenius IV, but to complete the picture of his
life we must again return to the subject.
In Florence,
Eugenius saw the first gate made by Ghiberti for the Baptistry, and it seems
most probable that the sight of this masterpiece suggested to him the idea of
ordering a similar work for the principal church in Rome. Accordingly the
Florentine architect, Antonio Averulino surnamed Filarete, was commissioned to make new bronze gates for St.
Peter's. They were put up on the 26th June, 1445, and still adorn the central
entrance. Although their workmanship cannot bear comparison with that of
Ghiberti, they are worthy of notice as clearly exhibiting that evil influence
of the Renaissance, of which we shall hereafter have to speak. In his work,
which was destined for the principal entrance of the noblest church in the
world, Filarete had, to use the mildest term, the bad
taste to place, together with the figures of our Saviour, His Virgin Mother and
the Princes of the Apostles, and amid representations of the great religious
acts of Eugenius’ Pontificate, not only busts of the Roman Emperors, but also
the forms of Mars and Roma, of Jupiter and Ganymede, Hero and Leander, of a
Centaur leading a nymph through the sea, and even of Leda and the swan; the
composition is in keeping with the contemporary poems of the Humanists, where
the names of Christian Saints and of heathen gods are promiscuously
intermingled.
It is curious
that the same Pope who had these gates put up at S. Peter's, took Fra Angelico
da Fiesole, the most devout of Christian artists, into his service, and
employed this great matter, in whose works the mystical tendency of Italian art
reaches its climax, in the decoration of his new chapel of the Blessed
Sacrament in the Vatican. Hardly any fact could be better calculated to modify
a hasty condemnation of the encouragement given to the Renaissance by the
Popes. The first period of the Renaissance was one of striking contrasts, not
only in the domain of literature, but also in that of art, and from these very
contrasts the Pontificate of the successor of Eugenius derives its distinctive
character.
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