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CHAPTER
I
ELECTION
AND CHARACTER OF NICHOLAS V
EUGENIUS IV had
devoted the energies of his life to the restoration of the Papal power, but the
great work was but in its beginning, and far from completion. The remnant of
the Council of Basle was still in existence, and the anti-Pope was living in
Switzerland. The efforts of the partisans of the Council to alter the manner of
Papal elections were still fresh in the minds of many, and the political
condition of Italy, especially that of the States of the Church, was one of
uncertainty and confusion. In view of this threatening position of affairs,
Eugenius IV had, shortly before his death, renewed the Decrees of the General
Councils of Lyons and Vienne regarding Papal elections, and appointed Cardinal Scarampo commander of all fortresses in the Roman dominions.
The attitude adopted by King Alfonso of Naples was the principal cause of the
latter measure.
The King having,
in concert with Eugenrus IV, determined on an
expedition against Florence, had been, ever since the beginning of the year,
encamped at Tivoli, in the immediate neighbourhood of Rome, with a force of
four thousand men, a circumstance which seemed seriously to endanger the
liberty of the approaching Conclave. Alfonso had indeed given an assurance to
several of the Cardinals that, in the event of the Pope’s death, he would
observe absolute neutrality, and had also promised to afford protection against
any attempted pressure. But his lengthened sojourn at Tivoli, the arrival of
constant reinforcements for his army, and the impenetrable obscurity in which
his plans were shrouded, were little calculated to allay the apprehensions of
the Sacred College and of the members of the Court.
The Republican
party was again astir in Rome. Its leader, Stefano Porcaro, publicly attacked
“priestly authority” and was with difficulty silenced by the Vice-Camerlengo.
Suspicious-looking persons appeared in the streets, and the Camerlengo brought
in troops to maintain order. Many of the dangerous individuals were required to
leave the City, but the attitude of the populace was so threatening that the
merchants hid their goods in secure places.
The reports of
the ambassadors in Rome testify to the fear which possessed men's minds. On the
20th February, 1447, when the condition of Eugenius had become hopeless, the
ambassador of the Republic of Siena writes: "May God give us a good new
Pastor, and may the election take place without strife. The state of affairs
here gives us cause to fear the worst. May the Almighty be with us and take
care of His Holy Church". After the death of Eugenius IV, the ambassador
urged his fellow-countrymen to have public prayers offered for the Election of
a good Pope.
The new
election, however, was happily accomplished without disturbance, and in a most
regular manner. Seldom, in fact, in any election, have all the prescribed
formalities been carried out with such scrupulous exactness as in the Conclave
in the Dominican Convent of Santa Maria sopra Minerva after the death of
Eugenius IV. This was principally due to the wise precautions taken by the
Cardinals, who were thoroughly convinced of the necessity, under the existing
circumstances, of avoiding any flaw, or even the semblance of any flaw, in the
election. Opinions regarding the different candidates for the Papacy were
greatly divided in Rome; but the desire for a speedy election was general, f
This desire, in effect, was not disappointed.
In the evening
of the 4th March the Cardinals then present in Rome went into Conclave. Aeneas
Sylvius Piccolomini, who, with the Bohemian, Procopius of Rabstein,
and the ambassadors of Aragon and of Cyprus, had the honour of guarding the
Conclave for two nights, has given us a full account of the proceedings.
The Sacred College
at this time numbered twenty-four members. Two of these, Prospero Colonna and
the noble Domenico Capranica, were the sole survivors
of the Cardinals created by Martin V, and it was generally believed that the
latter of the two would be the future Pope.
The composition
of the Sacred College at the death of Eugenius IV bears witness to the care
which he had taken to gather around him men of the greatest virtue, piety, and
learning. The Spanish Cardinal, Juan de Carvajal, who, with Tommaso
Parentucelli, had been created in December, 1446, was generally looked upon as
the most eminent of the body.
The singular
grandeur and depth of Carvajal’s character have won the esteem and even the
admiration of writers whose judgment is habitually severe. He was indeed an
ornament to the Sacred College, to the Church, and to humanity itself. He was
absolutely free from the restless ambition and self-glorification, so common
amongst the able men of the Renaissance. It was his nature, on the contrary, to
withdraw and wait to be sought. To Pope Eugenius IV belongs the credit of
having placed this man, who seemed born for ecclesiastical diplomacy, in his
proper sphere of action. As a Cardinal, Carvajal continued to live modestly
without pomp or splendour. "No one", says the biographer of Aeneas
Sylvius, "saw the coarse garments which he wore beneath the purple, nor
witnessed his fasts and his penances. The solid foundation on which his moral
purity rested, was a stern sense of duty and obedience. His only idea was the consecration
of his life to the Church, and especially to the promotion of the glory and
power of Christ's Vicar".
After the
"incorruptible and indefatigable" Carvajal we must mention his
distinguished fellow-countryman, Juan de Torquemada, who belonged to a family
of note; he had entered the Dominican order, was appointed Master of the Sacred
Palace in 1431, and was employed in various embassies. At Basle he defended the
rights of the Pope and of the Holy See against the supporters of the false
conciliary ideas with such undaunted courage, that Eugenius IV bestowed on him
the glorious title of "Defender of the Faith". In the Council
assembled at Ferrara and transferred to Florence, he again served the cause of
the Pope with ardent zeal and keen dialectic skill, and in 1439 tne grateful Eugenius raised him to the purple. Torquemada
in his high position continued to wear the habit and punctually to follow the
rule of his Order, and insisted on similar strictness on the part of his
brethren in religion.
In regard to
theology, Torquemada was undoubtedly the most learned member of the sacred
College; a modern Protestant historian indeed considers him the greatest
theologian of his age. This great Dominican used to say that the only abiding
treasure in this life is science, which alone compensates man for the shortness
of life by the prospect of immortality.
As a writer,
Torquemada dealt with almost all the questions which in his day agitated the
Church; he was the leader of the literary reaction in favour of the Papacy. His
memory still lives in the Eternal City, in the foundation of the confraternity
of the Annunciation established in 1460 for the purpose of providing dowries
for poor girls. The picture of the Cardinal commending three poor maidens to
the Blessed Virgin is preserved in the Chapel of the Confraternity, which he
helped to build, at Sta Maria sopra Minerva. The Humanists, Tommaso
Parentucelli and Bessarion, were noted for their learning and their devotion to
the Church, while Cardinal Enrico de Allosio was
known as the father of the poor.
There were,
however, among the Cardinals many in whom the worldly element predominated; of
this class were Barbo, Scarampo,
and Guillaume d'Estouteville. Among non-Italian
Cardinals few have in recent times attained such distinction as this wealthy
Frenchman. He was connected with the Royal House of France, possessed many
benefices, and lived in a style of princely splendour, but was by no means
devoid of refined taste and culture. In his palace, worthy of a king, which Gregory
XIII afterwards assigned to the German College, and at Sta Maria Maggiore, of
which he was archpriest, the best of music was to be heard. It is very doubtful
whether any foundation existed for the charges brought against his morals. The
many churches which he built both in France and in Rome bear witness to a
certain ecclesiastical feeling on his part, and he bestowed much care on the
church of Sta Maria Maggiore, over whose high altar he erected a richly carved baldacchino with four porphyry columns.f The most splendid proof of his munificence to the Eternal City is to be seen in
the church of St. Agostino, whose facade, with its Corinthian columns, is a
characteristic specimen of the early Renaissance architecture of Rome.
We must now
consider the manner in which different nations were represented in the Sacred
College, six of whose twenty-four members were, at this time, absent from Rome.
Eleven of the Cardinals were Italians; four, Spaniards; two, Frenchmen; and
two, Greeks; while England, Germany, Hungary, Ppland,
and Portugal each contributed one.
Notwithstanding
the varied composition of the Sacred College, the old Roman factions of the
Colonna and Orsini soon assumed antagonistic positions in the Conclave. The
former of these parties was the strongest, and its candidate, Cardinal Prospero
Colonna, had at the first scrutiny no less than ten votes, but he failed to
obtain the two more which would have constituted the required majority of
two-thirds. Next to Colonna came Domenico Capranica and Tommaso Parentucelli. The second scrutiny gave a like result, but the votes
which had been given to Capranica and Parentucelli
were more divided, and votes were given outside the Sacred College, as, for
example, to St. Antoninus, the Archbishop of
Florence, and to Nicholas of Cusa. The final decision
of the election was in great measure due to Cardinal Tagliacozzo,
Archbishop of Tarento, who proposed Parentucelli,
Cardinal of Bologna, as one fitted by his love of peace, his learning, and his
freedom from party spirit to occupy the highest position in Christendom. On the
occasion of the third scrutiny Parentucelli, who had received the red hat but
two and a half months previously, and who, of all the Cardinals, appeared to
have the least chance, received the required twelve votes. The sudden agreement
of the Sacred College in his regard caused such surprise that Cardinal Capranica could not credit the fact until he had again
looked through the votes. When the majority of two-thirds had been established
beyond the possibility of doubt, the remaining Cardinals gave their assent, and
accordingly in the morning of the 6th March the election was announced by
Cardinal Colonna to the expectant multitude as unanimous.
Everyone
marvelled at Parentucelli's election. As the Cardinal
of Portugal was leaving the Conclave he was asked whether the Cardinals had
chosen a Pope. "No; the Pope has been chosen by God, not by the
Cardinals", was his reply. The Sienese Ambassador, after exhorting his
countrymen to render thanks to Almighty God that so distinguished and holy a
Pontiff had been given to the Church, continued in the following words:
"Truly in this election God has manifested His power, which surpasses all
human prudence and wisdom".
The choice of a
Cardinal who had kept aloof from all party strife caused the greatest rejoicing
in Rome. "Although many", according to Aeneas Sylvius, "might
have preferred a Pope of their own party, no one was hostile to him". It
was a blessing to the Eternal City and to the Church at large to have a fresh
outbreak of party animosity averted, and to see a man, whose worth had won the
esteem of all, raised to the highest position. Parentucelli's election had, however, a far wider importance; it marks one of the chief
turning points in the History of the Papacy, for with him the Christian
Renaissance ascended the Pontifical Throne.
Throughout the
States of the Church, as well as in Rome itself, the Cardinal of Bologna's
elevation was the occasion of public festivities. As soon as the tidings reached
Perugia the bells of the Palazzo Pubblico and of the
Cathedral of San. Lorenzo were rung, and bonfires were lighted in the open
squares. In Bologna the Palace of the Podesta was decorated with banners, and
processions were made by command of the Senate for three days, in order to
return thanks to God for the election of so excellent a Pastor. Brescia, Genoa,
Siena, and other places beyond the limits of the States of the Church, shared
the general feeling. How fully it was justified will be evident, if we glance
at his character and previous life. In grateful remembrance of his former
master and benefactor, the saintly Cardinal Niccold Albergati, he took the name of Nicholas V.
Tommaso
Parentucelli first saw the light on the 15th November, 1397. It seems most
probable that he was born at Sarzana, a small place on the coast of Liguria.
His father, an upright and skilful physician, was by no means wealthy, and died
when Tommaso was very young. The gifted and promising boy was early acquainted
with hardship; poverty made it impossible for him to pursue his studies at the
University of Bologna, where he had already won success. His mother, who was in
very straitened circumstances, had in the meantime married again, and having
several children by her second husband, was unable to afford him any
assistance, so that he was entirely dependent on his own exertions. Happily he
obtained the situation of tutor, first in the family of Rinaldo degli Albizzi, of Florence, and
afterwards in that of Palla de Strozzi,
the "Nestor of the learned Florentine aristocracy". The two years
spent in the City, which was at that time the centre of Humanistic studies,
were of great importance in the development of Tommaso Parentucelli's powers, and especially in the formation of his literary taste; they imparted
the germ of that enthusiasm for learning and for art which afterwards bore such
abundant fruit, and brought him into contact with all the most celebrated
scholars of the day. At the end of these two years Parentucelli had saved enough
money to enable him to return to Bologna, where he took a Master's Degree in
Theology. He continued in friendly relations with both the noble families, who
had treated him with much distinction while in their employment as tutor. Years
afterwards, when he had reached the summit of power, and his former pupils were
in exile, he had the happiness of being able to be of use to them.t
It says much for
the disposition and for the virtues of the young scholar, that the Saintly
Bishop of the City, Niccold Albergati,
took him into his service. Three years later he was ordained priest, and for
more than twenty years, in fact, until the death of the distinguished prelate,
Tommaso was his constant companion, his confidential servant, and the Major
Domo of his household and of his ecclesiastical establishment. The Historian of
Humanism justly observes that "no higher testimony to the piety of Albergati's life can be given than the fact that a man so
honourable and so free from all hypocrisy as was Parentucelli for years enjoyed
his entire confidence. While, on the other hand, the modest and entire devotion
of the future Pope to the service of his master, the filial care with which he
tended his old age, and the pious gratitude which induced him, when called to
fill the Papal Throne, to adopt the name of his departed benefactor, speak for
him more eloquently than words could do".
After Albergati's elevation to the purple Parentucelli
accompanied him to Rome, and thence to Florence, when the Papal Court migrated
to that City. He was thus again brought into contact with the representatives
of the Christian, as well as of the heathen Renaissance. Vespasiano da Bisticci has left us a pleasant picture of their
social gatherings in Florence. "Every morning and evening", he says,
"Lionardo and Carlo of Arezzo, Giannozzo Manetti, Giovanni Aurispa, Gasparo of Bologna,
Poggio, and many other learned men, used to assemble in the open air, in the
vicinity of the Papal Palace, for friendly and literary conversation. Tommaso
Parentucelli always joined them. After leaving his Cardinal at home, he used to
come, riding rapidly on a mule and accompanied by two servants, to take his
part eagerly in their disputations". Parentucelli also often visited the
Academy of Santo Spirito, in order to discuss philosophical and theological
questions with the pious Master of Theology, Vangelista of Pisa; and he was even more frequently to be seen with the booksellers in
Florence, into whose hands any money that he could spend found its way
Parentucelli
appears to have first attracted the attention of the Court at the period of the
negotiations with the Greeks, when his knowledge of Holy Scripture and of the
Fathers, as well as his skill in argument, came into play. Eugenius IV rewarded
the services which he rendered to the Church on this occasion by appointing him
Apostolic Subdeacon, with a yearly income of three hundred ducats. In 1443 he
lost his friend and patron, Albergati, but he soon
found a new and more powerful protector in the Pope, who made him
Vice-Camerlengo, and on the 27th November, 1444, conferred upon him the
Bishopric of Bologna. The City was at the time in a state of revolt, and
Parentucelli was unable to take possession of his See, as the steps taken by
Eugenius in January, 1445, proved fruitless. To so poor a man the matter was
serious, yet in the end it was the occasion of his further advancement, for the
Pope, having had sufficient proof of his skill in diplomatic affairs, both
during his connection with Albergati and when he
acted independently at Florence and Naples, twice entrusted him with important
missions to Germany. On the latter of these occasions he was successful in
breaking up the League of the Electors which c&nstituted a serious danger to Rome, and was rewarded by a Cardinal's Hat (16 and 23
December, 1446)
The important
position which the Cardinal of Bologna, as Parentucelli was now called, soon
attained in the Sacred College, is evident from the remarkable fact that the
Sienese Ambassadors, in one of their despatches, speak of him as a second Pope.
Pope Eugenius IV is said to have foretold his elevation to the Papal throne;
and his biographers mention many other similar predictions, to which, however,
we must not give too much weight.
The outward
appearance of the man who had thus rapidly risen from poverty and obscurity to
the highest dignity in Christendom —who had, in the course of three short
years, become Bishop, Cardinal, and Pope— was anything but distinguished.
Contemporaries describe him as small and weakly, with sharply-cut features, and
keen black eyes, a pale complexion, and a powerful voice. The plainbut intellectual countenance of Nicholas V may still
be recognized in his modest effigy in the crypt of the Vatican. His disposition
was lively, impatient, and hasty; he was extremely exact in all he did, and
expected to be understood at a glance. In these and in other respects he was a
complete contrast to his predecessor, who was grave, dignified, and silent. He
was wont to speak much and rapidly, and dispensed with all irksome ceremony.
Dissimulation and hypocrisy were hateful to his open-hearted nature. He was
affable, obliging, and cheerful; he showed himself to the people more
frequently than Eugenius had done, and gave audiences at all hours of the day.
His servants were all Germans or Frenchmen; the Italians, he thought, had their
minds always set upon higher things, while Frenchmen and Germans contented
themselves with the employments entrusted to them, did not trouble themselves
about other matters, and were satisfied and faithful in the lowest service. His
table was simple, and he was very temperate; he drank wine largely mixed with
water; choice wines were only served for the prelates and great personages from
France, Germany, and England, with whom he had become acquainted in his
travels, and to whom he delighted to show hospitality when they came to Rome.
Alike as Bishop, Cardinal, and Pope, he was so kind and affable to all comers
that no one went away unsatisfied. He loved peace; probably no prince of the
time had so profound a horror of war. A signal proof of his benevolence was
furnished by the foundation of the great Papal Almshouse near the Church of the German Campo Santo, where on Mondays and Fridays about
two thousand poor people received bread and wine, and every day a dinner was
given to thirteen.
The remembrance
of past hardships was no doubt one of the sources of these virtues which long
made the name of Nicholas V to be blessed. Nothing in Florence struck him as so
noble as the splendour with which science and art were clothed; it seemed to
him a disgrace that learned men and artists should starve. He used, even in
those days, to say that if ever he had wealth, he would spend it on two things:
books and buildings. His defects were irritability and impetuosity. His
contemporaries greatly over-estimated his intellectual powers. He was
well-versed in theology, in the Holy Scriptures, and in the Fathers; he was
gifted with a good memory, great quickness of apprehension, and singular
eloquence; but his mind was one essentially receptive in its character, and
although capable of keen enjoyment in literary pursuits, it was devoid of
productive power. He had, however, considerable talent for collecting,
arranging, and editing. When a young man, he spent his money almost entirely on
books, and, like a genuine collector, would have them well written and
tastefully bound; he did not look to the price, and often gave more for them
than he could well afford. He enriched his books with marginal notes, and his
hand-writing, which was a transition between the ancient and modern style, was
greatly admired by good judges. He was most keen in the search for new works,
ransacking the libraries wherever he went, looking for fresh treasures. Both in
Germany and in France he made valuable discoveries, and, from every journey
which he took with Cardinal Albergati, brought back
literary spoils. The future founder of the Vatican Library gradually became one
of the first connoisseurs of his day in books, and was looked upon as a great
authority among bibliographers and book collectors; but not so great among
scholars and literary men. No one so well knew how to prepare and arrange a
library. The plan of a monastic library which he drew up for Cosmo de Medici is
still preserved, and was often made use of, especially, according to the Pope's
well-informed biographer, Vespasiano da Bisticci, in the Libraries of St. Mark at Florence and the
Abbey at Fiesole, and in those of the Duke of Urbino and of Alessandro Sforza
of Pesaro. Nicholas V is not, however, to be looked upon as a literary
specialist: he had no favourite line of study, but was a well-informed
dilettante, wandering at will wherever his fancy led him. The laudatory words
of Aeneas Sylvius are to be understood in this sense when he writes, "from
his youth he has been initiated into all liberal arts, he is acquainted with
all philosophers, historians, poets, cosmographers, and theologians; and is no
stranger to civil and canon law, or even to medicine".
A man whose intellectual
sympathies were so many-sided was well fitted to be the patron of scholars.
Nicholas V —a great part of whose life had been spent in close companionship
with a saint— was also sincerely pious. He was equally devoted to
ecclesiastical and profane literature. No sooner had he found in Germany a copy
of Tertullian's complete works, than he at once sent the precious treasure to Niccolo de' Niccoli at Florence.
According to Vespasiano da Bisticci,
he was the first to bring into Italy the sermons of St. Leo the Great, and St.
Thomas' commentary on the Gospel of St. Matthew. But his special favourite was
the great St. Augustine, whose influence on his own and subsequent ages has
surpassed that of any other doctor of the East or West. In his days of poverty
the works of St. Augustine, in twelve costly volumes, adorned his bookshelves,
and he was unwearied in his efforts to collect from various manuscripts the
letters of the Saint.
This fact seems
worthy of note, and is a proof amongst many that Parentucelli was a Christian
Humanist. Almost all the representatives of the Christian Renaissance movement
had a special veneration for this Father, who, after working his way through
the contradictions of heathen culture, gathered up in his immortal works all the
philosophical and theological truths acquired and prepared for future ages by
Christian antiquity. This reverence for St. Augustine had a special fitness at
the period of which we are speaking, for the patristic learning which reached
its climax in the works of the great Bishop of Hippo had grown up in the midst
of the ancient literature, in living contact with it, and was the fruit of
controversy and criticism. It was therefore especially adapted to meet and
combat the false heathen Renaissance.
Nicholas V had
the genuine humility which became a representative of the Christian
Renaissance. All his contemporaries bear witness that modesty, the chief
ornament of the scholar, was one of the virtues which distinguished this most
affable Pope. A German chronicler of the Popes, writing in the fifteenth
century, says, "Nicholas V was a good, peaceful man, of whom I never heard
any harm said, and in many things he showed himself gentle and lowly, and did
not much exalt himself, however wise, and learned, and mighty he
became".
The manner in
which Nicholas V looked upon his high position was in perfect keeping with his
noble and Christian sentiments. His old friend, Vespasiano da Bisticci, the Florentine bookseller, has handed
down to us a conversation which he had with the Pope, and which may here find a
fitting place. "Not long after the elevation of Nicholas V", writes Vespasiano, "I attended on the day appointed for
public audiences in the Papal Palace. I had hardly entered the audience chamber
when the Pope observed me, and said aloud that I was to wait, as he would speak
with me alone. He soon concluded the audience, and I was led to him. When we
were alone, he said, with a smile: 'Vespasiano, have
not certain proud lords been greatly surprised, — have the people of Florence
been able to believe that a priest who formerly rang the bells has become
Pope?' I replied that the people will believe that it was on account of the
virtues of His Holiness and in order that Italy may again be at peace.
Thereupon the Pope said: 'I pray God to give me grace that I may accomplish
that which fills my soul: that is to say, that I may restore peace, and
throughout my Pontificate use no other weapon save that one which Christ has
given me for my defence, namely, His Holy Cross'."
In his great
schemes for the promotion of art and science, Nicholas V always had the welfare
of the Church, whose head he was, before him as his first object. To exalt the
mystical Bride of Christ by these means was the chief aim of his Pontificate.
All the magnificent works which he undertook were for her adornment, but this
pious and cultivated Pope was not spared to see them completed.
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